Sunday, August 26, 2012

Do I honestly care?


Do I care that on former Alabama Democratic gubernatorial nominee turned Virginia Republican Congressional candidate, Artur Davis, is set to be speak at the Republican National Convention this week in Tampa?  Nope.

I still don't care at all, my ambivalence towards his existence because he is still carrying on his brat-like, vindictive behavior because he is still butt-hurt from losing the 2010 Democratic nomination to the Sand Mountain redneck, whom as well turned into a Republican as well, Ron Sparks.  Yeah, Davis has spent the past few months galavanting with the Angry White People Coalition, i.e., T.E.A. Twats in Virginia. Oh yeah, he wants so badly to impress those delusional and psychologically disengaged whites in the far-flung exburbs of Washington DC in Northern Virginia.

Meanwhile, Sparks is not only apart of the Bentley administration as an "economic development liaison", which doesn't amount to heap of beans because that position has about as much pull as I do as a being a political consultant at the moment, but he has been quieter than whore in church.  This is another episode of the Alabama Democratic Party (ADP) being duped into believing anyone with integrity would actually want to run for anything outside of Birmingham or maybe the other 3 larger cities in that state.  Alabama is currently a place where everyone has been polarized long before the current trend plaguing the US as a whole, except it is based upon social egalitarian progression versus status quo and circling of the wagons.  The few whom are for social egalitarian progression has been vastly outnumbered by 2:1 to those whom want to maintain status quo and circling of the wagons for their particular interests.  (FYI, Redeye, yeah those like Joe Reed, AEA, and the homophobic coalition are a part of the latter rather than former...)

It's embarrassing if you ask me because I'm not the type of person that set my hopes so high for a state that has repeated violated human rights and civil liberties of anyone that isn't a cisgendered, white, heterosexual male.  Then again, folk isn't innocent either when many of the state legislative representation they sent to Montgomery are always trying to work against LGBTs, whom are black as well, and whom live in their very districts in Birmingham.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Who's really the liar in this election season?


I ask this question why so many Americans are whining and saying "both candidates are one in the same".  However, as somebody that usually gives a fair shake of anyone prior to discerning whether they are a liar or overall honest individual.  In politics, that same rules apply when assessments are made.

Sorry, but overwhelming evidence displays that the Romney/Ryan ticket is just chalk full of lies on top of lies.        This is sad when there are actual blogs dedicated to Romney's plethora of lies and even credible journalists are even able to provide long form documentation of the lies.  Paul Ryan just plain lies about himself from Medicare to his beliefs in Ayn Rand to his acceptance of actual fund from the 2009 stimulus for pet projects.    I believe most people paying attention to the actions for both candidates on this ticket is just done right obvious.  However, it has been shown that partisans on both sides are more defiant towards listening to counterarguments of the other side more than anything else this year.  (This might be a recipe for an extremely polarized political environment in the short-term future)

Now don't get me wrong I have my problems with President Obama for starters refusing to stand up and issue an executive orders forcing many states to and jurisdictions to recognize marriage equality even it is only civil unionships (for the time being), enforce some form of job programs that enables those of us having trouble getting into the full time employment in the workforce, and allowing the Bush-era tax cuts on households with incomes above $250,000 be sustained for another year.  Let me not forget his reluctance to promote marriage equality until Joe Biden opened his unfiltered mouth.  However, the President hasn't told a bold face lie about any of his own shortcomings.

Romney and Ryan are lies, plain and simple.  It just seems that the President is be a better choice...

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Birmingham’s school district debacle



Where do I start? I will say that Birmingham school district is royally fucked if this isn't solved very soon.  In my opinion, they seem they have such a dilemma that most urban school districts seem to have these days. That problem is fiefdom mentality when it should even be this way. (Preference, what I am about to say is the honest yet objective truth). When it comes to the Birmingham school district, the whites that mostly now live in the suburbs such as the municipalities Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Gardendale, Fultondale, Clay, and Trussville or incorporated areas like McCalla and Grayson Valley, or western Saint Clair and northern Shelby counties were the ones that screwed up the school district because they didn't want their children to attend schools with blacks back in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, but it was the mismanagement of the majority black and AEA (Alabama Education Association) led administrators that has led to the school districts problems since the 1990s. This is nothing new because school districts in New Orleans, Memphis, Atlanta, Washington DC, and many others across the South has this problem as well.

The whole "they are trying to take over our schools" mantra perpetuated by the Frank Matthews and the same crew of misguided individuals aided the selection of the ineptitude leadership of William Bell aka "the Jackal".  I weep for the socially progressive, working-class, and urban enthusiasts in the city of Birmingham because they have no true allies at all. It seems like instead of find some common ground with those across the city whom want to turn the school district around.  Many of these individuals have children in the district's schools that refuses to provide a quality education that is offered in the surrounding school districts.  As a result, many are forced to do just day either leave for the suburbs if their children cannot get into the Ramsey High School, the baccalaureate academy at Parker High School, or cannot afford to send their children to one of the private schools in the region if they want to remain within the city.  Instead of trying to improve the school district, the board members want to continue status quo so they preserve the jobs of those whom are family and friends in the Birmingham Board of Education central office.  Advocates of reform had to turn to the one entity within the government organization that probably has the least amount of regard for the urban school district in the one city that it wish would die more than anything else, the Alabama State Board of Education.  

Yeah, sure the current board has attempted to oust the current superintendent, Craig Witherspoon, more than once, but the Alabama Board of Education and apparently the courts are against that. However, it is the unlikely allies that reformers of the school districts battle against mediocrity and the current foes are what are worrisome. Let me not forget the current Birmingham School Board president being ruled a resident of Trussville rather than Birmingham after proof of him not being a full-time resident of the city was discovered. The school district is at risk losing its accreditation with the Southeast Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) over the recurring problems with specific schools and the majority of the board's idiocy (can you say Clayton County, Georgia all over again). Finally, having a group of entitled urban mostly black bureaucrats are actually making things worse than their white counterparts and have the working-class, majority black electorate in the city thinking this is a racial usurp to get retribution on them by the state of Alabama. Now this is truly sad…

The one bright spot is the fellow blogger, Laura Kate Whitney, of MagicCityMade blog pointed out that Birmingham like most urban places are worth fighting for in the long run.  This battle has revealed that racial animus is behind the majority of this foolishness on the black members whom are against district reform on the Birmingham Board of Education.  As a black American, I understand and fight for the struggle of a socially egalitarian US by calling out the inequities of all times and bigotry of all.  However, the board members needs to realize that sometimes it best to not fight change because all they are doing is inadvertently destroying Birmingham's chances of recovering.

It's not about you guys, it is about fixing this declining school district before there is nothing left. *SIGH*

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