Bobcast: A slow-moving honor?

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

Sea-faring lore holds that sailors often mistook manatees for mermaids. Anyone who's ever seen the large, milky-white sea mammals whose other name is "sea cow" is left wondering just how lonely it must get for men on the open sea.

The U.S. Geological Survey describes them thusly, "Manatees are large, gentle, her-bivorous, slow moving mammals." While it’s difficult imagine them as mythic ocean beauties, manatees are captivating to observe.

The state Legislature is considering making them Alabama’s official marine mammal. That’s good, but it’s also what a therapist might describe as "projection," that is attributing one’s undesirable traits onto another.

While interesting to watch, manatees lack a certain, a-hem, aggression. That's one reason they are endangered. Fast-moving recreational boats often crash into the lethargic mammals that don’t move fast enough to get out of the way.

Sort of like Montgomery, stuck in its ways, resistant to moving quickly to fix what needs fixing in Alabama. And nobody would ever consider Goat Hill to be filled with mermaids.

Cheaha Mountain High

It's a rare day when John Denver song and Anniston Star editorial are mentioned in combination. Thanks to commentary editor Phillip Tutor, tomorrow's editorial page will be the rare exception.

Bobcast: Doing the CDA shuffle

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

You convene to the left.
You meet to the right.
Hand out a bunch of dollars.
Attract a bunch of jobs.
Now you’re doing the CDA Shuffle.

Commercial development authorities (or CDAs) are an instrument Alabama cities can use to, well, develop commercial centers.

As recently demonstrated in an Anniston Star series, Oxford has put its CDA to heavy use. The secretive board has handed out almost $9 million in no-bid contracts over the past 15 years. CDA advocates point to phenomenal retail growth during that time.

Yet, the riches came with a price – the CDA board and its benefactors are deeply inter-connected through of campaign contributions and professional ties. Using public money in a largely accountable way can lead to mischief.

Anniston officials say they are looking at the creation of a CDA, though with more public accountability than Oxford’s.

Nothing wrong with CDA’s in theory. Cities need reliable tools for developing commer-cial districts. Let‘s not let the sunshine of open government be a casualty of a commercial development authority.

Bobcast: The Legislature's two jobs

Latest Bobcast, a preview of my Sunday column, is up. Listen here.

Bobcast: A royal iPod

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

President Barack Obama, while visiting London for this week’s G20 global economic summit, presented the queen of England with a gift, an iPod preloaded with show tunes.

Whoa! Change has come to Washington, from a president who spoke of THE Google and boldly declared he didn’t "do" e-mail to one addicted to his Blackberry and distributing iPods across the globe.

Diplomacy and protocol being what they are it must be quite the challenge to load the queen’s iPod with music.

Don’t download the Sex Pistols’ punk anthem "God Save the Queen," which includes the line, "She ain’t no human being."

Do include anything from 1970s and 1980s rock supergroup Queen.

Don't include Queen’s "Fat-Bottomed Girls," for obvious reasons.

Do include most of Merle Haggard’s catalog; something tells us Queen Elizabeth II would enjoy a strong drink and "Mama Tried" late in the evening.

Don’t include any syrupy Elton John ballad; she’s surely heard enough of that?

Do include Royal Crescent Mob’s cover of the LL Cool J classic "Mama Said Knock You Out."

Don’t bother with Queen Latifah’s early rap efforts.

Do include anything by Aretha Franklin, who is famously known as the Queen of Soul.

And finally, don’t include Madonna, with her obnoxious fake British accent.

Do include "50ft Queenie" by PJ Harvey, who has a genuine British accent.

Bobcast: News to recall

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

And now for some news you can use from Anniston’s City Hall.

Mayor Gene Robinson is apparently sticking with his vow to reverse a rash decision last week to pull funds from downtown development organization. Looks like city dollars will continue flowing to The Spirit of Anniston.

Two councilmen – Herbert Palmore and Ben Little – continue to suggest the former Fort McClellan may not have been properly annexed into the city 10 years ago when the military post was closed. Officials and residents are scratching their heads wondering what will become of city-owned ballfields and a fire station

Earlier this week, Councilman Little, who is black, filed suit against the mayor, claiming Robinson, who is white, is a racist who has threatened his life.

And finally, Alabama Code Section 11-44E-168 remains on the books.
That provision dealing with city government reads, "The mayor or any commissioner shall be subject to recall. To institute a recall election, any registered voter may present a petition to the city clerk having the signatures of no less than 30 percent of the registered voters having voted in the last preceding election."

The law continues, "Upon receipt of such petition, the city clerk shall make ar-rangements under Alabama law to hold such election within 30 days of receipt by the city clerk of such petition.

"Provided that a majority of registered voters vote for the recall, then the city clerk shall thereupon declare that office vacant and the office holder shall no longer be an elected official."

And that’s the news you can use.

Bobcast: Fly them to the moon

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

The skies are decidedly more costly for Auburn University’s top officials than they are for their counterparts in Tuscaloosa.
According to a story in Sunday’s Huntsville Times, AU administrators and trustees racked up $492,640 in expenses associated with use of the university’s two jets dur-ing the ’07-’08 fiscal year.

Over the same period trustees and administrators at the University of Alabama spent $30,500 on travel on one corporate jet. Neither school owns the jets; they belong to the private athletic booster clubs at both institutions. (As an aside this is but one more sign of where the real power resides – one the playing field and the court, not the class-room or the library.)

An Auburn spokesman defended the costly air travel, saying it saves time when compared to flying commercially.

And, we’d add, no commercial flights between Dothan and Andalusia exist. That’s the 65-mile distance flown in an Auburn jet by AU trustee James Rane to get to a May 2008 speaking engagement. The pricetag: $3,213.

Costs associated with college are rising. Taxpayer revenue to support higher ed is falling. A state fund set up to help parents save for college is in serious trouble.

The point seems to be that tooling around on a university jet on the state’s dime is a perk that looks distinctly out of touch with today’s economic downturn.

New Bobcast: Anniston's home-grown terrorists

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here. Inspiration comes from the Star's recent series on the 1965 killing of Willie Brewster.

Bobcast: One more for Sunshine Week

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

Let's have one more from the files of Sunshine Week, those seven days set aside to talk about the value of open records and open government.

"What do you want with it?" is the least meaningful question ever posed by a public official to a citizen and/or a reporter asking for public documents.

Let’s keep it simple. Public records are public for a reason. Accountable government doing its business in the amble sunshine builds trust. An unobstructed view puts more sets of eyes on the workings of the government, which is very the reason legislative bodies have made the laws in the first place.

"What do you want with it?" should never enter the equation.

Bobcast: A bracket we can believe in

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

President Obama shared his NCAA basketball tournament bracket with the world the other day. (You know the thing where you take all the empty blanks of the tournament, fill ‘em and name a champion.)

Change, indeed, has arrived at the White House. Out goes the president who once owned a Major League Baseball team. In comes the president who is a basketball fan (and pickup game player).

Anyway, Louisville, Memphis, North Carolina and Pittsburgh make up Obama’s Final Four. Two swing states made it – hooray. The prez picked the Tar Heels of North Carolina to win the title.

It’s a smart pick and one millions, including the Bobcaster, would agree with, yet it’s not an inspiration worthy of man who recently won a historic campaign.

C’mon, Mr. President, what about the underdogs?

For example, why not audaciously pick the Lumberjacks of Stephen F. Austin, the South region’s 14th seed? They play Syracuse Friday in the opening round. The school from Nacogdoches, Texas, is making its first trip to the big dance.

A Final Four with the Lumberjacks or any of the countless other under-dogs would really be change we could believe in.

Bobcast: Sunshine in Oxford

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

It's time for another tale for Sunshine Week, the seven days set aside by the American Society of Newspaper Editors to call attention to the public’s right to know about government.

Today we look in on Oxford.

In late January, The Star asked the city of Oxford for recent data on road-paving – money spent, roads paved and so on.

We know by state law and by common sense that there’s no doubt that this sort of information should be public. Public money spent on public roadway equals public document.

The good news is that Oxford compiled. The bad news it took more than a week for the city to hand over the data. City officials deftly passed the buck until they got an OK from Leon Smith, Oxford’s long-time mayor.

Here’s the point, and it's bigger than one city or one city’s would-be monarch.

Freedom of information is a cornerstone to a healthy and vital democracy. A public record is open to the public, not because of the whim of one elected official. It’s public because the law and good government practices say so.

Bobcast: Mad about Sunshine Week

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

College basketball fans recognize this as the time when teams are selected for the NCAA tournament.

The event is a buffet of catch-phrases. Selection Sunday comes before the Play-In which builds upon March Madness. By next weekend we’ll have a Sweet Sixteen, then eventually the Final Four on the way to a champion.

Another spectacular starting this Sunday has its own name. I’m thinking of Sunshine Week. Its sponsor, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, calls it “a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information.”

Credit for the name goes to a famed quote by former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. "Sunshine is the best disinfectant" for closed and unaccountable gov-ernment, he said.

Alabama could use a little more of these healing rays. That’s why a group of reformers in Montgomery is hoping to improve the way we keep our eyes on state politicians. Currents rules allow for plenty of shadow when it comes to who is giving what to legislators.

History and statehouse insiders tell us the reformers’ odds are as long as the lowest of March Madness underdog. But the reason we watch the games is because sometimes David beats Goliath and maybe, just maybe, Alabama’s governmental forecast can turn a little sunnier.

Bobcast: Spending for the future

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

A talking point against rising federal government spending is picking up steam in conservative circles.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich sums up the thinking, saying increased federal spending "means our children and our grandchildren for a very long time are going to pay off for the politicians of this generation who have refused to solve problems and just keep borrowing more and more money."

A favored expression is these plans will “mortgage the future” of ensuing generations.

Granted, a lot is going out the door in the form of the $787 billion economic stimulus package, the $700 billion financial system bailout and the $400 billion spending bill recently signed by President Obama (behind closed doors, we’ll add). And there’s more to come if one looks closely at Obama proposed $3.5 trillion budget for next year.


Lost in this is the notion that Americans, in their own budgets, are familiar with mortgaged futures. Millions – 50 million by several estimates – are paying a home mortgage.

Said another way those American homeowners borrowed money for a roof over their heads that they hope to pay off over time. In this sense, a home loan is a promise toward the future, a vow that the borrower’s economic circumstances will improve over time or at the very least won’t go down. We all benefit from this promise as money circu-lates through the nation’s $14 trillion economy.

No guarantees though. Economists tell us 1-in-5 mortgage holders are in the fore-closure process, a key cause for our economic meltdown.

Government spending to keep Americans working again is indeed a mortgage on our future, as the critics say. The world’s most vibrant economy is making an investment, borrowing money it believes can be repaid in better days.

Bobcast: Whole lotto college

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

The ongoing Don Siegelman legal saga is a reminder of a missed lottery opportunity for Alabama.

The federal corruption case against the former governor centers on a contribution made to Siegelman’s pro-lottery war chest. Prosecutors claimed and a jury agreed that the contributor's loot came in exchange for a seat on a state medical board.

The case is on appeal, but that’s a story for another day.

Our concern for now is 1999’s state lottery vote. Siegelman campaigned in 1998’s gubernatorial race on delivering to Alabama what neighbor Georgia already had – namely, a lottery that funded college scholarships for Georgia high school grads.

Since 1993 when the Georgia lottery began, the state has helped more than 1.2 million students with $4.5 billion in college tuition.

The idea is spreading. In 2002, South Carolina implemented a similar lot-tery/scholarship plan. It’s been reported than in seven years schools there have received $2 billion in lottery proceeds.

If things had worked out differently in '99, Alabama would have had a lottery. It would have also opened college to tens of thousands of the state’s residents who might otherwise not have attended. That would have been good for students, state colleges and over time all residents, who reap benefits from a better educated state.

Alabama chose another path. It said "no" in 1999. Problem is it hasn’t said yes to a more viable and lucrative funding proposal for college or college students in the intervening 10 years.

RIP Willie King

AP reports: Alabama blues singer and guitarist Willie King has died, ending a career that took him from backwoods juke joints to the largest blues festivals in North America and Europe. He was 65.
More here and here.

Bobcast: Sleepy savings

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

Today’s offering: Quick facts about Daylight Saving Time, the recent affliction causing so many sleepy stares and missed appointments.

William Willet, a British inventor, is credited with devising Daylight Saving Time in the early part of the 20th century.

Willet was said to have been offended when he discovered how late Brits were sleeping in on summer mornings. However, his notion never took hold until the start of World War I.

In 2005 Congress mandated the extension of Daylight Saving Time by two months, meaning it now begins on the second Sunday in March and concludes on the first Sunday in November.

The 2005 bill contained numerous subsidies to large petroleum companies. In fact, Hillary Clinton has called it the "Dick Cheney lobbyist energy bill." A recent Department of Energy survey discovered the extension of Daylight Saving Time saved half of 1 percent of electricity usage in 2007.

There’s more to say on the time change. At least a dozen more facts on the setting of the clocks forward in spring could be listed. However just now, this correspondent is feeling the effects of a lost hour of sleep and so they’ll just have to wait.

Bobcast: is the stimulus buffet line closing?

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

The Mississippi House of Representatives sent its governor a message Wednesday: The cafeteria is closing.

Gov. Haley Barbour, R-Miss., had decided he would treat the federal government’s recently passed stimulus package like the buffet line at a restaurant. Figuratively speaking, he is willing to take the meat and the gravy (transportation dollars, for instance) but leave off the broccoli (in this case, $50 million in unemployment benefits for part-time workers).

Hold up, said the Mississippi House.

It voted to accept all Mississippi’s $2.8 billion share of the stimulus. The measure is now moving to the Senate in Jackson.

For his part, Barbour isn’t budging from his stance, despite seeing his state’s unemployment reach 9.2 percent in January.

Of course, Barbour isn’t alone. Several other Republican governors, including Alabama’s Bob Riley, have opted for a pick-and-choose stimulus plan.

Perhaps Mississippi is showing others how to shut down the cafeteria.

Bobcast: Suspending free speech?

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

What would you call a presidential administration that would consider rescinding the First Amendment?

Until the release of 2001 Bush legal memos earlier this week, it’s likely that’s a question few ever pondered, or ever wished to ponder.

An Oct. 23, 2001, memo, by President Bush’s Office of Legal Counsel reads, “The government’s compelling interests in wartime justify restrictions on the scope of individual liberty.” The author, John Yoo, continued, “First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully.”

We’re presented with another reminder that the previous administration believed terrorists more powerful than the U.S. Constitution. What else can we conclude? In pursuing bad guys after 9/11 the Bush White House took liberties with our liberties. Bush’s team detained prisoners without trial, employed interrogation techniques deemed torture by international treaty, spied on citizens without the benefit of a warrant, and so on.

What would you call a presidential administration that would consider rescinding the First Amendment?

Would it be wrong to note these actions were directly opposed to the principles laid out by our founders? Would it be wrong to call it anti-American?

Bobcast: Ring, ring ring (Ha, ha, hey)

UPDATE: It's official. Get those dialing fingers ready.


Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

To handle increased phone usage in Alabama’s 256 area code, state utility regulators are considering a fix that would require 10-digit dialing for all calls, even local ones.

Nobody likes change, especially when it comes to telephones. But in an earlier time 10-digit dialing would have been far more daunting. Those three extra digits will be a pain, but imagine doing it on those ancient rotary dial contraptions. It would make one long for the days when a caller picked up the phone and say, "Hey, Sarah, get me Mount Pilot."

Estimates project that more than 8-in-10 Americans own mobile phones today. By 2013, one industry observer predicts, that figure will move to 100 percent. Already in some parts of Europe there are more mobile phones than people.

On mobile phones, the digits used can range from one – to call a friend's number stored in memory – to scores when using the text-message function.

In Japan, a recent craze is cell phone novels. A young woman with time on her hands pounded out a novel using the keypad on her mobile in 2007. When the book called “Dreaming Firefly” was published, it became a bestseller, thus spawning many more cell-phone novelists.

Compared to all this, 10-digit dialing looks like practically nothing.

Bobcast: Health care debate, 2.0

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

Would 1993’s failed presidential health care initiative have worked out differently in an era of an activist netroots and a steadily worsening economy?

All the signs are suggesting we may soon find out.

This week President Obama’s administration plans to roll out it its health care ambitions, which might be summed up as crafting coverage that is more universal and less costly.

In 1993, the newly elected Clinton administration tried something similar. The proposal went down in flames, killed by a mixture of White House cluelessness, con-servative foes and health insurers.

The opposition was best summed up by a series of TV commercials featuring a fictional couple, Harry and Louise.

The message: Clinton would grant government health care regulators the ability to "choose."

"And we lose," Louise adds.

Times have changed. In fact, Harry and Louise were back during the 2008 presidential race, urging a national dialogue on improving U.S. health care.

The economy has changed, as well. And for the worse.

For the better since 1993, is the addition of an Internet, well-stocked with activists. Watch for real-life people to exercise their online power to illustrate frustrations against the current health care system and its inefficiencies and inequities.

Regardless of how Obama’s plans work out, it’s clear we’ll hear more voices in this year’s debate than we did in 1993.

Bobcast: Train the ethics watchdog

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

Too often, Alabama’s rules governing officeholder conduct resemble a Caribbean island bank where U.S. companies park their money away from the prying eyes of the feds.

State campaign finance laws are so dodgy that politicians can legally conceal tons of tainted dollars from well-heeled contributors wishing to remain in the shadows.

Of course, once in office politicians find the going just as smooth. Lobbyists can spend up to $250 a day on an elected official before having to report it. Over a full year that comes to more than $90,000 a legislator could legally take from his good friends the Allied Widgetmakers Association and never have to report a dime.

That sum, while impressive, is less than recently convicted state Rep. Sue Schmitz earned in a sham job strung together through the two-year college system and her fellow lawmakers. The Democrat from north Alabama earned a $177,000 salary for doing essentially nothing, nothing but being a state representative with influence over how much money the two-year system gets.

Several lawmakers are trying to clean up this mess. Bills would cut down on the under-the-table lobbying giveaways, increase reporting requirements and hand more power the state’s ethics watchdogs. Attempts like this have been tried in the past only to fail.

We’ll be watching to see how these measures proceed. So should the rest of the state.

Bobcast: Bob, Bob, Bo-Bob...

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

Some of us are “Bobbys.” Some of us are “Roberts.” And some of us are “Bobs.”
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, the man tapped to offer the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s congressional address Tuesday, is quite clearly a “Bobby.”
Gov. Jindal’s’s sing-songy cadence has been almost universally panned, by both the left and the right. Many are saying the address sounded like wonky Mister Rogers.
Would you be mine? Could by mine? Won’t you be my neighbor? Unless you lost your house.
Bobby is not Jindal’s given name. The inspiration for his adopted first name is said to be the youngest brother on “The Brady Bunch.”
On this point, I must acknowledge my clear pro-Bob bias.
Though it’s a cute name for a kid on a TV show, I believe “Bobby” is a high hurdle for a politician.
Bob Dole? Yes. Robert Kennedy? Yes. Bobby Jindal? Uh, maybe not, though these things are subject to change. Who would have believed last year we’d have a president named Barack?
When I was 4 my imaginary friend was named “Bobby.” (Hey, just because you have an imaginary friend, doesn’t mean you have much imagination, at least in the name department.)
Forty years on, no word on my where my imaginary Bobby landed, but it’s a safe bet he’s stayed clear of politics.

Bobcast: A call for patience to an impatient nation

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

Speaking of his plan to revive the ailing U.S. economy, President Obama on Tuesday sent out a caution. The recovery plans will work over time. Step by step, he predicted, a domino effect will spread from lenders to borrowers to sellers to buyers.
And thus, Obama said, “Slowly, but surely, confidence will return, and our economy will recover.”
“Slowly, but surely?”
In this culture?
Our people, our politics, our elected leaders and our economy are not equipped for “slowly, but surely.”
We are, after all, a nation that taps its collective foot standing in front of the microwave. “When will the baked potato be ready?” we whine. “It’s already been a full 60 seconds!”
And now the president pledges his corrections will work … over time.
Our shot-clock mentality owns a large slice of responsibility for our current financial crisis. Profits had to be maximized now. This quarter. Even top-flight U.S. corporations went for the short-end money.
“Slowly, but surely” seems the right way to rebuild the economy on a firm foundation. If an impatient nation can wait is another question.

Bobcast: Unity through roundball

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

Given the muted civic response so far to the news that Anniston High’s boys and girls basketball teams are two games away from state titles, the proper question for the time is not, "Who let the Dawgs out?"
It should be the less lyrical but more poignant, "Who’s muzzling potential boosters of the Dawgs?"
Of course, we’re not thinking of the students, parents, faculty and boosters of the Bulldogs. They are thrilled by the prospect, and not hiding their excitement under a bushel.
We’re thinking instead of those not releasing their inner Bulldog. In other words the larger community with or without any ties to the school except that they live or work here.
The ball teams will carry the name of our town on their uniforms this week. They are, in ways large and small, representing our town. This is cause for celebration and support.
A cruise down the city’s main retail arteries reveals hardly a trace of excitement. Anniston could take a lesson from its neighbors. No visitor to Clay County during football title game time could miss that the community is supportive, if not rapid over the Panthers. The same could be said for other cities in our region and state.
To Anniston’s shame none of that local school boosterism was present on the eve of Wednesday’s game. Thus it appears a chance at creating unity over good news is slipping away.

The common journey

In Sunday Insight section of The Anniston Star, San Francisco photographer Nancy Farese presented images from her recent travels in Africa. Hat tip to Star presentation editor Tosha Jupiter for the page design.
She wrote:

As I have photographed organizations delivering humanitarian and relief aid, I can't believe the access that I get with my camera into circumstances of severe need — an AIDS patient in Malawi, the refugee situation in Kenya, the impoverished but determined woman entrepreneur in rural Uganda. I not only find so many people in need, I find so many people willing to use their talents to meet those needs in ways that are creative and compassionate. In the face of overwhelming challenges such as famine, poverty and disease, the support I see being given by the organizations I cover is being delivered with dignity and respect.

Bobcast: Hate the stimulus. Love the stimulation

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

Is it hypocritical for a politician to oppose an economic stimulus package, and then turn around and promise the folks back home he’ll claim their fair share?
Well, duh, of course it is.
Hypocrisy – doing one thing and saying the other while sitting upon a high horse of pontification – is deeply imbedded in politics. Heck, it’s deeply imbedded in humanity; few are immune. So much so that pointing it out is hardly worth pointing out.
Still, we’ll trudge on.
Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, speaking late last week in Anniston, admitted he is no fan for the stimulus bill recently signed by President Obama.
The declaration was hardly necessary; he’s made his opposition clear during the lead up to the bill’s passage.
Despite his opposition, Shelby said Friday, “We need to do everything we can to make sure we get a proportionate amount of money.”
Make of that what you will. Birds gotta fly. Fish gotta swim. Politicians gotta deliver the bacon.
It could be worse. Several Southern governors are still riding up on their high horse, vowing to turn down stimulus dollars.
And yet, it could be better. Shelby and the rest of the Alabama congressional delegation who opposed the bill even though they knew it would to pass could have fought harder to include money for state’s neediest projects.

Bobcast: A state Senate stalls

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

Imagine this scene at the worksite. The loading dock foreman says to Ed, “Hey, we need those boxes to the warehouse.”
Ed responds by standing up and stiffly reciting a bunch of rhetorical nonsense. Never straying anywhere near relevance or the boxes he’s supposed to move, Ed prattles on throughout the morning.
Finally, the exasperated foreman shrugs, pays Ed for a full day’s work, sends him home and tells him he’ll see him tomorrow, when Ed might or might not do the whole thing all over again.
Doesn’t seem very likely in the real world. Of course, Goat Hill is frequently an unreal place.
Stalling is often standard in the Alabama Senate. The so-called legislative body in recent years has witnessed such blathering, known formally as a filibuster. In recent terms, the state Senate has spent nearly two-thirds of its annual 30 working days in filibuster-shortened sessions.
The sorry tradition has started again for the 2009 session. Over the course of seven days, Phil Poole, a Democratic senator from Tuscaloosa, twice halted proceedings in disputes that might best be described as highly local and highly personal.
And on the games go as if Alabama wasn’t facing a massive $560 million budget shortfall, rapidly declining employment and a collapsing economy that could hit the state’s working-class and the worksite extremely hard.

Bobcast: An audit to nowhere

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

Last year, the Anniston City Council agreed to pay a Uniontown woman $2,500 to review its human resources policies. The work was not competitively bid. The only person considered for the job was Yolanda Jackson of the west-central Alabama city of Uniontown. She was selected at the urging of one member of the council, Ben Little.
According to various sources, Jackson spent somewhere between two hours and two days working on the project. That works out to somewhere between $150 an hour and $1,200 an hour.
Oh, and the actual audit. None of Jackson’s HR suggestions have been implemented. Nor, according to Anniston’s ex-city manager, could they without a complete reworking of civil service guidelines. Councilman John Spain, who is calling for a probe into Jackson’s sweetheart deal, termed the audit "boilerplate information."
For her part, Jackson is clamming up, despite repeated attempts by a Star reporter seeking comment this week.
Apparently, it pays to speak softly and perform a useless audit.

Bobcast: A bigger threat than terrorism

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

A recent visitor to Congress delivered a warning.
“The primary near-term security concern of the United States is the global economic crisis and its geopolitical implications,” the man told a Senate panel.
The speaker said that in terms of global threats, terrorism comes in second behind the current economic turmoil that has seen 3.5 million Americans thrown out of work and that is expected to leave 50 million jobless by the end of the year.
Who said this?
A softie who has taken his eyes off the global war on terror?
A lefty think-tanker going theoretical on us?
No, it was Adm. Dennis Blair, the new director of national intelligence. In 34 years with the Navy, Blair served at top levels in the Pentagon hierarchy.
Point is Blair knows what he’s talking about.
He does not appear to be downplaying the threat posed by terrorists, merely putting it in perspective. That’s a change from the past eight years when it seemed terrorism was a nifty trump card to keep the people and the policymakers in line.
Blair’s economic warning last week came with a reminder.
“The crisis has been ongoing for over a year, and economists are divided over whether and when we could hit bottom. Some even fear that the recession could further deepen and reach the level of the Great Depression. Of course, all of us re-call the dramatic political consequences wrought by the economic turmoil of the 1920s and 1930s in Europe, the instability, and high levels of violent extremism.”
Indeed we do, admiral. And if we don’t, we should.

New Bobcast: Where there's smoke ...

Latest Bobcast is on a relic of Anniston's industrial past. Listen here or read below.

Anniston City Hall politicians are debating whether a 129-year-old smokestack that recalls the city industrial roots should stay or go.
Last week, following a vote of the City Council, the smokestack, Anniston’s first, looked like a goner.
This week, not so much. The mayor told The Star he was reconsidering his vote to demolish the smokestack.
This is good. As one local preservationist remarked, anything that can stand for more than 100 years deserves a chance to remain standing.
So much for structures that have lasted 13 decades.
The crumbling, run-down and mostly empty storefronts that dot Anniston’s retail corridor are another story. Those buildings are one, two, three and four decades old. They stand as monuments to nothing but poor city planning, ugly design and the declining economic prospects of a city. They demand the city’s highest attention, energy and innovation.
Building something up is tougher that tearing something down, yet this is precisely where Anniston’s emphasis belongs.

Bobcast: Radio silence on Knoxville killer

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

During a busy news week that included a tragic plane crash in Buffalo, N.Y., and the passage of a massive federal stimulus bill, Jim David Adkisson’s guilty plea last Monday was largely ignored.
Adkisson is the man who shot up a Knoxville, Tenn., church in July, killing two worshipers and injuring six. By his admission, Adkisson singled out the church because of its support of liberal causes.
Informing this hatred, authorities say, was a penchant for books authored by right-wing media figures, including Bernard Goldberg’s "100 People Who Are Screwing Up America."
On his shelf were Michael Savage’s "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder," Sean Hannity’s "Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty over Liberalism," and Bill O’Reilly’s "The O'Reilly Factor."
In a letter penned before what he termed a "symbolic" shooting, Adkisson wrote. "Who I wanted to kill was every Democrat in the Senate and House, the 100 people in Bernard Goldberg's book. I'd like to kill everyone in the main-stream media. But I knew these people were inaccessible to me."
None of this received much play in conservative talk radio circles last week. Hosts had shifted to demonizing President Obama and the congressional Democrats’ stimulus package.
The First Amendment guarantees talk radio’s right to spew hate-filled nonsense. However, its silence on Jim David Adkisson says more than all the yelling done in the name defeating liberalism.

Bobcast: Score-settling

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

Abraham Lincoln is easily the most famous American user of the word “score,” as in a measure of 20 years. It was his famous Gettysburg Address that began, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
With the celebration this month of his 200th birthday, it’s clear some are still trying to settle the score, as in airing old grievances against the man who saved the Union and freed the slaves.
A few misguided souls across the Internet, including comment-posters at the Anniston Star’s little corner of the Web, have labeled Lincoln a “tyrant,” “murderer” and “terrorist.” With the exception of Alabama and Louisiana, the Confederate states are staying mostly quiet on the occasion of the great man’s birth.
Even 140 years after his death and the end of the Civil War, there’s no accounting for bitter words and actions (or non-actions in the case of most Southern states) of the irrational, the dead-enders, as Donald Rumsfeld might call them.
The rest of us can vow to make good on Lincoln’s challenge “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government: of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Bobcast: On the rural sidelines

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

Alabama’s governor said Wednesday the federal economic stimulus package has a distinct anti-rural flavor. Gov. Bob Riley believes the bill’s winners are urban areas; he singles out California and Illinois as hitting the mother lode.
Hey, who can blame any governor for wanting more federal bailout money?
Riley may be correct, though it’s far more difficult to verify his claim that the imbalance is due to the Obama administration paying off political allies.
If Riley’s claim is accurate, Oregon, a reliably blue state, has a right to complain that it gets more than a billion dollars less than deep-red Alabama, according to one state-by-state estimate.
But beyond this, there’s another explanation.
The money goes where the people are. Urban areas – long neglected by conservative federal governments and by definition places with large populations – have significant needs. Perhaps the most recent example of anti-urban bias in the previous administration is its failures in post-Katrina New Orleans.
Maybe Riley’s best strategy is to press Alabama’s Republican senators to get off the sidelines next time, and to start claiming a greater share of stimulus money for significant needs of rural areas.

Monday, Tuesday, Happy Days

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

In the 1970s - before our current president was even out of high school, amazing - Happy Days was a wildly popular sitcom on TV.
One running gag of the series was that the coolest character Fonzie could not apologize or admit fault. He would try to say, "I was wrong." But it came out, "I was wr...wr...wr..."
Last week, President Obama had no such trouble in discussing one of his Cabinet selections whose nomination was sunk by tax problems. The president told an interviewer, "I screwed up."
"Whoa!" as the Fonz might say.
This is made all the more stunning by the last eight years. Even as he was leaving office, George W. Bush was having problems taking responsibility. He told one TV interviewer inquiring about Bush administration missteps, "Abu Ghraib obviously was a huge disappointment. Not having weapons of mass de-struction was a significant disappointment. I don't know if you want to call those mistakes or not, but they were -- things didn't go according to plan, let's put it that way."
Translated, Bush’s comments come out as, "I was wr...wr...wr...wr…"

Radio static

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.

My car radio has a problem. Most mornings when I turn it on I hear something familiar, namely portions of the stories published in the latest edition of The Anniston Star are read aloud word-for-word.
Credit to the newspaper doing the original reporting is rare, very rare.
What’s presented from these local Les Nessmans is their "news" from the studios of W-whatever-it-is. But the shoe-leather reporting applied to this broadcast amounts to dropping two quarters in the newspaper box. In the print world, lifting others work without credit is a serious no-no. Careers have been ruined for such.
To be fair we should now the list the local radio news stories cribbed by Star reporters.




Everybody get that?
Here’s the point. There’s lots of talk about how newspapers ought to charge for its original reporting online, as The Star does. A chorus is building in the newspaper industry that “free” is a losing business strategy.
Let’s not debate the merits or demerits of this point now. Instead, let’s consider it from the standpoint of original reporting. Lots of online readers say they get their news from Yahoo News or Google News. Problem is Yahoo and Google don’t send reporters to cover the Anniston City Council or the senior citizens Valentine’s party at the Oxford Civic Center.
In fact, those Web sites don’t cover anything, national or local. They merely link to the original reporting of others.
Seems to me if the original reporters go away, the online aggregators will produce nothing but static when it comes to news, and so will most of local radio.

Ice, ice, baby

Latest edition of the Bobcast is up.
Audio is here. Text is below.

Over the weekend, the local sheriff in Oak Harbor, Ohio, called it "idiotic," the tale of 134 fishermen whose makeshift bridge along a thin stretch of ice failed, leading to a breakway ice floe on Lake Erie that stranded the anglers for hours and left one dead
A more charitable view is that they successfully presented the nation with a perfect metaphor for the economy and the need for a spending plan.
Also over the weekend, official Washington wrangled over the stimulus package, watering down the spending and beefing up the tax cuts.
It’s all so familiar.
In order for the fishermen to get where they wanted to go, they needed to cross a crack in the ice. Their brilliant idea: Lay down some wooden pallets and cross over the bad stretch. It worked great until the ice gave way and stranded them 1,000 feet off shore.
Some very smart economists with Nobel Prizes are warning us of something similar.
Some in Congress want to patch over the economy’s vault lines with "fixes" that (a.) got us in this mess in the first place and/or (b.) with tax cuts that are about as reliable as these wooden pallets.
"We get people out here who don't know how to read the ice," Ottawa County Sheriff Bob Bratton said of the Lake Erie catastrophe.
With the economy slumping, the nation must now heed its reliable ice-readers.

Somebody in Montgomery is paying attention

Phillip Tutor's column this morning is a plea for Gov. Bob Riley to bring reason and sanity to local government's shenanigans.
Phillip asks nicely.

Oh, Governor?
Help, please.

Turns out the governor is paying attention. Riley (or someone from his staff) faxed Tutor the governor's handwritten message on a printout of the column this morning. It reads:

I'm on the way! Be there next Friday!
Bob

The governor will be in town next Friday for the Chamber of Commerce's annual banquet. Perhaps he can find time for an intervention between warring council members after the proceedings.

Just a minute

A new Bobcast is up. It's on ethics reform; text is below.

A watchdog is worthless if the beast is toothless, crippled and chained to the porch.
Such is the sad story of government ethics enforcement in Alabama for much of its history.
The state has treated a fully funded and well-staffed ethics department as a luxury, a wistful nirvana of protecting the public’s trust that we might reach some day if all the stars align.
Ah, so dreamy.
Hats off to Gov. Bob Riley for issuing a wake-up call this week as the 2009 session of the Legislature begins. Alabama can’t wait to strengthen its ethics laws and its ethics-laws enforcement.
The fetid cronyism connection between the two-year college system and the Leg-islature (and the scandal’s ongoing criminal prosecutions) is all the evidence we need that Alabama’s ethics laws are not doing the job.
Montgomery must put its ethics watchdog on a healthy diet, let him off the leash and send the canine out in search of those public officials whose actions muddy state government’s bond with the people.
That dog will hunt.

Tuesday in The Star

You can find these stories in Tuesday's Anniston Star:

The governor declared proration today. What does that mean for local schools and colleges?

A jury has recommended a death sentence for Mark Dwaytt Brown, found guilty last week in a capital murder trial in Cleburne County.

We'll have coverage of the press conference today with Auburn's new coach, Gene Chizik.

This weekend in The Star

You can find these stories in this weekend's Anniston Star:

On Saturday:

A local American Legion post is donating money and toys to the Marines' Toys for Tots effort.

Spirit of Anniston sponsors "Window Wonderland" on Noble Street.

Honda announces it is cutting production at the Lincoln plant.

On Sunday:

Defense industries created a big boom for the area in recent years, but some worry the local economy is now tied to an industry that may retreat when the wars slow down.

George Smith profiles Gem Shoe Repair shop, the last business of its kind in northern Alabama.

Heflin celebrates Christmas with its downtown Parade of Lights

Thursday in The Star

You can find these stories in The Anniston Star:

President-elect Barack Obama wants to help the ailing economy by pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into the nation’s infrastructure, and Calhoun County leaders see an incomplete road begging for some of that money. We ;look at how a proposed national infrastructure project could affect the Eastern Parkway.

How will Anniston's decision to resume patrols in its police jurisdiction change things for the police department and the sheriff's office and the residents of this three-mile zone beyond the city limits? Graham Milldrum has this story.

Snow and more rain coming our way Thursday? Mike Faulk will let you know what's in the forecast and how much rain we got in a rainy Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday in The Star

You can find these stories in The Anniston Star on Tuesday:

Major players in McClellan development got together Monday to talk about how to move forward with growth at the former fort. Megan Nichols will have this story.

Tuesday's Anniston council meeting has a lot on its agenda. Councilmen are expected to discuss the possibility of resuming police patrols outside the city limits, City Manager George Monk's contract, make final appointments to the McClellan development board and consider moving public hearings to 5 p.m. We'll have wrap-up of the issues in advance of Tuesday's meeting.

The Anniston BOE holds a special called meeting Monday night. What did they discuss?

Sesar Perez-Mendez died because no one would call an ambulance until it was too late, according to people in the trailer park where police reported he was stabbed.Sources told The Star that Hispanic immigrants in the trailer park waited half an hour to call law enforcement to the scene, in Oxford Nov. 28 out of fear it could lead to the deportation of illegal immigrants in the community.The story brings to light political and cultural issues in that community and ones like it across the nation, experts said. Mike Faulk has this story.

This weekend in The Star

Look for these stories this weekend in The Anniston Star:

On Saturday:

Got football on your mind these days? Lots of eyes will look toward Atlanta as Saturday dawns and Alabama readies to play for the SEC championship against Florida. In Saturday's paper, Laura Tutor has an interesting take on football and the South. A little preview: "To understand football is to take a tour of the South. Its stories, its history and quirks often are metaphorically tied to a funny-shaped ball and a bunch of guys hurling themselves from one end of a flat field to another while a crowd looks on but actually does nothing."

We'll have a follow up on extradition proceedings for capital murder suspect Jesse Scheuing, arrested in Iowa Thursday and wanted in the shooting death of Sean Cook in Oxford.

We'll have photos of Anniston's Go Green Christmas parade.

Local insurance agent Mitch Hurt pleads guilty to insurance fraud.

On Sunday look for full coverage of Saturday's big football game. Will Alabama be headed for a national championship matchup?

Also, city and county leaders plan to meet Monday to name all the members of the new McClellan Development Board.

Friday's Anniston Star: All football, All the time

In Friday's Anniston Star, look for coverage of Thursday's Class 4A high school championship game between Cherokee County and UMS-Wright.
Also, a special sports section examines the similarities between Alabama's undefeated run this year and the 1992 team's undefeated run to the national championship.
It's deja vu all over again.

Thursday in The Star

You can find these stories in Thursday's Star:

The Alabama Bureau of Investigation and the FBI are looking into racially-tinged threats at a predominantly black church in Cleburne County, law-enforcement officials said Wednesday. Dan Whisenhunt will have this story.

Megan Nichols was at the Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston today observing training and talking with staff. We'll have a story about CDP, what they do and what impact a new incoming presidential administration could have on their operations.

In a study by the United Health Foundation, Alabama has improved its ranking among the states overall. The bad news is that we're now ranked 49th in obesity. Michael A. Bell will have this story.

We'll also be following up on the reports that Tommy Tuberville is out as Auburn coach.

Wednesday in The Star

You can find these stories in Wednesday's Star:

Rep. Randy Wood on Tuesday said he would support legislation to recognize a McClellan development board, even if city and county officials don’t agree unanimously with the plan.Wood, R-Anniston, had said on Monday that he wanted every Calhoun County commissioner and Anniston city councilman to support a McClellan bill before he would push for its passage. Megan Nichols has this story.

Graham Milldrum has a story on what has become an annual holiday tradition. The Anniston Police Department will have extra patrols and undercover officers throughout the city in an effort to deter and/or catch would-be robbers.

Rick Burgess of Rick and Bubba fame speaks at Oxford High School. Dan Whisenhunt will let you know what he talked about.

Tuesday in The Star

You can find these stories in Tuesday's Anniston Star:

Jacksonville holds it annual lighting ceremony. Nick Cenegy will be there and will capture the scene. We'll also have a round-up of all the upcoming local Christmas parades, letting you know when and where they will be.

County and city officials need help from local lawmakers to make sure a new McClellan development board has staying power, but two Calhoun County legislators said they would not support a McClellan bill unless every county commissioner and Anniston city councilman agrees, something unlikely to happen. Megan Nichols has this story.

A suspect is in custody in the Friday stabbing death of a man in Oxford. Graham Milldrum will follow up on this story.

A high-speed pursuit through downtown and northwestern Anniston neighborhoods ends with the arrest of two home invasion suspects. Mike Faulk has this story.

Talk amongst yourselves: Greatest Iron Bowl upsets

Weigh in here.

Thursday in The Anniston Star

You can find these stories in Thursday's Anniston Star:

It's Thanksgiving and Laura Tutor has a story about the mood around this year's holiday. With bad economic news swirling around and crashing into people's lives through lost jobs, lost homes and a creeping sense of dread, what do we have to be thankful for today? It's still an opportunity to give simple thanks.

George Smith also has his annual Thanksgiving column.

Judge Joel Laird on Wednesday told Calhoun County officials that he is pleased with their progress after taking on McClellan in August. Megan Nichols has this story.

Wednesday in The Star

These are some of the stories you can find in Wednesday's Anniston Star:

The Anniston and Oxford city council meet. We'll be there to cover what is discussed and voted on. Anniston councilmen are expected to name their list of appointees a a McClellan development board.

The Coosa Valley Electric Cooperative is seeking a $24 million improvement loan. Mike Faulk looks into the grant proposal.

Are volunteer organizations that will cook and provide Thanksgiving dinners hurting in this time of economic troubles? Can they provide as much this year? Are they expecting more mouths to feed? Michael A. Bell has this story.

Coming Friday: Top 5 Iron Bowl upsets

The Star's Friday front page will feature the top five greatest upsets in Iron Bowl history.

Countdown To The Iron Bowl

This Tuesday in The Star

You can find these stories in Wednesday's Anniston Star:

BAE Systems will lay off 230 workers at its Anniston facilities. Nick Cenegy will have this story.

The Jacksonville City Council will hold two public hearings, one on the proposed vacation of Cole Drive, a needed step in building Jacksonville State University's planned new dorm and stadium expansion. Nick will attend the hearings and will report what is discussed or decided.

Megan Nichols checks in the with clean-up of McClellan. Does the county have the money from the Army? Are they up-to-date with payment and work?

Calhoun County leaders and employees this week are breaking away from their typical dress code - opting for gear that advertises their Iron Bowl allegiances.

Wednesday in The Star

You can find these stories in Wednesday's Anniston Star:

By the end of its second meeting on Nov. 4, it was clear the Oxford City Council had changed after recent city elections. But what kind of change is anyone’s guess, council members say. Dan Whisenhunt takes a look at the new makeup, and possible future, of the Oxford City Council.

The Anniston City Council met Tuesday and councilmen decided to have ready their list of appointees to a joint McClellan development board with Calhoun County in one week. Megan Nichols has this story.

Clay County has applied for a hardship grant from the state Department of Education to combine Clay County and Lineville high schools into one at a new facility between Lineville and Ashland, a project estimated to cost between $17 million and $20 million. Mike Faulk has this story.

Tuesday in The Star

Check out these stories in Tuesday's Anniston Star:

McClellan has been without a development board for nearly three months, and Anniston and Calhoun County have until Dec. 1 to start planning a new one. Megan Nichols looks at the progress and planning toward forming a new development board.

It's getting cold out there. Mike Faulk checks in with the weather experts to see what's in store for temperatures this week.....the verdict? It's going to be chilly.

Michael A. Bell profiles Angela Walker, the new director of the Anniston Community Education Foundation.

Tuesday in The Star

You can find these stories in Tuesday's Anniston Star:

Anniston Army Depot officials signed a "community covenant" with local elected leaders, then sent folks out to clean up military cemeteries at McClellan. Nick Cenegy has this story.

Oxford Library is having a special event for Veterans Day and will have a special display on hand with historical memorabilia. Bill Edwards has this story.

Anniston Waterworks announces a rate increase. There's a public hearing about it Thursday.

Jacksonville City Council meets.

The Stop the Violence organization holds a meeting. We'll have stories on both meetings.

This weekend in The Anniston Star

You can find these stories over the weekend in The Star:

On Saturday:

Retired Lt. Col. Karl Harrison was the featured speaker at a veteran's day assembly at Pleasant Valley High. Dan Whisenhunt attended and will bring you this story.

Anniston on Thursday received the final bill from a law firm handling its now-defunct McClellan suit, but the city may have to hire another lawyer to completely dismiss it. Megan Nichols has this story.

Mike Faulk has a story about Robert Gibbs, the man likely to be President-elect Barack Obama's press secretary. Guess what? Gibbs has Alabama roots, and even some Calhoun County connections.

On Sunday:

We will have a special section on the historic election of Barack Obama as president, including reactions from local residents.

Nick Cenegy takes a look at the battle of Tallasehatchee, a critical encounter in the Creek War/War of 1812 which took place in Calhoun County. Very little has been done to mark the site or commemorate the events that took place there.

The Randolph County Commission has a Republican majority for the first time in its 176 year history. Mike Faulk has this story.

Projected surplus

A caller takes issue with a line in one of today's editorials.

Specifically, the caller did not like this passage:

Combine this with government spending that took Bill Clinton's $5 trillion surplus and turned it into a $10 trillion deficit and the financial and human costs of Iraq, and we can see how voters rejected Republican claims to be wise stewards over government dollars.

His claim is that the edit confused budget deficit and national debt. Not really, though we could have been more precise in labelling Clinton's surplus as merely projected. Our point was that Clinton handed George W. Bush a potential budget surplus in late 2000. President Bush's fiscal decisions -- big tax cuts, deficit spending on war and other matters -- erased said surplus. Without it, the nation was forced to borrow money it did not have, hence the deficit.

This is how the New York Times reported the story almost eight years ago:

The Clinton administration handed a parting gift to President-elect George W. Bush today, projecting that the federal budget surplus would swell substantially, to nearly $5 trillion, over the next decade.
Administration officials said they expected the surplus to total $4.996 trillion in the 10 years beginning with the start of the next fiscal year, on Oct. 1, 2001. That amounts to an increase of just over $800 billion from the administration's previous projection, of $4.193 trillion for the 10 years that started this October.

You can vote however you like

Brilliant!

Friday in The Star

You can find these stories in Friday's Anniston Star:

Local banks say they are strong, stable and secure. The calming words are neccessary, they say, in the light of panic taking hold in the markets and amongst the public as financial turmoil roils the U.S. economy. Graham Milldrum has this story.

On Thursday, the city of Anniston for the second time asked a federal judge to put McClellan back in its control. The city at the same time withdrew an earlier motion that sought to insert the city into the lawsuit between the Environmental Chemical Corporation, a contractor that formerly cleaned up unexploded ordnance at McClellan, and the former Joint Powers Authority. Dan Whisenhunt will have this story.

Dan also has this story: Two local legislators told the Calhoun County Commission at its regular meeting Thursday that they have asked the state attorney general and the governor’s office to look into local gas shortages and prices.

Republicans running for state office rode into Anniston on Thursday, wielding big signs and staunch opinions.Calhoun was the 38th county on a bus tour of all the state’s 67 counties, called the Hometown Connection. Thursday’s event took place in the parking lot of the City Meeting Center. Mike Faulk will let you know what they had to say.

Thursday in The Star

You can find these stories in Thursday's Anniston Star:

It actually rained Wednesday. How much did we get? How is our drought status? Graham Milldrum will have this story.

Nick Cenegy looks into the process for getting bonds for the proposed work on the stadium/dorm project at Jacksonville State University.

Randolph County authorities are looking for cattle rustlers who have stolen dozens of animals in recent weeks. Mike Faulk has this story.

Alberta Cooley McCrory won Hobson City’s mayor’s race in August, defeating incumbent Ralph Woods. Now Woods says he will contest McCrory’s eligibility in court because of questions about her residency. Dan Whisenhunt has this story.

Tuesday in The Star

Check out these stories in Tuesday's Star:

We'll have a rundown of the runoff elections taking place Tuesday.

A farmer in Eastaboga has seen nine of his goats killed in the past week. He's determined to figure out what it is that's been killing them. Michael Bell has this story.

The city of Jacksonville's finance committee has approved a budget, to be sent to the City Council for approval. Nick Cenegy has this story.

The Lincoln City Council was split down the middle Monday over whether the city should build water and sewer lines for a new apartment complex without knowing what it will cost to build the lines. Dan Whisenhunt has this story.

We'll have complete runoff election coverage coming online and for Wednesday's paper and will also be hosting a live chat on the elections and the second presidential debate Tuesday night. Check it out at www.annistonstar.com/election

This weekend in The Star

Coming up this weekend in The Anniston Star:

On Saturday:
We'll have full coverage of the races at Talladega, and Mike Faulk also polls attendees about who they are favoring in another race - the presidential one.

We take a look at two more local runoff elections scheduled for Tuesday -the Weaver mayoral race and the Anniston City Council Place 2 race - with the election just days away, and one of the two candidates for the City Council’s Ward 2 seat apparently disqualified, it was still unknown Friday what would become of ballots cast in the race.

Michael Bell has a look at the issue of radon - much of eastern Alabama is at a higher risk for radon exposure than other areas of the state. What is it and what can residents do about it?

On Sunday:

Megan Nichols takes a comprehensive look at McClellan. It's been nearly 10 years since the Army shut the fort. A lot has happened since then, but redevelopment at the old post is a long way from done. Now, a series of events threatens to delay work there. We'll check in with development efforts and where they stand currently.

Along with full sports coverage, Nick Cenegy will be at the Talladega Superspeedway, too. He'll spend some time with law enforcement officials to see what they do there.

Graham Milldrum visited with the ministry program at the Calhoun County Jail.

And on Monday:

Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford visits Anniston Sunday. Nick will have a story on what he had to say.

Cleburne County's Fruithurst Elementary is the subject of a new study funded by the Alabama Farmers Federation. Kids there do well, despite having 70 percent of its students on free or reduced lunch. The education study will examine how the Cleburne County school along with nine other rural schools in the state, can buck the trend that says poor students score low.

Segall vs. Rogers new polling data

The latest 3rd congressional district polling is out from Capital Survey Research Center, the polling arm of the Alabama Education Association.

The poll of 471 likely voters was taken Sept. 30 through Oct. 1. Its margin of error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

If the election for your Congressman were today, for whom would you vote between:
Mike Rogers, Republican 44.9%
Josh Segall, Democrat 36.4%
Don't Know/No Reply/Other 18.7%

ABC's Nightline comes to Anniston

The story focuses on a charity fashion show and touches on feelings about presidential politics.
The report has not aired, but is online.
The link is here.

Wall-E on the bailout

The editorial board's description of what Congress is about to do:



Update: Now we need a ta-daaah do-over.

A Marxist tidal wave?

A reader writes:

Anyone at the "page" willing and capable of debunking the article cited below such that a simple mind can understand? Some alarming flags have been raised/created by having read same? Hopefully someone can address the article with facts to refute it quickly. Would appreciate an article soon on the "page" since it would be very timely considering the "Bail Out Legislation" being penned as of this date."

The American Thinker story is here.

It concludes:

Barack Obama ... no matter how he describes himself, has been a radical activist for most of his political career.That activism has been in support of organizations and initiatives that at their heart seek to tear the pillars of this nation asunder in order to replace them with their demented socialist vision. Their influence has spread so far and so wide that despite their blatant culpability in the current financial crisis, they are able to manipulate Capital Hill politicians to cut them into $140 billion of the bailout pie!
God grant those few responsible yet remaining in Washington, DC the strength to prevent this massive fraud from occurring. God grant them the courage to stand up in the face of this Marxist tidal wave.

Where to start in the face of a "Marxist tidal wave?"

Having played so many unsuccessful cards against the Obama candidacy, his opponents are getting nervous. The usual hot-buttons have been hit - faith, patriotism, race, soft on war and crime. None have worked as well as in previous election cycles. Obama also bested a formidable political machine during the D primaries; it too tried a few of these tactics. It seems many Americans are well past guilt-by-association ploys, red-baiting and the like.

Still, points to the American Thinker for gamely pushing on. I'm sure if the author's side loses in November this sort of hit job will become commonplace. Recall that 1992's election produced the "Arkansas Project," where a millionaire sunk millions into the smearing for a Democratic president.

A personal story re Larry Munson

Today's editorial tribute to Georgia football announcer Larry Munson reminds me of a story.

I was interning at CNN Sports in the mid-1980s. Through my bosses there I got a job as a go-fer as a sportscasting camp. One job was looking after the guest speakers - setting them up in the green room, fetching coffee and snacks, and generally making them comfortable.

I recall meeting Larry Munson in the parking lot on his day to speak with the sportscasting wannabes. I introduced myself, told him how much time we had before he spoke and then asked if he needed anything on that early Sunday morning.

He turned to me and said in that same voice that thrilled UGA fans, "A cup of coffee. My Gawd, I need a cup of coffee." It was a magic moment.

Thursday in The Star

You can find these stories in Thursday's Anniston Star:

A memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks at the Pentagon will be dedicated there Thursday. Jacksonville's Pearl Williams, whose son was killed there in 2001, is going to the dedication. Nick Cenegy will have this story.

Nathaniel Owens, a local attorney, will be inducted into the Sewanee Athletic Hall of Fame in Tennessee. Owens was the first black varsity athlete at the school. Dan Whisenhunt has this story.

Megan Nichols looks at the make-up of the new Anniston City Council. There's a new mayor and at least two new city councilmen. What direction does the new council want to go?

Wednesday in The Star

Check out these stories in Wednesday's Anniston Star:

There's been a challenge filed against Anniston council runoff candidate David Reddick, claiming he didn't file finance records on time. He says he didn't meet the expense threshold to have to file a report. Megan Nichols will have this story.

Cotton farmers statewide are getting ready to harvest around the first week of October, but even as crop conditions appear to have improved from the drought, the cost of production versus profit is driving some farmers to give up on the legendary crop. Mike Faulk will check in with some local cotton farmers to see what their thoughts, and plans are.

Derek Raulerson will be a new face on the Jacksonville City Council. Nick Cenegy profiles the new council member.

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons will kick off Knox Concert Series Thursday night.

Tuesday in The Star

Check out these stories in Tuesday's Anniston Star:

A judge’s move to dissolve the McClellan Joint Powers Authority may delay redevelopment efforts at the former fort.Title insurance companies could be avoiding selling policies at McClellan because of perceived instability at the former fort. Megan Nichols will have this story.

John Fleming's column looks to the Wiregrass in this election season - could the reliably Republican region be leaning back to the left?

The Jacksonville and Lincoln city councils meet.

Thursday in The Star

Check out these stories in Thursday's Star:

We'll have part four of the series on TCE - this part examines the potential impact on drinking water in wells near the Anniston Army Depot.

Dan Whisenhunt looks at the numbers of minority employees of the city of Oxford. This was a topic that came up during the Star-sponsored candidate forum.

Nick Cenegy looks into how a write-in campaign works, as Ray Bryan says he will mount one for the circuit court judgeship.

Wednesday in The Star

Coming Wednesday in The Star:

Michael Bell reports from the Gulf coast as evacuees from Hurricane Gustav breathe a big sigh of relief, happy to be heading home soon.

Graham Milldrum checks in with the evacuees staying at the shelter at Grace Baptist Church in Oxford.

We'll have a profile of Anniston's mayor-elect, Gene Robinson and a profile of circuit court judge candidate Brenda Stedham.

Part three of the TCE series looks at what it is like to work around it and what is being done to keep workers at the Anniston Army Depot safe.