Black folks aren't "entitled" to vote in America

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Sigh

Thirteen years after the Florida recount, it looks like republicans are going to get their way, once again using the same Supreme Court that handed them the election,  to snatch Section 5 away from the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

If you can't beat em, suppress em.

Can't say I didn't see this day coming.

Race still  matters.  If the election of the first African American President bought out the worst in some (not to be confused with all) white Americans, his re-election has driven them over the edge.  The looming Sequester is the big payback for the people who re-elected President Obama. Obama voters, already feeling  the pain of republican polices stabbing them in the back,  the Sequester will  twist the knife.
 
Let's be honest.. the word entitlements, rather it be in regard to spending or voting, is code for lazy black folks who want the government to take care of them and give them free stuff.

 “The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America?’ No, no, no, not ‘God Bless America,’ ‘God Damn America.’”

This is what Reverend Jeremiah Wright was talking about.

Can you hear him now?

From Selma, Alabama to Shelby County, Alabama: Mission Accomplished

 President Lyndon Johnson, with Martin Luther King, Jr, Ralph Abernathy and Rosa Parks signing the Voting Rights Act August 6, 1965

"Today is a triumph for freedom as huge as any victory that has ever been won on any battlefield. Yet to seize the meaning of this day, we must recall darker times."

 Is it a coincidence a challenge to section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 falls at the end of Black History Month , in the year 2013, on the same day President Obama unveils a statue of Rosa Parks in the U.S. Capital?

The Voting Rights Act effectively attacked persistent discrimination at the polls by keeping close watch, when it comes to holding elections, on those places with a history of preventing minorities from voting. Any changes, from moving a polling place to redrawing electoral districts, can’t take effect without approval from the Justice Department or federal judges in Washington.
But the Voting Rights Act allows governments that have changed their ways to get out from under this humbling need to get permission through a “bailout provision.” Nearly 250 counties and local jurisdictions have done so; thousands more could be eligible based on the absence of recent discriminatory efforts in voting.

Shelby County, Alabama claims it's changed it's evil ways. Between keeping grown people from gambling with their own damn money in Alabama,  Attorney General Luther Strange (yes you read it right) whines the Voting Rights Act is unfair to Sweet Home Alabama.

On Wednesday , the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether there has been enough change that Alabama and 15 other states should no longer be subject to federal approval of any election rules. That approval is currently required under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
Strange likens the provision to asking, "Mother, may I?" He says it's outdated and unfair in the post-Jim Crow South.
"What Section 5 does is impose a burden on our states that really is unnecessary in 2013," Strange argues. He points to statistics that show Alabama is second in the nation, behind Mississippi, in the number of African-Americans holding public office.

Shelby County, Alabama  is Selma, Alabama  in reverse.  Shelby County is one of the fastest growing counties in Alabama,  ranking among the 100 highest income counties in the U.S., compared to Selma, located in the heart of Alabama's Black Belt.

The median income for a household in the Black Belt region was $27,130, and the median income for a family was $35,698. Males had a median income of $32,226 versus $22,021 for females. The per capita income for the region was $15,633.
A July 1, 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimate placed the region's population at 575,783, a decline of 2.25% since 2000.

If you want to know the inside scoop, resident Blogger Legal Schnauzer writes extensively about the going on in idyllic Shelby County, Alabama. 

It's the Courts Stupid!  This is what some of us tried to tell some of y'all back in 2000.

To better understand how to approach the white moderate power structure, we must first realize how King's criticism of the moderates of his time is not different at all from a criticism of our time.  When King says that "the white moderate is more devoted to ‘order' than to justice" he is clearly referring to both the actions of Bill Clinton and Al Gore after the 2000 Presidential Election.  In a 2001 article called "Civil War 2000" published in The Black Scholar, Charles P. Henry writes:  "Kweisi Mfume, president of the NAACP, reports that his organization begged the Clinton Justice Department to intervene in the voting irregularities that occurred in Florida on Election Day.  Mfume says, ‘the Justice Department turned away.'' After the elections, Mfume asked the Justice Department to hold hearings – ‘the Justice Department just looked away.' Despite the lack of response by Clinton's Justice Department, he was given an ‘image' award by the NAACP in 2001!

In one of the first scenes in the 2003 film, Fahrenheit 9/11, Al Gore and the entire U.S. Senate rather stoically and sternly denied the Congressional Black Caucus their right to challenge the 2000 election results when all they needed was a signature from one senator.  Did they believe they were "keeping order" by doing this?  Also, Al Gore moved assiduously to silence not only the NAACP when they were trying to sue the state of Florida for disenfranchising black voters, he also asked that the Congressional Black Caucus be silent and not be too vocal about the racist disenfranchisement of black votes in the 2000 election.  This disenfranchisement was racist because the company that was hired, Choicepoint, to create voting rolls in Florida, improperly and incorrectly identified a disproportionate number of African-American registered voters as felons.  The Clinton Justice Department and Gore both probably believed that by silencing the NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus, and encouraging low media coverage of this disenfranchisement, they were "keeping order." 

So, here we are 13 years later, the Supreme Court who selected George W. Bush, is poised to overturn Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act thanks to another small Alabama county.

Shelby County wants to play the "test case" to insure that certain white politicos will get elected over any non-whites across the South.

Can you hear us now?

Correction~ Justice and Change for Trayvon Martin

 

Correction/edit to original post contained  in the last paragraph.~RedEye

Today is the one year anniversary of the death of Trayvon Martin.  Instead of celebrating his 18th birthday, getting ready for prom, playing sports, getting ready to graduate from high school and possibly head off to college, he is lying in his grave.  May God grant comfort and mercy to his parents and those who mourn with them. 

Driving in my car this morning, listening to a radio talk program on XM128 The Power , the question was posed,  "What if George Zimmerman is found not guilty in the death of Trayvon Martin?"  I didn't get to hear the response, but I thought about it and this is what I say....If George Zimmerman is found not guilty, not to be confused with innocent, we (black folks)  will accept the verdict without throwing rocks, bricks, or setting stuff on fire, because that is what they (white folks) expect black folks to do.  No, black folks will except the verdict with calm, dignified, outrage, out of respect for the memory, and the legacy, of Trayvon Martin.

It's not like we aren't used to injustice.

I do believe a not guilty verdict will send the chilling message to black and brown boys everywhere they are viewed with a deadly combination of  fear and loathing,  sometimes even  by those who are sworn to protect and serve.

 Correction~Trayvon Martin is dead because George Zimmerman was suspicious of him.  Why was he suspicious of Trayvon?  Because of the color of his skin.  If George Zimmerman had just been suspicious of Trayvon... and didn't have a gun..... Trayvon would be alive today.

"Rhetoric in abundance" at Second Amendment rally in gun free zone

Photo via  al.com

I was going to attend the so called 2nd amendment rally   at the Von Braun Civic Center until I found out no guns were allowed and I couldn't take my AR-15 and my hundred round ammo clip.  What good is a rally to learn about the right to bare arms if you can't bare arms?  What if I had to stand my ground? RedEye Roll

What was billed as a 2nd amendment rally hosted by the South Huntsville Civic (sic) Association, was in reality, an organized day of resistance for those fighting President Obama's 23 executive orders to stop gun violence.  According to AL.com about 1700 people fell for the Okey Doke,  led by the usual suspects.

Speakers included Congressman Mo (anything short of shooting them) Brooks of the Fifth Congressional District; Sen. Arthur(racist policies) Orr, R-Decatur; Sen. Bill (rape is a slippery slope)Holtzclaw, R-Madison; Sen. Clay(trans vaginal probe) Scofield, R-Guntersville; Sen. Paul(whistle blower) Sanford, R-Huntsville; Chris Stephens, chief deputy for the Madison County Sheriff's Department; Trevor Santos, the state liaison for the National Rifle Association; and Greg Hopkins, a Second Amendment attorney.

Too bad Congresswoman Gabby Giffords wasn't speaking to constituents in a gun free zone.  Instead of speaking to voters about real issues, Mo, who was against the Sequester before he was for the Sequester,  was safely on stage calling President Obama the radical leftist in the White House (code for Socialist, Marxist) instead of  doing the job he was elected to do.

"It is our duty as American citizens to resist and stop President Obama's efforts," Brooks said.
He asked the crowd: "Are you going to fight to protect our Second Amendment right to bear arms and our Constitution?" Audience members yelled back and Brooks asked again, and then a third time, more loudly, adding, "I want President Obama to hear you in the White House"!

As wrong  as the out right lies and the blatant disrespectful tone of Mo's comments were,  the revelations made by Madison County Chief Deputy Chris Stephens are what I find the most troubling.

Stephens was asked how many new applications for concealed carry permits the Madison County Sheriff's Department is receiving.
"We're up 400 new applicants per week," he said. The process takes about four weeks to complete, which he said is largely due to staff cutbacks.
Stephens also was asked whether the Sheriff's Department will have the right to confiscate weapons if a gun ban is passed.
He quoted Sheriff Blake Dorning as saying, "If the federal government wants your guns, they can come get them. It won't be us," which resulted in cheers and an ovation. Stephens later explained that local sheriff's offices have no authority to enforce federal law.

 Who knew?  IF, I repeat IF the federal government "wants your guns" the Sheriffs department is ready, willing and able to stand in the school house door, I mean defy the federal government.  Am I the only one concerned those who are supposed to enforce the law are picking and choosing what laws they will/not enforce?  Does that mean they are can also choose who they are/not going to protect and serve?  I'm just asking...

Let's flip the script, what if this were the headline ~Several Democratic  lawmakers, a liberal talk-show host and representatives of the NAACP are scheduled to appear today at a Second Amendment rally at the Von Braun Center.

What do you want to bet we would have some sensible gun control legislation quick, fast and in a hurry?

What WhiteDog 51 said; 

Gathering yesterday appeared to serve purpose it was intended to accomplish. Inflamed rhetoric, anecdotal evidence of danger vanquished by guns, attention seekers center stage with adoring worshipers in attendance. Not many minds changed on any subject. Attendees can visit church today and pray for condemnation of everyone who doesn't share their opinions.

Amen and Amen.

Uh, remember that Sugar-Coated Satan Sandwich?

Fist Dap Flick River Photography

Looks like the Sugar-Coated Satan Sandwich is back for a second course...

The phony debt ceiling crisis was, from beginning to end, a con. It was an elaborate and successful hoax in which the nation's first black president, the Democratic and Republican parties, Wall Street and corporate media all played indispensable parts. The object of the supposed “crisis” was to short circuit public opinion, existing law, democratic process and traditions of public oversight, in order to deal fatal blows to Medicaid, Medicare, social security, job growth and public expenditures for the common good. It worked. We've been conned.

The result was painful and predictable then, and it's painful and predictable now.....

 If nothing else, the debt ceiling crisis provided what Barack Obama is so fond of calling a "teachable moment." Hopefully, that extends to the President himself. After seeing his nominees blocked, his legislation filibustered and popular upper-income tax increases delayed by Republicans who withheld their support from his watered down stimulus and health care programs, President Obama nevertheless continued to seek common ground with those whose only goal remains his political destruction. 

Some of us tried to tell y'all the deal sucked, but did you listen?  Nooooo, that would have been too much like right (pun intended). You keep smashing an economy over the head with the austerity is good for you meme and you end up with a bloodied economy.

The American people made it perfectly clear we want to preserve the social safety net while raising taxes on the rich in November. Since republicans got 98% of what they wanted in the debt deal by holding America hostage,  they are doing it again. Who cares what we want? 

 Here’s how it happened: Republicans engaged in unprecedented hostage-taking, threatening to push America into default by refusing to raise the debt ceiling unless President Obama agreed to a grand bargain on their terms. Mr. Obama, alas, didn’t stand firm; instead, he tried to buy time. And, somehow, both sides decided that the way to buy time was to create a fiscal doomsday machine that would inflict gratuitous damage on the nation through spending cuts unless a grand bargain was reached. Sure enough, there is no bargain, and the doomsday machine will go off at the end of next week.

This is what is on the menu IMHO...... Republicans want the Sequester to go into effect.

 The 2013 sequester includes:

• $42.7 billion in defense cuts (a 7.9 percent cut).
• $28.7 billion in domestic discretionary cuts (a 5.3 percent cut).
• $9.9 billion in Medicare cuts (a 2 percent cut).
• $4 billion in other mandatory cuts (a 5.8 percent cut to non-defense programs, and a 7.8 percent cut to mandatory defense programs).

Republicans control the House ( thanks to gerrymandering), have a filibuster-proof Senate (thanks to Harry Reid), defense spending will be restored, the rich will keep their tax cuts, so-called entitlements will be cut.

It's a win-win for the GOP,  another Sugar-Coated Satan Sandwich for the majority of the America people.

Bon appetite!

None dare call it racist racism, but that is exactly what it IS

 

"Not every white person is racist, but the genius of racism is that you don’t have to participate to enjoy the spoils." The Nation

Somebody talk me down because I am FURIOUS at the 7 democRats who voted for Mary Sue McClurkin's evil, stupid, RACIST let poor black/brown women die bill.   Yes, I'm playing the "race card" that was dealt from the bottom of the race deck.

I expect republicans to do stuff like this, but it really burns me up when democrats go along with them. You rarely hear of republicans going against their base, also known as the people who elect them, voting with democrats on anything.   I have to hand it to the republican leadership, they run a tight ship, unlike the democratic mis leadership.

Not to be out done by Mississippi  who just recently ratified the 13th amendment, Alabama republicans, enabled by 7 democRATS, effectively stole the right of poor black/brown women, not to be confused with Alabama women who have the means, and access to health insurance,  to choose to have a safe legal abortion, condemning them and their children to a life of poverty and despair, if they are lucky enough to survive because the clinic that provided prenatal care was closed.  

Isn't it ironic republicans trust woman with a gun but they don't trust them with a choice?

As God is my witness I will never, I repeat never, vote for a candidate because they have a D behind their name again, or give another penny to the Alabama Democratic Party unless, and until, they purge the party of the infiltrators.

Today's Must Read
Why I am Pro Choice

When a woman is intent on ending a pregnancy to preserve the family that she already has, there is nothing that she won’t do.  My great-grandmother searched high and low for an abortifacient that would work and settled on a method, which is lost in the mists of time, that took her life. Her death left a hole in the family that could never be filled. My great-grandfather re-married twice. The woman who raised my grandmother and her siblings was a cold, emotionally distant woman who expected her grown children still at home to pay room and board before each eventually married. My great-grandfather was a strict disciplinarian who had trouble understanding the difference between necessary discipline and child abuse.

That is all.

"Stupid is as Stupid does" The Trifecta

 

Let's see, where to start....oh I know, let's start with stupid and evil Alabama State Representative Mary Sue McClurkin (r. Pelham) .  You would think someone with a BA from Huntingdon College and a MA from Auburn University would know better than to say something this stupid to support her effort to drive abortion clinics out of business , so poor Alabama women, not to be confused with women like Mary Sue, won't have access to a safe legal abortion.

“When a physician removes a child from a woman, that is the largest organ in a body,” McClurkin said in an interview Thursday. “That’s a big thing. That’s a big surgery. You don’t have any other organs in your body that are bigger than that.”

 Let's move on to Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange (yes you read it right) and his all out war against grown folks playing BINGO with their own damn money in Alabama.  With all the problems facing Alabama why is he so concerned about closing down Victoryland and stopping the operation of slot machines at casinos owned by the Porch Band of Creek Indians?  I mean, really?   It's not like Victoryland provides jobs or anything so people won't be Moochers who want the government to take care of them. What about my right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness Mr. Strange?

 Last but not least we have Congress Critter Mo (anything short of shooting them) Brooks (AL O5) who told hundreds of people at a town hall meeting who are worried about loosing their jobs don't blame him, blame the Senate and of course the Socialist, I mean President.

For now, though, Brooks said the House's position "seems to be" not to act on sequestration unless the Senate passes a bill first and then sends it to the House. But Brooks said history indicates the Senate has no interest in developing a sequestration bill.

Hmmm...looks like that republican bill to test the body fluids of welfare recipients is going to come in handy.

  Remember when Florida  made headlines for passing a law to drug screen welfare recipients? And then a little later, a judge ruled it was unconstitutional? And then remember when everyone found out the law cost the taxpayers more money than it saved? Haha! Good times!

Now Alabama wants in on it too! Those fruity Tax and Spend Liberal Democrats are at it again, pissing our cash away, right into a little plastic cup. Just kidding! It’s not the Liberals (this time); it’s those Constitutional-minded Deficit-obsessed Conservative Republican Mavericks.

Sweet Home Alabama, where there is nothing more dangerous than ignorance in action!

I have to give it to republicans, they have gonads of steele

 

Thanks to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.NV), who we practically begged to stand up to the right wing  Bullies three weeks ago, Senate republicans put President Obama in his place and  filibustered former Senator Chuck Hagel's nomination as Secretary of Defense.

The time to go to the mattresses, to go to full out civil war in the senate is right now. Shut it down. Destroy the GOP. Go for their throat. Hold press conferences every day and call them out. Leak secrets about their conduct and their votes, destroy the illusion of collegiality. The time for what I commonly call a blood war is right now. (A blood war is a term from Steve Miller and Sharon Lee’s Sci Fi Series where one group fights to the extermination of the other)
It didn’t have to come to this. The GOP could have acted like they had some sense. But that was always a sort of grand dream. The GOP has Obama Mania. They are a dying party with dying ideas and they feel like taking the entire country down with them. They despise the President. You know why, I know why, everyone who is honest about it knows why.
Let me make several clear statements. There is no Benghazi scandal. It is a GOP conspiracy theory. The President isn’t nominating a sleeper agent to be Sec Def., no matter what Sen. Cruz implies. There is no precedent for undermining the tenure of a Sec Def. the way the GOP is attempting. There is no precedent for the GOP’s conduct in general.

 Unlike President Obama and democrats, republicans, enabled by the media, are not afraid to play hardball.

   If the Bush Mob were sending unmanned drones into places like Pakistan, targeting certain terrorists but killing a whole lot of innocent people in the process, would we really be taking this lying down? And don't forget that someday there may be (but probably won't be) another neocon neanderthal living in the White House who will abuse this drone technology to even more extreme ends. If that unfortunate turn-of-events ever transpires, we won't be in a position to self-righteously condemn anybody. In fact we will be exposed as hypocrites. Honestly, we really need to rethink this one, kids. It's high time for a serious reality check.

If only the democrats had the gonads to filibuster some of George W. Bush's cabinet nominations.

Post State of the Union Rundown

 

 Fist Dap Daily Kos 

Tweet of the night via JackandJill politics. 

The Daily Edge‏@TheDailyEdge
How did asking whites to pass background checks to buy a gun become more offensive than asking minorities to provide photo ID to vote? #SOTU

 

You can fool some of the people some of the time.....But make no mistake, there is practically nothing in common between Marco Rubio and the people who the Republicans believe will be fooled by their shallow, cosmetic attempt at minority outreach. 

What's that you say?  AL Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III votes to protect modern day slavery?  I'm shocked!  Shocked I tell you!  Not.

 

President Obama declared a progressive mandate for everybody but black folks, I wonder why?

The State of our Union is.....

Fist Dap Americans Against the Tea Party

 

 “If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year."~ Ted Nugent at the National Rifle Association Convention, April 2012.


National Rifle Association board member and Washington Times columnist Ted Nugent alluded to the start of the American Revolution in an interview with Guns.com during the Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show, claiming that the Obama administration "is attempting to re-implement the tyranny of King George" and that "if you want another Concord Bridge, I got some buddies."


Only in America can you make statements like this about the President of the United States of America and be invited by a GOP member of Congress to be their special guest.

Some lawmakers are inviting victims of gun violence, and Obama is expected to push Congress to support a package of measures crafted in the aftermath of the slaughter of schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., in December.
“I am excited to have a patriot like Ted Nugent joining me in the House Chamber to hear from President Obama,” Stockman said in a statement. “After the address I’m sure Ted will have plenty to say.”

Not so much if you are invited by a democratic member of Congress, and are  the mother of a dead American soldier and a peace activist like Cindy Sheehan, who was arrested in the House Gallery after refusing to cover up her T-Shirt that said "2,245 Dead. How many more?" -- a reference to the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq, before President Bush's State of the Union Address.

This is an object lesson that the world is watching our dysfunction and it makes us all less safe when the GOP is insane.


No lie.

Free-Don Siegelman Sunday

U.S. Representative John Lewis (left) and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth lead a group on a tour of Kelly Ingram Park. Congress members toured the park in Birmingham during the annual civil rights event on March 8, 2003. (Jeremy Bales/The Birmingham News)

"Don't give up. Don't give out. Don't give in." Congressman John Lewis, in Huntsville today, reflecting on 50 years of the Civil Rights Movement.~Fist dap JB

Troy Alabama native, and Civil Rights hero, Congressman John Lewis (D. GA) came to town last weekend as part of the  Huntsville/Madison County Public Library Black History Program.  If you were unable to attend the event as I was and you  had to depend on The Huntsville Times for information, you would learn he was introduced by the Mayor, presented a key to city, Lewis said "We're one people; one family",  received a standing ovation, and everyone joined hands to sing We Shall Overcome Someday.

Supporters of former Governor Don Siegelman aren't giving out, giving in, or giving up. Following the event, activist Pam Miles,  and Siegleman's son Joseph approached Congressman Lewis with a folder of letters written on Governor Siegleman's behalf  which the Congressman promised to deliver to the President, in addition to writing one of his own.  I have renewed hope, wrote Miles.

Daughter Dana Siegelman is not giving out, giving in, or giving up either, she is Mobilizing for Freedom, inviting people to join them on March 3, in Selma Alabama in commemoration of Bloody Sunday, where Congressman Lewis had his head bashed by Alabama State Troopers,  one of the Civil Rights Movement's most extraordinary examples of perseverance and not giving up on freedom.

Former Governor Don Siegelman is not giving out, giving in, or giving up despite being in prison for over 400 days for being too Liberal for Alabama.

He is strong; he is charismatic; he is positive, but he is extremely disappointed. It is not the separation, which hurts him, for he is closer to his family than ever. It is not the lack of freedom, which causes him grief, for he cherishes the time he has to work on his book, coach the young men around him, read, and grow spiritually. He is not crippled by the fact that he has spent more than a year in prison, he is burdened by the greater injustice that surrounds him - the use of the justice system as a political weapon, concealed, quiet, and effective. He wants change.

Justice delayed is Justice Denied.

Today's Black History Must Read

 On this day, 45 years ago, three men were killed and 27 were wounded on the campus of South Carolina State College in a violent series of events that would become known as the Orangeburg Massacre.

RedEye's Week in Review

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

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

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

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

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

This Week in the GOP dominated Alabama State Legislature

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

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

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

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

Today in republican controlled Alabamastan

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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