MS: Hospitals May Close

Some hospitals and nursing homes could shut down, doctors could stop seeing patients and thousands of health- care workers could lose their jobs statewide, according to providers responding to $375 million in Medicaid cuts revealed late Friday.

he cuts also would affect home health care agencies, pharmacists, dentists and others, according to documents filed by Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican who oversees the program that serves nearly 600,000 Mississippians.

A threat? Most probably.

Mississippi Mayor Is Indicted on Civil Rights Charges - NYTimes.com

Mississippi Mayor Is Indicted on Civil Rights Charges - NYTimes.com


Read and weep....

Bill Passes To Prevent Medicaid Cuts

djournal.com

Finally, the Special session is doing something positive.

SunHerald.com : Handsboro school site will get marker

SunHerald.com : Handsboro school site will get marker


About time they started recognizing the various parts of Gulfport. There has always been more to the Gulfport area other than the darn port.

Gulfport Library May Be Saved

The Gulfport Library got a reprieve from the wrecking ball on Thursday.

The permit committee for the state Department of Archives and History agreed Wednesday to consider designating the building a Mississippi Landmark because of its architectural significance, the role the building has played in the community and public sentiment.

If the library, built in 1965 in the New Formalism style of architecture, is made a landmark, it can't be torn down without permission from the department's board.

"The building is an example of a style of architecture not widely found in the city of Gulfport, the surrounding community or even in the state of Mississippi," said Bill Gatlin, architectural historian for Archives and History. "It's an iconic building for the people who grew up in Gulfport."

But several Harrison County supervisors said Thursday they will not use public money to repair or insure that building, no matter what its designation. Even if the library is made a landmark, the county isn't obligated to repair the building.

"The board doesn't have a burning desire to tear down that building," Supervisor Kim Savant said. Savant represents District 2, which includes the library. "But what we have said is that we will not put taxpayer dollars into the building."

Print their names and let the people decide if they keep their jobs.....they are crapping on a piece of history....time for them to go!

Wicker Runs Scared

And he seems to be avoiding a head to head debate with Musgrove.

Interim Republican Sen. Roger Wicker's campaign said Tuesday he has declined an invitation to debate his opponent, former Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, at the Neshoba County Fair later this summer.

Wicker campaign spokesman Ryan Annison said Tuesday the campaign had initially told fair officials they were interested and hoped a debate would work out. But as the date approaches, Wicker's staff learned it would conflict with his Senate schedule. The debate was to be held July 31, the last week before a Senate recess, when Wicker expects important votes.

"We welcome debates," Annison said. " But Sen. Wicker takes his job as a senator very seriously and doesn't want the taxpayers to be shortchanged with his salary."

The move drew a quick backlash from the Musgrove campaign. Tim Phillips, Musgrove's campaign manager, said it would be just as easy for a vote to come up on the day Wicker is to speak at the fair.

The Neshoba County Fair, held each year near Philadelphia, is known as "Mississippi's Giant Houseparty." It runs from July 25 to Aug. 1, and 28 politicians are expected to speak.

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.

SunHerald.com : Gulfport job outlook 8th-best in nation

SunHerald.com : Gulfport job outlook 8th-best in nation


This is good news to the local economy, but the down side is that MS is a right to work state and NO one will become wealthy working for the low wages of MS.

McCain And Katrina

FactCheck.org: Katrina Kerfuffle


McCain has been pretty verbal about his position on the Katrina investigations, but is he being entirely honest?

Wicker And Health Care

As the campaigns get stronger and harder, I just wanted to add my two cents. Health Care in the nation's biggest and most pressing issue and here is Wicker's stands on health care.

Rated 11% by APHA, indicating a anti-public health voting record:
YES on establishing tax-exempt Medical Savings Accounts:
YES on subsidizing private insurance for Medicare Rx drug coverage:
YES on allowing reimportation of prescription drugs:
YES on capping damages & setting time limits in medical lawsuits:
YES on limited prescription drug benefit for Medicare recipients:
YES on denying non-emergency treatment for lack of Medicare co-pay:
NO on requiring negotiated Rx prices for Medicare part D:
NO on adding 2 to 4 million children to SCHIP eligibility:
NO on allowing tribal Indians to opt out of federal healthcare:
NO on means-testing to determine Medicare Part D premium:

My fellow Mississippians choose your next Senator wisely, your future depends on it!

SunHerald.com : FEMA: No ice after a storm

SunHerald.com : FEMA: No ice after a storm

Another crap on the face of the people of the Gulf South by the government.

Mississippi: Barbour And Medicare

The long-awaited report, the last in a series published over the past several years by the committee, found that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, in particular, frequently made assertions in the run-up to the war that key intelligence agencies could not substantiate or about which there was substantial disagreement within the intelligence community.

"In making the case for war, the administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even nonexistent," the Committee chairman, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, said on releasing the 172-page report. "As a result, the American people were led to believe that the threat from Iraq was much greater than actually existed."

During the special session, the House proposed a more modest 50-cent increase on the excise tax, combined with an equally modest drop in Barbour’s patient tax, though the Senate and Barbour oppose even that. Seeing no immediate compromise, the House then passed a bill using $90 million from Barbour’s prized $378 million “rainy day” fund if accountants decide Medicaid cuts are needed.

Barbour responded by promising a veto of the rainy day bill.

“[I]nstead of taking up the fair and reasonable solution to fully fund Medicaid passed by the Senate ... the House has voted to use $90 million in one-time money to pay for the recurring expenses of Medicaid. The purpose of this Special Session is to enact a permanent, sustainable solution for Medicaid funding. The nearly 600,000 Mississippians who depend on Medicaid don’t need a one year band-aid, but that’s what the House leadership has given them,” Barbour said in a statement.

The state’s current tobacco tax stands at 18 cents a pack, which generates about $47 million for the state every year, according to American Lung Association of Mississippi Executive Director Jennifer Cofer. Cofer added that Medicaid spends about $264 million on Mississippi residents with smoking-related health issues like lung cancer every year and called the tobacco tax increase logical.

Barbour said he opposes any tax increase in the state until a special tax study committee thoroughly studies the state’s overall tax structure later this year. Politicos predicted that Barbour—who opposes a tobacco tax increase every year lawmakers propose it—would use the tax study to mire a tobacco-tax proposal.

PopMatters Music Feature | Ten Reasons Bo Diddley Is the Forgotten Heavyweight Champion of Rock

PopMatters Music Feature | Ten Reasons Bo Diddley Is the Forgotten Heavyweight Champion of Rock


AS I have said, IMO, he and Chuck Berry were the fathers of R&R, not some guy with disjointed hips.

Lott's Seat Not Secure

Gov. Barbour had appointed one of his lackeys to finish out Sen. Lott's term. But it does not look too promising for Wicker to retain the gig.

Two nonpartisan national political observers with solid track records as students of Mississippi politics say that the Mississippi special election to choose a permanent successor to former U.S. Sen. Trent Lott is now a legitimate horse race.

Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report and longtime columnist for Roll Call magazine, said on May 20 that the race could no longer be considered "safe for Republicans."

Rothenberg's call came after the release of a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee poll showed former Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove with a 48 percent to 40 percent lead over Republican interim U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker in the race.

"Musgrove benefits from higher name identification, and the race will be close, but the initial numbers are good for the Democrat," Rothenberg said. The DSCC poll showed Musgrove with significantly higher name recognition than Wicker, but that Musgrove had over twice the "unfavorable" rating than did Wicker.

But the same poll showed that in the 1st Congressional District, which Wicker represented before taking the Senate appointment, Wicker leads Musgrove 48 percent to 43 percent. Democrat Travis Childers just defeated Republican Greg Davis in a special election to fill Wicker's seat

"Like the 1st District race, party labels will not appear on the ballot beside Wicker and Musgrove's name, because the November race is technically a special election to fill Republican Trent Lott's seat," Rothenberg wrote. "Even though he (Musgrove) has the lead today, the race is still a difficult one for Musgrove, since the state leans Republican in federal races. But it can no longer be considered safe for the Republicans."

Mississippi Democrats still basking in the glow of Childers' win over Davis believe Musgrove can continue the party's reversal of fortunes in congressional politics. Many Democrats also believe that if Sen. Barack Obama is indeed the Democratic presidential nominee, Musgrove's chances to defeat Wicker are greatly enhanced.

Republicans point to Obama's recent blowout losses in Kentucky and West Virginia as evidence that Wicker can and will hold the seat.

How Will Mississippians Vote?

This is a finding that should not surprise any Mississippian.

• Fifty percent of Mississippians favor McCain to 44 percent for Obama.

• Fifty percent of Mississippians said it's more important to get troops home from Iraq than to win; 45 percent say it is more important to win.

• If McCain wins, 53 percent said they believe it is somewhat likely the U.S. will win the war, to 26 percent who believe the same would be true with Obama.

• Ten percent more voters believe Obama is more likely to bring the troops home within a year, the poll found.

• President Bush took 59 percent of the Mississippi vote in 2004, the report said, but today only 42 percent of Mississippians believe he is doing a good or excellent job; 41 percent think he is performing poorly.

Democrats believe they will ride a wave of discontent over the war, the economy and President Bush's job performance into the White House this fall, and that Obama could create record turnout among black voters here.

Members of the state GOP believe no matter whom Democrats nominate, they'll be far to the left of mainstream Mississippi values. In 1976, Jimmy Carter became the last Democrat to carry Mississippi.

• Republican Sen. Thad Cochran is expected to roll to an easy victory over Democrat Erik Fleming, as he leads in the Rasmussen poll 58 to 35 percent.

• Mississippi is still "safely Republican," according to Rasmussen's balance-of-power calculator.

Energy Research Leader

I have been thinking a lot about the energy problems we are having and will have in the future and I do not understand why Mississippi has not become a research center. we have Coast winds, tidal action and lots of damn sunshine, so why is Mississippi not doing more in research and production?

Jobs would be created, good jobs. The state has numerous universities and colleges and they should be in the forefront of the research and production.

Of course to be a leader in this field would take the cooperation of the Legislature and anyone that lives in Mississippi knows what a screaming bunch of do-nothings they are.

We Mississippians should be demanding that more be done, but we seem to worry about the next casino and not the problems that await just over the horizon

Katrina Fraud Still Rampant

The Mississippi Attorney General's Office has investigated more than 1,000 Hurricane Katrina-related home repair fraud cases.

So far, investigators from the Consumer Protection Division have made 89 arrests in cases totaling $3 million in losses.

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood expects the number of cases and arrests to increase.

"The reason it keeps going up is because people will do everything they can to get their house fixed. They'll wait and wait and try to work with the contractor until they finally get frustrated and decide to call us," Hood said.

Among possible charges for those arrested are home-repair fraud, embezzlement, false pretense and wire fraud. Nearly all of those arrested were from outside Mississippi, Hood said.

People of the MS Gulf Coast are still being scalped by people that have nothing but contempt for those who have suffered from the devastation of Katrina. The penalty should be the same as those caught looting after the storm...take them out and shoot them! WORD!

Mississippi Remembers

A Mississippi marine was shot and killed over the weekend while conducting combat operations in Afghanistan, according to a press release from the Marine Corps.

Corporal Justin Cooper was a decorated marine who will be greatly missed not only by his family but by the town he called home.

Corporal Cooper's father Alan bought this t-shirt when he saw his son graduate from boot camp three and a half years ago. He found out Monday his son was killed in action serving his country.

"He knew the risks and he took them, but we never expected it to happen. He was good at what he did." Alan says it was his son's decision to go back to iraq a second time and then to Afghanistan.

Corporal Cooper did his job well, receiving seven different decorations for his actions. But he never let on to his family, never wanting them to worry.

"I said son, I know you did something to rank that from your commanders, he said I just did my job daddy that 's all I did," said Cooper.

Flags were lowered to half staff all over Eupora including the high school Cooper graduated. His principal James Mason remembers Cooper having the characteristics even then to be a marine. "He had that demeanor about him and he had that leadership capability about him."

Cooper's father calls his son, simply a hero. "He was naturally my hero when he hit his first little league grand slam. He was my hero when he played senior football and went to the state championship. He sacked the quarterback 19 times in the state championship game, but he has become the world's hero Sunday, and he did it willingly."

And so by all accounts, Justin Cooper was not just a leader in his hometown, at this high school, but a leader on the battle field as well. And now his name will he added to this memorial remembering those who paid the ultimate price.

Insurance Companies Jump On Homeowners

Four insurance companies are offering wind coverage in the South Mississippi market, although restrictions apply.

Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney said he has recently approved the "surplus-lines" companies. Surplus-lines companies insure high-risk properties without state regulation of rates or any guaranty in case of insolvency.

They have been active for years in South Mississippi's commercial market, but are now beginning to pick up homeowner customers as well.

The companies are Ironshore, Scottsdale, Republic and Foremost.

Ironshore is offering wind coverage for commercial properties built to code and FEMA elevations.

Scottsdale offers wind coverage to homeowners 2 miles or more from the Mississippi Sound.

Foremost offers wind only for mobile homes in Stone, Pearl River and George counties, a company spokesman said. Foremost policies without wind are available in all six South Mississippi counties for mobile homes and specialty dwellings. A Republic representative could not be reached to comment on its policies, and insurance agents contacted were not familiar with the company

These companies are basically betting that there will not be another Katrina-like storm for many years. They saw a chance to bolster their profits and make the investors happy. Yes, it is good news that homeowners now have an insurance outlet, but the better news is to the companies that will charge high premiums and pray for a slow and quiet hurricane season.

SunHerald.com : Cities consider cottages

SunHerald.com : Cities consider cottages

The cities are considering letting these cottages be more than just a stop gap measure. But will they limit where they can be installed?