Update: The double standard on environmental racism and justice in black and white in #SweetHomeAlabama

Then State Representative Oliver Robinson also argued against the listing before the Alabama Environmental Management Commission. It was also opposed by the Jefferson County Commission. The site has not been not added to the National Priorities List.

Meet Oliver Robinson, who was once one of the most decorated basketball players in UAB history, but now is a toxic waste of talent.

Former Alabama state Rep. Oliver Robinson had it going on. He was a basketball star at UAB, and his political star had been rising in the Alabama Legislature where he served for 18 years until he suddenly resigned last year.
Robinson was a rarity in red-state Alabama politics - a Democrat with power. On the other hand, it turns out he was just another in a long line of crooked Alabama politicians.

 And therein lies the problem, Democrats, especially black Democrats are more likely to be prosecuted for conspiracy, bribery, and fraud than Republicans in Alabama.  But EYE digress.  Back to Oliver Robinson

Robinson pleaded guilty, it was announced on Thursday by the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, to fraud, conspiracy, bribery and tax evasion charges. It was also announced that Robinson is actively working with the FBI, IRS and other agencies to build cases on other conspirators.
All of this stems from Robinson’s involvement, as a representative from Birmingham, in the North Birmingham Superfund Site (officially tabbed the 35thAvenue Superfund by the EPA).
That site, located in the area of Birmingham where steel mills operated for decades, is an environmental mess. Testing has found toxins in neighborhoods to be so high that the top layers of soil have been removed from hundreds of yards, businesses and school grounds. There’s pollution in the waterways and in the air, as well.

So all of a sudden the powers that be care about environmental racism?

Per the white male dominated media

His campaign implored residents in Inglenook and Tarrant not to allow the EPA to test their soil for poisons -- the same soil some of them use to garden in, the same dirt some of their children play in.

And as it turns out, Robinson wasn't pushing back against the EPA because he had strong feelings about federal encroachment or neighborhood property values. He did it because he was getting paid.
He was being paid to tell mostly poor residents, some of them in his own district, that their neighborhoods were safe places to live, when he should have had every reason to know that wasn't true.

 And why is Oliver Robinson the poster boy?

He is going to jail because be spent at least a quarter of a million dollars on personal items rather utilizing the money for the purposes for which it was solicited from corporations--to publish a magazine touting African-American businesses, organize a conference bringing African-American entrepreneurs together with business and political leaders, or produce an event celebrating black achievement.
He is going to jail because he spent campaign funds on personal items, like whatever he bought for whomever at Victoria's Secret for $400 in February 2014.

Really?  Or is he going to jail because he is a powerful African American Democrat?

Civil rights activist Angela Yvonne Davis will speak in Birmingham next week, but for some in Alabama, the Birmingham native might not be welcome.
Two weeks ago, the Alabama Legislature passed a feel-good resolution, sponsored by Rep. Oliver Robinson, D-Birmingham, honoring Davis. However, Gov. Robert Bentley refused to sign it.

Is this about environmental racism or about sending a message to powerful African American Democrats?

It's like Langford himself is pitching this thing. 

Free money! Free money! Refinance now and we can spend $65 million in "profits" on schools and mass transit and the zoo and all those things we haven't been able to spend it on because too many corrupt politicians made too many bad bond deals.
If we remember anything from those days, it's that there much (sic) be a catch.

 And there is. Because in the bill Robinson is expected to sponsor, there will be money left over. Left over, that is, for politicians to steer to their own pet projects or to bolster their own campaigns.

The bill would create a committee to oversee distribution of the cash, but legislators would pick the members and would still suggest how it is spent. It is pass-through pork. Period. And don't forget it. 

Just like former Jefferson County Commission Jeff Germany used. Before it sent him to prison. 

Just like Sen. EB McClain used. Before it sent him to prison. 

In 2004 the county, led by Langford, passed a 1 cent sales tax for a $1 billion bond issue to help schools. He was more interested in the bond deal and political points than the schools. But he rammed it through. Before he went to prison.

EYE suspect the later

Despite being a Democrat in a Republican-controlled Legislature, he held considerable power before he resigned. He had seats on the House Rules Committee, the House Financial Services Committee, and served as co-chair of the Jefferson County delegation.
The foundation later paid Robinson's daughter, Amanda, who actively sought to discourage poor north Birmingham and Tarrant residents from testing their property for pollutants.
Robinson's daughter has not been charged related to the federal investigation.

EYE report.  You decide.

From the files of It's okay if you are a republican in #SweetHomeAlabama

So much hypocrisy so little time

EYE am sure everyone is aware by now Governor Robert Bentley, EYE mean Ex-Governor Bentley negotiated a plea deal that required him to resign while dropping four possible felony counts to two misdemeanors. 

If Team Bentley had been required to turn over responsive e-mails, text messages, phone records, and financial records, how many GOP big-hitters might have been implicated? Our guess is "a lot." And that might have been the No. 1 driver behind the quick plea deal.
This much is certain: No deal should even have been considered until Bentley and his office had turned over all of the documents sought by the House Special Counsel -- and all individuals sought for interviews had testified under oath. I rarely agree with al.com on anything, but their editorial on the matter was right on target:

Bentley pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges. But the stakes are too high for the pursuit of justice to stop here. This impeachment investigative report creates as many questions as it does answers.
It implicates many people in Montgomery beyond the governor. At times, it seems like everybody knew everything but nobody did anything.
Allegations were made in the report that many surrounding Bentley were complicit in the cover up.
They too should be held accountable for their actions. We know from the commission report Bentley, Mason and others refused to cooperate with the investigation. Subsequently, we still do not know the extent to which their alleged actions constitute criminal behavior. What more would we learn from their private messages and emails?

And then there is THIS: 

Birmingham attorney Eric L. Welch Guster, a legal analyst on cable news shows, was on the same page. Here is Guster, from Facebook:

LAW, POLITICAL PARTIES and RACE -- ALABAMA STYLE: Bentley got probation and his side piece got protected. That's how this works and has been this way for generations.
The GOP protected their own even in the face of sex, thievery, lies & nationwide embarrassment. Robert Bentley will remain free WITH A MISDEMEANOR while other politicians similarly situated received prison sentences and NEVER had an offer of probation. There was enough evidence on Bentley that a 13-year-old could take this case to trial and win. There was no need for a plea, except to protect him and his beloved boo-thang.
They claim justice is blind but we know better. It sees color, political party affiliation and the ties that bind them all together.
I am done with this foolery.

EYE am done with it too.   

So let's compare the case of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman (D. Mobile), who is currently serving hard time in a federal prison in Louisiana because he was too liberal for Alabama, EYE mean, appointed a campaign contributor to a board.

The central charge against Siegelman, a Democrat elected in a heavily Republican state, boils down to this. As governor, Siegelman was looking to promote an election on whether or not the state should create a lottery. One generous contributor to the special lottery campaign fund was Richard Scrushy, the high-flying CEO of HealthSouth who wished to be appointed to a state hospital board. Bush-appointed federal prosecutors claimed Scrushy’s $500,000 contribution to the lottery campaign was the price to gain an appointment by Siegelman to the state board.

Meanwhile, the new Governor of #SweetHomeAlabama is the same as the Old Governor dressed in designer suits. 

As lieutenant governor, Kay Ivey has been strongly against the Affordable Care Act.
When the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Obamacare in 2012, Ivey released a statement saying that keeping the law in place could lead to the end of the United States as we know it.
She said, “The Supreme Court’s ruling today, upholding major portions of Obamacare, perpetuates the illusion that taxpayers can and should provide healthcare for every citizen, in spite of the fact that the country is broke! If our elected leadership in Washington does not overturn this law, it will bring America down.”
She went on to say that America would “spend and tax itself into weakness and, God forbid, collapse,” just like “the former great powers of Europe.”
Ivey said that she instead supports an Obamacare alternative that focus on “restoring state flexibility, promoting free markets and competition while empowering consumer choice.”

Sigh

Congratulations to my friend & fellow "Camden Girl" Kay Ivey...just sworn-in as Governor of Alabama. The second woman gov in AL history. https://t.co/4r07XiEtfL

— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) April 10, 2017

#SweetHomeAlabama State Senator Alvin Holmes points out the hypocrisy regarding Governor Bentley

Alabama State Senator Alvin Holmes (D.Montogmery)

According to The Alabama Political Reporter,  Senator Alvin Holmes (D-Montgomery) is defending Governor Robert Bentley's  (r. Tuscaloosa) right to have a side piece.  Although that makes for a provocative headline, the facts don't fit the narrative.  Holmes is so NOT defending Bentley, he is pointing out the hypocrisy.

Rep. Holmes said on the floor of the House, “I have been up here many many years and I know what every person has done and what they have not done. Now there is no law against having a girlfriend. Ain’t no law against having a girlfriend. And you bring an impeachment resolution concerning Governor Bentley? I am going to have an amendment and I am going to add 12 members of the Legislature names to it. For allegedly have done the same thing or things that are worse….and they Democrats and Republicans.

Sniff Sniff...there is more than a whiff of hypocrisy 

Holmes said, I am not going to vote for any impeachment resolution unless everybody is added to it. Everybody is going to be added to it. 

Attorney Donald Watkins seems to collaborate his claims.  According to Watkins, the state is being run by a cabal of side pieces. 

Sadly, the Bentley-Mason sex scandal has shown us ugly underbelly of politics in state government. Lobbyists, major corporations, mistresses, girlfriends, "escorts", “dark money” sponsors, and other power players have an icon-clad grip on the state of Alabama and they are running its business affairs. What is more, the mistresses, girlfriends, and "escorts" do not have to register as lobbyists. They only needed their man’s cell phone number and the correct hotel room number for the night. Their bedroom skills often enable them to run the daytime show and carry the night in Alabama.
It has been my observation over the years that a legislator’s alliance to voters and other concerned citizens is usually the first casualty of politics after he/she is sworn into office. Once they take office, many legislators cannot wait to get into the swing of things in Montgomery’s taxpayer-sponsored dens of sin and debauchery.
As Robert Bentley and Rebekah Mason have shown us, the art of sexual pleasure is the strongest form of power on Goat Hill.

EYE agree with Holmes, it's not about the side piece, it's about the alleged misuse of campaign funds and other resources to conduct and conceal the affair, and everyone involved in the cover up should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law just like former Governor Don Siegelman, former Birmingham mayor Larry Langford and all of the other democrats who were convicted for so-called crimes by republicans.  

It's time for all of them to go.
RedEye

Who elected Rebekah Caldwell Mason Governor of #SweetHomeAlabama?

Rebekah Caldwell Mason

Meet Rebekah Caldwell Mason, everybody. She is your "real" governor of Alabama, a status she has held with her breasts and behind since 2014. 

The bigger issue isn't whether she and the governor were playing doctor or not. How much influence does she really have on Bentley? Is Ol' Doc's top adviser really his puppet master? The "de facto governor," as Spencer Collier says?

Finally, EYE would like to remind everyone how hypocritical republicans are, especially when it comes to so called #FamilyValues.  It's always the party of so called Compassionate, Conservative, Christians screaming Jesus the loudest, who are the biggest hypocrites.  

What get's me is for the most part they (republicans) get away with it.  Everybody knows if this had been a democrat, or a black lawmaker they would have been tried in the media, forced to resign, and/or convicted/imprisoned.  

Don't believe me?  Ask former Governor Don Siegelman, former Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford, former Jefferson County Commissioner Chris McNair , and others. 

And yes, EYE am playing the race card.

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?

Stay Tuned.  

Now Kyle Whitmire say's 'If this is justice set Larry Langford free" RedEye Roll

After doing everything in his power to make sure Larry Langford was convicted and sent to prison for EYE still haven't figured out what,  Kyle Whitmire has a change of heart and says maybe the old crook should go free? 

I don’t know Kyle Whitmire, but if he has no love for Larry Langford it clouds his objectivity. Reporters are supposed to report just the facts, regardless if they have love for their subjects or not. Any progressive viewpoint Kyle Whitmire have should not seep into his reporting. Any love/hate Kyle Whitmire has for Larry Langford should not be a factor in his reporting. It’s a dangerous, slippery slope we thread when reporters become a part of the story and use their influence and privilege to shape public opinion. 

Well EYE guess it depends on what his definition of an "old crook" IS.  Let's recap.

The mood at the classic was rather somber this year, partially due to the rain on Friday and Saturday, and partially because Larry Langford was convicted the previous Wednesday. White suburbanites and the Birmingham news media may not have liked Larry Langford but the people who elected him loved him" because "he was cleaning up the city" . They believe his conviction will be a vehicle to over turn the election so Patrick Cooper can become Mayor. They question why Langford was convicted over some suits and a Rolex, while the two men who made millions got away scott free.

Prosecutors claimed Langford accepted cash and luxury items worth some $236,000 while serving as president of the Jefferson County Commission. In exchange, they claimed, Langford sent lucrative bond business to investment banker Bill Blount, a former chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tamarra Matthews Johnson told jurors in closing arguments that Langford was heavily in debt and accepted the gifts from Blount, along with checks or loan payoffs through a middleman, lobbyist Al LaPierre. Both Blount and LaPierre pleaded guilty in the scheme and testified against Langford under their plea agreements.

Langford's' troubles stem from the sewer construction and bond swap controversy.

In 1995, Jefferson County entered into a consent decree with the Environmental Protection Agency regarding sewer overflows into the Cahaba River watershed. A total of $3.2 billion of new construction was subsequently contracted, both to comply with the consent decree and to expand the system to newly-developing areas and increase the number of ratepayers financing the construction. Much of this work was awarded to inexperienced companies, many of which have since been convicted of bribery along with several county officials.

The "sewer controversy" caused a rate hike. People on fixed incomes had water bills that were higher than their electric bills. Renters would move leaving property owners with thousands of dollars in unpaid water bills. If the landlords didn't pay liens were placed on the property until a law was passed by the legislature property where owners were not responsible for tenets water bills.

The "old crook's" Lawyers were worried about a tainted jury pool, and EYE was worried too.

I’m worried too and this is why.
Let me preface what I’m about to say with the disclaimer that I have no personal, business or social connection to Larry Langford. I have never voted for him, campaigned for him or donated to any of his campaigns. All I know about the charges against him are what I’ve read in the media. I am not speaking on behalf of Langford or in defense of Langford personally or his policies.

It has long concerned me that Alabama Democrats, especially progressive/liberal Democrats have been under attack by the republican controlled justice system, enabled by the MSM we have. Democrats from former Governor Don Siegleman, former State Senator E.B. McClain, former Jefferson County Commissioner Jeff Germany on down to former state Representative Sue Schmitz have been tried and convicted after widely publicized allegations of corruption. If this can happen to high profile elected officials, it can happen to you or to me. If I am accused of a crime, I want a fair trail. Strike that, our system of justice demands I have fair trail.
I don’t know if Langford is guilty of the charges against him or not, and I won’t know IF he doesn’t have a fair trial by a jury of his peers, who will listen to all the evidence presented in a court of law, not the evidence presented in the media.
I’m concerned that having a Media Forum the night before his trial entitled ” What will we do when Birmingham is broke and everyone is in jail” could not only taint a jury pool, but it’s unfair to the defendant because it assumes the city is broke and he is going to jail. I just don’t that’s fair. Sorry.
Is Langford a loudmouth, flashy, anti gay, bible thumper? Yes. As an American citizen does he deserve a fair and impartial trial by a jury of his peers? Absolutely. Would I feel this way if Langford was a white, conservative republican? Yes. I believe in the rule of law. I believe in liberty and justice for all. I believe in the right to a fair trial by a jury of ones peers. I believe evidence should be presented in a court of law, not in the media.
I believe in America. Where anything is possible.

In light of one of Langford's'  biggest detractors change of hard, EYE mean heart, maybe Larry Langford was right (no pun intended), and his prosecution was political. 

#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. 

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.

From the Files of Stuck on Stoopid in #AmeriBama Tuesday Edition

Fist Dap Frank Matthews

How often does a newspaper fire a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter?

 As nonsensical as it sounds, al.com/The Birmingham News pulled off the unusual feat by ushering reporter Joey Kennedy out the door recently. Veronica Kennedy, Joey's wife, broke the news on her Facebook page and said he received no severance pay, just a final paycheck and notice that his insurance would end on February 28.

Left in Alabama, the Informed. Involved. Progressive. Blog of record, has the nerve to  blame the Alabama Democratic Party, and the Alabama Education Association for the Decline and Fall of the ADP and the AEA,  they enabled. 

In 2010, many Alabama Democratic candidates forgot their base, ran from their party, and failed to run on any issues that mattered to Alabama families.

Eye tried to tell some of Y'all, A party divided will NOT stand.  But did you listen?  Noooo.  That would have been too much like right(pun intended).

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 super majority 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.

Psst President Obama...please read this letter in preparation for your speech in #Selma on the anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

Dear President Obama,
This letter is in part to let you know that we are proud of you and your leadership. We are proud of the positive images you and your family provide for the nation in general and African Americans in particular.
However, we also write to share serious concerns voiced by many African Americans. We feel that an open letter will stimulate a broader dialogue.

Read On. Read Often.

Anyone who is concerned about democracy and freedom should be concerned about the legal lynching of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman

The definition of  lynching in the unlawful hanging of a person by mob action.  Historically the term is most commonly applied to racist violence in the post-Civil War American south.   It is the worst kept secret in that Alabama democrats, with a few republicans thrown in for flavor, are being legally lynched by the republican controlled InJustice  Department, under the guise of cleaning up democratic  corruption and restoring faith in state government. 

The case of former Governor Don Siegelman and others, defines what those of us who live in the post-Civil War  South call a legal lynching.  The unlawful conviction of democrats for political gain.

This is one of those "we tried to tell some of y'all" moments.  George Will, Of All People Stands up for Justice in the Don Siegelman case. 

Who could have imagined that George Will would prove to be more progressive than Barack Obama on fundamental matters of justice?
Will, probably the nation's foremost conservative columnist, writes in his most recent piece that the U.S. Supreme Court should review the convictions of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and codefendant Richard Scrushy to ensure that overzealous prosecutors are not criminalizing standard political behavior.

Today's Must Reads
Quid Pro NO
I believe you and I have different definitions of racism, black Jefferson County Legislators 
A Back of the Bus Idea

RedEye's Snark Attack

Big shout out to Mack Lyons for breaking down the Birmingham Sewage/Jefferson County Bankruptcy issue. I have not written on the subject because I didn't really understand the dynamics. But I do now. It all boils down to BIOTBG (Blame It On The Black Guy).

In late September, the SEC ended its case for disgorgement against former Birmingham mayor, former Jefferson County commission president and former Fairfield mayor Larry Langford, after the SEC discovered the only asset they could get as part of restitution was a 1/2-interest in his home. It's the only thing he has left, aside from a mess of debts stemming from criminal and civil penalties.

Langford is currently serving a 15-year sentence in federal prison, after being convicted of over 60 counts of bribery and corruption. Given his age (65) and how he won't be eligible to walk out of prison until at least 2023, it's a possibility that this man will die in prison. On the other hand, the two men convicted alongside him, investment banker Bill Blount and former lobbyist Al LaPierre, earned much lighter sentences. True, they plead guilty and Langford didn't, but the disparity in sentencing only raises the usual conclusions about racially-motivated "justice" in this country.

Most AL.com commentators have been chomping at the bit for Langford's demise and rolling around in his family's misery like happy pigs in slop. Blount and LaPierre never got this much bile thrown at them.

The Birmingham Skews on The Almost Certain Uncertainty the residents of Jefferson County face due to the debt sewer debacle.

Maybe only good will come of it—and maybe only bad. In any case it does seem reasonable to expect to see higher rates and to assume that Jefferson County, never exactly the belle of the ball, will now be infinitely less attractive to economic developers of every stripe. (I don’t know about you, but I tend to avoid the aging person with a rotten tooth, bad odor, and a black eye who is in the middle of doing an apparently irresponsible thing. You can never be sure where they’ll take you or what you’ll get.) In any case, today is the first day of our increasingly uncertain future.

ADP Calls for Bachus to Resign Over Lucky, Lucrative Stock Deals. Oh, OK. (RedEye roll). I wonder what part of IOKIYAR (It's OK If You Are A Republican) for elected officials to get rich off insider information don't they understand?

What's that you say? GOP hopefuls would limit federal role in education? I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you. NOT. The GOP wants to go back to the days of separate and unequal education, recreating a lot of under educated black youth so they can form non-profit (sic), faith-based, compassionate, Christan, charitable organizations to provide sports and after school programs to help them. Big Snark. It would be too much like the right (pun intended) to invest in making sure every child had access to a quality public education. Can't have them there disadvantaged youth rising up out of the New Jim Crow.

The Republican Slogan for 2012: Suppress the Vote! Or, If you can't beat em, suppress em.

Aside from making it harder or impossible for certain voters to participate in elections, conservatives are working to assure that the “right” voters are not left out of the system.

You know your campaign is in trouble when you have to resort to making your wife Stand By Her Man and defend you against sexual harassment on TeeVee like a good little wife.

But this time, Gloria Cain has come out fighting.
"You hear the graphic allegations and we know that would have been something that's totally disrespectful of her as a woman," she says in her first televised interview. "And I know the type of person he is. He totally respects women."

I hate to tell you this Gloria, but THIS is Herman Cain's totally respectful sexy job creation plan for women.

“He suddenly reached over and he put his hand on my leg, under my skirt, and reached for my genitals. He also grabbed my head and brought it towards his crotch.” And then he asked if she wanted that job or not. So technically Herman Cain might be right when he keeps saying those “harassment” charges are false, in the sense that they are actually more like assault.

RedEye's Snark Attack over and out.

The Shock and Shame of Alabama History~Edit

Fist Dap College Spun

I don't care how many national college football championships Auburn or Alabama win, how many men and women NASA sends into outer space, or how many civil rights icons we honor in life and in death, the great state of Alabama is destined to be known not as Alabama the Beautiful, but Alabama the Racist.

We might as well embrace our past history as our future history and keep on moving, because we all know there is a mean spirit on the lose in Alabama and the country.

“I heard if the Republicans win the election, their first act of business was going to be sending this monkey back to his cage …” These words were posted on a web site (ala.com) in response to a robo ad I sent. There is a mean spirit on the loose.
I am a history buff of sorts. I have pondered how the meanest of spirits are sometimes unleashed when people become fearful. The meanness is most often directed at those on the bottom of the totem pole, but the least responsible for the situation that gives rise to the fear. When the Great Recession hit three years ago, a lot of people became scared. People are scared of losing everything for which they have worked. They are scared for themselves, their children, and their children’s children. They are scared for the present and scared for the future. Fear is on the loose, putting meanness on the loose as well.
I referred to this mean spirit in one of my robo calls. In response to this spirit, I said, “Hell no, I am not going back to cotton fields and Jim Crow days!” That apparently incensed the above mentioned person. It is not enough for him to take me back to Jim Crow days but he wants to take me back to a monkey cage, a place neither me nor my ancestors inhabited. This response is symptomatic of the mean spirit now on the loose.

The mean spirit of Jimmie Lee Jackson, the 16th Street Baptist Street Church Bombing, Kelly Ingram Park and Bull Conner, Confederate Memorial Day, and Bloody Sunday.

The mean spirit that requires all Alabama license plates to proudly display The Heart of Dixie as an official symbol, and flies the Confederate Flag on the grounds of the state capitol, the birthplace of the Confederacy. Hell no, they ain't fegittn!

The mean spirit that proudly passed the racist, controversial so called immigration bill, which is really a racial profiling bill.

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 refrom, but again I was suppressed (not to be confused with oppressed).

The mean spirit whose first order of business was to wage war on public school teachers and the Alabama Education Association under the guise of ethics reform. This from a so called pro life party who doesn't care about the education of children once they emerge from the womb, or the health and life of the mother.

The Alabama republican party should be ashamed instead of proud. They could begin to erase the stain if they would do the right (pun intended) thing and strip Rep. Scott Beason of his power to exercise racism.

Beason is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules, which is the gatekeeper of legislation in the Senate and decides which bills come to the Senate floor for debate.

Shame on the Alabama Legislature for appointing someone who doesn't see anything wrong with calling black taxpayers illiterate, "aborigines" and speaks openly about emptying the clip on immigrants in charge of what legislation and bills come to the floor. Shudder

Again, the voters in Beason's district gave him the power to exercise racism, and they are the only ones with the power to snatch it away on election day. However,t he republican majority in the state legislature gave Beason the power to exercise racism in halls of Government. The question is will they continue to condone and excuse his behavior, or, will they do the right (pun intended) thing and strip him of the power to exercise racism?

Time will tell the truth about Alabama's history and the republican controlled state government, past, present and future.

And just because Herman Cain won the Mobile, Alabama republican straw poll and Governor Bentley is passionate about watermelons doesn't mean Alabama republicans are not racist.

African American Elected Officials are Common Thugs,

and should be treated as such say the Common thugs. Sorry I couldn't resist the pun after last weeks Faux News manufactured Common Controversy and in light of the ongoing "ethical lynching" of the lone African American member of the Huntsville City Council. None dare call it stereotyping. You see the media paints all black men as thugs. Strike that, the media paints all black men that dare speak up and speak out at thugs.

The powers that be wanted to market rappers flashing cash, sporting bling, and showing off fancy cars; rappers with little real sense of what was going on in the world around them. Those powers didn’t want you to hear from conscious artists like Public Enemy, KRS-One, Nas, Dead Prez, Immortal Technique, Saul Williams, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, or even a Common. Often the Dave Chappelle Show was the only place you could find some of them.

African American elected officials are painted as the picture of corruption in three piece suits in the media, by the media, for the media. Every little thing morphs into proof they should trade their cuff link for handcuffs.

It's not just Huntsville it's all over the United States of America. Those African American elected officials who stand for something and aren't afraid to speak truth to power are eventually investigated and convicted of some kind of corruption and people like me who call it out are called racist.

Attempting to keep Common out of the White House was not about trying to censor lyrics that seemed offensive. It was about trying to silence a voice who rhymes about real issues, and speaks for the oppressed.

Don't get me wrong, you don't have to be an African American Democratic elected official to be investigated and convicted, in some cases all you have to do is be a liberal democratic elected official and off you go too.

Yep, it's open season on those African American elected officials, liberal democrats and Activist who stand for something in Sweet Home Alabama, but none dare call it racism, they prefer to call it thuggery.

This proud nation is at a crossroads.

One direction hurling towards increased economic inequality, the slashing of social safety nets, deregulation, xenophobia, discrimination of the gay community, voter suppression, and the unconscionable pollution of our environment. The other is a direction of ending poverty, protecting and helping the oppressed and unfortunate, holding Wall Street accountable, embracing immigration, and preserving our ecosystem.

What Willie Nelson said

“Rather than trying to put an end to Eminem or some other rapper, politicians should think about why they’re rapping. It’s easier to try to censor some kid who’s swearing about poverty than it is to stop the poverty.” – Willie Nelson

RedEye's translation
It's easier to investigate and convict the politicians who are not afraid to take a stand and speak out than it is to cure the reasons they stand up and speak out.

Update! Hypocrisy Pot Meets Hypocrisy Kettle in Bama, Oh My!

This just in!

Yes, Skews, you will get a few clicks from my post here. And I suppose you figure that means you have real support, and you might have some. Donald Trump gets a lot of publicity these days, too, and he certainly has supporters. Maybe for your next trick you can out yourself as a birther. That would certainly get you a few clicks.

MeOuch!

I love it when the covers are pulled off and the bright lights are turned on to expose the face of real, raw, unadulterated hypocrisy by the so called liberal thinking,mainstream media all stars. Note the names in bold for future reference.

You won't want to miss our all star media panel happening just 4 days before the start of Mayor Langford's trial, just 9 days after the Birmingham City Council runoffs, and who knows what else might happen between now and then?

Panelists
Bill Payer, CBS42 News Dir.
Mooncat, Left in Alabama
Ron January, WATV
John Archibald, Bham News
Charles Dean, Bham News
Kyle Whitmire, Bham Weekly

We can thank new blog The Birmingham Skews for making them squirm. And squirming they are.

Most people by now have read John Archibald's column from this morning's Birmingham News. As so many who tend to tell the truth, he's scared someone with enough resources to pull together what looks to be a fake grassroots blog and can pay for a private domain registry.

I'll spare you the details of the attack in general. It's nothing that I find personally interesting or unusual, and it really has no bearing one way or the other on any criticisms Archibald has ever written.

But an attack on a journalist is an attack on anyone who wants to spread the truth, and that includes us lowly bloggers, boys and girls.

So I'm here to ask the question: Who could be behind such attacks on Archibald and the Birmingham News?

Who indeed? But as Legal Schnauzer notes, who really cares about who is behind the attacks on Archibald and the Birmingham News? I mean God forbid Archibald and the Birmingham News be *ahem* attacked.

One of the South's most nauseating right-wing media puppets recently had someone return fire. The puppet howled in pain when the buckshot found its target--right in his white, doughy flanks. We're still struggling to wipe the smile from our face.

John Archibald, a columnist for The Birmingham News, consistently has trumpeted the Karl Rove agenda in Alabama over the past 10 years or so. Anything GOP Governor Bob Riley did was pure and honorable. Anyone pursued by Bush-appointed U.S. attorneys Alice Martin and Leura Canary was guilty. Official "corruption"--if it involved a Democrat, person of color, or individual who refused to testify falsely against Don Siegelman--was public enemy No. 1.

Archibald specializes in clucking at the misfortune of others--whether they have committed wrongdoing or not. So imagine our delight in learning Archibald has some untidiness in his own closet. When confronted about his personal mess, Archibald first lied about it, claimed ignorance, and then essentially blamed his wife. What a guy!

That's right (pun intended) Archibald and the Birmingham News can dish it out but they can't take it. I also find it laughable Almoderate at right leaning Left in Alabama is attacking the messenger in an attempt to silence the messenger.

I have spent a fair amount of time criticizing the Birmingham News on this blog, but you do not know much about me. I have a few friends who think that I leave myself open for criticism by not identifying myself. I think that is reasonable. At this point I am only willing to say that I am an ordinary citizen who loves my country, state, and city. I also love being informed, and learning the whole story.

I will not identify myself by name and for that I will make no apologies. When reporters like John Archibald use unnamed sources and “leaked” documents to bolster facts that are shaky to begin, then use them to paint their targets in a negative light, those reporters should be able to handle reasonable criticism from any source, named or anonymous.The News buys its paper by the ton and its ink by the barrel, and their resources are limitless when compared to my own. All I have to offer is the truth, and a critical way of looking at how the news has been reported in Birmingham. The Birmingham News does not appreciate this, and therefore, I remain anonymous.

Those without sin cast the first stone? H/T julie for this Interesting Dichotomy, or more Pots and Kettles.

Call Mayor Larry Langford the king of all Birmingham media -- or at least all media that take cash.

---John Archibald, Birmingham News

Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford Put Media on His Payroll

Go ahead, John Archibald, and remind us who you are and how you really feel about the Alabama Democratic Party and Dr. Joe Reed.

Go on. Remind us why Alabama's Democratic Party has less to fear from Republicans than from, say, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

John Archibald is Wrong you say?

John Archibald stated in the 16th and 17th paragraphs (I judge paragraphs online by double line breaks) that:

This is not, I repeat, about French. To be honest, I feel for her as much as anyone.

She will, after all, become known as the judge who earned her robe with one credential: her skin color.

I don't think she deserves that. But the whole process wreaks of unfairness -- the same kind battled at lunch counters and schools and bus stops across the South.

Have we learned nothing?

I'm sorry, John, but I think you meant that "the process reeks of unfairness." I think it stinks to high heaven!

And the unfairness wreaks havoc on the fabric of the Alabama Democratic Party. Although you didn't write that.

Otherwise, the whole article was spot on and correct. We like what you're doing, sir, just get the verbs right...

IMHO the rank hypocrisy stinks to high heaven. Thanks The Birmingham Skews and Legal Schnauzer for exposing the Fake News. I like what you're doing and you have the verbs right....

For those who don’t already know, John Archibald hosts a live chat every Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. CST. I’m not the host of the party, but I’d like to extend the invitation to anyone who is interested in participating. I’ve attempted to submit questions about his blatant disregard to the facts, but have fallen victim to censorship, or have possibly been banned altogether. He doesn't care to answer my questions, but maybe he'll answer yours. I invite you all to join in this week and see for yourself. You can find the link to the chat at the end of his column found here.

They want me fired.

Perhaps they're right.

These anonymous people, these people who want me fired, dug deep into my past and set up a website to post their findings. They've gone door to door in mostly black Birmingham neighborhoods, leaving fliers that portray me as a liar and racist.

Speaking of fliers in the black neighborhood and gutter campaigning, remember THIS?

Agriculture Commissioner and gubernatorial candidate Ron Sparks spoke to the Morgan County Democrats last night and, in light of the really heated and ugly races coming to an end yesterday, it seemed an appropriate time to ask what Sparks thinks of innuendo and whisper campaigns bent on character assassination, such as the one we saw last weekend against Patrick Cooper in the Birmingham mayoral race.

In that case, as you may recall, this letter from Frank Matthews was widely circulated via email. Under the guise of "giving you the facts about Patrick Cooper," it "informed" readers that Cooper standing next to Howard Bayless -- who is openly gay -- is "an abomination" and "unpleasing" in the eyes of God. The letter was closely followed by a Powerpoint presentation that dropped the gloves altogether and just asked "Is Patrick Cooper Gay?" It was 10 pages of hints about divorce, contributions from Cooper's ex-wife, endorsements and how terrible it would be if Birmingham ended up like Atlanta. Pure character assassination, not an issue in the whole mess.

I've also seen Frank Matthews at Sparks events, doing official looking stuff. It turns out he isn't paid directly by Sparks2010, but by their consultant, Matrix, LLC. Nevertheless, with that kind of ugliness being openly distributed, I wanted to find out if we should expect similar, under-the-radar smears in the gubernatorial primary.

Don't dish it out if you can't take it in. I'm just saying....

Now someone cross-post me to Kos so that I can get some hits.

It. Is. On.

Sore losers undermine majority rule

Back in the day when I was contemplating running for a Student Government Office in high school my Daddy gave me the following advice,(para quoting) if you can't stand to lose don't run. Someone will win fair and square and someone will lose fair and square. You will either know the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat. If you lose, lose like a winner. My 9th grade Civics teacher taught us the minority must be heard but the majority rules. Present day Politicos evidently learned different lessons from their parent(s)/mentor(s)/teacher(s). I've never seen such a bunch of sore losers.

Ironically Senator Joe Lieberman started the sore loser syndrome. Liberman was a gracious loser before he was a sore loser. Florida Governor Charlie Crist couldn't stand to lose so he bowed out of the republican primary to run as a spoiler, I mean Independent. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski couldn't stand to lose so she is waging an an aggressive write in campaign.

Sweet Home Alabama caught a case of sore loser syndrome starting with the Birmingham Mayoral Elections. Followed by the Tim James recount. A suit was filed to remove republican gubernatorial nominee Robert Bentley from the ballot and delay the election. And there are rumblings of a write in campaign waged by die hard supporters of the losers aka the minority. I sure do miss the good old days when the candidate with the most votes won. *Sigh*

The losers are turned into the sore winners.

The Sore Winners are easy to find. They are most visible at their flagship, Fox News, which dominates both cable news and the political conversation and yet is always embattled, defending itself against the heathen. They are loudest not only on secular talk radio, but also in Christian broadcasting, which tells its listeners that a nation that remains a nation of Christians rather than a Christian nation is a nation that has turned against them. This is not to say, however, that the Sore Winners are strictly a political phenomenon, manipulated, as some would have it, by their masters in the media or by the money men from Wall Street. No, what makes the Sore Winners such a force in American politics is that their anger is so personal.

And that's what scares me.

Worrying about what someone who doesn't think about you thinks about you: this is the essence of Sore Winnerdom, and it is no accident that it also the essence of the Republican animus. The Republican party was small and hidebound — the party of country-club corporatists, and the range-war West — until, with the Reagan Revolution, it began grafting unto itself the legions of the disaffected: the Christianists, the Southerners, the blue-collar workers displaced by the collapse of America's industrial base and estranged from the unions that failed them. The Tea Party, in this sense, is not a new development so much as it is part of an ongoing migration of the perpetually petulant, a political phenomenon grounded in a demographic one: the creation of a class of baby-boom retirees who have been deprived of meaningful work but given personal computers as Christmas presents. The skin on the Republican Party's "Big Tent" is by definition thin, and under it gathers a volatile throng of people with nothing in common but the fear that outside its environs someone is laughing at them — or simply having a better time.

And that's what scares me.

I can certainly empathize and understand the agony of defeat when your candidate loses a hard fought election. I didn't think the pit in my stomach would ever go away after the 2000 Presidential election. It was like deja vu all over again in 2002. I went to bed Don Siegelman was the Governor, when I I woke up Bob Riley was the governor. I had to accept the majority rule and get over it like a good American. How will the losers react if they don't win on Tuesday?(warning language)

if, as the most optimistic polling shows is possible, the Republicans don't win back the House of Representatives and lose a good many of the close Senate races next Tuesday, the reaction on the right will be violent. There will be a number of instances of Democratic headquarters vandalized, people who support Democrats will be assaulted, bomb threats will be called in, and there may even be an alarmingly well-organized, but supposedly grassroots and spontaneous, riot or two.

That's what I'm afraid of.

On the other hand I fear the Politicians with the most dangerous,wrong ideas are poised to win the Congress and the State Legislature.

Shaken by an assault on their assumptions, many Americans become more adamant in defense of discredited ideology.

I pray a majority of the Americans will beware of fears racist temptation. I also pray the American minority loves their country more than they hate President Obama.

[T]he truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, ... but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? ... There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you...

If you can't stand to lose don't run.