A Few Blocks Apart--a different treatment of the "N Word"

     A few short blocks away from the offices of New South Books, the publisher who caused an international stir by coming out with a version of Mark Twain's novels with the word "nigger" replaced with "slave", the Southern Poverty Law Center has posted a letter from a teacher in Louisiana.
     She described her own experience with the word and her students.

Trains = Death Too

     Thanks to Chief-Editing-Person-In-Charge Jay for pointing out another story to reawaken my snakophobia. This time it's on a train in a place where I spent some time: Vietnam. A lot of the headline writers have been having fun with it. "Snakes On A Train", you know.

     Anyway, here's the CBS TV Report about the discovery of living samples of the world's largest venomous snakes in a bag under a seat on a passenger train.

     I couldn't find any pictures of the snakes in the story, but this is me in Vietnam in 1970, and I kinda look like I'm wondering what's causing the ripples near my feet. I was young then, and had not yet developed my mature snakophobia...explaining why I am willingly standing in water that is surely infested.

(The photo also explains why I was never drafted into my unit's basketball team, and why the team has such a short season.)

Subscription = Death

Yup, it is the ultimate test of the subscription economy's hold on us.
The headline: WHO report says cell phones are carcinogenic for humans.
So what do we do?

a) Stop using cell phones?

b) Accept new safer phones that look like and weight the same as the orignal "brick" phones?

c) Ignore the report entirely and continue using our cells because we all---and I mean all of the world's people---are addicted now.

C it is then!

What Would Jefferson Say????

DANCING is illegal????? DANCING???? Read The Washington Post story here.

MMMM #146 TiVo Radio

     Though I've worked in TV for fifteen years now, I still love Radio. And for years I've wondered about radio receivers with a kind of built-in "TiVo" recorder...giving listeners a way to pause the radio program while you do something else.
     The new DAR.FM  is not exactly that, but similar. It's a service that lets you record radio shows in a "cloud", and tap into those shows when and where you want. Their FAQ page may do a better job than I explaining what they do (for free, by the way).
     The reason it doesn't do what I want, I think, is access.

     The most common times I to want to pause life radio are a) When I'm in the bathroom getting ready for work, and b) when I'm in the car and running into a store or something. While you can access your DAR account from a phone, that doesn't seem very practical for those applications....or am I missing something here?

     The real answer will come with Internet access in cars and bathroom etc etc. Of course that will help kill local radio even more, though as long as the commercials are heard, what's the difference when you listen? Same as with TV: there's no way for the stations to prove to advertisers that people saw/heard the ad....and fast forwarding will be too great a temptation for many people.

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

Gil Scott-Heron - dead at 62

One line of his poetry became a catchphrase for a generation: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. Read the story of his life, and his death on Friday here.

The Best Job in Alabama?

     Huntsville Times reporter Bob Lowry scores a home run this morning with the story of an Alabama state employee who lives in Dallas, but files to Montgomery to work three days a week...He makes $173k and gets all of the same benefits of full-time state workers.    
     Here's his story.

One Final Mission. Do it, and die.

     More than a hundred retired engineers in Japan are volunteering to expose themselves to potentially lethal doses of radiation at the crippled Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, replacing younger workers. 

"We shouldn't leave the work only to young engineers," he said. "Young people, especially those who have children in future, should not be exposed to radiation."

SCOTUS : Business Death Penalty

     That's what critics of today's ruling are calling the decision...a death penalty for businesses, because it allows Arizona and other states to revoke the business license of a company that knowingly hires illegal immigrants.
     Then again, companies wanted personhood when it came to being able to spend money without restrictions on political campaigns, and were happy when SCOTUS gave it to them, no? Live by the court, die by the court.

[UPDATE:A Friday Morning related ruling is here.]

When is a peach purple?

     When it is the name of a discount airline in Japan, that's when.
     The WSJ reports the airline's name may be peach, but it's main color is magenta.
     Must be a translation problem...

UA Researcher Helps Find Buried Pyramids!

     I know that looks like a headline from a tabloid, but it's true. NASA used satellite photography to discover the location of seventeen lost pyramids in Egypt. And a University of Alabama professor is right in the middle of it.
     Now if only that would make Egyptians love America more.
    Another story out this month says the Arab Spring uprisings and the U.S. support for them has not changed  how much they dislike us.

Goodby Spirit!

     The long-lived "Spirit" Mars rover is gone, frozen apparently by the Martian Winter.
     In reading the AP story, I found it interesting how similar the scientists' reactions were to the death of an actual person.
     Spirit's twin, "Opportunity" lives on, both of them examples of what American can do when it puts its mind to it.

Glo*** War****

     Like a lot of folks, I've been wondering about the just plain weird weather the past couple of years.*
I mean, what gives? Drought and Floods, Earthquakes and Tornadoes....

     An environmentalist has written a column in The Washington Post (is that warning enough for you that it has a slant?) warning us NOT to jump to conclusions.

[*I am not a meteorologist, but I did play one on TV in Birmingham for a while.]

SCOTUS on Prison Ovecrowding

The court said in a 5-4 decision that the reduction is "required by the Constitution" to correct longstanding violations of inmates' rights to adequate care for their mental and physical health.

     From an AP story about today split decision against the California Prison System, ordering prisoner releases one one kind or another after years of overcrowding.
     Et tu Alabama?
     We have extraordinary prison overcrowding in Alabama---twice the number of prisoners the facilities were built to hold---maybe more crowded than California. Yet neither the public nor the public's representatives in The Legislature have been willing to do what it takes to either reduce the population or increase the number of beds.
     Instead we take temporary measures that do one one or the other, just long enough to avert a complete crisis.
     Just yesterday there was an editorial in the conservative Birmingham News urging action.
     If ever there was a wake up call for Legislators it was today's decision, showing that even the current relatively conservative U.S. Supreme Court will take action to protest the constitution rights that prisons retain, even if they are behind bars.
     Another lesson from today's decision is the importance of the 2012 Presidential Election to both parties. The winner will likely have two or three Supreme Court nominations to change the current 5-4 split.
     This blog has written about prison overcrowding before, like the slight measure the state took allowing the DOC to release terminally ill prisoners who then become a burdeon on Federal tax dollars. Now there's a legitimate strategy!
     The problem is, no politician has ever been elected promising to reduce prison overcrowding. And reelection is the only incentive many politicians have, as opposed to acting with the the long-term good of the state in mind.   
     Better we just wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to do it for us. 

MMMM #145 -- News Manipulation

Women! Begone!!

      A Brooklyn Yiddish newspaper had Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a female terrorism official in the background removed from the iconic photo of President Obama and others watching the operation that left Osama Bin Laden dead.

     The new media folks would have you believe the traditional media does this all day long...sits around deciding how to manipulate news to sell their own agenda. This newspaper did it because their Ultra-Conservative Jewish beliefs don't allow them to publish pictures of women for fear of arousing men.

     Right.

     In my own experience, most of the media is way too busy just trying to get the job done to plot agendas.

     The newspaper, by the way, did violate the White House photo use agreement, which stipulates you can't change their pictures in any way. And according to one rabbi, the violated a Jewish Law that forbids deceit. 

     Now there's a good rule for new and old media to follow.

[Plus: Read CNN's story on the behind-the-scenes way the Arnold and The Baby story broke...including the former Governor's

 amazingly vicious method of dealing with reporters.]

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

Headline in many of this morning's papers:

Al-Qaeda planned to trigger economic turmoil.

(But the investment bankers beat them to it.)

Tree Recovery

     After reading about Governor Bentley asking FEMA to write kinder rejection letters to Alabamians hurt by the tornado outbreak in April, I got thinking about how the state itself is...and can...help them.
     Then a longtime friend who lives in Pleasant Grove just outside Birmingham described the hundreds of trees lost in his area, and the two thoughts merged.
     How about the Alabama Forestry Commission teams up with the Alabama Nursery and Landscaping Association and the Forest Owners Association to replace some of the wooded areas of communities like Pleasant Grove as a Public Service project?
    I know it's easy for me to sit here and suggest volunteer work for them, but there is a certain synergy to it. Maybe the Alabama Trucking Association can provide trucks to carry saplings from one place to another...in fact the Business Council of Alabama could coordinate the whole thing.  And let's not forget the great horticulture school at Auburn University!
 

     I realize there are bigger problems for residents to tackle right now...like rebuilding places to live and going through the grieving process for those who were lost...but none of what I'm proposing would need to be a tomorrow or next week event...Fall is the best time to transplant trees anyway. How about The Great Alabama Fall Tree Replanting as a name?
     If you like this idea, send a link to this posting to people you know in the associations I mentioned, or in government, or cut and paste it, and re distribute it. Who knows?

Zombie Cassettes!

     Just when you though it was safe to get rid of your old cassette player, they're coming back. Kinda. That's a link to a Washington Post article, but last month there was an earlier story on an audiophile web site.

     I have a box filled with cassettes, mostly air-checks from all those years in radio. I spent some time two years ago going through them and creating a general kind of index. I also remember standing in Rockefeller Plaza as a teenager "interviewing" passersby for a school radio project....on a cassette, of course. Lots of us bought our first "albums" in cassette format, mostly I guess in the 70's and 80's. It was Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band for me, which came out in 1967.

     I've commented on the end of the cassette several times on this blog. Here ...and Here too.
    Looks like the obits were premature. Again.

Have YOU raptured?

     In a way, the preacher man was right about the world ending today. At least for the estimated 155,000 people who die each and every day.

     As for the rest of us, we're still breathing. I feel sorry for those who followed him on this lark, selling everything they own to buy billboards and spread the lies.
     Anybody wanna buy some used trucks with elaborate paint jobs?

[Update: Guess I didn't read his prediction closely enough..he said 6pm in each Time Zone (for whatever reason...like He can't handle doing it all at once?)...so as of right now, we in the Central U.S. Time Zone have another four hours to go.]

Leaving for Richmond

     150 years ago today, Montgomery's brief reign as Confederate Capitol ended. The Confederate Congress adjourned and headed to Richmond where they would reconvene a month later.
     Despite the briefness of the stay, both the Sons of Confederate Veterans and tourism supporters have embraced that status with varying success.
     This week I developed a story we aired on CBS-8 about the return of a sign with the controversial Confederate Battle Flag on it. It's right back where it used to be, outside the Renaissance Hotel and Spa, and they've positioned it so the flag is difficult to see.
     Some black members of The Montgomery City Council tried to have the sign removed in 2005 or so, without success, Then it did come down during construction of the new Hotel, with a city promise it would be back.
     Wednesday morning, with no advance notice, the city returned the sign after a half dozen years.
     The return comes after meetings attended by  Montgomery city officials, historians and SCV members in which they negotiated the placement.Yet they apparently didn't invite Rep. Alvin Holmes or others who had fought to have the sign taken down in the first place.

      Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange told me he wanted the sign put up at the White House of The Confederacy...but since that's not where the Confederate Officees were located, the historians agreed it should go back where it was.

     Unlike most of the historic markers in the city, this one was not paid for and designed by the Historical Commission, It was paid for and put up by the SCV with the city's approval in the 70's. 

      If you are downtown near Bibb and Commerce, look for it next to the Wintzell's restaurant. This picture is from before it was taken down....I'll get some shots of the new location this week.

     Press-Register Reporter Jeff Amy has written a comprehensive story about insurance company changes following the tornado outbreak here in Alabama, including an apparent decision by ALFA to stop writing policies on older Alabama homes...that is, older than 10 years.

    The only thing I'll add is that 94% of Alabama homes are older than that, according to the 2010 Census.

Redistricting, Alabama Style

The Alabama Legislature has drawn new district lines for the seven Congressional Districts.

This was the first time in forever that the state GOP controlled the process*, so you can expect some slight changes. Alabama's 7th is one of the most gerrymandered Districts in the U.S.

*There has only been a GOP in Alabama since about four minutes ago. The old-line "conservative Democrats" just changed parties. The above map is a crass mischaracterization of the process. (-:

About Arnold

A few thoughts about the former Governor's fall from grace:

• It wasn't all that long ago that Republicans were ready to change the U.S. Constitution to allow "foreign-born" Americans to become president. It was written specifically to allow him to run.
• His comment that he made a "mistake" must make his illegitimate teenage son feel really good. Good work Dad!
• Speaking of that son, which "media" outlet will be the first to run the inevitable photo of him? The MSM or the "new media". And how will they justify it?
• California Democratic leaders are demanding an investigation to determine if any state funds (what little are left, anyway) were used in any way to provide for the Mistress of the child, or to cover up the affair. Sounds like a fishing expedition, but you never know. If he thought he could do anything quietly, like have an affair and a child, without anyone knowing....
• ...and finally, Let's PLEASE stop using the term "love child" for the kid. Aren't the children he had with is wife "love children" and the teen just a child (if not a lust child)?

The Tuscaloosa Tornado -- Familia Duarte

I don't speak Spanish. Don't need to. Duarte Dude, think of your kids!

RATING ALABAMA TRANSPORTATION

The Pew Center has a report on the states, grading each on how well they spend transportation dollars. In Alabama, Transportation is largely one person driving in a car, but nonetheless, the study may be worth a look.

Small Government

     Advocates of smaller state and federal government are getting what they want, mostly because of the Great Recession, as opposed to intentional cutbacks.

     Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb ranted a bit about them today, pointing out that the cuts to the state Judicial System will slow down all criminal AND civil trials and court actions. Innocent people will stay in jail longer waiting for a trial. People wanting to end their bad marriages are already waiting as much as two years for a divorce.

     Unless something happens to the budgets being considered by the Legislature in the last meeting days of the session, several hundred more court employees will be laid off in October.

     And one step thing that's next on the chopping block will be small claim courts. Those courts won't be eliminated, they simply won't be staffed. So for those folks who like to avoid lawyers and handle disputes themselves, you'll be out of luck.

Bare Hand Catch, or not?

Couldn't YOU do this? It is for real?

The $30 Million Move

    You may have read about the Governor's action in taking 30-Million from a PSC fund for services for the Deaf to help pay for the children's health insurance (CHIP) program.
    He did so with the help of a bill that passed both the House and Senate, and it now sits on his desk awaiting his decision.
    He has till next Wednesday.
    The folks at the state Association For The Deaf are staging a volunteer, last ditch effort to save the fund.    
    Here's a guest editorial they are distributing:


The Telecommunications Relay Service Fund was established in the early 1980s by Federal law to pay for relay services for deaf people. Each state pays into this fund; Alabama was the first to establish its Dual Party Relay System, funded by a few cents’ surcharge on landline phones.


This has been a vital service that provides equal telecommunication access for deaf and hard of hearing people to America‘s telephone system.. It is used daily for everything from ordering a pizza to calling emergency services. The Dual Party Relay System has also been a source of funding for the newsline service offered to Blind and visually impaired Alabamians.

The state Legislature, however , has determined it is acceptable to meddle into this fund—a private fund administered by the Public Service Commission—and remove almost all of the money without any plan to pay it back. They want to use this funding to temporarily remedy funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

This is similar to having the government decide suddenly that it has the right to seize your private savings account, and telling you that the money in your checking account is what you can use for your daily operations. Representative Jay Love, the bill’s author, and his supporters, (including the governor), are simply trying to find temporary fixes for their budgetary deficit What will they do in a year or so when this money runs out?

To make matters worse, they have the shamelessness to take funds earmarked for people with disabilities. Deaf, deaf-blind, late deafened and speech impaired people have a long list of unmet needs. It is hurtful to have our legislators disrupt much-needed services, determining that other purposes are more important . The original intent of this fund was to be directed to deaf services; to take most of the fund without reimbursement is unfathomable.

The Deaf community has made many calls to representatives and senators, but only a very few have listened to our messages and returned our calls. Steve Hurst, Joe Hubbard, Jamie Ison and Craig Ford are among the ones who took time to hear our side, and they are to be praised.

As elected officials, legislators do not have the privilege of installing answering machines and listening only to the messages they like; they have the responsibility of communicating with their constituents and acknowledging our needs and concerns.

Is it really acceptable to take away what is a lifeline for deaf and hard of hearing people? I say no. It is unfortunate and inappropriate, that Rep. Love, the governor, and their supporters have chosen to play deaf.
Judith M. Gilliam, Legislative Liaison

Alabama Association of the Deaf

MMMM # 144 -- Sporting Lines

     I've long been a critic of the after-story comment sections in online newspaper sites, since it allows idiots to post tasteless, hateful comments without having to use their names. But sometimes it's the people writing the stories who cross the line.
      On Saturday, Daniel Paulling at The Birmingham News pointed out the ESPN writers who managed to somehow miss the personal family tragedy involved in the death of Alabama's Aaron Douglas, treating it like a kind of NFL trade, instead of the death of a 21 year old.

"Possible starter found dead in Jacksonville, opening door for five-star signee Cyrus Kouandjio."

     Many sports "journalists" are not held to the same standard that news journalists are. Some years I saw a sports guy used a "chroma key" blue screen to make it look like he was at a news conference, when all he did was read wire copy written by others who were there.

     We all know the story of  Ines Sainz and her locker room experience. What did your local SportsRadio host say about it?
     Sportscasters sometimes make comments that news journalists could never get away with, though there are exceptions, like the Canadian Sports Anouncer fired for comments he made about "true marriage".
     And sometimes, the comments of a station's sports and news folks together blow up, like the incident in Chicago last week.
     Speaking of comments, avoid the comments section below both stories I linked to, or you'll find yourself in the usual sewer.

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

SPLC target featured on 60 Minutes

     The "Sovereign Citizen" movement...basically people who say U.S.  laws don't apply to them...is the topic of a 60 Minutes piece tonight at 6:00pm (on CBS-8 in Montgomery), and the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery was a resource for the report.
     The SPLC's page about the "movement" describes such a convoluted conspiracy theory that you may want to take an aspirin before reading it.

THIS IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE PHOTOGRAPH IN THE WORLD

Honest. It just sold at auction for almost Four-Million Dollars.

     Proving, if nothing else, that the Great Recession that has a lot of people working hard to pay their bills has left other untouched. Four Million. Whew.



The LONG Road to 11/12

     If this is any indication as to the level of discourse we can expect for the next 18 months, I'm buying stock in earplugs and blindfolds.
The Washington Post reports Newt Gingrich calls President Obama the "Food Stamp President".

Another Red Light Camera Chapter

...The Florida version, where the state House came close to repealing the law authorizing them.

Here in Alabama, the bill authorizing speed cameras in the city of Montgomery is making its way through the Legislature and has already been approved by the Senate.

Senator Dick Brewbaker is the sponsor, and he lives outside the city of Montgomery, in Pike Road, (The 25th District covers parts of Elmore and Montgomery Counties.)

The Florida article linked above points out that a group supporting red light cameras---The National Coalition of Safer Roads-- is a front for the camera manufacturers. The warmer sounding the name of special interest groups, the less I trust 'em.

A Cop In Your Car...

     Progressive Insurance is advertising what they call a "snapshot discount"...Hooray! Another way to save money on car insurance!
     Not so fast.
     For the discount, you have to agree to attach a little computer module to your vehicle. It records your driving behavior. and then the module transmits the data to the company. If you've been a good little driver, you get a discount! (Where's the sarcasm usually present from the dark haired saleswoman featured in their ads? Hmmm?)

And suppose you cancel? Oh, no problem...except in one state:  Alabama.
From their FAQ page:

Can I change my mind after I've signed up for Snapshot?

Yes, you can cancel at any time, and afterward, we won’t use your driving data to determine your insurance rate.**


**Alabama customers - If you leave the program, up to 12 months of Snapshot data may be used for renewal pricing purposes, and the technology expense may continue to be applied to the vehicle until the end of the then-current policy term.

     Funny, wonder why all of those other states ban that practice, but Alabama, where we Dare Defend Our Rights, is the exception. Insurance adjusters out there? Comment?

Profiting from misery...

     Will the three-million acres of flooded farmlands in other states closer to the Mississippi River benefit farmers in Alabama and other drier states through higher crop prices?
     I'm just askin'...

MSM on New Media

Twitter is "a rumor mill and a celebrity soapbox"

                                                         

But Facebook...it is becoming "a critical player in news..."

                                                         CBS News report.

The President's "Secret Message"

What? The U.S. has no secure telephones? This does come from the British tabloids, so take it with a grain of salt.

A Very Big Guitar

Turn to The Wall Street Journal this morning to read about and see the image of giant guitar grown into a field in Argentina. Great story....and a love story to boot.

George. Alone.

     The Washington Post reports on a giant tortoise who is the last of his species. His human protectors have tried everything to get him to mate, without success. And the attempt has lasted decades. 

W.W.J.F?

     Minister in Atlanta shoots 13 year old who threw rocks at his vehicle.

     Just What Would Jesus Fire? A .38?

MMMM #143 -- Headlines

     Newspapers used to have specialists in writing headlines...some of that was technical...the words were limited by the font size and the number of columns dedicated to the story (or something like that...can you tell my newspaper experience is limited? Was it picas?)...and the words had to both tell readers what the story was about and convince them to read it too.
     Headline writers were important, because headlines sold newspapers. When President Gerald Ford refused to help the nearly bankrupt New York City, the Daily News Headline the next day was:

     The headline writer there didn't have to worry about size, and that front page sold a lot of papers!

     As newspaper machine sales gradually disappear, perhaps the value of headlines will slink away too?

     Online headlines just don't seem the same, though I must admit this one on http://www.al,com/ earlier today caught my attention:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. plans to share a beer with his mom on Mother's Day

     Now we'll just have to find a headline writer to make it fit on this blog page.

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



Flooding Two Years Later.......

     While the Mississippi is threatening to flood the usual suspects from Tennessee south today, yesterday was the 2nd anniversary of Montgomery 100-year flood (as we reported on CBS 8).
     I watched as a man who had driven into a flooded intersection had to escort the woman he was giving a lift to out of the flooded street....

                                                                                     
.....................considering the circumstances, I was surprised when she accepted my offer to drive her to the downtown bus terminal!

     I thought the 60 Minutes interview with The President tonight was must-watch television. If you missed it, go here to see the entire interview, from start to finish, online.
     As a reporter, I'm a stickler for getting people to answer the question you asked (instead of the one they wish you had asked), and twice Mr. Obama did not answer one of Steve Croft's queries. "Did you tell Michelle" (about the ongoing raid as it was happening)? He diverted his answer and later said he had not told "his family", though that's not quite the same thing, And when Croft asked "what could you see" (in the situation room as the raid was ongoing)?, the answer was vague. But heck, he's The President, not some freshman city councilman. The rules do change a bit. And for the record I think he did tell Michelle and he could see more of the raid than he said he could. If I can buy a $180 dollar pocket video camera that records an hour of HD video, then the president could see every second of what's going in that villa.
     Oh, and has anybody wondered about house values in Pakistan? Did you see the video of the late mass murdered watching himself on a  video? Did that look like the inside of a Million Dollar + Compound to you? Wires hanging from the wall, crappy assemble it yourself furniture...,,,an old blanket blocking the window...heck, he might have been better off in a cave!

The Deadliest Twister

"What the National Weather Service calls the Hackleburg Tornado traveled 132 miles, winds surpassing 210 mph, a nonstop scar in the earth running 90 miles from Hackleburg to Huntsville. Of a dozen deadly twisters across Alabama on April 27, this was the only one given the strongest rating of EF-5. This one tornado alone is thought to have claimed 70 lives, by far the deadliest single twister in state history..."

         (from a story in today's Huntsville Times.)
.

     Short of getting into an actual tornado shelter dug underground, I suppose there's not much you can do when an F-5 heads in your direction. That poor town.

Recall

      Libertarians, first or second-cousins to Republicans in Alabama, seem to be the most passionate advocates of Recall and Referendum.   
      The first would allow voters to "un-elect" someone who has proved a disappointment in office, without having to wait for the end of the election cycle.
      The second allows citizens to collect signatures to put a bill before legislators for a vote.
     In my 35 years in Alabama, I have interviewed or talked with many people who wanted voters to have those powers.
     But the legislature itself that would have to make it happen.
     In Wisconsin, there may be an indication why the new GOP Majority Alabama Legislature (and The Democratic Majority who preceded them) hasn't rushed to embrace them. Legislators there are about to face recall elections, and are now rushing to pass their favorite laws before they are tossed out of office.
     It's easy to push through your agenda (except, apparently, to revoke a 61% pay raise) when you have super-majorities in both houses. But Alabama is a poor state, and not just a poor black state. And when you chop away at programs that help Gramma or Cuz or the poor old neighbor lady, and refuse to fund public education at a sufficient level for the kids to learn without spending time selling cookies to pay for their pencils, recall is always lurking around the corner to bite you back.
     Unless you've never allowed voters to have that power in the first place.

OVER!!!!!!!!!

Alabama's almost entirely (8-1) Republican Supreme Court refuses to review its English Only drivers license decision.

Senator!
This Horse is DEAD! Αυτό το άλογο είναι νεκρό!!!!!
The train has LEFT the station! Der Zug hat die Station verlassen
The goose is COOKED! варят гусыню
Put a fork in it! Metta la forcella in esso!
It Is D-O-N-E!Het eind!

[Merci à Jay du bout!]

Good News!

     The best news I've seen in a while (next to the Lady Gaga concert on HBO tonight)....gas prices are expected to drop by 50 cents this Summer.
    Still, imagine cheering gasoline selling for over $3 a gallon?

About Death and Osama Bin Laden

     I was just a bit troubled when I saw people celebrating Monday morning, flags waving and cheers erupting, about the death of Osama Bin Laden.
     I wasn't alone. The Shelby County Reporter has a story about ministers "struggling" with the incident and how to deal with it.
     The world is a better place without him...but still...
     When is it OK to celebrate death?

[UPDATE: What the Dalai Lama says about the issue. ]

Obama on 60 Minutes Sunday

President Obama will be on 60-Minutes this Sunday, his first interview since the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

The "Tim Tebow Bill"

     It has been introduced in the Alabama Legislature, and would allow home-schooled students to take part in public school sports. Kind of an a la' cart approach to public education:

 "I'll take one football and two AP English classes. To go, of course."

     The Anniston Star has an editorial in opposition. I haven't seen the Birmingham News editorial* yet, but I'm kinda betting they'll go for it.

WWSSD?*


*What would Scott Stantis Draw?

How The Media Reported The Kill

Here's how some media reported the killing of Osama Bin Laden. As for me, my alarm at 2:00am this morning started with the BBC telling me, simply, Osama Bin Laden is dead.

MM(A)MM #142 --Where's The Video?

     So after the 40 minute firefight resulted in Osama Bin Laden being shot in the head and killed, his body was carried away from the compound in Pakistan on foot (since one of the helicopters had a mechanical malfunction and had crashed), and the body was then taken to a U.S. Naval ship.....

An official at today's Pentagon briefing said the body, once aboard the USS Carl Vinson, was washed and placed in a white sheet. It was then placed in a "weighted bag," and a military officer read prepared "religious remarks," which were translated into Arabic by a "native speaker" who was not further identified.

     Evidence of identification of the body was obtained, including photos, but none was released. And no video is being released of either the body or the burial. But you know it has to exist. I'm a DINFOS graduate. The military has people taking video everywhere. So where is it, any why not release it to prove their case?
     Without video, or at least stills, rumors will begin about the identity of the body. Or rumors that American service personnel were allowed to write obscene F-You messages on the "white sheet" the way they did on the bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in WWII. And was the body desecrated before or after it was washed. Did anyone take an ear as a souvenir like in "Nam?
     You do have to admire the entire burial procedure. The U.S. Miliotary says it used Islamic Law as the reason for dumping the body at sea, which also conveniently solves the problem of  his grave becoming the site for massive protests and pilgrimages.
    An amazing operation!
    And goodby to a mass murderer.
    I would advise the sharks to steer clear of the body. It will taste foul.

[The Monday Morning (and sometimes afternoon) Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]

[UPDATE: Some Muslims question the "burial at sea".]

[UPDATE: CBS Report: Will U.S. release photos?]