Outlander of the Day ~ B'ham's Bettye Fine Collins

Jefferson County Commission's President Bettye Fine Collins will get teh lead but lets not leave off Commissioners Jim Carns, Bobby Humphryes and George Bowman for voting to hand $15,000 to
Eagle Forum of Alabama. This outfit is part of the national Eagle Forum, spawned by the lovely Phyllis Schlafly, one of the original movement conservatives, yet I'll get around to ranting about the group later.

This spending is just after Jefferson County had to carve off $18 million via vacancies, $5 million in cultural arts funding and $4 million from overtime limits as they were upside down $30 million. Now I understand the money is coming from $10,000 from Carns' district funds and $5,000 from Collins' yet damned if I'm not shocked. Fifteen grand is a drop in the bucket but this seems like especially poor form.

"Conservatives" that they are you'd think they'd use the money in other ways, or just hand over for general uses if it would be lost, but then again the walk is often different from the talk. Jim Carns' website actually has the following language ... "Staunch conservative, relentlessly pushing for accountable, fiscally responsible government." Huh? They've simply got to advance the agenda don't they. 24/7 ... it's often all about spreading their gospel of "family values and "free markets" and the like it seems.

The plan is to have Eagle Forum of Alabama "host a forum next month on global warming, immigration, education policy and other politically charged topics" per Barnett Wright's reporting. I noted that Eagle Forum of Alabama's position on "environmentalism" is

We respect all God's creation and His created order.
We acknowledge God's mandate that man has dominion over the earth.
We oppose attempts to restrict private property and national sovereignty through pseudo science.

Wow! Reckon how EFA will handle climate change? Watch out brown people if immigration is discussed. Education policy for the Eagles seems to be about abstinence education, teacher union bashing, and actually killing off the federal involvement in education back in the 80s. These days it might involve vouchers and "standards" with "accountability" but that is perhaps means and ends. Any separation of church and state issues here? Will Eagle Forum invite alternative authorities or is this just going to be their party? I see the list of elected officials is from the GOP. Then again few Alabama Democratic party members are competent to explain progressivism even if invited to participate.

I found it so rich that on their section on family (broken link and all ... c'mon Eagles you're at least partly on the gov't tit so can't you keep your site current yet my gift to you is the right link here) they reference Professor Elizabeth Warren's efforts. I suppose the Eagles aren't up to speed on Dr. Warren's work. She has often been a strong critic of Bu$hCo and general conservative (or even centrist positions) that concentrate wealth via GOP policies. Her Warren Reports on TPM Cafe are regular reads for this lefty blogger.

But the bottom line is how in the hell can these goobers justify this spending? And exactly do they get for this 15K? I'm hoping some capable reporters and/or smelly lefty bloggers will be able to dig a little deeper here. If I were in Alabama I'd surely try to attend the forum. This is frankly an opportunity to expose the level of wingnuttia that invests Alabama and our world. P/W