"The Global Consciousness Project, also known as the EGG Project, is an international multidisciplinary collaboration of scientists, engineers, artists and others continuously collecting data from a global network of physical random number generators located in 65 host sites worldwide. The archive contains over 10 years of random data in parallel sequences of synchronized 200-bit trials every second."
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, September 6, 2022
As I initially gave thought, the title “Dumb Southerners Dominate News Cycle” seemed apropos. But upon further reading, and consideration, decided that something else would be more fitting and descriptive.
And, I agree with what Tupelo, MS Mayor Todd Jordan said.
Southerners dominated the news this week.
And just at the last possible moment, at that!
It wasn’t just domestic sources, either.
International reporting agencies picked up and carried the bad, sad news to a worldwide audience.
Thanks, Internet!
And fortunately for the Sunshine State, no Florida Man, nor Lone Star Lunatic, was involved.
That’s excluding Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbot, of course.
They’re imposters, merely masquerading as men.
I mean, what sort of goofball goombah wa$tefully ex$pend$ ten$ of MILLION$ of Taxpayer Dollar$ (nearly 8000 passenger$ at over $1400 each) with a friend’$ bu$ company to charter one-way ticket$ to tran$port refugee$ to di$tant citie$ where they’re abandoned? Investigative reporters found that “plane tickets from Texas border towns McAllen and Del Rio to Washington D.C. [cost] about $200-$300. First-class tickets were in the $800-900 range, much less than the cost of a seat on the Republican governor’s border buses.”
And what sort of dunderheaded doofus leads an effort to pretend that certain words or concepts don’t exist in the English language, and even attempts to “ban” their use? The phantasmagoric ostrich head-in-the-sand imagery in this instance is comedically apropos. Drawing a false equivalency to sophisticated theoretical concepts taught at post graduate school level by pretending that such complex subjects are taught to 4th and 5th graders simply because there may be a few co-existing words of the subject is so bizarrely enigmatic that it barely warrants even scant attention. It is making a proverbial Mount Everest out of a gopher hole.
But, Southerners are DEFINITELY the “elephant in the room” that’ll dominate for the news cycle for the next week, or two, or, maybe even more… if something worse doesn’t happen.
First we turn to li’l ol’ Tupleo, Mississippi, birthplace of the long-late King of Rock ‘n Roll, Elvis “The Pelvis” Presley.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, March 25, 2021
Yesterday, Cindy Hyde-Smith, a White Banana Republican United States Senator from Mississippi made some genuinely STUPID remarks in a Senate Rules Committee hearing.
She’s the same Cindy Hyde-Smith who not too long ago infamously said “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row,” in Tupelo, MS after Colin Hutchinson, cattle rancher, praised her on November 11, 2018.
“In the Senate today, during the Rules Committee’s big hearing on HR1/S1, the “For The People” Act, which among other things would protect the right to vote for ALL eligible Americans, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Republican from Not Georgia, let us know why she thinks people shouldn’t be able to vote on Sundays, and definitely not in Mississippi.”
First of all, she’s a Banana Republican.
Secondly, she attended a segregated, Whites-only High School.
Thirdly, she’s from Mississippi.
Fourthly, she’s a Trump sycophant.
Need I continue?
But ANYONE can view her remarks in context in the links below. Also, her remarks are transcribed as follows.
Her remarks begin at 2:46:10 as Committee Chair Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar acknowledges Mississippi Senator Hyde-Smith, who then states, “Before we start, I have a question for the Chair,” addressed to Chair Amy Klobuchar, which Chair Klobuchar acknowledges, and bids her to continue, which she does, as follows: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, February 19, 2021
Imagine for a minute, if you can, what it would be like for your elected Representatives and Senators, at either the State, or Federal level to literally “undo,” or attempt to “undo,” an election that was in every way conducted properly (meaning ethically, honestly, and openly, in accordance with all applicable laws), simply because they didn’t “like” the way The People voted – the results or outcome of the election wasn’t to their suiting, or liking.
The Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney and the Georgia State Attorney General’s Office are both investigating that matter in order to determine what, if any, election-related laws were broken in the course of that phone call, which may include “the solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local governmental bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election’s administration.”
The audio taped recording of the Trump-Raffensperger phone call is quite likely much worse than any of the numerous covert so-called “smoking gun” audio tapes of Richard Nixon’s presidency. Nixon’s numerous recorded conversations with staff, and others, including of his phone calls, which detailed his involvement in the numerous crimes of the Watergate burglary/break-in, also revealed him to be paranoid.
And cockamamie conspiracy theories aside – especially and particularly the one of “The BIG Lie,” as told by the former President – NO ONE made any overt, or clandestine effort or attempt to “steal” any election from anyone. PERIOD.
But the point of the matter is this:
There are
GENUINELY
now-ongoing efforts
to literally “undo”
the results of honest elections
in the United States.
No, this is NOT a joke… and, NO this is NOT a conspiracy theory.
It is a documented fact.
What does it say for democracy and the democratic process if the expressed will of the people is somehow, overridden, undone, or cancelled?
Yeah… it’s that “cancel culture” thing.
And it is Republicans who are doing it.
Remember the thing about “psychological projection” – a morbid behavior in which people deny or defend in themselves the very characteristic or behavior they abjure and detest in others? It’s a type of “blame shifting,” and a refusal to accept either reality or responsibility.
Read for yourself the following 2 news items to learn what GOP-Banana Republican types are doing in some states.
Marijuana Foes Deploy New ‘Playbook’ To Thwart State Legalization, Upend Election Results
Efforts to thwart voter-approved marijuana legalization in Mississippi, Montana and South Dakota are evidence of a “playbook” that reflects new legal strategies and greater willingness among local government officials to nullify election results, experts say.
Those efforts – led by anti-marijuana politicians and other opponents – threaten to stop or delay the implementation of new medical and recreational cannabis markets that would generate hundreds of millions of dollars in sales a year.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, February 6, 2021
The Number 1 smash hit popularized by Atlanta, Georgia-based family band of Gladys Knight and the Pips in October 1973 was the work of a native Mississippian from Pontotoc named Jim Weatherly.
His family reported that Jim died recently at his residence in Brentwood, Tennessee, a tony suburb of Nashville, of natural causes, aged 77.
Weatherly wrote two additional tunes that became hits for Gladys Knight and the Pips: “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)” and “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me” – which was originally recorded by country singer Ray Price.
A star quarterback for the University of Mississippi, aka “Ole Miss,” in the 1960s, after graduation, Weatherly, who had already formed a band with some classmates, moved to Nashville where he hoped to find his fortune. Nashville, however, long known as a very cliquish town musically, rejected him. So he and his band moved to the Los Angeles area where he became a songwriter in that area’s then-hot music scene. It was a “training ground” for many musicians who later became immensely popular, super-star caliber artists, including Glen Campbell, Jackson Browne, Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Brian Wilson, Beck, and many others who populated the Laurel Canyon area – a mountainous canyon region in LA’s Hollywood Hills West district, in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Although Laurel Canyon is a rocky, arid, and largely agriculturally inhospitable area, it was fertile ground for artists like Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, The Byrds, Frank Zappa, Jim Morrison, Buffalo Springfield, Love, Michelle and John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas, Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman, J. D. Souther, Judee Sill, Carole King, the Eagles, Richie Furay (of Buffalo Springfield and Poco) and many, many more, almost too numerous to mention.
But, lesser known is the backstory of Jim Weatherly’s first hit song for Gladys Knight and the Pips.
After his college football days ended, Weatherly worked in Los Angeles as a songwriter.
During his off-time in LA he often played flag football with other creative types who had athletic backgrounds – among them, Lee Majors, who himself was a former college football player and was then starring in The Big Valleyas Heath Barkley, alongside the lead and central character Victoria Barkley, played by renown actress Barbara Stanwyck. The Big Valley was a unique western television serial whose central character was a woman (Stanwyck), who had taken Heath as her own, though he was the illegitimate son of her character’s late husband Thomas Barkley, following his death.
Jim Weatherly was inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame at their 45th Annual Induction and Awards ceremony at the Marriott Marquis Theater on June 12, 2014 in New York City.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, November 12, 2020
👈This is a screenshot of a now-deleted Tweet from an actual White Republican Mississippi State Representative – Price Wallace – who was elected to represent MS State House District 77, Mendenhall.
Sadly, the mofo doesn’t even know the difference in SECEDE and SUCCEED. Maybe it’s a good thing he didn’t confuzalate it with suck seed.😳😂
And apparently, he’s either forgotten history, or skipped school during Civil War history week.
“Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery
– the greatest material interest of the world.”
Spoiler warning: They tried that once; it was phenomenally unsuccessful.
But let’s play along, and briefly think about the “bigger picture” of his bad idea.
When compared to the other 49 states, Mississippi’s economy is:
Ranked between Guam and Puerto Rico in Per Capita GDP.
48th overall in the U.S. in Quality of Life.
49th in High School Graduation Rates.
50th in Healthcare Access & Quality.
48th in Public Health.
48th in Economy.
46th in Education.
45th in Infrastructure.
44th in Fiscal Stability.
Now, close your eyes and imagine if it “succeeded” from the Union… and lost all the Federal money it now gets.
In actuality, what we have here, is a duly-elected Public Official advocating treason against the United States. Isn’t there a law against that kind of crap?
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, October 29, 2020
GOP Texas Senator Ted Cruz, member of the Senate Commerce Committee, moments before he screamed at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey via remote hearing about Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
Once again, Ted Cruz turns in a great performance, and quite possibly may be nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for the same.
But yesterday, the Asshole from Texas, aka Republican Senator Ted Cruz, made an ass out of himself.
No surprise there, eh?
Nobody likes Cruz. Recall that in 2016, former Speaker of the House, Republican John Boehner (OH-8) called him “Lucifer in the flesh.” Additional diatribes against Cruz may be found at the conclusion of this article.
Ted WILL make a run for the Presidency again, so he’s just posturing. After all, it IS election season, and even though he’s not on an election ticket, per se, he is on the ticket. And just 2 years ago (2018), Cruz just barely escaped being replaced by Democratic challenger Representative Beto O’Rourke (TX-16) – 50.9% to 48.3% of 8,371,655 ballots cast.
In fact, the entire GOP slate is on the ticket nationwide this year. And so far, it’s not looking good. It didn’t look good yesterday, either. The “optics” aren’t good, goes the saying about political appearances.
In short, Jeff Kossett describes it as the “26 words that created the Internet.”
Who is Jeff Kossett?
Jeff Kossett is Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity Law at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and is one of the nation’s foremost experts on Section 230. Regarding the law, he said, “Section 230 set the legal framework for the Internet that we know today that relies heavily on user content rather than content that companies create. Without Section 230, companies would not be willing to take so many risks.”
The law, written in 1996, modified the 1996 Communications Decency Act, is short, sweet, and to the point.
“No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”
But this hearing was pure grandstanding from the get-go.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, October 25, 2020
If you have family and friends whom reside in Mississippi, the following will be of particular interest to you.
If not, it will still be of significant interest. We’ll explain why momentarily.
First, some background.
This year, Mississippians will have the opportunity to vote on whether, or not, they want to avail themselves, their loved ones, and friends, of the opportunity to use cannabis to treat the symptoms of their diseases.
The bill which would bring Medical Marijuana to Mississippi is called Initiative 65. The bill is fully written, and is not a mere hollow proposal. Establishing a complete infrastructure, Initiative 65 thoroughly lays out the plans by and through which cannabis would become available to medically qualifying Mississippians, including the regulatory agency and mechanism, the taxation structure, prescriptive authority, distributive network, farming and production facilities, product safety testing mandates, and more.
Mississippi, like some other states, has a public initiative process by and through which citizens have the ability to facilitate legislative action outside of their legislature. It is a direct type of democratic involvement, which for them is ensconced in their State Constitution. The Mississippi Secretary of State’s website writes explicitly that, “The Mississippi initiative law affords voters an avenue for addressing important constitutional issues which the State Legislature does not.”
The site further references the qualifying conditions that must be met in order for any prospective measure to be placed on the ballot – and win – by stating that,
“for an initiative measure to be placed on the ballot, a minimum of 106,190 certified signatures must be gathered with at least 21,238 certified signatures from each of the five congressional districts as they existed in the year 2000. Signatures must be certified by county circuit clerks. A completed petition is filed with the Secretary of State’s Office, along with a $500 filing fee. Not only must an initiative receive a majority of the total votes cast for that particular initiative, it must also receive more than 40% of the total votes cast in that election.”
Suffice it to say, the state law establishes a very high standard which prospective initiative measures must meet in order for them to be placed on the ballot, and then to pass. Whereas in most other states, a simple majority is often all that’s required for any candidate or measure to win, or to pass, in Mississippi, that state’s Initiative Law requires that IN ADDITION TO meeting all other qualifying conditions, it must be voted upon by AT LEAST 40.1% of all voters/ballots cast.
For purposes of illustration – if there are 100 TOTAL voters/ballots cast in an election, and only 30 out of the 100 voters voted on the measure (called an “undervote,” a condition in which all voters do not bother to vote on a particular race or measure), and voted for it to pass, and the nay votes were -0- (zero), despite the 30-0 victory margin, it will NOT pass, because it did NOT “receive more than 40% of the total votes cast in that election.”
Again, despite the fact that more voters voted FOR the measure to pass, than voted against it (which in this example would be zero -0-), or did NOT vote upon it, the measure still would not be considered to have passed.
Comprised of 76 diverse individuals from a variety of backgrounds including Physicians, Nurse Practitioners and Professors, Registered Nurses, Republican and Democratic politicians, Party Executive Committee members, State Legislators, and Local Officials from both major parties, Ministers, retired Military Service members, Business Owners and Executives, District Attorneys, retired Law Enforcement Officers, and more, they are the members of the steering committee which are guiding the measure called Initiative 65 which, if approved by voters, would establish a Medical Marijuana Law in Mississippi.
Initiative 65 is a well-though-out bill, one which is thoroughly considered, and the bill for the prospective measure contains practically every aspect of consideration which would be involved in establishing an entire infrastructure for Medical Marijuana.
Over the years, in over 20 attempts, the state’s legislators quashed every effort to help the people, and not once did they ever Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, November 1, 2019
Some years ago, while attending university, during the Christmas season, I portrayed “Santa” on a local television station.
The show was aptly called “Letters to Santa,” and was a LIVE TELEVISION BROADCAST PRODUCTION, which aired, appropriately enough, in the late afternoons after grade-school children were out of school for the day.
The show’s tenet was simple enough, children would send their letters to Santa, care of the television station – some of which would be read during the show (live, on the air), in conjunction with live participants who would attend with their parents to tell the Jolly Old Elf if they’d been naughty, or nice, and what they’d like for Christmas.
The show’s Executive Producer (who has long since gone to the great broadcasting center in the sky) did his best to prepare me for the role, which included off-the-air role-playing scenarios, and other tips and tricks for how to handle the attendees, and studio viewing audience, which also included how to effectively deal with children who might be fearful, belligerent, timid, crying, or demonstrating any other of the numerous emotions for which they’re renown for demonstrating – including their parents, who can sometimes also act like their children.
Fortunately, such a topsy-turvy scenario didn’t present itself… as best I recollect.
Because it was important to him, to the station (for community relations purposes) – and to the parents – to not place the parents in a untenable scenario by being perceived as an anything-you-want wish-granting jolly old elf (whose promises to children the parents might not be inclined, or able to keep), it was crucial to give as non-committal an answer as possible when the children sat on Santa’s knee to make their requests – however scant, or numerous they may have been.
While most children were reasonable in their requests – and honest about their year-long behavior – some children (very few) were not, and had lengthy lists with seemingly endless self-centered wants. Again, like standard normal distribution in statistics tells us, those children were very few, just as were the ones who had no requests for themselves.
Of course, there were a few occasional socially-related requests such as getting mama, or daddy out of prison or jail, wanting family members to get well (some who had terminal illnesses), and the like.
Not very many wanted world peace, or any such thing.
And naturally, there were a few who, for whatever reason, simply didn’t “believe in” the Jolly Old Elf.
I guess for some parents, it easier to tell their children a lie, than it is to present a simple truth – there is NO “Santa Claus” who flies around the world in a reindeer-driven sleigh delivering toys to children. Besides, Jolly Old St. Nicholas might get arrested for Breaking & Entering if he was able to scoot his corpulent carcass down a soot-laden chimney… which might be in use during the winter.
That wouldn’t end well.
But the 1952 song “I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus,” written by native Mississippian Jimmy Devon Boyd (1939-2009), does a well-enough job of explaining the truth about the matter, anyway.
Speaking of which, the song was banned in Boston by the Catholic Church the year it was released, which claimed it was overtly sexual.
Of course, that only made the recording by the then-13-year-old boy sell better.
But… if you stop to think about it, Santa Claus is banging your wife!
And, it gives an entirely new meaning to “Ho, ho, ho!”
There’s a reason that Jolly Old Elf is so jolly!
And, that’s exactly what the Catholic Church taught. (Never mind the pedophile priests.)
PRO TIP: Write a Christmas-themed song. It’ll provide money to you annually, and for your heirs – 70 years after your death. Not a bad deal, eh?
But, that’s progress, and “progress” is a dirty word to many – especially to Southerners – whose loathsome contempt of, and resistance to change is as ignobly infamous as their Lost Cause (of the Confederacy) following defeat in our nation’s Civil War.
Curtis Flowers was tried for the SAME crime SIX times in Mississippi. If that doesn’t violate the intent of the “Double Jeopardy” clause of the Constitution, I don’t know what does. (Image from Mississippi Department of Corrections.)
Synopsis: A Mississippi Death Row inmate was prosecuted SIX times for the SAME crime by a prosecutor with a history of racial bias in jury selection.
The case was SO egregious, that the sole, long-silent Southerner, and only Black SCOTUS Justice, Clarence Thomas, who has for many years maintained literal silence on the bench, asked a question – the last question he asked was THREE YEARS AGO.
The case the Justices heard Wednesday, 20 March 2019, involved the conduct of Montgomery County District Attorney Doug Evans, in the tiny town of Winona, Mississippi, and his relentless pursuit of a conviction of Curtis Flowers.
With a population well under 5000, Winona is practically a village, and of the modestly-sized tiny town, NPR wrote that it’s a place “where everybody knows everybody.”
Curtis Giovanni Flowers is a black man who had NO prior arrests or convictions before he was arrested and accused of a quadruple murder in the town.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Here’s but one story from my storied career.
—//—
Once, upon a time, I worked in a CVICU (CardioVascular Intensive Care Unit) in Greenville, MS – a predominately Black populated area, with high poverty, and all the problems that come along for that ride.
A patient came to us from a SNF (Skilled Nursing Facility, i.e., Nursing Home), and was refusing to communicate/talk with staff. I became his Nurse. He was a Black gent, and I cared for him just like I would for anyone else – with dignity, and empowering them to make decisions regarding their care.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, June 12, 2017
A good and longtime friend shared recently about making buttermilk popsicles at home with family, using a recipe presumably which came from Steel City Pops, a trendy nouveau foodery in Birmingham, AL. And giving credit where credit is due, Alabama has some mighty fine eateries, and an amazing wealth in it’s diversity of food. As evidence of that fact, Chef Frank Stitt, owner of Birmingham restaurants Highlands Bar and Grill, Bottega Restaurant, and Chez Fonfon has been on the James Beard Foundation Award‘s radar for quite some time, and most recently, NPR recognized the excellent oysters produced by Murder Point Oysters using farming methods in that Bayou La Batre, Alabama Gulf Coast town, which were also feted by Chef Emeril Lagasse. Alabama food is a literal treasure of gastronomic proportion. And it’s not just limited to the holiest of holies… barbecue.
(👉Get your Alabama Barbecue Trail app here!👈😋)
Now, I confess an aversion to buttermilk except in cooking. And the reason, of course, is that I’ve tried it. And not just once. In fact, I recollect as a youth visiting with relatives in Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, June 12, 2017
Mourners saying farewell to slain NAACP official Medgar Evers at his funeral, June 15, 1963.
Today marks the 54th anniversary of the death of WWII Veteran & Civil Rights activist Medgar Evers.
His death, along with that of 14-year old Emmet Till’s 1955 torture and murder, were seminal events in the Civil Rights Movement.
At 12:40 a.m., June 12, 1963, as he stood in the driveway of his home in Jackson, Mississippi, 37-year old Medgar Evers was shot in the back by a Ku Klux Klansman who used a high-powered rifle.
Though he was rushed to a nearby hospital, he died less than a hour later.
During WWII, Evers volunteered in the Army, and participated in the Normandy invasion. After tours of duty in France & Germany, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, October 6, 2016
Reunion of Quantrill’s Raiders, circa 1924, Oak Grove, Missouri. The first official reunion occurred in 1898, more than 30 years after Quantrill’s death and the end of the Civil War. The circled figure is Jesse James. Image from the Jackson County Historical Society and the Truman Library.
The 1901 reunion of Quantrill’s Raiders in Blue Springs, MO. Note the tag in the upper LEFT corner of the image. Sim Whitsett was at this reunion and is probably in this picture. Also in the picture is Frank James (center front, named). The first picture of the Quantrill veterans (Sim Whitsett was in attendance) was taken at the 1900 reunion. The picture is of a parade of the attendees on horseback. The 1901 is the first group photo in which the faces of individuals can be (barely) distinguished.
In response to a post expressing justifiable criticism of terrorism at home and abroad, it occurred to me that terrorism itself is nothing new… not even in the United States. So, I thought to share a brief overview of it, which appears as follows.
—/—
You forgot all about the War Between the States.
The Southern rebellion, of course, was often comprised of loosely associated rag-tag bands of incompetents and criminals, which thrived and often deserted formal association with the Confederate Army, and ransacked their way throughout the countryside.
John Singleton Mosby, image from his memoir. His note reads: “This picture is a copy of the one taken in Richmond in January 1863: The uniform is the one I wore on March 8th 1863 on the night of General Staughton’s capture. John S Mosby”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, February 13, 2015
TVA Announces 80 MegaWatt Solar Farm in Lauderdale County Alabama
At their quarterly board meeting, the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Valley Authority moved Thursday, February 12, 2015, to adopt resolutions which would allow TVA President and CEO Bill Johnson to:
Establish a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with NextEra for electricity from its planned 80MW solar farm in Lauderdale County, AL. The installation would be significantly larger than any existing solar facility in the Tennessee Valley.
and
Acquire for $340 Million Quantum Utility Generation’s Choctaw combined cycle Natural Gas (NatGas) plant near Ackerman, MS. TVA has been buying power from the 760MW plant since 2008. This would be TVA’s sixth combined cycle plant, with two more under construction, all since 2007.
Confidential terms of the agreements were not released.
Concerning the NatGas plant, Mr. Johnson said, “We can purchase the gas plant for substantially less than it would cost to build one, and the solar power is at a price competitive with other energy sources.”
The board unanimously approved the purchase of Quantum Utility Generation’s 760MW Choctaw combined-cycle power plant near Ackerman, MS, for about $340mn, or $447/kW, half the cost to build a new gas plant, according TVA Chief Operating Officer Charles Pardee.
TVA has bought most of the output of the Choctaw gas plant since 2008. If the deal closes, Choctaw will be the sixth combined-cycle gas plant TVA has purchased or built since 2007. Two more combined cycle plants are under construction.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, October 26, 2014
Editor’s Note, Saturday, 15 October 2016: Since Sunday, October 26, 2014, the date of this original publication, Yellowhammer News blog has thought to create their own entry (herein linked) obliquely contradicting the data supplied and referenced in this entry, which has now been published for over two years. Though they do not refute the data cited herein, instead, they refer to an Alabama-based data analysis company, and present data exclusively from the United Nations’ Human Development Index to support their assertion. In stark contrast, we use source citation and and references to the variety of sources used to compare Alabama to Third World Nations.
Also entitled as: How does Alabama compare with Third World Countries?
—
In so many comparative rankings for quality of life within our 50 United States, Alabama and Mississippi seem in a dead heat for last place. In a veritable “Race To The Bottom,” Alabama and Mississippi scrap over being in last place. In fact, it’s been a long-standing joke – with the sad, bitter sting of truth – that Alabama’s State Motto is not “Audemus jura nostra defendere,” which has been translated as: “We Dare Maintain Our Rights” or “We Dare Defend Our Rights,” but rather “Thank God For Mississippi.”
And just so we’re singing on the same sheet of music, and on the same verse, a “Third World Nation” is one which were at one time colonies “formally lead by imperialism. The end of imperialism forced these colonies to survive on their own. With lack of support, these colonies started to develop characteristics such as poverty, high birthrates and economic dependence on other countries. The term was then affiliated to the economic situation of these former colonies and not their social alliances to either capitalism or communism.” In a more modern sense however, a “Third World Nation,” is more readily thought of as being one of several “underdeveloped nations of the world, especially those with widespread poverty.” And it is in that sense to which I refer to Alabama as “a Third World Nation.”
In essence, what that term refers to is Quality Of Life. And, there are many aspects of life that can be measured, such as rates and incidences of crime, employment/unemployment, education, health/sickness/disease, responsive & efficient government, availability of clean water, sewerage, utilities such as electricity, natural gas, supporting infrastructure to deliver those utilities, which includes transportation, roads, highways, airports, railways, and access to the same. There is much more to life than the mere availability of food, clothing and shelter. For example, who would want to eat raw meat, wear bearskins, and live in a cave? In context, those three items are certainly fulfilled. And if that’s all there is, then all is well… right?
Demonstrating that, again, there is MUCH MORE to life than the mere availability of food, clothing and shelter.
Consider, for example, Public Health.
Rates of Obesity, and Obesity-related Diseases (also called chronic, or long-term problems) such as Diabetes, Hypertension (High Blood Pressure), Stroke, and certain types of Cancer, in Mississippi and Alabama are among the highest in our United States. While Obesity is quickly becoming an epidemic of significant national proportions, it is particularly problematic in Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, April 4, 2014
It occurred to me recently in a couple conversations I had with friends in various parts of our United States, that equal representation is a matter with which we still struggle.
While on occasion I’ve opined about injustice through inequality – the United States’ Constitution guarantees Equal Protection and Equal Rights under law via the 14th Amendment – it occurred to me recently that there are some who “just don’t get it.”
More to the point, I was spurred by a photograph sent to me by a friend in one of our Northern sister states – the Land of the Frozen Chosen, sometimes also referred to as “The Great White North.”
It was a photograph of my friend’s co-worker which sparked my interest, and subsequent curiosity.
The co-worker was Afro-American, aka “Black.”
I was somewhat surprised to see a Black person in Minnesota, so I queried the Census Bureau for some Quick Statistics about our United States.
Here’s what I found:
Only 5.5% of Minnesota’s population is Black.
In comparison to the United States at large, 13.1% of our American population in general is Black. And in Alabama, 26.5% are Black, while in neighboring Mississippi, 37.4% of that state’s residents are Black. Alabama’s Eastern neighbor Georgia has a closely similar percentage with a 31.2% Black population, while Tennessee is nearly half, with a 17% Black population.
Examining some other states, I found that Alabama’s Southern neighbor, Florida has a very closely similar Black population with 16.6%, while Louisiana’s Black population is just about double with 32.4%. The “Natural State” of Arkansas has a 15.6% Black population, while North and South Carolina are almost evenly tied with 22 & 28% respectively.
On the other hand, Texas has a lower Black population than either Tennessee or Arkansas with only 12.3%.
Kentucky? Only 8.1% of Kentuckians are Black.
Interestingly, of the 16 players on the Kentucky Wildcats Basketball team, only 6 are not Black. In other words, 62.5% of the team is Black – a clear majority. And yet, the state’s general population is completely and disproportionately unrepresentative of the team.
What about Virginia? With a 19.7% Black population, Virginia stands in distinct contrast to West Virginia, which only has a 3.5% Black population – a very stark contrast, indeed.
But what about some of the other Midwestern states?
Missouri has an 11.7% Black population, while only 3.2% of corn-fed Iowans are Black.
From Minnesota moving West, South Dakota has a mere 1.7% Black population, while Montana…
Well.. there just about no Black folks in that state, at all. Only a mere 0.6% – 6/10ths on one percent – of that state’s residents are Black.
A casual observation would be that it’s mighty White up North.
This FRAUD was because of INCOMPETENCY in Alabama governance.
The HHS OIG found that the Alabama state agency overstated its FYs 2009 and 2010 current enrollment in its requests for bonus payments. The State agency overstated its current enrollments because, rather than Read the rest of this entry »
Senator Orr represents the Third District, which includes Morgan, Madison and Limestone counties in the Alabama State Senate.
He attempts to justify his position by asking a rhetorical question, on pretense of being modern: “The fundamental question, I think, for us as legislators and as a state, is, should the state of AlabamaRead the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, September 3, 2013
I’ve decided to take a different track with this entry.
I choose to grocery shop at Kroger.
I don’t grocery shop at Wal-Mart. I don’t grocery shop at Publix. I don’t grocery shop at Winn-Dixie. For the most part, I don’t regularly grocery shop at local Mom & Pop grocery stores, though on occasion, I have. On occasion, I do shop at Aldi. I don’t shop at Sav-a-Lot. On rare occasion, I have shopped at various local ethnic grocery markets for specialty items. But on the whole, I do the exceeding majority of my grocery shopping at Kroger.
I have grocery shopped at Kroger for well over 10 years. In the Tennessee city where I’ve resided for the past year, there is Read the rest of this entry »
The headline “Public Food Establishment Not Fit For Human Consumption” would be adequate, I suppose, but I really like this lead as a headline much better: “I feel like I should’ve eaten a cucumber sandwich.”
That was actually a SMS which I’d sent a good friend of mine, who had mentioned that earlier in the day, he purchased some cucumbers at a local Farmer’s Market, was pondering how to prepare them, and was considering preparing cucumber sandwiches. Naturally, I gave him a fair amount of good-natured ribbing over the matter (suggesting perhaps that he should consider joining a ladies tea party group) particularly given that he has a penchant for sausages & “fair food,” sometimes aka “carnival food.”
How did I feel after that decidedly “ungastronomic” experience? A picture is worth a thousand words. Here is but one.
As the guest spoke, it occurred to me that the primary difference between this era, and the era of the late Civil Rights leader is that the exceeding majority of today’s youthful musicians are out for the almighty dollar, rather than speaking their hearts and minds for the causes of truth, justice, and the American way.
It’s all about the money.
And according to some, there is perhaps no better representative of the “me” generation than Taylor Swift.
Not being familiar with the body of Miss Swift’s work, I must rely upon interviews with her, and from remarks by those whom are familiar with her work. And it seems that there are many who utterly despise her work, for no other reason than that “practically every song she sings is about herself.”
And in defense of Miss Swift, regarding her work, she has said, “I’ve been very selfish about my songs. I’ve Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, January 13, 2013
Behold but one of the effects of climate change… the mighty Mississippi River going dry.
And really, why argue about what’s causing it when we need to be responding to the problems it creates?
—
Initial Mississippi River Rock Removal Complete, Says Army
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said contractors have completed the first phase of emergency work to remove rocks that have held up barge traffic in the drought-stricken Mississippi River.
Contractors have excavated about 365 cubic yards (279 cubic meters) of limestone from the river near the town of Thebes in southern Illinois, deepening the channel by about two feet, the Corps said in a statement today.
About 18% of all pregnancies in the United States end in abortion, the CDC noted. Factors from the availability of abortion providers, state laws, the general economy and access to health services including contraception, can Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Time and time again, the politicians in Alabama continue to prove the truth of that February 1, 1993, story Washington Post news story authored by reporter Michael Weisskopf which stated that followers of the Christian Right are “largely poor, uneducated, and easy to command.”
By the time Governor Bentley and his GOP henchmen get through with Alabama, the only thing the citizens will need is a kiss.
The reason why, is that they’ll already have been screwed.
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Alabama is great for business, unless you’re in the business of being a kid
Published: Monday, October 22, 2012, 10:25 AM Updated: Monday, October 22, 2012, 1:04 PM
Only here in Alabama we sing it, like we sing most of our tunes, in our own peculiar way.
We believe that corporations are our future.
Seed them well and let them have their way.
As for the children? Well, to hell with them. They’re too little to make us any real cash, anyway. What good are they if they can’t produce jobs, jobs, jobs?
You see the reports and statistics all the time, rankings that paint Alabama as gloriously business friendly, with cheap labor costs, low corporate taxes and a government so eager to lure jobs it’s willing to toss in the barn when it gives away the family farm.
A development magazine this month ranked Alabama as the fourth-best state for business. And of course Alabamians cheered.
It’s a party hijacked by radicals – genuine radicals – whose solitary bent is the destruction of government. Tear down this, destroy & eliminate this, that and the other, shift responsibility to the states for various programs, knowing full well that they do not, and will not have the ability to fully or appropriately fund them because tax rates continue to decline… it’s a “Starve the Monster” approach which has been taken – quite literally.
We have experienced already the devastating effects of it – significant tax cuts and a 10-year long war which has driven up the deficit, a BIG BUSINESS Bailout resulting from financial deregulation, which has cost jobs, houses, increased homelessness & bankruptcies, and off-shoring of American manufacturing.
And all this is predicated – so they purport – to be symptomatic of “a welfare state” that rewards so-called “welfare queens” who have children precisely to obtain more welfare money (a genuine misnomer if ever there was one)
But the biggest question is: What’s for dessert?
I don’t think we want to know.
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FiveThirtyEight – Nate Silver’s Political Calculus
October 11, 2012, 6:24 pm
One recurring theme in the states we have profiled so far has been the exodus of Southern whites from the Democratic Party, yielding a striking transformation. The Solid South — so named for the regional hegemony of Democrats — has been reversed, and states that were once Democratic from top to bottom are becoming (or already are) equally Republican.
The evolution has progressed particularly far in the Deep South, but Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas are all at different stages.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, June 18, 2012
Slowly, but surely, the signs that our nation’s economy is improving are emerging.
They’re not rapid, they’re not massive, but they’re there.
And like a trickle that becomes a raging river, it’s beginning to rain.
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District employment increases modestly in May
06/18/2012
Payroll employment 6th district 1/11-5/11
The Sixth District as a whole added 9,000 jobs in May, following 9,600 new payrolls in April, and 18,900 in March, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Alabama, Florida, and Georgia recorded payrolls increases while Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee reported payroll decreases. Georgia was primarily responsible for the net positive District increase.
(Reuters) – The Jackson, Mississippi, school district has agreed to stop shackling students to fixed objects, after it was sued for handcuffing pupils to railings and poles at a school for troubled children, officials said on Friday.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Bowl Championship Series executive director Bill Hancock said the words that many college football fans have been waiting more than a decade to hear: “The BCS as we know it with the exact same policies will not continue.”
Hancock made the declaration at the end of a day of meetings of BCS leaders at a hotel in Hollywood, Fla., to negotiate possible new formats for when the BCS’s current TV contract expires after the January 2014 bowl games. College football’s 11 major-conference commissioners plus Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick will meet again Thursday and hope to release a shortlist of formats under consideration.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, March 12, 2012
Face it folks, Alabama MUST change its tax policy and law – something about which Alabamians have been warned for quite some time. It’s not as if we’ve never heard the idea or notion, for indeed, Alabama’s income tax assesses a heavier levy upon the poor than the wealthy, and many large corporate timberland-owners (Georgia Pacific, Weyerhauser, International Paper, Gulf States Paper, et al) pay little or nothing on their vast holdings by comparison to others.
As the issue of a potential shut-down of state services (the forensics lab in Huntsville) relates to criminal prosecution, I could imagine that a sharp attorney could move for dismissal of charges based upon delay of prosecution – which is a federal Constitutional issue – because the Sixth Amendment guarantees the accused the right to a speedy trial, among other aspects of prosecution.
And that issue – a violation of the Sixth Amendment – is one reason why I can imagine former UAH professor Amy Bishop – accused of murdering her colleagues – may have a federal case on her side, because the state of Alabama has virtually shut down all funding of public defense and defenders.
Just to remind the readers, the Sixth Amendment reads: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.”
And for those readers whom, for one reason or another, are not up to speed on the wranglings of Alabama politics, India Lynch vs. State of Alabama – the federal case in which Alabama’s tax policies were on trial – ended in October 2011, with a 854-page ruling in the state’s favor by His Honor, Judge Lynwood Smith in which existing tax structures & organization were found not to be unconstitutional. That story may be found here.
Alabama State Capitol Building, Montgomery, AL
The background: Alabama’s state income tax kicks in for families that earn as little a $4,600. Mississippi starts at over $19,000. Alabamians with incomes under $13,000 pay 10.9 percent of their incomes in state and local taxes, while those who make over $229,000 pay just 4.1 percent. Alabama relies heavily on state sales tax, which runs as high as 11 percent and applies even to groceries and infant formula.
A primary reason Alabama’s poor pay so much is that large timber companies and megafarms pay so little. The state allows big landowners to value their land using ”current use” rules, which significantly underestimate its value. Then individuals are allowed to fully deduct the federal income taxes they pay from their state taxes, something few states allow, which is a boon for those in the top income brackets.
And while the GOP controls the Governor’s Office, State House & Senate and most all high-level state offices, there are no signs of progress toward equity or justice.
But read on to learn why…
Potential cuts for state forensics: ‘It’s going to impact everybody’s lives’
The evidence spans 18,000 different cases. And maybe by 2013, Lonnie Ginsberg hopes, the state will process most everything on those 12 shelves.
Maybe.
This is the uncertain world Ginsberg oversees in cash-strapped Alabama. The director of the Huntsville lab on Arcadia Circle, Ginsberg manages a complex he describes as overworked and understaffed – which is why some drugs confiscated by law enforcement may sit on a shelf for a year before being analyzed.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, May 16, 2011
The opening lyric to Hank Williams, Jr.‘s – aka “Bocephus” – 1982 song “A County Boy Can Survive,” is “And the Mississippi River she’s a goin’ dry.”
At this juncture, that certainly doesn’t seem to be the case.
The Mississippi River has flooded to such an extent that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has decided to open floodgates and allow excess water from the river to flow toward the Gulf of Mexico through alternate routes.
Weeks of heavy rains and runoff from the melting of an extremely snowy winter have raised Mississippi River levels to historic proportions. Over 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares) of farmland in Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas along the river have been flooded, evoking memories of floods in 1927 & ’37.
On Saturday, the Corps opened two of 125 floodgates at the Morganza Spillway, and opened two more today (Sunday, 15 May 2011). The spillway is 45 miles northwest of Louisiana’s capitol, Baton Rouge. The Corps hopes that by opening them, it will Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, February 4, 2011
It’s a disheartening state of affairs to learn that even such accusations could even be considered partially, even possibly true. Where is our political “high road”? The more secretive our government becomes – and we are witnessing increased secrecy, much under the guise of “privacy,” or “executive privilege” – the more tyrannical and prone to corruption our government becomes. The Founding Fathers knew that well. Open government demonstrates to EVERYONE that accountability to EVERYONE is ongoing. When there are no “smoke-filled backroom deals,” no “cloak and dagger,” there is no reason to hide. Political partisans are are NOT enemies, we are brothers living in the same house.
Riley’s final days filled with checks, deals
Posted: Thursday, February 3, 2011 6:00 am
by Bob Martin, The Montgomery Independent, TheWetumpkaHerald.com
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Late American Blues guitarist/singer/songwriter Robert Johnson, a Negro, died at the tender young age of 27, in 1938. There are less than 50 recordings of his, of which historians are aware. Among musicologists, researchers and others, his performances are considered treasures and remain the subject of great debate, even today.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, January 22, 2011
I think it’d be funny… only if it weren’t too weird. Or should it be serious? Heck, it’s weird and funny… and sad. I mean, come on! What’s next? Injecting powdered milk? Doctor, I feel real funny. You see, I took a bath, and next thing you know…
Officials fear bath salts are growing drug problem
AP – In this Jan. 18, 2011 photo, Itawamba County inmate Neil Brown describes at the jail in Fulton, Miss., self-inflicted injuries he incurred while having hallucinations after ingesting a bath salt powder that is being sold at convenience stores and over the Internet. The product, which can be legally purchased, contains stimulants which authorities claim can cause hallucinations, paranoia and suicidal thoughts and are now among the newest substances law enforcement agents are having to deal with in the streets. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) …
By SHELIA BYRD, Associated Press Shelia Byrd, Associated Press –
FULTON, Miss. – When Neil Brown got high on bath salts, he took his skinning knife and slit his face and stomach repeatedly. Brown survived, but authorities say others haven’t been so lucky after snorting, injecting or smoking powders with such innocuous-sounding names as Ivory Snow, Red Dove and Vanilla Sky.
Use it as clothing; place it on the ground, etc. The photog is a retired US Army LTC, MD (Lieutenant Colonel, O-5). Of all people, he SHOULD know better.
Desecration is defined as
• “the act of depriving something of its sacred character—or the disrespectful or contemptuous treatment of that which is held to be sacred by a group or individual,;”
• to “treat (a sacred place or thing) with violent disrespect; violate;”
• “to profane or violate the sacredness or sanctity of something; to remove the consecration from someone or something; to deconsecrate;”
• as “an act of disrespect or impiety towards something considered sacred;”
• and to be “treated with contempt.”
Flag Desecration - writing on flag, and used as a garment
Flag Desecration - flag on ground, written upon, used as garment
Age: 38
Warm Southern Breeze 