Z Magazine - Mississippi’s SB 2988

Z Magazine - Mississippi’s SB 2988


Mississippi is at the lower end of almost every thing, but they try....sarcasm intended.

Mississippi's Moron-Ocracy--Part 3

THE UGLY


As a final chapter of the 2008 regular legislative session, chapter 3 is the UGLY, bills and such that were just plain stupid!

HB1096--bill concerned with fighting between dog and hog

HB 314--bill making it illegal for cops to give false info--is that not a law already?

HR 24--reciting the pledge of allegiance--why?

SB 2550--covenant of marriage is between a man and a woman--MS has always been homophobic

Crap! I have lost the Bill number!

The ban of smoking in public places--this is ugly because it can be interpreted in different ways--I foresee some abuse by do nothing politicians.

Now the UGLIEST OF THE UGLY

HB282--,making it illegal to serve certain food to overweight people. This made news everywhere. Showed what a bunch of ignorant slackers out legislature is . Showed the lunacy of the legislation process.

There will most likely be a special session to try and get more stuff done and I will be watching and I will be reporting.

Peace Out My peeps!

Mississippi's Moron-Ocracy

Part 2--THE BAD


These are bills and such that, IMO, were not the best ideas that could have been pursued.

1--HB375--E85 pumps mandatory at gas station--this is sorta good but mostly bad. Yes it would help the dependency on oil, but it will help increase the price of food stuffs......E85 is not the best way to approach this problem.

2--HB406--phase out corporate income tax
3--HB445--Reduce sales tax on motorcycles--these two are just dumb--this will eliminate much needed funds from the collection process.

4--Hair Braiding Law--this is my fav--best I can say about this is WHY?

But wait! There is more!

SC685--Mississippi Law Day--honor the rule of law. Why? It is the Law! Ha!

HB1507--The city of Vicksburg has contracted the state of Louisiana to house municipal prisoners. Does that mean that LA does not have a crowding prob in their prisons? Or is it the cash? You decide.

These are not all the bad bills just the ones that I saw and wanted to comment on. I am sure others have different views but I like mine better...HA!

But the biggest waste of time and money is the endless commending people, teams, and other such nonesense. Yes these stuff needs to be recognized, but put it all in one bill and handle it on the last day, the very last thing. Same goes for returning suffrage to people. Stop! Make all one bill and handle it as such.

Tomorrow we get Part 3--the UGLY the final chapter in the saga of Mississippi stupidity.

Mississippi's Moron-Ocracy

Part 0ne--The Good


Years ago I wrote an editorial for a now defunct weekly called the Gulfport Star-Journal, about the Mississippi Legislature and I thought it was a good time to resurrect that thought.

This will be a 3 part post entitled The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!


The Mississippi Legislature had a few really good bills, at least in my opinion.

HB8--would outlaw driving while using a cell phone

HR31--Funds for a museum for Sam Cooke

HB57--Restrict lobbying until 4 yrs after leaving the government service

HB216--create a civil rights division within the Attorney General's office

HB453--Compulsory education law

HB543--create an open primary for the state of MS

HB684--create curbside voting for the handicapped

HB1151--create a paper voting trail

HB1496--repeal sale tax on hurricane supplies

These are bills that I thought showed that Mississippi was at least becoming more concerned with the affairs of the people. Most of these failed, but at least these were tried and a possibility that they could be successful next session.

But the biggest disappointment was the failure of HR 13--the Worker's Bill Of Rights, for once Mississippi was showing concern for the workers, but unfortunately it died in committee. And HB9 was another workers defeat, it would have made 28 April, the Worker's Memorial Day, which would have brought attention to workers safety and those who have died.

These were great ideas and excellent tries---BETTER LUCK NEXT SESSION!

Next post will be The Bad. This will be the bills and such that were not so good

HR13/HC9--Less Than Honorable Death

HR13--Worker's bill Of Rights--a bill that would have guaranteed certain rights to workers like guaranteed safety standards, the right to organize, etc has died in committee...a less than hinorable death for a bill that could have been ground breaking for Mississippi.

HC9--Worker's Memorial Day--28 April, for the observation of workers that have died on the job and to help bring attention to workplace safety--died in committee.

I was hoping that Mississippi would wake up and join the 21st century, I was mistaken. It will always be a right to work state where the workers are nothing more than a tool to be used til broke and by a new one.

US Rep. Gene Taylor

Since this is a blog where I post on the state of Mississippi and its political atmosphere. Since the US Congress is not doing much right now I want to review rep. Gene Taylor's recent record. Why Gene, well he is my rep in Congress and I want to share with my readers what I have learned about his voting. I picked issues that were important to me and I suggest that anyone wanting to grade their rep to do the same.

Health issues:

SCHIP--yes
Ban abortion pill--yes

Labor:

min. wage increase--yes
union bill--no
gay employment bill--no

War:
timeline for war--no

Economy:

economic stimulus--no
US-Peru trade agreement--no
Farm bill--yes
Alternate minimum tax--no

Other legislation:

FISA--yes
Xmas and Christianity bill--yes
Hate Crimes Act--no

There are the bills that were important to me....so how did Taylor do? By my standards, he is mediocre at best. By his vote he has little toleration for gays, or abortion rights. He does seem to stand well on labor, and has taken a stand against civil rights especially with the FISA bill. I will continue to monitor his voting record.

There are others in Washington, but he is the only one that I truly care about. OK we have a Senator Thad Cochran. I would review his record but why, he is boring, unimpressive and a follower and now he is the senior senator from Mississippi, will he he be more verbal now that he cannot hide behinf Lott? We will see.

A Waste Of Time

Year after year after year after..........I have watched the MS legislature and believe me it is a work of absurdity. To begin with when bills are being read and some discussion, if you look over the crowd you will see reps reading newspapers or at worst sleeping. Their only interest is these guys and gals have is self interest.

But the biggest waste of time is that at every meeting they commend somneone or name a highway or such worthless stuff. Personally, there should be a bill or something that will make this type of waste on the last day of the session and it should include all this pandering to one bill with a section for each thing. They vote on this the very last thing and then they leave. But to make a bill for every little thing is just a waste of time and money and needs to be eliminated.