From www.politico.com
GOP govs to Senate: Hold the line
Several of the GOP's most prominent governors blasted the stimulus plan making its way through Congress Thursday, urging Senate Republicans to resist passing the bill and taking aim at what they called unnecessary spending in the package.
"The legislation currently being considered includes excess spending and impedes states' abilities to manage their own programs," said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. "I will oppose any stimulus package that increases states' costs and taxes, or results in federal control over state-administered programs.
Barbour concluded: "The best stimulus package is one that includes tax cuts and real job creation initiatives that can have an immediate positive impact on the American economy."
Ah yes, Haley Barbour. Living proof that in the Republican party one can never be too racist, too ideological, too right wing, or too fat.
This long-time political hack slithered his way up through the sewers of the Republican Party to become the RNC chairman, and having milked that for as much political payola as possible, retired to enjoy the easy life as governor of one of the poorest states in the Union.
Let's look at some fun facts and figures about the great state of Mississippi.
As of 2008, Mississippi has an estimated population of 2,938,618[1]. Mississippi's population has the largest proportion of African Americans of any U.S. state, currently nearly 37%.
For three years in a row, more than 30 percent of Mississippi's residents have been classified as obese. The state's pronounced poverty leads to poor nutrition habits. These are affected by the increase in costs for fresh produce while prices of high calorie, high fat foods have fallen.[23] Many of the poorest residents rely on small convenience stores where all foods are pre-packed.[23] In a 2006 study, 22.8 percent of the state's children were classified as obese. Mississippi had the highest rate of obesity of any U.S. state from 2005-2008 and also ranks first in the nation for high blood pressure, diabetes, and adult inactivity.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that Mississippi's total state product in 2006 was $84 billion. Per capita personal income in 2006 was only $26,908, the lowest per capita personal income of any state.
On August 30, 2007, a report by the United States Census Bureau indicated that Mississippi was the poorest state in the country. Many white cotton farmers in the Delta have large, mechanized plantations, some of which receive extensive Federal subsidies, yet many African Americans still live as poor, rural, landless laborers.
Sounds like paradise to me. So it should come as no surprise to anyone that Governor Barbour would be opposed to any of that stimulus crap being put forward by the new black president of the United States. Haley's a good ol' boy who couldn't give a rat's ass about the welfare of any colored person unless of course the color is white. When Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, he made sure that the casinos which of course are owned by whites and primarily patronized by whites although they are more than happy to take whatever little money the blacks might gamble away got all the Federal money they could in order to rebuild. Screw the people who lost everything they had.
So now he and his band of merry white men (Michael Steele notwithstanding) are once again trumpeting the failed and corrupt ideology which got us to the brink of disaster we now face. It doesn't matter to them that it would benefit the neediest and poorest of our fellow Americans. Hell, they're just a drain on the state's economy as it is. I think maybe we should think about letting them secede from the Union (which in my opinion Lincoln should have let happen 150 years ago). They can start their own little nation. Let's see what should it be called? I know!
Whitesownlia!