From the files of it's ok if you are a republican governor in America

Rod Blagojevich was the 40th governor of Illinois. He was first elected in 2002 and was re-elected in 2006. Blagojevich was born in Chicago in 1956. He graduated from Northwestern University and earned his law degree from Pepperdine in California. Before being elected governor, Blagojevich was a Cook County assistant state's attorney and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996. Late in 2008, Blagojevich was arrested for political corruption and later convicted on several charges, most notably for his attempts to control who would replace Barack Obama in the Senate following his first presidential election victory. The Illinois House of Representatives impeached Blagojevich, and the Senate voted in early 2009 to remove him from office. In 2011, Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison and began serving that term in 2012. He is married to Patti Blagojevich and the couple have two daughters, Amy and Annie.

EYE am just saying If Ron Blagojevich were a republican he wouldn't be in jail for his attempts to control who would replace Barack Obama in the Senate. 

Alabama's culture of corruption and cronyism is unlikely to faze voters because the white male dominated media will make sure it doesn't faze voters.

We can trust the media to turn the losers into the winners and the winners into the losers.

#SweetHomeAmeriBamafication 

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

EYE am willing to forgive you Governor Bentley, but first you must repent!

Dear Governor Bentley,
EYE saw where you threw yourself on the altar and pulled the "I'm seeking forgiveness from y'all and God for what I've done card the 
other day in an attempt to justify your remaining in office, despite being caught red-handed doing some un-Godly stuff with a woman who was not your wife.

Being the good Deacon and Sunday School teacher you are, EYE mean, were,  EYE know you believe in the Ten Commandments, by my count you broke numbers,1, 7, 9, and 10.  Thou shall not kill ( your refusal to expand Medicaid is killing people), Thou shall not commit adultery, Thou shall not bear false witness (lie), and Tough shall not covet (another man's wife).

EYE am willing to forgive your transgressions because the alternative is worse,  but first, you must repent.  Here's a list of things you can do to repent for your sins and earn the forgiveness of the citizens of Sweet Home Alabama.  

The first thing you can do is stop standing up to Obama and expand Medicaid.  President Obama has access to the best medical care our tax dollars can buy, as do you.  Medicaid expansion isn't about sticking it to President Obama.  Rather, it's about the working poor — those who, right now, are working and making too much money to qualify for Medicaid as it is but who are not making enough to afford health insurance, even after subsidies from the Affordable Care Act.

Second, you can rescind the Voter Suppression,  EYE mean Voter ID Bill now that we have proof it's keeping registered voters from casting their vote.  This voter purge is undermining our democracy, you have the power to restore the right to vote.

Third, you can rescind the bill that cut off funding for women's health clinics, reducing the number of women's health clinics to six, making it hard, if not impossible for poor women, not to be confused with affluent women, to have access to health care. As a result of this bill, thousands of women across Alabama are no longer be able to access essential reproductive health care, such as cancer screenings, birth control, and well-woman exams. This is a cruel bill is designed to rip health care away from those most at risk.

Fourth, you know that mean-spirited immigration bill you signed that put Alabama on the map that crashed and burned?  Now it's time for you to shut down the detention centers.  Actually, EYE am more afraid of you and the republicans than EYE am of Syrian refugees.

After the recent death of Mr. Teka Gulema in late January – an Ethiopian immigrant who passed away after spending nearly a year in serious condition while in detention – activists are again highlighting why Etowah must be closed. Gulema’s death comes on the heels of a two-week hunger strike waged by Bangladeshi detainees against the inhumane treatment they’ve been subjected to in Etowah. Activists have been highlighting that the conditions in Etowah can be deadly if not at least torturous.

Finally, please let the citizens of Alabama gamble with their own damn money, in their own damn state if they choose to do so.  attorney General Luther Strange has caused "economic devastation" to the residents of the Black Belt by unlawfully closing the Victory Land casino.

Fortunately, the Supreme Court struck down the keep gays from getting married bill so you don't have to worry about that, just say you're sorry you care more about keeping gays from getting married than you do keeping your marriage vows and move on.

2 Chronicles 7:14  says,  If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

RedEye

The Not So "Good Wife" #SweetHomeAlabama Style

Women of Influence Alabama's First Lady Dianne Bentley

One of my favorite television series is the Good Wife.  It is the story of the humiliated wife of a public figure, who is Standin by her man like Tammy Wynette , after it is revealed he's a lying, cheating, Scum Bag.

The series focuses on Alicia Florrick (Margulies), whose husband Peter Florrick (Noth), the former Cook County, Illinois State's Attorney, has been jailed following a notorious political corruption and sex scandal. After having spent the previous thirteen years as a stay-at-home mother, Alicia returns to her old job as a litigator to provide for her two children.[12] The series was partly inspired by the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal,[13] as well as by other prominent American political sex scandals, such as those of John Edwards and Bill Clinton. As one of the creators, Michelle King, explains:

We came up with the idea about a year and a half ago. There had been this waterfall of these kinds of scandals, from Bill and Hillary [Clinton], to Dick Morris, to Eliot Spitzer, to name just a few. I think they are all over our culture. And there was always this image of the husband up there apologizing and the wife standing next to him. I think the show began when we asked, "What are they thinking?" 

Unlike the Good Wife, former Alabama First Lady Dianne Bentley refused to play the everything is fine in public farce.  After gathering irrefutable proof of her husbands cheating ways she kicked him to the curb faster than a New York minute, and took him straight to the cleaners.

In a wide-ranging interview with the AP, Bentley said he was not aware his wife had filed divorce papers two days before the Aug. 28 event and signed them about 30 minutes before going to Montgomery. He did not know she was seeking a divorce until later that day, he said.
"Yeah, I did not know that it was going to take place," Bentley said.
According to the divorce papers, the Bentleys had been separated since January, with the governor residing in Montgomery and Mrs. Bentley living in Tuscaloosa. The relationship was so strained the First Lady almost didn't attend the Jan. 19 inauguration in Montgomery.

Not one time has Diane Bentley played the victim card.  If anyone comes out of this mess smelling like a Steele Magnolia it's her. You Go Girl! EYE don't agree with your politics, but EYE am proud of you for restoring my faith in the women of Alabama.

Dianne's filing for divorce signaled to the world that she would not live a lie. She was prepared to endure whatever public shame and embarrassment flowed from her divorce filing, suffer any act of retaliation or revenge from the Governor and his henchmen, and bear the heavy burden of starting life over again at 72 years old.

In the end, Dianne Bentley set herself free from her husband's domestic abuse and maritial cheating. In the process, she preserved her dignity as a woman and legacy as First Lady.

According to Attorney Donald Watkins, and Blogger Legal Schnauzer,  who first broke this scandal, the reason many republican leaders are acting like Silence of the Lambs because they have young side pieces who are running the state too.

The new power brokers -- mistresses to legislators and holders of their inner most secrets -- have the political power in Alabama right now.

Ain't that a dip?  Wouldn't it be something if all the wives stopped being the Good Wife?  Not So Good Wives like Dianne Bentley are our only HOPE of ousting the culture of cronyism that is corrupting our state.  

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.

EYE guess it depends on what the definition of "bold ideas" ...IS

“In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunities of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right that must be made available on equal terms.”
– Chief Justice Earl Warren, Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Governor Robert Bentley (r. hypocrite Tuscaloosa) delivered his annual State of the State Address last night, where he unveiled a list of bold ideas ranging from prisons to education to health care.  They were some bold ideas all right (pun intended), and it explains why  Sweet Home Alabama is the winner of 16 National Football Championships, and a looser for quality of life.  I'll let you read the bold ideas for yourself, but the one that EYE want to talk about is his plan to borrow and spend to tear down old prisons to build new prisons.  EYE kid you not.

"For decades Alabama prisons have become increasingly overcrowded, dangerous to both inmates and our corrections officers and incredibly costly to taxpayers. But that is going to change beginning now," said Bentley.
"These aging prisons will be consolidated and replaced by four, newly constructed state of the art facilities. And by constructing a brand new female prison facility the state of Alabama will permanently slam the door shut on Tutwilere Prison for Women."
Tutwiler for years has come under scrutiny for charges by women of physical abuse, including rape and other sexual violence.
Bentley said his plan to consolidate prisons would be paid for by a bond issue, or borrowing money. He estimated the cost of the massive undertaking at somewhere between $700 million to $800 million dollars. The governor said the state's historic issues with prisons – overcrowding, crumbling buildings, safety issues for workers, inmates and the general public – can no longer be dealt with by trying to maintain the system as is.

Let's recap 

The Montgomery Advertiser has been running a very good three part series on the Alabama Prison system .http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20130922/NEWS02/309220016/Prisons-peril-No-quick-fixes-Alabama
The basic problem is that Alabama prisons are at appx 180% capacity and the State, especially the Legislature, is afraid that a lawsuit may result either (1) a Federal Court ordering mass releases (see California) or (2) a Federal takeover with huge financial mandates.
Many suggest that the problem is that Alabama is imprisoning huge numbers of non violent criminals, Yet the numbers show 75% of all inmates are there for violent crimes.
Others blame large numbers of people in prison for marijuana possession. Yet the numbers show only 300 (out of close to 30,000 inmates) are in prison for marijuana possession and the vast majority of those have lengthy criminal histories.
In comparison 27% of all inmates are in for either murder or robbery 1st degree.
Solutions???

Now, let's correct some factually incorrect information.  Alabama prisons are a maximum capacity but according to these figures most are incarcerated for non violent offenses.

After years of representing victims of racial profiling and police brutality, and investigating patterns of drug law enforcement, and trying to help people who were released from prison face one barrier, one legal roadblock after another to get a job, getting access to housing, getting even food stamps–you know, I had an awakening that our criminal justice system now functions more like a system of racial and social control, than a system of crime prevention or control,” Alexander said on Politics Nation Monday.
“Our nation’s prison population has more than quintupled,” she said. “And this is due largely to the war on drugs and the ‘get tough’ movement. The drug war has been waged almost exclusively in poor communities of color even though studies have consistently shown now for decades that contrary to popular belief, people of color are no more likely to use or sell illegal drugs than whites, but by waging this drug war almost exclusively in poor communities of color, we’ve now created a vast new racial under-caste.”
Since 1971, when President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs, there has been a 700% increase in the U.S. prison population. Today, African-Americans are also more likely to spend time in prison for drug related offenses than their white counterparts. According to the Sentencing Project, African-Americans make up 12% of the nation’s drug users, but represent 34% of those arrested for drug offenses, and 45% of those in state prison for such offense as of 2005.

And we aren't talking about the number of innocent people in jail. 

A record-breaking number of people were exonerated in 2015 — freed after serving time in American prisons for crimes they did not commit.

In all, 149 people spent an average of 15 years in prison before being cleared last year, according to a new report (.pdf) out Wednesday from the National Registry of Exoneration's, a project at the University of Michigan Law School.The convictions ranged from lower level offenses, such as 47 drug crimes, to major felonies, including 54 murder convictions that were overturned. Five of the convicts were awaiting execution, and were saved last year when courts ruled they didn’t belong in the prison in the first place.
Of the people wrongly convicted for homicides, the report notes, “more than two-thirds were minorities, including half who were African American.”
Twenty-seven of the innocent convicts falsely confessed to their crimes, a group comprised manly of children or the mentally handicapped, according to the report.

So, instead of addressing the poverty, the lack of equal access to educational opportunities which are a root cause of crime, or addressing the horrible conditions  and abuses occurring inside the prisons, Governor Bentley's bold idea is to tear down old prisons and build new ones.  

RedEye

Here is a picture of Sen. Richard "Dick" Shelby(r. Tuscaloosa) standing up to President Obama every day

Pres. Obama and Al. Gov. Robert Bentley tour tornado devastation (Larry Downing/Reuters)

Uh, about that standing up to President Obama every day Senator Shelby Sir.

Due to your age,  EYE can understand if you have some memory loss, but your aides should know better.  Either they are suffering from amnesia, or they think we are.  Perhaps you've forgotten the massive tornado that ripped through Sweet Home Alabama in April of 2011, when President Obama flew to Birmingham, AL,  motorcades to Tuscaloosa to assure Alabamans that every level of government was fully dedicated to doing everything possible to help the community recover from the devastation,

Even as Republicans have been kicking and screaming about the need to shrink government, even as they support a budget plan that would devastate government's ability to respond to disasters like this, when something like this happens they stand shoulder-to-shoulder with President Obama as government leaders eager to serve the people they represent. They aren't calling him a socialist, they aren't saying he was born in Kenya, they aren't accusing him of trying to kill grandma: they are just trying to do the right thing. It's just too bad it took a horrific storm to bring out that cooperative spirit.

EYE see you and the rest of the white, male, red republicans walking WITH President Obama, and the democrats walking BEHIND. 

Sidebar with a sigh
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.

You may be suffering from memory loss but we the people will never forget. Link inserted for emphasis mine.

I'm glad the President and First Lady came to Alabama but, why didn't he visit Birmingham too? He went to the place that didn't vote for him, and ignored the place that did. And why wasn't Rep. Terri Sewell, the states top Democrat, the first person to greet President Obama instead of being 4th in line behind anti Socialist Bentley, "I haven't seen his birth certificate" Shelby, "I gave you the middle finger and sent the Azalea Trail Maids to your inauguration parade", Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, and "Birther Spencer Bacchus" all republicans?

You might want to reconsider your Wag the Dog political commercials because that dog won't hunt. 

To ‘Wag the Dog’ means to purposely divert attention from what would otherwise be of greater importance, to something else of lesser significance. By doing so, the lesser-significant event is catapulted into the limelight, drowning proper attention to what was originally the more important issue.
The expression comes from the saying that ‘a dog is smarter than its tail’, but if the tail were smarter, then the tail would ‘wag the dog.
In other words, Shelby’s commercial is nothing but an attempt to divert attention from the facts.

RedEye 

Congressman (sic) Mo "anything short of shooting illegals" Brooks is making #SweetHomeAlabama proud again.

CREDIT: AP PHOTO/J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE

Not.  It ought to be against the law to use the public airways to spew hatred, bigotry, and misinformation, but it's not, so Alabama's CD 5 Congress Critter Mo Brooks went there when he made an appearance on Radio Boy's show.  

"We’re paying them about $15,000 a year in free health care, free food, free shelter, free clothing, free transportation,” Brooks said. “That answers very quickly why so many of them want to come to the United States of America.”
“We’re paying them to come here,” the Alabama congressman concluded. “It’s a paid vacation!”

Yep,  Mo used the public airways to misinform the uniformed, and turn the victims into criminals.

Instead of viewing refugees as people fleeing the violence that has claimed more than 200,000 lives, Brooks saw a host of incoming welfare queens intent on taking advantage of Americans’ generosity.

Psst Mo!  Sweet Home Alabama is the last place Syrian Refugees would want to "vacation".  They are trying to flee violence and despair. 

Thousands of civilians have been victims of mass shootings and gunfire between government forces and insurgents. In one case documented by the United Nations, more than 100 people, including at least 49 children, were killed in Homs on May 25, 2012. Most were shot at close range.
The U.N. reports that armed opposition groups have also executed children, but lack of access in areas controlled by the Islamic State has prevented systematic documentation. “In places like Raqqa and Deir Ezzor, it’s almost impossible to verify the information,” said Bassam al-Ahmad, spokesman for the Violation Documentation Center in Syria.

What is most troubling to me is the fact Mo Brooks is an elected official, and has been most of his adult life.  For an elected official to have this point of view is dangerous, because he also has to the power to act on his beliefs.

In its essence, racism is culturally sanctioned strategies that defend the advantages of power, privilege and prestige which "Whites have because of the subordinated position of racial minorities." This deliberate political, economical, religious and sociocultural structuring of privilege, does not take place in some moral vacuum. It has behind it the moral force of an ideology of supremacy, an ill-will that claims racial superiority and pride of position. By ideology I mean a system of ideas and beliefs about the universe, to which a people adhere in order to justify their attitudes and actions. This ideology can have a religious or a scientific basis, depending on which one shapes our worldview. Nevertheless the outcome is the same, where one group benefits and the other does not.

They say parents are the first teachers, so I have to assume Mo Brooks was raised with this point of view, and he raised his children with this point of view, and they are raising their children with this point of view, and that it will go on, and on, and on.  Sigh

We can't stop people from being racist, but we damn well can stop electing them to office.   The only problem is finding someone to vote for.  Surely there are more people of good will than there are of... them.

EYE Understand the Fear

Alabama is number one, y'all. Gov. Bentley was the first to step up and declare our great state the last place on earth the Syrian refugees are welcome.

Uh, would someone please tell these elected *cough cough* officials the Federal Government is the largest employer in the state of Alabama, and,  Sweet Home Alabama get's more FEDERAL dollars than any state in the UNION?  EYE mean, really, what are they thinking? Talking about biting off your nose to spite your face.

Congress should use the power of the purse to prevent the president from pursuing his plan to resettle Syrian refugees in the United States, Alabama's two Republican senators said Tuesday.

Maybe there is a method to their madness, but don't say anything when the President of the United States of America uses his executive power and his veto pen as the big payback. 

EYE understand the politics of fear and loathing. 

Really EYE do.

 EYE... live with it every day of my life.

Welcome to  my

 World

We are seeing black people killed everyday now.

Brian wants to know "How would expanding Medicaid save money?"

Hundreds gathered at the Alabama State Capitol on May 31, 2014 to ask Gov. Robert Bentley to save lives and expand Medicaid in the state. They chanted, sang and told their stories. (Erin Edgemon/eedgemon@al.com)

Brian said:

How would expanding Medicaid save money? The Federal Government says it would pay for 100% of the expansion for the first three years of the expansion. Yes, Medicare has been expanded, but only the expansion is being paid for. After three years, the amount the federal government will pay for drops to 90%. 

How would expanding Medicaid save money?

EYE am glad you asked how Governor Bentley's refusal to expand Medicaid will cost the state of Alabama BILLIONS of dollars.

Alabama is one of fourteen states that have chosen not to expand Medicaid, the federal-state program that provides health insurance to low-income families. The Affordable Care Act provides support to expand Medicaid to include families that earn up to 138% of the federal poverty level. The federal government will pay 100% of the costs for expanding Medicaid beginning in 2014 through 2016, and then gradually decrease support to 90% beginning in 2020.
A new study by the nonprofit research group, the RAND Corporation, shows the decision rejecting the expansion will cost these 14 states $1 billion more in spending on uncompensated care in 2016 alone, plus $8.4 billion annually in federal payments, and leave 3.6 million people without health insurance. The study's authors found that expanding Medicaid is "in the best economic interests of states."

Of course EYE don't expect you to believe expanding Medicaid is in the the best econominic interest of Alabama, but it's true.

In Alabama, Medicaid expansion would mean health care for about 300,000 additional people, most of whom will otherwise remain uninsured. Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health estimate the expansion would generate nearly $20 billion in new income, which would mean $1.7 billion in additional tax revenue in state and local governments across the state.

EYE don't know what part of not expanding Medicaid is killing people you and our Doctor/Governor don't understand.

Experts estimate that expanding Medicaid in Alabama would save 550 lives each year. 

Alabama's governor, a doctor, rejected the Medicaid expansion option after the United States Supreme Court ruled that states can refuse to participate in that part of the new health care law. A recent poll shows that 64% of Alabama residents support expanding Medicaid to cover more low-income adults.

EYE thought Republicans were pro-life?

Oh, and if you don't believe the Equal Justice Initiative report, maybe you will believe this report by the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

In short, their analysis points to a win-win scenario for the state and Medicaid-eligible patients.
“Across the first seven years of Medicaid expansion, the net budgetary effect is positive throughout,” Becker said. “In a very real sense, the state makes money while expanding coverage to nearly 300,000 Alabamians.”
Under the PPACA, the federal government will cover 100 percent of health care expenditures from 2014 through 2016. During these first years of the program, Alabama would be responsible for a share of the administrative costs of the expansion. The federal matching rate declines after 2016, falling to 95 percent in 2017, 94 percent in 2018, 93 in 2019 and 90 percent in 2020. As a result, the annual costs to the state increase from $39 million in 2014 to $222 million in 2020 for a total of about $771 million.
However, during those same years, the federal government will spend an additional $11.7 billion more on Medicaid in Alabama.
“While this is a substantial increase in federal spending, it is new income flowing into Alabama,” Becker said. “Moreover, when physicians, hospital employees, pharmacists and other employees in the health care sector receive these new dollars, they spend them on gasoline and groceries and clothes. This second-round spending generates additional economic activity.”

Yes, Brian, Red States, not  expanding medicare  is actually killing people,  and costing the state  billions, but you already knew  that.

In an interview with AL.com, Greer asked "How important is a human life?"
"We have to fight back," she said. "It is not like we are asking for something unrealistic. (Health care) is a human right."

EYE hope this answers your question. 

Update~ What Looks Like #VoterSuppression on an Ordinary Day in #SweetHomeAlabama

#MediaDrivenNarrativeAlert:   Gov. Robert Bentley, left to right, Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., and Peggy Wallace Kennedy, daughter of former Gov. George Wallace, in a commemoration of the voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery (Julie Bennett/ jbennett@al.com)

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Alabama get voter suppression right!  (pun intended).

Alabama has followed its voter ID requirement that went into effect last year with closing drivers license offices in eight of 10 counties with majority black voting populations. The voter suppression effect is complimented by raising the fee for driver license renewal from $23.50 to $36.25 earlier this year.

EYE don't know why the Alabama Media Group , EYE am look at Y-O-U, Kyle Whitmire, John Archibald, and Dale "Jackson", are acting all shocked and awed Alabama has figured out a way to remain the reddest of the red, Confederate Slave States... today, tomorrow and forever.

EYE don't know why some people are acting all shocked and ashamed to learn Alabama to stop issuing drivers licenses in counties with 75% black registered voters.  Didn't Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders (D. Selma) try to tell y'all?

Hank Sanders knew the red, republican, controlled House would pass the Voter ID bill to disenfranchise black/poor/brown voters.

The Alabama Legislature, under Republican control for the first time since Reconstruction, passed a voter ID law this year. The law takes effect in 2014.
Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin have passed laws this year that allow voters without the required photo ID to cast provisional ballots, but the voters must return to a specific location with that ID within a certain time limit for their ballots to count.
Indiana and Georgia already had such laws. Other states have photo ID laws too, but provide different way to verify a voter’s identity without a photo ID. Texas and South Carolina are awaiting approval for their laws from the Justice Department because of those are among that states with a history of voting rights suppression and discrimination.

EYE knew when the republican majority Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act because things had changed dramatically in the south,  clearing the way for republicans to gerrymander their way to a permanent majority,  this was going to happen.  And it's too late to call for a justice department investigation into the closings Mr. Archibald, Sir.

Maybe if the Alabama Democratic Party had joined with The Alabama Democratic Conference instead of fighting with the Alabama Democratic Conference we wouldn't be in this mess.

EYE am just saying...

Still think Voter ID laws aren’t meant to keep folks from voting? What other purpose can they possibly serve? Back in 2011, Alabama passed a voter ID law requiring Photo ID. For most Americans, that’s a driver’s license.
Unfortunately for folks living in Alabama’s “Black Belt” – the state’s 15 mostly Black counties – those driver’s licences are about to become a LOT harder to get. Why? Because on Thursday, October 1, the state’s shutting down a staggering 31 driver’s license offices, leaving only four open.
Officials claim they’re doing this because of budget cuts, but it looks a lot more like the GOP-controlled state legislature wants to keep Black people from voting. After all, this certainly isn’t the first time the state of Alabama’s tried to keep Black people from voting. And now that the majority -GOP Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, they’re free to do it again.

EYE Report.  YOU Decide. 

RedEyes Rundown #PinkOut

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

— Blue DuPage (@BlueDuPage) September 29, 2015

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

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

Legal Schnauzer and his wife need our help.

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

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

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

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

Boeher's Resignation is Bad News for Everyone

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

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

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

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

As the young people say, Word.