Times Out
by Dan Rutledge

Their styles are certainly different, but they are both winners and know how to teach others to be winners, too.

Talking about Alabama coaching legend Bear Bryant and Nick Saban.

Ever since The Bear left Tuscaloosa, the Bama Nation has been searching in vain for someone to take his place. But no one — up to now — has been able to fill his shoes.

It appears that current coach Saban may be the one.

To have his Crimson Tide in the No. 2 spot in the land and undefeated at the halfway point of the season in just his second year at the helm is a good start and a good omen for Tide faithful. And as a faithful Tide watcher for the past half century plus and a faithful watcher of the weekly Bear Bryant Show when it was on the tube, I can say Saban reminds me of Bryant.

Although Saban doesn’t do it with the same down-home phrases and doesn’t mumble, their approach is similar. Bear used to downplay his own team’s abilities and play up the upcoming opponent. Each week, to hear the Bear tell it, the week’s opponent was so good that it could probably win in the NFL and his “skinny little boys” would be lucky to stay on the field with them. Saban does it more directly, but his aim is the same — to remind his players that in football, anything can happen and just because you won last week doesn’t mean you will win this week, especially if you are overconfident or do not respect your opponent.

Bear, like Saban, believed in playing every play as if it was the last play of the game and never letting up, no matter how far you are ahead. Alabama’s problem over the past few seasons, and the past few coaches, has been that when it got a big lead, the players would get the big head and assume they had the game won.

And anyone who knows anything about team sports and the place Big Mo (momentum) has it deciding a game knows that letting up, relaxing, playing at less than full speed and less than full intensity will usually spell disaster. Big Mo is famous for changing sides during a game — and once he’s on the other side, it’s often hard to coax him back to your side. In other words, once you let that intensity slack up, you often can’t get it back.

As Dave Mason (an old rock and roller: you can see him with Willie Nelson and others at the upcoming Farm Aid concert) put it in a song: “You can lose it and it won’t come back at all.”

So, don’t look for a big letdown from Bama when they entertain Kentucky this week.

It won’t be as hard for Saban to convince his players to stay focused and regard the Wildcats as a threat as it was last year when Louisiana-Monroe was coming in. Kentucky is, after all, an SEC team and an SEC team that has been improving in recent years and will be coming into Tuscaloosa undefeated (4-0) and bringing the nation’s best scoring defense.

Bama ranks No. 1 in the SEC in rushing offense. Kentucky has used the same game plan in its four wins. The Wildcats like to control the football with a strong running game. It is the only team in the SEC that has accrued more possession time than Alabama. Since both teams can’t hold the ball, something has to give.

The feeling here is that big noseguard Terrance Cody will do what he has done against every team the Tide has faced this year — clog up the middle and make it extremely hard to run the ball successfully.

And if the Tide has trouble running the ball — something that is hard to even imagine given how good the O-line has played to date — John Parker Wilson showed last week with his SEC Offensive Player of the Week performance (13 of 15 pass completions for 205 yards) that he can make the difference. So look for the Tide to beat the spread (Line: Alabama by 16) in this one.

Half of the league’s teams are in the nation’s top 25 teams halfway through the regular season, although only three are among the top 10. Alabama jumped six spots to No. 2 on the strength of its impressive road win over the then-No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs.

Undefeated LSU (4-0) moved into the third spot while the Bulldogs (from Athens, not Starkville) landed at No. 10. Florida fell to No. 12 after its shocking upset at the hands of Ole Miss, unbeaten Auburn fell to No. 13 after another underwhelming win and surprisingly unbeaten Vanderbilt resides at No. 19. Week 6 on the SEC football schedule is a sparse one.

With Georgia, LSU, and Mississippi State taking the week off, just five games are on tap.

But four of the five are interesting match-ups. We’ve already talked about the clash of the unbeatens in T-Town. But the contest up in Nashville, Tenn., is intriguing. Undefeated Vandy (4-0) hosts once-beaten Auburn (4-1) (Line: Auburn by 4) in a game that is almost impossible to figure. The Commodores are in the No. 1 spot in the SEC East Division at 2-0 — despite being ranked dead last in the SEC in both total offense and total defense.

How have they pulled it off? Well, let’s say that Auburn had better be careful and say a prayer or two every time it puts the ball in the air.

Vandy leads the nation in turnover margin and in interceptions. The Commodore defense has already picked off 10 enemy aerials this year. They also lead the league in punt return yardage. And don’t turn the ball over at your end of the field against Vandy. It leads the league in red-zone efficiency. Auburn, on the other hand, has used a good defense and a lot of luck to stay in the unbeaten ranks.

The Tigers have won four games despite a very inefficient offense. AU hired Tony Franklin as its new offensive coordinator and the guru of the spread offense was expected to turn the War Eagles into a point-producing machine. So far, the machine has not been running on all cylinders. After the 3-2 win over Mississippi State, last week’s 14-12 win over Tennessee seemed like a runaway victory.

This week, head coach Tommy Tuberville has said he wants to see the Tigers run the ball more. But trying to tinker with, make changes to a new offensive scheme that the players spent fall drills trying to get down could throw more sand into the gears. This will be a good one. And don’t look for a lot of points at the end. It won’t be 3-2, but it could be 14-10 or 10-7.

There are two other league games this week — Florida (3-1, 1-1) at Arkansas (2-2, 0-1) (Line: Florida by 24) and South Carolina (3-2, 0-2) at Ole Miss (3-2, 1-1) (Line: Ole Miss by 2). At Fayetteville, the Hogs could be in for another home whipping. The Gators will be hopping mad after its upset at the hands of Ole Miss and at Oxford the Rebs will be still basking in the glow of that big win. South Carolina, which has one of the toughest defenses in the league, is hungry for a win. Look for another good week for road teams.

In the only non-league outing of the week, Tennessee (1-3) tries to get back on the winning track against Northern Illinois (2-2). The Vols should win this one and must win it to keep from having a disastrous season (Line: Tennessee by 16).

WEEKEND TV LINEUP

Saturday’s boob tube lineup follows (all times CST):

11 a.m.
Boston College at N.C. St. (CW), Penn St. at Purdue (ESPN), Iowa at Michigan St. (ESPN2), Duke at Georgia Tech (ESPNU)
11:30 a.m.
Florida at Arkansas (Raycom Sports), Kansas at Iowa St. (Versus), Oklahoma at Baylor (FSNS)
1:30 p.m.
Stanford at Notre Dame (NBC)
2 p.m.
The Citadel at Appalachian St. (SportsSouth)
2:30 p.m.
Kentucky at Alabama (CBS), Illinois at Michigan (ESPN2)
3 p.m.
Navy at Air Force (Versus)
5 p.m.
Auburn at Vanderbilt (ESPN)
6 p.m.
Texas at Colorado (FSNS), Maryland at Virginia (ESPNU), Connecticut at North Carolina (ESPN2)
6:30 p.m.
Washington at Arizona (Versus)
8 p.m.
Missouri at Nebraska. (ABC)
9:15 p.m.
Washington St. at UCLA (FSNS)

Guest Editorial
by Roger Shuler

Author Naomi Wolf has written an essay about what might be ahead in a Republican-dominated America, and it is disturbing reading–on multiple levels.

Wolf’s primary thesis is that Sarah Palin is more than just John McCain’s running mate; she is the designated weak figurehead at the top of a coming police state in America.

Wolf became queasy when she saw Palin embrace lawlessness by defying subpoenas from the Alaska Legislature. Wolf became even more alarmed when she saw Palin use mafia-style tactics against critics.

Suddenly, Wolf realized that Palin, not McCain, was the central figure in the GOP’s 2008 ticket:

Reports confirmed my suspicions: Palin, not McCain, is the FrankenBarbie of the Rove-Cheney cabal. The strategy became clear. Time magazine reported that Rove is “dialed in” to the McCain campaign. Rove’s protégé Steve Schmidt is now campaign manager. And Politico reported that Rove was heavily involved in McCain’s vice presidential selection. Finally a new report shows that there are dozens of Bush and Rove operatives surrounding Sarah Palin and orchestrating her every move.

What’s the plan? It is this. McCain doesn’t matter. Reputable dermatologists are discussing the fact that in simply actuarial terms, John McCain has a virulent and life-threatening form of skin cancer. It is the elephant in the room, but we must discuss the health of the candidates: doctors put survival rates for someone his age at two to four years. I believe the Rove-Cheney cabal is using Sarah Palin as a stalking horse, an Evita figure, to put a popular, populist face on the coming police state and be the talk show hostess for the end of elections as we know them. If McCain-Palin get in, this will be the last true American election. She will be working for Halliburton, KBR, Rove and Cheney into the foreseeable future — for a decade perhaps — a puppet “president” for the same people who have plundered our treasure, are now holding the U.S. economy hostage and who murdered four thousand brave young men and women in a way of choice and lies.

We could be headed for what Wolf calls a Palin-Rove police state. And she offers evidence from her personal life that shows, in some respects, it’s already here:

Almost everyone I work with on projects related to this campaign for liberty has been experiencing computer harassment: emails are stripped, messages disappear. That’s not all: people’s bank accounts are being tampered with: wire transfers to banks vanish in midair. I personally keep opening bank accounts that are quickly corrupted by fraud. Money vanishes. Coworkers of mine have to keep opening new email accounts as old ones become infected. And most disturbingly to me personally is the mail tampering I have both heard of and experienced firsthand. My tax returns vanished from my mailbox. All my larger envelopes arrive ripped straight open apparently by hand. When I show the postman, he says “That’s impossible.” Horrifyingly to me is the impact on my family. My childrens’ report cards are returned again and again though perfectly addressed; their invitations are turned back; and my daughters many letters from camp? Vanished. All of them. Not one arrived. Try explaining that to a smart thirteen year old. Try explaining it in a way that still makes her feel secure and comfortable.

Some folks might read Wolf’s essay and decide she is a nut. But my wife and I sure don’t. Consider what Mrs. Schnauzer and I have experienced in the past eight years or so in Alabama, where Karl Rove helped put our state courts in GOP control:

* Our house has been repeatedly vandalized;

* We’ve had our savings wiped out from having to defend a bogus lawsuit brought by an attorney with family connections to Rove;

* We’ve seen substantial evidence to suggest that our phone calls were tracked (probably by a device called a pen register), and that information was used to cost my wife multiple employment opportunities over a three-year period;

* We’ve had our house unlawfully “auctioned” and a bogus “sheriff’s deed” placed on our property, meaning we no longer own our house free and clear;

* I’ve been the victim of a felony assault by a neighbor with a lengthy criminal record, only to see our local authorities insist it was a misdemeanor;

* Our deteriorating financial situation has caused us to be hounded by third-party debt collectors, a particularly charming form of “bottom feeder.”

* I’ve been terminated from my job as an editor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) after 19 years of service. This clearly was done because I write a blog that deals honestly and critically with the Bush Justice Department, particularly its misdeeds in Alabama.

I would call Naomi Wolf a visionary, not a nut. If anything, Wolf is a little bit late to the game. Here in Alabama, the GOP police state has been in action for quite some time.

For more information, check out Roger’s blog at LegalSchnauzer.blogspot.com.

Surprise, surprise, surprise…

by Glynn Wilson

Perhaps you are too young, blog fans, to remember the Gomer Pyle Show and the Marine private’s routine refrain to Sergeant Carter.

But that’s what’s ringing in my ears this Monday morning as we wait to find out if what is being reported by the TPMMuckraker and The New York Times is true.

After offering what the Times calls “a blistering critique” of the political motivations that led to the firings of a group of United States attorneys in late 2006, the report to be released later today supposedly stops short of recommending criminal charges against former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales or others in the affair, including former Bush political guru Karl Rove.

While the first reaction on the part of anyone who has been watching this case closely for the past year might be outrage, since yes, we all want Gonzales and Rove — who were forced out of their jobs in Washington last August — to be prosecuted too.

But did anyone really expect the Bush Justice Department to recommend prosecuting the former head of the Bush Justice Department? That would have been the real surprise.

And yes, while we all want the House Judiciary Committee to lock Karl Rove up for contempt and for defying a Congressional subpoena to testify under oath — apparently the first person in American history to get away with that dastardly deed — perhaps it would be better to wait until the financial crisis is solved and the election is over and Bush is gone from the White House in January. Otherwise, Bush will just pardon them.

Once Obama takes charge of the Justice Department as the new president, with an even larger majority of Democrats in both houses of Congress, then Rove and the others can be brought up on criminal charges and prosecuted.

What do you know. The Birmingham News published this letter to the editor Thursday. Now will the Huntsville Times and Mobile Press-Register publish it as well?

As a long-time journalist and former journalism professor who moved back to my home town of Birmingham three years ago, I continue to be appalled at the lack of balance and fairness in The News’ coverage of politics in this state.

The News has consistently distorted issues on the news pages and the editorial pages in favor of Republicans and against Democrats. Its reporting on the two-year college so-called “scandal” appears to be part of an organized plot on the part of the Republican Party to take over the Legislature by 2010.

The News’ coverage, both on the news pages and the editorial pages, has shown absolutely no objectivity of any kind and certainly not balance and fairness toward former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman.

The News has distorted the law and the politics in the case, and its staff members should all be ashamed to call themselves journalists.

If The News has any real desire to serve its readers and live up to its First Amendment responsibilities as a free press, it should take a stand and ask that Congress live up to its constitutional oath and hold Karl Rove in contempt for failing to honor a congressional subpoena and testify under oath.

If he had nothing to do with manipulating justice in this state and country, as you seem to believe, let’s have him put his right hand on a Bible and say that for the record. Anything short of that does a massive disservice to the people of this democratic republic.

And for your role in that, you should all be ashamed.

Glynn Wilson
Editor and publisher
The Locust Fork News-Journal

As more groups across Alabama sign on to the press release condemning police actions at the Republican National Convention, the Birmingham Peace Project released the following statement on these violations of civil liberties. Signees are listed in the end.

Very little has appeared in the general press regarding the astounding display of intimidation and violence launched by the St. Paul Police Department, with the apparent approval of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department and the office of Mayor Chris Coleman. Yet, throughout the independent press, private communications and e-news letters, recountings of illegal detentions, group arrests, searches and violence are flooding the country. Independent news source Democracy Now! reports hundreds of people arrested, and that “law enforcement officers used … rubber bullets and concussion grenades against protesters and journalists.” United for Peace & Justice’s National Coordinator Leslie Cagan and Veterans for Peace, David Waters, Alabama Chair, reported, “a heavily armed and extremely large police presence in St. Paul has intimidated, harassed and proved … in a number of instances, to have escalated situations when they used excessive force. They have used pepper spray … swung clubs, pushed people around, rode bicycles and horses against peacefully gathered groups and surrounded people (who were) simply walking down the streets.” According to International A.N.S.W.E.R., “police fired large amounts of tear gas and ‘anti-crowd’ explosives at thousands of protesters who gathered outside the Xcel Center at the end of the anti-poverty march. On Tuesday, they turned off the electricity at a permitted outdoor concert.”

Their large numbers indicate reinforcements were imported for the convention, at the onset. From St. Paul visitor Amanda Peterson: “Police forces from as far away as Tucson, AZ, and Arlington, TX, are in town to help the Minneapolis and St. Paul officers. I even met one female officer who said she was from Camden, Alabama.” UFPJ Coordinator Cagan additionally stated, “National Guard and State Troopers are also in the mix, to say nothing of the Secret Service and Homeland Security … ” Cagan concluded these remarks with the assertion that both Denver and Minneapolis/St. Paul had received $50 million each from Homeland Security to buff up local law enforcement resources.

To cap off these actions, police peaked by arresting the reporters themselves, jailing two producers from Democracy Now! who were engaged in covering police activities. Leading independent journalist and best-selling author Amy Goodman was arrested trying to defend the two producers.

Bruce Nestor, speaking on Democracy Now! September 4, said:

“All three were violently manhandled by law enforcement officers. Abdel Kouddous was slammed against a wall and the ground, leaving his arms scraped and bloodied. He sustained other injuries to his chest and back. Ms. Salazar (experienced) violent arrest by baton-wielding officers, during which she was slammed to the ground while yelling, ‘I’m Press! I’m Press!’”

Nestor also reported that local authorities in Minneapolis/St. Paul made a deal with the RNC host committee requiring that committee to insure itself for the first $10 million in litigation costs arising from the police response to protesters. Apparently no cost is too high when it comes to the “business” of suppressing dissent and keeping order before a duped public.

A majority of the over three-hundred detainees continue to be held, in violation of Minnesota’s own laws which require those arrested to be either charged or released within 36 hours.

The BPP not only deplores these developments but suggests that the deterioration of relationships between local police and general citizenry, and the increased acts of violence initiated by local police throughout the US, constitute not merely a national trend but a top-down initiative executed by those who stand to lose the most, in a country beginning more and more to resemble a police state. Perhaps the Republican National Convention should, upon its departure from Minneapolis/St. Paul, commission to remain there, a monument to the death of the U.S. Constitution.

The Birmingham Peace Project
David Gespass, Chair
Diane McNaron, Press Contact
dianemcnaron@aol.com

North Alabama Peace Network, T. Moss, 256.468.5314, Mr. Carlson@knowlogy.net;
Alliance for Democracy, Al McCullouch, mmc@hiwaay.net;
Alabama_PeaceFirst, Beckett3@cableone.net;
The Alliance for Peace and Justice, Auburn University, www.peaceeagle.org ;
North Alabama Chapter, Veterans for Peace, David Waters, President, 205. 591.0835
Tuscaloosa Chapter, Students for a Democratic Society, chapinrose@gmail.com.