Justices Say Gun Rights Apply Locally

The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the Second Amendment, which forbids Congress from infringing the right to keep and bear arms, applies to state and local governments as well.

WASHINGTON — The Second Amendment’s guarantee of an individual right to bear arms applies to state and local gun control laws, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday in 5-to-4 decision.

Justices Will Weigh Challenges to Gun Laws (October 1, 2009) The ruling came almost exactly two years after the court first ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own guns in District of Columbia v. Heller, another 5-4 decision.

But the Heller case addressed only federal laws; it left open the question of whether Second Amendment rights protect gun owners from overreaching by state and local governments.

The ruling is an enormous symbolic victory for supporters of gun rights, but its short-term practical impact is unclear. As in the Heller decision, the justices left for another day the question of just what kinds of gun control laws can be reconciled with Second Amendment protection.

The majority said only that the right to keep handguns for self-protection at home is constitutionally protected. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., writing for the majority, reiterated the caveats in the Heller decision, saying the court did not mean to cast doubt on laws prohibiting possession of guns by felons or the mentally ill, those forbidding carrying guns in sensitive places like schools and government buildings or those regulating the commercial sale of firearms.

Read more at The New York Times

Byrd Dead at 92

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the longest-serving Member in history, died at 3 a.m. Monday after a brief hospital stay. He was 92.

“I am saddened that the family of U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., tearfully announces the passing of the longest serving member of Congress in U.S. history,” Byrd’s office said in a statement.

In a separate statement Sunday afternoon, his office said Byrd had been hospitalized after suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration. He was described as being “seriously ill."

Byrd, who was first elected to the Senate in 1958, was President Pro Tem, a largely ceremonial post but one that put him third in succession to the presidency.

Read more at Roll Call

Thought Provoking Thursday: June 24, 2010

It's an open question. What's your answer?

Scary Stuff In Dearborn Michigan: Sharia Law (Video)

Democrats Refuse To Produce A Budget For 2010, Harper Says Move Lacks Priorities

The Hill is reporting:

House Democrats will not pass a budget blueprint in 2010, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) will confirm in a speech on Tuesday.

But Hoyer will vow to crack down on government spending, saying Democrats will enforce spending limits that are lower than what President Barack Obama has called for.

In the scheduled address to the progressive think tank The Third Way, Hoyer will acknowledge that the lower chamber will do things differently this election year.

“It isn’t possible to debate and pass a realistic, long-term budget until we’ve considered the bipartisan commission’s deficit-reduction plan, which is expected in December,” according to Hoyer’s prepared remarks that were provided to The Hill.

The House has never failed to pass an annual budget resolution since the current budget rules were put into place in 1974. Hoyer this spring noted that the GOP-led Congress didn’t pass a final resolution in 1998, 2004 and 2006.

The House will put forth a “budget enforcement resolution” rather than a budget blueprint that looks beyond next year and calculates five or 10 years’ worth of deficit figures.

The House’s “enforcement” — or deeming — resolution will endorse the goals of the president’s fiscal commission and reiterate the commitment to vote on its recommendations after the midterm elections. And it will also set limits on discretionary spending “that require further cuts below the president’s budget,” according to the speech.

“This budget enforcement resolution will enforce fiscal discipline in the near term while the fiscal commission works on a long-term plan to get our country back to fiscal health,” Hoyer’s remarks state.

Mississippi Congressman Gregg Harper was not pleased with the announcement.

“The Democratic leadership in Washington has no budget for the federal government and this is because they are unwilling to take ownership of the massive budget gaps they have created," Harper said in a statement.

“Last year, the leadership spent $11,988 per household, money that we did not have. Now the President and the Democratic-led Congress continue to spend nearly $4.8 billion per day and our country has yet to see many optimistic shifts in unemployment.

"Taxpayers deserve a fiscally responsible budget that spends less, cuts taxes and reduces our national debt.”

No Surprise: Arizona Law Is Working

Immigrant families leave Arizona and tough new law

PHOENIX -- "Cuanto?" asks a young man pointing to four bottles of car polish at a recent garage sale in an east Phoenix neighborhood.

The question, Spanish for "How much?" sends Minerva Ruiz and Claudia Suriano scrambling and calling out to their friend, Silvia Arias, who's selling the polish. "Silvia!"

Arias is out of earshot, so Suriano improvises.

"Cinco dolares," she says. "Five dollars." And another sale is made.

As the women await their next customer in the rising heat of an Arizona morning, they talk quietly about food and clothes, about their children and husbands. They are best friends, all mothers who are viewed as pillars of parental support at the neighborhood elementary school.

All three are illegal immigrants from Mexico.

They're holding the garage sale to raise money to leave Arizona, along with many others, and to escape the state's tough new law that cracks down on people just like them.

The law's stated intention is unambiguous: It seeks to drive illegal immigrants out of Arizona and to discourage them from coming here.

There is no official data tracking how many are leaving because of the new law. "It's something that's really tough to get a handle on numerically," said Bill Schooling, Arizona's state demographer. "It's not just the immigration bill. It's also employer sanctions and the economy. How do you separate out the motivating factors?"

But anecdotal evidence provided by schools and businesses in heavily Hispanic neighborhoods and by healthcare clinics suggest that sizable numbers are departing. Ignacio Rodriguez, associate director for the Phoenix Roman Catholic diocese's Office of Hispanic Ministries, said churches in the area are also seeing families leave.

Priests are "seeing some people approach them and ask for a blessing because they're leaving the state to go back to their country of origin or another state," he said. "Unless they approach and ask for a sending-off blessing, we wouldn't have any idea they're leaving or why."

Ruiz and Suriano and their families plan to move this month. Arias and her family are considering leaving, but are waiting to see if the law will go into effect as scheduled July 29, and, if so, how it will be enforced.

The law requires police investigating another incident or crime to ask people about their immigration status if there's a "reasonable suspicion" they're in the country illegally. It also makes being in Arizona illegally a misdemeanor, and it prohibits seeking day-labor work along the state's streets.

Read more at the Sun Herald

Ariz. lawmaker takes aim at automatic citizenship

PHOENIX – Emboldened by passage of the nation's toughest law against illegal immigration, the Arizona politician who sponsored the measure now wants to deny U.S. citizenship to children born in this country to undocumented parents.

Legal scholars laugh out loud at Republican state Sen. Russell Pearce's proposal and warn that it would be blatantly unconstitutional, since the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to anyone born in the U.S.

But Pearce brushes aside such concerns. And given the charged political atmosphere in Arizona, and public anger over what many regard as a failure by the federal government to secure the border, some politicians think the idea has a chance of passage.

"I think the time is right," said state Rep. John Kavanagh, a Republican from suburban Phoenix who is chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. "Federal inaction is unacceptable, so the states have to start the process."

Earlier this year, the Legislature set off a storm of protests around the country when it passed a law that directs police to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect is in the country illegally. The law also makes it a state crime to be an illegal immigrant. The measure, which takes effect July 29 unless blocked in court, has inflamed the national debate over immigration and led to boycotts against the state.

An estimated 10.8 million illegal immigrants were living in the U.S. as of January 2009, according to the Homeland Security Department. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that as of 2008, there were 3.8 million illegal immigrants in this country whose children are U.S. citizens.

Pearce, who has yet to draft the legislation, proposes that the state of Arizona no longer issue birth certificates unless at least one parent can prove legal status. He contends that the practice of granting citizenship to anyone born in the U.S. encourages illegal immigrants to come to this country to give birth and secure full rights for their children.

"We create the greatest inducement for breaking our laws," he said.

The 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868 in the aftermath of the Civil War, reads: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside." But Pearce argues that the amendment was meant to protect black people.

"It's been hijacked and abused," he said. "There is no provision in the 14th Amendment for the declaration of citizenship to children born here to illegal aliens."

John McGinnis, a conservative law professor at Northwestern University, said Pearce's interpretation is "just completely wrong." The "plain meaning" of the amendment is clear, he said.

Senate candidate Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican and darling of the tea party movement, made headlines last month after he told a Russian TV station that he favors denying citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants.

A similar bill was introduced at the federal level in 2009 by former Rep. Nathan Deal, a Georgia Republican, but it has gone nowhere.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform, based in Washington, said Pearce's idea would stop immigrants from traveling to the U.S. to give birth.

"Essentially we are talking about people who have absolutely no connection whatever with this country," spokesman Ira Mehlman said. "The whole idea of citizenship means that you have some connection other than mere happenstance that you were born on U.S. soil."

Citizenship as a birthright is rare elsewhere in the world. Many countries require at least one parent to be a citizen or legal resident.

Adopting such a practice in the U.S. would be not only unconstitutional but also impractical and expensive, said Michele Waslin, a policy analyst with the pro-immigrant Immigration Policy Center in Washington.

"Every single parent who has a child would have to go through this bureaucratic process of proving their own citizenship and therefore proving their child's citizenship," she said.

Araceli Viveros, 27, and her husband, Saul, 34, are illegal immigrants from the Mexican state of Guerrero. He has been in Phoenix for 20 years, she for 10, and their 2- and 9-year-old children are U.S. citizens.

"I am so proud my children were born here. They can learn English and keep studying," Viveros said in Spanish.

She said her husband has been working hard in Phoenix as a landscaper, and their children deserve to be citizens. The lawmaker's proposal "is very bad," she said. "It's changing the Constitution, and some children won't have the same rights as other children."

Associated Press

Obama's Moratorium On Drilling Slapped Down By A Federal Judge

Judge block Gulf offshore drilling moratorium

NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in New Orleans has blocked a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects that was imposed in response to the massive Gulf oil spill.

Several companies that ferry people and supplies and provide other services to offshore drilling rigs had asked U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans to overturn the moratorium.

President Barack Obama’s administration has halted the approval of any new permits for deepwater drilling and suspended drilling at 33 exploratory wells in the Gulf.

Feldman says in his ruling that the Interior Department failed to provide adequate reasoning for the moratorium. He says it seems to assume that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing deepwater drilling pose an imminent danger.


Gulf Coast Oil Spill

More Simple Speak From Governor Chris Christie: Confrontation Is Good (Video)

Locals lament second landfill

DEQ hears concerns before deciding whether to give permit

Tougaloo College student government leaders have a message for state officials: Don't approve another landfill on North County Line Road.

"They're not healthy. I'm already struggling with my asthma, and others are, too. Would you want your kids to put up with that?" student Courtney Coleman said at a community meeting last week that attracted about 150 Hinds and Madison county residents.

"A landfill is not only poisoning us, but Madison County and Mississippi," said Amber Williams, vice president of the college's student government association. "If the landfill continues, then the student body will rise. Many of us are registered to vote."

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality is seeking comments from residents as it considers whether to issue a permit for the 94-acre landfill on North County Line Road.

"Before we make any decision on a permit, we want to hear the concerns of the people," said Melissa Collier, director of DEQ's office of community engagement.

The proposed landfill, NCL Waste LLC, was formerly known as the Bilberry site. It would be the second landfill on the line between Madison and Hinds counties and would sit to the north of the 165-acre Little Dixie landfill in operation since 1979.

Madison County has another landfill operated by the city of Canton, making it the only county with two solid-waste disposal sites. Seventeen other Mississippi counties have landfills.

Ridgeland resident Sylvia Thomas, president of the North Livingston Road Homeowners Association, said the stench, property depreciation, bad roads, stray animals, rodents and insects are problems caused by the existing landfill, and a second site will compound the problems.

"If you allow this landfill in the county, this will be a grave environmental injustice to this community," she said.

"We are just sick and tired of landfills and the birds, vermin and whatever that come with them," Hinds County Supervisor Doug Anderson said.

Madison County Board of Supervisors attorney Eric Hamer said in February that the board has held numerous hearings, "dating back to 1999," but Hinds County supervisors never attended or voiced their opinions in those public meetings.

Read more at The Clarion Ledger

Lesbian Teen At Center Of Prom Flap To Meet Obama

Constance McMillen Invited To White House During LGBT Pride Month

The lesbian student who waged a legal battle against her Mississippi high school after being denied permission to bring her girlfriend to the prom will meet President Barack Obama as he marks the contributions of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Americans Tuesday at the White House.

Constance McMillen made headlines months ago when her Mississippi high school canceled prom because she wanted to bring her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo.

"The honor of being invited to join President Obama at the White House ceremony and the amazing support I've received has helped me come to terms with what happened over the prom," McMillen in a statement Monday.

"Unfortunately, I've heard from a lot of other kids who are having problems at their schools, too. I am grateful that President Obama recognizes the difficulties that LGBT youth still have, and I really hope the attention my case has generated will help encourage Congress to pass a federal law barring LGBT discrimination in schools so that no one else has to go through what I did."

A judge ruled in March that the school had violated her constitutional rights.

McMillen appeared on the CBS' "The Early Show" in March and said legal battle had been worth it.

The teen has garnered much attention since her story came out and she has appeared on the "The Early Show," "The Wanda Sykes Show" and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" to talk about how she is fighting for tolerance. DeGeneres presented her with a $30,000 college scholarship from Tonic, a digital media company. A Facebook page set up by the ACLU for McMillen has over 400,000 fans.

McMillen will also serve as a Grand Marshal in the New York City Pride parade on June 27.

CBS

Reed In Stable Condition At UMC, Another Dead Following Collision

Former Mississippi Republican Party chairman Clarke Reed has been injured and another man has been killed in a two-vehicle accident in Greenville.


Police say 68-year-old Leonard Crow, identified as being from Oklahoma, died in Monday's crash after his car collided with another driven by Reed at an intersection.

Police say Crow died at Delta Regional Medical Center.

Reed, who also served as the GOP's national committee member from Mississippi, was airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson where he was listed in stable condition Tuesday.

A passenger in Crow's car also taken to UMC but their condition was not available.

Police say the collision is under investigation.

Republican Stalwart Reed Reportedly Injured In Accident In Greenville

Clarke Reed, a former chairman of the Republican Party in Mississippi has reportedly been airlifted from an accident in his hometown of Greenville, Mississippi.

Reed is considered one of the architects of the rise of the Republican Party in the South during the 1960's that helped build the "two-party system" we have today.

Senator Kyl: Administration holding border security "hostage" until it is combined with immigration reform (Video)

On June 18, 2010, Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl told the audience at a North Tempe Tea Party town hall meeting that during a private, one-on-one meeting with President Obama in the Oval Office, the President told him, regarding securing the southern border with Mexico, "The problem is, . . . if we secure the border, then you all won't have any reason to support 'comprehensive immigration reform.'" [Audible gasps were heard throughout the audience.] Sen. Kyl continued, "In other words, they're holding it hostage. They don't want to secure the border unless and until it is combined with 'comprehensive immigration reform.'"





Immigration

Congressman Harper Discusses the BP Drilling Incident with GOP Leaders(Video)

Yesterday, Congressman Harper discussed his thougts with GOP leaders about the Gulf Oil Spill, and the steps needed to correct the situation.

Bentonia Blues Fest This Saturday, June 19.

CL: Get a sample of Bentonia blues


 The Bentonia Blues Festival takes place in downtown Bentonia, located off U.S. 49 between Jackson and Yazoo City. Performers at the free event include headliner Bobby Rush, scheduled to appear at 9 p.m. The day's events begin at 9 a.m. with a series of gospel performers.

The festival is run by bluesman Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, proprietor of Bentonia's Blue Front Cafe, one of the oldest juke joints in the state. Holmes' parents, Carey and Mary Holmes, started the cafe in 1948, and the festival evolved out of blues gatherings at their home.

Holmes, who began performing actively in the last decade, has recorded four mostly acoustic CDs and aims to keep alive the distinctive local tradition most famously represented by blues pioneer Skip James.

"It's an honor to pay homage to the old guys like Skip James, Jack Owens and Jacob Stuckey who laid down the foundation for it all," says Holmes. "I feel like it's because of them that I'm doing what I'm doing, and to take it in another direction would be to dishonor them."

Last weekend Holmes performed at the Chicago Blues Festival on the Mississippi Juke Joint stage, which is underwritten by the Mississippi Development Authority to promote blues tourism. The Bentonia event will feature a number of other artists who appeared in Chicago, namely Dexter Allen, the Jarekus Singleton Band and the duo of Alphonso Sanders and Bill "Howlin' Madd" Perry.

Also performing are Eden Brent, 19th Street Red, the Roosevelt Roberts Blues Review and Brian Sivils.

Related events include a free screening of the blues documentary M For Mississippi, which features Holmes, at the Triangle Cultural Center in Yazoo City at 6:30 tonight, and a jam session at the Blue Front Cafe that begins at 5 p.m. Friday.

For more information, visit Bentonia Blues Festival on Facebook.

Breaking records: Holmes Ridgeland hits new heights in enrollment

By August, the seventh parking lot–the third new one in the past few years - will be ready for the fall influx of students to the Ridgeland campus of Holmes Community College.

"Even with that in place, we won't have enough room, but that's a great problem to have," vice president Joe Adams said. "We'd rather have it overcrowded than have empty spots out there."

Empty spots in the parking lot or in the classrooms haven't been a problem, nor do they seem likely any time soon. The two-year college continues to break its records for enrollment this summer, building on growth that hits new highs each fall and spring.

Taking classes in the first summer session are 2,098 students, and the June 23 registration for the second term in July will push that number higher. Last summer's total enrollment was 1,940. Since 2007, the increase in summer enrollment has risen 33.5 percent.

"We're very busy," Adams said. "We are meeting the educational needs of both the traditional students, 18-21 years of age, which represents 55 percents of our enrollment, and the non-traditional students by offering classes during the day, evening, and online."

Bumping up summer enrollment are the students coming home from the four-year colleges they attend.

Michael Tate Webb of Madison will head back to the University of Mississippi in August as a sophomore with 12 credit hours from Holmes summer sessions added to his transcript.

Last summer he took a three-hour course at Holmes before joining the freshman class at Ole Miss.

"This is an opportunity to catch up on credits and get ahead for the year," Webb said. "Plus, it gives me something to do over the summer."

Read the entire article at The Madison County Herald

Proposed Landfill Concerns Madison County Residents

Landfill To Go Next To Little Dixie Landfill In Ridgeland

RIDGELAND, Miss. -- Neighbors are concerned about another landfill that could go up in Madison County.

It's set to go next to the Little Dixie Landfill on North County Line Road in Ridgeland. There's also another landfill on the road.

It was a packed house at Potter's House Worship and Fellowship Center in Jackson Thursday night.

The meeting was for neighbors to voice their concerns about the proposed landfill. Most said they worry about the affects it'll have on their health.

"These types of landfills can cause many, many health problems," said the Rev. Holiness Barnes Jr. "First, it has to do with our respiratory system, water intake. I'm deeply opposed for that reason."

"I don't think anybody wants a landfill next to their house, but this proposed landfill is going to be located between two other landfills and my clients understand that," said Bryant Clark, the attorney for North County Line Thomas Lane Community Association. "What else can be in between a landfill than another landfill?"

Barnes said the landfills in the area aren't kept up.

According to Clark, developers said the proposed landfill will have vegetation planted along the road so it won't be noticeable to drivers.

WAPT

Plain Spoken New Jersey Governor Just Tells The Truth, It's An Odd New Politics

I've posted a few videos of the of the new plain-spoken Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie. Every time I view one, I like him more and more.

Sierra Club, others sue to stop Miss. Power plant

The Sierra Club filed a lawsuit Thursday trying to stop Mississippi Power Co. from developing a coal-fired, electric-generating plant in the east central part of the state.

The lawsuit was filed in coastal Harrison County Chancery Court.

In May, the state Public Service Commission voted 2-1 to ease restrictions it had put on the Kemper County plant.

Sierra Club state director Louie Miller described that decision as a "flip flop." He said it would allow Mississippi Power to charge rate payers for the costs of the plant before it's even built.

Miller said the PSC refused to order Mississippi Power to disclose how much customers will pay in rates for the new plant.

"Agreeing to unknown increased electric rates for Kemper is like buying a car when the salesman won't tell you what it costs," Miller said in a statement. "This is an outrage and betrayal of the public trust."

Mississippi Power officials had no immediate comment. The lawsuit represents only one side of a legal argument.

Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of the Atlanta-based Southern Co., has said the plant would use a new technology that converts lignite into a gas that would fuel turbines to create electricity. Company officials said the lignite would be locally mined and would be cheaper than natural gas.

The utility said more than 4 billion tons of lignite are underground near the plant site, and it has options on 30,000 acres.

The proposed 582-megawatt plant is expected to begin generating power by 2014, according to the utility.

Mississippi Power officials say the plant will create 260 permanent jobs and 1,000 jobs during the construction phase.

Associated Press