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Bloomberg Factchecks the Clintons
Al Hunt of Bloomberg News dissects what the Obama and Clinton campaigns have been saying about each other—and finds that the Clintons are severely distorting their comments about Obama:
Jamie Franks: ‘I'm Being Attacked'
Jamie Franks today sent out an e-mail to supporters, responding to the state (and national?) Republican Party's "liberal"-baiting campaign—"Too Liberal for Mississippi"—against him. Here is Franks' verbatim statement:
With Pressure On, JSU Releases Statement About Henderson Shooting
The statement, verbatim:
Amid allegations that JSU football players may have killed Nolan Ryan Henderson last weekend, as I blogged about this morning, Jackson State University just released a statement calling for information about the shooting. No one from JSU is speaking directly to the press about the latest allegations, which have taken social media by storm today (#justiceforryan on Twitter), but they released a statement that did not address the football-player allegations, which Henderson's brother, Damien, is passing around via social media, along with other friends and family, suggesting that JSU has not acted quickly enough to identify the killers. The statement is below, verbatim, and comes after the Henderson family met with JSU administration including Dr. Carolyn Meyers this afternoon at Jackson State. It's also interesting to note that Henderson's mother had agreed to go on JSU's TV-23 tonight with a JSU representative, but then backed out, saying that she plans to sue the university. This information came from Brad "Kamikaze" Franklin, the host of the program who is also a columnist for the Jackson Free Press.
U.S. Abortions at Lowest Rate Since 1974
The Associated Press is reporting on a new study that shows that abortions in the U.S. are way down:
The number of abortions in the United States dropped to 1.2 million in 2005, the lowest level since 1974 and down 25 percent from the all-time high of 1.6 million in 1990, according to report issued Thursday.
The Ugly Death of Saddam Hussein
The New York Times is editorializing today about the gruesome way that Saddam Hussein was executed—and what that means for both the U.S.' reputation and the Iraqi people:
Can You Get More Irrelevant Than This Guy?
Headline over at MSNBC: "Bush condemns noose displays President says displays 'have no place in America today.'" Thank you, Dubya Bush. Nice to see you go out on a limb there. Geez, Louise.
Chief: No Wrongdoing in Cop Shooting of Unarmed Man
The Clarion-Ledger is reporting that Chief Shirlene Anderson is saying that a police officer who shot an unarmed man three times in the chest during a traffic stop committed no "wrong-doing." Police still will not release the officer's name:
Talking About the Dee-Moore Murders
I just got a link to a radio interview I did with Pokey Anderson of "The Monitor," a progressive news analysis show on KPFT out of Houston. I almost missed doing this interview because Todd and I were in Destin and on the beach all that day (Aug. 26). I had gone back inside to get something and noticed messages and called her back. She interviewed me as I sat on the balcony; I swear you can hear the waves in the background! She took the time to ask great questions and truly seemed humbled by the topic of bringing justice after so many years, as we all should be. Cheers to her. Here's the Monitor's site, and a link to the audio. Our interview starts about a fourth of the way into the audio strip.
Is The Clarion-Ledger Intentionally Misleading on Open-Records Law?
Or, is it woeful ignorance of the law? Either way, the corporate newspaper isn't making government transparency any better as Sunshine Week opens to publish articles such as this one today by Chris Joyner that misreads, intentionally or not, both the letter and intent of Freedom of Information laws. Joyner states:
Do-Gooders on Steroids!
That would be you and me. The JFP is ramping up efforts to form a "Do-Gooder Corps" in Jacksonbasically people who want to help others in whatever way you can, and we invite you to join us. You can get ideas on the new Good Blog, and we're loading up Jackpedia with ways for you to get involved. (Charities and do-gooder groups, please go add/update your information/needs here).
JFP Needs Reader Health-care Stories
P.S. We would like to use your real name, and run a picture of you where possible.
All, we're looking for health-care stories from people in and around Jackson to feature in the next issue of the JFP, which will focus on health-care issues. We would like a variety of people: small business owners, unemployed, self-employed, younger, older, recent parents, etc. You can do it several ways: post comments below, e-mail them to me at [e-mail missing] or just send contact info so a writer can get in touch with you. We do need it fast--by the end of the week. But we're not looking for long, complicated stories. So please add your voice to the conversation (and help it be a conversation instead of a shouting match). Be in touch!
WSJ Law Blog on the Growing Evidence Against Lott
The Wall Street Journal is talking about the explosive news that is coming out of the federal investigation of Dickie Scruggs—including Tim Balducci's testimony that Scruggs promised a judge that Lott would help him get a judgeship. That judge is Hinds County's own Bobby DeLaughter bringing this state mess home to our Hinds door step once again. The feds are investigating Lott's role, so keep an eye on what they release on this case.
Why today?
Coincidentally, by the way, Mayor Frank Melton was seen leaving Judge Yerger's chambers this week.
This is a serious question. Why did Supreme Court Chief Justice James Smith Jr. today appoint a special judge, directly by Judge Swan Yerger, to help the D.A.'s office prosecute more cases—to clear the "backlog"? Why not six months ago? A year ago? Two years ago? Seven years ago when the backlog was much worse?
Olga's Moving to Jackson
It's Flowood's loss and Jackson's gain when Olga's Fine Dining re-opens in the city of Jackson—in the old Posh location next to Habana Smoke Shop—on May 1. It'll be BYOB. Here's to Olga and her fine Russian cuisine.
Volunteer to Be Fired, Please
Clarion-Ledger Publisher Larry Whitaker sent out this e-mail to employees last week:
Thank you for working diligently through these tough economic times, even as I know you are aware that we are in the process of making difficult payroll reduction decisions. Since the announcement that we will decrease payroll by approximately 10 percent, we have been in constant contact with corporate staff about the possibility of adding a voluntary component to the reduction.
The Medical Malpractice Myth Exposed ... Again
We dared to write about the complicated "Hoodwinked" myths that have sprung up around the issue of tort reform nearly three years ago, as propagated locally by The Clarion-Ledger's "jackpot justice" obsession. We told you then that their "research" was based more on rhetoric than fact. Here's a new piece in Slate that explores this myth:
Trouble Running a Campaign, Much Less a Country
Frank Rich has an excellent column in the New York Times today about the Clinton ineptness at organizing good campaign, and how that speaks to her specious claim that she has the "experience" needed to run the country:
A Female President, Please
What a delicious post over on DailyKos by Georgia10 about Ann Kornblut's new book, "The Ascent of a Woman."
Times Columnist on the New Evangelicals
Regardless, this evangelical shift should be noticed ... and applauded, I would add.
In a way, it was great to see the New York Times' Nick Kristof write about the changes that have hit the evangelical movement in this country—specifically the move away from telling women what to do with their bodies and adults what to do in the bedroom toward issues that, well, seem to follow the teachings of Jesus a bit closer like alleviating poverty, protecting the earth ("creation care") and fighting the AIDS epidemic. But the remarkable part is that this column is written as if he just figured this out. (Guess he hasn't been listening to Speaking of Faith religiously every Sunday morning, eh?) And that says a whole lot about the New York media elite—they tend to be clueless about what is happening in the rest of the country, and they still make proclamations on behalf of the rest of us. (I recall that yuck David Brooks using a town just across Maryland in Pennsylvania a few years back as an example of crossing the meatloaf line into "red" America, for instance.)
Ledger Needs Help Finding Positive Stories
Clarion-Ledger Perspectives Editor David Hampton ends his navel-gazing (and defensive) column this week about why his paper is so bad, and so negative, this way: