Bush Legacy Tour

JACKSON, MS-The Communication Workers of America (CWA), among other union members in Jackson, gave us one of our warmest welcomes yet on Tuesday night. We pulled in to the CWA in Jackson hall to bring the bus to the debate watch party they were hosting. We were met with cheers and excitement. About forty-fifty people came out to see the bus before catching the debate. There was barely room to breath inside the bus.  We had a lot of support and were warmly received by the crowd.  Quite a few union members took photos in front of the bus and excitedly exclaimed that it would be their new myspace or facebook photo.

Our event in Jackson the next morning was in front of the state Capitol.  We set up in our approved, permitted location and were met with an unexpected greeting. Shortly after we opened, sprinklers on the capitol lawn came one and sprayed the bus and our lit table . We laughed that it didn’t appear to be accidental and several of the state workers inside the bus said that it was not the normal time that the sprinklers go on.  It appeared that Governor Haley Barbour was giving us a complimentary bus washing! We did have one local who said that the sprinklers are on timers and do go off at that time, so perhaps it was not intentional. One man inside the bus quipped that it is customary in Mississippi for protesters to be sprayed with a hose of some kind.

The sprinklers in front of the state capitol have us a free bus washing.

BILOXI, MS- Our day in Biloxi began with getting screamed at  for pulling the bus in front of the Hard Rock Hotel.  Even though we were parked in the adjacent lot all evening and guests at the hotel,  the manager was livid and screamed that the bus needed to be removed. Ironically enough, it turns out that the Hard Rock Hotel has connections with the conservative Governor Haley Barbour. The hotel is represented at the capitol by a lobbying firm that the Governor’s nephews Henry and Austin Barbour, are partners in.  Even more ironic is that Austin Barbour is also the campaign manager for Roger Wicker who is running for another term in the Senate. Roger Wicker, having a 95% voting record with the President was the focus of our stop in Biloxi.  Wicker voted for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and voted against raising the minimum wage for Americans struggling to get by. He supported Bush’s plans to privatize social security and voted against SCHIP, the State Children Health Insurance Program.

Sue Hatem in Gulfport, MS  on the impact of Bush’s education policies have had on educators and their students.

Billy Bova in Gulfport, MS on the local impact of Katrina.