usernamehere's blog

It is possible if you just look in front of your face: Mainstream media finds corrupt Republican candidate.

Want to find another scandal-ridden GOPer running for a seat in Raleigh? Try looking in another crowded Republican field for a state House seat. There's one candidate who was found drunk in a wrecked car with a girl half his age -- only a few years ago. Hint: the district is west of Greensboro ... and Charlotte ... and east of Asheville. This might not be a GOP pickup after all if this former GOP legislator wins the primary.

At least Uncle Festzer still isn't gay.

forcing citizens to buy the unregulated products of private companies that have been granted monopolies

Firedoglake reminds us of the textbook definition of fascism.

It's been so distressing to see so-called progressives in NC support the idea of passing the Senate bill.

Shame on those who support propping up Blue Cross to give Obama a "win" on the backs of what remains of the middle class.

What would a progressive say? Kill the Senate bill!

North Carolina remains woefully underrepresented on the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. NC only has one judge on the Fourth Circuit.

Today, North Carolinians of all politcal persuasions should know that the US Senate continued to perpetuate this historic unfairness against North Carolina by taking time for two votes on a judge from Virginia.

A vote on cloture was held by the full Senate, and a vote on the nomination was held by the full Senate for this Virginia judge. North Carolina's nominees are still waiting.

Just when I lose my faith in Congressional Democrats (the ones in Washington), the bigot brigades of the NC GOP remind me why I do everything possible to keep Republicans out of power here at the state level in Raleigh.

As Democrats flip-flop relentlessly and equivocate with abandon, DADT repeal slides backwards. The polling is conclusive -- even in NC. GOP figures like Dick Cheney give political cover for DADT repeal.

The filling period for the 2010 elections ends next Friday.

There are 50 seats in NC Senate. So far, Democrats have not fielded a candidate in 18 of those districts.

If we're just going to give the GOP 18 seats (they only need 26 for a majority), then why have elections?

The NC House list is here. There are 120 seats in the NC House.

How many seats are Democrats going to give up without even fielding a candidate?

If you are a registered Democrat and have lived in one of these districts without a candidate for over a year, FILE FOR OFFICE.

Action item

The money is already allocated in the state's budget. It's been voted on and passed. The need is clear. Why is the resource not being used? Tell Governor Perdue to release the $4 million being held in reserve.

A piece by mainstream media servant Gary Robertson is running all across North Carolina.

In it, you'll read names of former Democratic office holders that were in trouble with the law.

What won't you find? One - just one - name of a "troubled" GOP politician. Of course they exist, they just don't fit dear ol' Gary's story of woe for Dems.

Robertson reaches all the way back to 2003 to name former Ag Commissioner Phipps as a troubled Dem. Does he reach back as far for troubled GOPers? Ha!

Hey Robertson, it's 2010. Phipps was released in 2007. Got any new news to report? Been able to do any research in the past 3 years?

Republican bad boys include former GOP state senator John Carrington (why isn't he mentioned more with the LEA story)? He plead guilty to illegally sending technology to RED CHINA for chrissakes. It happened in 2005 -- two years after the Phipps story.

My recent reflections on Dr. King's life center more around his wife, Coretta, as her death just happened in the past few years. Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery at her funeral sums up what I think the reflection on either or both of their lives should be about. Well, at least what I'm feeling today. Watch the whole video, it's worth it.

The cost of bigotry idiocy

If NC state Senator Jim Forrester had his way, North Carolina taxpayers would be over $5 million poorer this November.

As he does every legislative session, Senator Forrester filed a bill this past February to write discrimination into the state constitution -- even though marriage equality is already banned by state statute.

Well, the Fiscal Research Division determined that holding such a referendum in November 2009 -- as Senator Forrester proposed -- would cost the state's taxpayers over $5.7 million.

Another year, another top ranking for NC in the business climate department.

Don't believe me 'cause I'm some crazy blogger on BlueNC? Then trust the pros at Site Selection magazine.

They even start their article with this line about NC's consistent ranking about such supposed better business places as Texas, Virginia, or South Carolina.

How has North Carolina managed to rank No. 1 in Site Selection’s annual business climate rankings eight times in the past nine years?

The Equality NC Foundation Conference and Gala will be held on Saturday, November 14 in Greensboro.

Registration is open now for the daytime conference, the evening gala, or both! Prices go up after October 30, so register early.

Full schedule here

The daytime conference at UNC-Greensboro's Elliot University Center includes an opening session, three breakout sessions with five workshops to choose from during each breakout session, and a closing keynote in the afternoon.

The evening gala will be held at downtown Greensboro's Empire Room. Senator Julia Boseman is this year's Legislative Leadership Award recipient.

First up, Ed Cone's recent column describing the true separation of powers our founders intended.

But government is not the only power to be reckoned with, and sometimes it serves as a necessary counterbalance to other forms of influence.

Suspicion of commercial interests was evident in the days of the Founders (they also believed that government could be too weak, which is why they took a mulligan and wrote the Constitution after the Articles of Confederation proved inadequate). Thomas Jefferson said that he hoped to "crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations." His successors, including Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, achieved greatness -- and helped save capitalism -- by standing up to corporate power.

Since vetoes are a fairly new (1997) and rare (less than 15 since establishment in the late 1990s) in North Carolina, it is noteworthy that a veto by the Governor of North Carolina has occurred today.

Multiple sources are reporting on the veto, but the official information is at the links below.

Governor's veto

Text of vetoed bill

History (drafts and votes) of vetoed bill

Note in this last link, this bill passed both chambers of the legislature without a dissenting vote.

Only three senators (absent) and Speaker Hackney (by tradition, the presiding House officer rarely votes) never voted on this bill.

Here's the evidence, folks.

Gays have not destroyed marriage. In fact, they've brought the Massachusetts divorce rate down to where it was in 1940.

Facts and figures from the National Center for Vital Statistics among others.

No more can the NC media claim to just "be fair" when quoting the American Taliban and other theocrat lobbyists.

I've got the research right here. There's even a Daily Show clip to make things fun.

So how does North Carolina stack up against MA, or even Vermont - where civil unions have been in place for just as long? Take look at the chart.

Civil unions and gay marriage do not increase the divorce rate and do not threaten any straight couple's marriage.