Opinion

    It is a sad day for America when one of it’s two major political parties is influenced to hope and work to facilitate failure of the President of the United States in his efforts to save our economy and the American people, simply on the basis of  partisan politics.

     Jobless Mississippians may be looking back at the last statewide elections and wondering why they voted to reelect Haley Barbour as their governor. As employed citizens, the political posturing and blustery talk is entertaining and not of much concern, but once you lose your job and the governor you helped to reelect starts playing politics with the unemployment compensation aspects of the Federal Stimulus Package while talking big about denying some of the funds that could help you and your family survive, you gain a different perspective.

    According to the records, our state senator, representing not only Union County, but Pontotoc County, as well, has been in the Mississippi State Senate since 1996. Quite an accomplishment and one that indicates that Nickey Reed Browning must be performing to the satisfaction of the voters of these two counties.

By Louisa Ada Seltzer

The latest forecast for America’s newspapers would suggest that extinction is not too far off. UBS figures newspaper revenues will be down 12.2 percent when the final figures are in for 2008 and tumble another 17.6 percent this year.

Already, a number of papers around the country have cut circulation, or frequency, or both, and others have gone online only, scrapping their print editions entirely.

More of that is widely expected to occur this year as the ad recession deepens.

The Senator from the State of Maryland, Barbara Mikulski, a Democrat who sponsored legislation within the Stimulus Bill to bail out General Motors and Chrysler, recently advised, “No matter how much government aid we give to the Big Three auto makers, they can’t survive if consumers don’t start buying cars.” It would be hard to disagree with her statement, but she demonstrates in those remarks, a basic misunderstanding of the issue at its core.

        As I allowed myself to become caught up in the flow of patriotism, enthusiasm for the moment and, actually, something else yet to be identified during the past two days of remarkable national significance for Americans as a people, I couldn’t help recalling oddly similar, but different feelings when I first read Tale of Two Cites by Charles Dickens. Author Dickens began Book One, Recalled To Life, Chapter One, The Period with words so profoundly appropriate for today that I reprint them below for those who may have never read them.

My comments this past Wednesday about the items  that were assumed to be part of Incumbent Mayoral Candidate Tim Kent’s platform were considered in error and corrected on Thursday by Mayor Kent via David Johnson, New Albany Gazette editor. Despite the fact that Mayor Kent was discussing these projects in answer to a question about what he would do if reelected, he insists that he was just talking about projects that have always been on his “wish list” for the City of New Albany.

One of the things that continues to strike me as unusual about living in Northeast Mississippi is that the government of the State of Mississippi seems to be located in a land far, far away and state government activities are simply not discussed much in this part of the state. Actually, there are groups who have some strong ties and connections with our state elected and appointed officials and it is they who communicate how you and I feel about the affairs of our state.

    Using the excuse of a “bad economy” to excuse everything from misuse of federal bailout money by bankers to inappropriate business transactions on a personal level, is becoming the practice of those who experience questions or challenges about what their activities. The problem is that, as an excuse, it has been worn completely out by our national politicians and business leaders leaving nothing of any substance to be used anywhere else or for any other reasons.