The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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Recidivism rate is the tendency of a criminal to commit a crime and return to prison. This is one of those areas where fuzzy math drives you crazy getting to the facts. According to the National Institute of Justice, 68 percent of 405,000 prisoners released in 30 states in 2005 were arrested for a new crime within three years of their release from prison, and 77 percent were arrested within five years. According to a 2018 report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 1960 the U.S. prison...
Kudos to Sen. Cam Ward [R-Alabaster] head of the Senate Judiciary Committee blocking the ethics bill proposed by Marsh and Albritton. Reported dead in Ward’s committee by Bill Britt [APR 4/18/19] who wrote, “However, since then, the pair have continued to lobby Republican caucus members to climb on board with the measure. Albritton is even suggesting that he and Marsh go around the Judiciary Committee to get the bill to the Senate floor” to circumvent the usual process. Amazing to watch polit...
In our nation’s beginning, our founding fathers wrote our Constitution to specify that American citizens must be 21 years old to be eligible to vote. This was considered to be the minimum age for a person to be mature enough to make wise decisions in the selection of our elected leaders. Our founders also set minimum ages for Senators (30) and the President (35). But in 1971, the American people very foolishly ratified the 26th Amendment which lowered the minimum voting age to 18. The a...
As I watch what is happening to core philosophies and belief systems internationally, domestically, and now in our own state, I am just shaking my head and looking down in dismay. The question I am asking myself, am I this dated, is there room anymore for an economic, moral, social, and constitutional conservative ideas; or have these definitions changed also? I was raised with three things you could always count on to be steadfast; facts, the Constitution and the Holy Bible. What has me...
Gov. Ivey and our Goat Hill legislators ‘passed the gas’ tax to fuel a more over-built/unsustainable road system in Alabama. Pray for our posterity and those of limited means weathering the next contraction after our current bubble pops. No doubt our low class, high end political prostitutes will prosper as usual. Montgomery has not generated such loud, foul flatulence since all the Republocrat rhetoric following the 14% special election turnout result (49 days before a general election) to rob...
This past March 8, during a special session called by Governor Kay Ivey, 83 of our state representatives voted to pass a ten cent increase in our gasoline tax. Then on March 12, the Senate railroaded it in with a 28 to 6 vote. Governor Ivey immediately signed it into law. The people never got a chance to vote against it in a referendum, and only a few days to hold a rally and say, “Take this tax and shove it.” Are our public servants infinitely stupid? We elected them to cut back on spe...
I’d like to preface this by saying, this is my opinion. While I feel that technology and social media are key to living in today’s world and while there are some good things that can come from the web and hand held devices, I feel that there is more harm being done to the masses. What if everyone that picked up their device, picked up the Bible instead? Picture this: You’re at a sporting event supporting a child and you look around and all you see are people hovered by the nearest power outle...
As designed, the $80,000 rigged special election on February 19 tax votes in Lee County proffered low (3.6%) turnout results similar to convicted felon Hubbard’s $3 million wasted on our 2012 Statewide special election sham result (14% turnout 49 days before a general election) to rob the ETF back in 2012 and 4.5% turnout to get the last Lee County sales tax to pass after failing twice on a general election. I’m confident most of my readers are familiar with Mark 8:36-38 (KJV) scripture the tit...
During this past December and January, the United States suffered the longest government shutdown in its history—over a month. But was it really a shutdown? Of course not. Like all of the previous ones, it was only partial. Only “nonessential” functions were cut. And to really rub it in, many departments that were truly nonessential kept on trucking with no layoffs at all. Politicians are constantly afflicted with the syndrome of spending more to fix problems they created by spending more....
Friday, March 29, 2019 Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, Prattville, AL (Senator Course) Central Alabama Aging Consortium, the Area Agency on Aging for Autauga, Elmore and Montgomery counties, established the Dementia Friendly Alabama Initiative in 2016 to provide dementia education, training and resources to those serving and those living with dementia. This year we have partnered with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) who will perform a rescue on the course to highlight their efforts...
Your Time Again? You were married and for whatever reason you are single now. You’ve spent your life planning retirement with your mate, but now entering your golden years single is not always the way you envisioned. You probably had planned on growing old with your spouse. Sometimes we don’t understand why we lose people, but there may be answers to your broken heart. According to The Washington Post “Adults between the ages of 55 and 64 are also turning to websites and apps more often, with...
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart...” Jeremiah 1:5 “And they are beginning to realize that the world they live in is a place where the right thing is often hard, sometimes dangerous, and frequently unpopular.” Lois Lowry, Number The Stars. I was scrolling through social media the day the law was passed in New York. My heart broke as I read posts declaring our country has taken another bold step in the direction of complacency. A step taken so that...
“I don't like the looks of it,' said the King: 'however, it may kiss my hand, if it likes.' 'I'd rather not,' the Cat remarked.” The King and the Cheshire Cat, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Forgive the length of my last column, much to write about in retrospect and on the continuing malice ‘public servant’ Hubbard put in place and orchestrates in our State. First, many thanks for all the comments - as usual ‘nastygrams’ tend to be more entertaining than the kudos. Second, I had absolutel...
One of the biggest boondoggles ever imposed by our government has been the mandated addition of ethanol to gasoline. It has been done for over a decade, and we are still stuck with it today. Of course, ethanol can be used to run an engine. Henry Ford used it in his Model T in 1908. During World War II, it substituted for scarce gasoline. Since then, gasoline and diesel have been the widely used fuels of choice. In 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Renewable Fuels Standard, and then The...
“I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.” Proverbs 16:17 October 28, 2015 I heard Him speaking to me. In my time of prayer, just as He often times does, He was speaking over my words. Loudly, boldly as to get my attention. “Read it, write it, speak it.” These are the words He spoke to me. “Women’s ministry. Seminary.” This was the commandment He gave me. I silenced this ridiculous thought. How in the world could God possibly use me to further His kingdom? A sinner. Ju...
A mind is a terrible thing to waste, and senior citizens these days are taking the old saying to heart. With more and more seniors taking the leap and enrolling in what are affectionately known as “encore educations” it stands to wonder, could we take note and follow? There is a group of Americans that are furthering their education, some more than 50 years after they threw their caps in the air in celebratory fashion. There are a few things that factor into the choice to return to school. Fro...
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to." Alice and The Cheshire Cat, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. During this Thanksgiving/Christmas I donned the best mask I could muster to hide thoughts on this 20th Anniversary of being made homeless by our federal government in symphony with some of our most corrupt State politburo members. The M-14 episode twenty years ago provided more evidence of the calculated m...
Eminent Domain is defined as the power of government to condemn private property for public use—provided that “just compensation” is provided to the owners as payment for suitable and fair replacements. In our nation’s history, seizures were often done for needed public projects. Compensation normally covered more than a property’s market value; it also had to include all other expenses suffered by the owners. An owner’s losses must be fully compensated and restored before a settlement can be co...
Job 9:7-10 “If He commands it, the sun won’t rise and the stars won’t shine. He alone has spread out the heavens and marches on the waves of the sea. He made all the stars – the bear and Orion, the Pleiades and constellations of the southern sky. He does great things too marvelous to understand. He performs countless miracles.” I’ve so often wondered how I fit in this world. How I feel like Job more often than not. I love a pity party. Don’t we all? Who am I to be more deserving of a life of les...
We’ve all heard the term, “fixed income.” While in all reality most everyone lives on some type of fixed income, there is the possibility of a pay raise while they are in the work force. One overwhelming fear the elderly community faces after retirement is the lack of increasing salaries as the cost of living is steadily on the incline. The National Council on Aging is a great resource as we look to the future of our aging community. Like wise many cities, like Montgomery Alabama, boasts wonde...
In the 1920’s and ‘30’s, we the people of the United States still retained vivid memories of the horrors of World War I—“The War to End all Wars.” Two decades later, when WWII erupted in Europe, we held a strict non-interventionist attitude to getting entangled into another one. A Gallup poll revealed that 88 percent were solidly against it. In a 1940 election year speech, our notorious President Franklin Delano Roosevelt announced a campaign promise, “I have said this before, but I shall say i...
Straight-ticket voting enables a voter to cast all their votes for one party with a single mark at the top of the ballot. This duopoly party enhancing practice finally died in most States. Little surprise it remains in uncompetitive/ballot access blocked Alabama which will be among the last of seven States still suffering this practice when Texas (increasingly more a ‘battleground’ State) abolishes it for the 2020 election cycle. Texas will become the 15th State since 1994 to end this scourge, r...
The uncertainty of the future is real for many. It’s been real since the fall from grace. The forbiddenness of the fruit. The realization of the bareness of ones self in the midst of The King. But wait, future? How can you even think of the the future if you’ve ignored the past? Ignoring the past makes for an uncertain future. Luke 2:19 “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Can you imagine the relationship Mary must’ve had with God? In Luke 1:38 Mary spoke to...
In recent years, self-sufficiency and living off the land is becoming more and more popular. Now that relatively inexpensive photoelectric cells, wind generators, and composting toilets are becoming more readily available to people of modest incomes, it is becoming a lifestyle for increasing numbers of people. In America, independence has been a treasured objective since its beginning. We fought two wars to become independent from Britain. We fought for individual liberty. And we fought to...
How do you make $14 million as the first Gig City in Alabama? Spend about $60 million... Some readers may recall last November's piece entitled, "Giggin' for Dollars in Opelika: Scent of a Birmingham Sewer?" Few columns have generated more nastygrams from politburo types and other lotharios of leviathan in Alabama. The Hubbard 'spin machine' is in overdrive with the 'fire sale' of Fuller's Folly as one of our most notable local corruption fighters dubbed the endeavour. Inveigled as a tremendous...
