Thomason Tracts

Award tanker deal on merit, Riley urges- al.com

Bob Riley and Jo Bonner (Republican rep from Mobile) went up to DC to argue that the Airbus plant in the Mobile area should get the contract to build refueling tankers for the Air Force. The other option is Boeing, which would build them in Washington State. Which has two Democratic senators and a Democratic representative. (”Which” in this instance can refer either to Boeing or to Washington.)

“After serving up here for six years I know exactly what is going to go on,” said Riley, a former congressman. “It’s one of the biggest acquisition contracts in history of the Department of Defense, and I know everyone … has a tendency to make it political. I’m just trying to encourage everyone, especially the decision makers, `Please don’t let that happen.’”

Sorry. It’s gonna happen. You’re pretty much screwed. Sorry about that. At any event, the blatant hypocrisy of complaining about pork after all the Federal money shoved into Alabama’s trough over the years by Richard Shelby and Bud Cramer and Tom Bevill and so forth… Well, it’s par for the course.

Lipscomb mayor’s 1994 burglary conviction eyed- al.com

I mean, what is the deal with Lipscomb?

Apparently, “Simon Speight” pled guilty to felony burglary in a Birmingham court in 1994. “Simon Speights” is the mayor of Lipscomb. They have the same address and from all appearances are the same person. At other times, he has used the last name “Steight”. In the phone book, he’s listed as “Samon Speights”. Felons can’t vote in Alabama and you must be a registered voter to hold elective office. (Full disclosure: I know Speights’ lawyer from the burglary conviction.)

Siegelman, Scrushy go straight to jail- al.com

On the one hand, both Scrushy and Siegelman got off on the previous charges, of which Scrushy was certainly guilty and Siegelman probably. On the other hand, these charges were pretty phony. Moreover, there’s some problem with a system where Scooter Libby walks free on bail during his appeal and Don Siegelman goes straight to jail, where Libby gets 30 months for a violation of national security and Siegelman gets seven years for political corruption that doesn’t far violate politics as usual.

Riley proclamation urges Alabamians: Pray for rain - Breaking News from The Birmingham News - al.com

You have got to be kidding me.

I should add that he’s asking for prayers through July 7, so people are supposed to pray for rain on the Fourth of July? There goes that picnic.

Sheriff’s Department investigating stolen car driven by Lipscomb’s mayor- al.com

Apparently, the car (a 2004 Toyota Carolla — even the mayor drives a crappy car in Lipscomb) was stolen in Walker County two years ago, though it’s registered to a Virginia resident, then abandoned on a street in Lipscomb. Officials “tried to find the owner” but apparently not very hard, and impounded it. At some point, the mayor decided to drive around in it.

Lipscomb now has its own category.

Media Matters - George Will: Wallace’s 1968 presidential campaign spoke “for people furious about the ’60s tumults”

“Aggrieved minority”, huh? Jackass. (Via Atrios.)

Drought puts 90% of state in `extreme,’ `exceptional’ status- al.com

The outlook for Alabama farmers is “grim”. I don’t think that is on an official scale, but it would be neat if it was. Here’s the farm scale as I see it:

POOR: Far higher than usual crop yields.
AWFUL: Higher than usual crop yields.
BLEAK: Usual crop yields.
DIRE: Slightly lower than usual crop yields.
GRIM: Far lower than usual crop yields.
VILE: No crops.
WE’LL GET BY SOMEHOW: All life on planet extinguished.

Crowd opposes Hoover Muslim center plan- al.com

And not because they’re Muslims. People in Hoover love Muslims but they hate traffic more.

Nobody spoke in favor of the center, not even to say that snarky bloggers will make them look like ignorant redneck peckerwoods for opposing the project.

Giant penguins may have roamed Peru - Yahoo! News

A five-foot-tall penguin with a “long sharp beak” that was “remarkably spearlike”. Who’s cute now, huh?

(Via Meryl.)

Sentencing hearing for Scrushy, Siegelman could be like a mini-trial, lawyers say- al.com

Here’s what I hope: I hope that Siegelman’s lawyers try to subpoena Karl Rove. Wouldn’t that be great? At any event, the sentences that the government is asking for do seem a bit long; Siegelman, for one, is 61 and a 30-year sentence is essentially life.