VIDEO: "This is Alabama. We speak English"

By GottaLaff

Yes, Tim, this is all about saving money. It has nothing to do with whites feeling threatened, or the transition from a white male Christian society to a more diverse one.

Welcome to Scapegoat, USA.

Via The Maddow Blog:

In this advertisement, Tim speaks out on the issue of English only. Alabama offers drivers license tests in 12 languages. As Governor, he will push to have the test given in only one language, English.

It gets more disgusting:

On his website, James includes a category called "Common Sense for Crime and Public Safety." It starts with crystal meth and spouse abuse and ends with the prisons' revolving doors, and in between: "Enforce Alabama's Constitutional Amendment declaring English as the state's official language."

That's right. If you can't quite get the hang of Alabama's wannabe official, only acceptable language, then you are a violent druggie. If you're here to work hard and find a good life for yourself, you must be shooting up and throwing your significant other against walls. English-speaking white people never do stuff like that.

And the sad part is, there are voters out there who lap this up the way this guy laps up Tancredoisms.

Welcome to Election Season 2010.

This is what a Real News Story looks like: Shelby Relents and Releases Holds... sort of

By GottaLaff

A few days ago, I posted about Richard Shelby putting a hold on 70-- count 'em-- of President Obama's nominees, in essence shutting down what's left of the government.

That was then. This is now:

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) "has released his controversial 'holds' on more than 70 pending presidential nominations," the Washington Post reports.

"Senators, usually from the minority party, often use the legislative tactic on one or a few presidential nominees, usually to protest parochial concerns. Shelby's maneuver, aimed at all appointments awaiting confirmation on the Senate floor, agitated Democrats because it would effectively limit confirmation votes to a handful per month. It also marked a low point in a partisan standoff in the Senate that has forced Democrats to find 60 votes to pass almost everything."

"Senate Democratic aides confirmed that Shelby had released most holds, but Shelby said he would continue to block other, unnamed nominees."

This has not made news, surprisingly. And the news is that the GOP has obstructed every single thing the Democrats have tried to do, often with no rationale other than to... obstruct.

That's news.

But we're not hearing about it.

If this story were to be pushed as hard as the Big Countdown to Palin's crib-noted speech was, America might see the GOP differently than it does now. But it doesn't. It buries real news with anything and everything that will increase ratings, and therefore increase ad revenue.

And that, you see, is how the corporate owned news media negatively affects voters, elections, and our very democracy.

American Fascism: Tea Party Speaker Wants Executions For Homosexuals + bonus Daily Show Video!

By GottaLaff

I'll give you an excerpt that should press enough buttons to get you to read the whole thing:

Of course [former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and current Alabama gubernatorial candidate – Roy] Moore ranted about homosexuals today in his speech. If you’re interested in what he said, you read a summary here. But, two takeaways from this.

1. That this man served at such a high level in our judicial system is shameful.
2. Why the fuck is Sarah Palin paling around with people that want to execute homosexuals and/or pull their children away from them? And, more importantly, why is her embrace of such hate being tolerated by the mainstream media – and by us.

There now, provoked? Good. Go read the rest.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Alabama Getaway
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

H/t: StopBeck

White House: Shelby’s Obstruction is a Threat To National Security

By GottaLaff

I posted earlier about Richard Shelby's jaw-dropping hostage-taking of 70 of President Obama nominees.

On the Thom Hartmann Show just now, I heard that Robert Gibbs is livid, justifiably so.

Now the White House is going for a twofer: Calling this a national security threat as well as obstruction:

Yesterday, just hours after the Senate voted 96-0 to confirm Martha Johnson as the Administrator of the GSA after a pointless 9-month delay, we learned that Sen. Richard Shelby from Alabama has placed a blanket hold on all nominees, including national security nominees, to use as leverage for some projects in his state. He's holding up 70 nominees, among them top intelligence officials at the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security. According to the National Journal, he’s holding them up until two defense contracts that would benefit interests in his state can be fast-tracked.

Let's be clear: Sen. Shelby is preventing qualified nominees who will help protect the American people from being confirmed. He’s not alone, though. This is just the latest example of this kind opposition for opposition’s sake that the President talked about earlier this week.. This strategy of obstruction is preventing qualified people from doing their jobs on behalf of the American people and it’s preventing real work from getting done in Washington. Every minute spent needlessly blocking noncontroversial nominees, many of whom go on to be confirmed by 70 or more votes or by voice vote (nine of the President’s nominees so far), is a minute not spent on the issues that matter to American families.

As I noted yesterday, this is true of the legislative process, too. The Senate cast more votes to break filibusters last year than in the entire 1950s and '60s combined, making it nearly impossible to come to agreement on key legislation.

Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director

Make that a threefer: He threw in the F word: Filibuster.

More like this please.

Shelby Blocks All Obama Nominations In The Senate Over AL Earmarks

By GottaLaff

No, they're not the Obstruction Party at all. They're just doing what they feel is Right. Yeah... Far right:

According to the report, Shelby is holding Obama's nominees hostage until a pair of lucrative programs that would send billions in taxpayer dollars to his home state get back on track. The two programs Shelby wants to move forward or else:

- A $40 billion contract to build air-to-air refueling tankers. From CongressDaily: "Northrop/EADS team would build the planes in Mobile, Ala., but has threatened to pull out of the competition unless the Air Force makes changes to a draft request for proposals." Federal Times offers more details on the tanker deal, and also confirms its connection to the hold.

- An improvised explosive device testing lab for the FBI. From CongressDaily: "[Shelby] is frustrated that the Obama administration won't build" the center, which Shelby earmarked $45 million for in 2008. The center is due to be based "at the Army's Redstone Arsenal."

Confirmed:

Sen. Richard Shelby's (R-AL) office has confirmed to TPMDC the reports that Shelby has placed a hold on President Obama's nominees over a pair of government programs set to be based in Alabama. He did not confirm that Shelby has taken the rare step of blocking all of Obama's nominees, as was reported yesterday.

We have a hostage situation.

Brought to you by Earmarks, Inc.

BREAKING: Dem. Rep. Parker Griffith switching to Republican party

By GottaLaff

A defector in our midsts. MSNBC just reported that Alabama Dem. Rep. Parker Griffith will become a Republican.

Politico has the rest.

UPDATE:

Now he's right where he belongs. Good riddance.

And this:

First Read provides some more context on Rep. Parker Griffith's party switch today, noting "he was one of four Democrats to oppose the stimulus, cap and trade, and health-care reform. The other three: Walt Minnick (ID), Bobby Bright (AL) and Gene Taylor (MS). All four are/were considered major targets for the GOP in 2010. Griffith also voted against the Wall St. reform legislation and the Lilly Ledbetter Act."

"So considering Griffith's votes, when measuring his switch versus Arlen Specter's, Specter's was much more significant."

Meanwhile, though the NRCC tried to remove their advertisement blasting Griffith from YouTube, they must have forgetten that nothing is ever really deleted anymore.

You can see the titles of the three ads they have since removed, but here's an ad they missed:

More here.

Alabama county celebrates official Obama holiday

By GottaLaff

We hear a lot of criticism of President Obama, and how the honeymoon is long over, how people are disenchanted. Oh yeah? Well, we'll show them! Here are some who are still very enchanted:

The rural, mostly black county has proclaimed Monday as an official holiday celebrating the election of the nation's first black president, Barack Obama. It's one of Alabama's poorest counties, but it's sparing little during five days of festivities.

County employees, as well as city workers in Marion and Uniontown, will get a paid holiday Monday as government offices close, culminating a series of events including an old-fashioned civil rights rally and march, a golf tournament, a weekend carnival and a parade Monday through Marion.

"I feel great about the holiday," said county maintenance worker Leon Brown. "It's history. It's the first time ever we've had a black president. I hope it's not the last time ever." [...]

The Obama holiday was proposed by Commissioner Albert Turner Jr., whose father was one of the marchers beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in the 1965 "Bloody Sunday" voting rights march in Selma. [...]

He said another reason for the holiday was to let the nation know the role Perry County played in protests that led to passage of the Voting Rights Act. Some of the events recall the demonstrations.

"It's not that we're celebrating Obama. We're celebrating America living up to it's creed that all men are created equal," Turner said.

Then a Rushpublic did his Rushpublic thing and found a way to spin a very positive moment into a negative:

But Michael Brooks, a Judson College professor who is a Republican Party official in Perry County, wondered if the five days of events celebrating Obama's election wasn't a little too much for the small, poor county.

"I question whether we needed another paid county holiday in the middle of a recession," Brooks said. "For the first year, it seems it could have been a bit more modest."

Yeah, celebrating is way too much for people bursting with pride to handle when they're trying to find a silver lining during tough times. What could they be thinking?

G.O.P.: Grumpy Old Poopyheads.

High school student Matt Morgan displays his Obama Day holiday tee shirt as he attends a rally at the Marion Military Institute in Marion, Ala., Friday, Nov. 6, 2009. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

President Obama chooses Alabama doctor as Surgeon General

I'm not up on these things, but would she be the first AA Surgeon General? Obviously I haven't seen a SG in twenty years other than that bearded guy. Interesting article about her clinic in the aftermath of Katrina here.

WASHINGTON -- The Associated Press has learned that President Barack Obama has chosen a well-known Alabama family physician, Dr. Regina Benjamin, to be the next surgeon general.

An administration official said Obama will announce the nomination later Monday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to upstage the official announcement.

Benjamin was the first black woman to head a state medical society, received the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights and just last fall received a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant." But she made headlines in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, with her determination to rebuild her rural health clinic Bayou La Batre, Ala., which serves 4,400 patients who would be hard-pressed to find care elsewhere.

Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) kicks off bid to first African American governor of Alabama

I'm liking the fact that the AA's are mixing it up. Looks like he has a good chance. Plus, I really like his smile.

Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) kicked off his bid to become the first African American governor of Alabama, promising to bring jobs to a state with a wounded manufacturing industry.

Davis kicked off his campaign to replace term-limited Gov. Bob Riley (R) in front of a crowd at a major park in Birmingham, the population center of his district. American Idol winner Ruben Studdard, a Birmingham native, sang for supporters, estimated by local media at about 500 people.

(snip)

Davis released polling last month that showed him beating both Sparks and Cobb by more than two-to-one margins. Davis will be helped by the state's heavy African American population, which will likely make up more than 50 percent of the Democratic primary electorate; both Sparks and Cobb are white.

Alabama is one of the nation's most conservative states nationally, but it has elected Democratic governors for much of the 20th century. Three Republicans have served a total of five terms since 1987, but Gov. Guy Hunt (R), elected in 1986, was the state's first GOP governor since Reconstruction.

Alabama House To Praise Miss California For Anti-Gay Marriage Position

By GottaLaff

Via Oliver:

A resolution has been introduced in the Alabama House that praises Miss USA contestant Carrie Prejean for speaking out against gay marriage during Sunday night’s televised pageant.

Because, you know, nothing says patriotism like an Alabaman House resolution touting California Carrie and her opposite marriage blabble. How American, focusing so intently on inequality and such also too.

Special Sarah Palin Linkage Edition

Here's some stuff so you don't have to go hunting for it.

Sarah Palin was my mayor

How McCain picked Palin

McCain’s ‘Hail Sarah’ Pass

Palin Probe Could Mean Election-Eve Trouble for McCain

Sarah Palin

Some things you didn't know about Sarah Palin

Forbes.com claimed Palin "oppos[es]" earmarks -- but her administration said it requested them this year

Obama predicts huge increase in black voters in Republican Southern states

By GottaLaff

GObama!

[A]n Associated Press analysis of U.S. Census and voting data from the past four presidential elections shows a potentially dramatic impact should Obama fulfill his pledge to elevate black participation by 30 percent.

That would add nearly 1.8 million votes in 11 Southern states, the analysis shows, enough to tip the balance in several that have been Republican strongholds.

Besides the likely increase in black turnout, the Illinois senator also expects a surge of young voters to help him compete in states that have been reliably red since the once solidly Democratic South flipped to the Republicans in 1964.

Fingers, toes, legs, arms, eyes all crossed.

"I can tell you that North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama will be in play," asserts North Carolina Democratic Rep. G.K. Butterfield, an Obama adviser. "We're looking strongly at Tennessee and Mississippi."

Obama:

"I guarantee you African-American turnout, if I'm the nominee, goes up 30 percent around the country, minimum," he said. "Young people's percentage of the vote goes up 25-30 percent. So we're in a position to put states in play that haven't been in play since LBJ."

Yeah, yeah, but does the math back up your analysis?

The math backs up his analysis - if he can deliver the turnout he promises.

Tom Schaller, a University of Maryland political science professor:

"I'll believe a 30 percent increase in the black vote when I see it," Schaller said. "If Obama does it, he will have proved to doubters like me that his organizing skills in Chicago coupled with his vision and charisma are truly transformative. It'll be a thumping on Nov. 4."

Obama's advisers admit they have a distance to go.

Then here's hopes that they go the distance.

FedEx reaches out to overseas voters. Advantage: Obama

By GottaLaff

(click on chart to enlarge)

FedExtra Special:

Seeking to alleviate a top concern for overseas absentee voters, FedEx will team up with a voter participation group and ship ballots for free or at heavy discounts this fall, the company announced this week. [...]

"The number one question we get around election time is: did my ballot arrive and did it get counted?" OVF President and CEO Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat told The Hill. Her organization has been dedicated to overseas voter registration and participation since 2005.

Could you all hang on just a minute while I try to pronounce Susan Dqoiuteqiweuqwe- Siweurqpeoui's name? I was going to put in a call to her and thank her, but I'm afraid this is a bit of a deterrent.

Hmmm, I wonder what BushCo can do to sabotage these efforts. Maybe infiltrate FedEx? I can't imagine anyone taking notice if Rove were to use his private e-mail account to intercept confirmations:

Overseas voters will be able to print FedEx forms and request ballot pickups on OVF’s website. FedEx will send confirmation emails when votes are delivered, and voters will have access to FedEx tracking tools via OVF's site, allowing them to monitor their ballots' voyages.

That, OVF’s Dzieduszycka-Suinat says, will give overseas voters "a level of confidence that really isn't otherwise provided in this system."

Participation and satisfaction among overseas voters have been flagged as problems by the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), an independent body created under the 2002 Help America Vote Act to review and guide federal election procedures.

Maybe there will be an Executive Order to impose the all-new emergency Stop Overseas Voting Act! Just in time for Election 2008!

EAC Chair Rosemary Rodriguez thinks the FedEx/OVF program could have a drastic impact, as slow mail is a top concern for overseas voters.

"If we can really get the word out it could be exponential," Rodriguez said. "It could really make a difference."

Standard mail often takes too long for ballots to be sent and returned in time, posing a significant obstacle to overseas votes being counted, Rodriguez added.

Hmm, and I wonder which candidate would benefit...

The program comes at a time when overseas interest in the U.S. election, particularly among civilian ex-pats, could be at an all-time high. The Washington Post documented unprecedented interest in Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) among Americans overseas, and a Global Primary for overseas Democrats drew 20,000 votes, with Obama raking in 65 percent.

Overseas voters will be able to ship their ballots at the lowered rates between September 15 and October 29. Alabama will be the only state not to participate, as it requires overseas ballots to be sent via U.S. mail.

Well shut my mouth and call me Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat! Overseas voters are expected to benefit Obama. I can't foresee any problems with the FedExers' plan then. None at all. Oh, and about that Alabama:

Monday, June 30, 2008

The gap between John McCain and Barack Obama in Alabama has been cut nearly in half. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state finds McCain ahead 51% to 36%. Though McCain still has a solid advantage, his fifteen-point lead in the Yellowhammer State is down from the twenty-eight point lead he enjoyed last month. This is consistent with other polling in Republican leaning states showing Obama closing the gap since clinching the Democratic Presidential Nomination.

Everything should go swimmingly. After all:

At FedEx, we are passionate about sustainably connecting people and places and improving the quality of life around the world.

And isn't that exactly what the Bush administration stands for?

Saturday Morning Round UP

Need coffee and breakfast. On the good side, it looks to be starting out as a really pretty day.

Obama's On-the-Wall Endorsement

US House speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Iraq

Jerry Springer talks ethics in commencement address

Candidates must focus on the young

Late Senator figures in 2008 presidential furor

Radio Hosts Gleefully Try to Taint Jurors

Ted Nugent could be the NRA's rambunctious new Charlton Heston

Alabama Sheriffs Feed Inmates on $1.75 a Day

More McCain Campaign Staffers Out Because of New Ethics Policy

IPhone rivals can't compete

Harkin: McCain too 'military'