Today we’re going to be talking with a recent survivor of the tornadoes that ripped through the state of Alabama, Brett Hamock, a Tuscaloosa based lawyer with Hamock & Ellenberg. We’re going to talk about the realities of owning your own business, Alabama’s business laws, life post-tornado, and if Obama did a good job with…
Author: Alabama Liberal
Larger Editorial: Defending Teacher Unions, the Most Misunderstood Organization in America
Blaming teacher unions for what’s wrong with public education is like blaming the coal miner’s union for the pollution a coal company causes. But yet, in everything from the worthless documentary Waiting for Superman—which faked an interest in probing what’s wrong with public education before taking the easy way out in blaming education unions—to the…
Working Class Economist: You Don’t Have to be a Socialist to Think Fiscal Conservatives Are Out of Control
“Socialist.” That one word is thrown around more than any other by the right wing trying to dismiss or slander anyone from me to President Obama. And since it’s hard to factually shoot down–unlike Obama not being born in the US–it lingers a lot longer, existing in that nebulous region of rumors you don’t have…
Monday Morning Movie Reviewer: Bridesmaids, a let down
Most of the time I’m perfectly in line with what other critics think, and we get to stand alone dissing movies that the general public goes to see in droves (hello Hop). Or sometimes I don’t like a movie the critics do, but since the general public doesn’t either, I don’t have to feel too…
Monday Morning Movie Reviewer: African Cats
Am I wrong for liking this movie as much as I did? I’m not the biggest lover of nature documentaries out there, in fact, I can’t make it through one without falling asleep, but I really enjoyed this one. What Works: This thing is as interesting as it possibly could be. Samuel L. Jackson provides…
Monday Morning Movie Reviewer: Something Borrowed, Something Shitty
I saw the movie Something Borrowed this weekend…wait, stop throwing eggs at me… What Worked: Most valuable player John Krasinski stole the movie with just a few lines, exhausted reaction shots, and by being the only character in the movie with any sense. What Didn’t Work: Kate Hudson looks like Kathleen Turner. Jennifer Goodwin has…
Interviews with the Invisible: The Veteran Teacher
Today we’re joined by a teacher who’s been teaching 35 years for all different grades. We’re going to discuss the radical changes taking place across the country, why teachers are being targeted, how much things have changed since she first started, and if any of it is worth it. Oh yeah, and she’s my mom….
Larger Editorial: Is Obama Ushering in a New Era of Competent Government?
“Government can do nothing right.” Republicans have said this for so long, we hardly blame them for getting elected into office and proving it. They run on the promise that government is ineffective, sluggish to respond, and unholy expensive, and then don’t even attempt to govern once they get elected. Instead, trying as hard as…
Petty Issues
This week McDonald’s announced they’re trying to go after the Starbucks crowd by installing new flat screen TVs and toning down the drunkenly bright color scheme in select McDonalds. If I were McDonald’s I would just sit back and count my billions and let Starbucks have the douchebags that pay 3 dollars more for a…
Now What? (Life Post-Grad): Life Post-Bin Laden
Two weeks ago, an event happened that is so significant it’s easy to take it for granted. Osama Bin Laden–the terrorist mastermind that ripped a hole through the comfort level of Americans almost a decade ago, and has been up to no good for much longer–is finally dead. In the 24 hour news cycle that…
Down & Out in Bumblefuck: Tornadoes, or I Explain Why I Was Out Last Week
As most of you probably know Alabama was wrecked by a record number of tornadoes two weeks ago. The last new items to go up were on that Wednesday, and that was it until yesterday’s movie reviews. For about a week I didn’t have internet so I couldn’t have posted new stuff even I wanted…
Fast and Furious: Slow Witted and Brain Dead
One of the good things about doing reviews a little later than most reviewers (and two weeks can be long enough for a movie to be forgotten in today’s age) is that you get a chance to measure a movie after the first wave of critical reception. You can survey the damage of how right…
Rio: You will never, ever be Pixar
Is 2011 the worst year for animated movies? It’s looking that way. Not only has there not been a SINGLE watchable one so far besides Rango (and many, many more duds like Gnomeo and Juliet or Hoodwinked 2), there hasn’t been an instant classic produced like last year’s How I Met Your Dragon. That was…