InkBlots

Rarely do we think much about the sources of information swirling around us in the battle to sway people to accept a certain point of view on social issues and public policies. The massive public relations machinery of government, spin doctors on talk shows and in interviews, speeches of government officials and bloggers bombard the public with partisan positions on issues.

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• Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant made it very clear Friday afternoon how he felt about the need to further open up Mississippi’s governing bodies as they conduct the public’s business. “Good government is not only efficient, it is open,” Bryant said. “We’re certainly going to try and do something about it because I am very sensitive to that.
• How other states handle open records.
• The Clarion-Ledger: American citizens have a powerful tool in ensuring their government functions as it should and is accountable - the federal Freedom of Information Act.

Michael David Graham, convicted in 1989 of the shotgun murder of his ex-wife, has applied to Gov. Haley Barbour for a pardon. A trusty at the governor’s mansion, Graham has for 30 days published a notice of his intention to seek a pardon in The Mississippi Press newspaper, as required by state law.