The World Around You

My entries will be sparse over the next week. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year! I’ll post from time to time, but feel free to treat this as an open post and leave a comment about whatever is on your mind.

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The debate over what the holiday parade should be called has resulted in a mess in Mobile,

Mobile canceled its Jolly Holiday Parade on Thursday afternoon, only to scramble a few hours later to revive what it could of Saturday’s Christmas season event.

At 3 p.m. Thursday — citing e-mail and telephone threats from residents opposed to a parade without the word Christmas in its title — Mobile Christmas Parade Inc., a separate nonprofit organization that has an eight-member board of directors, announced there would be no parade this year.

The group, which organizes the event, said it was concerned about the safety of the 2,600 children who had signed up to march downtown. Mobile Mayor Mike Dow then said he would not accept the cancellation of a parade with a history dating back to 1945.

Three hours later, volunteers with Main Street Mobile, a city-staffed organization formed to promote downtown, announced that a parade will roll, beginning at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. It will be called the Mobile Christmas Holiday Parade.

“As Mayor Dow told us, if the parade is just me sitting in Bienville Square Saturday with Santa Claus, then we’re still having a parade,” said Mead Miller, Main Street Mobile’s president. “This community is not going to be held hostage to threats or to grinches.”

Let’s remember that the “grinches” are so-called “Christians” who threatened the safety of parade participants over a name! These so-called “Christians” need to stop worrying about what things are called and start worrying about the kind of people they have become.

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In an interview with the Mobile Register, Alabama Governor Bob Riley outlined his agenda for 2004,

We will probably have one of the more comprehensive reform packages any state has ever seen. The people of Alabama were very clear: They want government redefined, they want smaller government, they want more efficient government. To do that, you have to make structural changes in the way that we have always done business before, whether it’s in education or whether it’s in the management of each one of these agencies. … So I told my Cabinet, we need to approach this and look at it as a tremendous opportunity to go in and redefine the way we do business here, through consolidation, through reductions in redundant services. And that’s why I say I think you’re going to see a more comprehensive reform package this time, even more so than in Amendment One (the tax plan).

He also reiterated that he has never cared about re-election(and after the events of the past year, I believe him),

I’ve got three more years to do what I think is best for this state. I made one pledge when I came in, that regardless of who contributed to my campaign, who our supporters were, regardless of any politics, we as an administration would make every decision based on what’s best for this state. … We’re not guaranteed tomorrow, next week or next year, much less an option that might present itself three years from now. So, the only thing we’re going to do is continue to do what I think is right for this state, and we can make that decision two years from now.

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The story about the $42,000 ring stolen from Hoover may not have been entirely accurate,

The owner of a Hoover jewelry store where an expensive, custom-made diamond ring has come up missing said Thursday he will do what he can to rectify the problem.

However, Diamond World owner Mark Karagas said the ring isn’t as valuable as was indicated in a report filed with Hoover police Tuesday.

Hoover police said the owner of the ring, Alabaster plastic surgeon Clement Cotter Jr., told them the ring had $40,000 worth of diamonds in a $2,000 platinum setting.

Karagas said Cotter signed a statement saying the diamonds were worth $22,000 when he brought them in to be reset from three rings into one.

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Well, Governor Schwarzenegger has begun cutting into social programs as predicted. AP is reporting

To make up for $4 billion lost when he cut the unpopular car tax, the governor will make a $40 million payment to local governments to keep them from closing facilities and laying off police officers and fire fighters, aides said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Schwarzenegger will get that money and future payments by making $150 million in cuts that will fall heavily on public health and welfare programs, the sources said.

A statement from the governor’s office late Wednesday said only that Schwarzenegger would have a news conference Thursday to discuss funding for local governments.

Since Schwarzenegger cut the tax as his first official act as governor last month, local officials have said they are losing millions of dollars every day. Many have threatened to sue the state if something isn’t done quickly to restore the funds.

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There’s a song in the title of this post somewhere,

There has been a second outbreak of fighting this week in the Republic of Congo’s capital, Brazzaville.
Government spokesman Alain Akouala said gunfire and rockets were exchanged overnight between two Ninja rebel factions in the south of the city.

But rebels say they were attacked by government soldiers. Calm has returned and shops have opened as usual.

In March, a peace deal was signed with the Ninjas, whose stronghold is in the Pool region, south of the capital.

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Alabama’s Governor wasted no time in choosing a man to take Bill Fuller’s place at the DHR,

Gov. Bob Riley named former Tennessee lawmaker and foster care chief Page Walley on Wednesday to be commissioner of Alabama’s Department of Human Resources.

Walley has been a member of Riley’s cabinet, serving since March as the commissioner of the Department of Children’s Affairs. Riley said Walley was “eminently qualified.”

“He’s excelled as a capable administrator, as an expert on children’s issues and as a public servant,” Riley said in a prepared statement.

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Well, someone was going to have a Merry Christmas,

A custom-made $42,000 diamond ring intended as a Christmas present has disappeared from a Hoover jewelry store, according to a police report released Wednesday.

Dr. Clement Cotter Jr., a Hoover resident who has a plastic surgery practice in Alabaster, told Hoover police he was having seven Royal Crest cut diamonds valued at $40,000 set into a $2,000 platinum ring at Diamond World in Hoover.

The diamonds had been taken from other pieces of jewelry he had given to his wife, and he was having them reset into a ring with a special design for her Christmas present, he said.

Diamond World sent the diamonds to a New York jeweler to be set, and the ring was returned to Hoover via United Parcel Service, Hoover police Capt. A.C. Roper said.

An employee at Diamond World signed as receiving the package on Nov. 20, and the jewelry store learned it was missing the first week in December, Roper said. Cotter was notified Tuesday and immediately contacted Hoover police.

“It’s just really painful because it’s family kind of stuff,” Cotter said. “There are a lot of personal and very special memories involved in those.”

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TalkLeft is noting reports by a Chicago radio station that Former Gov. Ryan of Illinois is about to be indicted.

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Steven Waldman tackles the issue of whether Christians, Jews and Muslims all pray to the “same God”. Here even President Bush has taken the right stand and Waldman does a good job of using the furor from many evangelicals over the President’s statement to challenge their beliefs,

One oddity about the evangelical argument is that it implies at least TWO gods. Haggard’s description of the personality of “the Muslim god” evokes a universe of competing deities, slugging it out for dominance.

This was, of course, not only the view of many ancient cultures like the Greeks and Romans, but also of some parts of the Old Testament. Yahweh was the toughest god on the block, but not the only one. For instance, a song sung by Moses and the people of Israel declared:

Who is like thee, O LORD, among the gods?
Who is like thee, majestic in holiness,
terrible in glorious deeds, doing wonders? (Exodus 15:11)

Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, declares:

Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because he delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians, when they dealt arrogantly with them. (Exodus 18:11)

And Yahweh himself puts it this way:

You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. (Exodus 23:24)

(Other Old Testament passages implying polytheism include: Exodus 20:3; Numbers 25:2; Deuteronomy 10:17; Joshua 24:15; 1 Kings 11:2-10; and 2 Kings 17:31.)

There are passages in the Old Testament that did stress monotheism, and, as time went on, the concept of Yahweh as the biggest and best God was replaced by the idea of the Lord as the only God.

In that sense, Ted Haggard’s view seems like a devolution away from monotheism. What explains that? To some extent it may be just rhetorical sloppiness. What they actually meant is not that Christians and Muslims worship different gods but that Christians worship God and Muslims are worshipping, well, nothing.

But most likely what they’re really resisting is the notion implicit in the question that there is rough equivalence among the faiths. They believe that whatever the similarities, if you don’t accept Jesus, you’re doomed. Admitting the idea that Muslims might even be trying to send prayers to the same deity would muddy that clear message.

UPDATE: James, I swear I didn’t see your post first.

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It’s Wednesday again and this week Dr. Jackson at the Anniston Star waxes eloquent on the art of obituary writing. The kicker is this obituary from March 13, 1921 edition of the Piedmont Journal,

One of the most prominent citizens of Piedmont is sick and in anticipation of his demise Rev. A .E. Page will preach his funeral next Sunday night at the Baptist Church.

This gentleman is one of the best known citizens of our town. He has lived here a long time, and is known by everyone. He has been a prominent church man, a regular attendant at the lodges, has done business with every bank and merchant in our town for years, has been connected with out school system, and visited every home in Piedmont. No movement ever starts for the uplift and progress of the community but what this old gentleman has something to do with it.

For the sake of fitness it is hoped he will die before Sunday night but in the event he refuses to “kick in” by that time, Rev. Page declares he will preach his funeral anyway.

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I trust Prattville Mayor Jim Byard, but at the same time if we do not get a single Tier One supplier for the Hyundai plant here in Prattville, I am not going to be pleased or impressed. The singular focus on Venture has cost us other opportunities. I have little doubt that something will eventually end up on the property that was chosen for the Venture plant, but I do not think our elected officials should be allowed to skate on this deal forever.

Prattville Mayor Jim Byard expressed disappointment during a Tuesday news conference over the loss of a proposed $100 million Venture Industries plant, but promised the city would continue to search for a corporation to build at the site.

“Several projects are in the works,” Byard said. “We have discussed contingency suppliers with Hyundai officials as late as this afternoon.”

Venture was to build dashboards and other parts for Hyundai, but failed to raise the money needed to build a plant at the South Industrial Park site in Prattville. The loss of the plant also means the city loses out on 600 job opportunities the plant would have provided.

Byard stressed that, while the city is losing the plant, it is not losing any money because of Venture’s failure to build.

“While we offered a highly competitive incentive package to this company, we have paid no incentives,” Byard said. “Our incentive package was built around quality, higher-wage jobs. In simple terms, no jobs, no incentives.”

I’m willing to bide my time and let whatever deals are in progress emerge, but if we are left empty handed, I will not remain silent.

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The City of Mobile is facing a similar situation to the City of Montgomery,

The Mobile City Council inserted itself Tuesday into a debate over taking the word “Christmas” out of Saturday’s annual downtown holiday pa rade.

The council voted 5-0 on a resolution asking that Mobile Christmas Parade Inc., the group that puts on the parade, restore the event’s former name: Mobile Christmas Parade. The group recently renamed the parade Mobile’s Jolly Holiday Parade to reflect a larger number of religious and cultural traditions.

Elizabeth Sanders, one of the parade’s board of directors and a city employee, said there are no plans to change the name back. The parade is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. downtown.

Councilman Ben Brooks said the city might pull future support if the name was not changed back to the Mobile Christmas Parade. He voted for the resolution, along with council members Connie Hudson, Stephen Nodine, Thomas Sullivan and Reggie Copeland.

Council members Clinton Johnson, who is a pastor, and Fred Richardson argued that the parade has been a secular one and abstained.

The issue dominated much of Tuesday’s council meeting.

It makes me think of the times when my parents would say, “If you can’t play nicely, you won’t play at all.” Maybe the parade should go away if we cannot accept that Christmas is a religious holiday and assigning the title of Christmas to a government function leaves people out and elevates one religion over others. Just because the majority has been so dominant in this vein for so long, does not mean that it is right.

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The Governor of Alabama officially appointed a panel to hear Roy Moore’s appeal yesterday,

Gov. Bob Riley named former Gov. John Patterson on Tuesday as chief justice of a special, seven-member Supreme Court to hear Roy Moore’s appeal of his removal as chief justice.

Riley appointed Patterson and six other retired justices and judges willing to serve from a list of 20 names drawn Monday by Supreme Court Clerk Robert Esdale.

The court is being appointed because the Supreme Court justices unanimously stepped down Monday from hearing the case. The Court of the Judiciary removed Moore from office last month for defying a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the judicial building rotunda. The remainder of the justices had the monument moved to a storage area. They said Monday they would not rule on Moore’s appeal because they had been “intimately involved in the events” surrounding the monument.

Esdale said the six named to serve with Patterson, a former presiding judge of the state Court of Criminal Appeals, are retired Supreme Court justices Janie Shores of Birmingham and Kenneth Ingram of Ashland; retired circuit judges Harry J. Wilters Jr. of Robertsdale, Braxton Kittrell of Mobile, J. Richmond Pearson of Leroy and Edward Dwight Fay Jr. of Huntsville.

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Today is the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk, NC. There will be many attempts to replicate the flight today. This is an extremely appropriate way to honor their achievement and what it has brought us in the last 100 years.

Here is the telegram that the Wright Brothers sent to their father, informing him of their success.

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Well the Church vs. State argument has come home to roost in Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright’s backyard,

Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright won re-election to a second term on Oct. 14 as the candidate of inclusiveness, but one of his critics said he has done the unthinkable — taken Christ out of Christmas.

“He has essentially tried to abolish any references whatsoever to the Christ child and Christmas,” said Suzelle Josey, 40, organizer of a grass-roots group calling itself Operation Christ Back in Christmas in Montgomery. “There’s a lot of people upset.”

Josey accused Bright of refusing to place a Nativity scene downtown, eliminating a crËche at the Montgomery Zoo and dropping the word Christmas from the city’s holiday parade. She is taking her complaints to tonight’s City Council meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m.

Bright, reached over the weekend, labeled Josey “an extremist” and her claims “innuendoes and assumptions.”

“She has no earthly idea what my religious beliefs are and how strong they are,” Bright said, adding that Josey was one of the key supporters of his chief opponent in the mayoral contest, Scott Simmons.

Josey has another version.

“When we contacted the mayor’s office (about the Christmas matter), the answer we got was they are trying to include everyone in the holidays. In the process of trying to include everyone, they are excluding the Christians,” she said.

“We want to know how this happened,” Josey said. “This has not gone before the City Council.”

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I have not posted much on the HealthSouth case, but there are developments on a daily basis. Two directors have resigned from the board, beginning the process of yanking control from Scrushy loyalists,

The resignations Monday of George Strong and Chuck Newhall paves the way for new directors without ties to former HealthSouth chief executive Richard Scrushy or investments in HealthSouth-related companies.

A federal indictment unsealed last month charged Scrushy with 85 counts, including charges of securities fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. Scrushy has said he is innocent and that the fraud was orchestrated by lower-level executives without his knowledge.

Newhall and Strong had investments in HealthSouth spin-off companies and those with which HealthSouth did business.

A lawsuit filed by the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana in Delaware Chancery Court scrutinizes Newhall’s investment in and board seat on Medcenterdirect.com — a company HealthSouth created to handle its medical equipment purchasing.

According to the lawsuit, New Enterprise Associates, the Baltimore-based venture capital fund Newhall co-founded, made investments in at least one other HealthSouth-related company.

The suit also alleges that Strong’s personal investment in Medcenterdirect and Source Medical Solutions, another company HealthSouth set up, made him unable to continue to act as an impartial board member.

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After constant reassurances from the company and our elected officials in Prattville that it would not happen, we have lost Venture Industries,

Venture Industries Corp. failed to raise the $100 million it needed to build a Hyundai supplier plant in Prattville and has dropped the project.

The plant would have employed 600 people.

Bill Lang, spokesman for Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, said Monday that Hyundai would now turn to a “contingency plan.” Lang said Hyundai officials were not ready to announce specifics of that plan. He would not comment when asked if it was possible that a contingency supplier might locate in Prattville.

“That would be speculation,” Lang said.

Anita Archie, an attorney with the Alabama Development Office, said it was too early to say whether the 600 jobs will be lost to the state. She said it was possible Hyundai could contract with a supplier to ship in from out of state.

“Somebody has to replace Venture,” Archie said. “I’m quite certain Hyundai is in the process of trying to decide who that company is going to be.”

Prattville Mayor Jim Byard said he would meet with Hyundai officials today. He said he would discuss Prattville’s future regarding automotive suppliers at a news conference at 4 p.m. today at City Hall.

Venture was the only one of Hyundai’s 22 direct suppliers to choose Autauga County.

I addressed the issues surrounding Venture in a column that ran in the Wednesday (Prattville) Progress on November 5th.

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The replacement judges have been selected to hear Roy Moore’s appeal, including a former Governor,

The drawing came just hours after all eight Supreme Court justices disqualified themselves from hearing the Moore appeal because of their earlier involvement in the monument case.

Moore was removed from office by the Court of the Judiciary on Nov. 13 for refusing to obey a federal judge’s order to remove his 5,300-pound Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state judicial building. The eight Supreme Court associate justices had the monument moved to a storage room in August after Moore refused to do so.

To pick a replacement court for Moore’s appeal of his ouster, the names of all of the state’s retired circuit, district and appeals court judges were placed in a box and the seven names were drawn by Supreme Court Clerk Bob Esdale.

The seven chosen include former Gov. John Patterson, who is also a retired criminal appeals court judge, and retired Supreme Court Justice Janie Shores.

Troy King, legal adviser to Gov. Bob Riley, said the governor had agreed to certify the seven judges drawn randomly as the replacement court. Six will hear the Moore appeal, with the seventh as an alternate.

Esdale also drew another 13 names from the box of retired judges who could serve if any of the first seven was unable to hear the case.

Acting Chief Justice Gorman Houston called the proceeding “absolutely historic” — and “a tragedy.”

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The National Archives announced today the top ten milestone documents in American history. The contest was conducted in conjunction with US News & World Report:

1. Declaration of Independence (1776) 29,681 votes
2. Constitution of the United States (1787) 27,070 votes
3. Bill of Rights (1791) 26,545 votes
4. Louisiana Purchase Treaty (1803) 13,417 votes
5. Emancipation Proclamation (1863) 13,086 votes
6. 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women’s Right to Vote (1920) 12,282 votes
7. 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of Slavery (1865) 11,789 votes
8. Gettysburg Address (1863) 9,939 votes
9. Civil Rights Act (1964) 9,860 votes
10. Social Security Act (1935) 8,157 votes

Most of my choices made the last, but I do believe Brown v. Board of Education, which came in 12th, belongs near the top. This was a great contest and I applaud those involved.

It’s also interesting to see the bottom ten:
90. Dawes Act (1887) 372 votes
91. Executive Order 9066: Japanese Relocation Order (1942) 334 votes
92. Pendleton Act (1883) 294 votes
93. Executive Order 8802: Prohibition of Discrimination in the Defense Industry (1941) 284 votes
94. National Industrial Recovery Act (1933) 279 votes
95. War Department General Order 143: Creation of the U.S. Colored Troops (1863) 257 votes
96. Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) 251 votes
97. Boulder Canyon Project Act (1928) 213 votes
98. Platt Amendment (1903) 140 votes
99. Armistice Agreement for the Restoration of the South Korean State (1953) 136 votes
100. De Lôme Letter (1898) 97 votes

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AP is reporting,

The eight associate justices of the Alabama Supreme Court will step down from hearing Roy Moore’s appeal of his ouster as chief justice by a judicial ethics panel, a court official said Monday.

Supreme Court Clerk Bob Esdale told The Associated Press the justices have not issued a formal order, but have scheduled a meeting for 2 p.m. Monday to randomly draw the names of qualified judges and attorneys who could hear the case.

The names will be submitted to Gov. Bob Riley, who is expected to make the final appointment of a replacement court.

The Alabama Court of the Judiciary voted Nov. 13 to remove Moore from office for refusing U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson’s order to remove a 5,300-pound Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building.

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Former General Wesley Clark is beginning his testimony in the trial of Slobodan Milosevic,

Mr Clark, who directed the 1999 air campaign against Serbia, is one of the best known figures to testify at the trial of the former Yugoslav president.

The two-day hearing began on Monday behind closed doors in The Hague.

In an unprecedented agreement between the court and the US, Washington will be allowed to review Mr Clark’s testimony before it is made public.

The US will have two days to apply for parts of the testimony to be removed from the public record if it considers them harmful to US national interests.

An edited recording is due to be made public on Friday.

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The Colts were dominant in every phase against the Falcons, winning 38-7,

Peyton Manning was doing his best, but his heart wasn’t in it. His eyes kept wandering, and so did his answers.

Buffalo was driving and Manning couldn’t help watching. Reporters surrounded him. They peppered him with questions while he stole glances at the television set mounted above running back Edgerrin James’ stall in the Indianapolis Colts locker room. Down the line, players clustered around two other televisions.

The Bills couldn’t deliver Sunday, but the Colts sure did.

They splattered Atlanta 38-7 to lock up at least a wild-card slot in the playoffs. Home field will have to wait, at least until Sunday when Denver visits. The Colts (11-3) need to win only one of their final two games, but their quest involves more than that.

“We just want to play well,” said Manning, mindful that the Colts stumbled into the playoffs last year coming off a blowout loss to the New York Giants and a middling victory over Jacksonville, and were excused in the first round, 41-0, by the New York Jets. “Like (coach) Tony (Dungy) said, gain some momentum.”

Mission accomplished.

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A judge in Jefferson County is doing all she can to prevent the spread of the flu,

While doctors fight influenza outbreaks from their offices, a Jefferson County circuit judge is battling the illness from the bench.

A sign on Judge Gloria Bahakel’s courtroom door warns that anyone with a cold, cough or flu-like symptoms should not enter. Another sign says children are not allowed.

Bahakel said at least three lawyers have appeared in her courtroom recently coughing and sweating with fever. A spectator vomited during jury selection and a feverish child had to leave.

“I’m not going to expose the public, I’m not going to expose the prisoners and I’m not going to expose myself,” Bahakel told The Birmingham News for a story Saturday.

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I woke up this morning and said to my lovely wife, “Well, let’s flip on the television and see if the world’s blown up overnight.” As I flipped to CNN and we heard the news of Saddam Hussein’s capture she said, “It hasn’t blown up, but it has certainly changed overnight.”

She was right, this is a piece of very good news, that very well could turn around our fortunes in Iraq. Congratulations to those responsible. Now, let’s follow it through with smart leadership and a policy of inclusion as the reconstruction process moves forward.

For information on the capture see:

Eugene Volokh does an effective job of picking apart the argument that the ACLU and others are just “hostile to Christianity” and that Christians are actually more tolerant of minority religions than the reverse.

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This is a good summation of the power struggle within the administration from Paul Krugman this morning,

In short, this week’s diplomatic debacle probably reflects an internal power struggle, with hawks using the contracts issue as a way to prevent Republican grown-ups from regaining control of U.S. foreign policy. And initial indications are that the ploy is working — that the hawks have, once again, managed to tap into Mr. Bush’s fondness for moralistic, good-versus-evil formulations. “It’s very simple,” Mr. Bush said yesterday. “Our people risk their lives. . . . Friendly coalition folks risk their lives. . . . The contracting is going to reflect that.”

In the end the Bush doctrine — based on delusions of grandeur about America’s ability to dominate the world through force — will collapse. What we’ve just learned is how hard and dirty the doctrine’s proponents will fight against the inevitable.

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Here we go again,

A twice-convicted sex offender who was required to register his address with authorities has been accused of molesting two young boys.

Law enforcement officials and child advocates said the arrest of Charles Cleveland Malec underscores limitations of registration lists mandated by Alabama’s Community Notification Act.

“I think we have a tall order to keep our children safe. I think it’s something we need to address,” said Blakely Davis, director of CARE House, Baldwin’s child advocacy center.

Deputies arrested Malec, 42, three days after receiving a complaint from the father of one of the boys. Authorities said Malec sodomized the boys — both younger than 12 — between Saturday and Monday. They would not reveal the exact ages of the alleged victims.

Malec, charged with first-degree sexual abuse and first-degree sodomy, was held Thursday night at the Baldwin County Corrections Center pending a bond hearing Friday.

He was convicted of sexual abuse in 1982 and 1995 and had been living in a trailer in the Elsanor community east of Robertsdale since 2001, according to the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department.

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This practice has been going on at DHR for three years, and no one said a thing, certainly not our previous Governor, but Governor Riley put a halt to it immediately.

Gov. Bob Riley has put a halt to giving 4,400 welfare workers a half-day off for shopping and other “holiday preparation,” determining that the 13 annual paid holidays they receive is enough.

Department of Human Resources Commissioner Bill Fuller said he has allowed the extra time off for three years to combat stress among his employees, who oversee child welfare, foster care, welfare, food stamps, licensing of child-care facilities and adult protective services.

“It really is an investment in worker wellness,” Fuller said. “There’s a constant danger of burnout in this kind of work.”

A spokesman for Riley said Thursday that the governor was unaware of the DHR practice before being asked about it by The Birmingham News.

Jeff Emerson, Riley’s communications director, said state employees get 13 paid holidays each year and, at the governor’s discretion, they were given the day after Thanksgiving and the day after Christmas as additional holidays in 2003.

“That should be enough time,” Emerson told the newspaper.

I am not ragging on state employees, believe me I have no reason to, but these special practices at individual departments have to stop. If every department head has the discretion to declare holidays, then a reduction in services is inevitable. The Governor is given the authority to authorize extra time off, no one else. My thanks to Governor Riley for ensuring that all employees are treated equally and fairly.

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The faculty University Senate at Auburn University made their opinion of President William Walker known today,

The Senate voted 37-31 in favor of the “no confidence” stand, with five abstentions. The organization earlier voted unanimously to censure Walker, a less serious sanction.

It then began passing out ballots for a vote on whether to recommend that he resign.

Walker said it was important that Auburn not experience an abrupt change in leadership while it deals with the newly announced probation from its accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

“From this point on, my overarching goal is going to be to work with the Southern Association on their concerns and to see that Auburn addresses them,” he said.

Walker said he plans to stick by his plan to step down in June 2005, a three-year term he agreed to when his status was changed from interim to permanent president in June 2002.

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The New York Times reports this morning,

President Bush’s political advisers are now all but certain that Howard Dean will be the Democratic presidential nominee and they are planning a campaign that takes account of what they see as Dr. Dean’s strengths and weaknesses, Republicans with ties to the White House said.

“We’re ready to go,” said a senior Republican official involved in the Bush campaign. “The broad thematics and the whole approach to him, those things have been well thought out. As for the tactical stuff, it’s still out there. The timing is a big decision.”

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Both the Birmingham News and the Mobile Register editorial pages have strong words for Auburn officials this morning. The Mobile Register says, speaking of Auburn and the University of West Alabama,

For role models, meanwhile, both colleges can look at Grambling State University in Louisiana. On Tuesday, the same day that SACS put Auburn and West Alabama on probation, it lifted probation from Grambling while strongly praising Grambling’s efforts at reform.

For instance, Grambling submitted to extensive monitoring by the statewide head of the University of Louisiana system of schools; it hired a new vice president of finance; it overhauled its fiscal staff and training procedures; and it kept some staff members working for months without weekend breaks to upgrade the college’s financial records.

Grambling’s positive response to SACS stands in marked contrast to the responses so far at Auburn, which already has sued SACS once, and at West Alabama, whose board chairman now is threatening a lawsuit.

But SACS isn’t some Gestapo out there running wild. The orga nization’s standards are clear, fair and sensible. Instead of fighting the accrediting agency, the Alabama colleges ought to welcome its reviews and strive to meet its criteria for excellence.

The News echoes that sentiment,

At least five trustees at one point had outstanding loans to the board’s longest-serving and most powerful member, Colonial Bank chief Bobby Lowder.

A letter to Lowder surfaced, showing that basketball coach Cliff Ellis knew exactly where to go when he wanted a raise, better facilities and more access to university aircraft, and it wasn’t to his immediate bosses.

Trustees had done business with the university - one, state Sen. Lowell Barron, racked up more than $500,000 worth while serving on the board.

Trustees, including Barron, have been accused of pressuring university officials to change students’ grades. Trustee Jimmy Samford acknowledged asking Auburn University at Montgomery to remove a failing grade from a student’s record.

Incidents like these demonstrate that key Auburn trustees don’t understand what their roles are supposed to be - to be policymakers, to be independent, to be working in the best interests of the university. They can’t say they weren’t warned. Critics have been persistent and vocal, issuing calls of no-confidence and demanding change.

Auburn officials ignored the warnings. Now, they have been given a warning they can’t afford to ignore.

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No surprise here. I’m not a declared supporter of Dean yet, but all signs are pointing that way.

2004 AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE SELECTOR

Your Results:

1. Your ideal theoretical candidate. (100%)
2. Dean, Gov. Howard, VT - Democrat (84%)
3. Kucinich, Rep. Dennis, OH - Democrat (80%)
4. Clark, Retired General Wesley K., AR - Democrat (74%)
5. Edwards, Senator John, NC - Democrat (64%)
6. Sharpton, Reverend Al - Democrat (56%)
7. Gephardt, Rep. Dick, MO - Democrat (56%)
8. Kerry, Senator John, MA - Democrat (55%)
9. Libertarian Candidate (37%)
10. Lieberman, Senator Joe, CT - Democrat (34%)
11. LaRouche, Lyndon H. Jr. - Democrat (34%)
12. Moseley-Braun, Former Senator Carol, IL - Democrat (24%)
13. Bush, President George W. - Republican (15%)
14. Phillips, Howard - Constitution (9%)

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The Supreme Court has upheld major provisions of the McCain-Feingold-Shays-Meehan Campaign Finance legislation in a landmark decision,

A sharply divided Supreme Court upheld key features of the nation’s new law intended to lessen the influence of money in politics, ruling Wednesday that the government may ban unlimited donations to political parties.

Those donations, called “soft money” and totaling hundreds of millions of dollars,had become a mainstay of modern political campaigns, used to rally voters to the polls and to pay for sharply worded television ads.

Congress may regulate campaign money to prevent the real or perceived corruption of political candidates, the court ruled in a 5-4 decision. That goal and most of the rules Congress drafted to meet it outweigh limitations on the free speech of candidates and others in politics, the majority said.

At the same time, the court said the 2002 law will not stop the flow of campaign cash.

“We are under no illusion that (the law) will be the last congressional statement on the matter. Money, like water, will always find an outlet. What problems will arise, and how Congress will respond, are concerns for another day,” Justices John Paul Stevens and Sandra Day O’Connor wrote for the majority.

The court also voted 5-4 to uphold restrictions on political ads in the weeks before an election. The television and radio ads often feature harsh attacks by one politician against another or by groups running commercials against candidates.

Rep. Marty Mee