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Articles from The Elephant

Spell Taking Heat From Both Sides 2007-09-18 13:12:51 A day after Rickey Cole, the Democratic nominee for Ag Commissioner, sent out this press release concerning the Department of Agriculture’s failure to enforce “country of origin” labels on meat packaging, Constitution Party candidate Les Riley issued a similar sentiment in this press release: Mississippi Meat Labeling Law not enforced for 5 years - Candidate for Ag. Commissioner Says this will change PONTOTOC, MS— Ag Commissioner Candidate Les Riley has called for the Department of Agriculture to immediately begin enforcing a consumer protection/ food safety law that has not been enforced for over five years. In 2002 the Mississippi Legislature passed — and the governor signed Senate Bill 2367. This bill required that all meat sold after Jan. 1, 2003 should be labeled with the country of origin and one of the following designations: “Imported,” “American” or “Blend” of imported and American meats. This is sound, common sense legislation in an age of bio terro ...

Barbour Responds To Eaves Health Care Plan 2007-09-17 17:37:13 John Arthur Eaves had this write up in this Clarion-Ledger this morning where he attempted to explain his health care plan, but as this Barbour release shows- there are more than just a few questions that are still unanswered. THE EAVES SCHEME DOESN’T ADD UP Costs more, hurts middle class, breaks budget Today, the Barbour for Governor campaign pointed out that the health care scheme that John Arthur Eaves, Jr. gave to the Clarion Ledger just doesn’t add up. The Clarion Ledger reports, “Eaves’ plan estimates that if 146,000 children enrolled, it would cost taxpayers $28 million every year.” Although the Eaves campaign has not released publicly the details of the plan, it is obvious the scheme would cost Mississippi taxpayers at least $100 million more than what Eaves claims. According to the press report, the Eaves scheme builds on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) and Medicaid with the cost of the program paid for by individuals through monthl ... Health

Coincidence? 2007-09-17 17:17:13 Franks Tanks was the first to take notice of this and put this on his blog, and I thought it was very interesting. The Daily Journal has run stories on both Jim Hood and Al Hopkins over the past couple weeks, and while I will not get into the details of the articles, the pictures of the two candidates struck me. I suppose it will do the same to you. Pictured on the left in the mild-manner looking Attorney General Jim Hood, and on the right is his Republican challenger Al Hopkins who looks as though he is about to bite your head off. ...

Rounsaville Running 2007-09-17 13:33:13 From the Associated Press: JACKSON, Miss. (AP)- John Rounsaville, a former aide to Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss., said he plans to run for the seat being vacated by the 3rd District congressman. Rounsaville, 32, on Thursday resigned his job as Mississippi director of the USDA Office of Rural Development. “I’m getting ready and, in the next few weeks, will be formally announcing it,” Rounsaville told the Commercial Dispatch newspaper. Before going to USDA, Rounsaville was a policy adviser and director of intergovernmental affairs on the staff of Republican Gov. Haley Barbour for three years. Before then, he worked five years for Pickering as deputy chief of staff. Pickering recently announced that he won’t seek re-election in 2008. Spokesmen for the Republican and Democratic parties said no one has officially entered the race, according to a www.cdispatch.com article. ...

Taylor and Thompson Still Silent On MoveOn Ad 2007-09-17 08:00:49 One week ago, MoveOn.org put out this shameful ad accusing General Petraeus of betraying the country and not showing independence in his judgment when it comes to Iraq. Almost immediately after the ad came out, Republican presidential contenders denounced the ad in near unison. However, most Democrats did not appear to be bothered by the attack on the general. Their silence spoke volumes of the leadership they would have if they were in the White House, and just whom they were beholden to. It’s been said before, but if they can’t stand up to MoveOn, how do you expect them to stand up to radical Islamic terrorist? The silence in the Democratic ranks not only includes the leadership and presidential hopefuls, but also found its way down to the Mississippi delegation. As of today, I have not heard Bennie Thompson or Gene Taylor speak out against the organization and their latest tactic. Thompson, as Chairman of Homeland Security in the House, has a powerful position influencing our ...

If Unions Invaded Nissan… 2007-09-17 07:52:59 …or Toyota when it is completed, this is what we could expect on a regular basis. ...

Closed On Sundays 2007-09-16 07:37:22 Gone to church. See you on Monday. ...

For Sale- Ed Orgeron 2007-09-15 22:10:01 I was hesitant to say he has to go after the loss last week vs. Missouri, but I am now officially on the fire Coach O bandwagon. He’ll have the rest of the season to try to get his team to turn it around, but if I was Pete Boone and Ole Miss I’d start looking now and plan on not having Coach O come back for a fourth season. ...

Mississippi State Upsets Auburn- Tuberville Gone? 2007-09-15 15:22:43 Congratulations to the Bulldogs for their win at Auburn. I don’t care for State too much, but like (Auburn’s coach) Tommy Tuberville even less. On an interesting note, the last two big SEC wins for State have resulted in the coach of the other team being fired (either directly or indirectly). This includes Ron Zook at Florida in 2004 (who was fired immediately after the loss) and Mike Shula at Alabama in 2006 (who was fired at the end of the season), will Tuberville be the next? ...

What MoveOn Would Have Been Saying… 2007-09-15 06:18:57 …if they were around during World War II …of course we’d be speaking in German also Hattip- RedState ...

Ag Commish Debate Scheduled 2007-09-14 22:31:30 There will be a debate between the three candidates (Spell, Cole, Riley) for Agriculture Commissioner, according to Les Riley’s blog. It will take place on October 23 at Mississippi State (how appropriate). We’ll keep you posted on any media coverage. ...

Bill Minor At It Again 2007-09-14 11:12:47 I think by now most people see Bill Minor’s column and just pass over it, but his work today caught my attention. Yes, old reliable, calling Republicans racist. (By the way, I understand Minor is a Democratic operative, but when was the last time he actually had something positive to say about the Dems?) Echoing much of what the Clarion-Ledger has been saying in their news section, Minor attempted to make the point that anyone who speaks against illegal immigrants is a racist. You can find Minor’s column here if you like. Let’s look at some of the points Minor tried to make: First, feeling nostalgic for 1982 when Democrats still controlled most of Mississippi politically, he talks about the Senate race in which Haley Barbour lost to John Stennis. Apparently Minor is still shook up that Barbour won in 2003 and is cruising to re-election, so he has to remind himself- and take a shot at Barbour- for losing once upon a time. Second, the only reason Barbour won in 2003 was because of ...

Weekly SEC picks (Week Three) 2007-09-14 10:29:14 I’m a day later than usual with my picks, but I have not forgot about them. Maybe I’m just still bummed about Ole Miss from last weekend and haven’t been thinking a lot about football. Anyways, there a number of good SEC match-ups this weekend and I’ll try to do better than the 6-3 showing last week. Arkansas at Alabama- Nick Saban and Alabama have looked good so far, but they have not played a team with the talent that the Razorbacks have. It is in Tuscaloosa, but in the end I think Arkansas will head home winners. Tennessee at Florida- Always a great game to watch, the annual UT-Florida game will be in Gainesville this year. Not only does Florida have the home-field advantage, they have more talent. UT hasn’t looked to sharp yet this year, and I think the Gators will prevail. Western Carolina at Georgia- It’s always nice when you can play a 1-AA team after losing a tough game, Georgia should roll in this one. Louisville at Kentucky- A fun in-state match-up, Louisville sho ...

“Tate County Democrat” Endorses Smith 2007-09-14 10:06:26 The Democrat, a newspaper out of Tate county, endorsed Jeff Smith for Speaker in this recent editorial, and go over just some of the reasons you should demand to know whom your rep. will be supporting in January. Not in recent memory has the Mississippi House of Representatives race been so important. This year the new House will elect, hopefully, a new leader. The present Speaker of the House, Rep. Billy McCoy, has not served well the interests of our state as he maneuvered through the halls of the capitol dealing out ill-placed chairmanships and other legislative prizes for his own political power. McCoy is being seriously challenged by fellow Democrat Jeff Smith from Columbus. Smith is a strong conservative, and, in our opinion, would serve the people of Mississippi far better than has McCoy. We urge you to be sure that your state representative will vote for Smith as the new Speaker of the House. ...

Polls 2007-09-13 20:10:01 I have to admit that I have been trying for months to find free polls that are compatible with WordPress, and had success for the first time tonight. From time to time, I will post questions- some serious, some fun to see what y’all think. The first question is “What percentage of the vote will Haley Barbour receive in November? The poll is located at the top of the right sidebar. ...