James's blog

Chris Fitzsimon reminds us today that no matter how much money the Puppetmaster spends to put on his show, the serious work of governing is for adults, not three-year-olds.

• Pope and Luddy may be able to buy an election but their money can't change reality. The more the plans of their Gang of Five are scrutinized, the more absurd they seem. Hogwash doesn't begin to describe it.

This is the coolest scientific article I've read in months, sent along by one of our BlueNC community members.

There is a growing sense that the properties of the universe are best described not by the laws that govern matter but by the laws that govern information. This appears to be true for the quantum world, is certainly true for special relativity, and is currently being explored for general relativity. Having a way to handle energy on the same footing may help to draw these diverse strands together.

Pay special attention to the comments. Good stuff all around.

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

Hat tip to Progressive Pulse.

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.

Now that corporations can buy elections, do you think they'll establish a "returns" policy in case the purchased candidate doesn't perform as expected? When a rich guy spends a hundred grand on an unknown nobody who turns out to be a lecherous drunk, surely a refund would be in order.

Say these five words aloud:

I am an independent Democrat.

How does that make you feel?

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.

With the electoral outlook in the NC Senate sketchier than ever, it's clear that whatever small faith progressives have in Democratic Party leadership has been wildly misplaced. Incumbents are bailing in droves, with as many as ten seats in play - in a year where redistricting will be the next new thing. That's why we've invited Sam Spencer, founder of NC Farm Team, to join us tonight on BlueNC Radio. The Farm Team is all about the long war, identifying and cultivating young progressives who can lead a new generation of progress here in North Carolina. For background information, here's a listing of all the coverage of the Farm Team at BlueNC.

Update: Here's the show!

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.

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.

This looks like an excellent event ... via email

_________________________________________

Please join us for the North Carolina premier of

Climate Patriots

Energy, Climate Change and American National Security: A Military Perspective

Is it time to end the filibuster?

Congressman Price's office today is focusing on his new legislation designed to bring a shred of accountability to free-market electioneering. It's called "Stand by your ad" ... and the details came in an email. I haven't thought it all the way through, but at first blush it seems like a good idea, though it could be easy to get around. I imagine that companies, unions, trade associations, foreign governments, whatever, can set up shell entities in the blink of an eye, pooling money into things like "Machine Gun Maniacs for Tim D'Annunzio" without restrictions. Their ads would show up as being sponsored by MGMFTDA, not by Smith & Wesson and Paraclete.

I give David Price credit for being a lot smarter than I am, though. Am I missing something?

The noted UNC economist, Art Benavie, knows what he's talking about when it comes to the war on drugs. His latest book uncovers its absurdity at all levels of analysis, before it zeroes in on a conservative cost of this waste of national resources. According to Dr. Benavie's analysis, prosecuting the war on drugs is like flushing more than $70 billion dollars a year down the toilet.

To get a glimpse of what that looks like on the streets of North Carolina, I asked the team at MyReporter.com in Wilmington if they could help me understand the costs of the war in New Hanover County. Here's the response they received by email from Charles Smith, of the New Hanover County Sheriff's Department.