Thursday, September 25, 2008

Death

My oldest brother, John Sapp, died very unexpectedly this morning at the age of 42 of massive heart failure. I'll be out of pocket for a few days. Please keep my family in your thoughts.

Here is the arrangement information for those of you who plan to attend or want to send flowers.

The viewing will be Saturday, September 27 from 1-3 at Usrey-Brown Funeral Home in Talladega.
516 North St E
Talladega, AL 35160
(256) 362-2344‎
Interment will be in Clay County at 4 pm



Wednesday, September 24, 2008

What No One Is Saying about McCain's Latest Move

So,McCain who, by his own repeated admissions, knows NOTHING about the economy, is trying to score political points by insinuating that by suspending his campaign, canceling his appearance at the debates and returning to Washington he can help fix the economy.

WTF?

How exactly?

For anyone who believes that tripe....Your Proctologist called....He found your head!


Monday, September 22, 2008

I can't stop laughing

I don't know how many of my readers are familiar with Fred Reed but I strongly encourage everyone to read his latest column From out of a rotting log in which he pontificates on the sorry selection in this years presidential race. Here's a little bit of it just to whet your appetite.



From out of a Rotting Log

Reflections on an Opera Bouffe Election



September 13, 2008

Just dragged my scrawny carcass in from Washington, the heart of darkness, with the usual sense—usual now—of having visited an asylum. I figure Salvador Dali designed the government. Or maybe Ionesco or someone deeply twisted with a sick sense of humor.

In the airports, the same obedience training—take off your shoes, belt, watch, fillings, prostate, so we can to learn to respect the authority of low-IQ federalized renta-cops with the psyches of school-yard bullies. God save us from the congenitally unimportant. From PA systems came the same pointless security-babble having nothing to do with security, in the same over elocuted I-wanna-lick-the-microphone female voices. Well, it’s not quite pointless. We must condition the rubes, give them an inspiriting sense of danger so they will do as they are told. It’s awful. I’m going to apply for a change of phylum.

It got worse. I discovered that America is about to have an election. Why? Every time they do that, no good comes of it. You’d think they’d learn.

As usual, the election is a popularity contest run for dimwits. And to elect a dimwit, which is worse. We’ve got this woman Palin, an angry Betty Crocker, absolutely unqualified for the presidency in case McCain goes tits up. She’s ignorant of foreign affairs, at best moderately bright, a whackjob Christian, and a “pit bull.” This is said admiringly.


Good God that man is HYSTERICAL!
GO READ THE REST!!


Friday, September 19, 2008

Angry White Republicans Thwart LEGAL Voter Registration in Alabama

AP

9/18/2008, 6:22 p.m. CDT
By JAY REEVES
The Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Prisons Commissioner Richard Allen stopped a voter registration drive for inmates Thursday under pressure from the Alabama Republican Party.

In a letter to state Republican Party Chairman Mike Hubbard, Allen said individuals conducting the program "were not doing anything for the inmates that they could not do themselves by simply contacting the Secretary of State's Office for the voter registration postcard."

Still, Allen said he decided to stop the drive because of a section in the state code that prohibits using state-owned property to promote or advance candidates for election.

"While it is not clear that assisting voters to register would violate those provisions, I cannot expose departmental employees to that possibility," he wrote.


The problem with this flimsy excuse is that no candidate was being promoted. All we were doing was registering those in jail who are eligible to vote UNDER STATE LAW. No one was supporting McCain or Obama. No names were mentioned during the registration. However, as I mentioned before most of those in jail or prison for drug charges are black despite the fact that blacks and whites use drugs at the same rate and the Republicans know this. Hell, they are largely responsible for this. How convenient the drug war is for marginalizing certain classes of people for political gain.

I won't be hard on Commissioner Allen because deep down in my heart of hearts I know that he was told to stop and he had to follow orders.

Allen's letter to Hubbard was in response to one the chairman e-mailed him earlier in the day, saying the GOP supports the idea of registering more people to vote, but not when it comes to prisoners.

"Furthermore, I have concerns about potential issues with how this effort is being monitored to ensure no form of voter fraud occurs," wrote Hubbard, who is also minority leader of the Alabama House, which votes on the prison system's budget.


Let me translate this Alabama Republican-ese for you. Mike Hubbard essentially said, "Quit allowing them niggers to register to vote or I will cut your prison budget." This is no different that George C. Wallace standing in the school house door. No different at all. Since Alabama has horrible problems financing our bloated prison system Commissioner Allen could not afford to lose money because then he would be hit with more human right's lawsuits from the many, many groups who currently have an eye on Alabama.

But, you know what? The Republicans are just doing damage control. We had almost an entire week in and out of Alabama jails and prisons registering people to vote. So, we had to stop on the last day. So what? Since there is little excitement and even fewer positive moments in the life of a prisoner you can bet that word of this has already spread like wild fire and that anyone currently in jail or prison who thinks they might be eligible to vote will request a form to vote in the November election. There is no stopping this, despite all the blow hardin' being done by the Republican party who has NO SHAME when it comes to trying to suppress legal voters in the state of Alabama. I'd bet right now that inmates are on the phone to Mama asking her to get a voter registration form from the SoS and mail it to them. I'll be sending a number of them out to folks I know who are currently in jail or prison along with a note asking them to get others to join in. I hope you will too.


Thursday, September 18, 2008

Makes you wonder??

Troy King Continues to Support the Death Penalty for Child Rapists

While I agree that child rapists are the vilest of vile creatures, I also agree with the Supreme Court's decision not to impose the death penalty on them if no one died. I think the death penalty should only be imposed when a life has been taken and only in certain cases then. I think all death row inmates should have access to DNA testing in cases where they might be exonerated. I've been inside many Alabama prisons and my opinion is that life in prison without parole is a much harsher sentence than the death penalty. If they would lock these sick fucks up for LIFE then we wouldn't have to worry about them. The sentences for molesting a child in Alabama are abhorrent. Pot smokers routinely get more time than child molesters.

Troy King's desire to preach against child molesters and holler for the death penalty reminds me of how he preached against gay people in college only to be suspected of being gay himself. Makes one wonder.....

Speaking of that gay thing....I spoke with a reporter yesterday who attended the Republican Convention and I asked them if Troy was there with his wife. They told me that they saw Troy a number of times but never saw his wife, although it was rumored that he was there with her. They said most everybody was with their spouses at the daily breakfast meeting...he was noticeably alone. This reporter told me that Troy sat alone most of the time talking on his cell phone. No word on whether JW Godwin was in attendance.



Montgomery Advertiser Launches New Political Blog

I received this in my email this morning and wanted to make my readers aware of it.

The Montgomery Advertiser invites you, your candidates and constituents to take part in our brand-new political blog, "Talking Politics," on the Montgomery Advertiser's
Web site.

The blog is an opportunity for registered users of the site to share and debate their views on the issues that matter to them and the people who can do something about those issues.

Please visit TALKING POLITICS today!





Wednesday, September 17, 2008

GET ON THE HORN NOW!!!

This week two activist groups that I work with started registering people in jail and prison for drug charges to vote. This is LEGAL UNDER STATE LAW,. Please go read this post.

Even though Attorney General Troy King issued an opinion that people convicted of crimes not involving moral turpitude CAN VOTE FROM PRISON he has taken to the airwaves today squealing like a pig about that actually happening. THE ONLY PEOPLE WE ARE REGISTERING TO VOTE ARE PEOPLE IN JAIL/PRISON ON DRUG POSSESSION CHARGES. Not child molesters. Not rapists. Not murderers. The people we are registering to vote SHOULD NOT BE IN PRISON TO BEGIN WITH!

Now that this has made the news the prison commissioner Richard Allen, who supports us 100%, and is a very good and decent human being who believes in helping prisoners restore their lives is being bombarded with phone calls from angry white republicans condemning this historic effort to ensure people who have the right to vote are able to exercise it. The governor's office is also being flooded with calls from the same people.

I NEED YOU ON THE HORN NOW! Please call the following numbers and THANK the prison commissioner and the governor for supporting us and for UPHOLDING THE LAW. Tell them that you support this effort and that drug offenders should not be in prison anyway.

DOC - 334-353-3883
GOV - (334) 242-7100



Troy King Advocates BREAKING the Law!

I just got a call from my colleagues, who are spending this week registering people currently in jail who have been convicted of minor drug possession, to vote in the upcoming election. They told me that my good friend Attorney General Troy King has taken to the airwaves to condemn this historic effort calling it one of the worst things he has ever seen.

Really, Troy? One of the WORST things you have ever seen? Really? Seems to me that you, TROY KING, interpreted the law (quite properly for once I might add) to allow this back in May 2005. And I quote, "The parole board received a March 18 advisory opinion from Attorney General Troy King, who said only those felonies involving "moral turpitude" -- meaning the crimes are inherently immoral -- disqualify a convict from voting.

Since the 'crime' of possession of drugs for personal use is NOT a crime of moral turpitude that means those currently in jail or prison for that 'crime' are UNDER THE LETTER OF THE LAW allowed to register and to vote. We are following the law and we are operating under the letter of state law. Suck it up Troy!

I submit that the reason Troy King is so scared of actually following the letter of the law in this case is because he thinks that we (me and my colleagues) are really just registering a bunch of 'crack smokin' Negroes who will vote for Obama'. Since Troy is the Chair of the McCain campaign in Alabama (gay rumors and all) he is afraid that Alabama might go blue if these people are registered and exercise their RIGHT TO VOTE. But look at the following picture and tell me how many African-Americans you see.

I see one. But Troy KNOWS and apparently has no problem with the fact that we lock up African-Americans for drugs at a rate that far outpaces white people for drugs even though drug use is equal among both races. Black people are incarcerated for drug crimes at higher rates than whites. Blacks make up only 26% of Alabama’s population, but are nearly 60% of the prison population. And for every white person in an Alabama jail, there are about 4 Black people. The drug war has replaced the poll tax in Alabama. But, that's just fine with Troy because he doesn't want black people to vote because they will most likely be voting for the Democratic candidate (not sure why as Democrats and Republicans are both equally responsible for the abhorrent drug laws). Yes sir Troy King loves him some poll tax! All he needs is a pointy white hood!

Let's look at who else might be denied their right to vote if the law was applied equally between the races.

Senator Richard Shelby's (REPUBLICAN) son Claude Shelby would not be allowed to vote. Claude Shelby was caught bringing 13.8 grams of HASH from Heathrow Airport in London to the Atlanta airport in 1998. Now, if it had been me or a black person we would have been charged with INTERNATIONAL DRUG SMUGGLING, thrown in a government cage for YEARS AND YEARS and denied our right to vote. Think that happened to a Republican's son? NOT! Claude Shelby's hash was seized by customs, he was fined $500 and sent on his merry way with the love and support of his father who is an ardent drug warrior.

Congressman Spencer Bachus's (REPUBLICAN) son was arrested for possession of marijuana and got treatment instead of incarceration and never lost his right to vote.

Senator Vivian Davis Figures (D - Alabama) son Michael was arrested for drugs and currently resides in prison in Alabama without his right to vote. Senator Figures is black. And a Democrat to boot.

So, the white kids of Alabama Republican's get out of jail and prison time and keep their right to vote but the black kid of an Alabama Democrat currently resides in prison for drugs and has lost his right to vote. See a pattern here?

Here is a page that lists all the drug offenses and the punishments of the kids of politicians.

Troy, are you advocating that the law be broken and that registration of inmates who are eligible to vote UNDER STATE LAW be stopped? Isn't it YOUR JOB to UPHOLD and ENFORCE state law? Remember, you have to uphold and enforce the laws YOU HAVE...not the laws YOU WISH YOU HAD.





Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Alabama Inmates Registering to Vote in Prison



Ala. inmates registering to vote in prison
9/16/2008, 2:48 p.m. CDT
The Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Alabama inmates are registering to vote in prison in a new effort organized by activist groups with the cooperation of state corrections officials.

Nearly 80 prisoners have filled out registration forms so far during voter drives at two lockups on Monday and Tuesday. Organizer Kenneth Glasgow plans to help them and hundreds more obtain absentee ballots in time to vote in November.

The state attorney general's office issued an opinion seven years ago saying inmates could vote using absentee ballots. But confusion and lawsuits followed over which convicted felons had the right to vote because of a murky phrase in state law.

Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett says no one has previously registered inmates to vote in state prisons.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Marijuana Arrests at All Time High



Marijuana Arrests For Year 2007: 872,721 Tops Record High

NORML

Marijuana Arrests For Year 2007: 872,721 Tops Record High
-Five Percent Increase Over 2006-
September 15, 2008 - Washington, DC

Washington, DC: Police arrested a record 872,721 persons for marijuana
violations in 2007, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's
annual Uniform Crime Report, released today. This is the largest total
number of annual arrests for cannabis ever recorded by the FBI.

Cannabis arrests now comprise nearly 47.5 percent of all drug arrests in the
United States.

"These numbers belie the myth that police do not target and arrest minor
cannabis offenders," said NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre, who
noted that at current rates, a cannabis consumer is arrested every 37
seconds in America. "This effort is a tremendous waste of criminal justice
resources that diverts law enforcement personnel away from focusing on
serious and violent crime, including the war on terrorism."

Of those charged with marijuana violations, approximately 89 percent,
775,138 Americans were charged with possession only. The remaining 97,583
individuals were charged with "sale/manufacture," a category that includes
all cultivation offenses, even those where the marijuana was being grown for
personal or medical use. Nearly three in four of those arrested are under
age 30.

om-2006/>

872,721 marijuana arrests in 2007, up 5.2% from 2006
September 15th, 2008 By: "Radical" Russ
Record number of Americans arrested for marijuana

The FBI has released its annual report on Crime in the United States 2007.
Once again, the number of people in the United States arrested for marijuana
has gone up. 872,721 Americans were arrested for marijuana in 2007, and of
those arrests, 89% or 775,138 were arrests for simple possession - not
buying, selling, trafficking, or manufacture (growing).

This represents an increase in marijuana arrests of 5.2% from the previous
year and the fifth straight year marijuana arrests have increased from the
previous year. Now a marijuana smoker is arrested at the rate of 1 every 37
seconds and almost 100 marijuana arrests per hour.
- Show quoted text -






AL Tour: Advocates Launch Historic Drive to Register Eligible Voters

For Immediate Release: Contact: Rev. Ken Glasgow 334-791-2433
Gabriel Sayegh 646-335-2264
September 15, 2008
Advocates Launch Historic Drive to Register Eligible Alabama Voters, Including Those Convicted of Felony Drug Possession

Families, Formerly Incarcerated People, Religious Leaders, Treatment and Sentencing Experts Declare: Don’t Criminalize People with Drug Problems, Provide Treatment and Restoration

Voter Drive to Include Town Hall Events in Five Cities across Alabama:
“Voter Disfranchisement and the War On Drugs:
What’s Civil Right’s Got to Do With It?”

In Alabama, nearly 250,000 people have been stripped their voting rights due to a felony conviction. But in a 2006 court ruling in Alabama, a judge found that only those persons convicted of felonies of “moral turpitude” lose their right to vote. The judge found that certain felonies—such as drug possession—do not constitute crimes of moral turpitude, and therefore individuals convicted of those crimes do not lose their right to vote, even during incarceration.

Alabama-based The Ordinary People’s Society and their national partner the Drug Policy Alliance estimate that over 50,000 people convicted of non-moral turpitude felonies in Alabama have been wrongly denied their right to vote, or believe they do not have that right due to a conviction. An additional 6 – 7,000 more people currently incarcerated in Alabama state prisons may also be eligible to vote.

Join Dothan-based The Ordinary People’s Society and their national partner the Drug Policy Alliance on their statewide tour to discuss Alabama’s drug war and its impact on democracy.

What: “Voter Disfranchisement and the War On Drugs: What’s Civil Right’s Got to Do With It?”

When: 9/15 – 9/19. Each event begins at 6 p.m .
Where: 9/15 in Huntsville; 9/16 in Birmingham; 9/17 in Mobile; 9/18 in Dothan; 9/19 in Montgomery. Each event begins at 6 p.m. Call for event locations.

Who: Rev. Kenneth Glasgow. Founder and Executive Director, The Ordinary People’s Society (TOPS). (Dothan, AL)
Daris Johnson. Director, TOPS Young People’s Project. (Enterprise, AL)
Gabriel Sayegh. Director, Organizing and Policy Project, Drug Policy Alliance (New York, NY)

Alabama is facing a crisis. The state has the 6th highest rate of incarceration in the U.S. A prison system designed for 12,500 people now holds nearly 30,000. As a result of the drug war, non-violent drug offenses make up approximately 30% of all felony convictions in Alabama, and people convicted of non-violent drug and property offenses comprise nearly half of the state’s prison population. Nearly 50% of prisoners are serving prison time for a drug related crime. And over 250,000 people are barred from voting due to felony disfranchisement laws. A recent court ruling, however, found that people convicted of drug possession, among other offenses, do not lose their right to vote. This change could have an impact on nearly 70,000 Alabamians, including nearly 10,000 currently incarcerated in state prisons.

While drug use is equal across all racial groups, Black people are incarcerated for drug crimes at higher rates than whites. Blacks make up only 26% of Alabama’s population, but are nearly 60% of the prison population. And for every white person in an Alabama jail, there are about 4 Black people.

Alabama is spending millions to incarcerate people when treatment is more effective and far cheaper. The average cost to keep a person in prison in Alabama is almost $13,000 per year. The average cost of a full treatment program per client is approximately $4,300. Over time, the savings from treatment are significant: Studies by the RAND Corporation have shown that every additional dollar invested in substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.46 in societal costs.

“We’ve got to start restoring people’s lives, by providing treatment, by restoring the right to vote,” said Reverend Kenneth Glasgow, Executive Director of The Ordinary People’s Society and state coordinator of the New Bottom Line Campaign. “When a person get’s a felony conviction, they can lose more than their voting rights, they can lose public assistance, public housing, financial aid for school. The drug war became a war on people and we spend more on incarceration than on treatment. Why do we spend more on producing criminals than producing citizens? We need a new bottom line.”


In 2005, according to the Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services, the substance abuse statistics for the state of Alabama stated:

Alcohol
• 246,000 people had alcohol dependency
• Total admissions for alcohol rehabilitation and treatment was 2,427
• Less than 1% (actually.009%) of Alabamians received treatment for alcohol

Other Drug Abuse
• 113,000 people had drug dependency other than alcohol
• Total admissions for drug rehabilitation and treatment was 12,645
• 11% of those needing treatment were provided with treatment


The New York Times

March 2, 2008 Sunday

Fighting to Regain Right Some Felons Never Lost

BYLINE: By SHAILA DEWAN

LENGTH: 1200 words

DATELINE: DOTHAN, Ala.


The Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, onetime criminal and founder of a ministry called
The Ordinary People Society, spent years helping people with criminal records
regain the right to vote in Alabama, where an estimated 250,000 people are
prohibited from voting because of past criminal activity.

Then he discovered that many of them had never actually lost the right.

Because of a quirk in its Constitution, Alabama disqualifies from voting
only those who have committed a ''felony involving moral turpitude.'' Those who
have committed other felonies -- like marijuana possession or drunken driving --
can cast ballots even if they are still in prison, according to the state
attorney general.

But it has been slow work cajoling public officials to enforce and
publicize the law. Until Friday, the secretary of state's Web site advised,
incorrectly, that those with any kind of felony conviction could not register
unless they had served their time and their right to vote had been restored by
the Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Because neither the Legislature nor the attorney general has offered a
definitive list of crimes involving moral turpitude, there is no way of knowing
how many inmates are eligible to vote. But state agencies generally agree that
those convicted of drug possession -- at least 3,000 of Alabama's 29,000 prison
inmates and thousands more on probation -- are eligible. Most felons and former
felons, however, assume that they have lost the right to vote.

''This is an issue that's never come up before,'' said Richard F. Allen,
the commissioner of corrections. ''I would think that if there were any latent
feeling out there that they wanted to vote, they would have expressed it by
now.''

Mr. Glasgow, who is the half-brother of a far less obscure crusader based
in New York, the Rev. Al Sharpton, believes that not only do inmates and former
convicts want to vote, but also that their ballots could alter the political
landscape in this Republican-leaning state, adding that his group has
registered more than 500 people by visiting a handful of county jails.

''There would be a lot of difference in our legislators, our elected
officials and our presidents that we've had,'' he said. ''It would definitely
change the political spectrum of Alabama.''

Republicans agree. They railed against a statute passed in 2003 that made
it easier for some former felons to regain their voting rights by side-stepping
a lengthy and backlogged pardon process.

''There's no more anti-Republican bill than this,'' said Marty Connors, the
chairman of the state Republican Party, according to news reports at the time.
''As frank as I can be, we're opposed to it because felons don't tend to vote
Republican.''

In the two years after the 2003 statute took effect, more than 5,500 former
felons had their rights restored, and interest in the November presidential
election is running high, said Sarah Still, manager of the pardons department.
In January, Ms. Still received more than 280 applications for voting rights, up
from an average of 140 a month last fall.

Nationally, 5.3 million people are barred from voting because of their
criminal history, according to a 2004 estimate cited by the Sentencing Project,
a criminal justice policy group. In the last decade, as criminals who were swept
into prison during the drug war have been released and the difficulty of
re-integrating them into society has become clear, at least 16 states have made
it easier for former felons to vote.

But in the South, where restrictions on former convicts are among the most
severe and in many cases date to Jim Crow laws, there have been fewer changes.
Last Monday the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in protest of a 2006
Tennessee law that requires former convicts to pay back child support before
regaining the right to vote. In Alabama, the Republican attorney general, Troy
King, has proposed a constitutional amendment that would delete the moral
turpitude clause, prohibiting all felons from voting.

Though he is an active Democrat, Mr. Glasgow, 42, says his main goal is not
to aid his party but to help former inmates become productive members of
society.

But for most of his own life he was hardly an exemplar of civic engagement.
Mr. Sharpton, in his memoir, ''Go and Tell Pharaoh,'' says his parents'
marriage was wrecked when his father, Al Sharpton Sr., had an affair with his
mother's teenage daughter from a previous marriage, resulting in the birth of
Kenneth.

By the time Kenneth was a teenager, his mother had taken him to her
hometown, Dothan, Ala., where he began to get in trouble for selling drugs,
became addicted to crack cocaine and did time in Alabama and Florida for armed
robbery and other crimes.

It was during his longest stint in prison, nine years, that the genes of
activism and oratory that run in Mr. Glasgow's family emerged and he began to
preach. When he was released in 2001, the bondsman who had repeatedly bailed him
out of jail became treasurer of The Ordinary People Society and paid for Mr.
Glasgow to attend seminary.

Mr. Glasgow opened a soup kitchen, held church services under a white tent
and began to help former convicts like Anna Reynolds, a recovering addict,
regain the right to vote -- a process often made onerous by the moral-turpitude
clause.

As a legal concept, moral turpitude refers to conduct that would be immoral
even if it were not illegal, unlike, say, speeding. The delegates to the 1901
constitutional convention who used the term also took away voting rights for
other infractions that they believed blacks were more likely to commit, like
wife beating, adultery and vagrancy. In 1985 the United States Supreme Court
struck down most of the law on the grounds that it was racially discriminatory,
but the moral-turpitude clause remained.

Most officials in Alabama were unaware of the clause until 2005, when it
came to light after a man on probation tried to vote in St. Clair County. The
parole board requested clarification, and the attorney general responded with an
incomplete categorization of felonies based largely on previous court decisions.

The opinion leaves a large gray area, said Ms. Still of the pardons
department. It says, for example, that rape is a crime of moral turpitude and
that assault is not, but offers no clarification on variations like statutory
rape or assault with intent to kill.

The parole board settled on a policy of treating drug possession and drunk
driving as crimes devoid of moral turpitude, but that has not put an end to the
confusion, Mr. Glasgow said.

Initially Ms. Reynolds, 52, was told by the local registrar that she could
not vote because of a conviction for drug possession. She applied to the parole
board, which told her that it could not restore her right to vote because she
had never lost it. Finally, The Ordinary People Society helped cut through the
red tape.

On Feb. 5, Ms. Reynolds stood outside the public library handing out sample
ballots before casting her own. ''Voting, that's part of getting back to normal
life,'' she said. ''I've been out of the loop for a long time, and it was good
to have help getting back into the loop.''






Sunday, September 14, 2008

MOOOOOOOOOO!


CHICAGO (AFP) -

Republican vice presidential pick Sarah Palin faced accusations Sunday of handing jobs to friends while serving as Alaska state governor, as the presidential campaign grew increasingly negative.

The New York Times reported that Palin had given the 95,000-dollar-a-year directorship of the state division of agriculture to a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, who cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the agency.




Saturday, September 13, 2008

By Gum...Now Here's A Weird One For You



Me and Alabama State Senator Hank Erwin (R)- Montevallo. Hank Erwin is my nemisis in Alabama politics.



Friday, September 12, 2008

Palin vs. Nall

ALModerate has up a post comparing how I handled 'sexism' in my campaign with how the McCain/Palin ticket has handled 'sexism'. I'd thought about posting something similar but she beat me to it.

Palin vs. Nall GO READ IT!

Here is the video of my appearance on Countdown with Keith Olbermann back during the 2006 election.



Here's how the McCain campaign handled percieved sexism from the Obama campaign.



I swear none of these people are creative and apparently do not possess a sense of humor.

LIARS!

Remember a few days ago when I posted about the Prichard inmate who was beaten to death? Well, in the first couple of articles the cops at the jail said Mr. McDevitt died after he was punched once and hit his head when he fell. The hospital says otherwise....waaaaaaaaaaaaay otherwise.

Mobile Press-Register

Frank Travis McDevitt was treated for multiple brain injuries, a skull fracture, a dislocated rib and three crushed vertebrae after an Aug. 31 altercation in the Prichard jail, according to medical information provided by the man's mother.

Officials say that those injuries, which proved to be fatal, were caused when another inmate delivered a single punch to McDevitt's face that knocked him down and caused him to hit his head.

McDevitt's mother, Marie-Reine McDevitt, said she doesn't believe her 42-year-old son's injuries could have possibly been caused by a single punch.

"I just don't know what to think. But it just doesn't seem possible," said McDevitt, who showed a reporter a description of the injuries for which her son was treated at the University of South Alabama Medical Center.


I'm with mom. It would be near impossible to get those kinds of extensive injuries from a single punch and a fall...unless you fell down a flight of stairs. No stairs have been mentioned in connection with this death (MURDER).

And another interesting thing....

The current charge against Watson (the other inmate who supposedly delivered the fatal punch) is based on evidence presented by Prichard police, who reported that McDevitt was hit only once, Tyson said.

Prichard Chief Lawrence Battiste didn't return a call to his cell phone Thursday afternoon, nor did he respond to an e-mail asking him to explain what evidence he had to support the official "one punch" account of the altercation.

Tyson said Prichard didn't present any video evidence of the altercation.


So, the cops say that there was only one punch, but presented no video evidence of that and now the chief of Police won't return phone calls or emails asking him to explain this guys injuries. Hmmmmmmm.....one can't help but wonder if the cops didn't beat the guy and then offer the other inmate some sort of special treatment or favor to take the wrap...or perhaps they enjoyed watching Mr. McDevitt get beat to death and didn't do anything to break up the fight. Either way they are complicit in this mans death and I sincerely hope they get what is coming to them.

Unpaid traffic tickets and a few misdemeanors are not deserving of the death penalty.


Thursday, September 11, 2008

More Dishing on the Palin Family



From the National Enquirer (NOTE: I do not consider the NE as anything even remotely close to the most credible journalism out there...but I do remind folks that they were right about John Edwards and Michael Dukakis with the Monkey Business)

The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively that Sarah's oldest son, Track, was addicted to the power drug OxyContin for nearly the past two years, snorting it, eating it, smoking it and even injecting it. And as Track, 19, heads to Iraq as part of the U.S. armed forces, Sarah and her husband Todd were powerless to stop his wild antics.

THE ENQUIRER also has exclusive details about Track's use of other drugs, including cocaine, and his involvement in a notorious local vandalism incident.

“I’ve partied with him (Track) for years,” a source disclosed. “I’ve seen him snort cocaine, snort and smoke OxyContin, drink booze and smoke weed.”

The source also divulged the girls would do anything for Track and he’d use his local celebrity status to manipulate other guys “to get them to steal things he wanted.”

“He finally did what a lot of troubled kids here do,” the source divulged. “You join the military.”

And as Gov. Palin has billed the state of Alaska for various expenses related to her children, as reported by The Washington Post, The ENQUIRER's investigation reveals that she was so incensed by 17-year-old Bristol's pregnancy that she banished her daughter from the house.

Another family friend revealed pre-prego Bristol was as much of a hard partier as Track was.

“Bristol was a huge stoner and drinker. I’ve seen her smoke pot and get drunk and make out with so many guys. All the guys would brag that the just made out with Bristol.”

When Sarah found out the teen was pregnant by high schooler Levi Johnston, she was actually banished from the house. As part of the cover-up, Palin quickly transferred Bristol to another high school and made her move in with Sarah’s sister Heather 25 miles away!

There's More


Now, I'm sure that this will be turned around so that people 'feel sorry' for the Palin family and relate to them because they are 'just like us' (NOT!). I remind people that other folks kids go to prison for doing the things this article claims Track did. So, if you want your kids to keep filling prison beds and these kids to fill White House beds then by all means vote your conscience.


Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Olbermann RULES!!

If you saw his show tonight (I watch every night!) then you already know why.

Long live Keith Olbermann!

THAT"S Who Sarah Palin reminds me of!

Every since Arctic Storm Sarah Palin came avalanching onto the political scene I've been trying to place her annoying voice and coming up short. Then today, it came to me like a sharp, freezing icicle through the brain! Sarah Palin's voice is like the mom from Bobby's World.

They even look alike! All Bobby's mom needs is a pair of Kawasaki glasses and a poof hair-do.

Don't believe me? Then watch the first minute of this clip!



The person actually doing that voice is Gail Matthius who got her start on SNL.


S.J. SLAYS Me!

S.J. over at Give Me the Booger busts out with this gut clutucher of a comparison between "The Hockey Daddy" in the Palin Pregnancy drama and what we would hear if the daughter in question was Obama's, what the baby's father might say and how that would be viewed by voters in this election....plus some other great stuff. Here are the money lines

Mister Period
"I'm a fuckin' redneck who likes to snowboard and ride dirt bikes. But I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing, shoot some shit and just fuckin' chillin' I guess. Ya fuck with me I'll kick ass."

Status: "In a relationship."

Children: "I don't want kids."
-------------------------------

As we hopefully all know by now, this is the actual 'prose' on the hockey daddy's myspace page. The kid being publicly forced into a shotgun wedding at 17 with the daughter of the smug, cretin VP nominee woman. Wow. I bet they live happily ever after, don't you?

Let's point out again, if one of Barack Obama's daughters had a thug boyfriend who wrote, "Yo, yo, whatup muthafuckas, I'll pop a cap in yo ass you fuck wit me and my boyz, word, muthafucka." The election would be over.


You gotta READ THE REST



It's Amazing How Often Pigs Become Part of the Political Discourse

Obama says McCain/Palin is just lipstick on a pig and I agree with him.

It's interesting to note how often pigs become part of our political discourse in this country. A few months ago we had our own version of Lipstick on a pig. And here are more references to
Pigs in Alabama Politics.



I think the poor little pigs get a bad wrap that they do not really deserve.

Mentally Ill Man Beaten to Death at Prichard Jail

This is really horrible.
Inmate dies after beating at Prichard Jail. Sunday morning, he died, his mother at his side. McDevitt was serving time for unpaid fines related to traffic tickets and misdemeanor arrests.

McDevitt was denied a psychiatric evaluation even though he had a long history of mental illness.

The judges in the case are doing this...

Judges in McDevitt case blame each other

And now hopefully the judges will both be in real trouble if the following is applied.

Imprisonment for Failure to Pay Fines
Constitutional and statutory bars against incarcerating indigent individuals for failure to pay fines are clear. In Bearden v. Georgia, the United States Supreme Court held that a court cannot imprison an individual for a failure to pay excessive fines unless that failure to pay is willful or incarceration is the only option.238 The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that Bearden applies to restitution payments.239 In Alabama, Rule 26.11(I)(2) provides that “[i]n no case shall an indigent defendant be incarcerated for inability to pay a fine or court costs or restitution.” In addition, Alabama Code section 15-18-62, as amended in 2002, restricts the amount of time for which individuals can be incarcerated for willfully failing to pay fines. The restrictions range from ten days imprisonment for charges totaling less than $250 to a maximum of thirty days imprisonment for charges totaling up to $1000, with four additional days for every $100 after that.


Federal Attorney Bill Dawson sued the city of Birmingham earlier this year for jailing defendants for inability to pay fines and WON the case. Birmingham agreed to stop the practice. I don't have the case number but am working on getting it. I hope that Mr. McDevitt's mama sues the absolute dog shit out of the incompetent fucks whose 'bureaucratic mistake' cost this man his life.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

She's Back!

After an incredibly long hiatus our good friend Alabama Moderate is back to blogging.

Welcome Home Sister!


J.D. Crowe Kills Me!!

From CroweBlog


Move over, Chik-Fil-A cows....these guys have a beef with Sarah Palin.



Friday, September 05, 2008

'New-Clear' Weapons?

This was no accident. 'New-clear' makes it sound as though this is a more earth-friendly, life-friendly type of nuclear weapon. What a horrible and glib way to think of the most destructive weapon on earth.



Oh yeah, Sarah Palin has the most annoying voice EVER! Even worse than Hillary's. Who wants to hear that for the next four years?




Thursday, September 04, 2008

Code Pink ROCKS!

I am only vaguely familiar with CODE PINK but I must say that what they did tonight ROCKED!!



From the AP

Protesters interrupt McCain speech
54 minutes ago


ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Anti-war protesters briefly interrupted John McCain's acceptance speech Thursday night at the Republican National Convention. The nominee told supporters "don't be diverted by the crowd noise and the static."

One male protester and two female protesters were removed from the hall by security officers. The male demonstrator had a sign that read "You can't win an occupation" on one side, and "McCain votes against vets" on the other side.

The crowd tried to drown them out with chants of, "USA, USA."

"My friends, my dear friends ... please, please don't be diverted by the crowd noise and the static," McCain said. "I'm going to talk about it some more, but Americans want us to stop yelling at each other."


What happened to the person that the security guard seemed to be brutalizing before the camera turned away?

It takes a lot of courage to do what they did and a lot of really in depth planning to get past security under those conditions.

Isn't freedom wonderful!!



Nationalist? Socialist? Or National Socialist?

I've been watching the political convention circus since last week when the Democrats led out and finished up last night after the introduction of Sarah Palin to America. I won't be watching tonight. I simply can't take one more viewing of John McCain sticking his thumbs out like Fonzie from Happy Days.


See what I mean? It's just too much!

It seems after watching most of both conventions that citizen's have only one choice in this country when it comes to voting.

You can vote for the Socialist Party (Democrats), which wants the government to control everything. But, in a 'nice' socialist sort of way. They love them some big government do the Democrats. What I fail to understand is why they think they can have this huge government yet still protect the individual rights and liberties of the citizens. I don't want the government in charge of my healthcare. Skip on down to your local VA hospital if you want to know why socialized medicine is a bad idea. I don't want the government in charge of educating the youth of this country. All they are turning out is a bunch of lemming statists who know nothing about the real history of this country or even what the Constitution says or means. A government that controls everything teaches people to be dependent on it....unable to care for themselves. We saw this play out in the saddest and most embarassing way after Hurricane Katrina. So, I'll pass if it's all the same to you.


Then we have the Nationalist Party (Republicans) and they want to make war with every other country on earth it seems. They love them some big government too, though to hear them talk you'd think otherwise. The last 8 years should dispel any myths about that. Watching those scary, bible-thumping, war mongering bastards in St. Paul this week I seriously considered moving to China. I mean honestly...it couldn't be any worse could it? Everywhere you looked were the words "Country First" and "Service". Well, bump that. I'll decide what comes first in my life and the lives of my children. I'll serve, or not, at my own leisure. I'll believe in whatever god or gods I want...or none if it suits me. I certainly don't need Jesus waving an American flag crammed down my throat by a bunch of people who don't lead the life of the man they claim to hold above all else (except Country).

I found it repulsive that Guiliani and then Palin took swipes at community organizers. Without community organizers women still probably wouldn't be allowed to vote, much less run for VP of this country. Hell, just last week right before they picked Palin for the VP most Nationalists (Republicans) thought the proper place for women was barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. To take the national stage and ridicule those who are in large part responsible for the very fact that you have a national stage defies all logic. Wadda Bitch! And not a very smart one either. She believes God sent us to Iraq and asked ministry students to pray for a $30 billion Alaskan pipeline. And to top it all she said the following about 'Under God' in the Pledge:
"If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I’ll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance."


Uh, the founding fathers didn't write the pledge of Allegiance. The writers of the Pledge of Allegiance didn't include the words 'Under God'.

If you are going to run for VP then it is best to know just a tad about the history of the country you will be one heart beat away from running (God forbid)....isn't it?

In short both major political parties SUCK! They pretend to be against each other....but behind closed doors they are the same. A vote for one is no better or worse than a vote for the other because either way what you wind up with is the National Socialist Party. Now, where have you heard that before?






Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Hmmm.....wonder who that could be??

Looking at my traffic stats today I came across someone searching for my children...which immediately sent up red flags, as it would for any mom.

8 Referring URL: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=alex nall&btnG=Google S
Sep 3, 2008 09:53:46 AM 204.29.75.130

9 Referring URL: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=active&rlz=1T4DMUS_e
Sep 3, 2008 09:50:56 AM 204.29.75.130


So, I did a search on the IP address which is

204.29.75.130

And guess what I found?

NetName: ALALINC-NET
IP Address 204.29.75.130
UNITED STATES ALABAMA ASHLAND 33.2143
-85.8209 36251 -06:00
Net Speed ISP Domain
- ALABAMA SUPERCOMPUTER NETWORK AL.US

Now, I wonder who in Ashland, AL with access to the Alabama Super Computer Network would be searching for my kids? Who could that be?







Sarah Palin..The Would-Be Book Banner

From TIME Magazine

Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.


Monday, September 01, 2008

Cindy McCain looks like a......

Giant bottle of French's Mustard in that dress. All she needs is a pointy, little, yellow cap.




Does the thought of her being First Lady just scare the absolute daylights out of anyone else? She looks like one of the reptilian characters who played on V.

Sara Palin's Unmarried Daughter is Pregnant

The rumors going around the blogosphere are that the youngest child of Sara Palin is actually her grandchild.

Now Reuters is reporting that Sara Palin announced that her daughter, Bristol Palin, is 5 months pregnant in hopes of dispelling rumors that Bristol is the real mother of Trig.

The McCain camp knew this when they picked Palin to be the VP running mate.

This is getting really weird!




You Know What Sara Palin Is?



Sara Palin is a stalking horse. McCain chose her moreso to get the Libertarain votes than to get the Hillary votes. In every election cycle the Republicans try to pull this stunt. Their candidates always sound like they want a small, unintrusive, constitutional administration. One that respects freedom and individual rights. One that upholds the Constitution. One that will let states decide what is best for their people without interference from the feds. One that supports a free market economy. One that believes that we should be a non-interventionist country that should only fight back when attacked. In other words...none of this pre-emptive strike shit.

In short, the Republicans always steal the Libertarian party platform....because it sounds much better than the Republican one of legalized torture, destruction of habeus corpus, obliteration of the Constitution, legalized spying on Americans, illegal wars on countries that have not attacked us, keeping women barefoot and pregnant with babies created through rape and incest, expansion of jails and prisons so more Americans can be locked up for smoking pot, and turning our form of government from a Democratic one to a THEOCRATIC one....the list goes on and on and on.

So, to make themselves more palatable to the American people they pretend to be Libertarian in public. And too many fools fall for it. Every. Single. Time.

So, I don't buy that Palin is 'a Libertarian'. Just because she was the mayor of a small government in Wasilla, AK doesn't mean she believes in small government. Just because she was Governor of a very sparsely populated state doesn't mean she is small government. Just because she supports the Second Amendment and is pro-home school doesn't mean she is Libertarian. Just because there are a lot of Libertarian minded people in Alaska doesn't mean she is Libertarian.

I have a question for her. She stated already that she smoked pot (while pointing out that it is legal to do so in her state) but that she didn't like it. As VP will she continue to support policies that put those who DO LIKE IT in prison?