Biden's Stimulus Jolt

"The care with which we are carrying out the provisions of the Recovery Act has led some people to ask whether we are moving too slowly. But the act was intended to provide steady support for our economy over an extended period — not a jolt that would last only a few months." - Vice President Joe Biden New York Times, July 26, 2009.

"The Recovery Act, as we call it, provides a necessary jolt to our economy to implement what we refer as “shovel-ready” projects, meaning projects that were on the books that were needed in the municipalities and the states that would improve the quality of life for our constituents, the competitiveness of our businesses, but were unable to be funded." - Vice President Joe Biden, Remarks at The Progressive Governance Conference, March 28, 2009.

(Hattip Heritage)

Democrats miss the boat on workforce training

Our good friend Sam Hall covers a rather interesting subject on his blog yesterday: the need for increased workforce training in MS.

Well, Sam, we couldn't agree more! Thankfully, the Barbour administration has gotten MS back on track after Musgrove slashed the budget for workforce training during his ill-fated years in office.

Let's see... when Barbour took the Governorship, he got to work immediately (Education and Workforce Consolidation Act of 2004, anyone?). He's more than doubled funding for workforce training and has funded education (which includes vocational/workforce efforts) at record levels. It has worked pretty well so far (Toyota, GE, PSL North America, highest number of people working than ever before, etc). I will admit, however, that some of this momentum has stalled due to current economy.

It seems to me, Sam, that you should be delighted with the governor's work. But I get the feeling you want him to do more... ah, yes... let's see, you want to create a Department of Labor for MS?

You say MS should have an agency that would "protect the rights of workers, offer displace workers a place to go to help find job training and new job opportunities, serve as a central repository for issues related to the state’s workforce and job development."

It's called the MS Department of Employment Security, and that's precisely what they do.

I know Democrats like duplication in state services, but really Sam, this is just too much...

Mississippi Tea Party Opposes Obamacare

300 people attend Tea Party healthcare forum at Mississippi College.

Is the Mississippi Democratic Party hypocritical on the Second Amendment?

The Mississippi Democratic Party suggests that Senator Thad Cochran is a hypocrite for opposing Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

It brings to mind Senator Roger Wicker's reason for opposing Sotomayor:

"In refusing to confirm that the Second Amendment is a fundamental right that applies to all 50 states, and thus, all Americans, Judge Sotomayor shows an alarming hostility toward law-abiding gun owners across the country. This is a view that is certainly out of the mainstream in Mississippi and, I believe, across the rest of the nation."

Wicker is correct, not only is Sotomayor outside the mainstream in Mississippi, she is even outside the mainstream of the Mississippi Democratic Party, as we quote from its official party platform:

We believe in the affirmation of the Second Amendment as an individual right.

So the Mississippi Democratic Party is supporting a nominee who rejects its own platform on the Second Amendment. Who is the hypocrite now?

Mississippi Democratic Party attacks Tea Party Movement

The Mississippi Democratic Party has posted this attack on the Tea Party movement:

The idea that our government should work for the people, that we should be responsible with the tax dollars spent from Washington and that our personal liberties and freedoms are more valuable than anything are noble ideas.

Supposedly, this is the basis for the TEA Parties. But I don’t buy it....[they] simply want to serve as obstructionists to any legislative item put forth by the Obama Administration so they can try and win elections in 2012.

The Mississippi Democrats claim the Tea Party people didn't oppose President Bush's spending (which isn't true) and that real conservatives are found by looking at people like Travis Childers and Gene Taylor (who elected Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House).

Hoodlum 101

Jim Hood just can't help himself. First he threatens to sue the state troopers; now he's working feverishly to protect their overtime pay. Does this make sense to anyone?

Apparently the AG has issued an official opinion that Governor Haley Barbour violated the Constitution when he partially vetoed legislation that would provide some type of payment for overtime work carried out by state troopers. The Governor has said this legislation would strip the Department of Public Safety of its management authority in dealing with issues, like overtime pay. (And, as far as the constitutionality of the issue is concerned, check out section 73 of the MS Constitution, which clearly states the Governor can partially veto any appropriations bills.)

One should expect valiant Hood to defend his opinion in normal fashion. You know, grandstanding against the Governor, demanding fairness for our state's "men and women in uniform," that sorta thing. I really, really hope he does.

After all, wasn't it Hood who, less than 3 weeks ago during the state's budget debacle, threatened to sue our state troopers to prevent them from protecting me and you? Yep. Consider this nugget from WLBT:

Department of Public Safety spokesperson Jon Kalahar said Hood's comments are premature. "Even if there is some chance that a budget is not passed by midnight Tuesday, troopers will still be out enforcing the rules of the road," said Kalahar in a phone interview.

"If they try to operate we'll have to file a suit to stop that and join that type of suit. We're talking about lawsuits everywhere next week," warned Hood.

Well, well, well. He threatens to sue the state troopers (while warning of impending lawsuits "everywhere").

Is this guy for real? Sheesh.

Hood on Salter: "writer like that" doesn't "get the facts, and they're espousing errors"

Sid Salter must have struck a nerve. According to the Jackson Free Press, Jim Hood said this today about Salter,

"You got a writer like that, they may rely on another article or go to some goofy blog, and they don’t get the facts, and they’re espousing errors."

But we would like to know who the "goofy blog" is. We expect he means Y'all Politics, the Dean of Mississippi Political Blogs, because of the fits YP has given him over the years. But with a descriptor like "goofy" we can only hope he means us.

Salter on Hood: "I am flippant about Mississippi’s endless parade of demagogue politicians"

A piece of political advice for Jim Hood, don't pick a fight with Sid Salter.

After reading Attorney General Jim Hood’s guest column I found it clear that Mr. Hood was displeased with my July 8 column. Hood rated a one-paragraph mention in that column.

I’m not sure which observation of mine regarding the special legislative session to address the Public Service Commission budget irked him more. Perhaps it was this one: “What the standoff is about is partisan politics — and neither the Democrats nor the Republicans can make any claim whatsoever to the moral high ground.”

Well, I can certainly see how Mr. Hood would see that as objectionable, can’t you? It’s so, what’s the word, fair.

Or perhaps it was this line: “Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood has sued Entergy over its rate practices and unsuccessfully challenged Mississippi Power’s application for the clean coal plant.”

Yes, that line would set ol’ Jim off , too, considering it was exactly the same assessment drawn in the June 10 Associated Press account of the Mississippi Power permit application by AP writer Timothy Brown: “The Mississippi Public Service Commission has denied two motions, including one filed by state Attorney General Jim Hood, challenging the application for a planned $2.2 billion power plant in Kemper County.”

Hood says he isn’t opposed to Mississippi Power’s clean coal project in Kemper County and I have no reason to doubt that. But the fact is that Hood and some environmentalists did challenge Mississippi Power’s application for the plant before the PSC — and as the AP reported correctly on June 10, Hood’s motion was denied.

But the lowest political common denominator is a perceived political alliance between the elected PSC and Hood. For good or ill, true or false, that perception and the existing long-term partisan enmity between Hood and the Republicans is at the root of the PSC budget standoff.

Hood’s been attorney general since 2004. Strange that changing PSC governance wasn’t on his radar screen until he got in a contentious 2008 lawsuit with Entergy, isn’t it?

Flippant about utility rates? No, Jim. I struggle to pay them, too, like everyone else. But I am flippant about Mississippi’s endless parade of demagogue politicians seeking to channel “Kingfish” Huey Long by unfairly demonizing public utility companies.

Medicaid Responds to Bill Minor

Bill Minor's latest senile ramblings on Medicaid and how everything is always the fault of a secret Haley Barbour conspiracy drew the ire of Francis Rullan, Communications Director for the Division of Medicaid.

Rullan responding:

Bill Minor's most recent column...brings to mind what Germany's former Minister of Propaganda Paul Joseph Goebbels once said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."

Bill wrote, "In his June 30 statement, the MHA's [Sam] Cameron made a point that got no attention: that the existing Medicaid Division 'has yet to demonstrate its ability to plan, project and administer any budget.'" The aspersion cast concerning the capability of this (or any other) Medicaid administration's ability to balance the books is a lie by omission. What's omitted are indisputable facts.

Rullan then lists and comments on 12 facts before concluding:

Perhaps the real reason "that we hear no outrage in the Mississippi news media about "[Governor] Barbour's heavy-handed tactics" is Mississippians are finally getting both sides of the story and can see through this columnist's spin.

Snap.

He could have just said, "Mr. Minor, this is Medicaid calling. You forgot to take your pills again."

(Tip o the Hat to Y'all.)

TEA at NGA

When governors from across the country meet in Biloxi this weekend for the National Governors Association summer meeting, they will have a front row seat view of a Mississippi TEA Party, just across the street from where many are staying.

Special Session: Jim Hood tries to protect his PSC agenda

Sid Salter wrote about the politics involved over the Public Service Commission's efforts to increase the size of government during the recession in the Clarion Ledger. Or, as the Neshoba Democrat described it, "Bloating and corrupting the PSC." The press and the people of Mississippi are on to the PSC's attempt to increase the size of government.

So what does the other side do? They say when you want a job done right you've got to do it yourself. Tired of the Public Service Commissioners fumbling away his agenda, today Jim Hood comes out in the Clarion Ledger to fix things. You know things are bad when he has to get up and do the work himself.

This is just an attempt to ultimately put the independent Public Utilities Staff back under control of the Public Service Commission, which in the words of Brandon Presley, would be a "ginamic step forward."

Jim Hood always comes out when his agenda at the PSC seems to fall apart. Watch the video here and you'll see Tyrone Ellis speaking at the end. Then, strolling out of Speaker McCoy's office (16 seconds left on the video count) comes Attorney General Jim Hood, a crony, and bringing up the rear comes Brandon Presley, tagging along behind big Jim.

Sid Salter saw through Jim Hood's political smoke and Hood lashed back at him today. But it is clear to anyone observing, what the politics behind today's special session really are.

Hood Unhinged Is Nothing New, Apparently

So Jim Hood didn't totally lose it, apparently, he didn't even have it. His slur against Entergy Mississippi, that they operate like the "mafia" is not the first time he has been reckless and irresponsible with statements from his office. He said insurance companies were like "robber barons" and compared State Farm to a "cult" and called their practices "decadent" drawing these comments:

"Frankly, it just seems like he came unhinged. His rhetoric is divorced from reality," said Rossmiller, managing editor of the Insurance Coverage Law Blog and a former reporter at the now-defunct Phoenix Gazette. "You don't have to be a fan of State Farm to feel the way he is talking here is completely inappropriate. The tone of his rhetoric with his apparent inability to connect with any facts, you have to wonder if this was anything more than grandstanding," Rossmiller said. "It was an amazing, amazing display."

So for all those companies out there that Jim Hood targets remember, if you stand up for yourself, just imagine the worst thing someone could say about you, and expect him to say something worse. His failure to conduct his office with proper respect should outrage good government advocates and anyone working to better the economy and bring jobs to Mississippi.

Taxpayers Pay for Bennie Thompson's Trips to Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Panama

The Wall Street Journal responds with an investigation showing that Bennie Thompson and collegues traveled on the taxpayer dime to Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Panama. Thompson claims they were studying Homeland Security.

Happy Fourth of July

Jim Hood totally loses it

Jim Hood took a drive down the road of populism and then totally launched himself off the cliff of conspiracy theory politics. He got so frustrated at his press conference yesterday that he reverted to his most basic trial lawyer self and attacked who he is suing. WLBT:

Attorney General Jim Hood blames Entergy lobbyists for the delay.

Hood says, "It just shows you Entergy's kind of like the mafia, if you try to regulate us we'll shut you down and that's what happened they have shut down the actual functions of the Public Service Commission to a bare minimum and they've shut down the agency that assists them completely. From what I was told, senators and governor Barbour were right in the middle of the shutdown, I guess he's carrying the water for Entergy."

Entergy Mississippi responded to Hoods remarks. In a press release they said quote, "The Attorney General's allegations are false and highly irresponsible. We have not intervened in the M.P.S.C. funding issue. If the M.P.S.C. could not operate in a normal and efficient manner, it would have a negative affect on our company and our customers."

This further shows how little Jim Hood knows about how utilities work in Mississippi. Entergy is a regulated utility, regulated by the PSC, and they can do nothing without first getting permission from the PSC. It is not in their interests to have the PSC shut down. Its like Jim Hood saying patients in a hospital had all the doctors fired. That makes a lot of sense.

If anyone is to blame, it is Jim Hood. The PSC furloughed 60 of its employees on his order. Hood has let politics take priority over the needs of the people of Mississippi. Earlier, Hood threatened to shut down the Highway Patrol if the budget was not approved, but Governor Barbour said he would keep Troopers running and see Hood in Court. The PSC does not have the will to stand up against Hood like Barbour does, so when Hood said to send their people home, they did.

Meanwhile at the press conference, Hood distributed this bizarre press release repeating attacks he and his allies made against Entergy a couple of weeks ago. There was no news in it, just irresponsible mud throwing. I don't think Entergy is going to be on the ballot against Hood in 2011, but he is acting like he must try to do anything he can to take shots at them. Seriously, this guy has gone off the cliff and is sacrificing any inch of legal credibility in an effort to win a lawsuit for private attorneys.

Democrats' Double Standard; George Flaggs Pouts; Billy McCoy Taxes the Sick

The Democrats proclaimed their righteous indignation the other day on Governor Barbour's staff budget:

Gov. Haley Barbour had the Senate slip $300K into a spending bill. What was the $300K for? Glad you asked. Raises for his staff. We’re in a budget crisis and the guv wants to give raises to his people. That’s fiscal conservatism?

But the Democrats don't want you to look at what the Democratic House Leadership did. Here is more of it revealed in the Clarion Ledger:

House leaders and Gov. Haley Barbour are at loggerheads over the governor's office budget. The House attempted to extend, for one more year, a cap on salaries for the governor's staff. Senators had voted to remove the cap, but the House wanted to leave the salary cap on the governor's staff because of the tight economy.

But Barbour's budget already had been voluntarily cut 6.5 percent before the House attempted the additional line-item cut in governor's office staff salaries. Strange, but the House raised staff salaries this fiscal year. Double standard?

Like other agency heads, Barbour should manage his own office budget, including staff salaries.

The editorial was mostly about Democrat George Flaggs' "self-serving stunt" as he pouted over losing amendment votes in the House. Facing a deadline hours away where the whole state government could shut down, he required legislation be read to postpone the passage of the compromise legislation by three hours.

Flaggs defended the move as one designed to register an emphatic protest and to call attention to what he called the "exclusion" of many in the House who disagreed with the majority position on the Medicaid bill.

He said that because of Barbour's political strong-arm tactics, House members had little time to read the bill and that the measure was being "rammed down our throats."

Poor thing. Flaggs was upset because Haley Barbour provided the leadership necessary to keep our state functioning despite the delays and obstructions by Democrats like Flaggs. The irony is, Flaggs called this thunder down on himself. Remember?

State Rep. George Flaggs, a Democrat from Vicksburg, urged Gov. Haley Barbour today to stay in the state and "provide leadership" while budget talks continue.

Before we leave today's lesson in Democratic hypocracy, Sid Salter points out the difference in rhetoric and reality.

“I personally don’t like the hospital tax of (even) one penny. That’s just a personal situation. It may be that some amount has to be used. We live in a world of compromise here. It’s just repugnant to me that we would tax a sick person. And I don’t care what you say, that’s what it boils down to: The patient, or customer, pays.” - House Speaker Billy McCoy, Associated Press, January 2, 2009

"As the Legislature prepares to wrap up the down-to-the wire budget mess, it seems that all the plaintive rhetoric about the evils of "taxing the sick" was just that — rhetoric — offered by mega-salaried hospital administrators at Mississippi's profitable "not-for-profit" hospitals who were far more worried about their bottom lines than about providing health care for the poor, the blind, the disabled and children. When push came to shove, the state's hospitals and the Mississippi Hospital Association agreed to "tax the sick" right along." - Sid Salter Blog, July 1, 2009

Good Job WLBT

WLBT reports on the ethics investigation of Congressman Bennie Thompson, the first original report we've seen in Mississippi.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) and four other Democratic lawmakers are under investigation for possibly receiving improper gifts.

Thompson was in Jackson Monday speaking before the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership.

The Committee on Standards of Conduct is looking into whether Thompson's trip to a business conference in the Caribbean last November was paid for by lobbyists.

Thompson says the committee approved the trip before he left, but they received a complaint after he returned home.

"The law requires me to say if I'm invited, to submit the info, and whether or not the trip was approved is subject to the ethics committee," Thompson told WLBT. "I did it, they sent me a letter back in writing saying it's fine. I followed the law absolutely."

His pleas of ignorance are not congruent with the papers he filed and signed showing corporate sponsors of the sessions he spoke at.