#TamirRice and #JohnCrawford are dead because they were "scaring the s#*t out of everybody", including the police

On mattering @Fox6Kelvin: #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/9qKFAJmurO
— ProgressivePhD (@CallOut4) December 8, 2014

Listen to the 911 caller report the #TamirRice incident, then watch Tamir Rice being shot seconds after he is confronted by the police.

Read about the 911 call that lead to police shooting #JohnCrawford to death.

It's not the so called black on black crime, it's the easy access to guns people.

Police assume everyone is exercising their second amendment right to be locked and loaded, so they shoot first and ask questions later, out of fear they won't return home to their family at the end of their shift.  Not only do they have to contend with real guns, they have to worry about toy guns that look like real guns and vice verse. It would make the job of the police much easier if they didn't have to figure out the difference between the law abiding citizens and the criminals.  It might save some lives too..

I'm just saying.....

# Ferguson: A Racial State of Emergency in America

Sara (L) and Dennis Happel shop for a gun at Metro Shooting Supplies on November 12, 2014 in Bridgeton, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

What do you want to bet if this were a photo Bertha (L) and Bubba Washington shopping for a gun in Ferguson, Missouri they wouldn't make it out of the store alive?

The picture above is a direct result of the fear mongering  promoted by government officials as fearful residents await a grand jury's decision on whether to indict #Darren Wilson, the white police officer who fatally shot unarmed black teen, #MikeBrown.

 Between shoot-to-kill police, the KKK,  and trigger-happy vigilantes (see picture above), and a militarized police force,  unarmed people, and sympathetic, peaceful, protesters are sitting ducks! Then, once they're murdered, all the killers have to say is, "I feared for my life!"

 We hold our breaths. We wait for the explosion. Of police weapons – of their tear gas canisters, their stinging rubber bullets, their hundreds of thousands of dollars of new artillery, that will be brought out to intimidate citizens. We wait, reminded that we are unprepared, because one can never prepare to accept violence to our personhood.

Government officials are talking about protecting citizens and businesses from angry black folks, but who is going to protect angry black folks from angry, armed to the teeth white folks with government issued, taxpayer funded, weapons of mass destruction at their disposal?  Ain't black folks citizens too?  Don't black folks  have the right to protest without white folks arming up like they are getting ready to put down a slave revolt?  I'm beginning to think they really do hate us for our freedoms.

"I am fighting so that we have the luxury of simply living".

Update~ On Columbus Day- A Brief History of the USA

Why are we still celebrating Columbus Day?

With Columbus Day upon us once again, we must ask the question: Why, exactly, are we still celebrating Columbus Day?

Seattle votes to celebrate 'Indigenous People Day" on Columbus Day

The resolution that passed unanimously Monday honors the contributions and culture of Native Americans and the indigenous community in Seattle. Indigenous Peoples’ Day will be celebrated on the second Monday in October.
Tribal members and other supporters say the move recognizes the rich history of people who have inhabited the area for centuries.
“This action will allow us to bring into current present day our valuable and rich history, and it’s there for future generations to learn,” said Fawn Sharp, president of the Quinault Indian Nation on the Olympic Peninsula, who is also president of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians.

A darker side of Columbus emerges in US classrooms

Columbus’ stature in U.S. classrooms has declined somewhat through the years, and many districts will not observe his namesake holiday on Monday. Although lessons vary, many teachers are trying to present a more balanced perspective of what happened after Columbus reached the Caribbean and the suffering of indigenous populations.
“The whole terminology has changed,” said James Kracht, executive associate dean for academic affairs in the Texas A&M College of Education and Human Development. “You don’t hear people using the world ‘discovery’ anymore like they used to. ‘Columbus discovers America.’ Because how could he discover America if there were already people living here?”

 No post about guns and black people would be complete without this:

Stupid is......as Stupid does....

What's behind the sagging pants trend?

Stupid Is......

With all the pressing issues facing the city of Huntsville, and the state of Alabama, there is a petition being circulated asking the city of Huntsville to pass an ordinance for a $25-$50 fine and community service to children and adults wearing "saggin pants" in public.

Before I type another word let me make if perfectly clear I think sagging pants are a sloppy fashion trend, and adds to the negative perception of black youth.  That said, what part of you can't legislate personal behavior don't you understand?  If you don't like sagging pants, don't wear sagging pants.   It's like telling a woman she can't choose to have an abortion.  It's like telling gay people they can't serve in the military.  It''s like telling women they can't wear pants to work.  It's like telling grown folks they can't gamble  in their own state, with their own damn money.  It's like telling Michelle Obama she can't show her arms.  It's like telling someone you can't drink alcohol on Sunday.  You get my drift?

The Declaration of Independence declares We the People are entitled to Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  If wearing sagging pants makes someone happy, so be it.  If they can't get a job because their pants are sagging that's on them.  If they can't run from danger because their pants fall down around their knees and trip them up, that's on them.  If an airline won't let them  board the plane with sagging pants, that's on them.  You feel me?

Note the race of the young men (?) in the picture above. This is a another way to target young black men, putting them at risk for subjective profiling, something they already face disproportionately.

.....As Stupid does

 

The Women's Business Center of North Alabama and Bradley Arant Boult Cummings hosted a seminar focusing on bringing your guns to work a year after Alabama began enforcing a law allowing concealed carry permit holders to keep firearms in their vehicles while on the job.  

No charges are expected to filed in the case of the downtown Huntsville shooting at the skate park that left one injured and children running for cover.  As the shooter said  "I think it's a pretty clear-cut case of self-defense,"  Oh, OK.

But let's talk about all the drugs, gun violence, and crime in north .......Huntsville.

Two career readiness seminars will be held soon in Huntsville to help job seekers find work at Remington Outdoor, Toyota and the Huntsville Police Department. Remington announced in February it will create 2,000 jobs over 10 years at its new gun plant in the former Chrysler building near Huntsville International Airport.

Expect more gun makers to follow.

RedEye tiptoeing away from the computer muttering  life is like a box of chocolates....

What's wrong with this picture?

H/T The Attack Machine

 Hint....shouldn't you know your rights before you defend your rights?

There is still a lot of confusion concerning Alabama's new gun laws that go into effect today, but that's OK, we're defending our right to cling to our guns here in Sweet Home Alabama. 

Oh, by the way, apparently the one place where we can’t take our weapons is into the legislative chambers. Does that speak volumes about the legislative mindset in Alabama, or what?

Does this mean poor Alabama women dare defend their right to have a safe, legal abortion?

Does this mean poor, Alabama children dare defend their right to have equal access to a quality public education?

Does this mean African Americans dare defend their right to cast their vote and have their vote counted?

Time for a brief history of the USA.

RedEye tiptoeing away from the computer to go cling to my guns and my religion like a patriotic American.

Alabama is going to be a lot safer thanks to Scott Beason(r) and Co.

Al.com

 

Thanks to Alabama State Senator Scott Beason, (r. Shelby County) and his republican enablers, Alabama's  has some new guns laws, which according the Beason and Co. are designed to clarify Alabama's concealed-and open carry-laws and ensure law-abiding citizens have access to guns.  

Here is your clarification:

The Mobile County sheriff has seen an increase in pistol permits from convicted felons thanks to the new gun laws.

Thanks to the new law you can carry your gun to work but you must leave it in your vehicle.

You can carry you gun to football games IF you have a permit.  YeeHaww!

Law enforcement is still unsure of what the bill says.  Just be be clear, law enforcement= those paid to enforce the law, like the police/sheriff.

Employers can't be sued for gun related damages to their property.

You can openly carry your gun without a permit as long as you don't conceal your gun.   However, the police still have the right to stop and question you if are openly carrying a gun.  Huh?

You don't have to be an Alabama resident or a U.S. citizen in order to obtain a concealed to carry permit or take advantage of the new guns laws.  Oh really?

Yep, Sweet Home Alabama is going to be a lot safer thanks to Alabama's new gun laws ensuring law-abiding citizens have access to guns.

Are we safe yet?

RedEye's Wednesday Rundown

Bull Conner's Fire Hoses,  Our Tax Dollars at work on us

Boo Hoo!  The Righty's  have their knickers in a wad because The Huntsville Stars minor league baseball team realized free admittance with an NRA membership and a gun give away on the 3rd of July might not be such a good idea.  Ya think?

After reading some of the post-cancellation online comments, I hope some of those folks are more responsible and thoughtful with their Second Amendment rights than they are with their First Amendment ones.

What's that you say?  Open Season on Black Voting Has Officially Started?  I'm Shocked!  Shocked I tell you!  Not.

It is—and always has been—unclear to me how much of this is driven by straight-up anti-black animus and how much is purely partisan, with blacks as collateral damage.

Yep, The Southern Strategy is Alive and Well ,  the ghost of of Bull Conner  is hovering again,  thanks to the cradle of the Confederacy, Sweet Home Shelby County, Alabama.  There is more than whiff of desperation for the GOP to win by any means necessary.

Bottom line? The lawyer who filed Shelby County v. Holder is the son of a Dixiecrat, the party that nominated Strom Thurmond for president at its 1948 convention--held at Birmingham's Boutwell Auditorium. And the lawyer's father was closely aligned with Bull Connor, the public official who ordered fire hoses turned on peaceful black demonstrators in 1963.

Psst!  President Obama, what about us?  Are you going to let the Supreme Court give you, I mean black folks the middle finger because black voters dared get out and vote for you in record numbers in 2008 and 2010? How come you keep letting the losers win?

Read on.  Read Often.

"Let them define themselves, let them reveal who they are" Rep. Maxine Waters (D CA)

Alabama State Troopers in Black Robes H/T Field Negro

No doubt Chief Justice Roberts is hoping for a "better future", because he didn't like this past election very much. He, and others like him, are hoping that the new schemes that republican state houses are coming up with to make it harder and harder for poor people and people of color to vote, will make it easier for them to win elections and impose their extreme will on the rest of us.

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."

 I'd argue this is the opposite of restraint; it's activism. The justices decided to substitute their judgment for the people's and their elected lawmakers, because they felt like it.

We should probably  riot.  NOT!  This would be the perfect excuse for them to use all those guns they've been stocking every since President Obama was elected.

What daily life is like in the place that spawned Shelby County v Holder

Well, Shelby County is a prosperous, pretty place that features lots of gorgeous trees, mountains, and bodies of water--I can throw a rock from my backyard and almost hit the natural splendor of Oak Mountain State Park. The county, especially in the northern section closest to Birmingham, features numerous fine places to shop and dine, with some of the most attractive neighborhoods you will find anywhere.

But what about those pesky justice issues? In that regard, Shelby County is a cesspool. The county seat is in a little hellhole called Columbiana, and when you take one step into the city limits, it's as if you've entered a time warp and gone back to . . . oh, about 1912.

5 people in robes said they are bigger than the voters of CA and Congress combined.And bigger than God.May He forgive us all.
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) June 26, 2013

Fannie Lou Hamer  ~on northern racism, speaking in New York: The man'll shoot you in the face in Mississippi, and you turn around he'll shoot you in the back here.

Pandering to the gun crowd is so not cool

 

What The Field Negro said all the damn way!

I don't like the imagery, O. Pandering to the gun nut crowd is not cool. A picture of you at Hadiya Pendelton's funeral would have been more like what I wanted to see. That, and a stirring eulogy along with a call for all of us in the black community to start taking responsibility for our children. You should be working overtime from the bully pulpit on that issue, but instead you are trying to prove to wingnuts that you actually shoot skeets every now and then. *scratching my very bald head*

Skeet shooting and bowling? Man the things you do to make some folks love you. 

Psst President Obama!  Who ever advised you to release a picture of you shooting a gun to pander to the Skeeters needs to see how it feels to be among the unemployed and the under employed.

They don't like you.

They will never like you.

The gun control debate is not about how well, or even if Obama can shoot. It's about all the fools running around with weapons of war in an alleged civilized society. That's all it's ever been. Except when it turns racial, like now, when the focus is on Obama's “manliness” or when Black Panthers were legally carrying weapons in public, back in the day. Talk about about faces, the NRA nearly gave itself whiplash back peddling on guns in public when black men took to the streets peacefully inside their own neighborhoods. The panthers didn't kill anybody, but the government declared open season and killed them.

It's not about YOU.  It's not about THEM.  It's about our COUNTRY.   The sooner you and your staff remember that, we ALL will be better off.

What we are witnessing in America's cities is what one mayor has called "slow motion mass murder." The response from the federal government to address the daily death toll must be comprehensive and, most importantly, must be backed up with local law enforcement resources so that parents in cities like Chicago bury less of their children every year.

RedEye tiptoeing away from the computer to go pray for little Ethan and his family.

Test Blog

 

RedEye's Front Page is experiencing technical difficulties.  Thank you for your patience until I get it worked out, which I hope will be in the near future because there is lots to write to about, from Karl Rove being benched by Fox News (are the Rattlesnakes beginning to turn on each other), to Bob Costas being forced to back down from the NRA (National Rifle Association), not to mention the ongoing war on Public School Teachers.

Look for more on these topics and more once I get the problems corrected.
RedEye tiptoeing away from the computer mumbling this is why I didn't want to start my on blog in the first place.....

Elephants, Guns, Voter Suppression and Donkeys, Oh My!

Fist Dap The Pragmatic Progressive

If this political cartoon doesn't illustrate the grand obstructionist party, media infused, Tea Party's,  plan for President Obama's Waterloo, I don't know what will.  It also illustrates how stoopid  they must think the majority of the American people are.   If I hear another Talking TeeVee Pundit Head say "If the economy doesn't improve by the election President Obama is in trouble, blah, blah, blab, blab"  I am going to scream!.  If the majority of the American people fall for the republican Okey Doke we the people will get what we deserve. No access to health care.  No jobs.  No access to a quality public education.  No civil rights. No human rights.  What we will get is a tax cut for rich and all war all the time.

Fist Dap Americans Against the Tea Party

Call me cynical, but could the reason the media won't let us have a conversation about gun laws is because they like massacres for ratings?  If I hear another TeeVee Talking Pundit Head talk about the victims/suspect complete with graphics and a sound track, I am going to scream!

Some of the same people who say more gun laws won't stop real gun violence are some of the same people who claim voter ID laws will stop  the 3% cases of voter fraud.  FYI, in person voter fraud never happens.  Everybody knows the Voter ID law is an attempt by republicans to keep people who vote against them in elections from voting.  When are they going to learn that cheating is not winning? A cynical person could believe the mainstream media  is enabling the gop to steal another election.

Mega Fist Dap to the Madison County Democratic Executive Committee for moving Party HQ from the south side of town where the republicans live, to the north side of town where the democrats live.

What say you?

"Voter Fraud is rarer than Shark Attacks" So what's the problem?

How ridiculous are the republicans getting over Voter ID laws?

This ridiculous

Just two weeks ago a Rasmussen poll showed that 64 percent of Americans believe voter fraud exists. Thatpoll was a major hit with the folks at the pro–voter ID True the Vote conference held over the weekend in Houston. No less than three speakers mentioned it to the crowd of roughly 200 attendees. According to conference host and True the Vote president Catherine Engelbrecht, thirty-two states were represented here for their third national summit, but it was clear most in the room were from Texas. Many appeared to be part of one Tea Party group or another (True the Vote is the 501c3 arm of the King Street Patriots, a Texas Tea Party group), and none seemed to be aware that they were far from losing the war on voting.
And this:

The card pictured above was good enough for voters in Texas to use to elect George W. Bush governor of Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchinson to the U.S. Senate and other elected officials for decades. During the last legislative session, republicans passed a new Voter ID law requiring a photo ID in addition to this card before voters can vote, claiming there is massive voter fraud in the state.  However when asked for proof of the magical voter fraud the best they could provide was 51 cases since 2002.

Everybody knows this is about state-sanctioned Voter Suppression.  Republicans couldn't believe an African American was elected President of the United States of America in 2008 and they are determined to correct that mistake and make sure it doesn't happen again.  They know black voter turnout was the key in 2008, and black voter turnout is the key in 2012.

How ridiculous is it to believe gun laws won't stop real gun violence, but Voter ID cards will stop imagined Voter Fraud?

Today's Must Reads
Guns, Gun Rights and Black People

Gun Laws and the Myth of the Slippery Slope

The NRA--A Cancer on the Soul of America

People Kill People, and guns make it easier for them

Today's Must See YouTube 
Bowling for Columbine-A brief history of the USA

Just because we're black doesn't mean we are stoopid

The prevailing thought in Rightwingdom is black folks riot when they don't get their way.  In this case, getting their way was the arrest of 9 mm toting, self appointed neighborhood watch Captain George Zimmerman, in connection with the death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teen.   The fact this was accomplished nonviolently is lost on those itching for a race war.

For the record, black folks will not tarnish the memory of Trayvon Martin, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other's by resorting to violence if the justice system let's us down again.  It's not like black folks have a document history of violence and retaliation against white folks.  Besides, it would be stoopid to bring a knife to a gunfight.

Today's Must Read with commentary
Justice and Trayvon Martin:  Where was Left in Alabama the Informed.  Involved.  Progressive blog of record?  Other than an  explanation in plain English of what "stand your ground" means by the resident righty/legal contributor there was not a mumbling word said about Trayvon Martin.  Inquiring minds want to know why?

Wednesday’s decision by Florida Special Prosecutor Angela Corey to charge George Zimmerman with second-degree murder in connection with February’s fatal shooting ofTrayvon Martin, an unarmed African American teenager, raises numerous troubling questions. Among the least considered, but perhaps most vexing: In the quest for justice in this case, were progressive and other well-meaning white people?

Free Your Mind Friday

This is what democracy looks like? “Bloomberg pays his hypocritical respects to democracy and reason, when in fact his authority is nothing but an extension of the rule of capital.”H/T Black Agenda Report

The Rude Pundit says (edited)This is not your Effing Movement; This Is Our Effing Movement: Long Live the Occupation (With or Without Occupying) Updated:

The b#@%ards may have taken down Oakland, Portland, New York City, and other occupations in what is increasingly clear was a coordinated attack on the movement by city halls and, perhaps, really, the Department of Homeland Security. But f#@k them. There's still many, many OWS protests around the nation, sea to shining motherf#@kin' sea.

Showdown in Philly, PA Trade Unions give Occupy Philly An Offer It Can't Refuse

With a $55 million construction contract “imminent” for Dilworth Plaza -- home since early October for Occupy Philadelphia – the city trade unions and those in Occupy Philly determined to hold-out in the Plaza have arrived at a showdown.

White, Mormon, male, gop, Presidential candidates~Good. African American, Muslim, I mean Christian, democratic candidate~Bad.

Unintended Consequences My Donkey! This is what happens when the High (sic) Court Strikes down the gun ban in the District of Colombia.

Even firing into an president-less White House is intended to send a message. It doesn't matter whether the president was around to bear witness to it or not. I'll count this as an attempted assassination.

I'm telling y'all....protest is the NEW BLACK! 13 in Alabama Jail Over Immigration Law Battle.

In Alabama, people are speaking out against the state’s controversial immigration law, H.B. 56. The legislation is considered the toughest in the nation in targeting illegal immigrants. It requires that law enforcement check the immigration status of persons thought to be in the country illegally. Basically, it’s your standard racially profiling law targeting brown people, migrants, and those that are probably a little too fluent in the Spanish language. ::sigh::

Get your Satire On!
How's that Grope and Change working out for you? In three short years this country has gone from Hope and Change to Grope and Change. Ain't life odd?

Will the real republican candidate please stand up? The search for a legitimate Republican presidential candidate has turned into a mockery; instead of talking about working together to fix legitimate issues, the election process is being used as a marketing technique for those to get their name out there to sell books and increase their speaking fees.

Meanwhile Politico investigates why Obama Hates America.
We must laugh to keep from crying.

Ask the Republicans in Congress, "Where are the jobs?" Ask the ADP, "Where are the candidates?" h/t piggieheart for the best comment of the day, week, month, year, decade, and the century.

Being a recipient of Welfare is NOT probable cause

Once upon a time in the land of the free and the home of the brave, aka The United States of America, there used to be this little thingy called Probable Cause to protect we the peeps from Big Government.

In United States criminal law, probable cause is the standard by which an officer or agent of the law has the grounds to make an arrest, to conduct a personal or property search, or to obtain a warrant for arrest, etc. when criminal charges are being considered. It is also used to refer to the standard to which a grand jury believes that a crime has been committed. This term comes from the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

That was the case before the start of TeaPublican Revolution with Florida Gooverner Rick Scott(TeaPublican) firing the first shot.

Florida's Republican governor has invoked the fury of privacy advocates after signing into law a bill requiring welfare recipients to undergo drugs tests.
Rick Scott is already facing a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida seeking to half a similar order mandating drug testing for state employees.
The ACLU has slammed the law as an 'extreme overreach' of his powers. Officials are considering a similar lawsuit over the welfare bill, which he signed into law yesterday.

I wonder what part of

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized don't the TeaPublicans understand?

This is the same group who is always screaming about the 2nd amendment and accusing the Guvermint of trying to disarm them.

Stoopid argument of the decade

If even ONE person is receiving public aid and using that aid to purchase drugs, it’s one person too many. Taxpayer money should not go to financing destructive and irresponsible choices. The argument isn’t that welfare recipients use more or less drugs, just that the state wants to ensure NO ONE does!

I say if welfare recipients have to drug tested, the *ahem* Lawmakers who receive public money, and Radio/TeeVee Talking Pundit Heads who use the public airways, ought be tested too. Taxpayer money should not go to financing destructive, irresponsible choices and using the public airways to misinform the public.

What color is the Terror Alert?

How come we don't have those color coded Terror Alerts anymore?

The system was created by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 3 on March 11, 2002, in response to the September 11 attacks. It was meant to provide a "comprehensive and effective means to disseminate information regarding the risk of terrorist acts to Federal, State, and local authorities and to the American people." It was unveiled March 12, 2002, by Tom Ridge, then the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security. However, responsibility for developing, implementing and managing the system was given to the U.S. Attorney General.

In January 2003, the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began administering the system. The decision to publicly announce threat conditions is made by the Secretary of Homeland Security in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, according to Homeland Security Presidential Directive-5.[1]

Remember how after 911 everyone was all ginned up to go to war to fight them over there so we wouldn't have to fight them over here?


Remember how all Muslims were being lumped into the same category as the 911 hijackers?

Folks must call the Arizona shootings exactly what they are; acts of terrorism. Whether the shooter is white, black, or brown equal scrutiny should be given to a person who commits crimes of this nature. A person’s religion and the length of his name should not determine how the crime is reported. A terrorist is a terrorist. Because many allow the media to shape their thoughts and drive the conversation, the media helps facilitate racial flames at its leisure. The political pundits are carefully picked for their skills at stroking the audiences depending on what outlet you watch. Dumb pundits are chosen to play down a point and hateful pundits are picked to create more intolerance. They play us like puppets

Sarah Palin and her media enablers say don't blame them, blame the mentally ill among us.

The shootings in Tucson should be of concern to everyone. There are millions of people who already feel aggrieved and angry and they have now been incited by right wing invective calling for “Second Amendment remedies.”

The same mentally ill who need access to quality affordable health care which the gop infused, media enabled Tea Party vows to repeal.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), the incoming chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, whetted conservative appetites early in the year when he pledged not only to push for repeal of the president's health care reform law, but also suggested that the votes would be there to override a veto in the House.

Now republicans want strict gun control and to erect a Plexiglas shield around Congress as Joe Wilson "you lie" slogan is etched onto line of Assault Rifles.

So, is the Terra Lert red, orange, green, yellow, blue? Should we run or run and hide? Should we get out our Duct Taped and Bottled Water?

Are we safe yet?

Ivy League, Affirmative Action, Liberal Lions and Guns, Oh My!

Judge UW Clemon said what???

I don't think it hurts her chances in any way because she is so markedly superior to the other candidate," Clemon said.
He says with an undergrad degree from Princeton, a masters from Oxford and a law degree from Harvard, that should be all the proof constituents need to vote Sewell into office.

"Those degrees, in the first place, make her eminently qualified," Clemon said.

Psst Judge Clemon! The last time the constituents elected someone with Ivy League academic credentials he threw them under the bus. Remember?

Alabama District 7 is 61.7% African-American. 72.2% live in urban areas (primarily Birmingham, Bessemer, Tuscaloosa, Selma and Demopolis). The district’s median per capita income was $26,672.

NO group is disproportionately uninsured than Black folks, and he voted AGAINST health care reform.

Uh huh.

No group is at the BOTTOM of nearly all health care statistics like Black folks, and he voted AGAINST health care reform.

For once I have to agree with Jeff Sessions Elana Kagen Has "Serious Deficiencies"

Appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation," Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said it was "conceivable" that a "filibuster might occur," should Kagan prove during the hearings to have extraordinary views.

The MSM is prepared to confirm the 3 white female for a life time appointment to the Supreme Court and ignore her lack of qualifications. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing what so ever against white women, some of my best friends are white women :), but what are black women, chopped liver? IHMO a more qualified African American woman was over looked in favor of a less qualified white woman. Is affirmative actions for white women only?

It's supposed to be the most qualified, remember? If you match Solicitor General Elana Kagens' resume side by side with 7th circuit judge Diane Woods, Woods is the most qualified. What would/could the goppers criticism of Judge Woods nomination be? That she was too black? They certainly couldn't say she wasn't qualified

.

RIP Senator Robert Byrd. The last liberal lion has left the building. Righty's and the MSM are going to make much ado about Robert Byrd's Klu Klux Klan past but the real reason they disliked Robert Byrd was because it was the past and not the present.

Byrd's political career was also dogged by his early membership in the Ku Klux Klan, which he said he joined mostly because of its anti-communist position and the political connections he could make there. But in a 1945 letter to a segregationist U.S. senator, Byrd wrote that he would never fight in the armed forces alongside blacks, and said he never wanted to "see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels."

Unlike former Alabama Governor George Wallace's death bed conversion, Robert Byrd repudiated his past and his lived his life in the true spirit of redemption, grace and mercy.

In his autobiography, Byrd wrote of his membership in the KKK: "It has emerged throughout my life to haunt and embarrass me and has taught me in a very graphic way what one major mistake can do to one's life, career, and reputation."

Thank God West Virginia has a democratic governor so we won't lose Byrd's Senate seat. For now.

The usual gop Bush Sr/Bush Jr. hack majority on the Supreme Court strikes again.

It's open hunting season in America thanks to the Republicans. And it's not the deer that's gonna get shot; It's us!

Need proof?

Good riddance. Am sick and tired of Mayor Daley and his Democratic cohorts trying to control our lives. They attempt to disarm the people so that the people have no defense against their tyranny. No more, I say!!

Lord help us.

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.

What is on my mind Wednesday.

If 50 Teabaggers showed up to protest President Obama or Congressman Parker Griffith (r. traitor) I'll bet there would be wall to wall media coverage complete with live interviews, but since according to al.com, it was only 50 progressive, democratic outcast protesting Dubya's former *ahem* advisor the media we have barely yawned. Thank goodness we have a real media outlet to tell us what really happened duringKKKarl Rove's trip to Sweet Home Alabama. Compare and contrast the coverage. It's like night and day. But I'm not surprised, are you?

Speaking of Bushes Brain aka KKKarl Rove, his base is repackaging their movement in a new, multicultural wrapping. Yeah right. Same stuff, different robe.

Speaking of media coverage, or the lack thereof, check out Booman's version of What if the Tea Party were black.

What would happen if we took, say, a couple hundred nicely dressed black men, to a gun show out in rural Anywhere, U.S.A.? What if we came in a couple of busloads, legally purchased firearms and left in a quiet and orderly fashion, just as we'd come. What kind of news coverage, if any, would we get?

Uh Oh! The Mainstream Media fired a warning shot at President Obama today. This is the same media who enabled Bush and Dick to send our troops to Iraq based on DEAD WRONG Intelligence, remember? What BlatantLiberal said!

I'm outraged over this meaningless story for one reason: health care. We saw this most clearly with the death panel lie. That is not a failure of communication or messaging. That was a failure of the mainstream media to educate the people. It speaks to the systemic and endemic failure of the media to simply report. And that is not the White House's fault; it's the fault of a media that will allow lies to take hold. That is willing to report a lie and give it the same billing as the policy itself warping the public's knowledge and facts.

Lord help us, Gun Nut Political Gathering Organized in PA to Shoot Up Cars Representing "Liberal Ideas": Next It's Us

On that note, remember what happened to ultra liberal radio talk show host Rhandi Rhodes when when made a joke about guns and George W-ar Bush? Remember what happened to Air America afterwards? RedEYE reports what you decide.


Paging the Alabama ACLU!!! We've got another prom situation in Dixie. This time it's in Calhoun County Alabama.

"Oxford High School, a school in Calhoun County, Ala., prom dress codes are strictly enforced. Some say too strictly. This year, the Anniston Star reports that 25 students were disciplined for violating the prom dress code. The strangest part of the story, though, is that the students were allowed to stay at the prom, but the following week, they had to choose the option of receiving corporal punishment (by paddling) or a three-day suspension....The principal, Trey Holladay, defends the policy stating that, "We're using the same policy we've had for the last five years. Being a parent, I want to make sure girls and guys act accordingly. We're a high school, and our community has certain expectations of what is appropriate."

So much discrimination, so little time.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A sharply divided federal appeals court on Monday exposed Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to billions of dollars in legal damages when it ruled a massive class action lawsuit alleging gender discrimination over pay for female workers can go to trial.

It couldn't have happened to a more deserving company. *Snicker*

Redeye over and out for now.

Free For All Friday

Educational Apartheid Coming to Alabama
The enactment of Brown vs. Board (separate is not equal) was supposed to overturn Plessy vs. Ferguson (separate but equal), however 50 years after the passage of Brown vs. Board America's public schools The South has become the first region in the country where more than half of public school students are poor and more than half are members of minorities, according to a report by the Southern Education Foundation.

Southern schools are far more segregated now than they were at the height of integration in the ’70s and ’80s, a period that saw a narrowing of the achievement gap, said Gary Orfield, the co-director of The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at U.C.L.A. The South has the lowest percentage of children in private school of any region, Mr. Orfield said.

Which makes you wonder why republicans and even some democrats are pushing for the enactment of Charter School legislation Alabama since a study finds Segregation rife at Charter schools.

Nearly 3 out of 4 black students who attend charters are in "intensely segregated" schools with student populations that are at least 90 percent minority, according to the study by the UCLA Civil Rights Project. That's twice the rate of regular public schools.

Almost a third of those black students are in what the researchers called "apartheid schools," where 0 to 1 percent of their classmates are white. Charter schools in the Bay Area and California have similar rates of racial isolation.

Guns don't kill people, people with guns kill people

A 14 year old student was shot and killed at school by another student today. The clueless talking teevee pundit heads are getting their information from face book and twitter and repeating the rumors the shooting is "gang related" what ever that means. But lost in all of the chatter is the fact a 14 year old bought a loaded gun to school and killed another 14 year old. Where did he get a gun? How did he manage to get it inside the school building? Instead of repeating facebook and twitter rumors , how about doing some investigating?

The Tea Baggers at the Grand Old Opry!
The "national tea party movement" is holding their first ever convention in Nashville, TN at the Opryland Hotel. I'll bet there is some big time square dancing and hee hawing going on. Sarah Palin is scheduled to speak tomorrow. Can't wait to here her mangle the English language. Tom Tancredo was her warm up act today. One of the Senator Mary Landreiu phone tappers was even spotted there. Nashville sounds like a good place to be from this weekend. Yee Haw!

Kidnapping in the name of the Lord

A group of American *ahem* missionaries were arrested and later indicted this week on charges of attempting to kidnap a group of Haitian children. As Booman blogger Terrancedc says

And kidnapping is a crime. It doesn't matter if you're taking a child out of a poor or disaster-stricken country. If you do the above, you are committing a criminal act. You are, in fact, a criminal.

And, no, it doesn't matter whether your purpose is profit or proselytizing. It doesn't matter if God, the Tooth Fairy, Charles Manson, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster told you do to it. It doesn't matter if your Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, or Rosicrucian. You do no have the right to just take a child. Your religion doesn't give it do you. Nor do your intentions. (Or what you say they are.)

As it turns out the ring leader of the group from Idaho (yes you read it right, Idaho) has some issues;

A CBS News employee who witnessed today's court proceedings says Silsby told the judge: "We were trying to do what's best for the children."

When the judge asked, "Didn’t you know you were committing a crime?" Silsby quietly answered, "We are innocent."

But CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reports there are serious questions tonight about Silsby's motives. The 40-year-old business woman, who convinced members of Idaho's Central Valley Baptist Church to follow her dream of an orphanage in Haiti, has a troubling financial history.

She's been the subject of eight civil lawsuits, 14 for unpaid wages, Whitaker reports. Her Meridian, Idaho house is in foreclosure. She's had at least nine traffic citations in the last 12 years including four for failing to register or insure her car.

Who Dat Gonna Beat them Saints?

I'm more excited about this years Super Bowl game between the Saints of New Orleans and the Colts of Baltimore than I've been in a long time. I was a Saints fan when they were the Ain'ts, so I'm hoping and praying they will be victorius this Sunday. But, IF the Colt's win I won't be mad because they are one of my favorite NFL teams too. It's a win win for me! I still can't understand why CBS thought it would be a good idea to air an anti abortion ad during the biggest game of the year, but since they did my friend and I are going to do our patriotic duty and moon the TeeVee in unison when it airs. :)

Peace Out.