Poor Turd Blossom, so Misunderstood…

What we want to know is, is it true right-wing Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch is getting Rove’s column in the Wall Street Journal sans pay, as well as his appearances on Fox News? If so, he’s hardly qualified to call himself a professional writer, as he tends to do these days in a way that totally hides his still active clandestine role in manipulating events — through the many government employees hired during the Bush years still on the job.

If Murdoch is actually paying Rove something, perhaps the publisher should start holding him to the same standards other columnists must meet, like accuracy and truthfulness.

I’m convinced Karl Rove spent his entire juvenile years sitting in front of a mirror figuring out how to lie — without sounding like he’s lying — by twisting the meaning of words to the breaking point. He seems completely unable to utter one sentence that does not contain some kind of a twist on the facts.

Next time he faces Congress, this time in a public televised hearing, would somebody please ask him a simple question to see if he can manage it? I don’t care what it is, maybe: “What color is your shirt today?”

See if he can do it? I suspect he can’t. He would say something like:

“Well, it could be white, but it might be ivory or pearl, or…”

Guest Column
by Rep. John Conyers

In the Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove says that I — and others — owe him an apology for allegations that have been made about him during the course of the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation into the dismissal of United States Attorneys and related issues about the politicization of the Department of Justice.

Mr. Rove’s self-serving assertions on this subject are simply inconsistent with the documents that the Judiciary Committee recently released and his claims have been discredited by the analysis of the documents and reporting on these matters by credible news outlets across the country. Anyone interested in the truth can read the documents for themselves (here) or the reporting on these matters from the top papers in the U.S. — The Washington Post (here) and The New York Times (here) — as well as alternative, independent news sites such as The Locust Fork News-Journal (here).

Mr. Rove’s points are largely a repeat of his prior discredited statements, and the purpose of this post is not to rehash Mr. Rove’s rehash.

What may be of broader interest is the apparent editorial decision of the Wall Street Journal to prominently feature Mr. Rove’s self-serving assertions in its editorial pages, while burying and redacting the original story documenting the facts contained in these documents in the news pages.

Read the rest of this entry »

As expected, the Birmingham Water Works Board ratified the recommendation of the executive committee from Wednesday’s vote and approved selling the controversial 3,200 acres on the Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River to Tuscaloosa T-shirt salesman and religious sloganeer Jeffrey Todd Palmer for $5 million.

According to sources at the meeting, Palmer will pay $4.5 million to the water works and donate $500,000 to the H20 Foundation, a charitable Salvation Army program which helps low income and indigent customers pay their water bills.

See the full details of the deal in our story from Wednesday under the headline:

Water Works Committee Votes to Sell to Highest Bidder

[Water Works press release on the comments below]

Black Warrior Riverkeeper Nelson Brooke said in a release that he was glad to see Palmer pledge not to strip mine, clearcut, form a landfill or dump hazardous waste on the land, and to consider placing some of the land under a conservation easement as well as leaving 50-feet of tree-lined buffers along streams on the property.

Brooke thanked the members of the public who made calls and showed up to put the public pressure on the water works board to conserve the land.

“The BWWB finally took action to at least call for the above measures to be included in the closing contract. The majority of the BWWB members had primarily money in mind, but thanks goes to the two newest members of the board, Sherry Lewis and Jackie Robinson, for pushing the issue,” he said. “I look forward to meeting Mr. Palmer and hope he will do right by the river.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Guest Column
by a Coal Miner’s Sister

ROSA, Ala. — There’s lots of rumbling on the mountain these days – down in the valleys, too. Rumor has it that after 40 years, coal mining’s coming back to our community. Neighbors everywhere are fired up – good fired up, bad fired up, scared fired up, mad fired up.

Seems the big question everyone is asking first is: how does this affect me personally? And the next question: how does it affect our community? What’s worst case? No one can know for sure, but we can surely learn from others who have been there.

Someone said recently that people want to know more about coal mining, and asked me to share what I know. I’m no expert, but I am a coal miner’s sister, by law — and one of my best friends is a coal miner’s sister by blood. It’s been an intimate way of life for their whole family. So I’ll share what I’ve seen, heard, and read. Maybe it will help folks decide for themselves what coal mining means, up close and personal.

Read the rest of this entry »