Mayoral stuff

Well Birmingham has another new mayor. Roderick Royal was elected City Council President so he is automatically the interim mayor until a new mayor is elected on December 8, or if there is a runoff, in January.

Birmingham is fortunate. They get several new mayors within a period of 3 months. Bessemer is stuck with the one we have. I have some thoughts, but I think they will be in my next Western Tribune column.

In the meantime, a video supporting Patrick Cooper for Birmingham mayor has surfaced, but its not the kind of video he necessarily wants, and definitely approved by the candidate. NSFW




But Cooper is right. He can't control what people post. Jody Trautwein called it "inexcusable," and that it (vulgar jokes) are "detrimental to the hearts and minds, and therefore to the future of this generation. You remember Trautwein...in "Bruno."





Anyway, Trautwein is a believer and supporter of ex-gay ministries, which are all a fraud and in themselves are "detrimental to the hearts and minds" of the vulnerable kids and adults who fall for it. I'm glad he doesn't have a snowball's chance of being elected.


Recently an Ex-Gay conference was debunked here in Birmingham. Read here here and here.

Bruno

This is not about the food stores.



Sacha Baron Cohen's movie "Bruno" opens today, and naturally people in Alabama are featured. More on that later.

Roger Ebert give the movie 4 stars, saying "here is a film that is 82 minutes long and doesn't contain 30 boring seconds."

Cohen holds nothing back in this effort, which the gay community and the rest of the world doesn't yet know how to take. I mean, it is said the movie will make straight homophobes uncomfortable and make them re-examine their prejudices or something like that, but that is making an assumption that straight homophobes will go see the movie.

OK, I know. Some will, because of their secret desires and fantasies, but still, I think the majority of the audience will be Cohen fans, mostly young people who already support gay equality.

Anyway, after watching the trailer, I think I will have to see it.




Playing at Alabaster, Lee Branch, Patton Creek, Summit, Tannehill, Trussville and Vestavia Hills. See ya there!

As for the Alabama connection, Birmingham Youth Pastor Jody Trautwein is featured when Bruno goes to him seeking counseling to become ex-gay. I think the ex-gay movement...no, let me re-phrase that. I know the ex-gay movement is a sham.


Here's how a commenter (bdavis95) on al.com put it:

"As long as we have people like this pastor who lead organizations whose sole purpose is to maintain discrimination, bigotry and hate, we will continue to be made fun of."

But Trautwein is not put off by this, in the article he says he thinks this will be used to bring people to Jesus.

Actually it will bring more people to the movie.