The Power of the Press to turn the pigs into farmers, and the farmers into pigs #SweetHomeAlabama

The 2010 Republican takeover of the Alabama Legislature was supposed to bring powerful ethics reform to Montgomery, but instead we got something worse that what we had. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

According to Alabama Media Group columnist Kyle Whitmire: It took Alabama Democrats 136 years to be this corrupt, the GOP matched it in four

The story usually starts with hopeful promise of something different -- you know, the thing that's going to go rotten by the end.
Like 2010.
That was the year the Alabama Republican Party took control of the Alabama Legislature for the first time in 136 years. The mini Republican Revolution came with promises -- the Handshake with Alabama was supposed to be the state's own Contract with America.
At its core was ethics reforms that Goat Hill Democrats had rejected for years.
Among them was a ban on PAC-to-PAC transfers, which lobbyists and politicians had used to launder campaign money.
Wham! Promise delivered!
Also there were to be new restrictions on lawmakers doing business with those who do business with the state.
Zip! Done!
And finally, the Alabama Ethics Commission -- long a toothless tiger -- would finally have subpoena power to investigate corrupt public officials.
Ding! Dong!
The Witch?
Dead!
Here we are a quadrennium later, the Alabama Republican majority has proven that it is unquestionably superior to the all-but-extinct Alabama Democrats. The level of corruption Democrats took 136 years to achieve, the GOP has bested in just four years.

First, let's decode the code words, Democrats is code for the blacks. The media driven false narrative makes it socially acceptable to express the idea that black politicians are corrupt and inept and do not behave like adults.  So the party that tries to help the little guys and gals is corrupt, and the party that helps the rich get richer is not. What's up is down, what's down is up.  

And this time we can tell the pigs from the farmers, because the pigs are even worse.

EYE want my Liberal Media back.

Can You Say #Hypocrite? #SweetHomeAlabama

Jesus....Please Save us From Your Followers in #SweetHomeAlabama #Hypocrisy

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley with Seth Hammett, then director of the Alabama Development Office, and Communications Director Rebekah Caldwell Mason at the Mobile Convention Center on Feb. 24, 2011 in Mobile, Ala. (Press-Register, John David Mercer)

Again, EYE could care less about the  salacious rumors  swirling around Alabama Governor Robert Bentley (R. Tuscaloosa) and his soon to be Ex, because EYE realize elected officials are human beings and therefore not perfect.  They can do what ever they want to behind closed doors as long as it doesn't negatively affect me and mine. 

EYE said the same thing about former President Bill Clinton, who republicans, enabled by the media,  impeached  for trying to conceal a consensual sexual relationship from his wife, daughter, and the world.  

It's the @#$%^& Hypocrisy!  Bill Clinton wasn't running around proclaiming to be a Compassionate, Conservative, Christian by day and a Hypocrite  by Night.

The official poverty figures for 2011 will be released by the U.S. Census Bureau this fall during the critical weeks before of the November elections, and, as the AP reports, a broad consensus of experts is expecting to see U.S. poverty levels reach their highest point since the 1960s when the war on poverty first began. At the same time, we are seeing story after story about the super-rich getting even richer, profiting from financial crises while the economy is plummeting, and stashing trillions away in off-shore tax havens.

Bill Clinton wasn't refusing to expand medicaid, prohibiting poor women ( not to be confused with affluent women) from having access to planned parenthood, signing the most restrictive immigration law, and destroying the public education system in the name of The Lord.

''I was elected as a Republican candidate. But once I became governor ... I became the governor of all the people. I intend to live up to that. I am color blind," Bentley said in a short speech given about an hour after he took the oath of office as governor.

Then Bentley, who for years has been a deacon at First Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa, gave what sounded like an altar call.

"There may be some people here today who do not have living within them the Holy Spirit," Bentley said. ''But if you have been adopted in God's family like I have, and like you have if you're a Christian and if you're saved, and the Holy Spirit lives within you just like the Holy Spirit lives within me, then you know what that makes? It makes you and me brothers. And it makes you and me brother and sister."

Attack the Messenger.  All EYE can say is thank goodness for social media and Bloggers because there is no such thing as a free press anymore.  Gone are the days when the media informed the public.  Now days the media tells us what they want us to know instead of what we need to know to make informed decisions.  They turn the good guys/gals into the bad guys/gals, and the bad guys/gals into the good guys/gals .

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP/WSFA) - The owner of Alabama's largest casino, four state senators and several top lobbyists have been indicted on federal charges accusing them of vote buying on a bill to legalize electronic bingo.
The indictment was released Monday as FBI agents made arrests at several locations across the state.
It accused the casino owners and statehouse figures of conspiring to make payments and campaign donations to affect "pro-gambling legislation."

And you wonder why Alabama is a solidly red, republican, conservative state?  It's the media.   Strike that, it's the white, male dominated mainstream media.  They are the driving force behind the narrative that democrats are unethical, thieving, corrupt, baby killing, drug dealing, dependent on welfare.  

If the cries of Montgomery politicians under indictment don’t generate sympathy, certainly the lamentation of unemployed workers in the Black Belt does. One effect of the bribe-induced Riley-Canary war on bingo in Alabama is the closure of bingo operations in Greene, Macon and Houston Counties, that employed literally thousands of workers, and brought millions of dollars annually to local government treasuries.

Project much?

The five commissioners who govern a rural Alabama county were arrested last week. What did the entire Bullock County Commission do to merit being charged with felonies? They violated theAlabama Competitive Bid Law, according to a statement from the state attorney general's office.
It's certainly possible that Bullock County's finances and procedures are a wreck--and that criminal activity was involved. Violations reportedly showed up when the Alabama Examiners of Public Accounts conducted an audit from October 2008 to September 2009. Irregularities also appeared on audits in 2006 and '07.
But a reasonable person, looking at the broad picture, could ask: Was the real reason these people were arrested that they represent a county that is mostly black, relatively poor, and largely Democratic? In other words, are political prosecutions still the tool of choice for the conservative elites who rule Karl Rove's Alabama--even with Barack Obama in the White House? Are such shenanigans still going on in other "deep red" regions of the country?

Sounds like a double standard to me.

Lost in all the sordid rumor and implication is a rock-solid fact.
Rebekah Caldwell Mason, a chief adviser to the governor of the state of Alabama, is paid by unknown entities with money funneled through an opaque non-profit. And that shadowy operation – it doesn't have to reveal its donors -- is set up by people connected to the state's most powerful and politically aggressive institutions.
Hell, that may be the most offensive thing in this whole bizarre chain of events.

You think? 

Back in the sixties, when the citizens of Alabama wanted to get a fair report on the progress of the Civil Rights movement in their state, they had to turn to the national media, and especially the network news, to get it. The local print and broadcast media would either grossly distort what was going on, or, more likely, they would simply report nothing.

EYE report.  YOU decide. 

From the Files of "Do as I preach, not as I do" in #SweetHomeAlabama #Hypocrisy

Alabama State University Board of Trustees Meeting 11/21/2014

Remember when the Alabama State University Board of Trustees, chaired by Governor Robert Bentley (R.Tuscaloosa) by virtue of his office,  required the new President not to have lovers stay at the Presidential Mansion for extended periods of time? 

There is a bizarre contract controversy involving the new president Alabama State University, Gwendolyn Boyd. She is entitled to live in the presidential residence, which is pretty standard. What is not standard is the condition placed in her contract by the board: she cannot have lovers stay overnight for any extended period of time.  Boyd, you see, is unmarried.
As an academic for a couple decades, I have never seen the like of this provision” “For so long as Dr. Boyd is president and a single person, she shall not be allowed to cohabitate in the president’s residence with any person with whom she has a romantic relation.”

Remember when Governor Bentley ordered a forensic audit that covered the years 2007-2011, and cost the State of Alabama over a half million dollars?

It is so wrong. It is so destructive. It is so terrible. The “It” of which I write is the tragedy heaped upon Alabama State University (ASU).
Based upon specious allegations by a President of Alabama State University, who was present for only three months, federal and state authorities commenced criminal investigations into the University. That’s not good but it is understandable. The actions of Alabama Governor Robert Bentley are not good and are not understandable except in the vortex of race.
In spite of state and federal authorities investigating ASU, Governor Bentley ordered a forensic audit that covered the years 2007-2011 and has cost over a half million dollars. A forensic audit examines every agreement, every transaction and every action (not just random samples like a regular audit). Never before has a university in Alabama been subjected to a forensic audit. It is wrong. It is destructive. It is terrible.
After this rigorous audit did not turn up any of the alleged criminal acts, Governor Bentley proposed to remove two members of the ASU Board of Trustees. Alabama has 15 colleges and universities but only the two historically Black state universities have Constitutional provisions that permit a governor to remove university trustees for alleged conflicts of interest.

Was the investigation into ASU a diversionary tactic? 

The Governor diverted attention away from his secret love affair for three years by launching a $2 million high-profile investigation of financial management practices at historically black Alabama State University in 2012. This diversionary tactic played on the worst instincts of white Alabamians and resulted in an Alabama media and general public lynching of ASU. Three years and two grand jury investigations later, no ASU money was found to be missing, or otherwise unaccounted for. No ASU trustee or administrator was ever charged, criminally or civilly, with any financial wrongdoing.

Glass house meet rock. 

#ItsTheHypocrisy

Alabama is in the midst of a budget crisis, with reports that 15 state parks will be closed and statewide driver's license bureaus will be reduced to four.

Update: There is more than a whiff of hypocrisy in #SweetHomeAlabama

Gov. Robert Bentley and Dianne Bentley attend the Montgomery Prayer Breakfast on May 7. Source: Governor’s Office website

Poor John Archibald.  He can't see the fire for all the smoke, therefore he can't confirm or deny if Alabama Governor Robert Bentley (R. Tuscaloosa) is having an affair ..or not.

Several media outlets – bloggers and radio talkers – this morning cited "sources" as they reported that Gov. Robert Bentley has without question had an affair with a female staff member, a torrid love cuddle that caused the governor's wife of a half century, Dianne Bentley, to file for divorce and ask for everything the guy ever made.
All they offered was "sources." Not proof or fact or anything more than smoke.
Perhaps they are right. Perhaps the governor is a two-timing overgrown teenager who better start taking his state salary before he loses everything. Or perhaps they are wrong. They offered nothing in the way of facts, and until we see those we cannot know enough to judge.
I don't know. I just don't know.

EYE just don't know either, but EYE do know this is another glaring example of media enabled hypocrisy. The Alabama Media Group doesn't want to rush to judgement regarding allegations Gov. Bentley is having an affair, but they have plenty to say about the allegations against Bill Cosby.  Which leads me to believe the allegations the media is afraid of Gov. Bentley are true.  And, if the media is afraid we should all be afraid.  

Mainstream media organizations are afraid to report the details of Governor Bentley's secret love affair. Such reporting will likely cost the print media corporate advertising dollars and sponsorships, as well as revenues derived from legal notices published by the state of Alabama. It is well known that Bentley is mean-spirited, reckless, and vindictive. He is known to retaliate against individuals and entities that do not support this love affair. Additionally, they have a conflict of interest because nearly all of them endorsed Bentley's bid for reelection last November.

We may never know what we don't know about the Bentley's divorce because the proceedings are cloaked in secrecy. 

The sealing of the records was unusual in several respects. First, both parties are 72 years-old. Second, there are no minor children involved. Third, both parties are public officials in the state - Robert Bentley is Governor and Dianne Bentley is First Lady (until the divorce is granted). Fourth, the Governor's financial profile already appears on his ethics forms, which are filed annually.
The Governor has won the first round of legal action that is designed to shield the fascinating details of his love affair from the public. It is unlikely that the state's mainstream media organizations will challenge this questionable ruling. Frankly, they are too afraid to do so.

 Are the worms beginning to turn on each other?

There is no private matters in public life. If you want to be private, then you need to get out of politics," Farley said.
Farley said the governor needs to clear the air over the allegations but there are other concerns. He said there are also allegations of misuse of taxpayers resources.
The lawmaker said possible misuse of state trooper overtime involved with the governor's security and use of state planes need to investigated for any possible wrongdoing.

"If our chief executive officer has been improperly utilizing some of the funds in our coffers, then I think that needs to be brought out and investigated and the appropriate measures taken," Farley said.
As a man of faith, Farley finds all the speculation unsettling.
"So if you are looking at somebody from our eyes, from our Christian perspective this was bigger than a bombshell. It was Hiroshima," Farley said.
Farley said he will ask Attorney General Luther Strange’s office to investigate those allegations.

Psst Luther....you might want to start here .

If Robert Bentley had been a democrat the media would have been on this like white on rice. EYE sure do miss the good old days when the media prevented candidates and elected officials from lying to we the people, instead of enabling them.

#ItsTheHypocrisy 

"The Republican Party supposedly stands for higher values and morals than this. With all the indictments, DUI's, and alleged affairs it makes the party look like a bunch of hypocrites. It's a disgrace to the State of Alabama," Dunn added, referring to the indictments against Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard and the recent driving while impaired arrest of Sen. Cam Ward of Alabaster.

EYE report, You decide.