Jackson Jambalaya

I agree SLRP is thievery by the legislators, but this problem can also be solved by giving kids library cards for a lot less than $442,721.

Anon, you may be surprised by this, but some parents can't, or won't, take their children to the public library.

I'm not at all surprised there are negligent parents. It's a tragedy for their kids. But I'd rather spend my money on my kids, thank you. Every dollar I get taxed to but someone else's kids books is a dollar I don't have to spend educating my kids. This is a concept Dems will never understand - to me, my kids come first. I send enough in taxes to support a library system and public schools, two things that have been the backbone of this country's ability to provide more prosperity for more people than anywhere else in history. If parents are awful and don't take advantage of these for their kids then maybe the kids would be better off in foster care.

That was my first thought this morning when I read the article, too. What about the library? When I was child that's what my family did. I can relate to the "light up with joy" stuff they were talking about when the children got the books - it was the same feeling I got when I went to the library. It is paid for with taxpayer dollars as well.

This may come as a shock to people. Prepare yourselves.

PEOPLE IN MISSISSIPPI, FOR THE MOST PART, DON'T READ F*CKING BOOKS! I was pretty sure there was a law against it for the longest time. Exhibit eleventy-billion: The Blind Side.

Great book, with a strong Mississippi (and sports) angle. I've met four people in this state who've read the book. But everybody FLOCKED to see the piece-of-crap big-screen version, which contains a lot of outright fiction. Why? Because there's no need to read books here.

Exhibit eleventy-billion (a): remember when Jim Barksdale and his wife gave $20 million for a literacy intiative? Um, didn't that beg a certain question? Namely, "What the f*ck are we paying public school teachers for? To teach kids TO EFFING READ, MAYBE?"

I love this state. I've lived here longer than I've lived anywhere in my life (17 years this August). But let's face facts, people:

1. The schools here, excluding a handful of counties, suck ass. The standards for teachers suck, and there's no accountability;

2. No amount of federal funds will change that, without concerned parents. When 85% of black children in this state are born out of wedlock, you will not have concerned parents;

3. When this is the one issue self-appointed black "leaders" steadfastly refuse to address, it will not change; and

4. No amount of liberal, white-guilt, do-gooder legislation will change it.

So, embrace it. In the words of Clayton Williams, when rape is inevitable, lie back and enjoy it. Bromides and federal or state programs don't mean jack squat.

Y'all have a nice day.

Libraries struck me also as the first thing when I read the post. Do school libraries even exist anymore? When I went to JPS there was a library in school. My effin parents didn't have to take me to one. Although, they did anyway. :-p

My kids come first, too, but I am not unaware that they will be living in a world with kids who don't have parents like those of us who post on blogs. If one of my children run into one of these "other" kids as teens or adults, I hope and pray that the "other" kids have had a chance, in spite of the circumstances of their birth, to get an education and to be a produtive citizen and not a thug looking to knock my child in the head. You break the cycle of drop outs and pregnacies and thugsterism at the cradle, not at the school and not at the police station and not at juvvie hall or the big house. Books may not do it in and of themselves.

7:42 - 9:38 and 10:37 here again. I applaud your generous instinct and hope you choose the recipients of your private donations wisely to get the maximum benefit for society. Just keep your hand out of my pocket. The best school in Mississippi costs a bundle, but my kids are reaping a wonderful benefit that I'd like to see them continue to receive as long as I can afford it.

To the poster who went on at length about Mississippians' reading habits - I've lived all over the country and it's similar everywhere, maybe slightly worse here but way more people watch movies adapted from books than read the books themselves.

Is that EKev? Can't read the name very well because of the red square. Your post makes a lot of good points. Too bad you can't make them without the bad language. I was always told that you only use curse words when your vocabulary fails you... And, I'm sorry, 17 years is not that long... Most of the people in MS grew up here,unlike most other locations in the USA, where they are filled with implants.

Anon 7:11 --

It's a "J," not an "E."

Sorry I defended your tender sensibilities.

Most of the people in MS grew up here

That's part of the problem.

I've lived a lot of places, some in the South, were most people are from there, too. And I've never seen a more (generally) intellectually lazy populace. People here don't read books. Sorry. And the folks who do consider John Grisham is a purveyor of literature, which is like calling Justin Beiber a musician.

And I think the word you're looking for in your last sentence is "transplants," unless you refer to mamaries. In which case, you lost me.

J. Kev - 'transplants' refers to people who moved within the US from one state to another. The proper derogatory term for immigrants is 'imports' ;-)

Given that the illigetimacy rate in the black community is 70% and 40% in the white community, the simple truth is there is often just one parent and in many cases NO parents to take that kid to the library. Of all the money we waste things on, I have no problem at all with this program. More books in kids hands that want to read them, I'm all for that and I consider a legit use of my tax dollars, unlike SLRP.

Are you convinced these books are being read?

Go Cubs!