Tax Cuts Are Hurting State

Barbour has so far cut $200 million from the state’s current budget, which is $65 million below estimates. He expects tax collections to continue falling, and said revenues may be up to $310 million below estimates by the end of the current fiscal year on June 30.

Lawmakers had hoped to receive more money from corporate tax returns being processed after coming into the state late. But Kathy Waterbury, a spokeswoman for the State Tax Commission, said that so far, “the money that we had hoped for has just not materialized.”

Most state agencies have had to cut 5 percent from their budgets. Medicaid services are still exempt, but the federal-state health care program’s administrative budget will be trimmed.

This is all so well and good, but their are a plethora of tax cut bills being considered in the legislature.  Such as repeal corporate income tax, tax cuts for private school tuition, repeal the 3% tax on gambling winnings and others.  This is all so STUPID!  Raise taxes on somethings while giving away revenue with the other……where is this sound political judgement?  Or for that matter, sound fiscal policy?  Sounds more like stroke their patrons while screwing the rest of us.

When will the people of Mississippi realize just how screwed they really are?  Maybe a mandatory education would help.

Voter ID Proposals

Mississippi legislators are preparing to dust the cobwebs off the same arguments they’ve used the past decade when debating — and killing — bills that would require voters to show identification at the polls.

Supporters of voter ID, including Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, say it would help reduce the chance of election fraud. Opponents say an ID requirement could be used to intimidate older black voters who were once subject to Jim Crow laws.

This year, some Republicans are putting greater emphasis on specifying that an ID should also include the person’s photo.

Several House Democrats are proposing a bill that would allow people to show any of several forms of ID. Some forms, such as a driver’s license, would have a photo. Others, such as a utility bill or a bank statement, would not.

The House bill that includes voter ID also would authorize “no-excuses” early voting. Mississippians are now allowed to vote early for certain reasons, such as having plans to be out of town on election day. The bill awaits consideration in the House Apportionment and Elections Committee, and it’s expected to pass the committee because the committee chairman is among the bill’s sponsors.

LA: Property Taxes For Schools

A diverse coalition of supporters is trying to generate interest in an upcoming midsummer vote to determine whether public schools in New Orleans will continue to collect about $30 million annually in taxes for such purposes as dropout prevention and teacher salaries.

The property tax renewal election, scheduled for July 19, is the first since the governance structure of New Orleans schools changed dramatically in 2005. So far, most of the heavy hitters in local education and business circles — including the Business Council and the state superintendent of schools — support the renewal.

Voters will decide the fate of four millage renewals for schools. If all four are approved, that would mean about $4 million annually toward textbooks and instructional supplies, about $6 million for facilities maintenance and repairs, about $18 million toward teacher salaries and benefits, and about $4 million toward early childhood and dropout-prevention programs.

The money would be split between all types of public schools in the city — including those operated by the Recovery District and the Orleans Parish Schools, and independent charter schools.

Democrats predicting November win

Jackson Watch: Democrats predicting November win

This is pretty good prediction. McCain and his staff are running one of the strangest campaigns I can remember and I can remember many. The economy is crapping on many voters and McCain seems to focus on lame proposals and national security. I would guess that that is a losing combination at best.

MS: Is Wicker The Best Man For The Job?

I read a list of his accomplishments….he is NO friend to the worker and to labor….I would to thank a friend and fellow blogger…Cottonmouth for the idea…..

• Voted YES on promoting free trade with Peru. (Nov 2007)
• Voted NO on assisting workers who lose jobs due to globalization. (Oct 2007)
• Voted YES on implementing CAFTA, Central America Free Trade. (Jul 2005)
• Voted YES on implementing US-Australia Free Trade Agreement. (Jul 2004)
• Voted YES on implementing US-Singapore free trade agreement. (Jul 2003)
• Voted YES on implementing free trade agreement with Chile. (Jul 2003)
• Voted NO on withdrawing from the WTO

None of this appears that he is a friend or has the best interests of labor at heart.

Wicker’s stand on jobs:

• Voted YES on terminating legal challenges to English-only job rules. (Mar 2008)
• Voted NO on restricting employer interference in union organizing. (Mar 2007)
• Voted NO on increasing minimum wage to $7.25. (Jan 2007)
• Voted YES on end offshore tax havens and promote small business. (Oct 2004)
• Voted YES on $167B over 10 years for farm price supports. (Oct 2001)
• Voted YES on zero-funding OSHA’s Ergonomics Rules instead of $4.5B. (Mar 2001)
• Member of the Congressional Rural Caucus.

The sooner the people of Mississippi flush this waste down the toilet the better.

AL: Voting On Tuesday

Alabama voters will go to the polls in just two days to choose their party nominees for political office. With the primary election so close at hand, it’s time for us once again to urge our readers to vote. Voting is important, and not enough eligible voters exercise this precious right.
But just going to the polls on Tuesday and marking a ballot is not enough for a citizen to meet his or her civic responsibility. Citizens of this great nation not only have a responsibility to vote, but also to cast an informed ballot.

That means voters should never just vote for those whose names they simply recognize, but sadly, many voters do so. That’s why pollsters and political insiders usually consider name recognition as a political asset. And it is also a major reason we keep re-electing some really bad public officials.

Voters also should never make decisions about voting based simply on TV commercials. This year, many of the commercials almost sound as if the candidates are running to be the state’s chief pastor instead of a public official. Commercials touting “Christian values” really tell voters nothing about a candidate’s qualifications or positions on issues, since virtually all the candidates make such amorphous claims.

LA: Panel Doubts Coast Can Be Saved

The Army Corps of Engineers still hasn’t proved its key assumption that Louisiana’s disappearing shoreline can be maintained, and that could be a fatal flaw in the agency’s developing plan on how to provide some protection against catastrophic storm surges, a peer review panel said Tuesday.

The National Research Council praised much about the voluminous Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration (LACPR) draft plan that the corps is preparing for Congress and set to deliver in December.

But the council, whose members come from the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering, also offered sweeping criticisms on several levels and challenged the corps to tackle a number of issues that are bound to stir political unrest, including:

– Seriously studying a major realignment of the lower Mississippi River to capture sediment critical to coastal reconstruction.

– Using the corps’s own permitting powers to slow future conversion of water or wetlands to urban and other uses.

– Collaborating with local and state governments to implement full-scale buyout programs in the most at-risk areas.

– Aiding local governments in the use of planning, zoning and other regulatory tools to discourage more development in flood-prone areas.

The report, ordered by Congress after Hurricane Katrina, is expected to identify the best methods of providing some defense against the kinds of major storms once routinely referred to as Category 5 events. It will rely on a combination of protective measures, including restoration of the state’s at-risk coastline.

But the National Research Council, which is being paid by the corps to pick apart its work and make suggestions for improvement, zeroed in on the LACPR report’s failure to even identify how much Mississippi River sediment is available to do the massive restoration work required to stave off more coastal land loss.

Richton Salt Dome Revisited

Hopefully Mississippians will remember the political battle that occurred in South Mississippi, that being the battle over the storage of nuke waste in a salt dome around Richton, MS. Why do I bring this up?

Have you watched the news in Texas where a very large sink hole that has appeared around Daisetta, TX. It is still expanding but for now it is the size of two football fields. Cool, huh? Well not really. You see it appears that this is a salt dome that is collapsing. Think about it!

I ask now, Is it possible that a salt dome may not be the most reliable place to store stuff?

LA: Can Democrats Win?

I was gonna shorten this article with a synopsis, but it is an excellent piece and it has much to consider and makes some very good points.

Gregory Hudson: Democrats should be very afraid

I am now convinced that Democrats haven’t learned how to win presidential elections. Sure it’s only May, and the general election is six months away. I like both candidates. In fact, I respect all three remaining candidates. Even though George W. Bush has the highest disapproval ratings of any president in the modern era, and despite the Republicans’ presumptive nominee’s disagreements with his party’s conservative base, Democrats should be afraid. Very afraid.

Recent polling shows that both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are statistically tied with John McCain in hypothetical general election matchups. In fact, Clinton fares slightly better than Obama. Obama, however, is leading Clinton in the delegate count and mathematically speaking is the likely Democratic nominee.

But, both candidates face an uphill battle in November. Al Gore was easily more experienced than George W. Bush, but he managed to lose. He allowed himself to be characterized as “stiff” and “phony.” John Kerry should have been able to prevent a second Bush term, but he was able to be defined as a “flip-flopper” — whatever that is.

Neither Gore nor Kerry fought hard enough against the onslaught of attacks hurled at them. Trying to remain above the fray didn’t work in either case. It won’t work this time either. And these two candidates, Clinton and Obama, will be framed so negatively by November that McCain is likely to become the next occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Where did the Democrats go wrong? And where did the Republicans go right? The truth is the Republicans are determined to keep control of the White House at all costs. To Republicans, party loyalty is preeminent. No one actually believed nominating John McCain would result in millions of disaffected conservatives on the sidelines come election day. At least, I hope not.

The very right-wing opinion leaders who claim to despise McCain truly loathe Democrats far more. A nonvote for McCain equaled a vote for Obama or Clinton and conservatives are far too disciplined to make such a mistake. Partisanship trumps so-called principle in this matter. So, McCain was never in jeopardy of losing the base.

The Democrats are not so determined it seems. At least, from my vantage point. That is evidenced by the candidates still standing. Both Clinton and Obama are fascinating political stories. Both are inspirational. Both would make history, but I’m not certain America is in the mood for making history. As they crisscross the country, their faithful seems energized.

But neither, however, has been embraced fully by the American people, and by dragging out the nomination process, they are allowing the Republicans time to heal whatever their wounds are.

I’ve listened to both candidates’ speeches lately and Clinton now seems to have her swagger back, but it’s too late. Even her husband hasn’t been able to steer her campaign. In fact, in some instances he has become a liability on the campaign trail. After all, he was supposed to become a liability after she won.

Obama has been reeling since the unfortunate Rev. Jeremiah Wright distraction became the story of the campaign. It’s difficult to throw one’s pastor under the bus after a 20-year relationship, but I’m afraid Jeremiah Wright reminded many skeptics that although Barack Obama may not be Muslim, he is black. Reverend Wright will be the 2008 version of Willie Horton and there’s little Obama can do to counter that.

Some suggest that the salvation would be to have a Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton ticket in the fall. I don’t think that would work. Both have invested too much in fighting for the top of the ticket that the vice-presidency would seem like a consolation prize. Of course, if the party elders had listened to me they would have drafted Evan Bayh of Indiana.

Gregory Hudson of Shreveport is a local minister. Write him in care of The Times, P.O. Box 30222, Shreveport, LA 71130-0222. E-mail to shreveportopinion@gannett.com.

Mississippi Coast: A Meeting Of The Minds

A meeting scheduled for Friday will launch an economic initiative to unite neighborhoods and businesses in several parts of the city.

At the “Ward 2, Ward 3″ meeting, citizens will learn about hurricane recovery projects and opportunities. The meeting begins a movement to encourage investment and interaction between neighbors and businesses in the two wards.

Wards 2 and 3 include Old Town, Beach Boulevard and the waterfront to Washington Street, the Depot District, and the stretch of Washington running from the beach to Old Spanish Trail and then back toward Main Street.

As much as anything, organizers see the gathering as a meeting of the minds and a path to the future. Public works projects will be updated and development ideas may be discussed in a variety of areas.

The meeting is open to all comers. Invitations were mailed to property owners of record in the two districts, and to local builder’s groups. Representatives of the Main Street program will also attend, “to discuss possibilities of funding for small businesses,” Thriffiley said.

Representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers have been invited to give a briefing on the Bay St. Louis seawall project. The Mississippi Department of Transportation is also expected to have a representative on hand to brief residents on the pending Beach Boulevard reconstruction project.

May I suggest that one lives in Bay St. Louis then this meeting should be attended. Ask questions if you do not understand what they are proposing. If you do not attend then you have little say what there politicians are doing to your city.