The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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Over two years ago I first penned this column and not surprisingly since then there have been an increasingly number of senseless gun attacks reported. Just this year we had the South Carolina church shooting, the television reporter and cameraman in Roanoke, Virginia and just the other day a shooting at the Fort Meyers, Florida Zombie convention. And as usual, out come the knuckleheads insisting on complete gun control and the dismantling of the Second Amendment. I figured now might be a good...
This series of articles has been reviewing important United States Supreme Court issues since the Alabama Gazette began publication in 2000. My how the times have changed. The, Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council , 555 U.S. 7 (2008) case seemed to be more about common sense than anything. Knowing that the Navy had scheduled training missions off the coast of California for 2009, the environmentalists sought to stop their use of sonar. The environmentalists claimed that the use of sonar...
I am currently teaching a course about faith in my church. I make the rather obvious point that faith is what we really believe. I’m afraid that sometimes we don’t really believe what we say we believe. We always act consistently with our faith. Jesus said, “Ye shall know them by their fruit.” But if our actions always reflect what we believe, then why don’t we always do what we know is the right thing to do? Plato thought if a person knows what is right, he or she will act consisten...
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...
Our country is facing a myriad of crises both at home and abroad. These include but not limited to an effective foreign policy in which President Obama has diminished over a century of the U.S. role as a major force in maintain some semblance of order among rogue nations in the Mideast, Russia and China. As a result, the America we once knew is no longer considered the number one world power and, consequently, has lost its influence world-wide. The chaos which has been allowed and to some...
Boundaries are essential to healthy relationships and, really, a healthy life. Setting and sustaining boundaries is a skill that takes practice. Having healthy boundaries means “knowing and understanding what your limits are. I. Give yourself permission. Fear, guilt, negative life experience, and doubt are possible barriers to preventing one from creating healthy boundaries. If one sets and enforces boundaries, you might feel guilty by speaking up or saying “No” to a family member. One might fea...
Thanksgiving is upon us and that means Christmas is closely following. Often we put so much of our focus on Christmas, we miss this important American Holiday. I like that fact that Thanksgiving is not about buying presents or decorating trees and homes, etc., but it's about getting together with family and friends and doing what we all love—eating! And more importantly, it's about giving thanks. Thanksgiving was established by President Washington on November 26, 1789. It is a religious h...
Article III, Section I of the Unites States says, “The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” Because the supreme law of the land is vested in the United States Supreme Court, lets look at some cases since 2000. In 2000, in Boy Scouts of America et al. v. Dale, 530 U.S. 640, a five to four vote stated essentially that, “the presence of that person affects in a signi...
Okay, I get it. I really do. The Syrian refugee crisis is a tragedy on a monumental scale. The picture of the dead child on the beach, the long lines, barbed wire fences and all the scenes reminiscent of the worst of WWII movies and documentaries, all work to pull and tear at our collective heart strings. But as with almost any story, there is always more than meets the eye. It is a little difficult writing about this but alas, I feel the need to. Before someone reading this opines that I am a...
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...
This column will focus on the privatization of dispute resolution in arbitration. Congress enacted The Federal Arbitration Act that required arbitration in all matters involving interstate commerce where there was an arbitration agreement many years ago. In the 1980's the United States Supreme Court upheld that legislation. Since that time there has been extensive privatization of a very large amount dispute resolution. With rare exception Court proceedings are public proceedings, but arbitratio...
Many topics will dominate this presidential election cycle, yet nothing stirs emotions on either side quite like the national discussion on immigration. But this issue is hardly a new one as our Founding Fathers were debating it during the early years of our Republic. Our Founders were scholarly and visionary men, and their careful deliberation of the issue of immigration is still relevant today because our national identity remains at state. As much as our Founders embraced the idea of...
October 7, 2015: In 1986 Richard Shelby was a 50-year-old congressman from Tuscaloosa. He was elected to congress eight years earlier, after two successful four-year terms in the Alabama State Senate. However, Shelby was ready to move up again. He was planning to run for the United States Senate. Shelby had never lost a political race. He was six for six in races to represent his beloved Tuscaloosa and the people of West Alabama. He was a conservative Democrat, who had a stellar conservative...
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...
Coping with day-to-day stressors such as marriage, kids, work, finances, and life in general, is an important topic to examine. We all go through some type of struggle in our lives. I think the key is to remember that how we respond to those stressors has an impact on what happens next. Most of us tend to focus on what we cannot do and not what we can do. By that I mean, we focus on how horrible the situation is-how we will not be able to get through the problem. We tend to have a negative...
Fall. It is a season that reminds us of endings. Once thriving leaves now drop from their branches bursting with color, but dying. Beautiful summer flowers have lost their grandeur. Colder temperatures flow in and bright, long days full of sunshine move out. We are inundated with change. We are regularly reminded of our helplessness to stop the flow of God’s creation. We are caught between summer and winter in the fleeting uniqueness of autumn. Though the season brings its own joy with f...
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...
I have to admit, it takes a lot to impress me. I generally do not go all ga-ga over people or things, but every now and then I am taken by surprise. In my world, I have flown with all types of men and women. Good pilots and not-so good ones. I have met many athletes, celebrities, combat vets, you name it. Although many have been incredibly interesting, few have knocked my socks off. I have flown with Thunderbird pilots, a Canadian Snowbird pilot, a Blue Angel, an Italian Frecci Tricolori pilot,...
First, let us discuss what the divorce rates are to get a better understanding of the need for counseling or marriage and family therapy. Did you know that fifty percent of all North American children will witness the divorce of their parents? Almost half of them will, unfortunately, also observe the breakup of a parent's second marriage (Furstenberg and others -Life Course-). Did you also know that 24 million children in America—one out of three—live without their biological dad in the hom...
Arbitration amounts to privatization of dispute resolution. Many of the States, including Alabama, had a stated policy specifically excluding the possibility of contracting away the right to go to court before federal legislation preempted state law. In 1925, Congress enacted the Federal Arbitration Act to require dispute resolution through arbitration if the parties to a contract agree to binding arbitration for dispute resolution. In the 1980s, the Supreme Court upheld that legislation and...
While many in America are still debating the aftermath of the first GOP presidential debate and others count the days to college football season kickoff, we continue down the path of transformation deemed necessary by the Obama administration with little to no attention from either the mainstream media or the citizenry. Unless you pay very close attention to the barrage of executive orders and directives flowing from the White House, you have likely missed the finalization of the Affirmatively...
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...
September 2, 2015: It is common knowledge that the Indian casinos in Alabama and throughout the country are granted federal sovereignty and are not subject to state intervention and authority. Several years ago state attorney general Luther Strange filed a hail Mary frivolous lawsuit against PCI Gaming Authority for political posturing purposes. The federal district court in Montgomery took about three weeks to rule against the state. It was ludicrous that it was filed. Federal District Judge...
Truly you have a troublesome car, but at this point your car has not met the definition of a vehicle with a nonconforming condition under the Alabama Lemon Law. I am assuming this car was purchased from a dealer whose manufacturer has dealers in Alabama. Though not apparent in your case, if you ordered an obscure new vehicle you could have an additional problem in that it may not meet the definition of a Motor Vehicle Dealer under the definition of Alabama Code, 1975, §8-20A-1. which says “The p...
Did you know that the Labor Day holiday originally started in the late 1800′s? I can only imagine how excited the people were to take a day off from working. Some may have thought, “What a wonderful and new idea!” Created and implemented as a day of rest by those hard working blue collar laborers in New York City, this day continues to be one, that we as a nation, look forward to every September. To put it rather loosely, Labor Day has become a man-made American Sabbath day. A yearly day of re...
