Thomason Tracts

U.S. Supreme Court hears Alabama voting rights case Monday- al.com

Bob Riley’s continued attack on the very idea that voters should get to decide replacements to county commissions instead of him has made it all the way to SCOTUS, which presumably will decide such things as it usually does, as “whatever’s better for the Republicans”.

Bill to allow some guns at colleges stirs concern- al.com

If you’re a moron. Which Hank Erwin (R-Moron) is.

Erwin said arming students could help in situations like the April mass shooting at Virginia Tech, in which student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people.

This is true. It will be much easier to perpetrate mass shootings if guns are readily available.

Ethics staff says cases ignored by AG - al.com

“Troy King” has failed to prosecute a single ethics violation by a public official during his time in office. Nine have been recommended to him, and four were on the table when he took the job. Says a spokesman:

“The attorney general has a different and much heavier burden. His is the burden of proof,” Bence said. “Attorney General King has been, and continues to be, pro-active and aggressive on ethics violations,” Bence said.

In the sense that he commits ethics violations like letting Alabama Power treat him to luxury box tickets to Braves games.

Anyway, there’s an easy way to make “Troy” interested. Make ethics violations punishable by the death penalty. He’ll prosecute every one personally.

Davis ignites fundraising machine- al.com

1. Being on Ways and Means is a great way to raise money to run for governor in 2010.

2. Why would you give up a seat on Ways and Means just to run a losing campaign for governor?

GOP wants AEA official’s apology for `Fuehrer’ remark- al.com

Joe Reed called the new chancellor of the Alabama two-year college system “Fuehrer” in a letter. Republicans are predictably and understandably upset.

Siegelman moved, likely to Texas- al.com

Now, I’m not saying that the Bush Administration has actually moved Don Siegelman to a secret holding facility in an effort to protect Karl Rove. But would you really put it past them? At any rate, this is clearly just a screw-Siegelman move, taking him from Atlanta to Texas so his family and attorneys have to jump through hoops to visit him. If you doubt this, then why was his former cellmate, Richard Scrushy, left in Atlanta?

UPDATE: No, it’s Louisiana. Still farther than Atlanta (or Montgomery, where there’s a facility they could use) but not as far as Texarkana.

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.

montgomeryadvertiser.com :: One senator punches another on final day of session

Charles Bishop says that Lowell Barron called him a son of a bitch, which means that it was okay for him to punch Barron.

But Bishop disagreed, saying he had heard the statement and responded accordingly.

“I responded with my right hand,” he said. “I hit him wherever I could get my right hand on him.”

He apologized for it happening on the floor of the Senate, but did not apologize for the action he took in response to the remarks.

“If he calls me that again, it will happen again,” he said.

Fun times in the legislature.

Voters approve amendments by wide margins- al.com

There were some amendments up for votes but I don’t know anything about them and most people didn’t even notice that there was an election. I didn’t vote.

Langford launches run for mayor- al.com

First step: he has to actually move to Birmingham. After that, I don’t know, but it’s sure to be wacky in that special Larry Langford way.

“I just believe that Birmingham is ripe for somebody to go in there and say, `This is what we’re going to do; this is how we’re going to do it,’ and not shy away because some people are going to criticize,” Langford said.

In other words, sanity is no object. His campaign slogan will be “Let’s Do Something”, which when you think about it is the Langford philosophy in the nutshell. Let’s do something.