The World Around You

Francis Wilkinson, in an online piece for the American Prospect does a good job of explaining how the Governor and others have come to the view that Alabama’s tax system is immoral and un-Christian. In the end, Wilkinson describes when George Wallace reached the point where he changed his heart and asked for forgiveness from African-Americans in Alabama to our current situation,

A number of conservative white evangelicals in Alabama — it’s impossible to tell how many — seem to be arriving at a similar breaking point. Forty years after King wrote his historic letter from jail asking white pastors to condemn racism and step up to the challenge of their faith, a new perspective is evolving.

The Sept. 9 referendum may be too early a test of the new evangelicals’ strength. If it succeeds, the word “miracle” will not be too strong a description. Resistance is powerful in Alabama, and change has always been weak. But the vote’s very existence is a clear marker on the road to change. For Hamill, Nabers and their spiritual kin, mindful of the silence that greeted King’s Birmingham letter, it will also be an opportunity to post a long-overdue reply.

Maybe he’s right. Maybe it is too soon, but be assured the time will come when this issue will become about what is right and wrong and all of Alabama’s citizens will be asked to tell the difference.

New entry from me at SportsBlog:

Talk Left notes a report that indicates the internal affairs office of the FBI is investigating the crime lab chief in regards to the Oklahoma City bombing case. This could turn into a big story, if the allegations prove out.

As Mac notes on his site, Roy’s Rock has hit E-bay. I wonder how much it would go for? Millions?

I heard the Vice-President from Clark Memorial, the company that built and installed the monument, say that it cost anywhere between $5,000 and $100,000 (pretty big range) to construct.

Christopher Hitchens contributes to the debate over the ten commandments, with his own brand of analysis about not only the commandments, but the protestant conception of God,

One is presuming (is one not?) that this is the same god who actually created the audience he was addressing. This leaves us with the insoluble mystery of why he would have molded (”in his own image,” yet) a covetous, murderous, disrespectful, lying, and adulterous species. Create them sick, and then command them to be well? What a mad despot this is, and how fortunate we are that he exists only in the minds of his worshippers.

This story should have a familiar ring to Alabamians. This could have happened, if Alabama had recall,

Emboldened by recall efforts in California, a group of Nevada conservatives upset about the largest tax increase in state history began recall proceedings Wednesday against the popular Republican governor.

The group filed a notice of intent with the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office in Las Vegas to seek a recall election against Gov. Kenny Guinn. Organizers have 90 days to collect 128,109 signatures, or 25 percent of those who cast ballots in the 2002 general election.

UPDATE: Please note the date of this post. Visit my main page for the latest news by clicking on the word Main above. Or go to this recent post.