Black folks aren't "entitled" to vote in America

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Sigh

Thirteen years after the Florida recount, it looks like republicans are going to get their way, once again using the same Supreme Court that handed them the election,  to snatch Section 5 away from the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

If you can't beat em, suppress em.

Can't say I didn't see this day coming.

Race still  matters.  If the election of the first African American President bought out the worst in some (not to be confused with all) white Americans, his re-election has driven them over the edge.  The looming Sequester is the big payback for the people who re-elected President Obama. Obama voters, already feeling  the pain of republican polices stabbing them in the back,  the Sequester will  twist the knife.
 
Let's be honest.. the word entitlements, rather it be in regard to spending or voting, is code for lazy black folks who want the government to take care of them and give them free stuff.

 “The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America?’ No, no, no, not ‘God Bless America,’ ‘God Damn America.’”

This is what Reverend Jeremiah Wright was talking about.

Can you hear him now?

From Selma, Alabama to Shelby County, Alabama: Mission Accomplished

 President Lyndon Johnson, with Martin Luther King, Jr, Ralph Abernathy and Rosa Parks signing the Voting Rights Act August 6, 1965

"Today is a triumph for freedom as huge as any victory that has ever been won on any battlefield. Yet to seize the meaning of this day, we must recall darker times."

 Is it a coincidence a challenge to section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 falls at the end of Black History Month , in the year 2013, on the same day President Obama unveils a statue of Rosa Parks in the U.S. Capital?

The Voting Rights Act effectively attacked persistent discrimination at the polls by keeping close watch, when it comes to holding elections, on those places with a history of preventing minorities from voting. Any changes, from moving a polling place to redrawing electoral districts, can’t take effect without approval from the Justice Department or federal judges in Washington.
But the Voting Rights Act allows governments that have changed their ways to get out from under this humbling need to get permission through a “bailout provision.” Nearly 250 counties and local jurisdictions have done so; thousands more could be eligible based on the absence of recent discriminatory efforts in voting.

Shelby County, Alabama claims it's changed it's evil ways. Between keeping grown people from gambling with their own damn money in Alabama,  Attorney General Luther Strange (yes you read it right) whines the Voting Rights Act is unfair to Sweet Home Alabama.

On Wednesday , the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether there has been enough change that Alabama and 15 other states should no longer be subject to federal approval of any election rules. That approval is currently required under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
Strange likens the provision to asking, "Mother, may I?" He says it's outdated and unfair in the post-Jim Crow South.
"What Section 5 does is impose a burden on our states that really is unnecessary in 2013," Strange argues. He points to statistics that show Alabama is second in the nation, behind Mississippi, in the number of African-Americans holding public office.

Shelby County, Alabama  is Selma, Alabama  in reverse.  Shelby County is one of the fastest growing counties in Alabama,  ranking among the 100 highest income counties in the U.S., compared to Selma, located in the heart of Alabama's Black Belt.

The median income for a household in the Black Belt region was $27,130, and the median income for a family was $35,698. Males had a median income of $32,226 versus $22,021 for females. The per capita income for the region was $15,633.
A July 1, 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimate placed the region's population at 575,783, a decline of 2.25% since 2000.

If you want to know the inside scoop, resident Blogger Legal Schnauzer writes extensively about the going on in idyllic Shelby County, Alabama. 

It's the Courts Stupid!  This is what some of us tried to tell some of y'all back in 2000.

To better understand how to approach the white moderate power structure, we must first realize how King's criticism of the moderates of his time is not different at all from a criticism of our time.  When King says that "the white moderate is more devoted to ‘order' than to justice" he is clearly referring to both the actions of Bill Clinton and Al Gore after the 2000 Presidential Election.  In a 2001 article called "Civil War 2000" published in The Black Scholar, Charles P. Henry writes:  "Kweisi Mfume, president of the NAACP, reports that his organization begged the Clinton Justice Department to intervene in the voting irregularities that occurred in Florida on Election Day.  Mfume says, ‘the Justice Department turned away.'' After the elections, Mfume asked the Justice Department to hold hearings – ‘the Justice Department just looked away.' Despite the lack of response by Clinton's Justice Department, he was given an ‘image' award by the NAACP in 2001!

In one of the first scenes in the 2003 film, Fahrenheit 9/11, Al Gore and the entire U.S. Senate rather stoically and sternly denied the Congressional Black Caucus their right to challenge the 2000 election results when all they needed was a signature from one senator.  Did they believe they were "keeping order" by doing this?  Also, Al Gore moved assiduously to silence not only the NAACP when they were trying to sue the state of Florida for disenfranchising black voters, he also asked that the Congressional Black Caucus be silent and not be too vocal about the racist disenfranchisement of black votes in the 2000 election.  This disenfranchisement was racist because the company that was hired, Choicepoint, to create voting rolls in Florida, improperly and incorrectly identified a disproportionate number of African-American registered voters as felons.  The Clinton Justice Department and Gore both probably believed that by silencing the NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus, and encouraging low media coverage of this disenfranchisement, they were "keeping order." 

So, here we are 13 years later, the Supreme Court who selected George W. Bush, is poised to overturn Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act thanks to another small Alabama county.

Shelby County wants to play the "test case" to insure that certain white politicos will get elected over any non-whites across the South.

Can you hear us now?

Correction~ Justice and Change for Trayvon Martin

 

Correction/edit to original post contained  in the last paragraph.~RedEye

Today is the one year anniversary of the death of Trayvon Martin.  Instead of celebrating his 18th birthday, getting ready for prom, playing sports, getting ready to graduate from high school and possibly head off to college, he is lying in his grave.  May God grant comfort and mercy to his parents and those who mourn with them. 

Driving in my car this morning, listening to a radio talk program on XM128 The Power , the question was posed,  "What if George Zimmerman is found not guilty in the death of Trayvon Martin?"  I didn't get to hear the response, but I thought about it and this is what I say....If George Zimmerman is found not guilty, not to be confused with innocent, we (black folks)  will accept the verdict without throwing rocks, bricks, or setting stuff on fire, because that is what they (white folks) expect black folks to do.  No, black folks will except the verdict with calm, dignified, outrage, out of respect for the memory, and the legacy, of Trayvon Martin.

It's not like we aren't used to injustice.

I do believe a not guilty verdict will send the chilling message to black and brown boys everywhere they are viewed with a deadly combination of  fear and loathing,  sometimes even  by those who are sworn to protect and serve.

 Correction~Trayvon Martin is dead because George Zimmerman was suspicious of him.  Why was he suspicious of Trayvon?  Because of the color of his skin.  If George Zimmerman had just been suspicious of Trayvon... and didn't have a gun..... Trayvon would be alive today.

"Rhetoric in abundance" at Second Amendment rally in gun free zone

Photo via  al.com

I was going to attend the so called 2nd amendment rally   at the Von Braun Civic Center until I found out no guns were allowed and I couldn't take my AR-15 and my hundred round ammo clip.  What good is a rally to learn about the right to bare arms if you can't bare arms?  What if I had to stand my ground? RedEye Roll

What was billed as a 2nd amendment rally hosted by the South Huntsville Civic (sic) Association, was in reality, an organized day of resistance for those fighting President Obama's 23 executive orders to stop gun violence.  According to AL.com about 1700 people fell for the Okey Doke,  led by the usual suspects.

Speakers included Congressman Mo (anything short of shooting them) Brooks of the Fifth Congressional District; Sen. Arthur(racist policies) Orr, R-Decatur; Sen. Bill (rape is a slippery slope)Holtzclaw, R-Madison; Sen. Clay(trans vaginal probe) Scofield, R-Guntersville; Sen. Paul(whistle blower) Sanford, R-Huntsville; Chris Stephens, chief deputy for the Madison County Sheriff's Department; Trevor Santos, the state liaison for the National Rifle Association; and Greg Hopkins, a Second Amendment attorney.

Too bad Congresswoman Gabby Giffords wasn't speaking to constituents in a gun free zone.  Instead of speaking to voters about real issues, Mo, who was against the Sequester before he was for the Sequester,  was safely on stage calling President Obama the radical leftist in the White House (code for Socialist, Marxist) instead of  doing the job he was elected to do.

"It is our duty as American citizens to resist and stop President Obama's efforts," Brooks said.
He asked the crowd: "Are you going to fight to protect our Second Amendment right to bear arms and our Constitution?" Audience members yelled back and Brooks asked again, and then a third time, more loudly, adding, "I want President Obama to hear you in the White House"!

As wrong  as the out right lies and the blatant disrespectful tone of Mo's comments were,  the revelations made by Madison County Chief Deputy Chris Stephens are what I find the most troubling.

Stephens was asked how many new applications for concealed carry permits the Madison County Sheriff's Department is receiving.
"We're up 400 new applicants per week," he said. The process takes about four weeks to complete, which he said is largely due to staff cutbacks.
Stephens also was asked whether the Sheriff's Department will have the right to confiscate weapons if a gun ban is passed.
He quoted Sheriff Blake Dorning as saying, "If the federal government wants your guns, they can come get them. It won't be us," which resulted in cheers and an ovation. Stephens later explained that local sheriff's offices have no authority to enforce federal law.

 Who knew?  IF, I repeat IF the federal government "wants your guns" the Sheriffs department is ready, willing and able to stand in the school house door, I mean defy the federal government.  Am I the only one concerned those who are supposed to enforce the law are picking and choosing what laws they will/not enforce?  Does that mean they are can also choose who they are/not going to protect and serve?  I'm just asking...

Let's flip the script, what if this were the headline ~Several Democratic  lawmakers, a liberal talk-show host and representatives of the NAACP are scheduled to appear today at a Second Amendment rally at the Von Braun Center.

What do you want to bet we would have some sensible gun control legislation quick, fast and in a hurry?

What WhiteDog 51 said; 

Gathering yesterday appeared to serve purpose it was intended to accomplish. Inflamed rhetoric, anecdotal evidence of danger vanquished by guns, attention seekers center stage with adoring worshipers in attendance. Not many minds changed on any subject. Attendees can visit church today and pray for condemnation of everyone who doesn't share their opinions.

Amen and Amen.

Uh, remember that Sugar-Coated Satan Sandwich?

Fist Dap Flick River Photography

Looks like the Sugar-Coated Satan Sandwich is back for a second course...

The phony debt ceiling crisis was, from beginning to end, a con. It was an elaborate and successful hoax in which the nation's first black president, the Democratic and Republican parties, Wall Street and corporate media all played indispensable parts. The object of the supposed “crisis” was to short circuit public opinion, existing law, democratic process and traditions of public oversight, in order to deal fatal blows to Medicaid, Medicare, social security, job growth and public expenditures for the common good. It worked. We've been conned.

The result was painful and predictable then, and it's painful and predictable now.....

 If nothing else, the debt ceiling crisis provided what Barack Obama is so fond of calling a "teachable moment." Hopefully, that extends to the President himself. After seeing his nominees blocked, his legislation filibustered and popular upper-income tax increases delayed by Republicans who withheld their support from his watered down stimulus and health care programs, President Obama nevertheless continued to seek common ground with those whose only goal remains his political destruction. 

Some of us tried to tell y'all the deal sucked, but did you listen?  Nooooo, that would have been too much like right (pun intended). You keep smashing an economy over the head with the austerity is good for you meme and you end up with a bloodied economy.

The American people made it perfectly clear we want to preserve the social safety net while raising taxes on the rich in November. Since republicans got 98% of what they wanted in the debt deal by holding America hostage,  they are doing it again. Who cares what we want? 

 Here’s how it happened: Republicans engaged in unprecedented hostage-taking, threatening to push America into default by refusing to raise the debt ceiling unless President Obama agreed to a grand bargain on their terms. Mr. Obama, alas, didn’t stand firm; instead, he tried to buy time. And, somehow, both sides decided that the way to buy time was to create a fiscal doomsday machine that would inflict gratuitous damage on the nation through spending cuts unless a grand bargain was reached. Sure enough, there is no bargain, and the doomsday machine will go off at the end of next week.

This is what is on the menu IMHO...... Republicans want the Sequester to go into effect.

 The 2013 sequester includes:

• $42.7 billion in defense cuts (a 7.9 percent cut).
• $28.7 billion in domestic discretionary cuts (a 5.3 percent cut).
• $9.9 billion in Medicare cuts (a 2 percent cut).
• $4 billion in other mandatory cuts (a 5.8 percent cut to non-defense programs, and a 7.8 percent cut to mandatory defense programs).

Republicans control the House ( thanks to gerrymandering), have a filibuster-proof Senate (thanks to Harry Reid), defense spending will be restored, the rich will keep their tax cuts, so-called entitlements will be cut.

It's a win-win for the GOP,  another Sugar-Coated Satan Sandwich for the majority of the America people.

Bon appetite!