MSU Ahead!

After a scary bad first inning, we are ahead 3-2 in the bottom of the 4th!

At the MS State Game

And they are asleep! 3 errors in the top of the first inning. Ugh

Fw: After the civil rights game....

After the game we went to the rendezvous BBQ. Say down with some folks from new jersey. The gentleman across the table in the picture was from Birmingham. He attended the 16th St Baptist church as a child. 40 years ago he was 30 minutes late arriving on the day a bomb exploded and 4 little girls died in that Alabama church. I expected to are a great game, but What a great day for baseball and a great conversation after the game. I couldn't be happier.

Mets win it!

Now you can't see it...

But here are the mets starters in the dugout as they are about to win it in the 9th!

I know it is the 7th inning...

But should the bathroom line be this long?

For All the David Wright Fans

David Wright singles to First!

And Beltran knocks him in!

At the game!

Finally no rain and in the good seats! 5 rows from 3rd base!

Rainy day

But they are still playing!

David Wright at 3rd

Finally at the park.

Finally on the Way

Go mets!

On the Way to the Mets Game in Memphis!

And by on our way, I mean waiting in Jackson still for Dr.Wagner to arrive so we can leave!

Looking Out of a Hole

In Mississippi, people on Medicaid have to apply and then renew each year to stay on the program. That is actually what everyone in every state does. If that were the end of the story, my job would be done.

In Mississippi we also make you do each of these renewals in face to face meetings. They are called interviews. That is exactly what they are not.

The state pre-sets the time when you meet. Hope you can make it. When you are on Medicaid because you're 80 and cannot fend for yourself, well....I sure hope someone can give you a ride. Gotta work? No car? No problem! We just kick you right off. As you may know, Medicaid is for 3 groups of people: the elderly, poor children (not their parents), and the blind/disabled. Basically, these are the Mississippians least able to fend for themselves. They now have to go to these meetings to stay on the program. This would be fine if there was a true value to the policy. The time isn't used to vet the applicants. It is not used to root out fraud. It is not time to access and aid in the healthcare of the enrollee. This is what Gov. Haley Barbour says it is for. That's a lie. It isn't. I spent a year travelling to every office in every county in the state. I interviewed workers and managers in every office. No one was doing the things listed above. No one was under the illusion that they were supposed to do these things. Several openly laughed at the notion that it was their instructed job.

The twist is this. The face to face meetings are simply a requirement of over 600,000 citizens to hand deliver their paperwork. It is a policy designed to fail. The program requires 2300 face to face meetings a day to stay at its current size. St the same time they started to close down the very Medicaid offices that operate the system. County after county across the star have no Medicaid office at all. The counties that have offices often are open 4 or 7 hours a month. The offices don't even have signs to tell you that you're in the right place when you walk in the door. We are making our citizens meet people that don't show up for work, then when it doesn't work out, we blame the sick. Wonderful. Our infant mortality rate has skyrocketed. We actually now pay more to serve FEWER people on Medicaid. We have kicked off nearly 80,000 people so far. By far, most are kicked off because they have no office they can actually visit. Oh yeah...and we are breaking the law to boot.

I'm at the capitol. And its my job to make all this stop.

Two of the Halls of Congress

For days (weeks?) I've been at the capitol trying to end a tiny little Medicaid procedure. I probably only need a 10 min conversation today, but it may take me all day to get it. I'm feeling less than productive.

You were thinking coke...

But something else is good with rum....

Um...HOLY CRAP

Fox news Anchors WALKED OFF THE SET after getting frustrated with other Faux News Anchors going off on Obama! creezus!!

Then Chris Wallace (of FOXNews) actually went off on the "Fox and Friends" jerks to tell them that they're...um...Jerks. I mean, when your anchor is saying Fox is Bashing Obama, then...whew...um...i don't think i've EVER seen anything like this on Fox.

Amazing.

NOTE: i had a hard time making myself watch these clips because everytime i watch Fox and Friends i feel a little bit of my soul melt away.

The aftermath

Not only did Tulane blow out Oakland, but new Orleans blew out St. Patrick's Day ! I have never seen more beads left on the ground in my life. Big crowds tho. I now have a wonderfully stylish foam bushmills top hat! Klassy with a K baby!

Juan's Flying Buritos

Ok. No trip to NOLA is complete without a trip here. Now, I don't know if this speaks highly of this place or not, but it may be the only restaurant I've ever been to that played GG Allin on the radio. Hmpf.

9 to 0

Top of the 6th and we are rockin!

Bill Wuz Here!

Bill Clinton was on campus. We did our part. For the global initiative at the Baseball diamond.

5 to 0 in the 5th

Pretty day and we are winning!

AJ in NOLA

My brother AJ came with me to the Tulane game in New Orleans

Obama!

I don't know how it is elsewhere, but you can get an Obama shirt on any corner in Jackson, MS.

Vote Today!

If you are in Mississippi, I encourage you to vote for Obama!

And Now, Something Pretty...

i

Here's something pretty so you don't have to look at my foot when you come back here. i hope to blot a little about the election later. in a nutshell i think Hillary wins 1 state of the four. maybe 2. i don't think it is enough and she can't overcome the map. with the way delegates are apportioned, close races just provide a marginal split.

So anyway, this is one of the prettiest cars I've ever seen. a 1963 XKE

Ever Seen Someone with a Sprained Ankle?

It isn't very pretty. It looks worse a day later! I can only imagine what sunday will bring.

Still arguing!

Like i said below, ...UNTIL...we were robbed by a blind ump! i think our entire coaching staff cleared the bench. this shot was taken WAY into what should have been the start of the 9th inning. We fought back hard, stacking the bases with players early on in the bottom of the 9th. every pitch was a nail biter. in the end, they were stranded on base. we lost the game splitting the double header in half. So close...better luck Sunday. I will be back home though. I better check on that ankle....

2 down. Bases loaded

Bottom of the 8th! We were really taking it to these guys. the batter walks. Down by 1 now, the next batter steps up. a nice line drive. The short stop retrieves it, tosses a SLOW throw to 1st base. It will be a tie ballgame and the bulldogs will be poised to blow this wide open, UNTIL...

AUZ-bun!!

This was the guy I spent my full day heckling. 3rd baseman Ben Ausbun (#6) from Air Force. I was pretty nice to the guy, not getting off color or anything, but i went at him for the entire game. I knew i hit a nerve when the stands started laughing in the second game when i just said his name. hadn't even made a comment yet. i was very proud. Unfortunately for us, the Mojo was slipping by this point.

What to eat between games

And by eat, I mean drink! Yay for a double header. When we arrived we didn't realized that the previous day's game was rained out and pushed to today, SOOOO after that first game, we get another! two MSU games in one day! nice surprise!

HOME RUN!!

Socking it out of the park!

Go democrats!

Riding to victory! My pal has some cool t-shirts.

Can you tell...

Which ankle I sprained? (HINT: look at the left one) Hobbling along, watching the MSU Bulldogs! I think this thing may be getting worse. at least i'm spending most of my day sitting. i was walking by a gentleman in a walker earlier. he outran me up the ramp into the stands...NO LIE!

3 to 1 in the 7th!

Air force better not defend the country in baseball! What a good game! We've had some excellent ptiching. lots of strike outs. Sorry my blackberry camera isn't any better than this.

Go Dawgs!

Gotta love swinging bully!

MSU home game this weekend

First home games of the year, and it is a Double Header!!