Alabama Gazette - The people's voice of reason

During the waning days of the campaigns for Governor and U.S. Senator, I received an inordinate amount of correspondence lamenting the outrageous, demagogic, disingenuous, negative ads, especially on...

When I was in seminary I served as the Volunteers in Mission Coordinator for all the United Methodist volunteer mission teams that came to serve with the Methodist Church of Mexico. I served directly...

The governor’s races of bygone years were a lot more fun and colorful than todays. We would have 10 to 15 candidates. There would be three or four favorites, but we would have 10 others that would...

Here are three of my favorite reflections taken from my book: Perceptions, Collection of Favorites, Volume 2. Complain, Complain A certain monastery enforced a vow of silence. Each monk could utter...

For several years leading up to the 2010 Census count, the national projections were that Alabama would lose one of our seven congressional districts and drop to six. When the count was taken, we...

John Wesley, who founded the Methodist movement back in the 1700s, impacted the world and the church in ways that many people, even Christians, don’t really understand. Most haven’t a clue who...

Incumbency is a potent, powerful, inherent advantage in politics. That fact is playing out to the nines in this year’s Alabama secondary constitutional and down ballot races. Several of the...

Courage is defined as “the ability to control fear and to be willing to deal with and face something that is dangerous, difficult or unpleasant.” Another source defines courage as “the quality...

Allow me to deviate from politics to discuss an important event for our state. The World Games 2022 will place Birmingham and the entire state of Alabama squarely in the global spotlight. Believe it o...

1. Speak to people. There is nothing as nice as a cheerful word or greeting. 2. Smile at people. It takes seventy-two muscles to frown, only fourteen to smile. 3. Call people by name. The sweetest...

As the final regular legislative session of the quadrennium evolves, it is apparent that the legislature will not touch any substantive or controversial issues, but simply pass the budgets and go...

On January 10, 2022, Georgia finally won the NCAA College Football Playoff by beating the University of Alabama in the National College Football Championship game. They are now the undisputed...

[The year ] 2022 was anticipated to be an exciting competitive election year. However, it is going to be a yawn of a political year. If you thought there was no competition for the constitutional...

Get Outside I recently read that the average person spends 93% of their life indoors! Wow! That is unbelievable. And sad. That means that if you live to be 100 years old, you will have spent 93 of...

The new lines are finally drawn for next year’s state legislative and congressional elections. They have just made it under the wire for the late January qualifying deadline and the May 24, 2022 pri...

John’s version of the Christmas story begins like this: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.Through Him all things...

Every 10 years the nation has a census count. There is a reason for that dissemination of our population. The United States and concurrently the Alabama Constitution require a census to determine how...

“The wise can see where they are going, but fools walk in the dark.” Ecclesiastes 2:14 “For the evil person has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.” Proverbs 24:20 In his...

Our senior senator, Richard Shelby, has left an indelible legacy and imprint on our state. Every corner of the state has been the recipient of his prowess at bringing home the bacon to the Heart of...

A young boy was the key witness in an important lawsuit. The attorney had put the boy through a rigorous cross-examination and had been unable to shake his concise, damaging testimony. He had given cl...

Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day? Were you in the yard with your wife and children Or working on some stage in L.A.? Did you stand there in shock At the sight of tha...

Former President Donald Trump paid a visit to the Heart of Dixie last [month]. Obviously, this is Trump country. Alabama was one of Trump’s best states in the 2020 Election. He got an amazing 65%...

Most states have one General Fund Budget. We are only one of five states that have two. Some of you have asked why we have two budgets – one for the General Fund and one for Education. Here is why....

There were two major issues not resolved during the just completed regular legislative session. Gambling and prisons were left on the table and up in the air. It is foolish to not address a...

Only four people ever successfully escaped to freedom from the federal prison on Alcatraz Island. The following story is an excerpt from my book, Free For All, which explores the different ways we...