On the Road Again

On the road today for meetings in South Carolina, blogging will be light. Some items from the news files to tide you over:

THE LYNCHING CAUCUS: Raw Story pulls a piece from the Atlanta J-C website (with its hideous registration requirements) that Tennessee's own Sen. Bill Frist successfully fought a roll-call vote on the lynching apology resolution. Pam has more. Also: Frist's distinguished colleague from TN, Sen. Lamar Alexander, explained his indifference to lynching by saying he had already sponsored legislation celebrating black history month. See? Give those people a month, and they just want more.

REVOLVING DOOR: Exxon has snapped up Phil Cooney, Bush's environmental advisor who became recently unemployed after admitting to doctoring government reports on global warming. As Think Progress notes, "The headlines will read that Cooney was hired by Exxon today. The reality is he never stopped working there. The taxpayers were just taking care of his salary for the last few years."

HIV EXPLODING AMONG SOUTHERN WOMEN: USA Today covers a CDC study showing a dramatic rise of HIV infections among Southern women. Scariest stats: HIV infection rates are four times higher among Latinas and 18 times higher among African-American women than white women. And one of the fastest-growing groups in the South is girls aged 13-19. Which makes it especially inexcusable that states like North Carolina (a focus of the CDC study) are slashing funds for HIV/AIDS programs, while preparing to shovel huge tax breaks to corporations. Class warfare is deadly.

BUBBA IS BACK: South Knox Bubba is back from his cross-country excursion and blogging strong. Pay him a visit and welcome him home.