Shining City Upon a Hill

Reagan once describe our Republic by saying, "after 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home"

What has happened to Reagan's vision? What has happened to American's stellar example? Who has turned out the lights on that "Shining City Upon a Hill?"

American has long been admired as the leader of the free world. We held the moral high ground on issues such as human rights, the rule of law, the importance of individual rights. This country, this Republic, held to a higher standard. We stood with the oppressed and helped the little guy. We were admired for our cause and convictions. It was unfathomable to thing that our government, this Republic, would ever sanction the use of torture, kidnappings, indefinite detentions of alleged enemies, wire-tappings of our own citizens, without some sort of due process and oversight.

What has happened? Those high standards are no more. We are no longer considered the shining beacon but viewed as dark and sinister. This election I will be voting for a lot of Democrats. However, I am not a Democrat. 8 times out of 10 times I normally vote for Republicans. I am a registered Republican. I have long considered myself a Republican, but recently I have become more moderate than my party. (Or my party has moved much farther to the right than I am). I now consider myself an Independent. I am voting for change, congressional oversight and White House accountability. I am voting against Republican corruption and out-of-control spending. If that takes putting Democrats in charge of Congress, then so be it. So how did I get to this point? How did we as a Republic lose the respect of the free world and get here?

--Unfortunately, the Republicans have proved to the nation that they are ineffective lawmakers. They have the Presidency, the House, and the Senate and they still could not get anything done. Instead of trimming government they have built the largest government in 60 years.

--This administration has decided that the Geneva Conventions, the rules of warfare are open to interpretation and optional if we see fit.

--Congressional oversight has been non-existed. The Republican Congress has failed to provide the historic checks and balances and essential oversight that Congress has traditionally performed in the past in keeping the executive branch honest and above aboard. Instead they have stood at a safe distance and nodded their approval at the blank-check policies of the Bush Administration.

--The Republicans saw fit to deprive Americans of their "certain inalienable rights" such as negating Habeus Corpus. The cornerstone of human rights has been thrown away like trash. Additionally, the Patriot Act is the single largest invasion of individual rights in modern history.

--NSA wiretapping of domestic phone calls without a court order or court scrutiny.

--Hurricane Katrina debacle. We provide more help to foreign countries than we provide in the days and weeks after our countries greatest natural disaster ever. The President did nothing. "Old Brownie" was doing a good job, just like Rumsfeld is. Right?

--The War in Iraq. It is going very badly. Worse than could have been imagined. Nothing else needs to be said about this issue.

--The fact that this administration has used the grounds of the White House--America's House--to advance discrimination against its own citizens is an insult to millions of fair minded Americans from all walks of life.

--The current administration is full of hypocrisy from the Abramoff and Delay Scandals to Mark Foley to Ted Haggard to name a few.

One or two of these examples could possibly be forgiven and moved past. Taken together it represents a government that is out of control and dangerous.

So I may be naive for voting for Democrats. However, I believe I am doing the only thing that can be done in 2006. Right now, at this moment, we need to get the "far right" out of Washington.

Being a member of a party means more than following every member of a party even when they do wrong. Being an American means placing country ahead of your party or politics.

President Bush has betrayed the values of the party of Lincoln and Reagan. More importantly he has let down the American people. It is important to make a change now so that the next leaders and nominees of the Republican party can start to think about the future and articulate a vision for 2008 and beyond. America needs to return to being that "Shining City Upon a Hill."

DC Vacation

Seeing the fabulous and awe inspiring sites of our nations capital is something that we all should do at least once in our lifetime. Jeff and I recently took a small vacation to DC and I thought I would pass along the highlights of the trip. Upon arriving at Reagan National we took a taxi to our hotel on Dupont Circle, The Jury’s Washington. It was pretty nice and very convenient. After getting settled in we took to the streets. We decided to take the Metro to the Mall and see some of the Capitol and the monuments at night. It was very windy and a lot colder than we expected and after an hour or so we decided to head back to Dupont Circle.

The next morning we decided to begin with The Capitol and Supreme Court Building. We got tickets for the 9:30 am Capitol Tour. Although the security is much more intense that the last time I toured the Capitol in the summer of 2001. It is still are really cool experience. After spend an hour or so in the Capitol. We circled around behind it and wound up at the Supreme Court. We walked up the front steps and made my own little pilgrimage. Being attorneys, it was a somewhat moving experience for us, thinking about all the Supreme Court cases we’d read and imagining all the historic decisions that have been made inside that building. After touring both we decided to head back to the hotel for a little break. Again it was pretty cold and windy and we needed to warm up. After “warming” up and people watching at the bar in the hotel we explored the area around Dupont Circle the rest of the day. The dinner plans that night consisted of a trip to Georgetown with reservations at 1789 restaurant. We decided on 1789 because it is known around Washington DC for fine dining and elegant ambience. The dining rooms are beautifully decorated with American antiques and period prints and it was one of the favorites of Bill and Hillary. We took a cab and arrived a little early for our reservations and decided to walk around Georgetown since neither of us had been to that part of DC before. It was cold and a little foggy and it made for an excellent atmosphere. It is a great part of the city and Georgetown University is beautiful. After arriving back at the restaurant we had a drink in the clubby Pub, just off the entrance. We were then seated in the John Carroll Room near the great fireplace and it is wrapped in wood from a pre-Civil War barn and decorated with vintage prints. In an age when people think nothing of wearing gym clothes to a meal away from home, or yak away on their cellphone in public as if they aren't bothering anyone, the gentle formality at 1789 is downright refreshing. The servers pamper you through dinner like charming hosts in a well-mannered home. The food was lovely and the entire evening beautiful.

After diner we took a cab back to Dupont Circle and decided to change clothes and check out a couple of the bars in the area. Some are about a hundred times better than others at home. The first one we choose was a place called Dupont Italian Kitchen(or D.I.K. for short) and we were by far the youngest guys in there (by at least 10 years). Needless to say we did not stay very long. We went down to JRs and that was much better with a big crowd around “our age”. After a couple of hours of people and eye-candy watching we decided to call it a night.

The next day we began at the White House and took a few pictures outside. The President was getting ready to leave so the Capitol Police pushed us off of Pennsylvania Avenue. Then we went by the Washington Monument to the Jefferson Memorial and the FDR Memorial. From there we took a tour bus over to Arlington Cemetery, which was one of the highlights of the whole trip. It was a sobering and thought-provoking trip to see so many simple marble headstones with crosses and Stars of David in symmetrical rows. First we visited the Kennedy gravesites. JFK and Jackie are buried right next to each other below the eternal flame. RFK’s grave has a solitary white wooden cross at the base of a hill. It was a moving experience. Next we made the walk to the Tomb of the Unknows. The changing of the guard was very solemn but interesting as well. As I stood there near the foot of the unknown fallen American soldiers, I took a moment to reflect on the ultimate sacrifice these soldiers have made so we can live in freedom.

The last full day we spent several hours visiting the rest of the memorials on the mall: The World War II Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial. After that we took in a few of the museums, The Natural History, The National Gallery of Art, The Air and Space, and the National Archives. Since we enjoyed our trip to Georgetown so much the first time we decided to have dinner again on our last night at SeaCatch. We arrived early again so that we could walk around the shops and bars and take in most of the scenery and atmosphere. Although the food was not as fabulous at 1789 it was still great and I enjoyed my Maryland crab cakes.

The last day was a trip to the National Cathedral. The National Cathedral is a beautiful building in addition to being a premier house of worship. Their carillon is still rung by a musician, the stained glass windows are amazing, the cathedral is enormous and the services are inspiring. The most interesting part of the trip to the cathedral was when one of the ushers asked Jeff and I if we “would assist” in the service. Although not knowing what “assist’ meant we said yes and the usher told us to come to the back right after the “prayers of the people” are said. Looking at the bulletin after that I said to myself “uh oh” we are going to be involved in communion in some way. Sure enough at the back of the cathedral we are told we would be walking the elements down the aisle and handing them to the pastor. So there we were, me holding two silver carafes of wine and Jeff holding a silver bowl of bread and we are walking down the aisle of the nave in the 6th largest Cathedral in the world to the alter. WOW. That picture would have been worth a thousands words.

So, it was a wonderful trip. We saw tons of museums — everything from ants to airplanes, artworks to American artifacts — and many memorials. We got to see the foundations of our Republic and we had some delicious meals. My thirsty mind soaked it all up. Peace!

25 years ago...

(I wrote this a few weeks ago before I created this blog so I thought I would post it now... )

A few weeks ago I was rummaging through some old mementos and stuff and stumbled across all my old ticket stubs and found the one from Alabama v. Ole Miss October 3, 1981. Section N1, Row 27, Seat 2. I stopped and remember it was my first game in Tuscaloosa and realized that it was about to be 25 years since that first game. WOW! 25 YEARS! TWENTY FIVE F@*K**G YEARS AGO! I said outloud "God I feel old. " And then I started getting nostalgic I realized that a lot has happened in those 25 years. Lots of football games, lots of school, many friends, many life lessons, and lots of change. So last weekend, there I was back in Tuscaloosa on October 7, 2006, on the same exact weekend twenty-five years later. Alabama v. Duke. West Upper Deck, Section R, Row 12, Seat 4. Nearly directly above those same seats 25 years later and this time my Dad and my Mom were in seats 5 and 6 and my roommate Jeff in seat 3. And Also this coming Saturday Jeff and I will be back in Tuscaloosa for Alabama v. Ole Miss . 25 years comes full circle. So during the past couple of weeks I have been thinking back a lot on all the things that have happened in those 25 years and as this weekend has gotten close I have gotten more and more nostalgic and even a little misty eyed. So forgive me as I digress ...It was October 3, 1981 and my Dad was taking me to my first Alabama game in Tuscaloosa. It was the University's 150th Anniversary and Bama was playing the Ole Miss Rebels. Needless to say I was excited! Although I had been going to Alabama football games for a couple of years (most of the big games were played in Birmingham), I had never been to a game in Tuscaloosa. It seemed so far away to me then and I thought I was going on a big trip! I had just turned 11 years old a few weeks before and everything still seemed big and far back then.

As I remember about that day my Dad and I loaded up the gray Plymouth Fury (nicknamed the Silver Dollar) and headed out early that October morning. It was a beautiful fall day, not a cloud in the sky and the deepest blue. Much like last weekend and the one we are suppose to have this coming Saturday. My mom and sister didn't go with us. I am not sure why but my sister was a senior in High School and I was the annoying little brother. So that might have had something to do with it. And also she was madly in love with my future brother-in-law Mike. I am sure they had plans that Saturday. As we drove down Interstate 59, I didn't think we would ever get there. We past the airport, then downtown, Legion Field, the steel mills of west end, and then just a bunch of trees and trees and trees. "Where is this Tuscaloosa place?" I thought. We finally got there and my Dad and I ate lunch at University Mall (which just happens to be built on top of where my dad had gone to elementary school). Finally, we get to the stadium. It was much different than I thought it would be. I guess I pictured every stadium looking like Legion Field since that was the only stadium I had been to before. We walked up to the fence as Bama was beginning their pre-game workouts and I stood waiting for the Man in The Hat. Soon He shuffled out of the tunnel with part of the team. The stadium announcer declared "Ladies and Gentlemen….The Alabama Crimson Tide" and the crowd went nuts. I stood there in awe like I would normally do before the games in Legion Field. Coach Bryant seemed bigger than life. Much like my two grandfather's seemed. He took his place up against the goalpost and watched his Crimson Tide warm up. My Crimson Tide. I am sure I was asking my Dad a million questions. "Why did that player do that?" "Who is that?" "What is the Bear thinking?" "Why are there boy cheerleaders?" "Can I be one?" I always asked tons of silly questions. We went to one of the merchandise stands before the game. I insisted on getting a white Alabama Flag (about 2 x 3) with the old Alabama "A" on it with the elephant stepping through. My Mom still has the flag to this day. We went to our seats and the game began. Bama controlled the game throughout. (Like they did most games in those days). But I remember like yesterday the Rebel Band at halftime playing "Dixie". The stadium went crazy and nearly everyone clapped and sang the words. I couldn't figure out why "our" fans would be cheering for the Ole Miss Band. Dad said that most people from the South like that song. I guess I was too young to have figured out the whole "Southern thing" yet. Alabama won 38 to 7. (Yes I remembered the score without having to look it up. I couldn't remember where I had put my keys last night but I remember a football score from 25 years ago. I am weird). When we left I had to hang out the car window with my flag flapping in the wind. This was before those handy little flags we attach to the car windows nowdays. My Dad made me roll the window up and get back in the car before we got on the Interstate. I begged him to let me wave it all the way to Birmingham but he said the wind would destroy my new flag. I have no doubt that he was really worried that accident-prone Jason would find a way to fall out of the window going 55 miles a hour. How would he explain that one to Mom?

Bama went on to tie for SEC Championship with Georgia that year. Their last championship under Coach Bryant. The Bear would win "315" against Auburn later that year and become the winningest coach in college football history. My sister would graduate from Hewitt-Trussville High School that school year. (Just as I would six years later). She would leave me by myself at home without anyone to pester in the Fall of 82 to go off to college. I think I slept in her bed every night for 3 months missing her. (I know how you feel Chelsey). Coach Bryant would die in early 1983. At that time I did not see how that was possible. He was immortal and a giant. (I would lose the other two giants as well. One way too early in July 1984 and the other in May 2004). My Dad would take me back to Tuscaloosa two years later for my second game there. Again against Ole Miss. I managed to find my way to the Capstone in 1989, graduate in 1993 and go to Law School and begin a career as an attorney. My sister has had three kids with that same guy she chose to spend that fall Saturday with in 1981. And they are still married. (Love ya Mike) My oldest nephew has himself graduated from high school, started college, and turned into an outstanding young man. My niece is as big an Alabama fan as I am and is becoming quite the beautiful young lady and Austen is just as pestering as I was and I love it. Time sure does fly by. Ronald Reagan was the President and now we have his vice-president's son as our current one. The Space Shuttle Columbia would launch for the first time only to be lost in 2003. The President of Egypt would be assassinated in Cairo three days after my first game in Tuscaloosa and later that year a car bomb would exploded in front of the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut and destroy it. The first modern suicide car bombing. Things sound hauntingly familiar doesn't it. I've had many good friends and good times in these past 25 years. Fallen in love a couple of times, cried over broken hearts, buried three grandparents, relationships have ended including a marriage, new ones have begun, changed careers, traveled to 21 states and 4 countries.
Over the past few weeks what I soon began to realize is that although so many things change and seem so different. Some things really stay the same. So on Saturday there I will be. Sitting in one of the grandest cathedrals of college football cheering for my beloved Crimson Tide against the University of Mississippi. I still miss the old stadium announcer and his "Ladies and Gentleman … The Alabama Crimson Tide" when the team comes out for warm ups. But I am sure I will think it and hear his voice in my head like I always do. Also I am sure I will stand up and clap to "Dixie" with the Rebel Band just like all the other good Southerners. Hopefully, The Million Dollar Band will play "Amazing Grace" and Bama will win big. Just like 25 years ago. Here's to 25 more. Roll Tide and Thanks Dad.

Pics from T-town

Give me Liberty

Benjamin Franklin once said "those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Recently President Bush signed into law the Military Commissons Act of 2006. Although it has been hailed by many conservatives as a triumph in the war on terrorism I am have huge difficulty with finding the value of this new law. As an attorney it is hard to embrace something that contradicts one of our most basic legal rights as humans, the writ of habeas corpus.

The history of the writ of habeas corpus is a long one. The great legal scholar Blackstone cites the first recorded usage of habeas corpus in 1305, in the reign of King Edward I However, other writs were issued with the same effect as early as the reign of Henry II in the 12th century. Known as the "Great Writ", the writ of habeas corpus ad subjiciendum is a legal proceeding in which an individual held in custody can challenge the propriety of that custody under the law. The prisoner, or some other person on his behalf (for example, where the prisoner is being held incommunicado), may petition the court or an individual judge for a writ of habeas corpus. The writ of habeas corpus in common law countries is an important instrument for the safeguarding of individual freedom against arbitrary state action.
This procedure, part of English common law, was considered important enough to be specifically mentioned in the United States Constitution, which says, "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it." (Article One, section nine).
Many legal and constitutional scholars contended that this Military Commissions Act is in direct opposition to habeas corpus, and the United States Bill of Rights. The recent case of Hamdi v. Rumsfeld re-confirmed the right of U.S. citizens to habeas corpus even when declared an enemy combant. Additionally, on June 29, 2006 in a 5-3 ruling the Supreme Court of the United States rejected Congress's attempts to strip the court of jurisdiction over habeas corpus appeals by detainees at Guantánamo Bay. Under the MCA, the law restricts habeas appeals for those detained as enemy combatants, or awaiting such determination. There is, however, no legal time limit which would force the government to provide a Combatant Status Review Tribunal hearing. Prisoners are legally prohibited from petitioning any court for any reason before a CSRT hearing takes place. It has been pointed out that the government can thus detain any noncitizen for any length of time, without habeas or any other appeal, by delaying the CSRT hearing indefinitely.
Isn’t the passing of this act doing the exact thing that the terrorist want. Destroying what America and the rest of the free world has stood for: “LIBERTY”! Haven’t we done exactly the opposite of what Benjamin Frankilin, one of our founding fathers, warned. We have given up the most basic essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety.
For me this is particularly troubling. I grew up in a Reagan Republican household with strong conservative principles. Particularly that the law is one the most important things to follow. If you don’t agree with the rules or the laws, you should follow them but work to change them. The rule of law and processed to change them must be followed or we have chaos and more important, NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW. Since my childhood I have found that I am nowhere nearly as conservative as my parents but still hold many conservative beliefs to heart. I do find myself voting for Republicans more often than not. However, I have lately found myself disagreeing with the current administration more often than I agree with them. I have definitely given them the benefit of the doubt more often that I believe I would have a Democratic administration. But now I believe we have crossed a line. The writ of habeas corpus is the thread that binds the fabric of all of our other rights guaranteed under the Bill of Rights together. Without it, the others are essentially meaningless. Sadly I believe the a majority of Republicans in office right now believe that they are doing what is best for the country but in reality are destroying what this country as always stood for. LIBERTY. We are playing right into the hands of our enemies. We are destroying ourselves from within.
Bush stated at the signing of the MCA "With the distance of history, the questions will be narrowed and few: Did this generation of Americans take the threat seriously, and did we do what it takes to defeat that threat?" He was talking about the threat of terrorism but I believe the bigger threat we are now facing is our own government. Will the American people take seriously the treat against all we hold dear, our Liberty, our Freedom?

Remember the words of Benjamin Franklin: “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."