Jackson Free Press

Ouch. After GOP vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan cited Rage Against the Machine as on eof his favoriate bands, Rage's guitarist Tom Morello responded in an op-ed on the Rolling Stone webiste.. Morello started with the money quote: "Paul Ryan's love of Rage Against the Machine is amusing, because he is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades."

Here's more:

Charles Manson loved the Beatles but didn't understand them. Governor Chris Christie loves Bruce Springsteen but doesn't understand him. And Paul Ryan is clueless about his favorite band, Rage Against the Machine.

Ryan claims that he likes Rage's sound, but not the lyrics. Well, I don't care for Paul Ryan's sound or his lyrics. He can like whatever bands he wants, but his guiding vision of shifting revenue more radically to the one percent is antithetical to the message of Rage.

I wonder what Ryan's favorite Rage song is? Is it the one where we condemn the genocide of Native Americans? The one lambasting American imperialism? Our cover of "Fuck the Police"? Or is it the one where we call on the people to seize the means of production? So many excellent choices to jam out to at Young Republican meetings!

Seriously, Ryan. This reminds me of when the Reagan campaign tried to misappropriate Springsteen's "Born in the USA," helped along with a naive George Will. Message to politicians: listen to the lyrics, fools.

Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_in_the_U.S.A._(song)

If you listen closely, you'll hear it: it's the sound of 147 Republicans who hope to replace Sen. Thad Cochran weeping.

OK, maybe it's not quite that many. But Mississippi pols have been jockeying for position for a while on the chance that Cochran, who is so old that he remembers a time when Congress did stuff, retires when his term is up.

But Jonathan Martin of the New York Times wrote on his blog, The Caucus, that Cochran, 75, is raising money like a first term representative.

Martin notes of Cochran:

"He is hosting a breakfast Friday morning at a Capitol Hill restaurant, charging $500 for individuals and $1,000 for political action committees. Next month, Mr. Cochran will attend another, pricier breakfast featuring former Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi at Mr. Barbour’s namesake Washington lobbying firm. And in November, Mr. Cochran is staging what he’s billing as a “fall retreat” at a new resort in Middleburg, Va."

Earlier this year, Cochran held fundraisers in West Point, Miss., and Washington D.C., records from the Sunlight Foundation's Political Party Time site show.

It's likely a safe Republican seat, though a high-profile Democrat could creep in if the Republican primary leaves the nominee bloodied and weak.

At this point, Cochran is kind of like a dominant male lion at the watering hole. Other Republican hopefuls just have to sit back and wait for Cochran to have his fill (serving in the Senate is the water in this analogy).

If they don't, Thad will have them for lunch.

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At a press conference at Mississippi's last abortion clinic last week, "stone the gays" Pastor James Manning told a group of mostly white protestors that McDonald's would cease to exist in three to seven years due to abortion.

His logic: abortion is a racist institution, abortion providers target black people and, as a result, companies that target black customers will begin to collapse due to the decreasing population of black people.

As absurd as it sounds, Manning might be going somewhere. A report released today shows that McDonald's has lost 30 percent of it's quarterly profit. Could Manning's prophecy be true?

We're not convinced.

One explanation for the loss in revenue is a major meat scandal in China—inspectors found that a Shanghai food supplier was selling expired meat to McDonald's this summer.

But people in China are not the only ones who are no longer "lovin' it." An emphasis on health has likely deterred people in United States—and all over world—from enjoying meals at the massive fast food chain.

McDonald's acknowledges a significant decrease in revenue in the United States, but not because of "black genocide"—which is what Manning calls abortion.

The chain has received negative publicity due to the poor wages of its workers. That and a push to chose healthier food options can be be blamed for the decrease in revenue.

Manning would likely say "that's what they want you to think." What do you think?

Stay tuned for a more in-depth analysis of the preacher's statements publishing tomorrow.

The Rankin County School District is under fire for one teacher's disparaging comments against atheism. The American Humanist Association's legal center sent the district a letter on Tuesday detailing a complaint from a student and her parent that said the student's history teacher, who is also a pastor at a Baptist Church, has made several jabs at atheism in comments made in class throughout the year.

Northwest Rankin High School, where this history teacher teaches, has had trouble with the First Amendment before. A few months ago, the district came to a settlement with a former student who sued and won after she was forced to attend a blatantly Christian assembly during school hours.

The letter is not a lawsuit, but it asks the district to comply with the Establishment Clause and provide written notices to all faculty reminding them to not make remarks "promoting religion and disparaging atheism." The American Humanist Association has asked for a response from the district within a week. The seven-page letter details parts of the Constitution and legal history that could be argued to prove the teacher's comments unconstitutional.

Monica Miller, an attorney at the association's legal center wrote, "Good faith is not a defense to contempt and you are court-ordered to ensure that your employees are complying with the Consent Decree and Establishment Clause."

The American Humanist Association provided counsel to Magdalene Bedi, the Northwest Rankin High School student who sued and won after being forced to attend a Christian assembly in 2013. The district must pay damages to Bedi for additional violations since they violated two consent decrees after she filed her original lawsuit.

On Flag Day at its annual meeting, the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution that calls on all Southern Baptist churches and 'brothers and sisters in Christ' to not display the Confederate battle flag.

The convention passed a resolution that said, "we call our brothers and sisters in Christ to discontinue the display of the Confederate battle flag as a sign of solidarity of the whole Body of Christ, including our African-American brothers and sisters."

"We recognize that the Confederate battle flag is used by some and perceived by many as a symbol of hatred, bigotry, and racism, offending millions of people..." the resolution says. "We recognize that, while the removal of the Confederate battle flag from public display is not going to solve the most severe racial tensions that plague our nation and churches, those professing Christ are called to extend grace and put the consciences of others ahead of their own interests and actions."

Russell Moore, president of the convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and a native Mississippian, has spoken out against Mississippi's state flag previously and reiterated his stance in a blog post this week.

"As I’ve said before, the Cross and the Confederate flag cannot co-exist without one setting the other on fire," Moore wrote. "Today, messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention, including many white Anglo southerners, decided the cross was more important than the flag. They decided our African-American brothers and sisters are more important than family heritage. We decided that we are defined not by a Lost Cause but by amazing grace. Let’s pray for wisdom, work for justice, love our neighbors.

And let’s take down that flag."