The Birmingham Downtown Democrats are kicking off the fall campaign season in high style with the former Governor and current Lt. Governor of the great State of Alabama, Jim Folsom, Jr.
Folsom will be the featured speaker at the Downtown Dems luncheon on Friday, Sept. 10th at the Harbert Center, 2019 4th Avenue North. No word on whether his wife Marsha (pictured with him at right) will be able to attend, but the event is sure to be a treat either way. Details:
Lunch will be served @ 12:00 noon (cost $15.00)
Please RSVP by emailing downtowndems@gmail.com or by calling Judy at 822-8416. Please do this as soon as possible because we are again expecting a large crowd and need an accurate count for lunch.
As all of you know, Governor Folsom is up for re-election this year and has opposition in the general election. If you would like to visit his campaign website, the address is www.folsom2010.com and if you would like to join him on facebook, that address is www.facebook.com/pages/Jim-Folsom-Jr/142036924080.
Gov. Folsom will also make an appearance in Huntsville tomorrow evening for a fundraiser followed by a Young Folks for Folsom reception at Amendment XXI. Details on the Folsom fundraiser:
Tuesday, August 17th 2010, 5:00pm-7:00pm
Sirote & Permutt, PC 305 Church Street Southwest Huntsville, AL 35801
Suggested contribution of $500 per couple. Other amounts also appreciated.
Please RSVP: to 540-239-1730 or laureneklumpp@gmail.com
Young Folks for Folsom Reception at Amendment XXI - A casual meet and greet among the young folk of Madison County interested in supporting the campaign and meeting the Lt. Governor.
Please don't make the mistake of assuming that Folsom will be a shoo-in and doesn't need your support just because he is an incumbent and a well known figure in Alabama politics. This is not an election cycle where anything should be taken for granted.
Yes, the prospect of facing Kay Ivey in the fall has not deterred Lt. Gov. Folsom from filing for re-election (that's a joke) nor has he been tempted to throw his hat into the governor's race after all as has been suggested elsewhere. Jim Folsom, Jr. is running for re-election, issuing this statement earlier today:
This afternoon, I will officially qualify as a candidate and ask the people of Alabama to support my campaign for re-election as Lieutenant Governor.
During any election year, a long list of candidates announce for political office. Everyone who runs has their own reasons for running and why they think they would be the best choice.
I want to take few minutes this morning to tell you why I’m running.
As you know, our state is facing some of the most difficult economic times in memory. Our people are hurting and they are looking for answers.
Heated political rhetoric and partisan differences should not get in the way of the best interests of Alabamians looking for real answers to the problems they face every day.
Heated rhetoric won’t provide the answers they need. Proven leadership will.
State Representative Earl Hilliard, Jr. briefly addressed the crowd at the Over the Mountain Democrats candidate forum on August 21.
He discussed his accomplishments as a state legislator representing Alabama House District 60 and explained what his prioirities would be as a Congressman representing AL-07.
Rep. Hilliard impressed me with his focus on issues and solid record of accomplishments after only 3 years as a state legislator. The video and a partial transcript of his speech is on the flip.
Most of the AL-07 candidates were at the OTM forum and we're posting the video/transcripts in alphabetical order. (Martha Bozeman's speech is here.)
Note: There's a huge amount of state and national interest in this race. Mooncat's been getting requests for information and answering questions about the race during interviews.
Please, if you have a favorite candidate in this race, do a profile on him/her. Go to an event and take some photos and video. We want LIA to be "the" place to get information during the primary.
Last week it was the Congressional Black Caucus, this week the Postal Workers -- Earl Hilliard, Jr. is actively seeking and finding support for his congressional campaign. From the campaign:
The Birmingham Area American Postal Workers Union, Local 303 and the International Office of the American Postal Workers Union have officially endorsed State Representative Earl Hilliard, Jr. in his campaign to fill the open seat in Alabama’s 7th Congressional District.
Sara Witherspoon, State President of the A.P.W.U. commented, “after working for over 34 years as a labor leader and postal worker, I am confident that Representative Earl Hilliard, Jr.’s experiences, and strong record of achievement will help him to provide true leadership in Alabama’s 7th Congressional District. and look forward to working with him in the years ahead.”
According to Local 303 president, Edgar Wallace, the Birmingham Area A.P.W.U. represents nearly 1,000 men and women from over sixty-five post office branches throughout the Birmingham metro area. It is the largest of the A.P.W.U. locals in the state and casts an influential endorsement this early in the campaign season.
Union endorsements frequently bring money to a candidate but, more importantly, they bring foot soldiers -- a very valuable commodity at Get Out The Vote time. The only other endorsements I'm aware of in the AL-07 race are the ones Terri Sewell has picked up from NOW and the Women's Campaign Forum.
Sheila Smoot held the lead in an August poll released by the Hilliard campaign, while Sewell has a wide lead in fundraising over all competitors. As of last report, she had $318K cash on hand compared to about $40K for Smoot and $30K for Hilliard.
Just had an email from a friend with the rumor George Wallace, Jr. will be running for office again. It didn't specify which party or office, but I'd bet on GOP -- any of the second tier offices are possible, unless his two previous terms mean he can't serve again as State Treasurer. After Wallace became a Republican, he was elected to the PSC and ran unsuccessfully for the Lt. Gov. nomination in 2006.
I totally agree with my friend's assessment of Wallace, Jr. as a candidate:
With George, Jr. you get to use the ultimate Southern putdown: "He's not the man his daddy was."
Updated:Added a video of the Segall/Rogers debate. Josh has some great points about developing rural Alabama. It's on the flip.
"For that kind of payroll, the city fathers would tie a big red bow around City Hall and hand it over."
Addie Pray makes this droll observation in the novel, Paper Moon. Set in depression-era Alabama, it details the activities of two lovable con artists. In this instance, the pair is scamming small towns by promising to build a paper mill with a payroll of 120 people.
In some parts of Alabama - specifically Perry County and other black belt communities - it's like the Depression never ended.
Now, in 2010, the promise of greater prosperity is much worse than a paper mill. It's TVA coal ash, and the city fathers County Commission is actually excited by the possibility of accepting 15,000 tons of toxic coal ash laden with heavy metals into their county every day.
This is the reason John Tyson, Jr. narrowly lost in 2006 and likely a big part of the reason he will not be running for Attorney General in 2010.
The Alabama Legislative Black Caucus issued a resolution accusing Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. of selectively prosecuting blacks, including former Judge Herman Thomas.
The resolution went out over the names of the entire caucus, but some members from Mobile, including Sen. Vivian Davis Figures (D, Mobile) and Rep. Joseph Mitchell (D, Mobile), were not told of the resolution. Rep. Yvonne Kennedy (D, Mobile) was aware of the resolution. A couple of years ago she resigned her position at Bishop State University, largely as a result of one of Tyson's investigations of public corruption.
I say public corruption needs to be investigated wherever it is growing, regardless of party or race. From what I can tell, Tyson has done that.
At its February 25, 2004 meeting, the Alabama PACT board learned that the program was funded at 92.7% and had an actuarial deficit of $51.8 million. The board "discussed the need to regain a fully funded status."
At the PACT board's August 25, 2004 meeting, Alabama Commission on Higher Education director, Dr. Mike Malone, gave the board what turned out to be a prescient warning:
Dr. Malone briefly discussed the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act and his expectation of massive unfunded mandates. He expressed concern about the affordability of higher education, stating that federal initiatives such as this would only exacerbate the problem.
While it's good to know that the PACT board was on top of the problem - at least a little bit - their two-fold attempt to solve the problem by making riskier and riskier investments and embarking on an aggressive marketing campaign wasn't, in retrospect, the best solution.
The marketing campaign, in particular, seems more than a little deceptive. At almost every board meeting from 2004 on, the board discussed the need for more contracts and higher investment returns. They grew increasingly nervous about poor performance by investment managers, even getting rebuked in 2005 by a Callan representative who told them they couldn't "can't just fire managers every six months"
But instead of approaching the Legislature or other state leades about the problem, the board kept quiet - publicly at least. Treasurer Kay Ivey scoffed when her Democratic opponent criticized the PACT program as poorly-run and underfunded. The board brushed off a request from PACT parent, Dale Goode, at the May 14, 2004 meeting to guarantee benefits, telling him that the board "was very conscientious about the program and believed that benefits would be paid..."
Why the public silence? Maybe it had something to do with the $100,000 marketing campaign the board was using to sell more contracts. If parents and grandparents thought the program was unsound, who would join? The board discussed the need to sell more contracts to keep the program afloat and worried about the effect of declining sales.
The new marketing campaign launched in 2007 (page 16) included a new tag line: "Prepay A Child's Tuition." Prepaid? There's that pesky word again....
Monday, June 1st was the official starting gun for the 2010 Alabama elections. To mark the occasion, countrycat and I interviewed Democratic Congressman and gubernatorial candidate Artur Davis. We'll be posting video clips question by question over the next few days -- uncut so you can see and hear Davis' remarks in context.
One of the most interesting things we heard Monday was the reference to Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom as a potential partner, both in governing and as a candidate. Until a couple of months ago Folsom was viewed as Davis' strongest and most likely rival in 2010. We already knew that, if elected, Davis planned to tackle ethics reform legislation in his first year but he also plans to take on education reform in his second year. He also talks about making Alabama government more accessible, saying "the various special interests have every right to be at the table, they don't have a right to have exclusive seats at the table." As a congressman, Davis has held monthly town hall meetings around the district and he would bring that accessibility to the governor's office as well, particularly to build support for his reform agenda. The Congressman also referred to the changing political climate, pointing to increased identification with the Democratic party and approval for President Obama, even in Alabama, as positive developments for his campaign.
The first question was an easy one: Are you where you want to be one year from the primary? We hoped to hear what Davis will be telling crowds around the state as he officially kicks off the campaign and get a hint of what he and his staff are telling prospective supporters, and more to the point, donors, as the campaign begins in earnest. June 1 was the first day state candidates could solicit or accept contributions for the 2010 election.
Insurgents break the rules. That's generally the only way they can win the battle against a better armed, funded, and/or more numerous opponent. It works in war and it works in political campaigns as well.
Alabama Democrats (maybe Republicans, not as familiar with them) have a political system where the most important rules aren't written, but just understood by the main players. It's easy to get complacent and quite content with the status quo. Make a few calls to the right people and the money rolls in and the nomination is (almost) a lock. All before you even fill out the qualifying papers.
How does the outsider fit into this system? He/she doesn't. The only way to win is to follow the written rules to the letter (after all, they'll be waiting for you to slip up on that) and consider your unwillingness to follow the unwritten rules as a strength, not a weakness. You "press" (to use the basketball term): try harder, keep the pressure on and the opposition off guard.
This appears to be Artur Davis' strategy. He's said he plans to follow the written rules of campaigning to the letter, even though he hopes to reform many of the campaign finance and disclosure rules as governor. "I'll be following the rules we have now because my opponent will be," he said in an interview with LIA on June 1st in Birmingham.
It's the unwritten rules that he's breaking. The rules that govern who runs for what office, when, and how they raise money. Those Alabama political mores include the following:
Mobile County DA John Tyson, Jr. will not run for Attorney General in 2010. I thought Tyson vs. Troy King was the most heartbreaking race lost by a Democrat in 2006 -- a) it was close -- about 53% to 47% -- and b) Tyson was SO much more qualified than Troy King.
The mention of that name, in the right circles, brings back a flood of associations.
Among them: a famous cabaret in Gay Paree, a Nicole Kidman movie rich in costume and set design and…well, a movie, anyway; or, if you really know your films, perhaps the association is with the 1952 John Huston “biography” film of the same name.
The one association that might not quickly come to mind, even though it should: ground zero in a battle that led to the desegregation of Las Vegas.
Today’s story will fill in the blanks that you might have regarding that association—and by the time we’re done, we’ll have covered, just as we promised last time, the 55-year history of a place that began in 1955, lasted for not quite six months, and ended just last week…maybe.
It’s another one of those American history stories you never heard before, and it’s well worth the telling…so let’s get right to it.
There may be no more recognizable icon of “Retro-Cool” than that photograph of the Rat Pack standing in front of the marquee at The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas.
They’re right there, lined up in front of their own giant names on the marquee: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop.
Night after night they would gather with friends such as Shirley MacLaine, Angie Dickinson, and Johnny Carson, to deliver some of the greatest nightclub performances in entertainment history.
Today’s story, however, focuses on what happened after the show: when four of those five could leave the showroom, drink at the bar, gamble at the casino, and go upstairs to their rooms.
In a town sometimes known as the “Mississippi of the West”, however, one of those five performers could not do any of those things.
Our Journey In Two Parts literally crosses over to the “wrong side of the tracks”, tells a story of segregation overcome, and recounts the six-month history of a Las Vegas hotel that has a 55-year history: the Moulin Rouge.
It's a question floating around blogs, newspaper editorials and letters to the editor. Why did PACT parents and grandparents think their investment wouldn't lose money? Furthermore, the questions ask: "I've lost a lot in the market, so why should tax dollars prop up your dumb investment?"
...but if it was just some glorified mutual fund, aren't the people who invested in the program culpable also in this matter?
I mean there is something called "Buyer Beware"...that it is incumbent upon everyone that signs a contract to know what they're getting themselves into. Thats why you need to read any contract before signing it, or if you're unable to for whatever reason, to get a competent lawyer to do so for you. I think, after giving it some thought, I for one need to see the contract before rushing anymore into this blame game.
Below the fold, I'll try to answer some of the questions and criticisms I've seen in a FAQ format. One that I certainly hope is more illuminating than the one the PACT board put up.
Oh, there's also a short video of parents and grandparents at the Montgomery parent's meeting on March 12th. They tell their stories. One is a banker who describes how George Wallace Jr. (then state treasurer) solicited the Alabama banking community to sell the program to the public in the early 1990's. Other parents read from their contracts... words like "guarantee" and "assurance" are in each one. To my knowledge, the definitions of those words haven't changed in the last 20 years or so.
[Note: This is part one of a three part series on Anthony Daniels. Click here for Part 2 or Part 3.]
Anthony Daniels' firm handshake and quiet voice are the first hints of this young man's poise, confidence and just plain intensity of purpose. Raised partly by his grandmother in the small town of Union Springs east of Montgomery, he arrived in Huntsville a few years ago in search of higher education. Fresh from 2 years in Washington, D.C. as Chair of the National Education Association Student Program, Daniels is now pursuing a Master's Degree in Special Education at Alabama A&M and, Blackberry in hand, he's running hard to succeed Parker Griffith as the state Senator for the 7th district in Madison County.
"Yes, I'm young," he said "but there are other leaders in this world that have been young ... when they've taken a leadership role" citing Martin Luther King, Jr and John F. Kennedy as examples.
College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 * Cut interest rates on subsidized student loans.
* Made student loan payments more manageable.
* Increased federal loan limits.
* Contained college costs.
* Increased the maximum Pell Grant scholarship.
* Expanded eligibility.
* Tuition assistance to students who will teach in high-poverty communities.
* Loan forgiveness for public service careers.
* Matching grants for first generation and low-income college students.
Daniels is particularly pleased that the College Cost Reduction Act -- a key piece of legislation for the NEA student organization and one Davis worked hard for -- passed Congress in 2007. He told me this issue of college affordability was personal to him since, like many young folks nowadays, he had several thousand dollars of education-related debt. He organized students from over 1000 campuses nationwide around this issue. One of the most effective tools in the campaign was text messaging, something he hopes will also be effective in his current campaign.
Lobbying for college affordability in Washington, Daniels concentrated on building relationships and reaching out to both sides of the aisle for support, something he believes will stand him in good stead in the Alabama Senate. "I built a lot of relationships. As a leader, I had to organize around an issue to make an impact. We had one message. Once we got that particular message, everybody cared about it. So many young people that want to go to college, that are qualified to go to college but can't go because of cost."
"Once that legislation was passed ...and I saw the impact that it had on millions of people around the country -- it was at that point that I said as an educator I can change the life of one child at a time but as a leader, a public servant or in a political position, I can change the lives of millions The things that I gripe about as a normal citizen, politicians have the power to change it." He says his issues -- education, the economy, transportation and healthcare -- are issues of the people.
Lt. Governor Jim Folsom, Jr. addressed a large crowd on Friday at the Downtown Democrats' monthly lunch meeting in Birmingham. With Congressman Artur Davis announcing his candidacy for governor downstairs in the same building, the Harbert Center was Democratic Central for a couple of hours. Naturally, the governor's race was on everyone's mind and the subject of a couple of questions and jokes.
But Lt. Governor Folsom preferred to remain focused on the Alabama Legislative session, noting that: "We're facing the worst economic crisis in my lifetime." He said that, for the next couple of months, that it was "best to focus on the jobs we're hired to do and the problems we're dealing with in Montgomery."
Not surprisingly, the folks in Montgomery are temporarily riveted on the Stimulus package negotiations in Washington, Folsom said.
"Things can improve dramatically if the House bill passes. The President's plan "can't be anything but good for Alabama."
In light of a previous disscussion thread on the subject of racism and the Azalea Trail Maids "controversy" I am using this excellant platform God has given me to write this diary with the hope we can have an honest and open dialogue about race, racist, racism and prejudice.
Racism won't end until it's confronted. We can't confront racism until it is defined.
The belief that some races are inherently superior (physically, intellectually, or culturally) to others and therefore have a right to dominate them. In the United States, racism, particularly by whites against blacks, has created profound racial tension and conflict in virtually all aspects of American society. Until the breakthroughs achieved by the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, white domination over blacks was institutionalized and supported in all branches and levels of government, by denying blacks their civil rights and opportunities to participate in political, economic, and social communities.
A hostile opinion about some person or class of persons. Prejudice is socially learned and is usually grounded in misconception, misunderstanding, and inflexible generalizations. In particular, African-Americans have been victims of prejudice on a variety of social, economic, and political levels. (Seecivil rights movementandsegregation.)
Stay with me if you are so inclined, as I attempt to define racism with the hope of ending it in our lifetime.
Parker Griffith's old seat, Alabama Senate District 7, will be getting a new candidate Tuesday morning. Anthony Daniels, Jr. is set to "make an announcement about his future political plans in Alabama" at 10 am Dec. 22 at the Main Public Library, 915 Monroe St. in Huntsville. The expectation is that he is definitely in the SD-07 race as a Democrat.
I rather like that Daniels decided to make his announcement at the public library instead of at the Courthouse or the civic center. Maybe that's a sign he views literacy and education as key priorities for Alabama. Here's what he says about education on facebook:
-Provide opportunities to make college affordable and accessible -Decrease high school dropouts and increase graduation rates -Invest in quality early childhood education programs -Promote vocational education and training -Offer professional pay for all education employees
There are two Republicans definitely in this race. I haven't seen formal announcements but the conventional wisdom is that State Reps. Laura Hall and Randy Hinshaw will get in the game, along with Steve Raby. Daniels has education ties, of a slightly different kind than Hall and Hinshaw, so I wonder where Dr. Paul Hubbert will come down in the primary?
The media and public are invited. I have a previous committment -- is anyone else planning to attend? And maybe share your notes, hint, hint?
While the press continues to try to link Obama or anyone on his staff to illegal actions with Blagojevich, the legal aspect of this case is the second phase.
Obama's Team have completed the internal investigation of who has been talking to whom at the governor's office. Per request of US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, the report will be release next week.
We don't know who has done what in regards to Blagojevich. Obviously, Blagojevich feels confident that he can beat these allegations because he has not been officially charged with anything. So far, all we have is a criminal complaint with Blagojevich talking, not acting, but talking. Then we have Jesse Jackson, Jr. who is now a known informant and have been talking to the US Attorney's Office for at least two years about corruption.
This is courtesy of Aunt Jemima's Revenge. Old news, but smilin', clean David Shuster, he of pimpin' Chelsea fame, becomes host of the newest iteration of TV journalism shift into Ringling Bros. As you know, David Gregory's now the mayor of Meet The Press. Empty chair vacated by one toon means opportunity for an increasingly stupid set of network masters to pander to an increasingly stupid public and fill the seat with...you guessed it...another toon. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is MSNBC's "hard hitting, analytical news program" covering the White House. Of course there are folks like bloffer Paul Levinson who think it's peachy. Really? Here are your choices. The cliche of network news, the Dancing With the Stars/reality TV sensibilities of CNN/Headline News and MSNBC, and the wingnut drool of Fox. NPR and PBS you ask? Recall, NPR is cancelling shows and laying-off real journalists.
And she needs to stay the hell away from the NFL. Spending 4 years hiding behind a curtain then 4 years in the spotlight as the relief pitcher in the bullshit World Series [starting rotation: Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Tenet and Bush - Powell lost for the season] does not mean you deserve a job in the NFL. I'm a bigger NFL fan than her and I don't deserve it either. It's great that she is a refined and cultured black woman and the fact that she achieved this position is a symbol of progress in Equality. It would be more commendable if she weren't completely unqualified to do this job. Aside from the fact that her accomplishment is about to get completely overshadowed by someone far greater than her, she was a robotic mouthpiece for the misinformation hate machine. A puppet on a string. A guilty party. Her appointment was not as bad as the joker at FEMA, but she is forever linked to this catastrophic administration. Does that ever wash off?
Have you noticed how President Bush and the vice president are now jumping on the band wagon and admitting they committed torture at Abu Ghraib prison, Guantanamo Bay, in other countries and ghost ships around the world? What about those seven enlisted guard soldiers they threw to the wolves while the NCO's, generals, Congress, CIA and others got away clean? Actually with murder!
redeye, on the way to another holiday party! Cheers!
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in the power of peaceful protest. Robert F. Kennedy's short speech to a crowd in Indianapolis was made shortly after King was shot. At the beginning of the video, you can hear him ask "Do they know about Martin Luther King?" They say Kennedy's police escort would not go with him into the crowd that night. Hope for progress through peace was dealt a tremendous blow forty years ago, but it did not die.
Kennedy advised compassion, understanding, love, justice ... the very things that Martin Luther King, Jr. stood for. Imagine the world we could live in if both, or either, of these two men had been allowed to live. Full text.
Ladies and Gentlemen - I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening. Because...
I have some very sad news for all of you, and I think sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.
Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in.
For those of you who are black - considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible - you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge.
We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization - black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion and love.
For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.
But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond these rather difficult times.
My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He once wrote: "Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."
What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.
(Interrupted by applause)
So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, yeah that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love - a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke. We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past. And we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder.
But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.
(Interrupted by applause)
Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.
Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people. Thank you very much. (Applause)
Robert F. Kennedy - April 4, 1968
The Anniston Star has an excellent opinion piece today on the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nevertheless, the America of today is different from the America of King, and in 2008 the racism that drips hatred into our cities isn't always directed to those only of African descent. To fully honor King's legacy, America cannot get bogged down in the racially tinged arguments that erode our social conduct.
Our nation also must turn away from the racism toward Hispanics that's infecting the United States like a deadly plague. We should not devalue the lessons of the civil rights movement by allowing America to embark on another campaign of not-so-veiled oppression and discrimination of a people whose skin and culture does not resemble that of the ruling majority.
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The Birmingham Downtown Democrats are kicking off the fall campaign season in high style with the former Governor and current Lt. Governor of the great State of Alabama, 
Yes, the prospect of facing Kay Ivey in the fall has not deterred Lt. Gov. Folsom from filing for re-election (that's a joke) nor has he been tempted to throw his hat into the governor's race after all as has been suggested elsewhere. Jim Folsom, Jr. is running for re-election, issuing this statement earlier today:
He discussed his accomplishments as a state legislator representing Alabama House District 60 and explained what his prioirities would be as a Congressman representing AL-07.
Just had an email from a friend with the rumor George Wallace, Jr. will be running for office again. It didn't specify which party or office, but I'd bet on GOP -- any of the second tier offices are possible, unless his 
But instead of approaching the Legislature or other state leades about the problem, the board kept quiet - publicly at least. Treasurer Kay Ivey scoffed when her Democratic opponent criticized the PACT program as poorly-run and underfunded. The board brushed off a request from PACT parent, Dale Goode, at the May 14, 2004 meeting to guarantee benefits, telling him that the board "was very conscientious about the program and believed that benefits would be paid..." 
Monday, June 1st was the official starting gun for the 2010 Alabama elections. To mark the occasion, countrycat and I interviewed Democratic Congressman and gubernatorial candidate 
Lt. Governor Jim Folsom, Jr. addressed a large crowd on Friday at the Downtown Democrats' monthly lunch meeting in Birmingham. With Congressman Artur Davis announcing his candidacy for governor downstairs in the same building, the Harbert Center was Democratic Central for a couple of hours. Naturally, the governor's race was on everyone's mind and the subject of a couple of questions and jokes. 
Parker Griffith's old seat, Alabama Senate District 7, will be getting a new candidate Tuesday morning. 
