Jackson Jambalaya

In reading Sunday's Perspective section in the newspaper, some thoughts came to mind.

This letter to the editor took the prize for most ignorant, even though I agreed with its sentiments about Carter being a bad President.

Jimmy Carter started the rise of global terrorism through his bumbling ineptitude concerning foreign affairs. The only person ever heard to herald him was the great waffler himself, Clinton - Bill, not Hillary.
Lest we forget, Clinton's intelligence apparatus was still in place to lead us into Iraq. This is the same body that knew we were about to take a hit, later to be referred to as 9-11, and did nothing about it. When will we stop turning to failed politicians for leadership?
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070603/OPINION02/706030315/1009

Um, really? I seem to remember this massacre at the 1972 Olympics carried out by Arab terrorists against Israeli athletes? Or the Red Brigades in Germany and IRA in Northern Ireland that were funded by the Soviets and received training in other countries. Then there was the Raid on Entebbe and numerous other incidents by the PLO and their allies. All of this before President Carter's term.

Then there was the claim about Clinton and Iraq. If he wants to argue that Clinton could've bagged Osama and chose not to do so, that is one thing; there is ample evidence to support that claim. It is true that Clinton had a very relaxed approach to national security and intelligence gathering. However, there is no credible evidence for the claim that his administration "knew" we were about to take a hit. If anything his administration's actions (Jamie Gorelick's memo putting up a wall between intelligence and law enforcement) made sure that no one could connect the dots quickly and really "know" what was coming.

Carter was a horrible president but this letter-writer doesn't even do basic fact-checking.

Then there is this one:
I don't recall Carter getting the U.S. into an uncalled-for war. It was George W. Bush and his henchmen who concocted lies of weapons of mass destruction as a ruse to start a war with Iraq to seek revenge for Saddam Hussein's attempted assassination of his father, George Herbert Walker Bush.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070603/OPINION02/706030309/1009

First of all, this doofus fails to realize that when what Saddam attempted to do regarding assassinating Bush the Elder IS an act of war. He trots out the "Bush lied about WMD's" theme which is a total lie (See my link to the right to the CIA report in 2000 on Saddam and WMD's.). As for his claim about Carter not getting us into war, well, that was part of Carter's problem. He refused to stand up to the Iranians when they took the hostages (which was carried out by the radicals as they feared correctly at the time that the new government and the US were normalizing relations, there was a reason Bahktiar was run out of the country after leading it.) and handed control of the government over to the Islamic Radicals. Thus paving the way for the creation of Hezbollah (nearly 300 dead marines), the rise of Iranian-backed terrorism, and the attempts by the Mullah's to create a nuclear weapon. Not to mention the national humiliation of the US by the Iranians while Jimmy told people to wear sweaters and told us we had it too good.

Then back to our fearless leader, the mayor who wants to be a police chief so badly.

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070603/OPINION02/706030307/1009

It turns out that our JPD does not check for fingerprints in all too many property crimes. Surprise, property crimes have skyrocketed. I wonder how many more thieves would be nailed if this simple task of police work was adopted. Of course, its not glamorous nor makes headlines like going after so called drug kingpins does or declaring a state of emergency (then going off on vacation during the supposed emergency) but it DOES reduce the crime rate much more than one act of grandstanding for the cameras.

Last but not least, there is this gem of a column by Lynn Evans, our town idiot. Actually, in the past she listed her employment as a professional grant writer (read that to mean professional beggar). You know the type, has nice academic credentials, claims to be more compassionate and enlightened than the rest of us, yet typically ignores basic facts and history when she spouts opinions as a columnist in the CL. In this one she whines about Barbour destroying the system of checks and balances.

"This governor may not have changed the state constitution to increase the powers of his office, but he used party affiliation to dismantle the separation of powers and its checks and balances. Barbour's plan, of course, is to increase the number of Republicans in both the state House and Senate in the upcoming elections and thereby further increase his ability to control legislative action.
Hopefully, Mississippi voters will remember the consequences of consolidating too much power in the administrative branch of government. It makes public accountability more difficult. It cripples our system of checks and balances. It puts too much power in the hands of the chief executive with too little checks on that power."

Really Ms. Evans? I don't remember you whining when the Democrats ran the legislature and ran roughshod over the governor for decades. I don't seem to remember you complaining when they ruined the state finances when Musgrove was in office. You remember how Musgrove would base his budget on a revenue estimate that was usually accurate while the legislature would conjure up rosy projections out of thin air then 6 months later would have to slash everyone's budget because they ignore reality, don't you? You remember the $50 million beef plant fiasco they cooked up, along with Lester Spell's support, that blew up in our faces and ignored your precious system of checks and balances don't you? Or the legislature constantly conducting agency hearings and telling department heads how to run their departments? Or when legislators could and DID sit on boards and agencies? Or having a lieutenant governor who IS in the executive branch and yet STILL runs the state senate?

In fact Ms Evans, the only reason I can understand as a basis for your incessant whining is that you don't like Republicans (which any reader of your columns knows) and are hysterical because for once there is a governor who plays the political game as well as the Democrats in the legislature and beats them at it. Considering how the legislature ruined the budget during the Musgrove administration and that this state was governed by total one party rule for over a century (the result of which saw Mississippi ranked in last or near-last place in most categories regarding business, education, income, and other meaninful indicaters of a state's well-being and progress) your hypocrisy becomes all too apparent. However, when a governor simply builds a legislative coalition through constitutional means and achieves his agenda, you falsely claim about the system of checks and balances being violated when you know this is not true.