You can find out a lot about people when they get angry and yell things out in the heat of the battle or argument. During a town meeting on Tuesday, Mayor James Levigne angrily told a person that he would not answer his question and said: "I hope the Ku Kluxers get you, too." Wow, just wow. I wonder what books he reads/ Here's what happened.

NOLA:

At the end of Tuesday's meeting of the Pearl River Board of Aldermen, Lavigne refused to allow Marshall to comment about an issue discussed during the meeting. When Marshall continued to try to ask a question about how long members of the fire board would serve, Lavigne told him he would not take questions and added, "I hope the Ku Kluxers get you, too."

It was not clear exactly what the mayor meant by the comment or why he referenced the Klan, and his Thursday statement shed no light on those issues. Numerous attempts to get Lavigne to speak about his comments, including phone calls to his home and office and visits to Pearl River's Town Hall, were unsuccessful.

For years, Marshall has had a tempestuous relationship with Lavigne and with the board of the fire district. Marshall has frequently criticized the fire board in person and on NOLA.com forums, accusing its officials of mismanagement and violations of state ethics codes.

In his statement, Lavigne referred to "disgruntled and paranoid persons expressing ... untruths on the computer."

During Tuesday night's meeting, Lavigne attempted to shut off debate several times. First, he tried to force aldermen to vote on a measure that would have had the town join him in an effort to remove Clay Harper, one of his opponents in the October election, from the ballot. Lavigne said Harper was not a resident of the town, though Harper produced documents at the meeting showing he was eligible for the position. Lavigne said he planned to have Town Attorney Ron Guth continue the effort on his behalf...read on

But racism is dead in the USA, isn't it? I remember Tony Snow (he's passed on now) telling us that much in 2003 when he defended his buddy Rush Limbaugh from racism charges.

Here's the unmentionable secret: Racism isn't that big a deal any more. No sensible person supports it. Nobody of importance preaches it. It's rapidly becoming an ugly memory. If you want proof, open a Philadelphia paper tomorrow. If Donovan McNabb has a bad game, he'll get ripped ruthlessly, just like any other signal-caller. Which means that Rush's observation, if anything, was dated -- and that the sports world has become sufficiently colorblind to judge players by their performance and not their skin color.

Tony is no longer with us, but if he was I wonder how he would defend Rush Limbaugh's ramped up racist behavior since Obama's been in office? Would he see a correlation with Rushbo's attack on McNabb that got him fired? And now we have a mayor throwing out a "KKK" bomb. Jesus.

In a move that's akin to acknowledging the roof has massive leaks, but you won't consider any solutions that involve anything more costly than putting pots and pans under the leaks, President Obama announces he wants to do something about unemployment - but he doesn't want it to cost anything:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama assured Americans on Monday that boosting jobs was a top priority, but gave no specifics about how to meet this goal that some economists say warrants more government spending.

The White House said separately that all "sensible and reasonable measures" would be considered to encourage employment, but also stressed that it must be balanced with the need for the United States to tackle record budget deficits.

"Our economy is growing again for the first time in more than a year," Obama told reporters after a meeting with his Cabinet. "We cannot be sit back and be satisfied given the extraordinarily high unemployment levels that we have seen."

[...] Obama has also said he is interested in solutions that would not cost much public money, warning that adding to the U.S. debt could trigger a double-dip recession.

Reacting in the NY Times, Krugman is, well, appalled:

What? Huh? Most economists I talk to believe that the big risk to recovery comes from the inadequacy of government efforts: the stimulus was too small, and it will fade out next year, while high unemployment is undermining both consumer and business confidence.

Now, it’s politically difficult for the Obama administration to enact a full-scale second stimulus. Still, he should be trying to push through as much aid to the economy as possible. And remember, Mr. Obama has the bully pulpit; it’s his job to persuade America to do what needs to be done.

Instead, however, Mr. Obama is lending his voice to those who say that we can’t create more jobs. And a report on Politico.com suggests that deficit reduction, not job creation, will be the centerpiece of his first State of the Union address. What happened?

It took me a while to puzzle this out. But the concerns Mr. Obama expressed become comprehensible if you suppose that he’s getting his views, directly or indirectly, from Wall Street.

I suspect a lot of this goes back to what Howard Dean said when I interviewed him: That the young people who came out in record numbers to vote for Obama are concerned about the deficit. Well, isn't it time you put on your teaching hat and explained why that can't be the priority right now, Mr. President?