Defend the Indefensible: Mississippi

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/09/04/mississippi-and-west-virginia-are-the-most-obese-states/

The other standard Mississippi story

Hmm, yes, I wonder what the No. 3 state is ... ok, I really didn't have to wonder at all.

http://www.seattlepi.com/default/article/Miss-misses-out-again-on-federal-preschool-money-5947188.php

State Board of Education member Danny Spreitler of Amory, who runs a foundation active in expanding and improving child care in Monroe County, said the loss was "demoralizing."

Spreitler said he thought the state's proposal has suffered from "too much bureaucracy and not enough direct money to children" and said Mississippi needs to improve coordination among the groups that fund and regulate child care.

Mississippi is governed by the most aggressively stupid humans that this nation can generate.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/mississippi-town-repeals-anti-discrimination-resolution-secret

On Tuesday, in a closed-door executive session, the Starkville alderman voted to repeal both the new anti-discrimination statement and the policy providing health benefits for same-sex couples. Mayor Parker Wiseman says the aldermen behind the repeal provided no notice that they intended to hold those votes or any explanation for doing so. A local paper, the Columbus Dispatch, can’t even be sure which alderman voted which way:

Well this illustrates one major way in which Arkansas ways is better than Missippi ways: We have a strong Freedom of Information Act in Arkansas. I don't know what Mississippi's is like, but this wouldn't happen here. It's very limited what can be done in an "executive session." We'd have to vote it down out in the open, like they did in Fayetteville in November when they repealed that city council's efforts.

Side note: that article mentions Starkville's city attorney. He was a buddy of mine when I was in school there, third-sixth grades.

Thank God for Mississippi.

provided no notice that they intended to hold those votes or any explanation for doing so.

this is how the republican government in wisconsin basically does everything now

I wonder if politicians and Oprah and others have followed up on this since 2008

On yesterday’s episode of Oprah, she and Bob Greene announced the kick off of the 2008 Best Life Challenge. To promote the weight loss campaign, she visited her home state of Mississippi because, what better place to launch a weight loss campaign than in the fattest state? After learning of the Just Lose It! Meridian campaign, Oprah chose that community to help with the launch.

http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/01/meridian-ms-loses-it-with-oprah/#5XGmRUxx0QyhyDbu.99

Somewhat interesting story brewing about the firing of Dan Jones, the Ole Miss chancellor. Shit's hitting the fan from a lot of angles — Jim Barksdale (Netscape fortune), John Grisham, former chancellor Khayat, Charles Overby, Archie Manning, the Alumni Association, the Gertrude Ford Foundation, all are criticizing the move very loudly. The student rally on Jones' behalf tomorrow may move the story from local to national news.

http://www.deepsouthdaily.com/2015/03/was-ole-miss-chancellor-dan-jones-fired-over-obamacare.html

The IHL board are all Haley Barbour and Phil Bryant appointees, and as soon as Jones came back to work after a medical leave fighting lymphoma, they canned him. Word floating around is that Jones and the UMMC vice-chancellor he appointed were in favor of the Medicaid expansion and the ACA in general, so they stuck him full of holes on the steps of the Senate, as it were, close enough to the Ides of March. Bryant: "Hey, don't look at me, I didn't have anything to do with it."

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/27/documenting-the-blues-in-the-mississippi-delta/?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=mini-moth®ion=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&_r=0

x-post

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ap-newsbreak-trustees-offer-deal-ole-miss-chancellor-29938677

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2015/10/17/poor-students/

Just another sad article about Mississippi schools, the state government's priorities , etc.

Saw that yesterday, hugely depressing.

The all-Republican state legislature refuses to fully fund K-12 education (nitpicking and hairsplitting about the definition of "adequate" funding), so there's a ballot initiative this year (MS's statewide elections are on odd-numbered years) that allows the citizens to sue to force full funding. Suits would be filed in Hinds County (where Jackson is; this venue for suits against the state was set up by the legislature quite a few years ago), so opponents to Initiative 42 have been playing the Activist Judges card, saying "a single judge will pick your pocket and give the money to school districts without knowing what they really need." Anyway, a state legislator named Bubba went Full Racist and decoded what "a single Hinds County judge" really means:

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/dailyledes/2015/10/18/rep-bubba-carpenter-black-judge-and-initiative-42/74196426/

Oh, and our state senator, one of the few Dems left in the legislature, is liable to lose this time around because the GOP has finally found a candidate willing to say "pssst, ever notice that my opponent is a lifelong bachelor...?"

But you are getting a B.B. King Museum...(a music critic colleague who is quoted in the below, lives in your state,and posted about this on FB awhile back)

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/05/29/mississippians-pay-respect-king-blues/28177663/

ok

They should pay their respect to Nina Simone, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVQjGGJVSXc

And right on schedule, Bubba is deeply sorry.
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2015/oct/19/rep-lester-bubba-carpenter-deeply-sorry-inappropri/

TGFM.

A rare (itt, anyway) positive take.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/11928516/Mississippi-madness-expat-life-in-Americas-weirdest-state.html

Posted by a fb friend of mine who travels to Pluto and loves it.

this state is fucking terrifying

‘There’s nothing more Delta than a Delta Walmart" x-post

A rare (itt, anyway) positive take.

A commenter accused the author of going to Mississippi to profit, being in white denial, and doing nothing to help in a positive way (implying that his upcoming book on living there would not generate anything positive). The commenter does not list any clinic or non-profit group or public school related organization down there that one could send money too. Perhaps the author is doing that in addition to buying food and such and being part of the local economy,

Perhaps I am feeling guilty too

I didn't read the entire article, but it was starting to make me feel a little nauseous.

"Hey, 'Y'all!' I'm down here in one of those Red States you always hear about, but guess what! Not everyone's hanging men from trees anymore! Come on down and sit on the front porch with some of these characters. Sip on some sweet tea, pat ol' Hugh the Hound Dog on the top of his head, and git set to hear some authentic Delta blues played by the great-grandnephew of Willy Faulkner."

<-- that is basically the entire ethos of the oxford american

seems to have a lot of extrapolation from the rural, delta area of Mississippi which is definitely kind of unique, even within that state

x-post

And that's in part kinda the ethos of any ilxor blues and soul and country fan including me. But we recognize that there's discrimination and awful stuff too, and give money to Doctors without Borders, is that it? Plus we balance our interests in that with uh German electronica and uh UK beer or something... So tell me how the Oxford American should do it more respectfully? Or are you saying in this internet age, that the Oxford American should just cover any music or art made by Southerners no matter the style? I can see that as an option. I mean it kinda bugs me that it currently covers in its music issue just safe indie-rock and Americana acts in addition to old-school blues and country ones, but does not cover rap or middle-aged southern soul. Or do you just dislike perpetuating any alleged clichéd Southern characteristics at the expense of the wide variety of traits that exist there, and think the magazine should just go away?

Above questions pertain to the author of that article as well as Oxford American

oxford american is basically just a literate tourist magazine, selling a particular iteration of the south to a particular demographic. the ads are almost entirely for

1) tourism -- mix of specific tourist destinations (biltmore etc.) and semi-impoverished southern mid-sized cities desperately hoping to drawn in some "cultural heritage tourism"

2) southern universities and colleges offering liberal-arts graduate degrees (esp. MFAs in creative writing, filmmaking, etc.)

3) record labels and book publishers

every now and then they have something that hints at the modern south, but usually they are selling a kind of rusticated fantasy.

what tends to be missing is any meaningful reflection on the politics of the contemporary south except for some token hand-wringing that occupies a few lines in an article about visiting some derelict old whiskey stills.

Pro-state-flag dude sets of explosive at Walmart: http://djournal.com/news/man-explodes-device-at-walmart/

TUPELO – A Tupelo man is behind bars after allegedly setting off an explosive at Walmart early Sunday morning.

Officers were called to the North Gloster Walmart where a man reportedly detonated an explosive device in the entrance of the store. Marshall W. Leonard, 61, of Tupelo, was seen leaving the area and was taken into custody by officers around 2 a.m.

No one was injured in the incident.

Leonard is a strong supporter of the Mississippi flag and railed against anyone who wanted it pulled because it contained the Confederate battle flag. In the past, he spoke out against Walmart when the retail giant decided to stop selling items in its stores that contained the Confederate battle flag.

Last Wednesday, Leonard posted threats on the Daily Journal Facebook page.

“Journal corporate, you are on final warning,” he wrote Oct. 28. “You are part of the problem. As a result of this, y’all are going down, along with Walmart, WTVA, Reeds department store, and all the rest of the anti-American crooks. I’m not kidding. No messing around anymore!”

*sets off explosive

Is there any hope at all that it's spelled "North Gloster" because at some point Mississippians gave up on trying to spell "North Gloucester?"

You like that one, you and any of the Westermass ILXors should come check out this charming burg:

http://i.imgur.com/rWE1xoL.png

Also, sorry about the walmart, wmc.

I can't front on that, we have a Wooster in Ohio, too. Ours has a college, though.

towns were named for Bertie Wooster then. very literary of them.

I'm sure the etymology derives from Gloucester at some point, but the street was named after a guy named Gloster when the town was incorporated. It's the main north-south drag in Tupelo; the east-west artery is the innovatively named Main Street. And there's a railroad crossing right at crosstown where the two intersect, which the city and BNSF have been trying to figure out a solution to for at least 30-40 years. xxps

I'll be interested to see how big an explosion this guy built.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloster_Aircraft_Company

The Gloster Aircraft Company was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1917 to 1963.

Founded as The Gloucestershire Aircraft Company Limited during the First World War, with the aircraft construction activities of H H Martyn & Co Ltd of Cheltenham it produced fighters during the war. It was renamed as foreigners found 'Gloucestershire' difficult to pronounce. It later became part of the Hawker Siddeley group and the Gloster name disappeared in 1963.

Sounds like a likely scenario.

btw shoppers, just 25 more days til Black Friday!

This gets even better after an update.

It was the state flag that led to his arrest. An officer in the area spotted a small silver car with a huge Mississippi flag sticking up through the sun roof run the red light in front of Walmart.

“The officer pulled him over for the traffic violation, but when the calls started coming in, we quickly figured out we needed to hang on to this suspect,” said Aguirre. “We still have some more interviews to do and still need to search his car before we take him in front of a judge Tuesday.”

Officials are still waiting to get details of Leonard’s prior criminal history in Illinois and Wisconsin.

“A white male got out, lit the package and threw it in the vestibule,” said Aguirre. “There was an employee on break, and the suspect told him, ‘You better run.’

“The employee did run and was away from harm when the package went off. It wasn’t a large explosion. It didn’t cause a lot of damage to the store.”

So wait, what'd this guy do? Blow up one of those crane machines?

Because I hate those crane machines. Unlike the South, they rise up again too quickly.

Hoo. Boy.

http://i.imgur.com/iihhVGY.png

Committ Adultry

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u120/kingkonggodzilla/leonard_zpswtmdlyy2.jpg

I mean, all fairness to the Lord, that house does need to be picked up a bit.

i stared at that photo waiting for the spooky ghost to pop out

No, the ghost got popped at the stoplight, read upthread.

The elections may not have gone well (with Attorney general Jim Hood being the last remaining Democrat) but at least this magazine is around now, digitally

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/life/2015/11/02/folklife-digital-magazine-highlights-unique-mississippi/74881810/

http://www.mississippifolklife.org/

No politics, just music and stuff