“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”
- Thomas Paine, 1776

Under the Microscope
by Glynn Wilson

I’m wondering if Thomas Paine ever took a break from the Revolution to enjoy nature, maybe go fishing.

To tell you the truth, I would rather be sitting by a river or a creek watching the birds and maybe snapping some pictures than having to re-fight the American Revolution.

So yesterday, when the e-mail messages slowed down and the phone stopped ringing, that’s what I did.

I picked up a friend and photographer and we rode over to Turkey Creek, the only habitat in the world for the vermilion darter.

Photo by Glynn Wilson

A yellow-crowned night heron fishing

One good thing about Turkey Creek is that it is only a few miles from where I live. Another is that it is not visited by that many people, so it is easy to find a rock along the creek to sit on and rest your feet in the cool water and not have to listen to other people talk. And, you don’t have to hike for miles in the summer heat and humidity into the outback to find that spot and contemplate your historical connection to this land that goes back much further than the Europeans who invaded this place 400 years or so ago.

But alas, here I sit back in front of this bank of computer monitors reading the good and bad journalism from the American press online.

And I’m wondering a couple of things. Maybe you have been asking yourself questions about this too.

Why is it that a New York attorney who spent summers in Alabama as a kid visiting his grandparents shows more knowledge, wisdom and understanding of this place than all of the newspaper reporters combined who have lived and worked here for many years, some of them all their lives?

Scott Horton, who writes a blog column on the Harper’s magazine Website, has done his best to come to the rescue of oppressed people in this dog forsaken state.

But the daily newspaper and wire service reporters and editorial writers here, with a few notable exceptions, continue to crank out the most asinine blathering bullshit ever seen in American journalism.

This seems to confound the editors at national news organizations such as the New York Times. Although if they had studied their press history, they would realize that Alabama newspapers have long been the bastion of corrupt, corporate obfuscation. Remember, “Big” Jim Folsom called the Birmingham News the paper of the “big mules,” or the industrial interests.

You would think that after all this time, things would change even in hidebound Alabama, a place Neil Young described as well as any American artist ever has in a song published in 1972 – the same year George Bush Jr. came to Montgomery to party his way into Republican Party politics.

I have written many times in this space that there are many mysteries in life, and maybe the dog shit that passes for journalism around here is one of those mysteries. Or maybe not.

I know the reporters on the ground think they are working hard and trying to get at the facts. They would never admit to being manipulated by their corporate, Republican bosses. But when your main interest in life is keeping a job writing for a newspaper and hoping to make it to retirement before the entire print journalism industry collapses, what is a local newspaper reporter to do?

Loyal Bush Republicans control the machinery of this state like no other, and don’t give me any lip about all the Democrats in the Alabama Legislature. They are Republocrats at best. And they may be part of the reason the press in Alabama hates Democrats and clings to Republican Governor Bob Riley – who does not bait the races, make fun of Charles Darwin or get drunk and screw around on his wife, at least not in public.

But you would think that with all their liberal education and their love of America, the First Amendment and the concept of freedom, at some point they would find a way to stand up for truth and justice - at least a little bit.

Maybe in their heart of hearts, somehow they really think the Republican Party, George Bush and Bob Riley stand for freedom – or maybe they just think the Republicans are more macho than the Democrats when it comes to standing up to terrorists who would threaten our security. Maybe when they sit down to dinner with their families in their little pink houses they would rather be safe than free.

Hey, I can understand that. Something inside of me would like to find a safe little job and a safe place to live too. One side of me says “let the politicians run the world; I would rather be photographing the birds.”

But there is another side of me that chomps at the bit when I see anybody, Democrat or Republican, handcuffed and shackled and hauled off to jail - after a trial that on the face of it was manipulated from Washington and conducted unfairly by local prosecutors and a judge who seem to have no regard for any Constitutional oath or sense of right and wrong.

Maybe some of those reporters hated Richard Scrushy so bad that it does not matter to them if he got a fair trial or not. As long as he is in jail, they must say to their friends away from the newspaper, all is right with the world.

Maybe the reporters in this state believed all the rumors about Don Siegelman, even though none of them have been able to substantiate any of them, and so they have no place in their hearts to mourn the complete lack of justice in this case. Or maybe they are all a bunch of Republican religious nuts who believe justice is divine.

Of all the people I have had dealings with in my native state - since moving back here a few years ago after years of being away – Jill Simpson seems to be the only person here who actually believes in justice. She is a religious Republican too, but she will not stand by and allow justice to be subverted for political purposes. She has suffered numerous slanders in the local press since she decided to try and shine the spotlight of justice on the corrupt prosecution of Siegelman and Scrushy perpetrated in Montgomery.

While I would rather be off communing with the birds and listening to the sound of water over rocks from the depths of time, I know an injustice when I see one. And if fighting against injustice is not the job of a journalist, what is?

No true journalist can sit idly by and watch his state and country sullied beyond recognition by the likes of the corrupt forces who now run this state and country.

Will those safe little jobs be worth it when the world comes crashing to an end because some terrorist gets his hand on a nuclear bomb, or global warming is allowed to continue unabated and the seas begin to rise?

When the shit goes down, I will still be over here on the Web Press fighting for truth, justice and freedom. Will you?
***
Meanwhile, Jill Simpson issued a press release today. The full text is reprinted below:

Truth is marching on. I will not allow Middle District U.S. Attorneys Laura Canary or Louis Franklin to deter me from testifying before Congress.

Initially, I was shocked to read the false and gross distortions issued in a press release by Middle District U.S. Attorneys Laura Canary and her assistant Louis Franklin regarding my role in the controversy surrounding the Don Siegelman/Richard Scrushy prosecution.

It is my understanding that it is a violation of the ethical rules governing prosecutorial conduct to issue this type of press release when a case is still pending in the courts. I want the citizens to be aware that prosecutors are supposed to be “shepherds of justice”. When a government attorney with enormous resources at their disposal abuses power and ignores ethical standards he and she not only undermine public trust but inflict damage beyond calculation to a system of justice. This alone should compel the responsible and ethical exercise of this power.

However, these individuals appear to be ignoring this duty. It has been suggested in recent reporting that I am a Democrat, when I can verify that I have been a long-time Republican and worked in Governor Bob Riley’s campaign for Governor. There have been reports insinuating that I am an attorney for Mr. Scrushy, which is false. I have never been retained by, nor have I ever received any monies from, Don Siegelman or Richard Scrushy.

I will quote my grandfather, who told me as a young girl that only, “a hit dog hollers.” I knew when I decided to get involved in this matter that the Riley people would come after me but I am a strong person and I will continue to tell the truth.

When I first got involved in this matter on the Republican side of the fence, I was shocked and sickened to learn of the U.S. Department of Justice’s selective prosecution of Democrats, including former Governor Don Siegelman. I have a legal duty as a licensed attorney in Alabama to report anything that I consider to be unethical or illegal, when I obtain knowledge of same. Over a period of months I received legal advice regarding my ethical duty from a prominent Montgomery attorney, the Alabama Bar Association and a Circuit Judge in DeKalb County, where I primarily practice law.

Mrs. Canary and Mr. Franklin are attacking me personally in an attempt to throw up road-blocks so the truth will not be shown to the public. I will once again state, I am looking forward to raise my hand to God under oath and to testify to these matters recently revealed. I assume that all of the others involved in this horrible travesty of justice, including Mrs. Canary and Mr. Franklin, will be willing to do the same.

One of my favorite verses from the patriotic “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” promises “His truth is marching on.” I hope that it will march to Washington, D.C., for a fair and thorough investigation.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 20th, 2007 at 10:54 am and is filed under Under the Microscope II. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.