Sen. Kay Hagan

And it's the right thing to do:

"I know all our families do not look alike. We all want the same thing for our families. We want happiness, we want health, prosperity, a bright future for our children and grandchildren. After conversations I’ve had with family members, with people I go to church with and with North Carolinians from all walks of life, I’ve come to my own personal conclusion that we should not tell people who they can love, or who they can marry. It’s time to move forward with this issue.”

For all the flak Kay has taken (much of it justified) for some of her policy approaches and priorities, this took guts on her part, and should be remembered. The GOP will be gunning for her vigorously in the coming months, and it's going to take every tool in the box to keep from losing this seat.

Great idea, bad implementation:

"As stressful weather conditions continue to push corn yields lower and prices upward, the economic ramifications for consumers, livestock and poultry producers, food manufacturers and food service providers will become more severe," the senators wrote.

Hagan and her fellow Senators are correct, the ethanol mandate needs to be eased in the wake of this year's horrible corn crop. But we can't let this lesson go unnoticed. It's long past time we diversified our ethanol production, parking our cars back in the driveway and away from the dinner table:

Letter to constituents from Sen. Kay Hagan.

On Monday [today], the Senate will vote to decide whether billionaires and massive corporations can keep dumping unlimited money into races across the country without ever disclosing their identities.

Click here to sign the petition in favor of the DISCLOSE Act before Monday's vote.

If you call them "Professionals", you don't have to pay them overtime:

It's unclear how many programmers, analysts and web designers would be affected by the proposed legislation, but the goal is to make overtime pay for these kinds of workers an exception, not the norm. "Jobs are my No. 1 priority," she said. "I want to do everything I can to make sure employers have the tools they need to hire North Carolinians and invest in the local economy."

Once again, I have to explain the obvious: If you can work one person for 70 hours a week without paying time-and-a-half, there's no incentive to hire a second person to absorb some of the workload. If you're wondering if this would impact you, read the bill:

What the hell is it about?

... the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has examined several potential job-creation proposal to see what would do the most. Yesterday, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities noted that the proposal that comes in last is Senator Hagan’s ill-conceived giveaway to corporations with foreign income.

Emphasis added

In today's upside down world, Hagan probably thinks this makes her dumb idea a winner. And truth be told, it is a winner ... if you happen to be a billionaire CEO.

TODAY: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2011

WHAT: Senator Kay Hagan and NC business leaders to hold press conference on Foreign Earnings Reinvestment Act (more tax breaks for business ... with no strings attached)

WHEN: 9:30 a.m., Friday, October 7

WHERE: Quintiles, 4820 Emperor Blvd., Durham

And if you don't already know the difference between the two, you haven't been paying attention:

A bill that would earmark $6.9 billion dollars for disaster relief failed to get enough votes to move forward in the U.S. Senate Tuesday, with Republican North Carolina Senator Richard Burr voting against and Democratic Senator Kay Hagan voting in favor.

The crop losses from Irene are the worst many of our farmers have seen in decades, yet their Senator keeps whining about offsets:

Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone was just on Keith Olbermann's Countdown where he called out Sen. Kay Hagan for wanting to give the big corporations who shelter money offshore a big tax break if they bring their funds home.

Voting against her personal interests in the process:

“It is time for Congress to tighten its belt, like American families must do daily,” Hagan said. “Every year Democrats and Republicans make empty promises about bringing down our deficit, and it's time we started putting our money where our mouth is,” Hagan said in a statement.

“While the bill includes provisions that I support,” Hagan said, “I could not vote in favor of a bill that would give tax cuts to people making over $1 million a year and add $858 billion to our national deficit.”

This should make two things abundantly clear: a) She didn't go to Washington with the goal of enriching herself or her family, and b) Her campaign promises (deficit reduction being one) were neither idle nor transitory, they were true reflections of intent.