Al Gore Saves the Planet!

He's on a renewed campaign to save the planet. The Democratic Party, however, is on it's own. At least for now. Big Al has bigger fish to fry. In this interview with Leslie Stahl on CBS's 60 Minutes, Al, for the 100th time tells the media he's through with politics, and doesn't see himself running for President again. He's still an uncommitted superdelegate and won't say who he's for in the Democratic Primary. More importantly, he and Tipper have donated all the profits from An Inconvenient Truth and his Nobel Peace Prize toward an advertising campaign to stress the importance of doing something now about Global Warming.

If you listen carefully, it's an almost political answer when asked to confirm what one of his lawyers said about the Supreme Court's Decision regarding the 2000 election. He says "it doesn't feel right" to ascribe political motives to the five judges in the majority. I leave you to draw your own conclusion. One of the best quotes of the interview, he chuckles when Stahl tells him that one of the people who don't believe humans are the cause of global warming is the current Vice-President. He asks, "Dick Cheney?" And then goes on to say:

"I think that those people are in such a tiny, tiny minority now with their point of view. They’re almost like the ones who still believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona and those who believe the earth is flat. That demeans them a little bit, but it’s not that far off."

I'm glad he's saving the planet, but it's too bad we don't have an Al Gore helping to save the Democratic Party from itself. Maybe things will work out and he won't be needed, and that's a good thing because he's busy.

Help Speak Out for Don Siegelman

A post at the blog at-Largely.com is targeting attacks by the Birmingham News on Don Siegelman, the unfairly indicted former Alabama Governor. I should make a practice of calling him what he his, because he is in effect a political prisoner of the Bush Administration. If you agree with the post, they are asking that you email or call the Birmingham News and let them know how many people know and care about this case of injustice. I plan to write them now.

-Fight the powers.

Rove Holds Up "Free Don Siegelman" Banner

A pretty gutsy gotcha by Bradblog contributor Alan Breslauer. Rove denies the allegations made by Dana Jill Simpson Sunday on CBS' 60 Minutes. Hit the Bradblog link to hear what he says. In denying the allegations Rove says "I'm a myth." And, "Anything you can't explain, blame on Rove." I'd like to see him use the myth defense before congress.

More on Don Siegelman, Cuba, Castro and Irony

The video above is from a 2004 interview with former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman discussing irregularities in vote counts when he ran for re-election. A few posts back I wrote about new revelations regarding Siegelman's conviction on bribery charges being featured on 60 minutes Sunday. About how Republican lawyer Jill Simpson admitted doing "opposition research" for Karl Rove to catch Siegelman in a compromising position.

A few days ago I posted this video about the irony of George Bush scolding the Castro brothers for holding unfair elections. If it turns out that Rove and his minions through the US Attorney's office targeted Siegelman with a politically motivated prosecution, convicting him on trumped up charges, we will have another irony to add to the list. George Bush will have what amounts to a political prisoner.

With regard to Cuba and Fidel Castro what we'll have is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. And one more way that the Bush administration has sullied the reputation of the US in the eyes of the world, by doing the kinds of things I learned in Civics class in High School only happened in Communist countries and under dictatorships. But then I never really bought a good portion of the crap they taught us in Civics as we fought an unjust war in Vietnam and beat down peaceful student protesters and civil rights marchers.

Is that why we shouldn't do things like torture prisoners or spy on our citizens? So that when we lecture Communists, dictators, terrorists, and militant religious extremists about it, we don't look like total hypocrites? I was probably absent when they taught that in Civics class. There is a second part to the video above on Youtube. The video below is an interview of a lawyer supporting Siegelman and outlines what was wrong with his prosecution. It is also in several parts. Click on either video to see them on Youtube and see the additional videos.

-Fight the powers.