Current events

Pete Seeger sings out against Stalin – Yahoo! News

Sure, now he does. But if I recall correctly, when Stalin was alive and doing Stalin things, ol’ Pete thought that was just nifty.

Et tu, me?

Actor Playing Brutus Stabs Himself | ajc.com

Go figure

Riley: Show school spirit | TuscaloosaNews.com

I don’t think that governors should go around taking part in marketing schemes, and frankly I don’t do anything Riley says if I can avoid it, and I never heard about this thing until just now… but it turns out I’m wearing red today anyway. I blame the NCAA.

Spoilsport

Kincaid threatens to close bridge- al.com

I was thinking I’d set up a pool to predict when the bridge would collapse and what would cause it. I was think SUV, Thanksgiving weekend. But no, Kincaid’s going to close it if truckers and SUVs don’t stop driving across.

This seems inappropriate

Kincaid’s campaign has one big contributor – Breaking News from The Birmingham News – al.com

Ninety-six percent of donations to Bernard Kincaid’s re-election campaign came from or through Donald Watkins. (Who, among other things, used to be on Scrushy’s defense team when the Scrush’s defense involved pretending to be black.) It seems a little bit extreme, but apparently all the money is funnelled through PACs nowadays and this is just taking it all to the logical limit.

Strictly a formality, I’d guess

Lipscomb councilman’s felony cases going to grand jury – Breaking News from The Birmingham News – al.com

Acting Mayor Gaston Randle (I thought they were going to get on getting a permanent replacement right away?) waived his right to a hearing and is going to the grand jury, which presumably will indict as they almost always do.

I didn’t know Michael Vick was a councilman

Councilman charged in dog killing- al.com

A city councilman from Mulga has been charged with first degree cruelty for shooting a dog. He denies any involvement, but then so did Michael Vick.

Romney not running in Alabama!

Romney’s son cancels Birmingham visit – Breaking News from The Birmingham News – al.com

Not yet, anyway. “Tagg” Romney was going to serve his country by dropping off his dad’s entry into the Alabama primary, but for some reason “scheduling conflicts” prevent that — but not a fundraiser in Huntsville.

On a tangentially related side note, the University of Alabama is crawling with Mormons right now. At least, I think they’re Mormons. Black pants, white shirt, dark tie, backpack. They’re not missionaries, or at least they’re not bugging people as missionaries do, they’re just wandering around like normal students.

Retreat!

Idea to sell hospital criticized- al.com

The two Democrats, both African-American, on the Jefferson County Commission are protesting Bettye Fine Collins’ plan to sell Cooper Green hospital, and the Birmingham City Council has passed a resolution condemning the plan. The hospital doesn’t take any money from the county’s general fund, only from an indigent health care fund. Collins really wants to sell it anyway because it gives health care to the poor and she’s a Republican. Anyway, she says a decision will be reached during the commission retreat in the fall.

Or it might never end

Drought in state might go to spring- al.com

This could be our climate from now on. Who knows? Maybe I should buy a cactus. Anyway, the weathermen are expecting a La Nina year, which would mean a dry winter.