“As Alan Nunnelee flew up to Washington this week, Mississippi families can see that he was signing away their jobs overseas,” said Sam Hall with the Mississippi Democratic Party. “In this economy, families are rightly worried that their job could be the next one to be shipped overseas, yet that doesn’t stop Alan Nunnelee from rewarding companies that profit by outsourcing Mississippi jobs. Alan Nunnelee might think that standing up for Wall Street and Washington special interest by protecting tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas reflects Mississippi values, but the voters of Mississippi know better.”

Background

Nunnelee went to Washington yesterday and met with Grover Norquist and the staff of Americans for Tax Reform. [Nunnelee Twitter, 6/16/10]

Nunnelee has signed the Americans for Tax Reform’s “State Taxpayer Protection” Pledge. By signing the Pledge, Nunnelee swore to “oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes”, including closing loopholes that ship jobs overseas. [ATR.org]

Childers supported a measure to close tax loopholes for companies that outsource jobs. The House passed Senate amendments to H.R.4213 – The American Jobs, Closing Tax Loopholes and Preventing Outsourcing Act. [HR 4213, Vote #324, 5/28/10]. This legislation Childers supported includes a provision to crack down on companies that take advantage of loopholes in the foreign income provisions of the tax code which makes it more profitable for them to outsource jobs. The bill would prevent corporations from using current U.S. foreign tax credit rules to subsidize their foreign activities.

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.

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.

November 2 is quickly approaching, and it is important that we begin to organize. The Mississippi Democratic Party is partnering with Organizing for America to target key first-time Obama voters. We are going to have to diligently work to encourage these voters to return to the polls in November. These voters turned out in record numbers in 2008 and will help us reach our goal of winning our midterm election.

We have designated June 26 as the Mississippi Day of Action. We need you as Democratic leaders to begin to organize in your communities. Mississippi Day of Action will allow YOU to begin to cultivate a personal relationship with these voters that could be the added force that will push us over the threshold of success.

The Mississippi Democratic Party needs you to find at least five volunteers in your county that will be willing to canvas or participate in a phone back. MDP and OFA will provide all of the walking and calling lists for the area. All that we ask you and your volunteers to do is record the results and send the information back to the State Party headquarters.

The Republican Party desires to steal our three Democratic seats in the 1st, 2nd and 4th congressional districts, yet the party of the Big Tent is not only determined to defend the seats of Congressmen Childers, Thompson and Taylor, but also to help elect Joel Gill in the 3rd Congressional district.

If you have any questions please contact Jason Harper at jason@mississippidemocrats.org or 601-969-2913.
Democratically yours,

Jason Harper
Field Director

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.