Belated Praise

“Wallace Rayfield is arguably one of the most important architects in Alabama"....that's a quote from a great Tuscaloosa News story today about Alabama's second black architect, who died 60 years ago and who's is virtually unknown today.

Lunar Historic Presevation

     The NY Times reports this morning that several states are being asked to proclaim materials left behind after the first manned mission to the Moon as "historic", giving them some protection from destruction and or theft. Think about it: how much would someone pay for the American flag or the Moon Rover itself?

     The first action occurred on Friday when the California Historical Resource Commission voted the items left behind* at Tranquility Base as historic state treasurers (not the land itself...that's precluded by treaty.) Now four others states will be asked to take similar actions, and  Reuters reports Alabama is one of them.
     Will Alabama go along? It all seems so straightforward, but there are any number of examples where Alabama has allowed historic sites be destroyed (Terminal Station in Birmingham comes to mind, and a Native American mound in Anniston that was almost used for fill dirt.)
     Will pro-business forces in the state fear setting precedent by blocking development? It seem farfetched that someone would want to damage the artifacts, but you never know. There's so much commerical space exploration on the way that it might be prudent to act now.

     Alabama's interest is, of course, the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, which played a significant role in the Apollo Missions. The group behind the effort hopes to eventually have the site itself declared a "World Heritage Site" by the UN...although "Off-World" might be more appropriate.
     It also seems appropriate that this story is posted right after the first full-moon of 2010 occurs, and at the same time a new U.S. mission to the Moon is being scuttled by The Obama Administration because of the miserable economy.
    
[*Read the list of the 100 plus objects on the California declaration.]

LESS Poverty in Alabama's largest city?

     It seems counterintuitive, but according to a report from the Metropolitan Policy Program of The Brookings Institute, the number of poor people in the city of Birmingham actually dropped by 2.4% between 2000 and 2008. At the same time, the number of poor people in the city's suburbs increased slightly.

     The report studied the country's largest metro areas, and found the "suburbanization of poverty" to be even more distinct in other metropolitan areas.

     The report also predicts an increase in the poverty level for the city of 2.4 per cent because of increases in unemployment in Birmingham last year.

Coal Ash

The TRUTH about Coal Ash?

"For most of the past decade, it appears that every EPA publication on the subject was ghostwritten by the American Coal Ash Association," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, whose group examined thousands of coal industry and EPA communications. "In this partnership it is clear that industry is EPA's senior partner."

    That's from another blog, Truthout, and it hold interest for Alabamians, especially those who live in Perry County. Millions of tons of coal ash is being loaded into railcars (above) in Tennessee, and deposited in a commercial landfill near Uniontown, Alabama.
     The owners of the landfill filed for bankruptcy this week, saying they are not being paid what they are due from the landfill operators.

Alabama Gets $$$ for High Speed Rail...

....planning. And not very much money either. Nine states will share $6-Million, while projects in Florida and California are getting billions:

The Kansas City Star newspaper reports:

A list of projects circulating in transportation circles this morning shows Missouri and Illinois being among the big winners with a $1 billion grant to build a high-speed corridor from St. Louis to Chicago.

Here is the list of what other regions are getting:

California: $2.3 billion.

Eugene-Portland-Seattle: $598 million.

Chicago-St. Louis-Kansas City: $1.1 billion
Minneapolis:-Milwaukee-Chicago: $823 million
Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati: $40 million
Detroit-Chicago: $244 million
Tampa-Orlando-Miami: $1.2 billion
Charlotte-Richmond-Washington: $620 million
New York-Albany-Buffalo-Montreal: $151 million
Boston-New York-Washington: $112 million
Brunswick/Portland-Boston $35 million
Philly-Harrisburg-Pittsburgh: $27 million
New Haven-Springfield-St. Albans: $160 million
Other awards:
Iowa: $17 million
Fort Worth area: 4 million

Planning awards: $6 million for rail planning in Kansas, Iowa, Georgia, Vermont, West Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado, Alabama and Delaware.

Yea, that's Alabama down at the bottom of the heap. But why not? Our gas taxes are earmarked for roads, not mass transit. Except for the larger cities (and really only minimally there), there is no Mass Transit in the state. We love our cars. And you can have mine when you pry it from my cold, dead....

If you like the idea of high-speed rail, there is a group of die hards who belong to a Southern High Speed Rail Commission. And they even have a big meeting coming up in Mississippi. I wish them well. But asking nine states to do something involving high speed rail, and telling them to split $6-Million, is pitiful. Save the money. Spend it on something meaningful. Like asphalt to pave the potholes on I-59 near Gadsden.

[UPDATE: More on the money, what little there is.]

Wow. The Terrorist from Daphne, Alabama

Preview of a NY Times Magazine story about a young man from Alabama who now is part of a group that beheads enemies in Somalia. Makes you look at the neighbor kid in a whole new way.

The Obit in The Rye

     J.D. Salinger has died...as unknown as ever.
     But almost all of us knew the characters he created in his seimnal novel The Catcher in The Rye.
     Ironically, just a few days ago I lifted my copy...a yellowed 1963 paperback...out of the bookshelf and remembered the teenaged thrill of reading forbidden fruit. I signed my name in it, but there is no signature of  Fr. Earl Bissonnette, who's permission was required on all reading material in the seminary I attended in my High School years. Even my old dictionary from those years had his written OK. The fact that it is missing means I either bought my copy of Catcher later...possible...or I risked  wrath and kept it unsigned...much less likely. 
     Catcher ends with the line: Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you'll start missing everybody.
    In his later years, Salinger became famous for not wanting to be famous. His last interview was in 1980. He died a recluse in New Hampshire.

The Most Trusted Name in News: FOX

No, you did not misread it. Here's the polling information, though even the head of the polling firm seems rather incredulous:

“A generation ago you would have expected Americans to place their trust in the most neutral and unbiased conveyors of news,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “But the media landscape has really changed and now they’re turning more
toward the outlets that tell them what they want to hear.”

And just what does tha mean for journalism schools, which I have to believe are still teaching the importance of objectivity?

Working for the...check?

     Does anyone think either Ron Sparks (paid by you as a fulltime Alabama Agriculture Commissioner) or Artur Davis (paid by you as a fulltime member of Congress) are really working 40 hours a week at those jobs? Sparks criticised Davis for not attending the State of The Union last night.
    They sent Sue Schmitz to jail this week for not working in a job she collected a salary for. What's the difference? At least Bradley Byrne quit his job as head of Postsecondary Education to campaign.

Demonstrations of Mass

     Earlier in the 2010 Legislative Session, buses deposited electronic bingo workers and fans in front of the State House to show their support for legislation keeping their favorite entertainment halls open.
     Yesterday it was giant yellow earthmoving equipment parked outside, supporting a huge road and bridge repair bill.        
     Today is was a gathering of about a thousand nurses. And "Higher Education Day" has become an annual event, with hundreds of students and faculty bused in to show their support.
     Can any of these demonstrations really have any impact, especially this year? What difference does it make how many folks you can rally in the middle of a workday to hold up signs? Don't they have jobs to do?

New Task Force Head

     So Mobile's D.A. is now head of the Governor's Gambling Task Force...think he was selected in any way at all because John Tyson ran against Alabama Republican Troy King for A.G. four years ago?
     There's a longstanding feud over gambling between Riley and King. Appointing Tyson will also give a more bipartisan flavor to Riley's effort to shut down the electronic Bingo industry.

MMMM # 81 - U*&(^#(&BY@&!!!!!!

     From a CNET story about the new Google phone feature that prevents cusswords from being transcribed from voice:

Apparently, the censorship is not because Google is trying to clean up the world and turn it into the nicest parts of Alabama. No, the company is worried about what might be transcribed.

     Alabama's reputation, it seems, has preceded itself.

     But the issue of blue language is an interesting one...clearly George Carlin's dirty words and their kin are becoming much more acceptable on-the-air, if not on the Google Nexus One phone.
     No, you will not hear me cuss on CBS 8 This Morning, but especially in dramas and comedies on-air (or on cable), it seems writers can get away with almost anything. Several times in recent months I've had to look to check whether I was watching a Cable or a Broadcast channel when I heard a particular word or expression used.
    A longtime friend and former coworker sent me a very tongue-in-cheek email about an abbreviation I had used in a blog posting not too long ago, expressing outrage that children might see it. Not sure if he was serious, I decided to change it, and emailed him to let him know. Of all the things online that are dangerous for kids, this blog has to be at the bottom of a very long list, I offered. He replied that he was just pulling my leg.
     Ha ha.
     I left the changed abbreviation intact, just in case.

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]

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AL.COM

I'm a huge fan of the al.com site, but I have to chuckle everytime I see this headline:




Tomorrow's forecast today for southwest Alabama 4:45 PM


Like when else would you do a forecast? Yesterday's forecast today? (-:

Antique Cars

     Two articles about collectible cars for sale caught my eye...visitor J.C. send a link to a USA Today story about the sale of a car with a criminal history...and I came across the other by myself...maybe the most unusual Caddilac ever made.
     The fact that my first car was a Pinto will tell you all you need to know about my own auto-owning experience. The photo on the right shows I did not inherit my Dad's auto buying expertice..that's his first car in 1945 on the right.

     I don't know what ever happened to Dad's car (a Ford? Anyone recognize the model?), but my 1972 Pinto finally bit the dust in the first months I lived in Alabama when someone ran throught a light downtown and into it. No injures, but I was able to replace it with a VW 411...an unusually large-interior four-door vehicle that had continuous electronic ignition problems. I still liked it. Not in any particular order, there was also a Cougar, a Mustang, a Rodeo an EXP, a....a.....there I was a few moment ago, stuck on the name of a sports car I owned in the 1980s' I could picture it, but not the model. So I did what we all, do I googled and after a while came up with a picture. A picture from this very timlennox.com  blog when I posted about the Fiero the day GM deep-sixed Pontiac. Talk about the snake swallowing its tail!

I have to wonder if The Great Recession and The Internet has killed off America's love affair with the automobile. A Washington Post story yesterday reported a significant drop in the number of teenagers going for their license as soon as they turned 16. It's not as important to them as it was to previous generations. Will the same be true of car ownership? Especially with the net and mass transit in the larger cities?

The Digital Generation's Future Jobs

     Must reading in today's New York Times: three privacy settings all Facebook users should make....one reason is to block access to your facebook information (including comments posted by friends) by potential employers. Do the young members of the all-digital generation understand how damaging that can be?

     Of course that's the same generation that's increasingly in love with tattoos...which are either innocent decorations or a product of the devil!

     An Ohio State University Survey several years ago found 30% of young Americans (25-34 years of age) have a tattoo...it's 28% for those under 25. There are so many that the U.S. Army loosened it's regulations, allowing them as long as the ink isn't visible above the neck line.

     Are young folks sabotaging their job futures through Facebook postings and ink? Or is the economy so bleak that they can't see any job future anyway?

Alabama 1 - Virginia 0

Something that's only happened once in recorded history almost happened again yesterday when a meteorite crashed through the roof of a doctor's office in Virginia. If you grew up in Alabama, you no doubt know the story of Sylacauge resident Elaine Hodges, who was actually struck by one in 1954 as she napped on her couch. She wasn't seriously hurt, but became a quirky part of Alabama and human history because of the incident.

Alabama Makes it into The History of The World!

(First a quick note...thanks to those who emailed etc...the old PC is back in operation thanks to friend Michael H.--- and Tech-2-U expert Jason. If you need PC or Apple work, ask and I'll give you his Montgomery number.)

     Driving to work at CBS-8 in Montogmery each morning at O'Dark'O'Clock, I listen to about 15 minutes of the BBC overnight on Alabama Public Radio. This morning I heard an interesting segment about a project they've undertaken with museums to tell the History of The World through just ten objects. And guess what one of the ten is? A model of the CSS Alabama, about which I've written rather extensively on this blog!

     We're in prime company too..look at the other nine objects that made the lilst:

• Dodo skeleton
• Stage from St Peter's Church Hall (where John Lennon first saw Paul McCartney perform!)
• St Christopher statue
• Cypriot child's rattle
• Propellor from RMS Lusitania
• Crossens Canoe
• Sarmatian cavalryman tombstone
• The 'Ince Athena'
• Titanic lifejacket

You can read more about the BBC project here.
     I wonder if we were to collect ten objects that would tell Alabama's History, what would they be? Certainly something from the Civil War, something from the Civil Rights movement. An object from the Creek Indian War...something from Huntsville's rocket story and Birmingham's Iron history? A jar of sorghum syrup? A Mobile Mardi Gras mask?

Back, kinda!

Back from the offline community...at last the basics. I know a lots been happening...Massachusetts, Legislative action and inaction...bear with me!

PC Ills

Yea, she's sick again...hope to be back online 100% by Wednesday Thursday morning.

MMMM # 80 - The Week On The Toob

     The N.Y. Times  reports on one notable network moment this past week in coverage of the Haiti disaster, crediting Television with making the magnitude of the disaster apparent, while at the same time sometimes stepping perilously close to the line between reportage and self-congratulation:

On Thursday night Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent, led a camera crew through one of the few remaining hospitals in the region. As he passed wounded and dying victims, he explained that there were no doctors or nurses there to treat them. But CNN made a point of repeatedly showing another scene in which Dr. Gupta ran through the street to minister to an infant, the camera lingering on him as he cradled her in his arms and examined her head for lacerations.

     The quake had Brian Williams over at NBC scurrying to Haiti, where his early sat-phone report had him mentioning that they would be sleeping on the floor of an aircraft hanger that night.

Meanwhile in The Washington Post, a story about the willingness of the media, broadcast and not, to show what previously had been taboo:

Bodies caked in dust and plaster, faces covered in blood, the dead stacked in the streets without sheets to hide them -- these are all violations of the unwritten code that death can only be seen, in the established etiquette of the mainstream media, by analogy or metaphor or discreet substitute.

     But in my own experience, the self-imposed ban is usually only in effect for dead and suffering Americans. The media has been showing dead foreigners forever.


     Before Brian Willians and the other network anchors moved their shows to the Island, there was anothe rmoment of note with Williams opening editorial about Mark McGuire's admission of steroid use:

“Because this is a family broadcast, we probably can’t say what we’d like to about the {McGuire} news today.”
                                                           Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News

     He also probably shouldn't, but in fact did so by his non-statement statement.

     And then there was the great Jay Leno story, which threatened to overcome all of the networks before the quake distracted them. You almost never see the nets reporting about events across the broadcast aisle. In fact I'm convinced if you were to trace all of the book authors and movie directors and stars interviewed on the net and cable news shows, there would be a distinct line from most stories to a corporate-sister publisher or movie studio.
     But the Leno story was an exception...it was all over ABC and CBS as well as on NBC and cable. And that's because there was a negative edge to it. If Leno's excursion into PrimeTime had been a rousing success, you wouldn't have heard word one, especially on ABC and CBS.
     NBC's coverage is a good example of why broadcasters should have an ombudsman/woman on staff who has complete independence, who can cover stories in which the broadcaster has a vested interest. Either that, or bring in an outsider on retainer to cover it fairly.
    
[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature on this blog.]

Bush beats Obama.

I missed this poll released on Wednesday...better late than never, I suppose. It shows that whites, by small majority, believe George Bush was a better Presidend than Barack Obama has been:

12. Do you think Barack Obama has been a better President than George W. Bush, worse, or about the same as President Bush?


Here are the results from the Quinnipiac poll.

71% of Black respondants supported Obama on the same question.

Resignation

     So David Barber, former Jefferson County, Alabama District Attorney, is now also former head of the Governor's Gambling Task Force. The letter from Barber has him saying he's resigning because he won $2,300 at a legal game in a Mississippi casino and:

"I am convinced that the forces that operate illegal casinos in Alabama will focus on my actions as part of their continuing effort to smear you and your Task Force."

Ya think?

And up till that, it had been a good day for the Governor's battle against gambling...with the Alabama Supreme Court issuing a restraining order preventing the task force from raiding the Country Crossing entertainment complex.

Environmental Racism

     The EPA is following through on an earlier promise to look into the use of minority communities as dumpling grounds for toxic wastes...and residents of at least Perry and Sumter Counties in Alabama's Black Belt may be paying close attention. Perry County is the daily recipient of train-loads of coal ash from that TVA spill a year ago at a power plant in Tennessee. And Sumter County is home to a huge hazardous waste landfill in Emelle.

     I've always thought the charge of environmental racism is a bit too easy to make....landfills are not going to be located on expensive real estate, and that's at least one of the factors that leads to them being located in poorer communities. I'm not saying it's right, just that it's not necessarily a plot against minority communities.
     Nonetheless, a review of the charges by EPA is long overdue. It will be interesting to see how friendly Alabama officials are during the investigation, since the state agency closest to EPA is ADEM, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (as opposed to Protection).

[UPDATE: Group wants EPA to revoke ADEM's authority over the state's water.]

That slippery BINGO slope

     Quote in a Press-Register story by George Altman from Jeff Emerson, spokesman for Governor Riley, on why the administration is not contemplating raids on the casinos in the cruise ships that call Mobile home:

"People go to casinos specifically to gamble. They don't go on a cruise solely for that same purpose."

     Uh, people don't go to Country Crossing in Dothan solely to gamble either, do they? That didn't stop the task force from preparing to raid it. Anyway, how are you gonna determine why people go to these places? Hook 'em up to polygraph machines and quiz em? OK, Sir...you can go in, but your wife here....
     And what about football pools at the office...I guess they're OK too, since people don't go to work specifically to gamble. And that's not even getting into the "raffles" for churches and charities.
      
[UPDATE: The Governor is back in court, seeking permission to raid Country Crossing.]

Alabama's Great Economy

      I've been shaking my head since last night's State of The State, trying to figure out how Governor Riley will come up with a budget that includes no cuts, despite that Legislative Fiscal Office projection of a $600-Million dollar hole in the General Fund, which pays for most non-education expenses in the state. The Education Budget is $1.4 Billion less than just two years ago.

I know you've read the same dire predictions and heard the same horror stories that I have. You've heard nothing awaits us in this session but doom and gloom. The lobbyists and the gambling interests have told you over and over that we must find new revenue, somewhere, or the sky's going to fall.
Ladies and gentlemen, that's what we in Clay County would call a crock.

      Representative John Knight (D-Montgomery) told the Montgomery Advertiser he had "no idea what Bob Riley was talking about," and Knight is head of the budget writing committee!
     Enter Dave White, Birmingham News reporter with the answer.
     It's the Obama Administration and the Democratic controlled U.S. Congress coming to the rescue with stimulus money, the same money the GOP is constantly blasting for increasing the debt.
      That money, and some pretty sunny weather expectations for the state's investments, allow the no-cuts budgets.

Road Music -The 30A Songwriters Festival

An internationally prominent line up of singer-songwriters together with the best local writers and a select group of new artists will converge in south Walton County on Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend (January 15-17) for the inaugural 30A Songwriters Festival. Artists will perform in venues up and down Scenic Highway 30A in Northwest Florida on the Gulf of Mexico. Fans of great music, miles of white beaches, world class restaurants are invited to enjoy all of this over the three-day holiday weekend.

As much as I love music, I wouldn't be blogging about this unless there was a local connection, and there is.

Bob Corley (of CSS Alabama and APT fame) is one of the select group of new performers scheduled for the festival. He'll be performing each day at a different venue.

Escape the frigid northland cold for the sunny (low 60's!!!) sandy coast and hear some live music too!

School Superintendents

     Their state professional association (SSA) is holding an annual meeting in Montgomery, and this morning almost all of the candidates for Governor went before them to answer questions.
     Before it started there was a quiet chit-chat between the two Democrats in the race...Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks and Congressman Artur Davis. Would have loved to be a fly on the wall...
     I was moderating the panel, so during the forum itself, my mind was half on keeping track of who went last etc, but it seemed the whole Charter School controversy was the biggest point of disagreement between the Democrats. Davis like 'em. Sparks doesn't. I'll try to blog later in a bit more detail. Republican Kay Ivey cancelled fairly late and was not there. Neither was Republican Roy Moore.
    By the way, Davis will be our guest on CBS-8 This Morning tomorrow (Wednesday).

Ooops

Read the WSJ article here. Seems someone forgot to follow standard construction proceedures in Shanghai.

MMMM # 79 - And what questions will you ask?

     When I visited Germany for a RIAS Fellowship in 1999, I was amazed to find the officials I interviewed expected a list of my questions in advance. Huh? That was the last thing I would do in the U.S.

     In a Montgomery Advertiser story earlier this month, business writer Cosby Woodruff freely admitted agreeing to that condition in an interview he did with the then-new heads of Colonial Bank. The interview happened after founder Bobby Lowder resigned. He wrote:

There were conditions, such as submitting questions in writing in advance so that lawyers could review them, but nothing that was a deal-break­er.

     If that's not a dealbreaker for an interview, what it? Turns out, as his story about the interview explains, the interview material was never published because the Colonial collapse and takeover by the FDIC made the information irrelevant. But still...questions in advance? Would that have precluded follow-up questions?
     If I'm interviewing someone for a feature story (as opposed to a hard news interview), I may try to make them more comfortable by telling them to treat it as a conversation, and to define the subjects of that conversation. But with a hard-news interview there are no such restrictions or assurances.
     I'll be moderating a forum with the candidates for Governor tomorrow here in Montgomery. The School Superintendents of Alabama Association has informed the campaigns about the subject matters of the questions, but certainly not the questions themselves.
     Is there ever an instance, at least in the U.S., in which providing interview questions in advance would be acceptable? If so, I hope that fact would be prominently disclosed, allowing folks to judge the validity of the information.

[PLUS: This morning in the NY Times ---newspapers still originate most news.]
[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]

You say towMAYto, I say TowMAHto

From an AP story by Phil Rawls:

"They can call it bingo if they want, but it's not bingo. Bingo is played on paper," Sen. Charles Bishop, R-Jasper, said.

Uh, OK. Some other examples please?

• They can call it a book on that Kindle thing if they want, but a book is made of paper!
• IBM can call it chess if they want, but chess is played on a board!
• PBS can call it a play if they want, but a play is done on stage!
• They can call it a wheel if they want, but wheels are made of stone!
• They can call it boxing if they want, but fightin's done on the Senate floor!

Goodnight, Tim.

Inside the guts of Netflix

Netflix is one of those "why didn't I" ideas.

The N.Y. Times on Saturday had a neat interactive feature looking into the Netflix program that decides who will like which flick. You can examine the top rentals in various zip codes for a dozen cities. And although there are no Alabama cities included, (Atlanta is the closest...area Code 30310 rented The Curious Case of Benjamin Button the most in 2009), it's kinda fun to play with.
     If nothing else, the Times feature is a model for newspapers (and broadcasters too) using their web sites for more than just repeats of what they have in their MSM versions.
     Instead of just doing stories about crimes, have a map that allows your viewers or readers to see what crimes occured where during the year. Which schools expel the most students? In states where there are mandatory car inspections, which shops fail the largest percentage of cars? etc etc etc It can be labor intensive, but certainly an improvement over static lists.

The Line on "Riley vs King"

     Fellow Montgomery blogger (The World Around You) Kris has a great rundown of the growing conflict between Republican Governor Bob Riley and Republican Attorney General Troy King on the issue of gambling, specifically the Country Crossing development in Dothan.
     Gambling continues to suck the oxygen out of the 2010 election room, with the 2010 Regular Alabama Legislation Session starting Tuesday. What's Riley's strategy here? Or am I looking for strategy where there is none?
     Meanwhile the Dothan Eagle reports growing interest in electronic bingo legislation. The Federal Stimulus dollars are largely gone...where else will legislators find money other than electronic bingo? Seems they've already taxed liquor and cigarettes about as much as they can. We know they won't touch (ALFA) property taxes. It may be a perfect storm for legalizing gaming of some kind and taxing it, which is what Democratic Candidate for Governor Ron Sparks has been pushing.

Dissin' Achievement

     What is it about Birmingham?...or is it true across Alabama that when people reach a lofty goal, it is used against them?
     Last night there was supposed to be a debate between the two runoff canidates to fill out the rest of ousted and about-to-be-jailed Mayor Larry Langford's term. Only William Bell showed up. Patrick Cooper was a no-show, sending a letter claiming that the invitation came too late. Whatever.
     The Birmingham News reports this morning that Cooper's absence allowed Bell to answer questions uncontested, which he did. When he was asked why he's the best person to run the city, he mentioned his family background:

“My father was a veteran, not a general but a ser­geant,” Bell said in a clear reference to Cooper, who’s father was a general.

     When the now also-about-to-be-jailed John Katapodis ran for Birmingham Mayor in 1979 and 1983, he was criticised because he graduated from Harvard and had even had a Fullbright to Sweden, the college and country names spit out like curses.
     If I ever run for office, I can hear opponents referrring to the fact that I was born in New York City. Like that commercial for hot sauce. New York City??? I guess living in Alabama by choice for 34 years isn't enough? [Not to worry. There would be plenty of other fodder for that shootout.]
     We spend so much time in Alabama listening to non-arguments in politics, that the candidates are able to avoid what little discussion of the actual issues might happen. How does that help anyone? Especially in the default-swap land of Birmingham?
     But somehow Bell finds it worthy of note that Cooper's father had managed to rise through the ranks to become a General? A General???
      George Wallace wasn't the only Alabama politician to ride the common-man pickup truck to office.
     And if Harvard-educated Artur Davis wins the Democratic nomination for Governor in June, I won't be even a little surprised to hear the college name used as a curse during the campaign, even if his GOP opponent is the well-educated former PostSecondary Chancellor Bradley Byrne (Undergraduate degree from Duke--uh oh, magnum cum-laude!, and UA Law).
      Forget the dismal state of our budgets. Ignore the dire poverty of the Black-Belt. He went to Harvard??? Isn't that in New York City???
     And just in time, the courts are loosening restriction on campaign spending by special-interest groups.
 

J.V. Abuse

     A new report from the U.S. Department of Justice highlights the abuse of the boys and girls held in America's juvenile prisons.
Three of the six facilities operated by The Alabama Department of Youth Services are included in the report.
     The percentage of inmates who reported sexual victimization are:

• Chalkville* Campus....3.8%
• Mt. Meigs Campus....11.2%
• Vacca Campus...........19.6%

     The report breaks down the reports into abuse by another inmate vs abuse by a member of the staff. Just 3.3% of the assaults at the Chalkville Campus were blamed on other inmates , Only .8% of the assaults were blamed on other inmates at the Mr. Meigs campus, and the Vacca campus reports blame just 2.2 % on other inmates.
     In other words, it's mostly staff members being blamed for the sexual assaults.

     None of the eight "contract" facilities...private facilities paid by the state to house juvenile offenders...appear in the report.

      You can see a list of those private facilities in The annual report from the Alabama Department of Youth Services  for 2008. The report also indicates a budget of almost $94 Million, and land holdings of some1,600 acres. It includes an organization chart, photos of program activities and buildings, and lists of the various board members, but not a single use of the phrase "sexual abuse". 

[*Last June I posted about the Prison Rape Elimination Commission identifying Chalkville as a problem facility.]

Alabama ran up the score. WT...???

I went to sleep as usual at 8:00pm last night, thinking disaster had struck the Tide. I woke up at 2:20AM expecting the worst, and was pleasantly surprised to find VICTORY!
Not everyone is delighted.
Read this column by a writer in the U.K. who charges Alabama with running up the score.
Honest.
Please send him an email. Here in the colonies we really don't need somebody who calls soccer "football" telling Alabamians how to play the game.

Gambling

     The forces of the Governor's Gambling Task Force are being held at bay by a restraining order...a hearing's been set for the 20th...and now the candidates who want to take Riley's place are chiming in.
     On CBS-8 This Morning we're interviewing the candidates this month, so this week I've been able to hear from Roy Moore and Bill Johnson, both of whom supported the raid. But Johnson said he wants to hold a statewide vote to let the people decide the gambling question. Former Chief Justice Moore would have none of it, declaring even church raffles and office football pools illegal. (If we could tax every office pool we could solve the state's fiscal problems!)
     Johnson, by the way, also endorsed initiative and referendum, though I had no time for a follow-up question about what those Libertarian articles of faith have done to California's ability to operate. It is one of life's frustrations these days....I was so spoiled by the FTR format, when I had lots of time to follow up....little five-minute interviews with callers seem so short!
     Ron Sparks, who endorsed regulating and taxing gambling early-on, is shouting about that position in light of the non-raid....though you won't see his comments on his web site as of this hour. Why do campaigns have so much trouble releasing information on multiple platforms at the same time?

[UPDATE: Riley Administration goes to Alabama Supreme Court  today to overturn the TRO.]

******

ALSO: the website MainJustice has an interesting column about the Middle Alabama District U.S. Attorney opening...still open a year into the Obama Administration. Apparently the White House is intimidated by Alabama two GOP Senators.

Forecasting, the Inexact Science

Here's the headline this hour in Birmingham: Snowflakes Have Arrived in Birmingham.

And it's a good thing, cause folks aren't very forgiving of an incorrect forecast on TV. Remember, I am not a meterologist, but I did play one on TV. So I know the wrath of viewers who take it personally when the forecast isn't right on the money. But look at this National Weather Service graphic, for example:

 

     Normally I would say that there's no difference in a  high temperature being 60 or 62, for example, or a low of 45 or 48. Who cares? But when you approach the freezing mark and there's moisture, suddenly temperature is everything. We know it will be well below freezing tonight, for example, but when will it be 32 or below--and exactly where in the state---to produce snow or sleet?
     Normally it is the toughest call a forecaster has to make, and the most important. People plan travel and outdoor events...schools have to decide whether to close or delay their opening...cities and towns have to decide whether to prepare sand trucks.
     So a miscalculation of two or three degrees suddenly becomes critical.

     I say give them a break...the folks at the National Weather Service and meterologists like CBS 8'sKait Parker and Matt Tanner and Chris Bailey would love to be able to say what the exact temperature will be block by block 24/7...but that's impossible. Cut 'em some slack and let them do their best.

Science Fiction & Education Truth

Three very quick mentions....

• Saw Avatar 3-D tonight and I recommend it, though I can see why it has apparently riled up conservatives...way too tree-hugger, anti-military, anti-corporate America.
• The NY Times has an interesting piece about the South being the first region of the country in which the public schools are more than half poor and minority. But don't jump to the private-school rationale like I did before you read it. 
• Next week the Alabama School Superintendents Association will host a forum for the candidate for Governor and they've been nice enough to ask me to moderate it. It's not open to the public, but I'll post afterwards and I'm sure there will be media coverage too.

More soon!

Billy Joe Cooley - RIP

     I've posted before about obituaries and the writers who have to sum up an entire life in a few words, "Aviation Pioneer" or "Longtime Sax Player" or whatever. My favorite this morning is in the N.Y. Times and it reads:

David Murbach, Finder of Rockefeller Center Trees, Dies at 57

     Classic.

 I was surprised this week to see the death of North Alabama humorist Billy Joe Cooley reported with so little information in The Huntsville Times.

Billy Joe Cooley, 78, of Huntsville died Sunday.



Funeral services will be held at 9:30 a.m. today from the Huntsville chapel of Spry Funeral Home with Dr. Ralph Langley officiating. Burial will follow at Chattanooga National Cemetery.



I didn't know him well, but through my friend Gary Bridge, and I would have expected some mention of the books he published, or at least the writing he did in The Huntsville Times itself.

     But Billy Joe was 78, retired, and tired too, cranky sometimes in the way older folks can be that either comes off as cute or cantankerous (Andy Rooney the former, maybe me, if not now then soon, the latter).

     The last communication I had with him was to include him on an admittedly mass e-mail promoting the three-part series I posted on the CSS Alabama and Raphael Semmes. As I clicked his name to include it on the "to" list, I remember thinking that he might enjoy the material. But instead I got back an email asking that he be taken off any future such mailings.

     email is notorious for being without any feeling, for coming off much colder than the writer may intend, but I got on my high horse and was offended by his message. I wrote back that I would never send him anything again, and would in fact delete his address from my book, and I did.
     Now, not for the first time, I regret my reaction. Everyone is entitled to their bad days, and I should have just respected Billy Joe for his.
     Rest in Peace!

Ditto....

Same schedule yesterday but NOT today...so I can do some catchup I hope ..watching the Country Crossing gambling raid story this morning and the incredible disharmony in the Montgomery School Board, where there is such bad blood that criminal charges have now been filed.....Roy Moore was with us on CBS 8 This Morning, and Bill Johnson will be on tomorrow. We've invited all of the candidates for governor to come on this month...all are scheduled so far, except for Democrat Artur Davis.

Stay warm!!!!!! We've in the teens this morning and may see even colder lows  in a few days here in Dixie.

A note...

Kinda "snowed under" today, not literally, though there have been flakes in the Montgomery area. I'm just anchoring a couple of extra newscasts on CBS-8 today...the Noon and the 5pm.

Last BD standing...

     A story in this morning's NY Times profiles former Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright, the final Alabama "Blue Dog" Democratic member of Congress, about whom they write:

Since winning, Mr. Bright has been such a purebred Blue Dog that he is practically red. He has voted with the Republicans on every significant piece of legislation of his term, including the health care overhaul, the budget and the “cap and trade” energy legislation.

     Asked about party affilliation by a reporter following Rep. Parker Griffith's defection to the GOP, Bright said he has no intention of switching.

MMMM # 78 - Official Censorship

     There was an ill-fated attempt in January, 1982, to require Alabama Public Television to broadcast "only educational and non-political factual programs." The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Bob Gafford (D-Birmingham), who had been the subject of some negative reporting, but it went nowhere, dying at the committee level. 

    There are always folks who want to gag the media. Reporting has never been an occupation for the timid.   

     But perhaps even more scary are efforts to gag entire populations, the U.S. veggie libel laws of the 1990's (including one in Alabama! You respect those tomatoes from now on, Lennox!) are one example.

     Now, in Ireland, they've gone and made it an actual violation of law to say something blasphemous about a religion, any religion! You can just imagine what the boyos have to say after a few rounds at the local pub on a Saturday night in Belfast or Dublin! First they ban us from smoking! Then criticizing Father Pat's sermon! What's next? No singing too loudly and a touch off key?

     A group of full-time non-believers have gone on the offensive offensive, quoting some very well know atheists saying some very bad things about religion and the religious on a web site. Take that!

     In addition to the potato famine, a lack of religious freedom helped send shiploads of the Irish to America during the 1800's...The Irish government's action makes ya understand why!


[PLUS: Speaking of the media and religion, Brit Hume on FOX News Sunday: Tiger Woods won't recover until he abandons Buddism and becomes a Christian.]

Dancin' with the one that brung ya' (NOT)

     An interesting story in the NY Times about party-switching, highlighting the recent switch of Rep. Parker Griffith from Democratic (albeit, very, very Blue Dog) to Republican. I was surprised the writer, Carl Hulse, didn't mention Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, who easily survived his own switch in the Senate.
    When I arrived in Alabama, you could have held a meeting of the entire Alabama Republican Party in a very small hotel room. Winning the Democratic Primary was the same as winning the election.
      Yet Democrats seem to be having trouble coming up with a candidate to oppose Griffith. But it's early.  

New World Music

Muslim Hindu Punk music has arrived. OK, Maybe it arrived some time ago, but it hit my radar today because of an AP story.
And you know how I love to share.
Meet The Kominas,
It truly is a global village.

Tomatoes

     Yea, tomatoes. In addition to being a miserable year for the economy, the unemployment rate, peace in the middle-east, and certain Public Television jobs, 2009 was the worst year for tomatoes that I can remember.
     I am so spoiled regarding the availability of fresh vegetables and fruit year-round that I have come to expect a good supply of tomatoes year round. This year I have yet to find a good supply even once.
     I found a N.Y. Times article from August discussing one of the reasons...a blight that has struck many farms. And once the supply dropped, the price for the remaining crop---miserable though it was--jumped.
     One thing is for sure. In a few months I'll be investing in some large pots and stakes and growing my own on the deck. That way when the prices go up for vegetables, I'll pay myself more. Call it my Victory Garden. And if the blight finds my crop, maybe I'll apply for disaster assistance.

New Year = New Radio Feature Report

     This morning at Noon, and again at 11:00a.m. on Saturday, WBHM's Tapestry program in Birmingham (90.3 FM) will include a report I produced on the question of Alabama commemorating the upcoming 150th Anniversary of the start of the Civil War in 2011, without getting caught up in racial politics.
     The report includes comments from the director of the Confederate Memorial Park in Marbury, Bill Rambo (below, left), The Director of the Department of Archives and History, Dr. Ed Bridges (below right), the Commander of a Sons of Confederate Veterans group in Tallassee, Randall Huey, and the Director of the Alabama Tourism Bureau, Lee Sentell.

    

You can listen to the report online right now. Hope you enjoy!