The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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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 surprised ourselves and the nation and kept our seven seats in the United States Congress. Therefore, the legislature’s task in drawing our seven congressional districts was relatively easy. Except for some tweaking here and there due to growth in Madison, Limestone, Lee, Shelby and especially B...
It was no surprise when 60 years ago President Kennedy nominated Byron White as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. With few detractors and almost nationwide acclaim, White was almost everyone’s choice, and his confirmation was dizzying. Nominated on April 3, his judiciary committee hearing began just eight days later. After White testified for 15 minutes, his nomination was unanimously approved and immediately moved to the Senate floor, where he was confirmed by a simple v...
Enough is enough. I cannot stress that “enough.” I know I am not supposed to speak ill of our leaders and I do pray for the President often. But at the same time, every single one of us in this country has got to come to the realization that this man is in no way “in the game.” He is absolutely horrible but I believe that can be attributed to his clearly decreasing cognitive abilities and shame on his wife and all other people who let this man go into the public eye and continually embarra...
As expected, Joe’s approval numbers are in the ‘Trumpster.’ Duopoly voter buyer’s remorse once again set in as election hype attenuates. You’ll find admission of remorse difficult to extract from any Joesophant (blind Biden supporter) as was the case with MAGAts (blind Trump supporters) after the 2016 election Kabuki show. Readers of past columns may recall my explanation of stolen Presidential elections as taken from the PEOPLE under our current, very UN-representative republic results....
Patrick Henry opposed adoption of the U.S. Constitution and warned the South about its partners, the New England “Puritans.” Realizing the antagonistic regional economic interests, Henry reasoned that once the North gained a firm majority, Southern rights would be trampled. He said: “I am sure that the dangers of this system are real, when those who have no similar interests with the people of this country are to legislate for us—when our dearest interests are to be left in the hands of those w...
There is a case decided in March 2022 arising out of the state of Texas. Factually, it involved the horrific murder of Texas resident Pablo Castro in 2004 by John Ramirez [and two other assailants] for less than $2.00. [All three were convicted of three robberies that same night]. One woman managed to escape unharmed by giving the three her purse after the knife used to kill Castro was held to her neck in front of her 2-year-old son. Another woman escaped in her vehicle after the trio attempted...
Joe Biden has shown his true colors. He has sold us out lock, stock and barrel to the most leftist fringe elements of the Democrat Party. He now worships at the altar of the Green New Deal. In his own words, “No more subsidies for the fossil fuel industry; no more drilling including offshoren; no ability for the oil industry to continue to drill period. It ends.” Under President Trump, we had regained our energy independence much to the chagrin of the global elites. When he took office, Bid...
Cities across America own golf courses, but analysis from the Reason Foundation shows that many lose money on them. Is subsidizing golf a proper function of government? The Reason study found over cities reporting finances for their golf courses. Seventy percent of cities lost money in 2020, which may have been unrepresentative due to state COVID restrictions. All four Alabama cities reported on (Fort Payne, Gadsden, Millbrook and Pelham) lost money on golf. In the market, losses indicate that...
For nearly four years, we fed-up Alabama citizens have been anxiously waiting for this May 24th Republican primary to clean up our political nightmares—rotten politicians who had earlier promised to follow the fundamentals of our U. S and state Constitutions, individual sovereignty, and minimal government intrusion. Instead, they have corrupted their ethics, their duties, our state, and our nation. As I have said in the past, I keep wishing for gubernatorial, legislative and local elections e...
It is difficult to watch Russia’s invasion of Ukraine isn’t it? Since the beginning, citizens of the world have watched helplessly. As individuals, it can feel as if there is practically nothing substantial we can do to help as the war continues rage on after 50 days. We can donate or we can pray, but it seems much too little too late either way. It is hard not to look away from the images and videos coming out of Ukraine. It is reminiscent of World War II for people who were not even born yet...
As humans, we like to plan. Whether they are big or small, we plan what we are going to eat for dinner and we plan what we want to do as a career or where we want to move after college. We plan for both the little things and big things. But sometimes life doesn’t quite go as planned. God has a different plan and throws us curve balls sometimes. “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” – Ephesians 4:2 The only thing we can do to make sure we have a great fu...
War crimes are defined by the four Geneva conventions, which speak to certain aspects of war crimes. Additionally the Hague convention also speaks to war crimes. War crimes began to be addressed as early as the 1400s. The International Crimes Court could be a court to address Putin’s crimes. While many countries are signatories to the ICC, there are several that do not accept it’s jurisdiction. To accept it’s jurisdiction could mean that a matter could be taken from the hands of a sover...
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 constitutional office incumbents do not have Republican or Democratic opposition. Of course, having a Democratic opponent is the same as not having an opponent in a statewide race in Alabama. A Democrat cannot win in a statewide contest in the Heart of Dixie. Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth will be elected to a...
Had she lived, the Queen of Soul would have been 80-years-old in March. For at least 60 of her 76 years, Aretha Franklin shared her vocal gift all over the world. In addition to bringing her both critical and commercial success, her voice became a symbol for a new generation of Americans. Older generations rooted in staid and static smugness frowned upon popular culture for breeding new forms of entertainment and activism, which promoted an expression of unique, differing and contrasting ideas....
Okay, the title is a lie. Nobody hates being right. Let’s talk Ukraine. Everybody reading this has been inundated with news from Eastern Europe for the past month and little of it is good. Except that the Ukrainians are taking it to the Russians, killing a lot of their soldiers and making Mr. Putin rethink his own calculus with this whole invasion thing. Like I wrote in one of my prior Robservations, when asked what the Ukrainians were thinking, one older gentleman answered, “We are thi...
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” No truer words have ever been spoken. I am worried that the Alabama Republican Party is forgetting the past and what events lead to the rise of their party in Alabama. The year was 1986. The Democratic Party was in control. It was time to pick a successor to George Wallace who had dominated Alabama politics for two decades. Lt. Governor Bill Baxley had been waiting in the wings since the early 1970s. He had served as Attorney Gen...
Throughout our history, we have had some great presidents, and also some terrible ones. There are few people we can trust to judge our past leaders with much accuracy. Most scholars correctly rate Washington and Jefferson at or very near the top. But these same “scholars” have very often ranked some of our very worst up there with them. Nearly all of the popular polls and lists are very wrong. Sadly, these people have used the wrong procedures in making their judgements. Most have used the quant...
Longtime Alabama Gazette contributor Sheriff Derrick Cunningham’s service as President of the Alabama Sheriff’s Association (since January 2020) came to a close with installation of Sheriff Jay Jones last month. One can easily imagine Sheriff Cunningham, among the most respected Gazette supporters, was ready for a break after quickly walking into the Covid response quagmire. Perhaps Sheriff Cunningham could impose on Sheriff Jones to submit articles of interest at times as his succeeding Pre...
Court historians and perpetuators of the righteous cause myth have devoted much attention to the abolitionist John Brown. Heavily financed by the Secret Six (mainly Northern Industrialists and Unitarians), Brown led a rag-tag band of murderous misfits. The first person they killed in Virginia was Heyward Shepherd, a highly respected free Black man intelligent enough to not join their gang. Brown was eventually arrested, tried, convicted, and hanged for committing treason against the...
Much is being written in the areas of law and ethics on the “character” of corporations, their corporate cultures, whether the corporation is a moral agent, etc. These writings focus on Aristotle and Virtue Ethics, Immanual Kant and Kantian Ethics, externally imposed Corporate Compliance and Ethics Programs mandated for public corporations by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and external evaluations by courts when following the United States Sentencing Commission’s guidelines for the sentencing of organ...
The Alabama Legislature has once again introduced a lottery proposal that would give voters the opportunity to choose whether or not Alabama can have a lottery. It is one of the only states in the union not to have a lottery. They do this every year. I write about it every year. They meet, and talk, and wring their hands, and second-guess themselves. They open it up for public discussion. Then they get anxious and table whatever plan they were considering and agree to start over from scratch...
Before He was ever crucified, Jesus gave the perfect summary of the foundation of Christianity. I just saw this in His Word for the very first time. I was thinking about Easter and thinking about the cross, when I remembered something Jesus said in Matthew 22:34-40. The greatest commandment deals with our VERTICAL relationship with God. The first, and most important relationship issue that we must settle in our lives is our relationship with God. It was broken by sin, but the bridge upward to Go...
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 or not, this once-in-a-lifetime event is only a few months away with approximately 3,600 athletes from more than 100 countries and up to 500,000 visitors expected to flood Birmingham for one of the world’s largest athletic competitions. Folks, there are many questions about the World Games 2022. Is i...
Eighty years ago this month, with the stroke of a pen, President Franklin Roosevelt in Executive Order 9066 effectively relegated 120,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps. Many of these American citizens were afforded no rights to object to their removal, and there was no procedure to prove loyalty to the United States. These citizens were interned solely because of their ancestry, nothing else. In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, there was widespread fear that the Empire of Japan might...
Here I go again with several interesting stories that have happened or are happening as I write this. Let’s face it. The world can be a disappointing place. I call this installment of Bits and Pieces, “Where in the Heck Is...?” 1. WHERE IN THE HECK IS THE U.N.? In my last Robservation, I asked a similar question. Regarding the likely Russian invasion of the Ukraine: Where is the U.N.? What are they doing? What have they said? What actions are they willing to take? As the last month has come...
