I guess it depends on what the defintion of a success "IS" #HSVBOE

University of Alabama students demonstrate in 1956 against the enrollment of a black student. (Associated Press)

After months of behind closed doors court ordered mediation, the Huntsville School Board and the Department of Justice emerged to claim success.

The Huntsville school board and the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday made public a proposed joint consent order that, if approved by the court, would bring to a close their dispute on the desegregation of the city's schools. 
In the order, they tell U.S. District Judge Madeline Haikala that the mediation was a success. The two sides have been in court-ordered mediation since last summer to determine the best way to rezone school zone boundary lines.

Actually this paragraph should read The Huntsville school board made public a proposed joint consent order after a 4 hour Executive Session on Friday disguised as a special call meeting.  I guess it depends on what the definition of success IS because from what I've read, nothing has changed.

Let's recap, U.S. District Judge Madeline Haikala ruled the courts could find no evidence the school district was not operating a dual school system.  For those who don't know what a dual school system IS, it's a nice way of saying the school district is segregated.  For those who don't what segregated means, it means the the district is operating one system for black students, and one system for white students, separate and unequal.  Nothing, I repeat nothing, indicates the school district will cease to be segregated.

Judge Haikala slammed the Huntsville School board for their lack of transparency and community input. 

And she didn't accept the hurried "community conversations" as adequate community participation in the city's rezoning efforts. She wrote the meetings were held days before the plan was submitted and Wardynski himself acknowledged no changes were made as a result of meeting with the public.
"Thus, the Board provided little opportunity for meaningful community feedback after it announced its school assignment plan."

She accused the school board of trying to undermine the process  and dropped the hammer on HCS board member Laurie McCaulley's  little "community conversations" masquerading as "a citizens workshop on unitary status" .

Did this school board learn a lesson and change  the way they do business?  Heck no.  They continue to give the judge, and the public they are supposed to serve, the middle finger.

Parents will not have questions answered at three public meetings about Huntsville City Schools new plan to get out of the decades-old desegregation order.
The meetings are scheduled to start this Saturday.
These public meetings were originally called forums but they don't sound anything like a forum.
Parents can share their comments or concerns about the plan with an independent moderator at the meeting.
They can also do it online.
However, the only thing that moderator will do is record the message and give it to both the Justice Department and Huntsville City Schools legal teams.
Both sides will review the statements and decide whether the current agreement should be modified based on parent input.

Sound familiar? 

I must give credit where credit is due,  I was outfoxed (pun intended) by the Huntsville School Board of mis-education last Thursday.  Expecting a large crowd, I arrived at the meeting early in order to get a seat with the intention of signing up to speak.  I falsely assumed since the sign up sheet was not in its usual place it was not part of the required protocol.  Regular readers are familiar with the boards new policy requiring citizens comments be written on 3x5 index cards (which were available) and censored/read by the Director of Community Engagement.  Little did I know, there was a sign up sheet before there wasn't a sign up sheet, which I'm sure was just a coincidence. :)

For the record, nothing has changed, there is no community input, there was no community input, and there will never be any community input if this board can help it.   So here's the plan, if they can get their cronies to submit a bunch of statements saying that they like their plan it will look as though a majority of the citizens are in favor of the things that they want. Of course no one else will be able to check out what they submit to verify it's accurate and if is it above board.  Nod, nod, wink, wink.

Who says you can't do the same thing over and over and not expect a different result?  That's certainly the sentiment of this board, here we go again with a  proposed Desegregation Advisory Committee, a 12 member panel, chosen by the Superintendent, and a pair of students, chosen by the Superintendent, to advise the Superintendent and the court of progress.  Yeah right.   This sounds like the J.O.Johnson naming committee on steroids, and another Coup d'etat to me.  it's Deja Voodoo all over again.

Some of us tried to tell some of y'all mediation outside of the public eye was going to turn into a backroom deal that benefited the status quo.  Our only HOPE Huntsville City School Schools will cease operating a dual school system lies in the hands of Judge Haikala, where it should have been in the first place,  because this board ,  and this Superintendent ,are determined to ignore the United States Supreme Court. 

See picture above.

"So why was The Driscoll Group paid $68,165 over the past year" With OUR tax dollars?

H/T Geek Pavaler

EYE  just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know postings will be light this week due to real life circumstances, but I am keeping my big RedEye on the Huntsville City Schools Board of mis- Education and the recent developments in  the court ordered mediation regarding the Federal Desegregation Case.  Needless to say, there is some Shady Stuff going on, and we can't depend on the mainstream media to tell us what we need to know because they are busy telling us what they want us to know, which is nothing.

In the meantime please read Why has HCS Hired a Political Strategist?

From October 2013 through at least November 2014 (the most currently available HCS check register), Huntsville City Schools has paid a total of $68,165.00 to The Driscoll Group a local firm specializing in “Advertising, Public Relations, and Political Strategies.”According to the entries on the check registers this total was paid for “OTHER PROF SERVICES.”So far, HCS has written David Driscoll of The Driscoll Group eleven checks over that period for the following amounts:

1. 10/24/2013 – $3,600.00

1. 11/7/2013 – $3,600.00

1. 1/23/2014 – $8,200.00

1. 2/14/2014 – $5,715.00

1. 3/6/2014 – $4,425.00

1. 4/2014 – $6,725.00 (Beginning in April, the district stopped publishing the exact date of the written check.)

1. 5/2014 – $8,800.00

1. 6/2014 – $4,575.00

1. 7/2014 – $4,375.00

1. 9/2014 – $9,050.00

1. 11/2014 – $9,100.00

Then read a Guest Editorial by the Composer

Amidst a completed prelude of rolling thunder and pouring showers, a scene of calmness covered the atmosphere of 200 White Street, as the central office for Huntsville City Schools served as host for a press conference organized and administered by the North Huntsville Community United for Action (NHCUA).

This group consists of local ministers, elected officials, community leaders and concerned citizens of the Huntsville community. The press conference was called to bring awareness to the  issues that continue to plague the local school system, particularly in north Huntsville where the population is majority African-American.

About 30 individuals, not including representatives of HCS: Rena Anderson (Director of Community Engagement) , David Driscoll (Director of Community Spying?), and local media were in attendance.

Then read #hsvboe gives north Huntsville students, principals, teachers, elected officials, clergy, community leaders, and taxpayers the middle finger....again

About that Director of Community Spying.....

In a previous post, The Composer made a  tongue in cheek referral to David Driscoll as the Director of Community Spying, but when you look a little closer you find the characterization has a ring of truth.

Let's recap:

Who is David Driscoll?  According to his LinkedIn profile he is a former radio personality/sales director and President of the The Driscoll Group  consulting/business services. According to AL.com his firm does consulting work for Huntsville City Schools.

McGinnis, Wilder and Ferrell on Thursday issued a statement through the Driscoll Group, which does consulting work for Huntsville City Schools, in support of extending Wardynski's contract.  "We believe extending Dr. Wardynski's contract an extra year is the right thing to do for the school system," the statement read. "With the ongoing court case, the construction of multiple schools and rapid changes being made to better educate our children, we feel that keeping the same team together is critical.

The Driscoll Group Facebook invites readers to check out the website they designed for soon to be former school board member/President, and failed State Senate candidate, David Blair. 
The counter protest in support of Casey Wardynski was organized and led by James Lomax,  whose LinkedIn profile says he was previously employed by the Driscoll Group.

Lomax, a young politically-active Huntsville resident who, until August, worked for the Driscoll Group, said he organized the rally because he worries that all of the negativity toward the superintendent will "scare him away." "Casey Wardynski coming here has really changed the landscape of the school system," Lomax said. He said Wardynski has done an excellent job since becoming superintendent.  "You don't fire someone doing a good job," Lomax said.

Back to the Director of Community Spying....remember when Casey Wardynski was invited to attend a town hall meeting in north Huntsville organized by Councilman Richard Showers, which he refused to attend, but said he knew everything that was said because "we had folks there"?  Don't know about people, but I know one person that was there, and at all other community meetings..... David Driscoll.

EYE don't know about you, but it sounds like the Huntsville City School Board of Education is a piggy bank for adults.

What say you Commissioner Bob Harrison?

EYE shall return...

From the Files of They Must Think we are Stoopid in AmeriBama

An anti-war protester, with her hands painted a blood colour, confronts Condoleezza Rice

Please consider this official notice Alabama Media group must think We the Peeps are stuck on Stoopid. Therefore, I am changing the title from Stuck on Stoopid in AmeriBama, to, They  Must Think we are Stoopid in Ameribama, because every day there is something new.

The latest insult to our intelligence comes from Al.com's Charles Dean ,who, as commentator Fox says:  is either a knowledgeable muckraker who wrote this rice nonsense for clicks OR he is the dumbest individual to ever be published on this or any other website.

I vote for the later, because only a dumb individual, or someones who believes we are dumb would suggest Condoleeza Rice is a home-run hire  as the President of the University of Alabama while throwing her name out there for the following reasons:

She is an Alabama native - from Birmingham.
Translation:  She's black.

A university which once denied blacks the right to enroll, where George Wallace stood in the school house door to block black students from enrolling in 1963, would have hired its first African American president.
In a state that still struggles with race relations, that is still seen as a place where racial politics too often rule, Rice's hiring would be breathtaking.

She has been a professor and high-level administrator at Stanford, one of the nation's elite universities.

Again Fox Breaks it down:   If you want to understand how dishonest rice is, consider this: she was given and accepted tenure at Stanford and did not earn it.  That speaks volumes for her lack of character and integrity. People who had published and worked their entire careers in an effort to obtain tenure were passed over for rice who brought nothing in her career to merit the slightest consideration. NOTHING. Then as provost at Stanford she had the nerve to cause problems for the very faculty who had been passed over for tenure. I doubt you will be able to find a more divisive, disreputable, person than rice.

And then there was her time as Secretary of State and the National Security Advisor.

Should read:  And there was her time as Secretary of State and the National Security Advisor  before, and on 9/11, the date of the worst terrorist attack on American soil ever.

She is a Republican, an advantage when you turn to a Republican Congress and a Republican Legislature for federal and state dollars to benefit UA.

There's just one little problem with this meme, The President of the United States is a card carrying, Democrat who won twice and has a Veto Pin.  And is being a republican really something you want to brag about these days?

And, she is an avowed fan of Crimson Tide football. She even served on the first-ever national championship committee this fall, which put the first four teams in the first-ever national championship playoff. (Bama was one of the four, remember).

 And, we see how that turned out for Bama

 Now, I know some of you Democrats out there are not happy right now. But there are so few of you that I am going to move on.

Translation:  Democrats don't matter.  Psst Mr. Dean, I've got news for you, Democrats attend, graduate, and work for the University of Alabama too.  And, I'm pretty sure there are lots of  Democrats on the football, basketball, baseball, and track teams.  Sir.

Are you smarter than a 5th Grader?

H/T Hari Kondabolu

Organizers of the annual Bridge Crossing in #Selma are upset President Obama is having a seperate but equal march on Friday to commemorate Bloody Sunday

Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, said Friday he had hoped President Barack Obama would move his planned visit to Selma from Friday, March 7 to Sunday, March 8 to better accommodate local commemorations of the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday.” Sanders was joined by (left to right) Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery; Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery; Rep. Thad McClammy, D-Montgomery and Alabama Democratic Conference chairman Joe Reed.(Photo: Brian Lyman/Advertiser)

 Let's recap.

The White House announced President Obama plans to visit #Selma on March 7, 2015 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the signing of the Voting Rights Act, which was gutted under his administration, but I digress.  There is just one little problem....the organizers of the annual event are upset President Obama decided to come to #Selma on Friday, March 7, instead of  Sunday, March 8.  As a matter of fact, organizers didn't even know the President was planning to attend until they heard about it from via the media.  That's a nice way of saying he invited himself, which is fine, he is the President of the United States of America, but it seems like he's making it about politics and not about the substance of the annual occasion.

The annual march, usually held on a Sunday in the first week of March, has been planned by state Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, and others annually since the 1970s. Sanders and other leaders said they were blindsided by Obama's announcement -- made in conjunction with U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. -- that the president would march on the anniversary date: March 7.
Sanders said there is a very specific reason for a Sunday march -- to commemorate "Bloody Sunday," that day on March 7, 1965, when state police beat marchers attempting to walk from Selma to Montgomery.
The marchers were stopped on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, and driven back. The incident was recently captured in the Paramount film, "Selma."
Sanders said it has always been especially poignant that the civil rights marchers were beaten on a Sunday.
The 1965 march, which was eventually successful later in March 1965, was seen as helping pass the U.S. Voting Rights Act, which invalidated state laws designed to keep blacks from voting.
Sanders said any attempt to hold two marches, one on March 7 and one on March 8, would be "divisive," and would send the wrong signals to the world.

You think?  I agree with what Hank Sanders said:

"We are always glad when the president comes, but the Bloody Sunday march is sacred," said Sanders, joined at the podium by Democratic Montgomery representatives Alvin Holmes, John Knight and Thad McClammy; Alabama Democratic Conference chairman Joe Reed and Tuskegee mayor Johnny Ford. "It's sacred of that blood that was spilled on that Sunday . . . it's sacred because it's been commemorated every year, for 40-some years, and we intend that sacredness shall be preserved."

That's a nice way of saying you are hurting and not helping Mr. President Obama, Sir.

The anniversary date is something Sanders said the march organizers never focused on in their decades of commemoration. Instead, the march organizers focused on a Sunday march near the date of March 7.
And it's that tradition that people have planned around for the last year, Sanders said -- targeting March 8 for the 50th anniversary march. Sanders said Obama's announcement has thrown things into a state of confusion, and that people from all over the nation -- people with plans, reservations and travel schedules -- have been calling local organizers with questions.

Bloody Sunday is not about celebrating President Obama, it's about remembering the blood, sweat, tears, and personal sacrifice of those who suffered  and died so an African American could someday be elected President of the United States.  Selma is not about a photo op.  It's about HOPE for CHANGE we can believe in.

Now if President Obama is coming to Selma on Friday to pardon for former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman that's another story....

#AllLivesMatter My Donkey

19 Photos From 2014 That Prove  "Post-Racial" America Doesn't Exist

 

  People march, block highways and stage die-ins—in the face of militarization.
Ferguson residents staged mostly peaceful marches in response to Michael Brown’s killing in August. Local and state authorities responded with a militarized use of force, using tanks, tear gas and flash grenades on protestors. People around the country, and eventually around the world, held demonstrations that included die-ins and the shut-down of major highways. (Scott Olsen/Getty)

#AllLivesMatter?

Post by NowThis.

From the Files of Stuck on Stoopid in Alabama Second Editon

Artur Davis

Just when you thought things couldn't get any wackier in Sweet Home Alabama we learn former democrat turned republican,  Congress Critter Artur Davis is back and running for Mayor of Montgomery, Al.

Either Davis  believes voters in Montgomery have a chronic case of amnesia, or, he thinks they are stuck on stoopid.

Bye-bye, Democratic Party ... or as the right wing Daily Caller originally put it: Former Alabama Democratic Rep. Artur Davis has come out of the closet -- as a Republican.

In the interest of full disclosure, and for those who don't know,  Artur Davis ripped his drawers with me a six ago, and I hold my non support of his gubernatorial aspirations partially responsible for me being booted and banned from the pages of Left in Alabama. 

Davis supporter, and regular columnist for Alabama Media Group Cameron Smith  says,  Even if you don't like Artur Davis Montgomery should hear him out.

Alabamians from both ends of the political spectrum are willing to take pot shots at Davis. Democrats rejected his gubernatorial bid because he was not liberal enough for their base, and many Republicans are skeptical of a candidate who used to be a Democratic gubernatorial candidate. And then there is the matter of his leaving for Virginia once that race was done.
But unlike many politicians, Davis is more interested in answering his critics than avoiding them.

 Pots shots?  Is that what you call honest criticism of Davis' actions?

Alabama District 7 is 61.7% African-American. 72.2% live in urban areas (primarily Birmingham, Bessemer, Tuscaloosa, Selma and Demopolis). The district’s median per capita income was $26,672.
NO group is disproportionately uninsured than Black folks, and he voted AGAINST healthcare reform.
Uh huh.
No group is at the BOTTOM of nearly all healthcare statistics like Black folks, and he voted AGAINST healthcare reform.
Uh huh.

RedEYE can't wait to see how Davis answers his critics. 

Davis is a political enigma in Alabama, the kind of moderate pragmatist that drives the partisan purists wild, a market-minded politician who sees a helpful role for government to play. Davis embraces it noting,

RedEYE can't wait to see how that embracing nothing works out for Artur this time.

Stuck on Stoopid in Alabama to be continued.....

President Obama is coming to Sweet Home AmeriBAMA....Yawn

"It’s easy to get complacent about battles won long ago. But rights not safeguarded can be eroded or lost.... http://t.co/HqMzEHOGxP
— Anti-Racism Media (@AntiRacismTv) January 22, 2015

Why am I not excited President Obama plans to visit Selma, AmeriBama to celebrate the 5Oth Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act?

The White House says the March 7 trip also will highlight the upcoming 50th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act.
Obama last visited Selma for the 2007 anniversary, when he was running for the Democratic presidential nomination against Hillary Rodham Clinton. Both candidates and former President Clinton marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge where white police officers beat civil rights protesters in 1965.

Maybe it's because 50 years later Shelby County v. Holder gutted Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

You have to give Alabama credit for its cheek. Last year, the state's Shelby County persuaded the US Supreme Court to find unconstitutional part of the Voting Rights Act that required certain states with histories of discriminatory election laws to get permission from the federal government before changing their voting practices. On Wednesday, Alabama will argue before the court that the same provision it helped decimate compelled lawmakers to racially gerrymander the entire state.

Maybe it's because 50 years later some (not to be confused with all)  police are killing black people and some are getting away with it. 

Justice Department lawyers will recommend that no civil rights charges be brought against the police officer who fatally shot an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, Mo., after an F.B.I. investigation found no evidence to support charges, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.

Maybe it's because 50 years later we are still fighting for the right to vote.

 The specific means of suppression have changed, but the objectives haven't: People in power are still trying to keep specific groups of Americans from voting.

 Maybe it's because 50 years later tax payer funded, government issued Weapons of Mass Destruction are being used on black citizens for protesting.

 “It didn’t look like America. It looked like Soweto,” Mr. Lyon said, referring to the South African township that was a hotbed of protests against apartheid. “It looked like soldiers. And soldiers’ job isn’t to protect. Their job is to kill people and to be ready to die.”

Maybe it's because 50 years later black people are still begging for the right to breathe.

 “I can’t breathe,” protesters chanted, in mostly peaceful demonstrations that brought longstanding strains over race to the heart of America’s most populous city. Earlier in the day, prosecutors announced the jury’s decision not to charge Daniel Pantaleo, one of the New York police officers who had confronted Garner for selling loose cigarettes on Staten Island in July.

Maybe it's because 50 years later, the more things change in America, the more they don't change in AmeriBama.

Taylor's decision, which he says was made in part out of concern for Dekalb County's taxpayer money being spent on "filthy language," comes as theaters across the country are hosting free-screenings to hundreds of thousands of students hoping to view the same film. Despite the national embrace and Selma's official PG-13 rating, however, Taylor said he simply could not permit students to experience a movie with the "F-word in it."

So come on down to the land of cotten, take some pretty pictures then board Air Force 1 and head on back to the White House Mr. President Obama sir.

 Don't worry about us.

Out of sight out of mind.

Look away.

Look away.

Look away. 

Dixieland.

RedEye tiptoeing away from the computer to go pray....

"To prevent another Ferguson is simple....OBEY COMMANDS GIVEN BY POLICE!"

So says Upset Resident in defense of The Huntsville Housings Authority's series of #AllLivesMatter to prevent another #Ferguson Summits planned for residents.

Lundy said Huntsville police will be on hand to talk about why officers might stop someone for questioning, and how those being questioned are expected to act.

Yep.  According to Lundy and Upset Resident the way to prevent another #Ferguson is to teach black people how to be good Negroes.   It has nothing to do with police officers shooting and killing unarmed blacks and getting away with it.

Psst! Michael Lundy and Upset Resident....How did that OBEY COMMANDS GIVEN BY POLICE work out for this guy?




But,but he had a criminal record...

 Mr. Reid had a criminal record. At the age of 15 he shot at two New Jersey State Troopers. However, he served 13 years in prison and was released. He did his time. 

What Booman said:

 You can watch the video yourself and make your own determination. My view of it clearly shows that Reid had his hands in the air as he exited the vehicle after what may or may not be a brief struggle with one of the cops. Prior to that police in a profanity laced tirade demanded that both men show their hands and not move. I saw hands placed outside the vehicle on both the driver's side and on the passenger's side.

As we ready for war abroad there is a race war going on in America. The police vs. people of color. We don't stand a chance. #Ferguson @CNN
— TruthBeTold  (@Big6domino) January 21, 2015

But, but, black on black crime.....

Police is both a noun and a verb. In Black communities the verb has become synonymous with assume the worst; take violent, often irreversible action; and then maybe ask questions and gather facts later.

Eye Report, You Decide.

The Day after the #SOTU and the Repubs are mad now....#IWonTwice

Does Boener have to look like he's getting a colonoscopy everytime Obama says something good about America? I thought Repubs loved America?
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) January 21, 2015

President Obama didn't call out the republicans (and some democrats) to my satisfaction, but he did  throw some major shade  with a drop the microphone moment  that has republicans begging for cheese to go with their whine. 

Republicans tried to get snarky with President Obama during the State Of The Union, but were quickly shot down by an off the cuff presidential reply. After the exchange, conservative media cowered and whined about the president’s “rudeness.”

They can dish out the rudeness but they can't take it, and I suspect rudeness  is code for Uppity, but I digress. Obama isn't the first democratic President to throw shade at republicans, but he's the first African American President, and that's what makes them mad.

So how are they going to get Obama for daring get Uppity  I mean rude to them?  Well, first it was the Voting Rights Act now the republican controlled Supreme Court's Poised To Make It Easier To Deny Someone A Home Because They are Black. 

 For four years, civil rights advocates have struggled to keep the Supreme Court from eliminating a key prong of federal fair housing law. This year, their luck is probably going to run out. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, a case that could leave many victims of housing discrimination unable to win their case in court. Based on the justices’ unusual eagerness to hear the issue presented by Inclusive Communities, their decision is likely to end badly for civil rights.

Let's be clear, republicans showed us who/what they really are last night.

They don't want your child(ren) to have access to a quality public education.

They don't want anyone to have access to quality, affordable health care.

They want to build more new prisons than new schools.

They want to recruit our sons and daughters to fight wars based on dead wrong intelligence.

They are against Fair Housing.
 
They are against poor women (not to be confused with rich women) having access to a safe legal abortion.

They are against equal pay for women, heck they against fair pay for period.

They hate us for our freedom.  I thought I would throw that one in for flavor.

This is the party the media enabled to take control of the House and the Senate.

I HOPE they are happy.

The #SOTU The Day After the King "Holiday", Five Things I HOPE #PBO Says Tonight

OUCH 65% Hurts! #StateOfTheUnionInThreeWords (Even Republicans are sick of Republicans) pic.twitter.com/l15ya5x0uG
— The Baxter Bean (@TheBaxterBean) January 20, 2015

So yesterday was the Martin Luther King, Jr. "Holiday",  the day when white Americans and black Americans, Jews and Gentiles, young and old, rich and poor,  join hands and sing the words of the iconic Civil Rights  anthem We Shall Overcome, basking in the glow of love and reconciliation.

NOT.


Regular readers know I don't celebrate the birthday of a dead man who was reviled and hated in life.  I call it The see we ain't prejudiced day.   A day when some (not all) white Americans proclaim their love for the man some called Martin Luther Coon, a Communist, and an outside agitator in life.

A father and husband who was assassinated, which is a nice name for murdered, because he was a drum major for justice.

A holiday that was reluctantly passed , and believe it or not,  six members of Congress who voted against the holiday are still in Congress today.

After the speeches, singing, and other symbolism , the United States of America goes back to being the United States of white America. I hope the media is happy they enabled the party who opposed the King Holiday and cornerstone Civil rights legislation to take control of the House and the Senate, but I digress.

The day after the King "Holiday", President Barack Obama will present the State of the Union Address to a Congress controlled by republicans.  NPR has outlined 5 Things to Watch , but I would like to outline 5 Things I HOPE President Obama says tonight.

1.  You won't hear it on TeeVee and other so called mainstream media outlets,  but the state of  the economy is booming.  Gas prices are lower than they've been in a decade, and will continue to drop.  More jobs have been created, and unemployment is at an all time low.  ObamaCare is a success, Americans aren't going bankrupt because of medical bills due to a lack of health insurance, however, if your insurance cost are higher it's because the governor of your state hates me more then they love you.

2.  Speaking of people who hate me more than they love you, include congress in that Klan, I mean gang.  I vow to get out my Veto Pen and to issue Executive Orders  like a sledge hammer on any legislation that does harm to this country and it's citizens.

3. My Name is Barack Hussein Obama and I am the POTUS.

4.  To the democratic party, I want to know if you are with them or against them?  If you are with them, I have something for you too.  Memo:   You are either on my side, by my side, or in my f#@king way.

5. We are going to stop fighting them there and start fighting them  here.


Good night, God Bless America, We Shall Overcome starting tonight.

Cue in The Battle Hymn of the Republic

"All we are asking for is a little respect" 50 years later

"@TheRoot: Martin Luther King Jr.'s words on police brutality still ring true today http://t.co/6APWKC0D4e pic.twitter.com/ydzyeKubl1"
— vanillathehun (@JenD1974) January 18, 2015

About those Huntsville Housing Authority #AllLivesMatter to prevent another #Ferguson Summits....

The Butler Terrace public housing development along Governors Drive will host an "All Lives Matter" town hall meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 27. (Eric Schultz | eschultz@al.com)

So, The Executive Director of the Huntsville Housing Authority thought it would be a good idea to host a series of town halls for residents of public housing, the majority of whom are black, to prevent another #Ferguson from happening here.

Lundy said Huntsville police will be on hand to talk about why officers might stop someone for questioning, and how those being questioned are expected to act.

 Translation:   We are going to teach you public housing residents how to be good Negroes.

Lundy said Huntsville Housing Authority employees plan to work with the police department to create a one-page list of "do's" and "don'ts" for teenagers who may encounter an officer.

"We want to it be trt of thing that mothers and aunts and grandmothers can disseminate to their children, and maybe hang on their refrigerator," he told AL.com Monday. "I've had that conversation with my son, but a lot of the youth we serve haven't had that discussion.""We're just trying to de-escalate what could occur."

This is the mentality and behavior that needs to addressed IMHO

South Florida police using photos of people for target practice.  @NBC6 investigation At 6. #humantargets pic.twitter.com/0rhmveYrLQ
— Willard Shepard (@WillardNBC6) January 15, 2015

A Florida National Guard sergeant arrived at the shooting range on a Saturday last month for training and recognized her brother's 15-year-old booking photo among the bullet-riddled targets left behind by North Miami Beach police officers, the station said. 

It doesn't matter how many things black mothers, aunts, and grandmothers hang on their refrigerators and disseminate to their children if police automatically assume they are criminals and are spooked by their very existence. 

And they wonder why we fear the police?

#EricGarner #TrayvonMartin #TamirRice #EmmettTill #JordanDavis #VonderritMyers #MichaelBrown #JohnCrawford  #ICantBreathe

Don't Think, Vote Republican

Voted Republican! They cut his retiree pension, raised the retirement age, and attack his social security! @cspanwj pic.twitter.com/NCRiNICPvx
— George Monroe (@Nupe117) January 17, 2015

From the Files of Stuck on Stoopid in Alabama

Why Sweet Home Alabama is ranked #48 in the nation when it comes to Education.

Hugh Taylor, the superintendent of the DeKalb County Board of Education, denied a request for a Collinsville High School history club--sponsored by teacher Bradley Crawford--to attend the movie, Selma, along with other students from Crawford's classes because it contains the F-word and racial slurs.

 Taylor is an elected official, a Republican who defeated four other candidates in a 2012 election to replace Charles Warren, who retired after 12 years on the post. Before then, Taylor served as principal at Ruhama Junior High in DeKalb County.

Sweet Home Alabama, where the rich get richer and the poor are Suckers.

 Poor Alabamians continue to pay a larger share of their income in state and local taxes than upper-income earners, but the state no longer is among the "Terrible Ten," according to a report released Wednesday.

 If millionaires convince you to vote against your self interest you are a sucker. 

What looks like crazy on an ordinary day in Alabama

The recent announcement stating that the North Alabama Regional Hospital, a psychiatric facility, will be closing its doors in June simply means that there will be no more state-run mental hospitals in the Tennessee Valley.
The idea behind this was to save the state money and to shift the burden (and, of course, the cost) of care onto local communities. The claim is to "streamline" the way the state handles the long-term mentally ill by transferring them into "community-based" programs. If you define jail, as a "community-based" program, then the claim may have some truth in it.

Proof the red, republican, Alabama state legislature is pro life as long as it's in the womb.  After that, all bets are off .

With democrats like Terri Sewell who needs republicans? 

Stuck on Stoopid in Alabama to be continued.....

Rest in Power #MLK

The horrors this man endured at the hands of good southern Christians. His courage will not be forgotten. #RIPMLK pic.twitter.com/Q0Dx6wPnLB
— Sebastian Ventling (@SebaVentling) January 16, 2015

The Politics of Character Assassination #MLK #SuicideLetter #FBI

What an Uncensored Letter to M.L.K. Reveals

The unnamed author suggests intimate knowledge of his correspondent’s sex life, identifying one possible lover by name and claiming to have specific evidence about others. Another passage hints of an audiotape accompanying the letter, apparently a recording of “immoral conduct” in action. “Lend your sexually psychotic ear to the enclosure,” the letter demands. It concludes with a deadline of 34 days “before your filthy, abnormal fraudulent self is bared to the nation.”

“There is only one thing left for you to do,” the author warns vaguely in the final paragraph. “You know what it is.” 

Why the FBI's Suicide Note Still Matters

Though it was sent 50 long years ago, the FBI’s so-called suicide letter to Martin Luther King, Jr. is very much of a piece with today’s America, where fear of and anger toward the government casts a shadow over everything from web-surfing to starting a business. Historian Beverly Gage and The New York Times have just published an unredacted version of the anonymous November, 1964 letter almost certainly sent by the FBI to Martin Luther King, Jr. a few weeks before the civil rights leader was set to accept the Nobel Peace Prize.

FBI's Letter to Martin Luther King Jr. Reveals Ugly Truths From Hoover's Era

 The FBI under Hoover devoted a great deal of attention to Dr. King, whom Hoover considered a threat to national security, Vox reports. The letter reportedly came to be after Hoover failed to prove King was a Communist, which he could have used to disgrace him. Yale professor of American History Beverly Gage wrote in the New York Times, the letter is “the most notorious and embarrassing example of Hoover’s F.B.I. run amok.”

Fist Dap Upset Resident  for giving me the idea for this post and explaining why some white Alabamians are having a hard time separating fact from fiction in the movie #Selma.  Normally I would delete comments that don't provide links and are off topic.

I wonder why some white Alabamians are having a hard time separating fact from fiction in #Selma the movie?

No, I have not seen #Selma yet.  Am I going to see the movie?  I haven't decided.  As someone who lived through those dark difficult days I'm not anxious to relive them.  Yes, I know it's fiction based on factual history, but I don't know If I can relive the horror, the fear, the terrorism, the injustice, and the brutality all over again.  It's just to painful, and I don't want to be bitter, for lack of a better word. 

Evidently some (not to be confused with all) white Alabamians are finding the movie hard to watch too.  Poor George Wallace Jr., and Cecil Williamson, Selma City Council Vice-President are in a state of denial and can't separate fact from fiction.  According them the movie is full of inaccuracies and Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt needlessly changed history in order to tell what was an already compelling story in "Selma."

What inaccuracies are they talking about?  They are the ones, enabled by the white male dominated media,  trying to rewrite history. 

Here is a reminder of the shock and shame of Alabama history for those who were there, and a lesson for those who weren't there. Watch, read, listen, and learn.

"Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it"  Edmund Burke

RedEye's RoundUp

Before I type another word, I want to thank all of my followers, readers, lurkers, and contributors.  Your support continues to humble and amaze me.  If anyone is interested in becoming a contributor,  submit a righting sample to redeyeblog.Alabama@yahoo.com.  All points of view are NOT welcome.  Meaning, red, republican, right wing contributors need not apply.  This is a blue, hard left, progressive, liberal blog.  Truth, and nothing but the truth is spoken here.  The purpose of the blog is to be a voice for voiceless and to inform the public.  If you want to promote right wing talking points and misinformation do it on your own blog.  There is no Fairness Doctrine, remember?
Now on to the Roundup:

Black On Black Crime my Donkey!

Ongoing protests against police brutality have revealed how distorted the American discourse on crime is. The biggest myth animating this discourse is black criminality: the notion that black people commit more crime, and therefore deserve more heavy-handed policing

How about some Black on Black Justice?

 A Black People’s Grand Jury in St. Louis, Missouri, this weekend delivered a “true bill of indictment” for first degree murder against former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the death of Black teenager Michael Brown. Black people “can and must take matters into our own hands,” said Omali Yeshitela, one of four prosecutors that presented evidence, not only of Wilson’s personal guilt, but the institutional culpability of the entire regional criminal justice system in the murder and subsequent whitewash of the crime.

I HOPE George Zimmerman's attorney turned CNN legal analysist, the jury, the prosecutors, the judge and the media are happy now.

You won't hear it on TeeVee or the so called mainstream media because it doesn't fit the media driven narrative, but Common's acceptance speech for winning a Golden Globe award for best original song was as the young people say, "Off the Chain".

Speaking of the mainstream media, would someone tell them they are the only ones' gushing over Christ Christi, Jeb Bush, and Mitt Romney?  Real people, not so much....

The House will vote Thursday on what Republicans are calling the "Save American Workers Act," a proposal that would make it easier for employers to cut their workers' hours and paychecks and eliminate their benefits. It's a "fix" to Obamacare that would change the definition of full-time work from 30 hours per week to 40. As the law stands, employers with 50 or more workers have to either provide insurance to 95 percent of their full-time employees or pay a fine. Republicans say that their proposal will create more full-time jobs.

Sometimes a loss is a victory

 While the Republicans continue to fight among themselves over who can do more to obstruct progress in this Country, the President continues to lead this country and carry out the will of the American people, and proves once again that there isn't a conservative in America who has ever read the Constitution.

Got popcorn?