Meet the Mule Lobby: They don't like PETA—or Pelosi. And "horses are stupid."

[marmar]

from Mother Jones:



Philadelphia, Mississippi — Ray Lilley is technically head of the Mississippi Mule Association, but he prefers his unofficial title: "I'm top ass," he says. He’s decked out today in what I’d imagine would be his Monday–Saturday best: blue overalls, an old yellow shirt, and a maroon hat with a pointy-eared mule on the front. He and his friends Rusty and Jim, farmers both, are handling the livestock competition today at the Neshoba Giant Fair.

"Tell 'em we don’t like Nancy Pelosi," says Jim, and they all laugh. Noted.

The Neshoba County Fair has, over the last century or so, become more well known by its other name, Mississippi’s Giant Houseparty. Some 600 cabins of varying degrees of luxury, priced at as high as $300,000 and habitable for only 10 days each year, occupy the fairgrounds, divided into streets and neighborhoods. But it's still a county fair at heart, which means that if you have a favorite dairy cow, steer, watermelon, or artichoke, you can still bring it the grounds to get measured, appraised, and certified.

Things go relatively smoothly over at the weigh station, with one notable exception: One cow, appropriately the only one not brought in by a young kid, does a nose-dive onto the scale and doesn't feel like leaving. Our Bessy cheked in at either 400 or 440 lbs.—a big spread, admittedly so Rusty took the average—and then she pretty much checked out. Some days you just don’t feel like showing off for the head of the Mississippi Mule Association. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://motherjones.com/road-trip-blog/2010/07/meet-mule-lobby

[mitchum]

1. Well, compared to mules, horses are exceedingly stupid...

but apparently some mule fanciers are as stupid as horses.

[NYC_SKP]

2. "priced at as high as $300,000"???

Error? Typo?




Tickets

– $40 season pass – Age 10 & Older
– $15 day ticket
– Children 9 & Under FREE

Cabin Utilities may be paid and Season Tickets purchased on:

July 10 and 11th from 1-6pm at the Main Gate (Gate Number 2)
July 17th and 18 from 1-6pm at the Main Gate (Gate Number 2)
July 21st and 22nd 9am-6pm at the Main Gate (Gate Number 2)

Utilities

– $250 1 & 2 Story Cabins
– $300 3 Story Cabins
– $50 per air conditioner
– $50 central air per floor
– $50 Washer/Dryer Fee

Future Dates

2010 July 23 – July 30
2011 July 22 – July 29



http://www.neshobacountyfair.org/thefair.html

:shrug:

[MisterP]

3. this is why I'm chary of Joe Bageant: this is the sort of person who's his ultranoble, down-home

reservoir of all America's virtues