Balancing the Budget on the Backs of Alabama's Black Belt

Obama, Alabama officials pledge aid for white storm survivors, black storm storm survivors not so much.

If you look closely at the photograph attached to this diary of a VIP group walking with President Obama, I count nine individuals....Two in the front row, three in the middle row and four in the back, one of whom is barely visible as a pair of grey-trousered legs and the corner of a face. Two of them -- counting the President -- are non-white, one more may be.

The proportion of non-white persons in Alabama's population is about 29%, so 22%, or better 33%, persons of color (2 or 3 out of 9) would not be far out of line with the state population.

According to the same source, the proportion of persons in the population of Alabama who happen to be female is almost 52%. Female persons in the VIP group including President Obama: precisely zero.

Band Director Ryan Campbell watched his Sumter Central High School Tigers marching band strut last week on a field outside the gleaming new public high school in Sumter County.

"Where are the white kids?" a visitor asked.

"At the academy down the road," Campbell said, referring to private Sumter Academy.

And this is why Governor Bentley and the red, republican controlled state legislature robbed the public education budget to the tune of $80 million dollars.   This is why public schools (not to be confused with segregation academies) are failing, or should EYE say, being failed? 

If you're thinking of moving to Huntsville, or the State of Alabama I hope you don't have any k-12 school children. If you are not affluent enough to live in a neighborhood with the best public schools your tax dollars can buy, or afford to send your student to private schools, your children are tough out of luck, because of the sad, sorry state of separate and unequal education in Huntsville, and the state of Alabama. Over 50 years after Brown v. Board ordered schools to integrate Alabama is still the state of segregation today, segregation tomorrow, and it looks like segregation forever.

Officially, the news out of Alabama is this:

Alabama's Republican-controlled legislature and governor's office are committed to cutting the state's budget and the size of state government. That means the state will slice into the money available to a number of public agencies. And the Department of Public Safety, which includes the state's offices that issue driver's licenses, will simply have to take an $11 million hit. To make that math work, the agency will shutter driver's license offices in the state's most sparsely populated counties.

B-But it's not racial, it's just a coincidence the DMV offices slated for closing are in the Black Belt.  If it was really about saving money Governor Bentley would expand Medicaid.  But if he did that people who need access to health care the most might benefit.

Alabama’s Seventh Congressional District in the center of the state. It includes a region called the Black Belt, which has some of the poorest counties in the Southeast and the nation.

A recent national study on county-by-county health rankings published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that several counties in Davis’ district had high poverty, inadequate access to primary care doctors and a large numbers of uninsured residents.

Sumter, Hale and Greene counties had less than half the number of doctors recommended for their size populations, and 13 percent to 16 percent of the residents were uninsured, the survey showed.

Saving money my Donkey.  If it were about saving money they wouldn't be appealing  the Victory Land verdict.  Heck, they wouldn't have closed Victory Land in the first place.

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. We all wish that overwhelmingly black Greene and Macon Counties had bulldozers clearing land for new automotive and electronics plants, or for high-powered biology labs or computer engineering firms, but that’s the progress of the next generation. Right now, those counties are absolutely dependent on the entertainment and gaming business for their economic survival, and Obama’s what-me-worry attitude about Canary has placed that survival in jeopardy. Even in the white-majority Wiregrass, it’s probably safe to assume that Country Crossing employed a fair number of African-Americans in its service sector jobs. Had Bob Riley needed to worry about a U.S. Attorney with integrity in Montgomery, he would likely not have earned his Mississippi Choctaw bribes by shutting down the bingo halls, and the Legislature would probably have put a bingo referendum on this November’s ballot.

This is why EYE weep for the residents of Alabama's Black Belt, our state, and our country.

You’re either going to treat us right, or we’re going to withdraw from you our economic support,We intend to boycott Christmas, but not Jesus,”said Farrakhan. “So on Black Friday, we won’t be there.”‪#‎JusticeOrElse‬ #NotOneDime

#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. 

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. 

Legal Schnauzer: Macon County Residents File Federal Lawsuit Alleging Voting Rights Violations From Bingo Raids

Legal Schnauzer: Macon County Residents File Federal Lawsuit Alleging Voting Rights Violations From Bingo Raids

The Macon County lawsuit shines new light on racism in high places--and the Alabama mainstream press clearly wants no part of telling that story. ~Legal Schnauzer

Nope, the "Alabama mainstream press", and I use that term lightly,  wants no part of telling that story, because they are too busy reporting on the democratic cat, I mean, infighting while providing a weapon of mass distraction for the AL GOP.

While democrats, and I use the term loosely,  were distracted and wasting time forming an anti Joe Reed and his bunch organization the AL GOP was hard at work.

Republicans approved a bill that would require drug testing of welfare recipients.

Republicans killed the workers compensation overhaul law.

Republicans approved a bill that specifies existing private school students are eligible for tax credits

Republican senate committee cut the size of teacher pay cuts.

Congress held a hearing about long term unemployment and one Congress Critter showed up.

President Barack Obama nominated former Alabama attorney general and current U.S. circuit judge Bill Pryor to be a commissioner on the U.S. Sentencing Commission.


 This is what happens when democrats take their eyes off the prize.

What Nancy Worley said all the damn way!

Worley said in a phone interview Monday it was unfortunate that Kennedy decided to resign and “take his toys and go home,” but she feels that people will return to the Alabama Democratic Party as they see the policies of the Republican supermajority in the Legislature “taking care of the rich” and how those decisions affect them.
“We’re looking at a golden opportunity in the upcoming election in 2014, because quite frankly the Republicans have so many negative situations they have created for the state that I think people are going to feel the pinch in their pocketbook and they’re going to vote Democratic, like they once did,” she said.

A house divided will not stand.  

"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!

Edit~RedEye's Week in Review~Trayvon Martin Edition

33 Days and Counting

"Would you, would fellow African American Congress members care as much if Trayvon were white?"  When I heard Brooke Baldwin ask Representative Corrine Brown (D. FL) this question I had to check my TeeVee to see If I had accidentally tuned in to Fox News. Shudder

These are The Things White People Say about the Trayvon Martin case, in an attempt to marginalize and minimize legitimate complaints.  In other words, it'a cop out, a weapon of mass distraction.

Psst Brooke!  We care about all crime, we express outrage and work for justice in our community everyday, the problem is y'all don't hear us because that's not considered news worthy.  We are not as depraved as they would have you believe.  It's the media.

This is proof Attorney General Eric Holder was right (no pun), America is a nation of cowards about race.  At the time there were some who thought he was putting us down, but there were others who understood  he was asking us to have courage.  Maybe if we had done that, Trayvon Martin, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Kenneth Chamberlin,  Rekia Boyd and countless others would be alive today.

If a video and an eyewitness is not enough  to arrest George Zimmerman, and the fact their case is falling apart , I don't know what is.  I wish I could say I had faith in our justice system, but I just can't.  Maybe if there were investigating a gambling bingo bill and corruption......

Today's Must Reads
Trayvon Martin, Troy Davis and the 2012 Election

Excerpt

On the other hand, in the interest of making some whites feel better about themselves, the hacks at CNN sought out the tiny and deceptively named “New Black Panther Party” which seems to exist purely to be called upon by the likes of Sean Hannity and Anderson Cooper when they need a comic black racist bogeyman. The NBPP dutifully rendered its standard performance, complete with scowling and on-camera chest-thumping about bounties and “citizens arrests.”

Don't Let Them Fool You, Keep Fighting for Justice! 
Excerpt

As Bob Marley said, don't let them fool you. Don't let those those punk police fool you. Don't let uncle toms like Rev. Bryant sidetrack you. Don't let those buffoons masquerading as Black Panthers or anyone else trick you into doing something crazy. Keep marching, keep petitioning, keep speaking out, keep blogging until we get justice for Trayvon!

Let us march on until victory is won.

B-I-N-G-O Q&A

You know, I'm really beginning to resent being banned from Left in Alabama, because Legal Contributor, and resident republican, Old Prosecutor posed a variety of questions related to the acquittal of all the defendents  in the infamous Alabama Bingo Trial  I would love to answer on the pages of Left in Alabama.  But since I'm one of three people in America not allowed to post at LIA,  this forum will have to do.

Although I am not welcome in the LiA kitty, I mean sand box, LiA readers are more than welcome to respond here.  Choices can open a mind, a dialogue.

Q.  "Why did the Feds jump so quick in this matter"?    


A.  Because the Feds were after people, not crimes.

Q.  "When does politics as usual cross into being a crime?" 


A.  When the Feds go after people not crimes.

Q. " Why would a democratic Attorney General approve this"?


A.  Because of Alabama's two republican United States Senators.

Q.  "Can't we drop this tar-baby of a case, so we will put on a minimum case so we can get back Washington?"

A.Remember,  the jury in the first trial was deadlocked. Prosecutors were granted a retrial.


Q.  "Scott Beason-how dumb is this guy?"

A.  Dumb enough to make a racial slur for everybody to hear.

3 Black Alabama Legislators Defend Racism, After They Opposed Racism

Sigh.  Poor Alabama State Senator Scott Beason (racist, Gardendale).  In a pathetic attempt to defend himself against allegations of racism, three House Negroes  are defending the indefensible.  The only problem is,  two of the three black legislators are on VIDEO speaking at a press conference in OPPOSITION to Scott Beason. Ooops!  h/t CM

 This situation is proof White people fail to see how racism harms white people, as well as black people.  Instead of accepting responsibility for his  words and actions, Beason resorts to the Plantation Mentality and finds 3 black people to defend him against his own words and his own actions. What gets me is they honestly believe they are credible, and we the people are stoopid.

Judge Myron Thompson said Scott Beasons' motives were racially and politically motivated for becoming a whistler blower in the alleged vote-buying scheme to pass pro-gambling legislation in Alabama.  Key word, motives.  What Scott Beason said was racist.  I don't care how many black legislators come forward to defend him.  Watch how to tell people they sound racist.

I don't care what Scott Beason IS, I care about what Scott Beason DID.

Today's Must Read

5 Right Wing Governors Gutting Schools to Fund Prisons, Tax Breaks for the Rich...and a Bible Theme Park.  Yes, Alabama made the list.

Stupid is as Stupid does Bama Style

With all the pressing issues facing Alabamians,  State Representative Alvin Holmes, who I usually admire and agree ,  is seeking a ban on sagging pants.  Why?

Psst Rep. Holmes!  What part of you can't legislate personal behavior don't you understand?  If you don't like sagging pants, don't wear sagging pants.   It's like telling a woman she can't choose to have an abortion.  It's like telling gay people they can't serve in the military.  It''s like telling women they can't wear pants to work.  It's like telling grown people they can't gamble  in their own state with their own damn money.  It's like telling Michelle Obama she can't show her arms.  It's like telling someone you can't drink alcohol on Sunday.  You get my drift?

The Declaration of Independence declares We the People are entitled to Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  If wearing sagging pants makes someone happy, so be it.  If they can't get a job because their pants are sagging that's on them.  If they can't run from danger because their pants fall down around their knees and trip them up, that's on them.  If an airline won't let them  board the plane with sagging pants, that's on them.  You feel me?

How about passing some J-O-B-S legislation?

How about repealing the Alabama immigration bill?

How about repealing the Alabama voter ID law?

If your anti sagging bill passes how are they going to pay the fine with no J-O-B?  They will end up in the all ready over crowed jails ,  where the sagging pants culture begin, with the other non violent offenders.

Maybe if they had a J-O-B and a future they wouldn't wear sagging pants.

It's not about sagging pants.  Where are the J-O-B-S?

Trick or Treat?

Hide your kids, hide your wife! Herman Cain has some splannin to do.

During Herman Cain’s tenure as the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, at least two female employees complained to colleagues and senior association officials about inappropriate behavior by Cain, ultimately leaving their jobs at the trade group, multiple sources confirm to POLITICO.

The women complained of sexually suggestive behavior by Cain that made them angry and uncomfortable, the sources said, and they signed agreements with the restaurant group that gave them financial payouts to leave the association. The agreements also included language that bars the women from talking about their departures.

And how does Cain's camp respond? By whining of course. Clarence Thomas is that you?

Peter Kilgore, who was the National Restaurant Association’s general counsel when Cain led the group from late 1996 to mid-1999, and remains in that position today, declined comment, saying he cannot discuss personnel matters, Politico reported.

“Inside-the-Beltway media have begun to launch unsubstantiated personal attacks on Cain,” spokesman J.D. Gordon said in a written statement to the AP. “Dredging up thinly sourced allegations stemming from Mr. Cain’s tenure as the chief executive officer at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, political trade press are now casting aspersions on his character and spreading rumors that never stood up to the facts.”

Asked if Cain’s campaign was denying the report, Gordon said, “Yes.”

“These are baseless allegations,” Gordon said in a second AP interview later Sunday evening. “To my knowledge, this is not an accurate story.”

It looks like the gop front runner has all kind of tricks (no pun) up his sleeve. Yep, it's turning into a scary Halloween for the Cain Campaign. Snicker

Long before Herman Cain chief of staff Mark Block was appearing in the most mocked campaign ad of the presidential campaign so far, he and deputy chief of staff Linda Hansen started a Wisconsin corporation that the Journal Sentinel reports illegally helped the GOP presidential candidate get his campaign off the ground.

According to sources and documents obtained by the newspaper, Prosperity USA, founded by Block and Hansen, footed the bill “for tens of thousands of dollars in expenses for such items as iPads, chartered flights and travel to Iowa and Las Vegas - something that might breach federal tax and campaign law.”

Can you say The Cain gop Train is off the tracks? You Betcha!

The GOP failing miserably at its gamble to "fight fire with fire," being left to wonder how come they couldn't at least split the black vote with Cain as a candidate. "Gee, I thought those blacks always supported blacks no matter what." (And for further evidence to the contrary, see Artur Davis.)

Either way, even with Mittens being pushed onto the stage while Cain gets yanked offstage with a shepherd's crook, the GOP still stands a huge chance of losing in 2012. I think I need another refill of this here popcorn...

What's that you say? There is a Scam in the Alabama State House? I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you! NOT. Scams are OK in the State House if you are a republican. Snark

House Speaker Mike Hubbard (R-Auburn) made news recently with reports that he plans to write a book called Storm in the State House, about the Republican Party's 2010 takeover of the Alabama Legislature.

A follow up report, from Bob Martin of The Montgomery Independent, indicates Hubbard might want to change the name of his tome. Scam in the State House probably would be a more appropriate title.

If Hubbard's ethics looked shaky in the initial article, they look positively Nixonian in the followup.

I wish I could say I was surprised by the response to MY post, expressing MY opinion, on MY own damn blog, from the ATTACK MACHINE regarding Hampton Cove Elementary Principal Fillis McGhee, but I'm not. This is who they are and this is what they do to defend and protect the status quo from some teachers, administrators and parents.

I'm waiting on the ATTACK MACHINE to ATTACK THIS

In five months, Dr. Wardynski recommended spending just shy of one million dollars on programs supported by The Broad Foundation.
That’s not bad for a five month tenure, is it? While it’s not clear how much The Broad Foundation has spent “training” Dr. Wardynski, if the “training” for Teach for America is any indication, it’s likely in the $20,000 range. In exchange for this investment, Dr. Wardynski has already returned $410,000 in five months. In all likelihood at some point in November the rubber stamp board will approve spending $550,000 for Teach for America to hire 110 teachers who haven’t been trained to teach.

New Rules

I invite anyone who wishes to comment on this blog to do so. I enjoy the comments, whether you agree with what I have said or not. But some people want to abuse the right to comment, and since this is my blog, I have decided to lay down the following rules.
1. Any comments that includes name calling, personal attacks or insults will be deleted. Attack the issue not the person. Tolerant people can agree to disagree without being disagreeable.

2. Any comments by anonymous, different anonymous etc. will be deleted.

3. Any comments that include the educated black man Walter Williams quote will be deleted.

4. Any comments not on topic will be deleted.

Happy Haunting!

Redeye's Saturday Must Reads and Open Thread

Of course the people who need to read Crying Racism won't, but those who want to be enlightened will.

Crying racism is the idea among white Americans that blacks see racism in every little thing, that they are looking for cases of racism. The phrase is supposed to remind you of the story of the boy who cried wolf. Blacks are seen as “whining”, as being “oversensitive”, as “having a chip on their shoulders”, as “blowing things out of proportion”, as “playing the race card”.

Did you know a historic black town in Alabama is in peril?

The cafes, the school and the roller rink are long gone from Alabama’s oldest black city. Empty homes and businesses line the narrow streets.

Hobson City no longer has a police or fire department, and weeds have overgrown the oldest part of the cemetery and a park in this small town that once thrived as a rarity: a place where black people were in charge in the midst of the Jim Crow South.

Alabama State Senator Scott Beason may not have done anything illegal or anything that would specifically disqualify him from office, but his actions certainly disqualify him from being in charge of the rules committee.

This weak (pun intended) in LynchGate (pun intended)

Senator Barry Mask testified. The most significant thing was a tape recording of a phone conversation between Mask and McGregor in which McGregor said he would support Mask if Mask supported the Sweet Home Alabama Bill (SB 380). The significance of this is the tie between the support and a specific vote.

If this is significant every elected official in the country should be on trial. I mean, really. For those who don't know, BingoGate is really about the republicans trying to put all the democrats in jail.

Mask testified that lobbyist Bob Geddie, who has McGregor as one of his clients and also is a defendant in this case, showed up at a fundraiser he had that night with two checks for $2,500.

Mask said his response to seeing the checks was "Oh crap," and he called the FBI. Agents advised him to set up a separate account, where he deposited the checks. He said he has not spent that money.

Defense lawyers indicated this morning that they intend to put Mask through an aggressive cross-examination questioning his motives for going to the FBI.
Defense lawyers want to question Mask about comments he made referring to Greene County, where Greenetrack is located, as a third-world country.

They also want to question him on a referral fee he gets from a lobbyist who also represents McGregor's competitors, the Poarch Creek Indians, and Mask's support of a tax that defense lawyers said would benefit his employer at an economic development authority.

Oh crap is right (pun intended).

Random Acts of Fear and Loathing in America

"Well, there's a certain mean spiritness that's out there, not only in Alabama but it's in America. And that makes this election extremely important." ~Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders
Can you hear him now?

Remember when Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders said in a robo call to democratic voters he was voting for Ron Sparks for Alabama's Governor because he didn't want to return to the days of slavery and Jim Crow ?

Remember how the righty's, as they are wont to do, took his words literally instead of metaphorically and accused him of being a racist, race baiting, fear monger,Dinosaur with no sense of shame or decency, blah blah blab blab?

Here is another blast from the past

Barack Obama deserves credit for turning the country in a more positive direction following the disastrous George W. Bush presidency. Obama has taken steps forward in several key areas--economic recovery, health-care reform, and financial regulation.

But the Obama record, so far, has not been nearly as strong as it could have been. And based on three major news stories from the past two weeks, we are starting to think there is a fundamental reason for that: The Obama administration is terrified of white people.

This fear, in our view, has nothing to do with the fact that Obama is our first black president. Rather, we suspect it has to do with the fact that Obama is a centrist Democrat. And it seems "centrist Democrat" is simply a fancy term for a liberal who is afraid of white people.

The past is prologue

The last time thousands of progressive activists and left-leaning bloggers came together for their annual Netroots Nation conference, Democrats controlled Washington. Much of the focus was on pushing the party -- and President Obama -- further to the left, to stand up for things like the public option, an end to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the value of government spending to fix the economy.

A year later, with the Republicans firmly in control of the House and the 2012 presidential cycle underway, the focus is expected to be much the same. Except there's an expediency: The only way Democrats are going to win back what they lost and keep what they have, organizers and participants in this year's conference say, is to get closer to their progressive roots.

It's only going to get worse

Republicans intend to scare white people so much they'll check their brains at the door to the voting booth -- just forget everything else and vote your race.

Case in point, check out the governments star witness in Lynch Gate

Scott Beason, State Senator – Alabama

It’s one thing to propose Arizona-style legislation. But to actually call for violence against undocumented immigrants is despicable. State Senator Scott Beason has done both. On February 5, 2011, Beason gave a speech on immigration. According to an article in The Cullman Times, Beason said, that “the reality is that if you allow illegal immigration to continue in your area you will destroy yourself eventually.” As The Cullman Times reported, “Beason ended his speech by advising Republicans to ‘empty the clip, and do what has to be done.’”

The gop cuts assistance to low income women, aid for pregnant women and children, food aide for Seniors, while spending $17 billion for defense.

Some times it's not paranoia...they are genuinely after you:

C.I.A. official says that officials in the Bush White House sought damaging personal information on a prominent American critic of the Iraq war in order to discredit him.

What if Liberal Talk Radio were urging listeners to shoot people?

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was released from the hospital yesterday, 5 months after a disturbed guy with a gun shot her in the head at a Congress on Your Corner event. The man, equipped with an oversized, 33 bullet clip, killed six people and wounded twelve others at the same event.

On Tuesday, just one day before Rep. Giffords got out of the hospital, conservative talk show host Neal Boortz urged his listeners to get a gun and use it.

And we got too damn many urban thugs, yo, ruining the quality of life for everybody. And I'll tell you what it's gonna take. You people, you are - you need to have a gun. You need to have training. You need to know how to use that gun. You need to get a permit to carry that gun. And you do in fact need to carry that gun and we need to see some dead thugs littering the landscape in Atlanta. We need to see the next guy that tries to carjack you shot dead right where he stands. We need more dead thugs in this city.

Divide and Conquer

Back in the mid-Nineties, devious right-wing activists at the Bradley Foundation, in Milwaukee, hit upon a “wedge” issue designed to wreck the alliance at the core of the Democratic Party’s urban base. Blacks and public employee unions – particularly teachers – were the foundations of Democratic power in the cities. Aware that African Americans revered education but were often in conflict with largely white teachers unions over issues of racism and community control, the Bradley gang, under president Michael Joyce, created out of whole cloth a “movement” for publicly-funded vouchers for private schools. No such Black community “demand” had ever existed, but well-aimed infusions of millions of dollars among opportunistic politicians like Cory Booker, a first term city councilman who aspired to become mayor of Newark, New Jersey, grafted Black faces onto a Hard Right corporate scheme to divide key progressive constituencies: Blacks and unions.

For every time there is a season

There is not a political solution to our miserable legislature and our disgusting governor. There is not a political solution to our embarrassing and horrific new anti-immigrant legislation. It is now the time for lawyers and activists. Politics can be fun, great sport for sure and entertaining conversation with like minded strategists. But we are now in the struggle of a lifetime and I ask you, will you look back and know you did your best? Will you be able to say that you stood up for what was right when all around you there were those who allowed hatred and ignorance to reign in our elected officials and constituents? Are you outraged enough to do something? I suggest that if you are still playing politics and not becoming and activist then you are missing out on a rewarding and meaningful chance to experience being part of a cause that will give you "peace that passeth understanding". Doing the right thing has that affect upon ourselves and others.

Start candlelight vigils. Attend marches and protests. Go out of your way to become friends with the Spanish speaking people you encounter in your every day life. Educate yourself. Post on face book. Join and be involved with the ACLU. I know some clergy members who are planning to be arrested in this struggle. Are you? Are you willing to help those without power? We are not all called to the same activities, but I believe we are all called to stand up and do the right thing.

Note to melmel, I agree it is important that we all have a place to tell our stories of activism, however LIA is a great place for the chosen to share. My outrage and my activism is what got my Ebony Donkey banned and booted from the front pages. And yes, I'm still whining about it.

How many members of Congress does Huntsville need?

Congresswoman Terri Sewell is Huntsville's New BFF, Greene, Choctaw, Sumter, Marengo, Dallas, Wilcox, Perry and Hale, Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, Clarke, and Pickens counties, not so much.

After attending a fundraiser hosted for and by the democratic elite(aka deep pockets)Representative Sewell *ahem* toured Huntsville and promised support for defense contractors.

Mayor Battle says Congresswoman Terri Sewell is Huntsville's new best friend because of her commitment to keeping NASA and Huntsville in the forefront in Washington.

That's nice, but what is she doing to help the people in her district? You know, the people who don't have deep pockets and government contracts? To para quote Janet Jackson, what has she done for them lately? According to my sources, not much.

Is Sewell signaling she will vote with the republicans (Mo Brooks included) and against her fellow Harvard Law Alums' proposed defense cuts to reduce the deficit without hurting the middle class and the poor?

President Obama entered the debate about the national debt on Wednesday after months on the sidelines, offering a plan to trim borrowing by $4 trillion over the next 12 years by combining deep cuts in military and domestic spending with higher taxes on the wealthy.

In a stinging rebuke to Republican budget-cutters, Obama acknowledged that the debt must be tackled faster than he has previously proposed, but he rejected GOP calls to make fundamental changes to Medicare and Medicaid and to scale back his initiative to expand health-care coverage to the uninsured.

So, Alabama's top Democrat is all over the Huntsville media market and not one word about WienerGate, The Bingo Lynching, the recent passage of the mean spirited, racist illegal immigration law, or the assault on women's reproductive freedoms.

The power of the press.

Update! Where in the world is Congress Critter elect Terri Sewell?

For real,other than announcing her out of district/out of state hiring of her Chief of Staff, the location of her office in Washington D.C., being elected regional whip, supporting Nancy Pelosi for House minority leader, and participating in the Christmas parade in Selma,AL we haven't heard a peep from Little Miss Sewell.

The Birmingham News *cough cough* tries to make us feel sorry for her because she's taking a *cough* pay cut to go to Congress and describes her modest wealth. I guess it depends on what the definition of modest wealth and a pay cut IS. I sure wish I had this kind of modest wealth. I'll bet her constituents which they had half of this kind of modest wealth.

Rep.-elect Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, will take a sizable pay cut when she is sworn into office in January. She is a bond lawyer with the Maynard Cooper and Gale law firm in Birmingham, and earned $285,000 there in 2008, her last full year of employment with the firm.
Sewell took a leave of absence in 2009 to run for Congress, where she'll be paid $174,000 a year. In November, after winning the 7th District seat being vacated by Rep. Artur Davis, Sewell returned to the law firm to transition her clients to other lawyers.

Her personal financial disclosure also lists her clients, all of whom paid her at least $5,000 for her work on bond issues and financing deals. They include Alabama State University, Tuskegee University, Lowndes County Board of Education, the city of Gadsden, Dallas County Water Authority, Alabama Department of Post secondary Education and several other public institutions from around the state.

Sewell also owns several 401k accounts and IRAs, and all dividends and interest are reinvested. She owns stock in three companies: Cisco Systems Inc. and General Electric Co., each worth between $1,000 and $15,000, and Coach Inc., worth between $50,000 and $100,000. Disclosure forms provide a range of dollar values, not exact amounts.

Sewell last year sold a Florida beach house that was valued between $250,000 and $500,000. She now lists a mortgage on a home in Seacrest Beach, Fla., for between $500,000 and $1 million.

Her personal financial disclosure form was filed in August 2009.

As a matter of fact we are getting more *ahem* advice from her predecessor than we are from the new head of the Alabama Democratic Party. Seems like she would have something to say about the new gop house rules paving the way for more deficit spending, or about the Alabama gop legislature instituting lobbying reform amid the Bingo scandal. Surely the first African American female elected to Congress from the heart of the Black Belt has something to say about the red, republican Alabama Senate Health Care opt out vote breaking down on along racial lines.

Oh well, maybe she's on a much deserved vacation in Florida or something. :)

Standing for Truth, Justice and the American Way

I would like to extend a warm welcome to readers from GrannyStandingforTruth and The Legal Schnauzer. I am humbled and honored to be a member of your blog roll. Let us march on until victory is won.

It's time to be Bold.

the reality is that Democrats lost not because they went too far but because they haven't gone far enough. A big part of why Democrats lost Tuesday is that they haven't accomplished enough to energize and motivate all of the new voters that came out in massive numbers for them in 2008 -- groups like African Americans, Latinos and young people. While many of these groups still strongly support Democrats when polled, it's clear that they did not vote or volunteer for Democratic campaigns in the same numbers or with the same enthusiasm seen in 2008.

Here we go. They are already hoping to get rid of them daggum gerrymandered minority (black folks) voting districts.

But I am in favor of redistricting in Alabama. I hope that the redistricting will abolish long held minority majority voting blocks. Most of you are wondering "What the HECK?!?!?!" Here is why:

Propping up minority majority voting blocks or districts are enabling the continued subjugation of one party or another, based soley on RACE, not political preference. While this practice may benefit the scale of minority representation by ensuring a black candidates electability, it also serves to de-value the voting blocks power of prescence. It is no big secret, those "safe Dem districts" do not recieve party wide attention or power, as they are not seen as a potential threat of losing them. In simple terms, "Why give concessions or put emphasis to district 7 funding if it is going to be a safe Dem vote no matter what?"

The continuation of minority majority voting blocks also acts to dumb down the political integrity of the voters contained within. If all they (we) know is to vote how we are told to vote, then the individual candidates qualifications and relation to voter means nothing. In simple terms, voters in minority majority blocks were told, "Vote for Sparks, not Davis". I do not believe voters in the minority majority districts even questioned "why?", but went along with it just because it is the way it has been done forever. And most certainly, the better candidate for Governor might not have seen his chance at becoming elected.

Minority Majority blocks are not only taken for granted, but they are used and abused as a tool for marginalization. If the powers to be say, "we support gambling", then it is certain that the minority majority blocks will support gambling, "just because".

On top of that, I do not think that successful and qualified black candidates will have any problem at all gaining nomination nowadays. The old arguement for minority majority districts was that they were needed to ensure black represenation of interest. For a long time, it was necessarily practiced and gave a positive result. However, with the softening of racial factors in society and the advancement of professional class of African Americans, the practice of developing minority majority voting blocks is no longer needed and only provides to hinder the integrity of the African American vote.

This is an honest opinion, and one I hold to be very true.

Well it may be an honest opinion, but the rhetoric is very untrue. Let's go back to
WHY there are minority voting districts in the first place. It certainly was not tell them black dummy's how to vote.

Prior to the Civil War, African Americans were almost totally disenfranchised throughout the states. Latino voters faced similar barriers to voting in Texas and other parts of the Southwest., as did Native American and Asian American voters in the West. Even after enactment of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, in 1870, which gave all men, regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude the right to vote, many states continued to use various methods to prevent people of color from voting, including literacy tests, poll taxes, the disenfranchisement of former inmates, intimidation, threats, and even violence. Also, until 1965, federal laws did not challenge the authority of states and localities to establish and administer their own voting requirements.

The VRA
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was designed to address these issues. It prohibits discrimination based on race, and requires certain jurisdictions to provide bilingual assistance to language minority voters. Section 2 of the Act, which bars the use of voting practices or procedures that discriminate against minority voters, has been used successfully to attack discrimination in voting including restrictive voter registration requirements, districting plans that dilute minority voting strength, discriminatory annexations, and the location of polling places at sites inaccessible to minority voters.

Section 5 of the Act requires federal "preclearance" before covered jurisdictions (i.e., specified jurisdictions with a history of practices that restrict minority voting rights) may make changes in existing voting practices or procedures. The Act also provides the Department of Justice with the authority to appoint federal observers and examiners to monitor elections to ensure that they are conducted fairly. Initial enforcement efforts targeted, among other things, literacy tests, poll taxes, and discriminatory registration practices.

In 1975, the Voting Rights Act was amended to address the voting rights of language minority groups. Sections 4 and 203 of the Act apply in jurisdictions with significant numbers of voters with limited or no English proficiency and require such jurisdictions to provide voting materials and assistance in relevant languages in addition to English.

You said; On top of that, I do not think that successful and qualified black candidates will have any problem at all gaining nomination nowadays.

Translation; I do not think that a successful and qualifed black candidate will have any problem at all gaining nomination nowadays as long as he's acceptable to the white majority. White privilege and power on display.

It must be remembered that the white group of laborers, while they received a low wage, were compensated in part by a sort of public and psychological wage. They were given public deference and titles of courtesy because they were white. They were admitted freely with all classes of white people to public functions, public parks, and the best schools. The police were drawn from their ranks, and the courts, dependent on their votes, treated them with such leniency as to encourage lawlessness. Their vote selected public officials, and while this had small effect upon the economic situation, it had great effect upon their personal treatment and the deference shown them. White schoolhouses were the best in the community, and conspicuously placed, and they cost anywhere from twice to ten times as much per capita as the colored schools. The newspapers specialized on news that flattered the poor whites and almost utterly ignored the Negro except in crime and ridicule.

You know that gridlock thingy worked well for the gop, so let's pray for gridlock.

Let us pray (figuratively or literally) for gridlock, because all else is disaster. The best outcome that could result from Tuesday’s Democratic debacle is that the Republicans overreach and, in their white nationalist triumphalism, make it impossible for President Obama and congressional Democrats to reach an accommodation with rampaging reaction and racism.

The phony racial narrative of 2008 has been undone with the abrupt termination of the Age of Obama. After two short years, the illusion of a post-racial society has gone the way of all mirages – poof! – and we are forced to behold the United States as it actually exists.

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