The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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During the past couple of months everywhere I go people continually ask me why in the world the legislature could not simply put the issue of whether they could vote for or against a lottery on the November ballot. The fact that this inquiry has lingered for this long tells me that folks are upset about this travesty. They are mad at the legislature. However, the blame lies with the governor. Indeed, the legislature met in a special session to address this issue of whether or not to put the...
Alabama is going to fair well under President Trump. There is an old adage that says, “Those that bake the pie get to eat it.” We truly baked the pie for Trump. We overwhelmingly supported him in the GOP primary and helped him secure the nomination. We then gave him one of the largest mandates in the nation in the November General Election. Trump is indeed returning the favor. He has named our own Jeff Sessions Attorney General. His confirmation hearings begin this week. In addition, spe...
December 7, 2016 It is Christmas time, and since Alabama is one of the most charitable states in the nation, I would expect that many of us are in the giving mood and plan to help many worthy causes across our great state. Unfortunately, it appears that some recent rulings by the Alabama Ethics Commission are going to make it more difficult for charities across the state to raise the funds that they need to serve our communities. Many charities in Alabama are concerned that an unintended...
We will vote to select the 44th President Tuesday. The next President will be a New Yorker. Whomever is selected will enter the Oval office with the most unfavorable poll ratings of any President in recent memory. This election will epitomize the old adage that George Wallace once told and that is, “more folks vote against someone than for someone.” There is no question that our country is drifting to the left in ideology. We in Alabama are conservative, pro-life, pro-gun, Christians with a des...
During this election year I have watched all the politics on television. In order to judge the coverage I have perused all the channels. Over the years political observers have bemoaned the fact that certain networks are biased. Folks, I am here to tell you they are. There is no doubt Fox is a Republican channel and MSNBC and CNN are Democratic networks. George Wallace used to strut around the country running for president as a third party candidate rhetorically saying there ain’t a dimes w...
With Labor Day approaching it signifies that the long hot summer will soon be coming to an end. It seems that the summers are getting hotter and hotter. I was born and raised in south Alabama so I was accustomed to long hot summers. I remember when there was no air conditioning in houses or cars. It was hot, but seems hotter today. I think we have gotten softer. It also seems that we do not have the spring or fall seasons anymore. All of a sudden one day in mid May it is 86 degrees and it never...
Now that the national conventions are over and we have had a glimpse of what to expect in the upcoming fall presidential contest, let us turn our attention back to our good ole state politics. Even though we do not have any good state races this year, it does not mean that we have not had our share of political happenings. We have been so active that we have garnered national publicity. Let us reminisce and get you caught up on our soap opera, As the World Turns in Alabama Politics. As the year...
While observing the legislature the other day, I fondly remembered a very eventful day as a youth. As a teenager, I grew up working at the Capitol as a Page in the House and Senate. Albert Brewer had been elected to the House from Morgan County in his late 20’s and became Speaker in only his second term. He would eventually let me sit beside him in the Speaker’s box and tell me why certain bills were assigned to the proper committee and the probable fate of the proposed legislation. Brewer ran...
At this time of year Washington, D.C. is a beautiful place to visit. The city is aglow with the blooming of the cherry blossom trees. The cherry blossoms offer a glorious scene as you stroll down the mall and look toward our nation’s capital. This scene has been glimpsed by tourists and visitors for over a century. Each year the National Cherry Blossom Festival commemorates a 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Japan to the United States. The current Cherry Blossom Festival has grown t...
In early 2009, Dr. Robert Bentley came to see me about his race for Governor of Alabama. Bentley was finishing his second term in the Alabama House of Representatives and closing down his very successful dermatology practice in Tuscaloosa. I liked Bentley immediately and thought it was magnanimous that he would want to spend his retirement years as Governor. I did not give him much of a chance and predicted he would run a respectable third in the race. However, he surprised everybody, probably...
You know the outcome of our presidential preference primary yesterday. I do too, today; however, this column had to go to press a few days prior to the primary. Therefore, I will have to report and analyze your voting in a later column. One thing I do know is that we had a lot more attention paid to us in the Heart of Dixie because we had an early primary. The legislature is to be applauded for moving us up to participate in the March 1st SEC primary. It was fun while it lasted but we can say...
February 3, 2016: There are a good many stories about elections of the 1940’s and 50’s where vote were bought and elections stolen. The most brazen and blatant stealing of an election occurred in the 1948 race for the U.S. Senate in Texas. The players were Coke Stevenson versus Lyndon B. Johnson. Therefore, it can also be classified as one of the most relevant robberies in American history because if Johnson had lost, as he was supposed to, it would have dramatically impacted U.S. history. Coke...
January 13, 2016: Last week we discussed the presidential race. The GOP race for the nomination has been one of the most illuminating in history. Never before have political novices been the frontrunners. It is obvious that voters prefer an outsider with no governmental experience. Donald Trump and Ben Carson would both be considered outsiders, both lacking in political experience and skills and Trump lacking tact. No matter what they say or the amateurish blunders they make they doggedly cling...
November 25, 2015: Last week I gave you an alphabetical list of the 18 potential horses in the 2018 Alabama Gubernatorial Derby. We will begin this week handicapping them in descending order. The Number 18 horse is current Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard. We will know whether the beleaguered Speaker of the House will remain in the derby by next March. He is on trial in Lee County. A grand jury indicted him over a year ago on 23 felony counts of ethics law violations. If he is convicted on any...
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...
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...
July 29, 2015: During the press conference three weeks ago announcing the historic BP settlement and windfall for the state, Gov. Bentley repeatedly said, “The $55 million a year to the General Fund is fantastic but it will not solve the state’s long term financial woes. It only accomplishes about 12 percent of what we need. We’re still going to have a Special Session to address the need for new revenue and we will call it for late summer.” Bentley and the Legislature were unable to agree o...
Last week’s verdict that VictoryLand be allowed to reopen is justice served. The people of Macon County voted for a constitutional amendment to allow for electronic bingo. The issue of pari-mutuel style casino betting and the closing of the ultra-modern and successful luxury gaming resort in Macon County has been laid to rest. There have been extensive studies and articles that crystallize several obvious observations. First of all, gambling or gaming is an extremely profitable venture and it i...
This has been an eventful year. Thousands of tourists have flocked to Alabama to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March for Civil and Voting Rights. The events that happened in Alabama spurred the enactment of the landmark acts that broke down the legal barriers prohibiting African Americans from voting in the South. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made it unlawful to discriminate based on race. It was followed up the next year with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that...
May 6, 2015: There is an ominous cloud hanging over this legislative session. Last year the U.S. Supreme Court surprisingly agreed to hear a Hail Mary complaint filed by the black legislative caucus over the 2014 redistricting plan. In an even more surprising opinion, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the complainants and remanded the case back to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals instructing the lower court to tell the legislature to try again. The super majority Republican legislature fully...
April 1, 2015: In recent years, the Republican Party has taken control of the legislatures in all of the southern states. Alabama’s legislature is overwhelmingly Republican. The GOP holds a 25 to 9 majority in the State Senate and an equally dominating 72 to 33 majority in the House of Representatives. Our supermajority GOP legislative body appeared to take on every conceivable ultraconservative reactionary issue during their first four year reign from 2011 to 2014. However, they forgot one. C...
March 18, 2015: Alabama may be in the lower tier of the country in some categories but not when it comes to providing health insurance for children. In that one category we excel. Brian Lyman with the Montgomery Advertiser provided an excellent study revealing that Alabama leads the south in taking care of its young people when it comes to giving them health coverage. A recent Georgetown University study showed that Alabama leads the south when it comes to healthcare for children. Remarkably we...
