Could it get any crazier at Birmingham City Hall? Of course it could. @BhamWeekly is now tweeting:
Press conference at city hall. Smitherman to read statement saying Hoyt did not keep his word on Council President vote.
Smitherman says city needs stability, honesty, someone whose word can be trusted. Says Hoyt [...]
The ignorance and paranoia on display in this video are truly alarming. (Yes, I know not everyone who supported Obama knew every detail of his policy proposals, but at least he had some.)
No transcript available, but it’s basically 8+ minutes of people saying they love Sarah Palin and want her [...]
…not the same as the old boss. @BhamWeekly tweets:
Roderick Royal is now mayor of Birmingham.
[Steven] Hoyt will serve as council president.
Now I really, really want to know what Kyle Whitmire meant by his Facebook status yesterday:
If what I’m hearing about our next council president is correct, we might have to [...]
As if the holiday shopping extravaganzas weren’t enough. There were people who actually spent the night in the Brookwood Mall parking deck over the weekend in hopes of getting a bracelet that would allow them to whiz by Sarah Palin as she signs books at light speed today.
Good luck [...]
Washington Times editor emeritus Wesley Pruden shows why some “professional” writers really should save their ravings for their own personal blogs. I know, I know — it’s the Times, what do I expect? Something better than this gobsmackingly ugly paragraph, part of a column bemoaning Obama’s bow when greeting [...]
Not that I do Twitter. I’m not sure how to tweet, or whatever the verb is, but I think it involves having a data plan on your phone if you’re going to do it right, and we are too cheap to spring for that, especially since I never go anywhere [...]
Former Birmingham Mayor Richard Arrington is not running again…unless the Draft Arrington rally that was planned for this afternoon changes his mind.
Former Birmingham Mayor Richard Arrington will not run for mayor in the Dec. 8 special election. Arrington tells the Birmingham News that he decided over the weekend not [...]
“Some GOP gubernatorial candidates run to right of Roy Moore on religion.”
That would be Kay Ivey, by the way, and not Bradley Byrne. Although ALL of the Republican candidates favor prayer in public schools. Even Artur is on board with prayer, although he thinks it should be “nondenominational.” [...]
The former Democratic Congressman was convicted back in August of 11 counts of bribery, racketeering and money laundering. He was acquitted on other charges of obstruction of justice and violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Today he was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison.
Jefferson, a Democrat, [...]
Former Republican County Commissioner Mary Buckelew was sentenced to three years probation, community service, and a $20,000 fine yesterday after pleading guilty to obstructing justice by lying to a grand jury about taking gifts from investment banker Bill Blount. The prosecution had asked for a six month sentence and [...]
It’s about time. The county filed suit today, charging fraud, conspiracy and unjust enrichment. The suit also names Larry Langford, Bill Blount, Al LaPierre, and former JPMorgan bankers Charles LeCroy and Douglas MacFaddin.
“JPMorgan, JPMorgan Chase, and Blount Parrish were paid millions of dollars as a result of the issuance [...]
This one’s for Mark Williams and the crowd at Monday’s Tea Party Express rally:
[...]When I read that the Tea Party Express was coming to Kelly Ingram Park on Monday, I was horrified. This is an overwhelmingly white movement whose express (excuse the pun) purpose is to de-legitimize the country’s first African-American president, and they were going to gather on the sacred space [...]
Commenter wspencer passed along the information below about a marriage equality protest in Atlanta this weekend.
In the wake of marriage equality being defeated in Maine, and the one year anniversary of the passage of proposition 8, activists are holding protests throughout the country to express their outrage that the [...]
Joe at Bessemer Opinions has pictures from yesterday’s teabagger rally in Birmingham’s Kelly Ingram Park, as does Bradford Daly via flickr. I have a few below the fold – forgot my real camera. Joe notes, and I second, the irony of a bunch of over-privileged white people [...]
Joe Openshaw of Bessemer Opinions wrote this account of Saturday’s events for the Examiner. It includes the observations of local psychologist Bob McKenna, who attended the conference.
One person who drove up was Bob McKenna, a local clinical psychologist. He was told he couldn’t park near where we were [...]
As promised, I checked this morning to see if the Hoover Board of Education allows churchgoers to use its parking lot. There were no cars parked in the lot today. Good to know. You’ll see why below. First, some background.
Yesterday, people from the community, including representatives from Equality Alabama, [...]
IMPORTANT: We won’t be demonstrating at 5 PM. The organizers made the decision that it wouldn’t be effective in the dark.
Our midday demonstration went well. Lots of folks who came to the early morning session were back, and there were new faces as well. I got to spend some time [...]
About 50 people gathered outside the gates of Metropolitan Church of God this morning to protest Focus on the Family’s Love Won Out “ex-gay” conference. We stood in front of the Hoover Board of Education building (on the right of way) to express our support for the families who are [...]
Again. But hey, it’s just the queers, right, so why not use them to get your name in the paper? I really thought Rep. Duwayne Bridges’ (R-of course) bleating about UAB’s decision to offer domestic partner benefits would be a flash in the pan. UAB boasts one of the country’s [...]
I almost hesitate to link to this story because I know it will be changing as the police and army officials investigate further. This is where it stands now (around 5:15 PM).
A U.S. soldier opened fire Thursday at Fort Hood, Texas, killing at least 11 people and wounding 31 [...]
My sympathies to newly elected Birmingham City Councilor Kim Rafferty and her family. Kim’s husband Mark passed away last night after being diagnosed just recently with end-stage pulmonary fibrosis. My heart is breaking for Kim and their children. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
[...]Former Birmingham mayor Larry Langford has requested a new trial following his conviction on corruption charges. His attorneys cite the speed of the verdict (the jury took less than two hours to find him guilty on all 60 counts), the venue, and the fact that gambling magnate Milton McGregor’s [...]
Actor and Bessemer native Glenn Shadix will appear alongside Wayne Besen for tomorrow night’s program exposing and debunking “reparative” therapy. Mr. Shadix, who came out to his parents as a teenager, endured aversion therapy under threat of losing contact with his siblings if he did not “beat this [...]
From the front page of Mobile’s Press-Register:
Election Roundup – REPUBLICANS GET KEY WINS IN 2 STATES – GOP GOVERNORS ELECTED IN NEW JERSEY, VIRGINIA
I thought I’d heard there was an important election someplace else – New York, maybe? someplace like that – but I must be mixing that up with [...]
Focus on the Family is coming to Birmingham this weekend for what may very well be its last “Love Won Out” conference ever. Seems claiming gay and lesbian people can be “cured” isn’t as lucrative as it once was, and their funding is drying up, so they figure they’ll [...]
This isn’t exactly shocking news.
Larry Langford rejected a plea deal with federal prosecutors that would have given him just a few years in prison, defense attorney Glennon Threatt said this morning.
Threatt, appearing on WJLD radio’s Morning Talk this morning, told radio host Gary Richardson that rumors of a plea [...]
WBHM is reporting this morning that the special election for Birmingham mayor has been set for December 8. The winner will serve out the remainder of Larry Langford’s term. Expect the regulars to be on the ballot. You’ll also see Scott Douglas, Executive Director of Greater Birmingham Ministries — and [...]
That is my mantra as DD17 approaches the beautiful day when she and 500-odd other students will throw their yellow-tasseled mortarboards in the air and we all bid farewell to the Mobile County Public School System. For fourteen years now I’ve Rolling Read, I’ve worked for PTAs, and I’ve pulled [...]
It’s Del’s favorite time of year — the time change! If you’re like me, you forgot about it in the midst of all the Halloween madness. When Dear Husband told me the clock was an hour ahead this morning, I thought the cat had stepped on it during the night. [...]
We’re hoping the rain stops in time for the trick-or-treaters to make their rounds. The house is decorated, the jack o’lantern is a work in progress, and I still have to buy candy. Didn’t want to do that too early.
I’m [...]
John Archibald has a lovely meditation on the Langford verdict that expresses very well what I’m feeling right now.
The evidence was overwhelming. The verdict irrefutable. Justice was done.
For that we can all be grateful.
But that’s not what I thought as I watched the man who once seemed so limitless [...]
Former Birmingham mayor Larry Langford was found guilty on all 60 counts of bribery, money laundering and conspiracy. Wow! I never expected a verdict that quickly. He and his wife are on the local TV news right now trashing the media and claiming innocence.
[...]Sticking my head above water for a few minutes. Work has been very busy these last two weeks, and most of my contact with the outside world has consisted of reading tweets from the Langford trial. Can you believe Larry didn’t testify? I’m sure his attorneys did everything short of [...]
Courtney Haden of the Birmingham Weekly addresses the pitiful turnout for the Langford prayer vigil on Sunday. Frank Matthews will not be happy.
I knew Larry Langford was in trouble after the prayer vigil. Not that our mayor, innocent until tweeted guilty, hasn’t faced adversity on a fairly [...]
…if you had to ask 260 million people for the right to marry?
(There’s a better quality version of this going around Facebook, but I haven’t figured out a non-Facebook way to link to it.)
Back in April, Matt Hooper of the Birmingham Weekly posted about Rep. Jay Love’s (R-Montgomery) time-wasting [...]
That was fast. The jury is seated, and opening statements begin in the morning. John Archibald tweets:
Jury looks favorable for LL. Diverse, low education level. Some run-ins with cops.
The big surprise: camo dude is on the jury.
If you’ve been following the tweets today, you’ll recognize camo dude as the [...]
Join me and (I hope) a bunch of others TOMORROW (Tuesday 10/20)for a demonstration in support of health care reform.
When: tomorrow, October 20, noon to 1:30 PM Where: in front of the Federal Building on 5th Avenue North between 18th and 19th Streets Who: sponsored by Greater Birmingham Ministries and open to [...]Larry Langford goes on trial today in Tuscaloosa, barring any last minute legal maneuvering. Kyle Whitmire and Madison Underwood of the Birmingham Weekly will be live-blogging beginning at 9 AM. Langford’s attorneys asked that the trial be moved out of Birmingham because of fears that pre-trial publicity would taint [...]
This is disappointing. Frank Matthews (yes, that Frank Matthews) is organizing a prayer vigil for Larry Langford on Sunday that will include representatives from the NAACP and the SCLC. Come on, guys, do you really believe Larry is an innocent victim of racial persecution?
Well, I’m sure Frank does, [...]
…you’re a justice of the peace who refuses to issue marriage licenses to interracial couples.
Keith Bardwell, who has been a justice of the peace for 34 years in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, says he always asks couples who call to inquire about marriage if they are interracial, and if the [...]
No, not the movie. The rhetorical device, which, to refresh y’all’s memory, is the use of a part for the whole (or the whole for a part). I’m fascinated lately by how often a single action on the part of a relatively small player can give insight into an entire [...]
In the wake of the death of one census worker under mysterious circumstances, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) went on Fox News last night to warn the country about evil census employees, implying that child molesters and rapists will be coming to our doors in April 2010.
This despite [...]
It’s déjà vu all over again! Local and state officials in Auburn are hyperventilating about Kalli’s Love Stuff and its sales of, um, marital aids. Didn’t we already cover this back in 2007? Yes, I know that was the Hoover store, and it was couched as a zoning [...]
