Another black eye

I've been expecting the national coverage on this issue for days, and now it's finally come to fruition. Alabama voters, misled by selfish demagogues who claimed a "yes" vote would raise their taxes, voted against an anti-segregation constitutional amendment. An automatic recount is still pending because the vote was so close, and Gov. Bob Riley promises to reintroduce a version without ambiguous language if this amendment fails.

I see two long-term problems stemming from this vote:

1) Roy Moore and his cronies still have way too much influence in my home state. A scarily high amount.

2) The provision that caused many people to vote "no" would have repealed an amendment that said there is no constitutional right to a public education. Does our fear of higher taxes honestly trump our fear of an uneducated populace? We have to get our priorities straight.

It's another self-imposed black eye for Alabama. We can do better than this, ladies and gentlemen. We must.