"You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war."

Humanity is governed by minorities, seldom or never by majorities. It suppresses its feelings and its beliefs and follows the handful that makes the most noise. Sometimes the noisy handful is right, sometimes wrong, but no matter, the crowd follows it.

Oddly enough, Mark Twain's quote comes from The Mysterious Stranger- in the world of blogs and message boards, mysterious strangers are the norm. Here, for example, I am known as Promise; but,by any name, am a modern day muckraker.

I still believe most do; but, I am no longer so green that I can’t spot a Yellow Kid or recognize comments made by those that reflect the British English application of the word to sensationalist scandal-mongering journalist, not driven by any social principles.

Allegations and indictments have, as Cowboy would say, slabbed the integrity of our State’s legal system. Grief is a natural response, and anger is a natural part of the grieving process. Scandal-mongering, however naturally it may come to some, is not anger – it’s the sensationalized stories or outright lying that caused Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, two icons of American journalism, to be known as the two Yellow Kids.

Pulitzer and Hearst are often credited (or blamed) for drawing the nation into the Spanish-American War…eventually resulting in…the most famous example of the exaggeration…a version of which appears in the Hearst-inspired film Citizen Kane - the apocryphal story that artist Frederic Remington telegrammed Hearst to tell him all was quiet in Cuba and There will be no war. Hearst responded Please remain.You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war.

So - Who’s furnishing the pictures of Attorney General Hood and who’s furnishing the war on his integrity?

It would be less than honest not to acknowledge Hood himself is submitting a few snapshots – I didn't care who (Scruggs) supported. I wasn't crazy about being attorney general anyway.. – and equally dishonest not to consider the possibility Twain suggested - Often the surest way to convey misinformation is to tell the strict truth.

Yesterday’s edition of the Clarion Ledger generated a total of 160 reader comments from a front page story and three separate blog posts related to the allegation that indicted attorney Dickie Scruggs attempted to influence Hood.

Blogs started developing that picture on the 25th - that Jim Hood story was sitting there in Pacer at 7-8 PM or thereabouts. I started downloading stuff about then, and just didn’t get around to it till midnight.The first post was up early on the 26th and Holy S--t Balducci, State Farm, Jim Hood, Scruggs – all together in one paragraph appeared shortly therafter.

During the day related posts and news stories were linked to those already posted online.

Holy Cow! Do you see what this says? It says that Scruggs paid Balducci and Patterson half a million dollars to get Hood to back off the State Farm grand jury investigation. ..Seems to me that whole business needs to be explored some more, don't you think? If this is true, doesn't it qualify as some sort of improper influence of a public official?

By the evening of the 26th another picture was developing on the blogs – one chiding the old media are 24 hours behind the blogs…Actually, I’m going to frame this question more aggressively…What’s with the pros? – and, on the morning of the 27th, it was ready to print.

As you might expect, that $500,000 that Tim Balducci claims Dickie Scruggs (eventually, grudgingly) paid him and Steve Patterson to get Attorney General Jim Hood’s indictment of State Farm called off has made a splash in Mississippi’s largest newspapers this morning

On the 28th, the Yellow Kid went big time with a level of sensationalism that spread an outright lie coast to coast under the banner of none other than Legal News Line. Had it not been for my all time favorite blog post title - Why Legal News Line is fit only for the bottoms of virtual birdcages – the Yellow Kid’s nose would be longer than Pinocchio’s by now for claiming An FBI report released this week supported the headline Hood allegedly offered bribe from Scruggs.

The modest attempt to set the record straight - Editor’s note: The following story is a corrected version of an earlier article that contained many inaccuracies – fell far short of any measure of retraction. Shortly after daylight today, Legal News Line was back to the bottom of virtual birdcages - Too bad you didn’t notify The Google, LNL. I hope this helps them sue your ass for libel.

Attributing an outright lie to an FBI report can only be called an amazing act of hubris – far stronger evidence than documented in the defense Motion to Change Venue:

the print media blitz has been supplemented by Mississippi-based web logs (blogs) that report, in excruciating detail, every event in the prosecution and defense of the Scruggs criminal case; as well as their finding people piling on. Mr. Merkel. Mr. Tollison. The notion being at last he’s getting his comeuppance.

Judge Biggers called it one of the most thoroughly researched briefs I have ever seen; later adding, but it’s hard for me to believe there were no statements favorable to Dickie and denying the motion.

Considering the unanimous, accurate blog prediction of every ruling Judge Biggers made on the Defense Motions, Judge Biggers unquestioned integrity, and the assaults on Attorney General Hood, one can only wonder who’s providing the pictures and who’s providing the war - and where all these warriors are hidden.

The only thing proven thus far is attributed to Mark Twain:

Injurious truth has no merit over an injurious lie. Neither should ever be uttered. The man who speaks an injurious truth, lest his soul be not saved if he do otherwise, should reflect that that sort of a soul is not strictly worth saving.

Another Great Editorial in Today's Clarion Ledger

Here is another very well reasoned editorial from our friends at the Clarion Ledger in Jackson:

Insurance: Katrina demonstrates need for bill

Fourth District U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor says he will fight again in 2008 for a bill to add wind coverage to federal flood insurance for protection from another hurricane like Katrina.

But, if so, he's going to have to find an ally in the Senate.

The House bill, which Taylor co-sponsored, with the support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., added wind coverage to the National Flood Insurance Program. But the wind coverage provision was not included in a bill the Senate Banking Committee approved, The Associated Press reported. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., has blocked a vote by the full Senate because optional wind coverage and higher coverage limits were not included.

The Senate bill was sponsored by Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Richard Shelby, R-Ala. Taylor said he can understand Dodd's objections because of the insurance interests headquartered in his state. "Shelby is the one I keep scratching my head over," he said, because of his constituents in coastal Alabama.

Republican Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran supports the multiple-perils bill. He should lobby his colleagues for it. Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had introduced a similar bill in the Senate.

Taylor's bill had already been massaged by the House to meet potential objections. Pelosi led a 13-member congressional fact-finding mission to the Coast in August. Listening to victims at a town hall meeting in Bay St. Louis, she pledged to help, but even she acknowledged: "We're up against a mighty force (lobbying efforts of the insurance industry)."

Pelosi helped push Taylor's "multi-peril" Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007 through the Financial Services Committee in July, and it went to the Senate with full House backing as HR3121. It would allow flood insurance policyholders to purchase wind insurance or as a stand-alone policy, and increases limits.

Catastrophic insurance for hurricanes remains a need for U.S. coastal areas nationwide, so it could - and should - be resurrected. Mississippi is not alone in facing higher insurance premiums, if it's available.

As has been noted in www.clarionledger.com/forums under "Katrina-related issues," home insurance rates are skyrocketing in all the nation's coastal areas. The experience with Katrina on the Coast, still waiting for insurance and government promised relief, is evidence for HR3121.

As one reader wrote: "My husband and I chose to stay here, even though we lost everything we owned, because of his business. It cost everything we had and then some to build a new home, miles away from the water and insurance was still astronomical. But ... if we waited for progress to be made down here, we would be dead."

HR3121 should not be allowed to die. The very life of the Coast could be at stake.

Good Editorial in Todays Clarion Ledger

Here is a well reasoned opinion on the impact of the current legal mess and it's impact on coast residents seeking justice.

"Katrina lawsuits: Coast residents want justice

The Clarion-Ledger

For Mississippi Hurricane Katrina victims, hope for recovery from the storm took a sickening turn with the charges lodged against attorney Dickie Scruggs.

State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. is seeking to have attorneys with Scruggs' "Katrina Litigation Group" representing policyholders thrown off a key case because the insurer claims the lawyers have behaved unethically.

Scruggs withdrew from most of his firm's Katrina cases after his indictment on charges he tried to bribe a judge for a favorable ruling in a dispute over legal fees.

The newly formed group, which includes members of Scruggs' legal team, is now handling hundreds of cases on behalf of Coast policyholders in "wind vs. water" disputes, alleging the insurer failed to honor claims.

State Farm claims that Scruggs and members of his team have committed "highly unethical acts," such as illicitly obtaining internal claims records, and have "irreparably perverted the litigation process."

Scruggs' indictment has muddied the water for policyholders. The more cases are delayed, the longer the recovery can take - if homeowners don't just give up or move away. About 14,902 families still are in temporary housing units in Mississippi.

In clarionledger.com's Forums, under Katrina-related issues, Mississippi Insurance Forum, readers commiserate. Says one: "'Ain't life grand?' For some people, maybe, but nothing's grand for the people on the Coast that were 'slabbed' by Katrina, 'stabbed' by their 'good neighbor,' and forced to live out a horror story that even Hitchcock would find frightening.

"Life's not going to be grand for anyone in our state until we get to the bottom of this mess ... Unfortunately it's going to take a long time - longer, I fear, that folks with valid claims can hold on."

Mississippians have the "want to" for rebuilding. The legal disputes need to be resolved."