Pandering to the WRONG at the expense of what is Right

Today is the big pay back. At the end of the day TeaPublicans who have access to quality, affordable, government run health care health care will vote to take away that same access from people who need it the most.

They claim to have a mandate from a majority of the American people, but that's not true. They have a mandate from the Tea Party who refer to health care reform as ObamaCare, emphasis on Obama. If it were BushCare, or McCainCare, or HuckabeeCare they wouldn't have a problem. They certainly didn't have a problem with Bush sending our troops to war based on DEAD WRONG Intelligence, but I digress.

President Obama CARES about the health and welfare of ALL the American people, even those who didn't vote for him because it's the right thing to do.

President Obama Cares enough to protect Americans with pre-existing conditions because it's the right thing to do.

President Obama Cares that insurers can no longer deny coverage to children because of a pre-existing condition because it's the right thing to do.

President Obama Cares that insurers can no longer take away coverage because of a mistake on an application and they cannot limit lifetime coverage to a fixed dollar amount because it's the right thing to do.

President Obama Cares that young adults now have the option of staying on their parents’ coverage up to the age of 26 if they lack access to job-based insurance of their own because it's the right thing to do.

President Obama Cares about the American People. TeaPublicans care about the insurance companies and getting re-elected.

The Affordable Care Act is making sure that you have health coverage when you need it most, and is putting your health care where it belongs – in your hands, not in the hands of your insurance company.

Here they go again...panding to the WRONG at the expense of what is RIGHT (pun intended).

The public banning of Dale Jackson Part 1

The cats and other critters at Left in Alabama have banished right-wing radio shock jock Dale Jackson from its pages. Again. Unlike yours truly, Dale Jackson had a democratic (pun intended) process complete with pro/con discussion and was allowed to defend himself prior to his banning. 

The administrators claim I am lying about being banned but when your user name and password are invalid and they are the only ones who can render them invalid what do you call it? See that's how they operate over there, throw a rock then hide their hand.

Anyhoo since my name was mentioned several times during the debate and since I'm the reason Dale Jackson started posting on Left in Alabama in the first place, I thought it might be helpful to take a trip down memory lane to set the record straight because there is more than a whiff of censorship and suppression at Left in Alabama.

I am not a trained investigative reporter and I don't play one in the blogosphere so bare with me as I attempt to connect the dots.

To be clear, this is not the first time Dale Jackson was banned from Left in Alabama, this is his second strike, but hey at least he got a second chance.

Mooncat has the ultimate decision making responsibility and she wanted this thread, to help with the decision. It was not "piggieheart being pissed off at Dale Jackson" although that describes how I have felt a number of times.

Dale Jackson's first post at Left in Alabama was on Tue May 06, 2008, at 05:24:10 AM CDT in response to my post-All Politics are (should be is) Local; Help fight the Right-Wing Media

Help the USBA today.

A local talk radio station, has been unfair to the USBA in its reporting of news and information about the USBA, its members, the Downtown Rescue Mission and the citizens that live in the area’s affected. However, they have voluntarily put a ballot on their website to allow for the listening public to express their opinion on whether they have been fair to our association or not. All you have to do is go to http://www.wvnn.com/ and on the right hand side just below the lineup box you will see the WVNN Daily Poll. The question is : Has the University Sparkman Business Association been treated unfairly on "The Dale Jackson Show." Just Vote Yes or No and hit the Vote button. Do this from as many different computers as possible if you want your votes to count.

Secondly: This type of so called journalism, where talkers are just cut off in the middle of a sentence, and the show management refuses to confer with proper spokespersons, and sometimes may even just outright lie trying to persuade the public to their viewpoint is not the kind of professionalism we are accustomed to here in the Tennessee Valley as it relates to media coverage. (Virtually all other forms of local media have been by and large fair and reasonably accurate. This includes all 4 TV stations, The Huntsville Times, and AL.com) Thus, we also suggest you consider calling AND emailing Bill West, General Manager for Cumulus media, the parent company for this station and several others in the area.billg.west@cumulus.com Tel.: (256) 830-8300 Fax: (256) 232-6842 . Mr. West may not be aware that this kind of stuff has infuriated our business community.

The USBA is not perfect, but for a business organization that has only been together for about 2 weeks, we have and will continue to make phenomenal progress in participation, organization, and progress toward reaching our goals. We know of no other new born business organization anywhere that has made so much progress in so short of time. Your assistance is appreciated and helps the USBA toward attaining is goals of representing you .

Fast forward to Tue Oct 28, 2008, at 05:45:00 AM CDT Dale Jackson gets his wish and is banned from Left in Alabama.

After begging for months, WVNN talk show host DaleJackson has at last been banned from Left in Alabama. The magic words were "Kill them!" Yesterday BenGoshi, a valued member of the Left in Alabama community, wrote and posted a diary alerting this site to the Skinhead/Neo-Nazi plot hatched to mass-murder African-American children and assassinate Senator Barack Obama.

Note BenGoshi is no longer a valued member of the Left in Alabama community either but that's another story. Hint, it has something to do with Artur Davis.

I was one of the few who was against Dale Jackson being banned:

I wanted Dale Jackson to continue posting his name calling, personal attacks, insults and lies for the world to see. I wanted the world to see the mentality of the people who selected Bush and Dick to drive our country into the ditch and who are presently supporting John Mc$ame and Sarah Quaylin to drive us further into the ditch.

I was also one of the dissenting voices because I was banned from the al.com forum. Not because of behavior like Dale Jacksons, but because I was able to effectively articulate the "liberal" point of view and refute and debunk the right wing spin. The Latte drinking, Birkenstock wearing, Tree Hugging, Bleeding Heart, First Amendment Loving, Hippy, Peacenik, LIBERAL that I am deplores banning of any American from forums. I may not agree with what someone is saying or how they are saying it, but I believe in their right to say it. Our sons and daughters are fighting, dying and being maimed for life in Iraq supposedly fighting for our "freedoms", in my opinion banning citizens is a slap in their face and all of our faces.

That's the way I felt then and it's the way I feel now. Plus I knew if Dale Jackson could be banned I could be banned and sure enough, Friday, November 13, 2009, was my unlucky day and I was no longer a valued member of the Left in Alabama Community because of the content and comments of my post. Hint, content, and comments about Artur Davis.

Stay tuned for part II-Dale Jackson's second chance. In the meantime check out Whatever happened to LiA for more background.

I can't post at Left in Alabama, however, Left in Alabama commenters are welcome to post here. I don't rate or moderate comments. I believe in the first amendment. Tolerant people can agree to disagree without being disagreeable and resorting to name-calling, personal attacks or insults.

This is welcome Mo Brooks to Congress Day!

From Organizing for America
Repealing the Affordable Care Act is bad for our health, our economy, and our country. Rep. Mo Brooks, needs to know where you stand.

Call Rep. Brooks now at (202) 225-4801.
Tell the person on the phone that you're a constituent, that Alabama does not support repeal, and that you're counting on them to protect the Affordable Care Act, regardless of party affiliation.

Then click here to let us know how it went.

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, repealing the Affordable Care Act will add hundreds of billions to the deficit, increase costs for those who are covered, and result in 32 million fewer people receiving coverage. Health reform continues to provide greater freedom and control in our health care choices -- it's no surprise most Americans oppose repeal.

Chances are the Affordable Care Act is already benefiting you or someone you know.

Reform is at work for you:

-- If you're a senior who fell into the "donut hole" of prescription drug coverage and needed help covering that cost;
-- If you're a young adult who can benefit from staying on your parents' insurance until age 26;
-- If you've ever worried about your insurer dropping your coverage unexpectedly if you or someone on your policy gets sick or injured;
-- If you're a small-business owner trying to compete with large employers while providing insurance to your employees; or
-- If you're a taxpayer worried about the national deficit.

The very first item on the Republicans' agenda involves reducing this important legislation to an abstract, partisan fight.

Instead of working to find solutions to build on our recovery and make the United States more competitive, Republicans in Congress would rather appease their right-wing base and insurance-industry allies by re-litigating the last two years -- and returning control of our health care system to insurance companies.

They need to know we're paying attention: We will not stand by and allow Republicans to undo our progress.

Call Rep. Brooks now at (202) 225-4801. Say you're counting on the new Congress to do the right thing by their constituents -- and that's not repealing health reform.

Then please let us know what you heard:

http://my.barackobama.com/RepealCallsThanks for your help,

Yohannes

Yohannes Abraham
Political Director
Organizing for America

You can fool uniformed people all of the time

Today is the day the gop baffles their base with BullPoo. They are going to waste time and tax dollars with a *ahem* symbolic vote to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act, also known as ObamaCare or the job killing health care reform bill.

The gop is counting on the uninformed and the misinformed not knowing the media enabled TeaPublicans are voting for the following:
1. Forcing vulnerable seniors to pay thousands of additional out-of-pocket dollars for their medication.

2. Allowing insurers insurers to discriminate against children with pre-existing conditions.

3.Raising taxes on small businesses, forcing young people off their family's insurance plan.

4. Forcing young people off their family's insurance plan.

Because the TeaPublicans control the House the bill will pass but die quickly in the democratically controlled Senate. Then comes round two of Baffle the uninformed with BullPoo.

Republicans, who already know that repeal will fail, are preparing to begin the longer and more complex campaign to replace, rewrite, or simply undermine various parts of the bill. [. . .] That will allow them to focus their energies on the parts of the legislation that are tough for Democrats to defend, rather than letting the Democrats force them to focus on the parts of the legislation that are easy for Democrats to defend.

Now if democrats were smart, and if the media would do it's J-O-B and inform the public with facts and not spin, they would connect health care with J-O-B-S.

In a great example of farcical rhetoric, House Republicans have named their health care bill the "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act," as part of a silly campaign to argue the law is responsible for job losses.

Just at the surface level, the charge is transparently false. Since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, the private sector has added 1.1 million jobs. Roughly a fifth of that total -- more than 200,000 -- were jobs created in the health care industry. If GOP rhetoric were true, these jobs wouldn't have been created.

If we had more Jon Stewarts and Bill Mahers and fewer Talking TeeVeePundit Heads the country wouldn't be in this mess because the American people would know support for expanding the health care bill is stronger than for repeal.

The right (who is wrong about everything) has managed to convince the uniformed they don't need no stinking access to affordable health reform because they are unaware half of Americans under the age of 65 have pre-existing conditions.

Republicans immediately disparaged the analysis as "public relations." An insurance industry spokesman acknowledged that sick people can have trouble buying insurance on their own but said the analysis overstates the problem.

The study found that one-fifth to one-half of non-elderly people in the United States have ailments that trigger rejection or higher prices in the individual insurance market. They range from cancer to chronic illnesses such as heart disease, asthma and high blood pressure.

We don't know what we don't know we don't know~Donald Rumsfield

The Lynching of Public Education in Alabama

I'm convinced the status quo republicans in the state of Alabama want to destroy public education in Alabama. After all we just inaugurated a governor who doesn't believe every child has the right to go to college, and elected a red, republican state legislature whose first order of business was to destroy the Alabama Education Association.

Now comes the Lynch v State of Alabama school funding lawsuit where civil rights attorney's claim the states method of funding schools purposefully discriminates based on race.

Alabama history is headed before a federal judge in Huntsville, as civil rights attorneys argue that the state's method of funding schools purposefully discriminates based on race.

At stake are the state's property tax rates, the lowest in the nation. Attorney James Blacksher of Birmingham contends that tax structure violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, largely by limiting the ability of rural counties to tax wealthy white landowners.

"Because of the anemic property taxes available to most local school systems, low-income students throughout Alabama, who are disproportionately black, suffer from underfunding," contends the suit.

Sweet Home Alabama is a state that cares more about property values than they do educating it's children. Strike that, the State of Alabama cares more about protecting property values than they do educating poor/disenfranchised/minority students.

Concerns over public housing can still draw a crowd, as almost 250 people on Tuesday gathered for the second meeting of the South Huntsville Civic Association.

"We need something in south Huntsville they've had in other parts of Huntsville for years - a cohesive voice," Madison County Commissioner Mo Brooks announced from the stage at Grissom High School.

Brooks, one of two key speakers, said that the Huntsville Housing Authority has quietly used vouchers to send poor families south and plans now to single out south Huntsville for more.

In February, the authority surprised homeowners with the outright purchase of 50 units at Stone Manor near Chaffee Elementary. That sparked a raucous public meeting at Chaffee on April 6 and led to the creation of the civic association.

On Tuesday, the upstart group drew an influential crowd, including Republican Brooks, a former legislator; newly elected state Sen. Paul Sanford, R-Huntsville; state Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur; and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bradley Byrne.

Going through the numbers at Whitesburg Elementary, Brooks argued that schools in south Huntsville have seen test scores drop "thanks in large part to what the Huntsville Housing Authority has done to us."

This is what happens when property values are tied to student/school achievement.

But the state argues that any forced change in tax rates would decrease all property values, injure all property owners who plan to sell, paralyze the commercial real estate market and cause "widespread havoc in Alabama's government and real estate markets."

Yep, opponents know what buttons to push to distract from the real issue, which is racial discrimination.

It has been projected that the relief sought in Lynch could result in 1000% property tax increases on residential and forest land, 500% on business property and 300% on utility properties.

Projected by whom? According to new anointed Left in Alabama Legal Contributor Old Prosecutor, the information is from unsourced articles. I thought factually incorrect information wasn't allowed on the front pages of Left in Alabama, but I digress.

Alabama's property tax rates are the lowest in the nation as is student achievement. Because of the current property tax structure low income students in Alabama, who are disproportionately black suffer from the underfunding. Students live where their parents can afford to live. Students with affluent parents have access to the best public education their parents tax dollars can buy. Students with low income parents have access to the worst education their parents tax dollars can buy.

The state of Alabama might as well give up trying to run a public education system because it's obvious some don't believe believe every child should have access to a quality public education regardless of race, gender, religion or their parents station in life, like this ;

If you live in a poor county and you dont (sic)believe that the school in your area is up to standards the simple and obvious solution is that you move. I would not let my children attend a school that I believed did not prepare them for the future. The problem is you could throw billions at the schools in these black belt areas and you would still end up with the same low level perfomance (sic)that they have now. The reason is that education begains(sic) at home with a caring father and a mother with values and a work ethic who push their kids to do well. And that is something the vast majorty(sic) of these kids dont(sic) have and will never have no matter how much you spend...

That's right, blame the parents with false, media driven, racial stereotypes. Education begins in the classroom with a certified teacher who is given the resources to educate children in a safe, orderly environment that is conducive to learning. One things for sure, not throwing billions at the schools in the black belt areas has produced the same low level performance. Only a fool does the same thing hoping for a different result, so let's "throw billions at the schools in the black belt" and see if we get a different result.

I have a dream one day the citizens of Alabama will care more about the future of it's children than they do maintaining their property values.