Birmingham Blues

UPDATE: Wayne Besen, author of Anything But Straight, an expose of the ex-gay movement, has released a letter from the co-founder of Love In Action, John Evans. LIA’s youth program, Refuge, is facing investigation in Tennessee right now for providing “therapy” in an unlicensed facility and forcing minors into the program against their [...]

Latoyia Figueroa is missing. She is the mother of a seven year old daughter and pregnant with her second child. I know I’m right here in Natalee Holloway’s hometown, and I don’t want to take away any support from her family. But we need to remember that there are other women and [...]

It’s Susan’s birthday. You still have a few hours to give her your best wishes.

State AG Troy King removed his ankle bracelet today, celebrating the passage of tougher legislation to punish sex offenders. So now we’ll have no idea where he is. Scary.
House members originally voted to include an amendment by Rep. Steve Hurst, D-Munford, to require mandatory surgical castration for sex offenders convicted of crimes against [...]

The Alabama Legislature has finally managed to pass an operating budget for 2005-2006. All it took was a special session and $108,000 extra taxpayer dollars. The budget includes a 6% pay increase for state employees; well-deserved for the most part and long overdue. In a state where money is extremely tight, it’s [...]

Locust Fork has some good news for Alabama Democrats, although the current party leadership might not agree. New progressive groups are forming all around Birmingham, and their members are not very happy with the party hierarchy. Representatives from some of those groups and other progressives met on Saturday night to discuss national and [...]

The Alabama House is poised to pass a bill that would raise the minimum for local property taxes from 7 mils to 10 mils. Because this change would rewrite our severely bloated constitution, it requires a statewide vote.
There’s a good chance Alabama voters in June will decide whether to raise the minimum local property [...]

Alabama GOP turns to Rove
The Alabama GOP is planning to bring in Karl Rove, hoping he can raise the big bucks to help the Republicans take over the state legislature. The last time they tried something like this, they brought in completely cuckoo Zell Miller for a $150/plate dinner. Rumor has it they [...]

Today is the third anniversary of the Downing Street Memo. Other bloggers have been covering the ongoing saga for a long time, and I refer you to Shakespeare’s Sister for her take on it.

For those of us who are having trouble keeping the events of the Rove scandal straight (that appears to include Mr. Rove himself), the New York Times has printed a handy dandy timeline. Perhaps Karl can study up before he changes his story again.