Time To Make The Coast Presentable

Recently I read an article in my local paper about the “program” to Clean-up the Coast ahead of the National Governors Conference to be held on the Coast in the coming weeks.

It is all about appearance….we would not want the nation’s govs to get the wrong impression of Mississippi….and besides this will cost no or little cash…and that is what the governor and the politicians want.

If they think they will embarrass Bubba into playing ball and not littering…they are on CRACK!  Bubba cares less about what the Coast looks like as long as he can drink beer, riding around wasting gas in his boat and going to Hooters.

What these moronbic politicians should be worried about is the condition of the people in the state.,..that is a never ending embarrassment….low education…high amount of poor…high teen preggies…..crappy health care…these thing is what should be worked on and not how many years Toyota gets a free ride on taxes.

Mississippians are slobs and they will seldom change…but good luck with trying to bullshit the other governors.

Hopeless And Homeless

The present economic situation is hitting all parts of the country hard, even the “Redneck Riviera”.  Increased numbers of homeless are hitting the streets on the Coast and one local paper wants to call them the “New Homeless”, that is those that were homeowners under foreclosure, long-time renters, workers with a track record of job stability.

Those that are facing such a choice are also facing the societal thing….the stereotyping, the depression, and of course, those that are labeled as druggies and winos by others.  We read the stories and say, “dang it is bad and those poor poeple”, but then turn our backs on them the first chance we get.  We try to make them as invisible as possible because their very presence signals us that all is not good with this system and will let us know that we could quite possibly be next.

There has been an estimate of 1600 homeless living on the streets of South Mississippi and only one, yes ONE, homeless shelter in the six most southern counties of the state and that is in Jackson county and the most homeless are said to be in Harrison.  Good planning huh?

And this problem could get even bigger by May 1st when government assistance for housing for Katrina victims ends.  The numbers of the homeless could possibly grow.

And then there are the elected officials that seem to spend all their time worrying about who smokes or patting some a/hole on the back for something or changing road signs, but not once did I see a bill that would help the growing homeless population.  If it was there it was buried deep in one of their creepy worded bills.  Like always the politicians will spend all their time massaging business’  genitals and when it comes to REAL problems they just stick their heads in the Gulf sands and pray it will go away.

A Reduction In Inventory Taxes

Mississippi lawmakers are considering cutting the inventory tax in half, but only after the economy improves.

Republican Sen. Billy Hewes of Gulfport is pushing the plan, which passed the Finance Committee on Tuesday. He says Mississippi businesses would be more competitive if they paid a lower tax on goods waiting to be sold.

Opponents worry that changing the inventory tax will put county budgets in danger because money from the tax now helps support local government.

Under Hewes’ proposal, the inventory tax would drop 10 percent a year for five years, and state government would reimburse counties for the loss of revenue.

The inventory tax would start decreasing only after the economy shows steady growth for at least three years.

As usual the only thing that any of the guys and gals in Jackson worry about is commending someone, or creating a study or lowering taxes.  The taxes thing is just ducky, but the state NEVER has enough cash to do what needs to be done…lowering taxes is not the way to accumulate a surplus.  It is however a way to pay back someone’s contributors.

Searching Public Records

The Sun-Herald recently had a very good editiorial on the high cost of searching public records.

Mississippians should not have to pay unrealistically high fees to find out what public officials and agencies are doing.

To prevent that from happening, both House Bill 1048 and Senate Bill 2921 would improve access to public records by restricting what can be charged to fulfill public records requests. Although the law already limits the fee for copies of public records to “actual costs,” that cost is sometimes inflated by public officials who charge exorbitant pay rates for the person doing the copying or who hire expensive outside consultants to fulfill the public records request, according to Barbara Powell, a lobbyist for the Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information.

The Legislature can and should prohibit these inflated charges by restricting the labor fee to persons who are employees of the public agency and by requiring that any staff time included in the cost be at the pay scale of the lowest level employee competent to assemble the response to the request.

SB 2921 passed the Senate’s Judiciary B Committee but was killed on the Senate floor. By approving HB 1048, the senators on the committee can give their colleagues an opportunity to reconsider the matter.

As Powell points out: Ten states limit the cost of producing documents to copying costs alone. And Louisiana specifically forbids the government from charging anything for producing a public record unless the request requires that the custodian of the record make the record available after normal business hours.

Mississippians should be encouraged, not hindered, in their efforts to find out what public officials and their employees are doing.

So You Want To Stimulate The State’s Economy?

If so, then I have an idea, but before that I would like to give a bit of background.

How much money is wasted every year trying to pass this bill or that bill about smoking?  How much money is wasted trying to force the people to stop smoking?  How much money do cities waste trying to stop smoking?

Well the answer is millions on millions of taxpayers dollars.  Now, the economy is going rapidly down the drain and we need some form of stimulus to get it moving again.  There is a way to kill two birds with one stone.

Smokers are three times more likely to kick the habit for at least six months when they are paid up to $750, a new study has found.

Nearly 900 General Electric workers took part in the test across 85 US sites. The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

GE will launch a similar scheme in 2010 for all US employees, believing it will be cost-effective in the long term.

“Our study shows that if you’re able to get people smoke-free and keep them smoke-free for six months or more, there’s a fighting chance they can stay smoke-free on their own,” he said.

And there you have your answer…pay people to quite smoking.  The money that is used for the program will be spent on goods; the money saved by the individual will be spent for goods.  When money is spent the economy begins to recover….and that is what all are trying to accomplish at this time.

The draw back will be if all stop smoking the state will have to raise taxes on other stuff, like property, sales, excise and so on.  But who cares!  The population will be smoke free and all will be good in the land of NOD.

Remember:  for every political action there is an equal and opposition reaction.

Peace…Out…Bubbas.  If your IQ ever reaches 100 I would sell.

More Trouble For Warr

Mayor Brent Warr and his wife, Laura, were originally indicted in November on 11 counts of Katrina fraud, but court records show those charges were sealed while the investigation continued.

The second indictment against the Warrs, unsealed last week in U.S. District Court, contained 16 charges against each of them. It supersedes the original indictment.

One conspiracy charge and four insurance fraud charges were added to the second indictment, issued Jan. 22. The second indictment remained under seal until the Warrs appeared in court Wednesday, entering not guilty pleas.

The 11 original charges involve $150,000 in homeowner assistance funds and $9,558 in FEMA funds the Warrs received for Katrina damage to their beachfront home. Those charges have been incorporated into the second indictment.

Prosecutors contend the Warrs lied to secure the federal funds, claiming the home as their primary residence when they actually lived in a house that belonged to Brent Warr’s grandmother while the beach home was being renovated.

Illinois impeached a gover5nor over allegations, what will Gulfport do?

Sorry, But Rep. Taylor May Be Mistaken

U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., is sticking to his Blue Dog colors and opposes the stimulus bill.

“If anything is in it for the Coast, I don’t know,” said Taylor. “I don’t think it’s worth the $800-billion price tag.”

Taylor said he supported a stimulus that did not spike the federal budget deficit.

I disagree!  I think it is too small, more needs to be spent on the infrastructure, programs that actually have people working and equipment and supplies being used.

Sorry, but I think that he may need to stop by his office and re-read the bill before he makes his statements to the press.  Granted he may have some inside info that I am not privvy to, but from what I know off the top of my head there are parts of the stimulus plan that could help South Mississippi with an infusion of jobs and money.  The totals are for the entire program and if Mississippi were to get some of the cash it would not be all, but part:

$360 million for child care centers on military bases (we have two on the Coast)

$500 million for bomb detectors in airports (we have a major one on the Coast)

$2.5 billion for upgrade of low income housing (we have many on the Coast)

$6.7 billion for making Federal buildings more energy efficient (we have a couple on the Coast)

I guess one could say that this could possibly be pork, but in the same breath we can make the case that the Coast can use the infusion of cash that these programs could bring.

So I would say that there is a possibility that we, on the Coast, could benefit substantially from the Obama stimulus plan if it is passed.  I would say that Rep. Taylor is sadly mistaken when he states that we on the Coast would have nothing to gain.  Maybe when he runs next time he should become the Repub that he really is and make room for a true Dem.

***NOTE**** The ( ) indicates sarcasm in case there was any doubt.

Where Is The Logic?

I recently read a copy of the budget report by the Mississippi Economic Policy Center which has been sent to the governor and the legislation, which recommends that there be a cut of 4% in the budget of the Attorny General’s office.  It is not the only cut that it recommended but for the sake of this post it is the most important.

Recently in the Mississippi House of Representatives bill number HB 351 was eneter into consideration by state Rep. Watson which calls for the creation of a division for civil rights investigations.  Personal I think this is a hell of an idea and will mostly likely give it thumbs up.  I will agree that this state needs something along these lines there are way too many questions than answers in some of the cases.

But wait!  The recommendation was sent out in Nov 0f 08 and the legislature went into session in Jan of 09 and they will mostly likely cut the budget of the AG office.  Then why would you introduce a bill to expand the office knowing that it will go nowhere?

Good question, right?

My answers are.  1–Watson did not read the report that was sent to him or 2–it is political theater that he can use at election time or 3–just a waste of time or finally 4– a combination of all 3.

Our state legislature spends approximately 90 days in session and they waste about 30 of those days doing stuff that waste time, energy and money and in the end they get little accomplished and must return for special sessions time and time again.

Maybe we as voters of this state should consider changing the system abit and go to a unicameral system, of some sort—it would have to be cheaper and more efficient IMO.

Another Study Finds Mississippi Poor

A study released Wednesday by an independent property-casualty insurance research group says the recession will likely trigger a sharp increase in uninsured motorists on U.S. roads by 2010.

The Malvern, Pa.-based Insurance Research Council released its latest uninsured motorists study with data showing New Mexico and Mississippi leading the nation in 2007. More than one in every four motorists in those two states hit the road without insurance.

The five states with the highest uninsured driver estimates were New Mexico (29 percent), Mississippi (28 percent), Alabama (26 percent), Oklahoma (24 percent) and Florida (23 percent).

The study found a strong correlation between the percentage of uninsured motorists and the unemployment rate. Based on current unemployment rate projections, the study says, the percentage of uninsured motorists is expected to rise from 13.8 percent in 2007 to 16.1 in 2010.

“An increase in the number of uninsured motorists is an unfortunate consequence of the economic downturn and illustrates how virtually everyone is affected by recent economic developments,” said Elizabeth A. Sprinkel, senior vice president of the IRC.

An increase in the national unemployment rate of 1 percentage point is associated with an increase in the uninsured motorist rate of more than three-quarters of a percentage point, according to the study.

The study also did not look at state auto insurance laws, Corum said, “because some states have them but don’t enforce them and other states have what appear to be weak ones, but enforce them very vigorously.”

This is not a major study but it should make the residents of the state ask why Mississippi seems to always be at or near the bottom of all studies.

Help Those Of Priviledge

Tax deductions are a wonderful thing, right?  Oh yeah, but when those deductions take much needed money away from the state when it is in its budgetary problems is just plain ignorant.  And ignorant is just what the proposed bill, HB 631, is….to say the least.

Let me see, the big hits the state budget will take will be in medicaid and education, is that about right?  And this bill will take away even more funds that are needed.  You people are just pathetic.

Okay, want more?  There is another bill, HB 670 that would allow home schooled kids to participate in public school extracurricular activities.  How nice, again……if the schools are not good enough for some children, why would we want them participating in other public school activities?  And yet another way to siphon more money out of the education budget.

But wait there is even more……HB 721 will exempt gold, silver and other precious metals from sales tax…now who buys most of the gold and such?  If you are wealthy then the state has your back…if you are poor…the state wants to give you a good screwing.

If you can afford to buy luxury items like gold silver, pay for priuvate scholl etc….then you will get all the tax breaks….but if you are a struggling family in the middle class then bend over the state is coming to call.