Remedial Redneck

Mississippi Innocence Project, Joe York, Radley Balko

2011-10-26T10:05:00.002-05:00

I went to a screening of Joe York's Mississippi Innocence Project film last night, and I was moved nearly to tears, even though I have been following Radley Balko's coverage of the cases covered in this film, as well as other cases in Mississippi and Louisiana involving former Mississippi medical examiner Steve Haynes and proported "bite-mark expert" Michael West.

As a former medical secretary who worked in two different hospital pathology departments, even having been in this admittedly peripheral position, I could recognize some areas of suspension of normal protocols (at least they would have been in the Memphis hospitals in which I worked). And more astonishing, I have not worked in that field since 1973, when one would expect things to have been in a more rudimentary and less professional phase than now. Apparently not in the state of Mississippi.

I had kept up on these cases and hadn't yet gone to see the film, but I'm glad that I finally did (drawn by the chance to hear Balko in person). A few things had slipped by my mind without sticking, and this was a chance to have it graphically glued to my admittedly "holey" memory; plus there were a few tidbits served up that I don't remember hearing before. For those of you who are not familiar with these cases or the Mississippi Innocence Project, I highly recommend that you view this film. You will be touched, outraged, and frightened by what you will see - although true, it is a horror story to beat anything presented by Stephen King or John Carpenter.

That old thing about a picture being worth a thousand words is as true now as it was centuries ago. Seeing these two innocent men, Levon Brooks and Kennedy Brewer and what they went thru because of our fractured criminal justice system, and having it brought home that these miscarriages of justice do not simply affect the wrongly accused and their families, but also allow the real criminals to continue to roam free and carry out further crimes at will, was powerful, frightening and disturbing. Hats off to Tucker Carrington and the other folks at the Mississippi Innocence project for getting out there and doing the hard work of holding our criminal justice system accountable, from law enforcement to pathologists to judiciary, and to Joe York and his team for the marvelous presentation and the incisive presentation of the facts in his documentaries.

Pondering the fact that one little girl is no longer with us, because the criminal justice system broke down and allowed her rapist and murderer to stay free and do the same thing to her that he had done to the first little girl is deeply sad and disheartening.

Thank God for those like Mr. Balko (journalist), Joe York (filmmaker) and Tucker Carrington (of the Mississippi Innocence Project) and all those others who helped make this documentary and these groundbreaking investigations possible (folks like John Grisham, Barry Schenck and Peter Neufeld, et al).

Unschoolers Learn What They Want, When They Want: A Response

2011-08-05T12:02:00.002-05:00

[By guest blogger, C. Leigh McInnis. McInnis has published poetry, fiction, and essays in several journals, magazines, and newspapers, is the author of seven books, the editor and publisher of Black Magnolias Literary Journal, and he teaches creative writing and world literature at Jackson State University. He can be contacted at Psychedelic Literature or C. Leigh McInnis .]

Hey Y’all,

The following comments are my response to the article, “Unschoolers Learn What They Want, When They Want,” which was sent to me a couple of days ago.

Mostly, I am not against alternative types of schooling, whether it is homeschooling or any other program that a parent thinks will induce the best from their child. And I also realize that many children do learn many different ways, so I am not quick to minimize any form of learning. However, what often bothers me when alternative forms of schooling, such as homeschooling or charter schools, are presented or celebrated is how very basic facts are omitted for the sake of showing the alternative form in a better light. For instance, “Approximately 90% of Sudbury Valley’s graduates go on to college (compared with 69% of graduates from the public education system).” The problem with this statistic is that it does not consider two variables. One, parents who tend to opt for alternative schooling, such as homeschooling, charter, and private schools, tend to be more affluent with a higher level of education, which translates to their children being exposed to a more constructive or positive atmosphere regarding education as well as having a solid academic foundation developed in the home. (And this is true of most of my friends whose children attend African centered schools also.) Two, the top ten percent of public school graduates tend to perform at or equal to the same level as the top ten percent of alternative schooling graduates, and the common link is that these two groups have parents who invest the proper amount of time and effort. In contrast, then, what lowers the percentage of college enrollment for public school graduates is not the curriculum or the teaching but two very simple facts/variables. One, public schools must admit students with all types of learning and behavioral disorders whereas private and charter schools tend to have a very low number of students with learning and behavioral disorders unless they specialize in this area, and, two, public schools have a higher percentage of parents who, for whatever reason, do not invest the same time and effort with their children as the parents whose children perform in that aforementioned top ten percent. So, if we consider all factors/variables, it seems that the success of alternative schooling is not based on the curriculum or the teachers but on the types of parents who are able to enroll their children in various types of alternative schooling.

A second fallacy presented is that public school “…keeps trying to do what it can’t do, which is make every child learn everything in the whole wide world. It’s like heading toward a cliff.” Maybe I have not attended the same type of public school, but I have never experienced this. If by saying “learn everything in the whole wide world,” one means public school is designed, ideally and for the most part, to make a child a well-rounded being, then, yes, an effective education exposes a child to various aspects of life, working to show the common links in those various aspects, teaching the child how to find “hidden likenesses,” to use a Jacob Bronowski term, in seemingly unlike things, which enhances the child’s critical thinking ability. So, world history should coalesce with world literature or algebraic reading problems should coalesce with basic grammar, syntax, and semantic development. Again, my issue is not to minimize alternative schooling but to show the flaw in the premise that public schooling tends to expose children to needless information that they will never apply. The problem or hurdle for public school is that the focus on “high stakes” testing limits if not impairs the development of critical thinking because the emphasis is often on the answer and not how one arrives at the answer. So, many students graduate high school with some facts but limited knowledge, and knowledge is understanding how to use facts to improve one’s condition or situation. Yet, this emphasis on “high stakes” testing is not something that grew organically from public education but moreso is a reactionary, political element that serves mostly to widen the gap between rich and poor students.

Third, I return to the notion that education must be seen as a joint effort between parents and teachers. “They have, and I think this is true of [Sudbury] alumni in general, an incredible sense of who they are and how they work, and confidence in their abilities,” Sadofsky said. “Not that they know everything, but they know how to find what they need.” It seems that Sadofsky does not realize that this “sense” of knowing oneself and having “confidence” in one’s “abilities” is a trait that is planted and nurtured at home first and then affirmed through organized activities in the school. Therefore, I would argue that the reason the Sudbury alumni “in general” have “an incredible sense of who they are and how they work, and confidence in their abilities” is because, in general, they are the children in that top performing ten percent who would have had these traits developed initially by their parents regardless of attending public school or an alternative school. Accordingly, the second part of Sadofsky’s statement, “they know how to find what they need” is a trait/skill mostly developed by schooling, but teachers can only be effective in developing this trait or skill if the student has a constructive attitude, focus, and understanding of the academic process, which must be developed by the parent. So, again, this “incredible sense of who they are and how they work, and confidence in their abilities” is not unique to alternative schooling but is a trait that most students develop if they have parents who make the proper time and effort investment, which allows the teachers to develop and teach the child how to use those personal characteristics in developing academic and professional characteristics.

Let me be clear. Parents have a role, and teachers have a role in the effective development of a child’s academic being. However, the academic institution is being asked to fulfill the role of parent and teacher, which puts more responsibility and weight on the academic institution than it was designed to carry. Or, let me put it another way. In many inner city, high poverty areas, dilapidated housing exists for three reasons. One, the houses are old. Two, the people living in those houses are unable to afford proper maintenance. Three, which relates to this discussion, often there are more people living in the houses than the houses were designed to accommodate. A three bedroom house is not designed to accommodate seven to ten people. Those extra bodies are asking that house to do something it was not designed to do. This is the primary issue with our public schools. Yes, they are severely underfunded. I would argue that they are purposefully underfunded, but the main problem is that society is asking underpaid and overworked teachers to be parents as well. No matter how much of a great role model our favorite teacher was, that teacher was mostly affirming the values and sensibilities that the student was bringing to the classroom. If the student is not bringing certain values and sensibilities to the classroom, then the teacher is forced to spend valuable time teaching these values and sensibilities, which limits the amount of time spent exposing the student to the academics.

Finally, the four major issues for public schools are low teacher wages (which keep the schools from attracting highly qualified and invested teachers), not enough funding to decrease the classroom size as well as to add an assistant teacher to each classroom, poor funding and management of special education services for both special needs and gifted children, and an increasing number of uninvolved and uninvested parents that have negative attitudes (for various reasons) toward education, which is passed to the children, creating an adversarial relationship between parent and teacher as well as parent and child and is made worse by the employment of underpaid, overworked teachers. Even in a situation where a charter or private school states, “Give us your worst performing students from your worst areas,” often three of the four variables or hurdles facing public schools are removed. Again, because private and charter schools only admit a small percentage of the students that public schools must admit, there is a smaller classroom size, which provides more effective services to identify and service gifted and special needs students. Secondly, the teachers are less stressed, which creates improved morale in the classroom and between parent and teacher. Yet, where charter schools are concerned, this is done with public funds. Oh yeah, they don’t just want your children; they want the your tax dollars also. However, if one checks the statistics, one will realize that most charter schools do not achieve greater success than public schools, especially as it relates to the top ten percent of the public school students. So rather than creating these voucher systems for private and charter schools that only serve a select few students, how about cutting funding to prisons, defense, law enforcement, and the expense accounts of our elected officials and invest that money in education because every study proves that proper education not prisons decreases the crime rate. I don’t want every child properly educated because I love young people. I want every child properly educated because each child properly educated is one less person likely to rob me.

C. Liegh McInnis

2nd Annual Oxford Blues Festival

2011-07-24T13:14:00.001-05:00

Kudus to Darryl Parker for a marvelous, wonderful 2nd edition of the Oxford Blues Festival. I sadly regret that I did not have my camera on the first day and missed the opportunity to get photos of Magic Slim and the Teardrops (and they were incredible!) I did get a few photos Saturday (limited by my camera and the ambient lighting), but they'll give you an idea of what you missed, if you didn't make it.

This was my first time to hear Magic Slim in person, and another I had never heard before was Eddie Campbell, and I loved him so much. Effie Burt is another notable - she can really belt them out, and I love her style!

One of the great things about this festival is that it's all inside, other than tonight's festivities at Foxfire Ranch, which I will sadly miss. Foxfire has blues every Sunday night, but this is a special associated with the blues festival. Any Sunday night during the surmmer, though, roll on down to Foxfire and enjoy the music, the food, and the inimitable hospitality of the Hollowell family, or book your family reunion or other gathering there! They have a schedule, but aside from that, frequent drop-ins are members of the extended Burnside and Kimbrough families (of the late, great Mississippi hill country bluesmen, R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough)

Another magical thing is never knowing who is likely to drop in on a set - Mark "Muleman" Massey in particular at Soulshine Pizza - we got not only the marvelous Effie Burt, but also an electric performance from Garry Burnside, mixed in with some gritty Mississippi magic from Muleman and band.

Grassroots Blues Festival in Duck Hill, MS 2011

2011-07-10T18:29:00.002-05:00

Here are some photos (although I'm gonna gripe because there wasn't adequate stage lighting and the after dark photos pretty well suck - and these are the best of many I took and discarded). I did a little video of Little Willie Farmer and some of the women dancing during his set (even though they're dark, you still get a sense of the talent). One of these women danced most of the music all day like a play set to dance, with all the emotions and she sang along with most of the songs (even though you couldn't hear her, if you read lips, you could read hers). Her sister joined her for part of the time and another lady, none of whose names I was smart enough to get. If anyone wants to supply names, please let me know.

As usual I missed some folks I really wanted to see, but I'm getting too old to sit out in that noonday sun too long.

Grassroots Blues Festival in Duck Hill, Mississippi

2011-06-29T19:35:00.001-05:00

July 9th - the Saturday after the 4th holiday. Get the blues.....

The Grassroots has their line-up online and it looks like a winner to me. It starts right before 12 with a short intro by Sade Turnipseed, so be sure and bring your umbrella, sunshades, sunscreen and a hand fan if you've got one. A chair would help, but the umbrella is more important (because that sun is HOT). Either bring lots to drink or money to buy lots of liquids to keep yourself hydrated, because you sure don't want to poop out before O.B. Buchana rocks those hills out there at 9:20 p.m. - it's going to be a blast, I can't wait!

P.S. Here's some photos from last year, and if you'd like to see some from another year or two, check my photo album (right hand column) . And remember, this blues festival is not only jamming, but it's for a good cause as well. How many things can you do that are more fun than a barrel of circus clowns and supports the area youth in education and development at the same time (sponsored by ACER, Action Communication and Education Reform)

North Mississippi Hill Country Blues Picnic 2011

2011-06-25T17:46:00.001-05:00

This year's NMHCBP is being held at Foxfire Ranch, just off Highway 7 north of Abbeville, MS this year (as I write). I couldn't go today, so I went straight there from work last night and it was a blast! If you're reading this and wish you could go, there's still time - get yourself out that door and down to Firefox Ranch and the blues show!

I love having it at Firefox - I hope they do it there next year also - it's not only easier to find and easier to get in and out of (especially if it rains), but I love the Hollowells and enjoy anything they have going on out there (Sunday blues at 4:00 p.m. every Sunday during the warm months - check their FB page for schedule details)

I have a few photos here:

North Mississippi Hill Country Blues Picnic 2011 (at Firefox Ranch)

Who or What Does THE HELP Help? A brief review

2011-05-23T11:21:00.002-05:00

[introducing guest blogger, C. Leigh McInnis. McInnis has published poetry, fiction, and essays in several journals, magazines, and newspapers, is the author of seven books, the editor and publisher of Black Magnolias Literary Journal, and he teaches creative writing and world literature at Jackson State University. He can be contacted at Psychedelic Literature or C. Leigh McInnis .]

by C. Liegh McInnis

Okay, so I finally finished the four hundred and forty-four pages that constitute Kathryn Stockett’s The Help. An older African (American) female colleague gave me this book a year ago to thank me for providing a tutorial for a program that she coordinates. I could not believe that anyone who knew anything about me would give me a book written by a white woman, telling the story of African (American) maids working during the 1960s who collaborate with an aspiring white female writer to tell their stories of working for white women, essentially using African people as backdrop or troping material for her story in the way that Tennessee Williams did more than a few times. And for eleven months it sat on my shelf, not even in its correct alphabetized-by-authors place as I keep all my books but on the end where miscellaneous books reside. Even as I heard about the book being a New York Times Bestseller and then, of course, having a movie based on it, I was never once tempted to take it down and see just how much like Gone with the Wind it could be. Yet when my wife took me to see Jumping the Broom as an apology for dragging me to see the current Madea film (I like Why Did I Get Married?, Family that Preys, and For Colored Girls, but the current one just doesn’t do it for me.), one of the previews was for The Help. Often, of course, movie trailers lie well, including the best scenes or moments in the promo of a film that is a hour and a half dud. However, there are some trailers that when one sees them one knows that the studio has put all of its eggs, weight, and budget behind this film. It is obvious when a film has been given the first-class treatment. Again, a potential viewer may not be able to tell whether or not the film will be any good, but one can tell how much the studio believes in the film based on the trailer and additional promotion. It was that reality that said to me, “At some point someone who loves this book and movie will ask you about it; don’t you want to have enough ammunition to dismiss it as more white fantasy with a white female protagonist bonding with African women over the brutality of men, especially African men, saving themselves from the oppression of men, especially African men?” So nine days ago, I opened to page one.
The Help is a well-written book by a well-schooled writer, Kathryn Stockett, who has a wonderful eye for detail (historical and cultural), a flare for imagery (descriptive and symbolic), and a wit that echoes three of my favorite storytellers: Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, and Jerry Clower, especially in the notion that a story with interesting and well-developed characters is always more rewarding than a work of fiction that is more concerned with showing the latest “new school” tricks of fiction, especially as it relates to East Coast minimalism. Further, well-crafted books are books that can be taught on two levels, and The Help achieves this. It can be used to teach the basic elements of fiction writing, and it can be used to show how creative writing is often crafted to enlighten or impact socio-political condition, proving DuBois to be right that in the final analysis “all art is propaganda” (757). The Help does not rise to the levels of James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, or James F. Cooper, but whose work does? Certainly, not mine. However, Stockett has mastered the weaving of the personal and communal narrative and the ability to paint the complexities of race rather than to pander to flat, one-dimensional ideologies and characters, which is achieved by her ability to craft characters in a storm of internal and external conflict, for the most part, on both sides of the race line. When I read any work, I am always trying to discover two elements: creative techniques that I can use and teach to students, which I have briefly discussed, and a central issue or several issues that can be used in the development of a paper. Stockett has presented at least twelve issues that can be discussed in a lit crit piece: the perpetuation of fantasy antebellum society for which whites are willing to lose their humanity to maintain (such as in Faulkner’s Sound and the Fury), Christianity as a tool of white supremacy, Christianity as a linguistic battleground for Civil Rights, storytelling as socio-political activism (which includes Aibileen—a maid and co-narrator of the text—as a griot or the creative writer as shepherd and philosopher), the tragedy of an unfulfilled life due to embracing the physical over the metaphysical, African (American) maids as another “Nigger Jim” figure, a general commentary on poor and proper parenting or negligent white mothers having enough money to hide their poor parenting, white supremacy as schizophrenia passed to and manifested in African people as colorism or self-hatred, the manner in which African (American) intellect and culture has existed despite and beyond white culture and oppression as an example of African intellect and culture existing before white culture, the truth and importance of acknowledging African diversity as complex and layered beings (which speaks to their humanity as Margaret Walker does with and for the slaves in Jubilee), the struggle of good-intentioned whites to overcome their own racism, and (of course) the troping or connecting of African oppression with female oppression (allowing the book to be a manifesto on the plight of the female under male oppression). Each of these themes is well painted through intricate character development and creative plot weaving.

There seem to be only two flaws, and both can be considered major. The first issue is the use of faulty or flawed dialect, specifically Stockett’s use of “Law” for “Lawd” as in “Lawd have mercy.” I have been unable to finish a few books wherein I found flawed or inauthentic dialect, but in this case it does not seem to bother me as much, probably because there are no other glaring dialect issues. Also, I realize that I am reading a book through a white writer’s eyes (even though the narrative is equally shared by two maids and a recent white female college graduate), and I can accept that to her ears she does not hear the “d” in “Lawd.” Because there is not an abundance of flaws in the dialect, I am not distracted from the narrative though a few of my friends and colleagues have been too distracted to even finish chapter one. Secondly, I agree with Ishmael Reed that, in most cases, white feminists use the African male as the face of sexism. And I cannot help but wonder if this is true in The Help. While she is clear, vivid, and precise about the horrors of racism that Afro-Southerners endure in the 1960s, Stockett presents two positive adult white males (Skeeter’s father and Celia’s husband) and not one positive adult African male. There are two male sons of maids that are portrayed in a positive manner, but neither achieves maturity as a sovereign adult male: one dies in an accident, and one is beaten until he is blind. In fact, the one African male whom Stockett develops as more than a symbol of the Civil Rights Movement is Leroy, the husband of Minny, and he beats Minny regularly. Is there not one maid whose husband does not beat her? Is there not one average African male who is not a threat to his community? And as a well-skilled craftsman, Stockett appropriates and connects Leroy’s evil with the evil of white male sexism and schizophrenia, especially when Minny and Celia, Minny’s boss, are attacked by an insane, naked white man. Yet, in combining the two events to develop her theme of universal or female oppression and struggle, Stockett seemingly paints Leroy and all African men with a broader, more stereotypical stroke than white men. The insane, naked white man in Celia’s backyard is never equated with all other white men. However, just before the insane, naked white man appears, Stockett has Celia showing concern for Minny’s plight, even attempting to come to Minny’s aid:

“Minny?” Miss Celia says, eyeing the cut again. “Are you sure you [cut your forehead] in the bathtub?” I run the water just to get some noise in the room. “I told you I did and I did. Alright?” She gives me a suspicious look and points her finger at me. “Alright, but I’m fixing you a cup of coffee and I want you to just take the day off, okay?…You know,” she says kind of low, “You can talk to me about anything, Minny.” (304-305).

During the attack by the insane, naked white man, Stockett connects Minny’s beating from Leroy to the beating that she takes from the insane, naked white man: “It’s like he knows me, Minny Jackson. He’s staring with his lip curled like I deserved every bad day I’ve ever lived, every night I haven’t slept, every blow Leroy’s ever given. Deserved it and more” (305). And after Celia comes to Minny’s aid, in the similar way that Skeeter, the book’s white co-protagonist, comes to the aid of and provides voice to the maids, Stockett connects, once again, Minny’s beating by Leroy to the beating by the insane, naked white man, but does so in a manner that can be seen as painting the majority of African males with this stereotypical brush: “‘So what you gone do about it?’ Aibileen asks and I know she means the eye. We don’t talk about me leaving Leroy. Plenty of black men leave their families behind like trash in a dump, but it’s just not something the colored women do” (310 – 311). Stockett is careful to have her character use “plenty” rather than most, but the message is received, especially since there are no white women who exist in physically abusive relationships in the novel. And because her own, childhood maid and caretaker was “married to a mean, abusive drinker,” then that must be the lasting image of African men in her novel. In fact for all of the fear and potential consequence the African women face from providing stories for the book, it seems that the greatest threat comes from Leroy, as Minny states: “Look, Aibileen, I ain’t gone lie. I’m scared Leroy gone kill me if he find out” (429). And when Leroy discovers that he has been fired from his job because of Minny contributing stories to the book, of course, all black savage Negro hell breaks out: “Minny panting and heaving. ‘He throw the kids in the yard and lock me in the bathroom and say he gone light the house on fire with me locked inside!” (437). Thus, escaping life with Leroy, who by now has become the face of all African men, is as important as escaping white supremacy: “Still, what’s important is, Minny’s away from Leroy” (439). Whether Stockett knows it or not, this representation of African domestic violence is just one more use of writing as skin privilege, one more use of writing as a smokescreen to keep hidden the obscene abusive relationships that do exist in “white” marriages and partnerships. Stokett writes well, but she runs the risk of hopelessly reinforcing ideas of white supremacy, even if she does so unconsciously. Additionally, those who have profited from reading Dessa Rose, Beloved, and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman—works that deal with recording someone else’s story—may find that Stockett has consciously or unconsciously used the African male body as a symbol or smokescreen for all evil or merely to placate the supremacy of her white readers.

As one who has engaged countless books, I have developed the ability to take what is well-done or beneficial from a work and ignore what is poorly done or what is not effective. For instance, I continue to enjoy two hundred and twenty-one of the two hundred and forty-two pages of African (American) poet and theorist Carl Phillips’ book Coin of the Realm: Essays on the Life and Art of Poetry. Not only do I not agree with the twenty-one pages that constitute the chapter “Boon and Burden: Identity in Contemporary American Poetry,” in which he provides his assessment of the poetry of the Black Arts Movement, I find his attempt to couch his subjective denouncement of the poetry of the Black Arts Movement as objective theory to be thin and flimsy. However, the rest of the book is a worthwhile read. In this same manner, Stockett’s painting African men in such broad strokes does not completely destroy the narrative for me. There was no way to expect a southern white writer, even one self-exiled to New York, to indict solely white men or white culture for the evils of the South. Besides, the Negro boogeyman still sells as well as sex does. For chronological and cultural context she evokes the names of Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King, Jr., even as they are moreso flat, one-dimensional symbols of the moment or the meaning of the moment, but there is no adult African male who rises to the humanity and goodness of Skeeter’s father and Celia’s husband. Still, what saves the narrative is her wonderful use of imagery, her ability to construct complex characters for complex times—especially the manner in which Skeeter is forced to realize and engage her own racist tendencies and sensibilities, the presentation of Aibileen and Minny as intellectual equals to Skeeter—especially their full development into storytellers, the novels biting humor, and the unflinching portrayal of the horrors endured by African people in America, showing the Klan and white southern culture to be equal to the Taliban. After completing the manuscript, Aibileen and Minny are finally able to impress on Skeeter the seriousness of their endeavor:

The room grows quiet. It’s dark outside the window. The post office is already closed so I brought [the manuscript] over to show to Aibileen and Minny one last time before I mail it…“What if they find out?” Aibileen says quietly…We haven’t talked about this in a while…we haven’t really discussed the actual consequences besides the maids losing their jobs. For the past eight months, all we’ve thought about is just getting it written… “Minny, you got your kids to think about,” Aibileen says…[Skeeter says] “Aibileen, do you really think they’d…hurt us? I mean, like what’s in the papers?” Aibileen cocks her head at me, confused. She wrinkles her forehead like we’ve had a misunderstanding. “They’d beat us. They’d come out here with baseball bats. Maybe they won’t kill us but…’” (365-366).

As Stockett echoes in the postlude, “Too Little, Too Late,” “In The Help there is one line that I truly prize: ‘Wasn’t that the point of the book? For women to realize, We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I’d thought’” (451). For Stockett, The Help seems to be a commentary and celebration of the “universality” of humanity, especially the plight of women in a sexist world. And while I agree more with Langston Hughes’s notion of “universality” from his seminal essay, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” that “universality” is more of a trap or ploy to create within African people an “urge within the race toward whiteness, the desire to pour racial individuality into the mold of American standardization, and to be as little Negro and as much American as possible” (1267), I can applaud Stockett for attempting to tell her truth, which is another motif of the novel, and for having her protagonist struggle with that truth in much the same manner as Baldwin does in Evidence of Things Not Seen. Skeeter struggles with her relationship with Minny who is not as placating as Aibileen, and she struggles with just how much truth she tells about her own mother’s relationship with their former maid, Constantine, who was like a mother to her. Yet, what makes Skeeter heroic is not that she single-handedly saves or leads Aibileen and Minny or becomes the lone wolf against the backlash of her white community but that she continues her journey toward self-discovery as she continues her journey to learn every aspect about the community that has birth and molded her, even when the journey does not promise anything but the truth, which very well may be a truth that will disrupt the foundation of the life she knows.

The Help is already a New York Times Bestseller and will probably be a summer block buster. And while I wonder if this same book would be loved if written by an African woman, especially considering that even at so-called liberal MFA and PhD creative writing programs and literary journals white professors and editors are careful not to allow whites to be painted as the sole antagonist in African poetry and fiction, which makes it even more interesting that Stockett does not list Richard Wright, Margaret Walker Alexander, and Ellen Douglas as noteworthy Mississippians in her postlude, there is no denying that Stockett has crafted a well-told story that receives its tension from the layering of characterization and the conflict that Stockett battled as she wrote it:

The Help is fiction, by and large. Still, as I wrote it, I wondered an awful lot what my family would think of it, and what Demetrie [the maid who helped raise her] would have thought too, even though she was long dead. I was scared, a lot of the time, that I was crossing a terrible line, writing in the voice of a black person. I was afraid I would fail to describe a relationship that was so intensely influential in my life, so loving, so grossly stereotyped in American history…Like my feelings for Mississippi, my feelings for The Help conflict greatly…I am afraid I have told too much…I am afraid I have told too little…What I am sure about is this: I don’t presume to think that I know what it really felt like to be a black woman in Mississippi, especially in the 1960s. I don’t think it is something any white woman on the other end of a black woman’s paycheck could ever truly understand. But trying to understand is vital to our humanity (450-451).

To be clear, I am a Black Nationalist who thinks that Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in professional baseball only served to limit greatly the number of black-owned businesses as integration has merely meant the perpetuation of African second-class citizenship. And for those quick to identify the election of President Obama as a great achievement of American integration I assert that he was only elected because Bush II drove the American Titanic into the economic iceberg and that the emergence of the Tea Party has the same historical significance of the emergence of the Klan after the Hayes-Tilden Compromise. However, the value in Stockett’s writing is that she does not settle for the falsity of “Can’t we all just get along?” but seeks to present difficult questions about the struggle of personal and communal concerns, showing that we all must make difficult decisions of how best to navigate those waters to achieve what is best for oneself, one’s race, and others who seem different than us. Though not nearly as dense, Stockett uses the historical novel in much the same way as Walker uses Jubilee—to forecast, make commentary, and raise timely questions that the readers will be forced to ignore or answer. But, even if those questions are ignored, Stockett has fulfilled her artistic responsibility of painting a work that raises these uncomfortable questions.

Works Cited

DuBois, W. E. B. “The Criteria of Negro Art.” The Norton Anthology of African American

Literature. Ed. Henry Louis Gates. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.

Hughes, Langston. “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.” The Norton Anthology of

African American Literature. Ed. Henry Louis Gates. New York: W. W. Norton &

Company, 1997.

Stockett, Kathryn. The Help. New York: Amy Einhorn Books, 2009.

Note: Although Margaret Walker Alexander was not a native of Mississippi, she spent thirty years writing and teaching at Jackson State University. And in the same way that Angela Ball is not a native Mississippian but is noted as an exemplary Mississippi writer, as she should be, so should Alexander be noted as an exemplary Mississippi writer.

The Mighty Mississippi

2011-05-20T11:47:00.001-05:00

This seems rather appropriate now. I just ran across it when someone reminded me of Judy Henske and I looked for her on Youtube, and found this beautiful rendition of a song I love:

There is a also a great version of this by Irma Thomas (the Irma Thomas caption explains what the words really signify - a warning to escaped slaves that the dogs are being sent after them and they should get in the water to throw them off the scent)

And another great version, a classic Staple Singers:

Surprisingly, I found a Big Mama Thornton recording of this song and it was the first thing I've run across from her that I don't care for.

Prayers for all of those still in harm's (waters) way.

Graduations attract deadbeat dads…

2011-05-10T08:58:00.000-05:00

and heretofore missing moms

By Guest Blogger HILLIARD LACKEY

Graduations, commencements or other school-ending exercises bring out long-lost relatives and friends.

The most intriguing among these are deadbeat dads and missing moms resurfacing after eons of being out of contact, out of mind and out of the lives of children who achieved in spite of abandonment.

School closings and the awarding of diplomas and degrees have some kind of eerily magnetic attraction for deadbeat dads and increasingly moms who have been missing in action (MIA) for previous years.. Somehow they get word that their otherwise abandoned children are being honored, and, with camcorder in hand, they show up beaming and basking in the glory of their offspring's' achievement.

These Johnny-come-lately, ought-to-have-been-here fathers' and Jane-come-lately mothers’ presence confounds children and their guardians alike. They want to feel pleased and proud but must first overcome anger and resentment. It's a toss-up as to which is exhibited.

These are the fathers and mothers who failed Parenthood 101, which only requires love, moral support and nurturing. Many dads are in the deadbeat category because of confusing financial support (Fatherhood 201) with just maintaining a presence of the lives of their children. MIA Mothers have similar reasons for falling into the same category.

Many men are known to just walk away rather than face a family with empty pockets and dim chances of being able to shoulder financial responsibilities. Frustrated mothers, especially teenagers, grapple with the awesome prospects of moving from childhood to parenthood and give up their child or children to grandparents. Breakups of marriages, relationships and related situations have their place as backdrops to disconnecting fathers and mothers from families. So do "Mama's baby, Daddy's maybe" predicaments where paternity is in question. The saddest scenario is that of the hit-and-run father who never acknowledges any responsibility but boasts of being "Mac Daddy of the Shorty."

Some children growing up without the presence and participation of biological fathers are fortunate to have stepfathers or other father figures who fill the void and provide the other half of parental guidance. That is not often the case as women (mothers) head more than half the households in many urban and poor communities.

While single mothers are likely to leave a child in the hands of grandparents, more and more married moms are leaving one or more children with a dad.

Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Clubs, Jack and Jill organizations, the Links, 100 Black Men, 100 Black Women, and numerous other groups were formed to address the rapidly expanding problem of children without active fathers - and sometimes mothers - in their lives.

The naked truth: Disconnected parents tend to reconnect, albeit briefly, with their estranged children at graduation exercises. Even more astonishing are incidences where graduation is the very first time some children come face-to-face with parents having been theretofore missing in action.

Such men are known colloquially as "sperm donors" and shy away from assisting with the long journey of preparation but delight in using a camcorder to record the accomplishment of graduation. Sadly, or it is gladly, missing mothers find ways to reconnect graduation approaches as well.

Some say better late than never.

Dr. Hilliard Lackey hlackey@bellsouth.net.

If it weren't so rude to say I told you so . . .

2011-04-25T17:44:00.001-05:00

If it weren't so rude to say I told you so . . . I'd say I told you so.

Haley's not running for President in 2012 (oh, I am shocked, I tell you, shocked).

Now the guessing game is what he needed the extra large helping of name recognition for (and yes, I know I'm ending a sentence in a preposition - but it's not the first ime and won't be the last).

I could never believe that he actually thought he could win, and as the bad news piled on time after time (usually from unfortunate statements he made, but occasionaly from unfortunate statements his staff made), I kept waiting for the shoe to drop.

It took so long, I began to wonder if I was wrong, but then a letter from his son to Bill Kristol was made public in which his son said that he had begged his dad not to run. Soon after, Barbour's wife, Marsha, noted that the possibility of a run "horrifies me." That's when I relaxed and settled back into a state of complacent know-it-all, twiddling my thumbs as I waited for the inevitable.

One question, though. Since Barbour is out of it, will the media and the blogging world get off Mississippi's back? What state will everyone else make fun of now? And who even knows where Trump was born (or was he was hatched out of a bad-hair egg)? Questions, questions.

Haley's Al Jeereza Problem????

2011-04-18T20:38:00.000-05:00

I'm really annoyed tonight and while I hadn't planned on talking about Haley Barbour again for a while, I can't help but mention him, at least in passing.

First I read about some radical anti-Islamic wingnuts who are lashing Haley for . . . get this . . . his purported ties to Al Jareeza. Good grief, already. It's not as though Haley doesn't have enough holes in his halo (and I mean REAL holes), now the wingnuts are after him for something fairly innocuous, and not really something they can lay at his door. To be fair to Barbour, his old lobbying firm was employed by Al Jareeza after Haley left the firm. Even though he still receives "retirement" money form them, and I may have some thoughts I'll keep to myself (at least tonight) about the degree of separation he has from his old firm, this is pretty thin gruel.

What really got my goat, however, was the blog post on FitsNews.com (unfair, unbalanced, according to the site). Yeah, I'll say. His/Her last line after doing a rundown on the Barbour/Al Jareeza contretemps was

Besides, there are plenty of other reasons to vote against Barbour … starting with the joke of a state he governs.

What? So MISSISSIPPI is the reason no one should vote for Haley Barbour? All of us, bub? It's not enough we've had to put up with the man running education and poor folks into the ground for the last eight years, but now we're a joke of a state and the reason other Americans shouldn't vote for Barbour? I guess it'd just be better to vote for some outstanding Republican from another state, like say, Donald Trump, Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachman?

This may seem like a little thing to some of you, but I've heard way too many cracks like that - and this one is from some anonymous blogger.

If you ain't got the guts to put your name on it, then, son, keep your wiseass remarks to yourself. I say son, because I'm pretty sure this is a guy (and men claim WOMEN are catty - whew!)

2011 Juke Joint Festival - Day Events

2011-04-17T13:59:00.004-05:00

I attended the Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, MS, for the day events (too old to spend all day and then half the night!).

It was absolutely wonderful! The last time I went, they only had the night time events. This is much like the Sunflower Blues Festival, only more spread out (read as "wear your walking shoes"), and much, much cooler. The weather was a wee bit chill because of the cool breeze blowing, but with a light jacket, it was delightful (much better than stewing in the sun in August).

There were too many acts too spread apart to see even a quarter of them (kudus to Roger Stolle of Cathead for such a great line-up!). I have a photo album up here.

I saw V alerie Jun e for the first time, and she is something else! I love her unique voice and style (she runs it high and low and some other wonderful places) . On top of stunning originality, she is one beautiful young lady (not to mention, a very nice and down-to-earth person as well). Thanks for the nice conversation, Valerie June!

Another old-timer I hoped to see, Cedell Davis, was playing down by the Old Roxy with the Brethren.

L.C. Ulmer was there and I had been wanting to hear him for a long time, and was happy to hear him (and he's wonderful). There were so many of my favorites there, and I hate that I missed Big Joe Shelton (Joe, my feet gave out before I got there). I missed him because I couldn't move fast enough between L.C. Ulmer's stage and Big Joe's stage, but I know and love Joe, and had never seen L.C. before.

I was glad to see Pat Thomas there, still singing and still selling his folk art. Pat is the son of the deceased blues legend Son Thomas, and continues his legacy in both music and folk art. If you want to buy some of his original art (usually cats on various 'found' media, as well as sculpted and/or carved heads), call him at 662-579-5310. Pat says all of his objects and artwork come with hoodoo power (so get some good hoodoo from Pat).

The inimitable Rev. John Wilkins was there with Water Valley's finest, Jake Fussell, accompanying. I didn't buy the new cd yet, but it's on my list, because it's fabulous (when he sings "You Got to Move", you GOT to move).

Rocking in Oxford

2011-02-25T12:10:00.012-06:00

It was a dark and stormy night in Oxford Mississippi, with tornado watches, rain, thunder and lightening, and some of that was inside . . .

Thacker Mountain Radio had a special show in conjunction with the Blues Symposium, (check out the rest of the schedule for the Blues Symposium at local night spots) and the live radio show was at the Lyric Theater, a much larger venue than the usual one at Off Square Books, the Square Books offshoot, and home to TMR. As usual, lead-in comments by MC Jim Dees and Yalobushwhacker lead Duff Dorrough had the place rolling in the aisles.

The place was jamming, starting with the house band Yalobushwhackers, then moved to a reading by author Elizabeth Stuckey-French from her book, Revenge of the Radioactive Lady, a humorously noir fiction inspired by the true story of cold war scientists who fed pregnant women radioactive cocktails in the early 1950’s.

After that, we were ready for Alvin Youngblood Hart

performing his own “radio” active blues. Alvin is one of my favorite young ("young" being relative) blues musicians, or just musician period, since I’m never sure when I go to see him if I’m going to hear rock, blues, rockabilly, jazz, rap or a mix of some or all of these. Whatever he does, he does superbly, and last night was no exception. He was accompanied by former Squirrel Nut Zippers main man, Jimbo Mathus, who played a tin fife and what I’d call a tambourine (made from the jawbone of an ass). Mathus has done a lot of things since the SNZ’s, but I’ve always loved that band name, so had to drop it in here.

They were followed by Y.Z. Ealey a staple of the Natchez blues scene that I had heard about, but never actually heard before, although I’d seen his younger brother, Theodis Ealey, in a blues festival in Sardis, MS. Wish I had been able to see them together in the band they once had, with brother Melwin Ealey, called Y.Z. Ealey and the Merrymakers.

This was followed by a tune from a rockabilly musician, also from Natchez, Grey Montgomery. Interestingly enough, when he had a radio show and band back in the 50’s he had a young man apply to play piano for him, but declined to hire him to for that position, because of his “plunk-plunk” style. Instead he hired aspiring piano player Jerry Lee Lewis to play drums for him. I’m not even going to speculate on where Mr. Grey’s path since may have led had he taken Jerry on as piano player.

The end of the show was overtime and probably not on the live radio show broadcast from Oxford, but I really, really hope it ends up in the recorded show that plays on Mississippi Public Broadcasting (7 pm Saturday nights).

Whew.... talk about thunder and lightening!

I’ve seen the Rev. John Wilkins before, at the Otha Turner Family Goat BBQ, singing his father’s song, Prodigal Son (popularized by the Rolling Stones), and he was something else, but in the two or three years since I’d seen him, he’s blossomed even more. I was totally blown away by his performance, he is at the peak of his abilities, and they are tremendous. He sang from his new album “You Can’t Hurry God”, both the title tune and “You Got to Move”, (and I DID have to move) and in the big finale with all the other musicians who played earlier, “May the Circle Be Unbroken”, inviting everyone to sing along.

His voice was backed up, revved up, electrified, by deeply talented local blues musicians Eric Deaton and Jake Fussell! You can get the new album, which I believe features all three, online. It’s going to be the biggest music bargain you get for a long long time.

After all that excitement, I had to tone my adrenalin down to run over to the Ford Center to hear Louise Leakey’s lecture and slideshow, which I enjoyed thoroughly. She ended with a slide of the Grand Canyon with it’s extruded earth layers, and said that OUR layer would be a plastic layer. Words to ponder. There were several flickers of the lights as the thunderstorm moved through outside, but in the midst of that building, all was dry and calm, just the trip home was interesting (I passed an area without lights and with trash and sections of tin roofing scattered about).

Photographs were provided courtesy of Mr. Scott Baker (thank you so much!)

Tweeting Sarah Palin!

2011-01-30T12:07:00.002-06:00

I'm feeling in a fun mood today, and if I tweeted (I don't), I'd tweet Sarah Palin.

It'd probably go like this, "Better talk to Amy Tuck about her pick-up truck."

The wild rumors have been swirling around (and I do mean WILD), with two equally weird scenarios: either Palin for pres and Haley for vp, or vice versa.

I can't keep from chuckling - I don't know what Haley is aiming for, and I doubt the presidency is it (although running for it, or pretending to, could be the ends to his means), but the idea of him and Sarah just brings up a vision of Amy Tuck and her Pick-up Truck, and the way Barbour bamboozled her.

Now, I don't even know for sure if Tuck has a grudge against Barbour, but I do know that if she doesn't, she's more intellectually-challenged than her numerous attempts to pass the Mississippi Bar, before finally succeeding, might indicate.

I was poking around and found Barbour's assessment of Palin as a bona-fide energy expert, and had to laugh again. Then I found the one where he damned her with faint praise, then fell all over himself to suck up to her.

If Haley wants to torpedo Palin, he won't do it directly, he'll be a sneak about it, and he might even play Newt for the job. I know Newt is a very savvy, smart man, but I also believe Haley can outmaneuver and out-sneak him.

Amy, hun, do you tweet? Give Sarah a shout-out - just in case.

Haley's Watermelon Problem

2010-12-23T11:56:00.004-06:00

I've been reading all the flap about Barbour's recent comments in the cover story of a conservative mag and I've been having a hard time not yawning, even as his backtracking explanations raises the level of the noise as holes are blown in those as well. I understand that people outside of Mississippi don't know that much about Haley other than the national media hype about him being a leader in the Republican Party (which is a case of the truth, but not the whole truth - not by a long shot). Still, it's such old news here, I've gotten a bit inured to his public mouth hinting at his private mind.

Considering the body of work that is lying there ripe for the plucking, Haley doesn't have a spit in hell chance of winning, IF he could get the nomination, and I doubt he'll even try (and I see the national media will finally trip over his old watermelon zinger considering the blog traffic it's getting).

Damage control is already percolating from the rightwing blogs in this state, with the over-the-top uber-rightie in top dog-chasing-his-tail mode, even as the top rightie blog here takes a somewhat more moderate approach. I suppose, with all the barking from Majority in Mississippi, Alan Lange and cohorts at Y'all Politics can relax a little and let them chase the fox.

They're all linking to the 2004 speech in the Neshoba Democrat (which has also put up a defense linking to that same speech from 2004 when he bulled his way into the 40th Anniversary ceremonies honoring Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner).

I've been told Barbour was not invited, but I suppose he felt he had to provide himself some cover, and talk is the cheapest currency available. I don't know what the other folks on the stage with him thought (deserving folks like John Lewis, Andrew Goodman's mother, Carolyn, and Dick Molpus; and other questionables like the ever smarmy, but not yet outed, Chip Pickering), but there was a buzz in the audience, and none of it was "Wow, ain't I glad to see HIM". I was there, and I doubt anyone but Barbour and Pickering were impressed all his fine words, but they're there for the record, and he was smart to do it (totally hypocritical, but totally politically wise).

Just an aside - I bet Prince (the editor of the Neshoba Democrat) just chokes on that word after Neshoba, unless he has a sense of humor and finds the irony enjoyable, considering the flip-flop in the national parties since civil war times. One thing is for sure, in spite of his participation in reconciliation efforts, Prince is no Stanley Dearman, but I give him props for participating, even while feeling some reservations about his motivations.

I don't believe that Haley is going to make a serious run for the presidency, although he might believe the attention of a short sortie will be good for whatever else he wants to do (wonder if he misses all that lobbying money?). Maybe he wants to be the head of the Republican Party again . . . who knows, he was such a good money-raiser, the old flap about so much of it being Chinese money will have died down by now.

Whatever Haley thinks he can get, he'll probably get; he's a wily political manipulator, and whatever you see on the surface isn't likely to be what's underneath. If he wanted to make a run, he probably has the money backing him, but I'll be surprised if that's what he is ultimately aiming at.

I'll just be glad to get him out of Mississippi's hair when his last term runs out at the end of the upcoming year. I'd like to pull a Rip Van Winkle til then.

Update: There's a great coverage and commentary about this whole brouhaha over at the NMSCommentator blog, in several (nearly consecutive) posts, interesting opinions. Someone there brought up the possibility that he may be aiming for the senate, and that's such an obvious possibility, I can't believe it didn't occur to me (should Thad Cochran retire, which, considering his age and other factors, is a distinct possibility).

Sleeping with the enemy

2010-11-03T11:44:00.002-05:00

This title may be a trifle melodramatic, but it fits the downfall of two of Mississippi's Democratic representatives.

I hate to say “I told you so,” and I hate to belabor a point, but the events of last night make it hard to go anywhere else.

I was not terribly surprised that Travis Childers lost to Alan Nunnalee last night, but I was a bit surprised that the coast tossed out Gene Taylor, who has been their staunchest defender and coastal workhorse for so long, but looking at his recent actions as well as his long-standing conservative stances, it’s hard not to compare what happened to him with what happened to Childers.

I haven’t heard anyone else voicing this opinion, but here is how I see it: Both of these men spent time courting folks who wouldn’t vote for them no matter what they did (as long as the “D” sat beside their name). That time would have been better spent courting their own moderates and independents, who were important (even pivotal, in Childers’ case) to their election last time. Both men trashed their own side, trying to curry favor with the radical right-wingers in the state, and not only frittered their time and money away on those futile attempts, but in the process, de-energized crucial portions of their electorate.

These two went too far right and distanced themselves (to the point of de facto attacks) from their own party leadership.If they had read Yall and Majority in Mississippi, it would been more than apparent that trying to curry favor with the right was useless anyhow.

I don’t want to vote for someone who will say whatever is politically expedient, and vote whatever way is politically expedient. I held my nose and did it, but a lot of folks who don’t lean strongly right simply didn’t care enough to vote. I can’t say that I blame them too much this year, particularly since there doesn’t seem to be a substantive difference between Childers and Nunnalee, other than their party – and being affiliated with a party that put a half-black man in the Presidency seems to be the death knell to too many in the state of Mississippi.
It’s not sure that working on their bases and ignoring the naysayers on the other side would have won their races for them in Mississippi, but they might have squeaked by, and if not, lost less handily to their opponents, and at least retained their dignity and showed the courage of their convictions, had they had the guts to do it.

Look at the one man who stayed true to his base – Bennie Thompson. There’s a lot of dissatisfaction with Bennie, and not only from the Republicans in his district, but he’s still in office. There was no pandering to the opposition in his case. I understand that he had more favorable numbers than the other two guys, but to go further afield – look at Harry Reid. He embraced who he was, he played to his base, not to the opposition, he had help from Obama, and he squeaked by in spite of some heavy money on the other side. I have been fairly critical of Reid for numerous reasons in the past, but I can’t fault him this election.

Who is paying for all of Barbour's trips?

2010-10-10T12:26:00.002-05:00

I've been reading over and over about campaign trips that Barbour was taking, but no one has mentioned who's paying for it, and I'm wondering. Does anyone have any information on this? If you do, please let me know, one way or another. If the taxpayers in this state are paying for him to go raise money and votes for other Republicans, I want my money back.

I hadn't realized just how much he had been gone until I read Emily Wagster Pettus' article on the subject.

State finance records also showed Barbour was out of state all or part of 145 days — nearly five months — during the state budget year that ended June 30.

Hard to believe that he was gone almost half the freaking year, but probably not such a bad thing (having the Porky gone), if he's not doing it on our dime.

Considering that the libertarian Cato Institute has given Barbour a "C" for fiscal policy, it wouldn't be hard to believe (and this is the man who campaigned on Musgrove's supposed fiscal irresponsibility).

While I'm on the taxpayer's soapbox, I'm still angry over his slap-down of the taxpayers in Mississippi on eminent domain. I sincerely hope the initiative from the Farm Bureau to reform eminent domain is passed. Time for the people taxpayers to come out ahead of the corporate taxpayers (much of which tax is remitted back to them via sweetheart deals to bring them to the state, including kicking ordinary folks off their land to give to the corporation with tax incentives that they use up and then move on).

Discontent with Obama is misplaced

2010-09-06T11:13:00.005-05:00

By Hilliard Lackey

President Barack Obama currently has an approval rating of 42% which is identical to what President Ronald Reagan had at the same point on the second Labor Day of his first term in office in 1982. History has proven that discontent with Reagan was misplaced and the White House is saying the same about popular opinion against Obama.

“It’s the economy, stupid”
Indeed, James Carville’s historic concoction for Bill Clinton’s campaign in 1992 may be the saving grace for the Obama Administration or its death knell. Until and unless there is a significant dip in unemployment and a significant rise in economic activity, opinion polls will reflect discontent with the leadership.

Vickie Kraft of Regent University has put together a rather comprehensive treatise on discontent and its misapplication. She holds that discontent distorts the past and destroys the present. Bold assertions but premises rooted in Exodus 15:24. Human nature is fickle and people have short memories. In the case of the Biblical example, the Hebrews apparently quickly forgot being freed from over 400 years of bondage, crossing the Red Sea, and being set on a course to the Promised Land. Instead, they focused on the state of the economy, their present lack of food and water, and blamed leadership.

The American people just may be undergoing a similar reaction to what was and what is. President Obama inherited two wars and a woeful state of affairs with respect to the economy. He has reduced the war efforts to one war and instituted corrective measures to turn the economy around that so far have managed to stop the downward spiral but not yet produced a noticeable upturn. The “Promised Land” can be seen from the mountain top but not from the lowlands. Thus, discontent runs rampant to the point of a 42% approval rating.

Discontent is not necessarily a naturally occurring groundswell based on real or even imagined reactions to the state of affairs. In today’s political climate even in the best of times, discontent is what the party not in power concocts, promotes, and uses as a platform to regain power. This struggle between the two parties pushes and pulls the uncommitted voting public to the left or right depending on how they feel at the moment.

The ploy is to find something that can be used as a “whipping boy” or “scapegoat” to attract attention. The economy is the present “lightning rod.”

The party on the inside is saying remember who created this situation that we inherited. Look what we are doing to fix it and remember that it takes time to remedy. The party on the outside is asking the people to look at the current state of affairs and blame the elected leadership. Like in Exodus 15:25, people have short memories and point fingers.

History can be kind as well as cruel. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected in 1932 and summarily led Americans out of the Great Depression. No, it was not instantaneous but a methodical, even-paced transition from a flat lined state of affairs to an upward spiral. In the end, Americans were singing songs about the man. Maybe we were so united during World War II that no one dared think of the frivolous shortcomings of the womanizing paraplegic. No disparaging words from the “outside” party could lessen his appeal to those basking in the glory of his leadership.

The Naked Truth: President Obama’s low approval rating is on a par with previous presidents presiding over a sick economy left by their predecessors at the same point in their first term. People have short memories and whether good or bad attribute what is happening to who is in office. Interestingly, the American public can and will react favorably to an upturn in the economy. Presidents’ approval ratings tend to parallel employment upswings and boosts in the economy. James Carville may have been right when he said “It’s the economy stupid.”

--Dr. Hilliard Lackey is a Columnist and Professor of Urban Higher Education, History and Geography

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Note from the editor: Dr. Lackey's "The Naked Truth" column will start appearing on this blog, by special permission. I am greatly honored by his decision to allow me post these in my blog, and I thank him! There is no doubt that Dr. Lackey is not a redneck, remedial or otherwise, but in appreciation of his generosity, I'm making him an honorary remedial redneck, so that he can enjoy all the wonderful perks the rest of us enjoy (for the irony-impaired, that is what passes for a joke from me). Dr. Lackey writes some great columns, so....enjoy!

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“Tell Me Why You Like Roosevelt” or “Franklin D. Roosevelt, The Poor Man’s Friend.”

Otis Jackson and Washington Phillips

Why’d you like Roosevelt? Weren’t no kin
Why’d you like Roosevelt? Weren’t no kin
Why’d you like Roosevelt? Weren’t no kin
Lord God Almighty, he’s the poor man’s friend

Year of nineteen forty-five
A good president laid down and died
I knew how all of the poor people felt
When they received the message we lost Roosevelt
In his life there were all indications
At Warm Springs Georgia he received salvation
Listen friend, don’t you rush
Elizabeth Shimano she grabbed the brush
She dipped it in water and began to paint
Looked at the president and began to faint
She never painted a picture for him at night
Knew that the president didn’t look right
The time of day it was twelve o’clock
Tell me that Elizabeth had to stop
Great God almighty she started too late
That’s why they call this that unfinished portrait
A little bit later, about one-thirty
Had a cerebral hemorrhage and the world looked muddy
They called Atlanta and Washington too
Like zigzag lightning the call went through
They called long distance to notify his wife
Dr Bruin said he died at three thirty-five
Great God Almighty weren’t no bells to tollin’
But in less than thirty minutes the world was in mournin’

And I cried about Roosevelt (weren’t no kin)
I cried about Roosevelt (weren’t no kin)
I cried about Roosevelt (weren’t no kin)
Great God Almighty was the poor man’s friend

Only two presidents that we ever felt
Were Abraham Lincoln and Roosevelt
Way back yonder in the olden days
Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves
Roosevelt’s administration Congress assembled
First time in history ‘ppointed a Negro general
General Benjamin O Davis I’m trying to relate
First Negro general of the United States
After Dorie Miller had shown his skill
They kept sending him to sea until he got killed
Then Roosevelt said that “I’ll back the attack”
Appointed a Negro captain over white and black
This qualified man was Hugh Mulzac
Racial prejudice he tried to rule out
Invited Negro leaders into the White House
He advocated the fair practice of labor
To let the poor man know he was our emancipator
Made Madame Bethune the First Lady of the land
And made part of his will to Mr Prettyman
He endorsed inventions of Dr Carver
This is why that I say he was an earthly father
Cause he took my feet out of the miry clay
Haven’t had to look back at the WPA

That’s why I liked Roosevelt (weren’t no kin)
That’s why I liked Roosevelt (weren’t no kin)
That’s why I liked Roosevelt (weren’t no kin)
Lord God Almighty was the poor man’s friend

Well, Hoover’s administration Congress assembled
All of the poor folk began to tremble
The rich would ride in the automobile
Depression made poor people rob and steal
Well, look next door at our beloved neighbor
Wasn’t getting anything for their hard labor
But great God almighty they were moonshine stilling
Brought about a crime wave, robbing and killing
After Hoover made the poor man moan
Roosevelt stepped in, gave us a comfortable home

It was sad about Roosevelt
It was sad about Roosevelt
It was sad about Roosevelt

Well, I’ve told you the history of Roosevelt’s life
Now he’s done with his grief and strife
Great God Almighty but he left a sweet wife
Have been so worried since she was a girl
After Roosevelt’s death what would become of the world
She notified her son across the sea
“Don’t get worried about poor me
But keep on fighting for victory
Your father is dead boys, you all are grown
Wouldn’t worry ’bout your father but the world is in mournin’

It was sad about Roosevelt
It was sad about Roosevelt
It was sad about Roosevelt

Well, God Almighty knew just what was best
He knew that the president he needed a rest
His battle done fought, vict’ry done won
Our problems have just begun
Your burden get heavy and you don’t know what to do
Call on Jesus, he’s a president too

It’s sad about Roosevelt
It’s sad about Roosevelt
It’s sad about Roosevelt
Lord God Almighty was a poor man’s friend

Bogus Nunnelee Poll

2010-08-26T20:37:00.008-05:00

I am fuming. I got a call wanting me to take a political poll, but this was really a campaign call disguised as a poll. I'm wondering if they are going to present the findings of that poll as evidence that Alan Nunnelee is ahead of Travis Childers in the northern district of the state.

The questions were slanted in such a way that giving an answer they didn't want made a person sound like an idiot. Many of the questions were phrased as statements that you were asked to agree or disagree with, or state if you would be more likely or less likely to vote for the person after hearing the statement. The statements were all either favorable to Nunnelee or unfavorable to Travis Childers. Some things (a minority) I knew were true, but other factors may have weighed more; most of them were things that I didn't know for sure to be true or untrue. It was never stated that these statements were true or not, just "If I told you......., would you be more likely or less likely to vote for (the person the statement was about).

I have one thing to say to Mr. Nunnelee's campaign - I had vowed not to vote for Travis Childers because of the way he let us down on health care - but after taking Nunnelee's "poll", I'm reconsidering. With this sort of dirty politics, I may be forced for vote for Childers after all, rather than abstaining, as I had promised to do.

I've been hearing claims from Nunnelee's camp that he will not run anything but a positive campaign, and accusing Childers of running a negative campaign. If this is an example of the sneaky, underhanded negativity that Nunnelee is employing, he's nothing but another lying politician who needs to be called on his dishonesty.

He's not interested in running on his own record, but only in conning people into voting against Childers and anyone else in the Democratic party that the gullible may dislike and be persuaded that Childer's supports. Childers biggest problem is that he is truly a Democrat in name only, and I can't see much difference between him and the next Republican; except now I can see the difference between him and a particular Republican named Nunnelee, and Childers is coming out looking like the better of the two.

Update: I posted about this over at "Y'all" and called it a push poll. I should have known better than to try to talk reason with anyone on that partisan attack site. Some bright bulb over there has just informed me that I'm mistaken in calling this a push poll. Actually, he wasn't that polite; what he really said was that I don't know what I'm talking about (he'd already said the same of Patsy Brumfield, so I'm feeling the good vibes).

According to Wikipedia,

A push poll is a political campaign technique in which an individual or organization attempts to influence or alter the view of respondents under the guise of conducting a poll. In a push poll, large numbers of respondents are contacted, and little or no effort is made to collect and analyze response data. Instead, the push poll is a form of telemarketing-based propaganda and rumor mongering, masquerading as a poll. Push polls may rely on innuendo or knowledge gleaned from opposition research on an opponent. They are generally viewed as a form of negative campaigning.[1] The term is also sometimes used inaccurately to refer to legitimate polls which test political messages, some of which may be negative. Push polling has been condemned by the American Association of Political Consultants,[2] and is illegal in New Hampshire.[3]

If this wasn't a push-poll, I don't know what is. Maybe he got confused because I actually dared argue with him. People who read over there regularly tend to believe they should never be contradicted because they are just always RIGHT. Sorta like God, ya know.

Here's what I said over there:
"I took Nunnalee’s “poll” and I can guarantee you it was bogus. I don’t know about Childer’s poll, because they didn’t call me. If it was like the stinking push-poll that Nunnalee was doing, it was worthless except as an excuse to run a negative campaign ad by a person. Don’t ever let Nunnalee tell you he doesn’t do negative ads."

These guys are going to make me vote for Childers yet, in spite of promising not to do it.

Blues Festival Photos!

2010-07-11T14:43:00.006-05:00

Just my latest venture into the world of wonderful hills blues festivals: First off a few photos from the Friday night session of the North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic. I couldn't go both days, so, since big thunderstorms were predicted for Saturday, I rolled to Potts Camp right from work. I hated to miss Saturday, but I hear it RAINED. :-)

This past weekend, I went to one of my favorites in Duck Hill, Mississippi put on by the fine folks at ACER, who are doing some great work with the young people, and I thank them for it. Be sure and support them financially if you can. The Grassroots Blues Festival is one of the friendliest and it's always lots of fun as you can see in these photos. Some of my favorites were there - Ben Peyton, Big Joe Shelton and John Horton are acts I'd go anywhere to see. Jerry Kattawar was his usual irrepressible self, and I think he said hello to each and every person there after he got off the stage. The audience participation is always a hoot. To my Grassroots friend from 2004, a little shout-out - I hear that you are ill. I'm praying for your recovery!

R.I.P. Mississippi Slim

2010-04-22T20:57:00.003-05:00

I was so sad to hear of the death of Mississippi Slim. I've seen him so many times over the years and despaired that, as many photographs of him as I took, I never got a good one. I thought, oh, well, next year....but there won't be any more photos to take.

I loved his showmanship, his clothes - always bright and usually with mismatched shoes and mismatched socks, not to mention hair that might be any color - blue, green, orange, red, purple. He seemed to really enjoy getting out and clowning around, entertaining people, and he always had a big smile for everyone.

Here is a lousy photo of him, but probably the best one I have of him.

How low can Tea Partiers go?

2010-03-21T11:13:00.006-05:00

Amid reports that Tea Party protesters called John Lewis (D. Georgia, civil rights leader who was injured and nearly killed during the Selma March) Andre Carver (D. Indiana) and Emmanuel Cleaver (D. Missouri) "nigger", other despicable behavior was reported. Cleaver says someone spit on him and Barney Franks says he was called "faggot"; Representative Anthony Weiner received an anti-semitic note signed with a swastika, and a brick was thrown thru Rep. Louise Slaughter's office window.

All of that is disturbing, and I'm glad that some Republican leaders have the sense to distance themselves from this behavior, but....

What's really sticking in my craw at the moment is the chorus of Tea Partiers claiming that all of them are lying, including Rep. John Lewis, a respected, upright, and forgiving man, is lying. That's about as low as you can go - first call a man filthy names, then call him a liar for calling you out on it.

Jerry Mitchell's "Journey to Justice" blog

2010-02-14T09:34:00.003-06:00

Jerry Mitchell has a new blog, Journey to Justice, which in it's latest entries, outlines the cases against the remaining three live suspects in the killing of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner, with transcripts of confessions obtained by the FBI.

Go back further, though, because the blog also is raising up the names of lesser-known martyrs of the civil rights struggles of the fifties and sixties. This is a wonderful blog by a man who has an enormous knowledge of this era and massive amounts of information from which to draw.

Way to go, Mr. Mitchell!

Childers Protest

2009-11-13T20:47:00.014-06:00

I attended a Health Care Reform protest in front of a Travis Childers fundraiser in Oxford, MS this evening, and any thought that he might change the minds of any of the ex-supporters of his out there were quickly dispelled. Representative Childers refused to even come out and speak to us. A politician who doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to meet his constituents (especially those who voted for him) doesn't want to keep his job badly enough. At least State Representative Tommy Reynolds and Gubernatorial candidate Bill Luckett had enough sense to greet voters on the way in, even if we were holding signs.

I have to mention Rep. Childer's "greeter" or "hostess" or whoever she was, who was at the front door. I know she was doing her job, and I respect that, but her rudeness to those of us who tried to speak to her in a friendly and polite manner was hard to forgive. I greeted her with a "good evening, how are you?", only to be cut cold as though I were invisible, speechless and leperous. Had anyone been impolite to her it might have been understandable, but that was not the case.

At any rate, all that aside, if he wanted to rebuild any bridges with moderates and independents, not to mention progressives, he threw away a prime chance by totally stiffing the group of 20-30 ex-supporters of his standing in front of the Big Bad Breakfast building. It did not bode well for Childers that he had that many outside and not much more than twice that number inside, unless they sneaked in the back like he did.

Every activist out there, most of them Democrats, with some independents present, stated that they had voted for him and several said that they had contributed to his campaign fund last election. Most of the protestors had had his sign in their yard, some had actively worked to get him elected.

I think, as I've stated before, that Rep. Childers threw away his seat when he refused to vote for Health Care Reform, especially after the Stupak amendment was added to it. If he wouldn't vote for Health Reform even after he'd indicated that providing funds for abortions was one of the major problems, and that problem was removed, it doesn't look as if he ever intended to vote for it, no matter what he said when he was asking for our votes. Someone asked me why I voted for him in the first place, which surprised me. I know he's somewhat conservative, but I did think he was going to vote for health reform, and I hoped for one or two other reasonable votes, moderate votes, rather than conservative votes we've been getting. He's fairly consistently disappointed me so far, and I believe he's made the votes he has so far to gain conservative votes (and what a futile exercise that is - they will all vote for Nunnalee). Childers threw away what he had for what he'll never get. Count him out in 2010.

There were several newspapers taking notes and pictures there, I'll try to add in some links to any stories that become available online later.

Update: This is the Clarion-Ledger coverage. According to their reporter, Northern District U.S. Attorney hopeful Christi McCord said she would never protest even if she disagreed with a candidate because "It shows public discord within my party . . . [making Democrats] seem vulnerable."

Isn't that a strange comment to make about a protest of a Democrat who voted with the Republicans? There's your discord, Ms. McCord, and Rep. Childers is the perpetrator. I see that, and I'm not even a Democrat. He didn't get elected with just Democrats voting for him, because his district is majority Republican. He got where he is on a coalition of Democrats and independents (independents tend to be more moderate than anything else, unlike me).

I think a friend of mine sees what theory Childers is working on - that blacks will vote for him, because they will vote Democrat, no matter how that Democrat behaves in Washington. She may or may not be right, but people who vote for someone and feel betrayed by them tend to stay home or leave that part of their ballot blank next time around. Nunnalee has a lot of clout with conservatives; between those two facts sits Travis Childers, in a hole between a rock and a hard place. I'd like to see him climb out of that hole rather than just close his ears and stubbornly brace himself, but I don't see any signs of that happening. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not holding my breath.

Looks like he avoided the Tea Party protesters and got caught by his own supporters; and that's likely to be his experience in 2010.

There was a snarky sort of story in the Oxford Enterprise; I hate to say it, but the article written by the student newspaper, The Daily Mississippian, was more mature and better researched.

Either Childers really lost his cool over the protest, referring to protesters (in the Oxford Enterprise interview) as "extremists" with something about how "they" were burning bridges behind "them." Maybe he was talking to the party loyals there, but personally, I'm an independent, irrespective of the fact that I usually vote Democratic (as the lesser or two evils). Or maybe he didn't lose his temper so much as display his creds as a dyed-in-the-wool politician, trying to dis his own people (some of whom actually worked for his campaign) to curry favor with the rightwingers in his district.

Face it, Rep. Childers, you're the one burning bridges, when you need to be repairing them.

Related blog post at Natchez Blog

Did Travis Childers just kill his future in the House?

2009-11-08T13:03:00.003-06:00

I think so. I'm going to predict that Alan Nunnalee will take his seat come election time, unless Childers does something quickly to repair fences where they are broken. In my view, his health care vote cut a lot of holes in certain segments of his fence and some of his livestock . . . er . . . voters . . . are in danger of stampeding.

I know that Childers is fighting for his political future in a majority conservative district, and conventional wisdom says that if he voted for the Health Reform bill that the House just passed, it endangered him in his majority Republican district, but I think Childers has a different dynamic with the entrance of the highly visible and well-financed Alan Nunnalee.

Here's how I break it down: Childers won the seat vacated by Wicker by a coalition of voters, getting independent, moderate and liberal votes, as well as a portion of conservative votes. Nunnalee is highly regarded in conservative Republican circles and well-known throughout the state. By voting NO on Health Reform, Childers has alienated his independents, moderates (both Republican and Democratic moderates) and liberals, but I don't think he gained any support with conservative Republicans, who, I believe, are going to vote for Nunnalee, come hell or high water. I don't think Childers can sway them, and I think those are the voters who wanted a NO vote at all costs.

A lot of moderates who are strongly against abortion probably objected to the bill because of that issue, but once the limitations on abortions paid by the government plan were written in, he should have (politically speaking), voted yes. He's said, and will continue saying, that he voted against it for fiscal reasons, but he's a practical man, and I don't want to call him a liar, I just want to note that he is a politician and enough said there. That excuse comes closer to flying with Gene Taylor in south Mississippi because of his long record on fiscal issues.

I'm not arguing the morals of this, just the political realities. Personally, I hate to see poorer women denied the access to an abortion if they have a compelling reason (and poverty and inability to raise a child because of that poverty is a compelling reason in my view), but if it allowed this bill to pass, I can live with the restrictions for now. That's a battle that can be taken on later, and fought on it's own merits rather than being the hole that sank the ship of health care for all.

I'm not sure what Childers could do, at this point, to win back moderate, independent and liberal votes, but I'm sure he better start working on it, because I don't believe he can win without them.

I know that I'm voting write-in or third-party (if there is a third party candidate) unless he can change my mind, and I doubt he can. I'm not much given to that behavior, being fairly pragmatic, because I realize it helps the deeply conservative side, but at this point, I can't see much difference between the two of them, so I see no reason to vote for Childers again.

And, really, given the artificially whipped-up hysteria over health reform recently, Childers may have been lost, whatever he did. I just believe he tried to play it smart and got so blinded by the loudest hype that he was played a fool instead. Guess we'll find out next year.

Sid Salter's Flap-A-Doodle-Do

2009-10-18T13:25:00.007-05:00

Sid Salter's fanning the partisan flames again, as he sometimes feels moved to do. His target right now is Bill Luckett, who announced early that he is running for Governor of the State of Mississippi.

Salter's opening was a letter of support from Lucket's business partner and friend, renowned actor and devoted supporter of Mississippi, Morgan Freeman.

Morgan "stumbled" and said something stupid, according to Salter. Freeman said, ""Reform in Mississippi is hard because the base stock of this state is a mule-headed bunch of farmers. Those farmers have ruled the roost for so long because this is an agricultural state." OH MY GAWD. Morgan said it (and Sid thought it was a secret). Salter called this statement "Freeman's bizarre comment."

Aw, come on Sid, does someone have to spell it out for you? Today's big farmer is yesterday's plantation owner. And yes, farmers are mule-headed, or pig-headed or any of those other appropriate old farm-related descriptions.

Having come from mule-headed farmer stock, I fail to see what the flap is over. Most farmers are mule-headed, and proud of it. If they weren't, they'd go find an easier way to make a living. Just more bloviated political flap-a-doodle about nothing. But then, I suppose the failing newspaper industry needs all the bloviation it can generate.

Take a chill pill, Sid, and don't take everything little thing so seriously.

Arkansas Blues and Heritage (King Biscuit) '09

2009-10-11T23:35:00.003-05:00

Went to what was formerly known as the King Biscuit, in Helena Arkansas for Saturday's shows. I have up an album of that road trip and the show (or, at least, the acts I saw). I have also moved my other photo albums of blues fests and other music shows to Picasa. Enjoy!

2009 Sunflower Blues and Gospel Festival

2009-08-17T19:37:00.003-05:00

In Clarksdale, MS. I only made it for the Saturday evening part, unfortunately. I could kick myself, because I missed some of fabulous older (and less well-known) artists that I love best, not to mention the Rising Star Fife and Drum, one of my favorite North Mississippi music traditions; but I did see some class acts. Before I forget, the Annual Othar Turner Picnic will be on the Friday and Saturday of August 28 and 29 this year. Dedication of the Blues Marker for Othar Turner will be in Como on Saturday, Aug. 29th at 11:00 a.m.

Super Chikan was super, as usual (forgive me, I couldn't resist). Actually, I think he has gotten better and better over the years, and, to me, he seems to be coming into his prime.

The 2 Man Wrecking Crew (with an assist by a woman I know, but whose name has slipped my memory) was rocking, they always are. Lightnin' Malcolm and Cedric Burnside (grandson of the late, great R.L. Burnside) are always high energy (try getting a non-blurred photo of Cedric!) and keep the crowd dancing and jumping.

Then, the incomparable Bettye LaVette proved that age doesn't mean a thing. She's 63 and looks 20 years younger than me (and is a year older). She can still shake a leg, too. Her voice is still powerful and she was wonderful, timeless. She sings music from across just about any genre you can think of, but manages to make each one of them hers.

I took a few pictures, which you can find at Sunflower Blues and Gospel Festiva l.

I'm going to be adding some of my other albums as I get time, in my slow but ongoing process of moving the salient parts of my website to this blog.

America needs to have more famous black men arrested

2009-07-23T20:34:00.010-05:00

I've been talking about this issue of Dr. Louis Henry Gates' arrest in his home with white folks and black folks, and boy, do they have different things to say about it. I've been reading the comments posted under articles about Dr. Gates, as well, and some of those....whoooooeee, I didn't know that many people could be stark honest about their prejudices!

Having thought about this for several days, I've come to the conclusion that arresting high profile black men on any excuse may be an essential part of making America a better place to live. Look at it like this - America has been busily arresting black men with no stature, who have a different sort of high profile than Dr. Gates, for years and years and years. Almost no one talks about it. Oh, sure, black people talk about it some, but it's fairly old hat to them and they've about chewed it dry among themselves, and some white liberals will talk about it, a little outraged embarrassment larded with a little "yes, but", (yes, but, if he hadn't YELLED at a COP!) . The rest of the country hasn't been wanting to hear or talk about it; if they get arrested, they did something to deserve it.

After someone as respected and well-known as Dr. Gates was arrested, essentially for being uppity to a policeman in Dr. Gates' own home, people started talking. And talking, and talking. I don't much like what a lot of them are saying, but at least they're saying it, and not just at the local CofCC meeting or klavern gathering. It's a little disconcerting, at first, seeing all that naked, oozing pus right out in public, but if we don't see it, it's invisible and it's festering. Let it fester out in the sunshine a little where anyone with guts enough to stand up to a little generalized disapproval can talk back about it, deal with it, stick a needle of truth in it and see if it will drain.

Maybe after another 40 years or so of this, we can actually move into that post-racial America I keep hearing about.

So, I want to invite famous and/or well-to-do black men to volunteer for a little public service, some public humiliation, a little march to the local jail in handcuffs with all your neighbors watching. Then we can have some real outrage, some downhome kerfluffle. See, that's where it's gone wrong all these years -- Joe Black on the street has been going to jail, or being beat or shot or worse, and nobody's too worried about it. Joe Black doesn't have much power to do anything to Joe White, not even the power to embarrass Joe White, or catch the President's attention, so why should Joe White be concerned?

Come on, Bill (Cosby), Alan (Keyes), Walter (Williams), Juan (Williams) put yourselves on the line and lets get those headlines rolling! And let's see what kind of sand you can raise when you get really riled up. Maybe Joe White will actually LISTEN to Bigman Black or Rightwing Black, even though he doesn't give a flip about Joe Schmo Black. It's worth a try.

Being in a nice home while black

2009-07-21T12:17:00.003-05:00

Seems to have superceded driving while black in post-racial America.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., one of the most distinguished literary and historical scholars in this country, told police (when he was arrested on his own front porch) that they hadn't heard the last of this, and I guess they found out quickly that he was right. After national headlines and extensive outrage, it appears that the charges were dropped.

Good thing he's no ordinary smuck, no Mr. Nobody, or he'd probably still be sitting in jail. Can't have all these black men running around in their own houses, or their own yards being loud and tumultuous, no siree. White people would have to run off to the nice neighborhoods in the suburbs....oh, wait! Dr. Gates LIVES in one of those nice neighborhoods. Maybe the white folks up there need to run back to the inner city now. A kind of reverse white flight. (Come on now, I know yer laughing behind that hand).

I've always heard that Mass., particularly Boston, was worse, or at least as bad, on racial matters as Mississippi, despite looking down their noses at us. Damnyankees.

2009 Grassroots Blues Festival in Duck Hill, MS

2009-07-12T17:55:00.006-05:00

It was HOT yesterday, but the Grassroots Blues Festival in Duck Hill was worth it, every drop of sweat!

I went early to be sure and catch Big Joe Shelton, who was scheduled at an ungodly hot time, and he was worth it, too. There was some great food (wish I'd been hungry enough to sample everyone). There were friends from previous years (that I never see anywhere else), there was community spirit, there was organizer Al White's birthday (that we heard about at every act change). Oh, yeah, Happy Birthday, Al. :-)

I got there in time for M.U.G.A.B.E.E., and enjoyed what I saw/heard, but only got the end of their act.

Things were a little slow (for some excellent acts scheduled in the heat of the day), until it began to cool a little, and crowd attendance jumped then. Either that, or everyone came out from under the shade trees along the edges. :-)

I was thrilled to hear Jesse Robinson's 500 Pounds of Blues Band again (he's another favorite of mine and I just don't hear him and his band enough) his female guitarist is dynamite, wish I knew her name; Venessia Young and the Pure Blues Express Band were great, as usual, and Ben Peyton is such an icon, it goes without saying that in spite of and because of his authenticty, he was a marvel (he's still got IT, in other words). Louis "Gearshifter" Youngblood was here, and I have to say that I think he's one of the most underrated performers I see at these shows.

I wish I had caught the names of all the Mississippi Blues Boys, because there were so many familiar faces in there (I know I've seen them playing in other blues acts), but Little Willie Farmer was definately in the mix, and Big Joe Shelton sat in with them. Most of them came back for Little Willie Farmer (playing sorta of solo), but it was cooler by then, and they'd ratcheted it up several notches, it was even better.

Frankie Keys put in his usual hot keyboards (and the sax guy was hot, too). I wasn't sure about that last act, being pretty sure Bigg Robb and 'da Impostas weren't blues, but decided to stay long enough to get some pictures. I didn't have too much luck because of the excitement of the crowd (somebody sure loves them some Bigg), but I managed to make a fool of myself (and enjoyed it - nothing new about that). Sorry Bigg Robb, didn't mean to step right in your way as you went back out of the audience to the stage via the side steps! Bigg took it in stride, and swept me right along with him, rolling on by me at the steps. Not every day that a white-haired old lady gets to dance with the very large and flamboyantly costumed Bigg Robb (however inadverdently). Bless you for handling it with aplomb, Bigg.

I've posted an album, y'all enjoy (can't wait til next year).

Can we just grow up here, Mississippi?

2008-11-09T10:09:00.004-06:00

I wasn't going to write about this and give it any more publicity, but it's been stewing away in the back of my mind, and finally I have realized that it HAS to get more publicity or it will continue happening.

It's just so disappointing, after we basked in the bright glow of the national media's warm fuzzy light during and after the first Presidential debate (which was held in Oxford). Chancellor Khayat still deserves every one of those kudos (and more) that he received for bringing Mississippi and the University of Mississippi all the great publicity, not only nationwide, but really, worldwide, and showing them the other side of Mississippi.

The obituaries for the Old Mississippi of racial hatred and deep inequality were way too premature, however. Leave it to some of the most backward knuckleheads in the state to prove there is still a flip side to that great new image, and prove it in a loud and obscene way - with our children.

What the hell is wrong with people that will let them do stupid, hateful and, yes, unpatriotic things like those that were done in Pearl County and in some reports, Madison County and/or other areas across the state this week?

In Pearl Junior high children were put off the school bus for saying that Barack Obama was president. Then, also at Pearl, the girl's basketball coach threatened to kick players off the team for saying Barack Obama's name. Even worse, when pressed about these incidents, it was stated that the people responsible were "disciplined" with no statement as to what the discipline was. They should have been FIRED. I have been told in the past that Pearl was the armpit of Mississippi, and I'm beginning to think there is something to that.

The ACLU in Mississippi has said "We encourage students and parents to contact us if they are subjected to or witness any form of restrictions on speech, discipline or sanctions in response to protected speech activities or any questionable conduct by school administrators, teachers or district employees as a result of students or others discussing political views at school or school-related functions. You may call our office at (601) 354-3408, 888-354-ACLU (2258), e-mail us at msacluoffice@msaclu.org or submit a complaint on our website at http://www.msaclu.org ."

Please, if this happens to your child, let them know.

And to the knuckleheads, let me say to them what they have said to the rest of us for many years - this is America; if you don't like it, just leave. To the neo-sesessionists, same message. If your culture of hate is that important to you, take it somewhere else and nurture it, preferably far, far away - go ahead and secede. You just can't take the land; the rest of us are not going with you.

Song of the day

2008-11-05T19:50:00.005-06:00

Yesterday, this song kept running thru my head, my favorite song, a golden oldie by Sam Cooke:

I was born by the river in a little tent
And just like the river, I've been running ever since
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come

It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die
I don't know what's up there beyond the sky
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come

I go to the movie, and I go downtown
Somebody keep telling me "Don't hang around"
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come

Then I go to my brother and I say, "Brother, help me please"
But he winds up knocking me back down on my knees

There've been times that I've thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come.

By this morning, the song running thru my head was:

It's a beautiful mornin' ahhh
I think I'll go outside a while
An jus' smile
Just take in some clean fresh air boy
Ain't no sense in stayin' inside
If the weather's fine an' you got the time
It's your chance to wake up and plan another brand new day
Either way
It's a beautiful mornin' ahhh

Each bird keeps singin' his own song
So long
I've got to be on my way now
Ain't no fun just hangin' around
I've got to cover ground you couldn't keep me down
It just ain't no good if the sun shines
When you're still inside
Shouldn't hide still inside shouldn't hide
Ahhhh oh shouldn't hide ah ah oh

Do do waaa do do waaa

There will be children with robins and flowers
Sunshine caresses each new waking hour
Seems to me that the people keep seeing
More and more each day gotta say lead the way
It's okay wednesday thursday it's okay
Ahhh monday wednesday friday weekday ah ah ohhh

Do do waaa

Ah ah oh oh do do aaaa
Wooooo oo oo oh oh oh ah wo do waa
Ohhhhhhh oh oh oh

Strangely (or not so strangely) at some time during the day, it segued into

Oh happy day (oh happy day)
Oh happy day (oh happy day)
When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
Washed my sins away (oh happy day)
Oh happy day (oh happy day)

(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
(La, la, la, la, la)
La, la, la, la, la
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la)
La, la, la, la, la, la, la
(La, la, la, la, la)
La, la, la, la, la

Oh happy day (oh happy day)
Oh happy day (oh happy day)
When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
When my Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
He washed my sins away

(La, la, la, la, la, la, la)
La, la, la, la, la, la, la
(La, la, la, la, la)
La, la, la, la, la

He taught me how (oh, He taught me how)
To wash (to wash, to wash)
Fight and pray (to fight and pray)
Fight and pray
And he taught me how to live rejoicing
yes, He did (and live rejoicing)
Oh yeah, every, every day (every, every day)
(oh yeah) Every day!

Oh happy day (oh happy day)
Oh happy day, yeah (oh happy day)
When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
When my Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
When Jesus washed [hits high note] (when Jesus washed)
My sins away (oh happy day)
I'm talking about that happy day (oh happy day)

He taught me how (oh yeah, how)
To wash (to wash)
Fight and pray (sing it, sing it, c'mon and sing it)
Fight and pray
And to live
yeah, yeah, c'mon everybody (and live rejoicing every, every day)
Sing it like you mean it, oh....

Oh happy day (oh happy day)
I'm talking about the happy days (oh happy day)
C'mon and talk about the happy days (oh happy day)
Oh, oh, oh happy days (oh happy day)
Ooh talking about happy day (oh happy day)
Oh yeah, I know I'm talking about happy days (oh happy day)
Oh yeah, sing it, sing it, sing it, yeah, yeah (oh happy day)
Oh, oh, oh
Oh happy day.....

Yesterday, America made a start on washing it's sins away. Are we ready to live rejoicing every day? Oh happy day!

Endorsements, change to my website and this blog

2008-10-18T14:53:00.004-05:00

Endorsements

First, I would like to enthusiastically and with all my heart endorse Barack Obama for President of the United States of America, and I hope that Mississippi helps elect him. I don't hold a lot of hope for that, since Mississippi uses the winner-takes-all method with our Electoral College votes, but it's just possible. (Any Republicans ready to change the Electoral College now that it appears that it may actually help elect Obama? I think that's my big issue right after this election, win or lose).

In the state level races, I would like to endorse Travis Childress over Greg Davis, Ronnie Musgrove over Roger Wicker, and somewhat regretfully, Eric Fleming over Thad Cochran. Eric is a fine candidate and worthy of endorsement, and I have greatly respected Mr. Cochran as a man, but I shuddered as he voted with the Bush Administration, time after time. His acts of defiance of the Bush administration in the bailout votes was too little,too late. God bless him, it's time for Senator Cochran to retire to his beloved Mississippi and enjoy life, and let a young man take over.

I'd like to endorse both Jim Kitchens and David Chandler for the Mississippi Supreme Court. More endorsements will come as I find out more about those candidates I'm not so familiar with.

Changes to companion website and to this blog

I'm getting ready to change things at my website, Mississippi Political, and spend more time here blogging. It's taken so much of my time, there hasn't been enough left for me to keep the blog going as I would have liked.

Of the two big changes to the website, the first one has already been evident, most likely, to frequent visitors, so I'll tackle it first. While I still am not a registered member of either major party, and never have been, I joined the Green Party last year partially out of protest to those two main parties. I can no longer attempt to be non-partisan, given what has happened in this country since I started that website with the state intention of staying nonpartisan (although with an agenda).

Back to the party thing - may I state that I like the Green Party, except for a few fringe edges, but all the political parties have their fringe edge. Being a pragmatic sort, I recognize that the Green Party has no power, except a small bit of leverage against the main parties, and this year I do not choose to express my feelings about the way this country is moving with that tiny leverage. Things are beyond critical and that's not enough. I recognize, as well, that the Repulican party has become so infiltrated and compromised by it's lunatic fringe that for all intents and purposes, I might as well be a Democrat this year.

This is not to be taken as an uncritical love for the Democratic Party, but as a sign that I have finally had my eyes opened to the extent of destruction the lunatic fringe in the Republican Party has unleashed on American freedoms and civil liberty. The only power strong enough to counteract the power-crazed neo conservatives who now run the Republican Party is the Democratic Party. My rationale is the hope that the neo conservatives can be contained if the Democrats are in power; then we can deal with the faults of the Democratic Party once the greater danger has been averted and some of our civil liberties and freedom have been restored. It's never been clearer how true it is that power is corrupting and absolute power is absolutely corrupting.

This year, and any other year until I believe the radical lunatics in the Republican Party have been cleaned out and stripped of power, I will not vote for a Republican, I don't care who he or she is. Returning or putting any Republican into office is only going to be an encouragement and a firewall for the neo conservative movement to lean on, to hide behind. These people are ruthless and are destroying the fabric of our country, are destroying the Constitution and the basis of equal justice under the law, and they cannot be allowed to continue.

From hence forward, I will not be printing any press releases from any Republican on my website without a critique attached. With the rapid dissemination of news via the internet, by RSS and other more direct methods, cable, network and print, those will be available as quickly, or even more so, by other methods, anyway.

And that leads into the other change, which affects both that site and this blog, that will be coming soon after this presidential election. I will still have the old url address for some time, but it will pop you to a new url where I will have all the photo albums, blues information, essays and editorials from Mississippi writers, notices as to cultural and musical happenings around the state, and a link to my blog, Remedial Redneck, where I will then spend most of my time. This will give me some time to transition everyting to the blog as I learn how to manage it from a blog.

Mississippi Political News Headlines will soon cease to exist in it's present form, but you will still be taken to the above mentioned material by way of the old address (for at least a year). A lot of the details of the blog will have to evolve as I learn more about this format, but the headline site has outlived it's usefulness and has, oddly enough, while providing me a stage for my editorials, taken so much time that I've almost ceased to write the editorials that were much of inspiration for beginning that site.

So, with a sense of both relief (from the time demands first thing in the mornin) and sadness (because this was a big part of my life for the last 7 years), I'm giving notice that things are evolving! I've felt constrainted in my attempts to remain reasonably nonpartisan while the world around us has been going to hell in a hand basket, and now I'm about to break those constraints!

God bless you all, and join me in prayer for our country, even if your beliefs are perpendicular to mine, because America needs all the prayers she can get right now. We can all pray "God's will be done."

Brazen Ballot Blowoff

2008-09-15T09:06:00.006-05:00

UPDATE: The Mississippi Supreme Court comes down on the side of the law (and about time, isn't it, folks?)

Do we have idiotic political pundits in this state, or are they just sly?

I've been following the judicial revolving door that this ballot fuss has been in with a little amazement (although I'm losing count of how many courts this hot potato has been tossed thru). I wasn't inclined to give it much attention at first, foolishly assuming that common sense, the law as it is written, and the precedent set in most of the other states in the union would prevail.

Never in my beloved state of Mississippi, though. No wonder we produce so many fine writers - where else are you going to get the daily melodrama accompanied by down and dirty fights to the finish? There's no lack of material for the aspiring writer in Mississippi.

A national Senatorial race belongs right under the Presidential race on the ticket. Not rocket science here, folks.

What has me really irritated right now, more than the ballot shenanigans, are the politically astute people who are sounding off about this in a way that seems disingenuous, at the very least.

Even Goeff Pender, who is usually quite astute (although frequently not on the same page I am), is in there quoting the deeply-partisan Y'all yahoos who are wondering loudly why Musgrove would be so concerned with placement of the Senate race near the bottom of the ticket.

The bizarre ballot flap between former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and temporary U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker continues, although I'm not sure why this has become the fight du jour between the two candidates for Trent Lott's old Senate seat....I just read an entry on the Y'all Politics blog that sums up my consternation:

"Why would Ronnie Musgrove seem poised to die on this particular hill of 'ballot placement'?"

Come on, Geoff, you can do better than this. Why aren't you asking why Wicker, Barbour and Hosemen are fighting this tooth and nail, if it's so inconsequential? Even this old redneck can see how much "small" things like this can affect a really close race, especially when one man should be a huge underdog, money-wise and incumbent-wise. It could be the difference between winning and losing a close one, and Barbour, being no idiot, knows this. That's why he's dragging it through any friendly court he can find (and if this state's Supreme Court is not friendly to Barbour, I'm a Mississippi magnolia smelling like a skunk.)

So, if it's nothing, I'm sure the Republicans won't mind dropping the appeal, will they? (I'm trying not to laugh here, but it's getting hard).

Give the people of this state a little credit, Y'all; we're not the dummies you want to believe we can be, and I'm having trouble believing Pender is either.

Wicker, Hoseman and Barbour aren't Curly, Larry and Moe, even if Wicker and Hoseman may have some resemblance. They actually know what they're doing, and if the boys at Y'all can't figure it out, who are the real Stooges?

Barack Obama - Momentous Historic Time for America

2008-08-27T20:38:00.002-05:00

Tonight, for the first time in America's history, an African-American biracial was nominated as the Presidential Candidate for a major political party. Even Republicans can (and are) excited to be living in this moment of time, this piece of REAL history. I hadn't expected to be that excited until tomorrow night when Obama accepts, but when those words rolled out for the first time, the most incredible wave of emotion swept over me. I feel blessed to be living to see this moment, a moment I never expected to see in my lifetime.

America is at a crossroads, God bless us and help us move across that dark road and down the path of light.

===============================
Tuesday night Michelle Obama gave a touching and heartfelt speech that caused wet eyes in I dare say every woman in the convention center, and more than one man as well.

Yesterday, Hillary Clinton gave a speech that was gracious and unifying as well as exciting and on point.

Tonight Bill Clinton got up and nailed the Republican party, nailed them good. He pointed out that Republicans had been talking the same radical ideas for 25 years, but until 7 years ago, were not able to put them into motion, but at that time they gained almost total power in the federal government, took over the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House. He asked us how we were doing now? We went from a budget surplus to a budget so far in the red our Grandchildren will be paying for it. We went from more jobs to more unemployment. He didn't mention gas prices, but anyone remember what gas prices were the year George W. Bush took office?

Then Joe Biden, not necessarily my favorite Democrat, got up and his mother, at least, impressed me greatly. Her face, in close up, with all it's deep wrinkles, while he told stories of how she encouraged him when he was young is priceless; seeing her turning to the person next to her and being able to read her lips and watch her head nod as she says, That's true, I did tell him that", with that big smile wreathed in wrinkles.

He said when he stuttered, she would look at him and say "Joey, it's because you're so bright that you can't get the ideas out fast enough." and when bigger boys beat him up, and he went home, she told him, "Go back out there and bloody their noses, so you can walk down the street."

And anyone of any party or no party who missed the short video done by Steven Spielberg, and narrated by Tom Hanks, needs to go look for it on Youtube - surely it will be there soon, although I don't find it yet. This was a tribute to our men and women in the military. It's a must see.

Ne-v-v-v-v-er Mind!

2008-08-06T18:49:00.009-05:00

or, Barbour channels Gilda Radner

Holy cow! Now that the latest "special" session closed almost as fast as it opened, and the reality of everything has settled in, I gotta wonder, "What was the Governor thinking?" This isn't the first time that little question has scrolled thru my brain lately (try a couple of weeks ago, when he turned loose a cold-blooded killer out of the clear blue sky), but that's another really sore spot, and I don't have enough pain resistance to pick at both of them in one day.

Even the mainstream Mississippi media (or MMM), not the swiftest or sharpest tack pricking the Guv's ego, has started paying attention. The previously Barbour-enamored Clarion Ledger noticed the resemblance to one of the late Radner's most famous characters, Emily Litella, who would wax indignant, becoming increasingly overwrought at some misperceived indignity. When it was explained to her that it was nothing all along, just a misunderstanding, she would look disgusted, sigh and say "Nevvvver mind!" Understand that I'm not implying that Gov. Barbour has misunderstood anything, because whatever complaints one lays at his door, stupidity is not among them.

Lately, though, one wonders if his attention has slipped. Not that he has ever seemed, to me, to care about anything but money-making and power, but he usually covers it a lot better.

I'm personally in a state of shock over this latest Medicaid fiasco. After $607,872 in taxpayer's money, all that wasted time for elected legislators, and nearly 8 months in which the disabled, the poor and the elderly (including many who are all three), as well as their loved ones, have been worried out of their minds about the huge cuts that Haley Barbour was threatening to make to Medicaid, and the man basically says, oh, never mind, I don't need to make cuts after all; there was no big emergency, uh, and by the way, those cigarette taxes that I was so opposed to as a solution of the problem I said we had - heck, they're not high enough, after all.

And you people running hospitals, forget that I basically blackmailed you, I've decided to get the money from you some other way. As House Speaker Billy McCoy so colorfully puts it, "We're concerned (the new plan) is just the same mule with a different gear on it, and just as much corn will be plowed up under it as the other one,"

So, to recap, suddenly, there is no big emergency, there was never any need for all those special sessions to keep him from throwing our aged parents out of the nursing homes and onto the streets (forgive me a little hyperbole at this point). Now that push comes to shove, and the Mississippi House of Representatives has proved to be tougher to push around than the Mississippi Senate, the hospitals are threatening to sue and the court hasn't laid down and kissed Barbour's feet while telling him he could usurp the legislative role in Medicaid funding, he's stuck in his own machinations. I don't know whether to refer back to Radner or Remus here (Tar Baby).

To top it off, after this big fight with the legislature over raising tobacco taxes, and all the time and money wasted, as well as all the reasons why he said we shouldn't raise the tobacco tax(what WERE they, anyone remember now?) was nothing, just politics. Suddenly Haley sees the light - tobacco taxes are too low.

I'm about to be really cynical (watching Mississippi politics will do that to you). I'm wondering if there is a connection between Haley rolling over and playing dead on the tobacco tax issue and the possibility that his (supposedly) blind trust is about to become transparent to the rest of us, in the wake of the new legislation just signed in, barring some Ethics Commission surprise (like a rollover of their own, which wouldn't likely be well-received by the public). (Really, how blind can a trust be when it's administered by one of your high school classmates?) Barbour's request to grandfather his blind trust in around the new law has got some stink attached to it, notwithstanding the protestations from some sympathizers that it's a "non-issue".

Charlie Mitchell (of the Vicksburg Post) quotes Barbour as saying "I don't owe those people anything. They don't owe me anything," speaking of the tobacco firms that have been on the client list of his old company, BG&R. Charlie never said he didn't believe Barbour, but all I could see in the white space between the lines was skepticism.

And, by the way, what happened to all that leftover Medicaid money the Feds gave us to shore up Medicaid for the strain of Katrina-related needs? Since the idea of putting it in roads to the new Toyota plant bombed, why can't that money, originally given to the state for Medicaid, be used for . . . get ready . . . Medicaid?

Anybody got any answers (that make sense)? And does anyone think this signals a turn toward common sense (like a willingness to shift some of the tax burden away from food and onto tobacco)? AARP has polled voters, and the poll indicates that voters are ready (but is Haley?)

McCain calls Thad Cochran a LIAR?

2008-07-02T20:21:00.004-05:00

Earlier this year Thad Cochran made some major waves when he told the Boston Globe that

"The thought of his [McCain] being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."

This remark was a shocker, considering how quietly he's taken so many things that others would have screamed about, including having Trent Lott, his junior Senator, leave muddy footprints all over Cochran's immaculate suits as Trent climbed all over Thad on his way to the top. So far as I heard, Cochran didn't even express his satisfaction at the loud thump Trent made when he came back down the senate ladder faster than he went up. Most men would have found the opportunity to crow irresistible, but nary a peep issued from the gentleman Senator from Pontotoc.

Then this morning I read the story in the Sun Herald in which Senator Cochran was quoted as saying,

"McCain was down at the end of the table and we were talking to the head of the guerilla group here at this end of the table and I don't know what attracted my attention, but I saw some kind of quick movement at the bottom of the table and I looked down there and John had reached over and grabbed this guy by the shirt collar and had snatched him up like he was throwing him up out of the chair to tell him what he thought about him or whatever. I don't know what he was telling him but I thought, good grief, everybody around here has got guns and we were there on a diplomatic mission. I don't know what had happened to provoke John but he obviously got mad at the guy and he just reached over there and snatched him."

'Whoa,' I thought, stunned once again, 'Thad must really, really be worried about McCain.' As the Sun Herald article says,

"Cochran, a consummate gentleman, measures his words and his actions carefully."

That's not a wild statement, it's an accurate description of the gentlemanly Cochran.

After he'd mended his public fences with McCain, to have this come out. . . I've been pondering this all afternoon. Cochran won't likely be running again after this time, so he probably feels a certain detachment from his party ties. In fact, I would be surprised if Cochran, at his age, makes it thru this next term without having health issues or other concerns cause an early retirement. So - damn the torpedos, full speed ahead! I can emphasize with that - the older I get, the more inclined I am to just speak my mind.

Now, I'm not in agreement with Cochran on much of anything politically speaking, but just the same, I have always felt a lot of respect and admiration for him as a person. I don't know anyone who doesn't (except maybe John McCain and Trent Lott, and in neither case is it because Cochran doesn't deserve their respect). The man is a class act, he's courtly, mild-mannered, loyal to a fault, and very, very responsive to his electorate (unlike some other senators and representatives who will remain unnamed).

This afternoon, when I read the article from MSNBC where it quoted John McCain as saying,

"Twenty-one years ago? I think that information…it's just -- it's simply not true."

I just sat there and stared at it. Did he just call THAD COCHRAN a liar? Yep. He did. Thad Cochran. I'll be damned.

Ask me which man I believe.

I'm reminded of that old TV ad about a brokerage firm, and I think I'll just appropriate it and say . . . When Thad Cochran speaks, people listen. I know I do, and I'll bet a lot of other folks do, too.

Medicaid Boondoggle

2008-06-22T09:40:00.005-05:00

Boondoggle is defined as a term for a scheme that wastes time and money, a knotting and plaiting craft known in the U.S. as "boondoggle". All of that defines the Medicaid funding struggle that has been ongoing in Missisippi, and has been particularly wild in the last three years.

This latest (of a year-after-year-after-year) Medicaid funding struggle has concerned me for months, but I've been more than a little weary of having to watch it from the sidelines again and feeling helpless to stop the foolishness - again.

Sometimes one has to ponder whether our illustrious Republican Governor Haley Barbour, in all his ex-Washingtonian splendor and cunning, has gotten so good at manipulating the citizens of this state, that he's come to think of us all as utterly, irretrievably stupid?

Where do we begin to untangle the Machivellian web that Medicaid funding has become? It's never been simple, but in these days, the knot has become more tangled and tightly wound than ever.

Let's not go all the way back to the beginning, but just a little way - back to a short time before Katrina. Medicaid funding had been a struggle up til then, with Barbour threatening to close it down (and nursing homes giving eviction notices to their patients) at one point in 2005. When Katrina hit later that year, Haley began working the federal system, Mississippi received funds from the feds to shore up Medicaid both because of the strain on the system from devastated and destitute folks on the coast, and because of the influx of people fleeing Louisiana for Central and North Mississippi. He worked the federal system with such success that it ensured his reelection and literally saved his political bacon after the fallout from the threatened Medicaid shutdown earlier in the year)

And during the next two years, there was still a struggle going on over a shortfall in Medicaid. The House of Representatives, which is majority Democrat, wanted to raise tobacco taxes to cover it, pointing out that Mississippi has the one of the lowest tobacco taxes in this county (only Missouri is lower, by one cent). They also thought that grocery tax could be reduced (Mississippi, ironically, with one of the lowest tobacco taxes, has the highest grocery taxes in the U.S.). Ex-tobacco lobbyist, now Mississippi Governor Barbour, and the Republican-controlled senate that he uses as a puppet, along with ex-Lt. Gov.
Amy Tuck (strings also pulled by Haley) demurred. Why tax something that's bad for you and will cost the system huge amounts of money in future Medicaid payments for cancer and emphysema treatment when everyone, even the poorest among us, can pay thru purchase of an absolute necessity?

Using a political maneuver that no past Governor, in a state with weak gubernatorial powers, had utiliized, Barbour increased his power over Medicaid funding by blocking the House moves with the Senate (which he controlled) and waiting to call special sessions, where he could set the agenda directly, bypassing the House and Senate committee system. This would never work without a controllable Senate, but Barbour had it and was smart enough to exploit it.

Now, two years forward, 2007, Mississippi lands a coveted prize, the new Toyota plant (we won't even talk about the kind of burden the taxpayer has to shoulder in their incentive package). Our esteemed Governor proposes that we spend $25 Million leftover federal money on improving roads to the Toyota plant, $25 Million which not that many people realize was leftover MEDICAID money. In case you didn't catch that, $25 Million in leftover MEDICAID MONEY. A stink was raised at the time and the idea was either pulled or put on the back burner, although most newspaper stories didn't mention that it was Medicaid money, only that it was leftover Katrina funds. I wouldn't be surprised to see Gov. Barbour wait for the stink to die down, and pull this one back out of his bag of tricks. Now you see it, now you don't.

I'm not sure if that was all the money that was leftover, but at any rate, that would make a sizeable dent in the shortfall. Now, why do we have a Medicaid shortfall if we had left-over Medicaid money? Anyone have an answer that doesn't remind one of the words boondoggle or shell game?

And here we are AGAIN in 2008, dealing with a shortfall, and a Governor who is determined not to let a tobacco tax go thru. His proposal now is to put a huge tax on hospital beds. I'd worry about the hospitals if I didn't know they'd pass the cost on to patients and insurance companies (who will pass it on to their customers). So, in the end, who gets to pay this tax? You and me. Every time we have to pay for insurance, or every time we have to go to the hospital, we'll pay.

Worse, Medicaid will end up paying more for their clients who end up in the hospital, so there is another potential shortfall pending from that. I guess we can deal with THAT shortfall after Barbour is long gone, having left with a smile on his face, satisfied that he, after all, is smarter and faster with his moves, than all us dumb hicks left in his Washington dust.

Get real and get smart, Mississippi, don't fall for the tricks any more - call, or email your represtative and your senator, and tell them to stand up to Mr. D.C., not to gamble our money on Barbour's shell game. I wouldn't even bother contacting the Governor, he doesn't care and he can't run again, so there is no leverage. His old pals from the tobacco companies have all the leverage.

Tax tobacco and plug the shortfall, tax tobacco and plug the long haul. Make it more expensive to smoke and chew; those who give it up because of the expense will cost us less down the road in reduced cancer and emphysema, much of which would end up being paid by Medicaid. That's the only solution that makes sense to anyone but those who were willing to throw our elderly out on the streets in 2005.

Terrorist Fist Bump?

2008-06-09T20:58:00.003-05:00

Gimme a break - is Fox News for real, or is it really Faux News? They're wondering if the little "fist pound" between Barack and Michelle is a terrorist sign. Criminy, don't these people ever watch sports? Have they been asleep since the 60's? What?

Anybody remember the cartoon series, The Super Friends? "Wonder twins powers activate!" (with the little fist pound)....

Maybe next Faux News will be wondering what powers they can activate. Heh heh heh.

Tell the feds to take that tax rebate check and shove it . . .

2008-01-24T12:06:00.000-06:00

Right into food for the needy and more unemployment benefits for those who lost their jobs overseas! If they won’t, we can do it for them.

I just read an article about the proposed tax rebate on CNN's site.

The third paragraph in caused a sense of elation at the thought of a fat check arriving soon , a return on my taxes from the federal government! It said, "Sources on Capitol Hill and at the Treasury Department said congressional and White House negotiators agreed upon checks of $600 per individual and $1,200 per couple." Truly, I had already spent the money, in my mind, before I reached the rest of the story. My credit card debt was no more, or so I thought.

I read further, though, and a sense of outrage began to grow. "To get to the agreement, Democrats dropped calls for increases in foodstamps and an extension of unemployment compensation." Say what?

Give all us taxpayers a nice smacking fat check, but those who are disabled, elderly, or have lost their jobs in the economic downturn, well, hell, just let them dangle slowly in the wind, no point in fighting for them, they don't count anyway. Get this money to people who are likely to vote, and those other yahoos can just starve. Like their gas and their food costs haven't risen along with the rest of us - heck. they're way too fat anyway, let them do without and lose some weight. Or let them eat more salt pork and potatoes and bread, if they're all that hungry. Let them die of diabetes and heart attacks.

Further down, the coup de grace, "To win over conservatives, the package also is slated to include business tax breaks, according to officials in both parties."

Oh, right. Like CEO's aren't already receiving bloated paychecks and even more bloated bonuses (even when they don't deliver). And, for goodness sakes, give those corporations some more tax breaks. They need money to run ads in Bangladesh and Hong Kong for all those American jobs they've been busily outsourcing.

This whole scheme infuriates me, because I not only think that this is tainted money that greed or need will induce most of us to accept, but further, I don't believe it's good for the economy in the long run. Those tax breaks for already bloated corporations will likely never be rescinded, no matter if the economy makes a rebound, and those who lose jobs due to outsourcing and to the boondoggle of NAFTA as well as the economic slowdown will need some bridge to get to the other side - hopefully a new job.

Over time, this will cause poverty to increase, cause more people to lose their jobs, their homes and default on their loans. This is a quick fix which could be a disaster in the long run.

Please, please, call your senator, call your representative and ask them for a long range plan that will help those at the bottom, not something short term that gets everyone excited at the prospect of an unexpected bonus. Urge them to change the usury laws that allowed the credit crunch we're now in to develop, to readopt the tossed-out laws of previous days that regulated the finance companies and banks, capped the interest rate they were allowed to charge, and forced more fiscal responsibility on us than some of us are capable of doing for themselves (whether by financial desperation or sheer gullibility).

I don't think that I can take this sort of blood money, and if this passes (as I expect it will) I pledge to turn it over to my local interfaith compassion fund or to the local Pantry, whichever one seems in need of an infusion the most.

Dare I call on others to do the same, to put the money where it's needed as a lifesaver; where it's needed more by those already going under, already drowning, than by those of us who may be merely dog-paddling to keep our heads above water?

Sign it over to a reputable organization that feeds the hungry, so the feds will have a record of how it was spent, how they should have spent it. I know that thought hurts (it hurts my greedy heart, too). Sometimes you have to do what's right, no matter how much it hurts, because hell beckons the selfish soul.

I could surely use the money, but for the sake of my soul, I dare not keep it. Who will join me?

Deja Vietnam

2007-07-19T09:21:00.001-05:00

I've been talking to a Vietnam vet, and it's bringing back memories I'd just as soon not revisit. I lived thru Vietnam, too, only I lived thru it in the relative comfort of the USA. No, I didn't pull the same one our Commander in Chief did. I'm a woman, and then women were not in primary roles in the military.

I lived Vietnam thru television news mostly, as did the rest of the nation. There wasn't all this muting of the news with crapola about Paris Hilton or Brittany Spears, et al. then. We got pictures out of Vietnam on the news shows nearly every night, and they were not happy pictures.

We were in the same bind then as we are now - no one wanted to admit that it was time to cut our losses, because no one wanted to admit defeat. So many of us bought into the war rhetoric back then (including me) and we prolonged the damn thing until, in the end, it was worse, much worse, than it would have been had we cut our losses and gotten out.

We were fighting something that was doomed from the beginning (just like we are doing now) and so many more men died in the meantime, so many more of their civilians died in the meantime, we suffered so many smaller defeats in the meantime, and things got so much uglier in the meantime.

I didn't start out as a pacifist during the Vietnam War, I started out with Goldwater, and the bomb-the-hell-out-of-them-and-get-out crowd. I saw the futility and the horror of what we were doing long before Goldwater admitted it publicly, but even he finally came to see that it was nothing but a futile, deep dark hellhole for American soldiers.

What it took for me was a few pictures of screaming, crying children fleeing the flames on their own bodies that would not be put out, screaming when there was no help and nothing left for them but the agony that was death by napalm. And a few more and a few more. It took a few stories like the one about the massacre at My Lai; a few thousand pictures of flag-draped coffins; a few thousand pictures of men without eyes, arms, legs. It took meeting returning vets who looked all right on the outside, but who were just as destroyed on the inside as some others were on the outside.

This is nothing but the same damn thing all over again and I am so weary of it. Different place, different people, same immoral, ill-conceived and and baseless war, American lives given up not for freedom or for the safety of our country, but for the enrichment of money- greedy corporations.

I never thought our country would make the same foolish mistake again in my lifetime, while there were still those of us who remembered what Vietnam was like.

Iraq, no thank you. I had more than enough last time.

God bless our troops, God's justice to those who sent them into harm's way.

Isn't it time we all stood up and said, loud and strong, "Enough, ENOUGH?"

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Godspeed, Pat - say hello to Ladybird for us

2007-07-12T12:30:00.001-05:00

I was a little surprised to find tears in my eyes as I heard of Pat Fordice's demise. She served as the first lady to a recent governor that I found almost the most loathesome in my memory (only surpassed by one other).

She and I shared very little in the way of political beliefs, but her gutsiness, her countless hours spent with various charitable endeavors, and her campaign to keep Mississippi's highways and byways clean and beautiful endeared her to all Mississippians, to this Mississippian. Political differences become moot at times.

This was *some* strong lady, the proverbial lemonade-maker; just remembering brings a smile to my face. Her ex-husband, when Governor, called a press conference to tell everyone (before he told her) that they were getting a divorce and that she would be leaving the governor's mansion. She promptly called her own press conference and said that she was not going anywhere.

She didn't, but he eventually did; he built a house for himself and his "next" wife, and essentially ended up living there while Pat lived in the governor's mansion. She lived there with grace while he made a public laughingstock of himself with his antics.

He once infamously chased a newsman (with cameraman in tow) down his driveway - yes, the driveway of the house that supposedly belonged to his "friend" - in his underwear, threatening to whip his ass. That was some embarrassing picture for Mississippi to have showing on the nightly news. We won't even bring up his accident on the way back from one of his "visits" to a Memphis bar with his friend, and his subsequent (convenient) loss of memory.

Pat, just as infamously, became the poster woman for the campaign to beautify and clean up our highways, and the phrase "I'm not your Mama, PICK IT UP" became part of our everyday language here after the string of public service ads she made for that campaign. Thank you, Pat, and don't worry, even if your gracious and funny TV personna didn't quite erase the ugly picture your ex-husband left on our collective psyche's, it came close.

He died a while back and caused hardly a ripple of attention. Her funeral will be huge; she was touted as the essense of courage and grace under fire, and he, well, he ended up the butt of bad jokes, when he wasn't being one.

Rest in peace, Pat, you might not have been as famous (outside of Mississippi) as Lady Bird, but you were the ultimate steel magnolia, and I know you girls will have lots to discuss. You were both class acts, and I'm sure if there is any litter in heaven, you'll make St. Peter pick it up. After all, you're not his mama.

http://www.mdot.state.ms.us/antilitter/default.htm

The Oxford Sessions

2007-06-02T22:03:00.000-05:00

Mississippi Public Broadcasting in conjunction with the University of Mississippi is producing a music series out of Mississippi ala Austin City Limits. The first two sessions were filmed at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts at Ole Miss Thursday and Friday night.

This series is the brainchild of Marty Stuart (rockabilly musician and host of the show) and Chancellor Robert Khayat.

I was lucky enough to attend both nights and I'm very excited to think of having a showcase like this of mostly Mississippi talent.

Thursday night the performers were Marty Stuart and his band, grammy-winning gospel group The Williams Brothers, and Kenny Wayne Shepard with Hubert Sumlin (lead guitarist of the late Howlin' Wolf, and most admired guitarist of greats such as Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton).

Friday night the performers were Marty Stuart and his band, Charlie Musselwhite and The Blind Boys of Alabama.

The audience Thursday night, mostly a mid-twenties and thirties crowd, was a little hard to warm up, which was pretty strange considering the line-up, but the Friday night crowd was not only much larger, but much older. To my surprise, the crowd Friday night was enthusiastic, loud, and having bigtime fun, age not-withstanding.

Major props to Marty Stuart for his deft handling of the audience Friday night, his folksy, down-to-earth attitude and some great music, to the Blind Boys of Alabama for putting on a hell of a show, and to Charlie Musselwhite for a smoking performance and a wildly dark and wonderful new tune, "Black Water", dealing with the New Orleans flood in the aftermath of Katrina.

Memorial Marker to be set for Charles Moore and Henry Dee

2007-05-30T16:55:00.001-05:00

Update: The date the memorial marker will be set is changing. The new date will be announced when it is available.

--May 22, 2007

A new memorial marker will be set in Meadville on Memorial Day for Henry Dee and Charles Moore. It will be set and commemorated by their surviving families, near the spot they were abducted by the Ku Klux Klan in 1964. Prepared statements will be given by Thomas Moore, brother of Charles Moore, and Thelma Collins, Henry Dee's sister. Mississippi civil rights
activists and CBC filmmaker David Rigden will be in attendance as well. Hollis Watkins, well-known civil rights activist, will be the master of ceremonies.

Thomas Moore, the brother of Charles Moore, with the vital assistance of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's David Rigden, sparked the new investigation into these murders of the civil rights era (the bodies were only discovered during efforts to located the bodies of Cheney, Schwerner and Goodman, the subjects of the film "Mississippi Burning"). Ridgen's efforts to produce a film about the murders and Thomas Moore's return to Mississippi seeking answers, under the urging of Ridgen, were the catalysts that engaged the fires of justice and led to the indictment of James Ford Seale, whose trial begins the day after the memorial marker is set.

Moore and Rigden sought and received assistance from Mississippi journalists and ordinary citizens in their probe into the facts of the killings in 1964, and were able to uncover the fact that James Ford Seale was not dead, as had been previously reported (in an apparent effort by Seale's family to keep him hidden in plain sight). In fact, Mr. Seale was not only alive, but still living in the area. Most prominent among those actively assisting Moore in his quest for justice in his brother's murder was the Jackson Free Press, which extensively investigated and covered this unfolding story. One of the almost unknown stories related to this investigation, at least in the main stream media, was the involvement and assistance of many of the readers and bloggers of the Jackson Free Press, who became deeply interested and involved from the beginning and remained involved with the help of Donna Ladd and the Jackson Free Press, who provided, and are still providing, an ongoing and detailed coverage.

During Moore's time back in Mississippi, a dramatic confrontation occurred between him and one of the men once investigated in connection with the murders, as well as James Ford Seale, who is presently awaiting trial for the kidnapping of the two slain men. As things progressed, with help from Mississippians concerned with obtaining justice in this case, federal attorney Dunn Lampton was persuaded to reopen the cold case, not a lightly-undertaken decision, and eventually was able to gather enough evidence to go forward with prosecution in this civil rights era case.

Further details on the memorial service are available in this press release in Adobe Reader format: Dee Moore Memorial

Angela Davis gives keynote Black History Month address at Ole Miss

2007-05-23T13:04:00.000-05:00

by C.W. Roberson

There was a little history to be savored at Ole Miss Friday night. Maybe it was not one of those earthquake history moments like some in the past, but I did hear a little rumble in my mind’s ear.

Even Sparky Reardon, UM Dean of Students, an affable, fairly unflappable sort, had to remark on the strange feelings evoked by having Angela Davis at Ole Miss as the keynote speaker for Black History Month, considering the history of each institution. And, although Dr. Davis specifically denied any iconic stature, she is, in her own way, an institution as well.

For those too young to remember and unacquainted with modern history, Dr. Davis, while a professor at UC Santa Cruz, and even yet an activist, was once less academic and more notorious. Born in Birmingham, Alabama’s segregated south in 1944, she was acquainted with the four girls killed in Sunday School in a Klan bombing of a black church and was introduced to the horrors of Jim Crow at an early age. This undoubtedly influenced her later involvement with the Black Panther Party and the Communist Party.

During the introduction by Dr. Ethel Young-Minor, Associate Professor of English and African American Studies, Dr. Davis appeared both bemused and very surprised at the spontaneous and sustained burst of applause from the large Ford Center audience when Dr. Minor stated that she had become only the second woman in history to be on the FBI Most Wanted list.

Dr. Davis began her address by stating that she feels haunted by the historical civil rights movement “we are revisiting” every time she comes to Mississippi. She asked us to consider the unfinished work on these things that we tend to relegate to the past.

She addressed the issue of “colorblindness” in relation to the Affirmative Action law and opined that the move to colorblindness allows racism to be ignored. “We should learn to ask questions about how racism has changed from the racism of the civil rights era,” she said, and quoted Toni Morrison’s query “Where does racism live now?”

She spoke at length on the nature of slavery and the failure of the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery, noting that it was strategy on Lincoln’s part rather than a statement of morality, particularly since slavery was not abolished in states which were still loyal to the union.

The scope of her speech included native Americans as she wondered why it is so hard for the U.S. to acknowledge what we did to the original native population in this country.

One of the most riveting portions of her talk was her discussion of her childhood in Birmingham, and her anectdotes of life in a racially zoned city, where it was literally zoned into black and white areas and blacks were not allowed into the white-zoned area. She this as she wondered what kind of historical memory today’s generation has; she noted that as much as things have changed, poverty is still concentrated in black neighborhoods, and that we have become fixated on the legal institution of integration while losing sight of the institutional racism that still exists.

She contrasted the color of universities (the percentage of black to white in our universities) and the color of our prisons, which is an inverse portrait of our universities.

She spoke of the heroes and icons of the civil rights movement and said that we spend too much time focusing on them and too little time on the ordinary people. “Segregation didn’t just dissolve, it was disestablished by ordinary people who become aware of themselves as people who had the power to change the world,” she stated, “It was essential for people to imagine a world w/o segregation.”

“Why can we not now draw on those powers of imagination to imagine a world without prisons? Why can we not imagine a world free of zenophobia? We cannot live on the laurels of the past,” she said.

She wondered why we fail to see the social relationships behind these icons, and said that she was not an icon, that she was a beneficiary of the work of an enormous mass of people, and that there are ways we obsess on the individual rather than the many people who make what they did possible. Her humility was surprising to one like me who knew so little about her, other than the giant moments of history past.

She talked about Condaleeza Rice, who also grew up in segregated Birmingham, and knew many of the same people that Dr. Davis knew, who also knew the four girls who died in the Sunday School bombing and how much alike are the stories they tell about their childhoods. Dr. Davis said she found that frightening at times, and often wondered how they came to be so different. She finally came to realize that the difference is in how they define themselves. She said that Dr. Rice sees herself as this individual who, in a typical American framework, overcomes difficulty and triumphs, but that she never says anything about the structural barriers, or the collective character of the changes that allowed her to succeed.

During the Q and A portion of the address, she spoke briefly, in answer to a question, about the Black Panther Party and how they went out with a gun in one hand (carrying an unconcealed weapon was not illegal at that time) and law book in the other, both of them symbolic – the gun symbolic of their determination to defend themselves, the law book as a symbol of their knowledge of the law and their desire to be equal under the law.

She was asked for a definition of feminism, and said that there were different kinds of feminism but that she preferred the kind of feminism that makes us think about the things that are not obviously connected and see the connection.

In one of the lighter moments of the address, she was asked about gay marriage and replied that she did not approve of homosexual marriage, but that it was not because she disapproved of homosexuals, but because she disapproved of marriage