Jackson Jambalaya

'Now my charms are all o'erthrown
And what strength I have's mine own
Which is most faint'

Went there for the first time in a long time a few weeks ago and got some ribs. Were dried out, bland, and half of them were shoe leather. Went there for lunch today. Had no pulled pork available. A BBQ place? Soooooo..... I got the combo platter of sausage and brisket. Completely cold. Friend's order was botched too. Yes, they comped the meal but not going back. Understand now why the parking lot doesn't have many cars on it during the weekends.

After reading this smear by Gore Vidal, you will probably wish William F. Buckley had smashed him in the face instead of just calling him a queer during their televised debate. Vidal never lets morality or facts get in the way of a good smear as this interview with him shows:
"Asked what he thinks of McCain, Vidal calls him a "disaster," then tells Deborah Solomon, "Who started this rumor that he was a war hero? Where does that come from, aside from himself? About his suffering in the prison war camp?"Solomon replies: "Everyone knows he was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam." To which Vidal responds: "That’s what he tells us."Why would you doubt him? Solomon wonders. "He’s a graduate of Annapolis," Vidal explains. "I know a lot of the Annapolis breed. Remember, I’m West Point, where I was born. My father went there....." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/magazine/15wwln-Q4-t.html?scp=2&sq=gore+vidal&st=nyt

Expect more of this slime as we get closer to the election.

Kingfish note: Here is what was said about McCain's POW experiences. From the Wall Street Journal:
"Mr. Day relayed to me one of the stories Americans should hear. It involves what happened to him after escaping from a North Vietnamese prison during the war. When he was recaptured, a Vietnamese captor broke his arm and said, "I told you I would make you a cripple."
The break was designed to shatter Mr. Day's will. He had survived in prison on the hope that one day he would return to the United States and be able to fly again. To kill that hope, the Vietnamese left part of a bone sticking out of his arm, and put him in a misshapen cast. This was done so that the arm would heal at "a goofy angle," as Mr. Day explained. Had it done so, he never would have flown again.
But it didn't heal that way because of John McCain. Risking severe punishment, Messrs. McCain and Day collected pieces of bamboo in the prison courtyard to use as a splint. Mr. McCain put Mr. Day on the floor of their cell and, using his foot, jerked the broken bone into place.
Then, using strips from the bandage on his own wounded leg and the bamboo, he put Mr. Day's splint in place. Years later, Air Force surgeons examined Mr. Day and complimented the treatment he'd gotten from his captors. Mr. Day corrected them. It was Dr. McCain who deserved the credit. Mr. Day went on to fly again. Another story I heard over dinner with the Days involved Mr. McCain serving as one of the three chaplains for his fellow prisoners.
At one point, after being shuttled among different prisons, Mr. Day had found himself as the most senior officer at the Hanoi Hilton. So he tapped Mr. McCain to help administer religious services to the other prisoners. Today, Mr. Day, a very active 83, still vividly recalls Mr. McCain's sermons. "He remembered the Episcopal liturgy," Mr. Day says, "and sounded like a bona fide preacher." One of Mr. McCain's first sermons took as its text Luke 20:25 and Matthew 22:21, "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's." Mr. McCain said he and his fellow prisoners shouldn't ask God to free them, but to help them become the best people they could be while serving as POWs. It was Caesar who put them in prison and Caesar who would get them out. Their task was to act with honor.
Another McCain story, somewhat better known, is about the Vietnamese practice of torturing him by tying his head between his ankles with his arms behind him, and then leaving him for hours. The torture so badly busted up his shoulders that to this day Mr. McCain can't raise his arms over his head.
One night, a Vietnamese guard loosened his bonds, returning at the end of his watch to tighten them again so no one would notice. Shortly after, on Christmas Day, the same guard stood beside Mr. McCain in the prison yard and drew a cross in the sand before erasing it. Mr. McCain later said that when he returned to Vietnam for the first time after the war, the only person he really wanted to meet was that guard. Mr. Day recalls with pride Mr. McCain stubbornly refusing to accept special treatment or curry favor to be released early, even when gravely ill. Mr. McCain knew the Vietnamese wanted the propaganda victory of the son and grandson of Navy admirals accepting special treatment. "He wasn't corruptible then," Mr. Day says, "and he's not corruptible today."

Wiki link on Colonel Day: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bud_Day

The latest online poll on this website asked if you would vote to re-elect Frank Melton as Mayor of Jackson. I've yet to conduct a poll that was this lopsided. 80% of the votes (37) said no. 4% (2 votes) said they were undecided and another 4% said how they would vote depended on the opponent. Only 10% (5) said they would vote to re-elect the controversial mayor. The results didn't surprise me as I've seen Melton's once solid support among White Republicans shatter over the last 18 months as they have gotten tired of his shenanigans and realized he is a fraud. This is one of the few times I've seen liberals and conservatives agree on something: Frank must go.

Dear Jeremy Bibb,

You've paid your debt to society and have been released from jail. Although you are only twenty-one, hopefully you have learned a few lessons and will avoid the mistakes that sent you to jail in the first place.

However, there is some advice you desperately need. You need to stay away from Frank. Sorry Jeremy, I know he bailed you out of trouble when you were arrested for drug dealing, but too often youths get in more trouble after they become associated with our bombastic mayor. You are only a way for him to grandstand and make it appear he is "doing something" about crime and teenagers.

If he had any true interest in your well-being, he would not make the following statement concerning you:
"If there is any hiccup with his eligibility, I think I am going to let him try out for the New Orleans Saints or the Houston Texans," Melton said. "If the college thing doesn't work out, I'll try to get him in the NFL. He physically has the ability to make it...."
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008806200342

No offense Jeremy, but you are a decent junior college running back. You haven't played in quite a while and are in no shape for the NFL. You were not one of the top running backs in juco football and have yet to show the ability to make it in pro football. If Frank was really concerned about you, he would not be talking about trying to get you into the NFL.

What you should be thinking about is this. You are 21 years old. You are no longer a teenager. You have a criminal record with multiple offenses and everyone around here knows who you are. You need to focus on getting the tools you need to lead a productive life. You have no college degree and probably have few job skills that employers need. At this point in your life, you are probably only qualified for low paying jobs or those that are of the manual labor variety. You need to worry about becoming a good student in college before you worry about the NFL. You will probably have the opportunity to go to a community college and play football on scholarship. If you are that fortunate, hopefully you will take it more seriously than does Mr. Melton, who seems intent on turning your life into one of his circus acts. There are probably several successful men in this town who would be more than happy to act as your mentor. Frank already helped you once and what happened? You wound up back in jail.

Do that hard-working mother of yours proud and worry about getting an education. Tell Frank thanks, but no thanks and that you want to go do this on your own. You will be a better man for it as you've learned more about life in the last five years than many people learn in twenty.

Good one here. Donna Ladd and a poor little Clarion-Ledger blogger named Marcela are getting into it over on the JFP forums.

"Hi Donna, Marcela Cartagena here.Thanks so much for the publicity. What an honor to be chastised by someone with so much intelligence and intellect, and class! I find it really interesting that you are calling me a "judgmental chick" when it appears that part of your job description as “editor” is to criticize and judge the Clarion-Ledger, your competitor, on a daily basis. You spend so much time and energy picking on the CL staff, you are beginning to sound like a high school bully. Your strange obsession with the Ledger is getting old, girl. If you hate this paper with such passion so then why waste your time reading it! It's time to move on. Seriously.
posted by marcela on 06/18/08 at 05:14 PM


Welcome, Marcela! I was wondering how long it was going to take you to post, girlfriend, since I OK'd your registration yesterday. I'd hoped we were going to get into a good political discussion. I know you're a big Hillary fan. ;-)
You might ought to check with the Ledger honchos; you just acknowledged us in print, which I know is against the house rules over there where nobody never, ever reads or criticizes the JFP. (At least now that Newhouse is gone; say hey to the TDN staff for me.)
Speaking of TDN, what did you think about that strategy of Gannett to control the distribution locations of their "competition," the rest of us little locally owned publications? Did you scold them about their rudeness as well (like Editor & Publisher magazine did in an editorial)? Or, is that not old school enough for you?
Your tirade here is an interesting attempt to change the subject, but let's get back on thread, which are the house rules over here. This thread is about your "picking on" a 9-year-old girl for reading a book during her father's speech to black fathers. Perhaps that doesn't quite compare, on your moral compass, with "picking on" the world's largest newspaper company--which barely can figure out how to cover the city it's in thus helping a mayor like Melton get elected--but over here, and apparently on your site, a lot of people find that appalling, regardless of their politics.So, what is "old school" about that? Or "old fashioned"? Could you explain it to us unwashed, classless alty types who spend all our times "picking on" the poor competition?
Oh, and did I mention that I'm tickled that you're here. Let's have some cross-town media rivalry fun for our readers, or for mine anyway. This is good for a few extra page views, I'm sure. And invite your co-workers over. They're welcome, too.The answer to your last riddle there is: I read it so my readers don't have to. And I criticize it to try to shame anybody, somebody over there into upholding their journalistic responsibility to do good reporting in this market. It sometimes works.
posted by ladd on 06/18/08 at 05:26 PM ..."

Read the rest of the food fight at http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/ledger_staffer_swipes_at_obamas_daughter/#c131037

By the way, the Publisher, Todd Stauffer, makes some pretty good comments. Seriously.

Aleda Shirley, a resident of Jackson and award-winning poet, recently passed away after a long bout with cancer. Regular readers will remember her as a blogger on Jackson Jambalaya last fall. I was always impressed by her razor-sharp wit, keen eye, and a love of life, as well as compassion for others. Her obituary in The Clarion-Ledger describes her much better than anything I can write:

"Aleda Shirley died Monday, June 16, 2008, after a long battle with cancer. She was the author of three collections of poetry, Dark Familiar (Sarabande Books, 2006), Long Distance (Miami University Press, 1996), and Chinese Architecture (University of Georgia Press, 1986), which won the Poetry Society of America's Norma Farber First Book Prize. She published poems in many magazines, including Poetry and American Poetry Review, and received, among many other awards, fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kentucky Arts Council and the Mississippi Arts Council.
The publication of Dark Familiar was met with enthusiastic reviews, with Publisher's Weekly declaring that Shirley had "crafted a powerful return to poetry." Her work was deeply admired by readers and fellow poets, including Lucie Brock-Broido, who wrote of the poems in Dark Familiar, "These narratives are harrowing, and hallowed, striking, dark, familiar, strange, and beautiful, and wise."
Shirley was an extraordinary teacher who inspired students at the University of Mississippi and Millsaps College with her wicked sense of humor, her sharp perception about their intents, and her thorough knowledge of the popular worlds in which they traveled. She was the first Poet in the Schools in a Kentucky program that served as a national model through the National Endowment for the Arts. She helped establish and direct All Write!, a Mississippi Arts Commission program that places writers in community literacy programs and correctional facilities to teach creative writing to students working toward their GED.
She was an omnivorous reader who might in a single day turn from Proust to People magazine, Shakespeare to true crime, Joan Didion to James Ellroy. A brilliant conversationalist, she could discuss with passion, wit, and steely conviction the paintings of Mark Rothko, Manolo Blahnik shoes, the Kennedy family, late-night talk radio, the music of Joni Mitchell, the O.J. Simpson trial, the presidential campaign, how to cook coq au vin, and most other topics. Though she was the most interesting guest at any party, she was happiest at home in Belhaven with her husband Mike and her beloved cats.
Aleda Shirley was born in Sumter, South Carolina, May 2, 1955, to Guy and Betty J. Shirley. Her father served in the air force, and she moved frequently as a child but considered her homes to be Kentucky, where her family has deep roots, and Mississippi, where she lived from 1990 until her death. She earned her B.A. from the University of Louisville in 1975 and remained a passionate Cardinal basketball fan the rest of her life.
She is survived by her father, Guy Shirley, and her husband, Michael McBride, of Jackson, as well as aunts, uncles, and cousins, and a large and devoted group of friends, readers, and students.A memorial service will be held Monday, June 23, 2008, at 4 p.m. at the Mississippi Museum of Art, 380 S. Lamar Street, Jackson..."

She was a wonderful lady. I enjoyed reading and re-reading her emails as they were so unpredictable, yet were a breath of fresh air. Some tidbits from some of our emails:

On false pride:
"When egos go wild. . . . Not a pretty sight."

Her love of Louisville basketball:
" For one thing I hate the University of Kentucky with every cell in my body. And I remember how much I hated Memphis State, back in the 80s when they were in the same conference with Louisville and had that felon coach Dana Kirk,and put death threats out on Denny Crum, and threw things at our players, including one of my favorites, Derek Smith. (He actually had to have stitches.)"

Her hatred of football:
"You seem to have forgotten that I hate all football. If pressed, I'd be for Auburn in loyalty to Mike, but if the whole sport--college and professional--stopped tomorrow I'd have a blow-out celebration party that would no doubt get me killed here in MS."

On Norman Mailer:
"I think his an uneven canon, but The Executioner's Song is really one of the best books written in the last fifty years."

Her favorite city:
"Oh, and I drink a sazerac the first thing when I go to NOLA.At the Old Napoleon House. Which is always an interesting thing to do since I know that Jim Garrison and his cronies went over there to watch the TV when they found out JFK had been assassinated. I love secret resonances like that. And New Orleans is by far my favorite city (although I haven't been back since Katrina). Mike and I were not only married there, but the date of our marriage was determined by when my favorite room at the Maison de Ville was available..."

Here are some earlier posts by Aleda:
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/11/play-it-as-it-lays_14.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/11/play-it-as-it-lays.html

Goodbye Aleda. You will be sorely missed. I know you fought long and hard, enjoying life to the fullest. You were a treasure in this world and will be fondly remembered by many.

Sad, sad, day. My 26-year old hottie has moved away and left for the Northeast. What's a Cougar to do? I think I'll take resume's for this unfilled position.

Requirements include: Age under 30, single, love of older women, respectful and fun, able to function in a "no strings attached" environment and must NOT be overweight. Dark good looks desirable. MMMMMM

Forward them to me: dwfinms@gmail.com

See earlier posts on the right sidebar.

If a bunch of people show up at the City Council meeting today demanding it provide the $1.2 million for hiring teenagers this summer, the City Council should oblige them and allocate the funds.

When they come back in a few months complaining how they are being robbed, raped, and murdered while the roads are falling apart, the Council should then tell them, "sorry, you got exactly what you wanted even though we warned you we can't afford to pay for the police protection and road repair we desperately need."

Of course, Frank Melton should be thrown to the wolves for what he did to these kids, telling them he'll get them jobs, then oh, wait, how about being an unpaid intern instead? Then telling them and their families it will be a ten week program when realistically it might be five weeks long. He just made this up, had no clue how to organize it or pay for it, and now a bunch of kids have been screwed over because of his stupidity. Yet it will be the City Council's fault.

Earlier post: http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/06/million-two-million-whos-keeping-score.html

Found this quote by the heir to Jugurtha on the website of the Middle East Media Research Institute:
"There are elections in America now. Along came a black citizen of Kenyan African origins, a Muslim, who had studied in an Islamic school in Indonesia. His name is Obama.
"All the people in the Arab and Islamic world and in Africa applauded this man. They welcomed him and prayed for him and for his success, and they may have even been involved in legitimate contribution campaigns to enable him to win the American presidency."
"Our African Kenyan Brother [Obama]... Made Statements [About Jerusalem] That Shocked All His Supporters In The Arab World, In Africa, And In The Islamic World"
"But we were taken by surprise when our African Kenyan brother [Obama], who is an American national, made statements that shocked all his supporters in the Arab world, in Africa, and in the Islamic world.
"We hope that this is merely an elections 'clearance sale,' as they say in Egypt - in other words, merely an elections lie. As you know, this is the farce of elections - a person lies and lies to people, just so that they will vote for him, and afterwards, when they say to him, 'You promised this and that,' he says: 'No, this was just elections propaganda.' This is the farce of democracy for you. He says: 'This was propaganda, and you thought I was being serious. I was fooling you to get your votes.'
"Allah willing, it will turn out that this was merely elections propaganda. Obama said he would turn Jerusalem into the eternal capital of the Israelis. This indicates that our brother Obama is ignorant of international politics, and is not familiar with the Middle East conflict." [...]" http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD196008

Now before everyone gets started yelling at The Kingfish for saying Obama is a Muslim, I will say right now I don't think he is one. I think he grew up in Islamic schools in Indonesia and was raised as one while a small child. However, he became a Christian and says so and that is good enough for me. Considering the penalty for Apostosy in Islam is death, I take such a public profession of faith seriously as I am sure he does. I just found it newsworthy that Qaddafi said he was one.

From the Louisiana Constitution:
"§29.1. Part-time Public Officials
Section 29.1.(A) Except as provided in Paragraph (B), the following elected or appointed officials are hereby deemed to be part-time public servants who, based on such part-time service, shall not participate in, or receive credit for service in, any public retirement system, fund, or plan sponsored by the state of Louisiana or any instrumentality or political subdivision thereof:
(1) Any legislator or any member of a school board, levee board, police jury, or parish council. .."

Well, well, I am shocked! Shocked, mind you, that the Republicans don't have a monopoly on corruption. Apparently key Democrats got sweetheart deals from Countrywide:
"For weeks now, key major media outlets have been frothing at the mouth over alleged sweetheart deals given to various politicos and other key public figures by Countrywide Financial Corp.....
as with most things on Capitol Hill, if someone keeps pulling a thread, it eventually becomes clear just how much sweater was really knit. Doing the thread-pulling in this case was Portfolio.com, which unloaded a doozy last week, claiming that Senators Christopher Dodd (D-CT), chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, as well as Kent Conrad (D-ND), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and a member of the Finance Committee, were both beneficiaries of the same hush-hush VIP lending program. ...."
http://www.housingwire.com/2008/06/16/at-countrywide-a-political-firestorm-key-democrats-under-fire/

So who else was buddies with Angelo?

for people who cut their grass at 6:00 AM.

More proof Frank is a financial idiot. This time Hizzoner wants to give summer jobs to nearly 900 kids. Of course, things such as jobs cost money. However, Hizzoner has a solution:
"Melton said he plans to ask the City Council on Tuesday to approve $1.2 million for the employment program. He said he will propose that half come from the city's reserve funds and that the other half either come from loans obtained for storm recovery or from the current budget..." http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080615/NEWS/806150371&s=d&page=4#pluckcomments

$1.2 million. Melton doesn't seem to care that crime is up and JPD can't afford more officers or overtime and beats go uncovered. The roads are falling apart. The budget had a $4 million deficit last fall. The city finances are a joke. Yet our Mayor, who is currently delinquent in paying his property taxes, lost a Texas home in the foreclosure process, and seen his own home in Jackson subjected to foreclosure proceedings, apparently treats city finances with the same disdain and lack of thought as he does his own. Jackson's budget was so tight that it had to get a loan just so it could afford to clean up the damage from the recent tornados, something that is a basic function of government.

If Jackson can not afford to pay for simple tasks such as crime control, storm cleanup, and road repair, it definitely can not afford to pay for yet another one of Melton's sudden bursts of inspiration that have no basis in reality. And that my friends, is the bottom line.



Note: Of course over at The Jackson Free Press Madame DeLadd could not resist using this story as an excuse to take a few shots at Melton. However, she is once again clueless about something:
It seems clear that Melton is planning to use public funds for private purposes; has anything like this been done in Jackson before -- where the taxpayers pay the salaries of workers for private companies. It also sounds like a recipe for disaster. Who is responsible for what the kids do while on the jobs? Who will supervise them? A busy small-business owner? Or does Melton have some friends he's trying to get cheap help for, on the dime of the city? (Not saying that is true, by the way. Just asking.)...

Happens all the time Donna, all the time. Why do you think businesses hire the disabled? Who do you think pays their wages? The government. Not to mention all the different tax breaks given to businesses if they meet certain criteria or hire certain types of employees.

Melton's Soljah Boy, seen above displaying his dream of becoming a brave Numidian warrior, was given a nice massage from Hinds County Circuit Judge Swan Yerger last week in his courtroom as Yerger gave the Melton protege a VERY light sentence for his crime spree. In exchange for pleading guilty to carjacking, Taylor received a ten year sentence from Judge Yerger. Judge Yerger then suspended seven years of his sentence with credit given for time served. The thug will be out of jail in 18 months after carjacking and later terrorizing two innocent women.

"After Mr. Taylor carjacked the victim, he was reported to have threatened her family according to WAPT: "The victim's sister said in court Friday that she text messaged her sister's cell phone -- which was still in the car -- and told the driver to call her and return her sister's vehicle. She said that within five minutes, a man who would say only that his name was Michael called her and demanded $300 to return the vehicle. "He threatened to have sex with me and hurt my children and husband and kill us if I got the police involved," she said.Taylor was taken into custody on Nov. 18"
Taylor was arrested on the carjacking charge by the way, not because of JPD's efforts, but because the victim knew someone that was an agent at the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries who caught the Mr. Taylor when he tried to sell the car back to the victim (dumbass). It was also reported that in the CL article that the Mayor stated the Taylor lives with him "off and on".
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/07/meltons-protege-set-free-to-terrorize.html

What is even more disgusting is Frank Melton and Taylor's scumbag mother ( I'm being polite in describing this female degenerate) both told the media the victims were trying to use the car to buy crack. The mother even went so far as to hold a press conference for her smear tactics. Nice to know that our Mayor uses the defense commonly used by car thieves to slime innocent crime victims in Jackson. "One can hardly blame the victims for agreeing to the plea bargain after being trashed in the media by the Mayor.

Disgust doesn't stop with the plea bargain as Taylor has a history of other scrapes with the law. It was reported that he was arrested for drug-related charges in the past. He was arrested for armed robbery. While there was an active arrest warrant for the armed robbery, he lived at Frank Melton's house. It was Frank Melton who had JPD officers help Taylor escape when Mac sent his deputies to arrest him. Taylor was one of the youths directed by Melton to take sledgehammers and demolish the house on Ridgeway Street. While being held in jail on the carjacking charge, Taylor was suspiciously released from jail even though the bond had never been paid. He was returned to jail after this outrage became public. (See earlier post linked above for more details.)

This treatment of Taylor by Yerger is a disgrace. Even though all parties agreed to the plea bargain, the final responsibility for approving the plea bargain rested with Judge Yerger, who could have killed the whole deal. Instead, Judge Yerger issued a sentence that will allow Melton's Soljah Boy to prey upon Jacksonians in 18 months.

The only reason this thug is getting such treatment is because he is a Friend of Frank. Armed Robbery. Carjacking. Extortion. Threats to commit murder and rape. 18 months. Not a peep from Safecity (The same Safecity that drafted a bill to revoke parole for downtown criminals). Not a word from Mac. Not a word of outrage from The Clarion-Ledger or Jackson Free Press. The same conspiracy of silence and apathy that occurred when the charges for George Bell III's beating of Heather Spencer was inexplicably downgraded by JPD from a felony to a misdemeanor (Did I mention that the Bells were part of the same Ed Peters crowd just as Frank is?). To think that the NJammers voted for Yerger because he claimed to be tough on crime. What a joke. I wonder where all the defenders of Judge Yerger are now.

One must wonder if the reason Judge Yerger removed all major criminal cases from Judges Green and Kidd to himself and Judge DeLaughter was not because of racism but instead because of cronyism so that certain people could get favorable treatment from our two esteemed Hinds County Circuit Judges. Does Eaton Aerospace ring a bell? Regardless of motive, this so-called sentence is an outrage and a slap in the face of the people of Jackson.

Note: Clarion-Ledger stories covering Taylor case are in comments section. Also, notice how Taylor, along with other Melton wards, gets in MORE trouble AFTER he becomes associated with Melton.

Noted terrorism expert, Dr. Walid Phares, gives a lecture on the Islamic Jihad against the West. Start on section 3 if you want to avoid the introductions. Don't need to watch it, you can surf the net while listening to it. Makes some very good points. While over at Folo they make jokes about the Bushie's and the so-called War on Terror, Tom Head defends his CAIR buddies because he knows a few Muslims in Jackson, and the Jackson Free Press suffers from BDS, Dr. Phares discusses how uneducated the American public and its leaders are on this threat and what drives jihad.

So Dickie Scruggs and a few other well-dressed men, 8 or so, were eating together last Saturday at the restaurant next to the Cracker Barrel in Brookhaven. Interesting.

to the Supreme Court ruling yesterday.

Just start killing the detainees on the battlefield. They are armed and resisting? No problem. Just kill them. Can't worry about going to court if you are dead.

Jackson Jambalaya asked "Should Sheriff/JPD Chief Malcolm McMillin run for Mayor of Jackson?" 62 votes were cast and the response was overwhelming, 62% (39 votes) said the long-time Sheriff should not run for Mayor. 30% (19 votes) said he should and 6% (4 votes) said they were undecided.

From Tigerdroppings.com's OT Lounge.

Apparently the lads started a discussion on the worst stripper experience ever. Some interesting stories.

http://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/messagetopic.asp?p=8524777

What happened to the investigation concerning the robbery of Memorial Stadium after the Battle of the Bands Event in 2006?

Did they catch the theives or did Oddball and Crap Game pull off another perfect crime?

I love it. A leading Iraqi Sheik who stood up to Al Qaida wants to take the fight to Al Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I thought the surge was a failure. The New York Sun reports
"WASHINGTON — The leader of the tribal confederation that has fought to expel Al Qaeda from most of Iraq's Anbar province is offering his men to help gin up a rebellion against Osama bin Laden's organization along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.....
Al Qaeda is an ideology," Sheik Ahmad said. "We can defeat them inside Iraq and we can defeat them in any country." The tribal leader arrived in Washington last week....."
http://www.nysun.com/foreign/help-against-bin-laden-is-proffered/79524

Close out the windows on your computer if she's coming over, especially if you've been looking at engagement rings.

My little sister goes over to her boyfriend's house last night.....

asks to check her email......

and there are ten windows open on engagement rings.........

dude yelled wait, I need to close something out.... TOO LATE!!!

Stone....cold....BUSTED!!!!

Saturday night's show in Vicksburg. $160 for the pair, which is face value. Row R, on the aisle in section 1100, which is the center. Email me at Kingfish1935@gmail.com

Who exactly is Barack Obama and who are his friends? Considering how little of a record he has in Congress, it is time to examine what friends and associates make up the Tribe of Obama. While Hannity tells people they are Great Americans and rants about Reverand Wright every night on Fox News, he and actual journalists are completely missing other questions that need to be asked of Mr. Obama.

The Dandy of the Tribe
Ever heard of Nahmdi Auchi? Mr. Auchi was the financier for long-time Barak Obama friend and fund-raiser Tony Rezko. Mr. Auchi is the cousin of Saddam Hussein and his co-conspirator in the 1959 failed assassination attempt of the Iraqi Prime Minister. Although he eventually left Iraq in 1981 and became a British citizen, Auchi prospered mightily under Saddam, becoming a billionaire and pillar of British society (He ranks 279 on the Forbes list of the richest people and an AP story referred to him as "dapper, sophisticated".) He was convicted of committing fraud in France in 2004 (only had to pay a fine) and has been barred from entering the United States since 2005. A small price to pay for his profitable family ties.

UPI reported in 2004 "Saddam Hussein began constructing his offshore operation in 1968 in Switzerland, aware that the country’s bank secrecy made it a prime place to organize the movement of illicit funds and the purchase of arms. That year, 11 years before his coup, Saddam sent his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim Hasan Al-Tikriti to Geneva to construct the network to launder secret commissions charged on sales of Iraqi crude oil...
The system would also be used for kickbacks on purchase from Western arms dealers. Liechtenstein, which Swiss bankers and money-managers often use to handle dubious clients, was used to ensure even more impenetrable secrecy: real names of company and account owners would be hidden from law enforcers. (Kingfish note: It should be noted that Auchi set up his company in Europe one year before he left Iraq.)
The key Iraqis in the operation were Said Rahim Hussein Al-Mahdi (shown here) and Nadhmi Auchi....."
The offshore networks directed by the two men were crucial intermediaries for such weapons merchants...... ,which used them to pay kickbacks and, after international embargoes were established, to hide illegal sales...." http://thekomisarscoop.com/2004/06/02/saddams-secret-money-laundering-trail/

This was just a start for Mr. Auchi. Mr. Auchi made $40 million dollars in kickbacks for the construction of a Iraq-Saudi Arabian pipeline. He used a Panamanian front company to launder another $23 million in kickbacks for military contracts between Italian companies and the Iraqi military (He used a Panamanian company to funnel money to Tony Rezko.). In fact, Kroll was commissioned to locate and report on Iraqi assets. UPI reports "The Kroll report also dealt with Nadhmi Auchi, reporting the Italian intelligence view that he was a “high-level Iraqi defense procurement and intelligence agent.” Auchi eventually became the largest shareholder in the bank solely used by Iraq in the corrupt oil-for-food program. The New York Times reported
"One of the largest private shareholders in BNP Paribas, the French bank that holds more than $13 billion in Iraqi oil funds administered through the United Nation's oil-for-food program, is an Iraqi-born businessman who once helped to arm Iraq in the 1980's and brokered business deals with Saddam Hussein's government, according to public records and interviews....
Although the United Nations pressed Iraq to allow banks other than BNP Paribas to be the primary repository for billions of dollars in oil revenue, Iraq successfully insisted that BNP Paribas remain the sole caretaker of the program's escrow account. ..." http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9805EEDE1E3DF933A05757C0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

Mr. Auchi's activities didn't stop here unfortunately. As The Washington Times highly respected national security reporter Bill Gertz wrote earlier this year:
A 2004 Pentagon report obtained by The Washington Times identified Auchi as a global arms dealer and Iraqi billionaire "who, behind the facade of legitimate business, served as Saddam Hussein's principle international financial manipulator and bag man."The report to the Pentagon inspector general stated that "significant and credible evidence was developed that a conspiracy was organized by Nadhmi Auchi to offer bribes to 'fix' the awarding of cellular licensing contracts covering three geographic areas of Iraq" under the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority."Additionally, significant and credible evidence has been developed that Nadhmi Auchi has engaged in unlawful activities working closely with Iraqi intelligence operatives to:
"Bribe foreign governments and individuals prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom to turn opinion against the American-led mission to remove Saddam Hussein.
"Arrange for significant theft from the U.N. Oil-for-Food Program to smuggle weapons and dual-use technology into Iraq ....
"Organize an elaborate scheme to take over and control the post-war cellular phone system in Iraq...."

Such schemes as the alleged takeover of the cellphone system are credible as subesquent events showed that Mr. Auchi was not deterred one bit from operating in a post-Saddam Iraq. Human Events reported "Auchi's General Mediterranean Holdings also has connections to the new Iraq-connections which lead right back to Tony Rezko. Auchi's company helped finance a 250 megawatt power plant in the Kurdish town of Chamchamal, Iraq, teaming up with Rezko and Iraq's former Minister of Electricity, Aiham Alsamarrae. Alsamarrae, a Chicago resident with dual US-Iraqi citizenship is accused of graft involving Iraq reconstruction projects-an embarrassing connection for the war critic Obama." (Kingfish note: Alsamarrare was in jail for four months in Iraq before he escaped to the U.S.). http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/03/obamas_iraqi_oil_for_food_conn.html

The Tribe's Bagman
Tony Rezko. A Syrian-American who met Obama in 1990 and has been friends with him ever since while raising over $150,000 for Mr. Obama's campaigns (After this was publicized, Mr. Obama donated $150,000 to charity.). A buyer and seller of Chicago politicians, Rezko got himself in a little bit of trouble with the law. The Times of London reported in March:
Mr Rezko went on trial in Chicago this week for money laundering, fraud, aiding bribery and attempted extortion. He is accused of demanding kickbacks from companies seeking to do business with two Illinois state boards controlled by his friends – the Teachers Retirement System, which manages a $30 billion pension fund, and the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, which must approve all building permits involving hospitals. ...."

The Court revoked his bond before trial because he hid a $3.5 million dollar loan from Auchi in violation of a court order requiring him to disclose his assets. This was the first time that Auchi's name had popped up in connection to Mr. Obama and Rezko. As it turned out, Auchi has "lent" Rezko over $27 million dollars, including loans for $11 million (September, 2005), $3.5 million (April, 2005), and $3.5 million (April, 2007).

The loan that was the reason for the bond revocation occurred three weeks before Rezko and Obama bought two properties together from the same owner on the same day, with Obama paying $300,000 below the asking price while Rezko paid the full price. The property adjacent to the Obama mansion was a garden plot (A home could not be built on it as it was to small due to code standards.) that Mrs. Rezko paid $650,000 for even though she declared in court "she got by on a salary of $37,000 and had $35,000 assets. " (Times of London). The court also found that Mr. Rezko was deeply in debt and he declared he had no assets. Yet Mrs. Rezko is buying a very expensive property while earning a small income three weeks after a hidden loan (later forgiven) from Auchi is funneled to Mr. Rezko through a Panamanian company while the Obamas are buying a million-dollar mansion substantially below its market value. Such shenanigans make it appear that the Rezkos were helping the Obamas buy a house they really could not afford. (For further coverage of that transaction, see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article3499430.ece )

The reason why "lent" is in quotation marks is that at some point, Auchi and Rezko worked out a "loan forgiveness" agreement and Rezko turned over his shares in a real estate development in exchange for a cancellation of his debts to Mr. Auchi. Nice. It should also be noted that some of the loans were made through Panamanian front companies according to The Times.

Conspiracy of Silence or just coincidences?
To be sure, there are very few contacts between Obama and Auchi. It would be very troubling indeed if Obama has substantive contacts with Auchi, dapper bagman and cousin of Saddam Hussein. Obama at first claimed that they had never met. However, an ABC News reported
"The testimony of the federal government's star witness in the trial of indicted political fixer Tony Rezko appears to contradict Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's past statements that he does not recall meeting Iraqi-born billionaire, Nadhmi Auchi.
Obama's name resurfaced this week after Chicago businessman Stuart Levine testified that Obama and his wife Michelle attended an April 2004 reception in honor of Auchi at Rezko's house. .... "
The Obama campaign has maintained that Obama had no recollection of meeting Auchi "at any time or occasion," but today a Chicago Sun Times columnist reports that a source claims Obama had not only attended the April 2004 event but also 'made a few toasts.' ...."
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4666702&page=1

Its hard to believe that Obama does not recall who Auchi is when he went to a party in his honor at his close friend's home. Obama's memory problems extend to another event held by Mr. Rezko at the Chicago Four Seasons' Hotel: Spring 2004: Nadhmi Auchi visits Illinois and Michigan, attending an event at Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago. Senator Obama shakes hands with Middle East businessmen at event at Four Seasons in Chicago, but aides say he does not remember Mr Auchi...." http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article3433363.ece

As stated earlier, there is very little in the way of direct contacts between Obama and Auchi. However, there are many contacts and transactions between Obama and Rezko, who just happened to be a business partner of Auchi and the receipient of tens of millions of dollars in forgiven loans from the Iraqi billionaire.

Keep in mind several things. One is that Auchi has been named as an Iraqi intelligence agent. Saddam would only appoint someone to run that secret network that was not going to make dumb mistakes and he could trust as he trusted hardly anyone. He executed Auchi's partner when he thought he was skimming from the top. Auchi is aware he is a somewhat known quantity and if he was inclined to influence a politician such as Barak Obama, he would not do it directly but instead use intermediaries. Such as Tony Rezko.

The problem is that Obama does not have much of a record for us to examine and what is available, looks just like it was written by someone like Auchi.

A former platoon leader of the 101st Airborne wrote this week:
Since his election to the United States Senate in 2004, Mr. Obama has traveled to Iraq just once – in January 2006. This was more than a year before Gen. David Petraeus took command and the surge began. It was also several months before Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government came into office. Although Mr. Obama frequently criticizes the Iraqi leader on the campaign trail, he has never actually met him.....
Mr. Obama continues to insist that "Iraq's political leaders have made no progress in resolving the political differences at the heart of their civil war" – despite the passage of numerous pieces of benchmark legislation by the Iraqi Parliament and unequivocal evidence of grassroots reconciliation across the country.
Mr. Obama also continues to claim that America has "simply thrown U.S. troops at the problem, and it has not worked" – despite the dramatic reduction in violence in precisely those areas of Iraq where American forces have surged, and since handed over to Iraqi Security Forces.
And of course, Mr. Obama persists in his pledge to withdraw all combat forces from Iraq, on a fixed timeline, beginning the moment he enters office – regardless of the recommendations of our commanders on the ground, regardless of conditions on the ground, and regardless, in short, of reality..." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121262094242346677.html

Guess he missed the part where Malaki's troops recently cleared out Basra and we had our best month ever in terms of casualties. He has also refused to meet with General Petreaus privately despite the General's numerous visits to Washington. Yet he claims to be an expert on Iraq.

Mr. Obama also criticized Hillary for voting for a non-binding resolution that labeld the Iranian Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization. "The nonbinding resolution on the Revolutionary Guard passed on a 76-to-22 vote, winning support from about half the Senate Democrats and nearly all the Republicans..." http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/12/obama_launches_attack_on_clinton_over_iran/?page=1 This is the group that funds, trains, and arms Hezbollah. It has helped the insurgency in Iraq and is the one country mainly resonsible for providing the insurgents with arms, explosives, and training. Yet Obama is one of the FEW Senators to criticize the vast majority who voted to label the Revolutionary Guard for the criminal organization it is. (An earlier post dealt with the role of the Qods Forces of the Revolutionary Guard in Iraq. http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/09/irans-proxy-war-against-us-in-iraq.html )

Hmmm......consistently undermines the war effort, belittles the successes of the troops in Iraq, votes against funding to give them more troops and support, fights against taking steps against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Wants to remove them from Iraq regardless of whether they are needed. Wants to tear up the Iraqi consititution claiming it shuts out the Sunnis and revisit the De-Baathication process (See his website). When one looks at the policies supported by Obama, its almost as if they were written by an Iraqi agent who happened to be Saddam's cousin and was named in a Pentagon report as someone who was working with the Iraqis to turn opinion against the American war effort in Iraq. The connections between Obama and Rezko are clear as are the ones between Rezko and Auchi. The issue is whether there are any connections between Auchi and Obama.

The question is, do you know Obama well enough to trust him with the lives of our troops in Iraq and our national security?

So Ron Polk is in a hissy fit because the new athletic director actually made a good hire and it wasn't who Polk wanted? Is anyone really surprised by Polk's tantrums? The little-discussed fact about Ron Polk is that over the last ten years, he has become the crybaby of SEC baseball (Full Disclosure: I'm a past LSU baseball season-ticket holder). 

can go straight to hell.

I'm watching a story on WLBT right now about the price of gasoline. They are interviewing a lady driving a big ole Yoooo-kon. She is complaining about how much it costs to fill up her tank with 3 kids on a minimum wage job.

Um, you make 5 something or so an hour, three kids and you are driving a 40,000 dollar SUV?

What is wrong with this picture?

Then there is this quote from Tom Head, who aspires to be Jackson's public intellectual:

"If Obama picks a male VP, I think Richardson would be the best choice by far. He has the most foreign policy experience of just about everybody..."
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/

Um yes Tom, he has A LOT of foreign policy experience.

The only problem is, it involved giving away our nuclear secrets to the Chicoms.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89852381

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90049515

Charlie Mingus. One of my favorite Jazz musicians and bandleaders. "Black Saint and Sinner Lady" is probably my favorite Jazz album. When listening to the first track, put on the headphones, pour a drink, enjoy. NPR's Jazz Profiles (carried on WJSU locally). Aspring to be the next Duke Ellington, Mingus was "one of American music's greatest innovators, Charles Mingus was a powerful bass player, an accomplished bandleader and an extraordinarily inventive composer. The ever-impassioned Mingus was a prolific writer of intricate, highly personal music which greatly expanded the palette of jazz. And in leading dozens of his own groups, he brought a fiery virtuosity to hundreds of original compositions....."

Click on the above links to listen to the show.

Donna Ladd lecturing about ethics in journalism?

Almost time for me to pull that trigger.

My mother always told me "I don't care how big you get, you have to sleep some time and I have a large black skillet."

Jackson Jambalaya recently conducted a poll asking "What is the biggest problem facing the Republican Party?", a relevant question since the GOP is facing disaster in the upcoming November elections. According to this online poll (online poll: take it for what its worth), the main reason for the Republican Party's dwindling fortunes is that the leadership is arrogant and increasingly out of touch with its grassroots members and the rest of the country.

82 votes were cast. The choices and their totals were:
Leadership is arrogant and increasingly out of touch: 27 votes (32%)
Republican Party has abandoned conservative principles: 13 votes (15%)
Tie: "George Bush's decisions alienated voters" and "Its just part of a natural cycle.": 12 votes (14%)
Nothing is wrong with the Republican Party. All is well. 7 votes (8%)
Tie: "Country has changed. Past Rebublican strengths aren't as relevant" and "Weak candidates.": 4 (4%)
Weak leadership: 3 (3%)

Read it for what it is. It is interesting to note that several voters thought nothing was wrong with it. One wonders what rock they have been living under as the GOP has been getting its clocked cleaned in recent elections and in the polls. Another interesting part is that only half the voters are blaming the leadership of the party for its problems. Interesting.

google "topless wii".

Do I post a clip or not? and if I do, which round?


NSFW!!!!!!!!!