Alston and Kitchens

Ole Kitch has a friend in Alex Alston. Alston, is the unofficial Clarion Ledger judicial correspondent. He has written numerous pieces for the Clarion Ledger based on his own research attacking the Supreme Court. The Ledger uses his "research" in its editorials as facts. Whenever his information is challenged, the Ledger allows him additional space to respond. He might as well be a contributing columnist.

Well, the Ledger has never disclosed Alston's motivations. Alston is the guy who lost millions because the Supreme Court overturned (7-2 decision) a jury verdict in a life insurance case (Stewart vs Prudential). His client hid the fact he suffered a stroke and was nearing death while negotiating a life insurance policy. Once that fact was revealed to the insurance company, they refused to write a policy under the previously negotiated conditions. Basically, Alston sued a company to claim a policy that didn't exist. He won with a Hinds County jury. The Supreme Court overturned it. As the lawyer, his share of the take would have been millions of dollars.

Hey, I'd be upset if I lost millions of dollars. I understand. Give me someone to yell at and a platform. A Court and a newspaper? That works fine.

But that doesn't mean the Court isn't right. And it doesn't give the Clarion Ledger license to hold up a disgruntled attorney as an authority on the Court. But then, the First Amendment gives the Ledger that license, and fair treatment is not a precondition for free speech.

Anyway. In addition to his public attacks on the Court, Alston is now supporting the guy who wants to take out Chief Justice Jim Smith. The latest campaign finance report of Jim Kitchens shows contributions from Alston on August 19 and September 30 for a total of $1000. I wonder if the Ledger will continue to give Alston carte blanche to opine now that his motivations are both personal and political.

Labor Unions: Bringing Musrove and Obama Together

Mark Cochran, Political Coordinator for United Steelworkers of America, working North Mississippi and Tennessee for Barack Obama and Ronnie Musgrove.
Responding via Y'all Politics

Kitchens Leading in Beverly Hills, New York City, Chicago

Jim Kitchens is a man of the people - the people of Beverly Hills, New York City, Chicago, Miami, Washington D.C., Honolulu, Massachusetts, Los Angeles. His latest campaign finance report shows he raised greater than $80K from out of state, mostly trial lawyers. There isn't anything wrong with out-of-staters supporting a Mississippi candidate. But the question is, "Why?" I'm sure these out-of-state trial lawyers just want good government. They aren't interested at all in putting someone on the Court who could serve their interests - the interests of big trial lawyers coming to sue in Mississippi. Let me repeat, these are not Mississippi trial lawyers battling it out for their ideology. That's politics. No big deal. But when you combine the latest report of Jim Kitchens with his past reports, you find that $150K has been pumped in from out-of-state trial lawyers. Why? You can decide.



(Thanks for the email with the tip. YOUaretheresponder.)

Jesse Jackson on Obama Foreign Policy

Jesse Jackson on Obama's Israel policy:

The most important change would occur in the Middle East, where "decades of putting Israel's interests first" would end. Jackson believes that, although "Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades" remain strong, they'll lose a great deal of their clout when Barack Obama enters the White House....Jackson is especially critical of President Bush's approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict. "Bush was so afraid of a snafu and of upsetting Israel that he gave the whole thing a miss," Jackson says. "Barack will change that," because, as long as the Palestinians haven't seen justice, the Middle East will "remain a source of danger to us all." "Barack is determined to repair our relations with the world of Islam and Muslims," Jackson says. "Thanks to his background and ecumenical approach, he knows how Muslims feel while remaining committed to his own faith."

The Washington Post has this to say about Jesse Jackson's previous opposition to "Zionists."

Rev. Jesse Jackson referred to Jews as "Hymies" and to New York City as "Hymietown" in January 1984 during a conversation with a black Washington Post reporter, Milton Coleman. Jackson had assumed the references would not be printed because of his racial bond with Coleman, but several weeks later Coleman permitted the slurs to be included far down in an article by another Post reporter on Jackson's rocky relations with American Jews.

A storm of protest erupted, and Jackson at first denied the remarks, then accused Jews of conspiring to defeat him. The Nation of Islam's radical leader Louis Farrakhan, an aggressive anti-Semite and old Jackson ally, made a difficult situation worse by threatening Coleman in a radio broadcast and issuing a public warning to Jews, made in Jackson's presence: "If you harm this brother [Jackson], it will be the last one you harm."

Finally, Jackson doused the fires in late February with an emotional speech admitting guilt and seeking atonement before national Jewish leaders in a Manchester, New Hampshire synagogue. Yet Jackson refused to denounce Farrakhan, and lingering, deeply rooted suspicions have led to an enduring split between Jackson and many Jews. The frenzy also heightened tensions between Jackson and the mostly white establishment press.

Kitchens - The Joke is on Mississippi

Jim Kitchens wants to be on the Mississippi Supreme Court. The key word there is Mississippi.

Kitchens, leaving worry behind, joked that if he could include the territory of a few other surrounding states it would be to his benefit. Kitchens said he is pleased with his campaign's progress. "The district touches Arkansas, Louisiana, and Alabama, and I think I'm running way ahead in all those states," he joked. (Madison County Herald, October 9, 2008)

About half of all of Kitchen's fundraising came from out of state, no joke. His campaign brought in more than $86,000 from outside Mississippi, where he apparently is doing very well, no joke. Today we should see his next finance report and see if in this election, the joke is on Mississippi.

Chief Justice Jim Smith: Character

Biden Responds to Himself

From the debate transcript.

Biden on Change: "I'm not going to change. I have 35 years in public office. People can judge who I am. I haven't changed in that time."

Biden on Getting Involved in Ethnic Wars: "Look what we did in Bosnia. We took Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks, being told by everyone, I was told by everyone that this would mean that they had been killing each other for a thousand years, it would never work. There's a relatively stable government there now as in Kosovo....Go look at joebiden.com, contemporaneously, held hearings in the summer before we went to war, saying if we went to war, we would not be greeted as liberator, we would have a fight between Sunnis and Shias, we would be tied down for a decade and cost us hundreds of billions of dollars."

Biden on Future Involvement in Ethnic Wars: "I don't have the stomach for genocide when it comes to Darfur. We can now impose a no-fly zone. It's within our capacity. We can lead NATO if we're willing to take a hard stand. We should rally the world to act and demonstrate it by our own movement to provide the helicopters to get the 21,000 forces of the African Union in there now to stop this genocide."

Biden on Going To War: "I indicated it would be a mistake to -- I gave the president the power. I voted for the power because he said he needed it not to go to war but to keep the United States, the UN in line, to keep sanctions on Iraq and not let them be lifted."