Me, too. And the attacks on her hair were unconscionable: It's what happens to strong, successful women. People accomplishing less in their lives try to pick them apart in the most superficial, pathetic ways. The world saw a beautiful young athlete with her hair pulled back. Young women don't need to see obsession with surface stuff; they need to see power and focus. Gabby delivered.

All this astounds me. I can't even wrap my head around assuming a kid is a "thug" or a gang member because they're wearing colored sneakers (look at the Olympians!) or because they're following a saggy-pants trend.

This morning, a woman called here furious because our editorial cartoonist drew a kid with a Tigers logo wearing baggy pants and being yelled at by Kenny Stokes. The cartoon was criticizing Stokes, but not the kid, but she was yelling that we were making JSU look bad.

I guess she didn't get the cartoon or the JFP's stance on saggy pants. We weren't insulting the kid or Jackson State. wearing saggy pants doesn't make a kid a thug.

i would have explained that to her had she stopped yelling and allowed me to talk. Instead, I hung up on her because I'm not sitting here waiting to be verbally abused. You want to talk to me, come willing to also listen. And what she would have heard is a defense of the kid.

See, this is the right attitude. People can have beliefs against certain things without trying to get the government to be your personal morality enforcer. The government does not belong in personal issues that do not affect other people, period. This is what makes us America. Wish people would get a clue about this. The nation was founded, in no small part, in search of religious freedom precisely because so many of our ancestors fled religious persecution -- including Christian. These state public figures can believe what they want personally, but they should be ashamed of taking very un-American stances. Reeves can sit around at Fenian's with his staffers at night, knock back the brewskies and talk about how he doesn't like gay people, or want them married or committed, all he wants but it doesn't mean he has the right to limit their rights. That's Big Brother crap.

Reeves' statement was incorrect, by the way, whether intentional or not. The application wasn't for a "same-sex marriage"--it was for a commitment ceremony. I suspect that was pure politics: He just wanted to get the phrase "same-sex marriage" in the same sentence with "Jim Hood."

This style of politics makes me ill. These are people's lives; they want to celebrate love, and these politicians go around spewing hate and dishonesty.

My first breaking headline left out the word "State," making it look like "North Street." My apologies.

It feels like desperation. Sick desperation, but still. Imagine thinking you must win an office by playing off bigotry. So, so sad. I pray for the day that this country moves past that crap. But we have Reagan and Nixon (and Atwater and Barbour) to thank for making the southern strategy so popular, and effective ... at least for a while. I suspect younger generations are going to reject it, but it'll take a bit to come out in the wash. Sigh.

Romney's Willie Horton-Welfare Mother moment. It's very sad to see an educated candidate using a classic race strategy to try to win the presidency. You'd expect this from Bachmann or Palin or the, but Romney? Lord help us. And forgive us.

After listening to Stokes defend Melton's drunken attack on a duplex, urging teenagers to commit criminal activity, pardon me if I find his sentiments here a bit hollow and hypocritical.

Strikes me as typical political grandstanding. Obviously, the government can't tell citizens what they have to wear. Sheer absurdity and waste of public resources.

Very succinct, blu. I should learn such brevity. ;-)

This was corrected above. Thanks for your post last week. I'm just seeing it, but R.L. corrected that misstatement last week.