Jake's blog

Note: I put this on facebook first as a note and figured I'd share it here. Let me know if you have any input on the races I didn't know much about. Note that some of these are Orange County specific.

This started as a comment here, but quickly got way too long.

First, the pro-Dellinger arguments have been really vitriolic.

It's summertime, and all of us down here in NC know what that means right? Urban heat islands, smog as far as the eye can no longer see, droughts and wasted water, and energy bills skyrocketing.

And so far, we've been blessed with a federal government too distracted by Bush's war on the Constitution to take real environmental action, and a state that throws even more funding at new coal plant construction in a Renewable Energy Bill. Not to mention our lovely senators at work screwing over their own state capital on transit. Looks like we gotta take matters into our own hands.

I was just at Political Insider and saw this gem:

Elizabeth Edwards, insanely straightjacketed the last time around, has been set free and has turned out to be the Presidential candidate spouse who outshines the actual candidate. If Edwards loses Iowa and drops out early, Elizabeth Edwards should take on Elizabeth Dole for North Carolina's '08 Senate seat.

I had never considered this. Obviously, I'd prefer that John Edwards not lose, but should that happen...is this possible?

Declare Yourself made this PSA--here's the link to 3 others: http://bluenc.com/node/add/blog .

I'm 20, and this speaks to me like nothing else. Chris Matthews and Hardball came to UNC for a college special of hardball, and the contempt and condescension he had for us was incredible. He's not alone in that. Young people don't have the money to buy candidates or set up PACs, but we have enough time to vote and enough energy to volunteer.

In 1989, North Carolina passed the Highway Trust Fund Act, which, among other things, provided for the creation of loop highways around Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Durham, Wilmington, and Asheville. So far, beltways have been completed in Charlotte, Raleigh, and Asheville, and are under construction in Wilmington and Greensboro. Durham has rejected the beltway.

This leaves Winston-Salem, which has plans for a beltway to begin construction in 2011. It has been held up by funding problems and a lawsuit.

First it was John Edwards's mansion preventing him from fighting poverty. Now, it's Al Gore's energy-guzzling mansion stopping him from fighting global warming. Gore's getting solar panels on the roof and all his energy is renewable. But that's not the point.

If you want to lead a movement, you should not have the slightest appearance of hypocrisy. That means no mansions, no SUVs, no exploited immigrant maids, nothing. If it means living a little below your rich buddies, so be it. This is not just your job, it is your responsibility to a movement of millions of people who have put their trust in you as their leader.

Probably no candidates are going to read this. But the point

It seems kind of unusual that no Spanish version of BlueNC exists. Does the technology for this exist (beyond using Google's translator) or would it have to be done by a human? It seems like this is a pretty basic mode of outreach we could use, considering the growing Spanish-speaking population in NC.