Rep. Bright, Meet Mr. Brown

How much more Republicanesque can a Democratic Congressman be?

Bobby Bright has voted against his fellow Democrats on significant issues---like health care---yet still he's under attack by the GOP establishment in radio ads, reports the Montgomery Advertiser.

Representative, just like President Obama, you'll never satisfy 'em unless you go ahead and proclaim yourself a Republican.

Heck, its been nine months since the election! Senator Shelby didn't wait nine hours before he switched! Remember Charlie!!!! They'll never let you kick the ball.

Alabama and Coal Ash -not just at the landfill.

As we've reported, trainloads of coal ash from that 2008 spill at the TVA Kingston Plant in Tennessee are arriving daily at a privately owned landfill near Uniontown. The photos in this posting show part of the operation to move the coal ash from Tennessee to Alabama. Cleaning up the massive spill is expected to cost the TVA close to $2-Billion Dollars.

Now EPA has released a report a report on coal ash "ponds", ranking their danger, and four of the twelve in Alabama receive ranks of either significant or high regarding the level of danger they present.

Nationally, the EPA reports there are 584 coal ash and similar disposal ponds...twice as many as had previously been reported. The information was given to a coalition of environmental groups, including Earth Justice on Friday. Here's the story about Alabama:

Alabama Power has six ponds, but none of them are considered dangerous.*

The Power South Energy Cooperative has three, but none are considered dangerous.

Four of the areas at TVA operated facilities...are considered dangerous:

The Colbert Power Station in Tuscumbia:

The basin in disposal area 5 and ash pond #4 are rated HIGH

Ash pond #4 is rated HIGH.

The Widows Creek Power Station in Stevenson:

Gypsum Stack (wet stacking area) HIGH

Ash Pond - SIGNIFICANT

Two of the ash ponds are almost 60 years old....the Widows Creek Gypsum stack dates to 1950, and Alabama Power has an East Gadsden ash pond that is the oldest in the state, 1948.

The EPA's designation of how dangerous the ponds are is based on potential spills, not on any health dangers the coal ash itself presents. The TVA maintains the main danger is coal ash is in breathing it in, and that is why they have kept it in ponds. Nonetheless, the agency decided last week to switch over to contained dry storage following the disaster in Harriman, Tennessee.

[*The Southern Studies group names Alabama Power as one of the companies refusing to release information about some ash ponds, some of which they say are the biggest in the nation, covering hundreds of acres.]

MMMM #57 - News vs Promo & No disclosure?

For years I've harped on the blurring, then the erasing, of the line between news and promotions. Usually it's been broadcasting where it became somewhat more difficult to determine if a story or interview was a sales piece or a journalistic effort, but now another newspaper has ventured across the boundary in a small but significant way. The Montgomery Advertiser list of "News" stories on Saturday included this item right after Liquor License Approved and right before Attorney General Reviewing Nationwide Plan: Five reasons to buy the Sunday Montgomery Advertiser. Four of the five reasons listed are stories scheduled for publication, one is the note that there will be $200 worth of coupons in the paper. I don't suppose the recent AP story about coupon clipping being replaced by coupon gathering (online) made it into that section. I know this is being picky, but does the "Reasons to buy" item belong in the list of stories? Ah well. Look at wrappers some papers have started using that look like the paper's front page but are really ads. And the full-page ads with the tiny word "advertisement" up top have been around for many years. Maybe that train has left the station? Meanwhile on Sunday, The NY Daily News published a story based on their reporters going to some of those town-hall meetings on health-insurance reform in which they spoke with people attending in Florida without identifying themselves as reporters. Under what circumstances is it OK for a reporter to lie by omission like that? I don't make these points with any particular relish. I hate what is happening to print. Friends are losing their life's work, and, as is brilliantly explored in the book Losing The News , when the last papers go under, where will bloggers and broadcasters get their material? [ADDENDUM: Stars and Stripes reports the end of the contract between the Pentagon and a company that examined the politics of the reporters wanting to be attached to military units, ranking them by their positive stories.] [The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]

Memory Reading

I came across a reference to The Bridge of San Luis Rey the other day and a memory surfaced of it being one of the books on a required reading list in elementary school...maybe 8th grade? Or was there a list from which we selected a certain number of books for the summer?

What did I remember of the story? Almost nothing, though I did know the bridge fell, which may have been the drama that gave it appeal to me at 13!

TiVo found me a relatively recent movie version with some big names (Robert De Nero and Kathy Bates), so I caught it and started* watching it yesterday afternoon. I had forgotten completely that it took place in such a distant past, and more importantly, I had forgotten the entire premise, that of the monk trying to prove a planned existence by studying the paths of those who died. Heck, maybe I never read it at all and just knew it existed and saw it on the list.

There's a story in the Times that reports some schools are letting students truly pick their own reading...not from lists...though some other educators ask what student is going to pick Moby Dick? Got me wondering if they would they pick The Bridge of San Luis Rey? And does it matter?

[* No, I haven't finished it. Great costumes, but a bit of a bore, no? Did it go right to video when it was released in 2004? Even with De Nero???]

Sports

When I moved to Alabama few decades ago, I was astounded to see High School football games being broadcast on local TV. High School?? If that happened in NYC when I was growing up, I was blisfully unaware (then again, as the 1970 photo shows, my sports abilities and interests are somewhat limited). Now comes word in the Birmingham News that there is competition among national networks to pick up games. And ESPN will air a September 25th Prattville/Don Bosco (N.J.) game from here in Alabama. What's next? Product endorsements by the 17 year old QB? I went to a Don Bosco (Salesian) High School. I hope those Yankees know what to expect when they arrrive in football insane Alabama!

Media Training for non-profits

I spent part of the afternoon helping the Alabama Organizing Project put on a media panel in Downtown Montgomery. Two sessions of folks talking about getting publicity for their non-profit community organizations.

I told 'em its tougher than ever, given the slicing that's gone on in most newsrooms. Fewer people to do the same (or increased) work means diminished attention spans. Better have a brief message and a good hook, and better offer all kinds of extras to make your story stand out. Thanks to Kimble Forrister of Alabama Arise for inviting me to take part!

A Uniontown Country Club?

While TVA has gotten heat over its decision to ship by rail tons of coal-ash from that spill in Tennessee in December to a landfill in Perry County Alabama, at least they didn't do what's alleged in a lawsuit in Virginia. According to a story in the Virginia Pilot newspaper, Dominion Virginia Power found a unique way to get rid of it's coal-ash before a spill...dump it and build a golf course on top.

Former employees claim the utility was more

concerned about how much coal ash they could bury than anything

else about the project. Dominion denies anything wrong was done and says it will fight the suit vigorously.

It reminds me of the disguising of early cell-phone towers as trees. I don't know if they still do it, but back in the day they added fake bark and branches tried to make 'em look like (albeit unusually straight) pines.

Not sure if they ever really looked like anything other than fake trees. Were the birds convinced?

[UPDATE: an excellent report in the NY Times includes some aerial photos of the Arrowhead Landfill, showing heavy earth movers pushing the coal ash around. The Arrowhead officials would not allow me to see the operation, nor would they agree to an interview, when I filed a report on the operation for WBHM in Birmingham.]

Recommended Reading

This week's Montgomery Independent includes an editorial that alleges Alabama Governor Bob Riley personally tried to influence a judge or judges on the Alabama Supreme Court in regard to a gambling issue the state had filed before that court. It's a fascinating read. But I am curious about the use of an editorial to tell the story, rather than a out-and-out news story, perhaps with an accompanying editorial. I'll let you be the judge whether that means anything, but again, an interesting story that begs comment from the Riley Administration.

The Siegleman Blinders

I think an excellent argument can be made that there was no crime committed when Don Siegelman appointed Richard Scrushy to the hospital Certificate of Need Review Board and Scrushy made a hefty donation to the group Siegelman had set up to promote his proposed state lottery. At the very least, Siegelman was only doing what had been done many times before. Previous Governors had given Scrushy the same unpaid position. I don't know if any of them also solicited donations from Scrushy for some non-profit effort. I also think an excellent argument can be made that even if Siegelman broke the law, it may be a true case of political selective prosecution. One of his chief detractors, Lanny Young, also implicated some top Republicans on campaign finance violations, yet those allegations were never investigated, much less prosecuted. You might say prosecutors had blinders on. They wanted Don Seigelman. Period. I've also suggested that some of the same folks who pushed for Rove to be sworn in and questioned wore those blinders too when Rove was finished. They seem to believe everything Karl Rove said was a lie, or at least suspect, just as everything Mr. Siegelman did was innocent. I believe neither is true. I previously posted about Karl Rove's testimony, asking a question that neither fellow blogger Mr. Roger Shuler nor other seem to be willing to answer: what did they expect Rove to say under oath? Why were they even remotely surprised that he failed to "confess", and instead testified he didn't remember? They seem to see great Siegelman significance in the Q&A, but I think there's nothing there. Rove's comments add nothing to their arguments, but they go on endlessly parsing his words and pauses between words. In his latest post, Mr Shuler writes that my brain seems to have corroded from living in Montgomery these past eleven years, and that I fail to understand that the Siegelman case is bigger than the individual. I beg to differ. I believe my brain is actually sharper after 11 years hosting For The Record on APT! Here are two photos as evidence. (Left, 1977 or so, Birmingham radio days) (Right, 2009, Montgomery) Who do you want in court on your side? (-: Mr. Shuler blogs that the case is bigger than Siegelman the individual, and it is. Most cases are. There are important legal issues involved, and allegations of misconduct by the people we pay to administer justice. All of that should be investigated---From the allegations against Judge Fuller to the lack of investigation into Mr. Young's allegations regarding Mr. Pryor and Mr. Sessions. But try for a minute to be dispassionate about it, to examine the facts. You include the "statute of limitations" in your list of argument in favor of Mr. Siegelman, saying prosecutors filed too late. If ever there was a "technicality" in the law, the statute of limitations is it. Should prosecutors be required to file on time? Of course. But it's a sign of desperation to spend much time making that argument when you are defending a man who is truly innocent.

Least We Forget

Please read this column in today's N.Y. Times,

In Iraq, 527 men and women from Alabama have been wounded.

In Iraq, 71 men and women from Alabama have died.

In Afghanistan, 802 American men and women have died.

I haven't found a state breakdown, but it is likely that the Alabama numbers in Afghanistan are higher than the state's population would justify.

Early Early Early Morning

After training myself to go to bed earlier and earlier, and get up earlier and earlier each day last week, I woke up this morning for the real thing. I started anchoring the CBS-8 This Morning news program at 6:00am today on WAKA in Montgomery. I've learned a few things already: 1) 2:00am is very dark. So is 3:00am. And so forth. 2) Coffee is a wonder drug and probably deserves a slice on the food pyramid. 3) No matter how hard they try, companies can not make a microwave sausage-egg-and-cheese breakfast sandwich taste much better than the box they came in. 4) What traffic? 5) Getting answers on a story is difficult at 10am, sometimes impossible at 4:00am. 6) If eyes were not meant to hold contact lenses, that is triply so at 3:00am. 7) Lindsay Lohan is an actress, and her name is pronounced two ways. Low-han or Lown. Or maybe some other way. But her house was one of the thousands in the U.S. that were broken into on Saturday and it made the news. 8) During the broadcast, it takes a least two dozen people all pointing me in the direction of the next place to sit or stand for me to more or less get it right. Maybe. Kinda. For now, anyway. 9) Brain neurons do not fire off at 3:00am. They kinda spark a little. If you're lucky. zzztssttz.

Posting here is a touch light, as is my head, as I adjust to the new schedule. Join Meteorologist Kait Parker and me in the very dark morning tomorrow.

MMMM #56 - The NewsNot Machine

I read with interest the story of some French politicians trying to manufacture positive news about a school-goods price reduction...will they never learn? In 1999 I was a Fellow in the RIAS cultural-exchange program to Germany, and I quickly learned elected officials in Europe expect to have a journalist's questions provided in advance. Amazing. No wonder they think they can create fake news events. Never happen here, right? Well yes, it does. How about all of those townhall meetings and the shouting about wanting "my country back". Just what is it we're seeing? Actual grassroots political activism? Or manufactured/special interest led anger? How good a job are reporters doing examining the root causes of those events rather than just reporting the surface heat and light? Then there's the whole question of VNR's, which we've addressed on the MMMM before. With a big 2010 election cycle already underway here in Alabama, there should be ample examples of fake news being offered up as the real thing. As the number of places you can get information has increased, so have the opportunities for people with an agenda to plant "news"that is really propaganda. Can you trust every tweet on Twitter? Or each posting on Facebook? Or the ramblings of bloggers (-:

We'll be watching!

[NOTE: Coincidentally, there was an excellent article in the NY Times about photographic fakery. A good read.]

Cereus -ly Beautiful

I heard Kathryn Tucker Windom on Alabama Public Radio the other morning, and she was remembering some beloved plants, including encounters with the night blooming cereus, plants that open into big exotic blooms late at night,only to close up and die at dawn the next morning! I was tempted to grab the phone and invite her to my home because it just so happens there was a bloom about to open on my cereus! I didn't call, but I did determine to photograph the event, and here are some of the resulting shots:

Although the photos show the plant's beauty, they can't share the unique aroma the blooms give off..."exotic" is the only word I can come up with to describe it...very sweet smelling.

My own Night Blooming Cereus is the offspring of a plant that was owned by an actress in New York. My brother got a clipping of it from her decades ago (so long ago he doesn't remember who it was, though my memory tells me it was a name you would all know instantly), and my clipping came from his. They are ridiculously easy to propagate. Cut a piece of the long stems that reach for the nearest light source during the winter and stick it in potting soil. It may take a year or two before you get your first blooms, but it is well worth it!

From Lt. Calley: An Apology

I'm not sure why Lt. Calley of My Lai infamy selected now to say he's sorry for the massacre that left several hundred dead, but that's what happened during, of all things, a meeting of the local Columbus, Georgia Kiwanis Club, according to the story in the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer website.

f course I'm also not sure why the late Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara never served time for his acknowledged continuance of the war when he knew if could not be won, essentially sending Americans to their deaths for no purpose whatsoever.

The On Again-Off Again Campaign of Dr. Womack

He's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack. The Birmingham School Board Candidate who said he was dropping out of the race last week, in light of his admission he made stuff up on his resume (like his age and a high school diploma) isn't backing down after all, reports The Birmingham News today. He's going to let the voters decide his fate on Tuesday. Normally that would be enough to end it, no? A candidate lies to voters, is indecisive about his candidacy, and issues press releases filled with grammatical errors and statements of support that are denied by those named...all that should be enough to help the voters decide about selecting him to help run the schools. But look at some of the folks Birmingham voters have selected before and you may have reason to await Tuesday results with some degree of fear. All political races need their clowns. They just don't have to win.

Amazing. No?

A country like Mexico, where drug-gang violence is causing heads to roll (literally), has decided to decriminalize possession of small amounts of some drugs, including LSD and marijuana. Have they lost their minds? Or have they reached a conclusion that is escapes their neighbors to the north?

The Leaking Ship of State

I'm sure anyone elected to the nation's highest office in recent decades has had a conversation with advisers who counsel him to not be distracted by all of the criticism an Administration attracts. "Don't let 'em make you take your eye off the ball," they say (or some other similar metaphor). But today, right now, there needs to be someone in the Obama inner circle who is printing out copies of columns like the one by Frank Rich the other day that scorched itself across the Internet, asking if we (the Americans) are being punked by Obama. And today's column by Paul Krugman that includes this remarkable sentence:

It's hard to avoid the sense that Mr. Obama has wasted months trying to appease people who can't be appeased, and who take every concession as a sign that he can be rolled."

Ouch. Tough love, Mr. President, tough love. Think of Charlie Brown & the football.

The Scarlet Letter

Like most things, this is not a new issue. Police set up a prostitution sting. Newspaper publishes photos of the men arrested with the fake ho's. TV stations jump at the chance to display moral outrage and broadcast the mug shots. Oh my!

But it's worthwhile considering for a few moments just why the paper is using some of its remaining ink for that purpose in the first place. Being arrested for trying to pick up a call-girl (or boy) is certainly an embarrassing crime, especially for men who are married or in a relationship of some other kind, but what's the cost to society? Why does this crime, among the many committed each day, deserve this treatment? And these are, remember, suspects, truly innocent until and unless proven guilty. (Do you really want to trust the government...and police are a part of that government...to arrest only the guilty? Really?) Where does the man go to repair his reputation after he is acquited? Will the mug-shot-treatment outlive any effort on the paper's part to report an acquittal weeks later? And will the stations even bother? And if he's convicted, so what? Frankly, I would much rather see a page of the mug shots of people who are convicted of breaking into houses and cars, or those swindling old folks or mistreating their children or being serial litterers or vandals. Those are the faces I want to remember.

Crist or Robertson?

So now Florida Governor Crist is suggesting his prayers are protecting Florida from hurricanes. God must be kept very, very busy trying to sort through all of the requests people send his way, and deciding who to smite. Pat Robertson suggested bad things like hurricanes were happening to Florida because homosexuals were cavorting around there. Now the state's Governor suggests all it takes is some prayers tucked into the Wailing Wall and poof! Protected as if by a giant condom. I always wonder when I see football teams or individual players kneeling, asking for a win. Does God choose the victor based on whether one of the players visited Jerusalem? And what about when the Christians in the Axis nations prayed against the Christians among the Allies in WWII? Tough decisions. Seems like it would take a Divine Power to decide.

Wine Whine, Part..(oh, whatever!)

Now it's Business Week....as in a magazine business people read all the time. Business people like the ones who might want to open new factories. Factories like....

Anyway, here's their version of the "Rubes in Alabama ban wine label" story. Great work ABC Board!

[Note: there is a typo of sorts in the story...he refers to taking the bottles off the Georgia store shelves. But you know how it is...Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee...they're all the same to the folks who publish Business Week...places to go to avoid union labor costs. And to mock at the least provocation.]

Did I say thanks to the ABC Board?

Fish in the barrel

Anyone who has worked as an editorial writer in Alabama knows the secret. Get 'em on a bar stool (if they drink) or in a weak moment (if they don't) and they'll spill the beans. They'll admit that being an editorial writer in Alabama is about the easiest job you could hope for. There is never a shortage of great material. Some of their peers in other less Wild-South states might have to write glowing words of praise about the Red Cross or The Boy Scouts on a slow day, but that simply never happens in Alabama. There is always some fool waking up each day, ready and able to provide the state's editorialists with what they need: idiocy. (And yes, I've been on both sides of that journalistic equation.)

In his Birmingham News column today John Archibald talks about how easy it was to write today's offering about the Birmingham School Board candidate who made up his education achievement, claiming a high school education he didn't have...and about the Montgomery Investment Banker who also made stuff up, less clumsily perhaps, but just as surely made up. Two sides of the same tarnished coin.

If only I were a better speller. If only newspapers were hiring. A career would await.

[UPDATE: The perfect ending to the story...via The Birmingham News.]

Thank You.

So many folks have left notes or emailed or called with best wishes for the new job(s) that I am sure I've neglected to say thank you to someone...so please accept this global, blanket thanks if I somehow missed you!

I've done early morning shifts before..on radio...but it has been a while. So this past week I've been relearning how to set the auto-on feature of the coffeemaker, remembering how to set the alarm clock, and going to sleep earlier and getting up earlier each day by way of resetting my body's sleep cycle. I'm trying to avoid O'Dark-O'clock hitting me between the eyes without warning on Monday Morning. (-:

Bird Murdering Product

How many times have you been sitting in your home and heard that telltale TWACK! sound of something colliding with one of your windows. If there's nobody playing badminton in the area, and the window didn't actually break, chances are it was a bird.

Read this article I found in a Pennsylvania paper and you may never hear that sound quite the same way again....then again, there was a lot of twacking going on in the Hitchcock's film too. (-:

[And Thanks to Jim W. for pointing me in the direction of the article!]

TMMM, Part Two - me.

Some developments in my new multi-faceted career path:

• Starting Monday, I'll be anchoring the weekday morning news on Montgomery's CBS-TV affiliate, WAKA Channel 8. CBS 8 This Morning airs 6:00 -7:00 AM and features meteorologist Kait Parker and the usual crew of a thousand off-camera folks who somehow manage to herd cats and make it all work each day. I'll also anchor local updates during the CBS Early show from 7:00 till 9:00am.

• In addition, I'm doing some reporting for the Public Radio Station in Birmingham, WBHM 90.3 FM. My first report aired twice this morning (Wednesday) during Morning Edition and will air again about 4:45 this afternoon. It's the story of that coal ash spill at a TVA power plant in Tennessee, and the landfill in Perry County Alabama where the tons of ash is all headed. You can listen to it online here.
• And, coming in September to this blog, a four-part special series about the exploits of Alabamian Raphael Semmes and The CSS Alabama during the Civil War, especially his goal to attack Manhattan. The 200th Anniversary of Semmes birth is next month. The series will run each Sunday during September, starting on the 6th and concluding on the birth-anniversary day, September 27.

Thanks to the nice folks at WBHM Radio and WAKA Television for taking me into their folds and giving me a place to call "home"!

A Special TUESDAY MMM - Stantis Goes Tribune

Birmingham News editorial cartoonist Scott Stantis has accepted a similar position with The Chicago Tribune. He's been The News political cartoonist since 1996, and is the creator of the Prickly City strip that runs in more than a hundred papers. It won't be the first time Stantis' work has been in the Tribune. He is one of fifteen or so editorial cartoonists whose work is regularily featured on the Tribune opinion's page. At the same time, The paper once dropped Prickly City over a disputed quote by Ted Kennedy. Scott sad the syndicate that distributed the strip added quote marks without his approval. No hard feelings, apparently! The Tribune has been around since 1847. I don't know the current readership, but in April of 2008 it boasted 5.5 Million adult readers. Even with the recent upheaval in the business, I think it is safe to say the paper has about as many readers as Alabama's entire population. Scott is getting quite a promotion! (I think that's his new office atop the 1922 Tribune building on the left.) Scott was an occasional guest on For The Record, and I always enjoyed his commentary...though we disagreed often enough. I'm sure Scott's conservative political leanings will earn him a parade along Lake Shore Drive, considering the fact that Chicago hasn't elected a Republican Mayor since 1931. Go Scott! [UPDATE: Here's the Tribune's story.] [The Monday (usually) Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]

Gallup sez Ala most conservative state

No surprise to most folks in Alabama, but we're ahead of the pack on the conservative/liberal scale, says a Gallup poll...but even there it was less than half...49%! In second place was Mississippi with 48%. And the most liberal place in America, according to its residents? Washington D.C.

Wine Whine, The European Division

Yes, the publicity just keeps on rolling. Now it's The Independent, a big daily in England, that's spreading the news about the rubes in Alabama who banned a neked woman from a wine bottle label. Bet that will be helpful on the next business recruiting trip to Europe. The Independent is a left-leaning paper that lists a story about the ten best sex toys on it's most-read articles list. FYI Mate: we ban them too.

About that Bob Riley editorial....

An editorial in The Washington Times got a lot of attention last week because it suggested Bob Riley as a GOP Presidential candidate. I got curious about why an editorial writer in D.C. would even know who Bob Riley was, and did some research. I found a 1992 graduate of Vestavia Hills High School with the same relatively uncommon name as the writer of the editorial...Christian Bourge...so I emailed him at the paper and received this reply today: Yes, I graduated from Vestavia Hills High School He didn't offer any additional info (and of course, I had only asked one question). I haven't found any other biographical information online. Still, it answers that little nagging question of mine!

Ssssssslowly Ssssssneaking Northward..

My continuing coverage of the Florida great python scare of 2009 continues by pointing you to an article in The Tuscaloosa News by Associate Editor Tommy Ssssssstevenson. The reptiles are headed in our direction, the question is whether they can weather our "cold snaps". I'll remember to be thankful when it goes below freezing in January! Brrrrrrr.

Public Option RIP?

"You can't really do health care reform without it"...that's what Charles Dean told The CBS Early Show today. His comment comes after widespread reports that the Obama Administration is considering dropping the public option from its health care reform plan.

Let's see: the minority party ferments complaints about "death panels" (which is actually end-of-life counseling, and was in fact sponsored by a Republican Senator, but never mind) and the majority party wusses salute and drop it from the plan.

Now after constant attacks on the "public option" (It will be an unfair competition for the Insurance Companies! It's Socialism!), it too may be dropped.

Let me just guess what happens next. The GOP pulls the rug out from under Barack Obama at the last minute and says "Sorry, but even with those changes, it's too much too soon...we'll revisit it another time."

[UPDATE: From Paul Krugman in the Times, this quote: "The Public Option has become not so much a symbol as a signal, a test of whether Obama is the progressive activists thought they were backing."]

[UPDATE: 8/18/09 80 Liberals in Congress insist Public Option must be included.]

On Don

I seem to have annoyed at least one other blogger in my previous post about the Rove testimony regarding former Governor Siegelman. Roger Shuler at The Legal Schnauzer is nice enough to say I must have been having an "off day" when I posted that Rove denied involvement with the Siegelman prosecution, and I will give him the point that Rove only partly denied it...other times he said he "didn't recall" or "not to my knowledge". But for Mr. Shuler, those answers are suddenly fraught with meaning, evidence that Rove is tap dancing around perjury. A few points. As I asked before, and have not so far seen an answer: why were so many of Mr. Siegelman's supporters insisting that Rove be required to testify under oath (as Ms. Simpson had) if they knew (and surely they did know) he would "dance around perjury" with his answers? What were they expecting? Second: look at the broad nature of the questions to which Mr. Rove is issuing those non-answers:

Q. Again, in the period of time between Governor Siegelman's election and the end of 2002, did you or anyone working for you ever have any communication with anyone about a possible criminal investigation, prosecution, or illegal acts by Governor Siegelman?"

Well what kind of an answer would you expect from such a wide ranging question? You or anyone working for you...ever....any communication with anyone.... Let's see...Roger Shuler is called before the committee to testify:

Q. Mr. Shuler, during the three year period ending in March of 2009, did you, or anyone you are in regular communication with, ever have any kind of communication whatsoever with anyone associated with the blog timlennox.com? A. uh, not to my knowledge?

Look, Rove may very well be a snake. Former Governor Siegelman may very well have been the victim of selective political prosecution. But if you have blinders on, it's easy to see only what you want to see. And by the way, just because I linked only to The Birmingham News story about the Rove testimony in my original posting, that doesn't mean that was the only story or document I read.

MMMM #54 - A Roundup

I'll have a special M (er, T)MMM tomorrow with two Alabama media developments that I think you'll find interesting, so today let me just point you towards a few noteworthy articles I read over the weekend:

• In the Chicago Tribune, Mary McNamara wrote a piece about the old "Big Screen/Little Screen" critique of The Movies vs Television.
• President Obama took a shoot the messenger stance on the raucous behavior at the town hall meetings. Like reporters were supposed to ignore the shouting and Hitler signs?
• Anyone who has tried to get the attention of the media focused on the murder or assault of a family member will appreciate the effort underway in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. There may be a serial murderer at work there, with at least five women killed, but how to keep pressure on the media to report it? And does the fact the victims were all black prostitutes make a difference?

• And, in today's N.Y. Times, the Financial Times, like Alabama's Anniston Star, has been one of the few newspapers to charge readers for content throughout the "information wants to be free" movement. Nowadays a lot of other newspaper folks are also taking a second look at charging as a way to save the medium.

[NOTE: that picture on the right shows a Linotype machine on display in the lobby of the Press-Register building in Mobile.]

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]

Vick gets the (softened?) 60-Minutes treatment.

Two major questions remain unanswered after tonight's interview with Michael Vick on the CBS 60-Minutes program. The first is: "Did you (Vick) know what you were doing was illegal?" They touched on it:

JAMES BROWN: You shared with me the story about, even the police riding through the neighborhood and seeing what was happening. Explain that situation.

MICHAEL VICK: When they got out the car and seen that, you know, it was two dogs fighting, they got back in the car and they roll -- they left. So that right there kind of made me feel like, “Okay, you know, this ain’t -- it -- it is not as bad as it may seem.” We didn’t think it was bad at the time. And, you know, that kind of put a stamp on it.

But the second question, the one that really needs to be answered, isn't for Vick. It's for CBS: did the network roll over for Vick's handlers and agree for the interview to be conducted by James Brown, an NFL Today anchor who as far as I can tell has never been on 60-Minutes before. And if they did, should they not have disclosed that fact?And what does the rest of the 60-Minutes staff think of it? New York Daily News columnist Bob Raissman discusses that aspect of the story in a column today, yet he seems to indicate it is a given that Vick insisted on Brown as the interviewer.

T.S. Claudette

I have to admit there is something fundamentally wrong if you are depending on this blog for severe weather information. (-: Nonetheless, there's a tropical storm in the gulf, and a lot of Alabama will be feeling the effects. For your local forecast, go here if you are in the Montgomery/Selma Market, otherwise here.

Remember, I'm not a meteorologist, but I did play one on TV (albeit briefly, in Birmingham on what's now WIAT.)

Water Water Everywhere...

In a story in The NY Times, Atlanta officials credit better "Spin Doctors" in Alabama and Florida for a recent court victory for the two states in the ongoing water wars. Georgia and the city of Atlanta are mounting a major appeal to that decision...and Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue has appointed the President of Georgia Power (who, in fact worked for AlaPowCo for a decade or so) to help it in the battle. Since both Georgia Power and Alabama Power are owned by The Southern Company, the appointment has resulted in complaints from Governor Riley about the company taking sides.

PACT openness

The Cherokee County Herald includes a story this morning with a call on the Governor to release the report RSA did on the PACT program. Sounds logical to me...why would it not be released? [UPDATE 8/18/09: Ask, and you shall receive...story in The Montgomery Advertiser.]

Can you imagine what it would be like to have a photo of yourself as a child with The President? How cute is that?

The nature of a "mistake".

During his news conference today, dog-abusing millionaire Micheal Vick admitted to making "mistakes". Huh? A mistake is when you do something unintentionally, like I left the gun loaded on the table. I intended to unload it, but I made a mistake. How do you run a dog-fighting gambling operation and call it a mistake? Unless you somehow thought it was legal and OK? On the other hand, he's done his time. Let's give him a chance to show he has learned his lesson and move on. No? Arf!

Occupation Tax Proofing Their Districts

Lawmakers in at least two areas of the state are sponsoring legislation to save their county areas from any occupation tax, like the one that has won approval today and will save Jefferson County from going down the (sewer) drain. Yesterday it was bills by members from the Montgomery area. Today the story is about Rep. Zeb Little "protecting" Madison County voters. But its a sham, just self-serving sabre rattling by legislators to use in re-election ads. The legislature could undo the prohibition just as quickly as they put it in place. All the bills do is put up a paper anti-tax wall that can be turned into a campaign ad. Even if they were able to convince the entire house to approve a constitutional amendment (yet another one!) prohibiting occupational taxes, it would have to be approved by voters statewide, and it too could later be undone.

We get it, Mr. and Ms. legislator, you hate taxes. I don't know anyone who's in love with 'em. But how else do you propose governments pay for their services? And just what do you propose to do to prevent bankruptcy in Jefferson County without a new revenue source?

[UPDATE: Democrat Ken Guin intended to vote against the tax, but he was home sick, and a neighbor-legislator on the House floor accidentally voted on his machine for the tax. And why did Guin vote at all, since he is not a Jefco legislator? Same excuse, reports the Montgomery Advertiser..."a lot" of his constituents" work in Jefferson County. So if there's a proposal for a sale tax increase in Jefco, he could vote on it too? Or a crime initiative? Slippery slope.]

[ADDENDUM: another blog --Flashpoint-- wonders about who killed one of those bills, HB5, which would have blocked occupational taxes in Madison County.]

Get in line...

According to that same Birmingham News this morning, the Bessemer City Council has voted to withdraw its money from Colonial Bank: "We still have faith in Colonial...but..."

Yea, that's a big "but". When the Feds seize a bank, it usually happens on a Friday at 5pm. And with the developments at Bobby Lowder's place this past week, you can understand the Council's nervousness. Even with FDIC insurance! At the banks they've closed [none in Alabama so far, but 27 during July and August 2009...almost 75 this year so far]...the offices have been open the next day to allow customers to do anything they want with their deposits. Still, I wonder if Auburn University still has money with Colonial? Is Lowder's power so diminished that a University official would dare go to the local branch and make a rather large withdrawal? And where does it go then, under student mattresses?

[NOTE: Here's the offficial list of failed banks.]

[UPDATE: Bloomberg via The Birmingham News: Colonial to be shut down and taken over today.]

Will he call them?

Press problems at The Birmingham News this morning. Home delivery will be delayed several hours. I wonder if he will call to complain?

Homeland Rule

If the special session proved anything, it's the need for more home rule. Why a few hundred grand had to be spent for the entire legislature to gather just so the Jefferson County delegation could act on a strictly local act is beyond me. And why several legislators who do not represent Jefferson County felt the need to vote on the issue is also beyond me. One explained that some of his constituents here in Montgomery drive to work in Jefferson County, therefore he was justified in voting (against) the occupation tax. Please Rep. Grimes. Give us a break. You have entire regular sessions to screw with other people's legislation, couldn't you leave it alone just this once? Same for the West Alabama Democrats who voted in favor. At least one Republican House Member told a reporter he did not vote, and never does, when a local issue is involved. Gee, does that mean if Jefferson County wants to operate casinos it would be OK? Home Rule, friends. Home Rule, instead of the centralized Big Government control we have now.

The Guv For Prez?

The Washington Times profiles Alabama's Bob Riley today, pointing out his lame duck status and dangles a possible presidential bid, suggesting the GOP establishment consider him for 2012. Riley gives the usual "no interest..but never rule anything out" answer, and says he's planning a motorcycle trip across Canada to Alaska. Alaska? Maybe he's planning on running for Post-Palin Governor there?

The Siegelman-Rove (Non) Connection

As much as Alabama supporters of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman wanted evidence that Karl Rove's hands were involved in Siegelman's prosecution, no such words were found in his deposition or in emails and other documents collected by a U.S. Senate Committee investigating Bush-era malfeasance. The N.Y. Times and others are reporting a connection between Rove and fired U.S. Attorneys during the Bush Administration, and that's certainly explosive enough, but as for the smoking Siegleman gun? Nada. Rove was asked about Siegelman at length, but nothing he said adds to the existing evidence of political motivation by prosecutors or the Bush Administration. Siegelman's lawyers, looking for a silver lining, say the fact that Rove has been connected in some way to the U.S. Attorney firings taints him, therefore they can remain suspicious...but they have to be disappointed. Remember all those cries that if only they could get Rove under oath...that only one person had made a sworn statement, lawyer Jill Simpson. But now Rove has testified and denied it all. If he lied he could face serious federal charges. But nothing he said really adds to what the former Governor's supporters wanted.

Other investigations into allegations that Mr. Siegelman was a victim of selective, political prosecution continue.

[UPDATE: Another blogger (Arf!), shall we say, disagrees with my conclusions? Read it here. Still, my point is that the folks who pushed for Rove to testify...what did they expect? Denial or not, didn't they know he could just say "I don't recall" or "not to my knowledge"? What kind of "groundwork" was laid by the Rove non-answers?]

Another One Bites The Dust...

According to a story in The Birmingham News, another music festival is gone from the state's largest city. The Heritage Music Festival, scheduled for this weekend, has been cancelled. Money, not unexpectedly, is the culprit, just it was with the recently cancelled City Stages. In Montgomery, Jubilee CityFest has lost most if not all of its city funding and may not be back next Spring. When you are having trouble paying for basic services like police and fire and road maintenance, its time to jettison the parties. No word on whether the 18,000 plus people who bought tickets to The Heritage Festival will get refunds. [UPDATE: Mary Colurso at The Birmingham News reports refunds are available...]

Weeds, Etc.

During their Save Jefferson County special session, legislators may shorten the time it takes City of Montgomery officials to force landowners to cut weeds around their properties. The Montgomery Advertiser has the story this morning. Great idea. Now how about doing something about the people who own properties like the one above, visible on a main street in and out of the city? Clearing the weeds is one thing. How long can the city allowed buildings like this sit and fall apart?

Expanded Highway Law

I missed the legislature approving this in the regular session, but according to the Department of Public Safety, that "move over" law has now been expanded to include another class of vehicle. From the DPS News Release:

The newly enhanced law adds wreckers to emergency response vehicles for which motorists must move over one lane. When moving over is unsafe or not possible, such as on two-lane roadways, the law requires motorists to slow at least 15 mph below the posted speed limit. Motorists must slow down to 10 mph when the posted limit is 20 mph or less.

I'm all for making the highways safer, but one question: why not just say any vehicle on the side of the road and protect everyone (like the poor driver who has a flat or mechanical trouble)?

On The Road to T-Town

The members of The Exchange Club of Tuscaloosa have kindly invited me to speak during their September 3rd meeting, and I am looking forward to the opportunity. If you are a member, or you know a member and can wrangle an invite as a guest, or you want to become a member, please do attend!