Update~Paging JD Crow, Joey Kennedy and John Archibald!

Birmingham School Board Warts n'All Crowblog al.com

Oh how I wish self described moderately disturbed Press-Register cartoonist J.D. Crow,  Birmingham News Pulitzer Prize winner, editorial writer, columnist and blogger Joey Kennedy  and  metro columnist John Archibald would drive/fly up here to north Alabama and show their sister paper how to report on the superintendent  and the school board.

To be honest, I haven't been keeping up with what's going on within the Birmingham Public School system, I do know the mainstream media covers the school board like white on rice, and, they are not taking their foot out of the behinds of the school board, or the superintendent.

This is the kind of education reporting I wish we had in Huntsville, instead of the lap dog ( yes I said it) education reporting we have.  If it weren't for unpaid blogger Geek Palaver I never would have known there was a call for the superintendent to resign, and the citizens comments deck was stacked against the citizens.

If I relied on reporting from mainstream media as my sole source of information I would believe "the superintendent and board are bringing the schools back to the status they enjoyed as the best in the state."

Compare and contrast coverage of the Birmingham City School Board of Education with the Huntsville City School Board of Education

No problems here.
Everything is just lovely.
Pay your taxes and go back to sleep.
We have everything under control.

Yeah right.

Thomas Jefferson said democracy demands and educated and informed electorate.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." (as cited in Padover, 1939, p. 89)
". . . whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that, whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them right." (as cited in Padover, 1939, p. 88)

The above quotes were the cornerstones of Jefferson's interest in education and the franchise. He placed education as the foundation of democracy and a prerequisite to vote.

I report.  You decide.

Today's Must Reads
The American Public's Distrust of the News Media Hits Record Low

The Bias of Mainstream Media

I've been hanging out in Right Wing Land so you won't have to

Fist Dap Truthout

Recently I broke a longstanding, self imposed, rule of  not commenting on right wing radio host Dale Jackson's  The Attack Machine blog, and I'm glad I did, because I've learned a lot about who they are, and how they think.

One of the things I've learned is there more than a whiff of hypocrisy in Right Wing Land.  For example, their underwear is all in a knot over The City of Huntsville Joins the Fight For Secrecy,  at the same time they defend republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney fight for secrecy

Another thing I learned is they don't like to be questioned, or to back up their assertions with facts.  For example, they say the high unemployment is because the democratic controlled Senate refused to pass 30 jobs bills passed by the republican controlled house.  When you ask what 30 bills they either say "look it up" or resort to name calling, personal attacks and insults.  Then when you call them out, they call it whining.

I learned they are school yard Bullies, who try and intimidate those who dare question them, or have an opposing point of view.

I learned they believe so called independent voters are stupid.


The last thing I've learned is they more interested in doing what's right, pun intended, than being right.  It's all about winning elections. It's not about governing.

What if there were a great debate concerning the future of American Society and only one side showed up?

"Democracy demands an educated and informed electorate"~Thomas Jefferson

Unless and until the progressive left develops an effective media voice, there can be no restoration of American Democracy, no return to political sanity, and no establishment of economic justice.~ Ernest Partridge

Today's Must Reads
The  Azalea Trail Maids, The NAACP and The Media

It's the Media Stupid!

Politico Reporter  Admits The Press Is Covering For Republican Obstructionism

Update-RedEye's Independence Day Open Thread~2012

 

A funny thing happens when I attempt to reply to post comments on The Attack Machine.....I can't.  Guess I've been banned from there too.  Bummer.  It's a good thing I have my own blog so I can reply to Brian's concerns about  the implementation of the Affordable Health Care Act.  Psst Brian!  You are welcome to continue the discussion here at RedEye's front page! All points of view are welcome here.  Dissent is the highest form of Patriotism!


Brian :"It’s not that we have problem with people having health care, but it is the quality of health care that they receive."

RedEye:  Yeah, right.

B:  "Problem is that through this system, the people that are getting what you call access to health care aren’t paying for it, the government is and through the government, the taxpayers are paying for it. And those that aren’t paying will receive a level of care that they paid for."

R:  Problem is the people that are getting what I call access to health care CAN'T pay for it.  We the people (the government) CAN pay for it, and we should, because that's the American Way.  Health Care shouldn't be available only to those who can pay for it.  

B:  " If Medicare/Medicaid were equal to private insurance, there would be no need for supplemental plans."

R:  Bull Poop.  If we had Medicare/Medicaid for all there would be no need for supplemental plans. :)

B:  " Granted, your employer might cover you or they might not. They might look at the costs and decide that paying the fine is cheaper then providing health insurance."

R:  Keys word MIGHT NOT.  If they decide paying the fine is cheaper than providing health insurance that's on them.  We (the government) will use the fine money to  provide health insurance for their employees.

B:  I am not against affordable health care, but regulations and bureaucracies are not going to provide it."

R:  Says who?  The same people who want regulations and bureaucracies to provide and administer a government issued Voter ID card? :)

B:  "Telling insurance companies that they must spend 80% of premiums on health care might just encourage them to start paying more to doctors if they want a raise."

R:  Huh?  I don't hear Doctors complaining about needing a raise.

B:  "'One more thing that just occurred to me. The Affordable Health Care Act says that insurance companies cannot deny someone coverage for preexisting conditions, but doesn’t keep insurance companies from jacking up their rates if somebody does have a preexisting condition(s)."

R:  On this we can agree, insurance probably will jack up their premiums, which makes it a win, win for them and for the people who don't have access to health insurance. 

B:  "BTW, who do you think is going to pay for the subsidies and those added to Medicare/Medicaid?"

R:  The same people who pay for all war all the time.
     The same people who pay for NASA.
    We the people are going to pay for the subsidies added to Medicare/Medicaid.

     God Bless America!

July 4th Must Reads

What, to Black Americans, is the 4th of July

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.

Remember Thomas Jefferson's Betrayal

So, the ideal of equality Jefferson proclaimed, he also betrayed. He got it right when he wrote about "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" as the core of our human aspirations. But he lived it wrong, denying to others the rights he claimed for himself. And that's how Jefferson came to embody the oldest and longest war of all - the war between the self and the truth, between what we know and how we live.

Obama's not the first black President, he is the first President who is black. 

Here’s the reality that must be clearly understood. President Obama is not the first Black President; he’s the first President who is Black.  A Black President would have come into office with a “Black Agenda.”  If he were the first Black President he would be using his bully pulpit to champion legislation targeting unemployment in urban areas, poverty, income disparity, and other issues. This in no way should be interpreted to challenge his “Blackness.”  It’s about the agenda not the man.

What's that you say?  Obama has a white voter problem.  I'm shocked!  Shocked I tell you!  Not. 

The 4th of July  Indoctrination, Oppression, and Hypocrisy

Message to jobsanger, getting a warning that malware is attached to your blog and that you may have been hacked  when I attempt to click on your blog.

"Democracy demands an educated and informed electorate"

While the mainstream media wieners continue the wall to wall coverage of Weiners wiener there's lots of stuff going on we need to know about.

This is why the current media disaster and the (mostly W and the republican) destruction of the public schools is so horrendous.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." (as cited in Padover, 1939, p. 89)
". . . whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that, whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them right." (as cited in Padover, 1939, p. 88)

 The above quotes were the cornerstones of Jefferson's interest in education and the franchise. He placed education as the foundation of democracy and a prerequisite to vote.

Ignorance and sound self-government could not exist together: the one destroyed the other. A despotic government could restrain its citizens and deprive the people of their liberties only while they were ignorant.

Jefferson could never completely separate education from government. With the fullest faith in the ability of man to govern himself, Jefferson nonetheless realized the responsibility of self-government could be assumed successfully only by an enlightened people.

The habit of thinking of public education in essentially political terms, as an auxiliary of free government, naturally suggests a common father for both. In associating manhood suffrage with education, Jefferson was in the forefront. It was his belief in universal suffrage that made necessary the accompanying idea of universal education.

So here is some information you need to know, instead of information the media wants you to know. Or should I say not know?

Countering the Conspiracy to Disenfranchise Black Voters and make sure Obama is the first and last African American President of the United States of America.

During the Jim Crow era, white supremacists did everything within their power to disenfranchise black people. They lynched us, shot us, beat us, fire hosed us and unleashed vicious dogs on us. The segregationists imposed absurd literacy tests and poll taxes to prevent us from voting.

Sadly, in this modern era, the Republican Party is continuing that racist legacy. In some respects, the Republican Party is today’s version of the White Citizens’ Council. Similar to the Council, the Republican Party is a predominately Southern, white male organization. It opposes issues that are important to minorities such as affirmative action, immigration rights, health care reform, workers’ rights, social programs, etc.

To make matters worst, as reported in the New York Times, the GOP is even attempting to disenfranchise African Americans, Latinos, the elderly and the poor.

We must laugh to keep from crying...if the American people elect one of these guys and gals to be the President of the United States of America we will be the laughing stock of the world.

I am watching the republiclown debate from New Hampshire and I sincerely mean this when I say that it is funnier than any sitcom that's on television. These guys (and gal) are funny.
Michele Bachmann actually made some news: She is running for President.

Herman Cain's anti Muslim bigotry should be disqualifying but it's not because he's a republican.

Presidential candidate Herman Cain has reiterated his position that any Muslim serving in his administration would be forced to take a loyalty test with this statement: "That's not discrimination. It's called trying to protect the American people. This nation is under attack constantly by people who want to kill all of us, so I'm going to take extra precaution."

That's chilling logic. The last time the United States government decided that an "extra precaution" made it okay to presume the disloyalty of citizens, we imprisoned more than 100,000 completely innocent Japanese Americans.

Even if it weren't bigoted and imprudent, however, Cain's logic should be disqualifying for its sheer idiocy. Think about it. His plan for deciding whether someone is a sleeper jihadist or worthy of being trusted in the White House is essentially to ask them, "Do you swear you're loyal to the United States?" This would happen in a "one-on-one conversation," where the former CEO would do what exactly? Apparently being in a room alone with a man is enough for Cain to tell his intentions, because no one has ever lied in the history of mankind, or been misjudged when telling the truth.

Cummings: Issa Staff Released Document Under Seal In ATF Gunrunner Probe

Staffers working for House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) improperly disclosed information about a criminal investigation being run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) which could have compromised ongoing criminal proceedings, according to a letter House Oversight Ranking Member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) sent to Issa on Monday.

Justice Department officials met with committee staffers on May 5 and told them the committee had released a document filed under seal, Cummings wrote. A federal district court judge had issued an order prohibiting the public release of a particular document, according to Cummings' letter.

Rep. Elijah Cummings' Nephew, Christopher Cummings, Killed In Shooting At Old Dominion University

BALTIMORE — A Maryland congressman says his nephew was killed in a random shooting near Old Dominion University in Virginia.

Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Baltimore in a statement Sunday talked about the death of Christopher Cummings in his off-campus apartment. He says his nephew's roommate, Jake Carey, was critically wounded in the attack Friday. Both were students at the university in Norfolk.

The congressman urged the community to cooperate with police.

He says his family remains in shock over the "senseless tragedy."

Cummings says his nephew was an "amazing young man who was loved and admired by so many people who had the honor of knowing him." He had a 3.5 grade-point average and "ambitious plans for his future."

It pays to be a state University Football Coach in Alabama. Public school teachers, not so much.

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- Employees of state agencies and public schools, two-year colleges and universities would pay an extra 2.5 percent of their paychecks for retirement coverage, under a bill that won final legislative approval in the Senate today.
The bill will become law if Gov. Robert Bentley signs it. State Finance Director David Perry said he expects Bentley to sign the bill into law.
A public school teacher's salary averages about $48,000 a year. A teacher making that much eventually would pay an additional $1,200 a year for pension coverage under the bill. The Senate today voted 19-12 for the plan, House Bill 414. The House of Representatives last week voted 51-48 for it.

". . . whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that, whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them right." ~Thomas Jefferson