Ron Sparks on today's election

This is a first. I am blogging from my cell phone, at Thompson Manor in Bessemer, where crossover voting is not occuring. Democrat ballots are running 5 to 1 Republican as of 2:00 this afternoon.

I just received an email from Ron Sparks about today's election. Here it is, in part:

Today the Republican Party will choose its nominee to oppose us this fall.  I want you to know where I stand in that race and on the issues.  No matter who wins the Republican primary, Alabamians will have a clear choice in the governor’s race.  Both Republican candidates could not be more different from me.

I am the candidate who has created the most jobs for Alabama.  As a direct result of my leadership at the Alabama Department of Agriculture & Industries, Alabama is the leading exporter of timber and poultry to Cuba which alone added $350 million into the pockets of Alabamians.  I also opened the first Alabama trade office in India, led the first Alabama economic trade delegation to Africa, and led a delegation to South America to study their great success at generating and utilizing alternative fuels.I am convinced that if every single person in Alabama learns of the success we’ve had growing jobs in agriculture, our state’s biggest industry, I’ll be elected Governor!

I am convinced that if every single person in Alabama learns of the success we’ve had growing jobs in agriculture, our state’s biggest industry, I’ll be elected Governor!

I am also the only person in this race who supports an education lottery that will send our kids to college, will keep them from moving to other states, and will pay for pre-k for our four year olds. Both Bradley Byrne and Robert Bentley oppose a lottery and would ban all gaming in Alabama -- further weakening our economy.

Tomorrow's election

Tomorrow is primary runoff election day.

Turnout will be low. Very low.

Some Democrats will be switch hitting.

That is why it is so important for you to go to your voting place and ask for Democratic ballot and vote. Here are the recommendations for the progressive Jefferson County and Jefferson county - Bessemer Cutoff voters.

All video and audio is by Left in Alabama.

Recommendations

Statewide


Attorney General - Giles Perkins

"The only progressive in the race."





Federal District


AL-07 - Terri Sewell

Still refuting the lies spread by her opponent.



But there is more to Terri. Listen to her talk at the West End town hall meeting, about what we need to do, and how we can get it done. "Investing in human capital." Opening the doors so that "all of us have those opportunities."

Plus, hear what those in the community say about her.

And she does a good "Shirley Chisholm".



State District



56 - Claire Mitchell

I have personally spoken with Claire and she is the most progressive, and remember, her opponent voted against constitutional reform and when I asked him about it, his answer was not satisfactory.

County Commission


District 2 - Gary Richardson


District 3 - Ron Yarbrough


Jefferson County


Circuit Court Place 12 (Bessemer cutoff) - Annetta Verin

Judge Verin's opponent has some ethics issues that are being looked in to. Plus, there are people in Bessemer who are recommending voting for him for precisely the wrong reason. I won't name names, but it might be the usual suspects.


Circuit Court Place 17 (Remainder of county) - Nicole "Nikki" Still


Circuit Court Place 23 (Remainder of county) - Denise J. Pomeroy


Sheriff - Willie Hill

Terri Sewell: the honest candidate

What is worse, a thief or a liar?

Sheila Smoot is a liar. At least, her campaign is lying when they made this claim about Terri Sewell: "She didn't even cast one vote in Alabama until 2008."

And this one: "Sewell never even voted in Alabama until 2 years ago. ... She never even bothered to vote and now she wants to represent you in Congress. ... Sewell doesn't even vote, but she attacks Shelia Smoot's record?"

This would mean that Terri had never voted for her mother when she ran for city council.

Here is Terri's voter registration from Dallas County in 1984.

Sewell has said this, in a statement about the matter: She "went on to vote in multiple local, federal, and state races in Alabama's 7th district, often casting absentee ballots while away at college. She spent many long hours campaigning for her mother, who was the first African-American woman elected to the Selma city council, and always made a point to cast a vote in support of her mother."

So last night as I was leaving Sewell's town hall meeting in West End, a vehicle with speakers attached to the outside was broadcasting "This is a warning," followed by these lies and others, with a booming, authoritative voice, to people in the community.

If Smoot will lie to get into office, what will she do once she is elected? We don't need an embarrassment in Washington, D.C. We need a person who can relate to the big wigs there, but can also relate to the people, all of the people, in her district.

Read more about Smoot's ads at Left in Alabama, where Smoot has been asked to pull the radio ads and to apologize.

Terri Sewell is poised to become the first African-American woman elected to congress from Alabama. She was recently named one of the Next 10 Women to Watch in Politics. She is in a list with Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and in my book there could be no better comparison.

At the Town Hall last night, Terri shared her policy views, but she also shared the connection she has with individuals in the district. People from the West End area who had answered a knock at their door and opened it to find Terri were there and spoke highly of their conversation.

Terri also spoke of people that she thinks about on a daily basis during this campaign. One was a seven year old girl who dreamed of being the first African-American female astronaut (Terri gently informed her that Mae Jemison had been the first, this little girl might be the second). But she reminds Terri that every child should be able to dream, and dream big. Terri herself came a long way and she feels everyone should have that opportunity.

Another person that Terri mentioned was a contractor whose business has been affected by the economy. Terri understands the hardship that people are undergoing (including the people in Green County that Terri said unfairly lost their jobs when the Governor's Task Force closed Green Track).

I asked Terri about her positions on two issues of great importance to the President: the moratorium on deep water drilling and the lawsuit against the state of Arizona over their immigration law.

I could tell that Terri has put a lot of thought into both of these issues, because there are valid arguments on both sides. But her answers showed me that Terri's views are truly progressive and I agree with her. She supports the moratorium on deep water drilling since we don't know how to stop a leak like the disaster that is taking place right now. Shallow water drilling, and production from deep water wells already in operation, can continue.

As for the immigration lawsuit, she backs the President and sees the law as discriminatory.

And just as Terri has been able to communicate with and inspire the people she has met on the campaign, she will be able to do the same with members of congress. I could picture her last night meeting with Nancy Pelosi or Alan Grayson and having productive conversations with them, and actually getting things done for our district and for our country.

If Terri does not win this election consider it stolen. That's where the "thief" question comes in.

But Terri will not lose. She will win on Tuesday. She is upbeat. I am upbeat. Her supporters are upbeat.

See you at the polls on Tuesday.

There is beauty in the world.

Macy Gray thinks so. Here she sings "Beauty in the World"




Here's the remix, if you prefer that dance beat.

Headed toward marriage equality

Yesterday was a banner day for equality, and two stories in The Birmingham News reflect this.

On the front page is the story about the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voting to allow non-celibate gays to serve as clergy.

Actually what they voted for was to evaluate candidates on the basis of "calling, gifts, preparation and suitability."

There is no mention of sexual orientation or sexual ethics in the proposed language.

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is the nations 10th largest Christian church in the United States, with 2.8 million members.

A majority of the church's 173 U. S. presbyteries still must approve the policy change. Two years ago, 94 presbyteries voted against the change.

Here is the news as reported on the church web site.

The church did, however, vote to retain their discriminatory definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman.

But progress is slow, especially in churches, so let's celebrate this small (huge) victory.

In an unrelated action (but related to yesterday's post), the Presbyterian assembly voted to "refrain from holding national meetings in states where travel by immigrant Presbyterians or Presbyterians of color might subject them to harassment due to legislation."

Good for them!

In other marriage related news, and probably the biggest story, is that a federal court has ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional. The ruling only applies to Massachusetts, which challenged DOMA on the basis that it forced discrimination on the state's same sex married couples. But it gives encouragement to other states that permit same-sex marriage, and gives heart to the LGBT community at large.

It is unclear as to whether the ruling will be appealed. The U. S. Justice Department would file the appeal, but President Obama has stated that the law is discriminatory and wants it overturned. So let's just see how that plays out.

Here is the DOMA decision. You can click on "full screen" to read the entire thing.

DOMA Decision

Here are reactions from pro-equality organizations.

Equality opponents are blaming SCOTUS nominee Elena Kagan (who filed a brief in the case for upholding DOMA when she was solicitor general) for deliberately sabotaging the case.

Dear Mexican,

Dear 'Mexican',

Be careful out there. In spite of what you might hear from the Irondale City Council, you have been targeted.

In the state of Alabama, there is a strong history of hatred, and your group is just the latest in a long list of people targeted because they are different. Our state history of hatred has been displayed on television for decades primarily by the images of fire hoses and police dogs that targeted peaceful blacks during the 1960’s.

More recently we’ve heard the hatred against gays as Republican former candidate for governor Roy Moore suggested using “the power of the sword” against “homosexuals” in an opinion he wrote while serving as Chief Justice of the Alabama supreme court.

But hatred against Latinos has been documented in our history as well. In 1921 a Puerto Rican man named Pedro Gussman was married to Ruth Stephenson by Father James Coyle at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Birmingham. Ruth’s father, Rev. R. E. Stephenson, was a Methodist Episcopal Church minister, and also a Klansman, and he gunned down Father Coyle on the steps of the Catholic parsonage on August 11, 1921 not long after his daughter was married.

Father James Coyle

Now this has long been viewed as an anti-Catholic act, and the race of the murderer’s son-in-law has been mentioned as secondary. Stephenson was acquitted, and Catholics were targeted by the Klan for years to come.

But this incident underscored that both racial and religious differences were not going to be tolerated in our state.

During this same time period and for decades leading up to it, Blacks in Alabama were being targeted in much the same way Hispanics are being targeted today. The records from courthouses across our state demonstrate the capture and imprisonment of thousands of random indigent citizens under inconsequential charges or in some cases, for violations of laws specifically written to intimidate blacks (vagrancy, riding freight cars, loud talk with white women) and then held and “sold” for cheap labor for years in order to pay off their trumped up fines. This re-enslavement of blacks is documented in Douglas Blackmon’s book, "Slavery by Another Name".

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the whites in power rarely openly voiced their intent or their hatred of blacks and others (other than when disguised by wearing their white robes and hoods). The same is true today. The lawmakers may not admit to their hatred of you, but when we listen to the rhetoric of their like minded constituents who make the assumption that, for instance, all construction workers are illegal (rather than all construction workers are Hispanic), it’s easy to determine their mindset. “There’s a building going up nearby and all the workers are illegals,” they might say on local talk radio.

If I were stopped in Irondale for speeding, I wonder if the officer would ask for proof that I’m a U. S. citizen? He would see my driver’s license and my insurance card. Neither of those proves citizenship. But I probably look like him, or like other officers on his police force, and I talk like a southerner, so he probably wouldn’t ask.

If you were pulled over for speeding, you would be more likely to be asked about your origins.

But the Irondale immigration resolution says “nothing in this resolution requires, condones, or approves any profiling based on race, creed, color or place of origin.” As Irondale Council person James D. Stewart (who is black) said, the resolution would not need to include that language if the rest of it was designed to prohibit profiling in the first place.

Odds are that this law will be struck down just as the discriminatory Arizona law will be, and legal groups are looking at the Irondale resolution now. But it could take months or longer for the legality of the laws to be determined.

In the meantime, be very careful when in Irondale. You or your friends or family members could disappear, just as the blacks did in and around Birmingham a hundred years ago. You are dealing with xenophobic people in Irondale, and elsewhere.

No todos los residentes de Alabama son así. No todos tienen el odio en nuestros corazones. Agradecemos el trabajo que haga y las contribuciones que hacen a nuestra sociedad y nuestra economía.Tenga cuidado ahí fuera.

Sincerely,

Bessemer Opinions

Progressive Bessemer endorsements

Qualifying begins today for the Bessemer municipal elections and we already know who most of the candidates are. One candidate for mayor either needs to correct the spelling of his name on his signs, or inform the Birmingham News how to spell his name, because they do not match.


But we return to the polls before the August 24 contest. The state primary runoff's are a week from today, on July 13, and here are the progressive recommendations for the Democratic Party from Bessemer Opinions.



This may seem unusual, but you may see a different candidate recommended than was endorsed in the June primary. This can be due to various factors, but in no way is money or payment of any kind involved. Unlike the other political groups in the Bessemer Cutoff, we do not accept money or gifts of any kind from political candidates, and we do not endorse our cronies or friends.


Our recommendations are based solely on the candidates academic and professional credentials, track record, political views, plans for the future, and answers to questions that have been proposed to the candidates. Not all of the candidates in this list have completed questionnaires, but the candidates were studied enough to allow an informed opinions to be formed.


The most important recommendation is to ignore requests to vote in the Republican runoff. Some Democrats are urging others to vote in the Republican governor's race to oust a particular man, but the truth of the matter is, they are both bad for the state, and bad for education, and we need to focus on getting the best progressive candidates into office.

And some of these races will be very close, and the candidates listed below need every vote, so stick to your party, and vote progressive on Tuesday, July 13.



Statewide


Attorney General - Giles Perkins



Federal District


AL-07 - Terri Sewell



State District



56 - Claire Mitchell



County Commission


District 2 - Gary Richardson



District 3 - Ron Yarbrough


Jefferson County


Circuit Court Place 12 (Bessemer cutoff) - Annetta Verin


Circuit Court Place 17 (Remainder of county) - Nicole "Nikki" Still


Circuit Court Place 23 (Remainder of county) - Denise J. Pomeroy



Sheriff - Willie Hill

Economic outlook for Alabama looks good!

On Facebook I have friends of all stripes, even teabaggers. One, whom many of you know, is particularly critical of our president and his policies. I'm not going to call him out by name, but here are some of the comments he's posted on my Facebook page.

"This administration is THE WORST we have EVER had. It won't matter WHO runs against BHO in 2012, he doesn't have a CHANCE! THANK GOD! "


"It's NOT getting better. The economy is down, the jobless rate is not improving, the housing market has crashed."

"Not ONE SINGLE PROGRAM that Obama is trying is working. "


"Economic numbers & approval rating numbers will show you that we are worse off than we have EVER been & we aren't happy about it. There is nothing this moron has done that has even begun to turn this country around."


Let's look at some trends. When coming out of a recession, or a depression, trends are more important than individual numbers because factors that may cause a temporary rise or fall are more easily identified. Plus, you get a sense of where things are heading.

These figures are from Gallup.

Here's a chart that shows job creation for the last 7 months. The per cent of employers that are hiring is indicated by the dark green line, and the per cent of employers letting people go is indicated by the light green line.

Clearly, these trends are both moving in the right direction. Almost one third of employers in the U. S. are hiring right now. About one in five are still having to lay off or fire people.

Surely we need even more improvement in these numbers, but the trend is favorable.

Here is a chart that indicates underemployment in the U. S. for the last 7 months. Underemployment includes the unemployed and those who are employed part-time but want to work full time. These numbers were released by Gallup earlier this week and based on their findings they predicted unemployment numbers released today to be 9.5%.

Notice, again, the trend. Underemployment is declining.

When the unemployment numbers were released this morning, 9.5 was the figure. Pretty good prediction, Gallup.

Here's the unemployment chart released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Not a great drop in unemployment, but better than most analysts (except Gallup) predicted, and certainly a move in the right direction.

Let's bring the economic news home to Alabama.

In this morning's Birmingham News,in the money section,was this headline and story:

State gains solid ground on recovery, UA survey says.

Alabama business leaders believe the state has turned the corner on a meaningful economic recovery, according to the results of a University of Alabama survey released this morning.

The Alabama Business Confidence Index, derived from responses from 345 business executives across the state, indicates expansion for the second quarter in a row, after 10 consecutive quarters of contraction. "Given the successful forecasting history of the index, this should be a good indication that the recovery has taken hold," officials at the university's Center for Business and Economic Research note in a report.

All elements of the confidence index scored in positive territory this quarter, meaning expectations are growing for increased hiring, sales and profits in coming months. "The operating environment for Alabama businesses should be much improved," the report says.

So, it looks like the situation is improving and is poised for further improvement here in Alabama.

If my friend who can't see the forest for the tea leaves would keep up with the news and what is going on, instead of only listening to Faux Network, he would realize that President Obama is doing as good as could be expected with congress so divided as it is. That's a whole different story, for another day.

There are other indications that the president is doing a good job and that the things he is doing are working, but this is enough for today.