Country Cat Posts

Today, many restaurants and retail stores offer freebies and discounts to veterans. It's a generous way to say "thank you" — and also a good way to get people out shopping on their day off — but it's certainly not an adequate response to the challenges faced by our veterans.

In Madison County, Alabama, a jail inmate died naked, on the floor of his cell from untreated gangrene. In 2008, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, jail inmates went for weeks without their prescription medications. In 2011, a Wayne County, Tennessee, inmate died after being denied his medications for 11 days. In 2011, a Bureau County, Illinois jail inmate was denied his HIV medications for a week. The common thread here? Each jail had contracted with a large, private health care company to provide health care in the jails.

Alabama has a bit of a horse race going on in the race for Lieutenant Governor, but a new poll by Dem candidate James Fields has him pulling ahead of his competition, entrenched politico Kay Ivey.

A quirk of Alabama's legislative system makes the need for state constitutional amendments to happen more frequently than elsewhere. Problem is, this latest batch is quite a doozy.

Republican candidate for State Auditor Jim Zeigler is jumping into emotional issues that have absolutely nothing to do with the job he's asking voters for. He's protesting outside a women's clinic that isn't even open and is supposedly upset because it's across the street from a school. It's a clinic the protesters are trying to keep closed because of the "disruptions" around the clinic. Do you see anyone causing any disruptions — other than the protesters themselves? No surprise there.

Quick! Someone asks you a simple question: "What's the median income in Alabama?" Would you, (a) Use Google to find the answer on the U.S. Bureau of the Census website or, (b) Set up a no-bid contract suggested by former Alabama Gov. Bob Riley's daughter and commission a $72,000 study with a Birmingham law firm that inquired about why they weren't getting any state business? If you selected (b), you may be a member of the state's GOP supermajority, because that's exactly what happened.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange (a name fit for Superman's nemesis) decided that the polls would be a great place to bring your handgun. Can you say, "intimidation"?

People love to complain that Obamacare is a free handout. But subsidies (i.e. "free stuff") were in place for health care before we ever had the law. Only difference? Now poorer people get the discounts, too. Apparently that makes certain people very angry.

Straight from the front page of "The K-K-Knews," aka another Alabama Newspaper, comes the latest argument against the concept of white privilege — conveniently enough from a perch of white privilege. Who better to deny the problems facing minorities in America than an old white guy?

The Southern Poverty Law Center has posted an interactive map of the growing number of hate groups in the US, from neo-Nazis to the good ol' KKK. 22 have sprouted up in Alabama alone.

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions talks a good talk when it comes to veterans (He should! He voted to send them overseas to be shot at!), but when it comes to putting his money where his mouth is, Sessions is like most of his Republican counterparts: mendacious and obstructive.

Alabama's new TRAP (Targeted Restrictions on Abortion Providers) law was always a bad idea – bad for women who now can't find a clinic in the state, and bad for Alabama women's health overall. And it was almost a pleasure seeing Alabama's Solicitor General struggle to defend the indefensible in court against an expert witness.

Alabama State Representative Barry Moore was indicted for perjury and lying to investigators. He's the second legislator to face prosecution in recent memory, and some believe the corruption could lead all the way up to the speaker of the statehouse.

The Alabama state house passed a mostly symbolic – and needlessly hateful – gesture when they approved a resolution calling for Congress make same-sex marriage unconstitutional. The resolution explicitly broke a promise the House Speaker Mike Hubbard made to an openly gay legislator, Patricia Todd.

Alabama State Representative Sue McClurkin, Chair of the House Education Policy Committee, passed a voice vote that would mandate Christian prayer recital in public schools. Only problem is that only two of those present voted 'aye'. A majority voted the measure down. She's either bad at math, or bad at democracy.

At one point, it seemed that Alabama Democrats wouldn't have a viable candidate to field in that state's gubernatorial race. Now, three have joined the primary – two with the actual charisma and experience to give Republicans pause.

With all the doomsday predictions and nightmare scenarios, a first doctor visit using a newly minted Obamacare card should have been a disaster. Strangely enough, it went smooth as silk.

Seems this session of Alabama's legislature is getting a little lawsuit-happy. Legislation passed this last year allows its constituents to sue for a host of less than sane reasons – if their employer doesn't let them bring their gun to work, if the sheriff denies them a conceal/carry permit, or if they don't feel like performing a certain medical procedure on a lady.

Health care workers take note: Alabama wants you to know that your conscience doesn't matter - unless someone else's uterus is involved. Then, legislators are totally on your side and vow to protect your delicate sensibilities.

Alabama Governor Robert J. Bentley is promising hundreds of millions in tax incentives (read: bribes) to Boeing so the behemoth aerospace corporation would move into the state. The record profit-making company is demanding these incentives though they've spent the last year cutting worker pensions and bloating their CEO's pay.