Tuesday Talking Points~Edit

Profiling and smear jobs R'Us. God Bless America!

First, a SWAT team in Arizona shoots and kills a decorated Marine because they thought that he was a drug dealer. The man was unarmed.

And then, just to show that Northern states aren't immune from this type of ignorance; the po po in Massachusetts shoots and kills an unarmed 68 year old grandfather in a drug raid. He was not a target of the investigation. (This happened awhile ago, I swear I can't keep up)

Finally, (and this one pisses me off) former NFL star,Warrick Dunn, was profiled and stopped by the po po in Hotlanta because they thought he had the "characteristics of people transporting guns and drugs."

GrannyStandingforTruth writes;

I swear I thought that these days had ended and we were living in post-racial America. Yup, blacks would stop singing We Shall Overcome and toast to peace and equality with our white brothers and sisters. All stereotypes would be discarded and replaced with positive uplifting of one another. We'd start working together on making America a better place for ALL people to live in peace with one another. Well...at least that was the fantasy everyone was, simultaneously, having when President Barack Obama got elected.

So, you know there is something rotten in the cotton if right leaning Left in Alabama smells a dirty, two faced, Rat in Sweet Home Alabama.

Some no-bid contracts are outrageous, wrong and obviously deserving of prosecution.
Others are just fine.

Psst President Obama and Attorney General Holder, African American elected officials, Activist, and White Liberal/Progressive Democrats are under attack in Alabama. We need HELP down here.

Obama has taken his share of grief from the national black community over national policy issues such as the failure to attain a public option or single payer health care component in the “reform” legislation. Others have complained of his progress in advancing outstanding civil rights issues, and some even criticized Michelle Obama for not working a black designer into her dress selection on Inauguration Day. The complaint of Velma Hart, who told Obama she was “exhausted of defending you,” has become something of a symbol for such black discontent. While this criticism is noteworthy, and not without merit, and it has been noted that his shortfalls are disproportionately borne by African-Americans, I am more concerned here with Obama’s impact on areas unique to Alabama. Of necessity, those pertain more to matters of patronage and appointment than to policy. On these matters, Obama’s record varies from questionable to terrible.

Only in America is it OK for the Westboro Baptist Church gang to protest at funerals but not OK for people to dance at the Jefferson Memorial. The Terrorist have truly won.


What's that you say? The Alabama Media is covering up the fact Tornadoes prove Spencer Bacchus is World-Class Tool? I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you. NOT.

But for now, this much is clear: Spencer Bachus stuck by his "conservative principles" and voted to cut federal spending at the expense of accurate weather forecasting in Alabama and elsewhere. That could cost thousands of American lives in an age where tornadoes seem to be hitting with increasing frequency and ferocity. (See Missouri, Joplin.) Spencer Bachus needs to pay a political price for his arrogance and shortsightedness.

To no one's surprise, Alabama's right-wing mainstream press has been trying to provide cover for Bachus and his Republican buddies in Congress. Mary Orndorff, of The Birmingham News, reported on May 8 about the gap in satellite coverage.


Meet the The Walleyed, Rock-Stupid, Egomaniacal, Inadvertently Hilarious Flock of Nattering Republican Boobs Who Think They Can Beat Barack Obama in 2012 If Democrats pussyfoot around and let one of them steal the 2012 election too, we will get what we deserve.

Rick Scott has a campaign “secret weapon” of his own: he’s making it tougher for Democrats to even participate in the election in the first place. Most notably, the governor and his GOP allies are restricting groups’ abilities to launch voter registration drives.

“This law has created, really, a draconian, very broad, ambiguous bureaucracy that is going to make it impossible for volunteers to continue our voter registration work,” said Deirdre Macnab, who heads the Florida branch of the League of Women Voters, a non-partisan group that advocates for political participation.

Comment of the Day;

Republicans firmly believe that voting is a privilege, not a right.

And the only people who should qualify to vote are:
White - preferably male.
Over 40.
A FOX viewer.
A Rush listener.

Overall - Low information voters.

And that's how we get low information state politicians, and Congressmen and Senators.

God help America.

In Memory of Mr. Gil Scott- Heron, Poet and Musician

Gil Scot-Heron credited with being the Forefather of modern rap died Friday afternoon in New York, at the age of 62. He is best known for the spoken-word piece The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. I am posting the words in his honor and in his memory. May he find the peace in Heaven he fought for on Earth.~Redeye


The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.

There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
or report from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the proper occasion.

Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
news and no pictures of hairy armed women
liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be right back after a message
bout a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.

The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.

Amen and Amen.

Blast from the past Blog Stroll Katrina Edition

The latest right wing news/talk, I mean media spin, is to compare the behavior of Japanese people in wake of the recent Earth Quake and Tsunami, to the "out of control" behavior of African Americans trapped in New Orleans in the aftermath of the Katrina Flooding.

FACTS DON'T LIE! You guy are just afraid to admit it. Why was New Orleans out of control after the hurricane but Japan was not? NOT MANY BLACKS IN JAPAN!

See what I mean? Anyhoo, before my Ebony Donkey was booted from Left in Alabama I blogged extensively about Katrina so I thought a stroll down memory lane would be *ahem* appropriate.

Katrina the fourth anniversary

Based on my reading, the lower 9th ward looks the same way today that it did 4 years ago. "Trouble the Waters", a great first hand account of Katrina and it's aftermath was released this weekend, check out Kanye West on jackandjill politics.com for a reminder about what happened and how Americans were treated during that awful time. Uptown and the French Quarter are booming. Thousands of residents still haven't found their way back home. The toxic FEMA trailers are still toxic. The right is still blaming the democratic, female governor and the African American democratic mayor for the disaster.

Don't say Goodbye, just GO

Bush defends his response to Katrina

"Don't tell me the federal response was slow when there was 30,000 people pulled off roofs right after the storm passed," Bush said at what was likely his final news conference as president. "You know, I remember going to see those helicopter drivers, Coast Guard divers, to thank them for their courageous efforts to rescue people off roofs -- 30,000 people were pulled off roofs right after the storm moved through. That's a pretty quick response."

The untold Race War during Katrina

The outrage is here (0.00 / 0)
The plight of the poor who survived Katrina continues to be one of my greatest heartaches. How can anyone not feel outrage over the way these people have been treated by the Bush Administration and by the Republicans in general, is beyond my understanding. It especially outrages me that some of the money that could have helped the Victims of Katrina came to relatively unscathed Alabama, thanks to Shelby and others, and ended up being spent for some highly questionable "pet projects" just infuriates me.

It's not about a hurricane, It's about America

Let me clear my throat (0.00 / 0)
Those videos spoke to me on so many different levels.

The first one was so emotional. Great song selection.

The second one was also emotional, but made me angry when listening to Nagin and watching the video. And now to think that so much of this can happen again.

Are we any more prepared for this?

He talked about Bush flying over (picture of that in Video 1) and bringing in the AP reporters two days later.

Well we all know how disastrous FEMA was anyways.

I'm really hoping that we have good journalists, bloggers, new media sticking around this time to cover Gustav. Therefore, when the storm hits there will be a much better and timely response.

Then at the end of the video when Nagin talked about the drug addicts. I don't know what to say, except for that spoke to me about how we are losing the war on drugs and how addicting drugs are.

It's not about a Hurricane, it's about America Redux

Next week will mark the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I didn't want the occasion to be lost in all the hoopla over the Democratic National Convention so I'm blogging about it now, I hope and pray Senator Barack Obama and the other Democratic politicians remind America not only of the failures of "heck of a job" Bush and his side kick Brownie, but about the poverty the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina exposed.">Next week will mark the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I didn't want the occasion to be lost in all the hoopla over the Democratic National Convention so I'm blogging about it now,

I hope and pray Senator Barack Obama and the other Democratic politicians remind America not only of the failures of "heck of a job" Bush and his side kick Brownie, but about the poverty the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina exposed.

The struggle for affordable housing in New Orleans

Another year has come and gone since the devestation of hurricane Katrina and the victims are still suffering, make that the poor black victims are still suffering. Posting a link from the Blackpressusa.com because the White Press USA is ignoring the situation. I guess they figure if they ignore the situtation it will go away.

Those were the good old days (Ironically this was my first post at Left in Alabama)

(Who would have thought those days could look good? - promoted by mooncat)

I sure do miss the good old days when abortion was the litmus test for Presidential cabinet and court nominations and not torture.

I sure do miss the good old days when the media reported just the facts and not opinion.

I sure do miss the good old days when people loved their country more than they loved their party.

I sure do miss the good old days of peace and prosperity, when all we had to worry about was who was getting nekid in the White House.

Who would have thought I would banned from Left in Alabama?

SMH

RedEye's Week in Review

My real life is colliding with my blog life so this will be short and sweet.

As Gene Hackman's character said in the movie Mississippi Burning..the rattlesnakes are beginning to turn on each other thanks to gop over reach.

This is turning out to be a very bad, no good week for Republicans. And we have had a couple of those lately, but this one isn't even thanks to Paul Ryan. The Republican "War On Working People" like teachers gave us this win.

Chalk up another Democratic win this week: Alabama State Rep. Daniel Boman, who entered the legislature as a Republican in November, is switching parties to become a Democrat after he says the GOP went too far in attacking teachers in the state.

This is why there is NO HOPE for The Huntsville City School System. Read it and weep.

Interesting that Texas doesn’t have a tenure law… and yet the sky hasn’t fallen, and education continues to occur.

The gop education policy is a miserable failure, blame the tenure laws. NOT.

The GOP wants at least half of a teacher's evaluation to come from testing. This is incentive based, market based profit motive reform. The problem is that is not what drives improvement. In fact, the incentives can have the exact opposite effect. According to the National Academies:
Evidence also suggests that high school exit exam programs, as currently implemented in many states, decrease the rate of high school graduation without increasing student achievement.
The report states the obvious. Test based incentives can encourage teachers to teach to the test.

Are the people running the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission completely out of their minds?

I report. You decide.

What I'm reading today

Are Black Public Officials More Likely Than Whites to be Prosecuted in the Deep South? Uh, is an elephant heavy?

Are white liberal Democrats more likely than white conservative republicans to be Prosecuted by the Obama/Holder DOJ? Uh, let me think about that for a minute. Snark

The Ghost of Elbridge Gerry Haunts Montgomery The gop has no morals and the democrats have no guts. Lord help us.

What's next for the gop?

What is the next Republican super-idea?
A tax on sunshine?
An oxygen meter for all breathers?
A ban on sex (except for elected officials)?
Privatized Armed Forces (oh wait we already have
Blackwater)
A repeal of the Civil Rights Act?

If I were allowed to post on Left in Alabama I would vote for all of the above.

Superintendents Search Huntsville City Schools. H/T Reactionary

There can be only one, and I recommend Dr. Casey Wardynski for our next Superintendent.

If I were allowed to post on Flashpoint I would ask Reactionary why? If it's good news for Reactionary and David Blair it's bad news for North Huntsville.
Psst! Reactionary! Thanks for the insight I still choose none of the above. :)

What you're reading on RedEyes Front Page today;

The Storm is Passing Over. Evidently some are *ahem* upset with Representative John Rodgers (D) for daring complain about President Obama ignoring Birmingham in favor of T Town and people like me stirring the proverbial shit pot of politics, have tarnished what this (use to be great)Nation stands for.

PS It was only a matter of time...

File this under "Let them reveal who they are"

"One of the things we can't do is, we can't let them distract from what we're all about, and what we're trying to accomplish. We're trying to keep the focus on comprehensive, universal health care reform, and they're going all over the place. They are desperate, uh, they don't have leadership, uh, they really don't know what to do, and so, I think we're going to continue to see a lot of crazy things happening, like all of the, uh, outrage that has been demonstrated at these town hall meetings, like the kind of statement that Congresswoman Jenkins made, and let them define themselves, let them reveal who they are. The American public needs to see that."~Representative Maxine Waters (D.CA)

They are Hypocrites

Alabama Republicans are still not concerned about your job, or creating a job for your neighbor who's been out of work for 7 months, or passing job-creating legislation in general to help 200,000 unemployed Alabamians ... but they are suddenly all in a lather about the job of Republican Rep. Alan Boothe's* (R) daughter. Here's why: AEA laid her off.

More accurately, AEA offered her a job in a different location and she refused it. As a result, Boothe and his fellow AEA-bashers in the Legislature are alleging that her "firing" is some kind of political payback.

Did I say they were Hypocrites?

Stupidly, the union is pushing for pay increases…

Rex Cheatham, Uniserv director for the Alabama Education Association’s Huntsville chapter, said he was disappointed that Richardson failed to live up to his promise.

‘I am very disappointed that the employees did not receive the new salary schedule as Dr. Richardson had promised the board and employees,’ Cheatham said.

‘We hope he will bring that schedule to the June meeting as again promised.’
This is why people hate unions… this right here. We have a ECONOMICAL disaster in Huntsville Schools and the union wants raises,

They promote media driven racial stereotypes in an attempt to justify their "beliefs".

This is how ALL blacks were transformed into welfare recipients, a whole group of people looking for handouts, although that was a myth. Nope, I take that back it was an outright lie! Images of black women was the old “welfare queen” trick used by Ronald Reagan to drum up negative opinions and attack black women, attaching a negative stigma to them in the process. But more so Reagan used it to stir up negative sentiments towards poor people, which resulted in selfishness and cold heartedness in the charity department. Yup, they want to eliminate help for the poor. It works every time.

They are Polluters

San Francisco's Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment (CRPE) announced today that it received the judge's writ in its lawsuit against the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The writ gives the green light to most of the policies advanced under AB32, California's Global Warming Solutions Act, but puts a permanent hold on cap and trade.

They are Cowards.

Democrats didn’t hold back their disgust at a voter bill — or as some call it, a voter suppression bill — signed by Rick Scott on Thursday.
Florida Democratic Party Chairman Smith released this statement:
“Today is a tragic day for the Sunshine State, with Governor Rick Scott signing into law a bill that disenfranchises voters, makes it harder for Floridians to vote and limits access to the polls.
“Since Rick Scott’s own Republican Secretary of State, Kurt Browning, has repeatedly debunked the claims made by Republicans regarding any issues with Florida’s current elections law, Floridians should see that this bill is simply an attack on the voting rights of all Floridians.
“We are confident that this bill, which is nothing more than a power-grab by Republicans, will be overturned by the courts and rejected by the U.S. Justice Department.”

They are Greedy.

MONTGOMERY - Three Republican state senators, including two from Madison County, said today they routinely sleep in their Statehouse offices while the Legislature is in session.
Ben Brooks of Mobile, Bill Holtzclaw of Madison and Paul Sanford of Huntsville said they stay in their seventh floor offices at the Statehouse as a convenience and to save on hotel bills.

I guess They learned greed by example

Who has been sleeping in your taxpayer funded federal building to avoid paying DC rent (and taxes)?

Utah Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz, that’s who!

Instead of renting out an apartment in DC, Jason Chaffetz lives on the couch in his office on The Hill.

Say WHAT?

They use washrooms and a shower on the same floor.
The practice was sharply criticized today by Mark Kennedy, chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party, who said it was unseemly for lawmakers "to be camped out in the Statehouse."
"Members of the legislature have been spotted in the halls in jogging pants all while still accepting the state-paid per diem provided to them for a hotel room or a local apartment," he said. "I just hope they contacted their accountants about their new public housing arrangements before they filed their taxes."

Did I say they were Greedy?

Legislators who live in or near Montgomery can go home for the evening and pocket the per diem.
Brooks, an attorney, said he stays at the Statehouse because it's convenient and saves him money. He said did not take the 62 percent pay raise in 2007 or any of the cost of living raises since. Holtzclaw and Sanford also declined the raise.
"I have to be cognizant being a father with kids in college and expenses," Brooks said. "I find I'm able to start work real early in the morning and work later at night. It really does help me with being more productive."

They are done, stick a fork in them.

Republicans are going to have plenty of questions about their plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program tomorrow morning after Democrats romped to an improbable victory in a special election focused almost entirely on the issue.

They have revealed themselves for who they are.

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – One day after Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) stirred controversy by withholding funds for tornado relief, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) took the extraordinary step of declaring Rep. Cantor a disaster area.

Within hours of the declaration, FEMA officials were dispatched to assess the damage to Mr. Cantor’s status as a human being capable of empathy.

“I’ve seen a lot of hurricanes and tornados, but this is something new,” said FEMA spokesman Tracy Klugian. “Rep. Cantor appears to have been caught up in a moral vacuum.”

While concerned FEMA officials looked on, the morally ravaged House Majority Leader took to the floor of the House to make the case for denying funds to repair himself.

I say give the Hateful Haters the keys to car so they can drive the country into the ditch again.

Para quoting my Daddy, the TeaPublicans don't believe fat meat is greasy. We've tried to tell them so let's show them. Let's let the Hateful Haters drive the country into a ditch like drunk frat boys and see if their loyal followers hate President Obama/democrats more than they love themselves and their country.

Let's see how they feel when the republicans say screw you to Tornado victims.

Congressional Republicans are, amazingly, saying that spending to help the victims of the Joplin, Missouri tornadoes has to be accompanied with a spending cut.

Let me repeat: Republicans say that the gods of spending cuts must be appeased before we assist our fellow Americans in a time of disaster. What. The Hell?

Republicans are looking at these people – and saying, well, feed our ideology first.

The Republican party has so far gone around the bend, it’s beginning to resemble an actual monster.

Let's see how they feel when the republicans tell those on Medicare to suck it up and take care of yourself.

At a town hall meeting, Rep. Rob Woodall lectured a constituent about Medicare, saying she should simply take care of herself.

A Woodall constituent raised a practical obstacle to obtaining coverage in the private market within the confines of an employer-based health insurance system: What happens when you retire?

"The private corporation that I retired from does not give medical benefits to retirees," the woman told the congressman in video captured a local Patch reporter in Dacula, Ga.

"Hear yourself, ma'am. Hear yourself," Woodall told the woman. "You want the government to take care of you, because your employer decided not to take care of you. My question is, 'When do I decide I'm going to take care of me?'"

Let's see how they feel as their gop Congress Critter gets richer while they get the shaft.

AP reports that despite banning earmarks, tea party-backed Republicans are planning to quietly funnel millions of dollars to pet projects in their home districts using a mechanism they call "member requests." The difference between member requests and earmarks?
Each addition carries a disclaimer that says a decision to spend these budgetary requests must be based on competition or merit.
Of course, given that Congress controls the purse strings, the Pentagon won't ignore their requests, and Republicans, who are eagerly touting their "member requests" in their home districts, know it.

Let's see how they feel when schools are privatized and unions are defunct.

Let's see how they feel with these clowns in charge.

The Republican Party has changed... drastically, and not just in terms of women's issues. They're no longer even a mainstream party, not even a mainstream conservative party.

Chris_I_Am says VOTE THEM ALL OUT;

Why does the GOP insist on taking from the neediest while refusing to look at increasing revenue by taxing the wealthiest a tiny bit more? I have never disliked a group of people so much as I now do the Republican party. They officially make me sick. Everytime I see these snake oil salesmen and store front preachers it makes me want to destroy the computer. It's not enough that they have our money. It's not enough they have our pride. They now want our souls. And those not willing to give it up, they can starve. These people are would be tyrants and they need the boot. VOTE THEM ALL OUT!!!!!! Send them the message they so rudely sent us. Anybody can get got!

RedEye says VOTE THEM ALL IN and show the American people they are biting off their noses to spite their faces. If we can survive 12 years of Regan/Bush and 8 years of Bush/Dick we can survive the Clowns being in charge for 2 years. I guarantee republicans will be glad to VOTE THEM OUT then.

Why the Richard Showers Incident is about White Privilege

"Well, there's a certain mean spiritness that's out there, not only in Alabama but it's in America. And that makes this election extremely important."~ Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders (D)

These prophetic words by Senator Sanders haunt me because they exemplify what happens to African Americans and liberal Democrats, not only in the case of Huntsville City Council member Dr. Richard Showers, Jr., but in Alabama, and our country.

Senator Sanders words caused an uproar, or as my Daddy says, a whole lot of pigs started squealing, because he spoke the truth. Instead of Anderson Cooper and others focusing on WHAT was said, they chose to focus on WHO said it, because that was  easier for the panel of pundits to discuss.

Cooper asked Sanders what evidence he had that the Republican opponents would take Alabama back to Jim Crow days. Sanders said, "Well, there's a certain mean spiritness that's out there, not only in Alabama but it's in America. And that makes this election extremely important." Which is true, but not at all what the robocall said. Following the interview with Sanders, Cooper continued to discuss "race in the race" with a panel of pundits.

There is a certain mean spiritness that's out there, not only in Alabama but it's in America, and it's being enabled by the predominately white male dominated mainstream media. Which is why I find the lack of diversity in the mainstream media appalling because they promote racist stereotypes like this;

It not a way to feel it's to show you and others what is really going on!!!! You like to write these stories of how blacks are done wrong etc. it's not as bad as it was. There have been improvements and yes we could do a bit better but with that said look at situations were whites are treated unfair in order to get the so called ratio up etc.The more important story is black on black crime, absent fathers, the uneducated blacks, when there is free money and programs everywhere for the black man or woman but most do not take advantage because we as a society have gotten them use to a handout (whites too) like welfare etc. Why work when the government will pay the bills? It's an entitlement society!!! If all you know is to apply for free money health care etc when will anyone better themselves? It's called FREE WILL but most do not have it.

And this;

Gerrymandering. It's ugly and it's unhealthy, no matter which party does it.

Gerrymandering is a practice of political corruption that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan, incumbent-protected, and neutral districts. To equate the creation of minority voting districts in accordance with the Voting Rights Act with corruption is not only racist it's wrong.

Following the 1964 election, a variety of civil rights organizations banded together to push for the passage of legislation that would ensure black voting rights once and for all. The campaign to bring about federal intervention to prevent discrimination in voting culminated in the voting rights protests in Selma, Alabama, and the famous Selma to Montgomery marches. Demonstrations also brought out white violence, and Jimmie Lee Jackson, James Reeb, and Viola Liuzzo were murdered. President Lyndon B. Johnson, in a dramatic joint-session address, called upon Congress to enact a strong voting rights bill. Johnson's administration drafted a bill intended to enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments, aiming to eliminate various previously legal strategies to prevent blacks and other minorities from voting.

There are some who want to believe the Richard Showers incident is not about racism, but about an ethics violations. It's just a coincidence the violations were filed the day after Showers protested a wrecker service contract award accusing the company owner of unethical conduct. They want us to believe Richard Showers is unethical in an attempt to destroy his credibility.

It's takes power to exercise white privilege. Showers encountered white privilege from the time he protested the award of the contract, to trying to help his daughter in emergency in the aftermath of the deadly tornadoes. All the press about Huntsville/Madison County residents pulling together and helping each other after the devastating tornadoes was nothing but spin.

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Huntsville City Councilman Richard Showers may have violated state ethics law by allowing his daughter to get gas at a government fuel terminal on the day after the tornado.
City Attorney Peter Joffrion reported the April 28 incident to the Alabama Ethics Commission on Friday. The Times obtained a copy of the two-page letter through an open records request.
According to the letter, Showers and his daughter drove in separate vehicles to a generator-powered city fueling station on Governors Drive -- one of the few places in town that had gas in the immediate aftermath of the storm. Two Huntsville police officers were posted there to ensure that only city employees providing "essential public services" got fuel.
The letter says Showers called City Administrator Rex Reynolds after being told he could not refuel both vehicles. Reynolds told Showers he could pump 10 gallons into his daughter's vehicle if he planned to use that car for city business.

Well, well, well

Want some irony? In Thursday night’s city council meeting, the city was poised to award a contract for wrecker services to a local company. Showers objected, accused the company owner of unethical conduct, and tried to get the council to award the contract to a company in his district that had submitted a higher bid.

So given Showers’ infamous sensitivity to all matters racial, I just have to ask: Would it be racist here to invoke the old saying about the pot and the kettle?

See what I mean? We know more about Shower's ethics than we know about the wrecker contract and the owners ethics. Instead of the policeman and the City Administrator showing some compassion they decided to exercise their authority.

So here was their chance to treat Richard Showers like a boy instead of a man. From the white male officer who told him NO, to the City Administrator who told him NO, to the City Attorney and the Mayor who filed the ethics violations, white power and privilege was on display.

Voter suppression with the Alabama State Seal of approval is OK.

Moving outside of the District you are elected to represent and lying about it is OK.

Violating the open meetings laws over and over again is OK.

Relocating a Homeless Shelter into a neighborhood without notifying residents is OK.

A City Council member trying to help his daughter in an emergency is an ethics violation.

Privilege of the powerful.

Power of the privileged.

It's not about that thing you SAID, it's about that thing you DID.

But I'm NOT A RACIST / HOW DARE YOU."

Thing is they're ALWAYS going to come at it from that point of view, because being called a racist has become more taboo than actually being one. People get more upset about the possibility they might have been called racist than the fact that their actions are racist as hell. They'll harp and linger on all their deeds in the past and what clubs they belong to and who their friends are. They'll START any rebuttal to your first words with that. And in the end you end up talking to yourself or talking to the wind, because they've drawn a crowd to chant the "I AM NOT A RACIST" mantra to the point where any on lookers without reading/listening to the whole thing, think that's what it's all about. Then people start picking sides and - boom- it's all over.

God Bless America?

The unethical lynching of an uppity black father

It's too bad Huntsville City Councilman Richard Showers wasn't immediately available for comment before the Huntsville Times started lighting torches and getting the ropes, I mean, before they ran with their Huntsville City Councilman Richard Showers allowed daughter to gas up at city fuel terminal after tornado, story.

But nooo, they had to join the lynch mob and try and discredit the good Councilman whose only crime is being a devoted and involved father instead of the stereotypical lazy, baby making, absentee father. Black fathers taking up for their daughters is  *cough cough* frowned upon in Huntsville.

According to Councilman Showers, the alleged facts are inundated with misrepresentations and false statements. As to the allegations in question, his daughter had an emergency and did what any daughter would do and called her Dad for help. Councilman Showers did what any good father would do and helped his daughter. You can read the full account in the May 18, 2011, issue of Speaking Out News. I discovered today you can't purchase Speaking Out News at Newsstands, nor is there an updated online version. The office is located at 115 Wholesale Ave NE, Huntsville, AL 35811.

Councilman Showers denies he apologized profusely as stated in City Attorney Peter Joffrion's letter to the Ethics Committee.

City Attorney Peter Joffrion reported the April 28 incident to the Alabama Ethics Commission on Friday. The Times obtained a copy of the two-page letter through an open records request.

Want some irony? In Thursday night’s city council meeting, the city was poised to award a contract for wrecker services to a local company. Showers objected, accused the company owner of unethical conduct, and tried to get the council to award the contract to a company in his district that had submitted a higher bid.

Want some more irony? We know more about Richard Showers daughter getting less than 10 dollars worth of gas the day after the Tornadoes than we know about the wrecker contract and the accusations of unethical conduct by the owner. Why is that? Never mind. We know why.

It's easier to accuse Councilman Showers of unethical conduct than investigate the real unethical conduct.

If it can happen to a sitting member of the City Council it can and will happen to you too.

So, Councilman Showers, when are you going to file an ethics violation complaint?

Breaking News

I just got off the phone with Councilman Richard Showers who informed me his public comments regarding the alleged ethics violations will appear in tomorrows edition of Speaking out News.

Paraquoting Dr. Showers, the alleged ethics violations are a weapon of mass distraction. They took nothing and made it something.

It's easier to investigate and convict the politicians who are not afraid to take a stand and speak out than it is to cure the reasons they stand up and speak out.

More tomorrow.

"Alabama is still treating the average black citizens like chattel"

kayman and I don't agree on much, but on this we can agree.

I see Alabama is still treating the average black citizens like chattel (0.00 / 0)
To be shuffled around like between owners every few years.

I'm not surprised at all. The idea of blacks been in the same community as some is bad enough so they move away from us. But GASP, if they reside in the same congressional district as them then it means they will not allow a white person be elected as their congressional representative, so GET THEM AWAY, GET THEM AWAY! It's so pathetic how aversive bias is still at work in this state when it comes to blacks. Some politicos can't even stare an iota of though to attempt to appeal to black citizens because that'll mean they have to deal with them.

As I've said time and time again, some people wonder why educated blacks evacuate Alabama like rats from a sinking ship. It's obvious that nobody respects us here, so we vote with our feet and go to places where we are appreciated.

I've been following the discussion at Left in Alabama concerning the Reapportionment Hearings and Dr. Joe L. Reed's request the committee look at creating a second minority black district in Alabama.

At yesterday's meeting in Montgomery, Dr. Joe Reed asked the Committee to look at creating a second majority black district in Alabama. AL-07, which includes Selma, is 62.8% African-American, is currently the only majority-minority district in the state and the only district held by a Democrat, Rep. Terri Sewell.

IMHO Alabama needs a second minority-majority district because in it's present state white folks end up deciding who should represent black folks.

Winding from the downtown skyline of Birmingham, southward through Selma, and almost to Mobile, is Alabama's 7th Congressional District. This is a district of history, providing Alabama with its first black Congressman since Reconstruction, and again poised to make history this year by electing its first woman to Congress, other than the widow of an incumbent. In terms of this blog, it also occurred to me that if I want to say something about this district, I'd best be typing, as the general election vote in this 63.3% black district promises to be one of the great yawners of November. The action, as it has been from this district's birth in the 1992 cycle, is in the Democratic primary.

This is, of course, an open seat, vacated by Artur Davis in his Quixotic bid to become a triangulating black governor of Alabama. The runoff gives voters a choice between Jefferson County Commissioner Shelia Smoot, and Birmingham lawyer Terri Sewell. Sewell led the primary with 36.8% of the vote, with Smoot getting 28.6%. State Representative Earl Hilliard, Jr., of Birmingham, son of the former Congressman from this district, narrowly missed the runoff with 26.8%, and Martha Bozeman, a former Davis staffer, trailed with 7.8%.

Smoot was considered the more progressive/liberal of the two candidates but Sewell had the financial support of white voters from Birmingham which fueled her victory.

This is an election for the people that ACTUALLY live in the district (4.00 / 1)
This is truly an election for the people that actually live in congressional district 7 and for people that can actually VOTE in the district. The problem is that way too many people and organizations are trying to influence it for the wrong reasons (I'm sure that many consider this subjective but it is really not). People that do not live in the district can give high level spin for candidates, write flashy blog posts, post misinformation about candidates, put up radio ads, act as tools of outside interest but in the end it is about the people that vote. It will be about the people who's everyday life is affected by their congressional representation.

Joey Kennedy at the Birmingham News posed the following:

Here are the facts: In Alabama, blacks make up 26.2 percent of the state's population. But only one of the state's congressional districts is majority black, the 7th District. That's just over 14 percent of the state's congressional districts.

One can understand why Joe Reed, the state Democratic Party's vice chairman for minority affairs is urging the Legislature's reapportionment committee to look at the possibility of creating a second majority-black district. Even Reed admits he's not certain another majority-black district could be created, but it is possible, he said, that a district that links Mobile and Montgomery could have a majority of black residents.

The majority of those polled said NO for reasons like this;

Mr. Kennedy, if one of our goals as a people and as a nation is to be color blind and treat all Americans equally regardless of their ethnicity, the simple answer to your question is NO.

If we are all equal it makes no sense to create districts based on race.

You, Joe Reed, and the US Department of Justice should just think about that for a while.

And this;

Congressional districts should be based only on population, NOT race, thats whats called racist.
If white people called for spliting districts to increase congressional representation, old Jessie would be protestin and marchin in the streets.

bluebearcat offers the best counter to their *ahem* rationale at LiA

We live in the real world... (3.00 / 2)
not a theoretical political universe. African-Americans in this state faced numerous documented, codified efforts to actively prevent them from participating in the political process. The VRA and its many provisions were an effort to find pratical ways to correct this historic injustice. We don't live in a fantasy world where ethnic minorities are evenly distributed in every community around the state; we live in a real world where those ethnic minorities are often concentrated in a few areas surrounded by other areas where white voters are concentrated. I don't think it's a cart leading the horse situation, either. I've never known a person - other than perhaps a politician or two - who made a decision on where they would live based on what CD it was in.

So what will the good white folks decide today? Will they pack all the black voters in one district? I say, hell yes they will, because if all the black voters are packed into one district they can win all the others and continue to choose who represents the interest of black voters. Or not.

Remember when Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders (D) said he was supporting Ron Sparks (D) for governor because he didn't want to return to the days of slavery and Jim Crow?

It's not about gerrymandering,

In the process of setting electoral districts, rather than using uniform geographic standards, Gerrymandering is a practice of political corruption that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan, incumbent-protected, and neutral districts. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander; however, that word can also refer to the process.

It's about the Voting Rights Act

The Act was sent to Congress by President Johnson on March 17, 1965. The bill passed the Senate on May 26, 1965 (after a successful cloture vote on March 23), by a vote of seventy-seven to nineteen. The House was slower to give its approval. After five weeks of debate, it was finally passed on July 9. After differences between the two bills were resolved in conference, the House passed the Conference Report on August 3, the Senate on August 4. On August 6, President Johnson signed the Act into law with Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and other civil rights leaders in attendance.

Chattleland here we come. Look away. Look away.

African American Elected Officials are Common Thugs,

and should be treated as such say the Common thugs. Sorry I couldn't resist the pun after last weeks Faux News manufactured Common Controversy and in light of the ongoing "ethical lynching" of the lone African American member of the Huntsville City Council. None dare call it stereotyping. You see the media paints all black men as thugs. Strike that, the media paints all black men that dare speak up and speak out at thugs.

The powers that be wanted to market rappers flashing cash, sporting bling, and showing off fancy cars; rappers with little real sense of what was going on in the world around them. Those powers didn’t want you to hear from conscious artists like Public Enemy, KRS-One, Nas, Dead Prez, Immortal Technique, Saul Williams, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, or even a Common. Often the Dave Chappelle Show was the only place you could find some of them.

African American elected officials are painted as the picture of corruption in three piece suits in the media, by the media, for the media. Every little thing morphs into proof they should trade their cuff link for handcuffs.

It's not just Huntsville it's all over the United States of America. Those African American elected officials who stand for something and aren't afraid to speak truth to power are eventually investigated and convicted of some kind of corruption and people like me who call it out are called racist.

Attempting to keep Common out of the White House was not about trying to censor lyrics that seemed offensive. It was about trying to silence a voice who rhymes about real issues, and speaks for the oppressed.

Don't get me wrong, you don't have to be an African American Democratic elected official to be investigated and convicted, in some cases all you have to do is be a liberal democratic elected official and off you go too.

Yep, it's open season on those African American elected officials, liberal democrats and Activist who stand for something in Sweet Home Alabama, but none dare call it racism, they prefer to call it thuggery.

This proud nation is at a crossroads.

One direction hurling towards increased economic inequality, the slashing of social safety nets, deregulation, xenophobia, discrimination of the gay community, voter suppression, and the unconscionable pollution of our environment. The other is a direction of ending poverty, protecting and helping the oppressed and unfortunate, holding Wall Street accountable, embracing immigration, and preserving our ecosystem.

What Willie Nelson said

“Rather than trying to put an end to Eminem or some other rapper, politicians should think about why they’re rapping. It’s easier to try to censor some kid who’s swearing about poverty than it is to stop the poverty.” – Willie Nelson

RedEye's translation
It's easier to investigate and convict the politicians who are not afraid to take a stand and speak out than it is to cure the reasons they stand up and speak out.

The "Ethical" Lynching of an Uppity Black Man

I guess the good white folks in Huntsville, Alabama are tired of District One City Councilman Richard Showers "uppity" ways, so they decided to put him in his place by filing a complaint with the Alabama Ethics (RedEye roll) Commission, because he robbed, raped and murdered the voters in his district, I mean, he put $40.00 of gasoline into his daughters automobile in the aftermath of the deadly tornadoes.

City Attorney Peter Joffrion reported the April 28 incident to the Alabama Ethics Commission on Friday. The Times obtained a copy of the two-page letter through an open records request.
According to the letter, Showers and his daughter drove in separate vehicles to a generator-powered city fueling station on Governors Drive -- one of the few places in town that had gas in the immediate aftermath of the storm. Two Huntsville police officers were posted there to ensure that only city employees providing "essential public services" got fuel.
The letter says Showers called City Administrator Rex Reynolds after being told he could not refuel both vehicles. Reynolds told Showers he could pump 10 gallons into his daughter's vehicle if he planned to use that car for city business.
"Showers replied that his daughter had followed him to the station and that he was not using her car for work," the letter states. "Again, Rex Reynolds informed Showers that he could not receive gas for his daughter's car."
Huntsville police Sgt. Mark Shahan, who was in line behind Showers, told the councilman he could pump 10 gallons into his personal vehicle.
After Shahan drove off, the letter says, Showers directed the 10 gallons to be pumped into his daughter's car.
Showers later repaid the city for the cost of the fuel -- about $40 -- and has "apologized profusely for compromising the affected city employees and his position," according to the letter.

Seriously? Forty dollars of gasoline in a council members daughters car in the aftermath of deadly tornado warrants the filing of an ethics report? Let's go "inside the story" and find out.

Let’s be clear here: What Councilman Showers did is far worse than merely taking advantage of his position for selfish gain. He took advantage of his position during a declared state of emergency. His conduct was arrogant, selfish, and criminal. Furthermore, his daughter is a public school teacher and should have known better than to go along with this. But one has to wonder if she is not accustomed to getting special treatment due to her father’s position.
Want some irony? In Thursday night’s city council meeting, the city was poised to award a contract for wrecker services to a local company. Showers objected, accused the company owner of unethical conduct, and tried to get the council to award the contract to a company in his district that had submitted a higher bid.

Isn't it "ironic" that after Showers objected to the awarding of a contract at and accused the company owner of unethical conduct on Thursday, an ethics violation report is filed against him on Friday? Mind you we don't know the specifics of the accusations or unethical conduct, but the mere fact a black man had the audacity to accuse someone of unethical conduct is grounds for them being taken down a peg. Who owns the Wrecker Service? Who will benefit economically from the contract? Is it a local company? So many questions, so few answers.

Since reconstruction, there has always an issue of minorities getting their fair share of state, federal and local contract dollars. The federal government has attempted to rectify this by establishing minority small business development programs, in addition to legislation, to mitigate this reality. The fact is, those who make spending decisions most often are not minorities, and consequently their choice of who gets a piece of the pie consistently excludes minority businesses.

Is this a high-tech lynching of an uppity black man? I say yes because we only have one side of the story since ironically Showers was not immediately available for comment. Where is all that post-storm coming goodwill? Of all the things to file an ethics complaint about, this ain't it.

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Huntsville city officials self-reported an incident involving fraudulent dispensing of gasoline to the state ethics board Wednesday, officials said.In a statement released by city officials, an internal review was done following the power outage from the tornadoes two weeks ago. The review found that during the outage, less than 10 gallons of city gasoline was dispensed improperly.The release said the value of the gasoline has since been repaid to the city, but officials reported it to the Alabama Ethics Commission. Because it's an on-going investigation, city officials declined to release additional details.

I report. You decide.

RedEye's Week in Review

What a week this has been. It began with the intruption of Sunday's prime time line up and surprise announcement of the capture, killing and burial at sea of Osama bin Laden.

The Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads were besides themselves, spinning gleefully the narrative of a a fierce fire fight between Osama and The Navy Seals complete with Osama using a woman as a shield. There was just one tiny problem...the narrative didn't fit the facts, so they changed the narrative to one of vindication and justice for for the victims of 911. Let us not forget this is the same media who enabled Bush and Company to send our troops to war based on DEAD WRONG INTELLIGENCE.

Speaking of our troops and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,what about the over 4000men and women who killed in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting the so called War on Terror? What about the thousands who were wounded and maimed for life? What about the countless innocent Iraqi and Afghan men, women, and children who were killed, wounded, or maimed for life? Where is their vengeance?

WASHINGTON — An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network.

The greatest threat to America is a misinformed public.

When it comes to creating "facts" out of fiction - through repetition in the corporate media and by the right-wing funded echo chamber - the greatest threat to our nation may come from a misinformed public.

While the mainstream media is focusing on Birthers, Deathers and reliving 911 the right wing is busy waging a war on voting rights,a war against unions and a war on justice.

For Alabama to be second in the nation on religiosity (?) we sure do have a lot of Tornado's. Do you think God is trying to tell them something? Do you think they will listen or will they continue their evil ways?

Time will tell the truth because the media sure won't.

Combined with attempts by Republicans to restrict unions from engaging in perfectly legal political activity, House Speaker Dean Cannon’s move to try and pack the Florida Supreme Court to thwart the will of Florida voters who approved the Fair Districts amendments and to try and game redistricting, and their rush to rake in corporate cash through “buy me, I’m for sale” leadership funds, expect Florida to be one of the nastiest hubs of what’s sure to be an ugly 2012 election.

Lord help us.

Using our grief over 911 as an excuse to kill

George Dubya Bush used our grief over 911 as an excuse to take us to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. After watching the media driven orgy over the killing of Osama bin Laden as vindication and closure for the victims of 911, I have to ask myself are they using our grief to justify the killing of Osama bin Laden?

Before I go any further let me say Osama bin Laden was accused of killing more Americans on our soil than anyone else on 911. He was not convicted of being the mastermind behind 911. With his demise we will never know if he was or he wasn't. All though I approve of President Obama's decision to capture Osama bin Laden, I am disappointed the operation resulted in the execution of Osama bin Laden.

From MSNBC:

Four of the five people shot to death in the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, including the al-Qaida leader himself, were unarmed and never fired a shot, U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday — an account that differs markedly from the Obama administration's original claims that the Navy SEALs came under heavy small-arms fire in a prolonged firefight.

Are we any safer now? And would it be any different if George W. Bush were making the same announcement four years ago? I submit the answer is NO. We progressive/liberals would be screaming at the top of our lungs as well we should. Can those who were tough on Bush apply the same standards and skepticism to the Obama administration, or is everything partisan and self-serving now?

Why did they first tell us that he “resisted” and therefore had to be shot? Surely, the SEALS and their commanders knew at the time what happened—and communicated that well before Obama’s speech. How did the story get screwed up initially?

Questions lead to more more questions. These are the questions that need to be asked and answered by the media instead of should the pictures of Osama Bin Laden be released:

How do Americans feel about anyone being shot rather than apprehended and given a proper trial? Doesn’t the United States aspire in all of its activities to set an example for other countries to emulate?

Speaking of the pictures I Think They Can Take It Mister President.

A-merry-cans have strong stomachs when it comes to this stuff. Just look at all those people having j a jolly good time while they watched those "strange fruits" hanging from trees. Don't tell me they can't look at a pic of OBL with a hole in his head. Besides, do you really want to give wingnuts another reason to cry conspiracy?

Say have you seen my democracy?
In deciding not to release the pictures of bin Laden's body to prove his death, President Obama made a statement to the effect that his body and the pictures should not be seen as a trophy and that doing things in this way is "not who we are." This then begs the question, who are we? And what criteria do we use to answer this question.

It's not like we haven't been lied to before.

Hey, remember that dramatic CNN footage of that big statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled by U.S. forces in that Baghdad square a few months back, during the "war"? Remember how powerfully symbolic it was supposed to be?

Remember, later, seeing the wide-angle shot on the Internet, the one of all the U.S. tanks surrounding the square and the whole bogus setup of how they staged the event, complete with a big crane and some strong cable and strategically positioned "citizens" cheering their "liberation" as the statue fell, as just off camera, a handful of genuine Iraqis loitered nearby, looking confused and bored?

Where is Bradley Manning when you need him?

The real difference between Republicans and Democrats in a case like this isn't in how the White House would act. The difference is how rank and file Democrats, the so-called antiwar movement choose to react. If this were 2006 or 2007, many would recall the widespread news reports of Bin Laden's death back in December of 2001, and the fact that Bin Laden audio or video tapes had a habit of emerging at incredibly convenient times for the Bush administration, like the eve of the 2004 election. Why should a government and military establishment, antiwar activists would wonder aloud, that told hundreds of well-documented lies to get us into Iraq alone be trusted to tell the truth now?


The difference is, those are questions that don't get asked with a Democrat in the White House. Democrat Barack Obama doesn't just start with a clean slate. Thanks to the president's bipartisan and visionary policy of “looking forward, not back” atrocities and crimes of administrations past are forgiven and forgotten, and all the excuses offered for them enshrined as unquestioned historical fact. The Pentagon says they killed Bin Laden in a weekend firefight, won't show pictures and dumped the body at sea. That's it and that's all. Unless another courageous soldier like Bradley Manning comes forth, we'll never know any different, end of story.

Know Justice
Know Peace
No Justice
No Peace

Thoughts on Obama and Osama and Tornado relief in the Black Belt or the lack thereof

I've been struggling about how to say what is on my mind and in my heart in regard to the death of Osama bin Laden, but thanks to Curtis Abby for directing me to this Glenn Glenwald post which conveys my sentiments exactly.

I'd have strongly preferred that Osama bin Laden be captured rather than killed so that he could be tried for his crimes and punished in accordance with due process (and to obtain presumably ample intelligence).

I cringe every time I hear someone jubilantly say "Obama killed Osama". Call me crazy but I don't want my President associated with killing anybody. What's really ironic is the so called pro-life republicans are the mains ones celebrating the "killing of Osama", the same ones who just last week were calling President Obama an undercover Socialist Muslim sympathizer born in Kenya.

And then there's the notion that America has once again proved its greatness and preeminence by killing bin Laden. Americans are marching in the street celebrating with a sense of national pride. When is the last time that happened? It seems telling that hunting someone down and killing them is one of the few things that still produce these feelings of nationalistic unity. I got on an airplane last night before the news of bin Laden's killing was known and had actually intended to make this point with regard to our killing of Gadaffi's son in Libya -- a mere 25 years after President Reagan bombed Libya and killed Gadaffi's infant daughter

I find the celebrating troubling, and I'm not defending Osama, but, let us not forget Osama was accused of being the mastermind behind the 911. As a matter of fact Police arrested Khalid Shaikh Mohammed as the Mastermind of September 11, 2001 attack on the United States.

I agree with Greenwald;

In sum, a murderous religious extremist was killed. The U.S. has erupted in a collective orgy of national pride and renewed faith in the efficacy and righteousness of military force. Other than that, the repercussions are likely to be far greater in terms of domestic politics -- it's going to be a huge boost to Obama's re-election prospects and will be exploited for that end -- than anything else.

Dr. Boyce Watkins notes the jump in President Obama's approval rating and notes although his stock has improved with white voters, African American voters are not that impressed.

In the “economic basement” of America lies the black community, where unemployment rates are nearly double those for white Americans. In spite of the massive popularity enjoyed by the Obama Administration, millions of African Americans suffer quietly, while being comforted by images of a black couple sitting in the Oval Office. What will be interesting to see is whether or not these disenfranchised Americans will feel inspired to return to the polls for Obama’s reelection in 2012.
Many black people vote in the same way we listen to music: Our love for our favorite artist may not translate into record sales, since we can listen to our artists for free on the Internet. In other words, massive black support for President Obama may not translate into votes if black folks don’t believe that voting for Obama will serve to reduce their suffering. The same way that purchasing music costs money, taking a day off of work to go to the polls is costly as well. If African Americans are not convinced that having a black president will make a real difference in their lives, black folks may just support the Obamas from the sidelines.

I will close by saying I get nervous when one person decides another person needs to be taken out because they decide the other person is an evil dictator/ despot. I get really nervous when the rule of law is bent because the only thing standing between us (collective) and the evil dictator/despot is the rule of law. David Swanson say's Osama Bin Lynched.

And so, after nearly a decade, our government bothered to look for bin Laden, found him, and murdered him. But what choice did they have? A truly fair trial would always involve the risk of acquittal. A semi-fair trial would have risked bringing up undesirable topics, such as the US failure to prevent 9-11, our decades' old support for bin Laden, bin Laden's evasion of the US in 2001 and ever since, bin Laden's reasons for 9-11, and the question of precedent. If we gave bin Laden a semi-fair trial, how would we explain denying one to so many other people? And a truly unfair military trial would have made the United States look even worse. As a CIA guy told me on the radio yesterday: killing him was "cleaner."

Black Agenda Report Columnist Jared Bell asks

What kind of nation finds “renewal” in targeted assassination, reaffirmation of its destiny in the ritualized killing of the ultimate “Other”? Must the U.S. national mission consist of paying $2 billion a week to blow up the poorest people in the world? How about simply changing the country’s public policy so as to make sure that Obama is actually responsible for less death and destruction than the so-called leading terrorist now recently and apparently deceased.

While the President and the national media are focused on the killing of Osama, Tornado relief is missing the South's poor and rural communities thanks to states red republican leadership.

Reports are emerging that some hard-hit areas are being left out of needed assistance due to their isolation and the fact that their plight is not being reported in the media. While news coverage has focused largely on the destruction in urban areas including the Alabama cities of Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, the storms also impacted many small rural communities in Alabama's Black Belt.

Osama is dead. Obama is hero. Let's move on. People in America are suffering and dying at the hands of the TeaPublicans enabled by the Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads. I want President Obama to "take them out" with the same steely determination he used take out Osama bin Laden. I want him to stop the weapons of mass distraction and make sure the people in the south who voted for him don't get left behind.