The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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Every person with even a whit of common sense knows that bribery is illegal and fundamentally wrong. But people still do it all the time. Some are rather petty. I know a fellow, whose name I will not mention, who has used bribery as a means of getting out of traffic tickets. Back in the days when he was a practicing doctor, he faced many situations where getting to patients and appointments promptly was crucial in administering aid to save people’s lives. As a result, he was often caught e...
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...
I must begin with great delight in wishing the Alabama Gazette a very blessed Sweet Sixteen Anniversary as she remains a courageous “Voice of Reason” in our State. I honored to be a Gazette writer for a third of those years. Again I ask forgiveness from all those who write/tell me they do not agree. I do not write seeking agreement, but to advance thinking as charged by the moniker Loretta assigned my column in 2009. One of many lessons I’ve learned from Jesus’ teachings is those struggl...
In my last article, I explained the failures and consequences of welfare programs for the so-called “poor” or “less fortunate” members of society. But there are also various welfare programs, mostly state and local, for the rich corporate giants. They are frequently touted as “economic development” or “economic incentives.” These come in various forms—outright grants, land, site development, roads, tax breaks, and various other freebies. Alabama is no exception. Practically everybody who doe...
As we prepare to celebrate Christmas 2015, it might serve us well to recall a previous Christmas, one that occurred in 1777, at Valley Forge, Pa. The men who were seeking to break free of the British Crown and form their own--free--nation huddled in the snow there fearing that their Valliant effort might be for naught. The general who was desperately trying to lead our shivering, rag-tag band of patriots to freedom from the tyranny of King George III, George Washington, went on to lead them,...
As we recognize this 15th anniversary of 9/11 it is important to pay tribute to all of the agencies that work together to keep us secure as a nation, including the branch whose efforts we generally know least about-- the C.I.A. International intelligence agencies are absolutely vital in combating terrorism. As such, in the wake of September 11, 2001 many speculated as to whether the attacks on the World Trade Centers and Pentagon could have been thwarted had the C.I.A. merely fulfilled the bulk...
The October 2013 column entitled, “Losing Our Alabama Defense Force” evoked reader comments about the traditional role of militia and how we’ve morphed into the modern nomenclature of “National Guard” further eroding State sovereignty. The dearth of Alabama generals (only about half are State residents) in the Alabama Guard has finally received enough attention to be addressed in Montgomery. Thankfully our State Senate is NOT asleep at the wheel. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when and...
In a free society, welfare of any description is never a legitimate function of government. It is in fact, an important element of communism-i. e. "From each according to his abilities and to each according to his needs." It might seem like a great idea to some people, but Russia, North Korea, and several others have proven that it is both an economic and social disaster. Our founding fathers would have never considered even one of the numerous welfare programs that currently consume trillions o...
A new publication most senors would be wise to get their hands on is the 2015 Dementia Resource Guide that was put out by the Alabama Department of Senior Services, and was recently the subject of one of Eastdale Estates' weekly Who's Lookin' Out for You? Series held each Tuesday morning there. Mrs. Susan Segrest, Executive Director of the Central Alabama Aging Consortium, spent a Tuesday morning last month at the senior retirement facility explaining the various sections of the publication,...
*Rites v. Rights... not surprisingly the Roberts Court once again gets it wrong in their crusade for bigger government. A friend called it DC still drunk on the 'Grapes of Wrath.' Marriage is a religious rite. There is no authority for the federal government to impede or subsidize this rite. It was a source of despair when I went to marry. The State of South Carolina would not allow me to pursue this solemn rite I hold dear without a State license, polluting this blessed event. I do not look to...
Most “senior citizens” who populate various types of government-supported living facilities are beginning to spend a major part of their time contemplating on their future—however long that may be. Eighty five years ago most of them were toddlers; Mahatma Gandhi was making his Salt March, and the Planet Pluto had just been discovered. Most of them, your writer included, weren't aware that we were entering into what became known as “The Great Depression,” because the news focused more on Gangst...
As our Declaration of Independence carefully and specifically enumerated well-reasoned grievances for seceding from the British Empire, the cycle of tyranny which results from any command economy is once again upon us. One of the most active political operatives in Alabama working to reverse our corrupt path to tyranny recently reminded me of the power a well organized ‘militia’ can muster. Showing significant numbers at the right time can make a great difference in our long-run course of hum...
They landed at Normandy, were shot at by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor, endured the Inchon landing, sweated it out in the jungles of Vietnam, lived day after day in the expectation of a Russian invasion of Western Germany, or fought in Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern theaters--in defense of their country. Most of them endured the Great Depression, where the minimum wage for those who were lucky enough to have jobs was 25 cents an hour; only to see their country morph into a wartime environme...
Alabama Foundation for Limited Government (AFLG) President John Rice launched another campaign last month in opposition of Speaker Mike Hubbard’s (facing 23 felony indictments) plans to raise taxes on Alabamians and further promote Poarch Creek Indians’ gambling monopoly power. For those who may not know, Mr. Rice is a former State Representative and Senator with a long established record of opposing unnecessary tax increases to support deleterious government expansion. Many consider Rice the...
Each year our colleges and universities spew forth an avalanche of graduates, many with their heads packed with new information; but few with any regard to knowledge that emerged in centuries past. The world might be better served today if more students of every nation were to have been brought to their attention four century-old literary advice from the pen of William Shakespeare, for example: In Act 1 of Scene 3, Hamlet's chief counselor advises his son Laertes some pearls of wisdom that...
In our current episode 'as the corruption churns' in the Heart of Dixie, Big Daddy Bob and step-child Mike Boulevard are having a spat over inability to pay future legal bills without Daddy's help. Seems as serial felony indictments proceed through the process, Mr. Boulevard is having trouble acquiring more unsecured loans and contributions as more political hacks discount the probability he can retain his ‘Spender of the House’ position as auctioneer of future theft from taxpayers. Sad to wit...
Emily Post passed away before cell phones became popular; but she was the ultimate expert on etiquette. She would most likely have been mortified had she been alive to witness today's epitome of bad manners: cell phone usage. Marching under her banner, modern day experts on good manners have posted a list of ten rules for good cell phone manners, a list that has apparently been kept under wraps, for there's little evidence of it having ever been read by the multitude of cell phone users....
For obvious reasons, this will be my last War Between the States sesquicentennial column given Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox. The only one penned with greater despair was four years ago on First Blood and Treason in Baltimore. Massachusetts troops shown themselves eager to assemble in the sovereign State of Maryland (still in the voluntary Union at the time) uninvited by the Governor and/or Legislature of that State to kill and wound persons of Maryland. This made painfully clear...
The word is unique, in that it has two spellings—both of which are correct—and both express the same feeling. Whether the last syllable begins with an a or an e, is relatively immaterial, since the meaning is the same: a special atmosphere, mood, or feeling that is created by a particular entity. After a dozen years of searching for a place in which to live out the remaining years of existence on this planet, the realization emerges that what was being sought was: “A special atmosphere or mood...
I applaud our Alabama counties refusing to issue govt. licenses to marry. I implore other counties to follow this course to get out of the marriage license business. True Christians do NOT look to government for definition, permission and validity to affirm and proclaim God’s blessings. Sad so many seem compelled to side with one of two flawed arguments as the next round of Roy Moore v. Myron Thompson, et al "Duel of Wits Between Two Unarmed Opponents" unfolds... just as BOTH sides were wrong a...
Travel with me into an imaginary world of the future. Imagine if you will the Bizarro world of “Obamaball.” Come with me as we arrive at a fictional ball game in Fantasyland. We're in the top of the ninth inning and the score is tied. A relatively unknown batter strides to the plate. A hush descends over the field; the batter nervously adjusts his ill-fitting cap, smiles at the crowd and notices that the umpire is frantically trying to inform him that he's facing in the wrong direction. Und...
As I’d like to make this an uncharacteristically short column, I’ll not address all the flawed reasoning from extremist who’ve successfully imposed the unconstitutional result we observe today. All FEDERAL gun laws are prohibited as guaranteed by our 2nd Amendment civil right. Republicans giving us the first unconstitutional gun laws in their successful effort to assert federal hegemony and set us on our soviet path are generally accepted by Lincoln apologists to be defended at all cost by pr...
Over the years most of us have had to endure more than one windy speaker. Unfortunately, what most speakers don't realize was that a good speech doesn't have to be a long speech. Fifteen minutes should be the limit for an effective speech. Beyond that we get into boredom. A two minute speech can accomplish as much or more than a two-hour presentation. A case in point is the two-minute presentation given by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Mr....
Former long tenured aide and campaign manager Chip Hill exclaims we’re “Killing Atticus Finch!” (a.k.a. his old boss Don Siegelman) in the video shilling for ‘kickstarter’ contributions to continue showcasing this embarrassment to our State. This recent iteration of political campaigning in our Montgomery federal court claimed 138 backers pledging $10,725 of the $125,000 goal as of Mr. Siegelman’s December 15 court appearance before Judge Clay Land of Georgia. I couldn’t find the donor list - pe...
What should Santa Claus have brought us for Christmas this year? How about a healthy dose of Laissez-faire? And just what is Laisssez-faire, you may ask? One could say that it was one of the founding principles of our nation. Many residents of the colonies, as this country was commonly referred to back then, grew tired of bowing to the crown, and letting the King of England tell them how to live their lives. Some of the stalwarts of the idea had read the works of 18th Century Scottish...
