Alabama
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6:03 a.m.
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Admit it, you knew the $40/hour vs. $75/hour spin had to be a fabrication , even if Alabama Congressman Spencer Bachus was flogging it recently: “I have automobile plants in my district. They pay $25 to $35 per employee per hour,” said Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, ranking Republican on the House Financial Services Committee. “I am sure that I am going to be asked,...
Left in Alabama - Fri 9:30 p.m. - 4 clicks 
We're #1!!! We have Alabama Power to thank. According to the Environmental Integrity Project , the Miller Plant in West Jefferson County releases more mercury into the air than any other plant across the nation. Two thousand pounds annually. The Gaston Plant in Shelby County pumps out more than a thousand pounds a year. Mercury ...
Left in Alabama - Fri 6:10 p.m. - 6 clicks
As Dr. Parker Griffith successfully won his bid for the U.S. House of Representatives, he will soon have to vacate his Alabama State Senate seat. What are the issues that are important to the constituents of this district? Who are the main contenders (according to published news reports) ? What issues impact your support of a candidate? What do the "Progressive Voices" in Alabama...
Left in Alabama - Fri 1:00 p.m. - 9 clicks
After listening to southern Senators Bob Corker and Richard Shelby berate the US Automotive industry on TV and in the Senate Chambers this week, I decided I need to find out what's going on in our auto industry. ...
DailyKos (Alabama) - Fri 11:25 a.m. - 13 clicks
Under the best of conditions the Alabama Legislature can only do so much -- and most years they do a lot less -- so they definitely need to prioritize their work and focus on important things first. I'm happy that removing the sales tax on groceries is high on the list , at least for Democrats. There's every reason to make the grocery tax repeal a legislative priority this y...
Left in Alabama - Fri 10:40 a.m. - 10 clicks
For days, I watched interviews with Senator Dick Shelby of Alabama all over the media. He repeats his opposition to the $25 billion dollar bailout that GM, Ford, Chrysler and their supplier companies promise to pay back. He knows that almost 2.6 million Americans will be out of work if these companies fail. If that is the case then why would the good Senator from the Yellowhammer State believ...
DailyKos (Alabama) - Fri 8:50 a.m. - 12 clicks
Irene, the Official Democratic Donkey, and her human friend, Willie "Doc" Kirk, are scheduled to take part in yet another Inaugural Parade - their first since President Clinton's second inaugural in 1997. Irene also 'marched' in Clinton's first inaugural in 1993. But she was a fixture in Alabama politics before that. I remember having my picture taken with her at B...
Left in Alabama - Fri 4:43 a.m. - 9 clicks
More and more it looks like Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) could become a historic figure, both in Alabama and the Deep South. Davis shows extraordinary promise for leading Alabama toward a brighter future, even though recent election results show huge chunks of our electorate cling doggedly to our unfortunate past. In the aftermath of Barack Obama's victory in the presidential election, it's hard not ...
Legal Schnauzer - Thu 8:20 a.m. - 10 clicks
Just for fun, GenderAnalyzer will analyze any website and make an "educated guess" as to whether it's written by a man or a woman. I guess it's tough with a community blog -- multiple authors and so forth -- but I still think their LiA guess diverges considerably from reality. Maybe it's all the guys writing comments. We think http://www.leftinalabama.com is written by...
Left in Alabama - Wed 10:01 p.m. - 13 clicks
If you're tired of the Obama cabinet sweepstakes, or trying to game the last couple of Senate races, try this: Alabama will elect an all-new governor in 2010. Bob Riley is term-limited. So what does the Republican field look like? Republicans rumored to be considering a run include Bradley Byrne (current head of the two year college system), Kay Ivey (State Treasurer), and Jack ...
Left in Alabama - Wed 9:10 p.m. - 11 clicks
When I set out to write a blog about justice-related issues, I never dreamed that drunk driving would become one of our topics. But DUI is on our radar because three such Alabama cases have interesting connections to our Legal Schnauzer story. We recently wrote about the DUI cases of two Alabama football heroes --former University of Alabama and Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken "Snake" Stabler...
Legal Schnauzer - Wed 2:08 p.m. - 12 clicks
. UPDATE: Dingell OUT, Waxman IN . . Actually, it was an email. Note: See bottom of Comment for link to article referred to in Email below -- : Dear Senator Shelby, Greetings from Birmingham. While I confess having never really recovered from your switch to the GOP, I am compelled to give credit, and kudos, to you when it's due. I've just f...
Left in Alabama - Wed 7:05 a.m. - 22 clicks
Before I had a firsthand experience with Alabama courts, I was probably like most of you--I assumed judges were honest. (Boy, was I wrong about that.) Even after I had come to understand that trial-court judges can be grossly corrupt, I assumed appellate judges were honest, that they would fix anything that lower courts did wrong. (Boy, was I wrong about that one, too.) This gets to perhaps the...
Legal Schnauzer - Tue 1:01 p.m. - 18 clicks
If you ever need a reminder of how dense people can be, feel free to check back on this post. Why? Well, we have a report that gun sellers in the Birmingham area say sales have skyrocketed since the presidential election. It seems gun enthusiasts are stocking up because they fear President-Elect Barack Obama will tighten restrictions on gun ownership. Never mind that Obama has said he "respect...
Legal Schnauzer - Tue 11:10 a.m. - 17 clicks
http://www.bilerico.com/... The auto industry bailout was the topic du jour on all the sunday talk shows this weekend, and the hypocrisy of those conversations is something I can simply not let go unanswered. shelbyofficialphotocolor250.jpgTo be clear, I believe the first Wall Street bailout was a complete one over on the American people and another corporate welfare giveaway to Wall Stre...
DailyKos (Alabama) - Tue 9:24 a.m. - 16 clicks
Zachary Roth of TPMuckrakers is reporting that the DOJ has refused to honor a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee for documents relating to the investigation they are doing into irregularities in the prosecution of former Alabama Governor, Don Siegelman. “Conyers is investigating whether the 2006 prosecution on corruption charges of Siegelman a Democrat, was politically motiv...
Left in Alabama - Tue 7:44 a.m. - 10 clicks
Friday normally is a relatively quiet day in the blogosphere. But this past Friday was anything but calm, with the breaking story by Time magazine's Adam Zagorin about shenanigans in the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. The story reverberated around the Web throughout the weekend and has potential for a number of intriguing followups. Let's take a look at the latest turn in...
Legal Schnauzer - Mon 8:08 a.m. - 10 clicks
A whistleblower from inside the Justice Department has provided documents that raise questions about the behavior of prosecutors during the case of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. Tamarah T. Grimes, a legal aide who worked in the office that prosecuted Siegelman, provided the documents, according to a major investigative story by Adam Zagorin of Time magazine. Grimes worked for Leura ...
Legal Schnauzer - Nov 14 - 17 clicks
You probably will not be surprised to learn that William C. Thompson, presiding judge of the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals, has not responded to my e-mail asking him to explain unlawful findings he made on my appeal. You also will not be surprised to learn that Thompson won his third six-year term on the all-Republican court last week, even though he is demonstrably corrupt. The good news i...
Legal Schnauzer - Nov 13 - 9 clicks
We posted recently about former University of Alabama and Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler and the curious acquittal he received from a municipal judge in south Alabama on a drunk driving charge. Now we learn that a former standout at Alabama's other football factory, Auburn University, is trying his darnedest to keep up with Stabler--if not pass him--in the DUI derby. Lionel James, who...
Legal Schnauzer - Nov 12 - 12 clicks
Are Southerners Hell Bent on Marginalizing Themselves? The answer to our title question appears to be a resounding yes, based on an article by Adam Nossiter of The New York Times . The piece is datelined Vernon, Alabama, and it is a compelling and disturbing read about the mindset of white Southerners. Nossiter reports that almost 90 percent of white voters went for McCain in Alabama. A si...
Legal Schnauzer - Nov 12 - 10 clicks
Here in Mobile, we have a snippy little joke about the “MGM Club”—”Married Gay Men.” There does seem to be a disproportionately large number of these marriages in my town. (I’d call them “mariages des convenances,” except I believe that term implies the wife’s knowledge of and cooperation with the arrangement; here, it seems like [...]...
Birmingham Blues - Nov 11 - 11 clicks
The Birmingham News is aflutter over the prospects of a Barack Obama-led Justice Department. And what is the newspaper's concern? That an Obama Justice Department might not administer justice the way the Bush administration has. I'm not making this up, folks. Alabama's largest newspaper actually thinks the Bush administration has been running an honest justice operation for the past eight year...
Legal Schnauzer - Nov 11 - 12 clicks
Did former University of Alabama and Oakland Raiders football star Ken Stabler receive an unlawful break when he was acquitted recently on drunk driving charges? It looks that way. Does Stabler's case raise issues that are about to become central to our Legal Schnauzer story? You're darn tootin'. (Good Lord, I sound like Sarah Palin; sorry about that.) How could the Stabler and Schnauzer st...
Legal Schnauzer - Nov 10 - 13 clicks
A source with connections to the U.S. Justice Department told me a couple of months ago that his contacts were saying Alabama Congressman Artur Davis has substantial support as attorney general in a potential Barack Obama administration. I didn't think too much of it at the time because Davis has steadfastly said he does not plan to have a formal role in an Obama administration and is more intere...
Legal Schnauzer - Nov 7 - 12 clicks
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), my former employer, can't seem to stay out of trouble related to human resources. Regular readers know about my firing from UAB and some of the university's machinations in trying to cover up a clearly wrongful termination. Heck, UAB's own grievance committee determined it was wrongful. Now we learn that UAB has stepped in more HR doo-doo. This ...
Legal Schnauzer - Nov 6 - 8 clicks
When folks at the American News Project (ANP) decided to chronicle election day 2008, Birmingham seemed a natural destination. Polls were showing that the country was poised to elect its first African-American president. And perhaps no U.S. city is more associated with the struggle for civil rights than Birmingham. In fact, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is a prime stop for anyone want...
Legal Schnauzer - Nov 5 - 13 clicks
The presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain definitely is the big-ticket item in today's election. But what if you live in a devoutly red state, such as Alabama, where it's a foregone conclusion that Obama is not going to prevail? What's a progressive to do? Mrs. Schnauzer and I pondered these questions before casting our ballots this morning, and we came up with our own "Southern...
Legal Schnauzer - Nov 4 - 8 clicks
It's hard to know whether to laugh or to cry upon reading the following quote from Mike Hubbard, chairman of the Alabama Republican Party: "I think some of us in Alabama are just baffled by how the rest of the country seems to be falling for a guy who is a socialist and Marxist." It's easy to laugh at Hubbard's ignorance of history. But it's sad to think that we are in 2008, and Alabama stil...
Legal Schnauzer - Nov 3 - 14 clicks
