Tweet of the Century & Today's Must Read(s) and Weep

Funny how the same Repubs whining about 7 hours on ACA website never had problem with ppl waiting in line 7 hours to VOTE. @FoxNews @cspanwj
— Physguy (@physguy2) October 22, 2013

 Read 'Em and Weep

Hell Naw we ain't fergittn!   The Alabama Secretary of State released it's voter suppression guidelines.

Don't you wish democrats had the nerve to shut down the government until the  Voter ID law was defunded?

Republiklan governors are hurting more people than the Affordable Care Act Website. Warning Rude language.

With  Annoying Dems like Debbie Wassermann Schultz who needs republicans?  Real Democrat Alan Grayson is under fire for telling  the truth.  I mean, really?

Speaking of the Tea Party.... Tea party groups seeks to hide donors under Jim Crow-Era exemptions

What's on your must read list?

RedEye's Weekly Rant

 

Don't try and argue with the misinformed and the uninformed who are happily defending their right to stay uninformed and misinformed, killing Americans by denying them access to quality affordable healthcare, jobs, food, and a quality public education, just to sabotage President Obama.   The right can't handle the truth, they would RATHER believe a lie.

Has anyone but me noticed some of the same people who opposed the Civil Rights act are some of the same people who support the new gun laws?  The  Arkansas  Attorney General   is the kind of State Attorney General I wish we had, instead of the State Attorney General we have.

 I'm just saying.....

This is a what some "Professional Lefty Retards " tried to tell some of y'all post

Hello this is Hank Sanders, Alabama state Senator, and I’m still mad as hell. I say hell no! I ain’t going back to the cotton fields of Jim Crow days. I’m going forward with Ron Sparks, Jim Folsom and others who would do right by all of us. I hope you are mad as hell and will not go back, and you have the power to choose. I will stand until hell freezes over for Ron Sparks for Governor and Jim Folsom for Lt. Governor on November the 2nd.

Paid for by Alabama New South.

“I heard if the Republicans win the election, their first act of business was going to be sending this monkey back to his cage …” These words were posted on a web site (ala.com) in response to a robo ad I sent. There is a mean spirit on the loose.

Rangel: It's disgraceful that he has to make any explanation for anything. The intrusion of the media and Republicans into the sacred relationship that worshipers have with their spiritual leaders I think is going to come back to haunt us. To think that we have to go into the lives and the beliefs of Rabbis and Priests and ministers and Imams is absolutely ridiculous. We've got a war on. We've got an economy that's splintered. I think the media should be more responsible and start dealing with those issues. I don't think many people care what reverend Wright thinks and I don't see why any candidate should have to explain what ..

Rep Waters: "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."

Howard Dean said a public health insurance option is more important than bipartisanship, and that Democrats should pass health-care legislation that includes the option with 51 votes if necessary.

Dean added that Democrats should have "no intention" of working with Republicans if it's not the strongest possible legislation that could be passed with a simple majority.


Bernie Sanders went to the floor of the Senate last December to deliver the most important congressional address of 2010, a nine-hour long, filibuster-style condemnation of economic policies that favored the rich while burdening working Americans. The independent senator from Vermont electrified the nation with a call for economic justice that challenged Obama administration compromises with Republicans on issues of tax policy and declared: "There is a war going on in this country, and I am not referring to the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. I am talking about a war being waged by some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in this country against the working families of the United States of America, against the disappearing and shrinking middle class of our country."

Sorry but I'm going to have to throw a wet blanket on this "bipartisan" love fest.
Has anyone noticed but me that republicans are bipartisan when it's benefits them? Bipartisanship to republicans means you join us, we don't join you.

Mo, Dale, Teabaggers, how about joining with Democrats/liberals fighting for health care reform, or the Jobs bill, or bringing our troops home from Iraq? Bipartisanship is two way, not one way.

Words of caution and advice to my progressive/democratic friends. Make sure you identify yourselves as such so that you won't be lumped in with the Teabaggers. They are NOT your friend(s). Don't let yourself be used to enable the right wing/conservative agenda.


The president said the Republican Party was focused on things like tax cuts for the rich and cuts to education funding rather than helping middle class Americans and young people.

"If we don't have strong leaders in Congress who are supportive of this agenda, who are supportive of moving the country forward," the president said. "If instead we've got folks who want to move backwards to the same failed policies that got us into this mess in the first place, then it's going to be very difficult for me to keep making progress and do what folks want to see me do over the next two years."

RedEye's Alabama Congress Critter Alert!

What's that you say? Alabama Congress Critter Jo Bonner (r. bigot) has a tendency to exploit the ethics committee for partisan gain? I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you. NOT.

Ethics watchdogs are calling on Rep. Jo Bonner (R-AL) to step down as chairman of the House Ethics Committee -- at least temporarily -- for his role in the ongoing turmoil over Rep. Maxine Waters' (D-CA) case.

What was Bonner's role in the ongoing turmoil over Rep. Maxine Waters you ask?

Neither the House Ethics Committee nor Speaker John Boehner's (R-OH) office returned a request for comment about allegations that Bonner engaged in improper communication with attorneys on the panel last year while he was still its ranking member.

An unprecedented leak of internal ethics documents from last fall provide new details about Bonner's role in the alleged bungling of the ethics committee's case against Waters. The scores of Ethics Committee e-mails and memos, reported by Politico Monday with links to the documents, paint a picture of a committee consumed by partisan dysfunction and accusations of professional misconduct surrounding Waters' case

Let's get ready to rumble!

Unlike in a normal court of law, Waters may have no formal way to file a complaint against the Ethics Committee. But at the very least, Waters could take her fight to the floor of the House, calling on Bonner to step down from the position and repeatedly raise the allegations of mistreatment and unprofessional conduct. The spectacle undoubtedly would attract the attention of the media and many of her peers already wary of the ethics committee's policing power.

Bonner's role in the Rangel lynching

The attorneys also improperly communicated with Texas Rep. Mike McCaul, the top Republican on the special panel overseeing the trial of Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), who later the House censured for a separate string of charges, according to Chisam's memo. There are strict Ethics Committee rules preventing contact between the staff attorneys assigned to prosecute a case and the lawmakers who serve as the jury weighing the evidence.

Let this be a lesson for republicans and conservadems, ethics are for everybody.

Thanks to the republicans and their "progressive" enablers, there is a narrative that that all Democrats, especially black elected democrats, are corrupt and unethical. The jails are full and getting fuller of Democratic elected officials convicted after widely publicized media investigations. It has the "appearance" of political prosecutions.
For the record I'm not defending people who misuse public funds or who are trying to enrich themselves or their families. I'm defending our justice system and the rule of law.

The justice system that says defendants are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, not the court of public opinion. The justice system that says justice is blind not partisan and political. The justice system that says we have the right to fair trial. The justice system that says the jury pool should not be tainted by pre trial publicity. The justice system on which this country was founded.

So much hypocrisy. So little time. But none dare call it racism.

RedEye Alabama Congress Critter Alert over and out. For now.

Redeye's Inbox

I would like to share a few emails I received in response to some of this weeks front page diaries.

WTF is the Democratic Party?
I want to know too. You and I ARE on the "same page," Girl Friend.
The President that we worked so hard to elect has extended yet another
olive branch to the GOP by offering to freeze salary increases for all
Government workers while prices on everything from electricity to food
continue to rise.. Meanwhile the National Dem. Party has selected a
former Blue Dawg from New York to head up Party activities for the 2012
push to elect Democrats. Another slap in the face to the liberal,
progressive Democratic Party base who made the difference in electing
Obama President. Sheeze! What's next? Cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and
Social Security? I'm polishing my pitchfork for that one.

I just received a horror story from a friend in Florida. Her bank was
taken over by one of the Banking giants we bailed out. The Giant Bank
then proceeded to play Bank Bingo with the mortgages on both her
business and her home, increasing the rates and making it damn near
impossible for her to keep either her home or business from going
under. She is temporarily covered by Unemployment Benefits, which are
helping make the mortgage payments, but there's no way of knowing when
the newly elected Republican Congress are going to stop paying those
benefits. When that happens, there goes both her home and her business
that she has worked so hard to maintain all of her adult life. Stories
like this are being repeated all over America, but those huge salaries
and bonuses for Banking CEOs keep being doled out. The rich are
getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. It's Class Warfare and
the rich are winning more than just elections. They are eliminating
the Middle Class in America!

Like you, I can't understand why Americans don't wake up to what is
happening before it is too late.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving in spite of all the dire stuff
going on around us, and would like to wish you Happy Holidays and a
Super New Year.

Note: I agree and I'm polishing my pitchfork too!

I Choose Neither
Every real Democrat I know is doing more than just a little soul
searching after the last election. Clearly something has broken within
the Democratic Party in Alabama, and I believe it began with Ron Sparks
and other True Democrat's inability to raise the funds needed to win
the race. That, of course, could have been overcome IF the
progressive/liberal Democrats had hit the streets and donated to the
campaigns of old fashion, "We serve the people," Democrats with the
same zeal they exhibited during the 2008 election, and had been given
real Democrats running for office instead of Rahm's "Blue Dawg
Democrats" as candidates. We have now seen the Corporate Takeover of
our Government raise it's ugly head once again. How we managed to
hang on to the U. S. Senate is akin to a miracle. How much good will be
derived from our hanging on to the Senate is yet to be seen. The
Republicans in Congress are STILL obstructing all laws that are not
favorable for the very rich and their corporations as exhibited by
their recent threatening letter stating that they will obstruct all
matters coming before the Senate except tax breaks which include
millionaires and billionaires, and renewing funding so the government
can continue to function.

Our State Party is broken, so perhaps now it is time to make a clean
sweep of the Party Leadership and begin anew, electing, keeping, and
appointing only those Democrats who adhere to the long standing
Democratic principles of taking care of the least among us and our
elderly, supporting the efforts of Unions, who fight against the
excesses of their Corporate bosses, and ending all inequality of
racial and lifestyle issues once and for all by passing such laws as
"The Dream Act" and repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." More than
anything else, however, The Glass/Steagall Act needs to be reinstated
and thereby bring back the banking regulations that kept us out of a
depression/recession until it was repealed. Paying Unemployment
Benefits is a must as well. The money spent by those receiving
assistance during unemployment goes directly back into the economy for
things like food and making mortgage payments to keep families from
joining the ranks of the homeless in America. We know that the
"trickle down economy" proposed by the Republicans hasn't worked in the
past and won't work now. 12 million jobs were created during the
Clinton Administration. Under Bush and his tax cuts for the very rich
only 1 million jobs were created as the Nation's newly unemployed
continued to march off a cliff to drown like lemmings.

The greatest disappointment is that our President from whom we expected
much change and progress has accomplished neither. His bipartisan
give-aways have NOT WORKED and his disregard for the Liberal Democratic
Base turned out to be a disaster when we review the results of the 2010
Midterm election. I am beginning to fear that President Obama is
nothing more than yet another Corporatist Politician. That hurts most
of all.

Note: I fear President Obama let his advisers and the media shape him into their image of the first black President. President Obama let the media define him. Therein lies the problem. A media that is controlled by white males who wanted him to fail so that he would be the first and last African American President of the United States of America.

Tooting my own horn

I'm writing this in reference to XXXXX's suggestion that Democrats search their souls to see if they're good democrats, or something to that effect. If everybody had worked even one-fourth as hard as I did, there may have been a different out come. I have long contended that most Democrats do nothing during an election but go into a voting booth and vote, if they even do that. Here's some of what I specifically did for Ron Sparks and Steve Raby.


First I tried to get people registered. I took applications for registration forms to three black ministers and asked them to distribute
them to any person they knew who is not registered to vote. I'm guilty as sin of targeting people who I think will vote democratic. I don't have the
time to waste on anybody I'm not sure of. Been there, done that. As an enticement, I paid $2 each for 20 pictures of President Obama being sworn in to give to people to hang in their homes. I always carried a supply of registration forms in my car in case I encountered anyone who wanted to
register. I have been run off store parking lots more times than one.

I made many phone calls from the Democratic Headquarters for various candidates.

I e-mailed and called teachers, both active and retired to within an hour of the polls closing reminding them of the pitfalls awaiting them if
Republicans got elected. (They can read today's paper to see how right I was.)

I would drive to neighborhoods I never knew existed, park my car then walk door-to-door through big lots and no side walks handing out candidates'
literature as well as letters I had written and signed myself. Then I decided that it would be more expedient if I did small businesses instead for a couple of reasons: both candidates stressed the importance of small businesses and had so much to offer them, and also the few people working there usually represent more than one family. Thus began my sojourn into the small business community. Starting at the Tennessee River, I hit every small small business on both sides of the street to Weatherly Road: propeller shops, tire stores, parts stores, antique stores, consignment shops, auto stores, engine shops, tackle shops, quilting stores, doctors' and dentists' offices, barber shops and beauty shops. I particularly enjoyed going into businesses with Mo Brooks signs on their property such as Lily Flag Furniture and Fuel City. At two ABC stores and a wine store in other areas of town, I found that everyone working there was a Democrat. In all my encounters, not one person was ever rude to me.

I did the same thing on Meridian Street hitting small businesses on BOTH sides of the street from where it begins down town to Oakwood Avenue. If
the businesses were closed, I struggled to get the info into a crevice around the door, sometimes lucking out and pushing it all the way in, or getting it to go under the door. Sometimes I attached the literature to doorknobs with rubber bands. I worked the old Holiday Office Center south Parkway, a big, sprawling multi-story complex. Twice it grew dark, as was the case at Holiday Office Center, and I would be afraid for I always worked alone.


On Bankhead Road, I covered two condominium complexes where doormats were close together and easy to slip material under. You learn the ropes after awhile, and you discover that people are really nice, regardless of their political persuasion.

Somebody said to toot your own horn, for ain't nobody gonna toot it for
you.

I have tooted my own horn.

Note: Toot on! Toot often! This is the kind of democrat I wish we had more of instead of some of the democrats we have. This illustrates the difference between the gop and the democratic party..the gop is organized, their voters don't have to be begged to come to the polls and vote because they've been armed with misinformation and righteous anger. The gop also put their most effective voices out front whereas democrats tend to suppress their effective voices out of fear of offending the gop.

What's the difference between Charlie Rangel and Joe Wilson despite the obvious?

I wrote this to another list: “Clearly this was done to a black progressive who had done great work for years and years. But never to the slimy Republican thieves who get away with anything, even when Democrats are in power

Please note that the Ethics Committee is thoroughly bipartisan – half democratic and half republican. The demographic significance is that the committee is strongly skewed to white persons – almost all of them are white.

Yes, the decision is racist!”

Reprimands are also issued in a racist (and nationalist) manner. When Earl Hilliard was running for Congress the first time, he wrote the Ethics committee asking if he could use an office he owned in Montgomery for a satellite campaign office. The Ethics Committee said it was OK!

Well, shortly after Earl went to Congress, he organized a caucus within the Black Caucus to concentrate on getting to know African nations better, and had Members “adopt” a country to get to know and to direct assistance to as much as possible. In doing this, he found that there one African nation not recognized by the US, Libya, and he couldn’t find out specifically why. (This was after Reagan tried to assassinate President Gadaffi by shelling the Presidential Palace from a US ship near the shore. [He failed to kill him, but he did manage to murder Gadaffi’s daughter, 3 years old, as I remember])

Unable to get clear info on our embargo, Earl went to look at the situation (he was unable to use his passport, since the State Department controls all use of passports) and arranged to go without using it (Americans are constitutionally guaranteed the right to go anywhere in the world, but the State Department and Treasury control things, making it difficult. [Later, during Clinton’s bombing of Iraq between the Bush wars, I went there without passport, and later still to Cuba – there being careful to stay below the $200 limit of matter we brought back]) You see, the administration doesn’t like the freedoms the Constitution grants to Americans! Anyway, when Earl returned, some Members freaked out, especially the ever-asinine Spencer Bachus, who called for Earl’s removal from Congress. That died, but ethics charges were filed against Earl from the campaign office matter, but in fact triggered by this incident.

The ethics charges hung over his head for years, not coming up, but used by the Birmingham News (Noose) in every election to smear him. Finally a Democrat who was a member of the Israel nationalist caucus became chair of the Democratic side of the Ethics Committee (I don’t remember his name but he was from Southern California) and the charges came up and Earl was reprimanded in a truly kangaroo trial. Earl was glad since he had called for them to hurry up and get it done over the years and get it over with, but the lowest level of politics ruled. Of course the reprimand meant nothing in the real world.

Note that a black member interested in a black nation was attacked by racist white southern member, Bachus. Sound familiar? Yes, Congress is racist, and the Democratic Party doesn’t purge itself of its own racists.

Both men, Rangel and Hilliard, are among most honorable and ethical members of Congress I have ever known.

Note: I'm sure it's no surprise I agree the Rangel censure was racist. Read the 10 good reasons Rangel shouldn't have been censured. Read the letter from Rep. Bobby Scott who served on the committee. Read about past sanctions and actions taken against other members of congress. If it's not racism, what is it?

We Will Overcome Someday
I'm wondering where all the righteous people have gone after
the humiliating defeat handed liberal Democrats recently? Surely we
liberals aren't so thinned-skinned that we no longer have the urge to
fright for the democratic principles so near and dear to all of our
hearts. It's time to get off the pity pot and renew the fight, my
sisters and brothers. We can and shall overcome if we put our bruised,
bloodied, but unbowed shoulders to the wheel and push! It's hard work,
but it is necessary work, right now, if we are to be successful in our
fight for liberty and JUSTICE for all American citizens. I like the
idea of hitching up the galluses one more notch on my coveralls, one
more time, and putting my bare feet on the hot asphalt road to
righteousness and liberty for all. Please join me and make a joyful
noise for justice, equality and freedom for all Americans. If you will
take the first step, and if we all take that first step, there is no
obstacle, boulder nor barrier that we cannot overcome.

Note: Let us march on until victory is won!

Thanks for reading, lurking, your emails and your comments.

What's the difference between Charlie Rangel and Joe Wilson despite the obvious?

The Big House will vote wether to lynch, I mean censure Representative Charlie Rangel (D.NY) today. I'm sure members of the grand old party are lighting the torches and cracking their whips in anticipation of putting that uppity boy in his rightful place. but Charlies Rangel doesn't deserve censure

When the House votes Thursday to discipline Rep. Charles Rangel – who was found guilty of 11 counts of ethics violations – the 80-year-old congressman and war hero should receive a reprimand, not censure.

Did Rangel make serious mistakes by failing to pay some taxes and report personal income? Absolutely. And he should have known better, especially since he chaired the powerful Ways and Means Committee, which is all about tax legislation.

But should Rangel be forced to stand before Congress and face public humiliation? No.

Rangel has been through enough embarrassment. Censure is the highest ethics punishment a lawmaker can receive outside of expulsion. Why drag Rangel to the House floor and force him to stand before his peers and take a verbal flogging? It accomplishes nothing.

Was Rep. Joe "you lie" Wilson censured for heckling the President of the United States during the State of the Union address and bringing Tea Bag Tactics to our House?

Representative Wilson got off with an apology (of sorts), Charlie Rangel should get the same.

Humbled and apologetic, Rangel wrote a note to Congress: "I am truly sorry for my mistakes and would like your help in seeing that I am treated fairly."

Rangel shouldn’t get kicked while he’s down. A reprimand seems appropriate, especially since Rangel was not found guilty of corruption. Rangel is cantakerous, stubborn, and throws theatrical fits, but he's no crook.

If Rep. Joe Wilson got off with a reprimand after publicly disrespecting the President of the United States of America, a reprimand is certainly good enough for Rep. Charlie Rangel who is guilty of sloppy bookkeeping.

The House of Representatives passed a resolution Tuesday reprimanding Rep. Joe Wilson for shouting "You lie!" during President Obama's address on health care. The resolution states that the House "disapproves of the behavior of the Representative from South Carolina."

Why have another televised high tech lynching of an uppity black man?

Never mind...we know.

Redeye's Week in Review~edited

My Daddy says if you can't get in the front door, go around to the back door, so that's what I did after I couldn't get in the front door of Left in Alabama. I'm not calling any names, and there is a long list of possible suspects, but someone(s) want to dictate who I can or can not blog about, and what blog I can or can not link to. Ain't I a progressive blogger too? Don't I have the right to express my point of view too? Life for me ain't been no crystal stair and I've earned the right to speak my mind. Hope will never be silent, and neither will I.

The Teapublicans were on a roll this week. They aren't even pretending anymore.

If you have served as the League of the South's western Arkansas chapter chairman, you might be a newly elected member of the state House of Representatives.

This is who they really are.

I'm sure the American people went to the polls two weeks ago thinking that it would be a good idea to put a racist in charge of immigration policy in the House of Representatives.

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! The Auto Bailouts worked! Funny how we the peeps are finding this out AFTER the midterm elections.


I am going to have to give credit where credit is due, the Teapublicans don't give up until the last dogs dies. If only democrats would remember where they came from and fight for what is right (no pun).

there was a time, yes, distant, but not so distant, when to be a Democrat meant you fought for the cause of making the lives of the poor and disenfranchised better. And that "fighting" meant fighting; it meant being willing to take a bullet or a bomb if that's what was needed. Now we're not at that point by any stretch of the imagination. But when's the last time Democrats went on a crusade to help the poor? When is the last time the poor or the workers decided to fight for their rights (other than the right not to buy health insurance)? Now, it's all about the mythical middle class or about how much money rich people need in order to, maybe, perhaps, if we're nice and grovel, create a job or two.

The lesson of the 2010 midterm election...never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Forty-one percent of the electorate were self-identified conservatives. In 2006, only 32% of exit poll respondents identified with the same label. In comparison, self-identified liberals made up 20% of this year's electorate; in 2006, the percentage was identical.

The *ahem* ethics panel says the big House should lynch, I mean censure Rep. Charlie Rangel. And yes, the lynching, I mean censure will be televised.

The ethics panel had already decided that Rangel was guilty of 11 ethics violations, a result Rangel said was unfair. He said it was the committee's fault that he did not have a lawyer and walked out of the hearing, but the panel decided to go ahead.

The 11 charges against Rangel stemmed from four allegations: that Rangel used Congressional resources to raise money for an educational center bearing his name; did not report taxable income on a Dominican Republic rental villa; filed financial disclosure forms with inaccuracies; and set up a campaign office in a rent-controlled apartment in Harlem.

There was not a set precedent for House members found guilty of similar ethics violations, but the chief counsel of the ethics panel had recommended censure.

None dare call it racism, but President Obama just can't get no R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

I see the republi-clowns have their swag back. They basically told O to take his little kumbaya summit and shove it. We will meet with you on our time nigg...I mean Mr. President. We shellacked you, remember? Rather than sit down with O, their leaders met with those federalist society folks. How is that bi-partisan thing working out for ya? I say it's time to double down O, you can only play nice for so long. This is getting old. It seems like every few months the field has to tell you the same thing, but you won't learn. You still believe that these folks will play ball with your beige behind. News flash! It. Is. Never. Going. To. Happen.

It's not like it's the first time POTUS has been publicly dissed as the young people say. Psst Joe Wilson! It's a good thing your name isn't Charlie Rangel and you have an R behind your name instead of a D.

But Wilson's shocking disrespect for the office of the president - no Democrat ever shouted "liar" at W. when he was hawking a fake case for war in Iraq - convinced me: Some people just can't believe a black man is president and will never accept it.

"A lot of these outbursts have to do with delegitimizing him as a president," said Congressman Jim Clyburn, a senior member of the South Carolina delegation. Clyburn, the man who called out Bill Clinton on his racially tinged attacks on Obama in the primary, pushed Pelosi to pursue a formal resolution chastising Wilson.

What's that you say? The FBI is investigating Auburn Football Star Cam Newton? Why?

Yes, the same DOJ that has ignored the activities of Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and Co. is examining the recruitment of Cam Newton, Auburn University's star quarterback and the front runner for this year's Heisman Trophy.

The Cats, Twitter and the blogosphere are implicating, I mean feuling the speculation..

This is Alabama where football trumps all, but politics and gambling are close runners up. We've hit the trifecta this year with news that the FBI is getting involved in the Cam Newton recruiting controversy -- and asking questions about gambling magnate Milton McGregor. Combine a potential Heisman winner, a federal investigation and the state's most famous already indicted gambling promoter with accusations that young athletes are "being shopped to colleges" and watch the speculation soar.

Dubya broke ground on his pResidential Library this week *gag*. I wonder if his Mission Accomplished Banner will be put on display? Naahhh.

I would like to extend a warm welcome to Field Negro readers. I am honored and humbled to be a member your blogroll. Field Negro behavior is welcomed and encouraged here.

Redeye tiptoeing away from the computer to go pray.

Tuesday Professional Left Blog Stroll

Tuesday Must Read, If You Can't Stand the Heat..... this is a comprehensive and informative report on the recent Alabama State Democratic Party Executive Committee Meeting in Montgomery. Here is a juicy snippit;

The heat, however, was not the only reason I was grateful for the absence of television cameras and their attendant Frezzi lights. The Republicans would have loved to have had those proceedings on the evening news. Not as much for what was done - the arcana of bylaws changes are not the stuff of which television news is made - but for the prospect that the Republicans would have used the visuals to reinforce their übermessage to white, working-class Alabamians that the Democratic Party is dominated by black “bosses” whose sole objective is to rig the political, legal and economic systems of the state to the benefit of their constituency, and to the detriment of whites. Simply put, the success of the Republican Party in Alabama is dependent on this racist message gaining traction among white working-class voters whose actual economic interests are much better represented by Democratic positions on progressive taxation, education, health, and a host of other issues.

Speaking of the absence of the TeeVee media, did you know Concerned about Seafood Safety, Fishermen protested President Obama's Gulf Vacation?

On Sunday, August 15, fishing families from across the Gulf Cost gathered in Panama City Beach, Florida, with a message for President Obama: The Gulf of Mexico is still infused with oil and dispersants from the BP disaster, threatening marine life, livelihoods, and the health of the American people.

Here is a sample of the must read Professional Left comment for the day;

The Mountain Brookies at whom Davis targeted his campaign were, as everyone who has ever watched an election in Alabama history predicted, all voting in the GOP primary for Bradley Byrne.

I, for one, would prefer my party to do a better job shoring up support among the poor and dispossessed before we start catering our message to Republicans in Vestavia.

Side note* The Mountain Brookies are also the reason Terri Sewell is the democratic nominee for The Black Belt.

If and when Sewell has to cast votes on financial reform and job creation, will her instincts be those of Tuxedo Junction, or those of the brokers and bankers on Waterside Drive? Hoover has one of its own in Congress. It doesn't need another.

It's the Media. They think we are stoopid. They are getting ready to gin up a made for TeeVee black v. white controversycourtesy of Glen Beck and Faux News.

Media reporters will hound members of Congress and administration officials and even President Obama to comment on the "rally" and the "significance of the day" and whether they believe that those who are holding counter-marches and events are justified. Images of Beck and Sharpton will be shown on split screen, and both will be interviewed about the other. In short, this FOX News created non-event will become a media circus. The cable news shows will give Beck far more attention than he and his allegedly God-given plan deserve. And their 24/7 coverage will allow Beck to portray himself as the victim of a liberal media bias regardless of how he is actually portrayed.

I hope I'm wrong, but after seeing hundreds of thousands of people protesting a war at the National Mall ignored while much, much smaller demonstrations of tea partiers a few years later got the "full monty" treatment from the press corps, I know what our national media prefers to cover, and it has nothing to do with the important issues of the day. And it will be all good for John McCain.

The "ethics trials" of prominant African American Democrats highlight racial tensions in Congress. But none dare call it racism.

Between them, Rangel, 80, and Waters, 71, have served in the House for six decades and are leading members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The caucus has long complained that the House ethics process disproportionally targets African Americans in the chamber.

Since its 2009 inception, the Office of Congressional Ethics — an independent watchdog set up at the behest of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — has investigated at least eight members of the black caucus.

Rut Rho! Roger Simon is giving some Dead Wrong advice to President Obama;

You have to stay on message, follow the polls, listen to your advisers (who are writing the message and taking the polls) and realize that when it comes to doing what is right versus doing what is expedient, you do what is expedient so that you can get reelected and do what is right in the second term. If at all possible. And it will help your legacy. And not endanger the election of others in your party. And not hurt the brand. Or upset people too much.

Redeye's advice

Psst President Obama! Americans like winners not wimps. Who ever is advising you is advising you wrong. You need to act like former DNC chair Dr. Howard Dean and confront the right wing bullies head on.

If I were President Obama

President Obama I would fire my present staff from the top down. This is a job for the democratic wing of the democratic party.

You know, us Professional Lefty's. :)

Redeye's Week in Review

Shhhh! It's a super secret contract between the Alabama Democratic Party and Left in Alabama. We can't tell you the details but we're sure you'll like it. NOT.

This is why transparency and accountability are important. Not knowing the details and the specifics of the contract leads to speculation and not fact.
But regardless if the contract is for peanuts or if it's volunteer work, why the secret? How, why and when was LiA chosen? Sunlight is the best disenfectant.

I consider it a personal slap in the face for the Alabama Democratic Party, of which I am a member, to support a blog that won't allow me the same rights and privileges of other commentors. I also consider it a slap in the face to the Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ron Sparks, Dr. Joe Reed, Dr. Paul Hubbert, The Alabama Education Association, The Alabama Democratic Confeference and all the other African American elected officials and traditional democratic base the blog administrators frquently treat with disdane and disrespect. Left in Alabama is not a liberal blog, it is a progressive blog, and there is a difference. Those who support the democratic party and it's agenda get the shaft, but LiA gets a contract. What's up with that?

Oh those pesky, deranged, whining Professional Lefty's. I wish they would just STFD and STFU. It's not like they've been right (no pun) along about practically everything from the Iraq qWagmire, to the Afghanistan qWagmire to the tax cut for the rich, to Gitmo, to health care reform, to gay rights, to immigration reform, women's rights and labor. I mean how dare they criticize President Obama, after all the alternative is so much worse. It's not like they are the Tea Party or something. Those are real American activist. The Professional Left should just STFU and continue to enable The Professional Right to obstruct President Obama's agenda. The Professional Left is the Enemy of the State. *Big Snark*

To the extent that the White House has failed to take advantage of these opportunities, I think the primary reason is ineffective staff work. Often, it seems too many staffers are driven by a 1990s mindset about how politics works. Ultimately, though, President Obama is the only one who can turn the ship around. I know it must be frustrating for people in the White House to be held to such high standards; after all, by ordinary standards, they've accomplished a tremendous amount, and yet they are still receiving incoming fire. But fair or not, these aren't ordinary times. These are times that call for greatness.

Under the radar. BP's Oil Spill dumped on communities of color. I'm shocked. Shocked I tell you! Not.

Tons of BP's oil waste sent to the Chastang Landfill in Mount Vernon, Ala.: 6,008

Percent of residents in a one-mile radius who are people of color: 56.2

African American Democratic Legislators Charlie Rangel (NY) and Maxine Waters (CA) tell the ethics committee to Bring it on. Did you know that Alabama Congressman Jo Bonner (republican) was the ranking member? Are Democrats and Republicans trying to Ruin Black Politicians?

The double standard with respect to how Republicans and Democrats are being treated in regards to ethics violations sends mixed messages to the African American community. First it looks as if the white Democratic leadership, in concert with the GOP, is targeting blacks singularly. Second, it lets the world see America’s hypocrisy in regards to how Republicans are treated compared to black political officials, especially if one happens to be the first African American president of the United States of America.

I'm just saying.....

Tuesday Professional Left Blog Stroll

Everybody hates Liberals, even Robert Gibbs.

What with all the hoopla over Robert Gibbs' comments today it pays to simply remember that everyone in Washington hates liberals. It's a fact of life and until something happens to change the dynamic in which Democratic politicians are afraid to even mutter the words liberal, much less boldly and persuasively make a case for liberalism, I expect this will be the case. (The irony, of course, is that the liberals who do so have been proven right on the politics and the substance far more often than those who bet with the conservatives.)

Charlie Rangel says he will NOT cut and run.

Rangel called out the hypocrisy of the committee, his fellow Representatives and even the President over the two year old allegations against him.

Maxine Waters responds to the allegations against her in her own words, not the media's words.

“I have not violated any House rules. 
 
Therefore, I simply will not be forced to admit to something I did not do and instead have chosen to respond to charges made by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct in a public hearing.
 


Of course it's just a coincidence the ethics committee has only bought ethics charges against African American Democratic legislators. It can't be racism because it's a bi partisan committee headed by former Congressmen and CIA director Porter Goss.

1. A man who is alleged to have been involved in funneling large amounts of money in contracts to dubious "defense contractor" Brent Wilkes (whose companies were mostly on paper) knows something about ethics does he?

2. A man who is alleged to have been involved in the bribery of US Congressman Randy Duke Cunningham and took part in hooker parties along with his subordinates, knows something about ethics, does he?

3. A man who as the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee did not think it important to investigate the outing of CIA officer Valeria Plame Wilson by the White House as political pay-back, knows something about ethics, does he? This same who as a CIA officer himself should have known better, right?

4. A man who is alleged to have been part of a special CIA assassination team known as Operation 40, knows something about ethics, does he? (Graduates of which would show up in some of the worst US scandals, including the Watergate crimes and Iran Contra).

My friend Legal Schnauzer says the Obama Administration Seems to be Terrified of White People but this comment by mooncat at Left in Alabama may explain why;

This is from Chris Cilizza, so you have to take it with a grain of salt, but it isn't surprising that the CBC and Barack Obama sometimes come at things from very different points of view. He isn't the president of any part of America, he's gone to great pains to be the president of all of America.

Could it be white folks think if President Obama enacts legislation that is perceived to help black folks in any way, white folks won't like him? Are white folks afraid President Obama will exact some kind of revenge on white folks for slavery, Jim Crow and institutional racism or something? We know President Obama is the President of all of us, just like we knew the 43 White Presidents before him was the President of all of us.