This is one fantastic idea!

The website Israel 21C has broken the news of one helluva breakthrough in birth control: the Pill for men. The site reports:

Prof. Haim Breitbart of Israel's Bar-Ilan University authored a breakthrough paper in 2006 describing how sperm survive in the uterus. Now the biochemist is taking those findings and using them against sperm. He's developed a number of novel compounds that have no affect on male sex drive, but succeed in impairing the reproductive ability of the sperm. If all goes according to his plan, a new male birth control pill could be on the market within the next five years.

* * * *

"The mice behaved nicely," Breitbart reports, "they ate and had sex; they were laughing, and everything, so all I can say is that we couldn't see any behavioral side-effects - all their sex behavior was retained, which is a very important consideration for human men. A man who takes this pill could also be sexually active later on and have children."

AWESOME!

Half-wits, hyperbole, and the Jackson water "crisis"

As the Jackson-area readers of this blog surely know by now, the City of Jackson is under a "boil water" notice throuh the weekend. The chief water main from the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant ruptured, sending water pressure through the floor across the city. Mayor Harvey Johnson and his administration have responded extremely well to the event, and pressure's already back to normal.

Here's my beef: if you read Facebook Thursday morning, you would have been bombarded with alarmist proclamations about the main break, and more than a few comparisons to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. I can't think of a more misguided, hurtful statement than that. We have to drink bottled water for a few days and that somehow is on par with the massive damage to the Gulf Coast's wildlife and beaches?

The next time I hear that comparison, the person who makes it is getting the inaugural "Ipse Blogit Idiot of the Year Award." You've been warned.

Back to the private sector...

Yesterday marked my last day in the employ of Hinds County. This morning, my old friend P.J. Lee and I formed Eichelberger & Lee, PLLC.

P.J. has extensive premises liability and auto accident defense experience. We'll be focusing our efforts on criminal defense and plaintiff's premises, 1983, and auto cases.

This should be fun.

Renaissance Building in Ridgeland Survives Appeal

The Mississippi Supreme Court today affirmed the Circuit Court of Madison County, which upheld the October 10, 2007 ordinance of the City of Ridgeland permitting construction of the 13-story office building at the Renaissance on Highland Colony Parkway.

The decision is here:Ridgeland Opinion

Laurie David Asks The Right Questions About the Gulf Oil Spill

I stumbled across this piece on The Huffington Post that asks the questions I've been pondering over the last 50 days:

Why are we giving oil companies a free pass to drill a mile below the ocean's surface, where the pressure is so intense it causes oil to shoot out like a rocket, when we don't know how to fix major leaks?

* * * *

Why haven't more heads rolled at the Minerals Management Service, where our officials have cozied up with oil executives for over a decade? (I bet they forgot to discuss giant oil spills in all of Cheney's secret energy meetings.) How has only one person been fired, while the other 1,700 MMS employees -- the same people who let BP bypass safety tests - are still in their jobs and have approved over 30 new drilling projects since the Deepwater Horizon sank?

* * * *

Why are we using dismal and inadequate boom technologies from the 60's to try to stop the biggest oil slick in U.S. history from suffocating our coastlines? With all the billions of dollars that have been poured into new 21st century drilling technologies, are absorbent pads really the best we can do? Really? Where are Shell's ideas, or Chevron's?

Good questions, all. I hope we get some answers.

Kenneth Stokes, the Clarion-Ledger, and signs made by 3rd graders

Walking home for lunch today, I spotted Councilman Kenny Stokes holding a press conference & protest outside of the Clarion-Ledger headquarters.  The reason behind the protest is the Clarion-Ledger's investigative reporting into Councilman Stokes' taxpayer-funded trips.  According to a June 4th article by Chris Joiner, Councilman Stokes has been flitting around the country on the taxpayer's dime without any real justification.  The Clarion-Ledger summarized Joyner's story with an editorial the following day.  An excerpt:

A Clarion-Ledger check of travel records show that Stokes went to Chicago last August, spending $2,745.54. The tab included a hotel with a $275.81-a-night fee.
When asked about the trip, Stokes had trouble remembering what it was about. Actually, it was about streets, the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials Subcommittee.
Worse, those contacted at the conference could not recall Stokes being there.
He also went to a Chicago trade show of the mobile broadband industry and attended another on real estate in New York. He traveled to Washington, D.C., in March, but didn't join the mayor and council members in meeting with the state congressional delegation. Stokes says he avoids interacting with other city officials on such trips to avoid appearance of collusion. He apparently did a good job. Nobody saw him.

 Marshall Ramsey added a cartoon:

All of that led to this:

The signs were repetitive and childish "Clarion-Liar", "Clarion-Cesspool", etc.  The laughable ones were "Yo Hampton! Your dress is showing" (a bit chauvinistic, don't ya think?) and "Hey Ramsey, your momma's fat!"  (Apparently an entry from Ward 3 elementary school children home on summer break.)

Stokes says he wants the city to hire attorneys to sue the C-L for libel.  I'd like to think that has a slim-to-zero chance of happening.

(By the way, isn't that Enoch Sanders holding the Ramsey sign above?)

A new definition to the phrase "riding a prosecutor's a**"

The ABA Journal brings word of a breakdown in negotiations in a Chicago courthouse between a public defender and a prosecutor:

Police said Henry Hams, 47, put a 50-year-old Cook County prosecutor into a "choking headlock" this morning at the criminal courthouse at 26th and California, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
"He had his hands wrapped around his throat and was just kind of riding him down the wall," an unidentified source told the Chicago Tribune.

You stay classy, Chicago.

Hey Evening Standard: Bugger off

London's Evening Standard has seen fit to give us its two pence over the oil spill and BP's relationship to it.  In a screed entitled "BP spill crisis affects British pensioners," the British tabloid pitches what will, no doubt, soon be talking points for lawyer-hatin' Republicans.

Here are the lowlights:

• "..a characteristically American reaction to a crisis: if something goes wrong, sue."
• "...there was an accident and there can be no doubt that BP, which has most to lose from this crisis, has done everything possible to put things right." (Emphasis mine)
• "An attempt retrospectively to get tough with BP by bringing criminal charges will not help us now."

The editorial finishes with one of the more selfish comments I've seen in awhile:

 "One in every six pounds that UK institutions earn in dividends is derived from BP: a reduction will have a direct, adverse effect, not just on fat cats, but on British pensioners. This is bad for all of us."

So, the Evening Standard's take is that BP simply couldn't do more to help, and that by attempting to punish BP for possible criminal acts is wrongheaded because the perennially-suffering, downtrodden British pensioner won't be able to afford his afternoon spot of tea.  I'm sorry, but I'm about as sensitive to the Evening Standard's concerns for the British pensioner right now as Tony Hayward is to the people of Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.