Free Republic

GINGRICH: No. It just means that we're going to have to pick up all those delegates in late May, just before the California primary, when we hope to pick up more delegates out here. That still means that on super-Tuesday, we're looking at Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, we're looking at Ohio. It means the week after super- Tuesday, we're looking at Alabama and Mississippi. Now, we have hopes that we're going to keep picking up delegates everywhere and continue. This race is going on for a long time, I think. And what Texas moving back means, combined with California being in...

n his New York Times bestselling book, Throw Them All Out, Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer revealed how members of Congress enrich themselves and their relatives using earmarks and insider information. Now, the Washington Post, following in Schweizer’s footsteps, has conducted a study that found 16 members of Congress have used their power of the purse to benefit companies, colleges, and community groups tied to their relatives. *snip* Among those cited in the Washington Post report were the following (below):

VICKSBURG — The former chief of staff for Vicksburg Mayor Paul Winfield has sued him for sexual harassment. Kenya Burks contends in the lawsuit that she had a consensual relationship with Winfield, but he wouldn't take no for an answer and continued to make unwanted sexual advances after she broke it off.

Friday, former Govenor Haley Barbour went on CNN and defended his pardon and sentence modification of more than 200 state convicts. He was asked specifically about the pleas of a Rankin County family to be heard before the pardon of the murderer of their loved one. Barbour says his lawyers met with the family two years before the release. But family members say they didn't know the killer was working at the mansion until a year ago. "So there would have been no way we could have met with him two years ago. We have had no contact with any...

The sheer number of pardons handed out by outgoing Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour – over 200 – left many Mississippians in shock. What may not have been so surprising is that white prisoners were four times more likely than black ones to get the gubernatorial benefit of the doubt. Out of a total of 222 acts of clemency given by Barbour during his tenure – 156 of which Attorney General Jim Hood has subsequently argued may be constitutionally invalid because of public notice violations – two-thirds benefited white prisoners. Meanwhile, two-thirds of the state's prison population is black. On its...

Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said Friday he's "very comfortable" with his decision to grant pardons or other clemency to more than 200 people, including convicted killers, in his last days in office, telling Fox News that Mississippi is predominantly Christian and believes in forgiveness. The pardons have set off outrage among some victims' families and prompted a judge to block the release of some of the pardoned inmates out of concern that proper notification rules were not followed. Barbour told Fox News that any problem with paperwork was an accident on the part of corrections officials, who needed to...

Outgoing Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour under fire after pardoning 4 killersmsnbc.com staff and news service reports updated 1 hour 27 minutes ago JACKSON, Miss. — Outgoing Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has pardoned at least four convicted killers who worked at the Governor's Mansion, including a man who was denied parole less than two weeks ago. Relatives of three victims told The Associated Press on Monday that state corrections officials notified them over the weekend that the convicts were to be released this past Sunday. Barbour, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee who weighed a presidential run last year...

STARKVILLE, Miss., Jan 9 (Reuters) - Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour pardoned four convicted murderers who worked at the Governor's Mansion, releasing them from prison in the final days of his term in office, state officials said on Monday.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour's pardon of a convicted murderer who worked as an inmate trusty at the Governor's Mansion came two weeks after the man was denied parole by a state board. A letter to one of the victims in the case said the Mississippi Parole Board turned down 40-year-old David Gatlin on Dec. 27. The letter, dated Jan. 4 and obtained by The Associated Press, did not explain why the Parole Board rejected Gatlin's parole request. It said he was due for another parole hearing in October. Shannon Warnock, chair of the parole board, didn't...

Link only!

A conservative Mississippi mayor has said he is gay after an audit showed he had the city pay for a wide range of personal expenses, including a visit to a gay sex store in Canada. Southaven Mayor Greg Davis revealed publicly for the first time Thursday that he is gay, and said he has struggled to keep his sexuality from affecting his public role as mayor of Mississippi’s third-largest city.

NEW ALBANY, Miss. — Police say the wife of New Albany High School's football coach has been killed in a shooting at their home that also wounded the coach. AP Article. Excerpted

SCOOBA – With the national championship of junior college football at stake, the second-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College travel to Yuma, Ariz., to meet the home-standing and top-ranked Matadors of Arizona Western College Saturday afternoon in the El Toro Bowl – presented by Time Warner Cable. Kickoff for the 2011 NJCAA Football Championship at AWC’s Veterans Memorial Stadium is slated for 2:30 p.m. MT (3:30 p.m. CT). With video and audio production services provided by Meridian-based Prep Sports Network Now (www.psnnow.com), in conjunction with the NJCAA and Arizona Western College, Saturday’s national championship contest is scheduled to be...

A strong storm system that produced several suspected tornadoes hit the Southeast on Wednesday, damaging dozens of homes and buildings. At least 15 people were injured in Mississippi. Suspected tornadoes were reported in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Four homes were damaged in western Alabama, about 60 miles southwest of Tuscaloosa. It was the worst bout of weather for that state since about 250 people were killed during a tornado outbreak in April. < SNIP >

JACKSON, Miss. — Republicans will control the Mississippi House of Representatives for the first time since Reconstruction. Though some counties were still counting absentee and affidavit ballots Monday, Republicans will hold at least 63 of the 122 seats when the Legislature convenes Jan. 3. Totals confirmed Monday show Republican Gene Alday defeated incumbent Democrat John Mayo in House District 25, putting the GOP over the top for control of the House. Also Monday, Perry County officials finished counting votes in House District 105, where Republican Dennis DeBar Jr. beat Democrat Dale Kimble and independent Latricia Cornelson in a seat formerly...

JACKSON - District 21 state Rep. Donnie Bell of Fulton, re-elected to the state House Tuesday with 58 percent of the vote as a Democrat, announced Friday morning he had switched to the Republican Party. Bell said he switched because he could do more to help his district as a Republican since the party will control state government after Tuesday's election. Republicans won the governor's office and will hold majorities in the House and Senate. The Republicans will hold a majority in the House for the first time since the 1800s. "I am still Donnie Bell," he said Friday morning....

Longtime state Sen. Gray Tollison of Oxford is switching from Democrat to Republican. The state Republican Party announced the change Thursday. Republicans already held the majority in the 52-member Senate. With Tollison's switch, the GOP will hold 31 seats and Democrats will hold 21. Republicans will hold a three-fifths majority - the margin needed to pass revenue bills. Tollison was elected Tuesday to his fifth term. His north Mississippi district includes all of Lafayette County and parts of Tallahatchie and Yalobusha counties. In mid-September, state election commissioners removed Tollison's Republican opponent, Todd Wade, from the ballot because Wade couldn't prove...

A pro-family advocate finds it odd that a group of homosexual activists has admitted to working to help defeat Mississippi's personhood amendment on Tuesday. In an announcement released the day after the vote, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund admits to sending activists to Jackson, Mississippi, to help with a phone bank and "stand in solidarity" with Planned Parenthood Federation of America and other abortion proponents. Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) thinks it was a peculiar alliance, since homosexuals cannot procreate. "This is a group that works hand-in-hand with so-called 'sexual freedom advocates,'...

Initiative - 26 - Definition of Person - Ballot Issue November 09, 2011 - 12:30AM ET Person at Fertilization Mississippi - 1681 of 1876 Precincts Reporting - 90% Name Votes Vote % No 425,945 58% Yes 305,542 42% Initiative - 27 - Voter Identification - Ballot Issue November 09, 2011 - 12:30AM ET Photo and Exemptions Mississippi - 1680 of 1876 Precincts Reporting - 90% Name Votes Vote % Yes 452,145 62% No 276,656 38% Initiative - 31 - Eminent Domain - Ballot Issue November 09, 2011 - 12:30AM ET Exceptions to Limits Mississippi - 1680 of 1876 Precincts Reporting...

Before Toyota came, Cassius Perry was struggling like many in this hilly, sparsely populated region of north Mississippi that's shed thousands of furniture manufacturing jobs since the 1990s. The young father of three went to school to be a barber, but ended up working for a salvage company while he held out hope for something better. This year Perry landed good pay and health insurance when he went to work for a supplier to the sprawling new Toyota plant on the outskirts of the tiny town of Blue Springs. Hundreds have been hired, giving local leaders hope that their area...

The National Federation of Independent Business, Mississippi’s leading small-business association, has endorsed Cindy Bryan in the 91st District House race. The endorsement was made by NFIB/Mississippi SAFE (Save America’s Free Enterprise) Trust, which is comprised exclusively of NFIB members, to support candidates who will consistently support small business with more than a sound bite. “Cindy Bryan understands the challenges facing Mississippi’s small, family businesses in their fight to survive and grow, and is the clear choice in District 91 to sustain these job creators and community givers,” said Ron Aldridge, state director of NFIB/Mississippi. For more, see whole article at...

Somewhere in the heavens above Amarillo, angry shouts rang out from the back of Southwest Airlines Flight 3683. “You’re all going to die,” a man dressed in black screamed at passengers Tuesday afternoon. “You’re all going to hell. Allahu Akbar,” translated as God is great in Arabic. Federal authorities arrested Ali Reza Shahsavari, 29, of Indialantic, Fla., onboard the Boeing 737 after pilots made an emergency landing at Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport at 3:30 p.m. He is being held in the Randall County jail on a federal charge of interfering with a flight crew. None of the 136 passengers...

Cindy Bryan, Mississippi House of Representatives candidate (D-91), has always said her priority is bringing jobs to her district. That’s exactly what she has demonstrated in her “listening campaign,” traveling throughout her district and meeting voters from all walks of life. Waging a strong campaign in a district traditionally taken for granted as a Democrat stronghold, Bryan has now been chosen one of the “Best Candidates for Job Creation” by Mississippi’s Business and Industry Political Education Committee (BIPEC). “I’m very proud to receive this recognition from BIPEC and our state’s leading employers,” Bryan said. “Since my days as a mayor,...

District 91 House of Representatives candidate Cindy Bryan is committed to bringing jobs to Mississippi and to her district—something her opponent, Democrat Bob Evans, has neglected to do. Now Bryan’s campaign is gaining momentum rapidly, particularly since a leading industry advocate gave her a resounding endorsement. The Mississippi Manufacturers Association Political Action Committee (MMA PAC) recognized Bryan’s commitment to business and jobs. When she served as mayor of New Hebron, Bryan demonstrated her ability to obtain significant resources to improve the local economy. The MMA PAC endorsement follows on the heels of another critical endorsement—by the Associated Contractors of Mississippi,...

A Hastings man and his fiancee came face to face with some unexpected wildlife near Prescott, Wis., on Friday afternoon. Derrick Radke and Cheryl McKenna were boating when they found a 3-foot-long alligator swimming in the Mississippi River, near an island where they had planned to camp. Radke said he initially thought the gator was a muskrat - until it swam toward his 16-1/2-foot fishing boat. Radke went after the gator and got as close as a couple feet as it was sunning itself on a log, seemingly unafraid of him. "I've been on the river all my life," said...

In a special session that was supposed to easily pass a bill to bring 1,800 jobs to Mississippi, House Democrats nearly derailed the bill by tacking on a $2 million disparity/minority jobs study, a project that has languished in the House for 10 years. When Republican Rep. John Moore attempted to amend the bill to take out the study whose $2 million would need to be borrowed, the Democrats balked and evoked the era of slave ships and repression, resulting in the tabling of the Moore motion in a party-line vote. After passage of the jobs incentive bill—with the $2...

David Honeyboy Edwards, the “Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen” has died. This morning Monday August 29, 2011, about 3 am while resting peacefully at home, Honeyboy moved on to blues heaven. This picture was taken in West Point at the dedication of the Howlin Wolf Statue downtown….Rest in peace, sir… you were a fine blues gentleman…

Cindy Shivers Bryan, former mayor of New Hebron, has won the Republican primary for Mississippi House of Representatives, District 91. Bryan defeated Jimmy Barton with 54% of the both, with all precincts reporting. Today, Bryan issued the following statement: “I am extremely honored, humbled, and thankful to God that the voters of District 91 have chosen me to face Democrat Bob Evans in the Mississippi House of Representatives election on November 8. My focus has been to end the Democrat monopoly in the House, so it’s full steam ahead now. With your help, we will fire 'McCoy and the Boys'!...

ELLISVILLE — A world-leading producer of commercial and military jet engines and components, as well as integrated digital, electric power and mechanical systems for aircraft, will open a plant in Ellisville. Gov. Haley Barbour made the announcement in Ellisville Wednesday in a press conference at Jones County Junior College’s Whitehead Advanced Technology Center located in Howard Technology Park. GE Aviation CEO David Joyce said Ellisville beat out two other Mississippi cities as the site of the plant.

Federal lawsuit in Jackson, MS accuses Madison County Sheriff's office of discriminating against National Guard soldiers. Secret tape of conversation between deputy and Chief Deputy shows CD admitting he refused to hire his friend because of his military status. Post includes copies of federal lawsuit, audio recording, and transcript of recording.

MS Police Officer Shoots Chained Dog Six Times March 23, 2011 In Gulfport, MS, police were called to a subdivision to investigate a possible break-in. During the course of the investigation, an officer went into the backyard of a neighbor’s home where she encountered the owner’s chained dog. The owner, who was just coming outside to get his dog, says the officer was standing approximately 30 feet from the end of the dog’s chain when she put half a dozen bullets in the dog. Samuel Lovato rushed his beloved pet – named Melmo – to the vet but the injuries...

Desoto Co.'s Marvin Cox ruled the last Tupelo Republican club meeting. He has concrete ways to save the schools millions of dollars by changing the way schools buy their energy and he wants to use Mississippi's resources instead of importing it from Montana. Please check him out and consider making a donation to his campaign. We need to get these T Party candidates in office!!

Republican House candidate Cindy Bryan does not rattle easily. When a mean-looking, five-foot rattlesnake was recently found at the home of a friend, she simply grabbed a hoe and killed the venomous reptile with a few good whacks. Voters of the 91st district are hoping she will take the same fearlessness with her to the House of Representatives, and Bryan would be happy to oblige. "I am telling the establishment in Jackson, to those who campaign one way and govern another, I will be a citizen-legislator -- not afraid to do the dirty work of cutting out the go-along-to-get-along mentality,”...

According to Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, whose office announced the surplus for the month of June, the state collected $581 million in revenue, or 4.2 percent, above the projection. For the entire fiscal year, the state collected 2.2 percent more revenue than it did the previous year - or $4.6 billion. The bulk of the state's revenue comes from taxes on retail items and income. It also collects casino taxes, taxes on insurance premiums and various other sources of money.

PEARLINGTON, Miss. -- The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has posted a reward for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for shooting a bald eagle during the last week of March, possibly the 25th -27th) in Pearlington, Miss., about 40 miles northeast of New Orleans. The shooting may have occurred while the eagle was perched in a tree. Passersby found the wounded eagle and took it to the Pet Haven Veterinary Hospital for surgery. If the eagle recovers, it will be released back into the wild. Shooting an eagle is a violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle...

As the crest of the Mississippi River flood moves through New Orleans and out to sea this week, peak river levels recorded during the month-long deluge threaten to top even the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. The most destructive river flood in U.S. history, the 1927 event moved about 2 million cubic feet (65,000 cubic meters) of water—enough to fill about 26 Olympic-size swimming pools—every second. (See pictures: "Mississippi River at Its Worst.") "The numbers are still provisional, but [the current flood's peak water discharge] looks to be about the same" as the 1927 flood, said James O'Connor, a hydrologist...

NEW ORLEANS -- Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told a crowd of conservative activists at the Republican Leadership Conference Friday that they should not "get hung up on purity" when it comes to the Republican nominee for president. "In politics, purity is a loser," said Barbour, a well-connected GOP insider who earlier this year decided to forgo a presidential run in 2012. (snip) Barbour said that this was the first time in his decades in politics that people are regularly telling him that "I'm afraid my children and grandchildren are not going to inherent the same country I inherited." "Those are...

Having trouble qualifying for a home loan? Then consider what this inventive family of three did and buy yourself a Mississippi-style "shotgun shack." Sick of working two jobs apiece to pay the mortgage on their 2,000-square-foot home, Debra and her husband Gary decided to give it all up and start over – by purchasing a 320-square-foot shack for $15,000 cash. The video below, first submitted to the blog faircompanies.com on an open call for videos of tiny homes, shows the couple and their teenage son living mortgage-free in their surprisingly spacious abode. The home includes a walk-in closet, conventional-sized appliances...

In the past week, we have witnessed Sarah Palin make the following moves, totally unanticipated by her detractors as well as those of us who are her ardent supporters: She announced the June rollout of a movie reintroducing her from the vantage point of her Alaska Record by a superb filmmaker, Stephen K. Bannon, who has already chronicled Ronald Reagan's single-minded crusade against the Soviet Union in the stunning documentary, "In the Face of Evil; Reagan's War in Word and Deed". She has announced a bus tour that will take her cross country, beginning on the eve of Memorial Day...

As Mississippi River recedes, flood warning lifted for New Orleans By John Pope, The Times-Picayune Based on a drop in the level of the swollen Mississippi River, the National Weather Service on Friday canceled its weeks-long flood warning for New Orleans and points downriver. Despite this development for south Louisiana, the weather service’s flood warning remains in effect for points upriver, including Baton Rouge, where levee seepage has led the state Office of Transportation and Development to close River Road’s southbound lane from North Third Street to State Capitol Drive. In New Orleans, the river’s flood stage is 17 feet,...

He first joined the legislature back in 1980, now more than 30 years later democratic House Speaker Billy McCoy is putting down the gavel for good and retiring. It's a move some lawmakers say they expected. "He sent some signals that he was thinking about that and I had a number of conversations with him where he said he has not made up his mind," said Rep. Cecil Brown (D-Jackson). "He won under current districts by one vote. He became speaker by one vote," said Rep. Mark Baker, (R-Brandon). "I don't think those votes are there to re-elect him speaker."...

Property: Fair or foul, U.S. officials diverted floodwaters to farmlands to save cities as the mighty Mississippi spilled its banks. But there was a surprise: Farmers chose not to be victims. The weekend was full of disheartening news of tornadoes striking Missouri and Minnesota, as well as creeping floodwaters making their way down to the Gulf states in the worst flooding in at least two decades. But there was one unexpectedly heartening development: News photographs from tiny Vicksburg, Miss., where 2,100 people have been displaced, showed dozens of farm houses along the Mississippi River and its Yazoo tributary encircled by...

This is a add-on to a FR thread with some new photos. Great to see how some homeownwers were able to cope, with one major failure (last photo).

We've all undertaken home improvements but these residents in flood-stricken Mississippi have had to embark on major construction projects just to protect their houses and livelihoods. These homes in Vicksburg are all situated along the Yazoo River, a tributary of the overflowing Mississippi River, and their owners have surrounded themselves with tons of earth and sand. With questions over whether the main levees that protect the area from floods would hold, these farmers took no chances and have so far saved their homes and crops from destruction.

Military: What's the U.S. Navy doing naming a ship after a leftist activist? If it wants to honor American Hispanics, there are scores of military heroes more worthy than Cesar Chavez. Apparently, even the military isn't immune to being reimaged into the Obama world view. It was announced Tuesday that Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, a former Democratic governor of Mississippi, had chosen to name a Navy cargo ship under construction in San Diego after the migrant labor leader. Chavez will join aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, astronauts Alan Shepard and Wally Schirra, and assassinated civil rights hero Medgar Evers, whose names...

Could it happen this year? The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is forcing the river down a path it no longer wants to travel. Had the river gotten the best of the engineers in 1973 the Mississippi would not be the same river today–it would have forced a new path down the Atchafalaya basin, a course that is some 20 feet lower than the river’s current main stem, and which offers a 150-mile shorter path to the Gulf of Mexico. Its course has changed dozens of times over the millenia, “sweeping back and forth like a garden hose,” and will...

This is what I'm having. Ruination: ru*in*a*tion\noun The act of ruining or the condition of being ruined;a server state of being damaged;destruction achieved by wrecking.

INDIANAPOLIS -- With 1,100 people chanting "Run Mitch, Run," Gov. Mitch Daniels took the stage here Thursday night and did something he's never done before: He introduced his wife Cheri, and then he turned the microphone over to her to address the sold-out crowd. It was Cheri Daniels' first-ever speech at a big political event in all the years she has been Indiana's First Lady. And with speculation over whether her husband will enter the presidential race now at fever-pitch, her mere presence at the podium for the annual state GOP dinner had everyone searching for clues and hidden meanings....

The opening of the Morganza Spillway has relieved pressure on levees downriver, leading the Mississippi River to crest at Baton Rouge and New Orleans on Tuesday, sooner and at lower levels than had been predicted. So far, Gov. Bobby Jindal has asked the federal government for, and received, only a level of help that has brought FEMA supplies and personnel to aid with evacuations and with shoring up areas that are about to or have taken on water. If the governor believes the state cannot take care of the long-term needs of residents whose homes and businesses are damaged, he...

A farming community built for evacuees of Hurricane Katrina has become a haven for families driven from their homes by river flooding that has hit states from Arkansas to Louisiana. Twenty-six families have moved into the enclave because their towns were threatened by flooding from the Mississippi River and smaller rivers that spring from it. The haven, informally known as Canadaville, was created by a Canadian industrialist and had a onetime population of around 200 residents displaced by the 2005 hurricane, but it had dwindled to just a handful by the time people from nearby towns began looking for a...