Shorter Mo Brooks On Immigration!

"We don't want any more brown people in Madison County and let's get rid of those that are here!"

Well, that's not quite what he said, but the gist is pretty accurate after he rammed through local legislation requiring that employers with county contracts must certify that they do not hire undocumented immigrants. I'm sure the local businesses really appreciated his meddling since so few of them actually hire undocumented workers !

I am not sure exactly where I stand on the issue of illegals entering the country other than I feel that the numbers usually cited are probably far too low. One only has to drive around the county for a day to get a feel for just how many illegals are ain Madison county alone. Actually, you don't have to drive around the county; just stop at a couple of convenience stores early in the morning.

I don't see anyone proposing a solution to our open borders and, indeed, I feel that the problem has been ignored for so long that there is no real solution other than some plan for amnesty. We certainly do not have the resources to forcibly deport upwards of 20 million people!

Recycling

We moved to the country mansion back in April and I have lamented the opportunities for recycling newspapers and plastic bottles. I was on the way to work Monday and saw some recycle containers by the road (not nearly as many as I should have seen if there is a robust recycling program near me) so I found a number for the county's recycling program and they were going to check about the availability of this service where I live and call me back. Guess what? They never called back and were gone when I called them this afternoon, but I did go on line and found that there is a local drop-off point where I can take my recyclables. That's fine with me, but I would prefer a pick-up.

One good thing about the area where we live is that most of the trash which is not recyled is incinerated and converted into energy thus bypassing an ever expanding landfill.

Aluminum cans are saved and after a few months, usually between bleak paydays, I take them into town to be recycled. More than once this spare money has come in handy. This has more than a little to do with the state of the Bush Economy! All those who purport that we have a good and robust economy are delusional!

Weekend's Over

And it will be time to go back to the grindstone of work. I didn't do much this weekend other than print a few photographs and cut a lot of grass. I debated on the mowing part given the drought but we had some rain in the past few days so I decided to go ahead and run the Snapper over the yard. I guess this afternoon will be set aside for the weed-eating.
I guess the highlight of the weekend was putting a Boston Butt on the smoker yesterday. I haven't done much cooking in a while and it was really good. Actually I'm sure that it will be my lunch all this week.

International Space Station Viewing

You can find the latest information on viewing the ISS pass over in your area on the Human Spaceflight web site. An added bonus right now comes with the Space Shuttle Endeavour being docked so the brightness will be enhanced. I have watched Atlantis fly over while attached to MIR, last month I watched the ISS fly by after Atlantis had detached itself and flew by on the same orbit, but several hundred miles (I'm guessing at the distance) behind, and I have often been privileged to watch the ISS fly by itself.

There is nothing to see other than a very bright light moving quickly through the night sky, but I still like to see it go by knowing that we have people living out there in such a hostile environment.

Take a couple of minutes and watch it when you can.

Space Shuttle Endeavour

NASA has made the decision not to make repairs to Endeavour's heat shield tiles before returning to Earth. I sincerely hope they made the correct decision and I am nervous about the return. Many of us are ecstatic that Barbara Morgan finally became the first teacher in space and we remember the tragedy of the loss of Chrysta McAuliffe with the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

I feel that if NASA had made the decision to effect a repair in space the results would have overwhelmingly been positive and popular. Just the fact that the astronauts were able to make the repair would have a tremendous boost to the PR effort which NASA so often fails in.

It's A Heat Wave!

I hopped in my car to leave work yesterday and my trusty car thermometer reported that it was 107 degrees outside. That's hot, and there is no relief in sight for the next few days from either the heat or the drought. There are 2 small ponds nearby where I fish every couple of weeks, but the water is getting dangerously low. Well, dangerous for the fish.

Perhaps Bob Riley can pray us up some more rain clouds.

Expressing myself to my elected representatives

I often express my views to Bud Cramer, Richard Shelby, and Jeff Sessions. Bud always responds even though his response is not always to my liking. Shelby responds by spouting his republican talking points and dismissing my view. Until recently Sessions would never reply, but I think that he might be feeling some heat, given his upcoming re-eledtion campaign, and he has responded. although incoherently as only Sessions can be, to my last 2 e-mail concerns.

I have spent a major portion of my life being concerned about electoral issues and I have always voted, but only in the past 7 or 8 years have I really become something of a moderate activist given our sad state of national politics. There is just an incredibly long list of things that are wrong with our country now and I fear that the world my children and grandchildren live in will never be what our founding fathers envisioned for us.

I have never been much of a critic of local politics, but I see that in my future given the direction and the control exercised over local decisions by an extremely small group of individuals. I'll have more to say about that later.

Still supporting John Edwards, but Hillary is showing some spine. I like Obama, but I am still more than a little concerned that he is a product of the Chicago political machine.

Whatever your political predelictions, please register and vote your conscience.

Rove Out!

Will there be a return to some sanity in the Bush administration? Not a chance-there is just far too much corruption deeply ingrained in our current government and the only salvation for us is achange of government.

Vote for John Edwards!

First Post

OK, I think I'll play around with this blog for a while and see where it takes us. Look here for political news from North Alabama, and remember to push for the impeachment of Dick Cheney and George W. Bush. After the impeachment process the next step will be an international trial for war crimes as well as crimes against humanity!

Peace!