“Shadrack McGill.” Need I say more?

Shadrack McGill makes Alabama a laughingstock.

Or rather, it’s his wife who does so.

Of course, the state apparently don’t need that much help to appear as such, anyway.

FYI, the man in question

Shadrack McGill & the Facebook Strippers

Alabama State Senator Shadrack McGill (R,8th District), photo from his Facebook page

By now, the whole world knows of the fracas that that the wife of Alabama State Senator Shadrack McGill (R-8th District) has caused.

What first began as a post on Senator McGill’s Facebook page has suddenly turned into a worldwide free publicity campaign.

Even the Daily Mail – a newspaper in the United Kingdom – has picked up the too-weird-to-be-true story in an article entitled “Alabama state senator’s wife lashes out on Facebook against women who are ‘soliciting her husband for sex’ after ‘strippers showed up at their house’.”

“Multiple times since being in office he has gotten emails from women (who may not even be real) inviting him to explore, also sending pictures of themselves.”

What strikes me as particularly curious is the fact that apparently neither Senator McGill nor his wife Heather made any remarks or comments of any type, kind or variety when he alleged that it first occurred, nor did he alert authorities when a suspicious knock came at his door in the dead of night.

Referring to the first alleged incident, Senator McGill said, “Me and my wife

Alabama’s Republican Legislators take over State’s Schools… even though they’re not failing.

The lack of news outlets in the states three major newspapers all which publish only three editions weekly (Birmingham News, Mobile Press-Register, and the Huntsville Times, now known as “Alabama Media Group” which newspapers are all owned by the same privately held mega-firm that owns Sports Illustrated & Conde Nast – Advance Publications, aka Newhouse News) has – in my estimation – contributed to the demise of public involvement in governance, and to a great degree, influenced voters from participating in their own governance by keeping them ignorant.

However, that does NOT mean that there is no news, nor does it mean that there is a news blackout. What it means is that in those three major cities in the state, there is a dearth of reporting of state events.

For example, the Montgomery Advertiser reported recently that in an email message to his staff, Governor Robert Bentley “demanded that his cabinet members and the state employees who work for them not discuss with state legislators any concerns they might have with a proposed overhaul to state law enforcement agencies.

““I do not want any cabinet head or any member of their department to lobby against this. Tell your employees to contact ONLY Blaine Galliher if they have any questions or concerns. NO ONE is to talk to members of the House or Senate in opposition to this legislation,” Bentley wrote in an email sent to cabinet members by his executive assistant on Feb. 12.””

Governor Bentley is showing his true face… that of a tyrant.

—

The year Alabama legislators took over schools

by Wayne Flynt
Special to The Star

Mar 10, 2013

Gov. Robert Bentley talks with reporters in Montgomery last week. Photo: Dave Martin/Associated Press

My father grew up poor and never finished high school but was incredibly resourceful. He could “figure things out.” He did his own plumbing, wiring and construction. But on occasion, Dad’s chief asset became a liability. So confident was he in his ability to fix anything that he refused to admit that he didn’t know everything.

That is a good description of the new Republican Legislature. They were elected for good reasons: The hubris, arrogance, excesses, patronage abuse, corruption and demagoguery of Democrats. But the 2013 Legislature reminds me lots of the Democrats they replaced.

Republicans, who hold all state offices and a veto-proof majority in the Legislature, have decided that they know better than anyone how to do everything.

Take education, for instance. Three successive reform-minded state school superintendents — supported by a business community concerned about the loss of one-third of Alabama manufacturing jobs since 2000 and fearful that schools were not producing a labor force skilled enough to compete in the global economy — began reforming education.

They introduced model early childhood programs, world-class math and science curricula, a reading initiative widely copied nationwide, tougher graduation standards, and took over failing schools and malfunctioning systems characterized by patronage politics and financial profligacy (think Birmingham).

Education reformers organized A+ Education Partnership and joined this battle. Their hugely successful “best practices” center and life-changing college-readiness program that enrolls record numbers of students in demanding advanced placement courses constitute instances where Alabama set national standards rather than followed them.

So what does the new Republican Legislature do?

Official Sources: Huntsville Hospital gets low patient safety rating, patients’ lives at risk

Realistically, what does that mean for you, your loved ones or friends if – God forbid – they’re hospitalized at Huntsville Hospital?

It means that when you, your loved ones’ or friends’ are a patient in the hospital, you or they could get an infection, or some other serious bug or problem while being treated for something else entirely different. And by so doing, it could make your stay more unpleasant, and in fact, could increase the risk of complications of your treatment – up to, and including your death – was well as increase the length of your stay, among other factors.

What does that mean for the Hospital?

Because insurance companies and Medicare/Medicaid have STOPPED paying for the treatment of preventable problems that are a direct result of hospitalization, it means that Huntsville Hospital will be stuck with the bill (the costs of treating their own mistakes upon you while you’re there)… and will try to pass the cost along to you to recoup the cost of the loss, which is a DIRECT result of their own sloppiness.

Huntsville Hospital has essentially become a monopolistic monstrosity of an enterprise, gobbling up numerous hospitals in the North Alabama region, including BOTH hospitals in Decatur, the only hospital in Athens, the only hospital in Red Bay, Helen Keller Hospital in Tuscumbia area of the Shoals, and the only hospital in Lawrence county.

Meanwhile, Huntsville hospital has fought tooth-and-nail to keep other hospitals OUT of competition in the Huntsville market, and spent untold millions of dollars in a protracted legal battle against Crestwood Hospital – and continues to spend millions to prevent Crestwood Hospital from offering services that would benefit the entire city and county.

Such anti-competitive practice has all been accomplished by and through the state of Alabama‘s Certificate Of Need Board.

The commentary of Mr. Burr Ingram – Huntsville Hospital’s official mouthpiece – which is contained in this article is entirely and wholly unwarranted, and weasel-like.

Not only that, but Huntsville Hospital is NOT a Nursing Magnet Hospital.

There are many things Huntsville Hospital is not.

And sadly, quality is one of them.

—

Watchdog Report: Consumer Reports gives both hospitals in Huntsville low safety ratings

Published: Thursday, July 12, 2012, 9:06 AM     Updated: Thursday, July 12, 2012, 9:30 AM

By Challen Stephens, The Huntsville Times

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — Consumer Reports magazine ranked the two hospitals in Huntsville as the least safe in Alabama. But the magazine’s list of hospitals is far from complete.

“We were kind of perplexed at some of what it reported,” said Burr Ingram, spokesman at Huntsville Hospital. “When you think about it, it’s fashionable for everyone to rate hospitals. And Consumer Reports is the latest to use public data that is available.

“But at times, it’s difficult to know how these ratings come about.”

Huntsville Hospital, The Huntsville Times

The magazine’s August edition lists scores in four safety categories. Both Huntsville Hospital and Crestwood Medical Center received low marks for poor communication with patients and for high rates of infection. Both received mediocre marks for high rates of re-admission and unnecessary scans.

Yet the report ranked

Alabama State House Committee OKs Home Brew Bill

Finally!

Little by little, in some regard, Alabama is moving into the 21st century.

—

House committee approves bill that would legalize home brewing of beer

By Mike Cason | mcason@al.com
February 20, 2013 at 5:35 PM

MONTGOMERY, Alabama — The House Economic Development and Tourism Committee today approved a bill that would allow those 21 and older to make home brewed beer, wine, mead and cider for personal use.

Rep. Mac McCutcheon, R-Huntsville. (Robin Conn/The Huntsville Times) 

The bill, by Rep. Mac McCutcheon, R-Huntsville, would limit the total production to 15 gallons every three months.

The committee approved the bill after a public hearing, putting it in position for consideration by the House of Representatives.

Several home brewing enthusiasts spoke in favor of the bill.

Jason Sledd of Huntsville told the committee he took up home brewing as a hobby last year.

“At the time, I had no idea what I was doing was illegal in the state of Alabama,” Sledd said.

Sledd said he learned home brewing was illegal after joining a home brewers club.

Rep. Berry Forte, D-Eufaula, said he was opposed to the use of alcohol because of what it had done to some family members. He asked Sledd whether he brewed beer in front of his children.

Sledd said he did, and said he was teaching them the responsible way to use alcohol.

“They will have years of experience of seeing an adult drink alcohol and not being intoxicated,” Sledd said.

Joe Godfrey, executive director of ALCAP,

Crappy Writing in Huntsville’s nearly defunct newspaper

Critique with explanation follows the story.
—

Huntsville police searching for man who entered family’s hotel room, took laptop and fled

By Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
November 10, 2012 at 8:59 AM, updated November 10, 2012 at 10:39 AM

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – A family was asleep in a hotel in the 3000 block of University Drive when

Late… again.

This is gonna’ get real old, real quick.

—

Sent from my typewriter.

Late… again.

The Huntsville Times is owned by the same company that owns the Times Picayune, Sports Illustrated & Condé Nast – Newhouse News.

Alabama‘s three most populous cities – Birmingham, Huntsville, and Mobile – all have a newspaper which is owned by Newhouse. And, like the Times Picayune, they are laying off staff & reducing coverage, which includes reducing publication to 3 days/week.

Further, those three papers – The Birmingham News, The Huntsville Times & The Mobile Press-Register – are all now being printed in Birmingham, even though Mobile is on the Gulf Coast, Huntsville borders Tennessee, and Birmingham is in the middle. So, as you might imagine, it’s a logistical nightmare.

If you’re interested in knowing how many papers & publications they do own (which would astound you), see the entry “Advance Publications,” and the entry “Condé Nast Publications” on Wikipedia for a detailed & lengthy list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_Publications

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cond%C3%A9_Nast_Publications

Disgraced Alabama Jurist Roy Moore disgraces himself… again. This time, during UAH Professor Murderess Amy Bishop’s guilty plea.

Perhaps it was the Almighty calling him, eh?

I can hear the dialogue now:

“Roy… don’t run again, son. You’ve already embarrassed Me enough, and shown what an idiot you are. So do me a favor, go back home, and go fishing in the lake, instead.”

—

Chief Justice candidate Roy Moore apologizes after cell phone rings during Amy Bishop hearing

Published: Tuesday, September 11, 2012, 5:49 PM / Updated: Tuesday, September 11, 2012, 5:49 PM

By Paul Gattis, The Huntsville Times

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — As a packed courtroom hung on every word uttered as Amy Bishop pleaded guilty today to capital murder, one sound briefly drowned out all others.

Roy Moore’s cell phone.

UAH Professor Killer Amy Bishop Pleads Guilty

The reader should understand: The cost of trying capital cases – cases in which the penalty is, or may be death – are EXCEEDINGLY more expensive than any other case, simply because of the numerous levels of mandatory appeals. Thus, by pleading guilty, and spending the rest her natural life behind bars – without the possibility of parole, and being given humane healthcare – the District Attorney, Amy Bishop and her defense attorneys have saved Madison County, Huntsville, and the State of Alabama many MILLIONS of tax dollars.

That is true, even given that she may live perhaps another 40 years – though that is highly unlikely, simply because incarceration exacts a physical toll upon a person’s life, shortening it by many years. Estimating a cost of $20,000/year (which includes the total cost of employees to guard & manage the system, cost of operations, etc.), and supposing she lives another 40 years (which is less likely, than not) the total flat-line cost would be $800,000.

A 2004 report entitled “State Prison Expenditures, 2001” by James B. Stephan, Statistician for the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, of the Department of Justice, found that the cost of food and medical expenses, food service & utilities cost per prisoner in Alabama was $1776. Alabama’s Average Annual Operating Cost per prisoner was $8128 – THE lowest of 50 states. Other components of cost – employee cost, salaries, wages, benefits, supplies, maintenance, contractual services, and other aspects of facility operation, etc. – account for nearly 96% of all operating costs. According to the report, of all states, Alabama has the HIGHEST per-prisoner cost of utilities as a percentage of operating expenditure, at 5.7%. Perhaps it’s time to rethink solar, wind and other sources of renewable energy?

—

Sep 11, 3:15 PM EDT

Ex-prof pleads guilty to killing Ala. colleagues

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — An ex-professor pleaded guilty Tuesday to fatally shooting three colleagues and wounding three others at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, court officials said.

Amy Bishop, 47, pleaded guilty to one count of capital murder involving two or more people and three counts of attempted murder. She had earlier pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Amy Bishop pleads guilty to murder and attempted murder in Madison County.

Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty against the Harvard-educated Bishop and it was not immediately clear if they would drop the penalty as part of the plea deal. Sentencing will be after arguments are heard at a hearing on Sept. 24.

Prosecutors say

Govenor Bentley begs, borrows or steals. -OR- What’s it like living in Alabama? Ever been continuously anally gang-raped?

Not only does Governor Bentley send another man out to do his work, but he steadfastly refuses to do the right thing.

And the Huntsville Times REFUSES to cover Dr. Don Williamson’s stumping-for-the-governor’s “Let me borrow-nearly-a-half-BILLION-dollars-without-a-repayment-plan” appearance at City Hall.

Remember: Whatever you do,

• DO NOT increase tax rates on the wealthiest Alabamians, who already pay a lower rate than the impoverished – who also pay the 3d highest tax rate in the USA (why, even former Republican Governor Bob Riley called for tax change saying, “It is immoral to charge somebody making $5,000 an income tax.”);

• DO NOT increase property tax rates on corporate timber landowners who pay a lower rate than homeowners – who already pay 66% less than the national average;

• DO NOT increase severance tax rates on big oil & gas companies who are extracting those natural resources from under Alabama soil; and for goodness sake, whatever you do,

• DO NOT stop earmarking 9 out of every $10 of state tax revenue. God – and Governing Magazine – knows that our 50th place rank among our nation’s 50 states for fiscal management is as best as the whole state of retards can do.

Face it, folks. Alabama continues to be anally gang-raped by dogdamn retards, who call themselves “politicians.”

And, sadly enough, we apparently like it.

—

Medicaid crisis if Sept. 18 vote fails, state’s chief medical officer says

Written by Bob Johnson, Associated Press
3:11 AM, Aug. 27, 2012

Dr. Don Williamson, State Health Officer with the Alabama Department of Public Health, announces an emergency ruling that two dangerous chemicals marketed as ‘bath salts’ are being added to the Alabama Controlled Substances List during a press conference in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011. (Montgomery Advertiser, Lloyd Gallman) / Advertiser file

Alabama’s chief public health official said Medicaid will be in deep trouble if voters do not approve a Sept. 18 referendum to take more than $437 million from a state trust fund and use it to prevent huge cuts in spending on state programs for three years.

The constitutional amendment, if approved by voters, would take $145.8 million a year for three years out of the Alabama Trust Fund to help balance the budget during a time when tax collections are expected to see little growth.

Some critics say the Alabama Trust Fund was initially set up more than 30 years ago to prevent state officials from raiding oil and gas revenue every time the state has a funding crisis.

State Health Officer Don Williamson, who is temporarily overseeing funding for Alabama’s health care program for the poor, said without receiving money from the trust fund the Medicaid program would be $100 million in the red.

He said this could jeopardize programs that provide medicine for poor patients, reduce payments for doctors who treat Medicaid patients, send more poor patients to emergency rooms and eliminate optional Medicaid programs such as providing life-saving dialysis treatment.

“These are life-threatening choices,” Williamson said.

Williamson told The Associated Press that

Huntsville Judge Donna Pate Sentences Daniel Ray Proctor to TWO Life Sentences on Theft

Alabama‘s prison system will again be pushed to the taxpayers’ breaking point by stupidity such as this sentence. It is extreme – even with the increased severity of punishment required for habitual offenders.

This is the so-called “Three Strikes and you’re out” law in action.

Realistically, “Three Strikes and you’re out” only applies in baseball games. But someone thought it sounded cool, and morphed it into a law in California. Subsequently, California’s prison population has exploded because that state adopted that law. They’ve now seriously modified it. It may be time to rethink sentencing guidelines in Alabama. But the likelihood of that happening is practically negligible.

Thanks to our legislature, this man will now burden every honest Alabama taxpayer.

That’s not to say he and others like him should not be punished, but rather acknowledges the failure of a pop-culture-driven bumper sticker slogan to effectively remedy, ameliorate or mitigate criminality. In essence, there is little or nothing done to correct, and much done to punish. Oddly, every state has a “Department of Corrections,” rather than a ‘Department of Punishments.’ There’s a reason for that, and it’s because there is a two-fold purpose (to punish and correct), with the higher one being correction.

Yet standing in stark contrast is the as-yet-untried, and officially indefinitely delayed case of Amy Bishop, the Harvard PhD-educated biology professor who went on a shooting rampage and killed three, and wounded three other colleagues at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). Even though she has a track record of mental instability,

Alabama Public Television Executive Director Allan Pizzato & CFO Fired, Frog-Marched & Escorted Out Of Building

There’s no love lost for Pizzato’s firing. I’m glad he’s gone.

He’s been nothing but a hindrance to progress and albatross about the neck of Alabama Public Television (APTV) from the time of his hiring. He cut Alabama‘s ONLY STATEWIDE NEWS program “For the Record,” and turned it into a puff piece for politicians and their ilk, then watching it flicker like a candle in the wind, morphed it into some other idiotic nonsense piece of garbage called “Capitol Journal,” which flame eventually burned out.

But hard-hitting interviews had long been gone when long-time news anchor Tim Lennox received a phone call that informed him – while he was out of state on bereavement leave – that he was fired. Yeah… fired over the telephone. No letter, no face-to-face, man-to-man talk. Cowards. When APTV fired Lennox, that was the end of FTR. No more tough questions… softball puff pieces only.

Now perhaps the network can begin to reclaim some of their glory. APTV was the nation’s FIRST public television network. Now, it’s a shadow of a shell of it’s former self. How tragic that Alabama starts with greatness, and ends in a sewer… like the incompetent thieves governing Jefferson County.

My estimation is this entire ordeal is a ruse and a fine excuse to fire Pizzato for his active destruction of APTV.

Regarding Barton’s myopic organization Wall Builders, they’re freaks of nature, as well, who have an unfeigned agenda that has nothing to do with history. They want their brand of Christianity put into every classroom in America. In essence, they want state-supported religion.

Here’s hoping the Alabama Educational Television Commission will hire someone worth their salt who can actually PROMOTE, MANAGE and OPERATE the APTV network as it should be – a cutting-edge, profitable, award-winning, nationally & internationally respected state-run television network, because…

It once was.

—

Exclusive: Dismissals at Alabama PTV linked to concerns over proposed broadcast of videos from religious right

http://currentpublicmedia.blogspot.com/2012/06/exclusive-two-alabama-ptv-firings.html

Jun 13, 2012

Two top managers at Alabama Public Televisionwere fired from their jobs June 12 with no explanation of the cause for the immediate dismissals.

The Alabama Educational Television Commission came out of an executive session Tuesday afternoon and ordered veteran pubcaster Allan Pizzato and his deputy Pauline Howland to clean out their desks and leave APT’s headquarters in Birmingham.

“All I can say is that it was

Corruption in Alabama politics: Oh yeah… they’re Republican.

This is the same 57-year-old Jane Smith, Circuit Court Clerk for Madison County, Alabama who plead guilty to three federal misdemeanors in federal court recently for sharing her high-level password to the state’s judicial system computer records in 2009, avoided jail time, was fined $5000, and placed on one year probation.

She was first elected in 2000, and to her credit, is widely credited with modernizing the clerk’s office and making it among the most efficient in the state.

Jane Smith, Circuit Court Clerk, Madison County, Alabama

Madison County Circuit Clerk plans to stop processing passport applications, cites confusion over fees

Published: Friday, March 30, 2012, 7:08 AM

By Brian Lawson, The Huntsville Times

Madison County Circuit Clerk Jane Smith (Submitted photo)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — Madison County Circuit Clerk Jane Smith said Thursday she will soon stop collecting passport applications, which include a $25 processing fee she is personally allowed to keep.

Federal law sets the fee, and under Alabama law circuit clerks are allowed to keep passport handling fees. Smith said the law was in place before she was elected in 2001. The office began collecting the fees in 1977.

But Smith, who won a third term as clerk in the Republican primary March 13, said ongoing cuts to state court budgets and “continuing confusion over using these fees for official expenses” led her to decide to stop collecting the applications as of May 1.

The funds are not public, though they are collected as part of a public official‘s duties. Smith has said she deposits the collected fees into her bank account and

Alabama’s inept governor & legislature are clueless on how to remedy problems. And in other news…

Face it folks, Alabama MUST change its tax policy and law – something about which Alabamians have been warned for quite some time. It’s not as if we’ve never heard the idea or notion, for indeed, Alabama’s income tax assesses a heavier levy upon the poor than the wealthy, and many large corporate timberland-owners (Georgia Pacific, Weyerhauser, International Paper, Gulf States Paper, et al) pay little or nothing on their vast holdings by comparison to others.

As the issue of a potential shut-down of state services (the forensics lab in Huntsville) relates to criminal prosecution, I could imagine that a sharp attorney could move for dismissal of charges based upon delay of prosecution – which is a federal Constitutional issue – because the Sixth Amendment guarantees the accused the right to a speedy trial, among other aspects of prosecution.

And that issue – a violation of the Sixth Amendment – is one reason why I can imagine former UAH professor Amy Bishop – accused of murdering her colleagues – may have a federal case on her side, because the state of Alabama has virtually shut down all funding of public defense and defenders.

Just to remind the readers, the Sixth Amendment reads: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.”

And for those readers whom, for one reason or another, are not up to speed on the wranglings of Alabama politics, India Lynch vs. State of Alabama – the federal case in which Alabama’s tax policies were on trial – ended in October 2011, with a 854-page ruling in the state’s favor by His Honor, Judge Lynwood Smith in which existing tax structures & organization were found not to be unconstitutional. That story may be found here.

Alabama State Capitol Building, Montgomery, AL

The background: Alabama’s state income tax kicks in for families that earn as little a $4,600. Mississippi starts at over $19,000. Alabamians with incomes under $13,000 pay 10.9 percent of their incomes in state and local taxes, while those who make over $229,000 pay just 4.1 percent. Alabama relies heavily on state sales tax, which runs as high as 11 percent and applies even to groceries and infant formula.

A primary reason Alabama’s poor pay so much is that large timber companies and megafarms pay so little. The state allows big landowners to value their land using ”current use” rules, which significantly underestimate its value. Then individuals are allowed to fully deduct the federal income taxes they pay from their state taxes, something few states allow, which is a boon for those in the top income brackets.

So yeah.

We’re very fouled up here in the heart of Dixie.

And while the GOP controls the Governor’s Office, State House & Senate and most all high-level state offices, there are no signs of progress toward equity or justice.

But read on to learn why…

Potential cuts for state forensics: ‘It’s going to impact everybody’s lives’

Published: Saturday, March 10, 2012, 10:55 AM

By Paul Gattis, The Huntsville Times

Marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamines.

The evidence spans 18,000 different cases. And maybe by 2013, Lonnie Ginsberg hopes, the state will process most everything on those 12 shelves.

Maybe.

This is the uncertain world Ginsberg oversees in cash-strapped Alabama. The director of the Huntsville lab on Arcadia Circle, Ginsberg manages a complex he describes as overworked and understaffed – which is why some drugs confiscated by law enforcement may sit on a shelf for a year before being analyzed.

Given that scenario, Ginsberg is

How the State of Alabama is attempting to railroad Amy Bishop

Like her, love her, think she’s criminally insane, just plain stupid, idiotic, crazy like a fox, or no matter what…

Amy Bishop mug shot from Huntsville (Alabama) Police Department

there’s no denying that it continues to be exceedingly less expensive to keep a convicted criminal in jail for the rest of their natural life, including providing all humane healthcare, than it is to try a capital case – one for which the death penalty may be exacted.

Why?

The cost of mandatory appeals associated with death penalty cases, and lawyers’ time get very expensive.

It’s a crying shame that the state of Alabama has decided they do not want to pay for – because the reimbursement rate is so low, they might as well not pay for – just representation for the accused. It speaks volumes to the extremely lopsided sense of meanness – even cruelty – that have overcome many.

That statement is not meant to deny genuine representation, but to prevent abuse. Nor is it to forbid justice, but rather to assist in eliminating despiteful abuses of the system.

When one cannot pay for a case, it is justice denied.

And when one is denied justice, all are denied justice.

E pluribus unum.

Alabama wants Amy Bishop trial judge to cancel order for payments to expert witnesses

Published: Friday, February 24, 2012, 3:33 PM
Updated: Friday, February 24, 2012, 3:41 PM

 By Brian Lawson, The Huntsville Times The Huntsville Times

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — Attorneys for the Alabama Comptroller’s Office want the judge in the Amy Bishop capital murder case to vacate his orders for payments to defense expert witnesses and testing, according to a court filing today.

Bishop is set to go on trial

Huntsville Utilities: Corrupt, or merely incompetent?

Over the past several weeks – perhaps indeed, months – Huntsville Utilities has come under increasing criticism; most recently for significant changes to their operations and policies.

The Huntsville Times‘ headlines for Friday, July 1, 2011 recently plastered the public utility with the headline “Charity targets utility’s high fees“.

At issue are the utility’s exorbitant rates for establishing initial service and reconnection – which in many cases can be as high as $1000, or more.

The Huntsville chapter of the Society of

Amy Bishop indicted for UAH murders

Doubtless, former UAH president David B. Williams will be called to testify, and or be sued as well.

Amy Bishop indicted in UAH shootings

Published: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 5:01 PM
By Brian Lawson, The Huntsville Times

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — A Madison County grand jury has indicted Amy Bishop on capital murder and attempted murder charges in connection with the February 2010 campus shootings at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

David B. Williams, former UAH President, turns coat to Ohio

I have nothing good to say about David B. Williams – save, perhaps, that he is alive. In stark contrast, three of his former colleagues are not. Williams should be thankful.

This is my speculation, that undoubtedly – which is to say, I wouldn’t be surprised in the least that – Williams was pressured to resign by the University of Alabama System‘s Board of Trustees.

Considering Williams’ ‘Bull in the China Shop‘ management approach,

UAH President Dr. David B. Williams resigns… as predicted.

Regular readers of this blog will note that in an earlier entry entitled “UAH President Dr. David Williams to resign” which was published Wednesday, February 17, 2010, I predicted Williams’ resignation.

Today’s – Tuesday, March 15, 2011 – Huntsville Times front page headline which read “Williams surprises UAH with departure,” comes as no surprise at all.

UAH President David Williams resigns – Huntsville Times front page 3/15/11

What I found particularly interesting about the article was that

Goin’ Postal… Alabama Style

Too weird to be true – nut it… er, but it is.

Click here to see the actual story in the newspaper that reported it – The Huntsvile… er, Huntsville Times.

However… a word to “the wise”: It ain’t worth it – neither death will resolve or solve anything. Tomorrow’s another day, and things will change. Just reach out and ask for help. You are loved more than you know.

Nothing is impossible with God, even help when you’re at your wit’s end.

Here is a prayer, especially for you:

Oh glorious apostle St. Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the name of the traitor who delivered thy beloved Master into the hands of His enemies has caused thee to be forgotten by many, but the Church honors and invokes thee universally as the patron of hopeless cases–of things despaired of. Pray for me who am so miserable; make use, I implore thee, of that particular privilege accorded thee of bringing visible and speedy help where help is almost despaired of. Come to my assistance in this great need, that I may receive the consolations and succor of heaven in all my necessities, tribulations and sufferings, particularly ( -here mention your request- ), and that I may bless God with thee and all the elect throughout eternity. I promise thee, O blessed St. Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favor, and I will never cease to honor thee as my special and powerful patron, and to do all in my power to encourage devotion to thee. Amen

Told ‘ya so! Big Spring Jam DOA

“It wasn’t going to be a good festival this year.”

Duh! I TOLD YOU SO, nearly a month ago!

-Donn Jennings, Big Spring Jam co-founder, partner, promoter

Faithful readers will recall that on Tuesday, 23 March 2010 I wrote the following entry:

It’s official: No more Big Spring Jam in Huntsville

Today’s (Friday, 16 April 2010) Huntsvillle (Behind The) Times headline reads: 2010 JAM IS CANNED.

What would the Tennessee Valley do without their CON (Corporately Owned Newspaper)?

Perhaps they’d have to figure out where to get their daily dose of truth!

(Behind The) Times Entertainment Writer Chris Welch’s lame introduction to the uninformative article sparks no interest, “For the first time in 18 years, there will be no jammin’ this September in Big Spring International Park.” Then, he drones on and on, nearly boring the readers to tears with vis-à-vis remarks that, “… The Times editorial board…,” “… the Jam has brought in headliners…,” (isn’t that the stuff that’s stuck to the top of your car’s interior roof? How about some better adjectives and verbiage, Chris?), and more uninformative blather.

The only scintilla of information about what may REALLY be going on is contained in the second paragraph: “Organizers… told… that the 18th Big Spring Jam… will be canceled this year because of downtown construction at the Von Braun Center and Huntsville Museum of Art.” (The …s are omission of extraneous, useless information.)

Redstone Federal Credit Union President: “Members hardly said anything.”

Huntsville, AL-based Redstone Federal Credit Union President Joe Newberry was characteristically tight-lipped about security when he spoke recently about their new computer system being hacked.

Saying only that

Discovery Middle School Murder – Madison, AL

By now, news of the murder of ninth grader Todd Brown at Discovery Middle School in Madison, Alabama has traveled around the globe. With text messages and the Internet, it was probably

Riley’s weakest speech ever

This evening (Tuesday, 12 January 2010), in his final “state of the state” address to the legislature and the people of Alabama, Governor Bob Riley delivered one of the worst speeches I have ever heard – it was definitely not his personal best.

The way I see it, good-bye and good riddance Bob. You’ve screwed Alabama seven years too long.

You and your cronies cry and whine over public scrutiny given to your $13,000,000 no-bid contract to some nefarious, no-name, no contact information, no website, no identity, no address “company” with ties to your Washington Republican insiders called “Paragon,” claiming no other company or person could do the work. But you’ve been proven wrong by the Huntsville Times, which reported that over 150 Alabama-based companies could have done the work you awarded to that Virginia “company”  by deliberately abandoning the publicly competitive process that saves taxpayers’ dollars.

You boast about jobs you’ve created, but at $55,600/year, which is Alabama’s average household income for a family of three, that $13,000,000 could have employed 233 people in Alabama for a year, or 117 for two years – which is the contract’s term.

It is indeed ironic that paragon means the highest and greatest example; and in this case, it is one to avoid.

Oh… and since you are the undisputed King of No-Bid Contracts – having awarding more no-bid contracts that any other governor in Alabama’s history (against which you campaigned as candidate) – let me publicly call you an ASSHOLE, LIAR and HYPOCRITE.

Alabama Governor Bob Riley addresses the people and legislature in his final "state of the state" address, Tuesday evening, January 12, 2010 in the Montgomery capitol building.