RedEyes Rundown #PinkOut

Cost of defunding Planned Parenthood: Less healthcare for 650,000 women http://t.co/o4DGvQnuDW #PinkOut #tcot #p2 pic.twitter.com/zsBk3sVEn0

— Blue DuPage (@BlueDuPage) September 29, 2015

Alabama's Governor,  First Lady reach agreement in divorce. Move along. Nothing to see here.  Governor Bentley is free to continue with his activities, closing nursing homes and mental health facilities, denying poor women access to planned parenthood, refusing to expand medicaid, denying children access to a quality public education, destroying the environment, closing state parks,  and creating new jobs.  Oh, wait.....

So Robert Bentley is trying to convince the public that he is promoting transparency by asking for the court file to be unsealed--when, in fact, he's pulling another con on the citizens of Alabama.

Legal Schnauzer and his wife need our help.

Shuler tells us that they were current with the rent when the landlord unilaterally moved to terminate their lease. The eviction occurred before a ten-day grace period had elapsed, and despite a legal appeal that had put a hold on any eviction proceedings.
And he says flatly, "There's absolutely no question in my mind" that the eviction is retribution for his ongoing reporting about Alabama corruption--most recently breaking the story about the sexual affair of current Alabama governor Robert Bentley that led his wife of 50 years to file for divorce.
The Shulers lost most of their property in the eviction, some items were stolen by employees of the landlord. They are living in a fleabag motel with just the clothes on their backs. If you can make a donation of any size, please visit the Legal Schnauzer blog.

What's that you say? There's a mean spirit on the lose?  Who knew?

Located in rural Alabama, the Loyal White Knights claims to be the largest and most powerful KKK chapter in the country. Leaders of the Klan claim their membership rolls include politicians, teachers, hospital staff and others, saying, “Most of the majority of our people are in the military. We all have our concealed weapons permits.”
Going on, one of the men interviewed said:

“There’s going to be a great war – I won’t call it a Civil War – it’ll be anything but that. It’ll be an uncivil war. You’ll see a bunch of Americans getting killed and blown up.”

Boeher's Resignation is Bad News for Everyone

Stay tuned for a year of teabagger bullshit. I’m expecting continuous investigations of Hillary Clinton until the 2016 election, government shutdowns based on social issues, capped off with President Obama’s impeachment hearings.

And, Far Right Extremist won't be satisfied until they've burned the country to the ground.  

They truly do want to burn the house down. Just burn the whole country right to the ground. After securing John Boehner's resignation for the sin of trying to govern, the hard right is now taking aim at Mitch McConnell, and for stupid, stupid reasons.

“If all lives mattered, we wouldn’t be in the streets, right?” Mckesson said. “If black people didn’t have to fight for their rights like this, we wouldn’t be here, so we know that it is, like, an ahistorical way of thinking about justice in this country. All lives have never mattered, which is why people like Mike Brown and Freddie Gray are not here.”

As the young people say, Word.

#Artur "Davis says that if the Democrats can forgive Parker Griffith, they should be able to forgive him."

Parker Griffith submits his paperwork to run for governor at Alabama Democratic Party headquarters in Montgomery on Friday afternoon. (Mike Cason | mcason@al.com)

And he's right (pun intended), there's this little thingy called precedent. What EYE want to know is when/where and what "democrats" forgave Parker Griffith  exactly?

Bentley announced his re-election campaign in 2013. Griffith waited until 15 minutes before signup deadline for candidates on Feb. 7.
Griffith said he had been considering it for a few months. He even had a poll done in December by Public Policy Polling in Raleigh, N.C., that indicated Bentley's favorability rating was low enough that he might be vulnerable.
But Griffith said he waited because he thought former Gov. Jim Folsom Jr. or state Sen. Billy Beasley might enter the race. When it became clear they weren't, he and his wife, Virginia, dashed to the state Democratic Party headquarters in Montgomery. He walked in, filled out the qualifying papers, but then walked outside to the sidewalk with his wife to give it one more thought.
"She said, 'How will you feel if you get in the car and drive back to Huntsville not having thrown your hat in the ring? I think you ought to do it.'"
At that, he walked inside, filled his paperwork and began another campaign.

Let's recap for those who don't know.  There is an old saying "don't burn the bridge that will take you over the water", well  Artur Davis is attempting to walk on water and rejoin the democratic party after he not only set fire to the bridge, but blew the bridge up.

As mentioned earlier, Davis defected to the GOP and in 2012, he supported Mitt Romney for president, giving a speech from the floor of the Republican National Convention. Before that, while still in Congress, he voted against Obamacare -- the only member of the Democratic Black Caucus to do so.
Now he wants back in the Democratic party, if not their good graces, and he has written the party's executive committee a letter asking them to open the door.
The only thing is that the party has something called the "Radney Rule," which prohibits anyone from qualifying as a Democrat if that person has supported Republicans in the last election cycle.

About that Radney Rule.....based on the al.com article Parker Griffin didn't write a letter to the party's executive committee asking them to open the door   

Griffith, 71, was elected to North Alabama's 5th District congressional seat as a Democrat in November 2008 but switched parties less than a year later. At the time, he said there appeared to be no place in the national Democratic Party for a "pro-business, pro-life, pro-Second Amendment" congressman.

But GOP voters never embraced Griffith as one of their own: He lost his bid for re-election in 2010, finishing more than 12,000 votes behind then-Madison County Commissioner Mo Brooks in the Republican primary.
He tried to reclaim the 5th District seat from Brooks in 2012 but fared even worse, despite pumping more than $568,000 of his own money into the campaign.
Last fall, Griffith briefly explored the idea of challenging Brooks as an independent candidate. He recently rejoined the state Democratic Party and said earlier this week that most people have been "gracious" about his return.

Really? 

It's incumbent on the Party leadership at every level, both in the Party proper, and among the caucus leadership in legislative bodies, to help remind the entire office-holding Party of the likely futility of switching. This is not something you want to do with a high degree of visibility, and even a private, but overt “conversation” might be over the top. But the occasional joke at a banquet about “One-Term Griffith” will not only bring a laugh, it will serve as a reminder. Post-switch retaliation, such as letters to the editor (and the occasional lawsuit!) demanding refunds of contributions are less effective, though a few switchers have been shamed into refunding Democratic contributions.

Did Parker Griffin go before the State Democratic Executive Committee or not?

The Radney Rule allows a party member to challenge a potential candidate’s ballot qualification if the potential candidate supported a candidate for another party within the last four years. According to the challenge from Miles, Grimsley gave $500 to Secretary of State candidate Beth Chapman in August 2006 when Nancy Worley was the Democratic nominee. Over at Left in Alabama (who was first out with the story), Grimsley’s potential candidacy is finding few friends.
Speaking of the Radney Rule… Democratic political consultant Steve Raby has been mentioned as a potential candidate for Congressional District AL-05. Would he be vulnerable to a Radney Rule challenge himself through contributions he directed to Republicans through his PAC [.pdf]? Or would it be not so much of an issue because the contributions are technically from his PAC (albeit presumably at his direction) and not directly from himself?
Update: Readers have pointed out that the Democratic Party by-laws state that no candidate is permitted to qualify as a Democrat “who did not support the nominees of the Democratic Party in all Special or General Elections during the past four years.” While Raby has given to plenty of Republicans, he seems to do it during primaries, not during the general election cycle where you could say he was not supporting the Democratic nominee, at least as far as I have seen. Furthermore, the by-laws allow such a potential candidate to renounce his previous allegiance, explain the error of her ways, and “If, after such a hearing, the Executive Board is convinced by a preponderance of the evidence that such a person would be an asset to the Democratic Party, the Executive Board may, by a vote of two-thirds of those present and voting, allow that person to seek office as a Democrat.”

Again, exactly WHO forgave Parker Griffin?   Madison County Commissioner Bob Harrison said it best:  It's like he thinks nobody remembers what he said when he ran for office and nobody has a video camera or even some old newspapers laying around."

Inquiring minds want to know who/what/when democrats forgave Parker Griffin for biting the hands that fed him?

Whats the matter with Democrats in Alabama you ask? Take a look in the mirror. The Alabama Democratic party has been infiltrated. That's what's wrong with the democratic party in Alabama. You know the drill. Find an effective liberal group/blog. Pick a fight. Have the groups pick sides. And who wins in the end? Not democrats that's for sure.

Waiting on someone to blame Joe Reed and his bunch in 5-4-3-2-1....

EYE tried to some of Y'all Congress Critter Terri Sewell was Artur Davis is Designer Pumps

Left in Alabama: Terrie Sewell It's a historic election because it's about you,not about me.

But did y'all listen?  Nope.  As a matter fact, some of y'all accused me of inventing a straw man, making sh*t up, and peddling hypocrisy (I'm not going to call any names but you know who you are), and banned me fromyour Blogs and List Serves for life, but EYE digress.

What EYE predicted has come to pass, 7th Congressional District Congress Critter Terri Sewell (DINO Hoover), has the dubious distinction of being ranked the worst black member of Congress.  

Black Agenda Report is once again publishing the annual CBC Monitor Report Card. The former all-time worst Black Congressman, David Scott of Georgia, has passed the torch to a new generation of corporate-bought politicians, represented by Alabama’s Terri Sewell – although Scott remains a close second.

 Are you happy now?

As a Democrat running in a D+18 district, Terri Sewell is without question the Alabama Democrat most likely to be elected to Congress tomorrow. If that happens Sewell will become Alabama's first African-American Congresswoman and the first woman elected to Congress from this state in a regular election. But, as the Birmingham News recently said when they endorsed her, that isn't the best reason to vote for her. The best reason to vote for Terri Sewell on Tuesday is the same as it was last spring ...she's simply the best candidate. From the early days of her campaign Sewell has maintained, "I'm the best candidate on the issues." On the eve of the general election, she still is!

What did the residents of the 7th district to do deserve this? 

My worst fear has come to past. Republicans, enabled by the media (again) and the neo liberals (again), bought and paid for the only African American seat in congress (again). I'm sure they are patting themselves on the back and high fiving their "victory" this morning, but this is wrong on so many levels. For one thing it proves it's not about the people, it's about the money, the power and the influence. It's proof the residents of the 7th district didn't get to decide who represents them in congress (again).

Again, this is what  happens when the white wing of the Alabama Democratic Party decides who should represent the black wing of the Alabama Democratic Party.  Say what you want to about 
the Alabama Democratic Conference, not to be confused with the Alabama Democratic Party, and Dr. Joe Reed, but they didn't endorse Terri Sewell or her predecessor.  The 7th district and had a perfectly capable and effective Congress Critter until the white wing replaced him with Artur Davis.  The residents of the 7th district had the chance to replace Davis with an effective, progressive/liberal representative, but again the white wing said no. 

If the Alabama democratic party were courageous, and I'm not saying they are, they would run a real democrat against Ms. Nine West Pumps in November. The residents of the 7th district deserve better. They are the most loyal voting block the state and national democratic party has, it's time to stop taking their loyalty for granted, and stop choosing who should represent them.

EYE hate being right.

Not.

#Scandalous in #SweetHomeAlabama #Injustice #Hypocrisy

They're right, I'm not backing down. I stand by my decision to terminate Alabama's contract with #PlannedParenthood. https://t.co/DP33s980cX

— Gov. Robert Bentley (@GovernorBentley) September 23, 2015

Remember when EYE wrote this about Governor Robert Bentley back in 2010?

Even republican candidates see the Coal Bowl as the opportunity to pander, I mean woo African American voters. Dr. Death, I mean Robert Bentley showed up. I heard fans were upset they had to clear the way for his entourage to enter the sky box elevator. Overheard: Well at least he came at the right time of year.
Huh?
It's Halloween and he looks like a Scarecrow.
Also overheard regarding Bentley: He's a really nice guy he just got hooked up with the wrong party.

According to Attorney Donald Watkins Facebook page, once Bentley became Governor he changed. 

Once Bentley became governor, he changed. He was no longer the kind and gentle man his children and grandchildren had known all their lives. Everyone noticed how Bentley’s respect for Dianne began to wane.

Bentley had become a man Dianne didn’t recognize. He was enamored with the trappings of the governor’s office – the trooper escorts, use of the state airplane, global travels, access to dignitaries and celebrities, life in the Governor’s mansion, wining and dining Rebekah like a billionaire at Winston Blount’s magnificent $28 million estate, along with all the other high-life perks that come with being called “Governor”. Bentley had gone from obscurity as a little-known Tuscaloosa legislator/dermatologist to rock-star status as governor, and he simply could not handle it.

Watkins also reports  Governor Bentley and Company are lawyering up in anticipation of a possible criminal investigation.  Notice EYE said Watkins reports, not the mainstream media reports. 

The mainstream media does not have the courage or resources to report the inside story of the Bentley's divorce. This is why the Pulitzer Prize committee recently expanded its eligibility on awards for investigative journalism and feature articles to cover online journalists like me. They realize how weak and captive many mainstream media organizations have become. The Birmingham News and Montgomery Advertiser are not trying to win Pulitzer Prizes for investigative journalism. They are simply trying to stay in business while operating on the cheap. Plus, the story of the Bentley marital infidelity scandal is out of their league.

All EYE can say is thank goodness Al Gore invented the Internet (snark), because without it we the people wouldn't know what the heck was going on.  Some, not to confused with all, progressive (and EYE use that term loosely) Bloggers and Facebook Journalist have been talking about Bentley's Real Executive Protection since  2009,  2010 and  2011.  

Can you hear us now?

The mean spirit that used political prosecutions for partisan political gain. Former Governor Don Siegelman, former state Representative Sue Schmitz, former Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford, and a host of other black democrats were legally lynched by the republican controlled InJustice system. And yes, I tried to tell some of y'all it was political and not about ethics reform, but again I was suppressed (not to be confused with oppressed).

EYE  Report.
YOU Decide. 

What ever happened to the 5 W's? You know...Who, What, When, Where and Why?

APB. Here's the guy who asked Trump the question. Can we please find him, America? NH media? pic.twitter.com/k1xhHVXBrF

— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) September 19, 2015

This is the  media we have instead of the media we wish we had.

I'm confused. Fox calls itself "The Most Powerful Name in News." Halperin's breakthrough book, Game Change, was praised as "a marvel of reporting," and Halperin and coauthor John Heilemann were said to "have an uncanny ability to get scoops other reporters don't."
So, um, if Halperin and Fox are such powerful news gatherers, such "uncanny" scoop-getters, why don't they know who this guy is?

Is it because discovering who he is would involve actual, y'know, reporting?

EYE Report

YOU decide. 

The Real Scandal in #SweetHomeAlabama is not the #TeamBentley divorce

"Did you lie to your wife?"

Again, EYE could care less about the scandalous rumors swirling around about Bentley's divorce, and believe me there are plenty.  It's the hypocrisy and the projection...A way to transfer guilt for your own thoughts, emotions, and actions onto another as a way of not admitting your guilt to yourself.

Remember  the so-called IRS scandal, when republicans accused the Obama administration of targeting conservative tax-exempt organizations

It's strange how "scandal" gets defined these days in Washington. At the moment, everyone is screaming about the "scandal" of the Internal Revenue Service scrutinizing conservative nonprofits before granting them tax-exempt status.
Here are the genuine scandals in this affair: Political organizations are being allowed to masquerade as charities to avoid taxes and keep their donors secret, and the IRS has allowed them to do this for years.

Fast forward to 2015 and what we know now about the Bentley administration. 

February 2015 – Cooper Shattuck, general counsel for the University of Alabama board of trustees and Bentley's former legal adviser, forms Alabama Council for Excellent Government, a 501c4 group formed to promote Gov. Bentley's tax increase proposals. Shattuck said the organization was formed at Bentley's request but it is not known where the funds to start the group originated. As a 501c4, ALGOV does not have to report its funding sources or expenditures.

This is the real scandal

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

EYE report. 

The real scandal is that:
The IRS has interpreted our tax laws to allow big corporations and wealthy individuals to make unlimited secret campaign donations through sham political fronts called “social welfare organizations,” like Karl Rove’s “Crossroads,” the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and “Priorites USA.”
This campaign money has been used to bribe Congress to keep in place tax loopholes like the “carried interest” rule that allows the managers of hedge funds and private equity funds to treat their income as capital gains, subject only to low capital gains taxes rather than ordinary income taxes, and other loopholes that allow CEOs to get special tax treatment on giant compensation packages that now average $10 million a year.

 You decide.

#WhiteTerror #BlackPain #SayTheirNames #CarolRoberston #DeniseMcNair #CynthiaWesely #AddieMaeCollins

Denise McNair, Carol Robinson, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley Resting in Heavenly Peace

Again, the reason I oppose the republican party has nothing to do with me being a democrat, and I don't oppose republicans just to support democrats. I oppose republicans because the people who perpetrated the 16th Street Baptist Church bombings and other terrorist acts joined the GOP.

Does this sound familiar?

Back in 1966, after an election in which, having won voting rights after the
1965 Selma to Montgomery March, in which I lost two dear friend, Rev Jim
Reeb and Viola Liuzzo, blacks rushed to register to vote and to run for office, most considered themselves to be Democrats . Gov Wallace (a democrat) refused to allow them to run for office as Democrats. To combat the continuing absolute racism of the Alabama Democratic Party, some of us created another Democratic Party, the National Democratic Party of Alabama (NDPA), went through a difficult struggle, and elected the first blacks to office in Alabama as Democrats! But the ADP fought as a fully segregated party for almost 10 years as the NDPA came to hold over 100 elected offices,more than any other state!!! Then and only then did the ADP want us, and we forgivingly moved into the ADP. But of course its leadership remained fully racist and we have been struggling to change that ever since. But racists continued to run for and hold office as Democrats. It never fully changed. That makes it clear why people are still very suspicious of attitudes in the ADP.

Prior to the the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Nixons' Southern Strategy, these people were loyal democrats, then the Democratic Party split along sectional lines in the aftermath and the republicans reached out to the disaffected Southern Democrats, encouraging them to join the GOP. The party did not change the Dixiecrats, the Dixiecrats changed the party.

When Lyndon Johnson signed the 1965 voting Rights Act, he said “there goes the Democratic Party in the South.” How right he was."What ever political party draws it's strength from these people is the party I'm going to work to defeat. " 

Are you with us, or are you with them?

That is the question.

RedEye's RoundUp

No Justice for Indian Grandfather Paralyzed by Alabama Cop, Mistrial Declared Via @TFTPROJECT http://t.co/sIFIjNhuVR pic.twitter.com/WJTS8h27yo

— FilmingCops.com (@FilmingCops) September 14, 2015

EYE haven't  decided what EYE want to write about today, until EYE do,  here is a run down of a few of the issues that caught my EYE. 

Rut Rho!  Governor Bentley's (R. Tuscaloosa)  hometown newspaper is calling on him to make his divorce records public or resign.  

Why, for starters, he lives even his private life in housing that belongs to the state of Alabama. He is provided security by the people of the state even when he's not working. For his term of office, even when he is on vacation, the governor is never really off duty.

There is just one problem with that resigning thingy..... Batsh#t crazy is waiting in the wings. Shudder

Speaking of what looks like Crazy in #SweetHomeAlabama.... Miss Alabama proves why Alabama is #1 in College football....Education not so much.

McGuffin, the reigning Miss Alabama, said Republicans should be "absolutely terrified" that Trump is an 'entertainer' that is taking a lot of attention away from other Republican presidential candidates. 

Yep, republican candidates like Jeb "Brother of Dubya" Bush, Chris "Bridge Gate" Christie. and Carly Fioriona .  Girl Bye.

You won't see this on TV, hear about it on the radio, or read about it in the press because it doesn't involve one them there dark skinned Muslims, but a Breitbart source was arrested for trying to incite a 9-11 Terrorist Attack.  Remember the guy who went after Shaun King, feeding his information to Breitbart? It was this guy:

It's clear conservative are fervently praying for another terrorist attack on US soil they could pin on President Barack Obama and Democrats. It's the only card they have left to play. And now we're seeing one actively help a would-be terrorist build a real bomb, to kill real Americans, in a real American city.

It's the Media. 

One only needs to look at the circus between networks and the GOP party. The unhinged clowns, rabid animals are running the circus, while the ring masters abandoned all decency for lunacy.

EYE report.  You decide. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

EYE want my Liberal Media back.

Can You Say #Hypocrite? #SweetHomeAlabama

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Project much?

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

Sounds like a double standard to me.

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

You think? 

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

EYE report.  YOU decide. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Was the investigation into ASU a diversionary tactic? 

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

Glass house meet rock. 

#ItsTheHypocrisy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Are the worms beginning to turn on each other?

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

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

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

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

#ItsTheHypocrisy 

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

EYE report, You decide.