asheville

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This is the second meeting of the Hillary Clinton for President Meet-up. We had over 100 supporters at our first meeting. We will begin forming our subcommittees so that we can win NC for Hillary! All supporters welcome.

I know there's a sort of do-no-harm sensibility in talking about some of our leaders. In fact, I don't post much here because of it. But I think there's a place and time for asking questions and ensuring that accurate information gets shared.

So there's an ad on television that says strange things about Bev Perdue's legislative record. And the topic of the ad is education, which is, candidly, Perdue's strongest suit. Her credentials, her professional career and her legislative work all point to a leader who's for education.

I read Gary Pearce's blog post on Thursday, and read James's post on Thursday night, that included a response note from Perdue or the people who work for her.

This is the first meeting for those in WNC who support Hillary Clinton for President. Let's get to know each other and begin to organize for the May primary.

Arratik and I, after loading up with kegs of Caffiend's finest roast, ventured into the blowing snow and made our way to UNC-Asheville's Lipinsky Auditorium for the first of six scheduled debates between the Democratic candidates for Lieutenant Governor. Moderated by NC 11th District Democratic Party Chairman, Luke Hyde, and organized by the NC Federation of College Democrats, the debate allowed too much time for each response and too little chance to compare candidates stances. Each of the four men meandered away from the prescribed questions. They're politicians, after all, and they're going to keep talking if you let them. Very few questions were answered at the Jan. 19th debate, but the ones that were reveal four distinct personalities running on four different records.

The debate was dominated by environment and energy issues, and this being Asheville, that's no surprise. I imagine that each debate will have its own set of pet issues, so I'm hopeful that we'll have a comprehensive picture of each candidate by the end of the series.

Dan Besse certainly came across as the environmental candidate by repeatedly listing his experience on various environmental boards and commissions as well as the progress he's made in Winston-Salem as City Councilman there. Walter Dalton's presentation was rooted in maintaining the status quo. One got the sense that if you like the Easley/Perdue system, you're going to love Walter Dalton. He's the status quo and isn't pretending to be anything else. Dalton was openly contemptuous of Hampton Dellinger, who has decided to attack Dalton on a number of issues while pretending he's in a two-man race. Hampton Dellinger, ambitious and proud, is another stay-the-course candidate. His determination to score some political points against Dalton was off-putting. Canton Mayor Pat Smathers, who got the least time to speak, probably had the most to say. Smathers concentrated his message on advocating that local leaders be empowered through targeted funding and increased decision-making latitude. He also concentrated on integrity, repeating Esse Quam Videri.

What follows is from my notes. Anything not in quotation marks is my blogger's prerogative paraphrase:

Publish PostThat was the percentage of voters in the general election for city council here in Asheville.
They say people get the government they deserve, perhaps this is so.
Maybe things are lots better than I believe.
Maybe pigs will fly tomorrow.
Who knows?

Military families at heavily deployed bases like Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune are communities at war without their country. Never in our history have so few been asked to sacrifice so much while so many are asked to do nothing at all. Too many Americans hear about the war in Iraq on the evening news, switch off their TV's and sleep well at night confident that the yellow ribbon magnet they bought for their car last week is a sufficient sacrifice. My two military children have sacrificed more before age 10 than the grown men in Washington four times their age who beat the loudest drums to send their Daddy off to war...

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing


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Asheville City Police Officer Russell Crisp and Sergeant Randy Riddle believe in your freedom of speech - if they like what you say.

Asheville Police arrested a protestor for "impeach Bush, Cheney" sign - citing him with dubvious charge of "obstructing a sidewalk" this Wednesday. Since he wasn't actually blocking the sidewalk, they are looking for something else that could stick - and said Thursday "a N.C. Department of Transportation violation would be more fitting."

Charges against ‘highway blogger’ will changeby Adam Behsudi, August 17, 2007

ASHEVILLE — Police said Thursday that it would change charges against a man who held an “impeach Bush, Cheney” sign from a bridge over Interstate 240.

Jonas Phillips, a 35-year-old West Asheville resident, said he had recently taken up “highway blogging,” a protest practice of displaying signs of political discontent from highway overpasses.

Police cited him Wednesday for obstructing the sidewalk but said Thursday a N.C. Department of Transportation violation would be more fitting.

In other words, as soon as they can trump up something that might stick.

A message from Phillips was forwarded to the Veterans for Peace list serve:       (read more below the fold, fp by gf)