The Christmas bomber may have set us back on reversing some of the domestic spying issues, along with the stories out of the Secret Service about all the death threats to the president himself. As I said before the election, when Obama and our Congressman from here voted for the Bush FISA bill, getting any administration to give up spying powers is going to be hard, as long as there are perceived threats. It may take some hard work on the part of Congress, non-profit legal groups and the Supreme Court to roll back that breach of our liberty. Unfortunately, it may take awhile.
If your readers have been following the story about Google pulling out of China as I have, I suspect there are some interesting stories yet to come on that front.
Then, obviously there is a fair amount of discontent with the speed, or should I say the lack of speed, on the part of the Obama administration to replace Bush appointees throughout the country in the Justice Department. Nowhere is that more of a concern than here in Alabama.
But if you assess the actual record, they moved pretty quickly to replace U.S. Attorney Alice Martin in Birmingham. She brought the first cases against Siegelman and his co-defendant Richard Scrushy. A federal judge dropped the case against Siegelman, and Scrushy was acquitted in the first trial.
As for U.S. Attorney Leura Canary in Montgomery, the Republican operative's wife who brought the second case against Siegelman and Scrushy, it's really not Obama's fault that we have no replacement yet for her. Alabama's Congressional delegation has not been able to agree on a replacement.
We helped stop a move to keep her in that job by writing stories about it, and we helped stop a bad replacement from getting the job a few weeks ago by running a story based on an inside leak. Sources now say they are working hard to find a replacement and may agree on one soon. An announcement could come any day.
So to sum up it, the answer to the question on everybody's mind, yes, this administration does represent change, and it is a fairly dramatic change from the previous administration. Think about it. On the international front, our reputation is already being restored around the world.
So to my good friends on the hard left, I would say please don't give up on this administration yet. Find ways to keep the pressure on the bureaucracy -- without dismissing this president as a failure after only one year. There are plenty of fights to get involved in on the state and local level. We must bring about change there as well.
If we are not vigilant, we could lose the change we've already got. Just as the tea party crowd organized and made a difference in Massachusetts and took Kennedy's seat away from the Democrats there, you can bet they will be working their stealth campaigns right here in Alabama and other states.
We have an election for governor and attorney general and other statewide offices coming up this year, and the primary vote is now less than five months away. We are not going to like living in a world with a new Republican governor and a Republican dominated Legislature here -- even with a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic Party majority in the U.S. House and Senate.
There is plenty of work to be done on everybody's part. I would urge people to stop bitching about the slow pace of change nationally and get busy locally. Only you can build the world you want to live in. In any event, no matter who is elected to what office, the work never ends. Get busy.
Now, that's an answer! Let's see. Did you leave anything out? How about this - care to comment on today's Supreme Court's decision which tossed out limits on campaign donations? That's a biggie.
Just posted on that. All I have to say is, "Thank you Ralph." If they don't know who I'm talking about, a hint is the group putting out the release, the year 2,000 -- and a certain 92,000 votes in Florida. No smiley face...
That about wraps it up. Anything you'd like to add to this mixed bag, Glynn?
It's Yuengling time... And you know what I like to say on Facebook, "There's no reason this can't be fun, you know..." Have some fun...
Thanks for talking with me again, Glynn. I look forward to reading your articles and checking in with you from time to time.(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
