Paducah Police Chief inquest AND MORE!

The Paducah City Council decided to not issue any kind of reprimand to the Paducah Police Chief as a result of his violating Dept. policy by using his handgun to bust out a window during a raid. The reason given in the paper was that it would require a formal charge and a formal type evidentiary hearing.

Uh, isn't that called "due process?" The question I have is whether or not the field officers who have been cited negatively for doing the same thing or something even less had the same kind of "due process" in the adjudication of the claims against them?
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I think that Channel 6 has crossed the line by making commercials part of the news. In two days this week, masqueraded as a news story during the formal news broadcast, commercials for McDonald's new coffee products and for Dollar stores were aired. Not just in the morning either - but both in the morning on the local "Today" show and during Paula Bridges' show in the afternoon. Let's keep the news to news.

If, in fact, Channel 6 is getting money for this, they need to disclose it to the public so we are fully informed as we choose which news shows to watch.
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Steve Beshear isn't even sworn in yet and the Paducah Sun is already after him. A bit of sour grapes, perhaps? Afterall, the Sun did drop the "Democrat" part of the "Paducah Sun Democrat" which is what it used to be called. Ha Ha!

Unlike our U.S. President, who probably never was fairly elected, and if you accept that he did, only won by the smallest of margins but actually acted like he won a large victory, Mr. Beshear won an impressive victory. I can't say that I agree with all of his positions, well I know I don't. But he's got a lot of political capital. But, gosh, give the guy a couple hours of being governor before you start the personal attacks. He may, (well it is possible?) end up being a good governor.

Annie Sellick and Hot Club at the Bluebird: Great Show!

Kristi and I went to the Bluebird Café recently in Nashville and heard, for the first time, a wonderful young woman singer named Annie Sellick. She was backed up by a band called “Hot Club,” which was an awesome band. We had the best seats in the house in my opinion, Table 11, which is directly behind two smaller tables that are right in front of the stage. Table 11 seats 6, so a date of two will have to sit with other people, which is usually fun.

With us at Table 11 was two women, 50ish, from Indianapolis who were just in Nashville for several days to hear music, and two other females, one 50ish and the other probably 60ish. They lived in Nashville. As we ordered and waited for the band to begin, we had a very nice talk among the entire table. The singer spoke to the eldest of the two Nashville ladies before the show, which ended up in an interesting explanation late in the show by Ms. Sellick.

Ms. Sellick’s show was outstanding. She sang, with this remarkable band, “hot club” swing jazz tunes. The included a guitarist (who also played a couple songs on harmonica), named Pat Bergeson, who is one of the best guitarists I have ever heard. He played great rhythm and his leads were fast and clean on the fast songs, and very moving and sensitive on the ballads. He apparently spent a number of years as Chet Atkins #2 guitarist. He learned well!

Aaron Till played the hot jazz violin most excellently. What can you say about this top notch Nashville players? They are as good as it gets. A tall man named Dave Pomeroy was on bass, and the name of the drummer was I believe Tom Giampietro. Mr. Pomeroy played stand up bass, and the drummer played only a snare, bass, high hat, and two ride cymbals. They were great. Mr. Giampietro showed how much you can do on a very minimal drum set. The band's music was reminiscent of Django Rheinhardt or Dan Hicks, but they have their own thing going for sure.

One reason is because of Ms. Sellick. She is an extremely talented singer - natural and charismatic on stage, and precise but enthusiastic in her delivery. And, with her long blonde dreadlocks, and that beautiful sound coming from her mouth, she is very commanding and beautiful on stage.

But what made the show totally interesting to us was her songlist as her performance unfolded. In her very natural stage personae, she told from the beginning about how, as a native of Nashville, and having become a “jazz” singer, she wasn’t necessarily in the mainstream flow of the Nashville music business. In thinking about material to sing, she began to wonder if there weren’t jazz songwriters lurking in the corners of Nashville, unknown, with great songs waiting to be sung. She embarked on a quest to start tracking them down.

She found a man named Tom Sturdevant, a very prolific songwriter who had been in Nashville for awhile. She fell in love with his songs, and began a project to learn an albums worth of his songs, which she did in the last year or so, and they just have released the CD this week. She played a bunch of the songs from the CD. The songs run a variety of moods, and most are character sketches of eccentric people - a subject that obviously Mr. Sturdevant knows well. There is no doubt that his songs are unique. It is actually kind of mind boggling that he has written all these songs, and apparently a lot more, in pretty much obscurity.

Ms. Sellick had Mr. Sturdevant come up on stage early in the show and sing a duet with her. His voice wasn’t anywhere near to Ms. Sellick’s, but he had a good songwriter’s voice. But there is no doubt that the two of them have developed a special friendship which comes through in the music. In fact, at one point Ms. Sellick said that he had become a sort of life counselor for her. I know that it must be amazing for him to get this kind of recognition after so many years of working for the sheer art of it.

Later in the set, she would bring him up to play 3 songs himself while he played electric piano. He is a very unassuming looking person. Looks like a lot of the farmers I know around here. Very soft-spoken, but those songs. I can see why Ms. Sellick fell in love with them and him.
Of course, the Bluebird Café is the definition of “ambiance” when it comes to a music venue. It was my birthday also, which made it doubly special. We had a nice meal, two good beers, and some of the best music you could hear. It was a great evening. I highly recommend Annie Sellick and Hot Club band. If you get a chance to see her, we both highly recommend that you take the opportunity. She has a “myspace” page http://www.myspace.com/annieandthehotclub which tells a little more about her collaboration with Mr. Sturdevant and where you can hear for free 4 of the songs off the album. Take a listen!

Oh yeah, at the end of the set, Ms. Sellick told a humorous story about her college graduation. She said that she was taking Spanish, and because of her singing, was missing a lot of classes. The woman that had been sitting at our table that she had spoken with before the performance, (she had just gotten up and left) it turns out, had been her Spanish teacher at that time. She needed the credit to graduate, and this lady was threatening to not pass her. So, the teacher gave her one last chance to do a major project to make up for everything she had missed. So, she translated I believe she said 4 songs into spanish and sang them for the class. The teacher passed her and she graduated! Then for her last song, she sang one of those songs, the standard “Blue Moon,” several verses in Spanish and then ended it in English. A cute story and great song to end the night!

Another IDNR sleazy FOIA adventure

Below is, in reverse chronological order, is the better part of an email exchange I’ve been having recently with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) regarding a relatively minor FOIA request that I’ve recently made with them and which they are not responding properly. It has shed some light with me on some of the IDNR’s latest shenanigans to avoid public scrutiny on their activities.

I am a member of the board of directors of the Citizen’s Committee to Save the Cache, which is the oldest grassroots environmental organization in Southern Illinois. The President of the group, A.E. Corzine, has been trying to find out how the IDNR made final decisions about what displays are in the Cache River Wetlands Center, just north of Karnak along Illinois Rt. 37. The displays very mysteriously, (or maybe not so mysteriously) fail to even mention the Citizen’s Committee to Save the Cache by name, (even though there would be no Cache River Wetlands’s Center if not for the Citizen’s Committee)and have false, misleading, or irrelevant information throughout the display. The IDNR officials have been very evasive with Mr. Corzine about how the displays were decided upon. They said that there was some kind of committee that did this, but would produce no information about this committee other than one email from John and Martha Schwegman, which purported to be as members of the committee, commenting on Mr. Corzine’s proposal to put a flip book in the center which gives the Citizen’s Committee perspective on the recent history of the Cache.

I’ve had some experience with the Freedom of Information Act, including the Illinois state act. So I volunteered to help Mr. Corzine obtain documents which indicated who exactly is on the committee, what the rules are that govern the committee, minutes to meetings, and how the members were chosen. Pretty straightforward stuff. Not like asking for the private conversations between the Director and his chief attorney on some hiring issue.

I thought the easiest, most convenient way to submit the FOIA request was to email it. Afterall, I have email FOIA requests to federal agencies for years. It’s standard and in many ways preferred. So I called Jim Waycuilis, the superintendent of the Cache River State Natural Area, and asked him for his email. I told him exactly what I wanted the email for. He gave me his email and didn’t say anything else about it.

I think it was the next morning, I got to emailing the request. It’s down there at the bottom of the email string. Then later that afternoon, I get a response from Mr. Waycuilis stating that I must submit my FOIA request through their webform. I wrote him back and asked him where in the statute it required that. I did not get an answer back from him right away. Finally I got a one sentence response that basically says just cause it is.

The next morning, I wrote a message to Mr. Stan Yonkauski, an attorney for the IDNR in Springfield. I had gotten acquainted with him in the past, including during the last round when the IDNR tried to play loose and fast with the FOIA act to deny RACE some documents. That case dragged out a couple years, but in the end, IDNR had to release everything for free and pay upwards of $100,000 in attorney’s fees to our attorneys, Jenner and Block. Great use of taxpayer’s money.

Mr. Yonkauski says, as you can see, that I don’t have to submit the request via a webform. However, less than an hour after receiving that email from Mr. Yonkauski, I got a phone call from Virginia Yang, who identified herself as the IDNR’s FOIA officer. She said over the phone that not only did I have to submit the request via their webform, but that I had to print it out and either mail it or fax it. When I asked her where in the statute it says that, she says that it requires a request to be submitted “in writing.” When I asked if she was saying that an email wasn’t “in writing” she said that they weren’t set up to take email requests.

She asked me if she could email a link to their webform. I said sure, but for her not to construe that as any kind of admission that I believed that it had to be submitted via such a form. I looked at the form. It was in pdf format. I converted it to MS Word, pasted my FOIA in the blank along with my contact info and my signature, and emailed it back to her. That was Oct. 15.

I hadn’t heard anything as of yesterday morning. So, I looked at the Illinois FOIA statute to refresh me on their time limit. It is 7 days. So, it is way past their time to respond and I’ve heard nothing. So I sent them an email yesterday asking them what was going on. Ms. Yang says they haven’t received a FOIA from me.

I’m preparing my appeal. In the course of preparing this appeal, I have discovered that the IDNR has promulgated administrative rules that indeed do say that you have to use the webform. These are clearly unconstitutional because not everyone has internet access. They also are inconsistent with the FOIA statute, which is pro-disclosure. These will be challenged in the appeal.

It’s really disappointing that we live in one of the “bluest” states and yet our state agencies are still filled with Republican leftovers from over 2 decades of straight Republican governors. Our state government is totally regressive and repressive and has contempt for the citizens of the state, especially the IDNR. And, how did the so-called “joint administrative committee” from the legislature approve these unconstitutional rules?

The ultimate irony of all of this is that what I asked for probably wouldn’t take 10 pages to document. However, from my conversation with Mr. Waycuilis at the beginning of this process, I don’t think that they have much documentation of how they picked their displays. I think it was a bunch of the “good ol’ boys” who got together and decided who was in and who was out, regardless of the facts. I don’t think the IDNR wants to be caught at this. But saying that an email isn’t something “in writing” is beyond the pale. I can’t let that stand, so we’ll just drag this out a little longer in order to make some changes in a bad agency that is operating badly and needs to be held accountable.

-----Original Message-----
From: VIRGINIA YANG [mailto:VIRGINIA.YANG@illinois.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 8:37 AM
To: markkris
Cc: RONDA BROWN; STAN YONKAUSKI; Gov. Rod Blagoevich
Subject: RE: Illinois FOIA

Mr. Donham;

We have checked the IDNR's FOIA request files and have not located a FOIA request form from you.

Please resubmit your request. Check the new IDNR FOIA website for further information and for the request form that is used for recordkeeping purposes. You can fax your request form to this office [217-785-2438].

Your cooperation is appreciated.

Virginia I. Yang, Deputy Counsel
Illinois Department of Natural Resources One Natural Resources Way Springfield, IL 62702-1271
217-782-1809 [Office]
217-785-2438 [Fax]

email: virginia.yang@illinois.gov

***********************************
Confidentiality Warning: This e-mail, and any attachments, may contain information which is confidential, proprietary, privileged or otherwise protected by law. The information is solely intended for the named addressee (or a person responsible for delivering it to the addressee). If you are not the intended recipient of this message, you are not authorized to read, print, retain, copy or disseminate this message or any part of it. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and delete it from your computer.

>>> "markkris" 11/10/2007 1:12 PM >>>
Dear Mr. Yonkauski and Ms. Yang,
I submitted the form for my FOIA, but I haven't heard anything since. The document request is quite straightforward and should be easy to fulfill. It should have been fulfilled within 7 days, but I've given you a month. Why are you doing this? It is really disheartening that we have a Democratic administration and yet still have the agencies filled with right wing republicans who have no respect for the public. Last time you violated the law trying to keep information from me, it cost the state way over 6 figures in legal costs. It's not like I'm asking for a lot, and by the way, I even submitted the form with a signature, so I really would like to know what the problem is?
Sincerely,
Mark Donham

-----Original Message-----
From: STAN YONKAUSKI [mailto:STAN.YONKAUSKI@illinois.gov]
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2007 8:48 AM
To: Mark Donham
Cc: VIRGINIA YANG
Subject: Re: Illinois FOIA

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Donham [mailto:markkris@earthlink.net]
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2007 12:27 PM
To: 'VIRGINIA YANG'
Subject: RE: IDNR FOIA Request Form
Attachment: FOIA Form w exhibits committee 51kb

Dear Ms. Yang,
Here is your form. If you view it under Normal view in MS Word, it reads fine, and it is signed. This is the third time I've submitted this. As far as my opinion goes, your time to respond started on the 11th of Oct, when it was first received.
Mark Donham

-----Original Message-----
From: VIRGINIA YANG [mailto:VIRGINIA.YANG@illinois.gov]
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2007 11:45 AM
To: markkris@earthlink.net
Subject: IDNR FOIA Request Form

Mr. Donham;

As I indicated, please complete the attached FOIA request form, as provided under 2 Ill. Adm. Code 826. 110 and 826.120, for your IDNR request and either mail or fax [217/785-2438] the completed form to IDNR offices in Springfield, Illinois. You can attach any additional documents or letters that you believe would help IDNR staff in responding to your request.

The IDNR is specifically authorized under Section 4 and 5 of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, 5 ILCS 140/3 (g) and (4)(b) to promulgate rules and regulations concerning the availability or records and procedures to be followed, as well as a brief description of the methods whereby the public may request information and public records under the state FOIA program.

Thank you for your cooperation,

Virginia I. Yang, Deputy Counsel
Illinois Department of Natural Resources One Natural Resources Way Springfield, IL 62702-1271
217-782-1809 [Office]
217-785-2438 [Fax]

email: virginia.yang@illinois.gov

***********************************
Confidentiality Warning: This e-mail, and any attachments, may contain information which is confidential, proprietary, privileged or otherwise protected by law. The information is solely intended for the named addressee (or a person responsible for delivering it to the addressee). If you are not the intended recipient of this message, you are not authorized to read, print, retain, copy or disseminate this message or any part of it. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and delete it from your computer.

-----Original Message-----
From: STAN YONKAUSKI [mailto:STAN.YONKAUSKI@illinois.gov]
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2007 8:48 AM
To: Mark Donham
Cc: VIRGINIA YANG
Subject: Re: Illinois FOIA

Mr. Donham, the IDNR legal office processes FOIA requests; our FOIA Officer is Virginia Yang. I forwarded your request and she will assure it receives the appropriate attention.

We do have forms that are intended to facilitate the processing of FOIA requests but use of the form is not mandatory. As you likely know, we get numerous requests and a significant number are handwritten; often we are not able to read handwriting or to clearly understand an individuals' request. We found the form helps alleviate misunderstanding.

Stanley Yonkauski
Legal Counsel
Illinois Department of Natural Resources One Natural Resources Way Springfield, Il. 62702-1271
217.782.1809

***********************************
Confidentiality Warning: This e-mail, and any attachments, may contain information which is confidential, proprietary, privileged or otherwise protected by law. The information is solely intended for the named addressee (or a person responsible for delivering it to the addressee). If you are not the intended recipient of this message, you are not authorized to read, print, retain, copy or disseminate this message or any part of it. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and delete it from your computer.

>>> "Mark Donham" 10/12/2007 11:05 AM >>>

Dear Mr. Yonkauski,

I'm not sure if you are still with the DNR, but what the heck, I'm going to try. Yesterday, I emailed Mr. Jim Waycuilis, Superintendent of the Cache River SNA, a FOIA request. It was very direct, is not going to require a huge amount of work, and should have been easy.

Instead, Mr. Waycuilis emails me back and says that in order to submit a FOIA request with the IDNR, it has to be submitted thru a particular online webform only. I responded and asked him to provide me with the statutory and or regulatory cite that contains that requirement. I want to know what the basis of this request is, and why a simple FOIA request can't be submitted by email? Below is the exchange.

What I told Mr. Waycuilis is that I will wait the proper amount of time for a response, and then file an appeal, and we will go from there. I don't believe that the law requires that a FOIA be submitted in any particular fashion, as long as it reasonably described the documents, which my request clearly does.

I look forward to the agency's clarification.

Sincerely,

Mark Donham
RACE
RR # 1, Box 308
Brookport, IL 62910
618-564-3367

-----Original Message-----
From: JIM WAYCUILIS [mailto:JIM.WAYCUILIS@illinois.gov]
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 4:22 PM
To: markkris@earthlink.net
Subject: Re: followup on phone conversation

Mark,
To obtain the information you are requesting, you must file a FOIA request form.

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Donham [mailto:markkris@earthlink.net]
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 11:41 AM
To: 'Jim.waycuilis@illinois.gov'
Subject: followup on phone conversation

Dear Mr. Waycuilis, (Jim)

This is a follow up to our phone conversation yesterday. There are agency records which I would like to obtain.

(1) I have a copy of an email, dated Wed., June 20,2007, 8:55am from Mitch Ingold to you, subject, Re: Flip Book by Citizens Committee. It appears to be a forwarded email from John and Martha Schwegman, Exhibits Committee. I believe that this refers to the exhibits which will be displayed in the Cache River Wetlands Center up north of Sec. 8 Woods on IL 37.

I am seeking information about the Exhibits Committee. Could you please send me a list of all members of that committee, including indicating which are officers. I would like the statutory or regulatory authority to create such a committee, and a copy of the rules under which the committee operates. I also would like copies of the agendas of all of their meetings since the formation of the Committee, and all the minutes.

If you have any questions regarding this request, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Mark Donham
Regional Association of Concerned Environmentalists (RACE) RR # 1, Box 308 Brookport, IL 62910
618-564-3367

-----Original Message-----
From: JIM WAYCUILIS [mailto:JIM.WAYCUILIS@illinois.gov]
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 4:22 PM
To: markkris@earthlink.net
Subject: Re: followup on phone conversation

Mark,
To obtain the information you are requesting, you must file a FOIA request form.
You can obtain this form from the IDNR home page at www.dnr.state.il, then click on FOIA in bottom left, this should give you all the necessary information.
Jim Waycuilis

You can obtain this form from the IDNR home page at www.dnr.state.il, then click on FOIA in bottom left, this should give you all the necessary information.
Jim Waycuilis

>>> "Mark Donham" 10/11/07 11:40 AM >>>
Dear Mr. Waycuilis, (Jim)

This is a follow up to our phone conversation yesterday. There are agency records which I would like to obtain.

(1) I have a copy of an email, dated Wed., June 20,2007, 8:55am from Mitch Ingold to you, subject, Re: Flip Book by Citizens Committee. It appears to be a forwarded email from John and Martha Schwegman, Exhibits Committee.
I
believe that this refers to the exhibits which will be displayed in the Cache River Wetlands Center up north of Sec. 8 Woods on IL 37.

I am seeking information about the Exhibits Committee. Could you please send me a list of all members of that committee, including indicating which are officers. I would like the statutory or regulatory authority to create such a committee, and a copy of the rules under which the committee operates. I also would like copies of the agendas of all of their meetings since the formation of the Committee, and all the minutes.

If you have any questions regarding this request, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Mark Donham
Regional Association of Concerned Environmentalists (RACE) RR # 1, Box 308 Brookport, IL 62910
618-564-3367

Kentucky governor's election

Well, it appears that Steve Beshear has won the governor's election in Kentucky handily. He is the Democrat. I have to say that the Democrats planned perfectly for this. It's just too bad that Ben Chandler, who was running for governor when Patton did his totally disgusting crying confession about his indiscretions with a West Kentucky political floozy. It ruined Chandler's chance to be governor at that time, and opened the door for Fletcher.

But Fletcher was over aggressive in putting his cronies in, and the Dems were waiting for him. It was easy pickins. You would think that a guy who got himself into the governor's office would have been more careful.

But Fletcher wasn't. He got himself into trouble. He opened the door for a grand jury, indictments of him and a bunch of his aides for violating state hiring laws, and then pardoned them all, including himself, before there was even a trial. It was a bad strategy.

So here we come to the campaign. This is where things get weird. Beshear basically comes out in favor of amending the Kentucky constitution to allow casino gambling. Fletcher, who up till then, had been in favor of a referendum on gambling, suddenly came out against it totally.

It's really sad when a campaign comes down to something like this. It's true that neighboring states like Illinois and Indiana are getting revenue from gambling, and that a significant amount of Kentucky money is going there. But gambling isn't any kind of long term fix to any economic problems.

Beshear campaigned on coal. He says "clean coal." But he doesn't have a clue. He says mountain top removal coal mining is OK as long as it's done right. How do you remove the top of a mountain correctly?

We'll see where Beshear takes Kentucky. I don't believe it will be that different than the republicans. But I think it does show that a lot of democrats that went republican in the past are fed up with the republicans. After hearing the pundits, and Ms. Luallen's victory speech, I think Mitch McConnell better worry. The ol' hound dogs are gonna be after him.

Sunday Oct. 21, 2007 Sunday news show

There wasn't anything really earthshaking on the Sunday news shows that I watched.

The most interesting part was an interview with Stephanopolous and Joe Biden on the presidential campaign trail in Iowa. Biden comes off as knowledgable, caring, reasonable, and experienced. However, neither the polls nor the media treat him as a "top tier" candidate. I really don't see that changing, although, as he definitely touts, he is one of the most experienced candidates in foreign policy, and foreign policy is what is eating us up.

But, there is something about him, he kind of comes off as bragging or something, and he talks too much. He made some comments about how he realized as he went through his political years that he was not a Bobby Kennedy. OK, fair enough. But then he went on to say that he had ideas, insinuating that Bobby Kennedy didn't - was only an image. I think those words will come back to hurt him.

Biden made one comment today, though, that made my ears perk up. He said that he believed that the Senate's vote to designate a certain portion of the Iranian army as an official "terrorist" organization was a de facto authorization for Bush to use military force against them. As soon as he said it, I realized that he was right. I hadn't thought of that before. But, it's clear that this president will use any excuse, any thread of justification, any kind of explanation as to why he has the support of the country even when it is clear that he doesn't, to launch some disastrous military action. I think Cheney's comments of this afternoon bear this out.

Hillary and other Dems voted for this. Biden voted against it. You would think that Hillary and the other Dems that voted for it would have learned by now not to give Bush any wiggle room at all, yet they've done it. When Bush launches the attack, they will all be moaning, "that isn't what we thought he's do, he misued the authority!" Deja vue all over again!

Our country is being driven into ruin by the Iraq war. A military action on Iran will be magnitudes worse. How can our elected representatives let a person who wasn't even elected by a majority of the people do this AGAIN to our country?

 

Today, Oct. 2, 07

What a day today was. Everyday gets to be more and more of an amazing phenomenon in our country. I can't believe that Clarence Thomas actually had the gall to hawk his book on national TV, trying to take down Anita Hill while he did. How unbecoming of a Supreme Court justice. But I lost my respect for him when he vote in Bush v. Gore. The 5 justices responsible for putting Bush into office didn't care if everyone that was eligible to vote and wanted to got to vote and had their votes counted. What could be more fundamental to human rights and democracy? Either for a long time to come or forever the upreme Court's authority will be damaged for not sticking up for the rights of the individual voter.

Of course, some members of that court have disdain for the individual. They are on an ivory tower and their vision believes that lowly individual citizens as a rule shouldn't be able to take their grievances thru the judicial branch. They can find all kinds of ways, including amending the constitution while at the same time letting themselves be known as "strict constructionist," to keep individuals out of the judicial branch, even though the constitution opens the door for individual citizens to have access to the judicial branch.

I heard and saw some of the interviews of Thomas on the mainstream media. He seemed angry, almost incapable of controlling himself. And his trashing of Anita Hill was so lowdown. It saddens me that such a man with such strong feelings about such key subjects is on the Supreme Court. There is no way that he is looking at a lot of cases with an open mind.
_______________________

But it was very ironic that it was today that the jury in the Isiah Thomas case found that sexual harassment had occurred. This was the highest profile black on black sexual harassment case since the Thomas/Hill controversy. Of course that case never went to a jury, but this one did. And look what happened. Talk about bad timing for Thomas. I bet he hopes this case comes to the Supreme Court so he (and the other 8 men out of 9 on the court) can overturn it.

Besides, even without this, Anita Hill, in her interviews, was calm, confident, but not the angry, overconfident jerk that Thomas was. Thomas may feel he got some overdue jabs in at Hill, all in all, it backfired on him and his legacy as not much more than a hard to believe irony has only been solidified. That he was the African American to take the place of Thurgood Marshall is the ultimate irony.
_________________________________

As far as the Blackwater head tesifying before Congress today, I just can hardly believe that our government is actually allowing, no not just allowing, but funding and using, private, mercenary soldiers to help fight our war in Iraq. If the war itself isn't bad enough, we have that on our conscience? Oh, I forgot, most Americans don't have a conscience when it comes to war. The entire Iraq thing just casts a pall across our nation. It's nearly impossible to be really happy. We need to end this war right now.

Sunday News Shows, Sept. 17, 07

Today the Sunday news shows were full of discussion on the heels of Bush's speech this week about Iraq. I listened to his speech. I have a really hard time listening to the dude...he just comes off as...well...dishonest...and he's mean spirited and his vision of the U.S. is so far from my vision that we just can't relate to him. Nevertheless, we do our civic duty and listen to him when he makes a national speech.

It blows my mind that a guy that barely became President....didn't get a majority of the popular vote his initial election...got inserted in a controversial decision by the Supreme Court in which 5 justices felt that it was more important to get a Republican president than to make sure everyone that deserved to vote and wanted to had a chance, and that all of those votes were fairly counted...acts like he's king of the universe or something.

Now let me get this straight....Bush had an agenda....he wanted to get rid of Saddam....but he knew that the country wouldn't just accept a war just for the reason of getting rid of Saddam. Afterall, not only was Saddam a former ally in fighting Iran and helping to keep Iraq together, but there are a lot of other unelected military dictators out there, like our "buddy" Musharref, who are just as bad if not worse than Saddam, and we weren't talking at all about invading those countries just to get rid of a bad dictator.

So...Bush and his cronies had to concoct a problem to which toppling Saddam would be the answer. The most convenient one was that Saddam had "weapons of mass destruction." We now know that Bush and his administration knew that this wasn't true from the beginning. Oh sure, the big time media acts like it was a big surprise, but talk to Scott Ritter, former head of the U.N. weapons inspection team in Iraq. I've heard him speak twice. It is clear that the information was out there that Saddam and Iraq had destroyed their WMD after the first Gulf war.

But, the mainstream media, in cooperation with the administration, acted, and still act, like everyone was sure that Saddam still had WMD. That was the problem that they created that an overthrow of Saddam would solve. Too bad it wasn't true.

So we have an administration that wanted to take the most extreme action that a nation could take - invading another country militarily - but knew that it couldn't get the country behind a war unless there was a really good reason. So, the reason is concocted...but eventually, although way too late to stop it, it is learned that it was a lie. In the meantime, the invasion is causing all kinds of unforeseen problems. Bush and his cronies, desperate to shake the political costs of this huge lie, now shift the reason for the invasion. Now they are saying that the invasion is to block the influx of "terrorists" into Iraq - something that their boo boo created, but which was never stated as the original reason for the invasion.

Now let's get this straight. They wanted to do something - invade Iraq. So they created a problem that invading Iraq would solve. That problem turned out to be a non problem, and the cost of inflicting the "solution" to a non problem was that it created a whole lot of new problems. Now, all of a sudden, the invasion, which was supposed to have solved the original problem which didn't exist, now is supposedly solving these problems that it caused but didn't exist before, therefore is totally justified.

So what are the Democrats doing about it? Not much. One of the first things Pelosi did when she became Speaker was to rule out impeachment. That was a huge mistake. They all fret that they can't cut off funding because the Republicans will run TV ads saying they abandoned the troops. The big lie about the "surge" and "success" has crept into the mainstream media, and now, with the Republicans saying that the Democrats are "surrendering" the fearful Dems are again cowering in fear behind the tree not knowing what to do. In the meantime, too much death and destruction continues, both to our own and to Iraqis.

After Bush's speech, a number of major newspapers across the country have bemoaned the fact that we are in a quagmire in Iraq - a bad situation that we can't seem to find a way to get out of. If that is the case, if all these great and intelligent people that run our country, that run our media, that run our military can't do any better but just keep on doing the same stupid, dishonest things that we have been doing for the last 4 or 5 years, then our country is bankrupt intellectually, morally, militarily, and probably economically.

Maybe it true that the Dems, who seem to be moving toward accepting a large number of "residual troops" in Iraq for the foreseeable future in order to avoid being labelled as waving the white flag, and the Republicans, who are accepting some withdrawl as long as it isn't complete withdrawl, will merge into some awful strategy of long term occupation in order to protect our oil interests there and that the war won't be a major issue in the 08 election. I suppose that if that becomes the truth, it still will favor the Dems, because then the issues become issues like health care, social security, the deficit, global warming, and other issues that generally the public believes the Dems are better at addressing. But with the Dems, sans a voice like Cynthia McKinney, being such milktoast leaders, it reminds me of the old saying, "with friends like these, who needs enemies?"

Performing at Bluebird Cafe

We don’t live too far from Nashville. Although We are rural people, and not inclined to love cities, we do like a lot about Nashville. For one thing, it isn’t monstrously big like Chicago, and for two, it truly is Music City. When you got to Nashville, your waitress, your checkout person at the store, even your street person, are probably thinking about writing a hit song. And, you never know where you may encounter a star - in the same restaurant, walking down the street, shopping. There’s an excitement in the air about it all that isn’t in other cities. We like it because we love music so much.

Nashville has it’s special music venues. Of course, the Grand Ol’ Opry is the most famous. And it should be. We prefer to see it at the Ryman, it’s original venue. But even at the new Opry, it’s an awesome show. I dare to say that there isn’t any other music show for the price anywhere on earth where you can see the number and stature of music stars in one night. For anyone that is a country music fan, a trip to Nashville at least once to see the Opry should be a must.

But other than that, there are some famous clubs. One of the most famous is the Bluebird Café. www.bluebirdcafe.com The Bluebird Café is the home of the venue for the best songwriters in Nashville - stars, up and coming, and wannabes. The songwriting stars, like Don Schlitz, who penned “The Gambler” play the prime times - Saturday night, etc. But there are times set aside for the new songwriters. The main venue for new songwriters is the Sunday night songwriter’s showcase. The main way you get to perform on the Sunday night songwriter’s showcase is to audition. You get the opportunity to audition by jumping thru some hoops when the club announces the dates of their auditions, which they hold twice a year. I was lucky to jump thru those hoops earlier this year and get to audition.

The audition was early February. One had to be there by 9:30am, but I got there at 8:30. Already, 17 acts were in line. It was 20 degrees outside. By the end of the line standing, which lasted an hour or more, there were about 90 acts from across the country waiting to audition. I ended up being number 14, because a few of those in line in front of me couldn’t take the cold and left.

When you audition for the Sunday night songwriter’s showcase, you get to play one verse and one chorus of one song. That usually is about one minute. That’s not a lot. They are looking for a tight song structure. I went up there when called and played my verse and chorus. I didn’t make any huge mistakes, but I had no idea how I did. You just can’t tell when you are performing how good you are doing, and since this was a crowd of people competing with you, sure, they applauded, but the applause was obligatory and the same for everyone. I had no idea how I did.

When Kristi came and picked me up afterward, I got in the car and said, “I’ll drop dead if I get picked.” Well, fortunately, although I did get picked, I didn’t drop dead! About two weeks later, I got a letter telling that I would be performing in September - September 2 to be exact - to be more exact, last Sunday.

If you want a table for the Sunday night show, you better be in line by 5:30pm. The doors open at 6. If you are lucky enough to get a table, by the time you get your drinks ordered, the 6:30 showcase will have started. That’s a nice, 45 minute show of some performer that is up and coming in Nashville. Then there is a 45 minute break, and promptly at 8 the songwriters showcase starts.

Each songwriter gets to play 3 original songs. There are 8 new writers, and one professional writer that ends the show. I don’t know how they choose the order, but I got picked to perform in the number 8 slot. So we sat there for a couple hours listening to really good songwriters perform their songs. Just enough time to think about it over and over. Finally, though, my time came.

My good friend and neighbor, and fellow “Groove Daddy” Craig Rhodes, had come with me to back me up with harmonica and background vocals. We got up on stage, got mics and such adjusted. I introduced the first song, called “Had to See You Again,” a sort of Everly Bros. genre tune, and away we went. Next thing I remember, we were walking off stage. I didn’t remember any big mistakes, which made me happy, but I couldn’t remember a lot about the details of the performance. I just know that our three songs were short, up tempo, and went fast. The place was completely packed with people. Even after listening to 7 songwriters, they still listened intently to my songs, and they responded well, I thought. But as I walked off stage, I had no real idea how good I had done.

The Bluebird had provided some written guidance to those that had been picked in the audition as to how to handle the evening and the aftermath. One of the things that had been written was that you could call back that week and see if they would give you another date. I was very nervous, but I called back. They gave me another date - March 23, Easter weekend of next year. That was their first open date. I took it. So, anxiously, I’ll be back at the Bluebird in March. I’m looking forward to it. It’s an adrenalin rush that is unlike any others I ever experienced performing. That stage has been performed on by so many great songwriters, you have an obligation to give it your best and be humble about it.

One thing about going to Nashville for the purpose of performing is that I always end up feeling small. There are a lot of very very talented people out there, and I’m just one of many. It isn’t bad to feel small in that way. It should help to keep you humble, keep you focused. To me that is the lesson of Nashville. Although I am rural based, that is one city that has gotten my attention.

August 27, 2007: Ding Dong, Gonzales is gone!

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned today. Why today after so many calls for his resignation? I think, combined with the Rove resignation, that they know that the "other shoe is going to drop" with regard to one or another of the investigations that is closing in on them.

The thing that you had to shake your head about with Gonzales is his failed memory on very important meetings that he had. Hey listen, if Al had been at a party in college, which probably was over 30 years ago, and in a side room someone was smoking pot, and he can't remember anything about that, ok, I give that one to him. But come on, he's saying he can't remember really important meetings he had with big shot people talking about really important things? Meetings that most everyone there can remember? That boggles the mind.

Of course, the "I don't recall" excuse has become the dodge de jour of the neocon class. They wouldn't know the truth if it bit them in the ass. I honestly believe that Bush thinks that it is justified for him to tell the people any old lame thing as long as it keeps them from the truth. Afterall, why should we be burdened with what is really going on? Never mind that we are giving these guys many thousands of dollars a year in taxes.

Good riddance Alberto. You lost your credibility a long time ago. Why you stayed this long is amazing. You are nothing more than a political hack. But it isn't just the department of justice that has gone awry. It's about all of the executive branch agencies. They have decided that they hate the people, know better than anyone else what has to be done, and is going to force their opinion on the public no matter what dirty tricks they have to play? Sound like your home town? I bet. It's going around!

August 26,2007

I just got home from watching Michael Moore's "Sicko" documentary. Michael Moore, as a character in his own movies, isn't my favorite character. His brand of sarcasm and his physical appearance doesn't jive that well with what really gets me going. Nevertheless, he usually hits the nail on the head with the content of his documentaries, and this one is no exception.

While the media has focused on the fact that the film is mostly about the health industry, which, I agree with him is a national disgrace, the film is about much more than that. It is about how this country has become one where big corporations' profits come first and not the welfare of the individual.

As the film points out, that is not the overall attitude of many other countries, including countries that are our strong allies, like Canada, England, and France. It's embarassing to see how poorly we as a nation care for our own, even one's that have served the national interest heroically. But, it isn't a surprise to me. The corporations have had this country by the scruff of the neck for a long time.
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The news talking head shows today were talking a lot about Iraq. There is a huge push by the corporate establishment to whip up support for the war in Iraq. I hope the American people aren't dumb enough not to see this for what it is - an overall corporate push to keep the gravy train going in Iraq. Again, it's a perfect example of what Mr. Moore was pointing out - that as long as the corporations can keep the money flowing in, there is little concern for specific individual's welfare.

If you read a lot of stories about what is going on in Iraq like I do, it seems like what is going on is that we have a very heavy handed military crackdown going on in and around certain areas of Iraq. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been rounded up and put into detention as a result of the surge, at least the accounts I have read and heard. Maybe there is "stability" for the moment in certain areas, but do we think that we can sustain that indefinitely? When you kill people, or detain them, you create ill-will, which will always come back to haunt you. I don't believe we can kill our way to peace. There has been strong pressure to end the war for several years now. Let's hope that the people don't submit to the corporate propoganda campaign and get soft on forcing an end to this stupid, unjustified, and expensive war.

But, for many months the military pundits in the media have been saying that when this next round of extended duty assignments is over, that the surge is over. This is going to happen over the next several months. Whether we want to admit it or not, this so-called "surge" is putting our legitimate national defense needs at risk, and real military people, even ones that are true blue and will follow faithfully the orders of the civilian leadership, won't let that condition go too far before they start objecting - not necessarily in the papers, but they will find ways. But, ending the surge and getting all the troops out of Iraq are two different things, and we need to keep pushing to get all the troops home. Some "reductions" and "redeployments" will not end the war and the killing. It will only change the way the war is fought.

Wednesday, August 22, 07

Mitch McConnell, yeah the one that is minority leader of the U.S. Senate was in Paducah today speaking at the Rotary club, which meets every Wednesday in Paducah at the Hotel Irwin Cobb. You can always tell cause there's a lot of suits around the Irwin Cobb on Wednesday around noon.

From what i gather, McConnell stated that there isn't any wind in Kentucky, so no need for wind power. He apparently said, not only is there no good place for wind power in Kentucky, he said that they are ugly to boot! So Kentuckians don't have to worry about those nasty ol' wind generators in their state!
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The media is sure trying to create a fight between Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama. Just recently, NBC's Andrea Mitchell, the wife of former Federal Reserve "guru" Alan Greenspan, (just to put it all in context), who only does what appears to be her pick of the crop of stories for NBC anymore, had a spot about whether or not some statements that Michelle Obama was making was actually an attack on Hillary.

Notwithstanding the fact that I would think that Ms. Mitchell would have better stories to do, it is interesting that NBC would use one of it's "big hitters" to stir this up, when really, there isn't that much to stir. At least Mitchell did, at the end of her spot, play enough of Michelle Obama's speech to put it in context of being a self critique and not an attack on Hillary Clinton. I guess the media is obsessed with conflict.

Newt Gingrich has predicted that the Dems will nominate a Clinton/Obama ticket. I've already, on the Stumps email list, predicted that Obama will get the nomination, although I stated then and now that this isn't an endorsement of Obama. It's just that I watched how he ran a campaign in Illinois against really good candidates and came out of nowhere to blow away the opposition. A few months ago, I saw the same things falling into place for Obama, but it seems to have been more difficult for him to move things on a national level. I guess that shouldn't be surprising.

I still think that it is way too early to tell, especially based on national polls. Most of the talking heads agree with that assessment. But, there is no doubt that Hillary is running a good campaign. But even though it appears that media has crowned the Clinton/Obama campaigns as he ultimate election conflict, and is doing it's best to push things toward a Clinton/Obama or Obama/Clinton ticket, I'm not sure that this is what will come to pass. I think it is possible, but honestly, I think that each of the candidates will want to have their person as a running mate, and after running so hard against each other, I'm just not sure that their first picks would be each other. But, I am never disappointed by the truth of the old axiom that politics makes strange bedfellows. Isn't it going to be fun to watch?
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Can you believe that Illinois still doesn't have a budget? Now this is a textbook case of "with friends like this, who needs enemies?" The Dems had a long time without Republican interference to come up with a budget and couldn't do it. Now that the Reps are in the process, things haven't gotten any better. We have Madigan and Blago, both of the same party, both from the Chicago area, and neither able to work with the other. One thing that we can be pretty sure of and that is, when a budget is agreed on, it will be piss poor.
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It is so hot and dry here, it's very extreme. While it's been this dry a few times in the 27 years we have lived here, I think this is the driest it's been in mid August. I mean, you just walk on grass anywhere, and it just crunches, it's so dry. It's been 100 degrees or close for almost 3 weeks now, and we haven't had a good rain for much longer than that. We're having to water our garden, or at least what is left of it, just to keep it going on the hopes of some fall rains. It's very serious. So send us some rain!

Democratic Debate yesterday on ABC

Kristi and I watched the Democratic debate yesterday on George Stephanopolous' show on ABC. It was interesting. Kristi and I are regular viewers of Steph's show. We only get network, antenna TV at our place. But, being on top of a ridge in a strategic location, we are fortunate to be able to receive on our rabbit ears, WPSD, the NBC affiliate out of Paducah, Kentucky (Paxton media, yuck), WSIL, which is the ABC affiliate out of Carterville, Illinois (I don't know as much about those that own this station), KFVS, the CBS affiliate out of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and KET out of Murray, Kentucky. Also, out of Paducah there is Channel 49, which used to be UPN, but I can't remember who it is now. But, they show Judge Judy, so that is good. Then, there is a Fox station out of Cape Girardeau, but sometimes it doesn't come in too good. On certain days we can get Nashville, TN, or Evansville, IN.

On Sunday mornings, we watch Chris Matthews at 6:30 am on WPSD, the Meet the Press at 8 am on the same station. Then, at 9:30 am is Face the Nation on KFVS, and at 10:30 is Stephanopolous on WSIL. This week, Steph's show was the Democratic presidential debate. A couple weeks ago, it was the Republicans. That was awful. The Democratic debate was only a little better.

Our first comment was that Dennis Kucinich, regardless of how you feel about his positions, and we happen to like them very much, got less time than anyone else. Geez, is that what the Dems have come to?

I like Hillary, really. I think she's pretty awesome. She's a fellow Illinoisan, and she is not that far from my age. Yeah, she grew up in the suburban thing, but who can pick where they grow up? I'll probably vote for Hillary if she gets the nomination, unless a Ralph Nader or Cynthia McKinney runs against her, but I won't relish it. She voted for the war. She's totally system. In that regard, Obama is right. I like Obama too. But, he's from my home state, and so I have a little insight into how he does things.

I like Edwards, but geez, a guy that is so bright should have seen the 400 dollar haircut coming. He'll never get over that. It's kinda a shame. But, he will make a good cabinet secretary.

Bill Richardson is really a good guy all in all. I have an experience with him. When I was chair of the Citizen's Advisory Board for the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Dept. of Energy cleanup operations, nationwide stories broke in major media about how workers had been exposed to plutonium but never told. Richardson was Sec. of Energy. He made several trips to Paducah. During one of the trips, he made a speech to hundreds of "community leaders" in Paducah, and apologized to the workers on behalf of the government. He also met with the CAB officers. Since I was chair, I sat right next to him. This is documented in minutes of the meeting, which, at one point were posted on the Paducah CAB's website. I doubt if they still are. That CAB has been corrupted.

But Kucinich is the one candidate that actually had a vote in congress on Iraq and voted the right way. All the rest of the candidates, house and senate, that had votes, voted wrong. Sure, Obama did speak out against it, but he wasn't faced with the same pressure of having a vote.

We both thought that the debate was disserved by cutting Kucinich out, which was obvious. He even made a joke in a question about prayer, when he said, in the one liner winner of the night, "George, I've just been standing up here praying that you would call on me." Even Steph had to laugh. But there is a serious side behind all of this.

That serious side is that our society tries to crush the minority movements. In our society, 50% plus one wins everything. In many of the most democratic countries, voting is set up so that minorities have a place in the system. It forces near majority parties to make compromises to some minorities to build governing coalitions. This is a much superior system.

It's time the US gets off it's high horse and quits bragging about how we're the best at everything. We aren't. We have more nuclear weapons than anyone else, but that's about it. On all of the major quality of life issues, we lag far behind. But what candidate is talking honestly about the US and where we are in the eyes of the world? Not many, if any. We're going to be watching very carefully in the months to come, and we likely will support the Democratic candidate. But don't take us for granted. Don't try to run over us like we don't exist. You might come to regret that.