Government Motors Contributes to Bennie Thompson

Taxpayers own 60% of GM. Are you happy they are giving campaign dollars to Bennie Thompson?

Change That Matters

From the clever IMAO

The Democrats unveiled their fancy new logo today:Didn’t take long for me to figure out what it looked like:Just needs a new slogan to go with it.

“Crap that splatters”, maybe?

Clever.

Will Mississippi be sued over voting fraud?

The Washington Times had an interesting editorial suggesting Mississippi might be one of the states targeted by a private lawsuit over potential voter fraud.

The dead voters may be forced back into their graves.

16 states will start receiving official "notice letters" from [whistleblowing former U.S. Department of Justice attorney J. Christian Adams] warning of coming private-action lawsuits to compel them to enforce these particular provisions of the law. This appears to mean that the Justice Department is refusing to make states comply with federal voter-verification laws - which is why the task will fall to Mr. Adams, helping represent private citizens whose legal votes otherwise would be diluted in value by fraudulent votes.

The evidence adduced by Mr. Adams, who resigned in protest from the Obama Justice Department, is so stark as to beg the question of how the department could miss it other than by deliberately, lawlessly ignoring it.

Mr. Adams' notice letters report that South Dakota, for example, has 17 counties with more registered voters than there are citizens of voting age living there. Mississippi has 17 such counties. Alabama has seven, and Indiana, Kentucky and Texas have 12 each. Most of the states threatened with suits have reported no cleaning of their voter lists for years.

Along those lines, Mr. Adams' missives also include Freedom of Information Act requests for the lists of federal felony convictions that the federal "motor voter" law requires the Justice Department to provide to election officials in each state. The direct intent of the requirement is to enable states that ban felon voting to scrub those names from their registration lists. The implication from Mr. Adams is that the Justice Department is ignoring that part of the law, too.

Butch Brown Trial November 18

The Sun Herald updates us on Butch Brown, executive director of the Mississippi Department of TourismTransportation, and his Beau Rivage adventure.

Mississippi Department of Transportation Director Larry L. “Butch” Brown has pleaded not guilty to a public intoxication charge and is set to stand trial Nov. 18.

The charge stems from Brown’s arrest in July at Beau Rivage casino. Biloxi police records say Brown was “intoxicated and unconscious” at a slot machine at 5:43 a.m. Brown has maintained his innocence in the case, but didn’t return a phone call seeking comment Thursday.

Casino security placed Brown under citizen’s arrest until Biloxi police arrived. He was booked into the Harrison County jail, where he later posted a $480 bond. Brown’s disorderly conduct charge was dropped at the casino’s request. Biloxi police filed the public intoxication charge against Brown, for which he will stand trial before one of Biloxi’s two municipal judges.

Speight to prison in BioFlop

Patsy Brumfield has updates on the Nettleton BioFlop.

First this

H. Max Speight, who admitted he defrauded a federal biofuels program, was sentenced Thursday to 26 months in prison. Senior U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson's sentence was more than the probation urged by defense attorney Kevin Payne, who cited his client's "substantial cooperation" with prosecutors and his status as an "ideal candidate" for probation. Susan Bradley, assistant U.S. attorney, supported the government's motion for a reduced sentence. Speight, 67, will report to prison Oct. 11. The judge also ordered him to repay $2.88 million to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

And on Speight's partner

His new attorneys have appealed his conviction, saying he is innocent – that Speight took the money – and that Tacker’s trial attorneys failed to put on an effective defense.

Remember that those attorneys are Oliver Diaz and Chuck McRae.

Also Patsy tells about Brandon Presley's visit to the plant, a more sober assessment than when he was mayor.

Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley drove by the idle plant a few days ago. He was the town's mayor when BMI rolled into town with big promises and big dreams. "Nothing's happened at the property," Presley reported as he looked at the locked gate at 128 Biodiesel Drive.

I Want Your Money

A Liberal Praises Haley Barbour

Ellen Ratner calls Haley Barbour a Katrina Hero

As one of the almost million volunteers who went to help after Hurricane Katrina (about one out of every 230 adults in the United States) I have seen the devastation and recovery first hand. At first it seemed totally unbelievable, as if the country had moved from first world status to third world status in twenty-four hours. Basics such as clean water and soap, luxuries in places like poverty ridden Sudan were not available. People were stuck in the Superdome without a way out. This, I thought could not be America.

What we learned from Hurricane Katrina is that good leaders become great leaders and others are shown to be empty suits. It also became clear that government has a job to do but only local communities can implement those tasks. Locals know who needs what and how to cut through the bureaucracy. They also can hinder response (such as zoning out housing solutions) but in general it is the best line of action and defense.

I have written about Gov. Haley Barbour several times but I really can't write enough about what he did after the storm. I knew Barbour from his days as RNC Chair and to say that our politics are different would be an understatement. However, he ran the storm response like FDR ran the recovery from the Great Depression. Mrs. Barbour went out all over the state without saying a word that she was the governor's wife and reported who needed what every night. Gov. Barbour responded by making sure local needs were being being met.

There were no political calculations on his part, it was just helping as needed. He has moved around the Gulf Coast as if he was just the good neighbor from across the street. I've been around politicians for 19 years as a reporter and Barbour is a master of being totally present to his citizens. It is a rare gift.