Jackson Free Press

The Rachel Maddow show did a long segment last night tying the inaction in Congress (yet another meaningless vote on "Obamacare") to action in Mississippi -- a court case to determine whether Mississippi legislators overstepped in trying to close down the state's only remaining clinic where abortions are performed.

The court case, which was Tweeted, live-blogged and throughly photographed by JFP team coverage on Wednesday, got the attention the Maddow show, which quoted extensively from our piece. Enjoy!

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Props to the whole team!

Just in case Mississippi starts to get too cozy thinking it's Voter ID law is going to get past the Feds, Attorney General Eric Holder had this to say in Houston yesterday: "we will not allow political pretext to disenfranchise American citizens of their most precious right."

Holder's money quote, as quoted by the Houston Chronicle, might at least suggest how the Department of Justice would view Mississippi's law as well: "Many of those without IDs would have to travel great distances to get them, and some would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain them. We call those poll taxes."

This was just came over the wires and was too juicy to pass up -- brand new from IOVO designs it the new Litterfish, a cat litter box that's not only "attractive" -- it's shaped like a fish -- it's also "functional," according to the press release.

Presumably, that means that cats can poop in it.

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2012/jul/10/3580/

The Litterfish, which retails for $170, is "the brainchild of acclaimed Cinematographer Robert Brinkmann (The Rules of Attraction, The Cable Guy, The Truth About Cats and Dogs, U2: Rattle and Hum) and Comic Book Artist Dan Panosian (Marvel Comics, Kung Fu Panda, Duke Nukem), who worked together to produce this revolutionary product."

Oh, yeah. They said revolutionary. Who could argue with that?

In a move that I wouldn't be surprised to see repeated in the near future in the Magnolia State, Governor Rick Perry of Texas declared today that he [won't be implementing Obamacare][1] in Texas. Specifically, he says the state will not increase its Medicaid roles to cover additional working poor with the program, and the state will not set up the state exchange that's required in the law.

Perry's office sent a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Monday morning asserting his opposition, both to accepting more than a hundred million federal dollars over the next several years to put more poor Texas adults onto Medicaid, and to creating an Orbitz-style online insurance marketplace for consumers.marketplace for consumers.

The story notes that the insurance exchange isn't optional, and that the Federal government will set up a "one size fits all" exchange for the state.

“If anyone was in doubt, we in Texas have no intention to implement so-called state exchanges or to expand Medicaid under Obamacare," Perry said in a statement. "I will not be party to socializing healthcare and bankrupting my state in direct contradiction to our Constitution and our founding principles of limited government."

Texas, according to the story, has the country's highest percentage of uninsured residents.

But Dan Stultz, president and CEO of the Texas Hospital Association, said without the expansion, "many will remain uninsured, seeking care in emergency rooms, shifting costs to the privately insured, and increasing uncompensated care to health care providers."

And for folks who think the current ACA is a "socialist" expansion, does anyone find it curious that conservative leaders would leave their state exchanges to the Federal government to set up? It seems you would want a hand in there, making sure free market principles reign and such.

Although I guess stamping your feet and say "No! No! No!" feels like better politics to Governor Perry.

[1]: http://www.texastribune.org/texas-health-resources/medicaid/perry-tx-wont-implement-key-elements-health-reform/marketplace for consumers.