Glynn Wilson | Thanks to Southwings.org

by Glynn Wilson

British Petroleum company has reached a tentative settlement agreement with a large number of people along the Gulf of Mexico coast who are suing for damages from the largest and most devastating environmental disaster in U.S. history. If the plaintiffs agree to the final settlement and it is approved by the court and the government, it will prevent a prolonged court trial and members of the public who suffered damages may receive compensation much sooner, although the amount they receive would be reduced.

According to the Associated Press, BP expects to pay out $7.8 billion to 100,000 victims. The settlement calls for ending the separate claims fund run by Ken Feinberg, who was hired by the Obama administration to handle paying out $20 billion the administration seized from BP.

Questions remain, however, about whether all of those damaged by the spill will agree to the settlement. Those waiting for money from Feinberg’s Gulf Coast Claims Facility can take what the settlement vehicles offer or opt out and make a claim directly to a BP-run entity. Or they can file separate lawsuits and hold out for more, but that could take many years to work its way through the courts and then there is no guarantee the amounts won’t be thrown out of court by conservative judges in the South.

According to a press release put out by BP Saturday morning, the company has reached a settlement with the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee (PSC), subject to final written agreement, to resolve the substantial majority of legitimate economic loss and medical claims stemming from the Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill. The PSC acts on behalf of individual and business plaintiffs in the Multi-District Litigation proceedings pending in New Orleans.

“From the beginning, BP stepped up to meet our obligations to the communities in the Gulf Coast region, and we’ve worked hard to deliver on that commitment for nearly two years,” Bob Dudley, BP Group CEO, said in the press release. “The proposed settlement represents significant progress toward resolving issues from the Deepwater Horizon accident and contributing further to economic and environmental restoration efforts along the Gulf Coast.”

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We are bracing for another round of severe weather in the Tornado Alley area of Central Alabama, so we could very well lose power and Internet service indefinitely. Stay tuned to weather on TV or the radio, and stay safe.

The National Weather Service is calling for overcast skies on Friday with a chance of a thunderstorms and rain. The high on Friday topped out at 81, with winds from the South to Southwest at 15-25 mph with gusts up to 30 mph. The chance of rain is projected at 40 during the day.

Most of the severe weather will come in the overnight hours, when the chance of rain is projected at 100 percent.

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A contingent from the Occupy Mobile group will walk to Montgomery for delivery of this message to the Alabama Capitol: AXE THE TAX ON FOOD, according to an e-mail press release.

Only two states in the U.S. impose their full sales tax rate on groceries — Alabama and Mississippi.

“It’s way past time to leave Mississippi standing as the only state in that category,” said organizer David Underhill.

The marchers aim to arrive, along with others traveling in more conventional fashion, for a lobby day at the legislature on March 15. To accomplish this they are departing Mobile on Saturday March 3 from Cathedral Square downtown at 10 a.m.

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Wildlife investigators are offering a $5,000 reward for help in finding out who shot a bald eagle in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama.

The bald eagle was found next to the Sipsey River on Upper Columbus Road and X-rays showed it had been shot in the wing and skull. The eagle is recovering at the Southeastern Raptor Center in Auburn, Ala. It is expected to be released into the wild after recovering from its’ injuries.

The Service is offering a reward of up to $2,500, with an additional $2,500 from the Humane Society of the United States and The Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust, for information that leads to a conviction.

To provide information, contact, John Rawls, Special Agent, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement, in Millbrook, Ala. (phone) 334-285-9600, John_Rawls@fws.gov, or call Alabama’s Operation GameWatch : 800-272-GAME(4263), or e-mail: DCNR.GAMEWATCH@DCNR.ALABAMA.GOV

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Indecision 2012 – The Long, Winding, Bumpy-Ass Road to the White House

Walk of Shame – Michigan’s primary results don’t get called until well after 10:30 p.m., leaving the 24-hour news networks with quite a bit of time to kill.

They are calling it the “March for America” this year, and emphasizing the fact that due to Alabama’s draconian anti-immigration law, the struggle for civil rights continues. Organizers say the 47th anniversary of Bloody Sunday could be the biggest civil rights march in a very long time and involve new groups of activists, especially Hispanics and unions, even women who feel the Alabama legislature is threatening their Constitutional right to privacy with an invasive new anti-abortion bill.

From March 4-9, the annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee or better known as “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama, attracts thousands of people who convene to retrace history by marching across the Edmund Pettis Bridge. But this year holds special significance due to the rights of those under attack since the Republican Party took over all three branches of government in the state and appears hell-bent on creating the whitest and most religious conservative state government in the country.

As a result of the national assault on voting rights, and the clear shift from federal to state by state attacks on civil rights, a decision was made to add a re-creation of the historic march from Selma to Montgomery, according to event organizers.

“It was clear that nearly 47 years later, the attempts to silence the people are still in full assault mode,” organizers said in a press release announcing the schedule for the events. “Today, the field has expanded. Workers and their unions are under attack in nearly every state. Public education, and the basic right to a quality education for our children, is slowly being dismantled.”

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ASHEVILLE, NC — Regional conservation nonprofit organization Wild South announced the finalist nominees for the 2011 Roosevelt-Ashe Society Conservation Awards on Monday and the list includes Glynn Wilson of The Locust Fork News-Journal as one of three finalists in the “Outstanding Journalist” category.

The awards recognize “conservation heroes” across the South and honor outstanding conservation work in 2011 to protect wild places.

“The nominees represent six states and exemplify dedication and passion for environmental conservation,” Tracy Davids, Wild South’s Executive Director, said in the press release announcing the finalists. “Conservation groups know that we cannot realize our vision with staff and volunteers alone. Success requires the support of each citizen who believes in the power of a South with healthy, intact ecosystems.”

The winners will be announced and awards presented at the Fourth Annual Green Oscars — the Roosevelt-Ashe Society’s Green Tie Gala — held March 23, 2012 in Asheville, North Carolina.

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Alabama joins West Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee once again in Gallup’s ranking of the 10 worst states in the country in public perceptions of citizens’ Well Being, according to the latest survey on the subject.

West Virginia residents had the lowest wellbeing, with a score of 62.3, slightly improved from 61.7 in 2010, but right there with other Southern states like Alabama, which ended up with a rank of 64.6 out of a possible 100.

Hawaii residents had the highest wellbeing in the nation in 2011 with a Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index score of 70.2, maintaining that state’s No. 1 status for a third consecutive year. North Dakota, Minnesota, Utah, and Alaska rounded out the top five states.

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“Let justice be done though the heavens should fall.”
- John Adams, letter to Elbridge Gerry, December 5, 1777

The Big Picture
by Glynn Wilson

Here’s a question for Rick Santorum and Judge Roy Moore (or any member of the religious right or the tea party) that will never be asked in public by any news organization in the land.

“If you had been alive in 1776, do you think with your views you would have really supported the American Revolution and the political and economic split with the British Empire?”

Of course if Alabama’s famous Ten Commandments judge were asked the question, he would scoff and say “of course.” Like other tea partiers, Moore considers himself to be a great American patriot.

But if you examine their views on government from an educated perspective, it becomes obvious that they would have sided with England in that war as well as the Church of England. They would have been in the camp then called “British Loyalists.” They believe the government’s power is derived from God, not from the people themselves, which is the actual basis of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.

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