The tragic shooting in Arizona this week brought a hue and cry over gun rights. Second amendment enthusiasts are defensive, assuming that there will be a resulting tide of public sentiment for some type of restrictions on gun ownership.
Rhetoric from the golden oldies vault has been digitally remastered and is available now at this toll free number 800 672 3888. Sounds better than ever.
Don't blame the gun. Blame the shooter. Guns don't kill people. People kill people.
Solid Gold. Number 1. Been on the charts longer than Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, and produced far more hits.
But we miss the target.
The gun used in this horrific slaying will not be punished nor blamed. It is just a piece of metal (and plastic). The shooter will be blamed and he will be punished, as he should.
But that won't do anything for the six people who were killed, or the hundreds of Americans that have died in similar incidents in the recent past, nor will it do anything for the next group of victims of a shooting spree.
There might be fewer victims if there were fewer bullets. Instead of thirty one shots there might have been eleven in Arizona. That was the law of the land until 2004. A law with enormous loopholes, but the law nonetheless. The Automatic Weapons Ban limited magazines of semi-automatic weapons to a capacity of ten bullets. Again subject to enormous loopholes, but still, it was an impediment, which grew more effective as the years went on as the supply of pre-1994 high capacity magazines became more scarce and more expensive.
But that law left town before sundown, or actually right at sunset, in 2004, ten years after it was enacted, and has not been replaced by a conservative Republican Congress or a gutless Democratic Congress.
Blame, whether it is aimed at the gun or the shooter, is a weapon that will only fire blanks. It will save no one's life or limb, no one's child, spouse, parent, grandparent or friend.
But reasonable action might.
Nineteen people were shot. Do the math.
At least eight would not have been victims if only eleven shots had been available.
Is our right to be able to shoot twenty more bullets per minute worth the life of a nine year old child? Of a beloved husband and father? Of a promising young political aide? Of a retired grandmother? Which of the victims were not worth our consideration?
It's not about blame. It's about the right.
Not the Second Amendment Right, or the Poltical Right, or even being right.
It's about the right thing.
Doing it.
.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
The crashing of symbols
Republicans opened the 112th Congress with symbolism as Speaker John Boehner, Ohio Republican, began the reading of the Preamble to the U. S. Constitution. The remarkable document has much more depth than length, and the exercise did not take long, as members took turning reading the articles aloud until the entire document had been heard by all. **
I liked the idea of opening Congress in that manner, no matter what motivated it.
So now the 112th Congress is in place and sworn in, at least most of them. Two Representatives, incumbent Republican Pete Sessions and freshman Republican Mike Fitzpatrick actually were not sworn in before they started voting. It could happen to anyone, forgetting to attend your own swearing in ceremony. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/06/two-house-republicans-vot_n_805423.html?igoogle=1 Perhaps they should have paid a bit more attention to the Constitution that their party so ceremoniously insisted on reading. Taking an oath of office is a constitutional requirement after all. It was a serious enough error to prevent Sessions from calling a committee meeting into session. The meeting had to be adjourned before it started because he had no authority to act having not taken his oath of office. Apparently watching the ceremony on TV is not constitutionally sufficient.
I place this in the things that make me chuckle category. It doesn't make that much difference in the big scheme of things, sort of like whether or not Cam Newton wears his mouthpiece. I do worry about Cam though. I doubt that he will ever be hit hard enough while playing for it to matter, but when he jumps into the stands those rowdy Auburn fans might accidentally injure him in their excitement.
The difference is Cam Newton never claimed that he always followed the rules about mouthpieces. He never insisted that the rules about mouthpieces be read aloud in the stadium before each game. I imagine if the ref calls him on it, he will just flash that engaging grin, which is evidence that he hasn't needed a mouthpiece so far, put it in for a couple of plays, and go back to being the superhuman football player that he is, with very nice teeth.
Republicans, by reading the constitution aloud on the floor of the house at the opening of Congress, by creating a rule that each piece of legislation must contain an explanation as to its constitutional basis, by creating a rule that no legislation shall increase the deficit, and touting new rules of transparency and frugality, have set a standard for themselves.
If only they would honor it.
They violated the Constitution before they even got started when the two Congressmen voted without taking their constitutional oath. No, as I said, that embarrassing gaffe will not make much difference in anything except for the sweet taste of irony and a good chuckle.
But I am afraid it is the real symbol of the opening of the 112th.
The Republicans defiantly and triumphantly announced that no legislation shall be passed that will increase the deficit. Except legislation that they favor otherwise, apparently. The first substantive matter to be taken up by the House will be an attempt to repeal Healthcare Reform, an attempt which they know is futile.
The Congressional Budget Office, which is a non-partisan agency whose duty it is to inform and advise Congress as to the economic and budgetary consequences of legislation, wrote a letter to Senator Boehner stating that a repeal of Health Care Reform will increase the deficit by a quarter of a trillion dollars.
Boehner responded that he doesn't believe the non-partisan agency, and that he believes that Health Care Reform will increase the deficit. He gave no basis for his opinion, other than he felt like it would cause unemployment to rise as employers were forced to buy health insurance for employees, a position that is also unsupported.
So apparently the Republicans promise not to add to the deficit was not exactly a promise. It just depends on what they want to do. Surely we should trust them to make these policy decisions. After all, they didn't get us into this financial disaster, this monstrous deficit.
Oh, wait a minute. They did.
Hmmmm.
Nevertheless, I wish them well. Maybe all the posturing is necessary for the sake of politics. Maybe in the end good things will be accomplished.
The strange thing is that while they were talking about cutting the deficit today by introducing legislation that has no chance of becoming law, another solid symbolic gesture, the President left them standing at the starting line in the race to cut spending.
The Administration announced a 78 billion dollar cut in the defense budget today. Some of that will regrettably be in health insurance benefits for veterans, and not so regrettably in boondoggle pork barrel defense contracts for useless weapons systems. And there will be a cut in the number of military personnel.
Not symbolic.
The thing about symbolic is that it doesn't hurt.
Because a symbol is just a representation. A representation of something real. I pray that Congress will do that for us.
Real representation.
I liked the idea of opening Congress in that manner, no matter what motivated it.
So now the 112th Congress is in place and sworn in, at least most of them. Two Representatives, incumbent Republican Pete Sessions and freshman Republican Mike Fitzpatrick actually were not sworn in before they started voting. It could happen to anyone, forgetting to attend your own swearing in ceremony. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/06/two-house-republicans-vot_n_805423.html?igoogle=1 Perhaps they should have paid a bit more attention to the Constitution that their party so ceremoniously insisted on reading. Taking an oath of office is a constitutional requirement after all. It was a serious enough error to prevent Sessions from calling a committee meeting into session. The meeting had to be adjourned before it started because he had no authority to act having not taken his oath of office. Apparently watching the ceremony on TV is not constitutionally sufficient.
I place this in the things that make me chuckle category. It doesn't make that much difference in the big scheme of things, sort of like whether or not Cam Newton wears his mouthpiece. I do worry about Cam though. I doubt that he will ever be hit hard enough while playing for it to matter, but when he jumps into the stands those rowdy Auburn fans might accidentally injure him in their excitement.
The difference is Cam Newton never claimed that he always followed the rules about mouthpieces. He never insisted that the rules about mouthpieces be read aloud in the stadium before each game. I imagine if the ref calls him on it, he will just flash that engaging grin, which is evidence that he hasn't needed a mouthpiece so far, put it in for a couple of plays, and go back to being the superhuman football player that he is, with very nice teeth.
Republicans, by reading the constitution aloud on the floor of the house at the opening of Congress, by creating a rule that each piece of legislation must contain an explanation as to its constitutional basis, by creating a rule that no legislation shall increase the deficit, and touting new rules of transparency and frugality, have set a standard for themselves.
If only they would honor it.
They violated the Constitution before they even got started when the two Congressmen voted without taking their constitutional oath. No, as I said, that embarrassing gaffe will not make much difference in anything except for the sweet taste of irony and a good chuckle.
But I am afraid it is the real symbol of the opening of the 112th.
The Republicans defiantly and triumphantly announced that no legislation shall be passed that will increase the deficit. Except legislation that they favor otherwise, apparently. The first substantive matter to be taken up by the House will be an attempt to repeal Healthcare Reform, an attempt which they know is futile.
The Congressional Budget Office, which is a non-partisan agency whose duty it is to inform and advise Congress as to the economic and budgetary consequences of legislation, wrote a letter to Senator Boehner stating that a repeal of Health Care Reform will increase the deficit by a quarter of a trillion dollars.
Boehner responded that he doesn't believe the non-partisan agency, and that he believes that Health Care Reform will increase the deficit. He gave no basis for his opinion, other than he felt like it would cause unemployment to rise as employers were forced to buy health insurance for employees, a position that is also unsupported.
So apparently the Republicans promise not to add to the deficit was not exactly a promise. It just depends on what they want to do. Surely we should trust them to make these policy decisions. After all, they didn't get us into this financial disaster, this monstrous deficit.
Oh, wait a minute. They did.
Hmmmm.
Nevertheless, I wish them well. Maybe all the posturing is necessary for the sake of politics. Maybe in the end good things will be accomplished.
The strange thing is that while they were talking about cutting the deficit today by introducing legislation that has no chance of becoming law, another solid symbolic gesture, the President left them standing at the starting line in the race to cut spending.
The Administration announced a 78 billion dollar cut in the defense budget today. Some of that will regrettably be in health insurance benefits for veterans, and not so regrettably in boondoggle pork barrel defense contracts for useless weapons systems. And there will be a cut in the number of military personnel.
Not symbolic.
The thing about symbolic is that it doesn't hurt.
Because a symbol is just a representation. A representation of something real. I pray that Congress will do that for us.
Real representation.
**(There are those who have suggested that the Alabama legislature should do the same, since it is now in Republican hands. Two positive things could emerge. It would take so long to read the Alabama constitution aloud that the Alabama legislative body would have little time left in the regular session to do any damage, or, they could finally realize how ridiculously long, or how ridiculous and long, the Alabama Constitution has become, and is becoming with every passing statewide election.)
.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Stuck in the middle, stuck in my head . . .
I suppose when you have a TV show that will become pointless one way or the other on a certain date it makes sense to run it often. The History Channel is getting its money's worth out of a couple of programs that explain the prediction that the world will probably end in 2012. The prediction is based on the Mayan calendar and writings of Nostradamus. It's shelf life is only a couple more years at best. I hope the end of its run is the result of an embarrassing mistake rather than unexpected accuracy.
The narrator's voice, loaded with gravitas, takes a spin on the apocalyptical machine. Then an image of Nostradamus writings is flashed up on the screen. Nostradamus' prediction is clear, the voice says. Max out the credit cards, it's over in 2012.
Nostradamus said, "The huge dog will howl at night." That obviously means the United Kingdom. It doesn't seem so obvious to me, except that we all know that Churchill looked like a bulldog. I admit I have watched the show a couple of times. But ND's symbolism is not as clear to me as it must be to some. Maybe I'm in denial.
Some of the historians say that ND's predictions were couched in strange symbolism to protect him from persecution by Church authorities. He was a bit hard on the Roman Catholic Church. I always assumed he was just communicating in the language of the mystic.
Gerry Rafferty died yesterday. I don't think that was predicted by Nostradamus.
But Gerry did a lot of writing, just like Nostradamus. Except Gerry wrote songs, not quatrains. And some of the references were obtuse.
"Winding your way down on Baker Street."
I don't know where Baker Street is, sort of like I don't know what Nostradamus' "bearded star" really is.
But Gerry, like ND, made a bold prediction of hope later on in the song.
"Another year and you'll be happy. Just one more year and you'll be happy. But you're cryin', you're cryin' now."
I'll take that prediction for 2012 over Nostradamus' anyday.
And Rafferty made another eerie prediction about our political situation in 2012 that has been running through my head for the past two days, possibly because it played on every newscast that covered the story of Gerry's passing.
"Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you . . ."
Gerry Rafferty left quite a list of pop songs. He had a solo career and played with several bands, the most famous being Stealers Wheel. It would be incredible to write a critically acclaimed piece of music like the classical composers. But I often thought that it might be just as wonderful to write music that made the world smile, even if some critics were more critical than acclaiming. Who doesn't smile when they sing "clowns to the left of me . . ."
Most of the songs that Rafferty gave us were like that. They made us smile. Songs to sing out loud in the car. But like most artists, he gave away a lot more of his life than he kept. Even pop artists do that. He suffered from depression and substance abuse. So, I'm hoping that he is enjoying the relief that he sometimes wrote about in his more obscure songs. Like "Time's Caught Up on You":
"One night -- you’ll stand again in the spotlight
And everything will be all right
And you’ll wake up from this dark night of the soul.
One night -- you’ll spread your wings and you’ll take flight
And everything will be all right
And you’ll wake up from this dark night of the soul."
Here's to hoping he finally feels "home and dry, home and dry . . ."
.
The narrator's voice, loaded with gravitas, takes a spin on the apocalyptical machine. Then an image of Nostradamus writings is flashed up on the screen. Nostradamus' prediction is clear, the voice says. Max out the credit cards, it's over in 2012.
Nostradamus said, "The huge dog will howl at night." That obviously means the United Kingdom. It doesn't seem so obvious to me, except that we all know that Churchill looked like a bulldog. I admit I have watched the show a couple of times. But ND's symbolism is not as clear to me as it must be to some. Maybe I'm in denial.
Some of the historians say that ND's predictions were couched in strange symbolism to protect him from persecution by Church authorities. He was a bit hard on the Roman Catholic Church. I always assumed he was just communicating in the language of the mystic.
Gerry Rafferty died yesterday. I don't think that was predicted by Nostradamus.
But Gerry did a lot of writing, just like Nostradamus. Except Gerry wrote songs, not quatrains. And some of the references were obtuse.
"Winding your way down on Baker Street."
I don't know where Baker Street is, sort of like I don't know what Nostradamus' "bearded star" really is.
But Gerry, like ND, made a bold prediction of hope later on in the song.
"Another year and you'll be happy. Just one more year and you'll be happy. But you're cryin', you're cryin' now."
I'll take that prediction for 2012 over Nostradamus' anyday.
And Rafferty made another eerie prediction about our political situation in 2012 that has been running through my head for the past two days, possibly because it played on every newscast that covered the story of Gerry's passing.
"Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you . . ."
Gerry Rafferty left quite a list of pop songs. He had a solo career and played with several bands, the most famous being Stealers Wheel. It would be incredible to write a critically acclaimed piece of music like the classical composers. But I often thought that it might be just as wonderful to write music that made the world smile, even if some critics were more critical than acclaiming. Who doesn't smile when they sing "clowns to the left of me . . ."
Most of the songs that Rafferty gave us were like that. They made us smile. Songs to sing out loud in the car. But like most artists, he gave away a lot more of his life than he kept. Even pop artists do that. He suffered from depression and substance abuse. So, I'm hoping that he is enjoying the relief that he sometimes wrote about in his more obscure songs. Like "Time's Caught Up on You":
"One night -- you’ll stand again in the spotlight
And everything will be all right
And you’ll wake up from this dark night of the soul.
One night -- you’ll spread your wings and you’ll take flight
And everything will be all right
And you’ll wake up from this dark night of the soul."
Here's to hoping he finally feels "home and dry, home and dry . . ."
.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Ten years (or eleven), that's a lot of coffee . . .
I was drinking my coffee this morning listening to the radio. Suddenly I heard the announcer say that it was time for the decade in review. My puzzle loving twisted ADD brain first wondered if NPR realized that this was a review of the first eleven years of the 2000's rather than the first decade. As I wondered I realized I missed the first part, so maybe they didn't cover anything in 2000. Perhaps I started drinking coffee too early.
But that thought only lasted a second.
Then I thought, "that can't be right." It's hard enough to believe that another year has passed, much less another decade, or eleven years, whichever.
But it is right. I checked.
I was reminded that the 2000's have been quite the roller coaster ride. The whole y2k scare which never materialized was about the only thing that deserved to be lessened to lower case letters. So much so that some of you probably had to think a bit to remember what y2k was.
We have suffered and celebrated through rapid fire capital letter events since then.
But 2000 set the tone. The big news events seem long ago. We worried because AOL (to refresh your memory that stands for America On Line, which featured that voice that said "You've Got Mail") was buying out media conglomerate Times Warner. It looked like AOL would forever control the Internet and conventional media and was a great stock to own if you were able to see the bubble before it burst, also in 2000. I don't get too many AOL generated emails anymore.
Foreshadowing horrific events to come, the USS Cole was attacked by suicide bombers while refueling in Aden. Al Queda led by Osama Ben Laden, known by some but not yet household names in the United States, was credited for the bombing which killed seventeen military personnel.
Hillary Clinton, the long-suffering wife of the President for most of the nineties, began to show us how formidable she would become when she was elected U. S. Senator from New York. A young Illinois state Senator, Barack Hussein Obama, was defeated in his first bid for Congress, but made a quietly remarkable showing beginning the race at ten percent and ending at thirty one percent against a popular candidate. And he learned a lot about politics as we would find out an amazingly short eight years later.
2000 was a Presidential election year, probably the most infamous. Election night was a bonanza for political junkies as it came down to Florida, just as Tim Russert had been telling us all evening on his little handheld chalkboard. And Florida just wasn't too sure. After thinking he had won and then lost, Democrat and vice president Al Gore conceded, and then withdrew his concession. The folks in Florida gave us an education about chads, hanging and dangling like fruit from a palm tree. The recount was started and then stopped in an unprecedented (literally, they said so in the opinion) decision by a defiantly anti-activist U. S. Supreme Court. Gore ultimately conceded, and George W. Bush, later to better Elvis, Bono, and Charro by being known simply by one letter, "W", was elected President.
The winner of the 2000 award for irony had to be the United Nations, when it declared 2000 to be "The International Year for the Culture of Peace." Perhaps they should have made that "The International Decade . . ." But the foreshadowing of the warring and mayhem of the decade was obvious in 2000 with the U.S. Cole bombing, Iraq's defiance of the UN's insistence that it disarm, and the dramatic increase in Al Queda and other terrorist group activity. At least it seems obvious now.
"Genomes," a preliminary draft of the report of the Human Genome Project was completed in 2000.
The last original Peanuts comic strip was published after the death of Charles Schultz.
Looking at pop culture of years past is like looking at your old high school yearbooks. Just embarrassing. What were we thinking? Most of my personal embarrassment when looking at yearbooks involves fashion, or lack of it, but I can't remember anything distinctive fashion wise for 2000, nor could I find it in my arduous research for this post. Beer advertisements and an odd song written for Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival season by Anslem Douglas and made popular by Baha Men added much to our vocabulary. In fact, in some groups you heard little else.
Whassup????? Whasssup????
Who let the dogs out . . . Who, who, who, who, who.
And reality TV. Not my favorite genre, but some of my respected readers are avid fans. Survivor debuted, as did Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire, which many thought to be the absolute low for TV of any kind, reality or unreality. That later proved to be a great overestimation of the creative abilities of the American TV industry.
Pop music featured hits by Faith Hill, Matchbox 20, Savage Garden, Destiny's Child, Toni Braxton, Lonestar,N Sync, Backstreet Boys, Creed, Nelly, and a whole bunch more. It's easier to look for yourself if you would like. http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/2000.htm
Other newsmakers were Napster (remember when we all wondered if we would be arrested or fined for downloading songs?) and Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy who was the unfortunate subject of the most publicized child custody case in history (he's 17 now, wonder what he's up to?).
For you Alabama readers, you may remember that Tommy Blanton andBobby Frank Cherry were indicted for the Ku KluxKlan's unthinkable bombing of Birmingham's 16th St. Baptist Church some 37 years earlier.
University of Alabama football fans suffered through one of the most disappointing seasons ever in 2000, ranked number three before they started, but in fact it seemed they never got started, and ended with a losing season, causing the demise of head coach Mike Dubose. Auburn, on the other hand, saw a reversal of fortune and ended the regular season 9-2 and played in the SEC championship game.
And we all remember the ten commandments. Not because we should as good Bible Belt citizens, but because then Etowah County Circuit Judge Roy Moore (not to be confused with Judge Roy Bean, although their view of the law was similar in some ways) refused to take a plaque with the big ten of Mosaic Law off the wall of his courtroom. It was the beginning of a long, entertaining and troubling story, resulting in Judge Moore descending from on high to deposit a large stone inscribed with the commandments in the Alabama Supreme Court foyer. It turned out to be much easier to remove Judge Moore from the building than to remove the huge stone.
A record setting drought and a killer December tornado. Unfortunately that history repeats itself quite often in Alabama.
That's where we were in 2000. Yes I know I left out a lot. You may fill in the blanks by commenting if you so wish.
When I listen to the news each day sometimes I wonder how we got here.
I guess I forgot.
.
But that thought only lasted a second.
Then I thought, "that can't be right." It's hard enough to believe that another year has passed, much less another decade, or eleven years, whichever.
But it is right. I checked.
I was reminded that the 2000's have been quite the roller coaster ride. The whole y2k scare which never materialized was about the only thing that deserved to be lessened to lower case letters. So much so that some of you probably had to think a bit to remember what y2k was.
We have suffered and celebrated through rapid fire capital letter events since then.
But 2000 set the tone. The big news events seem long ago. We worried because AOL (to refresh your memory that stands for America On Line, which featured that voice that said "You've Got Mail") was buying out media conglomerate Times Warner. It looked like AOL would forever control the Internet and conventional media and was a great stock to own if you were able to see the bubble before it burst, also in 2000. I don't get too many AOL generated emails anymore.
Foreshadowing horrific events to come, the USS Cole was attacked by suicide bombers while refueling in Aden. Al Queda led by Osama Ben Laden, known by some but not yet household names in the United States, was credited for the bombing which killed seventeen military personnel.
Hillary Clinton, the long-suffering wife of the President for most of the nineties, began to show us how formidable she would become when she was elected U. S. Senator from New York. A young Illinois state Senator, Barack Hussein Obama, was defeated in his first bid for Congress, but made a quietly remarkable showing beginning the race at ten percent and ending at thirty one percent against a popular candidate. And he learned a lot about politics as we would find out an amazingly short eight years later.
2000 was a Presidential election year, probably the most infamous. Election night was a bonanza for political junkies as it came down to Florida, just as Tim Russert had been telling us all evening on his little handheld chalkboard. And Florida just wasn't too sure. After thinking he had won and then lost, Democrat and vice president Al Gore conceded, and then withdrew his concession. The folks in Florida gave us an education about chads, hanging and dangling like fruit from a palm tree. The recount was started and then stopped in an unprecedented (literally, they said so in the opinion) decision by a defiantly anti-activist U. S. Supreme Court. Gore ultimately conceded, and George W. Bush, later to better Elvis, Bono, and Charro by being known simply by one letter, "W", was elected President.
The winner of the 2000 award for irony had to be the United Nations, when it declared 2000 to be "The International Year for the Culture of Peace." Perhaps they should have made that "The International Decade . . ." But the foreshadowing of the warring and mayhem of the decade was obvious in 2000 with the U.S. Cole bombing, Iraq's defiance of the UN's insistence that it disarm, and the dramatic increase in Al Queda and other terrorist group activity. At least it seems obvious now.
"Genomes," a preliminary draft of the report of the Human Genome Project was completed in 2000.
The last original Peanuts comic strip was published after the death of Charles Schultz.
Looking at pop culture of years past is like looking at your old high school yearbooks. Just embarrassing. What were we thinking? Most of my personal embarrassment when looking at yearbooks involves fashion, or lack of it, but I can't remember anything distinctive fashion wise for 2000, nor could I find it in my arduous research for this post. Beer advertisements and an odd song written for Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival season by Anslem Douglas and made popular by Baha Men added much to our vocabulary. In fact, in some groups you heard little else.
Whassup????? Whasssup????
Who let the dogs out . . . Who, who, who, who, who.
And reality TV. Not my favorite genre, but some of my respected readers are avid fans. Survivor debuted, as did Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire, which many thought to be the absolute low for TV of any kind, reality or unreality. That later proved to be a great overestimation of the creative abilities of the American TV industry.
Pop music featured hits by Faith Hill, Matchbox 20, Savage Garden, Destiny's Child, Toni Braxton, Lonestar,N Sync, Backstreet Boys, Creed, Nelly, and a whole bunch more. It's easier to look for yourself if you would like. http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/2000.htm
Other newsmakers were Napster (remember when we all wondered if we would be arrested or fined for downloading songs?) and Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy who was the unfortunate subject of the most publicized child custody case in history (he's 17 now, wonder what he's up to?).
For you Alabama readers, you may remember that Tommy Blanton andBobby Frank Cherry were indicted for the Ku KluxKlan's unthinkable bombing of Birmingham's 16th St. Baptist Church some 37 years earlier.
University of Alabama football fans suffered through one of the most disappointing seasons ever in 2000, ranked number three before they started, but in fact it seemed they never got started, and ended with a losing season, causing the demise of head coach Mike Dubose. Auburn, on the other hand, saw a reversal of fortune and ended the regular season 9-2 and played in the SEC championship game.
And we all remember the ten commandments. Not because we should as good Bible Belt citizens, but because then Etowah County Circuit Judge Roy Moore (not to be confused with Judge Roy Bean, although their view of the law was similar in some ways) refused to take a plaque with the big ten of Mosaic Law off the wall of his courtroom. It was the beginning of a long, entertaining and troubling story, resulting in Judge Moore descending from on high to deposit a large stone inscribed with the commandments in the Alabama Supreme Court foyer. It turned out to be much easier to remove Judge Moore from the building than to remove the huge stone.
A record setting drought and a killer December tornado. Unfortunately that history repeats itself quite often in Alabama.
That's where we were in 2000. Yes I know I left out a lot. You may fill in the blanks by commenting if you so wish.
When I listen to the news each day sometimes I wonder how we got here.
I guess I forgot.
.
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