Birmingham Blues

Actually, I’d call it a child rape sting. I’m not sure why this isn’t 24-hour headline news, but it looks like OJ has knocked it off the radar. Assistant US Attorney John David Roy Atchison of Gulf Breeze FL is accused of arranging an assignation with what he thought was a five-year-old girl. That’s FIVE. YEARS. OLD.

John D.R. Atchison, 53, of Gulf Breeze, Fla., was arrested Sunday at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after several weeks of Internet conversations between the prosecutor and a detective posing as the mother of a 5-year-old girl, authorities say.

Officials said Atchison, an assistant U.S. attorney in Florida, made the trip anticipating a sexual encounter but was arrested instead. He was carrying presents for the girl, including a doll and hoop earrings, and also had sexual materials, including petroleum jelly, Sheriff Mark Hackel said.

A federal grand jury added a charge Tuesday of crossing state lines with intent to have sex with someone younger than 12. Atchison also faces charges of use of the Internet to seek illicit sex and interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual contact. He could face up to life in prison.

Petroleum jelly. Jesus. He also assured the “mother” that he wouldn’t hurt the little girl because he’d had lots of practice and knew how to be gentle.

According to the complaint, Atchison reassured the sheriff’s deputy who was posing as the child’s mother that he would not hurt the 5-year-old because he goes “slow and easy,” and “I’ve done it plenty.”

And to add to the creepy factor, this “family man” coached children’s sports. His MySpace profile might have set off some alarms had the parents seen it:

According to court documents, Atchison — who served as the president of the Gulf Breeze Sports Association, which includes youth athletics like soccer and T-ball — described himself as “very much a family man” in online chats from Aug. 29 to Sept. 16 with an undercover officer posing as a mother interested in letting men have sex with her children.

During continuous conversations, he expressed a desire to engage in oral, vaginal and anal sex with her fictitious daughter. Money was not part of the discussion.

Atchison’s reputation before the arrest is a stark contrast from his MySpace description.

A MySpace page, that a court document said was Atchison’s, said he enjoyed spoiling young girls. Atchison allegedly described himself in his profile as: “Handsome, educated, professional, experienced Daddy. I love younger girls.”

His general interests are listed as “surfing, diving, boating … everything to do with the water … music and cute girls.”

I really do wish law enforcement officials and the reporters who have covered the story would call this what it is — making arrangements to commit rape. One doesn’t “have sex” with a five year old.

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There’s been lots of online speculation as to Atchison’s political affiliation, which has not so far been mentioned in any news reports I’ve seen. Even the Freepers appear to be conceding that he’s a Republican based on Florida voter registration records (after some initial screeching that the lack of party identification in media coverage had to mean he was a Democrat).  Wev.  If he did what he’s accused of, he’s lower than pond scum.

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H/T, Melissa and PortlyDyke at Shakesville

This is too funny. Larry Klaymans’ Judicial Watch, the right-wing Scaife-funded “watchdog” group that spent most of the 1990’s suing the Clinton administration, is suing Ari Fleischer’s pro-war Freedom’s Watch for trademark infringement. Seems the TV show West Wing parodied the litigious organization back in 2000, creating a fictional group called Freedom Watch. Klayman was flattered, and bought rights to the name.

“I loved the name,” Klayman told ABC News. “I thought it was better than ‘Judicial Watch.’ So I trademarked it.”

Stories in the Washington Post and U..S News & World Report in 2003 mentioned Klayman’s copyrighting of the name. Klayman press releases in 2005 and 2006 cite him as a founder of “Freedom Watch.”

So far, Freedom’s Watch doesn’t seem too concerned. But are these good right-wingers tacitly admitting that Klayman shouldn’t have spent so much time harassing Bill Clinton?

Freedom’s Watch spokesman Matt David dismissed Klayman’s complaint. “It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Larry Klayman is filing another lawsuit with absolutely no validity,” he said.

Klayman, on the other hand, doesn’t appreciate the mendacious ads produced by Freedom’s Watch:

“I’ve been waiting for them to respond,” Klayman said. “They can’t wage war correctly, they can’t tell the American people the truth about Iraq, and now they’re trying to steal a trademark from a fellow conservative and Republican.”

“I would have expected a robbery from O.J. Simpson, but not from all the president’s men,” Klayman said. “They owe me a hell of a lot of money.”

Right-wing smackdowns are so entertaining.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington today released its third annual report “Beyond DeLay: The 22 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and Two to Watch)”:

• Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-NM)
• Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
• Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK)
• Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
• Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA)
• Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL)
• Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA)
• Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
• Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-LA)
• Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
• Rep. Gary G. Miller (R-CA)
• Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-WV)
• Rep. Timothy F. Murphy (R-PA)
• Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA)
• Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM)
• Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ)
• Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY)
• Rep. David Scott (D-GA)
• Rep. Jerry Weller (R-IL)
• Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-NM)
• Rep. Don Young (R-AK)

The two to watch are:

• Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-ID)
• Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)

The links will take you to profiles of “the egregious, unethical and possibly illegal activities of the most tainted members of Congress. CREW has compiled the members’ transgressions and analyzed them in light of federal laws and congressional rules”. I’m sure you’ll be as unsurprised as I to see that 83+% of the names on the list are Republicans. What is it about these tax-cutting, family values guys that compels them to stick their hands in the till and/or their, um, other parts where they don’t belong?

The League of Women Voters of Greater Birmingham is sponsoring a mayoral forum tonight.  This is the only debate where all of the candidates plan to appear in the lead-up to the October 9 election.  You can watch the forum by webcast at 7 pm or on Channel 42 at 9 pm.

This morning, the Alabama District Attorneys Association called on Troy King to apologize to Shelby County DA Robby Owens for attacking him w/r/t the LaSamuel Gamble case. They happened to mention Troy’s extreme lack of courtroom experience. They also pointed out a DA’s obligation to seek justice, something Troy isn’t all that concerned about. As you might have expected, Troy immediately and graciously retracted his remarks.

Just kidding. Of course he didn’t. He fired back with his own statement, accusing the Association of trying “to distort and spin this issue from now until eternity”. Troy tends to get a little flowery in his rhetoric.

…This is a shocking, inexcusable violation of his oath of office and a betrayal of those who depend on him for protection and justice. He states that his decision is a matter of conscience so he can lay his head on his pillow at night.

I think he and the district attorneys condoning his behavior should think more about the tear-stained pillows upon which the murder victims’ families lay their heads every night, alone and hurting. The Supreme Court was wrong when it directed that teenage killers be freed from Death Row [once again with the "freed" rhetoric, as if life in an Alabama prison is some kind of cakewalk]. District Attorneys are wrong when they advocate that these adult accomplices also be freed. I have never agreed with any of them…

Now the DA’s Association has issued a second statement. It goes into a bit more detail, but that doesn’t take away from its impact or change its conclusion:

The Attorney General, whatever his motivations in choosing to disparage the good name and character of Robby Owens, should apologize to his learned colleague and learn something from him about making hard decisions and effective public service. If he cannot recognize the error of his needless attack on the District Attorney, perhaps he should consider his fitness for the position he now holds. [emphasis added]

Too bad he won’t.

H/T, Peggy

The document that our Dear Leader referred to as “just a goddamned piece of paper” was adopted 220 years ago today.  It has endured through a civil war and two world wars, and if we’re vigilant it will even survive George W. Bush and his minions.

The second annual Blue Dot Ball will be held this Thursday, 7 pm, Soho Square Ballroom in Homewood. Join your fellow Democrats to party — and do your part to elect Democrats in Jefferson County! Click here for tickets.

I’m more than a little surprised that Bush backed down from a confirmation fight and chose Michael Mukasey over Ted Olson. Was Olson just a stalking horse, put out there to see how far Bush could go? Or is it possible that less partisan advisors have claimed his ear now that Rove is gone?

Barring some new revelation, this looks like an easy confirmation. The Justice Department is in desperate need of new leadership — well, any leadership. Gonzo was worse than useless, his deputy McNulty is gone, and Assistant AG Peter Keisler had already submitted his resignation when he agreed to stick around till the confirmation hearings are done.

I can’t say I’m thrilled that Mukasey currently serves as a judicial advisor to the Giuliani campaign. It makes me wonder if he shares Rudy’s fascist tendencies. Still, he looks to be better than the hyper-partisan Olson. We’ll see.

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Uploaded on July 27, 2007 by nowherefast.

“If I can just reach the handlebars, I am so outta here!”

Okay, here I am tirelessly slaving away to keep the Blues’ Society & Glamour classification pertinent, while you people fritter away time with discussions about social justice and Troy King’s execution fetish. I guess somebody has to do the hard work.

 This afternoon I was amused by:

 Gain Laundry Detergent (and for God’s sake don’t choose the flash version of the page, you’ll be there all night listening to what sounds like Herb Alpert and watching dancing detergent bottles). Okay, I’ll admit the whole idea of fragrance in laundry detergent bothers me. I love the new emphasis on the olfactory in cleaning products, and the house is full of Method stuff and other goodies that give me a little happy nose boost as I clean (on the occasions when that occurs). But laundry detergent smell is meant to stay in the clothes. Remember that commercial when the family couldn’t tell if the towels were clean without smelling them? They’d sniff a suspect towel and then gag with disgust, and all was chaos and discord until Mom started washing with the product being advertised. Then they could “smell the clean” or something like that. The commercial ended with them all huffing the clean towels in rapturous delight. And thus was ushered in decades of competing odiferous laundry detergents that, when combined with Axe shower spray, Bath & Body Works fruity colognes, and other scents teenagers apply heavily, is enough to fell an ox, or at least a middle school teacher who suffers from allergies.  The names of these things started out kind of normal, but now—all right. This is the Gain lineup: Fresh Awakenings, Island Fresh, Outdoor Sunshine, Touch of Softness Simply Fresh, Touch of Softness Cotton Fresh, and then—and this is what made me laugh—the “Joyful Expressions” trio: Apple Mango Tango, Gardenia Delight, and Mandarin Lime Fusion. Hoo, boy! You wouldn’t even need the Bath and Body Works fragrance layer!  (And of course there’s still good old Original Fresh, “the same great scent you fell in love with.”)  Joyful expressions? Who is doing the expressing? Is it Proctor & Gamble, expressing their joy at selling all this detergent? The housewife or busy working mother (working “outside the home,” I mean) expressing her joy as she bends over yet another load, having realized at ten p.m. that her kids don’t have clean uniform shirts for the next day? She really does need Mango Tango, because that particular joy is difficult to express with mere four-letter words.

 The other thing that made me laugh was a big stack of breast cancer chicken. Valley Fresh has joined with the many other products boasting pink ribbons and promising to contribute part of their profits to the Search for the Cure. Not content with a discreet pink ribbon somewhere on the back of the label, they have plastered the can with so much pinkness that it actually looks as though they’re selling breast cancer in a can, like that old joke about the jar with the picture of the baby on it.

I felt a little surly to be so irritated by yet another product waving pink ribbons at me, so I did a little wiki research and found out I’m not the only one. There is a term for this: “pinkwashing.” Think Before You Pink sums it up: “Pinkwashing” is a term used critically of corporate campaigns and practices in which the sponsoring companies position themselves as leaders in the struggle to eradicate breast cancer while engaging in practices that may be contributing to rising rates of the disease.  They point out that many of the companies, e.g. cosmetic manufacturers, who are touting their contribution to breast cancer awareness are also selling products containing chemicals that may be contributing to the rising rate of the disease.  Okay, not canned chicken. But still.  Here’s another sample: How much money actually goes to the cause? For instance, Yoplait donates ten cents for every pink yogurt lid mailed back to the company. American Express has given one cent per purchase (of any amount), meaning a shopper would have to make 100 purchases to raise one dollar for the cause. In some cases it seems to make more sense to write a check directly to a breast cancer organization instead. Check out their website.

NB: My biological mother died of breast cancer. She decided to contact me when she was diagnosed, and died five years after we met. I’m as anxious as anybody else to find “the cure.”