Birmingham Blues

He’ll have to pay $10 million; he gets credit for an additional $71 million already paid in related lawsuits.  I love this quote from the Birmingham News article:
An SEC spokesman said Monday the $81 million “is among the largest penalties ever imposed on an individual.” Investor Ivan Boesky in 1986 was fined $100 million for [...]

…to Tom Hilton at If I Ran the Zoo!  (I’m a day late — sorry.)

Friday night we attended the Jefferson-Jackson dinner, a fundraiser for the state Democratic Party, to hear former President Bill Clinton.  The Cahaba Grand conference center was packed with smiling people who were really excited to see so many Democrats turn out for an event like this in Alabama.  The original capacity for the dinner was [...]

I’m going to start a new comment thread as the most recent one has become a bit unwieldy.  ALmod was planning to set up a forum, but she has a couple of family members in the hospital, and she needs to focus on them.
Comment at will.
If you want to catch up, see here, here, and here.  Yes, [...]

9YOD has an intestinal virus.  The way those usually progress around here is youngest to oldest, so I figure 13YOD will wake up in the middle of the night tonight, and tomorrow it will move on to me.  By the time it gets to Dear Husband, it’s generally been weakened by all that jumping around.  [...]

The Big Dog is in Birmingham tonight for a Democratic Party fundraiser, and we’re heading out shortly.  I hope I’ll be allowed to take in my voice recorder and camera.  It’s a cinch I won’t get kicked out for my bumper stickers. 

After all the wannabes and false alarms (yeah, I should have remembered that today is the anniversary of Columbine), we have a live one — at least for now.  There is a gunman holed up in Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The request was filed under seal, so no details of the supposed “newly discovered evidence” are available.  Scrushy’s also asking US District Judge Mark Fuller to recuse himself, but again, we don’t know why.
Fuller presided over a federal court trial where the jury convicted Scrushy and former Gov. Don Siegelman of bribery-related charges last June. Prosecutors accused [...]

Not good. 
Hoover High School was locked down for a couple of hours this morning after a student found a written bomb threat in the cafeteria.  Two juniors were arrested and charged with making terrorist threats.  Idiots.
And Homewood High School will be open tomorrow despite rumors about threats to the school and its students.  Authorities have [...]

Bush was pleased with Alberto Gonzales’ performance at today’s hearings, and “the Attorney General has the full confidence of the President”, according to a White House press release.  Apparently, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) didn’t get the memo, because he called for Gonzales to resign during his questioning.
There “has to be consequences” for the management and [...]