Here is your MAGIC diet pill!

In eight easy steps you can get rid of those unwanted extra pounds!

Just one problem . . . your too lazy to do it and too set in your ways to stop your pitiful eating habits!

This is why American's (especially Mississippians) are so fat. We're all about hard work, as long as somebody else is doing it. Most of us won't even walk to the mailbox. And we refuse to eat much of anything not loaded down with grease, fat, butter, salt and sugar. Heck, even our vegetables are unhealthy!

Bottom line is if what you're doing isn't working, then you should stop what your doing. The Chinese have it right. I knew there was a reason I was always hungry walking around NYC China Town.

Eight Reason Why The Chinese Are Skinnier Than You

Items 1, 3, 4 and 6 are pretty obvious.

Item 2 is, as well. But, the thought of it has me seeing visions of my Mama standing over me threatening to make me eat the unfinished morsels for breakfast. I'm working through that with self counseling (Thanks Mama!).

Item 5 is a no brainer, too. But so hard to do when you work until 9 on the days your not taking your kids to soccer or baseball game double headers.

Number 7? Please. I know people that will have the driver drop them off at the front door of the All-You-Can-Eat, so they don't have to walk that long 30 yards from the parking lot to the front door.

Number 8 is the only one here that is absolutely NOT going to make it in to any of my diet plans. One thing I know about good Ole' Mississippian's, we'll love you to death with food, literally. But, if you tell us we look fat in that new outfit we picked up from Wal-mart, your likely not going to see our happy side, and may, in fact, leave the whole exchange with something Ajax won't take off!

Harper discusses FEMA flap in Yazoo on Fox and Friends (Video).

U.S. Representative Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) joins Steve, Gretchen and Brian live on FOX & Friends to discuss a recent incident in Yazoo County involving local volunteers and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) employees. Volunteers with faith-based organizations were asked to change their shirts because of a religious message on the shirt, before they were allowed to proceed with an interview with a FEMA employee. This interview hits on the details of this episode and Congressman Harpers encouraging conversation with FEMA Administrator, Craig Fugate.


 



Related Posts: Gregg Harper upset with FEMA over T-Shirt Flap
Michelle Malkin addresses FEMA T-Shirt Flap

Michelle Malkin addresses FEMA T-Shirt Flap

FEMA attempts to whitewash faith-based volunteers


A few years ago, economist Arthur Brooks wrote a must-read book on volunteerism in America titled, “Who Really Cares.” An excerpt:

The conventional wisdom runs like this: Liberals are charitable because they advocate government redistribution of money in the name of social justice; conservatives are uncharitable because they oppose these policies. But note the sleight of hand: Government spending, according to this logic, is a form of charity.

Let us be clear: Government spending is not charity. It is not a voluntary sacrifice by individuals. No matter how beneficial or humane it might be, no matter how necessary it is for providing public services, it is still the obligatory redistribution of tax revenues. Because government spending is not charity, sanctimonious yard signs do not prove that the bearers are charitable or that their opponents are selfish. (On the contrary, a public attack on the integrity of those who don’t share my beliefs might more legitimately constitute evidence that I am the uncharitable one.)

To evaluate accurately the charity difference between liberals and conservatives, we must consider private, voluntary charity. How do liberals and conservatives compare in their private giving and volunteering? Beyond strident slogans and sarcastic political caricatures, what, exactly, do the data tell us?

The data tell us that the conventional wisdom is dead wrong. In most ways, political conservatives are not personally less charitable than political liberals—they are more so.

…People living in conservative states volunteer more than people in liberal states. In 2003, the residents of the top five “Bush states” were 51 percent more likely to volunteer than those of the bottom five, and they volunteered an average of 12 percent more total hours each year. Residents of these Republican-leaning states volunteered more than twice as much for religious organizations, but also far more for secular causes. For example, they were more than twice as likely to volunteer to help the poor.

I bolded that last part as a segue to this stomach-turning story from the Associated Press about how a FEMA official taping interviews with volunteers helping tornado victims in Mississippi was so sick of meeting faith-based volunteers in the area that he asked two women to change their shirts to hide their religious affiliation:

The top officer for FEMA said one of the agency’s videographers was “absolutely wrong” to ask Mississippi church volunteers not to wear religious T-shirts for a video about tornado cleanup.

Angela Lott and Pamela Wedgeworth, who are sisters, told The Associated Press that the FEMA worker videotaping the cleanup on Saturday in the small town of Ebenezer asked them to do on-camera interviews but requested that they change out of their T-shirts because of a Salvation Army logo.

“He said, ‘We would like to ask you to change your shirt because we don’t want anything faith-based,’” Lott said Tuesday.

Lott said she asked him why he didn’t want to feature faith groups.

“All he said was, ‘We’ve done that hundreds of times,’” Lott said.

No surprise there.

If only the religious volunteers had worn ACORN or SEIU or “God is Dead” t-shirts, the FEMA employee would have featured them in full-length documentaries and bought them steak dinners.

Michelle Malkin

Work progressing on new station

By the end of the year, the Adam Weisenberger Memorial Fire Station should be in operation on Stribling Road.

In the planning stages for several years but delayed by snags over landing a location, the station becomes the second one operated by the South Madison Fire Protection District and should mean a drop in insurance rates for homeowners in the district.

"I can't wait to see a brand new truck sitting in that brand new station," said Bill Weisenberger, head of the fire district board and the father of Adam.

Adam Weisenberger, 19, was killed when he was tending to victims of a wreck on I-55 in 2002. He became an official volunteer with the South Madison district when he was eligible at age 18 but had spent years hanging around the Gluckstadt station where his father was, and still is, a volunteer. County officials agreed to name the new station in his honor.

"This is a wonderful tribute to our son," Weisenberger said at the recent ground-breaking for the station, located just past Lake Caroline.

"By naming this for one volunteer who gave his life is something we should all appreciate," Supervisor Karl Banks said at the recent groundbreaking.

Read the entire story at The Madison County Herald

TEA Party Victories show organization has worked

TEA Party participants nationwide have taken a beating from late night comedians, Democrat name callers, and even the President. But, recent events in Utah, Florida and now, Kentucky, prove that the organization has worked. And, come November, that bodes well for some historic changes.

In Tea Party Victory, Rand Paul Takes Ky. Senate Primary

WASHINGTON – Rand Paul, one of the early leaders of the Tea Party movement, won the Republican nomination for Senate from Kentucky Tuesday night, delivering a powerful blow to the party’s establishment and offering the clearest evidence yet of the strength of the anti-government sentiment simmering at the grass-roots level.

Mr. Paul, the son of Representative Ron Paul of Texas, easily defeated Trey Grayson, the Secretary of State from Kentucky. Kentucky voters turned against Mr. Grayson even though he had the support of the state’s best-known political leader – Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader.

The result appeared less a rebuke of Mr. McConnell – who by most indications remains popular in his home—than a message to the political establishment in Washington. Mr. Paul’s campaign was specifically directed against what he said were the abuses of Washington insiders in the form of excessive spending and government regulation, as he gave voice to the Tea Party movement

It remains to be seen how big a difference Tea Party support means in a general election; many Democrats, and some Republicans, believe that Mr. Paul’s views are enough out-of-the-mainstream to make him an easier target than Mr. Grayson against the Democratic nominee in the fall.

Still, it is the latest development suggesting the sway of the Tea Party movement in the Republican Party. It followed the defeat of an incumbent Republican senator, Robert Bennett of Utah, by conservative forces in that state. And it came after the recent decision by Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida to drop out of the Republican primary for Senate in the face of a surge by a Tea Party favorite, Marco Rubio.

The early verdict in Kentucky came on one of the most active political nights since the presidential election of 2008, one that was being watched nervously in Washington signs of just how strong the anti-incumbent winds are blowing across the country.

Read the entire story at The New York Times

Liberty is not Just About Economics

by Phil Russo

There is a very important and interesting conversation taking place amongst tea party groups right now. It can sometimes be uncomfortable and awkward but we, as tea partiers, are not afraid to tackle big issues, right? The conversation I’m referring to is about civil liberties, how important they are, and their relationship to the Constitution.

When I wrote a blog post about the Times Square bomber and how he should have been read his rights I expected to be blasted by my fellow tea partiers – but I wasn’t. Most people agreed that John McCain was wrong.

I have also heard others talking about the Obama decision to assassinate American citizens and how unconstitutional it is. And, there’s plenty of talk about denying people on the “terrorist watch list” their second amendment rights even though they have not been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crime. The progress being made on the right with respect to civil liberties is very encouraging.

Many tea partiers ask me how they can reach out to younger people like myself and I have been telling them that younger people are with us on economics; it is when we get to civil liberties that they look at the GOP and they see big government, Big Brother, unconstitutional hypocrites.

One of the reasons Ron Paul’s following was so young was for this exact reason. Young people don’t want higher taxes or bigger government. They believe in free markets. What they also don’t want are things like a national ID card, even if the Republicans say it is needed to “fight terrorism.” In fact, many young people don’t want to give up their constitutional rights for any reason.

I am with Patrick Henry, “I know not what course others may choose but as for me, give me liberty or give me death”! A lot of folks my age, who would vote Republican on economic issues, look at the constitution and don’t see anything about gay marriage. They see no power granted to Congress to create a Federal Reserve Bank. They see no power in the Constitution giving congress the power to regulate marriage. Similarly, they see no power there giving Congress the power to prohibit pot smoking.

There is a thick libertarian streak in the under-30 crowd and especially in the under-20 crowd. If we tell them that freedom means the government staying out of the economy, they rightly think that the government should also stay out of their homes, personal lives, and bedrooms. They also think that the bill of rights should apply to every American citizen regardless of the charges against them. This should make sense even to my post-40 tea party friends.

If we allow the government to assassinate an American citizen overseas the next step will be assassinating American citizens on our own soil. If we allow the government to assassinate American citizens accused of “terrorism” the next step is allowing them to assassinate anyone accused of being a “threat to national security.”

Imagine if Obama had decided to assassinate the members of the “Christian” militia that was busted a few months back. They were “terrorists” – they were going to use a bomb to kill a police officer and then set off more bombs along the funeral route. That’s a tactic straight out of Bin Laden’s playbook. Should these men be held without charge in Gitmo and tried before a military tribunal?

I obviously don’t speak for all young people, but I do talk politics with a lot of them. There are neo-cons that are under 30, less of them under 20, and they think that if you have brown skin and the government (that they claim to distrust so much) deems you are a terrorist, it is ok to suspend your constitutional rights for “national security.”

I find this particularly ironic since these neo-cons claim to hate socialism and collectivism so much but then they preach about the “greater good” which is textbook socialism talk. Giving up our constitutional rights in the interest of security is no different from the commies that used to say “better Red than dead.”

So to answer the question – how do you reach the younger people in this country? The answer is simple – if we really want to reach them we should continue this conversation about civil liberties and we should not shy away from it because it makes us “uncomfortable.”

When I think of my favorite Founding Fathers like Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, and Thomas Jefferson, I see those men more in Ron Paul, Gary Johnson, Barry Goldwater, and Jim Demint than I do in George W Bush, John McCain, Eric Cantor and the others.

If we present young people with a consistent message of economic and personal liberty, and if we elect people who follow the constitution and repeal the tens of thousands of pages of laws that are unconstitutional, we will not have a problem turning young people to our side. That will happen naturally.

Phil Russo is a grassroots activist and co-host of the radio show, “Tea Party Patriots Live” which can be heard on Saturdays on 660 WORL in Orlando, FL. Visit his website at http://www.teapartypatriotslive.com/.

The Tenth Amendment Center

Obama's Aunt ordered deported, refuses, appeals, then granted asylum. What Changed?

What changed was that her nephew was elected President. And, exactly how believable is it that she was here, and he didn't know? Not very.

She refuses to follow a deportation order--which is very easy considering the federal government doesn't enforce immigration law--lives off of the taxpayers of Massachusetts in public housing, and she's not going to try to get help from her nephew, a sitting Senator?

Sorry. I'm calling BS on that one.

US Court Grants Asylum to Obama's African Aunt


Cleveland (AP) - A U.S. immigration court has granted asylum to President Barack Obama's African aunt, allowing her to stay in the country, her attorneys announced Monday.

The decision was mailed Friday and comes three months after Kenya native Zeituni Onyango, the half-sister of Obama's late father, testified at a closed hearing in Boston, where she arrived in a wheelchair and two doctors testified in support of her case.

The basis for her asylum request hadn't been made public. People who seek asylum must show that they face persecution in their homeland on the basis of religion, race, nationality, political opinion or membership in a social group.

Her lawyer, Margaret Wong of Cleveland, said last year that Onyango first applied for asylum "due to violence in Kenya." The East African nation is fractured by cycles of electoral violence every five years.

In a November interview with The Associated Press, Onyango said she was disabled and was learning to walk again after being paralyzed from Guillain-Barre syndrome, an autoimmune disorder.

Onyango moved to the United States in 2000. Her first asylum request was rejected, and she was ordered deported in 2004. But she didn't leave the country and continued to live in public housing in Boston.

Read more at CNS News

Flora police investigate death

FLORA, MS (WLBT) – Flora police are investigating a death.

Chief Judy Tucker confirmed the investigation Saturday night and said the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations was also working the case.

Chief Tucker said Sunday that the investigation revealed that the Flora resident died of a self inflicted injuries.

Residents told WLBT that it happened in the 200 block of Bannerman Drive, off Main Street in Flora.

They said Flora Police and Madison County deputies were on the scene throughout the day.

The victim's identity has not been released.

WJTV: Congressman Gregg Harper Upset With FEMA Over T-Shirt Flap (Video)

WJTV Reports:

Mississippi’s 3rd District Congressman is demanding answers from FEMA. More than 300 people spend their Saturday volunteering to help Mississippi tornado victims. A FEMA photographer showed up to take pictures but asked a church group to change their t-shirts. The reason, the shirts included the Salvation Army logo and the photographer told volunteers faith-based organizations could not be profiled. The church volunteers were members of Crossgate Baptist Church in Brandon, Mississippi. Harper is a member of Crossgates Baptist Church.

After the storm

Christ Life ministry responds

When there's a disaster in the area, Tam Mayfield of Flora springs into action. As the founder and executive director of CHRIST Ministries, Mayfield helps those in crisis following natural disasters, including those in the Yazoo City area who are suffering following the deadly tornado there a couple of weeks ago.

Donations for Mississippi tornado relief are being taken at Christ Life Highlands Church Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The church is located at 670 Highland Colony Parkway, about a half mile south of the traffic circle, in Ridgeland. Items being collected are bottled water, canned goods, toilet paper, soap, diapers, baby wipes, baby food, work gloves, garbage bags and cat and dog food. "We are not collecting clothes any longer," Mayfield said. "The Salvation Army is much better equipped to distribute clothes." Mayfield said the ministry will distribute items to those affected by the tornadoes for the next month to six weeks.

Read the entire story at The Madison County Herald

52 percent of adult Latino immigrants are drop-outs

The Pew Hispanic Center released a sobering report this week reminding us about the bleak education outlook for the nation's largest minority group.

The most worrisome stat? More than half of all foreign-born Latino adults in the U.S. are high school drop-outs. That's compared with 25 percent of native-born Hispanics.

The implications of this trend are huge for a host of socio-economic reasons. But one of the most significant? It could lead to a more illiterate and ill-equipped workforce that's precisely what an information and technologically driven economy doesn't need.

From the report:

Some 41% of Hispanic adults age 20 and older in the United States do not have a regular high school diploma, compared with 23% of black adults and 14% of white adults.

Among Hispanics, there are significant differences between the foreign born and the native born in high school diploma attainment rates and GED credentialing rates. Some 52% of foreign-born Latino adults are high school drop-outs, compared with 25% of the native born. And among Hispanic drop-outs, some 21% of the native born have a GED, compared with just 5% of the foreign born.

Government Spending Definitions: Social Security: Pass it On

Social Security was started by President Roosevelt in 1935 to provide a savings account for retirees and help the disable, widows and fatherless children. The program has grown to become the largest government program in the world.

The costs of Social Security might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. In this case, the camel is The United States Economy. Due in large part to irresponsible management of the Social Security Trust Fund, the account where social security tax dollars are deposited.

How did this happen? Let’s keep this in a real world scenario by using the example of a large family of five.

Five kids are all working. Each one chips in $500.00 per month to an account for their retired parents. The parents receive $2,500 each month to live on which is amble amount for them to eat and live. Several years later, three of the kids also retire. These kids didn’t not have children of their own. They can no longer afford to chip in $500.00 per month to the parents retirement account. Thus, the parents account shrinks to $1,000 per month to live and eat on. However, the three kids also need to live off of the $1,000 per month. Now five adults are living off of $1,000 per month to live and eat.

This example is much better than what has happened to Social Security in this country. Since 1935, workers have had money taken out of their paychecks to be put away in a Social Security savings account for them to retrieve when the worker retires. However, the government spent all the money on government programs. Since the Social Security Account is empty, Congress has borrows or prints the money to put money back into the Social Security Account for the benefactors to receive payments each month.

To illustrate what our government has done, lets use our family as an example again.

When all five children were working they put $500.00 per month into a retirement account for the parents to live on. Instead of giving the money to the parents, the children borrow $2,500 each month. They used the $2,500 per month in cash to pay for the loan payments which at first only cost a few hundred dollars a month. This way they had extra cash in the account each month. So they used the extra money to help other elderly couples in the neighborhood pay their expenses.

Soon, the interest payments on borrowing $2,500 per month grow to equal the $2,500 in cash the kids put into the account. Thus, the cash put into the account only paid for the interest on the loans. The bank stopped lending money and parents suddenly lost their $2,500 per month retirement checks to live on.

Where are we today with the Social Security System? Say three of the kids retire. They can’t afford put in $500 per month. Thus, the cash account that received $2,500 per month and was being used to pay off the $2,500 per month in loans payments is not going into a cash negative position. With three kids retiring, they can't put $500 per month into the account. The account and bank payment is now a negative $1,500 per month due to their retirement.

The bank will soon be looking to foreclose on the kids assets like taking their homes to pay off the loans. The situation is even worse. The parents have no money to live on. The three kids have no money to live on. The two remaining kids are going to retired soon as well with no money to live on.

That's good way to illustrate the state of our Social Security Account today.

The kids made a very bad mistake that effected their retirement. Taking out the loans to pay for other elderly neighbors is valiant and moral ideal, but their actions resulted in dire consequences in the long-term for themselves.

The United States Government is facing a similar scenario. They spent all the Social Security tax money on government programs. They borrowed money to pay for the recipients Social Security benefits. Today, the tax money taken in each year is now less because more people are retiring. Thus, Congress has to borrow more and more money to pay for benefits and interest payments.

This situation will add trillions of dollars to the National Debt, that is if we can borrow and print this much money. If we can’t, take a look at Greece today.

Miss. court rejects appeal over conviction of Flora woman's murder

JACKSON, Miss. -- The Mississippi Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by death row inmate Justin Underwood, who said prosecutors withheld polygraph test results that could have helped his case.

Underwood was convicted in 1995 in Madison County in the slaying of a Flora woman, Virginia Ann Harris, whose body was found near a lake in Madison County.

Underwood had been arrested on an unrelated burglary charge but allegedly confessed to killing the woman. He allegedly claimed Harris begged to be killed.

In his appeal, Underwood said polygraph tests on the victim's husband were inconclusive and that could have helped his case.

The court disagreed in a ruling Thursday, saying the tests weren't inconclusive and weren't admissible in court, anyway.

Yazoo City bustling with signs of healing

Sounds of swinging hammers fill the air along U.S. 49 and Old Benton Road. It seems like every other building has a roofing crew crawling atop it.

Yazoo City appears to be healing - less than three weeks after a tornado struck this community.

Nearly 200 homes in Yazoo County were destroyed by the April 24 tornado or suffered major damage - the most of any of the counties hit. And nearly half of the $1.2 million in individual disaster grants distributed by the federal government has gone to residents of the county.

State Sen. Kenneth Wayne Jones, D-Canton, who represents the area, said he is satisfied progress is being made. Jones said some of that has to do with the coordinated effort of the federal and state government, but most of the credit for the speed of the cleanup goes to the local communities.

Despite the damage, morale is high, he said.

"From what I can see, it's been overwhelming with communities supporting each other," Jones said.

Most of the struggles of individual homeowners revolve around insurance claims.

Alberta Harris was among those at the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster recovery center in Yazoo City this week trying to figure out her next steps.

It is bad enough that Harris' home was severely damaged by the tornado, but it comes just a few weeks after the death of her mother. Harris, who hid under her bed when the tornado roared past, said the problem is the home belonged to her mother and the insurance policy still is in her name.

She applied for disaster assistance but said FEMA sent her back to her insurance company. Mostly, she has relied on help from local charities.

"I'm starting from scratch," she said. "I thank God for the churches. They helped me out."

FEMA spokeswoman Diane Allen said the disaster center in Yazoo City has processed 655 claims and was averaging about 55 claims a day.

Yazoo City Mayor McArthur Straughter said he believes some of his citizens' housing needs may be met with the arrival of one- and two-bedroom cottages originally constructed to house victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Read more at The Clarion Ledger

Good Cop, Bad Cop: Bipartisan Failure to Control Spending

By Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson

Economic error knows no partisan bounds. Republican Herbert Hoover and Democrat Franklin Roosevelt both adopted foolish, harmful policies during the Great Depression. Republican George W. Bush’s stimulus plan made no sense, and neither did Democrat Barack Obama’s.

The greatest threat to our country’s future is chronic overspending by the federal government. We are racing toward national bankruptcy. Once again, bipartisan economic ignorance is the problem. Neither political party seems ready to tackle the spending problem.

This is not to say, as some do, that there are no significant differences between Republicans and Democrats. Such assertions are either intellectually lazy or an expression of extreme exasperation. That being said, neither party is sufficiently grounded in the philosophy of freedom and free enterprise to propose a freeze in government spending, much less a quantum reduction in the power and scope of government intervention into economic matters. Instead, the party of Big Government—the Republicans—and the party of Bigger Government—the Democrats—both support continued increases in federal spending.

Under the leadership of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid troika, Democrats have embarked on a reckless, dangerous spending splurge. Republicans are enjoying a resurgence of popularity by virtue of their opposition to the Democrats’ attempts to expand federal control over healthcare, energy, education, etc. But would Republicans cut spending, balance the budget, shrink government, and begin to reduce the gargantuan national debt if voters gave them the chance? I have my doubts.

We saw earlier this decade that, given majority status, Republicans went wild with earmarks and produced gushers of red ink in Washington. It seems to me that the best thing one could say about the Republicans is that might take us down the path toward national bankruptcy more slowly than the Democrats.

What we have here is a classic case of the “good cop, bad cop” routine. In terms of controlling government spending, Republicans may seem far more pleasant for us to deal with than the other guys, but in the final analysis, they’re both part of a statist system that would curtail our economic liberty and penalize us with diminished prosperity.

We may regard Republicans as the “good cops” insofar as they seem more aware that if they redistribute wealth too rapidly, the system may collapse. However, the GOP has a long track record of redistributing wealth (some to different special interests than Democrats and some to the same but to a different extent) and they never question the fundamental legitimacy of government power trumping property rights.

Here are a few timely questions: What do Republicans want, other than to unseat Democrats? What is their vision? What are their principles? What concrete, coherent programs have Republicans offered to shrink government? What challenge are they posing to the practice of redistributing wealth?

Few Republicans talk about shrinking the leviathan state. They may talk about the need for fiscal responsibility, affordability, and slowing the growth of the state, but few question the premise that the state must continue to grow.

Economic problems abound. Weak job prospects, a shaky housing market, concerns about affordable healthcare, ongoing bank closures—take your pick, they’re all serious and large numbers of Americans are affected by each one of those problems. But the biggest, most menacing, economic problem of all—the one that jeopardizes the economic well-being of almost all of us—is reckless overspending by the federal government.

Years of unjustified and unaffordable government spending have brought us to the precipice of national bankruptcy. When investor demand for government debt falls below the bloated supply, interest rates will surge and the Fed will probably inflate like mad. We will suffer massive business failures, surging unemployment, a colossal debt implosion and/or a severely depreciated (if not utterly ruined) currency, and significantly lower standards of living.

Who got us into this parlous predicament? The facile answer for conservatives is to blame Democrats. Certainly, Democrats are not innocent in this matter. But are Republicans blameless? No. Out-of-control government spending has been a bipartisan failure.

— Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson is an adjunct faculty member, economist, and contributing scholar with The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College.

Minor fire at Madison County jail

No major damage occurred Wednesday when a fire broke out in a crawl space at the Madison County Jail.

Workers installing an air conditioning unit on the roof sparked the 3 p.m. fire when a blowtorch they were using caused a piece of hot metal to drop into the four-foot space above the ceiling of the laundry, Deputy Chief Eddie Belvedresi said. The fire did not spread.

“It couldn’t have happened at a better time,” he said. “It was right at the shift change so a lot of officers were already on the scene.”

No one was injured, but the 144 inmates housed on the other side the building, which also includes the visiting center, were moved to another unit.

“No cells were affected by this,” Madison County emergency management director Butch Hammack said.

Belvedresi said the federal and county inmates housed in the building weren’t aware there was an ongoing fire as they were being shifted. Even after they learned of the blaze, “they were real calm,” he said.

The fire was extinguished by the Canton Fire Department in about 30 minutes. The inmates were expected to be returned to their cells in the building later Wednesday evening after the water was mopped up and the smoke cleared away.

The county will have insurance adjusters in to assess the damage, Belvedresi said. There appeared to be no damage to the roof, he said.

Clarion Ledger

New law ups the Arizona ante

The newest law signed by Arizona governor Jan Brewer has upped the rhetoric in the brewing conflict between her office and the state's large Hispanic community.

The new law approved late Tuesday is tailored to ban ethnic studies programs run by school districts in Arizona. It's especially targeted against the Tucson school district and its Chicano studies program. The law's proponents say these programs promote division and racism. Others believe this is evidence that Brewer is attacking Hispanics, especially in light of her recent signing of a bill allowing police to more easily investigate if people are illegal immigrants.

Dead dolphins wash up on coast; oil's role unclear

Associated Press


SHIP ISLAND, Miss. — Federal wildlife officials are treating the deaths of six dolphins on the Gulf Coast as oil-related even though other factors may be to blame.

Blair Mase (MACE') of the National Marine Fisheries Service said Tuesday that the carcasses have all been found in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama since May 2. Samples have been sent for testing to see whether a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico helped kill the dolphins.

Mase and animal rescue coordinator Michele Kelley in Louisiana said none of the carcasses has obvious signs of oil. Mase also said it's common for dead dolphins to wash up this time of year when they are in shallow waters to calve.

The Associated Press found dolphins swimming and playing in oily waters off Louisiana last week.

Cross Posted at Lucy's Revenge

Seeds of Discontent: Monsanto defends genetic modification practices

AT DERRINALLUM, in Victoria, Australia, prosperity comes courtesy of a nearby volcano called Mount Elephant. Over the past 10,000 years, its spent lava has weathered into a rich brown topsoil. But John Sheehan is one of a rapidly growing number of Victorian farmers for whom such riches of the earth are not enough. This year, he and others like him plan to enhance their natural resources with modern technology.

Seed-drilling machinery on the Derrinallum property Sheehan manages works day and night across the flat crop-land to inject the soil with with science. It is the season to plant grains such as wheat and canola and - for the first time this year - an estimated 20 per cent of the canola crop in Victoria will come from one of the most sophisticated levels of scientific endeavour: genetic modification.

But despite the huge uptake by Victorian farmers, this might be the last year Sheehan uses the controversial technology. For him, the outcome has not matched the promise.

Although GM canola has been planted since 1995 in Canada - where it was developed - many other countries, including Australia, had a moratorium on planting the crop due to public disquiet about perceived dangers.

The list of concerns was long, ranging from unease about the possible allergic effects of new untested proteins on humans, to worries the plants could affect other crops and transfer their genetically modified characteristics to weeds.

In the first year after Victoria and New South Wales dropped the moratorium in late 2007, support for the technology was tentative, but plantings have rocketed since. This season, sales of GM canola seed across the country have more than doubled compared with last year. And Victoria farmers appear to be the nation's most enthusiastic, with by far the largest plantings of the three states in which the technology is allowed.

Monsanto is the US-based chemical and biotechnology company that holds the patents on all GM canola grown in this country. It expects 40,000 hectares to be planted in Victoria this year, up from less than 28,000 last year. Nationally, the area cultivated for this type of crop is expected to more than double to 89,000 hectares, thanks to Western Australia dropping its moratorium following the election of the Barnett Liberal government.

David Tribe is a Melbourne University scientist and an energetic advocate for GM technology. He also runs a blog called GMO Pundit that has devoted considerable energy to confronting GM opponents. In conjunction with American academic Bruce Chassy, Tribe has launched a detailed attack on one of America's most high-profile GM critics, Jeffrey Smith, whose book Seeds of Deception has been a best seller.

The book, which takes particular aim at Monsanto, claims the company has historically combined some of the most toxic products ever sold with misleading reports, pressure tactics on opponents and collusion with friendly government scientists.

It asserts the company and its competitors now race to genetically engineer and patent the world's food supply, which Smith says profoundly threatens our health, environment, and economy.

Tribe believes that such claims, while popular, are easily debunked and have never been subjected to scientific peer review.

He believes that in the long term, genetically modified organisms will better suit the needs of agriculture, and are the only way to feed an increasing global population amid the uncertainties thrown up by climate change.

''Many of the opponents of GM take that position because they simply dislike large companies, but they are not facing the problem that our agriculture system will need to feed billions more people.

''If global warming is the greatest moral challenge of our time, then we have to confront it. Many of the opponents [of GM] have a fundamentalist ideological vision of the world, and over history fundamentalist ideologies have killed millions of people.''

Sheehan could be seen to be a similar enthusiast. He planted the first crop as soon as the moratorium was lifted and this is the third year in which he has used the seed known as Monsanto's Roundup Ready. Its characteristic is a modification to allow it to survive being sprayed by the herbicide glyphosate, which Monsanto markets under the Roundup brand.

Despite the claims of increased yields from GM proponents, Sheehan has recorded no such increase. What he has noticed is a much higher cost of using GM canola than using TT varieties. Roundup Ready canola costs $25 a kilogram, whereas TT costs about $4 - although this is modified by the amount needed to be planted.

''With TT you have to plant about five kilos to the hectare whereas with Roundup Ready and Clearfield, you only have to plant three.

''But the real problem with Roundup Ready is the very limited window allowed for weed spraying. You can only spray the plants when they have between two and six leaves … There are times when you might need to spray if weeds develop when the plants have 12 leaves, but if you do that you really knock them around. This [limitation] has really taken the gloss off GM.''

Read more at The Age

Committee To Elect Will Longwitz raises more than $44,000 in first reporting period

Campaign Finance Reports made public today show Will Longwitz with major fundraising advantage in race for Madison County Court Judge.

Madison, Miss. - With the Campaign Finance Reports made available today showing campaign fundraising activity between January 1st and April 30th, 2010, the Committee to Elect Will Longwitz Madison County Court Judge reported a major and historic level of activity - raising $44,188.35 during that time period.

"We are very encouraged by the broad base of support for the Campaign to Elect Will Longwitz Madison County Judge" said E. David Cox, Director of the Committee. "Will's campaign raised over $44,000, and we are honored to have so much support from people of all walks of life, and from individuals in all areas of Madison County."

"Will's experience and vision for the Madison County Court is being well-received by the people of Madison County," Cox stated. "Clearly, today's fundraising reports are further evidence of the strong support for Will's campaign."

"We are very grateful to everyone who has offered their support for Will's campaign for judge. We will continue to run a campaign that will honor people who have lent their names, donations and time to a campaign that focuses on safe neighborhoods and strong families for the future of Madison County," Cox concluded.

President Obama positioning for Net Neutrality

President Barack Obama once again seemed to be setting up for a future challenge Sunday when he lamented the many sources American's have to check up on our elected officials.

"You're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank all that high on the truth meter," Obama said at Hampton University, Virginia.

That's right. Your President wants to limit your choices in where you get your information, too!

"What Jefferson recognized... that in the long run, their improbable experiment -- called America -- wouldn't work if its citizens were uninformed, if its citizens were apathetic, if its citizens checked out, and left democracy to those who didn't have the best interests of all the people at heart," he said.



"It could only work if each of us stayed informed and engaged, if we held our government accountable, if we fulfilled the obligations of citizenship."

The problem is, he wants to decide for you what information is and is not worth your time. He may as well be saying, "Citizens are much easier to control when they lack the ability to check up on the facts that I provide."

As Obama speaks of citizens getting too much information, his FCC Chairman is attempting to get it done by slowly picking the lock on the back door.

Regulators to reassert broadband regulation




WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Communications Commission will announce on Thursday that it will reassert regulation of broadband and continue an open Internet policy, but also refrain from imposing strict regulatory burdens on broadband providers like Verizon, AT&T and Comcast.


A senior FCC official said on Wednesday that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has decided to stick with preserving a free and open Internet under a middle-of-the-road approach.


He is seeking to walk a line between moving forward with a bold broadband policy and averting a heavy regulatory hand that could spark legal action by companies like Verizon and AT&T.


The FCC's announcement is expected to focus on maintaining the "status quo" for the lightly regulated broadband business that existed prior to a court ruling in April, the FCC official said. The ruling threw into doubt the government's ability to move forward with an ambitious broadband plan.


The FCC's decision would reclassify the regulatory framework for broadband services under an existing set of rules governing telephone services. However, the FCC will not impose the strict regulatory regime associated with telephone services, the official said.

Senator Wicker, who serves on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation announced today that he is watching.

MBJ: Wicker critical of proposed new Internet rule




WASHINGTON — In response to FCC chairman Julius Genachowski’s intent to impose stricter regulation on the Internet under Title II of the Communications Act, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) released the following statement:


“I am extremely concerned about chairman Genachowski’s proposal to reclassify broadband services under an antiquated regulatory regime. Doing so would seriously threaten innovation and investment in the Internet marketplace. The unburdened Internet allows communities and small businesses to remain competitive in the local, national, and global marketplaces.


“There is no evidence that imposing this degree of regulatory control over the Internet is necessary or that it would benefit consumers. Unfortunately, this effort appears to be little more than another attempt by the Administration to take over private industry and stifle our economy. This is not how a good government operates.


“I am committed to working with the FCC and my colleagues to ensure the Internet remains consumer-focused and free of unwarranted regulations that would hinder its continued success.”

In the words of Will Rogers, "Things in our country run in spite of government, not by aid of it.”

The Saga Continues: Engineering Board to look at Warnock complaint

Engineer fights report's validity

Complaint filed over study initiated by Madison mayor

MADISON COUNTY — Engineer Rudy Warnock has filed a complaint with the Mississippi Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors about a study instigated by Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler analyzing his contracts with Madison County.

The board will investigate the complaint, according to Rosemary Brister, executive director of the state licensing board.

"This is something the board will look at," Brister, said

Dorsey Carson, Warnock's attorney, filed the complaint April 28, alleging the mayor used a "hired gun" engineer to compile the report that criticized the county's engineering contracts, its lack of checks and balances with Warnock and Warnock's fees.

In a letter to the board, Carson charges that Richard McAfee, hired by Butler, violated state law by engaging in "the unauthorized practice of engineering in Mississippi."

Brister said the board, meeting April 29, determined the complaint met the criteria for an investigation - it fell within its jurisdiction and "was not frivolous."

A member, investigator and attorney from the board along with Brister will look into the allegations. Brister said she has no timetable for completing the investigation and it's too early to say how the complaint will be resolved.

Butler called the request for a state inquiry "a smokescreen and just another deterrent."

She cited McAfee's credentials as a consultant to two presidents and the military as proof that he is a capable engineer able to offer an opinion in Mississippi.

"Mr. McAfee can give his opinion all over the world but can't in Madison County." Butler said. "Who is Rudy Warnock to question his resume? Mr. McAfee has worked under presidents Bush and Clinton and Gen. Colin Powell, and he can't give his opinion on a Mickey Mouse operation here?"

In the complaint, Carson said that McAfee, who used his credentials as a professional engineer to sign the report, violated the state statute that requires any person practicing engineering in the state to be licensed in Mississippi.

Read the complete story at The Clarion Ledger 

You can view a copy of the complaint here.

Related Post: Warnock takes his gripe to the State Board of Licensure

MISSISSIPPI CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION AGAIN RALLIES TO SUPPORT DISASTER DECLARATION

Delegation Supports Aid to Recover from Damage Caused by May 1 Tornadoes and Flooding

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Members of the Mississippi congressional delegation have again rallied to support the state of Mississippi’s request for a presidential disaster declaration to aid victims of floods and tornadoes that tore through north Mississippi earlier this month.

U.S. Senators Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker and U.S. Representatives Bennie Thompson, Gene Taylor, Travis Childers and Gregg Harper today sent President Obama a letter endorsing the disaster declaration application submitted by Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour to the White House late last week.

The state’s request seeks a federal disaster declaration for six north Mississippi counties where tornadoes on May 1 and subsequent flooding killed six people and damaged hundreds of homes. The Governor’s initial application would cover Alcorn, Benton, Lafayette, Prentiss, Tippah and Tishomingo counties.

Regarding the May 1 tornado damages, the Mississippi lawmakers wrote: “The latest estimates show that 6 Mississippi lives have been lost and nearly 250 residences were destroyed or have major damage and 482 homes received minor damage. Much of this destruction has occurred in parts of our state that have been particularly affected by our nation’s current economic situation. Many of these counties have poverty levels that are more than double the national average.”

“We stand ready to face this new challenge by supporting the local communities, the State, and your administration as we work together to rebuild and renew areas destroyed by this major storm,” the delegation stressed in its correspondence to the President.

The lawmakers, who also backed Barbour’s application for federal assistance following a massive tornado on April 23-24 that killed 10 Mississippians, thanked President Obama for approving that request and making federal assistance available to the state.

Members of the congressional delegation have been consulting with Barbour, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and local officials regarding recovery efforts and outstanding needs in the damaged region. The issuance of a presidential disaster declaration, as requested by the state, would trigger the release of federal disaster assistance and resources.

Visualizing Obama's Budget Cuts

Resources on Obama's Supreme Court Nominee Kagan

From the Federalist Society, here is a link to do research as long as your little heart desires.

There will be a test!

Latest trend: Protesting for U.S. flag

The latest trend running in parallel to the current immigration furor: Fighting back when the Mexican flag is displayed in favor of the American one.

Over the last few days, we've seen multiple controversies surrounding Old Glory, including at least one in the Houston area. They all carry a common theme. Someone feels America is being disrespected so he does something arguably outrageous to bring the red, white and blue back to its perceived preeminence.

• In Spring, Texas,  Klein Collins High School sophomore ripped down a Mexican flag displayed for Cinco de Mayo and threw it away


• Some kids in California decided to wear U.S.-flag-themed clothing to school on Cinco de Mayo and got sent home, spurring a series of protests.

• Elsewhere in California, students burned a Mexican flag to protest Cinco de Mayo.

There have been other incidents, and in light of the immigration tension, they all seem to be getting an unusual amount of play in the media at the moment, alongside a generous helping of rumor and false information.

It's important to point out that it is legal to display a national flag however you want, no matter how disrespectfully you do it. It is also perfectly legal to burn national flags, although it's probably not a good idea. Contrary to popular opinion spreading through the blogosphere, there are no legally enforceable "flag codes."

Immigration Chronicles

Must read analysis of the lefts view of the TEA Party Movement from Redstate.

When Newt Gingrich was in Jackson a few months ago he spoke at the Rankin County Republican Dinner to honor Congressman Gregg Harper. He very succinctly broke down the battle of Right Vs. Left when he said the left simply views the message of limited government with disdain. In a nutshell, Conservative's can't hope to compromise with someone who has a fundamentally polar opposite view.

One would expect Gingrich to try to get mileage out of the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress that he helped oversee along with then GOP Chairman Haley Barbour. But, he's right. No matter how hard one tries, attempts to explain away fundamental differences with lip service to compromise has never put us in a position to return to constitutionally limited government.

What will?

Starving the beast that is the federal government.

No matter how hard "lefty pencil necks" attempt to explain away the current movement, and no matter how often their minions parrot the talking points provided (Keith Olbermann, Ed Shulz, Chris Matthews, etc.), and hurl insults and racial accusations, the simple truth is this is going to happen come November. Conservatives have been given yet another chance to get it right, this time by the TEA Party activists. Considering the level of disconnect between words and deeds with the current administration and the Democrat leadership in Congress, this could be the last chance before the country moves beyond the point of no return.

The Tea Party Movement as a Libertarian Mob


a pencil necked lefty explains the Tea Party movement

There is an apocryphal story, truth be told it is more closely akin to a parable than a story, that tells much about the American character. As the story goes, an English nobleman is in America at some point in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries, depending upon when you find the story, and he’s seeking directions or a room for the night or somesuch. He approaches an American farmer or rancher or backwoodsman and says, “My good man, where is your master.” The American solemnly stares and replies, “I reckon that sumbitch ain’t been born.”

Segments of the left are all a-Twitter, so to speak, today over an article in the New York Times Review of Books by someone named Mark Lilla titled Tea Party Jacobins. According to the left, this article explains the Tea Party movement and the electoral stomping the left anticipates taking this November. It has nothing to do with the Administration’s policies or its disdain for America rather:

A new strain of populism is metastasizing before our eyes, nourished by the same libertarian impulses that have unsettled American society for half a century now. Anarchistic like the Sixties, selfish like the Eighties, contradicting neither, it is estranged, aimless, and as juvenile as our new century. It appeals to petulant individuals convinced that they can do everything themselves if they are only left alone, and that others are conspiring to keep them from doing just that. This is the one threat that will bring Americans into the streets.

Welcome to the politics of the libertarian mob.

This is a very convenient position to take when you’re in Mr. Lilla’s position. The alternative is to admit that your entire world view is being repudiated by most of the country.

Read the entire post at Redstate

BP officials say containment dome is running into problems.

Cross-posted at Lucy's Revenge

Saturday May 8, 2010--BP officials provided an update on current efforts to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico today. According to the company announcement, the attempts to place the containment dome have so far been unsuccessful.

“As we had expressed numerous times, this particular operation has never been done before at this depth and a significant technical challenge was with hydrate formation,” read the company statement.

The statement described hydrate formation as a chemical process when gas combines with water under certain pressure and temperatures that form as crystals, similar to ice.

The dome was lowered to the sea floor yesterday evening. However, as workers began to place it over the source of the leak, a large volume of hydrates formed inside the top of the dome, requiring it to be moved to the side of the leak point. The dome is currently sitting on the sea bed while technicians evaluate options to deal with the hydrate issue.

The company is also simultaneously investigating other techniques to control the source of flow and ultimately stop the source of flow. These include activities utilizing the existing blowout preventer to stop the flow. Additional data will be gathered to see if these options are viable and that work will continue over the next 48 hours. The relief well drilling continues and is at approximately 9,000 feet below the surface of the water and making progress ahead of plan.

BP officials say the company has also deployed over 130,000 feet of boom on Friday alone; approaching a million feet deployed with over 2.3 million additional feet, either coming from existing stocks in the US and other countries to fight the spread of oil already spreading from the leak site.

“We have oil around Chandelier Island, LA and our cleanup teams are responding,” read the statement.

There were five successful offshore burns Friday, and skimming operations skimmed over 17,500 barrels of an oily water mix.

Apparently, some people don't know that it's the "motion in the ocean" that counts.

If this guy was embarrassed before . . .

TSA Worker Assaults Colleague For Joking About His Genitals During Body Scanner Training


The smallest things can cause the biggest problems.

Rolando Negrin, a TSA employee at Miami International Airport, was arrested for aggravated battery after he attacked a colleague, in response to coworkers poking fun at the size of his penis during a body-scanning machine training session. According to a local NBC report, sources say Negrin became embarrassed and angry by a supervisor's jokes as he walked through the machine.

A police report obtained by NBC states that Negrin later attacked a colleague with a police baton in a parking lot, and told the victim to kneel down and say "sorry." After being arrested, Negrin told police that coworkers often made fun of him.

Full body scanners have raised privacy concerns since they were first introduced in airports. Of course, as a result of all this, Negrin has only succeeded in drawing nationwide attention to his, ahem, situation.

New Statewide Tea Party Association Formed

On Saturday, May 1, 2010, a new Constitution was ratified at the first ever state convention of The Mississippi Tea Party. This makes Mississippi one of very few states, if not the only state, to successfully form a statewide tea party association.


On April 30 and May 1st, approximately 35 delegates representing tea party groups across the state met in Flowood, MS. to review, amend and ratify the draft Constitution that had been circulating for several months. The convention was held to transform The Mississippi Tea Party (MSTP) into a statewide association which could provide a single, unified voice for the participating grass roots organizations throughout the state. The MSTP will be a louder voice, both to the general public and elected officials, advocating a return to the three core principles that they believe made this country great: constitutionally limited government, free markets, and fiscal responsibility.

Nine tea party groups from across the state participated in this historic event. Only a few local tea party groups could not attend and it is hoped that they, as well as new groups that continue to form, will become a part of the new, statewide MSTP at some future date. The charter chapters include: 912Project Hattiesburg, Central Mississippi Tea Party, Leflore/Carroll Tea Party, Madison County Tea Party, Meridian Tea Party, Southwest Mississippi Tea Party, Starkville Tea Party, Vicksburg Tea Party and We the People Congress of Pearl River County.

The current board and officers of The Mississippi Tea Party will continue in place until the State Coalition reconvenes to elect a new board and officers by the end of May.

Supervisor Banks get's a little testy!

Supervisor Karl Banks got a little testy at the recent Madison County Board of Supervisors meeting over allegations made that his family is personally profitting from his votes. Jackson Jambalya lists several votes here that call into questions the ethics of Banks votes.  Banks did not address many of the specific allegations saying, "It's not like I'm getting major income from it."

The Madison County Herald coverage of the meeting:

Timetable for parkway work OK'd by board


Calhoun Station Parkway will start growing to the north and south this year.

The Madison County Board of Supervisors on Monday approved a timetable for seeking, accepting and awarding bids for commencing construction by July on two sections of the road, about 5 miles total in length. The estimated cost for building three lanes south to Gluckstadt Road is $3 million and the estimate for extending those three lanes north from Sowell Road to Mississippi 22 is $8 million.

District 4 Supervisor Karl Banks wanted it on the county's record that any votes he has made on the Calhoun Station project over the years have nothing to do with family-owned property nearby.

"I've been accused of voting my own personal interests," Banks said. "I've been accused of voting on things going through my property."

Banks said he owns 9.56 percent of the total 66 acres, referred to as the Miller-Banks estate, on a map. "It's not like I'm getting major income from it," he said.

The property is now shared by Banks, his brother and several cousins and is considered pasture land. "This property was my grandfather's farm. He farmed it back in the '40s," Banks said."

The land, which is split into two parcels by I-55 sits about four-tenths of a mile from what would be county right-of-way on the northern construction path, county engineer Rudy Warnock said.

Warnock said the tentative schedule for construction calls for awarding the bid for the southern section that begins at Church Road on June 21 and awarding the bid for the northern section on July 5. Construction would begin no later than July 12 for the southern end and by July 16 for the longer, northern construction.

"We'll move as expeditiously as we can" for moving ahead with construction, Warnock told the supervisors.

Construction on the southern end is expected to be complete by May 2011 and on the other section by December 2011.

Students Kicked Off Campus for Wearing American Flag Tees

More evidence of political correctness run amock on the left coast.

Freedom of expression or cultural disrespect on Cinco de Mayo?

On any other day at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Daniel Galli and his four friends would not even be noticed for wearing T-shirts with the American flag. But Cinco de Mayo is not any typical day especially on a campus with a large Mexican American student population.

Galli says he and his friends were sitting at a table during brunch break when the vice principal asked two of the boys to remove American flag bandannas that they wearing on their heads and for the others to turn their American flag T-shirts inside out. When they refused, the boys were ordered to go to the principal's office.

"They said we could wear it on any other day," Daniel Galli said, "but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it's supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it today."

The boys said the administrators called their T-shirts "incendiary" that would lead to fights on campus.

"They said if we tried to go back to class with our shirts not taken off, they said it was defiance and we would get suspended," Dominic Maciel, Galli's friend, said.

The boys really had no choice, and went home to avoid suspension. They say they're angry they were not allowed to express their American pride. Their parents are just as upset, calling what happened to their children, "total nonsense."

"I think it's absolutely ridiculous," Julie Fagerstrom, Maciel's mom, said. "All they were doing was displaying their patriotic nature. They're expressing their individuality."

But to many Mexican-American students at Live Oak, this was a big deal. They say they were offended by the five boys and others for wearing American colors on a Mexican holiday.

"I think they should apologize cause it is a Mexican Heritage Day," Annicia Nunez, a Live Oak High student, said. "We don't deserve to be get disrespected like that. We wouldn't do that on Fourth of July."

As for an apology, the boys and their families say, 'fat chance.'

"I'm not going to apologize. I did nothing wrong," Galli said. "I went along with my normal day. I might have worn an American flag, but I'm an American and I'm proud to be an American."

The five boys and their families met with a Morgan Hill Unified School District official Wednesday night. The district and the school do not see eye-to-eye on the incident and released the following statement:

The district does not concur with the Live Oak High School administration's interpretation of either board or district policy related to these actions.

The boys will not be suspended and were allowed to return to school Thursday. We spotted one of them when he got to campus -- and, yes, he was sporting an American flag T-shirt.

Mississippi Power seeks rehearing

The Meridian Star

MERIDIAN — Mississippi Power Co. will ask state regulators to reconsider conditions they placed on the utility building a coal-fired generating plant in Kemper County.

The Public Service Commission last week approved the plant application but with a lengthy set of conditions — conditions that Mississippi Power said after the decision would make it impossible to finance or construct the plant.

The three-member Mississippi Public Service Commission voted 2-1 in favor of the proposal, detailing its decision in a 50-page document.

Mississippi Power spokeswoman Cindy Duvall said Tuesday that the company's request for a rehearing will include a brief on why the conditions in the PSC's order would not allow the company to act in a fiscally responsible manner.

The motion will also include an update on the parameters of the project, as well as alternatives for the commission to consider.

“We respect the work of the commission on a very complicated matter in difficult economic times. We hope they will reconsider these issues and work with us to find a solution to build the Kemper Project and keep rates for our customers as low as possible,” Duvall said.

The motion will be filed this week.

Good points to remember on this National Day of Prayer

Boycott the boycotters.

Liberal organizations and governments and other entities who fear the backlash of not appearing politically correct enough are lining up to jump on the Arizona boycott bandwagon. Keep a list, and boycott the boycotters. Better yet, plan a trip to Arizona this year and show your support.

The Arizona boycott: Everybody's doing it


Calls to boycott Arizona because of its new immigration law appear to be gaining deep traction and could end up costing the state millions of dollars.

Here are just a few of the confirmed boycotts, as reported by the Service Employees International Union:

• At least six conventions have pulled out of the Phoenix area, according to Fox's Phoenix affiliate. Those include college fraternities, the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators and the National Black Caucus of State Legislators.

• St. Paul, Minn., Mineapolis and San Francisco city governments are trying to ban city officials from traveling to Arizona on official business.

• The Denver public school system is banning work-related travel to Arizona.

• There have been pickets at Arizona Diamondbacks games and there's a brewing movement to boycott the baseball team. Today we also got an email about a drive to get Major League Baseball to hold its All-Star game outside the state next year.

This is just a snapshot of the boycott movement - there's actually a lot more going on than this. For imormation, check out this NPR article.

Update: 19 groups totaling 15,000 room nights have canceled events in Arizona, according to the Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association.

Madison approves smoking ban

Mississippi Business Journal

MADISON — Madison has adopted a smoke-free-air ordinance, switching from a voluntary ban on tobacco that all city businesses followed.

The change passed unanimously on Tuesday.

Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler is expected to sign the ordinance Wednesday or Thursday. The law will go into effect 30 days after she signs it.

Butler tells The Clarion-Ledger the reason for moving from voluntary to mandatory is because of the growth of the city.

Madison joins more than 30 cities in the state that have smoking restrictions. In the metro area, Brandon, Clinton, Flora and Ridgeland have banned smoking in public places.

Congressman Harper expresses support for National Day of Prayer

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Gregg Harper (R–Miss.) has signed onto two House Resolutions to convey his support and appreciation for the National Day of Prayer.

“As our nation reflects on God’s blessings, may we remember the Christian principles that have presented a firm, time-tested foundation into our government,” said Harper.

H. Res. 1273 expresses the sense of Congress that the National Day of Prayer is constitutional and a needed tribute to the value of prayer. Introduced by Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, this resolution acknowledges our nation’s rich religious history – from the signing of the Declaration of Independence – to signing of legislation by President Harry S. Truman providing that, “The President shall set aside and proclaim a suitable day each year” as a National Day of Prayer.

Harper added, “President Truman eloquently affirmed the purpose of setting aside a day for prayer, understanding that ‘…from the earliest days of our history our people have been accustomed to turn to Almighty God for help and guidance.’”

The second resolution calls for an appeal of the April 15, 2010 ruling by U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb that the National Day of Prayer was a violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution. H. Res. 1279 expresses the support of the U.S. House of Representatives to encourage Attorney General Eric Holder to appeal the district court ruling and reaffirms the commitment of the House to the institution of an annual day to reflect in prayer.

“I thank the President for issuing a proclamation declaring a day for the nation to pray, continuing a tradition that dates back to 1952,” said Harper.

The 2010 National Day of Prayer will be observed on Thursday, May 6th.

16-year old Flora resident to be in Ballet Mississippi performance Sunday

Ballet Mississippi

Flora resident Hannah Sills (far left in the Clarion Ledger photo) will be part of the Ballet Mississippi School Performance Sunday.

 The gist: The Ballet Mississippi School Performance Sunday straddles the gamut of dancers' ages and education. While the first half may be more family oriented with young students ages 3 to 9, the second half is devoted to more professional-level dance with a spring gala feel.

Featured ballets include Suite of Dances to suites by Bach, a jazzy ballet to Leroy Anderson's Jazz Pizzicato, a new ballet to Verdi's Jerusalem choreographed by Cherri Barnett and a contemporary work from jazz choreographer and teacher Marcus Alford.

Alford's dance, titled The Perfect Man, pokes around the idea that there is no perfect man, only a perfect mannequin, to jazz music from 1930s and 1940s France.

"The Perfect Man is a lot of fun for us because it's a little bit different than just the classical ballet ... and I think it will be exciting for audiences to watch because it's very spirited," said dancer Hannah Sills, 17, of Flora.

Clarion Ledger

The last courageous moments of the life of Nikki Bradshaw Carpenter

Relatives: Tornado victim lost life shielding sons

By SHELIA BYRD
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. — Nikki Bradshaw Carpenter was tough: she could kill a deer and skin it. But when it came to her three sons, the 31-year-old mother was a nurturer and a protector.

Thus, friends and family say it came as no surprise to learn Carpenter had lost her life trying to shield her children from last weekend's killer tornado.

Rodney Bradshaw, her cousin, said he found Carpenter pinned by two collapsed walls, a washing machine and a refrigerator. Two of her sons were beneath her; a third at her feet. All three children survived.

On Thursday, a funeral was held for Carpenter, one of the 10 Mississippi victims of the severe weather system that kicked up tornadoes around the South and also left two dead in Alabama.

James Bradshaw said his daughter was just 5-foot-5 and slim, but had a powerhouse personality.

"I don't think she's met anybody that she wouldn't talk to," Bradshaw said. "I used to take her hunting and fishing. She killed a deer this past season, hung the deer, skinned it and cut it up and put it in the freezer. She was very feisty."

Moments before the twister barreled down the rural road where she lived in a mobile home, Carpenter's phone rang with a warning about the storm.

"We don't know who called. We never recovered the phone. Whoever it was saved them," said James Bradshaw, whose oldest grandson told him about the call.

Hoping to preserve precious memories, Carpenter pulled family photographs from the wall. Then, she grabbed the boys, piled pillows on top of them and covered them with her body. The twister lifted the trailer in the air like a paperclip, throwing it more than 100 yards, said Rodney Bradshaw.

When Rodney Bradshaw, arrived at the scene, he said the sight was jarring: "The two littlest ones were under her. The oldest one was at her feet. I still can't get her face out of my head."

He said a memorial service will be held for Carpenter in his hometown on May 8.

GOVERNOR BARBOUR ANNOUNCES CREATION OF MISSISSIPPI DISASTER RECOVERY FUND

Nonprofit organization will accept donations for spring storm victims

Jackson, Mississippi – Governor Haley Barbour today announced the creation of the Mississippi Disaster Recovery Fund Inc., a nonprofit that will coordinate donations to aid residents recovering from the April 24 storms.

“The path of destruction left by these tornadoes is one of the worst I have seen,” Governor Barbour said. “We have families who need help rebuilding their homes and their lives. Mississippians are known for their generosity, and I know there are many people outside of the state who want to help. Mississippians also are known for their hard work and perseverance, and they will build these communities back strong.”

Anyone who would like to contribute can donate either through the web site, http://www.mississippirelief.com/, or by sending a check to the Mississippi Disaster Recovery Fund, c/o BankPlus, 4450 Old Canton Road, Suite 101, Jackson, MS, 39211.

“The goal of the Mississippi Disaster Recovery Fund will be to help meet the needs of our communities that cannot be met by the government,” Governor Barbour said. “After seeing the devastation on television or in person, people want to help in any way they can. The recovery fund gives them that chance.”

The web site also will guide visitors to volunteer opportunities through the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service.

The Disaster Recovery Fund will be managed by a board made up of members from the affected areas. The board members will determine the distribution of funds to address unmet recovery needs.

Warnock takes his gripe to the State Board of Licensure

Dorsey Carson, attorney for Rudy Warnock, has taken his clients gripe over an independent audit of his Madison County contracts to the Mississippi Board of Licensure for Professional Engingeers and Surveyors.

View a Copy of the Press Release here

View a Copy of the Complaint here

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Hymnal found in the debris at Hillcrest Baptist Church from Saturday's tornado.

Hang in there 'zoo crew!