The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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A recent Fortune magazine article ranks Alabama as one of the top ten states when it comes to corruption. We were ranked number six. The rankings were determined by a study of convictions of public officials for violations of federal corruption laws between 1976 and 2008. A good many of our sister southern states also made the list. Not surprisingly Louisiana came in at number two. They are a perennial corruption leader. It is part of their culture. They are proud of their status as one of the...
The Alabama Gun act is now a year old and we continue to receive questions about it. I will reprint an article I did last July in an attempt to help the public with this law. The Alabama Gun Act of 2013, formally known as SB 286 and Act 2013-283, was signed into law by Governor Bentley on May 21, 2013. It came into effect on AUGUST 1, 2013. This bill was a compromise between the NRA, the legislature, Alabama Sheriff’s Association, the District Attorney’s Association and other law enf...
In last month’s column we discussed how cultural differences impact the criminal justice system. Four hundred years of slavery and segregation created a cultural system in our black communities. That system did not disappear just because the legal system was finally corrected to treat all persons equally. The cultural system that evolved appears to still have notable influence in many areas. As we pointed out, its “self-help” enforcement system is a factor in the higher rate of incar...
It is difficult at times to determine which crisis du jour warrants the bulk of our concern, and in our attention-deficit disorder world, Americans are increasingly challenged to focus on one problem before being distracted with yet another headline-grabbing issue or scandal. I have to wonder if this isn’t all by design. The Friday afternoon news dumps of late certainly appear to confirm my suspicions, and there are times I question just how many Americans even care. In the midst of new i...
The heat and humidity of mid-summer are not only trying on one's temperament, but can result in brutal conditions for fishing as well. With temperatures soaring into the upper 90’s and heat indexes in the triple digits, it doesn’t sound much like fishing weather. However, catfish enthusiasts will tell you that the best time to catch these whiskered fish is during hot weather…often the hotter the better. And the month of July surely fits the bill for hot weather. This month we’ll look at some ti...
The truth is that all three are very important. But another factor in the success of a football team is injury luck. That means if the team has good coaching, good talent and a favorable schedule, but don't lose any key players during the course of the season, the talent level will not drop below good. This is called injury luck. Then there is the other major factor, schedule luck. Take the Auburn Tigers for instance. They play a formidable schedule in 2014 which includes Kansas State, LSU,...
If done in a manner of disrespect, patriotically and emotionally I would think that it would be criminal and I would say give that individual a chance to live in another country! The United States Code §43-1-8 says: Sec. 8. Respect for flag ...No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor. (a) The flag shoul...
Forrest Gump said, “I am not a smart man, but I know what love is.” In that vein I say, “I don’t fancy myself a super smart man, but I know idiocy when I see it.” Oh my, what in the heck is going on in this country and with this administration? Every day now it seems as though they are embroiled in yet another scandal. From Lois Lerner and the IRS, the sudden surge of illegal immigrants (undocumented Democrats), to the meltdown in the Middle East, I have to shake my head in disgust almost every...
First of all, HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY to all of our readers. We do have so much to be thankful for in this wonderful country of ours. So, be proud to be an American. July can be a brutal month for the garden with intense heat and in many years, drought. For those of us who have sprinkler systems, we are basically in control of our flower beds and can make the needed adjustments of the time and amount of watering. This means that we are aware if some areas get too much water or some areas of the bed...
The concept of man in the Common Law of England is one of the most civilizing forces in all of History. For centuries the Common Law was recorded and declared as "the highest inheritance of the King, by which he and all his subjects shall be ruled. And if there were no law, there would be no king, and no inheritance." In the last decade of Elizabeth's reign, an entry in her Court Cases was this affirmation, "The Common Law is the best and surest inheritance that any subject hath, and to lose it...
Upon receipt of very delayed primary election numbers from Clarion Hotel voting machines providing noticeably skewed tallies (two to one margins where other boxes in the district were close) Speaker Hubbard tweeted, “I am deeply grateful that the GOP voters of my district have put their faith in me once again.” Shortly thereafter, one of my most astute colleagues (James Hines from Mobile) sent me the following, “Are a majority of Republicans in Auburn really that stupid? ...or does Hubba...
Like you, I hear my share of what’s wrong with government. And it’s not just what’s going on in Washington, sometimes it is just as likely to refer to our state or city. One doesn’t have to look far to find something wrong or policies with which we disagree. Just as quickly I would point out that most of us do want the protections and privileges which are ours as citizens. The purpose of this article is not to find something else to complain about or a political party to blame. Rather, it is t...
As vast as the American English language is, we hardly need to supplement it with made up words, especially proper nouns that we have metamorphed into verbs. A typical example of this is a noun that we use and hear used as a verb almost every day: Xerox. Someone is always xeroxing something on the local copy machine. But if one were to stand on propriety, even the folks at Xerox couldn’t xerox anything, any more than the people at Canon could canon a copy, or the people at Hewlett Packard w...
In the United States, people do a lot to recognize and honor the heroes who serve in the Armed Forces and those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. July is an appropriate month to recognize veterans and wounded warriors, as we celebrate our nation’s independence. On July 12, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law a measure to award the U.S. Medal of Honor “to such noncommissioned officers and privates as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other soldier-like...
This months' animal is everybody's favorite "little stinker" the Skunk. The striped skunk is a cat-sized mammal, and is fearless. Skunks are not only fearless but supermen that are immune to venomous snakes. They are the most common member of the Mustelidae family: Weasels, Minks, Badgers, and Otters. They are easily recognized by their characteristic thick, glossy black fur and the white stripe that extends posteriorly from its head to its bushy tail. It has a small head and short legs with pla...
