Archive for: June 2007

By the way, the Piggly Wiggly in downtown Birmingham is now out of the Sweetwater IPA. My friend Sam cleared them out on his way down. No word yet on if the ABC Board is going to make stores pull them from the shelves. My fridge should always look like this.

No cheating! Guess in comments. Tell me which quote you’re guessing.

• “An oppressive government is more to be feared than a tiger, or a beer.”

  -Confucius

• “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

  -Ben Franklin

• “I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer.”

• “He was a wise man who invented beer.”

• “A bar is better than a newspaper for public discussion.”

• “You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.”

• “I would kill everyone in this room for a drop of sweet beer.”

  -Homer Simpson

• “Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer.”

I tried to spread it out some. Some are historical, some are from pop culture.

The Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board has apparently pulled Sweetwater India Pale Ale from Alabama because it’s apparently just above the legal limit for Alabama. If you’re a fan, you might want to run to the store, right now, before they find out. Of course, I wouldn’t condone anything illegal, especially when it comes to stupid, Prohibition-era laws that don’t do anything to protect anyone from anything.

Meanwhile, Budweiser, Miller and Coors, the beers of choice for every drunk I know, is still well within the law. Liquor can still be purchased from the government in several ABC stores around the state.

Free the Hops!

Everything should look right now for all you IE6 users.

By the way, Internet Explorer sucks. Get Firefox.

And if you use that link, I’ll get paid. I do highly recommend it, though.

NASA’s Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, are apparently still working and trasmitting data back to Earth. They were designed to last 3 months, but have been operational on Mars for almost 3 1/2 Earth years now.

Two-year Chancellor Bradley Byrne is prohibiting college presidents from using state money to hire a lobbyist.

Byrne has ordered college presidents to stop paying Bob Boothe more than $168,000 a year with state money. Boothe serves as the only employee of a group created to promote the agenda of college presidents, even when that agenda clashes with Riley’s and other state school board members.

College presidents send more than $200,000 a year from their schools to their Alabama College System Presidents’ Association, which until recently was not incorporated under state or federal laws.

How does one become a lobbyist? It sounds like a sweet gig.

Also, Byrne pushed and the State Board of Education passed a resolution prohibiting the two-year system from practicing in “pass-through pork.” Governor Riley tried to get the legislature to pass a law banning the practice state wide last session, but it failed to come up for a vote. This is one of several ethics bills that many people want Riley to call a special session for. So far, he has not indicated that he will.

Pray for rain, the governor proclaims it! An official gubernatorial proclamation:

WHEREAS, Alabama is suffering from a devastating drought that threatens the livelihood of many of our citizens and reduces the quality of life for all citizens; and

WHEREAS, Alabama’s largest industry, agriculture, is dependent on sufficient rainfall; and

WHEREAS, low stream flows and lake levels are negatively impacting water use, recreation, navigation and power generation; and

WHEREAS, throughout our history, Alabamians have turned in prayer to God to humbly ask for His blessings and to hold us steady during times of difficulty:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Bob Riley, Governor of Alabama, do hereby encourage citizens of Alabama to pray daily for rain and proclaim June 30 - July 7, 2007 as Days of Prayer for Rain.

During this time, I encourage all Alabamians to pray individually and within their houses of worship for sufficient rain.

Don’t forget to stop praying after July 7th or the wish won’t come true. That’s the rules! It’s like birthday cake.

Also in the world of press releases from elected officials who serve in positions that should probably be appointed, Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks issued a release yesterday about the US immigration bill that recently failed in the US Senate. I thought I had him:

Commissioner Ron Sparks expressed his concern with the US Senate’s failure to pass an immigration bill.

But then he had to go and tie it into his elected job:

Sparks’ concern is due in large part to Alabama being an agricultural state. In Alabama, industries such as greenhouses, nurseries, sod farms, landscapers, poultry, catfish farms, and the Gulf’s seafood industry rely on guest workers.

That makes it acceptable. I’ve also never had a problem with Attorney General Troy King issuing press releases about his opinion on crime legislation. Of course, I think it’s completely appropriate for real elected officials — the governor, lieutenant governor and the legislature, to issue releases about anything political. We elect them to design government policy. Their constituents need to know how they feel on a variety of political issues.

Chapman’s press release, on the other hand, had almost nothing to do with her elected job and was obviously meant to express her personal political convictions which would only benefit her in a future election.

But I think all these jobs should be appointed, so apparently I’m crazy. I also think it’s crazy that Hale County residents elect their coroner… in a partisan election, no less. Then there are the damn circuit court clerks, all who must be elected according to Alabama’s constitution.

But there is hope. I’m extremely impressed with the content of press releases from the new, elected State Auditor, Samantha Shaw — nothing. That’s appropriate, because her office serves no useful purpose according to the Huntsville Times.

Back in April, I wrote a post on a press release that Secretary of State Beth Chapman issued, as the Secretary of State, about the evils of gambling and how the Christian Coalition had been “taken hostage by those who do not support the same family values the average Alabamian supports.” I even had a brief email exchange with her press secretary about it.

I don’t want to re-hash my thoughts on the matter, but you’re more than welcome to go back and read those two posts. I would, however, like to point out that Chapman has apparently removed said press release from the list of press releases on her state website. Also, the original link to the press release no longer works. Does that mean I can say that I was right?

Siegelman: 88 months to be served concurrently. $50,000 fine. $181,325 in restitution.
Scrushy: 82 months to be served concurrently. $150,000 fine. $267,000 in restitution, due immediately. He must also pay the costs of his prison stay.

Upon their release, both will be under supervised probation for three years and must complete 500 hours of community service. No word yet on where Siegelman will serve his time.

The 5-4 court, Kennedy concurring, struck down voluntary integration plans in the public schools of Seattle and Louisville.

Kennedy says in his concurring opinion that ending racial isolation in public education may sometimes be a compelling interest, but that such a goal can be pursued with race as “one component” of the plan to achieve racial diversity.

[Isn’t that like milk being only one component of a glass of milk?]

The entire case is 185 pages and just got handed down a little over an hour ago, so I haven’t had time to scour and devour. I think I may brood on it over the weekend and then give my thoughts on what this might mean for education in Alabama. I have a feeling that I will not have many kind words for the Chief Justice or Justice Kennedy.

In the meantime, SCOTUSblog is a great place to keep up with the case.

Bradley Byrne, the new chancellor of the state’s two-year college system, announced today that Yvonne Kennedy and Rick Rogers, presidents of Bishop State Community College and Shelton State Community College, respectively, are going to retire. Rogers will be on leave until he retires on September 30. Kennedy will retire July 31.

Several state school board members started last fall calling for the firing of Kennedy after revelations about student aid fraud at the Mobile college.

More than two dozen people have been charged with theft and other crimes related to allegations of stolen aid money by Bishop State employees, their relatives and others.

Rogers also has been criticized since federal court filings claimed he benefited from schemes to steal state money at his Tuscaloosa campus. Three people have been convicted, and two others have pleaded guilty related to an investigation of the Alabama Fire College on Shelton’s campus.

Byrne seems to be going for a “deal” where criminal charges and firings are avoided. That may be the best way to handle his system from his perspective, but some people are going to be disappointed that he didn’t make heads roll. Byrne was appointed last month, the fourth chancellor in 10 months. Governor Riley pushed him as the man to clean up the system, which has been embarassed by several scandals.

Kennedy, who is also an Alabama state representative, will be named a professor emeritus, an honorary title without pay or power.

• H/T Birmingham Blues

A vote to end debate and vote on the immigration bill fell short of the 60 votes needed in the US Senate just recently. The final roll call was 46-53, well short.  To be honest with you, I don’t care a whole lot about immigration. I can survive in an open border, free market economy and I could care less if white people become a minority. But the issue intrigues me.

It seems like the majority asked for this to happen. The leadership in the Senate has bragged for months now about how this was a bipartisan compromise and how all the big players got together and came up with a solution. Why then, are they silencing opponents to such a degree?

“This would be a disaster,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. He said the “masters of the universe” who controlled the floor debate even at the end only gave opponents 10 minutes, compared to the 40 minutes supporters had to talk about their positions.

It seems like their “across-the-board-support” wasn’t very across-the-board. The cloture vote didn’t even have a simple majority — and I think is the seventh attempt. It seems like it’s time to go back to the drawing board and try again. Invite Jeff Sessions this time. I know, I know — Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III — I wouldn’t want to be forced into a conference room with him either, but he’s obviously someone you need on your side.

But I’m not sure Sessions will agree with any type of immigration reform unless it’s limited to building a fence completely across the border and making illegal immigration a capital crime. Not that I blame him. If the immigration debate is still on near the 2008 election, I guarantee Jeff Sessions wins with over 55% of the vote. Especially if his Democratic opponent is Vivian Davis Figures.

This is a small documentary that Richard Scrushy put together… about himself, of course. I really think this guy has convinced himself that he’s a tragic victim.

The rest of the documentary (if you can stomach it) is after the jump.

(more…)

The judge yesterday said that federal guidelines seem to indicate that Don Siegelman should be sentenced to 10 to 12 years in prison and that Richard Scrushy should be sentenced to 8 to 12 years. Siegelman didn’t seem extremely relieved, and Scrushy got on his preacher talk:

“We’re going to pray that this will be over with one day, fully exonerated,” Scrushy said after court. “The truth will come out and we’ll know what really happened here because the truth has not been put in front of this court. We’re praying that it will happen and God will reveal it all.”

Here’s my question. Does Richard Scrushy really think he’s innocent? The man has never admitted to doing anything wrong in court or out of court. He’s compared himself to Jesus Christ. Has he really convinced himself that he’s completely innocent of any wrongdoing?

His complete lack of remorse has led prosecutors to seek a tougher setence.

I guess I should contribute to my own cause.

Dan PAC is now up to $32 thanks to a generous donation of $20.

Sara let me know that she couldn’t read anything for several seconds when she got on this website from work. Apparently, the background was the dark blue the whole time it was loading, making the text impossible to read. I fixed this somewhat. You should be able to read the posts, although the sidebars will stay blue for a little while if you have a slower connection. Let me know if I can do anything else.