Archive for: May 12, 2008

This is absolutely brilliant. Not sure how long it’ll last, though. Fox might pull it from Youtube.

• Flashpoint: School suspends students for sitting during pledge
• Thomason Tracts: Dammit, get out your rubber stamps!
• Thomason Tracts: Jeffco making it up as they go along
• Thomason Tracts: Larry lies?
• Left In Alabama: Just Say It Was a Black Person: The Fiasco at Samford University
• The World Around You: 3 Undecided Superdelegates in Alabama
• Birmingham Blues: Larry Langford: It’s All Someone Else’s Fault
• Musings from Maytown: Thank you Dr. Dan [Ireland]!

In 2006, all of Alabama’s Congressional seats were unopposed or had unexciting opposition. This year, however, we have two retiring Congressmen. Alabama’s Second Congressional District is seeing the departure of Terry Everett (R) and Bud Cramer (D) is leaving the Fifth Congressional District.

Danny has already done a great job covering the competitors, and I plan on writing a little blurb about each starting today.

An armed bandit robs an Alabama payday loan store. Here’s one of their commercials:

The Michael Ball (Only) Club keeps up with people with the same name as the author. They occasionally follow our favorite state legislator from Madison and just realized he blogs here.

I don’t think I agree with his economic outlook, but this is too good to pass up. It refers to the federal tax rebate checks being sent to American taxpayers.

We need to keep that money here in America. So the only thing they ought to spend it on is prostitutes and beer, because that’s the only thing left in this country. This is an emotional piece of legislation that has no real positive benefit to Alabama.

– Rep. Mac Gipson (R-Prattville)

I think he was actually reading a constituent email when he mentioned the beer and hookers. I think I’m going to take Mr. Gipson’s advice. I can spend $250 on a hooker and have plenty of beer money left. Are you supposed to tip hookers?

The most recently proposed $60 billion a year (with a “b”) federal farm bill is especially nice to cotton farmers. The bill will cost $288 billion over its life and allow cotton farming families with $1.5 million in income to receive federal subsidies for growing cotton.

The farmers’ victory may be short-lived, however. President Bush plans to veto the bill because it doesn’t go far enough to limit crop subsidies to wealthy farmers, according to Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer.

“This legislation lacks meaningful farm program reform and expands the size and scope of government,” Schafer said, adding that the president has been “direct and plain” to him that he plans a veto.

I wish he would just veto it because it’s a new farm bill. I find it particularly disturbing because these anti-free trade bills often have the support of many Republicans. These subsidies are combined with trade barriers so that domestic agriculture is artificially lowered while imported agriculture is artificially raised. The net result is higher prices for American consumers, more debt for American taxpayers, and unnecessary loss of business for farmers in developing nations.

I could go on all day about this stuff. Alabama’s Congressional delegation will probably vote for it.

Apparently the former police chief of Birmingham got the shaft from BMLL, who promised her a $140K contract when she left 7 months ago. Maybe she can start a professional singing career instead.

The Birmingham News has a chart based on analysis from the Legislative Fiscal Office on how John Knight’s proposed tax plan would affect individuals and families in several different situations. An easy-to-read chart like necessarily has shortcomings.