Bill's Big Diamond Blog

The Don Siegelman Case, with Scott Horton-Part 5

For readers who have been following our Scott Horton interview on former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman’s prosecution, here is part 5 of the interview. Since our last segment was posted, the 11th Circuit has set Siegelman free from incarceration as he prepares his appeal, giving credence to the notion that they will eventually find in favor of him in a review of his bizarre and highly politicized case.

To begin the series from the beginning, see the posts prior to this one:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

In previous segments, Scott Horton already detailed the way that Siegelman surprised the Alabama Republican establishment with his winning ways as a populist/liberal in the Heart of Dixie.

We’ve heard how Karl Rove helped the Alabama Republicans to understand the value of taking control of the state’s judiciary.

We’ve also heard how William Pryor, a stalwart GOP infighter and Rove client, helped Birmingham US Attorneys bring specious charges against Siegelman, which were tossed out of federal court, with prejudice (as in “don’t come back”).

Now we pick up as the prosecutors change venues, US Attorneys, and judges, to try again against Siegelman in a Montgomery courtroom, with a new, very Republican judge:

Download Video Part 5-Quicktime

Climate Change- We Can Solve It!

Go to wecansolveit.org to look at some solutions, changes, and the political and other actions we can take.

Do it!

Iraq—"Defining Moment?"

It appears that the recent cease-fire in Iraq is not “a defining moment,” unless one counts the disorganization of the al-Malaki government forces and the continuing control of territory by the Sadrist forces as the definition of no resolution.

Oh, there was one defining change. The US now has put force behind the Maliki regime against the Sadrists, embroiling it further in the civil struggles between forces within the country. Is this progress? Especially when the Sadrists will now be in the driver’s seat…

From the NYT:

“Many Iraqi politicians say that Mr. Maliki’s political
capital has been severely depleted by the campaign
and that he is now in the curious position of having
to turn to Mr. Sadr, a longtime rival and now his
opponent in battle, for a solution to the crisis.”

Randy Pausch- Last Lecture

Here’s a video that’s not about politics or film or journalism (or is it?), but I watched it when a friend who has survived cancer sent it to me. I think it’s worth eleven or twelve minutes…

Mukasey's 9/11 Whopper

Check out the crocodile tear AG Mukasey is dripping when he spins a whopper about how FISA laws made 9/11 happen. How does a guy who used to have a reputation for intelligence and intellectual honesty come to the point of spinning THAT yarn? (Does anyone down there in Washington remember “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US?”)

Glenn Greenwald has the additional displeasure of pointing out that Mukasey just out-and-out lied in his San Francisco speech about the possibility that a federal judge would allow national security methods and practices to be discussed in open court if the telecoms don’t get their immunity.

Bush Throws Out First Pitch, Crowd Throws It Back

Courtesy of YouTube, baseball’s season on the mainland has begun— with the President being booed as he throws out the first pitch in Washington. A 28% approval rating doesn't sound too encouraging at the park...

h/t to Buck Naked Politics

Siegelman and Appeals Court Ruling, Rove, and the DoJ

After his release from prison Friday, when the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals found his defense had raised “substantial questions” about his 2006 conviction on bribery and obstruction of justice charges, Don Siegelman unloaded on Karl Rove. “His fingerprints are smeared all over the case,” Siegelman contended.

“When Attorney General Gonzales and Karl Rove left office in a blur, they left the truth buried in their documents,” the former Alabama governor said. “It’s going to be my quest to encourage Congress to ensure that Karl Rove either testifies, or takes the Fifth.”

For more on Siegelman’s release and the 11th Circuit's unusual implied rebuke to Federal District Judge Mark Fuller, who put Siegelman behind bars, see the Times story, and Steve Benen's Carpetbagger Report, then check out Scott Horton’s No Comment post on Mukasey for the broader context around the Siegelman charges— i.e. the use of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Unit as a political weapon under Alberto Gonzales.

Memphis Bound-More on Siegelman, Freed Today, Soon

I’m heading off for the ON LOCATION: Memphis Film Festival and the screening of my documentary, Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story in their Liberty and Justice Series on Saturday. I hope to be able to take a moment here and there to post from the festival and stay abreast of all the latest developments.

The Court of Appeals set Don Siegelman free today on appeal. Look for more of our series on Don Siegelman with journalist Scott Horton next week.

Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties

The Hamoui family’s experience, detailed in this Nonny de la Pena film, “Unconstitutional,” is akin to that which many families have endured during the "War on Terror." Ten-plus months in INS/Homeland Security detainment, raids on their homes, parents humiliated in front of their children: these are not isolated incidents. This video is eye-opening in the way it takes us into the lives of a few of the affected families.

Ever since the USA Patriot Act was rammed through Congress in a panic after 9/11/01, the level of scrutiny we maintain over federal civil liberties abuses has been hugely diminished. It’s not what we’d like to think America is all about, but when people are scared, the public accepts many things it wouldn't ordinarily, as long as those abused are kept out of full view. If you’ve wondered what it would be like to be victimized by an authoritarian state police force, put yourself in the shoes of the thousands of immigrants who have been swept up in the raids that continue to be an outgrowth of this panic-legislating.

The Department of Justice under this Administration has turned the freedoms we hold dear into a joke for many who came to America for a respite from the jackboot of dictators and secret police bureaucracies across the globe. In the name of protecting our country from terror, the emphasis in security has been shifted from sound police/intelligence work to dragging a huge and imprecise net across domestic communities of immigrants, across the terrain of war zones, and across the map of allied dictatorships to sweep people up indiscriminately.

The abuses recorded in this film are shocking and horrifying to people who hold our civil liberties dear, while the application of the draconian tactics used don’t really make us safer as a people. As Benjamin Franklin quoted a fellow diplomat, Richard Jackson, “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” ...and probably get neither, in the long run.

h/t Polidics.com

The Don Siegelman Case, with Scott Horton-Part 4

Here’s part four of the Scott Horton interview on his research and groundbreaking Harper’s Magazine blog stories about the peculiar prosecution of Don Siegelman. To begin the series now, see the posts prior to this one:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

This fourth part of our interview with Scott Horton relates to the first trial of former Alabama Governor Siegelman, or rather, the aborted first case against him. Interestingly, the case on which Siegelman was convicted isn’t the Alabama US Attorneys’ first attempt to go after him. There was another, unsuccessful, attempt to try Siegelman on different charges before the Montgomery trial.

Last Friday, we heard about Horton’s research into the Alabama political links between Karl Rove, William Canary, and Rove’s client, William Pryor. We know that Rove encouraged the Alabama Republicans to work their way into a long-term lever on the state's political financing by turning their attention to the judiciary— and we know how successful that strategy turned out to be.

Soon after Siegelman upset the Republicans by winning the governorship in 1998, the machinery of the Alabama judiciary turned towards him. The first case against Siegelman was pursued on evidence gathered first by the then-Attorney General of Alabama, William Pryor— yes, the same client of Karl Rove. His evidence formed the basis of a prosecution filed in Federal Court in Birmingham by Alice Martin, a protégée of Rove’s friend, William Canary.

The squeeze on Siegelman was tightening. Their only problem was the judge…Federal District Judge U.W. Clemon.

Download Video Part 4-Quicktime