May the wind fill their sails:

David Brown announced this week that he is running for his party's nomination for House in the 2018 primary, making him the second Democrat seeking to represent the district that stretches from West Asheville to suburbs just west of Charlotte. The Gaston County resident is a 43-year-old information technology consultant making his first bid for public office. Kenneth Queen, a Navy veteran from Rutherford County, is the other Democrat in the race so far.

They are seeking the right to challenge incumbent U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-Lincoln, who is his party's presumptive nominee. "I'm hoping for an anti-Trump wave for sure," Brown said. "Patrick's been up there for a long time and he's not done a lot for this district. Many people don't know who he is because he's that out of touch."

Better not rely too much on the Trump Revulsion Phenomena (TRP). Weasels can be hard to trap, and if you spook 'em they're liable to burrow into their safe little gerrymandered tunnels. This particular weasel defeated his last Dem opponent by a whopping 27%, if you can believe it. It will take a monumental effort to dislodge this parasite, but that effort must be made, nonetheless.

The Queen of Trash strikes again:

A measure on its way to the governor's desk would allow landfills to collect the contaminated liquid that leaks from the trash and shoot it up into the air over the dump, using giant blowers called aerosolizers. The process would save waste companies money by reducing the amount of contaminated wastewater they have to pay to treat.

House Bill 576 would require the state Department of Environmental Quality to approve permits for the process, which Sen. Trudy Wade, R-Guilford, insisted Thursday is safe, though Democrats said they never received studies or data they had requested as evidence of that. The inventor of the aerosolizer technology, patent holder Kelly Houston of Cornelius, contributed $5,000 to Wade's campaign in June 2016, according to state campaign finance records.

And that $5,000 is all the evidence Trudy Wade needs. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with some Guilford County voters? When Wade is not trying to gerrymander the hell out of Greensboro, she's trying to contaminate the entire countryside with nasty landfill water. Trash collecting trucks leaking stinky water right in front of your house? Suck it up. Tired of the smell coming from that dump in your neighborhood? Just wait until we start spraying it in the air, you'll love that. And they keep electing her. Here's more from Lisa Sorg:

If you don't know your history, you're doomed to forget your successes:

North Carolina solar companies owe much of their success to an obscure federal law passed in the wake of the 1973 OPEC oil crisis, when shortages produced lines around the block at gas stations and tipped the U.S. economy into recession. At that time, Americans got about one-sixth of their electrical power from burning petroleum, much of it imported from the Middle East. In a bid for greater energy independence, lawmakers approved The Public Utility Regulatory Policy of 1978, known as PURPA.

Among other things, PURPA required utilities to buy renewable power from independent producers if it cost no more than electricity from the conventional power plants owned by the utility. The aim was to source more power from small renewable facilities, like the Person County Solar Park, easing demand for electricity from coal, gas and—in particular—petroleum-fired power plants.

I will say this again, and keep saying it if that's what it takes: In the clean energy revolution, in the reducing our carbon footprint contest, in the cutting back on pollution effort, it's all about the Megawatts. Yes, allowing for 3rd party leases on residential Solar is great, and it will make it a lot easier for folks to have them installed on their homes, but we're talking 10-15 kilowatts per. An analogy might better get my point across. Say you have a really long wall, that needs to be painted on both sides. On one side, you've got one person using a paint roller, and on the other side, you've got fifty people dabbing with a fine artist's paint brush. When the person with the roller gets tired, another steps up eagerly and starts rolling. On the other side, you're constantly trying to replace each of those fifty people dabbing. I don't need to tell you which side will be finished first, or that one of those sides may never be finished. It's a bad analogy, but it's been in my head for several weeks, and I had to get it out. Here's more on the threat to PURPA:

To seem rather than to be:

Eight state House Democrats, including Rep. Elmer Floyd of Fayetteville and Rep. Marvin Lucas of Spring Lake, were invited to the Republican-controlled table to help negotiate the final version of the $22.9 billion North Carolina budget this month.

House and Senate lawmakers began meeting behind closed doors this past Monday to work out their differences in the budget, which they are supposed to pass into law no later than June 30. Lucas said on Thursday said he had not yet been invited to attend one of the work sessions. In these negotiations, Lucas said, it’s better to keep quiet about what you want because the other side can use that against you.

Bolding mine, because that is some seriously immature behavior. Maybe they should try reverse psychology? "Please don't fund this affordable housing project, and why don't we cut those godawful food stamps, too?" But you know what? Lucas is right. There are some things in the House Budget I want to see survive these negotiations, but I have decided (this year) to not blog about those things here at BlueNC, for fear of making them a target for removal. How screwed up is that? And along the lines of "reverse psychology," I'm tempted to cheer this guy on, in the hopes my approval will sour his position: