Archive for: May 11, 2008

Just wanted to point out that the state legislature has the week off. I can’t complain — I’ve got the next three weeks off.

So some hospitals have apparently started banning people from smoking anywhere on their property — even in their own private cars in the parking lot. It’s not even masked as some sort of safety thing — they just don’t want people to smoke.

Hey, I don’t let people smoke in my house. A hospital can make all the rules they want. Of course some aren’t happy.

Roger Swafford of Forces Alabama, a smoker’s rights group, said the smoking ban demonstrates the hospital’s complete lack of concern for their patients.

“Visitors that are smokers and willing to adhere to the hospital policy will likely shorten visits,” Swafford said. “Hospitals should have a designated area for visitors and staff members who choose to use a legal product […]

“When some people complain and get the government involved, and start telling me what to do in my house or my car, then they have gone too far,” Pritchard said.

Whatever, man. If Pritchard’s argument is about private property rights, then he’s being completely inconsistent. I realize that some of these hospitals might be public, but it’s still property that being controlled by a board of directors or something. I’ve always said that I think owners should be the only people who decide whether or not you can smoke in a restaurant. I don’t see how this is any different.

I think this sums it up pretty well.

The old way: A donor to a political candidate doesn’t want the public to know he’s giving. So the donor sends the money through one or more political action committees, “laundering” it with other money before the candidate gets it. Presto! No one can say for sure the money was the donor’s.

The new way: A donor to a political candidate doesn’t want the public to know he’s giving. So the donor sends the money through a political action committee, which runs the money through a legislative caucus, “laundering” it with other money before the candidate gets it. Presto! No one can say for sure the money was the donor’s.

And the new way is better how?

Some people seem to think Jeff McLaughlin is selling out by offering the compromise bill. McLaughlin consistently introduces a bill to completely ban PAC-to-PAC transfers, and has seen his bill go no where for years. I assume he hopes the compromise bill will be easier to pass and could be a baby step toward his ultimate goal.

I’m sure it’s hard working on something for so many years and seeing it go no where. I guess I’ll need to start my new political party after all — The Money Laundering and Racketeering Party of Alabama. I wonder if that’s too long for a website domain name.

You may have noticed this post. Right now I’ve got it set up on a cron job and a PHP program I wrote. It automatically posts a daily “This Day in Alabama history” if there’s anything for that day on the ADAH’s list. It actually only took me about an hour to get it set up.

I’m trying to develop a Wordpress plugin so other bloggers can set it up on their blogs. The idea is for it to be a general “This Day in history” so people can customize it to their needs and put in their own historical events. But I’ve never made a Wordpress plugin so we’ll see how it goes. So far it’s a bit like raking leaves with a fork. I spent about 3 hours trying to figure it out today and got no where.

1811: The first newspaper in Alabama, The Mobile Centinel, is published at Fort Stoddert.

• Most historical information provided by the ADAH.