Birmingham Blues

I’m just in from a bout of much-needed gardening, preparing a bed for tomatoes and peppers. Yes, Don, I know they should have been planted two weeks ago, but Good Friday was so early this year. (Is there an emoticon for whining?)

After I pulled beaucoup weeds and even dug up a couple of small trees, I walked around to the garage to get the wheelbarrow. Our long-suffering neighbors have to live with our indifferent approach to yard work all year round. Bad enough they have to look at weeds in the beds; I wasn’t going to force them to look at piles of leafy debris unless those piles were sitting at the curb waiting for trash pickup.

Our wheelbarrow is full of pebbles that we use to fill the holes that seem to appear with some frequency in our yard. Between the depredations of two golden retrievers, the chipmunks, and the rotted stumps of trees that were mowed down to build this subdivision and have finally disintegrated — not to mention the network of mine shafts that runs all through this area — we need lots of pebbles. I moved ours aside and grasped the handles of my brother’s wheelbarrow, one he’d left here during his ongoing efforts to landscape our front yard in his spare time. There were a few things sitting in it, a cat carrier, a soccer ball, and when I moved them I found his work gloves and a couple of his tools.

Grief slips up behind me and taps me on the shoulder when I least expect it. I sobbed throughout my cleanup. I’m sobbing now.

My brother was a horticulturist, by training and experience, and he was the go-to person in the family when it came to questions about plants. Even my father, also a horticulturist (although he got his schooling growing up on a small farm in south Alabama) would go to Ken with questions. I catch myself frequently looking at a flower or tree and wondering, “What’s that?”, storing up my query to ask him later. But there is no later.

I’ve heard all I need to hear about how he’s in a better place. If there is a better place, he’s there. But I don’t want him there; I want him here. I want him to be spending time with Tony and walking the dogs and answering my questions.

Dammit, it hurts. I don’t think it will ever stop.

Set your TiVos, VCRs, or eyeballs to see follow-up coverage of the Siegelman case on “60 Minutes” (CBS, tonight at 6:00 CDT) and “Verdict with Dan Abrams” (MSNBC, tomorrow night at 8:00 CDT).

I don’t subscribe to the theory that former Gov. Don Siegelman was as pure as a newly-shorn lamb. (After all, what successful politician is? Even the best of them are forced into compromises and alliances that make the idealist in me scream “foul!”) But there is much about this case that stinks to high heaven, and as I’ve said here many times before, the Bush administration has only itself to blame when the Justice Department comes under suspicion of political prosecution.

From the 11th Circuit Court ruling that ordered Siegelman’s release pending appeal:

“After thorough review of this complex and protracted record, we conclude Siegelman has satisfied the criteria set out in the statute, and has specifically met his burden of showing that his appeal raises substantial questions of law or fact [emphasis mine],” the judges wrote.

In the interest of justice, those questions must be addressed. (Yeah, even justice for Richard Scrushy, who is not a favorite of mine. IMO, the prosecution was smart to try Siegelman and Scrushy together; public anger over Scrushy’s HealthSouth acquittal almost certainly fueled a “get him any way we can” feeling.) In the interest of restoring confidence in our justice system, Congress must continue to investigate the apparent subversion of the Bush Justice Department.

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If you want to keep Congress focused on this investigation, contact House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy. Send your feedback to “60 Minutes”. And if you’d like to contribute to Gov. Siegelman’s defense fund, use this address:

Siegelman Legal Defense Fund
P.O. Box 430116
Birmingham, AL 35243

…Who In the Hell Writes These Headlines?:

Polygamists Block Girl Hunt

It’s a Birmingham News reprint of an AP article, which, incidentally, does not use this egregious title, and it isn’t linked on al.com, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

This definitely falls into the category of “what were they thinking?”

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AP now reports that authorities were able to enter the polygamists’ Texas compound peacefully and are currently searching for the 16-year-old girl who reported that she had been forced to marry a 50-year-old man and have a baby at fifteen. They haven’t yet located her. This story makes my skin crawl.

Gee, thanks, guys.

The coding or something is screwed up in this article - makes it unpleasant to read online. But then, you’ve probably already read it in your morning paper.

…for Torchwood fans. If you haven’t seen the season finale yet, you’ll be saying, “Huh?” Not to worry; all will be revealed. And if you don’t watch the show, you can still enjoy the sheer cheesiness of this lovely video. That’s Sarah Brightman of “Phantom of the Opera” fame in the funky eyeliner.

From a story about the hiring practices of Prichard police chief Lawrence Battiste IV, in today’s Press-Register:

Battiste said that if he had known hiring his brother, sister, cousin and father would be perceived as nepotism, he never would have done it.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) shows his support:

We spent the night in the Green Zone, in the poolhouse of one of Saddam’s palaces. A little weird, I got to be honest with you. But I felt safe. And so in the morning, I got up early — not that I make this a great habit — but I went to the gym because I just couldn’t sleep and everything else. Well, sure enough, the guard wouldn’t let me in. Said I didn’t have the correct credentials.

It’s 5:00 in the morning. I haven’t had sleep. I was not very happy with this two-bit security guard. So you know, I said, “I want to see your supervisor.” Thirty minutes later, the supervisor wasn’t happy with me, they escort me back to my room. It happens. I guess I didn’t need to work out anyway.

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I don’t support the war in Iraq. Never did. But our soldiers are over there doing their jobs. They shouldn’t have to kowtow to entitled chickenhawks like McHenry.

In other news, John McCain still hasn’t signed on to the new GI Bill.

H/T, Jeff at Shakesville

So many beautiful words have been written and spoken today as people around the world remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I find I have nothing to add except this: Rest with the angels, Dr. King. Your life was not lived in vain. You continue to inspire millions of people to rise above and reach beyond the prejudices that shape our reality, and I hope, somehow, you know that. You changed the world for the better. Thank you.

Danny at Doc’s Political Parlor has been getting some great press lately, statewide and national. Go check out this post and give him snaps. Great work, Danny. Congrats!

Or the longer version of the Alabama Legislator’s Lament: We don’t have adequate revenue to fund public schools and services (mostly the latter — the general fund budget regularly sucks wind), but I don’t dare ask the people who give me campaign contributions my constituents to pony up, even though they’ll be squawking and moaning when they need those schools and services, because I might not be re-elected.

Del’s comment at my post on the dangerous-dog amendment reminded me of a couple other proposals I meant to highlight. Says Del:

OMG, I think you’ve hit upon the salvation for our schools. A pit bull tax! Better yet, make dog fighting legal and tax it! Fighting cocks too! Sure, it’s unpleasant, but it’s FTC (For The Children).

I must call my local school board representative right away.

Oh, Del, if you only knew. And now you will.

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