What War Costs Mississippi

We all know that the war is costing the US lots of cash but just thought I would let Mississippi know what could have been done for the state with this money.


Taxpayers in Mississippi will pay $1.8 billion for the cost of the Iraq War through 2007. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

399,174 People with Health Care OR

1,313,801 Homes with Renewable Electricity OR

56,769 Public Safety Officers OR

35,083 Music and Arts Teachers OR

385,648 Scholarships for University Students OR

122 New Elementary Schools OR

26,134 Affordable Housing Units OR

1,046,075 Children with Health Care OR

295,841 Head Start Places for Children OR

36,414 Elementary School Teachers OR

Now where do you think the money should have been spent?

Casinos For Jackson County

Anyone that knows me, knows that I am not a supporter of the Coast casinos. Not on any of the normal reason cited, but rather that not enough is done to make these corporations pay for the privilege of operating in the state. So I agree somewhat with the sentiment of this Coast mayor.

Senate Bill 2199 gives tax breaks to casinos, but also restricts casinos to those counties in which gaming currently exists.

"Permitting only select communities to prosper from casinos lends favor to those communities creating an environment of haves and have-nots," Moss Point Mayor Xavier Bishop wrote in a letter to Gov. Haley Barbour on Thursday. "Imagine the state legislating which communities could have Wal-Marts?"

It should ALWAYS be up to the people to decide if they want the casinos or not. Any legislation contrary to that is not truly democratic. But will the Governor do the right thing? How much money will be involved?

WORD!

Casinos Win Again

The casinos have lots of friends in Mississippi and most of them are your reps in the state legislature. They will now get more tax cuts for building anything not casino related. Now we will see just how much more they give the Coast with the ability to keep more of the cash.

The bill was part of a deal between the House and Senate. The Senate, which has a large anti-casino faction, agreed to the incentives package. The House, where there is more support of casino gambling, agreed to pass the Senate's moratorium on casino counties.

House Bill 1196, offered by Rep. Diane Peranich, D-Pass Christian, provides tax breaks to casinos that invest more than $10 million on non-gambling developments. It covers theme parks, water parks, cultural or historical centers, motor speedways or other large, non-gambling tourist attractions. The bill would also provide incentives for hotel investments of more than $40 million, as well as golf courses with investments of more than $10 million.

Sen. Billy Hewes, R-Gulfport, Sen. Tommy Gollott, R-Biloxi, and Sen. David Baria, D-Bay St. Louis, championed the bill in the Senate Wednesday. They sparred with Sen. Gary Jackson, R-Kilmichael, who is a Baptist pastor, as well as Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, and Sen. Alan Nunnelee, R-Tupelo.
Hewes said the incentives plan would allow a casino group to take advantage of incentives already offered to other businesses through past legislation that excluded casinos. The bill would allow a casino to recoup up to 30 percent of the project's value over a 10-year period, by giving it access to a percentage of the sales tax the project creates. Coast senators said the incentives would likely cause much investment on attractions in the state from casino groups.

We will see just what they will do with the tax money they do not have to pay and that the state needs to cover the cost of "real" programs that benefit ALL Mississippians.

Barbour's Tax Study Proposal

Barbour said state and federal taxes, as well as local taxes, figure into the discussion, and commission members would remember that as they work on the code.

"We have to keep that in mind as we work to have a system that is fair to all Mississippians, generates the amount of money we need to run our state government and is pro-job creation and pro-economic growth," Barbour said.

Barbour promised on the campaign trail last year he'd look into tax changes. It was his answer to criticism about his vetoing - twice - a bill that would have cut grocery taxes and raised cigarette taxes.

Barbour's political opponents, primarily the House Democratic leadership, has said he would likely champion pro-business tax breaks rather than those to help lower-income Mississippians. They said the state's taxes are already considered "regressive" toward those of modest means.

These proposals have almost always favored business over Mississippians and now the people are told that this one is different, that it will take into consideration of growth with jobs. This is bovine fecal matter. It will be about tax cuts to attract more corporations to the state. BTW, tax cuts creates few jobs and the ones that are lucky enough to have one it will be a short lived job.

I jus hope Mississippians have finally opened their eyes to lies and misdirections, but I am probably just having wishful thoughts.

They Did What?

The Mississippi legislature passed a bill that would raise the pay for elected officials. It did eliminate the governor, lt. gov, AG, legislators from receiving the pay raise. But that was not good enough. Why do i say this? What have these people actually accomplished? Mississippi is still in the bottom 10% of states on so many levels. These people have done nothing that would deserve a pay raise.

I say, if they must get a pay raise, then make it contingent on results. If they do not show any results then they get NO pay raise. And it there particular area of expertise shows a decline, then they lose 10% of their existing salary.

Mississippi cannot progress to the future if the elected officials are a drag on the system. This is where the emphasis should be, no progress no salary increase.

Whose Annexation?

Recently, in Mississippi's Hancock County, a councilman for the city of Bay St. Louis, has suggested that the council use the planning people to check on the viability on the possibility of the annexation of a n area north of I 10.

The idea was defeated by 3-2 vote. The city has not totally recovered from Katrina and had annexed some territory just after the storm. Why would this be a good idea, to try and put a further drain on the limited resources of the city by trying to suck up more land?

The question I would ask is, What are the benefits of this proposed annexation? Who would benefit the most from such a move? Sorry. but this propose smells of personal gain more than concern for the future of the city.

Never approve of something without checking out the motivations. Sometimes it is more for personal gain than the city's gain.

Save The Markham!

Downtown Gulfport was ravaged by Katrina and one of the downtown landmarks was especially hard hit. The old Markham Hotel which has been a landmark for many years needs renovated. But there seems to be those who want to tear it down and put up some form of glass and steel structure. I say tell the developers if they cannot save the majestic old building to go to Vegas with the glitz.

I think the city ought to find a way to save the Markham and turn it into shops and affordable loft apartments. Something that would help save the ambiance of old town Gulfport.

The damn casinos have brought enough glitz, let us save the soul of the city.