Tuesday Professional Left Blog Stroll

I'm sick and tired of white, privileged individuals like John Archibald and Glenn Beck hiding behind the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. to suppress legitimate complaints of black folks and to bash black leaders.

Before Dr. King was acceptable to white folks he was called a communist, outside agitator/instigator who needed to stop whining and STFU. He was called Martin Luther Coon. He was arrested and jailed. His house was bombed. His phone was tapped. He faced constant death threats. Martin Luther King,Jr. didn't stop whining until he was forced to by an assassins bullet in Memphis, TN. Remember?

Legal Schnauzer connects the white privilege dots in the Kendra Lavender Marshall affair and draws the following conclusion;

My sense is that Alabama progressives are tired of Democrats, especially of the white and privileged variety, who try to straddle both sides of the political fence.

You get it Schnauzer. It's time for Democrats, especially of the white and privileged variety to stop straddling both sides of the fence. Pick a side.

Meanwhile under the radar in the Cradle of the Confederacy, Montgomery residents are accusing the City of demolishing homes to sidestep Eminent Domain Laws.

The city is intimidating people," she said. "They don't try to give people due process of setting up fines or even putting up a fluorescent poster in the front yard saying, 'We're going to demolish your house.'"

Residents and activists have accused city leaders of using a local blight ordinance to target low-income Montgomery residents so the city can take their property and re-sell it to high-end developers without paying compensation.

H/T Jack and Jill Politics.com for the video of Alabama's shameful secret. Uh, where is the defender of King's dream John Archbald when you need him? Now here is a case where real disenfranchised people of color could use his help and he is no where to be found. I have a dream one day the media will use their privilege and power for the good of all mankind regardless of race, gender, religion, or circumstance.

I will believe it when I see it. President Obama makes a commitment to restoring New Orleans Talk is cheap. Let's see some ACTION. It's been 5 years already.

Great way to win friends and influence people Alabama Federation of Democratic Women. Insult the female chair of the State Democratic Executive Committee then blame it on Joe Reed.

Ok, so I told Nancy Worley after the meeting that she didn't need to pay the Parlimentarian because much of the debate during the meeting was "out of order" according to Roberts Rules.

She rared up and told me that she was a "certified Parlimentarian" and that the meeting had been run properly. I retorted that maybe she needed to get more training.

Unfortunately, her "significant other" didn't approach me with fists raised and verbally and physically threaten me like he did Mooncat later....

Because I've been waiting YEARS to use that great line from Tootsie. If someone gets up in my face "I'll knee your balls up through the roof of your mouth."

Meouch! Wait, there's more;

And HELLO... a Point of Order overrides debate - assuming there is any. A Point of Order interrupts the discussion and Nancy just ignored it. So much for the "certified parlimentarian." Go back to school, Nancy!

After that performance, it's no wonder that our single woman on the SDEC executive board sat by herself at the AFDW gala dinner Saturday night and left all alone after the meeting.

Joe Reed made her do it!

There's a German proverb that summarizes what has happened to Nancy -- "whose bread i eat, his song i sing." Getting appointed top female official of the state committee was a feast, but now she's got to sing his song for dry crusts.

Meanwhile, didin't Reed get more control -- more people he will have the authority to put on the state committee -- by what was rammed through at the previous state ctte meeting? And, is there any legal way to give a little power back to delegates, apportioned on a basis that truly represents democratic voters of Alabama? Does anyone have an idea, a plan, on how to legally and politically astutely put the democratic back in the committee?

And they wonder why Nancy Worley said "we need to study this"?

Redeye over and out....for now.

Edit- Let's Talk About White Privilege and the Kendra Lavendar Marshall Affair

It has come to my attention Kendra Lavendar Marshall is the grand daughter of the late Simmie Lavendar

Simmie R. Lavender, Sr (born 1919 - died May 19, 2007) was a Constable for Alabama House District 52 and the second president of the Jefferson County Citizens Coalition. He was active as a leader of the Birmingham Citizen Participation Program and helped to found the brotherhood breakfasts that helped unite community leaders across racial lines.
Lavender was also a deacon, Sunday School teacher and trustee at First Baptist Church of Powderly. It was there that he collapsed from a seizure on the way to a service planned in his honor. He never recovered. He was survived by his wife, Mildrid and seven children, 10 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. He is interred at Elmwood Cemetery.

Wikipedia defines white privilege as a way of conceptualizing racial inequalities that focuses as much on the advantages that white people accrue from society as on the disadvantages that people of color experience. White privilege differs from conditions of overt racism or prejudice, in which a dominant group actively seeks to oppress or suppress other racial groups for its own advantage. Instead, theories of white privilege suggest that whites view their social, cultural, and economic experiences as a norm that everyone should experience, rather than as an advantaged position that must be maintained at the expense of others.

Now, let's apply this definition to the Kendra Lavendar Marshall controversy because some are hollering the false "reverse racism" meme because Dr. Joe Reed wouldn't allow the African American candidate the voters elected to be replaced by the white candidate the voters rejected.

Reed and the state Democratic Executive Committee last week nominated Elisabeth French for a Jefferson County Circuit judgeship. She replaces primary winner Kenya Lavender Marshall, who lost her law license. Since there is no Republican opposition, French will no doubt get the job -- even though she didn't run for it.

Don't get me wrong. French is not the problem. The problem is how the party succumbed to its worse elements, how it picked her for the wrong reasons.

You see, a majority on the committee bought the notion they had to appoint a black woman because voters chose Marshall -- who is a black woman.

It was not about qualifications. It was not about politics. It was all about race.

Uh No, Mr. Archibald, it was all about white privilege. The voters didn't elect Kendra Lavendar Marshall because of her race, they elected her because she shared their interest. She won because she got the most votes. That's how it works in America, or at least it used too.

It seems someone with power and privilege decided Kendra Lavendar Marshall didn't deserve to win because that's a white woman's job, after all. So much for content of character. So much for getting the most votes.

* The decision circumvents the election process?--That was circumvented when the Alabama State Bar went after Kenya Lavender Marshall, just three weeks after she had won the primary. And did Bob Riley, who appointed Still, have anything to do with that? Does Nicole Gordon Still know about actions others took on her behalf, in an effort to "circumvent the election process"?

Archibald says Joe Reed and the SMDC are running a criminal enterprise because they stood up and took a stand against white privilege, but I agree with Legal Schnauzer regarding the motive and the rationale behind their gusty move.

"We've seen the business establishment in this country ruin our economy. We've seen the legal establishment in this country corrupt our justice system, especially here in Alabama.

"We rejected Artur Davis, and we now reject Nicole Gordon Still. And it is not because of their skin color. It's because they have cozied up to the establishment forces who have consistently acted against the best interests of regular, everyday Americans. It's time that we push for a true progressive agenda--in Alabama and beyond. And we are taking a stand for such an agenda today."

Archibald is quick to call attention to Joe Reeds criminal/racist actions however he chooses to ignore the actions of others. He doesn't explore the possibility Kendra Lavendar Marshall was forced to surrender her license to practice law.

A Birmingham lawyer says an Alabama State Bar disciplinary committee essentially used extortion to force her to agree to a suspension of her license, probably ending her candidacy for a seat on the Jefferson County Circuit Court.
Kenya Lavender Marshall won the Democratic Party primary and faced no Republican challenger in the November general election. But the Alabama State Bar charged that she misappropriated some $30,000 of a client's funds that had been held in her lawyer trust account.
Marshall said she admitted to the charges and agreed to the four-year suspension of her license only because of threats from the State Bar disciplinary committee. In fact, Marshall denied that she had misused client funds.

This case reeks not of race but of white privilege; emphasis mine;

Much remains unclear about this story. But this much is clear:

* Rob Riley and his business associates have stepped in some major legal doo-doo and probably could use some friendly judicial faces to help them wipe the stink off their shoes.

* Rob Riley and Nicole Gordon Still have quite a bit in common. They both have lived charmed, prosperous lives, driven largely by the fact they have powerful, influential daddies.

Are these powerful white families--and the Alabama legal establishment--joining forces to ensure that a black candidate never is seated as a judge, even though she apparently won an election fair and square?

Alabama citizens who care about justice should be giving that question a lot of thought over the next few days.

What about THAT, Mr. Archibald? How about using your power and your privilege to fight for truth, and the restore honor and integrity to our government? Kendra Lavender Marshalls life, career and reputation are in shambles just because she dared run for public office and win. Imagine if Kendra Lavender Marshall was white and Niki Still was black. Would you have the same perspective? There are two sides to every story Mr. Archibald, if you are interested in the other side you can hear and see it HERE.

It's not about race, it's about white privilege and it's effect on the election process. The false arguments put forth by you is a blatant manifestation of white privilege by framing this issue to favor the white perspectives over those of people of color. You ignore the obvious questions you should be asking choosing instead to race bait. How dare you hijack legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King to promote your agenda.

It is scary to true Democrats, who belong to the party because they agree with the ideas and ideology it espouses nationally. Many are shocked the party would gamble its reputation and its future on short-term political gain.

The act stains those who deserve better.

Imagine what it means to black judges in Jefferson County -- people such as Houston Brown, Clyde Jones and Helen Shores Lee who spent lifetimes earning and deserving respect and support. If judgeships are decided by race, they simply could not win in a place where six of 10 voters are white.

Forty-seven years ago Saturday, Rev. King dreamed of a world in which skin color did not matter.

The Alabama Democratic Party did not listen.

Listen to this. Kendra Lavender Marshall is someones child. Someones wife, mother, sister, aunt,cousin, attorney, friend. She deserves better. She deserves to be treated fairly, regardless of her race. She is ACCUSED of wrong doing, she has not been CONVICTED of wrong doing. It's innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, not the court of public opinion. Remember?

Lost in all of this is the will of the voters has been over turned. Only in America can the candidate with the most votes lose. Again.

What I learned about the gop this week. It's scary.

I learned the gop is not above using fear and bigotry in order to win elections, and the media enables them. How Ken Mehlman’s ‘open secret’ stayed hidden

The suspicion, rather than direct knowledge that Mehlman is gay, has been alive in elite media and political circles for more than a half decade.In 2005, Tapper penned a GQ profile of Mike Rogers, a gay activist willing to out political figures who support policies infringing upon gay rights. Rogers has long targeted Mehlman, the former head of the Republican National Committee who also ran President Bush's re-election campaign.

So while the republicans and the media were focusing on Rep. Barney Frank" (D. MA) sexuality they gave Mark Foley, Ken Melhman and God knows who else a free pass.

The half-open closet in which Mark Foley spent his life was a recipe for disaster, say those few who tried to intervene. Investigating Foley's pre-teen seduction by a priest, the "ladies' man" mask he wore in Palm Beach society, and his love-hate relationship with the gay community, the authors uncover the ambition, delusion, and hypocrisy that corroded both the politician and his party.

The gop knows it can count on the segment of voters who care more about keeping gays from getting married than their self interest.

Back in 2004, gay marriage was still a very effective wedge issue that the Republican Party used to generate high voter turnout in a tough election year, despite Vice President Dick Cheney's public disagreement with the strategy.

Note Dick Cheney has a daughter who is gay. That should have been our first clue. And don't forget about Jeff Gannon Gucket Gate. All the anti gay hysteria generated by the Bush administration was just as hypocritical as avowed segregationist Strom Thrumond

Thurmond sired a daughter in 1925 with a black house servant named Essie "Tunch" Butler, with whom he reputedly had an extended relationship. Though "Black Baby of Professional Racist" would seem to sail over the man-bites-dog bar of what is news, the story has never really gotten traction. The particulars of this family saga simply do not fit into the "redemption narrative" Americans tend to impose on our more regrettable bygones: Better that ol' Strom "transformed" from the Negro-baiting Dixiecrat presidential candidate of 1948 to One of the First Southern Senators To Hire a Black Aide in 1971.

I learned there is more than a whiff of hypocrisy within the gop. For example, the republican wedge issue/talking point/spin du jour is "anti big government", although Bush and Dick created the largest government in United States history. Republicans claim they are pro-life yet they are anti health care, anti public education and anti welfare. Republicans claim to be pro jobs, yet they are anti Union, and they certainly forget the millions of jobs that were outsourced to Mexico, China and India under republican rule. Republicans claim to be anti spending unless it's for all war all the time, spreading FreeDumb all over the world, and it's a republican administration doing the spending.

Speaking of spreading FreeDumb and using fear and bigotry enabled by the media to win elections, look at the Glen Beck/Sarah Palin rally yesterday. The fact a reported 350,000 people attended should be enough to skeer the bejeezus out of America. One thing is clear, the people who attended the rally can be counted on to vote. The fact Glen Beck and Sarah Palin got them there is also scary. Once again poor republicans are being manipulated by rich republicans into protesting against their self interest.

The Koch brothers must be laughing all the way to the bank knowing that working Americans are aiding and abetting their selfish interests.

The gop uses Fox News and talk radio to keep the dumb bigots in line. It's time to boycott Fox News aka Radio Rwanda because they are using the public airways to promote fear and bigotry.

What we’re watching is a calculated campaign to demonize blacks, Mexicans, and gays and convince a plurality of economically-depressed white voters that they are under imminent legal and perhaps even physical attack by a conspiracy of leftist nonwhites. They’re telling these people that their government is illegitimate and criminal and unironically urging secession and revolution.

I learned the Tea Party is not a loosely organized band of anti-tax libertarian-leaning political newcomers who are fed up with Washington. They are a fully funded, highly organized, group of anti Obama, media enabled, right wing bigots who want to take the country backwards. Just imagine the gop infused Tea Party in control of the Supreme Court, the Congress, the Justice Department, education, transportation, energy policy, and the economy.

So, now that we know the gop, enabled by the media uses fear and bigotry to to win elections, what can we do about it?

Commentary: This is who 'we' really is, Glenn Beck | McClatchy#storylink=omni_popular

Commentary: This is who 'we' really is, Glenn Beck | McClatchy#storylink=omni_popular

Get on the Bus, March for Justice and Jobs in Alabama

Don't let the slick slogans about creating jobs and not taking a salary until Alabama is back to work fool you. The gop doesn't care about creating jobs in Alabama. If they did they wouldn't have closed down the Bingo casinos in the Black Belt.

Greene County’s July unemployment rate was 19 percent.

About 400 people lost their jobs when Greenetrack’s bingo closed last month.

Ex Tuskegee Mayor Johnny Ford says now is the time to take it to the streets.

we ask all citizens to join together in a "March on the State Capitol" on Saturday at 3 p.m. to demand jobs, justice and the right to vote on bingo. We must let our legislators and our governor know we have just begun to fight.

On the 47th anniversary of the "March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom" and Dr. Martin Luther King's historic "I Have A Dream" address, you will have the opportunity to stand up for Dr. King's vision.

"This isn't just about bingo. It's about the need for jobs all over this state, including back at the gambling halls, and about moving Alabama forward,"

Honor Dr. King's dream by marching for jobs, justice and peace on the anniversary of that day when Walter Reuther, president of UAW, Dr. King, president of Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and other civil rights leaders joined with hundreds of thousands and changed America.

Please join with The Campaign for Jobs and Justice this Saturday, beginning at 3 p.m., on the steps of the Alabama Judicial Building then moving up Dexter Avenue to the steps of the Capital in Montgomery.

Get on the bus from Marion/Dallas County to Montgomery

Saturday, August 28,2010 12:00pm - 4:30pm

Location Civil Rights Museum - White Hall

Get on the bus from Perry County to Montgomery

Saturday August 28, 2012 11:00am - 4:30pm

Location Jitney Jungle

Get on the bus from Mobile County to Montgomery
Saturday, August 28, 2010 11:00am - 4:30pm

Location Target - Bell Aire Mall

Get on the bus from Greene County to Montgomery

Saturday, August 28, 2020 · 11:00am - 4:30pm

Location Greenetrack parking lot.

Get on the bus from Sumpter County to Montgomery

Saturday, August 28,2020 · 11:00am - 4:30pm

Location Walmart Parking lot in Livingston

Get on the bus from Huntsville to Montgomery

Saturday August 28 9:30am - 3:00pm
Location Progressive Union Missionary Baptist Church

Get on the bus from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery

Saturday August 28, 2010 11:00am - 4:30pm
Location K-mart parking lot - McFarland Blvd,

Get on the bus from Hale County to Montgomery

Saturday August 28, 2010 11:00am - 4:30pm
Location Sawyerville, Mustang Magnolia parking lot, Highway 14

Honor Dr. King's dream by being part of the plan.

Katrina 5th Anniversary Blog Stroll

There is lots of television coverage about the poverty and the despair of the lower 9th ward in New Orleans after Katrina, but until this year there has been little or no mention about The Mocha Mayberry of New Orleans.

With more than 1,000 modest ranch homes, wide curving streets and 200 acres of green space, Pontchartrain Park was our very own "mocha Mayberry" built around a golf course that later included a Little League ballpark, tennis courts and two historically black colleges. This community, built during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation in Louisiana, was a safe haven for working-class and upper-income blacks. In many ways it shielded us from the harsh realities of racism and prejudice that pervaded just beyond its borders.

Watch a video of Pontchartrain Park underwater a never before seen nightmare in New Orleans.

Oil from the BP oil dumb has seeped into New Orleans Lake Pontchratrain.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- New Orleans, which managed to escape the oil from the BP spill for more than two months, can't hide any longer.

For the first time since the accident, oil from the ruptured well is seeping into Lake Pontchartrain, threatening another environmental disaster for the huge body of water that was rescued from pollution in 1990s to become, once more, a bountiful fishing ground and a popular spot for boating and swimming.

Environmental racism is still rampant post Katrina

Environmental racism is a policy, or structured practice having to do with the built environment that negatively impacts a racially homogeneous group at a disproportionately higher rate than its (often) more affluent counterpart. These biased policies are reflected in deliberate efforts to concentrate toxins and other hazardous waste and pollutants in low-income communities of color or divert necessary infrastructure improvements from these very same communities. Research has confirmed that long-term exposure to toxins in the air, land, and water lead to long-term negative health conditions, including increased risk of asthma, cancer, and other chronic and deadly diseases. However, the impact of environmental racism is not only confined to health--the economic impact can be just as fatal.

New Orleans cops were told they could shoot looters post Katrina.

Police Captain Harry Mendoza, and his lieutenant, Mike Cahn III, told federal prosecutors last month that they were ordered by Warren Riley, then the department's second-in-command, to "take the city back and shoot looters.'' Mendoza quotes Riley as saying: "If you can sleep with it, do it."

Be sure and catch the Frontline Special Report Law and Disorder on air and on line on PBS starting tonight.

Washington has yet to address the key failures exposed by Katrina.

Our report, Learning from Katrina: Lessons from Five years of Recovery and Renewal in the Gulf Coast, finds that many of the problems exposed in the botched federal response to the storm--from breakdowns in disaster planning to a misguided and mismanaged recovery--have yet to be addressed in Washington.

What's more, these key flaws in federal policy will stall Gulf Coast rebuilding and put lives at risk in future disasters unless the President and Congress take action soon.

Must see Youtube In Honor of Those Who Sacrificed in the Civil Rights Movement

There are no words to express or anything to say. Sometimes showing a story is better than telling it.

H/T The grio.com, SouthernStudies.org, PBS.org, GrannyStandingforTruth.com

Katrina 5 Years Later

Does America care about black and poor people? That's the question I pose on the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The mainstream media narrative proclaims New Orleans is rising from the waters of despair and making a comeback, bigger and better than before. The New Orleans Saints won the Superbowl, all is right in The Big Easy. Nothing to see here, move along.

Well, that's the wrong narrative. Five years later, New Orleans is still drowning for the black and poor folks who cannot return to New Orleans.
Malik Rahms the director of Common Ground says;

"They don't want no poor n*****s back in - that's the bottom line."

Poor blacks can't come back because they have no homes to come back too.

People have not returned because the projects they were living in were knocked down. People didn't return because there are no jobs. People didn't return because [their] rents have quadrupled. Other people have not returned because they've found a higher standard of living in Houston, San Antonio, and Atlanta. We have people laying it out in the film more eloquently than I can. They have better-paying jobs in their new cities; the education systems are better. Those are the main reasons why people have not returned.

Poor black people haven't returned because they have no schools

There is an old saying: A white man’s heaven is a Black man’s hell. Arne Duncan, the U.S. secretary of education and President Obama’s basketball buddy, is one of those white men – a disaster capitalist who sees a silver lining in the Katrina catastrophe that swept away much of Black New Orleans, four and a half years ago. Duncan’s ghoulish statement, that “the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans was Hurricane Katrina,” is identical to the sentiments expressed by racist Louisiana whites and the Bush Administration, when they gushed unashamedly over the opportunities Katrina created to build a new order in the city, even as bloated Black bodies still floated in the streets.

Poor black people haven't returned because it's not safe;

In the chaos of Hurricane Katrina, thousands were left with little protection. And as the flood waters rose, many were left to grab on to each other to survive. Watch The Untold Race War during Hurricane Katrina.

In that desperate time, according to court documents, Roland Bourgeois grabbed a shotgun.

The 47-year-old man pleaded not guilty in a Louisiana federal courtroom Thursday afternoon to charges that he shot at three black men and issued an ominous warning that "anything coming up this street darker than a brown paper bag is getting shot."

It is time to heed the lessons of Katrina.

We are one country and all of our citizens are important, rich and poor, black and white. When a government gives an every man for himself attitude towards disease and natural disasters, it reflects badly on our country. It is the duty of our country to, not only protect its citizens against terrorist attacks, but against natural disasters and diseases as well. If America is serious about being the world’s police man, they should also think about being the world’s fireman too. The money that was supposed to be used to fix the levees in New Orleans was used to drop bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Imagine if our tax payer money was used for disaster relief rather than to create more disasters.
The lessons of Hurricane Katrina is that a military cannot save its people from disasters if they are only trained to kill. America has not been invaded in 300 years yet we invest more money into our military than we do anything else. Rather than being a destroyer, American needs to be a savior, of both its own people and its fellow citizens of the world.

This is what I wrote on the fourth anniversary of Katrina;

It's not about a Hurricane, it's about America. Three years after Katrina, much of the lower ninth ward is still in ruins. Three years after Katrina 40% of the displaced citizens still can't return home. Trouble the Water is a film that is about to be released about Katrina and the failure of our government to help it's citizens. It's not about flooded school buses. It's not about people not evacuating. It's not about Ray Nagin and "Chocolate City", it's about America.

Here is what I wrote August 31, 2008 about the aftermath of Katrina;

Here is a sample of what New Orleans looks like three years later.

36. Percent fewer tons of cargo that move through Port of New Orleans since Katrina.

38. Percent fewer hospital beds in New Orleans since Katrina.

40. Percentage fewer special education students attending publicly funded, privately run charter schools than traditional public schools.

41. Number of publicly funded, privately run public charter schools in New Orleans out of total of 79 public schools in the city.

43. Percentage of child care available in New Orleans compared to before Katrina.

46. Percentage increase in rents in New Orleans since Katrina.

56. Percentage fewer inpatient psychiatric beds compared to before Katrina.

Fast forward five years later the lower ninth ward is still being asked to pull itself up by it's bootstrap and thousands of poor black Americas want to return home but can't.

The American media was all in a tizzy when former Mayor Ray Nagin said New Orleans would be Chocolate City again and when Kanye West said "George Bush doesn't care about black people". They twisted it as examples of so called black racism (Shirley Sherrod) to distract from the FACT the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina displaced (for lack of a better word) poor black people out of New Orleans and made the political landscape whiter. People got wrapped up in who was telling the truth and ignored the truth.

Five years later it's still not about a Hurricane.

Counterspin~corrected

Oh those "pesky voters. They keep proving the Talking TeeVee Pundit heads don't know what the heck they are talking about.

It’s an anti-incumbent year, except for all the incumbents who are doing fine. Tea Party favorites fare well, except where they don’t. Candidates with establishment backing are in trouble, except when they keep winning. The candidates with more money excel, except when they’re trounced. For every narrative, there are counter-examples that render it largely useless.

The Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads have declared Florida Governor Charlie Crist(R) the winner of the Flordia Senate race. After all, it just no way Rep. Kendrick Meeks, an African American democrat, will be elected in the Sunshine state. They way I see it, white democrats have a choice, they can either vote for Meeks who will vote for the democratic agenda or they can vote for Chris who might (NOT) vote for the democratic agenda. It's two republicans (Crist/Rubio) vs one democrat in Florida. Voters who call themselves democrats should vote for the democrat regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation.

The same goes for the Alabama gubernatorial race. It's pretty safe to say Ron Sparks has the African American democratic vote tied down. African American voters are the most loyal democratic block vote, although it's often taken for granted, but I digress. On the other hand white democratic voters aren't so loyal. So, will white Alabama democrats vote for the gubernatorial candidate with a proven record of public service and forward looking innovated solutions, or the candidate with the all hat no cattle slogans? You decide.

On a national level voters will chose between so called "tax and spend" democrats and "borrow and spend" republicans. Personally I don't have a problem with taxing and spending because you get what you pay for. And isn't it funny the republicans the only care about taxing and spending when it's an African American democrat doing the taxing and the spending? They didn't say a mumbling word about Bush and Dick spending 4 Billion dollars a month on all war all the time and taxing the middle class to pay for it.

If the media would stop playing dumb and call out Faux News and the other right wing Lords of Loud whose main purpose is to scare white people the country would be better off and better served. If they continue with the all spin all the time, unfair and unbalanced we are going to go back to before.

Back to all war all the time.
Back to tax cuts for the rich.
Back to Scooter Libby InJustice.
Back to Heckuvjob Brownie incompetence.
Back to spying on the the American people.
Back to no access to affordable, quality health care.
Back to record home forclosures.
Back to bailouts.
Back to torture.
I don't want to go back to the future.

Do you?

Tuesday Professional Left Blog Stroll

"There are two sides to every story" and thanks admin at Progressive Electorate we get the other side of the Kendra Lavendar Marshall story. Psst Ms. Marshall, you need to call a press conference to make them hear and air your side. Right now they are saying you surrendered your law license and admitted your guilt.

Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups. Capital City Free Press has a great op ed about the cost of lying about Preisdent Obama's religion. The piece on Race Baiting is a must read also.

Black republicans (now there's an oxymoron) are through with Sarah Palin. I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you. *Snicker*

It's the media.

Peace!

"Now the terrorist have truly won".

I might as well start the week off with righteous Redeye rant and get a lot of things off my chest that are bothering the heck out of me.

I am sick and tired of the Obama is a Muslim bigotry. Yes I said bigotry. Let's stop pussy footing around and call it what it IS. 1 in 5 Americans believe President Obama is a Muslim. Frankly, I am surprised by the number of bigots in America in 2010. I thought America had moved past religious, racial, and gender intolerance with the election of America's first African American President. Big RedEYE roll.

America was founded on the principle of religous freedom and Christianity. The same Christianity that landed on the necks of Native Americans and enslaved Africans. The same Christianity that prosecuted women for "withcraft". The same Christianity of night riders and cross burners. But I digress.

Barack Obama very well may be a Muslim, but you know what....if he is a Muslim I DON'T Care. Muslims have done a lot of good/bad things just like Christians have done a lot of good/bad things. One of the good things Muslims have done is clean up the black community. Personally i would feel safer in a Muslim community than a right wing Christian community. I would advise those who have bought into the fear factor that all Muslims are terrorist do a little research on the religion. And for the record, Rep. Keith Ellison (D MN) is a Muslim and is currently serving in the United States Congress. Muslims are not prohibited from holding elected office in America.

Question: If President Obama is a Muslim WHY would he try and hide it? He took the oath of office on the Lincoln Bible, not the Koran. He attended Trinity United Methodist Church for over 20 years. He was married in Trinity and his daughters were baptized at Trinity. Think about it.

I want to get past this issue and focus on the real issues facing real Americans. The gop, enabled by the media, want President Obama and the principles of America to fail. The principles of tolerance, honesty, integrity, freedom, liberty and justice. Why do they want President Obama and the principles of America to fail? Because President Obama is an African American man.

Muslim is the new black.

YouTube video portrays the views of 61% of the American population that are still living in the 19th century, are bigoted, racist and completely not a true representation of a democracy. This is the worst explaination to be given to those nations that were force converted into democracies. This is a shame for New York City. I would never have thought NYC would fall this low. Now the terrorists have truly won.

Amen and Amen.

Things that make you say "Hm..."

Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Charged With Rape, Molestation In Sweden

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whose whistle-blowing website caused uproar last month with a leak of secret U.S. military files on Afghanistan, has been charged in Sweden with rape and molestation, the National Prosecutor’s Office said on Saturday.

Assange was quoted by a Swedish daily as denying the allegations.

Assange, an Australian, was in Sweden last week to discuss his work and defend his intent to publish further documents on the war in Afghanistan. He has close ties with the Nordic country, where WikiLeaks has said it keeps some of its servers.

The non-existent Mosque story over shadows our Troops coming home from Iraq. Well most of our troops....

Remember way back during the 2008 campaign when the war in Iraq was a pretty big deal? When Democrats had to choose between one candidate, Clinton, forced to defend/explain her (bad) choice to approve the war and another, Obama, who had spoken out early and often against the war. We know who won that fight. Then America was asked to choose between Obama and McCain – who advocated sticking with Bush’s war until we “won”, whatever winning meant. We all know who won that fight too.

Today, one of the hottest topics of the campaign is meriting seemingly little national discussion as Barack Obama has kept his promise to end the war in Iraq. No Republicans on TV are lambasting him for this action or saying we should stay. Fox News is eerily quiet on the successful withdrawal of troops from Iraq, which btw, will not only save lives but will end a huge drain on our national pocketbook. No, instead we’re obsessed all of a sudden with whether Muslims count as Americans protected under the same 1st Amendment rights as the rest of Americans.

God told Bush to send our troops to Iraq.

President George Bush has claimed he was told by God to invade Iraq and attack Osama bin Laden's stronghold of Afghanistan as part of a divine mission to bring peace to the Middle East, security for Israel, and a state for the Palestinians.

Who cares about Article IV of the U.S. Constitution?

President Obama's religion is no one's business. If he were an atheist, that would be no one's business. That Democrats continually play into the right wing game by going out of their way to prove their religious faith is a continuing problem. When asked about religion, all politicians should be able to say that their beliefs are private. It would be nice to see them refer to Article VI of the U.S. Constitution. It also would be nice to see more people stand up against the very idea that being called a Muslim is a smear. If asked directly whether the president really is a Muslim, the best response the White House could give is the Charlie Chaplin response: President Obama does not have that honor.

Although The Professional Left is always right(pun intended) we get no R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Politicians (generally speaking) only love us when it comes time for our money or our votes. Once elected it's all about serving the corporations, not the people.

There is no difference between the republican and democratic party.

At a time when Democrats, Independents and most Americans are craving a strong, coherent populist message, why do we have Democrats presenting themselves as shills for the two or three hundred richest families in America? Isn't that why we have a Republican Party? And isn't that why the Republican Party was voted out of power?

It's official the GOP is winning the hearts and minds of Americans, I wonder why? Hm...

New poll shows majority of Americans do not trust Obama. Majority of Americans want repub congress in place to control Obama from doing anything to help this country pull itself out of the deep pit that the last admin left us in.

Americans do not want money used to help main street Americans, Americans want the money used to help the poor top 5 percent apparently. How quickly we forget what GOP stands for.

States get million of dollars for charter schools as school libraries are defunded.

This Administration says it wants to focus on programs that are effective, but it has not only recommended policy that will keep school libraries underfunded, but it will also eliminate funds for a program that the Department of Education has evaluated twice and found to be effective both times,” American Association of School Libraries (AASL) President Cassandra Barnett said. AASL is a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

Hm......

Freedom isn't Free, Shock and Awe, Shock and Shame

Major combat operations are officially over in Iraq and the majority of our troops are coming home. But we still have over 50,000 troops in Iraq and President Obama just sent more troops to Afghanistan. IMHO the W-ar on freedom just changed locations. Our sons and daughters are still in harms way on foreign soil. Billions/Trillions of tax dollars are being spent and for what noble cause? Anybody know? How many more of our sons and daughters have to die on foreign soil? How much more of our tax dollars are going to be spent on all war all the time? What's the strategy? What's the end game? When are the American people going to say enough is enough? I'm just asking...

Note there is nary a peep out of the right wing about our troops coming home from Iraq today.

For us on the left, today is a day to celebrate the start of the end of this war. For the right, it’s a sad day in which their favorite national pastime is coming to an end.

Yep the right loves some all war all the time and they don't mind spending money bombing people, but they have a real problem with feeding hungry people in the United States of America. Go figure.

National priorities are determined by the manner in which a nation allocates its limited resources; how and where it spends its money. At the end of July Congress passed a $33 billion supplemental war bill for President Obama's troop surge in Afghanistan. This past Tuesday the president signed a multi billion-dollar bailout bill for cash-strapped states but cut $12 billion from future food stamp funding to help pay for it. Proponents of this measure argue that using food stamp funding in order to save public sector jobs such as teachers, police officers, and firefighters at the state level is a valid trade-off.

Meanwhile in the land of the free and the home of the brave, the number of Americans who believe Obama is a Muslim has doubled. I wonder why? It's not like the media hasn't done everything it could to set the record straight. *Snark* Do ya think the media made Mosque controversy has something to do with the numbers?

Given that white Christian supremacist Tim McVeigh bombed the Oklahoma City Federal Building, shouldn't we ban white churches from Oklahoma?

As New York City's indigenous Lanape Natives died at Ground Zero by the thousands when overrun by Christian colonists, shouldn't we ban Christian churches from their sacred ground?

If a mosque near Ground Zero is bad, then why not ban all Muslims from downtown New York? For this to work, should we require all Muslims in the city to wear yellow crescents?

And thanks to The Supreme Court ruling that corporations have the same rights as people Faux News Came Out of the Closet. I thought Faux News was fair and balanced? If they were fair and balanced they would donate $1 Million to the Democratic Governors Association.

Mission Accomplished. Freedom isn't Free. It's shocking and awful.

Ethics are for Everybody

Thanks to the republicans and their "progressive" enablers, there is a narrative that that all Democrats, especially black elected democrats, are corrupt and unethical. The jails are full and getting fuller of Democratic elected officials convicted after widely publicized media investigations. It has the "appearance" of political prosecutions.
For the record I'm not defending people who misuse public funds or who are trying to enrich themselves or their families. I'm defending our justice system and the rule of law.

The justice system that says defendants are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, not the court of public opinion. The justice system that says justice is blind not partisan and political. The justice system that says we have the right to fair trial. The justice system that says the jury pool should not be tainted by pre trial publicity. The justice system on which this country was founded.

Laurence Lewis writes;

It would be foolish and naive to presume that all of even the best progressive members of Congress are above the temptations of corruption. Many a seeming political hero has proved flawed or worse. But it also would be foolish and naive to presume guilt when official charges of corruption are made. It also would be outside the spirit of our judicial system, which presumes innocence unless guilt is proven.

Take the recent charges against Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters for example.

The easiest and most simple-minded approach to the charges against Rangel and Waters is to suggest that they say something larger about the ethics of the Democratic Party. And never mind that neither Rangel nor Waters has been convicted of anything. But the right wing would like people to believe that these charges indicate that the Democratic Party is rife with corruption. And for those reporters who prefer to keep things simple and partisan, that's the angle to report.

David Dyden says Maxine Waters case has Portor Goss arguing on the other side;

The Office of Congressional Ethics complaint against Maxine Waters, which they completed a year ago but has only just now been unsealed, is available here. I think you have all you need to know about this complaint by learning that disgraced former CIA Director Porter Goss, no stranger to ethics violations, is the co-chair of the Office of Congressional Ethics.

Republicans have ethical problems too, we just don't here about them on TeeVee

So much for that “culture of corruption” meme that the Republicans have been trying so hard to turn around on the Democrats. Turns out that Nathan Deal, the Republican who resigned from Congress after voting against health care reform to run for Governor in Georgia, has been cited by the Office of Congressional Ethics for rules violations:

Timing is everything;

It would seem that trials for two prominent AA Representatives are perfectly timed to support GOP talking points for the midterms. It reinforces the GOPs racial subtext that Beck/Beinhart/etc. have been cultivating for months.

The point I'm trying to make is this;

But let the process unfold, and let Democratic leaders be unafraid of the process and its consequences. Fair trials mean fair justice. And for fair justice Democrats should stand. Cracking down on corruption doesn't mean making examples of people, it means making an example of how the process should work.

Peace!

Tuesday Professional Left Blog Stroll

Tuesday Must Read, If You Can't Stand the Heat..... this is a comprehensive and informative report on the recent Alabama State Democratic Party Executive Committee Meeting in Montgomery. Here is a juicy snippit;

The heat, however, was not the only reason I was grateful for the absence of television cameras and their attendant Frezzi lights. The Republicans would have loved to have had those proceedings on the evening news. Not as much for what was done - the arcana of bylaws changes are not the stuff of which television news is made - but for the prospect that the Republicans would have used the visuals to reinforce their übermessage to white, working-class Alabamians that the Democratic Party is dominated by black “bosses” whose sole objective is to rig the political, legal and economic systems of the state to the benefit of their constituency, and to the detriment of whites. Simply put, the success of the Republican Party in Alabama is dependent on this racist message gaining traction among white working-class voters whose actual economic interests are much better represented by Democratic positions on progressive taxation, education, health, and a host of other issues.

Speaking of the absence of the TeeVee media, did you know Concerned about Seafood Safety, Fishermen protested President Obama's Gulf Vacation?

On Sunday, August 15, fishing families from across the Gulf Cost gathered in Panama City Beach, Florida, with a message for President Obama: The Gulf of Mexico is still infused with oil and dispersants from the BP disaster, threatening marine life, livelihoods, and the health of the American people.

Here is a sample of the must read Professional Left comment for the day;

The Mountain Brookies at whom Davis targeted his campaign were, as everyone who has ever watched an election in Alabama history predicted, all voting in the GOP primary for Bradley Byrne.

I, for one, would prefer my party to do a better job shoring up support among the poor and dispossessed before we start catering our message to Republicans in Vestavia.

Side note* The Mountain Brookies are also the reason Terri Sewell is the democratic nominee for The Black Belt.

If and when Sewell has to cast votes on financial reform and job creation, will her instincts be those of Tuxedo Junction, or those of the brokers and bankers on Waterside Drive? Hoover has one of its own in Congress. It doesn't need another.

It's the Media. They think we are stoopid. They are getting ready to gin up a made for TeeVee black v. white controversycourtesy of Glen Beck and Faux News.

Media reporters will hound members of Congress and administration officials and even President Obama to comment on the "rally" and the "significance of the day" and whether they believe that those who are holding counter-marches and events are justified. Images of Beck and Sharpton will be shown on split screen, and both will be interviewed about the other. In short, this FOX News created non-event will become a media circus. The cable news shows will give Beck far more attention than he and his allegedly God-given plan deserve. And their 24/7 coverage will allow Beck to portray himself as the victim of a liberal media bias regardless of how he is actually portrayed.

I hope I'm wrong, but after seeing hundreds of thousands of people protesting a war at the National Mall ignored while much, much smaller demonstrations of tea partiers a few years later got the "full monty" treatment from the press corps, I know what our national media prefers to cover, and it has nothing to do with the important issues of the day. And it will be all good for John McCain.

The "ethics trials" of prominant African American Democrats highlight racial tensions in Congress. But none dare call it racism.

Between them, Rangel, 80, and Waters, 71, have served in the House for six decades and are leading members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The caucus has long complained that the House ethics process disproportionally targets African Americans in the chamber.

Since its 2009 inception, the Office of Congressional Ethics — an independent watchdog set up at the behest of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — has investigated at least eight members of the black caucus.

Rut Rho! Roger Simon is giving some Dead Wrong advice to President Obama;

You have to stay on message, follow the polls, listen to your advisers (who are writing the message and taking the polls) and realize that when it comes to doing what is right versus doing what is expedient, you do what is expedient so that you can get reelected and do what is right in the second term. If at all possible. And it will help your legacy. And not endanger the election of others in your party. And not hurt the brand. Or upset people too much.

Redeye's advice

Psst President Obama! Americans like winners not wimps. Who ever is advising you is advising you wrong. You need to act like former DNC chair Dr. Howard Dean and confront the right wing bullies head on.

If I were President Obama

President Obama I would fire my present staff from the top down. This is a job for the democratic wing of the democratic party.

You know, us Professional Lefty's. :)

If we could get the pseudo democrats out of the party we would be ok

With democrats like Artur Davis, who needs republicans?

Yesterday Alabama's Democratic executive committee convened for its traditional post-primary meeting. The usual ritual at these events is that the runner-up in the primary embraces the winner and pledges full-throated support for the nominee in the fall.

In a break with tradition, I did not attend that event and will not be campaigning for the Democratic gubernatorial nominee.

Ain't that a kick in the head? Psst Artur....See ya, wouldn't want to be ya. You ripped your drawers with me a long time ago. Don't go away mad, just go.

I've tried to give Congressman Artur Davis the benefit of the doubt. Really I have. I let it go when he defended The Azalea Trail Maids being the only representative in Inaugural Parade. I let it go when he said he was resigning as a member of the House Judicary Committee so he would have more time to run for Governor. But THIS time he has ripped his drawers and shown me his natural born ebony donkey.

Alabama Congressman Blast Wright Invite to Selma Memorial

Davis is a prime example of what's wrong with the Alabama Democratic Party.

I regret that neither political party in Alabama has laid out a genuine course to keep those young people home. I'm not surprised that Republicans haven't done better, and I am deeply disappointed that Alabama Democrats are failing the test as well.

Yo, Artur! I'm dissappointed you pandered to the right at the expense of the traditional democratic base for your own personal, political gain. BTW, how did that work out for you?

bluebearcat said it best (for which they were was called "bitter and cynical")

Artur Davis was no progressive and he ought not take out his frustration at the political party he continually made a show of spurning before the election.

Basically, I think Artur Davis should start a lobbying firm with fellow out-of-work and soon-to-be out-of-work black conservatives Harold Ford Jr. and Michael Steele because his political commentary is embarrassing.

The democratic party has been infiltrated with psuedo dems like Artur Davis.

My definition of Blue Dog/ConservativeDemocrats are candidates and elected officials whom identify themselves as "Democrats" to garner the African American vote, and "Conservative" to garner the White votes. In reality they are social conservatives, also known as Republicans.

In my opinion moderates, undecideds,swing voters, blue collar voters, working class voters, nascar dads, security moms, walmart moms, in the middle voters, values voters,evangelical voters, christian right and libertarians are code words developed and used by the media to manipulate public opinion. In reality these groups are social conservatives, also known as Republicans.

It's the Learned Helpless Syndrome. It's time for all REAL democrats to wake up.

There's a saying that goes, "When you settle for less, you usually get less than what you settle for." Well, that pretty much describes those of us who've watched the republicanization of the Democrat Party over the past 25 years.

What it's gotten us is "Democrats" who vote for any hair-brained scheme Republicans can come up with (NAFTA, CAFTA, etc.), who weaken healthcare options to appease their lobbyist friends, who vote against unemployed(as happened the other night) and others who will completely jump ship when they feel the political winds are right, i.e., Shelby and Griffith.

It's given us a weak party that doesn't know how to fight back and can't win for losing, even when the other side gifts them a winning hand of cards. Had enough?

What the WINNER of the Alabama DEMOCRATIC gubernatorial primary said;

People who call themselves Democrats should continue to vote as Democrats

Hypocrisy thy name is Artur Davis. See the comments section where I debunk his Sparks operatives bull spin.

How can we drain the swamp of all the pseudo dems?

Everybody Hates Joe Reed Saturday Edition

Dr. Joe L. Reed is a uniter, not a divider.

If it's one thing Dr. Joe L. Reed can do it's unifying republicans and democrats in their strong and extreme animosity. You would think he was lighting torches, getting the rope, raping women and men, selling slaves, kidnapping children, sending our troops to war for nothing, raiding the surplus to give the rich a tax cut and spying on the American people without a warrant or something.

According to the righty's, mean, evil, dictator Joe Reed, the state Democrats’ Vice-Chair for Minority Affairs, is behind the proposal to move the election of the state party Chair (and other elected party offices) from January to August,

Gasp!

Now, what is behind the sinister plot? Well according to an anonymous upset democratic lobbyist

it is simply a power grab by Reed who wishes to have the controlling hand in who the Chair will be without the traditional input from the party’s gubernatorial nominee. The lobbyist adds that it makes no sense whatsoever to decide to move an election up almost half a year with only days’ notice without giving people interested in running a chance to prepare. “A lot of people are upset.”

According to the righty's an anonymous member of the Democratic State Executive committee

agrees that this is “a naked power grab” by Reed. “There is no other way around it.” Current state Democratic Party Chair Joe Turnham is expected to be re-elected without any input from the Democrats’ gubernatorial nominee Ron Sparks. “This is not about Sparks vs. Turnham or Sparks vs. Reed. This is just about Reed’s power, not about Reed being concerned about the Party. The Party is becoming irrelevant and this makes it more irrelevant. This is about the insane need for Reed to control the power. This is typical of Joe Reed.”

Lo and behold another Party insider weighs in.

“Reed wants the controlling hand. That’s exactly it. A power play,” adding that many Party members are disgruntled."

Question for the anonymous democratic party insiders, Executive Committee Members, and upset democratic lobbyist. Why are you publicly airing the dirty laundry at Docs Political Parlor of all places?

Of course, the *cough cough* lefty's at LiA can't wait to jump on the Hate for Joe Reed bandwagon.

Joe Reed... Bad Seed (4.00 / 2)
This is all just a bunch of bull horse doo. I'm just about sick and tired of these little man power trips. What did their mama miss in their childhood that they get off on political domination? When will it end? What's it gonna take for Alabama to wake up? Getting ranked 48th instead of 49th? Without education, internet/broadband usage, we remain untouched by the outside, inexposed to reality and out of touch with the intent of power hungry goonies. They know exactly what they are doing. Trying to make sausage gravy without the sausage. Helllllllloooooo, little men... we're over here! Watching without the blinders on this time!

Could this be the reason Joe Reed is the #1 Enemy of the State?

Joe Reed is known as a “fighter for fairness” for black representation. In 1975, Joe Reed led the efforts to get equitable representation for blacks on the Montgomery City Council. His efforts resulted in four (4) blacks of nine (9) being elected. He served on the Montgomery City Council for 24 years. In the Democratic Party today, Alabama’s black representation exceeds all other states in the nation. For over 40 years he has led the effort to get more blacks elected and appointed to public office, including federal marshals, federal and state judges, members of the boards of registrars, legislators, county commissioners, city councils, and school boards. Due largely to his leadership, today Alabama has more black elected officials than any state in the nation. He drafted two (2) plans that increased black representation in the Alabama House of Representatives from 13 to 27; and in the Senate from 3 to 8 in 1982, and 1992, respectively. He also drew a reapportionment plan that provided for 25% (two of eight) majority black districts on the State Board of Education. Alabama is the only state in the nation where the Legislature reflects the state’s population of blacks and whites. Dr. Reed’s congressional plan also led to Alabama’s gaining a black congressional seat

Or maybe it's them there gerrymandered voting districts that could lead to de facto segregation.

Or maybe it's Old Politics vs *cough cough* New Politics Or Reeds hustling of candidates for bribes.

I don't think having black representatives is an unqualified good for our state. Racial diversity in state politics is important, but ideological diversity is far better. These power brokers obstruct the real issues and tend to turn every issue into a black v. white, with-us-or-against-us race struggle. It's embarrassing. You might love that they do for the black community, but I find their role increasingly outdated.

I don't know if the anonymous rumors are correct and this is a Joe Reed power grab and he is trying to ensure the re-election of Joe Turnham or not, but the ADP has some splaining to do. Not just about this issue, but about the no-bid contract with Left in Alabama to provide non specified services. And please anonymous democratic lobbyist, State Executive Committee members, and democratic insiders stop airing the dirty laundry on right-leaning wing blogs. And please left-leaning blogs, stop enabling them to infiltrate the party by repeating the anonymous rumors from anonymous sources. That's how the right-wing media works.

Redeye's Week in Review

Shhhh! It's a super secret contract between the Alabama Democratic Party and Left in Alabama. We can't tell you the details but we're sure you'll like it. NOT.

This is why transparency and accountability are important. Not knowing the details and the specifics of the contract leads to speculation and not fact.
But regardless if the contract is for peanuts or if it's volunteer work, why the secret? How, why and when was LiA chosen? Sunlight is the best disenfectant.

I consider it a personal slap in the face for the Alabama Democratic Party, of which I am a member, to support a blog that won't allow me the same rights and privileges of other commentors. I also consider it a slap in the face to the Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ron Sparks, Dr. Joe Reed, Dr. Paul Hubbert, The Alabama Education Association, The Alabama Democratic Confeference and all the other African American elected officials and traditional democratic base the blog administrators frquently treat with disdane and disrespect. Left in Alabama is not a liberal blog, it is a progressive blog, and there is a difference. Those who support the democratic party and it's agenda get the shaft, but LiA gets a contract. What's up with that?

Oh those pesky, deranged, whining Professional Lefty's. I wish they would just STFD and STFU. It's not like they've been right (no pun) along about practically everything from the Iraq qWagmire, to the Afghanistan qWagmire to the tax cut for the rich, to Gitmo, to health care reform, to gay rights, to immigration reform, women's rights and labor. I mean how dare they criticize President Obama, after all the alternative is so much worse. It's not like they are the Tea Party or something. Those are real American activist. The Professional Left should just STFU and continue to enable The Professional Right to obstruct President Obama's agenda. The Professional Left is the Enemy of the State. *Big Snark*

To the extent that the White House has failed to take advantage of these opportunities, I think the primary reason is ineffective staff work. Often, it seems too many staffers are driven by a 1990s mindset about how politics works. Ultimately, though, President Obama is the only one who can turn the ship around. I know it must be frustrating for people in the White House to be held to such high standards; after all, by ordinary standards, they've accomplished a tremendous amount, and yet they are still receiving incoming fire. But fair or not, these aren't ordinary times. These are times that call for greatness.

Under the radar. BP's Oil Spill dumped on communities of color. I'm shocked. Shocked I tell you! Not.

Tons of BP's oil waste sent to the Chastang Landfill in Mount Vernon, Ala.: 6,008

Percent of residents in a one-mile radius who are people of color: 56.2

African American Democratic Legislators Charlie Rangel (NY) and Maxine Waters (CA) tell the ethics committee to Bring it on. Did you know that Alabama Congressman Jo Bonner (republican) was the ranking member? Are Democrats and Republicans trying to Ruin Black Politicians?

The double standard with respect to how Republicans and Democrats are being treated in regards to ethics violations sends mixed messages to the African American community. First it looks as if the white Democratic leadership, in concert with the GOP, is targeting blacks singularly. Second, it lets the world see America’s hypocrisy in regards to how Republicans are treated compared to black political officials, especially if one happens to be the first African American president of the United States of America.

I'm just saying.....

Support Obama or Else!

Support Obama and STFU!
Support Obama or leave!
Don't think, support Obama!
Stop whining, Support Obama!
Give him credit for what he has done!
Give him time, he's only been in office 18 months!


There shall be no criticism of President Bush, I mean Obama. Deja Voodoo all over again? One thing that gets my goat is people who don't have problem with President Obama's policies and who don't want to criticize his actions bashing those of us who do

 If you support Obama blindly, that's fine. If you don't want to question Obama that's fine. But don't try and suppress dissent or dissenters. That's something that happens under evil dictatorships and under gop administrations. Remember?

For the record I am a strong supporter of President Obama's, but I have serious and strong objections to some of his policies. It's not the CHANGE I HOPED and VOTED for.

I voted for our troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
I voted for restoring honesty, integrity and justice to the Justice Department and an end to Scooter Libby justice and Brownie incompetence.
I voted for closing Gitmo.
I voted for health care reform that included a public option.
I voted for public education reform.
I voted for jobs.

Now, the way Obama is heading he will be a one term President because his base, aka The Professional Left will stay home in November (can you say Scott Brown?).

Former White House Press Secretary  Robert Gibbs showed his true colors (pun intended) when he attacked The Professional Left.  Like former Mississippi Senator Trent Lott , he told us us how some in power in this administration really about the base. It also explains why President Obama's agenda is what it is (not) and why his poll numbers are tanking enabling republicans to get their hands on the car keys in November.

Was Robert Gibbs in cahoots with Rush Limbaugh to make sure President Obama failed? How many more Robert Gibbs are there in the Obama administration? Hmmmmm....

Gibbs re "Professional Liberals":

"They will be satisfied when we have Canadian health care and we've eliminated the Pentagon. That's not reality," he added. "They wouldn't be satisfied if Dennis Kucinich was President."

Wrong Mr. Gibbs. I would be perfectly satisfied if Dennis Kuchinich was President. For one thing, our sons and daughters would be coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Our tax dollars would be used to rebuild America. We would have health care reform that included a public option. As a matter of fact Mr. Gibbs, Dennis Kuchinich has been right (no pun) about everything.

What The Rude Pundit said, all the damn way! Warning, contains raw, language.

So, let's get this straight, Bobby G. We on the left warned your boss and the Democrats that every time you reached out your hands to the Republicans, those f&^kers would just gnaw on 'em. But you kept on with the effort of bipartisanship, watering down bills and watering 'em down. Anyone with a lick of sense knew that the GOP was just setting you up: force 'em to compromise and then make sure that what gets passed does just a scintilla of what could have been done. On bill after bill these mad negotiations occurred, and now you're accusing us of not living in reality? No, really, truly, f&*k you, man.

And all of you who don't have a problem with President Obama's agenda STFU. Really, truly.

Tuesday Professional Left Blog Stroll

Everybody hates Liberals, even Robert Gibbs.

What with all the hoopla over Robert Gibbs' comments today it pays to simply remember that everyone in Washington hates liberals. It's a fact of life and until something happens to change the dynamic in which Democratic politicians are afraid to even mutter the words liberal, much less boldly and persuasively make a case for liberalism, I expect this will be the case. (The irony, of course, is that the liberals who do so have been proven right on the politics and the substance far more often than those who bet with the conservatives.)

Charlie Rangel says he will NOT cut and run.

Rangel called out the hypocrisy of the committee, his fellow Representatives and even the President over the two year old allegations against him.

Maxine Waters responds to the allegations against her in her own words, not the media's words.

“I have not violated any House rules. 
 
Therefore, I simply will not be forced to admit to something I did not do and instead have chosen to respond to charges made by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct in a public hearing.
 


Of course it's just a coincidence the ethics committee has only bought ethics charges against African American Democratic legislators. It can't be racism because it's a bi partisan committee headed by former Congressmen and CIA director Porter Goss.

1. A man who is alleged to have been involved in funneling large amounts of money in contracts to dubious "defense contractor" Brent Wilkes (whose companies were mostly on paper) knows something about ethics does he?

2. A man who is alleged to have been involved in the bribery of US Congressman Randy Duke Cunningham and took part in hooker parties along with his subordinates, knows something about ethics, does he?

3. A man who as the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee did not think it important to investigate the outing of CIA officer Valeria Plame Wilson by the White House as political pay-back, knows something about ethics, does he? This same who as a CIA officer himself should have known better, right?

4. A man who is alleged to have been part of a special CIA assassination team known as Operation 40, knows something about ethics, does he? (Graduates of which would show up in some of the worst US scandals, including the Watergate crimes and Iran Contra).

My friend Legal Schnauzer says the Obama Administration Seems to be Terrified of White People but this comment by mooncat at Left in Alabama may explain why;

This is from Chris Cilizza, so you have to take it with a grain of salt, but it isn't surprising that the CBC and Barack Obama sometimes come at things from very different points of view. He isn't the president of any part of America, he's gone to great pains to be the president of all of America.

Could it be white folks think if President Obama enacts legislation that is perceived to help black folks in any way, white folks won't like him? Are white folks afraid President Obama will exact some kind of revenge on white folks for slavery, Jim Crow and institutional racism or something? We know President Obama is the President of all of us, just like we knew the 43 White Presidents before him was the President of all of us.

Questions for the Alabama Democratic Party

It has come to my attention the Alabama Democratic Party has entered into a contractual agreement for a specific and well-defined product that doesn't include anything related to the content or editorial decisions at LiA or anything to appear at LiA.

As to exactly what we are providing, I can't say right now, but you'll almost certainly recognize it when you see it -- perhaps in a few weeks.

My questions are as follows, and, as a member of the Alabama Democratic Party I am respectfully demanding answers.

Who entered into a contract with Left in Alabama on behalf of the Alabama Democratic Party and when?

Why would the Alabama Democratic Party enter into a contract with a blog with a clear understanding that nothing keeps us from kicking around the ADP at will here at LIA if we think they're screwing up.

Why are the specifics a "secret"? Those pesky contracts keep us quiet until it's done.....

Why would the Alabama Democratic Party enter into a contractual agreement with a blog who who bashed and smashed the Alabama Democratic nominee for Governor , and who echos right-wing talking points regarding The Alabama Democratic Conference, The Alabama Education Association , and says it's time for black leaders and elected officials to "step down" in favor of a so-called new generation of black leaders?

Is the Alabama Democratic Party aware Left in Alabama has a history of supporting conservatives over liberal democrats and gave Congressman Artur Davis a free pass for his vote against health care reform?

Is the Alabama Democratic Party aware my front page privileges were revoked by the administrators because I said something they didn't like about Terri Sewell and because I wasn't an Artur Davis for Governor supporter? Although they claim I was never banned from posting Left in Alabama my account was disabled for several months. My account was briefly reinstated last month, then I pi$$ed them off again and was subjected to the Dale Jackson treatment.

It's a special rule for Dale (3.00 / 2)
And Redeye. Folks who tend to get caught up in arguing for the sake of argument and leave a large volume of low value comments in a short time. Dale agreed to this arrangement. He's on the honor system but we remind him of his total.

As of today, I cannot log on to Left in Alabama to post comments. They also have a rating system which allows trusted commenter's to delete the post. As a member of the Alabama Democratic Party, I have a real problem with any party funds being spent with a blog who treats me in this manner.

Oh please (4.00 / 4)
Stand behind your words, why don't you? It may be cute in junior high to mince words and try to avoid responsibility for what you said, but no one really believes you're blameless even then and it certainly doesn't wash when you're an adult.

You painted all moderates with an extremely broad and unflattering brush then pretend you didn't mean to apply that brush to someone who calls herself almoderate? No one here is that gullible.

You have the pissing analogy backwards. This is how it goes, according to LBJ who said it of J. Edgar Hoover: "I would rather have him inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in." It's akin to "keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

I agree that a party divided will not stand. So why do you persist in pounding wedges that serve to split off various segments of the party? It can't just be a party of people who exactly agree with Redeye, because there are not enough people like that to form a majority for anything. Well, I guess it could be a party that small, but members would only be able to moan and complain about never having power and getting pissed on all the time because most people would be outside the tent.

A party like that is nothing to aspire to

Is this what the Alabama Democratic Party stands for? If so count me out.