What happens when Republicans run things? Squandered resources. Chaos for parents. Imminent tax increases. All hell breaks loose.

Hat tip to Progressive Pulse.

Including its two Democratic Senators:

Virginia could become the first state on the Eastern Seaboard to open its coast to energy exploration since a decades-old federal drilling ban expired more than a year ago.

The new Republican governor, Robert McDonnell, pledged to make Virginia the "energy capital of the East Coast" at his swearing-in last month. The state's Democratic senators, Jim Webb and Mark R. Warner, are also urging the Obama administration to begin selling leases next year for drilling 50 miles offshore.

Last December Senator Richard Burr co-signed a letter to the EPA requesting that they not designate coal ash as a hazardous waste material. The letter expressed that the costs of the reform would be a burden on utility companies and eventually the average consumer. The Senator seems to be ignoring the blatant dangers associated with coal ash ponds.

A quick update on our first week of Candlestick, where the NC Sierra Club leads the pack on grant-gathering with their disciplined cross-posting. The top Sierra Club post garnered 286 reads. Planned Parenthood also earned grants last week with their welcome coverage of the threats to women's freedom in Apex. Their top post had more than 400 reads. For those non-profits who may have missed the Candlestick announcement, the details are posted again below.

Courts today are seeing an epidemic of bankruptcies among older adults, a direct result of eight years of Republican profligacy and disdain for the middle class. Richard Burr and Virginia Foxx think "the cure" is to keep on doing what George Bush did.

The average age for filing bankruptcy has increased, and the rate of bankruptcy filings among those ages sixty-five and older has more than doubled since 1991. The implications of a sharp rise in the proportion of older Americans in bankruptcy are particularly problematic because, unlike their younger counterparts, older Americans typically have fewer years left in the full-time workforce. Consequently, they will have a far more difficult time recovering from financial collapse.

From the dark side:

A Davie County Republican is urging fellow state lawmakers to stop wasting time and money on the state’s climate change commission and support energy policy he says will have a tangible impact on the state. Brock also wants to look into building a refinery in eastern North Carolina to jumpstart economic development in distressed counties.

The human brain, for all its power, is suspicious of difficulty. Effective marketers, politicians, and sales people all know to keep it simple.

What is it about Sarah Palin that so appeals to the fringe right in America?

Listening to her keynote address to the national Tea Party convention on Saturday, the answer seems blindingly obvious. She's everything the right wing loves in a leader: A cheerful simpleton, unencumbered by objective reality, telling them with ringing conviction exactly what they want to hear.

Details are unimportant and largely undesired. Statistics are for liars. Anything that contradicts what Everyone Knows is of course just manufactured evidence from crooks, idiots, and socialists.

Some startling (if true) political realities:

The GOP needs nine seats for control in the 120-member House. Minority Leader Paul Stam of Raleigh says among the Democratic seats he's targeting, 14 are in districts carried last year by Republican John McCain.

Last month Raleigh-based Public Policy Polling found voters split. A slight majority favored Republican legislative candidates. But independents, a crucial swing vote, preferred the GOP 45 percent to 23 percent.

When Dr. Jack Block, who died this week, reported his remarkable findings about personality and politics in 2006, Republicans were aghast. Block discovered that modern adult conservatives grow from inhibited, rigid and thin-skinned three year olds.

That nursery-school mentality in today's GOP came into sharp focus last week when Burr voted with every Republican in the Senate against backing the full faith and credit of the US Treasury.

StarNews has a great editorial on the recent flap over revisions to NC's History curriculum:

Tenth-graders would be immersed in study of the Founders, the Constitution and other important events and documents from the nation's formative years, much as they are now. The Civil War, which tore the nation apart and then brought it back together, wouldn't be forgotten, they say. It would be covered as part of a broad course in the seventh grade. Both courses would require students to think critically, analyze and draw conclusions based on the facts they learn.

At this week's meeting of the North Carolina City / County Management Association, the dark shadow of Paul Stam haunted the hallways. Fresh from a new kill in Apex, where one of his lieutenants stripped abortion coverage from the city's health care plan, he's mounting a crusade to force North Carolina's city and county governments to become part of his political agenda, demanding that they follow the path of Apex, where one white middle-aged man knows more about what's good for women than women themselves. The county managers apparently told Stam, "thanks, but no thanks," and good for them. They deal in health services day in and day out, and they know the high personal, social and public costs of unplanned pregnancies. The city association seems to have taken a wait and see approach.

Perdue takes the right approach ... a strong editorial from Gaston County.

A great example of the wisdom of collaboration between business and forward-thinking government. Via email from the Governor's office.

Recovery Act Funding to Create Green Jobs, Boost Energy Efficiency in Six Communities Statewide

Gov. Bev Perdue today announced that jobs will be created in six communities across the state with another $755,148 in federal Recovery Act funding for energy efficiency block grants.