In a short and sweet editorial, the Sun-Herald is once again scratching their heads at Gov. Barbour’s continued and unwavering support of BP:

Gov. Haley Barbour’s unhesitating support for more drilling in the Gulf — during one of the nation’s worst environmental disasters, which was caused by drilling — was odd enough. Now he opposes forcing BP to put billions of dollars into a compensation fund for victims.

While it should no longer be surprising, the governor’s advocacy for the oil industry is still disheartening for those who elected him to be their champion.

The governor makes little sense with his statements, even as he tries to wrap it in BP’s ability to stay financially viable. That is an absurd notion. BP is doing what Barbour generally advocates for Mississippi: cut spending and sell assets. Even after doing so, they will remain a financially viable company, as we hope they will.

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Toyota announced today that they are resuming production plans at their North Mississippi plant. This is excellent news for the state and for North Mississippi, in particular.

Mississippi has invested a lot in this project, and this is a good sign that we’re finally going to realize the payoff of the investment.

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Via The Clarion-Ledger:

The inverted funnel-like cap is being closely watched for whether it can make a serious dent in the flow of new oil. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, overseeing the government’s response to the spill, reserved judgment, saying he didn’t want to risk offering false encouragement.

Instead, he warned on CBS’ Face the Nation that the battle to contain the oil is likely to stretch into the fall. The cap will trap only so much of the oil, and relief wells being drilled won’t be completed until August. In the meantime, oil will continue to spew out.

“But even after that, there will be oil out there for months to come,” Allen said.

“This will be well into the fall. This is a siege across the entire Gulf. This spill is holding everybody hostage, not only economically but physically. And it has to be attacked on all fronts,” he said.

While Mississippi beaches are still clear, it’s as if impending doom just refuses to go away. We know that doom will be (or already is) reality with the economic impact it will have on our tourism and fishing industries. That impact will only worsen the longer the spill exists.

The other part is whether or not the oil makes significant landfall on Mississippi beaches, which seems to be the barometer by which state leaders are measuring the impact of the oil spill, at least for PR purposes in their attempts to hold up our sagging tourism season.

Sadly, even without the oil reaching our beaches, severe, serious damage is done. Now we are praying for safety from even more severe, even more serious damage. And that’s what we’ll have if the oil invades our coastline.

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Sun-Herald columnist Geoff Pender penned a column looking at the way Gov. Barbour, Lt. Gov. Bryant and other Republican leaders in Mississippi have handled the oil spill versus their counterparts in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.

In short, Pender seems a little dubious of the party line in Mississippi, but he hopes it’s state of optimism, and not a state of denial:

Heck, hearing our leaders talk about the largest oil slick in U.S. history will make you hungry — mousse, chocolate fudge, milkshake, Milk Duds. Maybe we could find a way to deep fry the stuff and have the annual Tar Ball Festival.

I hope they’re right.

I understand the wisdom of moderating the message, if for no other reason than to help our tourism industry. It’s hurting, even though so far the impact of the oil here has been minimal … well, I guess minimal by catastrophic, gushing-oil-for-more-than-a-month standards.

But I don’t think the state’s tourism advertising message, “The Coast is clear, come on down,” is the main message people who live and work here want to hear right now. I believe they also want to hear that our state government is engaged and in charge, and willing to butt heads with BP if necessary.

It’s a well reasoned piece from Pender, who has done a remarkable job of covering the oil spill. My fear, however, is that Gov. Barbour and Lt. Gov. Bryant are not serving up optimism so much as they are trying to deflect criticism of a corporate backer.

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School districts across the state are having to make draconian cuts to offset a lack of state funding from the Legislature.

The most recent victim? Jackson Public Schools.

Via The Clarion-Ledger:

Teachers will lose work days and essentially see a pay cut under changes the Jackson School Board approved Thursday for the 2010-2011 calendar.

In a 4-1 vote, the board agreed to amend the district’s calendar for the upcoming school year to reduce the number of teacher work days to 187 – four fewer than for the school year that just ended. Board member Ivory Phillips cast the lone vote against the motion.

When Jackson Public Schools’ calendar was first approved earlier this year, the number of teacher work days were then reduced to 189 from 191. At that time, district officials anticipated state funding cuts of up to $19 million because of the lingering economic recession.

The state Department of Education funds 187 days, and any additional days are at the district’s expense, Superintendent Lonnie Edwards explained to the board. In the past, the district has used additional days for teacher training and for parent-teacher conferences.

Now, “our economic conditions are a lot more challenging,” Edwards told the board.

I understand that we’re facing tough economic times and that some cuts are necessary. That said, the education cuts were did not have to be this steep. The Legislature could have used a small part of the Rainy Day Fund to offset the damage being done to our public schools.

The cynic in me says that Gov. Barbour (and even Lt. Gov. Bryant) have no real love for public schools and would not mind seeing them fail. They could then open up the flood gates to a government-subsidized private school industry.

Sadly, when I push my cynicism to the side, I come up with much the same answer. For no logical person who cares for public education can say we should harm our schools when relief exists.

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Geoff Pender wrote an analysis of Gov. Haley Barbour and how his tune seems to have changed on the coast. Via the Sun-Herald:

Of note: On Wednesday, for the first time, Barbour made it through an entire press conference in Gulfport without saying people should come on down and enjoy beaches, golfing, fishing and seafood.

Not that Barbour is in a panic — he doesn’t do that, ever. But the Haley Barbour who toured Petit Bois Island and then held a news conference appeared to be the Hurricane Katrina Barbour — in charge, engaged and promising to marshal all the resources needed to fight the problem.

Pender’s piece would be a good sign, were it not for what was Tweeted on the governor’s Twitter account around the same time as this press conference:

One of the things I’m concerned about is that we don’t need a long-term moratorium on off-shore drilling.

Guess Gov. Barbour won’t like this.

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You can’t make this up.

Via Gov. Haley Barbour’s Twitter feed:

One of the things I’m concerned about is that we don’t need a long-term moratorium on off-shore drilling.

Really? After viewing oil on our shores, and this is what he decides to put out? He’s worried about a moratorium on offshore drilling?

I guess we can at least give Gov. Barbour credit for being consistent. He’s consistently downplayed this tragedy and played up how great BP is doing in the aftermath.

The aftermath, however, is of a tragedy that could very well be of their own making.

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Clarion-Ledger political columnist Sid Salter talked about the onslaught of litigation that will be coming as a result of the oil spill.

His opening salvo seemed a bit cynical and along the lines of the typical anti-trial lawyer, all lawsuits are bad train of thought that unfortunately has become prevalent in Mississippi:

The one thing that may well keep pace with the spewing oil spill in the northern Gulf of Mexico is the gusher of litigation that’s beginning to surround BP – British Petroleum.

Lawsuits are certainly coming (some already filed) and deservedly so. Not only should BP be held responsible for their actions, but oil companies should know that negligence has its consequences — not only to our environment but to their bottom line.

That aside, what Sid most definitely provided his readers is a sobering picture of what could lie ahead. Via The Clarion-Ledger:

The Exxon Valdez oil spill – which prior to the Deepwater Horizon accident was the largest oil spill in American history – saw litigation stretch longer than a decade. The difference is that the Deepwater Horizon spill is significantly larger and not as geographically contained as was the Exxon Valdez.

The plethora of litigation that has and will arise from the Deepwater Horizon spill will be complicated by the sheer scope of the expected environmental impact. Clearly, the flow of litigation would be multiplied exponentially by the one real nightmare scenario that could make the current ecological disaster even worse – the development of a large hurricane that plows over the oil spill and into the northern Gulf of Mexico.

Imagine a storm surge the size of the Hurricane Katrina storm surge carrying oil and dispersant pounding the already battered Mississippi or Louisiana Gulf Coast – or imagine the one perfect storm that replicated Katrina’s flooding in New Orleans.

The last thought is the most distressing. Remember Hurricane Katrina? Remember how many miles inland Gulf water was carried? Now, add oil.

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Today is Primary Day for Democrats in the Third CD. The polls are open, and we hope all of our Democratic faithful will head to the polls.

We’re also watching the GOP primary in the First and Fourth CDs closely. Those are both hotly contested. While there is GOP primary in the Second, we’ve heard little about it.

So go vote today. It’s one of the most important things we, as Americans, can do to ensure our continued freedom and to show the world the power and strength of Democracy.

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Today, we remember the fallen soldiers who gave their lives defending our freedom.

There was a particularly poignant quote in a Clarion-Ledger article yesterday that I wanted to share:

“I’ll be honest, Memorial Day for me was always a vacation day … a time to go to the beach or cook out. It never had a lot of meaning to me,” says Rosmari Kruger, Clark’s mother who lives in Brandon. “And when I did think about it, I pictured gray-haired men being honored and remembered – not a 19-year-old kid with his whole life ahead of him. And certainly not my baby. So Memorial Day … it’s hit home.”

Our fallen veterans come in all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, backgrounds, political persuasions, religious affiliations and personalities. But one thing they share — which we all share better on days like this than other days — is being American.

We salute those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Thank you.

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