Mississippi: So Depressing

Living in Mississippi can be a challenge. It is a very conservative state. One that elected Governor Phil Bryant who said this:

"Even if you believe in abortion, the hypocrisy of the left that now tried to kill this bill, that says that I should have never signed it, the true hypocrisy is that their one mission in life is to abort children, is to kill children in the womb."

No Mr. Bryant, we leftists do not have as our life's mission to kill children in the womb. Our life's mission is to guarantee that a woman has the right to make private medical decisions about her body. It is our life's goal that women have access to birth control so they can make private decisions about how many children they want. In short, it is keeping BIG GOVERNMENT out of a person's medical decisions.

He also supports a bill for school prayer. It sounds innocuous. Students leading prayers, what harm can there be in that? For one thing, the students are chosen by the administrators of the school and people of different faiths or no faiths will have to listen to largely Christian prayers at mandatory school assemblies. This bill seeks to sneak around the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment. Children can already pray in schools. This bill is unnecessary and will just cost taxpayers more money as will the abortion bill passed.

It is maddening sometimes talking to others about these issues. You mention the 2nd Amendment and that's got their attention. You mention those pesky other rights and it's crickets.

I think the mind-set of our legislature is reflected in Republican Senator Tony Smith who was able to get passed what is called the anti-Bloomberg bill. It proposes that restaurants do not need to list ingredients or calories and was in response to the 32 oz soda ban passed and then knocked down in New York city.

See he benefits greatly form this bill as he owns Stonewell's BBQ and catering. He proposed legislation that benefits him another way. He voted to require schools to have longer vacation times.

It's not any wonder that Mississippi ranks last in education and in so many other areas. But a lot of Mississippians keep voting for these people even though it's not in their best interest. Just shout the words "states rights" and "gun control" and you have the majority of votes. And the effect is depressing.

The following chart is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics :

The majority of the 1,300,000 workers in Mississippi make an average of $200 less a week than the national average of workers across the country. That works out to be $260,000,000 in less earnings. This a legacy of Governor Ross Barnett who made Mississippi a so-called "right to work" state in 1960. Our current governor and legislature continues the grand tradition.

The 47%

The Republican presidential nominee has stated the 47% of Americans who do not pay income taxes are moochers and who feel that they are entitled to food, shelter, and medical care.

Who are these "moochers"? Well, according to the The Tax Policy Center , nearly half are senior citizens. These seniors, according to Romney feel entitled to the social security they paid into all those years they were working. One third of those "moochers" are the working poor who make less than $20,000 a year.

Mitt Romney has stated that his job as president is not to worry about those people.

I can only marvel at the crassness and obliviousness of Romney. I think the image below says it all:

Romney, by his own words, considers the elderly, disabled veterans, the working poor, and children living in poverty to be "moochers".

Like many other Americans in this economy, I teeter on the edges of being part of that 47%. Many years ago, I was part of that 47%. It was the safety net of a Pell grant, subsidized housing, the earned income credit, and the child care credit that enabled me to become a income tax paying citizen.

Past presidents like FDR, JFK, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and yes, even George W. Bush did care about the 47%. President Obama likes the moniker of Obamacare, because as he said, he does care.

A nation's greatness is reflected in how its most vulnerable citizens are treated. A nation cannot progress if people are starving. A nation cannot progress if laws are unjust and onerous. A nation cannot progress if people lack shelter. A nation cannot progress if people lack education. A nation cannot progress if disabled veterans do not receive the care they need.

Romney is not a leader. He knows how to game the system and has made millions upon millions on the backs of American taxpayers while all the while outsourcing American jobs overseas. Romney and his company, Bain, are directly responsible for many of those who find themselves as part of the 47%:

Romney is—you know, the old-school industrialists, like Mitt Romney’s father, they were men and women who built communities. They had factory towns. They were very anxious to leave, you know, hard legacies that people could see: hospitals, churches, schools—you know, the Hersheys of the world, the Kelloggs. But these new owners have absolutely no allegiance to American workers, American places, American communities. Their only allegiance is to the investors and to themselves. And so, it’s not at all uncharacteristic to have these situations where people are pleading for their jobs or they’re saying, you know, "We’ll tighten our belts, if you just make this concession and keep us." That’s irrelevant to the Mitt Romney-slash-Bain Capital-slash-Carlyle Groups of the world. They’re entirely about making profits. And if that means shipping jobs to China or eliminating jobs, that’s what they’re going to do. And that’s the new generation of corporate owners in this country.

Romney has no real investment in America. His true vision is profits. He's an opportunist who doesn't create any tangible wealth. What will he do with the United States if he is elected president?

Justice for All?

This family was lucky. They could afford to pay close to a million dollars to prove their innocence.

Why would police produce false reports when they know the entire incident was recorded? "I really don't know," Nick says. "I guess they figured they're cops, so what the hell is going to happen to them? And you know what? They're right. They've gotten away with it."

What happens to those who can't afford a good defense? Shouldn't police officers, prosecutors, and judges who manufacture evidence, cover-up evidence be prosecuted or punished in some way?