RedEye around #SweetHomeAlabama

#BlastFromThePast or is it?

#TheyMad because NBC Anchor Tom Brokaw slammed The University of Alabama at Ole Miss's graduation.  It was a joke people.  Well sorta....

#TheTrialOfTheCentury begins today as Alabama Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard (R.Auburn) goes on trial after being indicted by the Attorney General for 23 ethics violations.

#InJusticeBamaStyle  Speaking of Alabama's Attorney General, he dropped the charges against Madison Police Officer Eric Parker who partially paralyzed an Indian Grandfather. Now that he's been cleared of all charges, he vows to get his job back.  That's comforting.

"If the State will not even try to get a conviction when an act of police brutality is caught on video," he asked, "what chance is there for other victims?"

#WhatLooksLikeCrazyInAlabama, can't say EYE didn't see this coming when parents at the Academey for Academics and Arts started complaining about the anti choice protesters. So instead of making it illegal for protesters to protest near a school, trepublicans made it illegal for poor women to have access to quality, affordable, health care near a school.  YeeHaw!

That's all for now.  EYE shall return.

Not one, not two, but three of Alabama's highest officials, all republicans, are embroiled in three separate scandals #SweetHomeAlabama

By J.D. Crowe

Native Alabamian, and Adjunct Assistant Professor of History at the University of Iowa,  John McKerley describes Alabama Politics to a Tea (pun intended).

Alabama politics: a case study in how a powerful minority (with the electoral support of many more) make political participation so difficult and unrewarding (and sometimes dangerous) that they get to run the show--most often into the ground.

Yep, this is what happens when democrats enable republicans to control all three branches of Alabama government, and the Courts.

Corruption and Cronyism in the name of the The Lord

Yee Haw!

The Greed Over People Party Strikes Again! #Scandal in #SweetHomeAlabama

Seven months after Blogger Legal Schnauzer broke the story of Bible Thumping Governor Robert Bentley's hypocrisy and corruption via Attorney Donald Watkins Facebook reporting, the Alabama Mainstream Media, (EYE roll),  republicans, right wing radio talk show host, Bloggers, and some (not to be confused with all) democrats who enabled them,  are falling over themselves renouncing, rejecting, and repudiating, Dr. "Love" Bentley. 

Let's be clear.  They aren't calling for his resignation, and threatening to impeach him because he did something wrong, they are mad because he got caught.  If the Governor hadn't tried to neuter the guard dog he and his Crush would still be carrying on their non physical relationship.  His Crush and her Spouse would still be getting paid,  and,  his Crush would still be the defacto Governor of Sweet Home Alabama.

The Montgomery Advertiser's Josh Moon said Alabama is getting just what it deserves.  As a life long resident of Alabama, EYE respectfully disagree.  Those of us who voted a straight democratic ticket, no matter how foul, don't deserve any of this.

Be careful who/what you ask for.

"Don't believe the hype, this is NOT ‪#‎schoolchoice‬. This is #sabotage, #racism, and #abuse."

The "Southern Strategy" never gets old h/t Field Negro 

Charter School operators continue to make billions by pushing harsh discipline practices that ‪punish black/brown/poor children, under the guise of providing them with a quality education.

 While the conference sponsors point to charters and vouchers as needed options for low-income families trapped in low-performing school systems, critics argue that public resources should be reserved for conventional public school systems. They say privately run charters infringe on democracy, as charter school boards are typically self-selected instead of elected.
School choice critics wanted to share their views with conference attendees but said the $400 registration fee was too costly. So they protested outside.
"We would prefer that funding would be kept in the public school system," organizer and parent Gina Womack said. Charters should be held more accountable, to ensure that children are fairly disciplined, she and others said. 

Charter schools are a big part of the problem.

State Rep. Phil Williams (r.) and his gop cronies are pushing for Charter Schools under the guise poor, black children can escape under performing public schools.  Bull Poo.  If Phil Williams and the gop really cared about the education of poor, black/brown  children they would address the funding inequities instead of whining about  the myth of throwing money at the problem, and trying to destroy the Alabama Education Association.

 Charter schools are just another way the conservatives try to backdoor privatize education.

 The premise is that they hope to be able to convince the district to allow them to operate multiple charter schools under the premise they can do things cheaper.  Do you really want your kid being educated by a for profit company basically doing the work of the lowest bidder? With all the private schools here in Alabama, bleeding parents dry for the simple fact they don't want their kids to have to go to school with brown or black kids, the state seems to be ripe for laws allowing charter schools.  Now parents will be able to have their "school choice" at a fraction of the cost private school would have required.

 Segregation today = Segregation forever.

 Let's get one thing straight right off the bat...if Charter Schools provided options for poor/black/brown children, it would NOT be a top priority for Alabama republicans.   Charter Schools are the  vehicle republicans drive on the road to privatized  public education.  Although Charter Schools are funded with tax dollars, Charter Schools don't have to accept ALL children, regardless of race, income, gender, disability, or athletic ability.They can pick and choose the cream of the crop and leave the rest behind. 

Mission Accomplished

Gov. Robert Bentley's new segregation policy director has worked under some controversial regimes in high-profile efforts to turn around failing schools.
Emily Schultz, 28, began her job as Bentley's segregation policy adviser in November, with a top priority of getting a law allowing segregated schools passed during the next legislative session.
Previously, the Birmingham native worked under Michelle Rhee, who became chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools after the mayor took control of the district and cost him his job.

Follow the money

RedEye

Martha Roby is not the only one who is" unfit to represent" the state of Alabama in Congress

H/T Daily Kos

Joseph O. Patton of the Capital City Free Press says  AL House GOPer Martha Roby is unfit to represent the 2nd district or anywhere else, after  a video released by Mother Jones shows her laughing when a participant at a Wetumpka Tea Party  function launched into a right-wing, treason-baiting rant in which he calls President Obama a “foreign-born, America-hating Communist despot.”

Where have you been Joseph O. Patton?  Martha Roby isn't the first AL GOPer to condone or encourage such race-baiting, divisive, treason-fanning rhetoric.  

It's who they are.

It's what they do.

It's how the rich convince their base to vote against having access to quality affordable health care, jobs, equal access to a quality pubic education, women's rights  and other things that might improve their quality of life.

The AL House GOPer's always get away with it.

Nothing to see here.

Move on.

Friday Funnies

Sometime you have to laugh to keep from crying.  Get your giggle on.~RedEye

Fist Dap to countrycat at Left in Alabama  for this Laugh out Loud of the week.

WTH?  I know we tend to dismiss some members of the Alabama legislative super-majority as "weasels" (with apologies to the actual weasels among us), but what the heck are these guys wearing on their heads?  Speaker Mike Hubbard is preening about his involvement in the so-called "pro-life rally" today in Montgomery - so much so that we wouldn't be surprised to see him sporting a peacock tail.
But what's UP with the hats & capes?  It's like some kind of reverse skunk outfit.  And that can't possibly be Dan Aykroyd in the middle, but maybe a cousin....

 

Republican whine of the day.....we lost the 2012 presidential election because of "that one".  "We’re what needs to be fixed in the Republican party? Seriously?"  Oh. OK.

 

All I'm going to say is the The Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads must think we are insane.  Fist Dap Gorilla Pig via The Platzner Post

Why would Alabama republicans bar outside observers from Alabama Elections?

According to Alabama Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard (r.), Sweet Home Alabama doesn't need none of them there outside agitators coming down here monitoring our selections, I mean elections.  You would think a party so concerned about voter fraud and ballot security would welcome extra eyes and ears at the polling place.

Well at least the Alabama Speaker of the House isn't threatening to arrest monitors observing the election.  Yet.

I could understand their position if Alabama and our country were the model for fair and free elections, you know.... one man/woman one vote, every vote counts, and the candidate with the most votes wins.

To all republicans who said "If you aren't doing anything wrong you don't have anything to worry about" after 9/11 when Congress passed the Patriot Act, I say, If you aren't doing anything wrong why are you trying to bar outside observers?
 
Deja Voodoo All Over Again?  Must See YouTube.

"One by one African Americans were told to shut up and sit down"

 

Sweet Home Alabama Media Standing with Rush

Rush Limbaugh also supports child abduction, brainwashing and war criminal Joseph Kony.  Do you?

Republican Speaker of the House and owner of WANI NewsTalk 1400  Mike Hubbard supports Rush.  Do you?

Stand for some body's daughter , grand daughter, sister,  aunt, niece, cousin, neighbor, church member, student, friend instead.  Stand with someone who wasn't afraid to speak up and speak out.

Everybody knows it's the job of Rush and Company to keep the dumb, bigots dumb.  They are doing a good job.

Conservative values=standing with Ru$h?


Let's Face It;  Rush Limbaugh is a Misogynist.

RedEye around Alabama the Stoopid

So, the same people who cost Alabama billions with their immigration crackdown are some of  the same people who want to keep public teachers from getting a raise and  reform education,  code for a racist dog whistle. H/Tarchangelsk

  
Take the following:
Charter schools are necessary in areas of chronically failing schools and under served children, [House Speaker Mike] Hubbard said.

Translation:
"White folks are getting tired of paying taxes for public education, and being forced to send their children to private school because they don't want their children fraternizing with brown kids"

White Alabama GOP leader issues white paper on President Obama's birth certificate on the white steps of the cradle of the Confederacy, as two Tea Party candidates  in the reddest of the red states, run on the platform of impeaching President Obama.  Can you say stuck on stoopid?

The reddest electorate in red-state Alabama arguably resides in Baldwin County, home to some of the state’s most conservative voters.
How red? Start with the fact that not a single Democrat qualified to run for any elected office in Baldwin County this year. If that doesn’t speak volumes, consider a recent exchange from a candidate forum in Fairhope.
The tone of the Tea Party gathering, sponsored by the Common Sense Campaign, was set by its opening speaker.
Roy Moore, running to reclaim his position as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, seized the microphone and delivered a fiery defense of individual liberty and states’ rights. 

Today's Must Reads
Voters should challenge campaign insults against Obama 

Fighting the vast right wing with pea shooters, Part One:  Books and Bookmakers

That was no gaffe.  That was a brand- new talking point.

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!