Governor Bentley "Fires Back" at NY Times Article on Alabama's 'ALEC Styled' Anti-Immigration Law

Updated 11/17
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley sat for an interview with Fox News Channel's Megyn Kelley this afternoon to respond to a November 13th NYT article about Alabama's HB 56 passed into law earlier this year. Alabama's law was modeled after Arizona's anti-immigrant law and the same xenophobic mindset was present in both state's laws from the shadowy group called ALEC.

The Fox News interview with Kelley revealed that Decatur Utilities has been cutting off electric, gas, water and sewer service to immigrant families under the guise of following HB 56. Huntsville Utilities is set to follow suit:

The human toll of the policy could be devastating, said Stephen Stetson, a policy analyst for Alabama Arise. He heard about DU’s policy Saturday while listening to a radio station playing Christmas music.
“I’m listening to these songs about charity and compassion,” Stetson said. “It struck me as a cruel and ironic policy as we head into the coldest months of the year.”

The governor feigned ignorance of that fact (the story came out 6 days ago) and repeated over and over that HB 56 "is not racist." He goes on to say that "if the federal government would do their job we wouldn't have to pass these kinds of bills."

It's compelling to note that Governor Bentley considers himself a man of God. He's bragged about being a deacon in his church and labels himself one of the compassionate Christians the state GOP party defines itself by. If the law, as he claims is not racist (debatable), then at the very least it is completely heartless, an economic disaster and utterly devoid of compassion:

“People who have their power cut off are going to be among the most disadvantaged,” he said. “It’s kicking them when they are down.”
He worried about the health ramifications of the policy and the impact it would have on immigrants’ ability to care for their children, many of whom are U.S. citizens.

“Opponents of the law see it as self-evident that the element of human tragedy is a sign the law is defective. They need to remember the law’s supporters see it differently,” Stetson said. “It’s designed to make life more difficult. By destroying households and families, it’s doing that.”

The highly controversial (and equally religious) main sponsor of HB 56, Senator Scott Beason, lost his committee position earlier today according to a press release put out this morning by Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh-R. Beason was given the opportunity to resign his post and he refused to do so resulting in the Senate Committee on Assignments ousting him from his powerful position.

Beason's replacement, Senator Jabo Waggoner-R, is another story of corruption out and corruption in that we''ll cover soon. In the meantime, the passage of HB 56 is widely viewed as the harshest anti-immigration bill in the country, and we believe Governor Bentley didn't do the state's tarnished image any luster by signing it.

In the following interview, Bentley comes across as meek and unable to intelligently articulate a credible argument for what he did when he signed that law. It is a law that was straight out of the ALEC legislative handbook. Kansas Republican Kris Kobach conceived Alabama's law in a turkey blind in Kansas before handing it off to Senator Beason.

Kobach (and ALEC) were also the forces behind Arizon'a anti-immigration law and many of the voter ID laws across America:

Kansas Republican Kris Kobach, who along with ALEC itself helped draft Arizona’s anti-immigration law, has warned of “illegally registered aliens.” ALEC’s magazine, Inside ALEC, featured a cover story titled “Preventing Election Fraud” following Obama’s election. Shortly afterward, in the summer of 2009, the Public Safety and Elections Task Force adopted voter ID model legislation. And when midterm elections put Republicans in charge of both chambers of the legislature in twenty-six states (up from fifteen), GOP legislators began moving bills resembling ALEC’s model.

*Update: (Kris Kobach is helping to "coordinate the state's legal strategy" for defending HB 56 and is accusing the DOJ of "overplaying it's hand" by demanding enrollment records to see how Alabama HB 56 has affected schoolchildren. Our question is: Who's paying Mr. Kobach and from what fund source?)

Where are we going in Alabama Governor Bentley and who (and what) is leading the way? Upright elected officials of high character and ethics, or men (and women) who are following the orders of the ever elusive ALEC organization? We're continuing to ask the question your office refuses to answer: Are you a member of ALEC?

It's not a tough question. Why won't your office answer it?

The same question to you, Senator Waggoner, now the head of legislation in the state legislature, are you still a member of ALEC, and how will that affect your positions on what legislation comes up and passes into law?

Alabamians deserve some transparency and answers to what the "new republicans" agenda is based in. Governor, you promised the citizens of this state "complete transparency" from your administration and that you would "not be beholden to lobbyists or special interests" during your 2010 gubernatorial campaign:

"The people of Alabama deserve a Governor who is responsive to the needs of all the people, not just the well connected.
....ensure complete transparency in the efforts of special interests to influence public policy so that voters can decide whether their representatives are serving their needs, or the needs of campaign benefactors.
I have never been, nor will I ever be, beholden to lobbyists or special interests;
I will make our state's government one of the most transparent in the country by creating a strong executive branch code of ethics for myself, all cabinet officials, and our staffs."

We believe it's time for you to stand and deliver on those promises you made to Alabamians when you stumped for our vote. From your actions in office so far, what we're seeing is you are willing to tell us what you think we want to hear, meanwhile, you're going along with ALEC's agenda and believing that no one will catch on to who you really serve.

Matthew 7:16--By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

The jigs up Dr. Dr. Bentley. Consider yourself caught and "ALEC Exposed."

*Update 11/17: Bloomberg Business Names Alabama's Biggest Loser

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Dr. Bentley's Rx: Deception--Costs and In-Depth Details of Elevated Highway 280 Plan Remain Hidden

Works of "art" or outdated concrete behemoths?

August 11, 2010 Stan Diel Birmingham News--Dr. Robert Bentley, the Republican candidate for governor in the November election, today said he favors building an elevated toll road over U.S. 280 to relieve congestion.

Governor "Dr. Dr." Bentley prides himself on his medical curriculum vitae and claims to be the "smartest man ever elected governor of Alabama." He's convinced himself he's just what Alabama needs and will cure all of our ills with his own brand of corporate-infused republican medicine. Especially our so-called current state budget crisis that's resulted in deep cuts to education, slashed social services and a gutting of numerous programs that directly affect regular folks who are struggling just to get by.

“Alabama is hurting, and we need a doctor,” Bentley, a former dermatologist from Tuscaloosa, told voters in last year’s campaign. Once he took office in January and looked at the patient — the budget — he said: “We’re a lot worse off than you think.”

Predictably, the usual suspects joined in the chorus of misery: Speaker of the House Mike 'Road Man' Hubbard and Senator Jabo "Clueless" Waggoner. Neither of these two political animals experiences life by the drop as most of Alabama does. The same public who did not create the mess are the ones being asked to bleed for the good of the state's insiders economic prosperity--i.e. private profit equals public pain.

The 'Dr. who can't' seems oblivious to the practice of good-for-the-folks medicine, because he refuses to end cronyism, despite promises to the contrary, and he's created a public-private merger through ADO and EDPA that in effect allows wealthy private corporations an all access pass to the state till and taxpayer's money. In addition to allowing the appointing of like-minded players to power positions within the framework of the organization and to state offices.

Creating a public-private partnership, and placing it in the hands of Alabama schemers, won't remedy our politician and corporate inflicted ills--in fact, they'll only worsen the sickness of corruption that got us into the state we're in now by allowing more insiders to walk away with millions in taxpayer money and leave communities holding the bag. Corruption, theft and abandonment of long-standing public policy are real possibilities in PPPs as they give rise to entities larger than the original government: they can become monstrous-sized power structures with a full stranglehold on democracy and public good.

“Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power” - Benito Mussolini

We're on a slippery slope that isn't going anywhere near the smaller government republicans swear they support.  Road building and economic development are the breeding grounds for these unholy alliances of state and corporate power. Foreign entities get in on the act too with groups like Cinta and Macquerie, who have been "nosing around in Alabama" looking for roads and bridges (Macquerie has one in Alabama already) to privatize and toll.

Will one of these two foreign investors own the Elevated Hwy 280 toll road? How can Alabama claim to pay for the project when the lion's share of toll fees will go out of the country? Isn't this selling off the state's infrastructure to the highest bidder? If the county a toll road runs through gets their hands on toll fees then Harris County, Texas should serve as a clear warning of the potential for misuse.
*(Must watch video at a republican campaign event in Texas of an audience member asking about PPP's and toll roads. The candidate sits down, a yes man jumps up, and with great animation addresses the audience member's query. Watch how quickly he evades real answers, executes a classic political bait and switch, and turns the argument into those "socialistic democrats" are the real problem lady!)

So many questions. So few demanding honest answers.

The special interests involved in the the antiquated Elevated Highway 280 plan are made up of some of these types of caballers: deep-pocketed campaign donors and selectively hand-picked beneficiaries of Alabama's supposedly hard-to-come-by greenbacks. Interests like the *road gang for one.
(*Section II-- "Who Is The Road Lobby?")

They're connected to Alabama's purse strings by way of Governors Riley and Bentley and consist of groups like: cement companies (ACPA SE, Cemex), an out-of-state engineering firm (Figg), and the strategically located likely road material supplier, White Rock Quarries (WRQ), who's set to blow the smithereens out of small town Vincent, Alabama. WRQ also just happens to be a subsidiary of the stinking rich Vecellio Group. Vecellio's subsidiaries include road building (Vecellio & Grogan is one of the largest in the nation) and asphalt companies among its corporate pool.

The coziness of certain players involved with the 280 idea and sheer coincidence of 'we do that too' is a bit too handy to discount as chance. Add to the mix that the second biggest take of the WRQ quarry profits goes straight into Shelby County's coffers, and their palpable disappointment that the project may not have gone forward starts to make a lot more sense to even a casual observer.

In March of 2010 ALDOT halted all work on the 280 project due to "a lack of consensus from local governments." Shelby County took a counter view to the Birmingham News and cried foul over the abrupt stoppage. (It's important to note that unchecked development by Shelby County created much of the traffic woes that exist on 280 today.) By the summer of 2010, after a full court press by certain entities working behind the scenes in all the cities that counted, from Jefferson to Shelby County, the project roared back to life as the must-build toll road to 'breathe life into our cities.'

Vincent's Mayor claimed the "town of Vincent cannot survive without the highway" and he used that claim to push through a fast vote on a resolution supporting the project. Does WRQ's Vincent Hills Quarry have anything to do with his fervent support and was he repeating instructed propaganda from BARD, who's creator and former Bentley transition team member, Stephen E. Bradley (Bradley & Associates), represents White Rock Quarries? Were Mr. Bradley and his BARD legal sidekick, Balch & Bingham lawyer Rob Fowler (also representing WRQ), the ones who led the charge to get as many cities on board as possible through those so-called supportive resolutions?

One other notable thread seems to run throughout the road gang and their high-minded ideas in Alabama: Figg Engineering.

CEO Linda Figg, who has close ties to Vecillio, suitably "impressed" former Governor Riley so much he put her company on the state dole in 2005. Figg has been raking in the megabucks from state coffers on projects around Alabama ever since, including the Hwy. 280 plan. She's a mover and shaker who carries substantial clout according to Concrete 2011:

Linda Figg: CEO Figg Engineering Group, Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.A. The Figg Group is a relatively small but highly influential consulting firm specialising in bridge engineering, with a portfolio of inspirational structures which have realised the company’s philosophy of ‘creating bridges as art.’

We would like to know why these special interest's projects, including the far from economically challenged Ms. Figg, don't seem to be suffering from the same "debridement procedure" that the good doctor governor is applying to programs that deeply hurt average and low-income Alabamians.

And why is ALDOT being evasive with their figures to Figg and others?

Queries have been made to ALDOT by numerous individuals asking for the full amount to date spent on (the now double its initial estimate of $800 million) the Elevated Highway 280 plan. So far, ALDOT is avoiding an honest answer. John Cooper, Director of Transportation for ALDOT, recently received the green light from Governor Bentley's ATRBTA board to "talk privately with an engineering company that (allegedly) came up with a lower cost estimate."

“Governor Robert Bentley believes transparency in government is critical to earning the trust of the people it serves.”

Bentley campaigned on that issue of transparency too. Yet, the board he chairs (and John Cooper sits on) thinks it's appropriate to conduct state business "privately" about a public use road project. Trust is gained through open transparency throughout a process and quickly lost by selectively applying transparency at will, Dr. Governor. Why is the cloak of unaccountability being thrown around your appointee Mr. Cooper?

What else is ARTBTA, Governor Bentley and ALDOT not telling us about this project?

And why can't the press get it right on what the actual figure is?

Birmingham News' transportation reporter, "Driving Miss Crazy" Ginny MacDonald, has stated in her online "Live Chat" that ALDOT has "paid out $316,000.00 on the Highway 280 study" as of early summer 2011. Where is she getting her low-balled information? From ALDOT's press chat room?

Ms. MacDonald has cited difficulty in obtaining the figure because of "ALDOT in-house work, private contractors, etc." but assured readers in the "Live Chat" forum she "will get the information" from ALDOT. 

We haven't experienced the degree of difficulty she claims to have encountered. In fact, without much effort, the VAC has a memo (displayed below) to ALDOT's Finance and Audits Department, dated June 8, 2010, requesting payment of a Figg Bridge Engineers invoice in the amount of $1,143,915.00.

That's just ONE invoice--from 16 months ago! And it's a much higher figure than Ms. MacDonald has been parroting to the public through the news media forum on a subject she claims to be knowledgeable about.

This one invoice is more information than has been reported in any news agency in the state on what has been charged to ALDOT --and state taxpayers-- by the company that has been working on the elevated toll road for years!

Transparency anyone?
Figg Eng. Invoice to ALDOT

More on this topic in a subsequent post about Governor Bentley recently repeating the Riley era mantra and asking the feds for sooner-than-agreed-to increases in Alabama's share of offshore oil and gas royalties. Road building and O&G royalties--yes, they are connected.

photo credit: David Johnstone

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Here We Go Again: State Embarassment # ----- (Too High To Count)

Sign of the times outside Montgomery, Alabama on I-65

*Updated October 5th
BAY MINETTE, Ala. -- A civil liberties group (ACLU) said Friday that an Alabama town should not start an alternative sentencing program that would give non-violent offenders a new choice: Go to jail, or go to church.

Translation according to Bay Minette: Attend one of our 56 county approved for your salvation churches or go to hell jail.

This might (emphasis added) be a good solution if the idea included any religious affiliation as a choice, but it doesn't, and we see it as an attempt to force a particular religious view on a 'captive' audience. A better option may have been community service or drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs for substance abusers.

There's just one problem with that according to Bay Minette Police Chief Michael Rowland: "There aren't no thirty-day drug rehabilitation programs." Who needs medically-based treatment programs when you have the Holy Ghost, right?

We acknowledge the intent of offering offenders a choice to attend a "north Baldwin County church for one year" may be borne in good intentions, but it's wrongheaded and feeds into the national perception of Alabama as a bible-thumping, judgmental and intolerant state that only accepts a fundamentalist Christian point of view to the exclusion of any other religions or even atheism.

We believe Bay Minette has adopted a stance that many outside of the south will view as a throwback to Alabama's past that never went away.

Harper Lee's legendary story "To Kill A Mockingbird" was the basis for an essay she wrote on the intolerance of Alabama during the 1930's and the rigid mindset of Christians in the small town of Maycomb, which was fictional in name only:

Religion was an important factor in the life of the town, with “foot washers”, on the way to buy supplies, going through the streets imposing their ideas and ideals on people. The beliefs about how one should live ones life leads to narrow minded bigotry.

Recall the Mack truck sized gaff by Governor Robert Bentley on his inauguration day that blew up in the media with all the fury of a Klan cross lighting and furthered the concept of 'same old Alabama':

''Now I will have to say that, if we don't have the same daddy, we're not brothers and sisters. So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I'm telling you, you're not my brother and you're not my sister, and I want to be your brother."

Alabama does not need anymore black eyes in the bad publicity department. The governor and state economic developers are pushing for foreign companies to come to the state and set up businesses to infuse our failing economy and help reverse high unemployment numbers. Bay Minette is not helping in that endeavor.

Proving to potential corporations that you are a "world class state" and firmly moving forward with the times is a big part of the attraction equation. Where does this archaic idea of 'church or hell jaill' fit into it?

What's next? Bringing back the chain gangs? Governor, what say you? On second thought, maybe you best not. That hasn't gone well in the past.

Church going is vitally important to the Alabama Governor. In fact, it might be, in his righteous minded view of things, what qualified him for the challenges of Alabama's highest public office:

"Listen, if you can be the Chairman of the Deacons for a large First Baptist Church that goes through a minister change and a music change you can do just about anything," Bentley said.

What will his response be to the bad press about Bay Minette's ROC program? Will he excuse it as 'the work of sinful liberals' who "don't understand the ways of the good folks of Alabama" or will he reel them back onto the plantation knowing they're putting him into a 'umm..governor about that..' position again?

That's the irony of this whole mess--foreign countries (and most of America) does not follow the pervasive fundamentalist Christian and Southern Baptist doctrine that accounts for the largest majority of believers in the state. We think Alabama needs to wise up and understand, like it or not, we're in the 21st century and the eyes of the world stage are watching what we do more than they think.

Especially when state officials have been jet-setting around globally, meeting big lobbyists on yachts, and proclamating grand promises (read: state income deleting tax breaks) of handing out incentives galore to entice foreign corporations to 'come on in.'

Bay Minette's local government backed ploy jeopardizes the states 'mission' by assuming no one will really notice 'whut we're doing down heah.' It got noticed alright. Big time.

What does Alabama assume foreign investors and business owners will think when they take notice of a community adopting positions, that for all intents and purposes, demands Christian repentance or burning in hell?

Or maybe this is a smoke-screen of sorts. A carefully crafted what they thought would be  positive PR message. Is Bay Minette really trying to save souls or is the true intention county money for politically connected economic developers? It won't be the first time Jesus was trotted out to pull a fast one over on the folks.

Whatever their real reason is, they stepped in it and there will be hell to pay for it.

So Say We The Opinion Board Of The Vincent Alabama Confidential 

 *Update--"Alabama town's church or jail now awaits Attorney General's opinion"
*photo credit: tumblr.com

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CBS 42 "Deadly Deception" Documentary August 9, 2011--9:00PM CST

From the leaders in environmental news we can use, CBS 42, Sherri Jackson and Ken Lass bring us full circle with the pervasive contamination in north Birmingham and beyond in their upcoming summation documentary on "Deadly Deception."

In what should be a contender for a well-deserved RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award, this groundbreaking series from CBS 42 proves that one state media organization understands the concept of being unafraid and bold.

For decades the minority population in the Collegeville area of Birmingham have been the victims of toxic secrets, secrets that have cost them not only their health, but many have lost their lives for nothing more than just trying to live their lives. It didn't have to happen to them. The state knew the risks. The EPA knew the risks. Many people in positions of authority knew the risks. The citizens directly affected by the contamination were willfully kept in the dark while the profits poured into everyone else's pockets. 

It's happening all over Alabama: a flippant attitude of "better dead than unprofitable" permeates the economic development platform of this state. Jobs and profits trump clean air, clean water and the rights of citizens to exist in communities with a reasonable expectation that they will be safe from exposures that can kill them.

Years have passed, and many Alabamians are just now learning their right to live safely in their neighborhoods has been taken away from them by corporate Alabama. Compounding the tragedy is the fact that it's taken death after senseless death for these people to find out what they have been living with.

Why has it taken this long and why did so many have to die? How many more will?

Don't we have a Dr. "in charge of Alabama now" sitting in the Governor's mansion? Has he cast aside his Hippocratic Oath in favor of a monetary oath owed to his BARD benefactors and similar corporate campaign contributors? The same question stands for our lawmakers: where do their true loyalties lie?

There must be an end to this "deadly deception" and the paying to pollute mindset before any more lives are lost, communities are irreversibly ruined and more schoolchildren are sickened from the complete lack of responsibility by those charged with supposedly keeping us all safe. 

Anything less is not just a "troubling situation"--it's a fatal vision.



CBS 42 Deadly Deception Documentary-1

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Reanimating a "Zombie Nuclear Reactor" in Hollywood, Alabama--TVA's Bellefonte 1

The TVA recently announced plans to revive it's half century old reactor the Bellefonte 1 to the tune of almost $9 billion dollars--$4 billion has already been invested and another $4-5 billion is required to get it up and running. Skeptics say the reactor is "too expensive and too antiquated, and it lies in an earthquake zone." 

They're right about all three. 

But it's moving forward anyway despite known problems with all of the TVA'S nuclear facilities.

Excerpt from a June 15, 2011 NY Times story on Bellefonte:

Thomas Kilgore, the authority’s president and chief executive, said finishing it now would make more sense later. “Why nuclear?” he said. “Once you get the unit built, you’ve got inflation locked out.”Mr. Beaumont, the industry analyst, said that “based on cost, I absolutely think you can say it’s crazy.” But that assessment might change over time, he allowed.

The Environmental Protection Agency could force additional coal-generated power plants to close as it polices greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the demand for cleaner sources of energy, he said. The price of natural gas will eventually rise, making nuclear energy more competitive, he added, and at some point, existing nuclear plants will wear out.

T.V.A. executives have another troublesome variable to deal with, unpredictable changes in demand, which is what they say caused them to shut down construction in 1988.

“I can’t forecast out 8 or 10 years,” Mr. Kilgore said, but “we just know when we get there, Bellefonte 1 is a good economic proposition."

The TVA has a long track record of problems with its nuclear facilities. Brown's Ferry is notorious for safety issues, and the Watts Bar 1 facility was shut down in 1985 after employees came forward with safety and operating concerns that kept the plant closed for eleven years. That eleven year down time has been described as a "lax period" where "proper construction procedures were not followed, and documentation was poorly maintained." During this same time of troubling ineffectiveness, construction of the Bellefonte site was completed.

In the years between then and now, it was scavenged for parts to other facilities to within a shadow of its former self. Tearing it down and starting over would make more prudent sense, but TVA has firmly demonstrated by their own actions they are not known for sense and prudence. Or safety.

Another one of TVA's facilities in Tennessee, Watts Bar, is scheduled to have a second reactor online by October 2012 and it too is swirled in controversy and questions.

In a meeting on June 20, 2011 in Athens, Tennessee between the NRC and TVA Watts Bar representatives, questions were raised "about the TVA's nuclear track record and the NRC's oversight" in addition to the safety of nuclear energy after the Fukushima disaster in Japan. The NRC is still reviewing a backlog of 500 whistle-blowing complaints about the TVA's Watts Bar facility. Robert Haag, NRC construction chief reported that "the agency has reviewed and closed 79 of those allegations."

James Moorman, director of the NRC's Southeast division construction projects, is markedly more optimistic about allowing the TVA to expand Watts Bar than some in the audience:

From the mid-1970s when construction began at Watts Bar to Unit 1’s startup in 1996, whistle-blower allegations raised concerns about everything from quality control to fire protection. When work stopped on Unit 2, the whistle-blower allegations pertaining to that reactor were shelved by NRC.

“We think we’re on schedule with what we have [in that new look],” Moorman said after the meeting.

But several listeners at the meeting were full of questions and concerns.

Ann Harris, one of the whistle-blowers and former Watts Bar employees, took TVA and NRC officials to task for not checking what she said were far more than 500 allegations long ago.

“This is snake oil you’re spinning,” she told the officials.

Brian Paddock, an attorney working with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, asked NRC how the recent evaluations of failures at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant might affect the scheduled October 2012 Watts Bar startup.

“I haven’t heard anything about that,” he said.

He also questioned whether NRC’s recent re-evaluations of seismic risks to the plant are being applied at Watts Bar.

NRC officials told him they would get back to him with answers.

Sometimes dead is better when it comes the TVA's archaic nuclear facilities--they continually exhibit a morbid pattern of pouring millions of federal dollars into antiquated ideas that one day we may all pay for in deadly consequences.

Stephen Smith writing for the Institute of Southern Studies made a convincing argument against "zombie reactor" resurrection in a 2009 article:

If TVA decides to go forward with Bellefonte despite serious questions about financial and safety issues, the plant would likely not be completed until 2020 or beyond. Given that initial construction began back in 1974 and a standard operating life is 40 years, the reactor at Bellefonte could be operating at a ripe old age of nearly 90. A potential NRC-granted 20-year license extension down the road could make for an almost 110-year-old operating reactor. If in 2080 someone asks whether anyone still uses nuclear reactor technology from the Nixon era, hopefully that will be a laughable question. Yet it is deadly serious.

Mr Smith concluded his article with the hope that the TVA would "make a better and safer decision" regarding the Bellafonte reactor. Sadly, his words and hope have fallen on the usual deaf ears of most quasi-governmental agencies like the TVA.

In our opinions, all that stands between us and disaster is the NRC, and so far they have signaled a frightening unwillingness to act in the best interests of the public with nuclear energy oversight. It's almost as if Fukushima was a fluke, an anomaly that gets obligatory lip service of 'we have learned from that disaster' but we are not really going to make any big changes.

That's flirting with disaster on epic levels.

Just how safe are the US nuclear plants anyway? 

According to a recent investigative report from the Associated Press "radioactive tritium has leaked from 3/4 of all US commercial nuclear plants into groundwater from corroded buried piping." The NRC continues to "extend the licenses of more and more reactors across the nation" despite the occurrence and severity of the leaks increasing.

Tritium leaks have also been documented at The Southern Company's (SOCO) nuclear plants in Georgia and Alabama: Vogtle (Ga.) & Farley (Ala.) SOCO's Farley plant requires massive amounts of water to keep their reactors cooled and they aren't going to allow a decrease in available water supplies without putting up some huge resistance. The long-standing water wars between Georgia and Alabama figures into nuclear and the utility plants of Alabama Power. This link sheds some light on what's driving the issue and it's not all about over-development-- it's mainly about "Power and Water Colliding" 

Governor Bentley, inheriting the water wars battle from the previous administration of Bob Riley, signaled his readiness earlier this year to put an end to the twenty-year fight.

Lastly, it is worth considering the role extreme changes in weather will have on our nuclear facilities. What's happening in Fort Calhoun, Nebraska right now might give us a big clue and another cautionary warning we would be wise to heed:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Governor Bentley Upset With FEMA Rejection Letters

Governor Bentley pens his "Epistle to the Afflicted" version of a  FEMA rejection letter

Alabama republican and ever-stalwart man of God, Governor Dr. Dr. Bentley, thinks FEMA is being "insensitive to elderly couples in rural Alabama who have had their homes blown away” by starting out the FEMA claim response letters with the line “You have been denied.”

The good Dr. (and self-professed superior Christian) has volunteered his services for a more appropriate letter and managed to get the federal coordinator Michael Byrne to acquiesce to this nonsense:

"The agency's federal coordinating officer, Michael Byrne, has agreed to *revise the letter," Bentley said.
"The first sentence should not say you have been turned down, especially when you are hurting and you've lost everything," the governor said Friday. "That is my disagreement, but let me tell you Mike Byrne has been nothing but gracious."
Mike Byrne, FEMA's state coordinator in Alabama, said the agency would *address the governor's concerns. (Which is it? “Revise” or “address” the wording?)
Bentley, a retired doctor, advised that FEMA should adopt a better bedside manner, with a little understanding of Southern manners.
"You cannot write a letter in Washington and make that letter fit an elderly couple in rural Alabama who has had their home blown away," Bentley said. "They (the letters) can say the same thing, but you need to say it the right way."
Gov. Robert Bentley said he was worried that the letters FEMA is sending people are “too full of government jargon” and “would discourage many people from pursuing assistance.”

In other words, Bentley seems to be implying in a roundabout way, ‘You all aren’t smart enough to understand the letters. You need me to help you with this and you can cry on my shoulder, because I know you will cry from that unchristian-like government language.' 

He has asked to “personally review a rewritten version of the letters before more go out in the state.” 

Wouldn't it be a better use of his office to mobilize 'solution centers' set up with hotlines and staff that can assist residents through the process after they have received denial letters? That's what other communities have done after disasters and denials. Let him put his own FEMA money where his mouth is, Alabama has gotten a sizable amount so far.

$33 million in federal aid has poured into the state since the April 27th tornadoes, where has this money gone? If it is not reaching the people, then who is it reaching and how are they using the tens of millions? Maybe they can consider floating the folks a loan.

We don’t deny that it’s tough to go through a disaster, lose everything you have and then receive a claim rejection letter from the federal government. But it’s not a unique situation, and numerous communities in America have gone through this process and managed to deal with letters from FEMA without their governors needing to call in the psychologist (or priest depending on geographic location) at large.

Or take over the federal government's written response to claimants and inject veiled religious dogma into the matter. There's hardly a speech or public commentary that goes by where Bentley does not do this in one form or another and it's wearing thin.

This is quite the unique circumstance that our governor thinks this state deserves special kid-glove treatment and word specific government letters that are “more sensitive” to his constituents sans the perceived “complicated governmental jargon.” Is he suggesting that no one in Alabama can deal with "No" or is it simply they shouldn't have to unless it comes in a satin lined box, complete with complimentary crucifix and state republican party donation envelope, of greater sensitivity?

Here’s a link to a denial letter from FEMA to the state of Virginia that we are struggling to find "complicated and insensitive governmental jargon in." There’s the obvious disappointment in "No," but the logic behind Governor Bentley’s claims are not apparent to us. Maybe we are just too insensitive ourselves, but no other governor has ever made this kind of surreal request of FEMA before. And they shouldn't again.

It’s embarrassing and nonsensical beyond belief. And ineffectual. 
 
Who really gives two whits about the choice of word placement when action is what is needed more than anything right now? And yes, that action includes federal intervention! If southern governors and politicians continue to stick their thumbs in the eye of the federal government, a la Rick Perry of Texas, then who is really to blame when those same states desperately need federal assistance and the feds say "No?"

It is not FEMA’s job to replace everything you have. FEMA is designed, even with all of it's inherent flaws, to act as a stop gap in helping with specifically defined immediate needs, like temporary housing, food and water, etc.--the basic necessities of existence. They are not capable of making you whole, and they shouldn't be in the business of bowing to behind-the-times religious zealots disguised as governors.

Governor Bentley knows that individual claims do not have the strength to turn on the spigot of federal dollars like state agencies do. The $33 million that has already been paid to Alabama is weighted much more towards the state's requests for assistance than for individual payouts--clearly they have figured out how to deal with "No" and get their fair share and much more to follow. 

We think the state can best help these denied claimants by using the weight of the state to cut through governmental red tape and resubmit claims, with organized centers staffed with knowledgeable people, that can help guide citizens through the process. 

Anything else is grandstanding.

If Governor Bentley is seeking a leveling of the payout playing field, citizen claims catch up to state payouts, on that point alone, we stand behind him without all the other nonsense included. If however, he is seeking to score political points off the disaster, and we suspect he is, then his actions are even more troubling.

Alabama has been doing some bragging about the fact that they are "doing a better job taking care of their own" and "really don’t need the federal government to intervene." Certain radio talk show hosts and Tea Party types have been saying just that very thing, and the mantra is echoed in a recent Letter to the Editor from the Birmingham News May 19th.

You can’t have it both ways.
 
Alabama has suffered some real embarrassment in the national media and we think the governor's latest public meddling with FEMA verbiage continues us straight down that path and into the wide-open spaces of more public embarrassment.

So, rather than reaching for the well worn Kleenex box, we decided to make lemonade from the increasingly abundant lemons and have a little fun with Dr. Dr. Bentley. Laughing is easier than crying after all and it's going to be a looooong four years.

Here’s how we imagine a letter from the Governor, based on his public missteps, religion first governing, and his incredibly amateur way of speaking (complete with his favorite, overused folksy sayings), might go:

“Bentley’s Epistle to the Afflicted”

The Brothers and Sisters Who Are Hurting
555 Blown-Away Street
Deprived County, Alabama 00000

Dear Elderly Christians in Rural Alabama:

We feel your pain, but we can‘t give you any of that government money right now, and why do you want anything from the evil federal government anyway? They are nothing but a bunch of socialist liberals and we don’t need that in Alabama.  The fact that you have been denied by FEMA is really a blessing. You should be rejoicing!

The Lord God our savior said: (insert uplifting and zealous bible verse of your choice here)

Brothers and Sisters, we want to make you whole again, but you have been tried and found wanting and suffered God’s wrath! (Like you didn’t know that).  Suffering and sacrifice is not enough; God also thinks you shouldn’t get a federal handout at this time. He works in mysterious ways, don’t he?

But don’t you fret none now, because “you have a Doctor in charge of Alabama now” and he will make everything as right as rain. Well, maybe that wasn’t the best choice of words.  I’m not known for my oratorical skills, but I do love the Lord Jesus and I think you should too. And not just any Jesus, I’m talking about the righteous Christian blue-eyed Savior, because if you’re worshiping the son of the wrong God, you are not my brother and sister in Christ, maybe just a half-wit 2nd cousin or something.

And are you right with my God? Because if you aren’t than maybe that’s why your house blew away.  In Revelation, 11:19, “… there was opened the temple of God that is in heaven; and there was seen in his temple the ark of his covenant; and there followed lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail.”  Sound familiar?

 "But you know what?" We really don’t need the federal government all in our business here in the great state of Alabama. If you’ll just pray with more conviction, your house and property and everything that the bad ol’ socialist liberal tornado took away (it had to be liberal because it hurt so may of you good conservative Christians) will miraculously rebuild itself. God can do anything. And so shall I despite Mike Hubbard and Bob Riley's meddling.

“Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of the ages.” (Revelation 15:3)

I so personally approve this letter that I asked Mr. Craig Fugate to let me write it myself. That devil FEMA has been insensitive to you, offering money and then sending those straightforward rejection letters with no mention of Divine Intervention. I told Mr. Fugate that he should just send all those demon rejection letters to the pastors of your churches so he could pray with you, as you read the words “you have been denied,” words written by the Devil himself, denying you both the Kingdom of Heaven and a few dollars to rebuild your little Kingdom on Earth.

You will never be denied the Kingdom of Heaven if you just follow me and my Daddy, the Lord.  We may torment and test you for a thousand years, but just as Noah survived the Flood and Job endured his boils, you can get past a few more years of me as governor. Wait, did that come out right? Never mind, I'm low on White-out and just remember, the Rapture will come. Just not right now, and certainly not in the form of a check or any kind of compensation from Alabama or the Federal Government.  

Say “Hallelujah!”

Signed,
The Self-Anointed, Righteous, Governor of some all Alabamians
Dr. Dr. Robert Bentley

*Disclaimer--it was not our intent to harm the feelings of Christians or deride religion with this parody of a letter. We simply don't believe governing should be weighted too heavily on religious beliefs first and foremost.

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Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange Indicts the Entire Bullock County Commission on No-Bid Contract Violations

Alabama AG 'Big' Luther and the 'Mighty Whitey' Haley Barbour

Justice is itself the great standing policy of civil society; and any eminent departure from it, under any circumstances, lies under the suspicion of being no policy at all.

Edmund Burke

An press release from the Alabama AG's office announced today that the entire Bullock County Commission was indicted for violating the Alabama no-bid contract law. It resulted in indictments and felony arrests of each and every commission member. The move, by Attorney General Luther Strange, in effect, vacates the entire commission. It was a drastic move that has never, before now, occurred in the state of Alabama:

The matter was referred to the Attorney General's Office by the Alabama Examiners of Public Accounts. An audit covering the time period of October 2008 to September 2009 included a finding by the Examiners that “The Code of Alabama 1975, Section 41-16-50, states that all expenditure of funds of whatever nature for labor, services, work, or for the purchase of materials, equipment, supplies, or other personal property involving $15,000.00 or more should be subject to the Alabama Competitive Bid Law. The Commission paid at least $61,000.00 for supplies and $24,000.00 for food for the Jail without letting bids as required by the Alabama Competitive Bid Law.”

The Examiners had previously issued reports of audits for the years October 2006 to September 2007 and October 2007 to September 2008, the two years prior to the audit under investigation, which also reported that the Commission had paid in excess of $15,000 for food for the jail without letting bids as required by Section 41-16-50.

Bullock County is not the only county in Alabama that's been found to be in violation of Alabama's no-bid contract law, and we have to wonder why they are being held accountable while another "favored' county seemingly escapes the long arm of the law from Luther Strange's office.

A state audit released in October of 2010 revealed that the republican stronghold of Shelby County, Alabama had been found to have an "expired no-bid contract for chemical supplies." Their expenditures dwarfed the amount that got the entire Bullock County Commission arrested and thrown in the clink. An additional alarming finding of employee theft was also revealed in the Shelby County audit:

The State of Alabama Auditor’s Office released the results of the Shelby County audit for 2008/2009 on October 8, 2010. The report reveals theft of county funds by an “unidentified” county employee on 19 separate occasions totaling $15,403.61. Fictitious adjustments to a bank reconciliation were done to help to hide the evidence. A separate finding of the audit  showed that the county jail spent $187,950.00 on “chemical supplies” in a no-bid contact that had expired.

CURRENT FINDINGS
♦ 2009-01 relates to a former employee of the Commission making fictitious adjustments to bank reconciliations and making unauthorized withdrawals from bank accounts.
♦ 2009-02 relates to the Commission’s failure to properly bid purchases in accordance with the Code of Alabama 1975, Section 41-16-50.

The Bullock County story includes this disclaimer of sorts:

"No further information about the investigation or about the defendants' alleged crimes other than that stated in the indictments may be released at this time."

There may be more to the Bullock County action than what we know at this time, but from the basis of the indictments, it certainly appears that selective justice is being applied in a horribly uneven manner in determining when a violation of Alabama's no-bid law becomes actionable and felonious.

Shelby County violated the exact same law that Bullock County is accused of, and in a more egregious manner to boot, and nothing happened to that commission. Not even a whisper of an investigation or impropriety was ever raised.

Why?

From where we sit, this abets some serious questions about the ability of the Alabama Attorney General's office to render fair and even applications of Alabama's laws without prejudice. 

A 2010 sample ballot for Bullock County reveals that it is a democratic stronghold that's been on the radar of the AG's office and the Shelby County native Secretary of State Beth Chapman-R before in 2008 for voting irregularities.

It's no secret that the steamroller of conservatism is in full throttle after the recent elections, and we're seeing some serious overreaching and gloating of power by the republicans who appear to be hell-bent on the extinction of all things liberal. We have to wonder what part politics plays in this because in Alabama it's always about politics and power.

Four out of five of the Bullock County Commissioners are black, 75% of the county is black. In Shelby County, all of the commissioners are white, staunchly republican, and the commission head is a cousin of Governor Bentley. Make of that what you will, if anything. We're really hoping the days of Jim Crow are behind us, but not holding our collective breaths that much has changed in the land of chains and cotton.

If what's just happened in Bullock County is based in any part in the frenzied crusade of the right, and they are willing to apply the laws of Alabama selectively and with deliberate unfairness for partisan purposes, then we're all in a hell of a lot more trouble than we can even begin to realize.

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Governor Bentley and Senator Bryan Taylor Slug it Out Over Changes to DPS & ABI

Though not nearly as visually entertaining as the fistacuffs on the Alabama Senate floor four years ago between Senator Charles "you SOB" Bishop-R and Senator Lowell Barron-D, this latest political rock 'em sock 'em between the Riley faction of the republican party and Governor Bentley's administration is much more interesting. And devious.

The Montgomery Advertiser reports that Senator Taylor has introduced a bill, conveniently close to the end of the 2011 session, that proposes to permanently move authority of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation and DPS from the governor's office to the office of Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange. 

It's a thinly-veiled power grab with hidden motives, and a usurpation of a previous Executive Order designating the office of the Governor as the ultimate authority over these agencies.

Governor "you will respect my authority" Bentley is not at all pleased and promptly instructed his legislative team to "kill the legislation." He then sent a reeling blow squarely to to Taylor's arrogant jaw with a sharply penned letter, publicly admonishing him, and refuses to entertain the young upstart on any level:

"In the time of a great Alabama tragedy, I am shocked and disappointed that you chose yesterday to introduce SB468, an ill-advised and misguided bill that could disrupt the chain of command of the Department of Public Safety -- a problem an officer of the Alabama National Guard should understand," Bentley wrote in his letter to Taylor, a major with the Guard who volunteered for duty after the most recent tornadoes.

"Your bill is an unnecessary distraction to the many good people who are busy coordinating the state's response to the greatest natural disaster in our history." 

"In the first days following this tragedy and in the last remaining days of the regular session, with critical issues left unfinished, it is hard for me to believe that a bill would be introduced to allow, with a stroke of a pen, state troopers to be pulled away from saving lives and reassigned to other duties -- all without the approval of the governor, the chief magistrate of this state," Bentley continued. "This cannot -- and will not -- stand."

Of course the boyish looking, but hardly acting Taylor says he is "baffled" and "stunned" by the old bull's rebuke and ratchets up the warfare by calling Bentley's response an "odd sense of urgency" and claimed he was "taken aback by the tone":

"Frankly, I'm baffled by Governor Bentley's opposition to this bill and stunned by the harsh and defensive tone of his letter, not to mention the odd sense of urgency given to a bill that I introduced only yesterday and which hasn't even been scheduled for a committee hearing yet." 

What the hell did you expect as a response senator? Flowers and chocolate? Bentley may not be the sharpest tack in the box, but he knows what's behind the shenanigans of a youthful and useful idiot when he sees it. Particularly when it's painfully obvious where your loyalties lie Senator Taylor--with your old boss.

Perhaps Taylor has never heard the term "Mess with an old bull and you get the horns son."

The implication that Taylor is making with his carefully chosen adverbs and adjectives is clear--Bentley is old and out of touch with the self-described young guns of the republican party. 

He goes on to tout himself as a fine citizen who has been on the ground in the aftermath of the Alabama tornadoes (in one passage before Bentley showed up), fundraising with his wife and worshiping with victims of the storms. He's carefully covering all the bases and painting a self-righteous picture of what might appeal to supporters (and sympathizers): military man, family man, man of God and Superman.

Me, me, me and how great I art. Not a word about any other volunteer or do-gooder to distract from the I'm Senator Taylor and never fear because now I am here! He's as transparent as glass and with an equally fragile ego.


Senator Taylor admits "this is a bill that has been on my mind for a while," but when he met with Bentley's chief of staff Judge Chuck Malone a while back, (during session) he didn't bother to discuss the matter. Instead he chose to delve into the now tired as heck issue of gambling, a perennial Riley favorite topic.

The now 'wounded' boy wonder claims he had tried to meet with Bentley's legal adviser Cooper Shattuck to discuss this bill "but both times Cooper was unable to meet with me."

Okay, let's cut through the nonsense here-- you had a captive audience Senator Taylor when you met with Malone, for this bill that has 'been on your mind' and you chose to not discuss it. And now you offer up a defense of no one was able to drop what they were doing that may have been important to meet with the ever important you?

So, your next course of action is to exercise an "odd sense of urgency" and propose this bill so close to the end of session, because you just had to do something (to protect 'someone') with or without discussion with the sitting governor's office?

That's utter nonsense Senator Taylor and as devoid of logic as this bill you are proposing, in addition to being very disrespectful of the governor's office and authority. He's not our favorite person, granted, but he's right to give you a jumbo-sized slap down on your protect my buddy Riley antics.

It doesn't take long to review what the duties of the ABI and DPS are to see what you claim will happen more efficiently, all because of your legislation Senator Taylor, is already in place. The AG's office can make a quick request of the governor's office and have all the resources and manpower available to a valid investigation or purpose with the time it takes to make a phone call.

This is no action legislation according to the language in the bill, but it clearly serves another more devious purpose.

What Taylor is up to smacks of a Nixonian maneuver designed to quash investigations into the former Riley administration and certain republican power players who have more than a little dirt on their hands. There is a lot to lose, such as freedom and face, if certain proverbial stones are overturned resulting in indictments, and well-informed sources tell us that there are active inquiries into more than just a few past transgressions during Riley's reign of corruption.

Doubters might ask themselves why the I-never-met-a-camera-and-microphone-I-won't-hog Bob Riley has been so quiet since leaving office, because let's face it, the man did, perpetually and longingly, thrill to the sound of his own voice and image ad nausea and polecats aren't known for changing their spots.

But we would sure enjoy seeing how one well deserving ol' polecat would look in stripes. 

*Photo credit before modification Bruce Turner

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