#SweetHomeAlabama #Sweet16 #RollTide "Are our priorities messed up?"

This is the Alabama Congressional Delegation making fools of themselves, EYE mean, celebrating the University of Alabama's 16th National Football Championship on the floor of the House of Representatives. 

From the Heisman Trophy winner, [Derrick] Henry, the quarterback, Jake Coker, and the tremendous 95-yard run of Kenyan Drake, all of the players on the 2016 team deserves our applause and congratulations," said U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, who represents Tuscaloosa in the House. She was joined by Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Saks; Martha Roby, R-Montgomery; Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville; and Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville.

 #OurTaxDollarsAtWork

Again,  EYE congratulate the the University of Alabama football program on their 16th National Championship,  b-but there is something....troubling about....pride for a national football championship..... in a state that ranks 48 among 50 states in quality of life for children....where some of the people probably can't spell Alabama much less attend the University of Alabama thanks to it'se pi$$ poor education system , are just bursting with pride.

Are our priorities messed up?

The State of Alabama could learn much from the University of Alabama. If Alabama wants to be the best, there is a cost. A price to pay. Until we're willing to pay it, we'll limp along with the other bottom-tier states, in most everything but a silly game.

Life in Alabama ain't no Crystal Ball  for the majority of it's citizens, but it could be, if we invested in people like we invest in football. 

We're Number 1 .  Again.

It's 2016, EYE am Back!

My annual mental health break is over and EYE am back, raring to go! First, EYE would like to wish my readers a Happy New Year!  It is my HOPE 2016 will be the year for CHANGE we can believe in. If EYE offended anyone in 2015 by Keeping it Real,  EYE apologize.  NOT.  It's only going to get worse in 2016. The first day of the January marks the last day of Kwanzaa. EYE will continue to keep my eyes on the prize, be a voice for the voiceless, refuse to be marginalized, minimized and undervalued, and, to speak my mind with passion, courage and Faith.  That said, let's get busy.

So much stuff happened while EYE was on break EYE don't know where to start.  Since EYE keep an EYE on the Reddest of the Red States let's with a year in review of Sweet Home Alabama, where football dominates, public education, jobs, environmental protection, ethics, and  quality of life for children,  not so much. 

Much Ado was made about the brawl between Birmingham Mayor William Bell and City Council Member Marcus Lundy.  The media tried to make them the poster boys for Scumbags  and incompetence (code for stupid), but EYE must remind them, this is what elected officials do in Alabama.... and, it's not just the African American elected officials.

So, while the white, EYE mean, right wing of the Alabama Democratic Party tried to pull a coupe on Joe Reed and his bunch so white folks could regain control of the party, Alabama republicans were dismantling the already pitiful public education system.  If democrats spent half as much time fighting republicans as they did Joe Reed and his bunch, maybe the state wouldn't be first in football and last in everything else. 

Who knew the reason white democrats stayed at home in 2010 was because they believed Obama hadn’t done enough so they decided to stay home to “punish” Obama for not being the Savior they thought they’d elected in 2008 and stuck all of us with GOP majorities in Congress).  If anyone should have stayed home in 2010 because Obama was not the Savior they thought they elected in 2008 it should have been African American democrats, but we didn't, because we don't have the luxury of not voting.  The right to vote is sacred to African Americans.  It's steeped in blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifice.  We can always be counted on to vote.  White democrats not so much.

African Americans vote even when we don't have anyone to vote FOR.  But that's going to change for me.  EYE will no longer vote a straight democratic ticket.  Just because someone is on the democratic ticket doesn't mean they are a democrat.  And no, an African American Pastor who moved to the state two years ago, who was an Independent (code for republican) before he was a democrat, whose deep personal belief is life begins at conception, and preserving second amendment rights  doesn't cut it. If EYE wanted a someone who shared his point of view EYE would be a republican.

Lot's more to talk about, stay tuned.

RedEye

The Soul, Science & Culture of HOPE

I attended this symposium last night. To say that Antwone Fisher's life story is poignant, tragic and inspiring really understates the truth. The event opened with Rick Miller describing the means and methods used to instill into each young person the gift of hope for their future as well as the tools to enable them to achieve their fullest potential.

And then, Antwone took the stage. He's a tall, slender man who obviously keeps himself in great physical shape. His voice is gentle, as he detailed the very troubled circumstances of his childhood. But there is humor, too, as he engaged his listeners.

Using clips from Denzel Washington;s directorial debut movie, Rick Miller illustrates key aspects of his youth development strategy "Kids at Hope - Every Child Can Succeed."

Throughout his childhood, Antwone, who is dyslexic, would express his emotions by writing them out, sometimes in the form of poetry, on scraps of paper (now a book of poetry), which he would then destroy. Here is one of Antwone's early poems, expressing his tumultuous past.

Who will cry for the little boy?

By Antwone Fisher

who will cry for the little boy?

Lost and all alone.

Who will cry for the little boy?

Abandoned without his own?

Who will cry for the little boy?

He cried himself to sleep.

Who will cry for the little boy?

He never had for keeps.

Who will cry for the little boy?

He walked the burning sand

Who will cry for the little boy?

The boy inside the man.

Who will cry for the little boy?

Who knows well hurt and pain

Who will cry for the little boy?

He died again and again.

Who will cry for the little boy?

A good boy he tried to be

Who will cry for the little boy?

Who cries inside of me.

As poignant as Antwone's poem is, he is but one; there are millions of children struggling to find the hope in their lives and for their future. They are our future, our national pride, just as Antwone is justifiably proud of being, as he told his mother, "a good man."

By adopting the Kids at Hope cultural strategic framework the following will be achieved:
Children become much more optimistic
Children not only understand the concept of hope, they can model it
Children learn and practice the power and self-fulfilling prophecy (belief system) of positive self talk (Kids at Hope Pledge)
Children learn about personal strength based inventory and practice it
Children’s academic and emotional achievement matures
Adults learn and practice the power of the self-fulfilling prophecy to support a child’s achievement
Adults learn and practice how to measure a child’s potential, not just their behavior (Kids at Hope Report Card)
Adults learn and practice how to instill hope in every child, without exception (Passport to the Future)
Adults learn and practice the types of meaningful and sustainable relationships needed by children (Aces)

And now, Antwone's work is to visit communities to inspire them in the soul, the science, and the culture of hope for development of their community's youth.

#KatrinaAnniversary "The Logic of Genocide"

Alan Chin 84-year old Milvertha Hendricks wrapped in an American flag blanket after spending five days on the street at the Convention Center. New Orleans ...

Today's Must Read by Glenn Ford

The best thing that could happen to poor Black people is for a Katrina-like catastrophe to hit their city, scattering them to the four corners of the country. So says an article in a leading “liberal” magazine, which maintains that “the forced exodus of Katrina should be replicated as public policy, for the good of both the purposely displaced and society as a whole.” In the real world, white supremacy and capitalism created the ghettos.

Katrina was a human rights disaster 

The human rights dimension of the disaster became clear immediately after Katrina struck, when the media struggled to find the right words to describe the estimated 1.3 million people uprooted from their homes and scattered around the country. Some called them "refugees" — a term met with outrage by Gulf residents, since it officially applies to citizens of another country crossing borders. "Evacuees" was also inaccurate, since tens of thousands of people — largely due to a flawed and scandal-ridden emergency response — were never "evacuated" after the storm hit.

Every Kid is Money  

This week commemorates a grim anniversary. Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. It wiped out the entire public school system and cleared the way for what has become the nation's first fully charterized district. In the New Orleans Recovery School District, traditional neighborhood public schools are gone, replaced by privately run charter schools.

B-but President Obama says New Orleans is moving forward after Katrina.... 

"Not long ago, our gathering here in the Lower 9th might have seemed unlikely," Obama says in speech excerpts released by the White House. "But today, this new community center stands as a symbol of the extraordinary resilience of this city and its people, of the entire Gulf Coast, indeed, of the United States of America. You are an example of what's possible when, in the face of tragedy and hardship, good people come together to lend a hand, and to build a better future."

EYE guess it depends on what the definition of moving forward IS.... 

“Plan and simple, the recovery efforts of the last ten years in New Orleans mostly benefited White residents,” said Ernest Johnson, FFLIC’s Statewide Juvenile Justice Reform Campaign and Policy Director. “America’s comeback city is one where the Black median income remains less than one half of the White median income. It is a city where the Black unemployment rate is nearly three times the rate of White unemployment rate. It is a city where only 30% of residents in the predominately Black Lower 9th Ward have been able to return to their homes. It is evident that recovery was out of reach and unavailable to African Americans.”

The more things change..... the more they don't. 

It's the #Racism and the #Poverty #Stupid #hcsboe

Huntsville City Schools March 11, 1963 -March 11, 2015  (Huntsville Times file)

According to the powers that be , Low-income (code for black/brown) children know 30 million fewer words and Huntsville City Schools plans to fix that by spying on them.  I kid you not.

This past Thursday, the Huntsville City Schools Board of Education voted unanimously and without asking any questions to approve a $93,500.00 contract with the LENA Foundation purportedly to help close the 30 million word gap that exists between children born above and below the poverty line.

Here is what we know we don't know about the latest spy, I mean LENA program.  

1. The recorder will likely record statements like, “You look like your daddy,” or other “not pleasant” conversations despite Ms. McCaulley’s and Mr. Davison’s assurances that it will only record, “wah, wah, wah” like Charlie Brown’s teacher. LENA’s website makes this clear. They will be recording children.
2. The district will target low-income families and entice them to record their conversations with “diapers, formula” and a likely guaranteed spot in the Pre-K program after the child turns 3 or 4.
3. The district believes that parents (at least poor parents) don’t know how to talk to their children.
4. The district believes that sending a text message to parents reminding them to talk to their children and bribing parents to attend a weekly and then monthly meeting will fix this problem.
5. The district believes that it is completely acceptable to turn infants into data points that are available for review by any “stakeholder” at any time day or night via a smartphone.
6. The board members are more interested in laughing at Dr. Wardynski’s attempts at humor than they are actually doing research to see if the things he is recommending actually have any basis in reality.

This school board ,and their media enablers, have demonstrated they are not willing to admit there is a problem, much less less solve it.  They think all they have to do is throw some money at some clueless consultants, blame the victims (parents,child, community), and it will go away.  Not.

It's the Racism. 

 Racism, and its ability to increase the odds that a pregnant mother will deliver her child early, can kill. There is also evidence that racism can alter the capacity for a child to learn and distorts lives in ways that can reproduce inequality, poverty and long-term disadvantage, the studies found.

 Kramer’s findings also suggest that since poor minority families often concentrate in sections of a city and therefore send their children to the same set of the nation’s increasingly segregated (by both race and class) schools, children struggling to learn due to a preterm birth aren’t evenly disbursed. Some schools are likely serving large numbers while others, in wealthier communities and those serving mostly white students, may be serving few to none.

The reason low income children know 30 million fewer words is because their parents are products of the Huntsville City School System.  The reason their parents are low income is because their parents are products of the Huntsville City School system.   It's a vicious cycle.

Maybe if HCS invested in children, instead of Lap Tops and Ipads, a  Director of Community Engagement,   a Political Strategist,  an off the books Spy program,  Attorneys fees, and would stop replacing certified teachers with Teach for America, we could get to the root of the problem and break the cycle of poverty and ignorance instead of perpetuating it. 

"It's easy as A-B-C, 1-2-3"
Step 1  Admit you have a problem
Step 2  Identify the problem
Step 3  Solve the problem

RedEye

Faking the Funk when the narrative doesn't fit the facts Huntsville City Schools style part 2

Hundreds of children enjoyed Huntsville City School's Summer Feeding Program Thursday morning, June 5, 2014, at the J.O. Johnson High School cafeteria. The program, which started in 2013, works to provide city school children with three free meals daily during the summer months. (Sarah Cole/scole@al.com)

So,  what if you clicked on Al.com one day and you see your beautiful, smart, articulate, happy, daughter, who is neither hungry or low income,  pictured as a  poster child for hunger and poverty?

I just looked at all the pics of the kids.
When will the black community of Huntsville be shamed enough to take care of their own? 

First the Funk:
In a media enabled public relations offensive, I mean campaign, to paint themselves as human beings, I mean, compassionate, Huntsville City Schools has been patting themselves on the back because they accepted funds from the same federal government they are currently fighting in court, to fund a summer feeding program to feed lazy blah folks who need the government to take care of them.

"We will have the highest number of hot meals served to kids in the State of Alabama for the second year in a row," Vaughn said.
The program, funded mostly through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was implemented last summer as a way to supplement the meals that children from low-income neighborhoods receive when they're not in school. It offers three free, hot meals to children 18 and under from anywhere in the city, whether or not they are enrolled in the school district.

Now the Facts:
Unfortunately, Huntsville City Schools walked all over the truth in order to spin a positive image of themselves. Reading this article, and clicking through pictures, gives the false impression Huntsville is the Black Belt region of Alabama, teaming with poor black children,  being bussed to schools day in and day out, to get a hot meal.

 Cue in: Give me your tired your poor your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

Not.  Most of the pictures were taken at Girls Inc., and the majority of the girls are not low income, they just happened to be participants in a summer program, which happened to serve breakfast provided by the summer feeding program.  Parents were asked for permission to use their daughters' image to promote Girls Inc. Imagine their surprise when they saw them being used to promoting the summer feeding program.

 The "feeding program" is just another way our socialist government is training this generation that dependency rather than self sufficiency is the accepted norm.

So in addition to most of the girls in the pictures not being low income, or hungry, the summer feeding program occurred in places other than Huntsville City Schools.  In other words, they took the meals to where the children were, and not necessarily to low income children.

Parents need to take care of their kids. It is not the governments place to do it. 
A few less beers a few less manicures. And these kids will continue the pattern.
So sad.

As you can see from the comments, the false narrative gives the impression all African American's are lazy, shiftless, baby making, drug dealing, thugs, who want the government to take of them, when nothing could be farther from the truth.

Oh what a tangled web we weave.....when we practice to deceive

If republican policies are so great why are states with republicans in charge getting poorer?

Poverty rose in Republican districts since 2000 at a much higher rate than in Democratic ones http://t.co/s4mE4i9CEk pic.twitter.com/O0Fg4UhckM
— ProgressivePhD (@CallOut4) May 1, 2014

None dare call it racist/racism, but that's exactly what it is.

Abort Alvin Holmes Mouth J.D Crowe

It's not about what Alvin Holmes said, it's about what Alabama House republicans did.

Bama house republicans voted to deny black/poor women access to a safe legal abortion yesterday, blame Alvin Holmes callous rant.  Not.  According to a report by the Kaiser Foundation African American women obtained the majority of legal abortions in Alabama. 

Yellowdog hits the nail on the head:

And all these issues adversely and disproportionately affect black and brown Alabamians.

The ides that this is not racially motivated is ludicrous. Slavery followed by Jim Crow was overt, what we have now is covert.

It can even go to our base natures. We are psychologically programmed to prefer and select those other people who look and act like ourselves.

Until we break down the barriers and the institutionalized racism and create equality, not just lip-service, it will not change.

Standing by and ignoring or pretending this doesn't exist as a fact of our lives and existence is shameful and evil.

 Institutional racism is any system of inequality based on race. It can occur in institutions such as public government bodies, private business corporations (such as media outlets), and universities (public and private).

 It's easier to blame Alvin Holmes  for the institutionalized racism than to confront the real perpetrators. 

It's not about what Alvin Holmes said, it's about what Alabama House Republicans did

Mission  Not Accomplished

Bama house republicans voted to deny black/poor women access to a safe legal abortion yesterday, blame Alvin Holmes callous rant.  Not.  According to a report by the Kaiser Foundation African American women obtained the majority of legal abortions in Alabama. 

What Rep Holmes said was no more outrageous than the Republicans pushing the unconstitutional bill to begin with. He was fighting ridiculous statements from the Right with ridiculous statement of his own. Fighting fire with fire.

Racist statements are just a form of stupidity. it was stupid vs stupid, only the Republican stupidity will cost the state of Alabama hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to defend their stupidity in court.

 Ill doctrine says racism is not about that thing you said, it's about that thing you did.  Let's be clear about what Alabama House republicans did, not what Alabama State Rep.Alvin Holmes said.

Look at the facts in Alabama.
It is a racially divided state where the good ole boys rule.
Holmes statement is provocative for sure but when is Alabama going to wake up.
There is a prison system crisis, a poverty crisis, an education system crisis, a health care crisis(and the governor rejects federal money)a huge gap in income between whites and other ethnic and racial groups.

Alabama House republicans voted  for more children born into poverty blame Alvin Holmes. Snark

In Honor of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Today as we celebrate and remember the Birthday of Dr. King it is important that we do not let America redefine him into some sweet, gentle Man who had a Dream....Because the Truth is Dr. King spent his life exposing Americas NIGHTMARE for too many of her People! If we truly want to honor Dr. King we need to do what he did with our lives....so let's ask our selves today...WHAT AM I DOING ABOUT POVERTY, RACISM, VIOLENCE, INEQUALITY.....WHAT AM I DOING TO CHANGE THE WORLD? REAL DREAMERS ARE HATED BECAUSE THEY CHALLENGE THE WORLD TO BE WHAT IT DOESN'T SEE OR WANT......IF NO ONE HATES YOU, YOU PROBABLY AREN'T DOING ANYTHING!....HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. KING!!!! Father Michael Pfledger

"When elected officials ignore public opinion, isn't that treason?"

 

H/T jobsanger

You won't hear it from the Iraq War Architects  on TeeVee,  but according to The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press; Public Opinion Runs Against Syrian Attack

The new national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted Aug. 29-Sept. 1 among 1,000 adults, finds that Obama has significant ground to make up in his own party. Just 29% of Democrats favor conducting air strikes against Syria while 48% are opposed. Opinion among independents is similar (29% favor, 50% oppose). Republicans are more divided, with 35% favoring air strikes and 40% opposed.

treason, noun,

1.  Violation of allegiance toward one's country.

2. A betrayal of trust or confidence.

Fix America First.

The Truth about the ALGOP School Flex Bill and nothing but the truth

National Center for Children in Poverty

 
Let's get one thing straight about the so called School Flex Bill the ALGOP rammed down the throats of Alabamians once and for all...THE ALGOP DID NOT PASS THIS BILL BECAUSE IT GIVES POOR CHILDREN A CHANCE TO LEAVE FAILING PUBLIC SCHOOLS.  You got that?

The ALGOP could care less about poor children having access to a quality public education.  If poor parents think republicans are going to allow poor children from failing schools to transfer into non failing schools, after all they've done to keep their failing donkey's OUT of them....I have a bridge in Selma for sell.

The purpose of this bill is to bankrupt the government school system by giving those who choose to send their students to private schools a tax credit.

I wonder if John Archibald is reading my blog?

RedEye's Week in Review

In an effort to sucker, I mean convince African Americans the GOP is not Full of "Cranks, Haters and Bigots"  the chair of the Republican National Committee is going to pow wow with black leaders in Atlanta.  I guess they think they can put the Genie back in bottle.  I wonder if they are going to serve watermelon and fried chicken? 

One high-profile Republican strategist, who refused to be named in order to avoid inflaming the very segments of the party he wants to silence, said there is a deliberate effort by party leaders to “marginalize the cranks, haters and bigots — there’s a lot of underbrush that has to be cleaned out."

Good luck with that. It's not about locking the crazy uncle/aunt in the attic, or putting a black face on the racism,  it's about changing the mentality of the GOP.

Contrary to popular GOP opinion African Americans are not stupid.  We know who has our best interest at heart, and who doesn't.

There’s a reason why the Postal Service was targeted folks, it was a source of tens of thousands of middle-class jobs, especially for minorities. Since We Can’t Have Nice Things, the PAEA was passed and BLAMMO, a recession coupled with structural failure in the Postal Service all but guaranteed a massive loss of jobs. And the USPS still has another 4 years to go to pay off the $22 billion or so it has left to pay off, thanks to Dubya. On top of all this, there are plenty of folks who keep saying the only way to save the USPS is to privatize the mail system completely.

This Week in the GOP dominated Alabama State Legislature

Pro embryo republicans introduced 13 gun bills out of fear the scary black man in the White House is plotting to take their money, TeeVees, and their daughters (not necessarily in that order) away.

Senate republicans approved a right to work bill  (NOT), and Rep. Kurt Wallace (r. HD 42)  basically told Alabama women to stop having sex with men if they didn't want to get pregnant. 

Psst Alabama GOP!  You are doing a great job of being a voice for the unborn, but what about the born?  What are they....Moochers?

• Child poverty rate: 28%
• Senior poverty rate: 14%
• Women in poverty: 21%
• Percent of single-parent families with related children that are below poverty: 45%

Today in republican controlled Alabamastan

 

Between passing a bill to effectively shut down Alabama's 5 remaining abortion clinics, a bill banning insurance companies from covering contraceptives, and a bill calling for a constitutional amendment to require that any restrictions against the right to bear arms be subject to strict "scrutiny",  Alabama's big government republicans quietly OK'd the school flexibility bill.

A House committee Wednesday approved legislation that would allow school districts to apply for waivers from some state laws.
The committee amended the proposal after complaints from opponents that it allowed schools to opt out of a wide variety of laws, including those related to ethics. However, the legislation as amended would still allow school districts to apply for waivers from the state’s competitive bidding law.
The legislation is a major part of the House Republicans’ “We Dare Defend Our Rights” agenda. Rep. Chad Fincher, R-Semmes, sponsor of the legislation, told a meeting of the House Education Policy Committee on Wednesday afternoon that it would allow local districts to design educational approaches best suited to their areas.
“It allows schools to request relief from rules and regulations in exchange for greater accountability,” Fincher said. “We have a system where one size fits all education. We have small systems, we have large systems ... I think that’s why it’s important we break out of that mold of one size fits all.”

Translation, back door way of bringing charter schools to the state and attacking tenure laws.

Alabama Education Association officials oppose the bill, saying it would give local school boards the power to erode protections for teachers and other employees. The bill, as originally drafted, included wording that protected tenure for teachers who already have it. Still, AEA officials said, the wording would allow schools to eliminate the potential of tenure for newly-hired teachers.

Representatives of the American Federation of Teachers, a teacher’s union, also spoke against the bill, saying it was written with too little teacher input. “Throughout the bill, there’s not one mention of the word teacher,” said Vi Parramore, of the Jefferson County branch of AFT.

 Yep.  Gotta keep them there  poor Alabama women and teens barefoot, pregnant, and ignorant, then call them Moochers.

The Moocher Myth is this: People who vote Republican are successful, responsible strivers who pay taxes and keep the U.S. government afloat, while people who vote for Democrats are irresponsible moochers living off government programs. In Romney’s phrase, they are the 47 percent “who are dependent on government, who believe they are victims.”

House democrats proposed a state lottery to pay for officers in schools and college scholarships, among other things, but they won't go anywhere because democrats don't control the state legislature.

 House Democrats today unveiled an agenda that includes establishing a state lottery to pay for college scholarships and putting a trained police officer in every public school.
They also proposed letting people vote on a $1 cigarette tax to boost  the state’s perpetually cash-strapped Medicaid program.

What julie said
 This is a sad day for Alabama. We have Reps who couldn't care less what we think, what the facts are, or how their laws will directly impact the everyday life of hundreds of thousands of people. I'm really not sure what they DO care about - except getting reelected (#1), collecting a nice check with gold-plated benefits (#2), doing favors for their friends and themselves (#3) and  the Church barbeque next Sunday (#4).

This is what happens when the gop dominates politics in Alabama.

Oh well, at least we are the  national college football champs.