All results / Stories / Donna Ladd
No Complacency: It Ain't Over ‘Til It's Over!
OK, folks, it's one week until the election. Change is in the air: Even on my neighborhood walk route, Obama yard signs outnumber McCain signs 14-to-1. No, that's not scientific, but this is Mississippi, and that could be different. The main thing now is to not get complacent. Every person must vote and do everything in your power to get friends and family out to vote. Unlike, say, the leaders of the Republican Party, I have long believed that the more people vote, the more the people's will is done. So please, please do everything in your power this week to get involved. Vote, drive people to the polls, volunteer, educate yourself and others on how to prevent voter intimidationanything you can do to bring change to this great nation next week. This election is not over, and it's up to you to bring it on home. And to get at least five people to the polls. ;-)
Obama Supporters Launch "Watch Oprah" Counter Campaign
In a campaign cycle getting more ridiculous by the moment, Obama supporters are fighting back against the McCain-Palin supporters who are boycotting Oprah because she said she isn't inviting Palin on her (optimum word there) show until after the election. The following e-mail came today:
Do I hear 15? Yes, we can!
Thank you one and all for making this a very special Chick Ball, for helping to save lives.
Wow. The JFP Chick Ball raised $14,000 this year ... so far ... toward a new Freedom Van for the Center for Violence Prevention. Not to be greedy, but I sure would like to see us get up to $15,000 over the next couple weeks. Send donations of at least $15, and we'll send you a 2008 Chick Ball CD with samples of the great poetry and music you missed Saturday night. E-mail sage (at) jacksonfreepress (dot) com for details on exchanging your donation for this wonderful CD! Make checks out directly to Center for Violence Prevention and mail to: Sage Carter-Hooey, Jackson Free Press, P.O. Box 5067, Jackson, MS 39296.
WAIT: Isn't It ‘Sexist' to Criticize Female Reporters!?!
It's call-the-messenger-sexist time. After keeping embattled running mate Sarah Palin under wraps since Monday, and canceling a CNN interview due to Campbell Brown asking about Palin's foreign policy expertise, McCain campaign today blamed the media for pursuing questions about Palin's background and said that the criticism of her is sexist. Read more at Politico:
Lawsuits Against Melton and City Piling Up
WAPT broke the story yesterday that A-1 Pallet has (predictably) filed a $100 million lawsuit against the city, Melton and several others. So how many lawsuits has Melton brought, or helped bring, to the city? Let's see ...
CNN's Campbell Brown: ‘Sexist' McCain Campaign Must ‘Free Sarah Palin'
This is simply too fabulous for words. CNN's Campbell Brown offers up a stunning take-down to the McCain campaign over their apparently refusal to let Governor Palin hold a press conference or take questions from the media:
"USA Today: Mississippi Edition"? The ‘Nuclear Option'?
Gannett blogger Jim Hopkins writes:
Things are so bad in the Gannett world (including layoffs nationwide, and 5 percent of The Clarion-Ledger staff, and dropping revenue and see-saw stock prices) that rumors are flying about what the company might try to do to save itself. Over on the very-active Gannett Blog, a tipster says that Gannett papers may "go nuclear"in this case, apparently meaning to fold the local editions and become different editions of the national USA Today.
Christopher Hitchens Endorses Obama; Palin ‘National Disgrace'
The always-contrarian Christopher Hitchens writing in Slate the way pretty much only he can:
OK, Class, What's Wrong With This Story?
This is the lead paragraph from a story in the Anchorage Daily News today about a state ethics investigation:
Chris Joyner, Gotcha Journalist?
Meantime, I'll get Adam to try to sort it out and report back to y'all.
The Clarion-Ledger has a "big" story today that reeks of incomplete, gotcha journalism. Essentially the story is accusing David "Pops" Watkins, and perhaps others, of lying about investors in Farish Street. I sure do wish we were privy to Joyner's full interviews with Watkins and others. Joynerthe Ledger's rising "investigative" starhas interviewed me, and he lifted me far out of context that I wouldn't ever agree to such an interview again, and I don't trust anything he writes. A recent Ledger internal memo announced that he was becoming an investigative reporter, presumably sometime after they finish paying people overtime to take drunk pictures for their new, er, Gen X Web site. (At the same time that they are firing people.)
Oops, Another Fake McCain-Palin Debate Ad Slips Through
It's hilarious, though.
OK, this is wacky. For two debates in a row, the McCain campaign has let an ad praising first McCain and and now Palin prematurely appear on a major news outlet, either before the debate happened (McCain) or showing that they were putting praise ("She killed. ... She was the star") in someone else's mouth (Palin ad). How can they be so sloppy?
Melton Spin Machine in Full Force
It's really something to watch Melton shift into full spin mode about how the federal indictments (apparently brought by "political enemies") are not going to stop him from doing his job and fighting crime, especially drug crimes, in interviews going out nationally. He told The Associated Press, for instance:
‘Reformer' Palin Billed State for 312 Nights Spent at Home
The Washington Post is reporting that Gov. Sarah Palin and her family haven't been conservative with their expense reports in the year+ she as served as governor of Alaska:
CNN: Palin-the-‘Diva' Is ‘Going Rogue' on McCain
I don't want to say "I told you so," but Sarah Palin had drama queenor small-town "diva"written all over her since the day she was appointed. (The tanning bed in the governor's mansion was a very good clue.) But don't listen to me: Listen to John McCain's campaign staff, who are accusing her of being a "diva" and "going rogue" on the campaign. CNN is reporting:
Transitions
When managing editor Maggie Neff walked into my office a couple months ago and closed the door, I sensed what was coming. She and husband J.P. were moving to Chattanooga at the end of the summer.
Huh? Big Blooper in Clarion-Ledger Editorial About Melton
The Clarion-Ledger edit-boyz suffered a bit of reading miscomprehension when they wrote this false statement last night for their editorial today saying that Frank Melton should resign:
HOOD: 156 of Barbour's Pardons Did Not Meet Legal Rules
Attorney General Jim Hood this evening released his latest findings about Gov. Haley Barbour's barrage of last-minute pardons. This is verbatim statement from Hood:
Alamo, Dorothy Moore Honored with Blues Marker Today
Jackson's own Dorothy Moore, Jobi Martin and Wanda Collier Wilson will speak today at 3 p.m. at a celebration to dedicate a new Blues Trail marker today on Farish Street. Per a press statement: "The Mississippi Development Authority/Tourism Heritage Trails Program, the Mississippi Blues Commission and the Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau will unveil a marker honoring the Alamo Theater and Dorothy Moore. The Alamo Theater has served as a performing arts theater since the 1940's featuring black vaudeville acts, stage bands and renowned black performing artists. Dorothy Moore, renowned Blues recording artist, was a frequent performer at the Alamo Theater filling Farish Street with the sounds of the Blues and Soul. This will be Jackson's 4th historic blues marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail and the second marker erected on Farish Street. Entertainment by the Lanier High School Choir will begin at 2:45 p.m. before the ceremony."
Returns: Harvey & Crisler Neck-and-Neck, Melton Third
With 85 percent of the vote in for the Jackson's mayoral race, Harvey Johnson and Marshand Crisler are tied with 27 percent, with Mayor Frank Melton in third place with 19 percent. Johnson and Crisler are separated by 180 votes.
JFP Endorses Beneta Burt for Ward 3 Council Seat
At a Ward 3 candidate forum last week at the Medical Mall, several themes emerged: First, most of the plethora of candidates who are running for Kenneth Stokes' vacated seat had few specific, new ideas to share. Second, Stokes' wife, Larita, must think she has a lock on the seat because she didn't show up to answer questions (although someone scattered her campaign material around). And third, about every candidate talked repeatedly about how getting government grants can help save Ward 3 and solve its problems.