Archive for: August 2007

At last count, we were at $119.36. My goal is to raise $500.00 — I think that will be enough to get press when we give it as a contribution to a campaign in 2010. Contribute to Dan PAC today using Paypal or mail checks to:

Dan PAC
PO Box 854251
Tuscaloosa, AL 35486-0038

I need to come up with another clever idea.

I know I know. US Rep. Bud Cramer (D) and Senator Richard Shelby (R) being shot at in Iraq is something I would love to talk about. The latest buzz over Alabama Chief Justice Cobb’s desire to increase the use of drug courts in the state is something which is sure to evoke some interesting discussion.

I would REALLY love to talk about the latest example of how Political Action Committees are inherently evil — Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid’s campaign for re-election, according to the Birmingham News, was funded primarily (96%) by one man, attorney Donald Watkins, who was used a PAC maze to fund Kincaid. By the way, you should check out Dan PAC. We take donations of all sizes.

Of course, there are other fun topics — A special session, constitutional reform, I&R, the upcoming special election for House District 12, the upcoming special election for Senate District 32, the “Plane Truth” proposal, etc. etc.

But alas, school, college football, Free the Hops, and a certain campaign I’ve become involved in beckon. I should probably pay attention to the wife some too. I’ll be back in full swing on Tuesday, but until then it might be slim pickins.

The chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, Mike Hubbard, although calling for “constitutional reform,” advocates an article-by-article approach. How long have we been trying it this way?

The chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party, Joe Turnham, calls for a constitutional convention.

Stephen Gordon and other Ron Paul supporters were in Huntsville recently to catch a glimpse of Mitt Romney.

Representatives from the newly formed Alabamians For Peace, Prosperity and Freedom - a group supporting the presidential campaign of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas - held signs at the intersection of U.S. 431 and Old Highway 431 Wednesday afternoon where Romney’s car was to pass.

Organizer Steve Gordon said he wanted to pass along to the candidate, “a copy of what we call ‘The Dummy’s Guide to Being President of the United States.’ ”

After he said so, he pulled out a copy of the U.S. Constitution.

Representative Neal Morrison (D-Cullman) announced today that he will quit his legislative job to become the president of Bevill State Community College. Two-year chancellor Bradley Byrne approves.

State Finance Director Jim Main is indeed considering a run for State Supreme Court in 2008. The incumbent, Republican Harold See is retiring.

Danny at Doc’s Political Parlor gets to call first dibs. He called it last Thursday. Yesterday, he reported that State Senator Harri Anne Smith is considering a run for governor.

Rep. Ken Guin resigns from his last job at Bevill State Community College. He resigned from Shelton State Community College last year when the two-year scandal first started getting really hot. Guin made just under $50,000 a year from each jobs.

Bob Blalock joins the crowd and asks the governor to call a special session. On the idea that it would just be a waste of time because of the bickering:

At first glance, the idea of a fall special session with the Senate still in meltdown makes no sense. With senators having spent most of the regular session squabbling over rules the minority considers unfair, the chances for success seem as slender as a supermodel.

On second glance, a special session might be exactly what the Legislature needs to force it to do what it can’t or won’t in a regular session.

That’s because the governor sets the agenda for a special session. It’s still possible for the legislature to stall and bicker and bitch and even to ignore the governor’s bills, but it’s much harder than in a regular session. More importantly, it would be impossible to hide it. The regular session has so much going on that it’s easy to distract the public and the media away from controversial legislation. Last regular session, everyone was so worried that the budget wouldn’t get passed that no one really noticed anything else.

“I’m of the opinion today we probably stand a better chance of being successful in a special session than in a regular session with the myriad distractions that always exist,” Riley said.

Here’s to hoping.

Voters in four Alabama school districts reject property tax increases “for schools” yesterday.  Some of the margins are surprisingly high. The following numbers aren’t yet official:

Phenix City: 74% oppose
Auburn: 53% oppose
Opelika: 64% oppose
Lee County: 82% oppose

WTVM credits at least part of Phenix City’s clear “No” vote to bloggers, which probably is a reference to redneckin. It’s good to see a blogger get credit — it’s nice to be noticed.

An interesting poll from Survey USA today. It shows a pretty significant advantage for incumbent US Senator Jeff Sessions in 2008. 59% of Alabamans surveyed said they would vote for the Republican. State Senator Vivian Davis Figures came in at 37% and only 4% were undecided.

Most interesting is that 30% of Alabama Democrats polled plan to cross over and vote for Sessions. Only 9% of Alabama Republicans plan to vote for Figures. There is also an apparent racial divide — 70% of whites plan to vote for Sessions while 70% of blacks plan to vote for Figures. Figures also can currently claim 52% of the Hispanic vote. Only 26% of Hispanics polled intend to vote for Sessions — many are undecided.

Alabamans surveyed who consider themselves “conservative” overwhelmingly support Sessions at 89%. Figures has a small lead among moderates and liberals with 54% and 32%, respectively.

Sessions also leads in every age group and among males and females. Basically, Figures has a long way to go. It’s surprising that there are so few undecided voters. I wonder if “undecided” was an option.

• H/T Doc’s Political Parlor 

Then maybe the Comptroller General of the United States will make a dent:

From Kristopher of The World Around You:

[Senator Jeff] Sessions wants a competent Attorney General? I want a competent US Senator…we don’t all get what we want Jeff.

Alberto Gonzalez’s resignation will not end the Congressional hearings on the US Attorney scandal and will not deter Artur Davis and others on the Judiciary Committee from probing the possible political prosecution of Don Siegelman.

The Decatur Daily agrees with Rep. Laura Hall that Byrne should investigate all legislators, not just her, to see if their work record at the college and the legislature overlap. I think Sam put it best in a comment:

I agree that there’s faulty logic there. But I’m not against seeing the state employed auditors look into that. It IS their job to do such things. Internal auditors at my company constantly look for fraud…I don’t see why it would be different for the state.

I can get behind that.

From The Birmingham News:

State Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham called on Gov. Bob Riley and the state Legislature Monday to pass a disclosure law for flight records on all state planes.

Turnham said a “Plane Truth” law should be passed that would require, for all state aircraft, the prompt posting on a state Web site of all flights, passengers, destinations and purposes of the trips.

I don’t normally like to take up for politicians, but what is Joe Turnham smoking? Riley has voluntarily kept the flight logs, released quarterly, on his state website since taking office. He has also, at least publicly, called for for a law to make such disclosure mandatory for future administrations.

So far it hasn’t made it past a Democrat-controlled legislature.

This is coming up because Riley’s campaign failed to reimburse the state for political travel back in April until just recently. Law requires that the governor reimburse the state for unofficial travel within 45 days, but the campaign didn’t pay it back until 4 months later. Riley’s campaign says this is due to a mix up after the plane was switched at the last moment before travel and the campaign wasn’t sent a bill.

A certain post that ran last night has been removed because I think I underestimated the effect religious indoctrination has on people’s opinions. I got a rather well-written email and received a comment on the post that led me to this decision.

I compared an image of Anton Lavey to an image of Michael Chertoff. Suddenly people thought I was trying to say that Michael Chertoff, the US Secretary of Homeland Security, was actually Satan. The commenter just thought I was being mean, and the email thought I was trying to inject Satan into future Senate hearings (Chertoff’s name is being floated as a successor to attorney general). I just thought it was funny, especially given the “evil” nature of Lavey.

So because Anton Levay, the founder of the Church of Satan, is immediately demonized by people who know nothing about his life or his church, I am demonized for daring to compare another human being to him. I just don’t get frightened by the word “Satan.” For me, it was like comparing someone to “Dr. Evil” from Austin Powers. It might not be extremely polite — I certainly wasn’t trying to compliment the person. But I also wasn’t trying to alter a serious discussion on his assignment. It would just be funny.

I thought about debating Lavey on here, but I honestly don’t want to be on that side of the argument. I’m not a fan of Anton Lavey. I don’t think his theology is something I want to follow. For instance, one of his 9 Satanic statements is:

Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek.

I certainly don’t follow that creed. Do you?

UPDATE: Loretta Nall has the comparison on her blog if you’re interested.

Two-year chancellor Bradley Byrne is now asking the president of Calhoun Community College to do a full review of any discrepancies between Rep. Laura Hall’s work records at the college and the legislative journal. The Birmingham News last week showed that Hall had reported working for the college on at least eight days when she was also casting votes in the legislature.

Hall says she is being singled out. She wants Byrne to look at all legislative employees’ records if he’s going to look at hers.

“If he does, then yes, I have a problem with that. If he’s going to look at this, look across the board,” she said.

Hall is paid $75,000 a year for her work at Calhoun.

The Alabama Republican blog is always a good place to find dirt on Democrats. Yesterday, they went after Rep. Laura Hall (D).