The excitement… is palpable.

Langford hints at a possible bid for Birmingham mayor- al.com

Oh, he’s running, though last I checked he didn’t, technically, live in Birmingham. Anyway:

In addition to transit, Langford said campaign issues in Birmingham should include education, crime reduction and revitalizing neighborhoods.

“Revitalizing neighborhoods” is code for “Birmingdome”.

It’s never a good thing when your local paper quotes Sanford-Townsend Band lyrics

Smoke from a distant fire chokes west Alabama

Though my eyes actually do have a mist. My throat, meanwhile, feels like it’s been stuffed with cotton. Have I mentioned that there are no fires in Alabama, and I’m like 200 miles away from Georgia?

Let’s not

NBA.com: NBA Draft 2007: What’s the Consensus?

I know nobody cares but me — seriously, nobody but me cares — but if the Hawks draft two more 6-9 forwards I may have to take some hostages. Really, they already have a team full of small forwards (for those of you not up on the NBA, yes, 6-9 makes you a “small” forward) and supposedly they’d pick two more?

UPDATE: If I were running the Hawks (and I couldn’t do much worse than the guys who are now), here’s what I’d do:

1. Shop the picks. First, see if the 3rd and 11th pick plus something could get the 1st or 2nd pick from one of the PCW franchises. If not, see if you can get something for moving down a couple of spots (with the Celtics, maybe?)

2. If you can’t make a trade, take a big man with the third pick and Acie Law IV with the 11th.

3. If you have to take Mike Conley — and I like Conley a lot, he was a better player than Oden through OSU’s run to the final — try to trade the 11th to the Suns so you can keep next year’s #1, because you aren’t going to get a power forward or center worth taking that low, and there is no need for another swingman.

I’m dying here

I’m sitting in a tiny room with the AC on full blast. It’s the only thing I can do to stop from getting sick from the smoke covering the state. Ironically, this just makes things worse in the long run.

Forget Atlanta

Star-Telegram.com | 05/23/2007 | Haze from wildfires hangs over Atlanta

There’s smoke here. The whole town smells like burning pine, which is not pleasant. Note that there are, from what I can tell, no fires here. It’s all from Georgia and Florida.

I can’t take this anymore

I was just watching The Daily Show and the Moment of Zen was Jeff Sessions, describing how a bill becomes a law. With this as his visual aid:

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, though I think Schoolhouse Rock may be a couple of years too advanced for Sessions.

“Next, on Two-A-Days, a surprise is found in Jeff’s urine.”

Hoover schools to drug test student drivers- al.com

Oh, please. The fabulous Hoover school board is going to make students who drive to school take a drug test. Why stop there? Why not put drug-testing equipment in all the toilets and urinals? Not just in school — install them in their homes, too! It is the duty of the school board to govern every single moment of these students’ lives.

This is a mindblowingly stupid ruling

Blount DA seeks to reverse ruling throwing out indictments- al.com

About seventy grand jury indictments in Blount County have been thrown out because the DA had a bailiff swear in the grand jurors instead of doing it himself or having an ADA do it. What the hell? Who cares who swears in the grand jury? Have Pauly Shore do it for all I care.

That was expected

Sessions says he’ll fight deal on immigration reform- al.com

He doesn’t actually have any alternatives, but he’s against this. Or anything else that involves amnesty, even though there’s no way that you could deport 12 million people — even if that was a good idea, which it isn’t. Then again, Sessions is an idiot.

They’re just going to blow it all on salmon anyway

Grizzlies, wolves could get trust fund - CNN.com

Man, first those crazy ladies keep leaving all their money to their cats, now this.