Snowy Saturday Reading List and Week in Review

I guess the media believes if they regurgitate republican talking points over and over again the American people will believe it's the truth instead of a media-driven narrative.  Here's the deal, in a nutshell, Republicans refuse to budge on tax breaks for the rich, President Obama refuses to cut Social Security and Medicare.  And that my friends is all you really need to know.

 Don't forget this is the same media who enabled Bush and Dick to take our troops to war based on DEAD WRONG INTELLIGENCE, and who told us the 2012 presidential election was going to be close.  As a matter of fact, what has the media been right (no pun) about lately? 

There is one thing I will agree with the Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads on, President Obama has no one to blame but himself for this sad, sorry, state of affairs.  Why he didn't believe republicans when they said they wanted him to fail I don't know.  Did he honestly believe the Sequester would be so awful republicans would compromise?  Everybody knows you can't compromise with a Suicide Bomber.  Their mission is to blow you up if they have to blow themselves up in the process...... so be it.

The Republican war on black voters, I mean entitlements, was in full force last week.  Everyone is expecting the Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II Supreme Court to overturn Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 since it was the only thing that prevented Republicans from stealing the election...again.

Republican hubris mushroomed into Republican arrogance as Alabama republicans invited Alabamians to kiss it this week under the guise they helping poor children flee failing schools.

By using this twilight legerdemain to pass a complex, watershed piece of legislation, Republicans avoided any input from our state's educators, from our state's financial experts and, most important, from we the people.
What an open display of contempt for the public: No need to bother writing your state senator or representative about your thoughts on tax credits to raise money for private schools. They don't need to hear from the likes of you.
Republican legislators disappeared into a cloakroom and practically had their way with us while we didn't even know it.

If Republicans are having their way with us, shouldn't we at least enjoy it?  I mean, really?

“Republicans heralded it as a historic day for education and life-altering for children stuck in poorly performing schools. But tempers boiled over as Democrats called the maneuver “sleaziness” and a “bait and switch.”"
On the other side of the aisle:
Rep. Mary Moore, D-Birmingham, as she was leaving the House chamber threw her hands over her head and shouted, “Welcome to the new confederacy where a bunch of white men are now going to take over black schools.”

Blast from the past re-post.

  I've noticed a renewed interest in WTF did Joe Reed to do you?, which gave me the opportunity to correct some typo's and update some links. The original content is unchanged. Looking back I have to wonder how Left in Alabama feels about Joe Reed now. Their candidate, Artur Davis ,was anti AEA and pro privatizing  public education in Alabama, and he was backed by the business community in and outside of the state.  That's a group with little love for entitlements, I mean,  social programs such as access to quality, affordable health care, equal access to a quality public education, a poor woman's right to choose to have a safe, legal abortion, access to birth control, LBGT rights, and the right to vote, and have that vote count.

 All roads lead to Selma mobilizing to Free Don Siegelman! H/T Sharron via Pam's List

LAST MINUTE ANNOUNCEMENT FOR SELMA TOMORROW!

We just found out some different procedures for tomorrow due to Secret Service for the Vice-President.

We will still be distributing shirts and signs, but we will not know for certain exactly where we can set up until we get there in the morning.

So just look for this banner of Gov. Siegelman and that is where we will be.

Some other things to note is EVERYONE will have to go through metal detectors.

The Bridge Crossing will still begin at 1:30. The march from Brown Chapel AME Church to the bridge will begin at 11:00am.

If we understood it correctly, Vice-President will speak at the bridge prior to the crossing at 1:30.

We'll figure it all out, but we will make sure we get these signs and t-shirts distributed to you before 1:30.

 Happy reading!

Nick Saban for Governor of Alabama......

The BCS streaks that keep on growing: State of Alabama and SEC reach new heights

In the interest of full disclosure I am a win or lose Auburn University Tigers football fan, and I offer the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team a sincere congratulations for winning their 3rd National Football Championship in 4 years, under head coach Nick Saban.

This is who they are, and this is what they do. They are America's best program, and they always seem to be at their finest on America's biggest stage.

 So, it got me thinking...what if we apply the logic of Nick Saban to public education?  Think about it, it's what they do!

And what exactly is it they do you ask?

Simple.  Money is no object, they hire the best coaches/staff their money can buy, and they recruit  top athletes by offering them scholarships.  Instead of adopting the you can't throw money at the problem, and public school teachers are the enemy of the state myth, they adopt the you get what you pay for policy.  This is why they are America's best program.  This is why they have proven results.

What if the great state of Alabama invested in our public education system  like they invest in our college football programs?  What if the great state of Alabama could be #1 in quality of life too?

 Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery.
Horace Mann

Let's at least apply the logic of Nick Saban and get our elected officials and other leaders to throw some real money at the problem.

 The University of Alabama's dynasty continued unprecedented national championship streaks for this state and the SEC, moving them to even higher unthinkable heights.
For the fourth straight year, a university from the state of Alabama won college football's national championship: Alabama in the 2009, 2011 and 2012 seasons, and Auburn in 2010. Even before Alabama's latest win, no state had ever won three consecutive national titles in football by multiple schools, much less four.

Education is the HOPE of our republic.

At least it used to be.

RedEye Around the Web

Your laugh out loud for the day courtesy of Alabama Governor Robert Bentley (r. Tuscaloosa).

“I would have voted against this agreement because I believe we need a more balanced approach that would include significant spending cuts and making the federal government more efficient, like we’re doing here in Alabama,” Bentley said.

Uh,  do you mean the efficient government like were doing here in Alabama where voters just voted to raid the Trust Fund to avoid budget cuts? Or, do you mean the efficient Alabama government who takes $1.7 dollars of federal funds for every $1.00 it sends in?  Or, do the you mean the efficient Alabama government with the largest number of people relying on  food stamps?

Things that make you go Hmmmm....

 Leave it to a congressman from the ex-Confederacy, where the white rape of black women has a long and sordid history, to hold up the Violence Against Women Act in order to protect white men from prosecution by tribal courts if they rape a Native American woman.

 So let me get this straight, the same men who want to arm teachers ( most of whom are females), voted against the violence against women act,  but passed laws requiring women to have a vaginal ultrasound before they can obtain a safe, legal, abortion?  They trust women with a child and and a gun, but they don't trust them with a choice. Hmmm....

Meanwhile under the radar, did you know President Obama signed an executive order giving Congress a pay raise?  Yep, the same Congress that is talking about cutting food stamps, Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid.   This is one of those rare times I agree with the republicans.

Fortunately, the Republicans agree that the idea of this lot getting a raise is obscene. Obama must be the most out-of-touch politician Inside-the-Beltway. These bums make $174,000, although the Speaker makes $223,500 and the 4 party leaders make $193,400 each-- have gigantically rich benefits packages and cushy retirement plans that no one else in America gets. On touch of that, most of them are corrupt and spend most of their energy feathering their own nests in countless schemes and scams.

Filibuster reform coming to the Senate? I HOPE so, and not a minute too soon.  I'm tired of being held hostage by the right wing Bully's.   Make them talk so the whole world can see/hear them.

Liberals say the Levin-McCain proposal is inadequate because it would not implement their highest-priority reform, the so-called talking filibuster.
Udall and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore), the leading advocates for filibuster reform, say lawmakers who filibuster legislation should be required to actively hold the floor and debate. This would make it more arduous for senators who want to hold up business — they would have to organize teams to hold the floor for days or even weeks on end.
Udall said he would have to be convinced to support the Levin-McCain plan because it would not implement a talking filibuster rule, which he said is “the heart of the matter”

GOP=Gerrymandering Over People.  Nobody can turn the losers into the winners, and the winners into the losers,  like the GOP. Although a  majority of voters voted for democrats, republicans won,  thanks to republican gerrymandering enabled by  the conservative majority on the United States Supreme Court.

 Worse, top Republicans are already threatening to use the looming debt ceiling fight to torpedo the entire U.S. economy unless Congress agrees to slash Social Security or Medicare benefits for seniors. They will have the leverage to attempt this because the incoming House bears no resemblance to the one America actually voted for. And individual Republican House members will be able to engage in this political dangerous game of chicken comfortable in the knowledge that partisan gerrymandering makes many of them untouchable in a general election.

Para quoting the late Senator Paul Wellstone (D. MN) I dare imagine a country where every child has equal access to a quality public education, regardless of the color of their skin, regardless of their gender, regardless of their address, regardless of their parents income,  where every child will have the chance to reach their full potential. What we have here is a  Race to the top for the fortunate few, the rest, not so much.  Blame public school teachers.  Snark

"There's a stark wealth gap in New York between black and brown families versus white families. This is reflected in the school system, where property taxes are used to fund schools, which translates to higher salaries for teachers who can instruct advanced courses and facilitate expanded college-counseling services,"

Congratulations to Wayne Bennett, organizer, publisher and founder of the award winning The Field Negro blog, for being named Politics 365 Game Changer of the the day.

 While his blog is known for covering national affairs that affect Black Americans in an unconventional tone, The Field Negro is also known for letting its commenter's voice their opinions on what is published on the blog without being censored.

 Real liberal quotes from real liberals.

 Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. You will rule or ruin in all events.~ President Abraham Lincoln

We do not own many media outlets, but what we can be is more responsive. We must counter the hate radio movement with programs that provide useful and helpful information.~ Bernie Hayes The St. Louis American  

RedEye Over and Out...for now.