Wednesday Morning Various (from a Jackson coffee shop)

NMC — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:13:34 +0000

Open Records vs. Secretly Petitioning The Government: There’s a referendum on the ballot in Washington State about gay marriage. Groups fighting the referendum and/or interested in open records issues sought the names of the people who signed the petition to place the issue on the ballot. One side argued that these lists were usually not public (somewhat of a surprise to me– when I’ve been involved in petition fights, one aspect was the whole question was whether individuals who signed were qualified voters. How is that fight possible without release of the names? Apparently, that’s all water under the bridge– the referendum is going to be on the ballot, next month), and the other side argues that there is no public record law exception in Washington for names on a petition, which is an argument I’d make and expect to win under Mississippi’s open records law. As reported on SCOTUS blog and in the New York Times, the Ninth Circuit lifted the district court order on release of the names, and Justice Kennedy entered a stay until the U.S. Supreme Court decides to take the case. Justice Stevens would have denied the stay. Here’s the Supreme Court order. I’m just guessing– there is no 9th Circuit opinion, and I’ve not sought out a district court order– but assume that this case will turn on issues raised in NAACP v. Patterson, the Supreme Court case where it held that the effort by the State of Alabama to compel the NAACP to produce its membership lists violated associational freedoms. I don’t see that issue– involving a private association– as analogous to publically petitioning the government, but as I say I’m just guessing.

Those Delta Planters Just Don’t Approve Of The Rest of Us: I didn’t pay much attention to Morgan Freeman’s fund raising effort last week and somehow missed a sentence that Sid Salter caught: “Reform in Mississippi is hard because the base stock of this state is a mule-headed bunch of farmers,” Freeman told The Associated Press on Sunday. “Those farmers have ruled the roost for so long because this is an agricultural state.” Well, it looks like (white or black) Freeman has signed on to the view the folks who own the Delta have always had of the rest of the state.

Always reliable for dumb remarks about history: Glen Beck, of course. “We call them progressives now, but back in Samuel Adams’ day, they used to call them tyrants,” said Beck. “A little later, I think they were also called slave owners.” My wife, having read a long profile of Beck in Salon, thinks he fried his brain with all the drug use back in his morning-show-DJ-days. H/t Andrew Sullivan.

Oh boy, another special session: We just can’t get enough of those bad sausage makers in Jackson. Apparently, this one is going to be another economic development project in North Mississippi. Will it be a beef plant, or a car factory, or some other mirage? Since I’ve just learned the sausage quote I just linked is probably misattributed to Bismark, here’s a bonus couple of quotes (to go with “Politics is the art of the possible”) from him to make up for it: “With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and when I have to do with a pirate, I try to be a pirate and a half.”

Bernie Madoff, drug kingpin: So asks the New York Post in describing allegations about an amended complaint alleging massive cocaine use and office sex, all in a suit over the collapse of his Ponzi scheme.

Saturday Afternoon Various

NMC — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 20:49:44 +0000

Here’s the website for Bill Luckett’s Progress Mississippi PAC, which answers a question Ben asked in comments. Nice logo.
105 year old guitarist Huey Long (no, not that one) died in Houston. He played with everyone from Fletcher Henderson to the Ink Spots to Dizie Gillespie to Earl Hines. Here’s his NY Times obit.
The Commercial Appeal the other day had a nice piece on lost soul queen Betty Harris, who is back in active performing and was in Memphis this weekend. She got closest to a hit with a cover of Solomon Burke’s “Cry To Me,” and then recorded singles produced by Allen Toussaint and backed by the Meters that never could hit.

Bill Luckett announces formation of a PAC for a governor run

NMC — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:36:29 +0000

Bill Luckett, a lawyer in Clarksdale and business partner with Morgan Freeman, has formed a a political action committee called Progress for Mississippi as part of working up to a run for governor as a Democrat year after next. The AP interviewed him about the decision to set up the PAC.

Luckett said his upbringing in one of the poorest areas of the nation formed his political views.

“You can’t have grown up in the Mississippi Delta with any kind of sensitivity or any kind of feelings and not come out of that aligned with the Democratic Party, unless you’re just a racist or something,” Luckett said.

Luckett said he voted for President Barack Obama and supports most of Obama’s efforts to get the economy back on track.

“He is making some smart decisions, but they’re risky,” Luckett said.

NMissCommentor » Bill Luckett

Wednesday Morning Various (from a Jackson coffee shop)

Saturday Afternoon Various

Bill Luckett announces formation of a PAC for a governor run