Birmingham Blues

If you’re like me and only watching/listening to parts of the Gonzales testimony, or if you’ve missed it altogether, you can catch up at TPM Muckraker, which has ongoing coverage with summaries and video.

If I had a dollar for every time Gonzales has said “I don’t recall” or “I have no recollection of that” (regarding events that took place in November and December of 2006, fer cryin’ out loud), I’d have a buttload of money already.

His stonewalling and backpedaling are not going over well with committee members of either party.  Arlen Specter (R-PA) wondered how he could have made false statements at the January hearings and at his March 13th press conference if he had properly prepared for those events.  Lindsay Graham (R-SC) accused him of making up reasons for the firings after the fact.

I think Fredo may need to update his résumé.

Wheeler at Alablawg pointed me to Joel Montgomery’s arrest report, which, although the copious swearing has been redacted, paints a clear picture of an arrogant drunk making a fool out of himself.  Isn’t it good to know that he’s a member of the Birmingham City Council?  Right now, his re-election chances don’t look good.

Here are some tidbits recorded by the arresting officer (I think we can all fill in the bleeps):

“I haven’t been this drunk since before I *bleep* went to Iraq.”

“*Bleep* you *bleep*.  I want to go home.  *Bleep* you all *bleep*.  Do you know who I am?”

“I’m gonna sue you *bleep*.  *Bleep* you, I’m drunk.”

“*Bleep* this.  Go ahead, take me to jail.  I want to go to jail.”

“*Bleep* all you police and firemen, you owe me.  I got you your *bleeping* raise *bleep*.”

Charming.  Wheeler is confident that Montgomery can beat the public intoxication in court, at least in part because he refused medical treatment (that might have documented his blood alcohol level) — and refused to sign the refusal form.  I doubt he’ll come out so well in the court of public opinion.

It seems the only time he offered to do anything that night was when he asked the female officer to take off his handcuffs so he could give her something “good to look at”.  Now we all know that he’s even more obnoxious drunk than he is sober.

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BTW, Kyle’s source (see comments here) had it right.  Joel Montgomery was clearly trying to give Mel Gibson a run for his money.  John Archibald received a leaked copy of the police report this week.  His column is here.

ADDENDUM:  Blues reader John says, “Montgomery needs to resign.”  I agree, but I’m not going to hold my breath. Admitting you’re wrong and taking responsibility for your actions doesn’t seem to be his MO.

UPDATE:  Kyle’s coverage of the police report, with lots of, um, interesting background on Joel Montgomery, is here.

He begins by pointing out Gonzales’ lies about his own involvement in the process and references Kyle Sampson’s testimony that Gonzales attended a November 27 meeting to discuss the firings.  Gonzales says the meeting is on his calendar, but “he has no memory” of it whatsoever.  At this meeting, Kyle Sampson says he presented recommendations of whom to fire and how to handle the expected political fallout.  Sessions expresses serious concern about Gonzales’ memory.

On to David Iglesias.  Sessions says Gonzales should have talked to David Iglesias about his concerns, particularly on voter fraud cases.  I guess he’s having a hard time carrying Bush’s water here, since he’s been an AG and a US Attorney, and, as he states, voter fraud cases are particularly difficult to prosecute.

On to Harriet Miers’ desire to fire all 93 USAs.  And then to Sampson’s suggestion to use the Patriot Act (in “good faith”) to replace USAs with others who don’t need confirmation.  Gonzales says he shot that down, and that he wasn’t trying to use the provision to put Rove crony Tim Griffin in place in Arkansas.

Coimmittee Chair Leahy follows up on Gonzales’ lack of recall as to when he made the decision to fire the USAs.  Gonzales knows he decided; he just can’t remember when.

Okay, Jeff didn’t exactly batter Gonzales, but he didn’t give him a pass either.  None of the softball, here’s-the-answer-I-want-to-hear questions.  Should we be speculating that perhaps Bush has had it with his buddy Fredo?

Shorter Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX): “But, but, but…Clinton!  He’s wrapping it around the requisite tut-tutting about how all of this could have been handled better.  No, really?

I’ve been in and out, listening to the Gonzales hearings on C-Span radio in the car.  So far, it seems he had no idea why the prosecutors were fired at the time it happened, but he’s gone back through files, trying his best to find examples of “poor judgment” and “failing to have total control” over their offices.  Uh huh.  If poor judgment and failing to have total control over one’s office is grounds for firing, he should have fired himself months ago.

Or maybe he did, and he just doesn’t recall.

AG Alberto Gonzales testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee today.  Will he be able to keep his story straight?  Will Jeff Sessions throw softballs?  Will Arlen Specter finally lose patience and send him to his room without supper?

Stay tuned.  The hearing is scheduled to begin at 9:30 am EDT, and you can watch it on C-Span 3.

Danny at Doc’s Political Parlor says there’s a possibility that the Alabama Senate will remove at least some of the amendments its committee added to Rep. Jeff McLaughlin’s PAC-to-PAC transfer ban before voting to pass it.

[Danny's source in the legislature says] Yes, there is some sense that the House may not pass the version that came out of Senate Committee, and that if the bill does not pass this year, the Senate will take the blame. You have [House Speaker] Seth Hammett over there saying that “the House passes this bill every year.” Look to see some of the amendments that were added in committee taken off on the Senate floor [to get a bill that the House may pass].

This would be a big step in the right direction for ethics reform, and I don’t really care if the senators are doing it only because they fear they’ll be blamed if the bill fails.

Blues reader Susan S. is not happy about the story of Eagle, a horse found wandering in Irondale back in October, sick and emaciated.  The Emergency Animal Rescue Service (TEARS) took in Eagle and nursed him back to health, but a judge ruled that he must be returned to his original owner.  The TEARS website has “before” pictures of Eagle that would turn any decent person’s stomach.

According to the TEARS account (scroll down for updates), Eagle’s original owner, Eddie Cook, loaned him to an acquaintance a few years ago.  When the acquaintance wanted to return Eagle, Mr. Cook directed him to shoot the horse, saying he had no place to keep him.  The acquaintance instead found a third person to take Eagle, and that was the end of it till Eagle turned up on the roadside in Irondale.

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Health care reform is back in the news these days.  Employers who offer health benefits face continual increases in cost, and most employees pay at least part of their rising premiums, along with higher co-pays and out of pocket costs.  Individual policies are out of reach for most Americans, particularly if they have any pre-existing conditions.  A significant percentage of the people who file bankruptcy in this country do so because they can’t pay their medical bills, even though many of them had health insurance when they got sick or injured.  An estimated 45.8 million people in the United States have no health coverage (2005 HHS study), and 21% of those are under 18.  The emergency room has become the access point for primary care for far too many people.

I got an email this week from Dr. Wally Retan, a Birmingham internist who has practiced for 40 years and is serving as state coordinator of Health Care for Everyone.  His organization is the local chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, which has been advocating for universal health care since the 1980’s.  Health Care for Everyone advocates a single payer system:

The group wants to extend a coverage like Medicare to everyone in the country from birth to death and eliminate premiums, co-pays and other out-of-pocket costs for health care.

“It could be paid for with an employer tax of about 5.8 percent, which is much less than what employers now pay for the insurance they provide for their employees, coupled with an income tax of 2.9 percent, which is much less than most people spend on out-of-pocket expenses … for insurance that’s available today,” Retan said.

Retan’s organization also wants to cut administrative costs of health care by eliminating private insurance companies.

Leonard Nelson, a professor of health care at Samford University’s Cumberland Law School, advocates a different approach — universal access to health coverage:

What we’re talking about is a system that provides access for all Americans. And that would include people who can’t afford to pay the premiums on their own, providing some sort of system of subsidies or assistance for them.

A lot of countries already have it. We’re kind of unusual among developed countries in that we don’t have universal health care.

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“[Fill in the blank] treated me like a red-headed stepchild.”  I’ve never understood that expression — for one thing, I love red hair, for another, I have a stepchild, and she’s wonderful.  But it’s the first thing that came to mind when I read this article.  It seems Beijing’s transport management bureau has issued some self-improvement guidelines for cabbies as part of the preparation for the 2008 summer Olympics.  You can imagine: don’t smoke, don’t spit, be polite, and — huh? — no red hair for the women.

The article doesn’t specify whether the guidelines refer to really red or a nice auburn, and it doesn’t say why red hair is supposed to be so offensive.  Can anyone explain to me why this would be an issue?