Parker Griffith's Health Care Town Hall Meeting ::

Well, I was able to get to the Davidson Center with time to spare as the event started a few minutes late. Everyone seemed happy with the turnout although I was hoping for more and there were adherents of both sides in attendance.

After an introduction and some opening remarks by Griffith the floor was quickly opened to questions, or what should have been questions but which devolved into long dissertations. There were obviously strong feelings on both sides with those opposed to a government option or single-payer seeming to be the loudest. There were tales of woe when dealing with insurance companies and hospitals, but far too much time was spent on personal statements when the time would have been much better spent asking clear, concise questions of Griffith. Many more people could have been accommodated.

Griffith seemed open to supporting a government option in health care coverage and made it a point to say that he would be introducing legislation to require lawmakers to utilize the government option for their own health care if it becomes law. Seems like more than a bit of pandering to me, but we'll see what happens. I didn't detect any support from Griffith for a single-payer system. This didn't really surprise me, but I will continue to push him to support just such a system.

The cost of health coverage drew some commentary, but I felt that the question of cost continues to be terribly misunderstood. Most people look at their paycheck and only see the premium deduction without also considering what the employer has to pay. My personal deduction is right at $170/month, but the total with what my employer pays is just under $900/month. I also have a health savings account which I use for deductibles and miscellaneous medical expenses which is another $1950/year so I am very aware of what the insurance companies and big pharma get from me each year. These are costs which must be addressed.

I would have also like to have seen more discussion about the lack of competition between insurance companies here in Alabama. Blue Cross has just over 80% of the market sewn up and Griffith said that he would support legislation requiring insurers to compete nationwide. That, coupled with a government option, could help to lower costs, but I am once again skeptical!

One thing that Griffith said was interesting to me. He stated, and later reiterated, that he felt that health care was an inherent right rather than a privilege. I was happy to hear this, but I couldn't help but think that he left unstated "if you can pay for it"! I hope I'm wrong. Maybe I'm just getting too suspicious in my old age!

I hope the town hall meeting becomes a regular event here in Huntsville, but everyone should be more focused with their comments and questions!

A Video Spoof Of The Mark Sanford Affair ::

This is too rich! As a native of South Carolina and as someone who still owns property there I do not hesitate to endorse this spoof of the hypocrisy of Mark Sanford!

Tomato Pie ::

My first stab at this is in the oven right now. My fingers are crossed and if it turns out ok I'll post the recipe.

I thought I knew every way there was to cook tomatoes!

A Restaurant Review ::

The wife wanted to do some shopping over in Madison so we took a quick trip over there late this morning and stopped off in Hampton Cove to eat lunch at The Mandarin House (I think that's the name). It's in the little strip shopping center next to the Wal-Mart and the lunch was great and I recommend The Mandarin House highly. The lunch buffet was sumptuous and fresh and the service was excellent! If you visit don't pass up the coconut shrimp!

Thunder? ::

Blue skies outside with no clouds, but I hear thunder in the distance. Could use some rain.

[update] 10:30 am and still booming. Apparently what I'm hearing are implements of destruction being tested out on Redstone Arsenal.

Confronting Griffith About Health Care ::

TOWN HALL MEETING

HEALTHCARE REFORM

with

U.S. CONGRESSMAN

PARKER GRIFFITH



Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 5:30 – 6:30 PM

Davidson Center 3D Digital Theater

U.S. Space and Rocket Center

1 Tranquility Base, Huntsville, AL 35805

I might be a few minutes late, but I think I can make this one to let Griffith know in person how I feel about reforming our health care system and I hope we can fill the hall with reformers!

A Coral Snake ::

I forget where I ran across this story a couple of days ago, but I did save the link to the original post about this reclusive snake being found down in Coosa County. (I'm gonna have to get out a map to see just where that is) Apparently this is the first one to be spotted that far north in around 40 years!

I was driving from Andalusia to Shorter to meet Eric Soehren, with whom I’m co-editing a book on natural communities of Alabama. Later we were to drive to Auburn to meet with Debbie Folkerts, our other co-editor. I was still a few miles south of Montgomery when Eric called with the big news that Nick Sharp and Josh Landrum (his co-workers at ADCNR State Lands Division) had just gotten a CORAL SNAKE at one of the red-cockaded woodpecker sites that was recently acquired by Forever Wild. I was very familiar with this area of natural longleaf pine north of the Hatchet Creek arm of Mitchell Lake about an hour north of Montgomery, having monitored that woodpecker population for several years before the state acquired it. I’d seen a pigmy rattlesnake and an eastern coachwhip in that area before, and while coral snakes had crossed my mind, one had never crossed my trail the way Nick’s did. It happened fairly early in the morning, which is when Dr. Bob Mount says most Alabama specimens have been encountered. Nick gingerly scooped it into his backpack and called Eric, who was taking the day off to work on the book. Eric and I had nowhere to be until 4:00, so we decided to chuck the book for a while and run up to see and photograph the snake, so we planned to meet in Montgomery to ride together. Then I got the idea that we really ought to get a tissue sample for future DNA study, since we’d be releasing the snake rather than collecting it as a voucher. I called Jimmy Stiles, who had more experience than me in collecting snake tissue, and he advised a small clip off the tail tip. But what to preserve the tissue in? Eric and I ended up meeting at an ABC store and buying a small bottle of Bacardi 151 (75 % alcohol) rum, which had enough ethanol in it to do the trick.

I'm not sure why this story interested me so much, but it did.

Buying Face Time With Parker Griffith ::

This from Political Party Time:

* For: Parker Griffith (D, AL-5)
* When: 2009-06-16 (6 p.m.)
* Where: Bobby Van\'s Grill - 1201 New York Ave, NW Washington, DC
* Type of Event: Dinner
* Contribution Information: $5000 Host; $2500 Sponsor; $1500 PAC; $1000 Individual
* Make Checks Payable To: Parker Griffith for Congress - 499 S. Capitol Street SW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20003
* RSVP: Lindsay Angerholzer | Alden Knowlton; 202-488-1445; Alden@Sutters-Mill.com
* Distribution Paid for by: DCCC

I wonder what the take was from this event!

Shopping For Food ::

I was at the Target on Bailey Cove earlier today and they had fresh ears of corn 10 for $1. Don't know how long this will run, but it's a great deal!

Dr. Kenneth Pitts ::

I have been seriously derelict in posting the past few days about things and people who I care very much about and I need to comment on the article in Friday's Huntsville Times about Dr. Pitts. Here are a couple of excerpts followed by my thoughts:

Usually, the nurses hear Dr. Kenneth Pitts coming before they see him: There's the singing, the tap of fancy dance steps in the hallway, the calls of "Where's my hug?" as he passes nurses and patients.

"He gets off the elevator dancing a gig - literally dancing," said Bonnie Rausch, R.N., a charge nurse on the fifth floor at Huntsville Hospital for Women. "Everybody is in a lighter mood when he comes here."

[snip]

before she told her own pastor. She asked if he would go see her.

"I knew Dr. Pitts had a busy day planned, but I asked him anyway," Rausch said, taking a short break during a morning shift last week. "They had never met, but that didn't stop him from walking to room 327. He held hands with my frightened sister and with my mom and formed a circle, and they prayed. This helped ease my sister's fears and gave her peace."

[snip]

Jasmine Hill, a unit secretary and patient care technician, knows Pitts both as a colleague at the hospital and as a patient. She and her husband's first child miscarried last fall.

"I could not imagine going through that with any other doctor," Hill said. "I don't think I've ever seen Dr. Pitts down or upset, even if something is not carried out according to his orders. And he's like that in his office, too. He doesn't start an exam or leave without a word of prayer."

[snip]

Pitts, who only agreed to be interviewed when Dahlin, Rausch and some other nurses insisted it might inspire others, is glad if anything he does brings comfort to anyone.

But he insists he's doing nothing that can't be done by anyone else, too.

"The whole essence of what I do is, I enjoy the Lord," Pitts said. "The whole idea is: It ain't for you; it's for God's children."

On January 23, 1998 my wife was in a horrific traffic accident and lingered between life and death for several weeks. Our oldest, D., was pregnant at the time and Dr. Pitts was her obstetrician. My wife was in a coma for 5 weeks eventually spending 8 weeks in Huntsville Hospital and another 8 weeks in the Health South Rehab hospital. During that entire time I don't remember a single day when Dr. Pitts didn't stop in to visit and say a few words of encouragement.

Taylor was born a week after J. was released and had the honor of cutting her umbilical cord! Dr. Pitts will always have a special place in our hearts!

Broken Masthead ::

The masthead should be back soon. The photograph is hosted on another web server and I unfortunately missed the renewal message so I'm waiting for the techies to get me back up on the web.

Let me put in a good word for Web HSP. They have hosted 2 of my web sites for several years and I only recall one time that we were down for something other than one of my boneheaded moves. They always respond quickly to any concerns and everything is extremely stable. You can probably find some cheaper hosting, but I'd rather pay a bit more for the service that Web HSP provides.

Earnest Is Back On The Trail ::

Earnest passed through here last November on a quest to reach California. The original post is here. Not long after leaving this area Earnest had a heart attack and spent some time recovering, but he is now back on the road. I don't know if he's starting over or starting from where he left off, but if you happen to see him on the road riding Snowey keep in mind that he could use some help.



Here is his explanation of his quest:

Hi!!
I 'm One Fat Cowboy (Ernest Nunley) and this is my horse Snowey.

I am traveling across America by horseback.
Please, keep the children for whom I am riding,
Snowey and myself in your prayers.
We have alot of rough miles ahead of us.
After completing 400 miles of our journey,
we have 3100 miles left to go.
Just me and my horse against the elements,
with no comforts of home.

Hopefully, this trip will accomplish several goals:

*Bring awareness that there are still way too many children
suffering from Catastrophic diseases and cancer,
as did four of my family members,
whom did not live to adulthood.

*Not all children that need help are physically
or mentally ill, but have parents that are too self involved.

*That you are the one who can make a difference,
by the donation of your time and/or money,
to the different charities, organizations or churches
that provide services for these children.

*To honor the memory of all the children who have succumbed
to childhood cancer and other illnesses like my family members.

As for me personally, it will give me a chance to meet people
and talk about my favorite subjects. Those subjects being
children and horses. It will, also, reunite me with my brother in
California that I have not seen in 17 years.
I will, also, join the ranks of a very few, in recent times,
that have ridden horseback from coast to coast.

The only way I can accomplish this is
with God's help through you.
Any donations, horse food, use of pasture,
food, board, cash, etc. will be appreciated!

I am not affiliated with any charity or group
so anything you give is strictly to help Snowey and Myself
complete this Quest.

I also just found this You-Tube video of a conversation with Earnest posted just a couple of days ago:

Blackberries ::

While cutting grass yesterday afternoon I noticed that the blackberries are starting to ripen. Seems to be a little earlier this year, maybe because of all the rain we had earlier. I guess I'll brave the chiggers and ticks and pick some later today.

Ticks have been especially bad this year. A couple of weeks ago I was cutting grass on the riding mower and I found 8 or 10 on me from one corner of the yard. That had never happened before.

Hot Days ::

I spent a good portion of the day on the riding lawn mower and was it ever hot out! I can't wait 'til August!

Flag Week-Saturday

We're looking at mid 90 temps today so I thought that I'd post the flag and snowman photograph.



Everyone have a great weekend!

Flag Week-Friday

Flag Week-Thursday ::

Flag Week-Tuesday

Cat Bath Day ::

Blood was spilled-mine!

Flag Week-Monday ::

This monument is erected over the mass grave site of 67 victims of the Cleveland School Fire of May 17, 1923 at Beaulah Methodist Church in the Charlotte Thompson community outside of Camden, South Carolina. My stepfather and baby brother are buried in this cemetery and my brother lives just down the road!

Flag Week-2009 ::

The Huntsville Times Bows To More Wingnut Pressure ::

From this morning's Huntsville Times:

Beginning Monday, readers will see two new names in our mix of writers billing themselves as conservative commentators: Linda Chavez, who debuts Monday, and Michelle Malkin on Thursday.

Chavez replaces Kathleen Parker, whom many of our conservative friends have been unhappy with. Malkin will substitute for one of the two days conservative Thomas Sowell is published each week. Our picks were among the recommendations offered by readers when asked in December for suggestions

Kathleen Parker is one of the few conservative writers who generally espoused a rational point of view from the conservative side and I could read her columns without a gnashing of teeth. Given that the editors of The Times bowed to pressure and will be publishing the hate-filled screeds of Michelle Malkin I expect little more from Linda Chavez with whom I am not familiar.

As an aside, Kathleen Parker splits her time between Washington, D.C. and my hometown, Camden, S.C. where she is associated with Reid Buckley's The Buckley School Of Public Speaking. I always thought that sharing a cup of coffee with her in the coffee shop on Camden's Broad Street would be an interesting experience!

Still Around! ::

I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth-just been busy with stuff around the house including working on my redneck convertible, shown below:



I broke a drive belt a couple of weeks ago and replacing it has been a struggle, but I think I have it done now and I'll start putting everything back together this evening after work. Since I had it up on blocks I went ahead and put on a new blade. May as well do it all at once.

Last Saturday evening I went to the first horse show at the New Hope Saddle Club arena. Everything seemed a bit stiff, but this is the first show and should loosen up for the next one in July. I still shot a bunch of photographs and here is one:



Oh yeah, the computer. I have everything to put my new computer together since the old one was fried by lightening so that will be this weekend's project!

No shortage of things to do!

More Baby Birds ::

Each year the little wrens like to nest in my fern and this year is no different.



We've already had a successful nesting in the wreath on my front door. That one was easier since I don't have to water the wreath. This will make 10 baby birds this year on the front porch and I think there were some on the back porch but the nest is in a corner that is very difficult to get to.

Music For Meds ::

A reminder that there is a benefit show this Sunday at Crossroads benefiting the Huntsville Community Free Clinic. Information is here. Festivities start at 2pm with a suggested donation of $10 and should run well into the evening. A very worthy cause and I'm hoping to spend some time down there.

Good music for a great cause! Hope to see many friends listening to the music and drinking a cold adult beverage or 6!

New Computer ::

I've finally got all of the new ingredients for my new computer and I'm getting ready to start putting it together. This one should be a pretty kick-butt box although I hate the thought of reloading all of the software. Here are the components:

Gigabyte EP45-UD3R motherboard
Intel 2.6ghz DuoCore processor
320Gig Western Digital C drive
2 500Gig Western Digital hard drives on a raid 5 array
4 gigs of Crucial ram (Mobo will handle 16 gigs)
Gonna reload XP-pro right now as an operating system

I haven't bought an off the shelf desktop computer since 1998. The prices are great from Dell and the other manufacturers, but I like knowing exactly what is inside my boxes. If there is a problem I generally know exactly how to fix it and the hardware upgrade path is much easier.

The new laptop has served me well since my old desktop was killed by lightening, but I just don't like doing any sort of graphics with the laptop screen. Hopefully I'll be back up running early next week at the latest.

A Response From Parker Griffith ::

I e-mailed Griffith about a month ago specifically stating my thoughts on the health care debate and expressly emphasizing my support for a single-payer system covering all residents. What I got back was a boiler-plate response which only marginally addressed my health care concerns.

Here is the response in its entirety:

Thank you for your message. Your input has been very helpful to me as a freshman member of the 111th Congress. The concerns of North Alabama are always my top priority, and I am grateful for the time you took to raise your concerns.



Let me tell you about some of the issues Congress has focused on since the beginning of this year.



Our most pressing issue has been the economy. Congressional mail bins have swelled with Tea Bags that symbolize the frustration at Congress's recent spending measures. I meet with small business owners, educators, laborers, and local representatives to listen to problems brought on by the recession and to develop solutions. In short, I am working to ensure that the tax dollars deducted from your paycheck are spent wisely and with great care.



Families are cutting back to preserve the lifestyle that they have worked to achieve. Easing the burden shouldered by honest, hard working taxpayers who have taken out responsible mortgages and paid their bills on time should not be the victims of an irresponsible and deceitful financial system. My fellow conservative Blue Dogs and I are doing all that is within our power to keep Congress on the fiscally conservative path.



Congress is also taking on the challenge of solving our nation's energy problem. When having this debate, I believe it is important to consider every possible outlet. We must take an "all of the above" approach that would include alternative fuels, increased domestic drilling, nuclear power, renewable energy, and an investment in the technology of tomorrow. We must find a path that lowers the cost of energy and lessens America's dependence on foreign oil. This is essential to our economic security and our national security.



As you know, Congress is aiming to overhaul our health care system before the year is out. As a physician for nearly 30 years, health care is an extremely important issue to me. I have seen firsthand the need for improvements to our health care system. Being able to access affordable care is not a Republican or Democratic issue; it is an issue that affects every person throughout our nation.



I believe that any reform we consider must focus on critical issues including: increasing access to primary care, investing in prevention and well-being, reducing costs, eliminating the disparity between care in our rural and urban areas, and ensuring that those that like their current health care plan get to keep it.



Also, missile defense is one of my top priorities as it affects so many aspects of life in North Alabama. From job security to national security, the Tennessee Valley's quality of life depends on the success of our missile defense program. Recent missile tests in Iran and North Korea have reinforced the need for a strong missile defense budget that will keep our homeland safe. As the 111th Congress continues with its legislative agenda, I will fight for our successfully proven missile defense projects to be properly funded.



Again I thank you for your input, and I encourage you to continue to contact me in situations where I can provide you assistance. It is an honor to be your representative

This seems to me to be nothing more than a form response intended to cover any and all constituent communications. I expected more from Parker Griffith when I campaigned for him and donated a bit of time to aid his campaign!

We need a true progressive challenger to Griffith in the next election cycle, but I'm afraid that the North Alabama moneyed interests are far too happy with his blue dog philosophy!

Sessions Does Hannity ::

I know, not an attractive visual, but they're actually talking about the use of e-verify in regards to employment of the undocumented:

Thunder In The Distance Once Again ::

Just what I need--more rain!

Music In Alabama ::

I just wanted to take the opportunity to highlight several musical happenings coming up on us soon.

The first is down in Montgomery and features blues artist Kenny Neal who will be appearing at the Capitol Oyster Bar on May 28. If you've never seen Neal then you would be in for a treat as he is one great blues player and does a really good show! As an aside, his father (now deceased) was Raful Neal, one of the legendary blues harmonica player.

Details of the show, such as admission price, are thin, but I highly recommend Kenny Neal who, by the way, has played Big Spring Jam as well as, as I recall, either Crossroads or Humphrey's.

I do plan to spend some time this weekend at Lowe Mill attending the 5th Cigar Box Extravaganza. The music starts at 6pm, but cigar box guitar builders and musicians will be showing their wares starting earlier in the day and I believe there is a film screening at 4pm. The Huntsville event is a huge deal in the world of cigar box guitar proponents land deserves our support. Admission is $10.

On Sunday, June 7, Crossroads in Huntsville will host a benefit titled "Music For Meds 'The Sweet Healing Power Of Music'". Doors open at 1:30pm with a suggested mininum donation of $10.

This show is to benefit the Huntsville Community Free Clinic which offers medical care to the poor and uninsured in Madison County. I can think of no better way to show our support of this worthy cause than by showing up to listen to hours of good music accompanied by cold adult beverages (responsibly consumed, of course)!

Jeff Sessions Embarrasses Himself Again ::

Apparently Jeff Sessions doesn't know which Supreme is retiring. I was flipping through the channels last evening and happened upon Session's mug on Fox News with Greta Van Susteren so I stopped to hear just what he was saying knowing that it would be about Sonia Sotomayor. Apparently the clip was recorded earlier, but Sessions referenced Sotomayor replacing a retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. I wonder if that would be a manifestation of wishful thinking on his part, but it is actually Justice David Souter doing the retirement bit. You would think that the ranking republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee would know which Supreme Court justice was retiring!

Here is Sessions official statement regarding the Sotomayor nomination:

"The president's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court today is an important step in a constitutional process that includes the advice and consent of the Senate. I congratulate Ms. Sotomayor on her nomination.

"The Senate Judiciary Committee's role is to act on behalf of the American people to carefully scrutinize Ms. Sotomayor's qualifications, experience, and record. We will engage in a fair and thorough examination of Ms. Sotomayor's previous judicial opinions, speeches, and academic writings to determine if she has demonstrated the characteristics that great judges share: integrity, impartiality, legal expertise, and a deep and unwavering respect for the rule of law.

"Of primary importance, we must determine if Ms. Sotomayor understands that the proper role of a judge is to act as a neutral umpire of the law, calling balls and strikes fairly without regard to one's own personal preferences or political views.

"President Obama has stated his desire to have a full court seated at the start of its next term, a reasonable goal toward which the Judiciary Committee should responsibly and diligently move. But we must remember that a Supreme Court justice sits for a lifetime appointment, and the Senate hearing is the only opportunity for the American people to engage in the nomination process. Adequate preparation will take time. I will insist that, consistent with recent confirmation processes, every senator be accorded the opportunity to prepare, ask questions, and receive full and complete answers.

"I look forward to the coming months as we move forward with this process. As I told the president this morning, I will do all I can to ensure that Ms. Sotomayor receives a fair hearing before the Committee. I firmly believe that the American people deserve a full and thoughtful debate about the proper role of a judge in the American legal system, an issue that will be central to our review of Ms. Sotomayor's record."

I look forward to many cringe inducing statements and questions from our ranking representative on the Judiciary Committee during the confirmation hearings!

Memorial Day 2009 ::

Thinking of those who served!

Saturday Kittenblogging ::

along with some other thoughts. Here are the 2 remaining kittens. They're at that terminally cute stage as their personalities start to develop and their natural curiosity takes over.



My yard finally dried out enough to allow me to cut the entire 1 1/2 acre today. This is the first time it has been this dry since before Christmas and I rushed to get it all cut before the rain moved in today although the afternoon rains were pretty light. The surrounding area is composed of clay so with the rains we have had this year the water has not soaked in and neither has it evaporated.

Right now I'm sitting out on the back porch listening to The Folk Sampler on WLRH and waiting for Microwave Dave to come on. It's a nice cool evening and the hummingbirds are all over my feeders out here! I hear the geese flying somewhere in the distance, but I don't see them. Life is pretty good!

Moving Out Of Councill Courts ::

I've been following this story with interest and it seems to me that the only ones happy with razing Councill Courts and moving at least some of the residents to south Huntsville are the developers and the city administration.

With drawings of a bustling plaza across from Huntsville Hospital, T1 Development Group on Monday pitched a four-story project called Resonant Pointe. The first floor would include restaurants and retail; the second floor would hold offices; and the top two floors would be filled with small, affordable condos.

I'll be curious to hear just what the developers consider to be "affordable condos"!

I'm really surprised that the area around Lowe Mill hasn't taken off as something of an artist's colony. That area around Governor's Drive would seem to me to be a prime area for revitalization, especially given the wonderful use of the old Lowe Mill building.

I lived for quite some time in Atlanta and witnessed the changes in the Little Five Points area along with Inman Park. When that area was essentially revitalized the artists, writers, and musicians moved on to the Grant Park area and did much the same. After I moved to Huntsville, Atlanta's Cabbagetown neighborhood, which had been a mill village devolving into a drug neighborhood, was discovered by these same artists and revitalized. I really see no reason why this shouldn't be happening around Governor's Drive and Lowe Mill!

Another thing I would love to see are neighborhood food markets such as Star Market in Five Points. Before I moved to Huntsville I lived in Midtown Atlanta and could walk to most convenience and entertainment centers that I required, but it takes the residents to make an area such as this happen!

Light Rail For Huntsville? ::

I was very happy to see the prospect of light rail for the Madison County area highlighted on the front page of The Huntsville Times yesterday.

Doug Gooch says he always gets the same reaction when he talks about plans for a light train running from Bridge Street and Cummings Research Park onto Redstone Arsenal: "It makes too much sense, it'll never happen."

Gooch is an experienced developer, not only a dreamer. He thinks the time is right for a light rail line to deal with the rapid, BRAC-related growth at the arsenal and in Huntsville, and serve as a catalyst for developing a true communitywide public transportation system over a couple of decades.

Before I moved to Huntsville just over 20 years ago I lived in midtown Atlanta and there were stretches of several months where my car would sit idle. I could walk to and from work and if I had to take a longer trip then MARTA trains and buses provided generally hassle-free transportation. If you don't have a car around Huntsville or Madison then you are in a really terrible position given the sad state of public transportation. I would happily utilize a park-and-ride to get to and from work.

Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza ::

Set aside Saturday, May 30 for the cigar box players to perform at the Flying Monkey Arts Center. It'll cost you $10, but it will be well worth it. The show starts at 4pm and I definitely plan to be there.

Actually, I'm building (very slowly building)a cigar box guitar so I'm really looking forward to this!

Rylee's 1st Birthday! ::

I just got photographs e-mailed to me of her 1st birthday party which was last week so I'm subjecting each and every one of you to my youngest granddaughter's photographs!





Unfortunately she lives about 40 miles on the north side of Nashville so we can't spoil her as much as we would like, but we do have several birthday presents for her when she visits in a couple of weeks!

Health Care Reform ::

I just fired off an e-mail to Parker Griffith stating my support for a single payer system of providing health care to all U.S. residents. I have talked to my personal physician as well as the pharmacists I use and they all support a change to the way health care is provided in the U.S. and I made sure to pass this information on to Griffith.

His track record of replying to my e-mails is terrible, but I'll wait and see what response I get. Bud Cramer at least always replied to my e-mails although, more often than not, we were on opposite sides of an issue.

Sessions and Shelby almost never offer the courtesy of a reply!

Weather Woes! ::

We had a quick thunderstorm roll through yesterday morning. The storm was basically a small insignificant one other than lightening popped my house with the result that I now have a dead desktop computer, answering machine, and garage door opener.

I bought a new power supply for the computer yesterday evening, but that doesn't seem to be the problem so I suppose the next move will be a motherboard. It is time to build a new computer anyway and I was pricing components yesterday so I guess I'll bite the bullet and move on up to a duo core processor.

New Artist's Space ::

I met a couple of friends up at The Flying Monkey yesterday evening in order to check out the new 3rd story artist spaces and I was more than amazed at the turnout. The parking lot was full and everyone was having a really good time. We browsed the layout and met and talked to a few of the artists.

Lowe Mill should become a real asset to the local community and I'm looking forward to spending more time there. Check out their web site as they have a Saturday open market, a food vendor, frequent music, and Lowe Mill is also home to The Alabama Filmmakers Co-op.

I'm Curious About The Story Behind This Wreck ::

About a week and a half ago I went up to the Wal-Mart at Hampton Cove and came across this wreck down by the Flint River. This relatively new pickup had obviously gone off the road and rolled at least once. What has made me curious is that the truck is still there as evidenced by this photograph I took yesterday with the Flint River flooding around the truck. In a normal wreck situation a wrecker would have hauled this off long ago.

Does anyone from around Hampton Cove know the backstory?

Confirmed-Sessions To Become Ranking Member Of Judiciary ::

So, let's get this straight. In 1986 then president, Ronald Reagan, nominated Jeff Sessions for a seat on the U.S. District Court in Alabama. At that time the Judiciary Committee was controlled by Republicans and they could not see fit to pass on Sessions' nomination to the entire Senate given Sessions' racist past.

Senate Democrats tracked down a career Justice Department employee named J. Gerald Hebert, who testified, albeit reluctantly, that in a conversation between the two men Sessions had labeled the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU ) "un-American" and "Communist-inspired." Hebert said Sessions had claimed these groups "forced civil rights down the throats of people." In his confirmation hearings, Sessions sealed his own fate by saying such groups could be construed as "un-American" when "they involve themselves in promoting un-American positions" in foreign policy. Hebert testified that the young lawyer tended to "pop off" on such topics regularly, noting that Sessions had called a white civil rights lawyer a "disgrace to his race" for litigating voting rights cases. Sessions acknowledged making many of the statements attributed to him but claimed that most of the time he had been joking, saying he was sometimes "loose with [his] tongue." He further admitted to calling the Voting Rights Act of 1965 a "piece of intrusive legislation," a phrase he stood behind even in his confirmation hearings....

Another damaging witness--a black former assistant U.S. Attorney in Alabama named Thomas Figures--testified that, during a 1981 murder investigation involving the Ku Klux Klan, Sessions was heard by several colleagues commenting that he "used to think they [the Klan] were OK" until he found out some of them were "pot smokers." Sessions claimed the comment was clearly said in jest. Figures didn't see it that way. Sessions, he said, had called him "boy" and, after overhearing him chastise a secretary, warned him to "be careful what you say to white folks." Figures echoed Hebert's claims, saying he too had heard Sessions call various civil rights organizations, including the National Council of Churches and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, "un-American." Sessions denied the accusations but again admitted to frequently joking in an off-color sort of way. In his defense, he said he was not a racist, pointing out that his children went to integrated schools and that he had shared a hotel room with a black attorney several times.

And this happens just in time for the Judiciary Committee to consider President Obama's selection to replace Souter. I cringe thinking of how citizens of Alabama will be perceived after being forced to listen to the tortured logic coming from Sessions!

Blue Skies! ::

Finally, after all of the rain of the past few days, not to mention the tornado alarms going off yesterday afternoon.

Sessions Touted To Replace Specter On Judiciary? ::

Just what we need-the buffoon from Alabama to get even more embarrassing face time in the national media:

Meanwhile, RedState's hogan wants Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) to replace ex-Republican Arlen Specter (D-PA) as the Ranking Member on the Judiciary Cmte: "Jeff Sessions should be Republican Ranking Member on the Judiciary Committee. Not [UT Sen.] Orrin Hatch. Not [IA Sen.] Chuck Grassley. [...] To have Orrin Hatch or Chuck Grassley at the helm would be an unmitigated disaster. Each are cut from the same cloth -- that of the old guard Republicans in the Senate who have given us the train wreck that the Party has become. They would hire terrible staffers who would neither be the smartest lawyers nor actually conservative -- and, potentially, maintain a significant number of Specter's former staff. Jeff Sessions, on the other hand, would field a talented team who could educate America on just who America is getting in the next Supreme Court justice."

Remember when Reagan tried appointing Sessions to the federal bench?

Sessions entered national politics in the mid-'80s not as a politician but as a judicial nominee. Recommended by a fellow Republican from Alabama, then-Senator Jeremiah Denton, Sessions was Ronald Reagan's choice for the U.S. District Court in Alabama in the early spring of 1986. Reagan had gotten cocky by then, as more than 200 of his uberconservative judicial appointees had been rolled out across the country without serious opposition (this was pre-Robert Bork). That is, until the 39-year-old Sessions came up for review.

Sessions was U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama. The year before his nomination to federal court, he had unsuccessfully prosecuted three civil rights workers--including Albert Turner, a former aide to Martin Luther King Jr.--on a tenuous case of voter fraud. The three had been working in the "Black Belt" counties of Alabama, which, after years of voting white, had begun to swing toward black candidates as voter registration drives brought in more black voters. Sessions's focus on these counties to the exclusion of others caused an uproar among civil rights leaders, especially after hours of interrogating black absentee voters produced only 14 allegedly tampered ballots out of more than 1.7 million cast in the state in the 1984 election. The activists, known as the Marion Three, were acquitted in four hours and became a cause célèbre. Civil rights groups charged that Sessions had been looking for voter fraud in the black community and overlooking the same violations among whites, at least partly to help reelect his friend Senator Denton.

On its own, the case might not have been enough to stain Sessions with the taint of racism, but there was more. Senate Democrats tracked down a career Justice Department employee named J. Gerald Hebert, who testified, albeit reluctantly, that in a conversation between the two men Sessions had labeled the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU ) "un-American" and "Communist-inspired." Hebert said Sessions had claimed these groups "forced civil rights down the throats of people." In his confirmation hearings, Sessions sealed his own fate by saying such groups could be construed as "un-American" when "they involve themselves in promoting un-American positions" in foreign policy. Hebert testified that the young lawyer tended to "pop off" on such topics regularly, noting that Sessions had called a white civil rights lawyer a "disgrace to his race" for litigating voting rights cases. Sessions acknowledged making many of the statements attributed to him but claimed that most of the time he had been joking, saying he was sometimes "loose with [his] tongue." He further admitted to calling the Voting Rights Act of 1965 a "piece of intrusive legislation," a phrase he stood behind even in his confirmation hearings.

Swine Flu In New Hope! ::

I stopped at a little local convenience store just a few minutes ago and the big news was that apparently there has been a case of swine flu in New Hope and that workers from city hall had gone to the Piggly Wiggly and stocked up on bleach and gloves in order to do battle with the dreaded virus!

There might be some degree of over-reaction involved, but I'd rather see proactive action rather than reactive!

School Closings In Madison County ::

Apparently two students at Heritage Elementary School in Huntsville are being treated for symptoms of the latest flu outbreak with the result that all county schools, as well as the Child Development Center on Redstone Arsenal and the child care center at Marshall Space Flight Center, will be closed for the remainder of this week.

This seems to be a very reasonable proactive response to the threat of a major flu outbreak!

Will Sessions Follow Specter? ::

The thought of this happening just drives me to hysterics! I'm glad it could never happen.

More Cute Critter Photographs ::

They're now about 3 weeks old and rapidly developing personalities, not to mention curiosities! I'm seriously thinking of keeping the little grey one on the left, but the others will be up for adoption. The mother is a really sweet cat who adopted me about a year ago as a kitten herself.



And here are the little baby birds which were born yesterday in my front door wreath. Not much to look at other that little balls of fluff right now, but we should be able to get photographs of open mouths soon!

Kittens Nursing ::

Panoply Time ::

I haven't been in several years, but I'm gonna try to make it down this afternoon or early evening. Actually, what I really want is a panorama photograph of the park during panoply and I think I may be able to get that from one of the parking garages.

Friday Catblogging ::

Now taking orders for kittens--have 4 little females which are now almost 3 weeks old!



Missy, the mother, is a fabulous loving cat although apparently a bit of a feline slut!

I have nursing photos which I will put up tommorow.

Tragedy On The Streets ::

I happened to be at the Books-A-Million on Airport Road last Friday evening and I was leaving just after 9pm to go across the mountain, but the intersection was blocked by emergency and police personnel. I pulled into the Shell store on the corner to see if there was an easy way around the wreck. I parked and walked up to the corner and knew immediately that this was going to be devastating although my preliminary thoughts were not as bad as how this wreck ultimately turned out.

Two young and promising lives were lost. Two families are grieving. Multitudes of friends are grieving for this loss.

From today's Huntsville Times:

The man charged in the fatal wreck involving two young Huntsvillians has outstanding warrants for driving under the influence, police said.

Felix Dominguez Ortega, 25, has also been arrested under the name Adan Herrera with a birth date of Aug. 8, 1985. Police said Ortega also used the name Reynaldo Martinez and Juan Sanchez.

[snip]

Ortega is charged with two counts of murder. Leigh Anna Jimmerson, 16, and Tad Mattle, 19, were killed when Ortega's pickup truck hit their car Friday night at the intersection of Whitesburg Drive and Airport Road, police said. Jimmerson was a sophomore at Grissom High School and Mattle graduated from the school last year.

The official story is that Ortega hit a car in an apartment complex, left, was reported, and was being followed by a Huntsville police officer who was simply trying to get his license number. This looks to me to be another instance where the lawyers are salivating over the potential lawsuits with the city of Huntsville.

Thought #1: This is just a terrible and senseless loss of life.

Thought #2: The time is long past for a citizen's review board regarding police actions in Huntsville!

The city of Huntsville just settled one lawsuit costing 3 million dollars.

The widow of Darren Spurlock is suing for 5 million over the police chase leading to the death of her husband on Redstone Arsenal. I expect that the city will settle for 3 million on that one after throwing as many roadblocks as possible for the the next few years.

I expect this latest accident to lead to multi-million dollar lawsuits for the city also!

Unfortunately, there's much more to this story which I think will play out over the coming months.

Really Lousy Weather ::

So, I took Good Friday off and what happens-severe weather. Just a short while ago the weather rolled through with rain, hail, and high winds. I wound up having to drive through a good portion of this, but I really didn't have any problem.

Just up the road from me, at a crossroads, is was a very stately Oak tree. Unfortunately the winds blew this tree over a short time ago and it will be no more. This really saddens me beyond words and I'll try to have some photographs up later.

Happy Birthday!

Snow? ::

In April?
In North Alabama?

I'm really not terribly surprised that we're having a bit more cold weather. I just finished moving all of my plants back inside for the next couple of days so the little seedlings will survive. That reminds me that I have some legacy seeds which I have yet to get started, but I think I'm going to take a couple of days off later this week and work on my plantings then.

Griffith Votes Against The Budget ::

As did Bright! From Politico.com:

Democrats won House approval Thursday of a $3.5 trillion budget plan that keeps faith with President Barack Obama’s domestic priorities while promising to bring health care reform legislation to the floor by next fall.

The partisan 233-196 House vote came as the Senate neared passage of its own alternative, also crafted by Democrats but more of a status quo document when compared with the House resolution or the president’s ambitious plan put forward in February.

[snip]

A conservative alternative promising to balance the budget by 2019 failed by a vote of 322-111, with 65 Republicans in opposition. A second proposal by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, failed 293-137, with 38 Republicans in opposition.

By comparison, Democrats held their own defections on final passage to 20, and the 233 votes for passage contrast with the past decade of often much closer House budget votes in past Congresses — under Democratic or Republican control.

So, Griffith and Bright comprised 10% of the Dem opposition to the budget bill. Time for an explanation!

Josh Marshall's Take On Jeff Sessions ::

I happened to be channel surfing today and came across C-Span covering Sessions' Senate floor rant about something or other. As usual I listened for about 20 seconds before I could take no more Alabama embarrassment and I changed the channel. A short time later I came across this on Talking Point's Memo:

Hell Is ...

Listening to Sen. Jeff Sessions talk about fiscal policy. Reactionary economic policies aggressively parroted by someone who lacks the candle power to even understand it.

Help.

Help, indeed! My feeling is that Josh is being far too kind to Sessions!

New Kittens ::

Missy had 4 little baby kittens last night so I will start taking orders right away! I learned my lesson about putting off the spaying so that will be first on the agenda after the kittens are weaned. I'll try to get some photographs this weekend.

Oops! ::

Lost my header! I'm working on another web site where the header image was stored and I deleted it by mistake. Should have it fixed soon.

The Huntsville Times ::

manages to mightily embarrass itself with this morning's headline. I'm amazed they still have it up on their web site!



David King submitted his resignation as Marshall Space Flight Center's director. Christopher Scolese is NASA's acting administrator 'til such time as the president appoints a new administrator. At the very least someone should have been subjected to a well deserved ass chewing for writing this headline!

Oh yeah, and Shelby Spires wrote the article, not the headline!

Let's See ::

Friday I got my first reply from Parker Griffith to an e-mail. I chided Griffith on his stance on the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and he finally replied although it took far longer than it should have. I'll cut him some slack on this since he's new to the office, but I hope that replies in the future come much quicker.

I finally was able to cut my grass yesterday and today and it felt good to be able to spend time outside. I spent some time at the Wal-Mart and Lowe's garden centers picking up seeds and plants so I have something of a start with some herbs, tomatoes, as well as some flowering plants for the hanging baskets.

Unfortunately it's back to work tomorrow!

Happy St. Paddy's Day! ::

I almost forgot to pick up my corned beef and a head of cabbage. I'll cook them up later today!

Atrios References The PACT Program ::

I followed a couple of links on Eschaton this morning and one of them led to a Left In Alabama post about the PACT fiasco, but the other link was to a local blog titled "Havealittletalk". Havealittletalk seems to be devoted to what is happening with the PACT fund, but I found the Atrios link to be very interesting in that it takes The Huntsville Times and, more specifically, David Prather to task for shoddy writing. Here are a couple of excerpts:

In his article “The PACT Meltdown” (Huntsville Times 3-5-09), David Prather compares the predicament of those of us who invested in the PACT to homebuyers who failed to read the “fine print” on their mortgages and then blame “the mortgage banker who didn’t tell you that your income didn’t make buying that house on a variable interest rate a really sound business decision on your part.” He concludes, “Some folks don’t have much sympathy for those who have overextended themselves in home-buying. Perhaps they will feel the same about those who invested in the tuition savings plans in hopes of making the cost of sending their children to college manageable.”
His analogy and editorializing is both inaccurate and insulting.

[snip]

Unlike Mr. Prather, Stan Diel of The Birmingham News did his homework, reporting in “State fears investors will pull money out of PACT” (3-7-09) that “Many participants in the program were under the impression that their contracts guaranteed tuition would be paid in full if they made their payments. And contracts from the program’s inception in 1990 through 1994 explicitly promise that would be the case.” He adds, “The word ‘guarantee’ was removed for later contracts.”

My daughter’s MasterPACT for enrollment period September 1-September 30, 1996 states in para 3.01: “The PACT Program provides payment of undergraduate Instate Tuition and Mandatory Fees on behalf of the Qualified Beneficiary…” (emphasis added). I’ve read the “fine print” of this 1996 MasterPact, which is a contract, and while “guarantees” has been replaced by “provides,” the only “Disclaimers” [para 10.06] pertain to no “guarantee” that the beneficiary “(a) will be admitted to a Postsecondary Institution…(d) will be graduated from a Postsecondary Institution.” There is no disclaimer regarding poor money management by the State.

Let me say upfront that I have exchanged a couple of testy e-mails with the thin-skinned David Prather about what I felt was his shilling for the city of Huntsville government over true reporting on a couple of stories which never got the ink they deserved. Prather took great umbrage at my pointing out, in detail, the major points he and a couple of other reporters had missed or, more pointedly, ignored in their writing.

We look forward to more fireworks regarding Alabama's PACT program, but I surely would not look to the Huntsville Times for factual reporting.

Discovery On The Launch Pad ::

Tonight's launch has been scrubbed and Discovery will not fly before Sunday. Here is a nice photo from NASA photographer Bill Ingalls:

More Madness ::

From cnn.com:

At least 10 people were killed Tuesday in a shooting spree that spanned two small southern Alabama towns, state officials confirmed. The gunman and the wife and child of a sheriff's deputy were among those killed.

The Alabama Pact Program ::

PACT=Prepaid Affordable College Tuition

I've been kinda following this story for the past few days and I was more than mildly surprised to see the story on the front page of today's Huntsville Times given The Times predeliction for hiding bad city, county and state news, but there it was. Seems as though the state of Alabama invested these funds and the investments have tanked along with our personal IRA and 401K plans.

Nancy Jones of Gurley held on to her glossy brochure from 1990 when the state first sold contracts for the PACT Trust Fund, which stands for Prepaid Affordable College Tuition. Her contract and the marketing brochure make repeated use of a word that the state no longer acknowledges: "guarantee."

On Page 1 in the first paragraph, the state offers "a contract that will guarantee up to four years of future undergraduate tuition" at any state school.

"We had $4,000 in our savings account. I remember it well. We wiped out our savings," said Jones. "This was guaranteed. It says nothing about your investment being at risk in my paperwork."

Jones said she paid $3,900 for four years of college tuition for her infant son, who today is halfway through studies at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

The really bad news?

Even at a peak of nearly $900 million in September 2007, according to actuarial tables there wasn't quite enough money to cover all the future tuition payments - at least not without selling more contracts or benefiting from favorable investments. Now, according to the treasurer's office, the fund has enough to cover half of what it owes.

Looks to me like the only winners to come out of this state sponsored Ponzi scheme will be the lawyers.

Friday Catblogging ::

Not much going on right now so I thought I'd let you get a glimpse of Missy.

A Huntsville Photograph ::

I haven't put up a N. Alabama photograph lately so here is a panorama I shot a couple of weekends ago in Huntsville's Big Spring Park. This is kind of a warm-up to a spring photograph with foliage and blooms.

Bread And Milk ::

Just hearing the word "snow" triggered a buying spree for bread and milk at the local groceries yesterday, but, statistically, more beer is sold than bread and milk. I can understand that!

It's The Economy, Stupid! ::

Glancing through the classifieds just a short while ago I noticed that of the 23 ads in the miscellaneous section 7 were for burial plots at various cemeteries around town.

I also looked at the stock quotes and see that Sanmina is selling for 25 cents/share right now. I wonder how long they can hold on and I've been expecting dire employment news from the company for some time. That would certainly be a wake-up call for this area.

More On Diebold And Wal-Mart ::

I called the listed numbers for Diebold at the local Wal-Mart and Sam's Club locations in Huntsville. One number was disconnected and there was no answer at the other three. Here is the original Raw Story piece and I'm excerpting a bit from the article:

Utah is among the number of states that now use a partial or fully electronic election system, and Premier Election Solutions, a subsidiary of Diebold, is the company that sold the machines to the state. To convince Utah decision-makers that Diebold was a big company with a substantial presence, Kathy Dopp, founder of UtahCountVotes.org, reported that a company representative told the decision-makers in 2006 that Diebold “has about 20 offices in Utah.” When pressed further, the representative refused to give the locations of any of the offices. In fact, the White Pages lists 18 Diebold offices.

However, when calls were made to all of these offices, only one picked up the phone. And when the addresses of offices listed under Diebold in the White Pages were visited, the addresses turned out to belong to either a Wal-Mart, a Sam's Club, or no building at all. In the end, 16 of the 18 Diebold offices in Utah listed in the White Pages were false listings. One is in Salt Lake, and the other is in Bountiful.

A quick investigation by Bob Fertik on Democrats.com revealed that a similar scam existed in New York, with another Diebold listing in Buffalo turning out to be a Wal-Mart. Out of 13 listings in Florida, 5 turned out to be Wal-Marts. Similar office listings have been uncovered in Alabama, Mississippi, and New Hampshire. Since the office listings exist in each state and not just in Utah, it is probably unlikely that the corporate branch in every state is acting independently of each other.

Here is a comment from an anonymous poster to my original bit on Diebold and Wal-Mart:

Diebold makes cash registers as well as voting machines. Probably Walmart uses them, or sells parts and service. I wouldn't get too work up about this.

Not a very helpful comment as there are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of Diebold cash registers in Madison County so why are most locations and phone numbers throughout the country listed as being in Wal-Mart and Sam's locations? I'll bet that these locations have Diebold ATM's, but I still don't get the tie-in.

Just to feed the conspiracy theory a bit more, Wal-Mart has a very super-secret data collection center in Bentonville, Arkansas which is reputed to be state-of-the-art!

Diebold Offices In Huntsville ::

I suppose everyone is familiar with the voting problems associated with Diebold electronic voting machines, but I ran across something interesting on another blog a couple of days ago. I forget which blog it was, but someone had checked Diebold in the phone book and each listing was for a Wal-Mart or a Sam's Club so I decided to check out Huntsville and guess what? There are 4 listings for Diebold in the local white pages and two are Wal-Mart locations and the other two are the two Sam's Clubs here in town.

I find this to be not only puzzling, but extremely curious. I'm going to try to block out a few minutes tomorrow to call at least a couple of numbers to see what happens on the other end of the line. Maybe we should all try this.

Check your phone books for Diebold listings just to see what you find!

Our Senator, Richard Shelby, In Action ::

Senator Richard Shelby (R-Al) was speaking to a group of citizens this weekend down in Cullman, Alabama and had this exchange with a constituent:

Another local resident asked Shelby if there was any truth to a rumor that appeared during the presidential campaign concerning Obama’s U.S. citizenship, or lack thereof.

“Well his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven’t seen any birth certificate,” Shelby said. “You have to be born in America to be president.”

According to the Associated Press, state officials in Hawaii checked health department records during the campaign and determined there was no doubt Obama was born in Hawaii.

So, a citizen asked Shelby about a discredited meme and Shelby does not set the record straight that the question of Obama's citizenship has long ago been settled, but rather he knowingly obfuscates the issue. When pressed for a clarification here's what Shelby's spokesman, Jason Graffeo, has to say as noted on Politico:

Graffeo calls to say that the Cullman Times report is a "distortion" and that Shelby mentioned that he hadn't seen the birth certificate only as a "throwaway line" while listing the qualifications for office and explaining that the issue had been examined at length and put to rest.

Here's a further clarification from Graffeo:

The Cullman Times article contains an incomplete account, and therefore a distortion, of Sen. Shelby's comments regarding President Obama's citizenship. At the town hall meeting in Cullman, Sen. Shelby laid out the Constitutional qualifications for the Presidency and said that, while he hasn't personally seen the President's birth certificate, he is confident that the matter has been thoroughly examined.

Politico is trying to get a transcript of the exchange but, regardless of what that shows, the fact is that Shelby knowingly let a lie about the birthplace of President Obama continue to circulate with no effort on his part to discredit this lie. That in itself is abhorrent and deserves a personal apology from Shelby to Obama!

The truly unfortunate thing is that Shelby will most certainly only face token competition, if that, for his senate seat when he runs for reelection given that he reportedly has around $13mil in his campaign war chest.

Twenty Years ::

That's how long I've been here. I moved to Huntsville in February of 1989 with the intention of making this a temporary move of just a couple of years and then back to Atlanta. As it turns out I like it here a lot and I'm happy in north Alabama although I do miss Atlanta at times. I enjoy visiting friends over there when I'm passing through and I do miss the museums and art galleries, but all in all I'm glad to be where I am right now.

Still Here ::

But I guess I've lost track of time and all of my previous posts have drifted off into cyberland somewhere. I'm hoping to pick up a new laptop tomorrow so I'll have more time to actually have something to say here. I've taken on a couple of new personal projects that have been taking up a lot of my time-apparently more time than I had thought.

Rembemerances ::

nasawatch.com has some really great rememberances of Konrad Dannenberg.

I'm Kinda Back ::

I had to turn over my box to a friend who does computer fixin' for a living. In my years of building my own computers this is the first problem I have not been able to solve and I still have to transfer files from one hard drive to the new one so we'll still be MIA to some extent for the next couple of days.

Light Blogging! ::

I have some computer woes I'm slowly working through so I'll be MIA for another couple of days. I long for the day when all computer and computer peripherals will be wireless!

Funding Education In Tough Economic Times ::

Here's a great editorial from the January 30th edition of The Anniston Star:

The Anniston Star

EDITORIALS
Economic reality
In our opinion
01-30-2009

Yes, the economy has soured.
Yes, tax revenue is falling.
Yes, people from the heights of Goat Hill to the swamps of south Alabama are going to have to make hard choices in the next few years.
However, a choice that should not be made is whether to cut funding for public education.
Our public schools do many wonderful things. They provide a place where children can grow and develop. They provide a structured environment to complement, supplement and enhance what is provided at home.
They offer opportunities for extracurricular enrichment that would not exist for many children if these schools were not there ? and yes, that includes football.
And they teach. Our public schools provide knowledge and skills that will make the state of Alabama prosper. They are the best investment Alabamians can make, and on every level the state gets more in return for the amount of money that is spent.
Yet, now we are talking about cutting education because the money isn't there.
Here is the dose of reality: The money is there. It has been for decades. But the state's leaders ? governor, senators, representatives ? have lacked the courage to raise it.
Instead, Alabama has historically taken money from those who have the least. No wonder this state often falls short on so many important categories.
The state income-tax system favors the well-to-do.
The state property-tax system favors the well-to-do.
The state sales-tax system favors the well-to-do.
To paraphrase President Barack Obama in his inaugural address, the state cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.
Oh, the prosperous will cry that you are waging class warfare. Well, class warfare is what the prosperous have waged against the poor ever since the prosperous stole votes to ratify the state Constitution that governs Alabama today.
Oh, the prosperous will cry, you want the state to spread the wealth. Well, is that any worse than using the state to concentrate wealth with the prosperous?
If there ever was a time when the people sent to Montgomery need to address the inequities that exist in this state and confront reality, this is it.

This should be passed around and shared with everyone! The Anniston Star seems to be the exception rather than the rule with regards to our state's newspapers tackling tough issues head-on.

Alabama's Senators On The Daily Show ::

I was busily honing my woodworking skills yesterday evening by putting together a precut and predrilled tv stand from the local big box store and I had The Daily Show on in the background. Stewart went into one of his political rants, which I love, and whose pictures should flash across the screen but both of Alabama's senators. This episode isn't up on The Daily Show web site yet, but probably will be later today. Check it out if you get a chance.

[edit] The show I was watching on Friday was actually the show from Thursday and the link above does take you to the show referencing Mr. Potato Head (Shelby).

Bright And Griffith On Their Stimulus Vote :;

"I feel strongly that the American people must have confidence that a recovery package is worth its tremendous price tag," Rep. Bobby Bright, D-Montgomery, said. "Congress could have done this by simply focusing on investments in infrastructure and targeted tax relief for individuals and small businesses, but this legislation includes billions in additional spending that will have little effect on the economy."

"We need to jumpstart our economy and create new jobs, but this bill does not do enough to cut taxes, support small businesses or invest in our research and development programs," said Rep. Parker Griffith, D-Huntsville.

Let's find some new candidates!

Parker Griffith Has A Big Shovel ::

And he is digging his hole deeper and deeper after having been one of 11 members of the House of Representatives to vote against the stimulus bill today. And, oh yeah, so did Bobby Bright. So far Griffith is 1 for 3 in my book with his sole distinction being his vote for SCHIP and another e-mail is in order although his office still has not responded to my last one.

I think we should start right now looking for a candidate to run against him in '10!

Decent Weather For A Change ::

But why can't we have 2 days like this on a weekend? I can hear the chirping of insects all around me when I step outside. Nothing like spring fever in January.

What Hampton Cove Needs! ::

Is a Starbucks! It's rough having to drive over the mountain in either direction just for a decent cup of coffee!

Accountability For Rove And The Bush Justice Department? ::

And it's about time since Rove has been so successful in avoiding having to appear before John Conyer's House Judiciary Committee. Here are a couple of snippets from the Raw Story piece:

The subpoena, approved by an earlier vote of the House, was issued pursuant to "authority granted in H.R. 5 (111th Congress), and calls for Mr. Rove to appear at deposition on Monday, February 2, 2009."

Specifically, it enjoins Rove "to testify regarding his role in the Bush Administration’s politicization of the Department of Justice, including the US Attorney firings and the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman."

"Mr. Rove has previously refused to appear in response to a Judiciary Committee subpoena, claiming that even former presidential advisers cannot be compelled to testify before Congress," Conyers' office wrote in a release. "That 'absolute immunity' position was supported by then-President Bush, but it has been rejected by U.S. District Judge John Bates and President Obama has previously dismissed the claim as 'completely misguided.'"

This news was a bit of fresh air to me today after having been inundated with the news that catastrophic job losses continue unabated.

On another note, there is another piece in Raw Story about the possibility of a special prosecutor being asked for to investigate the Paul Minor case in Mississippi. More good news on the accountability front!

A good source for background on both the Paul Minor and Don Siegelman cases is The Legal Schnauzer. Do a search for either name and you will find a wealth of information of just how corrupt the Bush justice department has been in both Alabama and Mississippi!

Sunday Morning Catblogging ::

A Car Chase ::

I saw my first car chase this evening! I was pulling out of the Starbucks on Airport Road when a car, with its lights off, came screaming out a couple of blocks east of me with a police car in hot pursuit. Almost immediately another police car came around the corner and as I pulled out I saw the car and the following police turn right onto Whitesburg Rd. By the time I got up there 4 or 5 more police cars had screamed down Whitesburg and were long gone. Being naturally curious I turned right and went down just post Four Mile Post Road without seeing any excitement so I turned around and headed home. Hopefully there will be some news of this in tomorrow's newspaper.

Too much excitement for an old man!

A New Day Begins ::

And what a day it promises to be!

Recall Petition In Alabama ::

John Ehinger had an interesting opinion piece in today's Huntsville Times regarding the lack of recall of our elected officials in Alabama on any level.

I'm glad to see someone addressing the lack of a recall law in Alabama and I've often wondered why the citizenry doesn't push for one given the quality of some of our elected officials. Of course most of the elected officials, for obvious reasons, have no desire to pass a recall law and they argue that the electoral process every four years is, in essence, a recall opportunity. This seems to me to be a particularly specious argument. Here are some snippets from Ehingers article:

Because the change is so fundamental to the way government and politics function in Alabama, it would require a constitutional amendment. That means to get the power of recall, state voters would have to approve it in a referendum.

According to the proposal by state Rep. Allen Treadaway, a Republican from Morris, voters unhappy with an elected official would have to gather signatures equal to 30 percent of those who voted in the last election in the relevant jurisdiction. First, notification would have to be filed with the secretary of state or a probate judge (depending on the office of the person at issue), and the petitions with sufficient valid names would have to be completed within 160 days. The recall election would be set 60 to 80 days later.

[snip]

Actually, even the mere threat of recall might persuade some officials to conduct themselves honorably and responsibly and to do what they say they're going to do. Appropriate behavior from those in office is preferable to continually throwing out one official and replacing him or her with another.

(added emphasis is mine)

This is a constitutional amendment I could get behind and I hope that it gains some traction! I'll be letting my elected officials know how I feel about this and I hope that you will also!

The Sunday Concert On The Mall ::

I happened to be in town this afternoon listening to WLRH and they were rerunning, as usual, yesterday's "Prairie Home Companion" so I switched the dial over to the APR station over in The Shoals, 100.7 (I forget the call letters) and they were broadcasting the concert live and it was simply marvelous! My question is why did WLRH here in Huntsville not broadcast this?

I've expressed my disappointment with some their programming decisions in the past so I guess I'll be sending off another e-mail to WLRH management!

"In Spite Of Ourselves" ::

John Prine and Iris Dement on this Sunday morning:



I've long tried to find an Iris Dement show within driving distance with no luck. I'm going to suggest to the management at Merrimack Hall that they book her and I will certainly go!

A Mismatch ::

Mmmmm, I just got ready to leave to drop off my recyclables and happened to look down and see that I had on two different shoes. I don't know how many people would have noticed this, but I'm glad I caught it before anyone else did!

Things Have Been A Bit Hectic ::

I'm still around, but I have been busy lately and haven't had time to do much posting. The news of the further delay of the fiasco that is the new jail hasn't gotten nearly as much attention as it should have and I fear that this construction will continue to be little more than a huge money pit for some time to come! Too bad some of that wasted money couldn't have gone to treatment programs for those with drug and alcohol problems, not to mention the growing homeless problem in the city!

I've been having some minor computer glitches which have slowed me down a bit. I put in another gig of ram last week and now, for some reason, every once in a while the computer will spontaneously shut down during the boot process. Once it boots up everything seems to be ok. I bought a new video card to replace this lousy GForce card before Christmas and didn't realize there was a new PCI factor so it won't work and I have to exchange it. Oh yeah, when I put the new ram in I had to take the Turtle Beach sound card out and I messed up one of the output connections so I'll have to take the computer apart again and try to fix that. There's always something!

On a bright note I bought myself a guitar this afternoon in hopes of finding some musical ability deep down within myself. That might be a struggle!

Parker Griffith Out Of The Gate On The Wrong Foot!

So, Griffith, in one of his first official acts, votes against the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. I can't say that I'm surprised and I was looking forward to this vote to see which side of pay equity he would come down on. That question has been answered and I have fired off an e-mail expressing my dismay, as one who volunteered some time to help get him elected, that he feels the contribution of women to our workforce is worth so little to him and, by reflection, the employers of north Alabama. Thankfully the act passed the house by a vote of 256-163 and will now move to the U.S. Senate. I look forward to some exploding heads in the republican ranks!

There is a good little discussion in comments over at Left in Alabama and I urge everyone to read the posts.

Contact information for Parker Griffith:

http://griffith.house.gov/

District Office
Parker Griffith 200 Pratt Avenue, N.E. Suite A
Huntsville, AL 35801
Phone: (256) 551-0190
Fax: (256) 551-0194

From reading the posts on LiA it seems that Griffith's local office is as clueless and stonewalling as Bud's office was. Let's hold their feet to the fire and let Parker Griffith know how we feel!

Rain, Rain, Go Away! ::

And don't come back for many more days!

Parts of the road I live on are experiencing a bit of flooding although nothing of consequence right now, but tomorrow morning could be another story given the amount of rain we have had today with the prospects for more overnight. I normally leave home at about 5:45am so it's pretty dark and I usually go a back way to Hobbs Island Road and there is a creek at the end of that road which did flood last time we had a rain such as this. I think I'll drive around tomorrow morning just to be safe.

In the meantime I'm thinking of stocking my backyard with bream so I can just fish off the back porch, or, for that matter, I could do the same in the front yard.

Computer Problems Abound!

The desktop is experiencing severe problems-the keyboard is not working and the OS has shut down a couple of times meaning I have to post from the ancient laptop. I just got another gig of ram via UPS this afternoon and I was going to install that anyway. I also have a new video card to install so I guess I'll just shut it down and take it apart. Hopefully we'll be back up and running soon.

New Years Day, 2009! ::

I actually saw the new year in last night! I can't remember the last time I did that.