Alabama
updated
11:10 a.m.
A number of national journalists, especially Scott Horton of Harper's , have presented ample evidence that U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller was hardly an impartial arbiter in his handling of the Don Siegelman case. New evidence, out today, should erase any doubts that Fuller acted corruptly in the trial that saw the former Alabama governor convicted along with former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrus...
Legal Schnauzer - 11:10 a.m.
Folks on the right side of the political spectrum have tended to portray the Bush Justice Department scandal as a partisan matter. A recent example comes from Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), ranking minority member on the House Judiciary Committee. He offers up written questions to former White House strategist Karl Rove regarding the Don Siegelman prosecution in Alabama. Smith is a former client of Rov...
Legal Schnauzer - 9:39 a.m.
I am becoming increasingly annoyed by both major political figures/candidates and the media regarding the US’s oil policy. Week after week and from political stumping to national media reports, I keep hearing about who, what, and how of the future of our oil policy. To drill or not to drill, the evil doers that provide petroleum products to fuel out oil addiction and so forth. And frankly I...
Left in Alabama - 9:39 a.m.
Taken from the Hoffingtonpost: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/24/mccain-campaign-run The McCain campaign has a new web ad out placing Barack Obama, for the second time, side-by-side with a foreign dictator. This time, it's Fidel Castro. A Democrat in south Florida alerted the Huffington Post to the image, which shows Obama and Castro, profiled side-b...
Left in Alabama - 8:04 a.m.
If Al Gore had taken the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2001, Sheryll Cashin might be sitting on the Supreme Court right now. The 2000 election is water under the bridge, but Sheryll Cashin is still doing good by doing well and will be in Huntsville on August 9th to talk about (and autograph?) her new book The Agitator's Daughter . The book is Cashin's memoir to her "emotio...
Left in Alabama - Wed 9:33 p.m. - 5 clicks 
Somehow I doubt it. Let me say right up front that I appreciate how hard it is to recruit fire fighters, law enforcement and other first responders in rural Alabama. This is a symptom of the economic difficulty rural areas are experiencing in recent years because there aren't enough jobs to allow young people to stay where they grew up. But this is just wacky . Jim Wa...
Left in Alabama - Wed 8:31 p.m. - 5 clicks
Cass Sunstein obviously is a bright guy. He used to be at the University of Chicago Law School, and earlier this year, he joined the faculty at Harvard Law School. Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama thinks enough of Sunstein to make him an informal legal advisor. So how could Sunstein utter the dumbfoundingly stupid comment he made to Ari Melber at last week's Netroots Nation event in...
Legal Schnauzer - Wed 3:38 p.m.
Nathaniel Bach has a good interview with AL-03 candidate Josh Segall over at Huffington Post . Here's an excerpt: Tell me a bit about what you've seen and learned from touring your district since the campaign began. What's surprised you? Well, really our problems in this district are basic infrastructure problems. We don't have a hospital in Macon County. You're...
Left in Alabama - Wed 2:34 p.m.
This is from Votevets , to go along with their powerful new ad: Senator McCain once said that if the Iraqis asked us to leave, we would have to leave. Those of us who served agree with that. Senator McCain now either has to back off his refusal to set a plan to leave Iraq, as Prime Minister Maliki requested a number of times in the past week, or tell the American and Iraqi people w...
Left in Alabama - Wed 2:04 p.m.
As we've seen, getting Karl Rove to swear to tell the truth is like nailing jello to a wall. TPM has obtained copies of new correspondence between Rove and the House Judiciary Committee . It's nothing substantive or new, as far as I can see, just an attempt by Rove to get his spin out there and make progress in the public relations arena. Ranking member of the HJC Lamar Smi...
Left in Alabama - Wed 12:30 p.m.
So I read that the decider has decided not to veto the Housing Bill after all. He had objected to the inclusion of funds to help out in neighborhoods especially hard-hit by foreclosures I guess what has set me off, (it takes so little these days), is this statement from his airhead du jour: (below the fold) White House press secretary Dana Perino announced Bush's swit...
Left in Alabama - Wed 10:03 a.m.
Yesterday went very well for my mother (YAY!), but it was a comedy of errors for me. Here’s the plan. Not that anything ever goes according to plan. My mother was to have her surgery at a hospital about 25 miles northwest of her hometown, which put it (sort of) on the way for [...]...
Birmingham Blues - Wed 8:42 a.m.
In fact, they're almost ( but not quite ) as involved as it's possible to be in Alabama with three of the four contested House races already on the DCCC radar for the November election. As Danny pointed out, the DCCC just reserved a big chunk of media time in Alabama races -- $598K in AL-02 and $678 in AL-05. This doesn't necessarily mean they will spend that ...
Left in Alabama - Wed 12:05 a.m. - 13 clicks
Did you catch this? King Abdullah drove Barack Obama to the airport, to catch his flight to Tel Aviv. The King drove, Obama rode shotgun. How cool is this? The King - in the driver's seat - raced onto the tarmac and came to an abrupt halt, stopping on a dinar, just a few feet away from one of Senator Obama's pre-positioned secret service agents. Doesn't say...
Left in Alabama - Tue 7:11 p.m.
We have UAB's two spinmeisters making public statements that my termination had nothing to do with blogging or politics. Do Dale Turnbough and Gary Mans know what they are talking about? Well, let's just say we have some evidence that begs to differ with the UAB spin machine. This evidence comes from Anita Bonasera, director of employee relations at UAB. Bonasera conducted the May 7 meeting a...
Legal Schnauzer - Tue 5:30 p.m.
Yesterday the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against Alabama election officials on behalf of citizens who have lost voting rights due to an overly broad definition of which crimes involve "moral turpitude." Secretary of State Beth Chapman is named in the suit, along with Registrars in Jefferson and Monroe counties. Attorney General Troy King is not named, but a 2005 opini...
Left in Alabama - Tue 1:03 p.m. - 10 clicks
Leadership means people follow you. Now, on to the roundup. Feel free to add your links and thoughts in the comments. Corey Ealons joins the Obama campaign as communications director for African American media. Ealons was Rep.Artur Davis' deputy chief of staff and communications director. Spencer Bachus: Still a complete moron who talks out of ...
Left in Alabama - Tue 10:36 a.m. - 10 clicks
I’m off to GA shortly to hang out with my mother for a couple of days. She broke her arm last week and has to get a pin inserted so the bones will heal properly. My nursing skills are a bit sketchy, so you might want to send some good thoughts her way. [...]...
Birmingham Blues - Tue 8:30 a.m.
Now that the latest congressional campaign finance quarterly reports are out, everyone’s taking a good look at the races, to see which races have become competitive, which races have become boring, and which races have not changed. The would-be wise men and women will try to discern “trends,” which is another way of saying they are staring at the tea leaves as if they w...
Left in Alabama - Tue 7:03 a.m.
Things I learned at the Energize America panel at Netroots Nation 08 See the yellow school bus! Ever ride one? I have, and I'll bet you have, too. But you probably never rode one like this. If you look next to the open door, you'll see a large cable running up the side of the bus. This school bus is a plug-in electric hybrid vehicle (PEHV). ...
Left in Alabama - Mon 8:35 p.m. - 2 clicks
The husband’s co-worker sent her kids to a local Methodist VBS last week. The girls played two games that this co-worker found slightly “theologically suspect.” The first was a version of Simon Says called “God Says.” (The co-worker said she was pretty sure God never told anybody to cluck like a chicken.) The second, and much [...]...
Birmingham Blues - Mon 3:09 p.m.
Enough concerned citizens apparently have contacted UAB about my termination that President Carol Garrison ordered her PR machine into the fray. Garrison might have been better served by leaving her clunky PR apparatus parked in the garage. How did Garrison decide to deal with the heat she was receiving? Why, by making false and defamatory statements about the very employee her institution had w...
Legal Schnauzer - Mon 1:02 p.m.
The Josh Segall campaign just launched a fact checking website, www.washingtonchangedmike.com . It couldn't happen to a more fact challenged Congressman than Mike Rogers. Remember how he was hawking the "Chinese drilling off our coast" hoax several days after it had been widely debunked? Weeks later, he still hasn't corrected the record on that issue. “...
Left in Alabama - Mon 11:31 a.m. - 15 clicks
Since a troublesome neighbor has caused me untold grief, I can't resist reading stories about other people and their neighbor troubles. Psychologists might say that's not the healthiest approach to take. But I must confess to feeling the slightest tingle of delight when I read about someone else having to deal with a jackass next door. If someone has been mugged, are they interested in stories a...
Legal Schnauzer - Mon 9:35 a.m. - 14 clicks
We liveblogged AirAmerica's Sam Seder interviewing former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman last Friday and now video of the full interview is available. The interview starts at about 9:30 into this video. Hat tip to Lindy for the link. Siegelman makes a strong argument that the House Judiciary Committee should call witnesses who have no pretense to executive privilege, su...
Left in Alabama - Mon 9:35 a.m. - 13 clicks
You're not average. You already knew that, right? At one of the DNC Netroots training sessions last week I learned that the average voter spends less than 5 minutes per day thinking about the upcoming election. And that isn't even 5 consecutive minutes either. How do candidates make an impression on those voters? A consistent, clear message is the key...
Left in Alabama - Mon 8:38 a.m. - 13 clicks
Jenny Dorgan of the Alabama Environmental Council wrote a great op-ed for the Birmingham News advocating a real push by the powers that be to get Alabama in on the ground floor of the inevitable green technology boom . Alabama has a chance to lead the way, or we will be following and trying to catch up with other states. We hope Alabama industries invest in research and development of...
Left in Alabama - Sun 10:34 p.m. - 14 clicks
The fine folks at Democratic Underground have an intriguing thread going, and I wanted to share it with Legal Schnauzer readers. The DU folks are combing through the numerous threatening anonymous comments I've received in the weeks and months leading up to my termination at UAB. They are searching for clues that might shine light on who sent these comments--and who contributed to getting m...
Legal Schnauzer - Sun 2:35 p.m.
One of the side benefits of Raw Story's piece about my termination at UAB is that it has given me an opportunity to introduce you to the original Legal Schnauzer. That of course would be Murphy, our miniature schnauzer (1993-2004) who helped my wife and me survive the worst of our legal nightmare and serves as the inspiration for this blog. I was telling someone the other day that w...
Legal Schnauzer - Sun 1:06 p.m.
Just got a link to this on-line. I tried to past the code but was having trouble. [I added it for you. -- mooncat.] Check out this video discussing Rogers hosting a fundraiser in Mobile on Memorial Day rather than honor the troops. ...
Left in Alabama - Sun 9:06 a.m. - 20 clicks
Former Sen. Phil Gramm resigned from his position as co-chair of the McCain campaign today, a week after he called the US a “nation of whiners” and declared the current economic troubles a “mental recession”. He blamed Democrats, of course. “It is clear to me that Democrats want to attack me rather than debate Senator [...]...
Birmingham Blues - Fri 7:01 p.m. - 2 clicks
I checked Breaking News at al.com this afternoon and saw the shocking and incredibly newsworthy report that Starbucks will be closing the store just down the street from us, as well as several others in the Birmingham area. 15YOD will be sad, but the people who own the local coffee and sandwich place across [...]...
Birmingham Blues - Fri 5:05 p.m. - 23 clicks
Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman today called on Republican presidential nominee John McCain to call for former White House strategist to testify before Congress. Sam Stein, of Huffington Post, reports on Siegelman's comments at Netroots Nation in Austin, Texas. "Sen. McCain should distance himself from Karl Rove," said Siegelman. "And I think it is important and a smart political mov...
Legal Schnauzer - Fri 12:04 p.m. - 25 clicks
Those of us in Alabama are intimately aware of our 2002 gubernatorial election, when votes mysteriously shifted in the middle of the night, giving Bob Riley a razor thin "victory" over incumbent Democrat Don Siegelman. Thanks to Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane at Raw Story, we now know about electoral hanky-panky right next door, in Georgia. Raw Story reports that a leading cyber-securit...
Legal Schnauzer - Fri 10:37 a.m. - 24 clicks
Dick Cheney is coming back to town on August 1 to raise money for Jeff Sessions and other Republican congressional candidates. I note he’s going to a slightly snazzier venue this time (Shoal Creek rather than The Club), but he’s cut the asking price in half. Last time those luncheon tickets were $1,000 [...]...
Birmingham Blues - Fri 10:36 a.m. - 22 clicks
The negative attention just keeps on coming for Alice Martin, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. Couldn't happen to a more deserving gal. The latest comes from reporter Kate Klonick at TPM Muckraker, outlining the scrutiny Martin is receiving for her mishandling of the Alex Latifi/Axion case in Huntsville. Klonick reports: The new OPR investigation stems from a case invol...
Legal Schnauzer - Fri 9:33 a.m. - 21 clicks
I just filled out a survey from kiva, a charity I admire and support, and that got me thinking about something I’ve been half-intending to post about, so here goes. A while back, a friend of mine said a group she belongs to was going to collect pull-tabs from soft drink cans for the Ronald [...]...
Birmingham Blues - Fri 9:33 a.m.
In less than an hour, former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman will be featured at the Netroots Nation event in Austin, Texas. "A Conversation With Former Governor Don Siegelman of Alabama" will begin at 10:30 a.m. and run until 11:45 a.m. Sam Seder, radio show host on Air America, will moderate the conversation, and it will be streamed live at Air America. You can catch the presentation here . ...
Legal Schnauzer - Fri 8:39 a.m. - 23 clicks
If you’re a Joss Whedon fan in need of a musical fix, or even if you’re not, go watch Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, starring Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day, and Nathan Fillion. Acts I and II here, Act III coming on Saturday. ...
Birmingham Blues - Thu 10:32 p.m. - 3 clicks
The Environmental Protection Agency published a study today warning Southern states to expect serious consequences from the ongoing effects of global warming. Gulf Coast states are most at risk. …The Gulf Coast states, in particular, will be hit with more flooding and other problems from more frequent and intense storms and forest fires, according to [...]...
Birmingham Blues - Thu 10:32 p.m. - 3 clicks
Yahoo News headline reporting on Obama’s June fundraising numbers:”Obama raises $52M in June, setting torrid new pace”. Okay, I know we’re not supposed to blame the reporter for the headline, but it’s in the article too. WASHINGTON - Though he’s raking in the cash so far, Barack Obama’s decision to forgo public funds for the fall campaign [...]...
Birmingham Blues - Thu 10:32 p.m.
Given the contents of the e-mail I sent UAB HR director Cheryl Locke on July 3 (see the end of previous post), you might think she would be expecting me to voice concerns about her proposal for my return to UAB. But Locke was shocked, and I think more than a little peeved, that I found serious flaws with her plans for my future at UAB. The flaws in Locke's proposal would be apparent to most anyon...
Legal Schnauzer - Thu 5:38 p.m. - 3 clicks
I expected the outcome of my grievance hearing to be straightforward. Based on what Employee Relations representative Bobby Barnes said after the hearing, and based on what I read about the PRP procedure in the You & UAB Handbook , I thought the committee would either recommend that the termination be upheld or overturned. And I thought HR director Cheryl Locke would either accept or rejec...
Legal Schnauzer - Jul 17
A number of folks have asked about the outcome of the July 11 meeting Lindsey Beyerstein referenced near the end of her Raw Story article about my termination at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The meeting was with Cheryl Locke, director of human resources at UAB, and it also included Anita Bonasera and Bobby Barnes, from UAB Employee Relations. I want to update readers on where ...
Legal Schnauzer - Jul 16 - 19 clicks
I just discovered that my interview yesterday with Peter B. Collins is now available on the Web. Peter's show is based at KKGN, Green 960 in San Francisco, and you can find his podcasts on the station's Web site . Scroll down to the third segment for Tuesday (7/15), which is Hour 1. Click on "listen," and my segment begins about halfway through that podcast. I get the impression that Peter B. d...
Legal Schnauzer - Jul 16
You might have to go to Oregon or California to find its physical location, but progressive radio does speak loud and clear. And thanks to the wonders of the Web, even those of us who live in Karl Rove's Alabama can listen to insightful folks like Thom Hartmann and Peter B. Collins. I was honored to be on both shows yesterday, and it was refreshing to drink deeply from the progressive cup. After...
Legal Schnauzer - Jul 16 - 17 clicks
Mrs. Schnauzer isn't sure she likes being married to a radio star. Thanks to the power of Raw Story's article about my termination at UAB, I appeared on both the Thom Hartmann and Peter B. Collins shows yesterday. It's possible this "radio star" gig is going to my head. "Don't you think you need to take out the trash?" Mrs. Schnauzer said, after I had hung up last evening with my new friend Pe...
Legal Schnauzer - Jul 16 - 2 clicks
I've finally discovered a benefit to being wrongfully fired. It can turn you into a media "star." Well, not really a star. But by golly, when Raw Story writes about you, people pay attention. I was honored to appear today on the Thom Hartmann Show. And I'm due to be on the Peter B. Collins Show this evening. As I write this, that interview should be at 5:30, Central time. Peter B. is based on ...
Legal Schnauzer - Jul 15
I just received word from Shawn Taylor, producer for the Thom Hartmann program, that I will be on at 1:15 p.m., Central time, today. Was originally set for 11 a.m. I will be part of the third hour, focusing on "Gestapo Government," a subject I am well acquainted with. I will be following an interview with author Naomi Klein ("Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism")...
Legal Schnauzer - Jul 15
In the world of higher education, there is no more important publication than the Chronicle of Higher Education. It is to academia what Editor & Publisher is to journalism--except that, having worked in both industries, I would say the Chronicle is more revered than E&P . And that's saying something. The news of my termination at UAB has made it to the premier publication in the...
Legal Schnauzer - Jul 14
I will be on Thom Hartmann's nationally syndicated radio show at 11 a.m. on Tuesday (July 15) to discuss my recent termination at UAB. You can watch the show live by going to the Thom Hartmann Web site and clicking on the ThomVision icon near the top of the page. Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman has been a guest on Hartmann's show several times in recent weeks. Hartmann is a New York ...
Legal Schnauzer - Jul 14 - 17 clicks
Perhaps you have read Raw Story's article about my recent termination from my job as an editor in the Publications Office at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Lindsay Beyerstein, Larisa Alexandrovna, and the whole Raw Story crew did a world-class job on the story, and I'm continuing to see the profound impact of their work, based on a major spike in traffic to my blog. The sto...
Legal Schnauzer - Jul 14 - 19 clicks
If you ever hear anyone say something like, "I don't really think Web sites and other forms of 'new media' make much of a difference in journalism," please send them my way. I will straighten them out. Since Raw Story on Friday afternoon broke the story about my termination from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), traffic on Legal Schnauzer has more than tripled from what I would ...
Legal Schnauzer - Jul 13 - 18 clicks
In a post dated June 17 at Harper's.org , Columbia University law professor Scott Horton used the following language to describe Alice Martin, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama: "Is there any more corrupt and crooked person in public office than Alice Martin? I doubt it. Her office has been transformed under her leadership into the state's central bastion of corruption and abus...
Legal Schnauzer - Jul 13 - 21 clicks