Alabama Legislative Outtakes

Speaker cuts Rep. Greg Wren's mic

2008-05-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

Rep. Greg Wren and Rep. Alvin Holmes exchange words and the speaker cuts Rep. Wren's mic off.

Fireworks!

Rep. Buskey threatens Rep. Ward with Shroud Award

2008-05-22T09:07:00.000-07:00

In this humorous exchange Rep. James Buskey of Mobile threatens to nominate Rep. Cam Ward for the shroud award if he doesn't carry over SB37 so the rainy day fund can be voted on. Rep. Buskey goes on to call for the House to march on the Senate.

I love it!

Go Cam Ward!!

2008-05-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

Rep. Cam Ward gives an impassioned speech about his bill that would create the Alabama Autism Council during the filibuster. I love a moving speech that you can tell is from the heart and not from memorized, politicized meaningless words. Knowing that Cam's daughter has autism...well I almost cried when his voice began to crack a little bit during this speech.

Powerful stuff!

In my opinion Cam is one of the incredibly few 'white hat' legislators we have in Alabama. I hope he serves for a long time to come.

A little mutual love

2008-05-22T08:11:00.000-07:00

Rep. Cam Ward and Rep. John Rogers show each other some love during the SB37 filibuster.

SB37

2008-05-22T07:07:00.000-07:00

Rep. Cam Ward (R- Alabaster) (and one of my favorite reps.) carries SB37 on the floor. Rep. Alvin Holmes filibusters.

A Rep. Pony's Up

2008-05-22T05:38:00.000-07:00

I received a contribution for this website from an Alabama Representative. I won't name names because they may not want anyone to know. But, I did want to publicly acknowledge that an Alabama Rep. gave a citizen money for once and not the other way around. That is very cool!

Thank you Rep. Anonymous..you know who you are. The contribution is greatly appreciated.

If any other Representatives or citizens wish to follow suit you may pony up here.

Today will be the first day I've had without ten thousand interruptions and I will be working all day to get more of the audio from the last day in session posted. There's about 8 zillion hours left to process and upload.

SB519

2008-05-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

Rep. John Knight carries SB519 for Senator Del Marsh of Calhoun only to have Rep. Barbara Boyd of Calhoun filibuster because she has a local piece of legislation in the senate that she wants moved.

This theme is repeated throughout the hours and hours and hours of audio that I have for the last day in session.

2008 Shroud Award

2008-05-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

The 2008 Alabama Legislature Shroud Award. You don't want to miss this!

Delays

2008-05-20T12:26:00.000-07:00

The audio files I captured from yesterday are so huge that I am having trouble converting them and saving them. Also, the CUT function seems to be disabled in Audacity making this project seem near impossible. I'll keep tinkering with it.

My apologies to all of you who are waiting for the Shroud Award audio or other audio from yesterday.

The Pledge

2008-05-20T05:59:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I asked why the House broadcast the opening prayer but not the pledge of allegiance? A gentleman named Brett, who works in the State House responded here.

As I was editing the audio just now I noted the pledge was broadcast yesterday.

And....either my audio recording device didn't capture it or else the opening prayer was not broadcast yesterday.

Interesting.

The next thing I will be processing and uploading is the "Shroud Award" audio. Funny Stuff!!

Last Legislative Day

2008-05-19T18:54:00.001-07:00

When they get done talking I will have over 24 hours combined of house and senate filibustering to process. That's gonna take a while.

Currently Rep. Buskey is encouraging all members of the house to march on the senate and tell them to get their asses busy passing what has to be passed. I love it! A march on the Senate....only in Alabama.

Recess Until May 19

2008-05-15T05:49:00.000-07:00

The Alabama House and Senate are in recess until May 19. That promises to be a great day for Legislative Outtakes. The smoking ban bill is up that day and I am sure there will be some very heated debate over that one. The Free the Hops bill should also come up in the Senate that day. With Senator Hank Erwin and his raging moralistic hard-on against all things pleasurable that is one debate you don't want to miss.

I've also figured out with some help from fellow bloggers how to record without picking up the background noise of me typing, smoking, washing dishes and talking to my family and dog.

Rep. Alvin Holmes talks about right & wrong

2008-05-11T11:04:00.000-07:00

Rep. Alvin Holmes talks about right & wrong...tells someone to, "Quit bugging me."

Does Rep. Gerald Allen have a lisp?

2008-05-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

Rep. Owen Drake Calls Down Rogue Senator

2008-05-11T10:06:00.001-07:00

Rep. Owen Drake calls down rogue Senator for letter explaining why steel coil bill was blocked.

Rep. Jack Williams has a suggestion for the dilatory Senator

2008-05-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

Rep. Jack Williams has a suggestion for the dilatory Senator responsible for the abject failure of this 2008 session.

Slowdown/Filibuster Begins

2008-05-09T07:44:00.000-07:00

(NOTE: As I get more segments produced I will upload them to this thread. Please scroll all the way to the bottom of this thread each time you visit to see if there is anything new.)

Members of the Alabama House are upset that the Senate has once again prevented anything meaningful from being accomplished in this 2008 session, so they employ the philosophy of "They started it" and begin a "If you can't beat'em, join'em" filibuster. Like that's helpful or something....If my kids acted like that I be liable to grab me a hickory switch and go to town tanning some hides.

Rep. Laura Hall of Madison claims she heard her bills were not being brought up in the Senate simply because they are her bills. Promises retribution and retaliation sometime before the quadrennium is over if this is proven true.

Rep. Joseph Mitchell pontificates on pro-active thought vs. reactive thought.

Rep. Mike Ball discussed pro-cop, anti-immigrant bills he wants passed.

Speaker asks Rep. McClendon what kind of Dr. he is. (A lighter moment)

Rep. John Knight & Rep. Paul DeMarco discuss Senate Earmarks in Children First Funding Bill

2008-05-09T06:23:00.000-07:00

Lost the House Feed

2008-05-08T15:55:00.000-07:00

The power went out here a few minutes ago and every since then I have been unable to bring up the House Audio website. Not missing much because right now they are talking about the Gill Net fishing bill....which is DULL. I'm talking ZZZzzzzzzzz.

By tomorrow I'll have all that I captured today broken down into sections based on topic and will upload them here.

This blog also got a very nice plug from Tim Lennox host of APTV's For the Record

Chemical Child Endangerment Debate

2008-05-08T14:52:00.001-07:00

On April 17, 2008 the Alabama House debated HB723 a bill that would include pregnant women in the chemical child endangerment act. The debate is rather surprising in that there are apparently more people in the Alabama legislature who understand the terrible consequences of the drug war much more than they have ever let on.

This is about 50 minutes long but well worth the time if you have it to spare.

DANG!

2008-05-08T14:06:00.000-07:00

Rep. Joseph Mitchell just informed me that he just dropped my name and this blog on the House floor. My computer jammed up and I had to restart it. GRRRR! Just my luck!

Thanks Rep. Mitchell for the plug. How exciting!

Rep. Joseph Mitchell Calls for House Sessions to be Recorded

2008-05-08T10:52:00.000-07:00

Only one day after I mentioned creating Alabama Legislative Outtakes Rep. Joseph Mitchell of Mobile goes to the mic during a filibuster and says he wished that someone would start recording the stream so that what people say can be used to check their records come voting time. That's fascinating!

Rep. Joseph Mitchell (D- Mobile) Blasts DHR

2008-05-08T10:17:00.000-07:00

During a house session Rep. Joseph Mitchell LAMBASTS DHR in Mobile County. Says he has doubts they can write and has more than a sneaking suspicion that they are, in fact cave people who still carry clubs and haven't yet discovered the meaning of fire.

For the record I agree with him and offer that the cave man syndrome affects DHR employees all over the state.

Audio: Rep. John Rogers Discusses The Sex Toy Bill

2008-05-07T10:52:00.001-07:00

While many house sessions can be infuriating to listen to sometimes certain legislators make it every bit worth your while. One such legislator is Rep. John Rogers.

Yesterday I listened to most of the House session. To be honest, I have become somewhat addicted to listening to our elected officials pretend to conduct the business of the citizens of this state. When they get rolling they are more hysterical than any slap stick comedy routine. I mean you absolutely would not believe some of the things they say and do with the mic on. I know it is an expensive form of entertainment...but really it can't be beat.

Most of yesterday was pretty dull though. Sadist Rep. Mike Hubbard decided to have all the bills read at length as a stalling measure because he was mad that he had been clotured in recent days. Don't you just love it?! Because of Rep. Hubbard's wittle hurt feewings he held up the business of the citizens of this state for hours and hours on one of the very last days of the session. Bump cloturing him....he needs CLOUTING upside the head. I'm talking straight-arm him. Must be nice to have that kind of power. (NOTE: I am not picking on Rep. Hubbard because he is a Republican. Democrats often do the exact same thing.)

I started listening at 1:00 when the House came to order. When I left at 4:30 to pick my husband up from work things had started to move a little bit. When I got home about 5:15 I was stunned to hear Rep. John Rogers discussing HB12 a bill that would repeal the ban on the sale of sex toys in Alabama.

Yesterday morning, as I was contacting many legislators on various bills, I decided to drop Rep. Rogers a note and ask him if that bill was going to be put on the calendar. I also told him that, while I was glad it passed the house judiciary committee unanimously, I was very disappointed that no debate was allowed in committee. I told him I had been waiting for months to witness him discussing that bill. I have no idea if my email had anything to do with his decision to bring it up out of order yesterday or not. Could be just a coincidence.

Anyway, I recorded the session and I have compiled this clip of the sex toy discussion for your viewing/listening pleasure. Please excuse the background noise including a number of occasions where I tell members of my family what bill is being discussed. I haven't mastered the subtleties of Audacity yet.

Long Live Rep. John Rogers!! The legislature would be a much duller and less colorful place without him.

About this blog

2008-05-07T10:11:00.000-07:00

I've started a new blogging project called Alabama Legislative Outtakes which features audio clips from the House while it is session.

A few weeks ago (and unfortunately before I started recording the sessions)I listened to the Senate one day.

Of course, they were all hung up on the gambling bill. During filibusters you know they can just talk about anything. It doesn't have to have anything to do with a bill.

Sen. Jabo Waggoner was talking about traveling to Smith Lake every weekend and seeing a gambling hall/strip club called "The Boobie Trap". He adamantly claimed he had never darkened the door.

Another Senator, whose name I did not catch, got up and asked Waggoner, "Is you sho you ain't never stop in? I mean if I drove by something that say "The Boobie Trap" my curiosity would get the best of me and I'd have to check it out. Maybe I have that dyslexic and thank it said "The Bobbie Trap". You sho you ain't nevuh had the dyslexic an thank it say "Bobbie" instead of "Boobie"?"

It was crazy funny! I just kind of sat here with my mouth open. After that I started recording the sessions. So, I decided to start a new blog that offers archived audio of the House in session. Citizens just really have no idea what goes on down there.

How much and how quickly do you think things would change if citizens listened to the shenanigans that are happening on their dime? Part of the problem is that while the computer literate among us know about ALISON and how to use it most people don't. Another part of the problem is that no one wants to spend hours and hours listening to legislative sessions. They don't have that kind of time. Even if they did they wouldn't want to spend it doing that.

There needed to be a website devoted to preserving the audio of the sessions so that it can be broken down into a much shorter form that will draw folks in and perhaps get them interested in the political process.

So, I give you Alabama Legislative Outtakes. This is a work in progress so please bear with me. Eventually I will have audio segments broken down by what bill is being discussed to make it easier for folks to get the information they want without having to sit through hours of some times mind-numbingly boring discussion about things they have no interest in.

For now this is a free service. However, this project will be hugely time consuming and since the files are huge I will eventually run out of server space on Blogger and will need to purchase more. There may come a time when I have to charge a small fee. Until that time I will accept contributions.

Feel free to grab any audio from Alabama Legislative Outtakes and use it as you see fit.

I hope you will visit often when the legislature is in session. I hope that what you hear pisses you off so bad that you decide to get up off of your collective, complacent, disinterested asses and become involved in the effort to change things in this state.