Chancellor Loses His Mother
I am sorry to hear that the mother of Bradley Byrne, chancellor of the 2-year college system, died unexpectedly. May we remember the family in prayers.
April 24, 2008
April 3, 2008
Noticing the Parlor
Thicket is a new and good-looking magazine “that celebrates the good of Alabama: our people, our places, our history, and most importantly, our future.” Its second issue will be on newstands next week. I mention it not only because I thoroughly enjoyed the first issue with its Bob Riley cover story and much more, but also because this new issue will be publishing the Political Parlor’s list of the 40 Most Influential Non-Elected Alabamians.
Also… This week we were mentioned on a CBS News site that picked up a story by Politico.com. The Fix on the Washington Post site named our site in its post, “Best of the State Politics Blogs” this week. (An updated list is here.) The National Journal House Race Hotline (subscription only) - “the epitome of insider DC media,” according to one Parlor friend - cited the Political Parlor in its coverage of the AL-05 race. That’s four nice mentions this week by some good company, plus Thicket magazine next week. I always appreciate when anybody takes notice of what we are doing.
Readership is going up steadily also. I see with some amazement that we get more readers in two hours today than we did in all of April 2006 when the blog had been up four months. Much of that is due to folks who contribute greatly to the site’s flow of information about Alabama politics and policy - directly in the cases of the Daily News Digest, Legislative Dispatch, and the Small Town Political Gazette, and indirectly in the case of those who generously act as sources, sounding boards, idea people, and behind-the-scenes contributors.
Stay with us. You’ll find some things that you’ll like, others that you won’t, some things that you will find here first, and others that you won’t find anywhere else.
Related Articles:
March 23, 2008
March 6, 2008
1888 Photo of Helen Keller & Anne Sullivan Discovered
An 1888 photo of Tuscumbia native Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan has been discovered.
Researchers have uncovered a rare photograph of a young Helen Keller with her teacher Anne Sullivan, nearly 120 years after it was taken on Cape Cod. The photograph, shot in July 1888 in Brewster, shows an 8-year-old Helen sitting outside in a light-colored dress, holding Sullivan’s hand and cradling one of her beloved dolls.
Good article and a sharp photograph (a larger version is available at the story link).
February 14, 2008
January 1, 2008
Happy New Year
Happy New Year to all the cool cats out there (and everyone else, too).
Wishing you the best in 2008…
December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas
May you
and your family
experience
all the joys
of the season.
December 24, 2007
Have a Holley, Jolly Christmas
Merry Christmas to everyone who has played a part in making the Political Parlor happen this year. G, Walt, Chauncey, Cam Ward, Randy Hinshaw, Peter, all the folks who are eyes and ears for us, and especially the readers…
Whether your holiday and family time is typically closer to a Norman Rockwell experience or closer to a Norman Bates experience, may you (like the Senate Republicans) have a Holley… er… holly, jolly Christmas.
Related Articles:
November 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving
May the joys and blessings for which you give thanks be too numerous to count.
I am thankful for many things - including you folks who stop in to be a part of things here at the Parlor.
I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving!
November 21, 2007
This Week’s Pressing Matter
And from the same Rasmussen Reports poll released this week and referenced in the last two posts…
Which is most important to you personally: the winner of the Alabama-Auburn football game or who will be elected president of the United States?
10% Winner of the Alabama-Auburn game
88% Who will be elected president of the United States
2% Neither
1% Not sure
I know people who would be outraged that the 10% figure wasn’t different - some in each direction.
Related Articles:
November 20, 2007
The Rain of Governor Perdue
Michael Grunwald in Time magazine this week calls out Georgia and its Governor Sonny Perdue for exacerbating the water shortage:
So on Nov. 13, Republican Governor Sonny Perdue appealed to a higher power, hosting a statehouse vigil to “pray up a storm,” begging God to bring the rain he had withheld for 14 months.
But it wasn’t God who allowed an outdoor theme park to build a million-gallon mountain of artificial snow while the Southeast was running dry; it was Governor Perdue and his fellow elected officials. They also allowed the wasteful irrigation of Georgia’s cotton farms and the rampant overbuilding and overslurping of metropolitan Atlanta.
Related Articles:
November 16, 2007
Water War Rogue
Amidst the three way water war with Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, an extraordinary profligate is revealed.
A homeowner in Marietta, Ga., used 440,000 gallons in September, or about 14,700 gallons a day. By comparison, the average consumption in the United States is about 150 gallons a day per person, and in the Atlanta metropolitan area about 183 gallons.
Wow. That’s impressive. He has averaged 260,000 gallons a month for the past year.
In the middle of the worst drought in the region in over 100 years, Georgia’s Gov. Sonny Perdue has asked God to forgive Georgia for being wasteful with its water. (How bad is it? “Since August, the town of Orme, Tenn., which has run out of water completely, has had to use an old fire truck to ferry about 20,000 gallons of water a day from nearby Alabama.”)
Related Articles:
November 13, 2007
Sen. Preuitt’s Grandson Found
Terribly sad news… the body of 17 year-old Ben Stanford, grandson of state Sen. Jim Preuitt (D - Talladega), was found in Georgia today. He had been missing since November 5.
I did not expect this outcome. Such a sad day… Please remember this family and Kathy’s family in prayers.
November 2, 2007
LA Candidate’s Popular Campaign Issue
Looks like Steve Carter, a candidate for Lousiana state representative, has found a popular campaign issue. The signs, according to the article, are “wildly popular in Baton Rouge.”
(R) Jeff Sessions (1-19)
(D) Vivian Figures (33-1)
(D) Artur Davis (1-49)
(R) Mike Hubbard (13-1)
(?) David Bronner (OFF)