Birmingham Blues

May I say once again how much I love Leonard Pitts? Go read his editorial on Fred Phelps, the erstwhile Baptist preacher who takes his “God Hates Fags” campaign around the country to picket the funerals of gays and, now, the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. Mr. Pitts opines that Fred must [...]

Wow! Judge Clyde Jones must feel strongly about keeping murderers off the streets — he gave Sammie Speigner’s killer a big one year over the minimum sentence. This even though Raymond Carlisle pulled a gun, chased Prof. Speigner from his car, and then shot him when the Prof got back to his car [...]

The US Chamber of Commerce has given Tom DeLay an enterprise award and an endorsement.
DeLay, R-Sugar Land, was presented with the “Spirit of Enterprise” award from the chamber group during a Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Peter Havel, regional executive director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Dallas, presented the award to [...]

The Bush administration today declined to appoint a special counsel to investigate domestic spying, saying that Democrats should instead focus on finding out who had leaked the information about illegal wiretapping. A young man who discovered and reported chicanery by Diebold is now facing felony charges. And two affiliated Texas non-profits that blew [...]

Blues Reader Don Seibold has a couple of interesting pieces up at the Dr. IQ website. Check out “Alabama’s Most Powerful Lobby” and his candidate review.

…or at least that’s what his petition says. He’s “increasingly concerned about the well-being of MSNBC”. What he really wants is for MSNBC to fire Keith Olbermann. Bill definitely needs some cheese to go with that whine.
UPDATE: Crooks and Liars has the video from Countdown last night. Keith did a [...]

This is a great use of humor to make a point.
State Sen. Robert Hagan sent out e-mails to fellow lawmakers late Wednesday night, stating that he intends to “introduce legislation in the near future that would ban households with one or more Republican voters from adopting children or acting as foster parents.”
…Hagan said his [...]

Alabama scrapes the bottom of the barrel in many measures, but it’s tops at taxing the poor. Currently, there are two proposals in the legislature to raise the threshold for income tax. Right now it’s a princely $4,600 a year for a family of four. When that income level was set, it [...]

The Anniston Star has an eye-opening editorial about the influence of lobbyists on our Alabama lawmakers. Under current law, registered lobbyists are only required to report expenditures greater than $250 per day on public officials, and those who lobby the Executive Branch are not required to register with the Ethics Commission. Senate Bill [...]

…with no exceptions for the health of the mother or for victims of rape or incest — and with the express purpose of provoking a court challenge. Does the South Dakota legislature really want to force a 12-year-old whose dad or uncle couldn’t keep it in his pants to have a baby? [...]