Birmingham Blues

…and he says he’ll sign it without fanfare.  The bill theoretically contains eighteen benchmarks for the Iraqis, but of course Bush can waive those whenever he wants.  There are no timelines.  But not to worry, the Dems have just begun to fight.  Uh huh.  Gee thanks, guys.

In the months ahead, lawmakers will vote repeatedly on whether U.S. troops should stay and whether Bush has the authority to continue the war. The Democratic strategy is intended to ratchet up pressure on the president, as well as on moderate Republicans who have grown tired of defending Bush administration policy in a deeply unpopular war.

Okay, maybe this strategy will work.  E. J. Dionne seems to think patience is in order, and he sees a long struggle ahead to move public opinion enough to force the end of the war.  Meanwhile, our troops will continue to fight and die while the Iraqi parliament goes on vacation.  There’s something very wrong with this picture.

I ran into Rep. Greg Canfield (R-Vestavia Hills) at gymnastics a little while ago (no, we weren’t doing gymnastics; 9YOD was in class, and his daughter was coaching), and he told me the Senate had finally broken the logjam and started passing bills.  There’s even a possibility that the budget will come up for a vote on Tuesday.

Greg seemed happy with the House version; we’ll see next week if the Senate will go with it or make changes.  Given there are only a couple of legislative days left, major revisions will likely push the legislature into special session.  Oh, goody…

…which means Sen. Bradley Byrne will be the new chancellor of the state’s two-year college system ASAP.  Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

The Alabama Education Association filed a lawsuit Monday in Reese’s court claiming the school board and Gov. Bob Riley conspired in secret to hire Byrne, a violation of the state’s Open Meetings Act. AEA lawyers also alleged Byrne’s hiring on May 10 violated the board’s own personnel policies, an action that made it impossible for others to apply for the position, especially women and minority candidates.

AEA asked Reese to issue a temporary restraining order that would have prevented the board from hiring Byrne while giving AEA time to prove that the board and Riley broke the law. Reese denied the request in a one-sentence order giving no explanation for his decision.

While the restraining order was denied, AEA lawyers said they expect the lawsuit to proceed.

I’m of two minds about this.  Although I think the AEA leadership is being a mite hypocritical in their objections, they also have a point about the lack of a real search for the best candidate.  Even the Birmingham News, no fan of the AEA, agrees.  OTOH (snerk), soon-to-be-former-Sen. Byrne may just have the inside knowledge and political support to clean out the cesspool.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Or maybe “breakfast”.  Dear Husband warned me not to expect too much for my $50 this morning.  He predicted coffee and muffins, and boy was he wrong.  It was coffee and croissants.  Anyway, I pointed out to him that had it been a Republican breakfast, the same meal would have cost $250, and it would have been invitation only.

Lame joke, but it points up a major problem with the Bush administration, which Gov. Dean addressed in his speech — the President’s belief that he only represents the people who voted for him.  Or actually just a subset of those people, the ones with beaucoup bucks.

Gov. Dean gave a good speech, noting some of the successes of the party’s 50-state strategy, even in states as red as Alabama, Utah, Oklahoma, and Mississippi.  He focused on the Iraq war and the need to bring our troops home with honor — and treat them well once they’re here.  And he sharply criticized the Republicans’ borrow-and-spend policy, reminding us that the only president in the last 40 years to balance the budget was Bill Clinton (and he did it without a single Republican vote).  If we don’t have a change in policy, he sees a future in which our grandchildren will still be paying Bush’s bills.

He lauded the grass roots work that helped elect so many Democratic candidates in 2006, and he stressed the importance of listening to voters.  So, voters, that means we need to keep talking, loudly, and make sure we’re heard.

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As always, it was fun to see fellow bloggers (Danny of Doc’s Political Parlor, Trent of Aladems and Sack Sessions, and Joe of Bessemer Opinions were on the job) and to meet readers face-to-face.  And pick up a little political buzz: Judge Pete Johnson is ready to challenge Jeff Sessions in the 2008 Senate race if Ron Sparks doesn’t.  Vivian Figures is definitely in, as is some guy I’ve never heard of named Roy Williams (I think).  Sparks has made the rounds in Washington, and he’s been assured of major financial support from the national party if he does run.  Good!  That means they think the race will be competitive.

* rubs hands together in glee * 

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Here’s the Birmingham News coverage.

UPDATE:  Joe and Trent have their posts up.

Off to hear Gov. Dean.  I’ll report later.

I’m running out of titles for these things. 

Here are the previous posts.

TPM Muckraker has frequently updated summaries of Monica Goodling’s testimony.  I listened while driving to Jacksonville to help Zach move his stuff, and it boiled down to:

• I don’t know.
• I don’t remember.
• I broke the law, but I didn’t know any better (she’s a lawyer, fer cryin’ out loud!).
• I’m not the decision-maker, but we made decisions.
• It was Paul McNulty’s fault.
• No, wait, it was Kyle Sampson’s fault.
• But I don’t know who decided which attorneys to fire.
• The Attorney General may have tried to influence my testimony.

Yep.  So far that about covers it.

She’s scheduled to testify at 10:15 EDT.  TPM Muckraker has some background links on Ms. Goodling that are pretty interesting.  Check out her testimony on C-Span Radio or C-Span 3.

…but I wouldn’t try to blow him up at Jerry Falwell’s funeral.  (Okay, I don’t know it was the Phelps clan they were counter-protesting, but still.)

A small group of protesters gathered near the funeral services to criticize the man who mobilized Christian evangelicals and made them a major force in American politics — often by playing on social prejudices.

A group of students from Falwell’s Liberty University staged a counterprotest.

And Campbell County authorities arrested a Liberty University student for having several homemade bombs in his car.

The student, 19-year-old Mark D. Uhl of Amissville, Va., reportedly told authorities that he was making the bombs to stop protesters from disrupting the funeral service. The devices were made of a combination of gasoline and detergent, a law enforcement official told ABC News’ Pierre Thomas. They were “slow burn,” according to the official, and would not have been very destructive.

Somebody’s been riding the crazy train.

It’s at 6 pm at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and will include a showing of “It’s a Thick Book”, with discussion to follow.  Check it out.