Jackson Free Press

Will the GOP pay attention to its moderates?

Mississippi's Attorney General and Insurance Commissioner want to make sure you don't get scammed with the newest rollout of the Affordable Care Act insurance marketplaces.

Lots to do right here in Jackson this weekend.

There's usually plenty to do on Fridays in Jackson, and if you are like me, you're going to have a tough time deciding exactly which of these awesome events to attend:

• The city of Jackson is celebrating National Night Out on Friday from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. at City Hall to increase crime prevention awareness. Here's the kicker: Jackson State University's Sonic Boom of the South will lead the "Confidence March Against Crime" from Smith Park to City Hall, beginning at 11 a.m.

• The Jackson premiere of the documentary film "SubSIPPI" from the creative minds of Greg Gandy, Vincent Chaney, & Lauren Cioffi is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Mississippi Museum of Art. Make sure to check out the trailer here. It's free to attend and it's on the lawn outside, so make sure to bring a blanket on which to sit.

• Jackson Prep (4-1) is riding high coming off last week's 19-13 win over Madison-Ridgeland Academy, but they are in for a real test when the country boys from Bassfield, Mississippi's 2-A reigning champs, roll into town for a public-versus-private-school matchup. Prep is a much bigger school with more players on its football team, but they'll hardly be able to keep step with the speed of one of Mississippi's best prep teams. Should be one for the ages.

Mississippi health-insurance rates could be as low as $8 a month after tax credits.

When it comes to who has been elected mayor of Hattiesburg, the votes are in, but the results are not. After failing to find a clear winner in the first go-round in June, the Hub City is trying again - and failing miserably.

Absentee ballot counting continues late Wednesday afternoon following Tuesday's special election, which was monitored by representatives from the Department of Justice and Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann's office.

The good news is that Hattiesburg isn't alone in its futility. Apparently the whole world is following along, as #haelex is currently the third-highest trending topic on Twitter.

Challenger Dave Ware, an independent, led incumbent Democrat and former gubernatorial candidate Johnny Dupree by 32 votes when the absentee counting began this morning. Political cartoonist Marshall Ramsey has already chimed in.

The official results aren't available, yet, but it looks like its runoffs for the Democrats.

You ought to know you're in trouble when the folks who should be your biggest cheerleaders come and do a dance on your head and slap you around a bit.

Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has been a player in the Republican Party for decades. As a matter of fact, he was one of the big conservative brains (along with Lee Atwater) that came up with the Southern Strategy, a political mindset that has kept Southern politics stuck on the battlefield of black versus white since the days of Ronald Reagan. Barbour served as Reagan's political director and as chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Some might say that Mr. Barbour had a hand in stirring up the witch's brew that created right-wingers like the Tea Party—and I'd agree. But if he stirred the pot, he sure has no control over its content.

Now, Barbour is blasting conservatives, especially those on the ultra-shaggy edges of the right-wing fringe. The Washington Post calls them—the roughly 45 Republicans in Congress who refuse to bend at all, ever, under any circumstances—cast-iron conservatives .

“When you control the House, the Democrats control the Senate and the White House, you can’t exactly cram your stuff down their throat,” Barbour said in a Post TV "In Play" interview yesterday. “Some of our friends sometimes forget that.”

“The guys that wanted to make Obamacare the trip wire for closing down the government and making Obama cave in … that’s not going to happen; that was never going to happen,” he added.

Barbour goes on to blame the conservative troubles on—wait for it—outside agitators. The problem is, they're skunks of the same stripes:

Barbour went on to note that his bigger concern for the party moving forward was the number of outside conservative groups — he mentioned the Senate Conservatives Fund and the Club For Growth by name — who seek to vilify Republican Members of Congress for allegedly breaking with party orthodoxy.

“Some of these same people go out and raise money for outside organizations that attack the other Republicans not over principle, not over policy … over tactics,” said Barbour. “There is no excuse for making people think a conservative Congressman who has a 98 percent conservative voting record is a bad person because you disagree with his tactics.”

See the WaPo's The Fix blog for the entire interview.

Companies building a new 582-megawatt power plant near DeKalb are not holding it up as a model for plants around the nation. The Kemper County IGCC plant, now about nine months away from completion, will burn low-grade lignite coal and capture carbon emissions. Kemper is the first plant to use TRIG technology, which Atlanta-based Southern Co. developed in the 1990s.

Southern has said it hopes to sell the technology around the world as a solution to global change, but recently told Reuters that Kemper could not be replicated nationally.

"Because the unique characteristics that make the project the right choice for Mississippi cannot be consistently replicated on a national level, the Kemper County Energy Facility should not serve as a primary basis for new emissions standards impacting all new coal-fired power plants," Southern said in a statement to the wire service.

Louie Miller, who heads the anti-Kemper Mississippi Sierra Club, took aim at the report. Miller said, through a statement of his own, that the company's "confession" that Kemper is not a panacea for the nation's energy woes "should come as a shock" to its customers.

“Since day one, Mississippi Power, its parent Southern Company, and its high-profile backers like Governor Haley Barbour and United States Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu have promised that the Kemper Plant would be a shining model for new coal-fired power plants across the United States, as well as overseas," Miller said.

The Obama Administration recently announced new carbon-limiting rules on utility companies. Southern characterizes its corporate stance as climate-friendly, but told Reuters the new rules "essentially eliminate coal as a future generation option."

• The Barnett Reservoir Foundation and the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District will host a Memphis Barbeque Network (or MBN) judging class at the Rankin Reservoir Community Center from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. It's $80 to enter, but this is awesome because A) An MBN team will cook ribs and pulled pork on site, and B) You get to eat it and learn how to judge the results. There are only 30 spots in the class, so check out the web site. The Barnett Reservoir Foundation and Pearl River Valley Water Supply District is holding an MBN contest called "Smokin’ on The Rez" on Nov. 1-2 at Old Trace Park at Barnett Reservoir.

• One of the best kept secrets in Jackson is Blue Monday at Hal & Mal's hosted by the Central Mississippi Blues Society. It's a celebration of the blues, and musicians are invited to come jam. That's every Monday night, 7:15-8:15 Front Porch acoustic hour, followed by CMBS's Blue Monday Band at 8:45 'til 11PM. Check out their web site here.

• One thing I've always enjoyed as a reporter is Friday Forum, an informational meeting held every Friday morning at Koinonia Coffee House. It's co-hosted by former mayoral candidate Jonathan Lee, and always has interesting guests talking about topics of interest. This week's guest is Kathy Times, Vice President/ COO of WhereToGo411.com. Times will be speaking about the State Institutions of Higher Learning's Minority Economic Opportunity Initiative/WhereToGo411 Partnership. Should be fun so come on out.

In WAPT's online video they don't identify the Jackson-area creek (is it Town Creek?) that turned into a "raging river" after today's rains, but one look at the video does force me to wonder out loud about the water quality of any lakes or riverwalk projects that we end up developing for downtown Jackson.

Jackson has many impermeable surfaces with oil, grit and other residue (not to mentioned trash, street drainage, etc.) that rush off to the creeks and Pearl.

I don't know the answer, but this visual at least suggests it would make sense to ask the question. Does still water somehow run cleaner? Am I judging this murky mess too harshly?

ON one had, the Pearl often looks pretty when you glance at it over the Lakeland bridge, and I've canoed it in the past and felt the water was clear and clean.

But the video doesn't make it this creek water look too appealing. Any river geeks have thoughts?

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2013/sep/24/13833/

Go here to find your polling place.

Also, read about more about the candidates here, or at least the ones who talked to us.

In response to a so-called "gay conversion" conference taking place at Lakeside Baptist Church in Hattiesburg over the next few days, pro-gay rights groups are rallying against the pseudo-science of praying the gay away.

GetEQUAL Mississippi, OMEGA Mississippi and Walk Fellowship Church of Hattiesburg is holding a“Love and Acceptance” rally to counter Lakeside's "Coming Out: A Gospel Response to Same-Sex Attraction."

Through a press statement, the gay-advocacy groups point out that the both American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association have called gay conversion therapy bunk.

According to the statement for pro-gay groups: "The rally will be a peaceful demonstration comprised of the LGBT community, their families, allies, and Christians who seek to spread the message of love and acceptance of all God’s children.

"The states of California and New Jersey have recently passed legislation making it illegal to use gay conversion therapy on minors due to the psychological harm it causes. Pennsylvania is presently in the process of doing the same, stating that conversion therapy amounts to medical and parental bullying that can lead to low self-esteem and even suicide."

Our fair city ranks as one of the most generous cities in the United States.

• Downtown Jackson Partners is proud to announce it is partnering with the Town Creek Arts Festival to host Downtown on Display, an open house event for downtown Jackson businesses. It'll be held on October 5, 2013. From 2 - 5 PM, visitors will have the opportunity to take architectural tours, get access to magnificent views, eat, shop, and listen to live music. Read more here.

• We really enjoyed putting together the "Good" issue of the Jackson Free Press last week. If you missed it, be sure to check out the latest PDF edition on the main page. There are always so many solid ideas in it, and some of them are even feasible.

• I'm gearing up today for a tour of the James Eastland Federal Building with architect Roy Decker, who is going to show JFP photographer Trip Burns and me his plans for transforming the downtown landmark into a new mixed-use building to house residents and some commercial businesses. For more information on the Eastland Building, go here.

• In other news, and in case you're a sports fan, the Jackson State football Tigers improved to 2-0 in Southwestern Athletic Conference play with a 35-7 whipping of Texas Southern last Thursday at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The Tigers (2-2) are tied atop the SWAC East standings with rival Alcorn State, which defeated Arkansas-Pine Bluff 21-16 on Saturday.

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.

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2013/sep/20/13806/

Al Jazeera America published a profile of Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba today, "In Mississippi, America's most revolutionary mayor." Author Siddhartha Mitter a good amount of time in the city this summer.

Looks like a good read: “Nowadays you’ve got to call yourself a ‘change agent’ or something, or else you’ll make people scared,” Lumumba told me when I visited Jackson in August. “But I am a revolutionary.”

Mitter even managed to work in Lumumba's trademark "Alright. OK."

Cover Mississippi is taking on the challenges of educating and enrolling Mississippians in the new health insurance market place.

This week's new releases, regional picks, and even a correction...

The Animal Rescue Fund of Mississippi is making a desperate plea for donations.