You Don't Know Where You Live

We have become a joke:

The nub of the case is that Siegelman allowed HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy to remain on an oversight board on which he had already served, and in return Scrushy gave money to a noble effort to improve education in the state of Alabama, an effort Siegelman approved of. That's literally the reason that Siegelman is in a jail cell right now. This is the kind of thing that, were it actually considered bribery, would put every politician in America in jail

.

This are the actions of a police state.

Need more?

It has been 20 months since Siegelman’s trial ended and no trial transcript has been produced by Fuller's court. This is in violation of the rules of criminal procedure which require a transcript within 30 days of sentencing. Siegelman can't appeal his conviction with out an official trial transcript




Karl Rove Misstep [Updated]

Yeah, what do I know. But this flat out denial that he knows or ever knew Dana Jill Simpson seems risky. How hard could that be to prove?

Here's video of last night's 60 Minutes report on this story. And Scott Horton of Harper's has been the point man on this story for a while now.

An overview of the entire story is here.

Update: Interesting how Rove keeps saying, "I never worked on any campaign with that woman," in what is an obvious attempt to discredit Simpson's credentials as a "Republican operative." The thing is - this isn't about a "campaign," unless you call what he is accused of doing a campaign of sorts. That seems like avoidance.

On top of that, Simpson's "Republican operative" credentials seems to be pretty well documented:

A month before his sentencing on bribery charges, a Republican lawyer named Dana Jill Simpson, from Rainsville, in the northeast corner of Alabama, wrote and signed a sworn affidavit that claimed the case had been directed from the White House and the governor's mansion from the outset.

Simpson had volunteered to work for many Republican candidates over the years, including Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and Ten-Commandments Judge Roy Moore. She even got involved with Karl Rove's good friend, William "Bill" Canary, who now runs the conservative Business Council of Alabama, through the governor's son Rob Riley. She has known Riley since running against him for Student Government Association president at the University of Alabama in 1987. While Riley has publicly denied being closely associated with Ms. Simpson, she has boxes full of records to prove they worked side-by-side on legal cases over the years.




Report: Rove Wanted "Compromising Sexual Position" Photos of Gov. Siegelman

C&L and AP on what's coming Sunday on 60 Minutes:

According to the CBS statement, Simpson says Rove approached her at a 2001 meeting, when Siegelman was still governor.

"Karl Rove asked you to take pictures of Siegelman?" reporter Scott Pelley asks.

"Yes," Simpson replies.

"In a compromising sexual position with one of his aides," Pelley says.

"Yes, if I could," she responds.

Simpson was a Republican operative in Alabama who broke ranks because, she says, of the injustice done to Siegelman (there's some background on that in the story). Further on:

Says Grant Woods, the former Republican attorney general of Arizona and one of those who petitioned Congress, “I haven’t seen a case with this many red flags on it that pointed towards a real injustice being done,” he tells Pelley. “I personally believe that what happened here is that they targeted Don Siegelman because they could not beat him fair and square,” says Woods.

Rove refused to appear on the 60 Minutes episode. Should be interesting TV.