State of the Union, and a Couple of Notes

Bessemer readers: There is an important meeting tonight at 7:00 at Broken Vessel Church on Dartmouth Avenue regarding the proposal to authorize GUSC (Governmental Utilities Service Coprporation)to buyout the contract that the city has with Covanta to manage our water plant. There are problems with this proposal. One is that the GUSC board is autonomous with the exception of their appointment by the council. In other words, no oversight. Can you say "Absolute authority?" Can you say "Birmingham Water Works?" Come learn what is going on in your city. The meeting is sponsored by the Bessemer Neighborhood Association.

Animal lovers: Columnist Scott Ostler: "Michael Vick, serving a 23-month prison sentence, will enroll in a drug-treatment program that can reduce the sentence of nonviolent offenders by as much as one year. Our family dog Petey just asked me to explain to him the part about 'nonviolent offenders.'" (Seen in The Birmingham News Sports Page "Fun Buzz." Our dog wonders where's the "fun" in that buzz?)


U. S. Citizens: Tonight president Bush gives his State of the Union Address. I write about this in The Western Tribune this week, citing this poll, that was taken just last week. The headline from the web page is:

"State of the Union Rated Poorly by 4 out of 5 Americans Four in Five Also Say Strengthening the Economy is Going Poorly"

But our state of the union is really demonstrated in a song by Pink and the Indigo Girls, and (like last week) I am posting 2 videos.

Dear Mr. President.




And here is the other.



We know that Bush and company lied 935 times.



Lets see how many we can catch him in tonight. And will Dennis Kucinich file for impeachment of the president by the time Bush speaks tonight? That was the rumor last week.