Strike that.
It's not wise for Geek Pavaler to blog about the Huntsville City School System.
Here we go again.
You know the drill.
Blogger gets hacked after skewering the Status Quo.
It can happen to you.
I thought I was secure. I was careful about how I set up my blog, my e-mail, and my Twitter. I used unique, complex passwords. But it didn’t matter. I was hacked. It happened to me, and it can happen to you.I was hacked because I am criticizing the Birmingham News. I was hacked because of what I have said. But it’s not just me and my blog that were attacked, it was free speech.The people or organization behind this attack committed a crime. They hired skilled hackers to attack me and hack my accounts. They used resource that a regular person like me does not have access to in an attempt to shut me down.It happened to me because of what I have written. And if you write something these people or this organization doesn’t like, it will happen to you. These people do not believe in free speech. They do not think that you or I have a right to criticize or express our opinions about issues.
It has happened to me.
Freedom of Speech isn't Free.
I thought we were fighting them over there so we wouldn't have to fight them over here?
God bless America?
Today's Must Reads
Blog about Siegelman, Lose your Job
Hacked? Riiiight......
RedEye tiptoeing away from the computer to go pray for my city, my county, my state, my country, and the world.
In honor of Earth Week please read Taking America back from the Polluters aka the gop.
We must finally put an end to the days when dirty interests — who put their own short-term profits before the long-term health of our country — have more influence than the people.
America belongs to everyone. It’s time to take our power back from the polluters.
On the first anniversary of the BP/Gulf Oil disaster please read Lax Congressional Response to BP Oil Disaster Another Gulf Tragedy?
One year ago today, an explosion aboard the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig claimed the lives of 11 workers and initiated the worst oil disaster the U.S. has ever seen. Thousands of animals in the Gulf of Mexico were killed, many of which were endangered or threatened already, and oil and toxic dispersants continue to impact coastal communities and natural habitats.
Despite recommendations from the Presidential Oil Spill Commission, Congress has yet to pass legislation that ensures safer operations in any water depth, provides better spill response, lifts the existing liability cap or secures funding for restoration efforts in the Gulf.
There is no pretty way to say it...women, strike that, poor women are under attack by rich white men aka republicans. Read Give me your money and your conscience , then read how the gop wants poor women to Trust their Twat to Walgreen's big H/T to Writechic.
Not content to have a go at gutting tenure, the red TeaPublican Alabama state legislature is also looking into having a go at the Teachers Retirement System too. If you can read this thank a Teacher. If you can't read this thank the TeaPublicans.
Speaker Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, the House leader, praised the bills, which are set for review Wednesday by the House Ways and Means -- General Fund Committee.
"I believe we've long needed to update the members of the boards overseeing those funds, to make sure they make sound, professional decisions and ... look out for the taxpayers," he said. The state expects to pay a total of $964 million to support the TRS and ERS this year.
Mac McArthur, executive director of the Alabama State Employees Association, said the ERS board doesn't need fixing. "I don't know why anybody would want to fix something that's not broken," McArthur said.
The Birmingham Skews is back with a vengeance after it's Hack Attack! Read, Don't Take it Out of the Oven-It's Half Baked
Power to We the People!
Recently, I wrote a post about the difference between blogs and the big newspapers and why I favored blogs. Reading Archibald’s column today, it occurred to me that blogs allow us (as in “we, the people”) to serve the function that the newspapers once ostensibly served: holding those with power accountable. I see no reason that the Birmingham News and its journalists should be exempt. They have power. And influence.
Check out this headline from The Birmingham News (not to be confused with the Birmingham Skews)Birmingham's Nation of Islam leaders call for firing of officers involved in latest video-taped incident which prompted comments like this;
The Nation of Islam is a joke. Who really gives a rip what they say?
And this
Religious leaders are social gagsters (sic) prey on the weak of mind.
And this
"Granted the police shouldn't have kicked his tail . . . " - I happen to disagree with you: They SHOULD have kicked his tail! They should have kicked it longer and harder! They should have kicked it enough for him to be coming forth with an apology instead of a lawsuit!
Notice how public opinion is focused on the Nation of Islam and not the actions of the Birmingham Police Department?
What are you reading today? Knowledge is power. Share the knowledge.
This just in!
Yes, Skews, you will get a few clicks from my post here. And I suppose you figure that means you have real support, and you might have some. Donald Trump gets a lot of publicity these days, too, and he certainly has supporters. Maybe for your next trick you can out yourself as a birther. That would certainly get you a few clicks.
MeOuch!
I love it when the covers are pulled off and the bright lights are turned on to expose the face of real, raw, unadulterated hypocrisy by the so called liberal thinking,mainstream media all stars. Note the names in bold for future reference.
You won't want to miss our all star media panel happening just 4 days before the start of Mayor Langford's trial, just 9 days after the Birmingham City Council runoffs, and who knows what else might happen between now and then?
Panelists
Bill Payer, CBS42 News Dir.
Mooncat, Left in Alabama
Ron January, WATV
John Archibald, Bham News
Charles Dean, Bham News
Kyle Whitmire, Bham Weekly
We can thank new blog The Birmingham Skews for making them squirm. And squirming they are.
Most people by now have read John Archibald's column from this morning's Birmingham News. As so many who tend to tell the truth, he's scared someone with enough resources to pull together what looks to be a fake grassroots blog and can pay for a private domain registry.
I'll spare you the details of the attack in general. It's nothing that I find personally interesting or unusual, and it really has no bearing one way or the other on any criticisms Archibald has ever written.
But an attack on a journalist is an attack on anyone who wants to spread the truth, and that includes us lowly bloggers, boys and girls.
So I'm here to ask the question: Who could be behind such attacks on Archibald and the Birmingham News?
Who indeed? But as Legal Schnauzer notes, who really cares about who is behind the attacks on Archibald and the Birmingham News? I mean God forbid Archibald and the Birmingham News be *ahem* attacked.
One of the South's most nauseating right-wing media puppets recently had someone return fire. The puppet howled in pain when the buckshot found its target--right in his white, doughy flanks. We're still struggling to wipe the smile from our face.
John Archibald, a columnist for The Birmingham News, consistently has trumpeted the Karl Rove agenda in Alabama over the past 10 years or so. Anything GOP Governor Bob Riley did was pure and honorable. Anyone pursued by Bush-appointed U.S. attorneys Alice Martin and Leura Canary was guilty. Official "corruption"--if it involved a Democrat, person of color, or individual who refused to testify falsely against Don Siegelman--was public enemy No. 1.
Archibald specializes in clucking at the misfortune of others--whether they have committed wrongdoing or not. So imagine our delight in learning Archibald has some untidiness in his own closet. When confronted about his personal mess, Archibald first lied about it, claimed ignorance, and then essentially blamed his wife. What a guy!
That's right (pun intended) Archibald and the Birmingham News can dish it out but they can't take it. I also find it laughable Almoderate at right leaning Left in Alabama is attacking the messenger in an attempt to silence the messenger.
I have spent a fair amount of time criticizing the Birmingham News on this blog, but you do not know much about me. I have a few friends who think that I leave myself open for criticism by not identifying myself. I think that is reasonable. At this point I am only willing to say that I am an ordinary citizen who loves my country, state, and city. I also love being informed, and learning the whole story.
I will not identify myself by name and for that I will make no apologies. When reporters like John Archibald use unnamed sources and “leaked” documents to bolster facts that are shaky to begin, then use them to paint their targets in a negative light, those reporters should be able to handle reasonable criticism from any source, named or anonymous.The News buys its paper by the ton and its ink by the barrel, and their resources are limitless when compared to my own. All I have to offer is the truth, and a critical way of looking at how the news has been reported in Birmingham. The Birmingham News does not appreciate this, and therefore, I remain anonymous.
Those without sin cast the first stone? H/T julie for this Interesting Dichotomy, or more Pots and Kettles.
Call Mayor Larry Langford the king of all Birmingham media -- or at least all media that take cash.
---John Archibald, Birmingham News
Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford Put Media on His Payroll
Go ahead, John Archibald, and remind us who you are and how you really feel about the Alabama Democratic Party and Dr. Joe Reed.
Go on. Remind us why Alabama's Democratic Party has less to fear from Republicans than from, say, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
John Archibald is Wrong you say?
John Archibald stated in the 16th and 17th paragraphs (I judge paragraphs online by double line breaks) that:
This is not, I repeat, about French. To be honest, I feel for her as much as anyone.
She will, after all, become known as the judge who earned her robe with one credential: her skin color.
I don't think she deserves that. But the whole process wreaks of unfairness -- the same kind battled at lunch counters and schools and bus stops across the South.
Have we learned nothing?
I'm sorry, John, but I think you meant that "the process reeks of unfairness." I think it stinks to high heaven!
And the unfairness wreaks havoc on the fabric of the Alabama Democratic Party. Although you didn't write that.
Otherwise, the whole article was spot on and correct. We like what you're doing, sir, just get the verbs right...
IMHO the rank hypocrisy stinks to high heaven. Thanks The Birmingham Skews and Legal Schnauzer for exposing the Fake News. I like what you're doing and you have the verbs right....
For those who don’t already know, John Archibald hosts a live chat every Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. CST. I’m not the host of the party, but I’d like to extend the invitation to anyone who is interested in participating. I’ve attempted to submit questions about his blatant disregard to the facts, but have fallen victim to censorship, or have possibly been banned altogether. He doesn't care to answer my questions, but maybe he'll answer yours. I invite you all to join in this week and see for yourself. You can find the link to the chat at the end of his column found here.
They want me fired.
Perhaps they're right.
These anonymous people, these people who want me fired, dug deep into my past and set up a website to post their findings. They've gone door to door in mostly black Birmingham neighborhoods, leaving fliers that portray me as a liar and racist.
Speaking of fliers in the black neighborhood and gutter campaigning, remember THIS?
Agriculture Commissioner and gubernatorial candidate Ron Sparks spoke to the Morgan County Democrats last night and, in light of the really heated and ugly races coming to an end yesterday, it seemed an appropriate time to ask what Sparks thinks of innuendo and whisper campaigns bent on character assassination, such as the one we saw last weekend against Patrick Cooper in the Birmingham mayoral race.
In that case, as you may recall, this letter from Frank Matthews was widely circulated via email. Under the guise of "giving you the facts about Patrick Cooper," it "informed" readers that Cooper standing next to Howard Bayless -- who is openly gay -- is "an abomination" and "unpleasing" in the eyes of God. The letter was closely followed by a Powerpoint presentation that dropped the gloves altogether and just asked "Is Patrick Cooper Gay?" It was 10 pages of hints about divorce, contributions from Cooper's ex-wife, endorsements and how terrible it would be if Birmingham ended up like Atlanta. Pure character assassination, not an issue in the whole mess.
I've also seen Frank Matthews at Sparks events, doing official looking stuff. It turns out he isn't paid directly by Sparks2010, but by their consultant, Matrix, LLC. Nevertheless, with that kind of ugliness being openly distributed, I wanted to find out if we should expect similar, under-the-radar smears in the gubernatorial primary.
Don't dish it out if you can't take it in. I'm just saying....
Now someone cross-post me to Kos so that I can get some hits.
It. Is. On.
