ObamaCare Race Baiting 101

ObamaCare Race Baiting Bought to you by  Radio Boy

 

I thought republicans were pro-life?

Some conservatives have urged young uninsured Americans to steer clear of the Affordable Care Act's health insurance exchanges, and Sen. Angus King (I-ME) thinks that's reprehensible.
“That’s a scandal — those people are guilty of murder in my opinion,” King told Salon on Friday.

Clearly republicans are not pro life.  This is what they don't want you to know.  This is what they don't want you to have. They know once you have access to quality affordable health care you are going to like it.

How the health care law protects you

• Creates the Health Insurance Marketplace, a new way for individuals, families, and small businesses to get health coverage
• Requires insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing health conditions
• Helps you understand the coverage you’re getting
• Holds insurance companies accountable for rate increases
• Makes it illegal for health insurance companies to arbitrarily cancel your health insurance just because you get sick
• Protects your choice of doctors
• Covers young adults under 26
• Provides free preventive care
• Ends lifetime and yearly dollar limits on coverage of essential health benefits
• Guarantees your right to appeal

Questions? Call 1-800-318-2596, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (TTY: 1-855-889-4325)

Alan Grayson on the GOP Health Care Plan for America:  'Don't get sick!  And if you do get sick, die quickly.

Stand Your Ground President Obama, We the People Have Your Back!

 

 Don't you wish democrats had shut down Washington to keep Bush and Dick from sending us to war based on DEAD WRONG INTELLIGENCE?

Lets get one thing straight,  republicans are not making some kind of principled stand by marching our country off the cliff and into financial disaster, demanding delaying the implementation of the Affordable Health Care Act.

This is about keeping poor/black/brown/folks from having access, strike that, from having the same access to quality affordable health care they have.

This is about  a party who can't get over the fact they lost the Presidential election not once, but twice, and hurting the people who voted for, and elected, Barack Hussein Obama.

 The Ted Cruz’s and Eric Cantor’s of the world are the modern day Daniel Shay.  The difference is Shay led a populist movement of citizen’s who’s way of life was being threatened by the government.  Cruz, Cantor, and their band of Tea Party political terrorists are holding Americans hostage and using the American government against the American people; making the United States of America, un-united and ungovernable.~

This is about a party that has been hijacked by zealots.

Delay and defund.  And default.

That is the House Republicans’ brilliant plan in their last-ditch effort to block implementation of the Affordable Care Act. It is a plan that threatens to grind the government to a halt and wreak havoc on the economy.

If they can’t take over Washington, they’ll shut it down. It’s their way or no way. All or nothing.

It's time for President Obama to Stand His Ground

I believe it is time for President Obama to read up on the 14th Amendment (particularly the part about the full faith and credit of the federal government) and unilaterally raise the ceiling when the Republicans try to drive the economy over the cliff. In the event that President Obama must use the constitutional option to not default I am about 90% certain the house will move articles of impeachment. To which I say ‘GOOD!’ Bring it on. I just hope and fervently pray that if these dominoes fall as I suspect this all happens before the next midterm. Can you imagine the landslide if Republicans follow a government shutdown with impeachment?! Red state gerrymandering would not matter…

Would someone tell the Talking TeeVee Pundits what piggieheart said?
 Screw the poor, punish our troops, impoverish more of our seniors, but don't harm a hair on the head of our donors. This is not a principled stand on governing philosophy. This is an attempted blackmail of the majority by a tiny fraction of our leadership. The President and Harry Reid are correct in standing firm. They must show the same courage and determination that President Clinton show the last time the extreme right wing tried this gambit. Just as we did then, the American people will punish those responsible.

"There are times when you have to call people's bluff"


If people cannot trust government to do the job for which it exists -to protect and to promote their common welfare, all else is lost.~President Barack Hussein Obama

ObamaCare is Coming! ObamaCare is coming!

OBAMACARE MADE SIMPLE(R)

Would someone tell the gop infused, media enabled TeaPublicans the Obamacare war is over,and that  they lost, and that  WE  won......... twice? 

All of this would be funny if it weren't so crazy. President Barack Hussein Obama

It's been a long time coming, but CHANGE we can BELIEVE in is coming to America!

The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.~Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D. MA)

With just five days to go before Americans can begin signing up for health care under his signature law, President Barack Obama on Thursday ridiculed Republican opponents for “crazy” doomsday predictions of the impact and forecast that even those who didn’t vote for him are going to enroll.
With polls showing many Americans still skeptical of the law known as “Obamacare,” the president went back to the basics of explaining how nearly 50 million uninsured Americans will be able to buy coverage in new government-run exchanges while mocking Republicans for trying to block its implementation. “The closer we get, the more desperate they get,” Obama argued.
- See more at: http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2013/09/26/obama-mocks-gop-for-crazy-obamacare-predictions/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BlackPoliticsontheWeb+%28Headlines+from+BlackPoliticsontheWeb.com%29#sthash.uOLmxWWr.dpuf

With just five days to go before Americans can begin signing up for health care under his signature law, President Barack Obama on Thursday ridiculed Republican opponents for “crazy” doomsday predictions of the impact and forecast that even those who didn’t vote for him are going to enroll.
With polls showing many Americans still skeptical of the law known as “Obamacare,” the president went back to the basics of explaining how nearly 50 million uninsured Americans will be able to buy coverage in new government-run exchanges while mocking Republicans for trying to block its implementation. “The closer we get, the more desperate they get,” Obama argued.
- See more at: http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2013/09/26/obama-mocks-gop-for-crazy-obamacare-predictions/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BlackPoliticsontheWeb+%28Headlines+from+BlackPoliticsontheWeb.com%29#sthash.uOLmxWWr.dpuf

With just five days to go before Americans can begin signing up for health care under his signature law, President Barack Obama on Thursday ridiculed Republican opponents for “crazy” doomsday predictions of the impact and forecast that even those who didn’t vote for him are going to enroll.
With polls showing many Americans still skeptical of the law known as “Obamacare,” the president went back to the basics of explaining how nearly 50 million uninsured Americans will be able to buy coverage in new government-run exchanges while mocking Republicans for trying to block its implementation. “The closer we get, the more desperate they get,” Obama argued.
- See more at: http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2013/09/26/obama-mocks-gop-for-crazy-obamacare-predictions/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BlackPoliticsontheWeb+%28Headlines+from+BlackPoliticsontheWeb.com%29#sthash.uOLmxWWr.dpuf

All this would be funny if it wasn’t so crazy,” Obama said. (AP) - See more at: http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2013/09/26/obama-mocks-gop-for-crazy-obamacare-predictions/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BlackPoliticsontheWeb+%28Headlines+from+BlackPoliticsontheWeb.com%29#sthash.uOLmxWWr.dpuf

“All this would be funny if it wasn’t so crazy,” Obama said. (AP) - See more at: http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2013/09/26/obama-mocks-gop-for-crazy-obamacare-predictions/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BlackPoliticsontheWeb+%28Headlines+from+BlackPoliticsontheWeb.com%29#sthash.uOLmxWWr.dpuf

“All this would be funny if it wasn’t so crazy,” Obama said. (AP) - See more at: http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2013/09/26/obama-mocks-gop-for-crazy-obamacare-predictions/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BlackPoliticsontheWeb+%28Headlines+from+BlackPoliticsontheWeb.com%29#sthash.uOLmxWWr.dpuf

RedEye-I- am, RedEye don't like the GOP

 

 

 

 

Eye do not like them
in the house.
Eye do not like them
  in the senate.
Eye do not like them
in the courts or on TeeVee.
  Eye do not like them
on the radio.
Eye do not like them anywhere.
 Eye do not like them, RedEye-I-am.

To be continued......

I thought "front page privileges at Left in Alabama come with a somewhat higher responsibility"?

Tutwiler Prison for Women

Evidently Resident Righty, and Left in Alabama Legal Issues Blogger Old Prosecutor is not required to fact check information before reporting it like mooncat admonished me to do, shortly before my front page privileges were suspended for supposedly posting factually incorrect information on the front pages and refusing to correct it. 

 I'm not accusing you of lying (0.00 / 0)

But I do say that too often you don't check your facts before you post, with the result that inaccurate information sometimes ends up on our front page under your byline. That is A Problem. When the inaccuracy is noted, you don't always correct it. Another Problem. This goes directly to your credibility and that of this blog, which is my Problem. Kathy is trying to do you the favor of pointing out that you aren't the least bit consistent in your statements. My read is that you're about a hairsbreadth from calling her a racist which would be not only inaccurate, but a damned lie.You are absolutely entitled to your opinion and to include your opinion in any diary. But front page privileges come with a somewhat higher responsibility -- to make an attempt to check information before you report it, because you are reporting to a rather wide audience here. Expressing opinion is fair game, and so is passing on interesting information from other sources, but I remind you that you do have a responsibility to our readers to make a good faith attempt to insure information is accurate before you pass it on.  We aren't a gossip sheet, nor do we want to be one.  I say this publicly because all our readers need to know that the facts matter to us here. Our readers may prefer to fact check for themselves -- good for them -- but I hope they don't catch us in errors very often. Facts matter, that's job one for me, and an important guideline for our front pagers. 

Old Prosecutor  either intentionally omitted some information, or, posted factually incorrect information on the front page of Left in Alabama. regarding Alabama's prison population.

The basic problem is that Alabama prisons are at appx 180% capacity and the Stae, especially the Legislature, is afraid that a lawsuit may result either (1) a Federal Court ordering mass releases (see California) or (2) a Federal takeover with huge financial mandates.

Alabama prisons are at maximum capacity, but the fear of  mass releases or a federal takeover with huge financial mandates is speculation at worst, and opinion at best.

Many suggest that the problem is that Alabama is imprisoning huge numbers of non violent criminals, Yet the numbers show 75% of all inmates are there for violent crimes.

According to the Montgomery Advertiser a survey response from the state of Alabama for a 2012 report by the Southern Legislative Conference show 75% of all inmates are there for violent crimes, and according to Old Prosecutor it just ain't so large numbers of people are in prison for marijuana possession,  but these figures tell  a different story.

After years of representing victims of racial profiling and police brutality, and investigating patterns of drug law enforcement, and trying to help people who were released from prison face one barrier, one legal roadblock after another to get a job, getting access to housing, getting even food stamps–you know, I had an awakening that our criminal justice system now functions more like a system of racial and social control, than a system of crime prevention or control,” Alexander said on PoliticsNation Monday.
“Our nation’s prison population has more than quintupled,” she said. “And this is due largely to the war on drugs and the ‘get tough’ movement. The drug war has been waged almost exclusively in poor communities of color even though studies have consistently shown now for decades that contrary to popular belief, people of color are no more likely to use or sell illegal drugs than whites, but by waging this drug war almost exclusively in poor communities of color, we’ve now created a vast new racial under-caste.”
Since 1971, when President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs, there has been a 700% increase in the U.S. prison population. Today, African-Americans are also more likely to spend time in prison for drug related offenses than their white counterparts. According to the Sentencing Project, African-Americans make up 12% of the nation’s drug users, but represent 34% of those arrested for drug offenses, and 45% of those in state prison for such offense as of 2005.

Now I'm not saying there is a double standard when it comes to posting factually incorrect information on the front page of Left in Alabama, but there is more than a whiff of hypocrisy at best, which goes to the creditability of Left in Alabama.

There can be no unity if there is no justice.  Know justice, know peace.  No Justice, no peace. 

The mis-education of black/brown/poor students in Huntsville, AL Part 2

Huntsville Superintendent Casey Wardynski, center, and school board president Laurie McCaulley, right, listen Monday afternoon as Huntsville resident Carlos Mathews talks about the choosing of possible names for a new northwest Huntsville high school to replace Johnson High. Behind Mathews are pictures of astronauts Ronald McNair and Mae Carol Jemison, whose names may grace the new high school and a new junior high to be built on the same campus. (Crystal Bonvillian/cbonvillian@al.com

Sigh..... Here we go again.
What's in a name?  Military officer, turned School Superintendent,  Col. Casey Wardynski wants to create a new identity for J.O. Johnson High School  by changing it's  name, but I don't think Wardynski will be forced to  backtrack from the idea this time because the game is rigged. See photo above.

This is the prevailing sentiment of the al.com commentators

 Change the name so the school and area can move forward.Johnson is one of the worst schools in the state for education and violence. A new name may not help because most could care less about getting an education but it's a start toward a new direction.

 Say you had a bagel business by the name Johnson's Bagels. It becomes known for failure, and needs to close. Any worthy consultant would immediately tell you the brand is dead; if you want to move forward, you HAVE to rebrand. Same with a school. It fails, rebrand, refresh, and try it again-- the right way.

 Grissom does not have a history of failure and crime!!!!! Most of those kids care about being educated and it shows because Grissom is always at the top in the state!!!!! Johnson has shown it does not care about education. The majority of those students do not care. We could take all the ones who do care and put them at other schools and take the students that don't care from all schools and put them under one roof!

 The new school needs a name change so that it won't be associated with the reputation of violence and educational failure at Johnson.

 Via the Keep Johnson High Schools name  Facebook group;

According to Ms. Jennings, he is not responsible for the name change. She said there is a "community group" who has proposed the change. I asked her what was the name of the group, but she said she did not know. She told me the reasoning behind the name change, which is exactly what Ms. McCaulley explained to me--running from the negative stigmatism J.O. Johnson currently holds. I explained to her that just because Johnson may be a failing school today does not mean that it will be a failing school tomorrow. In fact, Johnson has not been a failing school for most of its history. There is nothing that suggests it will forever be a failing school. In fact, the opposite holds true.

She suggested I write Dr. Wardynsai explaining this in an e-mail and she promised to share the with the "community group" before Nov. 7. But as far as she knows, the name change will in fact take place.

So now we know, it doesn't matter how many town hall meetings are held, or how many names are on a petition, the anonymous community group will win because the committee is stacked with people chosen by Wardynski (see photo above)

Both Showers and Harrison complained that none of the school board members, nor Wardynski, attended the meeting. Board president Laurie McCaulley, who represents Johnson High, told Alabama Media Group earlier Monday that she had not been invited.
Harrison said everyone was welcome at the meeting and pointed out Carlos Mathews in the crowd. Mathews is the chairman of the committee tasked with suggesting names for the new high school and junior high.
Harrison pointed out, however, that Mathews doesn't live in District 1, where Johnson is located.
"He didn't go to school in this district, either," one man yelled out from the audience.

New Rules, hand pick a committee giving the appearance of diverse viewpoints, while stacking the deck with people  in favor of your point of view and hope the people won't notice because after all, they are Johnson grads nod nod wink wink.   Wardynski isn't going to make the same  mistake twice.

 "There's been any number of councilman and officials call to inform me that I've made a gargantuan mistake," Wardynski said, to applause from the crowd that made him smile. "Thank you for acknowledging my mistake."

Does Wardynski honestly believe if he changes the location and name of a school he will get different results?  Maybe it's the fact Wardynksi is not a certified educator, or an experienced superintendent,  that prevents him keeps him from realizing it's not what name is on the outside of the building, it's about  what's happening inside the school building,  inside school board meetings,  and inside  the state legislature.

Alabama, by law, must now rank all public schools based on reading and math skills. It's the only way to determine which schools are "failing."
There was no such ranking system before the Alabama Accountability Act of 2013. No existing test provides a school-wide score to allow for ranking, especially between different grade levels.

Perhaps the community should change the identities of the Superintendent, the school board, and the state legislature  in order to increase student achievement and give students a bright future.

I'm just saying....

  

"When you talk about the law discriminating, the law granting a privilege here, and a right here and denying it there, that's a civil rights issue. And I can't take that away from anybody." - Rev. Joseph Lowery

Biting off your nose to spite your face Bama style

Not only do liberal/democrats in Sweet Home Alabama have to fight the gop infused, media enabled, Teabaggers, we have to fight the so called Progressive/Grassroots/DemoCats too.   Sigh

Here's the latest:
This doesn't happen that often, campers!  The Alabama Democratic Party has scheduled its next meeting in Birmingham instead of Montgomery, so mark your calendars, ignore the football games, and show up to see the party leadership in action.
The time hasn't been set yet, but we'll let you know. These meetings usually begin around midday.  The meeting will be at the Wynfrey Hotel near the Galleria.
The scuttlebut before the meeting is that the interim chair Nancy Worley will ask the executive committee to open qualifying in October, which is several months earlier than the party usually does so.  If the committee agrees to do so, it could allow candiates to boost their public profiles before the primary and it would certainly help fill the party's depleted coffers with qualifying fees.
In any case, make plans to attend.  The Over The Mountain Democrats said it best in a recent email:

As a Democrat or a Progressive, with any interest in politics in general, and how your state's party operates and governs itself, in particular, you need to come to this meeting and see for yourself how party politics works at the Executive Committee level. 

Hope to see y'all there! 

Not content to have formed their own separate but unequal party  because they couldn't stand the leadership of the Alabama Democratic Party, the Democrat or Progressives (I wish they would make up their daggum minds) are planning to crash the Alabama Democratic Party meeting in Birmingham.

Why?

Reed had almost all of his troops present Saturday, and still only produced 90-95 votes on the typical issue. There is every chance that he can be outvoted if 200 or more members (including the Reed group) grace us with their presence, and engage in the slightest degree of organization and planning. Futility is no more valid an excuse for your absence than one of a dozen soccer games in your child’s season.

OK, so you stage a coup d'état and get rid of Joe Reed and his Bunch and then what?

 Has Joe Reed, like a certain British monarch, tragically stayed too long in his post, to the detriment of the realm? That is a topic far beyond the scope of this blog post. I will tell both sides of that fight, that we cannot beat the Republicans without the votes Joe Reed and his supporters represent. Neither can we beat them if we cannot reach beyond those voters.

 What part of you the voters you want to reach beyond are not democrats today, will not be democrats tomorrow, and will not ever be democrats, don't you understand?

 A party divided will not and can not stand.  

While democrats, and I use the term loosely,  were distracted and wasting time forming an anti Joe Reed and his bunch organization the AL GOP is hard at work.

  You cannot curse Bubba and Cooter, Big Man, and June Bug in the daytime and beg them at night.~ Dr. Joe Reed 

 "When you talk about the law discriminating, the law granting a privilege here, and a right here and denying it there, that's a civil rights issue. And I can't take that away from anybody." - Rev. Joseph Lowery

If it's Sunday, it's time to Meet the Pest

Poor White Cash:  GOP and Food Stamps

The Republican Party is engaged in class warfare against poor and middle-class white Americans. It is a little-discussed fact but an ironic one worth noting, since those are the very same people who elect them.

According to the Blog-o-sphere, President Obama ripped the republiklans a new one at the Congressional Black Caucus Dinner last night, which might explain why the feed was bad on the only network (MSNBC) carrying the remarks live. I guess since PBO wasn't reminding the CBC He's not Black President Obama wasn't newsworthy.  But hey, everybody knows it's not the media's job to educate the public.  It's the media's job to uniform the misinformed.  They are doing a Heck of a Job.

Speaking at the annual Congressional Black Caucus dinner, President Obama excoriated congressional Republicans Saturday night for risking a government shutdown, and vowed to stop their efforts to defund his health-care plan.
“It is time for these folks to stop governing by crisis,” Mr. Obama said at the Washington Convention Center. “Some want to shut down the government rather than provide people with health care!”
Referring to Republicans’ strategy to defund Obamacare, the president said he wanted to speak “as clearly as I can.”
“It’s not going to happen,” he said.

 The New Left is Coming!!!  The New Left is Coming!! Yippee Kayay!

Maybe Bill de Blasio got lucky. Maybe he only won because he cut a sweet ad featuring his biracial son. Or because his rivals were either spectacularly boring, spectacularly pathological, or running for Michael Bloomberg’s fourth term. But I don’t think so. The deeper you look, the stronger the evidence that de Blasio’s victory is an omen of what may become the defining story of America’s next political era: the challenge, to both parties, from the left. It’s a challenge Hillary Clinton should start worrying about now.

Why do republican hate America?

I've never understood the logic of putting in government positions people who really hate the very idea of government. There's something profoundly hypocritical about guys like Ted Cruz, whose raison d'etre is to hate government, and yet they cash their government paycheck just like the teachers and firemen and federal workers they excoriate even as they check their bank balances on their government-issued hand-helds. But if there's one thing they hate more than the idea of government, it's Democratic presidents in general, and Barack Obama in particular. And they hate Americans. They really, really, really hate every American that isn't funnelling large sums of soft-money into their campaign coffers.

Trust  us, there's nothing to see here.  Apples and oranges.  Now, please move on.

Now, there may be some among you who would seek to find some link between these stories, to see an underlying commonality in a story about members of a white North Carolina school board who see no literary value in the great American Classic Novel of African American alienation and residents and police officers of a North Carolina city who react to the pleas of a wounded African American man with fear and deadly violence.

InJustice American style

A Texas Court overturned former U.S. Congressman Tom Delay (r.Texas) conviction for money laundering,  a  Federal Judge in New Orleans overturned the conviction of four police officers tied to the shooting of unarmed citizens in the aftermath of Katrina,  George Zimmerman is acquitted for shooting an unarmed teen, and former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman is still in prison for a crime that doesn't exist under the law.

And they want us to sing God Bless America?

"For those of you who are tired of hearing about racism, imagine how much more tired we are constantly experiencing it." - Barbara Smith

Biting off your nose to spite your face, Proceed Republiklans

These days, there are two kinds of Republicans: Millionaires, and suckers.
— Barracks O'Bama (@P0TUS) February 8, 2014

Armed with rightous indignation, misinformation, and down right hatred, the republican controlled house of mis representatives voted to cut food stamps to cut $40 billion dollars in food stamps with the misguided misconception they are sticking it to the food stamp President in the name of the Lord.

Psst!  President Obama is not on food stamps, will never need food stamps and has access to the best, quality, affordable, health care our tax dollars can buy.  So do the Congress, Senate, The Koch Brothers, and the Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads.

You see, Right-wing Snake Oil Salesmen and greed driven Hucksters like Ru$h, $ean,, Bill O'Rielly, and other RW Lords of Loud,  have convinced their base  the majority of welfare recipients are lazy promiscuous black women in the inner city, popping out babies like rabbits and turning government cheese vouchers into gold chains and plasma screen televisions.

But here's the rub, more red state white people  depend on the Government to take care of them than black and brown people.  You know why?  Because white people make up the majority of the population in the south.

 The actual facts about welfare have always been pretty clear; whites and children are the greatest recipients and beneficiaries of various programs, but that’s not good fodder for talk radio.  From the beginning of government sponsored welfare programs, discriminatory policies were enacted to keep blacks off the rolls (like excluding farm workers and domestics in the 1950’s) and even once those policies were removed media and politicians, especially on the right, insisted on maintaining the myth that the face of poverty in America was a black thing.

I wonder how long it's going to take for the Suckers to realize they've been Suckered?  I wonder when the House of Reps GOP grow a pair and take their party back from the TeaPublicans?   I can't wait for their base to start feeling the pain and suffering black/brown/poor people have been feeling for decades.  I don't think their gerrymandered districts are going to be able to save them from the wrath of We the People this time.

"For those of you who are tired of hearing about racism, imagine how much more tired we are constantly experiencing it." - Barbara Smith

Tweet of the Day

MAYBE IT'S TIME TO 'REPEAL' THE REPUBLICANS!!! #CleanHouse2014 pic.twitter.com/B2lbweIMHs
— #ABWisdom (@adbridgeforth) September 19, 2013

RedEye's Week in Review

"What's too painful to remember, we simply choose to forget", these lyrics from Barbra Streisand's Memories come to mind when I look back on the white washed commemoration of the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, in which 4 little girls and 2 forgotten little boys were murdered.  Lot's of photo ops, no substance.

 The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Black folks are still being marginalized  today, tomorrow, and probably will be forever as long as  republicans control, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, and the Mainstream Media.

"Let not your heart be troubled."

You should not be troubled that George Zimmerman "got away" with the killing of Trayvon Martin, you should be troubled that you live in a country that ensures that Trayvon Martin will happen. Trayvon Martin is happening again in Florida. Right now:

If there is anything black people can understand it's the loss of life without justice.

"For those of you who are tired of hearing about racism, imagine how much more tired we are constantly experiencing it." - Barbara Smith

"Johnathen Ferrell, black, beautiful, and gone to soon" Rest in Peace Sweet Child

 

 Lawyers for a North Carolina cop who shot an unarmed man seeking help after a car accident say their client's actions were "justified."

haveallittletalk said: Honestly Redeye, if I were black I don't think I'd have the courage to have children in this country. 

I wonder if they are going to delve into the background of Officer Randall Kirk to see if there is anything in his background that would make him afraid of a black man ?  I can understand the fear of the woman who called police when she opened the door late at night to Johnathan Ferrell, a large black man, but I can't understand why an armed and supposedly trained  Randall Kirk, surrounded by other armed police personnel, felt compelled to let off a barrage of bullets at Johnathan Ferrell.  Even if, and I say if, Ferrell was up to no good, he deserved a fair trial in a court of law. 

 

Jonathan Ferrell was 24 years old. A former Florida A&M football player, he recently moved to North Carolina and was engaged to be married.  Now there will be no wedding, no smiling pictures of him celebrating his milestone quarter century birthday next month.  Read more at Ebony.com

 Our men cannot run to the police for help, because most police aren’t capable of aiding them. Our men may not run from the police in fear, for a Black man with his back turned is no less dangerous. Our men can’t hold arms akimbo or search for their IDs or cell phones or freedom papers to prove that they are, in fact, worthy of NOT BEING KILLED FOR EXISTING.

"For those of you who are tired of hearing about racism, imagine how much more tired we are constantly experiencing it." - Barbara Smith

Know Justice. Know Peace. No Justice. No Peace. A RedEye Rant

 

jobsanger: Justice ?

Warning.  I'm one pi$$ed off Liberal today so this rant will probably pi$$ some (not be be confused with all) of y'all off.  

I am pi$$ed off because the mainstream media must think we the people suffer from a severe case of amnesia and are stuck on stupid.  I know for a FACT the church where former National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice's father was the pastor is 2.6 miles from the 16th Street Baptist Church, not two blocks.  I also know for a fact, her family was not involved in the Civil Rights Movement.  It really pi$$es me off that she is being paraded out as if she is not a republican, while the like Angela Davis and others who were actually there,  involved, suffered, and sacrificed, are ignored.  Civil Rights Justice on the Cheap indeed.

Birmingham’s black-majority city government knew it had to sell the yearlong commemoration of 1963 as a big economic boon and named a co-chairwoman highly palatable to the business establishment, the native daughter Condoleezza Rice.

 Here we go again, 24 year old Johnathan Ferrell,  another young male killed because of prejudiced and over zealousness.

Our men cannot run to the police for help, because most police aren’t capable of aiding them. Our men may not run from the police in fear, for a Black man with his back turned is no less dangerous. Our men can’t hold arms akimbo or search for their IDs or cell phones or freedom papers to prove that they are, in fact, worthy of NOT BEING KILLED FOR EXISTING.

 Sororities investigating segregation allegations at University of Alabama. Oh, OK. What's wrong with this picture?  Isn't that like the Fox investigating the Hen House?  I mean, really?

In case you missed the report in UA’s student newspaper, The Crimson White, reporters Abbey Crain and Matt Ford (both of whom I’d hire today if I ran a newspaper) tracked down multiple sorority members who confirmed that the granddaughter of UA trustee and former Alabama Supreme Court justice John England Jr. was being denied a pledge to white sororities based solely on the color of her skin.
Those sorority members, from three different sororities, knew England’s granddaughter was being denied based on skin color because there were no other reasons to keep her out.
She has a sparkling grade point average. She was the salutatorian of her graduating class. The England family is one of the most successful and respected in the state, and certainly so on the UA campus. She also had all the support you could want from the white members of those white sororities.
So, how could she not get in?
Alumni members and advisers, that’s how.
At three different white sororities, either alumnae members or advisers inserted themselves into the selection process, according to current members quoted by the Crimson White, and blocked either one or two qualified black candidates.

 Ain't gonna let nobody turn us round, we're going to keep on a walking, keep on a talking, walking up to Freedom land.

RedEye Rant Over and Out.  For Now.

"For those of you who are tired of hearing about racism, imagine how much more tired we are constantly experiencing it." - Barbara Smith

"Civil Rights Justice on the Cheap"

 

NY Times Sunday Review by Diane McWhorter

This anniversary year could have been an opportunity for Birmingham to practice some rigorous truth and painful reconciliation. It has ended up being a balkanized, largely ceremonial affair. The city’s Empowerment Week, an underpublicized festival of imported panelists and celebrities concluding today, exemplified the crux of the mission’s flaw: why is it so difficult to extend the notion of empowerment to include the powerless? We are more comfortable devoting civic resources to media events and monuments, like the life-size sculpture of the girls unveiled in Birmingham this week, than addressing the persistent casualties of the history being commemorated.

 Modern-day Americans seem loath to do the right thing unless it’s also the smart thing — even “compassionate release” has to be touted for its cost-saving virtues. Birmingham’s black-majority city government knew it had to sell the yearlong commemoration of 1963 as a big economic boon and named a co-chairwoman highly palatable to the business establishment, the native daughter Condoleezza Rice.

 Federal judge orders Chris McNair be released from prison.

McNair is the father of Denise McNair, one of the four little girls killed in the KKK's bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church on Sept. 15, 1963.

Why do they still hate us so much?

Texas congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson said progress is being made but vigilance is needed.
"There is nothing we can take for granted," she said. "There is not a person in this room that says they don't want equality, but when you start breaking down what equality is, things change, people differ."

All that blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifice wiped away with a 5-4 vote.

"For those of you who are tired of hearing about racism, imagine how much more tired we are constantly experiencing it." - Barbara Smith

HELL NAW They Ain't Fergittin', Not Now, Not EVAH!

 H/T The Crimson and White

When a sitting United States Senator says we need 100 more Senators like Jesse Helms in the Senate, after the United States Supreme Court overturned Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act on the grounds the south was no longer racist because we elected an African American President,  it's pretty clear why the Civil War Never Ends, especially in Sweet Home Alabama, because it is a culture that is ingrained, embedded, and institutionalized  in the hearts and minds of white folks from the cradle to the grave.

 But if you look at the state of Alabama, an awful lot of the people that run this state (government and business) came through the greek system at UA.  The white branch of the greek system.  So it isn't just an academic thing, and it isn't just student choice -- we all know that alums will have considerable input on whether the first (or second or third) black or white student will be accepted -- this is about whether people of some different color have a chance to get a foot onto this important ladder.  Right now, evidence says they have essentially zero chance.

The allegations of segregation, racism, and discrimination in Alabama's University Greek System aren't new.  The Old South Parade at University of Alabama just bite the dust two years ago.

What is the Old South Parade you ask?  I'll let Fox News distort, I mean, describe, it for you. Links inserted for clarity.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. –  A white fraternity that traces its roots to the Civil War and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee is again facing complaints over its antebellum-themed events.
This time, University of Alabama alumnae are upset after Kappa Alpha Order members wearing Confederate uniforms and carrying battle flags paraded past a historically black sorority as the women celebrated the group's 35th anniversary.
The fraternity has been forced to halt its "Old South" festivities on some campuses because of claims of racial insensitivity, and Alabama members have apologized for pausing in front of Alpha Kappa Alpha's sorority house during this year's parade.

mooncat said it best

The Old South has perfected the art of victimhood and put it on a pedestal right up there beside the hoop-skirted women of the silver screen, to be celebrated it at every opportunity.  This is a self-fulfilling prophecy.  It's time to leave the dead past in the past, guys, and move forward to at least the 20th century even if you can't yet bear to join the rest of us in the 21st.  I feel sure Robert E. Lee, whom you claim to revere so much, would offer the same advice.

"For those of you who are tired of hearing about racism, imagine how much more tired we are constantly experiencing it." - Barbara Smith

Update~It's Friday the 13th for those of you who get a kick out of that type of stuff

 

 Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 09:24:18 AM CST

  

I don't care if it's Friday the 13th, 2013 or Friday the 13, 2009,  I will always remember Friday the 13th as the unlucky  day my posting privileges were revoked at Left in Alabama,  and the lucky day I was forced to start my own blog.  It wasn't the first time I first time I was banned/booted/censored, and I'm sure it won't be the last.  Para quoting the great poet Langston Hughes  I swear to the Lord I just can't see why Freedom of Speech means everybody but me.

Speaking of Freedom of Speech, here is your laugh out loud for the day...Talk radio host Dale Jackson has the nerve to scold Huntsville City Councilman Will Culver for "attempting to to chill free speech."

Let's recap gist, emphasis mine.

Conservative talk radio host Dale Jackson came to Thursday’s Huntsville City Council meeting with a stern message for Councilman Will Culver.
During a council meeting on Aug. 22, Culver said he may sue Jackson for alleging that Calhoun Community College hired Culver in 2010 for political reasons. Culver, a former Huntsville police officer and chief city magistrate, spent about two years at Calhoun as a criminal justice instructor.
Jackson said a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court case, New York Times v. Sullivan, “raises the bar very high” for a public figure to successfully sue a citizen or journalist for libel.
“Asking you questions is allowed, and it should be encouraged,” said Jackson. “You should not be attempting to chill free speech. It’s very important. People have died for that right.”
Jackson said legendary University of Alabama football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant is the only public figure from the state in the last 50 years to successfully sue someone for defamation.
“You guys are public officials; don’t (threaten lawsuits) to people,” he said. “It should never happen again.”

That's right (pun intended), Dale Jackson,  the same person who was not a journalist before he was a journalist, who screens callers for his radio show, and censors African American comments on his blog has the nerve to scold the African American City Councilman about Freedom of Speech.  Oh, OK.   Psst Dale!  Your 15 minutes of fame are up, you may sit all the way down now.

People in the Rocket City are celebrating the largely unsung hero's who integrated the public schools 50 years ago.  And that's fine, but if you walk into any Rocket City School 50 years later the student population will look like it did 50 years ago.  Symbolism is nice, but substance is better.

Speaking of symbolism and substance,  why is everyone is acting like they are surprised the University  Greek system has a little race problem, and that bad old habits of the past are not the same bad old habits of the present?

UA's student newspaper The Crimson White broke the story yesterday, reporting that while students at several sororities wanted to recruit a black student, alumnae and advisers overruled them. 
Alumnae from one sorority threatened to pull funding if they admitted the girl, who students called a stellar candidate with a 4.3 high school GPA and close familial ties to the University. 

Left in Alabama's resident Sorority Girl says it's not segregation by the schools, but by the students themselves.

 AKA... (4.00 / 1)

...is a black sorority.  And while there were member who were hassling the poor black girl who joined our white sorority, I can't say for certain (and in fact I doubt) that this was behavior that was encouraged by the chapter itself.  I can certainly say that the national AKA organization does not condone such.
That's why this isn't going to be easy to crack down on.  The University of Alabama when it was integrated had previously had an official policy of discrimination.  The Greek organizations have no such policy and in fact are very diverse in some chapters (though this is rare).  Plus, there's not exactly a stack of complaints from people who have wanted to cross over into other organizations and feel that they were discriminated against.  And even if there were, you'd have to still be able to show that there were not other factors (GPA, conduct, etc.) that contributed to not being accepted.
Affirmative action scenarios are insulting to all parties and are in fact a polar opposite of the very purpose of the Greek system-- which is to be grouped with similar interests.  If you're bringing in a black girl who plays no sports into a white sorority filled with jocks just because she's black, it's going to be miserable for everyone.
I know there have been issues of racism among some members of sororities and fraternities.  Perhaps it would be best to start there.  I know that those are not actions of the organization itself, but that student is just as much a representative of that organization (as well as the school and any other club he/she belongs to) if he's hanging out of the frat house and yelling racial slurs.  That behavior should be reprimanded by both the school and the fraternity.  And if it is not, then we can safely assume that there's a problem, and the group in question can be addressed by the school.  If it is addressed by the organization involved, I don't see any reason to penalize the group than I would denounce all Muslims because of a terrorist who yelled "God is great!" before he blew himself up.  I know that Alpha Delta Pi had conduct codes and a system set up for dealing with such issues.  And I'm willing to bet that most of the others do as well.

WRONG then. WRONG now. The last paragraph hits the nail on it's head. The purpose of the Greek System for African American is public service, not wanna be jocks and debutantes.  Black Greeks can cite examples of recruiting whites. Can white Greek organizations do the same? NO.  Now if  you're black and can play sports and add to their trophy case that's another story.....

"Alabama is now No. 1 in the country and it is hypocritical to cheer the boys on on Saturday afternoon and lock the sisters out of the sorority on Monday," Jackson said in an interview Friday afternoon. "The school should come down hard on those sororities."

Speaking of the bad habits from the past being the same bad habits of the present, remember when some  people (not to be confused with all) said they were withdrawing their financial support from the Alabama Democratic Party as long as Joe Reed had power?

I'm just saying....

"For those of you who are tired of hearing about racism, imagine how much more tired we are constantly experiencing it." - Barbara Smith

How someone looks after their head has been slammed against the concrete with great force

 

Tallahassee Police Break Housewife Christina West Orbital Bone During DUI Arrest

Video Medical Examiner testifies to the extent of George Zimmerman's injuries

Compare and Contrast.

"For those of you who are tired of hearing about racism, imagine how much more tired we are constantly experiencing it." - Barbara Smith

I'm Back! Did you miss me?

 

In case you haven't noticed I've been away from blogging for a spell due to my real life colliding with my blogging life. But that's good thing because I needed a mental health break from the EVIL, INSENSITIVE, HEARTLESS world of cut throat politics. On the down side, I had to depend on the liberal media (snark) for news and information, which means I have to play catch up to find out what's really going on in the world.

Looks like there's a  lots of political intrigue going  in Sweet Home Alabama including a lawsuit filed, but not served against fellow blogger Legal Schnauzer.  You can read all about the intrigue yourself, but this comment  on Legal Schnauzer caught my RedEye:

True, a lot of life time tax payer Republicans have lost confidence and trust in the Alabama Republicans' political party line style of managing their government, and the Declaration of Independence addresses this specific loss of respect by the people, that they should throw off such a government, as a last resort.
Therefore, Murph is probably thinking it's about time us Little People got off our asses and found a strong independent candidate[s]. Why, because regardless the dissatisfaction among the Republicans, many are never going Democrat

So let me see if I have this right (pun intended), republicans are dissatisfied  but they are never going democratic....Why?  What's so bad/wrong/ with the democratic party?  Inquiring minds want to know.

According to Left in Alabama, the GOP failed in their attempt to replace a democrat with  republican and cost tax payers $320.000.00 to boot.  So much for GOP fiscal conservatism.

On a sad note,  Alabama State Representative Demetrius Newton has gone on to Glory. Rest In Peace thy good and faithful Servant. You will be missed.

Long before Demetrius Newton started his 27-year career representing part of western Birmingham in the Alabama House of Representatives, he was fighting against segregationist laws in courtrooms around the state.
Newton, 85, whose death was announced this morning, filed a number of lawsuits during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s that sought an end to segregationist laws - including separate waiting rooms at train stations, the inclusion of African Americans on juries, and the rights of protestors to march.

 Remember when the Supreme Court overturned Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act because things had changed in Sweet Home Alabama?  The more things change, the more they don't.  Oh well, at least Alabama is still #1 when it comes to college football.

Did George Zimmerman and the media try to pull off a Weapon of Mass Distraction?  The reason I ask is because Zimmerman's domestic dispute was all over the mainstream media, but I didn't hear/see a peep about the The Medical Examiner in the George Zimmerman case preparing a $100 million dollar suit   He reportedly will allege that the medical examiner, the state attorney's office and Sanford Police Department were all biased against Trayvon. Bao was fired last week for undisclosed reasons.

"He says their general attitude was that he [Martin] got what he deserved," Attorney Willie Gary told Channel 9.
Gary said Dr. Bao was made to be a scapegoat and was wrongfully fired from the medical examiner's office. He said his client was prepared to offer proof that Martin was not the aggressor.
"He was in essence told to zip his lips. 'Shut up. Don't say those things,'" Gary said. 
Gary said prosecutors never asked Dr. Bao a question crucial to their case.
"He wanted a question that would have allowed him to explain to the jury with scientific evidence how there was no way Trayvon Martin could have been on top of George Zimmerman," Gary said.

Meanwhile in Florida  an African American Florida man was arrested and tried for, get this, walking on the wrong side of the road. 

A Florida man is suing the sheriff’s office in the county where he lives for throwing him in jail and putting him on trial for walking on the wrong side of the road.
According to First Coast News, Bobby Wingate, 36,  was walking along Oliver Street when he was approached by an officer asking questions. Andrew Bonderu, Wingate’s attorney, says his client responded to the officer’s questions by telling him he didn’t have time to talk.

On the national front, after President Obama's address to the nation regarding Syria the Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads insist he do, I still oppose War with Syria.

All life is sacred. All of us are sickened by the images of dead children lined up in rolls on the ground. No one condones such atrocities. If the U.S. bombs Syria, even more innocent children, women and men will die. One cannot save people by bombing them.

Been there.  Done that.

"For those of you who are tired of hearing about racism, imagine how much more tired we are constantly experiencing it." - Barbara Smith