NC GOP

At least one of the L's in Moore & Van Allen LLP stands for "Laundry":

Many of the sweepstakes checks were mailed to state lawmakers shortly before the November election, in envelopes printed with Moore & Van Allen's letterhead, postmarked from the firm's Charlotte ZIP code and containing the business card of firm lobbyist Tommy Sevier, according to documents obtained by the AP through a public records request. Sevier previously worked as a deputy chief of staff for Senate leader Berger and deputy chief of staff to then-U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes, current chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party.

Before you run off to the shower to wash the slime off, see where that money originated from:

We'll start with a little judicious satire:

Rob_Schofield 10:48am via Tweet Button
Must read: An open letter to the glorious NC Senate shar.es/JORwh via @NCPolicyWatch #ncga #ncpol #ncgov #bluenc

Okay, the satire actually starts now:

What was that about important people not paying attention to blogs?

Monday, at Howard’s urging, the council voted unanimously to withdraw support for a resolution in support of the proposed Monroe Connector-Bypass, a project long sought by Union County. The city was expected to push the issue at last Wednesday’s meeting of the Mecklenburg Union Metropolitan Planning Agency, a group known as MUMPO. The council’s vote was reported in “The Naked City,” a blog by Mary Newsom, a former Observer editor who is now associate director of urban and regional affairs at UNC Charlotte’s Urban Institute.

The root of this problem (imo) is the NC GOP's ham-handed "divide and conquer" method of getting what it wants. Turn counties against cities, state workers against state teachers, progressive Dems against moderates, etc. Wherever they can, they sow discord, "dis"-uniting people. It's the only way they can succeed, because consensus thrives on the truth, and Republicans shy away from that on a regular basis. here's more, via that magical Twitter thing:

The Republican gerrymandering machine is still running:

JoshStein_ 10:54am via Web
Senate GOP bringing WCPSS gerrymander bill to floor Mon PM. If oppose patent power play, email Sen. Hunt and Wake House Repubs. #ncpol #ncga

Just to get the current voter registration numbers on record, Democrats = 257,613, Republicans = 184,425, and Unaffiliated = 194,121. It's pretty bad when there are more people who don't want to choose a party than those who choose you. But the GOP apparently has a plan that includes donuts:

Trying to tune a broken guitar:

"For a group of people who claim to believe in empirical study and higher learning, liberal politicians and other critics of North Carolina’s new conservative leaders seem remarkably uninformed or contemptuous of the research basis for the policy initiatives now being debated in Raleigh,'' writes John Hood of the John Locke Foundation in his column at johnlocke.org.

That's because the bulk of the research used to justify their actions is tainted beyond credibility by dubious "experts" who are beholden to corporate-funded "foundations", whose primary goal is to wrest control of government away from the people and move it into their board rooms. And it's a good bet John Hood has come to realize this, because he's too embarassed to cite a single study in this piece, knowing they are easily refutable, so he falls back on generalities:

Pulling the wool over the public's eyes:

One reason for sustained support: fully 40 percent of all voters (48% of Republicans) agree that “cases of people voting in the name of someone else are commonplace,” despite the lack of hard evidence.

Not only has this misunderstanding been artificially enhanced by the propagandists on the right, it actually defies logic and common sense. Aside from the occasional unbalanced person, why would anybody risk being arrested (or at least hassled) just to throw one vote in the mix of thousands? It makes absolutely no sense on a cost-benefit scale, which means (wait for it) it would only happen on extremely rare occasions. Like, even more rare than getting struck by lightning. The people polled should understand that, just as they should also understand there must be another reason for Republicans to pursue it.

We'll start out with a little reality check:

Action_NC 10:30am via TweetDeck The new voucher bill in the #NCGA doesn't do much for students, but sure helps corporations. #ncpol #ncED actionnc.org/not_much_oppor…

The hypocrisy is mind-boggling. Republicans whine about poor performance, and cook up all sorts of ideas on how to micro-manage, belittle and economically strangle public school teachers. And then they turn around and throw money at private schools with no accountability attached to those dollars. And no protections for students, either:

Whether the GOP listens or not, some things must be said:

The Climate Convergence on Raleigh (CCR) will be a critical mass event of concerned citizens and organizations from across North Carolina that are fed up with inaction. We will rally, march, and meet with our legislators that have the responsibility of charting the course of our future. We must take it upon ourselves to enact the political changes necessary to avert further climate devastation.

As we've seen from the economic success of renewable energy, bringing our atmospheric carbon emissions down to 350 parts per million doesn't have to be painful, and it's damned sure less painful than losing a third of our state to the inevitable volume of ocean that will result from the loss of sea and land ice. Burying your head in the sand might bring short-term comfort, but when the waves start lapping at your neck, changing your mind will no longer be an option.

When the truth doesn't fit your agenda, it's time to make shit up:

But supporters of the rollback, including the bill's sponsor, Rep. Mike Hager, R-Rutherford, say the price of renewable energy is too high, and state taxpayers and ratepayers shouldn't be forced to subsidize the sector. Woodhouse said environmentalists are pushing green energy because they want power to be more expensive. "It is a goal of them to have higher electricity costs because they want to punish people for using power," he said. "They think using power is a bad thing. They want to punish people for flipping the switch."

Just when you think you've seen the archetypical, bottom-line worst of Dallas Woodhouse, he opens up that yap and gives you a new low-level of stupidity. Dude actually gets paid for this. Fortunately, you don't have to dig very deep to see the reality is exactly the opposite of what these demagogues are spouting: