Battling Baptists v. Marauding Methodists?

We fully understand that the Muslim religion can be compared in scope to the Christian religion. Just because some factions are murdering, raping cannibals, not all of them are. Yet we’ve always said that despite the rogue churches with 20 or so members, you don’t see too many Christians who feel the need to go to actual war with those who don’t believe exactly as they do.

We’re going to inject here that we have at least one Baptist blogger among our ranks; this particular blog in no way describes our feelings for our good friends in the Baptist church. That being said, how many of you have heard of Dean Young, a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Orange Beach who is opposing Bradley Byrne?

Young has stated Byrne can’t be trusted because he is an Episcopal, a religion that accepts gay marriage. If you haven’t guessed by now, Young is a close friend of Roy Moore. Byrne himself states that he opposes gay marriage, but has not migrated to the Anglican Church which defines marriage as between one man and one woman.

Again, this comment in no way reflects our opinion of Baptists in general, but Byrne should ideally counter with his own charges against Young who must believe once saved, always saved. After all, he could easily use this doctrine to rob his constituents blind and not feel even slightly guilty about it. (We know that most Baptists would inject here that if Young did so, he had never truly been saved.)

With a month to go before the primary, this seems to be the first mud we’ve seen flung, and thank God it wasn’t in our area. We don’t doubt there is some to come in the next few weeks. Do your own investigation into the facts and vote accordingly.

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Religious preference? We haven’t taken a survey, but we’re pretty sure Prince in an Apawstolic.

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A young man sat on the first row of an Episcopal Sunday School class, intently listening to the priest who taught the group. The man raised his hand and asked the speaker if one could find salvation outside the Episcopal Church. The priest pursed his lips, thought for a minute, then said, “Yes, a man could find salvation outside the Episcopal Church, but a gentleman wouldn’t avail himself of the opportunity.”

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So a woman from Waterloo possibly defaced a hunter’s truck and threw away his keys and she gets a larger write-up in the TD than the man who brutally beat his own small child? No, we don’t condone what she did. Anyone aware of illegal hunting should take the alleged miscreant’s tag number and contact the game warden.

The poacher, or non-poacher as the case may be, could have easily shot the woman. It’s just extremely sad that we’ve become so inured to stories about child abuse that they no longer rate that much copy, but take a Sharpie to a hunter’s truck and you become Public Enemy number one.

Shoalanda

C.I.T.Y. and the Fair Dismissal Act

The Fair Dismissal Act--now there's a name that fairly screams George Orwell's 1984. Now, 60 soon-to-be former employees of the Community Intensive Training for Youth program are invoking this law in a quest to retain their jobs. The problem is that by demanding to be paid while their dispute is in arbitration, they have forced their one-time employer to close its doors, resulting in the loss of 30 more positions.

According to system Chancellor Bradley Byrne, the financial burden of providing salaries for these employees past their official dismissal date of May 1 will deplete C.I.T.Y. funds by the end of June, when the highly controversial organization will cease to exist. C.I.T.Y runs programs in both Florence and Russellville; the one in Florence having been the personal pet of Lauderdale Circuit Court Judge Jimmy Sandlin.

While the original intent of the C.I.T.Y. program was admirable, it unfortunately became associated with State Rep. Sue Schmitz, good ol' boy politics, and unfettered spending. Those who believe in financial accountability for government can rejoice at the demise of this tax dollar vortex; however, one has to wonder how such a well-intentioned program morphed into oinking pork. Yes, pork, and we understand that in at least one location it did wear lipstick.


What's up with this: What Shoals county government employee was recently referred to as Loni Anderson in the Courthouse Forum? Well, there is some resemblance to WKRP in most county offices.