The Anti-Government Party

     In the N.Y. Times this morning, Frank Rich identifies the most significant event of the past month as the crash of the plane into the IRS building in Texas.

    His column asks about the tepid condemnations from the GOP, and the growth of the "teabaggers" party.

cOLD cases semi-solved

     The Washington Post reports on the three year effort by the FBI to solve old Civil Rights Era murder cases, uncovering some family secrets in the process.
     When I moved to Alabama, one of the first big stories I worked on was the reopening of the investigation into the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing by then Attorney General Bill Baxley. The AP story that was used nationwide quoted the station (WERC) interview with Mr. Baxley.
     That probe was just over a dozen years after the event, and resulted in one conviction. I was in the courtroom when the jury returned that verdict against Robert "Dynamite Bob" Chambliss.
     Investigating deaths many more years later has proven difficult for The Bureau.
     Let justice roll...

[Photo: The Civil Right's Memorial, Montgomery, Alabama.]

Job Loss Costs

     You think your job is killing you?
     New reserach reported in the NY Times this morning indicates loosing that positon could really do you in!    
     Alabama's unemployment rate--11%-- is well above the national average. Men suffer more heart attacks then women, and tend to make their jobs a bigger part of their lives and identities, so it isn't too shocking to see a connection between heart attacks and being laid off.
     Maybe what the character played by George Clooney in the movie Up in The Air needed was a bottle of asprin at this side, instead of those "packets" to ease the transition.  

Exhibit 2,377.....

.....as to why newspapers made a mistake in soliciting anonymous opinions after every story they put online:

On al.com today:
Comment of the day from (the story:) "German TV says Joran van der Sloot admits role in Natalee Holloway death"

"What we need here is a short rope, and a tall tree." - by jarobertson, February 23, 2010, 9:40AM

Giving Alabama Credit

     Alabama is the third worst state when it comes to the per capita credit card debt, better than only Tennessee and Alaska. So says the TransUnion credit reporting company. The info is reported in a story I found in a Tacoma, Washington newspaper.
     Although Alaska residents carried among the highest debt, they had the lowest delinquency rate in the country..0.67%.
     Alabama's delinquency rate is 1.39, a touch lower than Mississippi or Georgia, but higher than Tennessee Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. The highest rate was in Florida with 1.75%
    

Alabama residents carry an incredible average of $6,332 in credit card debt.

     With credit card interest rates in the 13- 20% + range or higher, it's easy to see how hard it can be to climb out of debt!

[RELATED: CNN reports Alabama has a higher unemployment rate than most of our neighboring states, but a lower home foreclosure rate.]

The 1970 Wallace-Brewer Race

     It was perhaps the dirtiest political campaign in American History.,.a race we explore in a two-part report on CBS-8/WAKA called "Dirty Politics".
     Part one aired Monday night in the 10:00 News...you can watch it on the station's website here. Part two airs tonight at 10:00pm and will be online afterwards.
    George Wallace, Jr (right) is one of those interviewed for the reports. He refers to it as a "difficult" election in which race was certainly a factor.
   "One of the nastiest races I've ever seen," says Rep. Alvin Holmes, who was elected in 1974, and is Alabama's the longest serving legislator.

[NOTE: If you missed the broadcast, you can still watch the two parts online.
Here's a link to the online video of Part One of the report called "Dirty Politics"
http://www.waka.com/component/content/article/1452.html
And here's a link to part two Part Two:
http://www.waka.com/component/content/article/1473.html
Thanks.]

MMMM #86 Media & Politics @ St. James School

    
     Spent a good part of the Friday with students at St. James School in Montgomery, meeting with four classes of 12 graders to discuss media and politics.
     It reminded me how tough teachers have it! No, the kids were all very well behaved (unlike the stories I hear from a friend of mine who substitute teaches  in another state). But by the 3th class I couldn't remember what I talked about with previous classes, and kept hearing echoes of earlier conversations.
     Sorry if I repeated myself.
     Sorry if I repeated myself.
     I also was reminded that newspapers---the print kind---as we know them are really dead. Although some of the kids said they read parts of a newspaper at least once a week, it's because their parents get it delivered at home. Where do they get most of their news? The net. And Jon Stewart. Some of them watch cable news, and see both FOX and CNN as equally biased.
    I asked if they felt news was relevant to them, and one girl said not now, but it will be when she turns 18 and is old enough to vote. Ah, youth!
[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]
[ALSO: Here is a commentator who says radio is alive and well, contrary to what new media folks say. He's got a point, but as I said to the St. James kids, radio news gathering is dead. Little of that is going on in the AM/FM media, except for NPR and to some extent local public stations, of course.]

Church Fires

     They are just suspects at this point, but IF they did it, just what seems to make church burning a young white guy kinda crime?
    
     Two are charged with the burning of ten churches in Texas...not unlike the church burnings in Alabama, for which three Birmingham-Southern students were arrested. All three eventually pled guilty.
     
     Does arson itself tend to be a young white male crime?
    
     Nobody was hurt in the church burnings in Texas or Alabama.

When your brand name becomes the (fake) gold standard

     It is a double-edged sword, but companies live for the day when their product becomes so omnipresent that the very name comes to represent the class. Xerox is one example...people use it a verb, and as a substitute word for any copier. The double-edge part of it comes with the potential loss of copyright for the name.
     It can also work as a negative image.
     In a story in the New York Times today, about a history book that is now being questioned for its accuracy, a researcher is quoted:

“This book is a Toyota,” said Robert S. Norris, the author of “Racing for the Bomb” and an atomic historian. “The publisher should recall it, issue an apology and fix the parts that endanger the historical record.”

     Ouch! You gotta know the already besieged managers at Toyota shiver when they see their name being used as a symbol for a defective product. Like the opposite of "Cadillac" maybe?

The Miracle That (Probably) Wasn't

     Remember the story last November about the man in Europe who had been in a coma for years, and suddenly it was discovered that he was in fact conscious and could communicate? Apparently it was not true. At least the test used to show his supposed thought process has been discredited. Maybe he is still in there, and another way to determine his thoughts will be discovered.
     But what was it about the story that made so many people want to believe it? Maybe it was one of those feet-of-clay lessons for the medical establishment. Perhaps we know someone who is in a persistent vegetative state and want to believe they are as they always were. Maybe it says something about our desire to believe that there is always hope, for our own failings, our weaknesses and illnesses, our so human condition.

Pythonssssssss

     Readers of this blog may already know I am something of an alarmist (or, to use some positive spin, a canary in the coal-mine) about the growing population of huge pythons in Florida. Remember, one killed a little child near Tampa last Summer! And anything that can take on a gator and win...well, time for concern!

     Being a resident of Alabama, I have more than just a passing interest. I can be in Florida, albeit the Panhandle, after a relatively short drive. So snakes in Florida = soon-to-be snakes in Alabama. This USGS map shows how large a potion of Alabama there is in which the pythons would find the weather hospitable. Oh Joy!

 
    Anyway, Sunday night on "Nature", a story about the advancing hoard, the writhing army, the slithering mass. Check your local listing.
    Unlike most residents of the Sunshine State, the snakes are not moving to the South toward Miami. They're headed toward me.
    Don't say you weren't warned.

No Radney* Violation

The Alabama Democratic Party has determined candidate Charlie Grimsley is eligible to run as a Democrat, despite testimony about his support for Republican candidates. Here's the release from the party:




IN THE STATE DEMOCRATIC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF ALABAMA

FINDING AND ORDER OF THE CHARLEY GRIMSLEY SHOW CAUSE HEARING
On order of the Chairman of the State Democratic Executive Committee of Alabama, a show cause hearing was held on February 19, 2010. A subcommittee as called for under Article VII, Section VII of the bylaws of the State Democratic Executive Committee met at the request of Charley Grimsley, candidate for State Treasurer.
It is ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED BY A UNANAIMOUS VOTE, WITH ONE ABSTENTION, and AS FOLLOWS:
Charley Grimsley is a Democrat in Good Standing.
Charley Grimsley’s name shall be placed on the ballot as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the office of Treasure of the State of Alabama on the June 1, 2010 Democratic Primary ballot.

A Copy of this order is to be forwarded to Charley Grimsley and any other person or entity as required by law.

So ORDERED this 19th day of February, 2010.
Joe Turnham, Chairman

The "Radney Rule" is named after longtime Alabama Democrat and current Alexander City lawyer Tom Radney (photo on right). It states:

 "No person shall be permitted to qualify as a candidate for nomination or election to public or party office in said primary elections who did not support the nominees of the Democratic Party in the last general election. Any elected public official who attained office as a nominee of the Democratic Party, and any person who is a member of the State Democratic Executive Committee, shall not be permitted to qualify as a candidate for public or party office in said primary elections if, while holding such public or party office, he or she did not support the nominees of the Democratic Party in the last general election."

Coal-Ash, Anyone?

While the TVA spends many millions to remove coal ash from the land and a river near the Kingston Power plant in Tennessee (seen above), shipping it by rail to Perry County Alabama, , folks in another part of the country are spending their money to dump coal ash into a river. Do they know something we don't? Read the story here, in the Omaha World-Herald.

40 Years later, still a stench.

     During next Monday and Tuesday's WAKA/ CBS-8 News at 10:00, I'll have a report on the 40th anniversary year of what many believe to be the dirtiest election in Alabama history, maybe in U.S. history. It was the 1970 Democratic Gubernatorial Primary, with George Wallace and Albert Brewer the top voter getters. Neither received enough to win outright, so a runoff was required.
   We talked with George Wallace, Jr. (left side photo), who says there are still hard-feelings about that election, with an archivist at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, with CBS-8 Political Analyst Steve Flowers, and with Tom Radney (bottom photo), a Democrat who was a candidate for Lt. Governor on the same ballot.

 "Dirty Politics", a special two-part report on WAKA, CBS-8 in Montgomery.

(The definitive work on the election was written by Alabama native Jeff Frederick, who was kind enough to talk with me about the story. The title of the book is Stand Up For Alabama.)

What we (don't) eat...

There are some things I will just not eat. Some because I don't like the taste...but others because I don't like the idea of the food.
I won't eat mushrooms, for example, no matter how much the stores try to make them appealing. When I buy a prepared (i.e. frozen) dinner and there are 'shrooms on top, I refer to it being infested with them.

I won't eat shellfish.
I know, I know, I don't know what I am missing! But I do. I usually tell people I have a severe allergy to shellfish to avoid the lectures about how good clams and crab and lobster and company are. I say the first person who ate a clam or an oyster had already eaten all of the sand on the beach and was still hungry.

And...drum roll...I won't eat kitty stew. Though there's one celebrity chef with his own TV show in Italy who claims it is divine.

"Cat, soaked for three days in the running water of a stream" in Tuscany "comes out with its meat white, and I assure you — I have eaten it many times — that it is a delicacy..."

...he said, much to the chagrin of his co-host.

I don't eat dog either. Or horse. I think that's it. No, wait! No lima beans either.

[BTW: No, that's not cat in the photo above. It's a delicious roast my late Aunt Eileen sent for Christmas last year. And thanks to J.C. for pointing me to the kitty stew story!]

All The Happy People

Apparently they do not live in The South. USA Today story ranks the top metro areas on a variety of factors that are supposed to add up to happiness. They rank 162 cities in all. Huntington, West Virginia, is at the very bottom. Boulder, Colorado is at the top. And Alabama?

Here are the rankings for the state's largest cities:

Huntsville  #40

Birmingham #117

Montgomery #118

Mobile #146

.....a couple of things come to mind immediately. The first is that I'm glad Huntsville is ranked at the top after what they've gone through the past two weeks. And second: are we sure they didn't just rank the cities by distance from the Gulf of Mexico? What are the odds that they would be in geographic order?

You have to wonder if these never-ending rankings have any true meaning. Happiness is in the heart, after all. And that knows no geography.

Mass Transit Legislation--Public hearing tomorrow!

Should some of Alabama's gas tax go toward
Mass Transit?


HB 116 (Rep. Patricia Todd) proposes an amendment to the constitution to allow vehicle and road use taxes to be used for public transportation. There will be a public hearing on this bill Wed., Feb. 17, at 1:30 p.m., before the House Government Appropriation Committee (Rep. John Knight, chairman), in State House Room 617.

Products MIA!

     For years---maybe a decade--- I've used a pump container of  Noxzema to remove my makeup each day when I'm done on the air. All of a sudden I can't seem to find the pump container anywhere? Oh, they have the cloths and the tubs, but I'm used to the pump! Where is it?
     According to one cable TV show story, it may have been removed from the shelves by the stores. Too many products, they complain. How many dozen toothpaste brands so we need, they ask? (I say one...Mentadent...which also vanished from most store shelves.

I did email them about the Noxzemam, but the form on the Mentadent comment page was very user unfriendly,).

Where have all the products gone sounds like a folk song I used to know.
I'll beat you to your comment: get a life Lennox! Find another product to replace those that are gone! And I will, but not before I post a good complaint blog entry about it. (-:

Pricey Air

     Alabamians love to boast (complain?) that their city has the a) worst drivers; b) most ignorant elected officials; and c) the highest taxes (which in Lowtaxabama is really hard to do!).
     They also complain about their airport...not enough flights, to far or or too close in...but now the Rocket City can boast about having the most expensive airport in America to fly out of. Really. How's that for a crowd pleaser? And don't you know other cities use stats like that to convince companies to locate in their municipality instead of Huntsville.

[Reader JC is sending so much material my way, I should put him on staff. Actually I'll do that, and pay him the same as my own salary as Editor in Chief. $0.00 Thanks JC!]

Another Tallulah on Broadway

     The N.Y. Times has a story today about Huntsville-born (1/31/1902) Tallulah Bankhead and the somewhat mysterious fascination people have about her.

     There another show opening on Broadway about her.

     I grabbed it for posting, anxious to find something not too tragic in connection with that North Alabama city. Tallulah was decadent and scandalous, but not tragic. At least she would never have used that word in describing herself.
     You'll find a lot of things named "Bankhead" in Alabama...the National Forrest, the tunnel, etc...but those are named for her father, who was Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
     Is there something in the state named for her?
     She died in 1968 and the age of 66. Her last words were reportedly "codeine...bourbon."

MMMM # 85 -- The Xerox* Generation

     I've been working on an audio book of sorts of some material I wrote back in the 70's and 80's, all of which I registered at the time with The Library of Congress, proudly sending copies to Washington D.C.to obtain legal protection for the works.
     I guess I was wasting my time. Consider this:

“There’s no such thing as originality anyway, just authenticity."

          That's a hot new 17 year old German author, commenting on the disclosure that whole pages of her hot new novel were, er, lifted from someone else's hot old work.
    I used to have a reporter working for me who would retype entire AP stories to use them on the air. Not rewrite, retype.

Perhaps I should have praised him for authenticity, rather than berating him for sloth.
     It has been difficult for me to undertsand why the concept of "sampling" in Hip Hop music isn't, er, stealing?
     Isn't everything in the old song being "sampled",a creation of an earlier writer? Each of the phrases, each refrain and chorus, an original creation from his or her mind based on life's experiences?
     Why is it OK for them to rip it off to sell their work?
     Maybe it really is a generational thing. Maybe the hot new teen Hemmingway won't mind if I take her hot new novel and add a few choice lines to it, and then sell that new authentic work under my own hot new author name. Tym Linnax.

*Xerox is a registered trademark of the Xerox Corporation

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

Arizona prison overcrowding reduced. By one.

     The oldest death row inmate in America has died at the age of 93...after spending more than half of that long life, where else, behind bars. He was sentenced to death in Arizona in 1983.
     Here in Alabama, we've approved legislation letting the Department of Corrections jettison old,  terminally ill inmates back to society outside the bars.
     That basically means transferring the cost of caring for them over to some other state or federal agency. We taxpayers end up paying anyway, but the DOC's bottom line is improved. According to a story last month in The NY Times:

In Alabama, where prisons are at double their capacity, four sick inmates were let out on compassionate release in the 2009 fiscal year*; 35 other prisoners in Alabama died while their applications were being reviewed.

     You have to wonder what kind of an application process they have going there with almost nine times as many prisoners dying as being released. Maybe DOC is waiting till too close to the end?
     In the long run I suppose it really doesn't matter, since one way or the other, it's one less mouth to feed, one less inmate to take care of.

[*Note: I'm not sure just what The Times means by "fiscal year 2009". Alabama's fiscal year 2009 doesn't end till next September.]

And Thanks to J.C. for the tip on the story!

UAH Shooting Update

UPDATE Monday 2/15: Husband says they were cleared of mail bomb involvement.

UPDATE: The missing 1987 police report has turned up...you can read it here. Lots of unanswered questions.

PLUS...the professor/Ph. D./suspect was also a suspect in a mail bombing attempt in Boston.

Does the University of Alabama do background checks on employees?
Who will play the professor in the inevitable True cable TV movie? (I've lost track a bit, would this be better programmed on Lifetime?)

Literally Watch

It's been a while since the last "Literally Watch" posting, but a regular visitor writes:

I heard a story on NPR about Nelson Mandela's address to the South African legislature on the anniversary of his release from prison. The newscaster said "...where they literally sang his praises." What I wonder is, what tune was that?

     Er, while I really do appreciate the reader bringing this to my attention, and it did appear to be an error, it turns out it is an example of the correct use of literally! Here's what happened during the event:

(Mandela) received a standing ovation from the politicians who sang “Happy Birthday” in English and in Xhosa. As he took his seat on a sofa the group also sang “For he’s a jolly good fellow” and a freedom song which says “Nelson Mandela – there is no one like you.” After a speech by Nkosi Zwelivelile, and having had his praises sung by a traditional imbongi (praise singer) Mr Mandela listened to a speech by President Zuma who extolled his virtues as a political activist, freedom fighter, prisoner, president and pensioner.

     So, it turns out they truly DID "sing his praises"...even to the extent of having a "praise singer" perform...so the use of the word literally is appropriate!

[Literally Watch is an effort on the part of this blog to point out the rampant and regular incorrect use of the word. Literally is frequently used when the writer or speaker means figuratively.]
 

The UA Huntsville Shooting

     How absolutely bizarre. Boston newspapers are reporting the professor/suspect in the campus shootings shot and killed her brother 20 years ago, but there was no investigation and there is no existing police report. The Boston Herald quotes the current chief as saying

"This would never happen in this day and age".

     Excuse me? Twenty years ago was 1990! Not 1890!

Luge Leering

The Winter Olympics are..."an increasingly high-flying circus of terrifying rides, uncontrolled speeds and, in some cases, pure danger."

                                                                 From a Washington Post story.



NBC-TV showed the video of the luge competitor dying at least three times in its evening newscast.
Enough.
Had it been an American athlete, it would probably not be shown at all. What if it had been your son, or your nephew, Brian?

[ALSO: Commentary about the NBC opening ceremony coverage from the NY Times.]
[UPDATE: Sunday 2/14/10 - NBC says it will no longer show the video. Washington Post reports Father of luger has not seen and will not watch it.]

Poor Huntsville. Poor Alabama.

     Such an aggrieved city right now is Huntsville, such an aggrieved state is Alabama. Two Fridays with unexpected, violent death.
     Fourteen year olds aren't supposed to be murderers. Neither are Harvard educated Ph D's.
     Almost a year ago ten dead in the other end of the state, in Samson. And there are lines connecting all three. Lines of revenge (The Samson killer wanted to pay back those who had wronged him and his Mother...today's event allegedly occurred after tenure was denied...and last week, one young teen shooting another over..over what? Gang wannabes? Lessons in hate?
     There's another line too. Guns. We love our freedom to own them. We belittle any restrictions.
     Will metal detectors be needed now for Junior Highs? For Faculty meetings? For life?

[UPDATE: A bizarre twist in The Boston Globe as reported by al.com. The suspect shot and killed her brother 20 years ago, maybe in an accident.]

SN*W-DAY

Snow Photos!

I have yet to take picture one of today's Great Snow Event of 2010...but if you have, send them in to us at CBS8photos@waka.com
...we're showing them online during the day!

Presuming I can get home safely later in the day, I'll post some of my own here!

Let is now..let it snow..let it snow....

TGFV

You just thought Alabama had the wackiest Legislature in the U.S.
Enter Virginia, home to Thomas Jefferson.
Where it is now against the law for people to be forced to have implants placed in their body.
Does our Legisalture know about this? How come we're not protected?

Flying with a Foreign Language

Your thoughts? And before you ACLU bash, please remember the person* on the Alabama State Quarter and representing us in the Hall of Statuary in The U.S. Capitol Building was a founding member. *That would be Helen Keller.

Long Term Care

A company that owns almost a hundred a long-term care hospitals, including one in Birmingham, is the focus of a major investigative piece in the N.Y. Times today.
The Birmingham facility--Select Speciality Hospital--  is located in Trinity Medical Center on Montclair.

Despite Sen, Shelby - U.S. not "Lost"...

....so says Paul Krugman in a column in today's NYTimes....and at the moment, it is the most emailed column of the day, by the way.
Always nice to see what other people are saying about us.

[UPDATE: Shelby drops most "holds" says he got the WH attention. Tantrums do that.]

MMMM # 83 - New (South) Media

     This series of postings --- The Monday Morning Media Memo ---  has had an almost 100% weekly attendance record on this site for almost two years. But every now and then, events beyond my control conspire to prevent me from writing one.
     This is one of those weeks.
     (Now that I've returned to the fold of the working full-time masses, I wonder how I will ever get anything else done!)

     So this week, allow me to simply point you toward a Southerncentric new media project that I believe you'll enjoy. The Emory University creators of Southern Spaces have been at it a half-dozen years now, and they've done a fine job of combining the elements that make new media exciting, while managing to avoid those that tend to drag it down (like those after-story comments that make newspaper sites look like loud and mostly ignorant radio call-in shows).

     You'll find essays and photos and videos in the journal...yes, it is a "journal", and as such it tends to the academic, with "peer reviewed" submissions and "interdisciplinary" focus. Some of you, I know, will feel perfectly at home there. But those whose formal education is less structured shouldn't let the scholarly professorship of it all scare them off. There are wonderful stories about you and your people inside.
     For a sample, start with a 2008 short film about midwifery in Alabama called "Birth Right".

     Professor/Author Wayne Flynt is in there too, that living Auburn University treasure who was always such a friendly resource for me in producing stories at APT...and there's an essay about the similar journeys of South Africa, Northern Ireland, and The American South.
     If all that sounds a bit on the progressive side, so be it. Go visit for a spell.

[PLUS: Here's a cute BBC YouTube piece on the anatomy of a television news "package". Thanks to MB for sharing!]

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

A Curious Silence x 2

     Frank Rich's column in today's NY Times is about what he considers the unusual silence from the Right about Admiral Mullen's testimony against Don't Ask Don't Tell this past week (other than Alabama U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, who Rich calls out.)
     There has been a similar silence here in Alabama from supporters of the Governor's electronic bingo raids. Other than Mobile DA and Task Force Commander John Tyson, the Governor's staff, and seven of the nine Justices on The Alabama Supreme Court, who is applauding the raids at Victoryland and Country Crossing?  Where are the legislators calling news conferences and the church groups holding mass rallies?
    Even the conservative Birmingham News says the raids are an example of "bad public policy", and that the courts are the proper forum for the dispute....though I had to laugh at one part of their editorial argument:

We cannot defend chop shops or meth labs because of their economic impact; neither should we make that a justification for illegal gambling.

     Let's at least stay in the same orchard, no?
    One of the groups that would have been out demonstrating in favor of the Governor-- the Christian Coalition-- has been neutralized by it's own gaming connection. They took  PAC to PAC money from gambling interests. (The pro-gambling side's ads says Bob Riley did the same thing, which he denies.)
     It was certainly a case of curious timing. On Wednesday, the CC's releases their poll showing a large majority of Alabamains do not oppose electronic bingo, then the PAC story, giving the Governor a way to dismiss the CC polls.

     Columnist Rich makes the argument that the tide has turned against DADT, that even conservative politicians are unwilling to stick their necks out anymore on that loser of an issue.

     Could the same thing be happening with bingo here in Alabama? Perhaps conservative politicians who are running for reelection, unlike Governor Riley, have seen the writing of the polls. Maybe they've decided putting thousands of people out of work, in an 11% unemployment economy, and eliminating the taxes and fees paid by the bingo places, isn't the best idea. Especially since the Native American gambling facilities are beyond Riley & Tyson's reach, and will surely profit from the raids.
     Meanwhile, now there are threats of armed confrontation between county and state law enforcement over the issue. Are there any cooler heads in Alabama to prevail?

Tim Spring, 2010

     You can't see them  in this photo, but as I sit writing at my desk today, there are robins in the trees outside my window!

     I joke with Kait Parker on CBS-8 This Morning about "Tim Spring" being just x-number of weeks away. I believe as soon as we're past any danger of lengthy frigid weather---regardless of the actual date Spring will start---that Tim Spring will arrive. Right now I say that's three weeks from now. And my bird friends outside seem to agree. Chirp!

Storm of The Century!

     The Northeast is buried under a mound of snow this morning, reminding me of some of the great snowstorms of my childhood in New york City.
     A friend in West Virginia emails:

I could hardly get the front or back door opened enough to let Symph out. As much as she likes it, she only could go out a foot or two & didn't care to venture further.

     Symphony is Gary's dog by the way.
     Further up the East Coast, my brother in New Jersey says he has no choice about going to work...the roads in his apartment complex are impassible, and the management doesn't seem in too big a hurry to plow.

    The U.S. Postal Service has cancelled mail service up that way, giving lie to the "neither now, nor hail nor dark of night" promise.

     Unrelated mostly (except in my stream-of-consciousness brain pattern this morning), the Advance Publications promise to never lay off employees at its newspapers---including the Birmingham News, Huntsville Times and Press-Register---is going by the wayside. They offered buyouts to longtime employees, and those who stay will have to live with the threat of the pink slip. The News has a new leader too.
     But back to the snow...or "the "S word" as local forecasters endlessly whisper...don't ya love the way the shelves empty out when there is a threat of even flurries? Even if several inches fell in most of Alabama, how long could it possibly last? Ah well, its part of the culture now. The photo up above shows the only snow of 2009 in Montgomery...on March 1st. So there's still hope! Go buy some bread and milk!

If it makes you feel any better....

From The Washington Post:

The Mortgage Bankers Association, whose members are expert in all forms of commercial real estate loans, fell victim to the collapse of the market and sold its $90 million headquarters in downtown Washington on Friday for $41 million.

So there.

CSS Alabama Guns Restored

     I was happy to read this afternoon that the lengthy process of restoring two of the guns brought up from the wreckage of The CSS Alabama is over. One of them in on the way to the Museum of Mobile.

     The Civil War raider CSS Alabama has a special place in my heart because of the research Bob Corley and I did for that not-to-be APT documentary about the ship and her Captain, Raphael Semmes.

     The folks at the Museum of Mobile were gracious to us, and I salute them on obtaining the cannon (they have a reproduction on display now (above), and some other actual artifacts from the ship, including some of her ceramic bathroom fixtures and her bell!

BINGO Developments

• The Wall Street Journal reports the Porch Creek Bank Band of Indians in Alabama are working on another facility in the Montgomery area.
• Country Crossing founder Ronnie Gilley told CBS-8 yesterday in the 5:00 pm news that the Governor's actions are helping Native American gaming operations in Alabama... and in Mississippi.
•  The Birmingham News reports that The ABC Board has ordered its employees to stay away from the electronic gaming facilities, and not to even be friends with people who work there.
• Yesterday's Alabama Supreme Court ruling was NOT unamious. It was 7-2, with Chief Justice Cobb and Justice Woodall dissenting.
• And I wonder: will the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations send in a Rapid Response Team to help the newly unemployed bingo center employees file for unemployment and/or find work?*
• But the biggest question of all: will there still be raids if the places are closed? And if so, when?

* UPDATE: Monday, 2/8/10: hmmm, somebody must be reading this. Response Teams on the way!

Bolivian Traffic Zebras

Would this work in Birmingham? Montgomery? Opp?

Back to The Future

     Almost exactly a year after I hosted the last For The Record on APT, I'm about to start hosting a similar program on the Montgomery Television station where I've been working part-time.
     Beginning soon on CBS-8 (WAKA), I'll be hosting a weekly half-hour interview show that will air immediately before 60-Minutes...5:30 - 6:00 pm each Sunday.
     CBS 8's On The Record will feature extended conversations with all kinds of people. During the lead-up to the Primary Elections on June 1st-- we'll talk with each of the candidates for Governor. They've each appeared on the station before, of course, but in relatively short segments with little or no chance for follow up questions,
     I'll post a guest schedule as soon as it's worked out. You can expect to see interesting people from all kinds of fields, including the people who run state and local government.

     My position at CBS-8 is now fulltime. I'll continue anchoring CBS-8 This Morning weekdays from 6:00 - 7:00 AM, and the news updates during The Early Show on CBS 7:00 - 9:00 AM.
     In addition to On The Record, I'll also be contributing stories to the CBS 8 Newscasts. I'm working on the first of those right now...more about it later!
     Last weekend we launched an all new web presence at CBS 8, and I'm confident you'll find it an exciting daily source for news and information. It has a nice clean design, is very user-friendly, and includes lots of video.
     I'm glad to have this opportunity to resume in-depth reporting and interviewing, and I appreciate how welcome the folks at 8 have made me feel.

This and That (and a 656 ft. Yacht)

•      What's in a Name? Apparently a lot for Joe Reed, who had his stripped from the Acadome at ASU in Montgomery after a dispute with the Board of Trustees. Among other disagreements, Reed had filed suit against the University.

     Now the arena is officially named for him again, courtesy a legislative resolution which Bob Riley allowed to become law without his signature. But will the University replace his name on the building?

•      Only one member of the Congressional Black Caucus got less than an "A" from the NAACP in a recent report card ranking. Artur Davis. David's most recent email solicitation also brags about some polling numbers: 

We also got some great news from our pollster, whose latest numbers show Artur Davis with a commanding lead over Ron Sparks, neck-and-neck in matchups against the leading Republicans, and a growing +22% net favorability rating.

     Not sure if that 22% means 22% like the candidate, or if the number who like him has increased by 22%. Either way, you kinda need to know the actual  figures to know what they really mean.

• Both Sparks and Davis have been out swinging against the Governor's raids on electronic bingo centers. The courts are now considering several cases, and while they wait, the doors at White Hall, Country Crossing and Victoryland are all shut. Thousands of people are out of work, though some moving company employees made money driving the (empty) vans around last Friday. Democratic legislators have demanded task force head John Tyson provide a list of expenses involved in the raids.
• Some legislators are demanding Tyson resign because he has admitted asking Milton McGregor for $150,000, and accepting $100.000, when he ran against Troy King for AG four years ago.
• Sure is fun to watch Republicans like Sen. Richard Shelby and Governor Wannabe Tim James complaining about President Obama cutting federal spending and reducing the deficit and the debt....because it's being done in Huntsville.
• And on a lighter note, here's just the thing for some well-heeled Alabama Coast businessman to buy to impress the neighbors. A new yacht that sleeps 45 guests and 70 crew members. Take that, US Navy!
• [Thanks for reader and friend J.C. for the yacht tip!]

MMMM # 82 - Going to the movies...

     The Wall Street Journal reports Alabama-born Movie Gallery will file for bankruptcy again this week, and will close up to two-thirds of its stores.
     The company went that route once before, leaving it's suppliers with pennies on the dollar, then snuck outta Dothan almost unannounced, moving to Oregon.
     Just a few years ago, Governor Riley and Dothan officials were patting themselves on the back over convincing Movie Gallery to locate a distribution center in The Wiregrass. Was any state (i.e., taxpayer) cash provided at the time? Can we get a refund now? Or just pennies on the (tax) dollar?
     Considering the fact that the two men who founded the company didn't even own a VCR when they opened their first store, maybe it was destined.
     Movie Gallery is also mid-way through a 20-year worth some $18-Million for the naming rights for the stadium at Troy University.
     With Netflix and downloading, why was anyone still going to a video rental store anyway? Oh, wait, that's why they're going bankrupt....

[P.S.: A Facebook group called Get Shot in Alabama is promoting the state as a place to come make films. Cute name, but doesn't it play into the existing misconception about the state? Oh, I know, loosen up Lennox! That's the point! Still.....]