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.

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. 

Faking the Funk when the Narrative doesn't fit the FACTS

Huntsville superintendent is Big Brother to Teachers (Crowblog) al.com

According to the Huntsville City School superintendent, the school board, the Mayor, the City Council and some of the richest people in the world, via the news media, birds are singing, flowers are blooming and everyone is singing Kumbaya in perfect harmony in regard to the present state of the public school district. district.

Just "tune out"  the shrieking harpies sounding the five-alarm fire alarm.

Don't listen to concerned, frustrated, parents.

Don't listen to angry, longtime, certified,  educators.

Don't listen to concerned, committed, Bloggers.

The board and the political elite are going to be highly resistant to dumping a superintendent they just hired because in all honesty it would put Huntsville in a difficult position PR-wise.

So now we know it's all about Public Relations, projecting the false narrative the  Huntsville City Schools are on their way to back to the status they once enjoyed as the best in the state.

It's not about providing students with equal access to a quality education.

And that's a crying shame.


"I dare to imagine a country where every child I hold in my hands, are all God's children, regardless of the color of their skin, regardless of whether they're boy or girl, regardless of religion, regardless of rich or poor, that every child I hold in my hands, will have the same chance to reach her full potential or his full potential. That is the goodness of our country. That is the essence of the American dream." ~Senator Paul Wellstone

Update~Paging JD Crow, Joey Kennedy and John Archibald!

Birmingham School Board Warts n'All Crowblog al.com

Oh how I wish self described moderately disturbed Press-Register cartoonist J.D. Crow,  Birmingham News Pulitzer Prize winner, editorial writer, columnist and blogger Joey Kennedy  and  metro columnist John Archibald would drive/fly up here to north Alabama and show their sister paper how to report on the superintendent  and the school board.

To be honest, I haven't been keeping up with what's going on within the Birmingham Public School system, I do know the mainstream media covers the school board like white on rice, and, they are not taking their foot out of the behinds of the school board, or the superintendent.

This is the kind of education reporting I wish we had in Huntsville, instead of the lap dog ( yes I said it) education reporting we have.  If it weren't for unpaid blogger Geek Palaver I never would have known there was a call for the superintendent to resign, and the citizens comments deck was stacked against the citizens.

If I relied on reporting from mainstream media as my sole source of information I would believe "the superintendent and board are bringing the schools back to the status they enjoyed as the best in the state."

Compare and contrast coverage of the Birmingham City School Board of Education with the Huntsville City School Board of Education

No problems here.
Everything is just lovely.
Pay your taxes and go back to sleep.
We have everything under control.

Yeah right.

Thomas Jefferson said democracy demands and educated and informed electorate.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." (as cited in Padover, 1939, p. 89)
". . . whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that, whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them right." (as cited in Padover, 1939, p. 88)

The above quotes were the cornerstones of Jefferson's interest in education and the franchise. He placed education as the foundation of democracy and a prerequisite to vote.

I report.  You decide.

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