Kevin Boyd

Happy Halloween! Have fun storming the castle!

A special holiday treat, after the jump …

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People getting thrown
out of work, out of their homes.
Trick or treat, indeed.

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After 16 years of service on the Jefferson County Commission, Mary Buckelew has gone down in disgrace. She plead guilty Tuesday to one count of obstruction of justice.

Buckelew lied to a grand jury about receiving $4,000 in designer shoes, a purse, a spa treatment and more, all to influence her vote on sewer bonds and swaps.

For eight years, she served as commission president. In 1997, Governing magazine honored her as a Public Official of the Year. Now, she’s expected to lead prosecutors to bigger targets in the ongoing investigation of the county’s poorly managed sewer system.

She joins a growing list of convicted commissioners: Jeff Germany, Chris McNair and Gary White.

Meanwhile, Jefferson County has considered declaring bankruptcy over the $3.2 billion owed in interest alone. How deep is the financial hole, and how deep is the corruption that led us here?
• Birmingham News: Former Jefferson County Commissioner Mary Buckelew pleads guilty

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Quite suddenly, it’s
cold and there’s Christmas shopping
to be done. No time.

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The broken asphalt
skewers the dirt fields on its
journey to somewhere.

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Just seven days till
this election nonsense is
over. Oh, thank God.

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I just sat down, and
now it’s time to head out to
another meeting.

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Alabama may be a solid red state, with polls predicting a 20-point John McCain victory come Election Day, but the newspapers have endorsed Barack Obama by a more than 2-1 by a 5-3 margin by a 2-1 margin. [See third McCain endorsement by the Opelika-Auburn News, added Oct. 28, and sixth Obama endorsement by the Selma Times-Journal, added Nov. 4.]

Of the eight nine 10 newspapers that have published endorsements in the presidential race, five six support Obama, two three support McCain, and one endorsed neither. Before the cries of “liberal media bias” ring out, keep in mind that most of these same papers endorsed Republican George W. Bush in the previous two elections.

See what the editorial boards had to say …

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It was then his life
had spun out of control, a
hopeless wreck of dreams.

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Sitting in Starbucks
makes me smell like burnt coffee
long after I leave.

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After the crater,
an unspoken wake begins,
to pay our respects.

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1. yin and yang
   Much is given, much
   is asked. Somewhere, the harvest
   matches the hungry.
2. pastoral inhabitants
   Farm roll call: goats, cats,
   peacock, chickens, puppies, cows,
   llamas, pigs and worms.
3. composed at a keyboard
   Can we break grip of
   technology’s distractions?
   Are we not machines?

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The next day, bodies
were everywhere. Another
layoff claims 14.

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Tension. It sits in
the air like a panther on
the prowl in the dark.

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The phone rings. The files
pile up. The project changes.
All on a Tuesday.

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