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.

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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

Congratulations, Mark Zuckerberg! And welcome to the 1% of the 1% class!

Is it clear enough that Wall Street denizens like neither FaceBook or Mr. Zuckerberg?

They bitched, moaned, groaned, griped, carped and complained about his attire.

Now, the stock of his company is tanking, and readers will recall the title of an earlier post which asked “How is FaceBook’s IPO like Erectile Dysfunction?”

To be certain, this is not a reflection upon Mr. Zuckerberg’s character, but rather a form of criticism of his company’s business model. More specifically, it is the demonstrated lack of a concrete, long-term profit-making revenue stream which has many analysts concerned about the firm’s long-term viability.

By the way, based on 2009 tax year filing data, the Internal Revenue Service says an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of $343,927 or more, will put you in the top 1 percent of taxpayers.

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Mark Zuckerberg earns $1.1 billion from selling Facebook shares

By Salvador Rodriguez

May 22, 2012, 5:35 p.m.

Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday completed the transaction of the 30.2 million shares he sold in Facebook’s IPO Friday.

The shares he disposed of sold for $37.58 a piece, bringing him a cool $1.1 billion. But despite all that money, the Facebook CEO will be

Cheap Labor: Alabama legislature to consider bill allowing prisoners to be hired

In Alabama, it’s “Deja Vu all over again,” or “Back to the Future” again, and again, all over again…

Some folks say they want to “take America back.”

The only problem I have with that, is that they never say where, or how far back they want to take America.

Do they want to take it back to the Jim Crow law era, before the time of Civil Rights?

Or, do they want to take it back to before suffrage (the right of women to vote)?

Or, God forbid, dare they take it back even further? Surely not to King George!

Where ARE our “leaders'” sense of ethics, righteousness and justice?

I remain convinced, they are

Tiny printing problem on ballots causes small stir in Mobile, Alabama -or- The Benefits of Optical Scanner Ballots

{UPDATE 3/15/12: I modified the title of this entry, because I believe it more accurately reflects what I wish to express in sharing this entry, that…} While no balloting system is perfect, Alabama‘s system – the Optech Eagle 2000 optical scanner – is the best I’ve ever seen or used. Having been an election official in numerous elections throughout the state where the system is implemented (and the system is implemented state wide), I have never seen, nor heard of any failures or inability of ballots to be counted.

The beauty of that system is that even if electricity or the machines fail, ballots are able to be securely cast by voters, because they’re deposited in a securely locked box to which the ballot counting machine is attached. And even if there were no machines to function at all, ballots could be counted and voter intent determined by manual examination of the ballots. Voters can even request a new ballot if they cast their ballot in error, or change their mind. The “glitch” described in this story – while exceedingly rare – in no way detracted from the ability of votes to be counted, or voter intent determined.

With electronic balloting however, if a machine fails or electrical power fails, there’s no way for voters to cast their ballots. As well, electronic algorithms and computer code can be hacked. And security breaches of such code continues to be problematic. Further, if a voter casts a ballot in error, voters cannot change their vote with electronic balloting.

Mobile County ballot problems caused by tiny printing error

A small printing error on some Mobile County ballots forced poll workers to count thousands by hand late Tuesday.

Published: Wednesday, March 14, 2012, 6:00 PM     Updated: Wednesday, March 14, 2012, 6:06 PM

By Katherine Sayre, Press-Register
MOBILE, Alabama — A printing mistake on some Mobile County ballots in Tuesday’s election caused electronic voting machines to reject them — forcing poll workers to count roughly 3,000 ballots by hand into the early morning hours, Probate Court officials said today.

“This little white dot,” said Probate Judge Don Davis, pointing to a white, donut-shaped mark barely one-tenth of an inch wide.

The tiny error, though, ended up in an important spot, on the security markings that let the electronic machines know whether to count it. The markings look like a bar code stretching along the side of the ballot.

The faulty marks appeared only on

Irony: Disgraced & Failed Alabama jurist Roy Moore to ride horse to GOP Super Tuesday poll

The irony is not lost.

Fell off horse. Broke ribs. Gets back on same horse. Returns to campaign for same office from which he was previously ousted.

And what’s that colloquially popular saying? “Fuck you and the horse you rode in on”?

You’ll need to read the news item below to fully grasp the significance. It’s simply too ironic.

Folks, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried!

Primer & Brief Political Biography of Republican Roy Moore:
• Resident of Etowah County, AL
• Unsuccessful candidate for several local public offices
• Appointed to public office by late Republican Alabama Governor Guy Hunt (first Republican governor since Reconstruction) to fill the unexpired term of16th Circuit Court judge Julius Swann, whom died in office

• Popularly known as “the Ten Commandments Judge” because he posted a small plaque of them on courtroom wall
• ACLU filed suit against him for his numerous private religious promotions in court, 1995
• Achieved renown/notoriety for his belligerent attitude

• Successfully campaigned for Alabama Supreme Court Justice with help of Karl Rove, 2000
• Prosecuted by Republican Alabama Attorney General  William H. “Bill” Pryor, Jr. for defying Federal Court Order to remove Ten Commandments monument which he commissioned & had secretly installed in the dead of night in the public rotunda of the Alabama Supreme Court building
• Removed as Chief Justice by unprecedented and unanimous vote of the Alabama Court of the Judiciary November 13, 2003, for defying Federal Court Order

• Defeated gubernatorial candidacy by incumbent Republican Governor Bob Riley, 2006
• Re-seeking public office as Alabama Supreme Court Justice, 2012

Roy Moore (right) plans to ride a horse to the polls to cast his ballot in Tuesday's Republican primary. He and the other 2 candidates for chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, incumbent Chuck Malone (left) and Mobile County Presiding Circuit Judge Charles Graddick (center) plan to vote early and then gather with supporters to wait for results.

Alabama Supreme Court race: Roy Moore plans to ride horse to polling station

Published: Monday, March 12, 2012, 2:05 PM     Updated: Monday, March 12, 2012, 2:05 PM

By Brendan Kirby, Press-Register

Alabama Supreme Court hopeful Roy Moore plans to ride to the polls on horseback Tuesday to vote in the Republican primary.

His horseback trek to the polls will come less than a year after he broke several ribs in a horseback riding accident.

Moore and

Scott Olsen, Iraq War Veteran Injured at Occupy Oakland

Iraq War Vet Injured During Oakland Protests

abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/iraq-war-vet-injured-oakland-…

By TERRY COLLINS Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. October 27, 2011 (AP)

A clash between Oakland police and Occupy Wall Street protesters left an Iraq War veteran hospitalized Wednesday after a projectile struck him in a conflict that came as tensions grew over demonstration encampments across the San Francisco Bay Area.

Scott Olsen, 24, suffered a fractured skull Tuesday in a march with other protesters toward City Hall, said Dottie Guy, of the Iraq Veterans Against the War. The demonstrators had been making an attempt to re-establish a presence in the area of a disbanded protesters’ camp when they were met by officers in riot gear.

Scott Olsen - Iraq War Veteran, moments after he was injured@OccupyOakland

It’s not known exactly what type of object struck Olsen or who might have thrown it, though Guy’s group said it was lodged by officers. Several small skirmishes had broken out in the night with police clearing the area by firing tear gas and protesters throwing rocks and bottles at them.

Police Chief Howard Jordan said at a late afternoon news conference that the events leading up to Olsen’s injury would be investigated as vigorously as a fatal police shooting.

“It’s unfortunate it happened. I wish that it didn’t happen. Our goal, obviously, isn’t to cause injury to anyone,” the chief said.

An Oakland hospital spokesman said Olsen, a network administrator in Daly City, was in critical condition Wednesday.

{PHOTO CAPTION} Occupy Wall Street protesters run from tear gas deployed by police at 14th Street and Broadway in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/Darryl Bush)

Later Wednesday, Oakland officials allowed protesters back into the plaza where their 15-day-old encampment had been raided but said people would be prohibiting from spending the night. The campsite itself was fenced off so it could be cleaned and treated with chemicals.

About 1,000 people quickly filled the plaza for a general assembly where speakers criticized city officials but urged the crowd to remain peaceful. Despite the pleas for order, a small number of people pulled down a section of the fence and the enclosure started falling like dominoes as others jumped on the downed pieces.

“I’m going to