The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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Don’t laugh. Little Zimbabwe could be a model for providing prosperity for the entire world. Most people remember this African nation for creating the most rampant hyperinflation in recorded history—a rate of 231 million percent annually. In the end, people were carrying boxes of $100 trillion dollar bills. Some also recall the ancient granite structures of Great Zimbabwe, from which the country derived its present name. Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) has some of the most fertile farm land in Afr...
Recent political Kabuki theatre has some contemplating Gov. Ivey’s dating preferences and Judge Sue Bell Cobb’s campaign hiring practices. How candidates deal with these may be revealing. I also wonder why Cobb did not quickly and simply apologize, then remove the convicted sex offender from her campaign team. I’m similarly at a loss on the dearth of political discussion on Ivey’s inaction w.r.t. the Alabama PACT program during our last economic meltdown and forecasts of her abilities to addr...
It has been almost 40 years since I spent my last summer with Fannie. She would not believe the lives we live now. Even in the 70’s she lived somewhere far back in time. It was partly, I suppose, because she was in rural Marengo County. We lived only minutes away from one another, but we were worlds apart…minus the weekdays we would spend together. I would often arrive at her house early enough the fog would still be rising over the farm fields. It would slowly lift, surrendering to the golden b...
After prayerful consideration, my husband, Brian, and I recently signed up to host a Summer Small Group through our church. For those of you in our generation and older, you may know this better as a Bible Study. However, no mater what you may call it, it’s a great time for folks to get together in a more intimate group setting, in this case our home, and learn more about Jesus and His plan for our lives. “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your...
People who know me, know that I consider myself a Luftwaffe WWII historian. I have studied the German Luftwaffe (Air Force) in WWII for almost my entire life and I cannot seem to get away from it. I may put it on the back burner in my life for a short season, but there it is again. Seemingly out of nowhere. But I have come to grips with that reality and it is certainly a part of who I am. If my spousal unit can deal with it, then I am okay. What many people do not realize, however, is that I...
To all the boys who don’t feel smart on paper. I call them the lost boys, these young people who seem in one way or another to be left behind or forgotten by what we tend to consider as traditional school standards. Of course this includes a certain number of girls too. I overheard one of my son’s friends talking last week. He was talking about his own self saying, “I am so dumb.” I couldn’t help but interrupt and tell him that he most certainly was not dumb, and to not say that. He told me t...
This month my husband, Brian, and I will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. WOW!!! Double digits!!!! It’s a little difficult for me to wrap my brain around this thought. We have been through countless testings, trials, joys, and valleys together. And even though we are long past that exciting “newly budding romance” stage in our relationship where we are winning each other’s hearts, we are arriving at the “deep love and appreciation” stage where we are truly able to cherish each other’s hea...
There are several laws, one of which is brand new and becomes effective in Alabama on 1 June 2018 and there is a Federal law in the works and a European Union law set to kickoff on May 25th. Some of the existing civil and criminal laws that protect us against bad actors that might steal our personal information include criminal theft (various degrees), civil conversion, and the tort of invasion of privacy. Some of the defenses include negligence on the part of the plaintiff, private information...
Much ink has been spilled these past months to highlight outrageous observed results from our Alabama law enabling sheriffs to transfer ‘inmate food provision’ monies in their favour. These monies are deposited into county Sheriff ‘personal’ accounts, not into any specific government account(s). Most noteworthy is Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin’s four-bedroom house with an in-ground pool and canal access in Orange Beach for $740,000; one of several properties (total assessed value of...
I was watching the news the other day, minding my own business when out of the blue, I heard something so stupid, so ridiculous, so un-American that I had to hit the rewind on my DVR and watch the news segment again. No way. No how. Come on, are you kidding me? Now I am not talking about snowflakes pounding down Tide Pods, crying in the streets and foolishly calling for an end to the Second Amendment. Nor am I talking about the cretins crying the NRA has blood on its hands while ignoring the...
Right now in front of this United States Supreme Court the Arizona death penalty challenge means no change in the standing State laws. A much more liberal sided Court in the future could well change that dependent on their interpretation of the United States Constitution and a then considered murder case or cases. First, the United States Supreme Court turned down a request to hear the case. Before the United States Supreme Court might hear a case, a Writ of Certiorari may be filed with the...
New Orleans Mayor (wannabe actor) Mitch Landrieu has made many appearances recently from 60 Minutes to the usual 'talking head' TV morning circuit displaying removed statues stashed in secret locations and extoling his recent book entitled: In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History. The removals were prompted by efforts to rebuild the city after devastating hurricanes. I'm not foolish enough to think champions of leviathan like Messrs. Christie, Landrieu, et al will ever...
There are three dates that many of us in Alabama will never forget. The most prominent being those of April 3, 1974, April 27, 2011, and most recently March 19, 2018. On each of those days portions of Alabama were devastated by tornadoes ranging from categories F3 to F5. Lives were lost, people were seriously injured, and homes and businesses were destroyed. Compounding those tragedies was the fact that some communities lacked electrical service for several days. Even those who were not...
Like so many of the Alabama Gazette readers, I strongly believe in the power of prayer, and I’m so very thankful to live in a nation where citizens can still gather for times of corporate prayer. Such an event will take place in our city on Thursday, May 3rd at the Alabama Activity Center on Dexter Avenue, 7am, at the annual Montgomery Prayer Breakfast. Since 2004, and in conjunction with the National Day of Prayer, the Montgomery Prayer Breakfast has been a time of praise for our Lord and p...
Facebook is fabulous at providing us with fun ways to waste time. The latest is a link that lets you submit a picture of yourself and it shows you what you would look like on the cover of a fashion magazine. We all look pretty in the pictures they design. We also all look very much alike. It’s as if they stamped us all with the same pretty stamp. A lot of us will probably be wearing more make-up this week after seeing their pictures, but that may not be what real beauty looks like. I met a w...
Whenever Easter approaches, I find myself thinking about the death and resurrection of Jesus. The purpose of Christ's life was to offer Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. The Bible says that Jesus became sin for us so that we could be forgiven and found righteous in God's sight (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus was so certain of His purpose that he predicted when and how He would die (Matthew 26:2). Do you ever think about what your purpose is? I sure have! Well, some say that our...
I don’t know about you guys, but I love the Twilight Zone. Twice per year, I eagerly anticipate and when I can, watch as much of the Twilight Zone Marathons the SciFi Channel shows. Hour after hour, it never gets old. “It’s a cookbook!!” You gotta love it. There is no doubt that Rod Serling was a master of the English language. He had a definite way with words. Before every episode, he would prove that with just a brief ditty to the upcoming show. It was brilliant. One of my favorite Rod Ser...
In the 1973 landmark ruling of the case of Roe v Wade, it allowed taking the life of an unborn child acceptable and permissible under the law simply because the woman had the ultimate right to make that choice. In this discussion and argument by those judges, was the future ever considered before rendering that ruling? The Supreme Court ruled 7–2 that a right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that this right m...
Every year another batch of young souls descend upon Auburn University embarking upon a four year (oft a five or six year) mission to better themselves in hopes of one day being heralded as “an Auburn man.” Better still, they might someday achieve the status recently bestowed upon Jay Jacobs as being “an Auburn man through and through.” They’re told to believe being an Auburn man is encapsulated by the Auburn Creed, penned nearly seventy-five years ago by *George Petrie. Some may recall the Alab...
Sometimes things are on my heart and I find an urge to write about them. Often times it is the death of a loved one or a close friend that tugs at my heart. With the wedding season almost upon us and a recent experience I have a strong urge to write on marriage. Now I am certainly no pro on the subject, in fact maybe I am a failure having had a prior marriage. I must say I envy those with long marriages such as that of my parents that lasted sixty-two years until the death of my mother. But...
I can't write about politics this month. My heart just isn't in it right now, and I honestly don't know when it will be again. Almost all of the current “debate” involves anger and accusations lobbied back and forth, and nothing is resolved in that atmosphere. I recently described myself to a group as a "recovering political junkie," and little did I know at that time just how irrelevant politics would soon become. Those readers who know me are aware that our family recently lost one of our you...
It took me a long time in life to learn evil is a real thing that actually exists. Some people are evil. Some people have evil tendencies or evil ways about themselves. It is difficult to accept evil when you are genuinely not. Evil hides well and is easily camouflaged, but you best trust it is there. It is probably not a far drive from where you currently are. I don’t know if it started in the ‘80s or if that was just when I came of age enough to be aware of it. There seemed to be this soc...
In His parting words to His disciples, the Lord Jesus Christ commissioned them to preach the Gospel to all nations. Then, He gave them a solemn promise…“I am with you always.” “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20. For centuries, those words have comforted the ailing, assured the weary, and even carried martyrs peace...
I have to admit that I kind of pride myself on being a fairly up-to-date guy on World War II history when it comes to the air war in Europe. For those of you who may have been reading my column for several years, I think you probably know that already. Well about eight years ago when I was doing some research on my book about Luftwaffe pilot Hans-Joachim Marseille, I came across an interesting photograph. It was a photograph of a black man sitting under the wing of a P-40 in North Africa circa 1...
There are two instances in which a President can be removed from power by Congress and/or high ranking Executive branch officials. The first is impeachment which requires a simple majority in the House of Representatives and a 2/3 vote by the Senate. You will recall if you are old enough that President Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives but not removed because 2/3 of the Senate did not also vote to impeach him. The recent suggestions by Democrats have more to do with remo...
