Questions

This is turning into one of those weeks when real life is interfering with my blogosphere life, but I wanted to give readers/voters something to think about. H/T to Write Chic Press for giving me this idea.

Will the republican voters in Congressional District 5 elect an angry black man who likes guns?

Will the republican voters in Congressional District 5 elect the candidate endorsed by the Rand Paul, I mean Tea Party ?

Will the republican voters in Congressional District 5 elect the liberal democrat, turned conservative flip/flopping traitor to represent them in Washington D.C.?

Will the democratic voters in Congressional District 5 elect a lobbyist and self described conservative democrat to represent them in Washington D.C.?

Will the democratic voters in Congressional District 5 elect a centrist like Bud Cramer as their congressional representative?

Or will democratic voters have the courage to elect an authentic progressive as their Congressional representative from the 5th district?

Time will tell the truth.

If we get off our Donkey's and vote for them they will win.

I was listening to a progressive talk radio show on XM radio last night when one of the callers made the case the Democratic party is suffering from learned helplessness, I tend to agree.

First let's define learned helplessness

Learned helplessness, as a technical term in animal psychology and related human psychology, means a condition of a human being or an animal in which it has learned to behave helplessly, even when the opportunity is restored for it to help itself by avoiding an unpleasant or harmful circumstance to which it has been subjected. Learned helplessness theory is the view that clinical depression and related mental illnesses result from a perceived absence of control over the outcome of a situation. [1]

I'm not a psychologist, so bear with me as I attempt to apply what I learned in Psych 101.

Alabama democrats have been conditioned by the right wing, to believe they can't win elections unless they pander to the right wing.

Example 1, take this exchange among fellow list serve members regarding Al 05 Congressional candidate Steve Raby (names redacted);

It all started with a press release announcing an endorsement of Raby by the Untied Steele Workers of America to the list serve.

Member A: I endorse Steve Raby too. I've known him all his life and he is a dang good man. I will support him and vote for him in the coming elections. I would hope all you Democrats give him the vote too.

Member B;Remember the last time we all voted for a self-described "conservative Democrat"? Yeah, that worked out well.

Member C; My sentiments exactly list serve member B. Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.

Member D; conservative about what? liberal about what? moderate about what? richard smith knows better. List serve member C also. saw today where alfa endorsed parker griffith. no surprise but if we have to fight parker in general election we need to be united.

Member C: I know better than what list serv member D?

Member D; you are better informed and more perspicacious (although a teeny bit emotional once in a while) about what is going on politically than a lot of people, so you know steve raby is no parker griffith. with all the things we have to worry about politically, why hit the democrat who will quite possibly be our nominee against parker with a smear like he's another parker to be? when i saw that ALFA had endorsed parker, i assumed polls showed ALFA info we dont see about the gop primary, and alfa is putting it's money on parker to win the gop primary. so i expect that's who our nominee faces. june 1 results may show i'm all wrong but you got to go with the info you got. if steve's hit on a controversial position he takes, that's legitimate, but to glue him to parker because he says he's a "conservative" wont help going out from the primary. i'm not pretending to be the proverbial "holier than thou" guy -- i've taken a few cheap shots against a political opponent -- but if we can take the seat back for the democrat, regardless of what else happens in november around the country, we'll be in deep clover.

Member C; Steve Raby said he was a conservative democrat. I'm informed enough to know conservative is nod, nod, wink, wink for I'm anti choice, anti affirmative action, anti labor, anti gay rights, and all of the other so called liberal social issues I am a teeny bit emotional about. If Steve Raby is the democratic nominee it won't be with my vote. I'm not going to vote for any more conservative democrats. If I wanted to vote for a conservative I would vote for a republican.

Member E; I've known Steve Raby for more than 25 years. He's not anti choice, not anti affirmative action, not anti labor, not anti gay rights. and probably the closest candidate who's electable that would be a fit for your profile. Would he be perfect for you? Probably not, but any candidate that would be perfect for you would be unelectable. Good luck, and let's talk after the Primary.

First of all, Steve Raby described himself as a conservative democrat, never did he say he was not anti choice, not anti affirmative action, not anti labor,not anti gay rights.

While he wants to keep federal dollars flowing to North Alabama, he does not see himself as liberal.

“Can you be a conservative and be a Democrat? Well, I am. Heck, I own more guns than anyone in this race.”

Example #2; My spouse and I attempted to host a neighborhood meet and greet for AL 05 democratic congressional candidate Mitchell Howie at. My republican neighbors refused to come and meet Mitchell because he was was democrat and my democratic neighbors refused to come because they didn't want to offend our republican neighbors. As the young people say, how whack is that? Republicans don't mind offending us democrats but we are ever mindful of offending them. If my republican neighbors had invited me to meet a republican candidate I would have attended and listened to what they had to say. In other words I would have had an open mind, not a closed mind. Maybe that's why I'm not a republican but I digress.

Example #3; One of my church members called and asked if I was going to vote in the republican primary for Mo Brooks as pay back to Parker Griffith then vote in the democratic primary in the fall. I told them NO, I wasn't playing that game and that I was supporting Mitchell Howie 100% and then some. They asked if he was another Parker Griffith (i.e. pretend liberal) and I said NO, he is the real thing, meaning he has articulated a clear and liberal position on the issues I care about and reminded them of his grandfather, Dr. Virgil Howies' legacy in Huntsville during the Civil Rights movement. My church member listened then said, "Yes, he's a liberal but he can't win, you know how Alabama is".

If liberals can't win we might as well bend over and kiss our Donkey's goodbye.

If democrats continue to elect conservatives we might as well bend over and take our Gang Banging like Girlie men.

If the good guys can't win, and by good guys I mean candidates and elected official who are proud liberals, who will stand up for women's rights, civil rights, equal rights, human rights, LBGT rights, labor and public education we are in deep doo doo.

Think about it.

We need to stop saying the good guys can't win and get off our Donkey's and vote for them.

We need to stop saying progressives/liberals aren't electable. This is America. The candidate with the most votes wins.

Remember?

What mooncat said when she was a liberal;

This is the time for Democratic candidates to stop running away from their party. The debate between the DLC and the netroots will continue long after Sunday's edition of Meet the Press. I believe and hope the netroots view is correct, based on recent recent information and also because I'm tired of living in a country where conservatism rules.

If democrats don't know this by now they will never know;

When conservative voters have a choice between Republican-lite and a real Republican, they vote for the real Republican. What do liberal or progressive voters do when faced with the same choice? They either hold their nose and vote for Republican-lite or, and this is key, they don't vote at all.

It's A Wonderful What If Wednesday!

The Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads and the Polling Pollsters were as WRONG about yesterdays' elections as the intelligence that took us to war in Iraq. Their *cough cough* predictions republicans and DINO's were going to snatch the keys to the car from the hands of progressives/liberals and drive the car back into the ditch like drunk frat boys proved to be DEAD WRONG. *Snicker*

Let the Talking TeeVee Heads tell it, there was an anti Washington (Obama), anti incumbent (Obama), anti spending (Obama), anti big government (Obama), grassroots (Tea Baggers) mood that was going to snatch our government back from the clutches of Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and them there evil liberals.

The various prophets of doom will need to revisit some of their theories.

The election results are proof most Americans want to work with President Obama's agenda, not against President Obama's agenda. You hear that Artur Davis/Steve Raby and Taze Sheppard? Running against CHANGE and HOPE won't help you WIN elections, it will make you LOSE elections. Most Americans want President Obama to be sucessful regardless of his race. That's why he WON in November.

The Tea Party vs. The Tea Baggers in Kentucky.

Yep, that's just about all that's required of Republican success in this, the 21st century: unadulterated anger, served with a side of exotic, mid-20th-century Austrian economics, which, if followed, would hurl us back into the malign economics of the 19th century.

Which further, for reasons not entirely clear to rational minds, seems to be the political desideratum of Mr. Paul's Tea Party and all its Kentucky tea partyers. "We have come," said Paul at the oddly chosen Bowling Green Country Club last night, "to take our government back" -- a most appropriate slogan.

Appropriate, certainly, for the reactionary recesses of the Tea Party's collective brain, composed as it is of frenzied, heat-packing opponents of Barack Obama, who actually concedes the Second Amendment's rather right-wing interpretation; of tax protesters, who happen to be paying the lowest American taxes in 60 years, thanks again to their chief villain in the White House; of downright weird "devotees of the gold standard," as the Post's Eugene Robinson observed recently; of "Sarah Palin," Robinson continued, of "insurance company lobbyists, 'constitutionalists' who have not read the Constitution, Medicare recipients who oppose government-run health care, crazy 'birthers' who claim President Obama was born in another country, a contingent of outright racists ... and a bunch of fat-cat professional politicians pretending to be 'outsiders.' "

What if the Alabama Democratic Party recruited and supported progressive candidates instead of conservative candidates?

What if Alabama Democratic candidates didn't pander to the right (who are wrong about everything) at the expense of the traditional democratic base?

Conservatives prefer to think of themselves as the party of “principles”, not “ideas”. In the radical sense, the party is more concerned about its blind faith in God and blind loyalty to country and patriotism. The very nature of the word "conservatism" is to preserve old traditions and resist change. They have a belief that every thing must conform to their moral code. Conservatives are intolerant of anything or any one that doesn’t fit into their belief system, which separates the righteous from the unworthy. Clinging to the old ways gives them comfort in an uncertain world. Conservatives are only open to change if it doesn’t cost them anything or impact their life in any way.

Liberals, by the definition of the word, are open to pragmatic change. They embrace new ideas to remedy problems. They are more tolerant of social and religious differences in American society. Liberals have an existential view of the world and want the greatest good for the greatest number of people, by using the most effective policies possible. Liberals believe in progress and that solutions can be found by human endeavor and engagement. True liberals believe in stewardship of the planet, civil rights, and the equality of all people, no matter what their social status, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or skin color. Liberals are willing to pay a little more for positive change.

What if Alabama Democratic candidates listened to the people instead of the polling pollsters?


What if the Alabama school teacher using the assassination of a President as a teaching tool were named Barack Obama Mohamed and the President was named George W. Bush? Do you think he would have gotten off a slap on the wrist, or whisked off to Gitmo for some water boarding or worse?

What if President Obama had appointed an African American female from UCLA with no Judicial experience to the United States Supreme Court?

What if Liberal/Progressives voices were heard and not suppressed?

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Redeye's Week In Review

The week begin with President Obama nominating U.S. Solicitor General Elana Kagen to the United States Supreme Court, one day after he delivered the commencement address at Hampton University where he praised the late Dr. Dorothy I. Height, founder and President of the Council for Negro Women standing up for her many years of activism and her commitment to social justice.

And as you probably know, Dr. Height passed away the other week at the age of 98. One of the speakers at this memorial was her nephew who was 88. And I said that's a sign of a full life when your nephew is 88. Dr. Height had been on the firing line for every fight from lynching to desegregation to the battle for health care reform. She was with Eleanor Roosevelt and she was with Michelle Obama. She lived a singular life; one of the giants upon whose shoulders I stand. But she started out just like you, understanding that to make something of herself, she needed a college degree. So, she applied to Barnard College -- and she got in. Except, when she showed up, they discovered she wasn't white as they had believed. And they had already given their two slots for African Americans to other individuals. Those slots, two, had already been filled. But Dr. Height was not discouraged. She was not deterred. She stood up, straight-backed, and with Barnard's acceptance letter in hand, she marched down to New York University, and said, "Let me in." And she was admitted right away.

I want all of you to think about this, Class of 2010, because you've gone through some hardships, undoubtedly, in arriving to where you are today. There have been some hard days, and hard exams, and you felt put upon. And undoubtedly you will face other challenges in the future.

But I want you to think about Ms. Dorothy Height, a black woman, in 1929, refusing to be denied her dream of a college education. Refusing to be denied her rights. Refusing to be denied her dignity. Refusing to be denied her place in America, her piece of America's promise. Refusing to let any barriers of injustice or ignorance or inequality or unfairness stand in her way. (Applause.) That refusal to accept a lesser fate; that insistence on a better life, that, ultimately, is the secret not only of African American survival and success, it has been the secret of America's survival and success. (Applause.)

The MSM media we have is spinning the Elana Kagen nomination like a top. They can't decide if they want to focus on the gop (valid) argument that she is not qualified, or that she kept military recruiters off Harvard's' campus. Of course they are ignoring and suppressing progressive dissent to the nomination because they can.

He/She who can control the information controls the outcome~anoymous

Jena Louisiana is in the news (well sorta) again. Evidently the Sheriff is seeking revenge for the Civil Rights Protest over the Jena 6. Lord help us.

Many of Jena's Black residents say that the town's white power structure - including the DA, Sheriff, and the editor of the local paper - wants revenge against Black people in town who stood up and fought against unjust charges. They complain that in a town that is mostly white, all but two of the people arrested were Black, and the only arrestees pictured in the town's paper were Black. The sheriff "Just wants to humiliate people," says Caseptla Bailey, Wallace's mother, "Especially the African Americans." The editor and publisher of the Jena Times, the town's only paper, is Sammy Franklin, who has owned the paper since 1968. His son is Sheriff Scott Franklin.

Meanwhile our sons and daughters are still fighting for our freedom in Iraq.

The White House is likely to delay the withdrawal of the first large phase of combat troops from Iraq for at least a month after escalating bloodshed and political instability in the country.

It was an exciting and eventful week on the state gubernatorial campaign scene. Democratic candidates State Agricultural Commissioner Ron Sparks and Congressman Artur Davis met up at a forum sponsored by the Rocket City Democrats. I wasn't able to attend, but according to my sources it was a Thrilla!

Candidate Artur Davis came out whining, I mean swinging about an email from a Ron Sparks supporter Davis claims was racist (can you say race card?). Davis demanded Ron Sparks denounce and distance himself from the supporter and the email. WTF? Davis must think Ron Sparks can censor, I mean control his supporters and dictate what they say and how they say it. Psst Artur, there's this little thingy we have here called the first amendment, remember? Get over the email and get to the issues, OK?

Both candidates made the TeeVee stations and networks richer this week with slick ads. Nothing new, same old stuff. Vote for me and I'll set you free, blah, blah, blah, blab, blab, blab.

And what's a week in the Alabama democratic primary gubernatorial race without some good old fashioned race baiting?

In the 5th district congressional race we now know Steve Raby is a "conservative, lots of gun owning, democrat." Just what we need in the 5th district. *snark*.

Psst Steve, that gun owning democrat might not be the way to go considering the recent wake of gun violence right here in the Tennessee Valley. Dr. Amy Bishop was a gun owner too. And remember Todd Brown, the middle school student who was gunned down at school? We need access to health care because of the gun owners.

Evidently Steve Raby is buying into the right wing ideology that you must be a conservative to win in the 5th district and pandering to them at the expense of progressives/liberals. Considering Parker Griffith (r. turncoat) was a progressive/liberal/democrat before he was a conservative/right wing/republican, that dog won't hunt.

What's with these democratic candidates who believe they have to pander to the right, who are WRONG about everything in order to be elected? For one thing it's NOT TRUE and secondly it tells me a lot about their character or lack there of. I'm sick and tired of this say/do anything to be elected attitude. I'm sick and tired of democrats, or supposed to be democrats running away from the traditional, loyal, democratic base. I'm tired of voting for the lessor of two evils.

Enough.

BTW, how come the media isn't race baiting in the 5th district republican congressional primary?
Never mind, we know why.

Gate keepers and door openers. I would like to reply to JustHelene's comment over at LiA concerning Dr. Joe Reed, President of the Alabama Democratic Conference and Vice President of the Alabama Teachers Association. Unfortunately I've been banned from LiA so I hope JustHelene reads this.

I'm fed up with 'gatekeepers,' and other party establishment types.

Let's identify the non- or less-coopted and support them; or, let those already in thrall know that the people support those who place public interest first.

According to some Dr. Joe Reed is a Gate Keeper, i.e. he tells black democratic voters what to do and when to do it and they follow him like rats following the Pied Piper. Dr. Reed is accused of keeping Artur Davis out of the gate because he won't "kow tow" to him blah, blah, blah.

Dr. Reed is powerful and influential in the black community because he is a door opener and he fights for the rights of all people, especially the little people. As a matter of fact Dr. Reed opened the gate for Artur Davis to be the sitting Congressman from the 7th district of Alabama. Joe Reed places the public interest first which is why he wants health care reform. That's why he is respected in the African American community. That's why some want to replace him with Artur Davis.

Thanks to the BP Oil slick Alabama The Beautiful has turned into Alabama the land of the Tarballs and the smell of oil. "Black gold, Texas Tea" We can thank Bush and Dick for the new slogan.

Peace Out.