The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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Not since the “War of Northern Aggression” has the United States of America been less united than it is today. Watching the Democrats vigorous pouting during President Donald Trump's State of the Union message last month, the situation would have been funny had it not been more serious. It was almost as if Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton had returned to life to sit in the Capitol, frowning and posturing as President Trump gave his “State of the Union” speech. As the public viewed...
Just about everybody now understands the law of natural selection. It is very simple and obvious—the strong survive and reproduce; the weak perish and die out—what we call “Survival of the fittest.” But in the beginning, when Charles Darwin first introduced it, many people became very angry and claimed that it was blasphemy and against the Word of God. In the early 20th century, people in America were taking interest in eugenics—selectively breeding people to promote the propagation of the st...
Much ink has been spilled since Doug Jones’ (49.9%) close victory over Roy Moore (48.4%) in the US Senate special election. It is my hope Democrats devastated by Trump’s win and Republicans recent despair on Moore’s defeat evokes empathy of how many eligible voters (esp. those who refuse to waste their vote on duopoly candidates) feel after most elections. Even with 2% of voters who participated not voting D or R, 60% of eligible voters stayed home for another low turnout result. Reince Prieb...
There is no doubt that nearly everybody is frustrated with the increasing dishonesty and declining value of most of our public servants—from Senators and Congressmen down to city councilmen and county commissioners. Over the years, they have acted less like servants and more like rulers. We also know that they are seriously overpaid for their mostly part time jobs. For many years, members of both parties of our Congress and Senate routinely and conveniently voted for pay and expense raises with...
My first Gazette Christmas column contemplated how many were still haunted by Miss Greer Garson’s voice in the opening narration of the 1958 animated version of “The Little Drummer Boy,” one of the few indelible remaining memories of my youth from Christmases long past. The King James Version of Luke 2:1 reads: “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.” Her narration continued with, “To disobey the Roman Emperor mea...
Catastrophic destruction wrought by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma this year, we have witnessed a great deal of wailing and gnashing of teeth in response to the failure of our National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to provide enough funding to repair the damage. Why can’t our government settle the claims? For anybody with even a mediocre understanding of how insurance works, the answer is simple: The cost of covering the damage far exceeds the premiums that have been collected. The money is just no...
It's that time of the year when the thoughts of most of us turn to the celebration of Christmas. It's also the time of the year when the squirrels come out of the woodwork and we're inundated with more nonsense than we want to endure as it relates to the holiday: it's principal characters, and its celebration. From this person's viewpoint there are two tales that best represent Christmas and all it stands for; these being: O. Henry's The gift of the Magi, and Charles dickens' A Christmas Carol....
There's a different scent in the wind on Goat Hill with Felon Hubbard in the rear view mirror. House Speaker Mac McCutcheon has shown himself a different Spirit than his predecessor he once shilled for, recently highlighted by efforts focused on reducing waste and revising our State budgeting process. More hidden from public view, some political junkies were pleased how quickly McCutcheon rebuked shady, vulgar 'political business as usual' Riley, Inc. type fundraising tactics to further signal...
After witnessing the inefficiencies and abuses of government-run programs, it is no surprise that government is grossly inept at providing adequate help to the victims of natural disasters—i.e. earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, and of course the three devastating hurricanes we have suffered this year. Disaster relief, like practically every government program, is not only inept, but is much more expensive than relief provided by the private sector via charities and volunteers. And to make m...
While most of the months of the year derive their names from some sort of significant or romantic root, three months of the year have no special meaning other than numerical. September gets its name from the Latin word septem, seven, October for the Latin octo, eight, and novem in Latin means nine. That's how the months of the year lined up numerically in times gone by. Unlike July, which was named for Julius Caesar, or August, which got its name from Augustus, the word November just means that...
Right now, a sizable portion of America’s elected officials and military leaders is running around like chickens with their heads cut off in response to Kim Jong Un’s belligerent displays of military aggression in North Korea. Most of them are screaming about what they can do to restrain him and are probably planning reckless actions that could very well start World War III. Let’s set the record straight. North Korea is a sovereign nation just like any other. Yes, it is currently under the r...
The more commonly remembered (88th Anniversary) stock market crash of 1929 resulted from “an overbought, overvalued, and excessively bullish market, rising even as economic conditions were not supporting the advance,” according to pop press accounts and economists who like to describe instead of explain results. What proffered the overbought, overvalued unsupported exuberance is noticeably absent in the discourse of Keynesian economists and other lotharios of leviathan. The crash began on Thu...
Some seventy six years ago your writer was earning his Merit Badges as a new Boy Scout, and was reminiscing over his first year in the “World of Work.” He was thinking over his bi-weekly salary that put a handsome $20. in his pocket twice a month—before taxes. Yet to come that year was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and the realization that our country was now engaged in World War II. Now, nearly nine decades later, ushered into his life is a war-time era, replete with reali...
As of a year ago, the U.S. population was 322,762,018, a rise of more than 2.4 million than was counted a year ago. Unfortunately, an estimated 11.4 million of this number are illegal entrants into the United States, a good many of whom have their lives subsidized by the U.S. taxpayer; and more than 11 million of them are here illegally—many of whom are on the U.S. dole. Which is costing the American taxpayer better than $54.5 billion a year in dollars that could have been spent of making l...
Tallassee Armory Guards (SCV Camp 1921) 20th remembrance of the "Battles for the Armory" War Between the States reenactment is appropriately set for Veteran's day weekend November 10 and 11 this year. The 2017 event has added an Arts & Crafts fair adjacent to the battlefield on Gibson's View Plantation in Tallassee. The event offers an opportunity to view and buy artistic works of local craftsmen on the same ticket issued to observe the reenactment, and to shop War Between the States era Sutlers...
Empty screen before me now, heavy hands upon the keyboard, I struggle to type this month’s column… informed hours ago of the death of my father-in-law, Dale Miller, via phone from my bride. She immediately flew to Indiana a week ago to be there for his final days of a life well lived after her younger sister completed the onerous task of telling her older sister their father received Last Rites. Since joining the esteemed group of Alabama Gazette writers in 2009, I’ve never missed a deadl...
While campaigning for office, Donald Trump, like any respectable candidate, promised to defend the people’s right to keep and bear arms along with the remainder of the United States Constitution. And, during his inauguration this past January 20, he formally swore to uphold that same Constitution. But then, early this past month (July), Trump made a dirty deal with the Chicago Police Department to continue an oppressive drive begun by Barack Obama to confiscate “illegal” guns and ammun...
For those of us who number our life spans in a multiple of decades we've witnessed an interesting range of adjectives used to describe our Congress, from irascibility to serene. For the current Congress, albeit in its infancy, the appropriate adjective seems to be irascible: “easily provoked to anger,” and “very irritable.” These fit quite well. In fact, this may be the worst Congress in our history as it relates to trampling our nation's raison d'etre into dust. At the other end of the spectru...
Congressional shooter James T. Hodgkinson most reproduced quote (linked to a Change.org petition) asserted, “Trump is a Traitor. Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It's Time to Destroy Trump & Co.” Fascinating how many this past decade sincerely asserted Obama and now Trump have somehow single-handedly accomplished such great damage. Extremists of this sort refuse to understand we were not designed to be a democracy; those who’ve shilled loudest for democracy have ‘progressed’ us into oligarchy...
What has happened to journalism over the past half century? When your humble scribe first chose to be a news person there were iron clad rules to which persons practicing this craft had to abide. Today, as one partakes of journalistic outpourings there seems to be virtually no rules scribes must follow; which is sad. Virtually every standard a news writer had to follow has, by now, been scrapped. Who is to blame? It's hard to point an accurate finger, unless one points an accusing finger at a...
Right now, in the United States Senate, the Sword of Damocles is hanging right over our heads. Keep an eye on it. Don’t let it drop and chop our heads off. It is Senate Bill 1134, labeled as the “Back the Blue Act of 2017.” It was introduced by Texas Senator John Cornyn and co-sponsored by our newly appointed Senator Luther Strange. This is a frightening piece of legislation that gives police and all other “first responders” near absolute immunity against legal action for almost any wrongdoin...
“Brother against brother” oft conjures remembrance of how a voluntary coalition of States morphed onto the forced coalition of states result observed these past several score. Mr. Trump swore his oath of office hand on the Lincoln bible to then speak of another FDR (increasing debt per capital twelve fold) type federal spending model in his inaugural address. President Trump recently asserted war between the States could’ve been avoided. Accomplished with compromise [lowering] tariffs to atten...
If we were looking for a definition of the adjective indivisible we would learn that it means “unable to be divided or separated.” Now that's relatively straightforward and simple. It means that something that is indivisible is something that is a tight, complete entity that can't be chopped up into bits and pieces, into smaller portions that can be dealt with and employed according to one's individual wishes. Such as “One nation indivisible,” as the U.S.A. is supposed to be. Unfortu...
DID YOU KNOW that right here in America, “The Land of the Free,” we have FIVE TIMES the percentage of our population in prison than the rest of the world? Of every 100,000 of our people, we have 756 locked up behind bars. This is a sharp contrast to the world average, which is only 158. And of our 50 states, Alabama has the third highest incarceration rate [after Louisiana (1) and Mississippi (2)]. Yes, the Gulag Archipelago is right here in our own back yard. Since 1977, our prison pop...
Putting ‘Dr. Gov. StrangeLuv’ embarrassment in our rear view mirror, WSFA (4/12/17) reported replacement Gov. Kay Ivey’s second day in office jettisoned more of the former corrupt governor's ‘work.’ Ivey abolished Bentley’s Office of Rural Development created in 2011 under the umbrella of ADECA (Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs) ostensibly to improve and advance education, healthcare, and economic development in rural parts of the State. "Rural Alabama is near and dear to...
