The Picayune Item Opinion

Health Care fund may hit zero

2012-02-08T09:22:12-06:00

A new Republican governor and new Republican legislative leadership now face the same task that has confounded their Democratic colleagues when they had the reins of state government — finding a way to pay for Mississippi’s massive Medicaid program.

Komen backlash wrongheaded

2012-02-08T09:17:30-06:00

To hear much of the American media tell it, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the breast-cancer charity that recently cut its ties with Planned Parenthood before (sort of) backing down, should simply be no more.

Voting rights attack is un-American

2012-02-07T08:34:59-06:00

When this country was founded, only white men owning property could vote. Since then, the franchise has gradually expanded to include blacks and women, the poor and the young. Poll taxes and literacy tests have been abolished. A firm national principle has been established: Every vote should count, and count equally. Until now.

Size of Universe is unimaginable

2012-02-07T08:29:37-06:00

I stumbled across an interesting video on YouTube produced by Tony Darnell, entitled "The Hubble Deep Field: The Most Important Picture Ever Taken." It is, to say the least, a very thought-provoking video and has to do with our place in the Universe.

Numbers suggest priorities

2012-02-04T18:30:51-06:00

By Sid Salter/Syndicated columnist
As the new Republican majority controlling state government claimed victory by passing the Children’s Protection Act with ease in the House, it’s clear that even more fundamental — and more politically difficult — challenges loom down the public policy road.

Romney has Massachusetts problem

2012-02-04T18:28:55-06:00

By Byron York/Syndicated columnist
Mitt Romney was born and raised in Michigan and has ties to Utah. Yet he chose to make his career, both in business and politics, in Massachusetts. Nearly every political problem Romney has today, at least those involving his policy positions, stems from that one decision.

Woman escaped killing machine

2012-02-03T09:28:00-06:00

By Nat Hentoff/Syndicated columnist
A survivor of Robert Mugabe’s relentlessly brutal dictatorship in Zimbabwe, Patience Mhlanga would like you to know what it was like to grow up in grinding fear there. She escaped, but her story tells what so many others are still undergoing in that hellhole that the rest of the world allows to continue:
“Growing up in Zimbabwe, I learned the meaning of persecution early. My father was a strong supporter of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and the supporters of Robert Mugabe threatened to kill our family for my father’s views.

Restored restaurant signals renewal

2012-02-03T09:26:01-06:00

By Bill Crawford/Meridian Star columnist
Choctaw tribal chief Phyliss Anderson restored and reopened Phillip M’s at the Pearl River Resort last week. She also signaled her intent to renew the economic policies so successfully implemented by the restaurant’s namesake.

Woman escaped killing machine

2012-02-03T08:43:00-06:00

A survivor of Robert Mugabe’s relentlessly brutal dictatorship in Zimbabwe, Patience Mhlanga would like you to know what it was like to grow up in grinding fear there. She escaped, but her story tells what so many others are still undergoing in that hellhole that the rest of the world allows to continue:

Restored restaurant signals renewal

2012-02-03T08:37:06-06:00

Choctaw tribal chief Phyliss Anderson restored and reopened Phillip M’s at the Pearl River Resort last week. She also signaled her intent to renew the economic policies so successfully implemented by the restaurant’s namesake.