Alabama has a cockfighting lobby?

Sometimes Alabama lives up to its reputation and there is no way to defend the state:

Cockfighting lobby likely to derail bill that would stiffen penalties for crime

Published: Friday, April 15, 2011, 8:00 AM
By George Altman

Alabama's cockfighting lobby appears to be on the verge of blocking yet another bill that would impose stiffer penalties for the crime, the bill's sponsor said.

State Rep. Jim Barton, R-Mobile, said that while House Bill 74, which would elevate the offense from parking-ticket levels to hundreds and possibly thousands of dollars in fines and potential jail time, has passed through committee, it probably won't be considered by the full House.

"The sentiment of the House - particularly a lot of the northern Alabama representatives - (is that they) do not want to deal with it," Barton said. "I think there's been a lot of pressure on those guys."

The pressure, according to Barton, has come from the Alabama Gamefowl Breeders Association, which has helped derail similar bills in recent years.

"Alabama has more important things to worry about than cockfighting," said D'Renda Lewis, the association's secretary.

Not only are the $20 to $50 maximum fines for cockfighting currently on the books sufficient, they shouldn't even apply to most cockfights in Alabama, which are not held in public places and are, therefore, legal, according to Lewis.

"The majority of people who participate in cockfighting in Alabama are not doing anything against the law," Lewis said. [more]

Philly Invasion

My local Fresh Market supermarket carries Di Bruno Bros. cheese spreads. Incredible!



I saw the containers from a distance and they looked familiar. When I got in close I was blown away. This is Di Bruno Bros. in Ala-freakin-bama!

I'm going to have to talk to the manager about stocking other Di Bruno Bros. food products.

Doo-Nanny

This past weekend I went to Doo-Nanny. It's an "outsider art folk show" in the middle of nowhere in Alabama (which I define as 40 miles off the interstate).




Artist Butch Anthony hosts it on his 80 acre farm. At the end of the night there is the Doo-Nanny Burn which is modeled after Burning Man.

If it sounds familiar, the New York Times wrote an article on it last year.

It was pretty easy to spot the tourists like me and the people who were really into the spirit of the event.



The permanent exhibit on the compound was the Museum of Wonder.



It featured arrangements of found objects, which I suppose is the definition of "outsider folk art."





There were too many people going in and out to take in all the details. If it wasn't for the fact that it is 1.5hrs away, I'd like to go back.

Elsewhere on the grounds there was the art show which I felt was more people peddling their junk than actual art show. I say junk because for the most part, it lacked the wit of the pieces in the Museum of Wonder.



Perhaps the main attraction of the show is the Doo-Nanney Burn.

Here's the effigy that they burned (yes, it's what you think it is):



Here's Anthony's explanation (from the Times article):

“There’s a 100-foot vagina we’re fixing to burn,” Mr. Anthony remarked recently while filling a garbage can in the back of his battered truck with water, a precautionary measure, one gathered, in case things got out of hand.

But why a vagina? “They’ve got a burning man, why not have a burning woman?”

I didn't stay for the burn because I didn't want to spend the entire day out there -- I got there at 1:30 pm; the burn ends at midnight. And I lacked the motivation to load up my car with food and camping equipment.

This was definitely one of the more interesting uniquely Alabaman experiences I've had.

All of my pictures:



Oh. On the way there, I passed sections of forest that looked to have been hit pretty hard by forest fires.

It's not racism, it's herritage...and denial aint just a river in Egypt

This past Saturday the Sons of Confederate Veterans celebrated the founding of the Confederacy by reenacting the swearing-in of Jefferson Davis on the Alabama State Capitol steps (where Jefferson Davis was sworn-in 150 yeas ago).




Predictably, their message was that the Civil War was about States Rights and that they were honoring the brave men who fought for this noble idea.

I was thoroughly creeped out from being surround by all of these lunatics -- I was less uncomfortable when I visited the gas chambers at Dachau. I'm not kidding.

Maybe it would be unfair to label them all as racists, but who puts stickers like these on their cars?:



No one threatened me, but one guy came up to me and said, "do they know a Yankee is here?" I wasn't wearing anything to indicate that, but I obviously didn't fit in.

The most lunatic speech came from this guy:



Besides bringing up Harry Potter, he compared his plight -- a white man who is maligned by liberals because he speaks the truth of what the Civil War was really fought over -- to the Civil Rights Movement. He told the crowd that like Rosa Parks, it was time they stood up from the back of the bus and walked to the front. So I guess he must feel like he's living in an apartheid state. And there's no doubt that Rosa Parks' name was invoked because we're in Montgomery, AL, home of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and only several hundred feet away from MKL's church where the boycott was organized.

I was happy that Bill Maher focused on this event in his New Rules segment on Friday's show. My local friends weren't happy that Bill attacked all Southerns, but my response to them is that even though the Sons of Confederate Veterans do not represent the majority of Southerns, the majority is complicit by never speaking out against these Civil War revisionists. There should have been a counter protest, but there wasn't one. And while these guys obviously have a Constitutional right to assemble and say whatever they want, I don't think the State should have allowed them to hold the event on the Capitol steps given that they are slavery deniers.

All my pictures from the day:

Someone really likes 'The Dukes of Hazzard'

I spotted what appeared to be a near perfect replica of "The General Lee" in town today:





The confederate battle flag was on the roof and "01" was painted on the doors. The only apparent dissimilarity was that the doors did not appear to be welded shut.

Alabama Gov. to non-Christians: Go to hell

Our new Governor, on his first day on the job, speaking at an MLK day event, at MLK's church, had this to say about his non-Christian constituents:

"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."

While there is some context to the statement, it's pretty scary that when writing the speech no one thought someone might take issue with telling non-Christians that the Governor is not their "brother."

The good news for the Governor is that there aren't many Jews in Alabama, and I doubt any of them voted for him.

Unsealing Revelation's Mysteries

I received this in the mail the other day:

Unsealing Revelation's Mysteries

Unfortunately I've been out of town during some of the early seminars, but nothing is going to keep me from missing "How to Postpone Your Funeral."

It turns out that this church is local and they have podcasts. Listen to this one and be sure to listen for at least a minute. You'll see why.