Jerimee's blog

We are seeking investors for our new offering - BuyAmericanPoliticians.com - the web's one-stop shopping site for political influence in Washington and all 50 states.

Our business will focus on peddling influence to foreign interests who were barred from contributing to U.S. political campaigns until the Supreme Court's recent Citizens United v. FEC decision.

Today James O'Keefe and other prominent GOP activists were arrested by the FBI for attempting to bug Sen. Mary Landrieu's federal office in New Orleans.

More than ever before, the people of Haiti desperately need your help.

The Institute for Southern Studies has launched NC Haiti Action, a campaign to mobilize the North Carolina community to raise at least $1,000 in 24 hours for critical medical and other relief. Join North Carolina and the Institute in providing much needed assistance to the people of Haiti.

#TCOT is a twitter hashtag used on twitter to organize "Top Conservatives on Twitter."

If you do a search for #tcot on twitter, you get a firehose of right-wing extremism and snark. It's not that useful to search #tcot by itself because there is way too much to possibly be able to consume - in the time it takes me to write this sentence there have been over 75 new messages posted.

But if you search a topic or a phrase along with "#tcot" you can get snapshot of what GOP talking points conservative activists are promoting.

While some national organizations have Larry Kissell listed as in the pocket of the insurance industry, when I contacted North Carolina Health Care of for American Now they said that they haven't given up on Rep. Kissell to do the right thing.

NC HCAN believes that Kissell may misunderstand the bill's impact on Medicare. If we can get the word out that the AARP supports health insurance reform precisely because it will not take money away from Medicare, we may be able to convince Kissell to support his constituent and campaign supporters.

From the Virginia Democratic Party:

Bob McDonnell: "Working women are detrimental to the family."

by Chris Kromm, cross-posted from FacingSouth

Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) used to support a public option for a health care. But now he's become an advocate of the alternative put forward by health interests and his fellow Blue Dogs: non-profit health care cooperatives.

And to make the case, Rep. Cooper says we should look to the model of our country's rural electric co-operatives. As he told MSNBC yesterday:

"A co-op is really used over three-quarters of the land area of America so we buy our electricity that way," said Cooper. "It's a creature of the New Deal. It's worked really pretty well over all the country for 70 or 80 years. It's owned by the customers; it is not owned by the government. It works. It works real well."

But Rep. Cooper hasn't always been so enthusiastic about the rural electric co-op model.

I've agreed to start helping Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies with their online outreach efforts. As many BlueNC readers know, the Institute was started 40 years ago as the research arm of the civil rights movement, and continues in that capacity today by reporting on environmental justice, workers' rights, corporate accountability, and people powered democracy.

Clearly exhibit A in the case that people powered democracy is under assault by corporate money is the rent-a-riot squads that have been attacking town hall events throughout America. Corporate front groups like Americans for Prosperity, Freedom Works, and the NCGOP have been effective in their defense of the status quo health insurance industry. What can I say? Direct action works, even when practiced by a relatively small number of partisans paid to travel the state.

Below are some photos I took today of Republicans greeting President Obama as he came to Raleigh to talk about health care.

While there were plenty of health care supporters outside, and many more inside, I mostly took photos of the anti-healthcare peoples because they were more, well shall we say "interesting." Also the police separated supporters from the anti-everything people, and I got stuck on the no side.

Today the United States Senate rejected an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill which would have undermined public safety and the safety of our police.  This amendment, known as the Thune Amendment, would allow the transport of concealed weapons across state lines, even by persons legally barred from possessing guns in the state. 

The Thune Amendment threatened to strip states of the right to protect their own citizens.  Fortunately thirty-nine Senators recognized this bill as a dangerous pathway to illegal gun trafficking. The bill was opposed by 450 mayors across America, including 8 in North Carolina

Glenn Beck had a caller on his show ask about healthcare. Apparently this woman feels that a lot of Republicans with private insurance packages are trying to shove the idea that public healthcare is bad down middle class America's throat.

Glenn Beck's response to this caller was decidedly not healthy, for him or his listeners. At first he limited himself to merely interrupting her every word with an insipid "Yes?"

I yes? am yes? trying yes? to yes? ask no? a yes? question. yes?

Glenn Beck has a promising career as an avant-garde poet. Eventually the caller manages to force out her question. Listen for Beck's response:

Below is video from the Young Turks:

I have to admit Senator Burr's VW Thing is pretty rad.

While some might prefer that he drive an American car, or a car that gets better than 20 miles to the gallon, I won't be so petty as to criticize Burr's choice of vehicle.

Cross-posted from Facing South with author Sue Sturgis's permission

There was a cryptic moment in the emotional press conference South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford held last week to apologize for committing adultery.

"C Street," Sanford said, is where men face "hard questions."

Later, in response to a question from a reporter, the Republican governor and former congressman said that he had been to "what we called 'C Street' when I was in Washington."

At my first job as a community organizer with Maryland ACORN I organized tenants in a number of apartment complexes all owned by the same slumlord.

It was a good organizing opportunity because just about everyone living there (over a thousand families) had the same problems: vermin, flooding on the 1st floor, lack of repairs, and issues with safety and lighting. Also Maryland has some basic laws protecting renters. These weren't sufficient, but there was at least a limit to what renters were expected to tolerate.

Two months ago we all came together to support financial reform and sound fiscal policy.

Now, with North Carolina in the most severe budget crisis in decades, some extremist politicians refuse to let the North Carolina attempt to stem the bleeding. 

Legislators are proposing unprecedented cuts to critical services by eliminating 12,000 teaching positions, cutting children's health insurance, teacher pay, cancer research, medicare, and job placement services, and closing rape crisis, abuse, and sexual assault centers across the state.  Conservatives believe the way out of the recession is eliminating the safety net for the economically disadvantaged while preventing the next generation from getting the education they need to succeed.