Birmingham Blues

A couple of days ago I wote a post I called “Worst Person in the World” in reference to Keith Olbermann’s response to Senator Clinton’s reference to Robert Kennedy’s death in June of 1968. I compared Olbermann’s criticism of Senator Clinton over that reference in a very unfavorable light to a comment he had made several weeks earlier calling for Senator Clinton to be locked in a closet.

While I appreciate that no commenters I have called me out on the insensitivity of the post, I have deleted it. (And I want to acknowledge Katharine’s  and bhmhomeboy’s disagreement with me and appreciate their positive candor in disagreeing with me on the issues that the post attempted to address.)

However, there is a much bigger issue involved here than my unfavorable opinion of Keith Olbermann. The wonderful Melissa McEwan at Shakesville yesterday referred her readers to a very thoughtful post about Senator Clinton’s comments from an African American man. And I read the post and several others from persons of color and realized that the reference to assassination in the context of Senator Obama’s candidacy is something that I could not appreciate from my position of white privilege. And I do not want there to be any doubt that I want to be sensitive to issues of race. I apologize without qualification if my post sounded like a white guy who doesn’t care if Senator Obama is put in danger. I did not intend to imply that in any way. (Nor do I think Senator Clinton had similar intent. But I can only speak for me.)

I reject completely any racism toward Senator Obama or any other candidate or person of color. I reject completely any sexism directed toward Senator Clinton or any other woman, candidate or otherwise. I reject completely any homophobia toward any person, candidate or otherwise. Period. End of conversation.

Lots going on in the garden right now. The tomato plants are busy making babies. I saw my first bell pepper sprout on Mother’s Day, which seemed rather fitting. Now we have two.

Tiny Tomatoes on the Early Girl

The Celebrity Has a Baby Too

Bell Pepper Seedlings

More pictures after the jump.

(more…)

Keep Mobile Beautiful, which usually concerns itself with litter and recycling, has gotten its knickers in a twist over an outfit called the Oasis Foundation of America. These folks don’t have much of a web presence that I can find, although they are members of something called the National Emergency Management Association.

But you thought I was posting about billboards, didn’t you? No indeed. The Oasis Foundation of America is “the nation’s only philanthropy whose singular mission is to empower communities through capacity-building, access to vital resources and the providing of necessary tools to be ready for any type of disaster.” (link) See, they want to empower us, by putting up these big storage containers — it was in the news — that will hold tarps, and blankets, and other stuff you might need in a disaster. (Beef jerky, maybe. Probably not beer.)

Oh, and one more thing - the exterior will have digital billboards that can be used to send out information in the event of an emergency. Like where the detours are. Or Amber Alerts, even!

And, the rest of the time, when there wasn’t an emergency, they would be, well, like regular billboards. Regular digital billboards.

According to KMB, digital billboards that are 5′ x 17′. Gee, that’s big! And they’re at street level, you see, so you can get in there when you need to get the blankies and stuff. Can’t you just see our streets lined with these suckers? Mobile is proud to be the pilot city for them - the Red Cross let them put one up on their property downtown, which somehow I haven’t noticed, probably because I go downtown via Government - but other counties in Alabama have been “chosen to participate” too.

Right now, they’re trying to get the Mobile rules changed, so they can start philanthropating us. From the KMB email: “Under the current ordinance, in order to put up a new off-premise sign, an existing sign must be taken down. If they have no signs to take down, they would have to go to the Board of Adjustment for each and every location. However under their proposal, it appears that no such cap would exist. Additionally, their proposed amendment would allow them to locate within 250 feet of any residence and within 400 feet of another digital sign. And under the current ordinance, a billboard can be on both sides of the unit/frame.” Yay! A container full of blankies and tarps, every 400 feet! With a giant TV screen on the side! Boy, that’s swell.

What generous philanthropists these folks are! I wonder where they get the money to pay for all of those containers? You think the digital billboards bring in any income? Nah, couldn’t be.

EDIT: Oh my goodness, it gets even slimier. The “foundation” is a not-for-profit that raised the money for the containers. The Oasis Ad Group is a FOR-profit that will sell the digital ad space “with the money from the ads covering costs such as rent, maintenance and electricity.” (the link is a cached Google file of a print-ready page from the Montgomery Advertiser, which is all I could find.) link

No doubt most Blues readers are acquainted with Arlen Specter. The senior U.S. Senator from the State of Pennsylvania is perhaps best known for his tenure as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the first six years of the Bush administration. Perhaps no Judiciary Committee Chairperson was ever more judicious in finding reasons to avoid causing problems for those perpetrating violations of the Constitution.

Senator Specter, as Chair of the Judiciary Committee showed tremendous courage in protecting the citizenry from conflict over minor matters like the Constitution. Thus he bravely proposed amnesty for Bush administration accomplices in illegal wiretapping. He heroically prevented the Democrats from making the great Alberto Gonzales testify under oath about the illegal wiretapping thus saving millions of Americans worry about an obvious criminal being the chief law enforcement official in their country. And who can forget Specter’s bold charge in leading the efforts to shut up the hateful Democrats’ efforts to undermine the legendary Gonzales’ nomination over silly issues like approving torture and stating the opinion that the Geneva Convention does not apply to the administration’s War on Terror^TM.

This is a man who has consistently shown the courage to save the populace from needless worry over the trivial.

But now this great man has had enough. It seems the evil New England Patriots, who just so happened to defeat the Senator’s home state Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles in their three Super Bowl winning seasons, committed an unsavory act in taping the signals of the New York Jets during the 2007 season. Showing the righteous indignation of a man who has his priorities straight, our brave Senator demands hearings on this heinous crime. We know it must be heinous because a man of courage who would put the Constitutional issues aside to protect us simple citizens from unnecessary strife would not otherwise subject us to such deep and abiding concerns. Could the Super Bowl itself have been tainted? God forbid. For the sake of all that is holy, find out the truth, Senator Specter.

He showed the courage of a lion in facing the wrath of the National Football League. He heroically ensured the success of the nomination of the greatest Attorney General in American history in spite of the homicidal insanity of the Democratic minority. He displayed the judgment of Solomon in deciding priorities (tainted Super Bowl victories, for God’s sake, instead of some Harvard egghead debating society Constitutional drivel).

For all of these reasons, Birmingham Blues is proud to name Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, as the inaugural recipient of our Congressional Heroism Award. We know the citizens of Pennsylvania are so proud of this recognition of one of their own. And know that a grateful nation salutes your wisdom and courage. You are a hero to us all, sir.

I have gotten in the habit of ignoring the Mobile Register’s editorials, since they usually serve only to raise my blood pressure, but a forum I visit called my attention to this one from yesterday. It’s entitled, “Senators thumb noses at Mobile, Baldwin.” Apparently during the debate about Ben Brook’s coastal insurance bill, Mr. Barron expressed the opinion that southwest Alabama is just too far away from his district for him to have to worry about it. “I don’t have to be for your bill,” he said. And Mr. Rodger Smitherman was heard to say, “We’re not going to pass no bill doing all these things and giving breaks for these people that own these $250,000, $500,000 and million-dollar condos.” (I am assuming he was not using the double negative to indicate assent.)
Bulletin for the senators: not everybody in Mobile and Baldwin counties lives in a half-million dollar beach condo. And Mobile does bring a little money into the state, you know. There’s tourism (all those beach condos), and the steel plant, and if you open a paper you might see something about a tanker contract.

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.

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.

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.

That is all.

A three-judge panel ruled against Gov. Bob Riley yesterday, saying his appointment of a Jefferson County Commissioner to replace Larry Langford requires Justice Department approval. The panel didn’t remove George Bowman, who was appointed in November, and it gave Riley a February 5 deadline, coinciding with a scheduled special election, either to appeal the decision or to state that he will seek approval for his appointment authority.

This is one big confusing mess. There is a 1977 state law on the books that grants Jefferson County the right to hold special elections to fill Commission vacancies when there is substantial time before the next regularly-scheduled election, which in this case would be 2010. A similar law for Mobile County was declared unconstitutional in 1988, and at that time the legislature gave appointment authority to the Governor, although it has since passed laws allowing special elections in some counties.

In 2005, Riley exercised his appointment power in Mobile County, replacing the newly elected Mobile mayor with perhaps the only black Republican in the area. His decision was overturned as a violation of the Voting Rights Act, and Mobile County held an election in October 2007 to fill the seat. Of course, Riley has appealed the ruling, and the case is now before the U.S. Supreme Court. Riley also points out that then-Gov. Don Siegelman appointed a replacement for JeffCo Commissioner Chris McNair when he retired in March 2001. McNair, however, had already served more than half of his four-year term at the time of his retirement, while Langford had more than three years remaining when he was elected mayor of Birmingham.

Everyone got all of that?

(more…)