Carolina Progressive

Primary delayed

2004-02-10T12:00:00.000-05:00

As was widely anticipated, yesterday the State Board of Elections postponed the primaries scheduled for May until July 20. The reason was that the Justice Department has not given pre-clearance for the new state legislative districts as required under the voting rights act. Additionally, pending court challenges by Republicans to the new district maps must be resolved before a primary can be permanently scheduled. For the moment they are set for July. But in 2002, the primaries were delayed until September, and it seems possible for a recurrence of that scenario this year. This has important implications for races from the top of the ballot to the bottom. I am only going to address the races at the top of the ticket for the moment.

Presidential: The national parties require states to choose their delegates to the national convention well before July. No one in the cash-strapped government wants to foot the bill for a separate primary, so delegates will have to be chosen by another method. The Democrats have already drawn up a contingency plan which you can view here (PDF). A quasi-caucus will be held in mid-April. Some critics have claimed that the plan favors Sen. Edwards. The Republican Party has only just begun to draw up their new plan. In any case, the outcome of the North Carolina primary will probably be irrelevant since the nomination will most likely be wrapped up by mid-March for both parties.

Gubernatorial: Gov. Easley, is probably the biggest winner in this situation. The Democratic Easley is running for re-election and his war chest far exceeds any of his Republican opponents. Meanwhile there are at least five legitimate big-named Republicans on the ballot. Some of them are already broadcasting TV spots. The summer schedule will probably mean that the turnout will be skewed towards the hard-core loyalists of the Republican Party, and mean that the winner will be more Conservative than even North Carolina can handle and out of money. In addition, under the current schedule there is still time for a run-off in the Republican primary. A run-off would take place in August. With this many people in the field, it is possible that the Republican nominee for Governor will only have eight to ten weeks to come out of a bitter primary and take on Easley.

U.S. Senate: The U.S. Senate race is almost certainly going to be between the 2002 Democratic nominee, Erskine Bowles, and U.S. Rep. Richard Burr. The changed primary date probably will not affect this race much unless it tempts former NC House Speaker Dan Blue into challenging Bowles for the nomination again. Barring this possibility, the only consequence will probably be diminished press coverage of the race until the Republican Gubernatorial primary is decided. That should slightly favor Mr. Bowles who has better name recognition in the state.

Congress: Many of these races need to be examined in-depth (and a Republican would probably do better since this decision will mostly affect the Republican primaries). But here are a few thoughts. In the 5th district (held by Richard Burr who is running for Sen. Edwards seat), the ad war is already going and the money is flowing. However, this seat will almost certainly be retained by a Republican. But the longer that this bitter primary drags on, the more likely Dr. Jim Harrell (the most legitimate Democratic candidate) will have to look good to moderate Republicans in the district. In the case of a run-off in this race (which is highly possible) the seat could even become competitive. The 10th Congressional district (held by Cass Ballanger who is retiring) is even more likely to end up in Republican hands despite a very full Republican primary. In the other congressional districts there are not many important primaries, so this decision will have little effect on the eventual outcome.

I hope to have more time to examine this decision's affect on the other big races in the state and the closely divided NC legislature.

Amy Sullivan on the South

2004-02-06T15:04:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite bloggers on a subject close to my heart.

Of Melissa's 35 colleagues in a public relations firm in Historic Charleston, only two hail from South Carolina. The rest -- like Mark, Melissa, Jill, and thousands of other residents -- have migrated to the state over the past decade. Between 1995 and 2003, more than 1.8 million people moved to the South from other areas of the country -- other regions of the country don't even come close in terms of migration. They come for jobs -- the Research Triangle in Raleigh-Durham has attracted tens of thousands of transplants on its own. They come for the weather (it's no surprise that frigid Midwestern states like Michigan and Wisconsin are well-represented in the Carolinas).

But what these new Southerners don't do is leave their political beliefs and values behind when they cross state borders. And that is the number one reason that Democrats -- despite consistent losses in the South over the past few decades -- would be foolish to abandon the region in a national presidential campaign.

Hunt Exonerated

2004-02-06T13:24:00.000-05:00

The Winston-Salem Journal takes its victory lap.

Friday Headlines

2004-02-06T11:00:00.000-05:00

Raleigh News & Observer: State seeks to quash subpoenas from music industry on identify of Triangle students
Winston-Salem Journal: Hunt's bid for exoneration goes to court today
Charlotte Observer: School dropout rate in state declines
Charlotte Observer: Community colleges to ask state for more funding
Winston-Salem Journal: Students to resist raises in tuition
Raleigh News & Observer: Memo shows misbehavior in Greene County scandal
Raleigh News & Observer: Delay likely in May primaries
Winston-Salem Journal: Panel set up to review North Carolina's lobbying laws
Charlotte Observer: Battered textile workers fight back in D.C.
Associated Press: Judge denies injunction against FedEx hub and warns against further suits
Associated Press: Easley names Alan Z. Thornburg to Appeals Court
Raleigh News & Observer: David "Mudcat" Saunders back with Edwards
Raleigh News & Observer: Under the Dome: Tobacco buyout is back
Fayetteville Observer: Postal worker sprayed down when powder found in Fayetteville post office
Raleigh News & Observer: Barry Jacobs of Orange weighs run for NC House
Greensboro News & Record: Parents speak out on "choice" plan
Barry Saunders: A chance to guide passed by
Asheville Citizen-Times: N.C. legislators owe it to voters to devise sensible redistricting map
Greensboro News-Record: Allamance drug raid could be anywhere
Raleigh News & Observer: Cooper is right to take on meth problem
Wilmington Star-News: NC job losses continue
Washington Daily News: Eastern NC prepares for elections
Shelby Star: Crowded 10th congressional district primary for Republicans

Dear Mr. Hood

2004-02-05T11:38:00.000-05:00

Could you please, please, please put a comment section on the Locker Room. I know you guys worry about inappropriate posts etc., but all it takes is a little monitoring (for those occasional people who post links to adult sites etc.) and tolerance of even the stupidist opinion.

Yesterday Jon Sanders posted:

More news on the non-rainbow-PC nature of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Earlier, you'll recall, some sages out there discovered racism in the blatant depiction of Orcs, Uruk-Hai and other LOTR bad guys as "dark people" intended to remind us of Africans and Arabs or I forget which. Me being so mired in Eurocentric thought & whatnot, I saw dark-green, grimy, bug-eyed, fang-baring freaks as director Peter Jackson's fanciful interpretation of said baddies, not part of the Omnipresent White Conspiracy, but silly me, eh?

As a big fan of these books I have to say I agree to a certain level with Jon. Much of Middle-Earth mythology was based on Nordic and other Northern European stories. After all, the author was a specialist in Old English and I remember reading his translation of Beowulf in high school. So it is understandable that everything good is Northern, golden-haired, and pale-skinned.

But there is a tendency in the books to describe evil people (men or goblins) as "swarthy" or "slant-eyed".

Personally I think it is probably irrelevant when considering the broader messages of the books. But Tolkien wrote these books mostly in the 1940's, and society at that time had not dealt with many of its more overt racial biases. The racial bias against dark-skinned people is very subtle, but it is definitely there. The article Jon links to probably takes this concern too far. But it is not a completely ridiculous point.

Pirates of Academia

2004-02-05T11:05:00.000-05:00

Jim Jenkins has no pity for UNC deans and chancellors and seems a little perturbed at their recent bonuses.

Someone send in the reinforcements, and be quick about it. Can you hear the thundering hooves? Can you see them in the distance, kicking up the dusty trail in front of South Building, hollering and waving their swords as they spread to the laboratories and classrooms?

And there stands General James Moeser in the midst of it all, his skin burning from the sun, his saber above his head, his buckskins tattered from wear, his boots muddy from hours on the battlefield. (And he's not getting in any practice on the organ, either.) The enemy? Why, it's the hordes of deans and chancellors and university presidents around the country who are trying to kidnap the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Some say the devils are trying to clear out the halls at N.C. State, too.

Today's NC Headlines

2004-02-05T11:04:00.001-05:00

Winston-Salem Journal: Early Presidential primary could make N.C. a player, Rep. Steve Wood Says
Associated Press: Judge's use of racial epithet questioned
Winston-Salem Journal: Police Chief Named
Winston-Salem Journal: Website gets attention of Hege attorney
Associated Press: 61,000 in N.C. likely to exhaust federal jobless benefit, Price says
Raleigh News & Observer: More complaints filed against Judge Hill
Associated Press: Cobey hits campaign trail
Raleigh News & Observer: Under the Dome: Workers will get benefit
Raleigh New & Observer: Retired judge joins State Board of Transportation
Charlotte Observer: Help pay for judicial races: Editorial by Common Cause
Charlotte Observer: Marshall joins craze to hobble lobbyists
Charlotte Observer: Canidate Cobey touts Helm’s support
Associated PressLayoffs, plant closures continue
Greensboro News-RecordStudents arrested in drug sting
Greensboro News-Record: Opponents of FedEx hub lose round in court
Asheville Citizen-Times: Taylor Toggs to close: 125 lose jobs
Wilmington Star: Cobey makes stop in Wilmington
Shelby Star: Non-partisan judicial races still interest parties
Charlotte Observer: Congressman Robin Hayes lacks challenger
Raleigh News & Observer: Easley's war-chest outweighs opponents'

Still looking

2004-02-05T11:04:00.000-05:00

Today my contract with NC Public Trust expired as the group is still looking for more funding. Since I have the time, however, I thought I would start doing some more news summaries here.

But I am still looking for that golden job opportunity.

The real deal on the 5th district

2004-02-03T08:57:00.000-05:00

Robinson raises more money than any other non-incumbant in the country

And Theo at the WSJ does a better job than I at reading those FEC reports.

What I worry about

2004-02-02T13:10:00.000-05:00

I have heard this sentiment in a lot of places.

Dean's strategy is to bring in new voters who have given up. It is a campaign based on activating the base in the general election. A lot of people have said that Dean has done the job already, and now whoever wins the nomination will get the help of an angry Democratic base.

But posts like this one make me not so sure. Judging Kerry on his record rather than his media portrayal (NOTE TO MEDIA: KERRY IS A BIG, HUGE, TED KENNEDY, ANTI-GUN, ANTI-DEATH PENALTY, VOTING AGAINST THE FIRST GULF WAR LIBERAL--not that this is a bad thing for folks like me...I just thought you might want to stop portraying him as a moderate icon), he is a pandering schmuck who fights for what is right but only when doing what is right is up in the polls....or at least that is the judgement that lots of Dean supporters are making about him. A lot of these Deaniacs are going to take the ball and go home rather than support Kerry. It is one of the things that makes it harder for me to sleep.

5th congressional money race: Ahead of the newspapers

2004-02-02T12:50:00.000-05:00

I live in Winston-Salem, so I am strangely interested in the 5th congressional district race.

Today the candidate's FEC reports are all online.

Apparently Vernon Robinson (yeah…the guy with the ten-commandments monument) has raised the most money, and when you consider the debt of the Helvey campaign he also has the most cash on hand (which I think is a more important figure).

But the thing is-- Robinson seems to be spending most of his money on soliciting new donations, while Helvey has been spending his money on TV advertising. So I have to give Helvey the edge on the money race.

But the big surprise to me is how little N.C. Senator Virginia Foxx has raised. I think that I am not reading the form correctly, or else there is some error, because NC Free reported that she raised over $200,000 in the third quarter. In any case, she is doing a better job than the rest in keeping the money she has already raised.

Here are the more detailed reports on the other contenders. Another interesting thing to watch is who is getting the PAC checks.

Tabor
Broyhill

On the Democrat side Dr. Jim Harrell has raised over $22,000 while Andrew Winfrey had raised none by the end of the year (although he has only recently declared).

More food for thought

2004-01-30T10:12:00.000-05:00

Yep...still haven't found the time to process what is going on. But here is a interesting look at the future of internet and politics for all of you folks who think the internet is dead.

Sometimes I can only link

2004-01-29T13:59:00.000-05:00

I am posting over at the Bowles Blog these days, as well as doing my news summaries so I cannot spend too much more time online.

But another reason I have not posted much lately, is because I am deep in meditation about this political cycle. I guesse I am not much of a pundit, because I just cannot quickly sum up the lessons we are learning.

Someday soon I'll write up a few thoughts. In the meantime, here is a link on Joe Trippi.

This is just so spot on that I cannot improve upon it.

Blogging for press

2004-01-28T17:44:00.000-05:00

State Sen. Fern Shubert has essentiall been denied press coverage so far. She is running for Governor.

But Todd the Blogg has put up her comments several times. What kind of response does she get from these posts? Does this mean that Todd is endorsing her? And why doesn't she get her own blog?

Gov. Easley on the record

2004-01-26T10:55:00.000-05:00

The Asheville Citizen-Times has a great interview with Gov. Easley posted up today. His views on clean air, NASCAR, the lottery, and job, jobs, jobs.

If newspaper reporters are any reflection of public concerns, then this election will be about little else than jobs, the economy, and the budget.

News Summary

2004-01-23T10:19:00.000-05:00

My news summry

Today's highlighted entry:

The Fayetteville Observer thinks that the redistricting delay is out of hand.

The U.S. Department of Justice has before it a new, legislature-approved set of maps, and could end North Carolina's seemingly endless redistricting feud by approving or disapproving them within two weeks.

Tomorrow would be good.

The Winston-Salem Journal thinks that Republicans are out of line with their constant court challenges of the new legislative districts

The GOP has finally realized that its strategy of suing the state over the latest legislative redistricting maps will come at a dear price for Republican candidates. The delays caused by the party's lawsuits appear likely to push the May primaries back into summer, maybe as late as September. If that is the case, Republican nominees for governor and other statewide offices will be at a disadvantage come fall.
Last Friday, the party asked the N.C. Supreme Court to take control of the case to keep the May primaries on schedule. The party suggested two actions the court could take. The high court could order that legislative elections take place in 2004 using the same maps that the state used in 2002. Or the court could order that all primaries proceed as planned for May, with the exception of the legislative primaries. They'd be held some time in the future after the legal cases had been resolved.
The court should reject both options because, primarily, both would further send the N.C. Supreme Court into the legislative domain. It is not the court's job to set primary dates or the number of primaries. Nor is it the court's job to spend the money a second primary would cost. Those questions are answered in laws written by a legislative body. This three-year ordeal has already resulted in too much judicial activism by this so-called strict constructionist, conservative court without further violations of the separation-of- powers principle.

Sarcasm really is not the best weapon on the internet

2004-01-22T09:51:00.000-05:00

But I just cannot help myself.

My news summary is up for the day. My highlighted entry:

Lake picks Martin to lead State Court of Appeals

Beverly Lake picked Judge Martin to be the next leader of the State Court of Appeals so the Raleigh News & Observer decided to run an endorsement. Or at least it sounds like an endorsement.

John Martin of Raleigh, a widely respected veteran judge and a former Durham City Council member, will be the next leader of the state Court of Appeals.

YAY!!

Boy it sure is a good thing that this is not a controversial decision or else leading an article with the vague term "widely respected veteran judge" would seem inappropriate.

But wait! There is controversy.

In selecting Martin, Lake departed from the custom of appointing the appeals court's officially most senior judge to the chief's post. He passed over Judge James Wynn, who has publicly criticized the Supreme Court's overhaul of the conduct rules for the state's judges last year.

The N&O then finishes by never mentioning the party affiliation of any of the people involved, and attributes the decision entirely to merit.

"In making this appointment," Lake said in a statement, "I have adhered to the criterion that I have always applied as the sole standard for selection in all appointments that I have made: determination of the person most qualified to perform and meet the challenges of the position and provide the best service."

The Associated Press has a different look.

Am I crazy?

2004-01-21T17:45:00.000-05:00

Here is column by Dennis Rogers in the Raleigh News & Observer.

Well, for starters, we're the guys going to the Super Bowl. From a 1-15 season two years ago to whipping the favored Cowboys, the Rams and (how sweet it is) the Eagles on three successive weekends, the lovable Carolina Panthers have poleaxed pro football's prognosticators.

And we're the guys who watched our hometown boy kick some serious political booty in Iowa on Monday night. Raleigh's John Edwards, the small-town guy with the winning smile and the perfect hair who grew up in Robbins, has TV's talking heads all atwitter with his upset second-place finish in the caucuses. The kid really could go all the way.

Let's not forget Clay Aiken. Even if you don't like his flavor of sweet pop music, you have to love his infectious smile, his big heart and his genuine charm. He's the darling of everybody from blushing schoolgirls to giggling grandmas, yet he seems to take it all in with humility, gratitude and good humor.

Here is Monday’s column by John Locke founder and President, John Hood.

At the risk of generating a somewhat jarring mental image for you, try to picture these guys together in a room: Clay Aiken, John Edwards, and the Carolina Panthers.

Last year, Clay Aiken came from absolute obscurity, and from an initial loss in the "Idol" judging, to compete on one of the most popular television contests in the history of the medium. He actually came in second in the vote tally (remember that) but everyone knows that Aiken was the real winner of the year. His songs have topped the charts and his album made millions for himself and his label. Perhaps more importantly, Aiken prove to be a pleasant, classy, and mature young man who showed that nice guys can still prosper in a popular culture that so many have called so decadent. His was a Carolina story in many ways.

The Carolina Panthers, too, have come back from the football equivalent of a near-death experience (the 1-15 season two years ago) to win the NFC Championship Game over the Philadelphia Eagles last weekend and head to the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots. They did so not through extravagant trades or stunts but through hard work, determination, and a willingness to work with the talent available to find the right combination for success. Perhaps they, like Aiken, will fall short in the final point-count but end up as winners just for having gone so far against such long odds.

Which brings me to the impressive, perhaps even shocking, performance of Sen. John Edwards in the Iowa caucuses on Monday night. Stuck in single digits in the state for months, Edwards was able to translate a positive message, effective advertising, a calibrated center-left position in the race and on specific issues such as taxes and the war, and a lot of volunteers from North Carolina into a solid second-place showing, just a few points behind fellow Sen. John Kerry. Winning one-third of the vote in Iowa will surely help Edwards at least place in New Hampshire, refill his campaign coffers, and then go on to compete seriously in South Carolina and the other Southern and border states with early-February contests.

I admit that this probably could have occurred to both of these writers independently. I just wanted to throw it out there for consideration.

Easley's arguement for Edwards

2004-01-21T17:40:00.000-05:00

"I want to run with someone I can run with, not from," Easley told Iowa voters.

News Roundup

2004-01-21T17:38:00.000-05:00

I'm finally back to doing my news roundup.

This is my favorite from today:

Publicity stunt statue removed: Robinson may be billed for work

In case you missed it, Winston-Salem City Councilman and Republican candidate for the 5th congressional district, performed a publicity stunt by putting a marker with the ten commandments in front of city hall. It was removed, but the ploy worked and the press is all over it.

City Manager Bill Stuart ordered the 1-ton marker removed, saying that it violates a city policy adopted in September that regulates the placement of honorary displays. He also said that the two-piece granite monument posed a danger to the public because it was not anchored to the ground and could topple.

The crew used a backhoe to lift the granite marker onto a truck, then hauled it away to the city yard, where Robinson picked it up a few hours later, using a rented flatbed truck.

The Winston-Salem Journal editorial page calls it what it is.

But constitutional debate isn't warranted here: Robinson lacked the council's or city's approval mandatory for placing such a monument, even though he said he paid its $2,000 cost. City Manager Bill Stuart was right to order its removal, and some of Robinson's fellow City Council members have good reason to be upset with his actions - again. They're busy enough trying to meet the serious needs of serious citizens without dealing with things silly and self-serving.

Robinson should now drop the matter. After all, he already got his 24 hours of nationwide news coverage -infinitely more than he could ever have bought with $2,000.

Robinson said Monday that he didn't know if all this free publicity would have any effect on his campaign. He might want to study the commandment on his monument that forbids bearing false witness.

The Wilmington Star was also not amused:

Perhaps, next time the bug bites, the gentleman will economize on a $20 poster that says, "Hi. I'm Vern Robinson and I'm running for Congress. Will spin futile hopes to the unwary in exchange for votes."

Associated Press

This should be interesting

2004-01-20T12:18:00.000-05:00

DNC Kicking Ass:

Tonight during President Bush's State of the Union Address, come back to this thread for live coverage. As Bush gives his speech, we'll deliver the facts on Bush's record that belies the promises he'll be making.

Discuss Bush's speech in real time as you learn the truth about Bush's failed policies.

Following the horse race on the eve of SOTU

2004-01-20T11:18:00.000-05:00

Iowa has re-enforced the knowledge that I have held in my heart but forgotten in my head: Polls don't matter so much.

At most they give you some idea, and they definitely help with understanding the trajectory of public opinion. They are better than sticking your finger in the wind. But polling data needs to be interpreted by people with their feet firmly planted on the political realities on the ground. Today many people are learning that they need more grounding.

So my regular complaint that there are not enough public polling results out there for NC may be foolish. Perhaps it would be better to ask the guy in the lunch line what he thinks. Perhaps it would be better to do both.

But I still think that this poll in the Washington Post would be nice to have at the North Carolina level.

The survey found that, on the eve of his annual address to Congress, Bush continues to enjoy a huge advantage over Democrats on matters of national security, besting them by 2 to 1 in the fight against terrorism and by nearly as broad a margin on his handling of the conflict in Iraq.

But while Bush retains the support of nearly six in 10 Americans, the public believes Democrats would do a better job on domestic issues, such as the economy, prescription drugs for the elderly, health insurance, Medicare, the budget deficit, immigration and taxes. And Bush has lost the advantage on education policy he once enjoyed.

I think it offers a glimmer of hope to Democrats in North Carolina. It seems that Bush's invincibility does not reach into every issue area. But I think I'll check to see where my feet are standing before I venture to make a prediction.

In the meantime it will serve as a warm blanket as I watch with disgust another rollout of Bush's insane domestic agenda tonight.

First Reaction to Iowa

2004-01-19T21:16:00.000-05:00

I have been, and continue to be a huge fan of the Dean campaign. Today's results in Iowa I think are not so much a reflection of the campaign's strength, but a test of their supporter's commitment. I will wait to see if they tuck and run, or take their lumps and keep swinging. However, I am still a huge supporter of the campaigning tactics that they have pioneered, and cannot help but root for them.

However, Edwards is causing me to jump for joy. As someone who is deeply committed to seeing the success of Democrats in North Carolina, NOTHING could be so good for us as having Sen. Edwards at the top of the ballot. Many pundits like to point out that he is not polling ahead of Bush in Carolina. I like to think about how much better he does against Bush than any other Democrat. Also...I've shaken his hand a few times, and the man is just good at what he does. If everyone in America could shake his hand for two minutes, he would win in a heartbeat. I cannot claim that I have been a committed supporter, but that is probably because I forgot that voters and not newspaper reporters determine elections. I am now actively taking a second look.

But the primary season has just begun, and I am enjoying the show. I may even try to get down to South Carolina. I guesse I will have to pick a candidate first.

Isn't democracy fun?

P.S.--

I loaded up the erskine blog using Netscape 5.1, and IT LOOKED CRAZY!! Text was all over the place, the frames were messed up. I think it is because that browser does not have the fonts I loaded up becaue 5.1 is so old. Is that a crazy idea

Taking risks

2004-01-16T13:24:00.000-05:00

In some ways blogging is very risky. It is about putting your ideas out in the open for all to examine and criticize. But some thoughts are riskier to express than others.

So far I have talked about politics, policy, and done a wee-bit of muck-raking. But I have never ventured to mention my opinions on the one topic that is most likely to bring a fire-storm--ACC Basketball.

Today I am going to admit to the world that I am a Demon Deacon to the bone.

I was considering making a prediction of a surprise upset at Cameron on Saturday, but I have thought better of it. This is one of the reasons.

The media caught up with Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser two days before his Deacons play at No. 2-ranked Duke. Here is what the third-year Deac head coach had to say.

On traveling to Durham to face #2 Duke: "It's a challenge. They've won the last five ACC Tournaments and they're the first name people think of when they think of the ACC."

On the 2004 Blue Devils: "I think they are better this year. Duhon is playing better. Redick, Randolph and Ewing are all a year older now. And even though Dahntay Jones was a great player, I feel Luol Deng gives them more options offensively."

Not words to stoke the fires of my school pride. But I will hope on. Sports, like politics, is more fun when you throw your whole self into it.

Democratic Meetup

2004-01-16T10:03:00.000-05:00

I'm going to take a second to ask that everyone send e-mails to all of their friends asking them to go to the Democratic Meetup next Wed. There are six RSVP's in Greensboro, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to be one of them. So sign up, and ask your friends to sign up.

This election really could be about the people becoming the most powerful constituency of our Government. It hasn't been that way for a while, but NOW is the time to stand up and do something.

Sign up.

Spread the word.

If you have one, putting this on your blog would be helpful as well.

Staying on message

2004-01-16T09:25:00.000-05:00

Greensboro News-Record:

Sometimes I feel like I get dragged away from what is really going to affect votes this year. This is what the elections will be about.

Sixty-five workers found themselves unemployed when a Carolina Mills plant closed in Newton. Another 235 lost their paychecks when Flynt Fabrics ceased operations in Graham. And 4,390 wound up unemployed in a single day when Pillowtex shut down five plants in the state, including one in Eden.

In all, 13,600 N.C. textile employees lost their jobs in 2003, making it the state's second-worst year for textile-job losses in the last half century.

According to a report released this week by the American Textile Manufacturers Institute in Washington, the jobs lost represent 14.2 percent of the state's textile work force.

Only 2001 was worse, when 22,000 textile workers got axed and 31 mills closed.

Nationally, the study said, 48,600 textile workers lost their jobs last year, a 10 percent decline.

P.S.--

Looking at yesterday's post I see that the copy-editor fairey still has not found this site.

What about me?

2004-01-15T09:31:00.000-05:00

The Winston-Salem Journal today had an article on local bloggers.

Several people got a bloggers got some good press. But I have three comments:

1) When you profile a blog, consider including the url for god's sake.
2) I thought there was a law in this state that Ed Cone had to be quoted in all articles on blogging.
3) I live in Winston-Salem....WHERE IS MY PROFILE!!

The name says it all...

2004-01-14T21:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was directed to a great website called NC Rumors.

My dictionary says a rumor is defined as unverified information of uncertain origin. I think it is a good metaphore for most Repulican propoganda....probably not true, and defenitely unsubstantiated.

The skinny on this site is that it is owned by Tabor (who is a candidate in the 5th congressional district primaries) supporters. But it is apparently trying to branch out and is worth a look. The best thing I have seen so far is here.

Has anyone seen the tape of Vernon Robinson drawing a crucifix and making fun of praying for our elected officials?

Also, I heard he got a letter from the Chief of Police in Kernersville. Apparently Vernon was going around "lying" about the Chief endorsing him. We need ethics in politics.

I can promise you one thing -- Jesse Helms NEVER lied about an endorsement!

I person believe Vernon should step down from his current position . . . apologize to the public . . . and pray for forgiveness.

The thing about John Hood...

2004-01-13T12:20:00.000-05:00

...is that sometimes he just makes so much sense. I disagree with most (all?) of his policy stances, but the man makes a career out of being an observer of NC politics. I wait with eagerness for the political faculty of the state to find the internet. But until that day some of his observations are pretty useful.

This evaluation of the Republican Primary for Governor is about as good as it gets online.

Don't believe knowing Republicans who think Easley is toast or knowing Democrats who think he's safe. The race is competitive, period, as is the Republican primary. Even a delay in the nomination, perhaps requiring a September runoff to settle the matter, won't leave Easley with a clear shot at re-election -- though it probably will move him a bit closer to the basket.

My weekend project

2004-01-13T10:46:00.000-05:00

I completed my weekend project.

The Bowles Blog

My very own adventure into the wilderness of candidate advocacy.

I built it on TypePad which I like better than blogger. However, my skills are still limited and if you are interested I could use some help finishing it.

1) It has a multi-author setting in case you want to contribute.

2) I need a neeto banner.

3) I bought the url erskineblogs.com, and am working on DNS----stuff. (If you need evidence that you don't have to be very good at computers to start a blog...I'm your man). So if you know how that works and want to help, let me know

I have no desire to make this MY Bowles blog, and would love for intersted parties to help me run/design it. But I think it is needed, and will be useful for the grass-roots and the campaign as the year goes along.

A cautious look at immigration

2004-01-10T16:05:00.000-05:00

Last April N.C. Senator Ham Horton, a Republican from Forsyth County, made an interesting comment about the nature of being Southern. According to the Winston-Salem Journal he said, "I suggest that the true Southland is the territory within which, when asked by an outsider whether he is a Southerner, the reply almost invariably is 'Hell Yes!'" Perhaps this is the reason why so many people were upset by President Bush's proposed immigration policy. Based on Sen. Horton's argument, it may not be long before much of North Carolina becomes part of Latin America or Vietnam. But then again, there are parts of North Carolina that might be considered part of New England, and there is an area near the Research Triangle that seems more like part of California.

This is the story of modern North Carolina. We have many cultural backgrounds and yet we share one state and one stratified yet unified culture. The Hispanic workers living amongst us, whether they are citizens or undocumented are part of our state's population. They work for North Carolina's companies and farmers, they live in North Carolinian houses, and their children attend North Carolina's schools. And our current laws are simply unfair and unjust to many Hispanic families.

The Raleigh News & Observer makes the case.

An even-handed policy should be the goal, but what we have is far from that. Ignoring immigration laws is so profitable for businesses and millions of impoverished Mexicans that the policy's failure feeds public cynicism about government. Those who immigrate illegally lack the power to protest the squalor many of them are forced to live in here. And all Americans are shamed by such exploitation.
...
In a nutshell, the president's proposal would let foreigners, whether here illegally or abroad, apply for three-year passes to work in the United States at jobs lined up in advance. Employers would have to show that Americans didn't want the jobs and pay their foreign temporaries the minimum wage as well as their Social Security taxes. Workers could apply to renew their passes, but when the second term expired, they would have to return home. [Editor's note: The number of three-year passes available to immigrants varies depending on the source]
By treating immigrants the same as Americans on the job, the policy achieves a welcome measure of justice. Theoretically, better-paid farm workers could afford decent living conditions, in contrast to the dirty, crowded hovels that migrants are too often found living in near some of North Carolina's farm fields. Their legal status should eliminate the fear of speaking out against abusive practices. And unlike the small guest worker programs available now, Bush's offer would be open to millions, including the 8 million or so undocumented workers already in the U.S. About half are said to be Mexican.

Some critics, however, have argued that the proposed legislation does not go far enough. North Carolina Senator and Presidential Candidate John Edwards said, "President Bush's election-year plan violates our country's most fundamental principles: We are a nation of immigrants who are equals, not second-class guest workers, and we believe in equal rights and equal treatment for all."

It is too difficult at this point to make a full evaluation of the program, largely because the details have not been fully released. However, two things can definitely be concluded today. First, policy makers should make sure that they are not repeating the mistakes of the past.

The braceros program--named after "brazo,'' the Spanish word for arm--was the first of the two earlier efforts. Under an agreement between the United States and Mexico, as many as 5 million temporary workers crossed the border to fill a labor shortage caused by the Second World War, said Oscar Martinez, a history professor at the University of Arizona.
But the braceros, who worked mostly in agriculture, didn't have many of the same rights as Americans. "Braceros were at the mercy of the employers,'' Martinez said. "There was limited government oversight and there were lots of abuses.''
Many workers lived in overcrowded camps, and were denied medical assistance and the right to organize, advocates say.
Some braceros are still engaged in a legal battle with the U.S. and Mexican governments, seeking money that was set aside in savings funds to be paid to them once they returned to Mexico.
Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said lawmakers should remember what happened. "If you want to establish any kind of guest worker program, we've got to make sure that we treat people with dignity,'' by ensuring "they be given the same wages, the same benefits that anyone else would get doing the same kind of work.''

The second conclusion that can be made even without the full details of the new plan is that Pres. Bush's decision will make the issue of immigration an important question in this year's elections. And this means that there is a danger that politicians may demagogue the issue.

Partly this has to do with the fact that this is an issue that divides America deeply. And the divide isn't just along ideological lines. On the issue of immigration many Americans are divided from their own leaders. Just look at this article in the Washington Times.

Most Americans adamantly oppose both increasing the amount of legal immigration to the United States and legalizing those immigrants now here illegally, the two key elements in President Bush's immigration overhaul proposal.
On no other foreign policy issue do average Americans disagree more with government and business leaders and other "elites" than on immigration.
"The number of people who want immigration increased is very small," said Steven A. Camarota, research director for the Center for Immigration Studies. "If 55 or 60 percent of the public wants less immigration, a third wants it the same and 7 percent wants it more - [Mr. Bush] is going for that 7 percent."

In North Carolina opposition to easing immigration rules is even more strongly opposed than in the nation as a whole.

The Raleigh News & Observer:

North Carolina had the nation's fastest-growing population of immigrants in the 1990s, but a new poll suggests that many North Carolinians would be happy to see the new arrivals go home.

Three-fourths of North Carolinians think the United States admits too many legal immigrants, according to the poll commissioned by The News & Observer.
About the same number think Mexicans who came here illegally for work should not be allowed to remain, even if they are otherwise law-abiding.
The poll confirmed what many undocumented workers know.

In North Carolina the division will most likely be drawn down the line at the DMV.

Even Easley has jumped on the issue of driver licensing, though he has focused on improving the security of the process, citing the need for greater scrutiny in the post-9/11 era.
Last week, the DMV announced stricter identification requirements. Starting Feb. 2, license applicants must prove residence and will have fewer choices of identification they may show to qualify. For instance, the popular matricula consular issued by the Mexican government will no longer be accepted.
Many Republicans say those steps aren't enough. And Shubert flatly criticized Bush's proposed immigration overhaul.

"I fear with any time you basically reward people for breaking the law, it encourages others to do the same thing," Shubert said. She also argued that the measure would drive down wages for American workers.

Other Republicans are more cautious. Vinroot, whose father came to the United States from Sweden, made clear that he is not "anti-immigration." And Cobey applauded the president for addressing an issue that he has long supported.

"We have a lot of illegal laborers in here doing productive work in our economy," Cobey said. "We need to quickly have a comprehensive solution that allows for this needed labor to be in our state but to be in here legally."

Easley, too, issued a statement Wednesday supporting the president's proposal.

So far not many candidates in either party are foolish enough to use dissatisfaction with immigrants to resort to popular yet destructive scapegoating.

Such measured statements are smart, said state Rep. Danny McComas of Wilmington, one of just two Latinos in the state legislature. Anti-immigrant rhetoric might draw votes in the Republican primary this year, but it could delay the GOP's longer-term courtship of Spanish-speaking voters, he said.

"I think both parties have to be very careful about it," McComas said. " ... [T]here is a large number of U.S. citizens of Hispanic heritage, especially in and about Wake County. You've got Research Triangle Park. You've got the universities. You've got businesses. These are professional, white-collar people that have been employed and are residents and taxpaying citizens of North Carolina."

It is important to have a healthy debate about this issue in the coming months. The events of September 11th make clear that immigrantion poliies have serious implications for national security as well as economic policy. However, it is also important to be vigilant against politicians who choose to use immigrants as scapegoats and fail to work for this new and important community in the North Carolina cultural landscape.

Democratic Meetup

2004-01-10T08:50:00.000-05:00

I think one of the best ways to support all the candidates--Bowles, Easley, (your favorite presidential candidate)--is to sign up for the Democratic Meetup.

From Jerome on Kos:

Wednesday, January 21 @ 7:00PM (3rd Wednesday of every month), Meetup for the Democratic Party is happening at a location near you. Did you know that the GOP and the Heritage Foundation's Town Hall Meetup is now larger than the Democratic Party Meetup? It is, leading 18,249 vs 15,353 members. Take action people,sign up, make it happen.

Here in North Carolina we have a busy year. Bowles must win to have any chance of taking back the senate, we have two open congressional seats and possibly two more (Taylor and Hayes) Republicans who are vulnerable. We also have the Governor's race and all of the council of state.

Sign up, and get active in the state. The alternative is not pretty.

My Atrios Impression

2004-01-09T16:24:00.000-05:00

Dear Greensboro News-Record:

You have a very nice website. It is easy to navigate, and looks pretty good. However, have you considered putting up some content?

I don't want to be nasty, but it really does confuse me. Part of my "job" every morning is to post links up to news around the state, but a lot of the time I can't find articles on your site. The last I checked you guys have the third largest circulation in the state, but even the Fayetteville Paper has more of their articles posted up on a daily basis. You guys have a really nice site, but almost no articles. What's up?

Regards,

Elros

Another day, another news cycle

2004-01-09T10:23:00.000-05:00

My news summary for today is here

My select picks for today:

Bowles would have supported Medicare Bill

Charlotte Observer:

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Erskine Bowles said Thursday he supports the recently signed Medicare reform bill -- one most Senate Democrats opposed.

Bowles' remark came in response to a question during an appearance before more than 200 members of the Charlotte Senior Forum, a group of retired professionals.
"I thought it was a step in the right direction," he said of the legislation.

AND we have this great John Locke moment:

John Locke opposes increased quality of life

For reasons that cannot be completely explained to a mildly rational human, the John Locke Foundation is holding a conference on Saturday to oppose smart growth in North Carolina.

Using a lead that should draw a letter to the editor the Raleigh News & Observer reports:

The John Locke Foundation has invited local politicians from across the state to Research Triangle Park on Saturday to hear some of the nation's best-known critics of curbs on development.

The return of good times will lead to renewed calls for tougher zoning and development rules that restrict what people can do with their property, said John Hood, president of the Raleigh-based foundation, which publishes reports and hosts events promoting limited government.

But they do some good reporting and interview some people who are slightly more coherent in their thinking.

Jack Smith, an ally of Lang's on the Cary Town Council, said smart growth is a balance between private property rights and the kind of planning that makes a community a good place to live. Smith said the Locke Foundation tends to put property rights above all else.
"If you have that philosophy, it's like nothing else matters," he said. "But the reality is, we have congestion, we have growth, that when there isn't planning applied to it can get pretty silly."

Dean's NASCAR Dad

2004-01-09T10:18:00.000-05:00

The great thing about watching the Dean campaign work is to see the inventive and effective campaign strategies that thousands of individuals who are not only volunteers, but leaders, can manage.

Today in the Charlotte Observer is this story.

Forget buttons and bumper stickers. This political sign travels at 190 miles an hour.

NASCAR Busch Series driver Brian Weber of Mooresville said Thursday that he will stamp "Howard Dean for President" in big letters on his Monte Carlo and head for Daytona.

The Dean campaign isn't sponsoring the effort. Rather, Weber is asking the candidate's supporters to send him contributions so he can enter as many races as he can afford this season.

He said he wants to spread the Vermont Democrat's message to racetrack crowds and the roughly 2 million viewers who watch Busch races on television.

Weber, 37, said he never voted in an election before and considers himself a "centrist." He became a Dean convert on a friend's suggestion after a racing sponsor fell through a month ago.

Asked why he wants to drive a Dean car, Weber extended his hand. "It's the calluses," he said. "He's not afraid to work."

Smart Growth Really Is Smart

2004-01-08T17:04:00.000-05:00

Here are a few interesting facts.

1) North Carolina was the 6th fasting growing state in the 1990's. Most of these new residents are moving to major metropolitan areas. In fact, 63 percent of new residents in the 1980's and 1990's moved to Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, and Greensboro/Winston-Salem.

2) In Money Magazine's, "The Best Paces to Live, 2000" Raleigh-Durham was ranked 2nd, Greensboro/Winston-Salem 11th and Charlotte 12th among large metropolitan areas in the South. Business Development Outlook ranked cities by "quality of life and said that Raleigh came in 7th, Durham was 14th and Winston-Salem was 19th.

It is difficult to prove, but it does not seem far-fetched to say that these two facts are related. One of the things that is driving people and companies to North Carolina is the high "quality of life" that we enjoy. But on the other hand, the rapid expansion of our urban areas may be threatening our quality of life.

And that's where this "smart growth" thing comes in.

Smart Growth is a buzzword thrown around by planning boards and environmentalists to encapsulate one basic principal: growth is not only a result of market forces, but also a response to policy decisions. So if we want our cities to grow in ways that encourage green spaces, protect the local environment, and improve the quality of life for our residents, smart growth would dictate that we make policies that harness market forces instead of simply letting things grow unchecked.

This is exactly what many city planners have been trying to do. They have been attempting to pass "smart growth" policies that encourage growth where they want it, the way they want it.

And we need this planning too. Because as any resident of a major metropolitan area in North Carolina can tell you, unregulated market forces leads to awkward, illogical, ugly, and environmentally unsound development patterns.

But don't take my word for it. In 2000, the Brookings Institution did a study on North Carolina for the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation on growth trends and policies. The report, called Adding It Up: Growth Trends & Policies in North Carolina, issued the following findings.

Rapid, sprawling growth is threatening the quality of life in many parts of North Carolina and could undermine the state's competitive edge. Growth is taking its toll in metropolitan areas. The state was ranked 5th nationwide in the number of acres of farmland lost between 1992-1997. The Charlotte Region was the 8th worst air quality in the nation - Raleigh-Durham the 17th. Daily vehicle miles of travel are growing significantly in every major metropolitan area. Increasing congestion is frustrating employees stuck in traffic and corporations looking to expand. New beltways will likely worsen the sprawl problem. Infrastructure needs to be expanded and schools need to be built.

Newer evidence concurs with these findings. In 2002, two areas in North Carolina were ranked amongst the worst in the nation for urban sprawl.

Both the Triangle and Triad regions of NC receive worse scores than Atlanta on a new index measuring metropolitan sprawl. According to a new national study, Measuring Sprawl and Its Impact, the Triad region ranks 2nd and the Triangle region ranks 3rd as the most sprawling in the nation. (Charlotte was not ranked due to insufficient data.)

The study measures sprawl, and then examines its relationship with environmental and social impacts. It shows that the daily distance driven per person is more than ten miles more in the most sprawling places than in the least sprawling, adding up to 40 more miles of travel each day for a family of four. The Triad and Triangle average 32 traffic deaths for every 100,000 people, while the least sprawling areas average 23 deaths per 100,000. Ozone pollution levels are 96 and 108 parts per billion, respectively in the Triad and Triangle regions, both exceeding the new proposed eight-hour standard of 85 parts per billion.

"This report suggests that the high degree of sprawl in our metropolitan areas is hurting North Carolinians in a number of ways," said Cara Crisler, Executive Director of the NC Smart Growth Alliance. "For example, we are spending more time in our cars and away from our families; our children are prevented from playing outside on summer days; our streets are less safe and more fatal, and we have few choices concerning how we get from place to place."

It is clear that something needs to be done to make the rapid growth we are experiencing in North Carolina manageable, and to create the kind of communities that we all want to live in. And to a certain extent our state's leaders have been trying to address this issue. Regional and area transit authorities such as CATS in Charlotte are beefing up, and there is some evidence that more people are using these systems. Some cities have passed development guidance plans such as Legacy in Forsyth County. Still better, several cities have engaged in projects to revitalize urban areas with existing infrastructure but little growth. But it is not enough.

In Adding It Up, the authors made this recommendation.

North Carolina needs to grow differently; its growth needs to be more compact and balanced. To accommodate future growth and to avoid the persistent consequences of urban sprawl, growth policies and governance powers must be rethought. State policis, particularly transporatation politicies, that facilitate asprwling development patterns need to be more fundamentally revised. State and local governments must rethink land use policis so that more development occurs in oder areas with infrastructure and not on farmlands, open psaces and sensitive coastal aras. Regional approaches to transpotation and economic development msut be expanded to reflect economic realities.

It calls for a fundamental commitment on the part of city, county, and state officials to grow our state the right way. And it implies that North Carolinians who wish to continue to live near green-spaces, breath clean air, and spend less time snarled in traffic to take the issue seriously.

This weekend the Center for Local Innovation, a front group for the right-wing John Locke Foundation, is having a conference to criticize smart growth initiatives. We can only hope that the mainstream press will ignore them as they try to pass on their myopic beliefs in markets for research. Still more, we here at NCCPT hope that any readers out there will continue to support groups like The North Carolina Smart Growth Alliance which exists to fight for the kind of growth that even our children will want to live with.

Bowles is going to win

2004-01-08T14:33:00.000-05:00

There are a lot of Democrats this year in North Carolina who are just sitting in the corner with their tails between their legs.

"The Republicans are coming, the Republicans are coming!", say these chicken littles.

They worry about Dean and his stance on gay civil-unions. They see the war and believe that everyone who supports our troops must support the Republican party.

That's why it is nice to see that Erskine Bowles is not backing down.

"This time I'm going to win," Bowles said.

"Honestly, this is a very different race. It's a different opponent, it's a different town – but more importantly – over the last two years, North Carolina has continued to suffer from what is really a very tough economy."

People are hurting, he said.

"They just plain don't feel like Washington is listening to them," Bowles said, adding that 140,000 people have lost their jobs and that many more have lost their health insurance.

He said his constituents want a "strong, independent, respected, experienced voice to go to Washington and fight for North Carolina."

The democratic candidate said that Burr votes with Bush more than 90 percent of the time.

"I tell you what, I'm not going to vote with this administration or any administration – republican or democrat – 90 percent of the time.

"I want to go up there and do what's right for North Carolina," Bowles said. "I think that's what people want in this race."

North Carolina may prefer President Bush over Howard Dean in the general election. But the voters in this state are not rabid partisans. If Democrats can talk convincingly about the issues that we are really worried about--jobs, affordable healthcare, rising tuitions, corporate corruption--then they stand a chance.

If Democrats go running into the corner afraid to battle it out based on the principals that have been the cornerstones of the party for generations, THEN they will get killed. If they genuinely talk to the needs of the people of the state, then they will do much better then Bush worshiping yes-men.

Bush and Bowles

2004-01-08T10:58:00.000-05:00

Want to know what's going on in the state today?

Read my news-summary.

Today I have A LOT of links on the immigration issue, and it is going to BE A HUGE ISSUE this election cycle.

But I am going to highlight this entry:
Between Burr and Bowles the candidates have raised over $7 million. Bowles raised around $2.1 million and Burr raised around $5 million. The thing is that Burr had most of the year, and Bowles only had the past three months. And Burr only raised $1.28 million in the last quarter.

"That's what's amazing about the amount raised in such a short period of time."

A Democratic source in Washington who monitors fund raising among candidates nationwide said that Bowles is likely to be among the top fund-raisers in the country among nonincumbent Democrats, surpassed only by Blair Hull of Illinois.

"I dare say he will outraise incumbent senators," the source said, noting that Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., raised just $2.5 million in the final quarter of 2003 for his presidential run. "By any historical measurement or any comparison to other candidates, it's quite impressive."

Colin Powell

2004-01-07T11:10:00.000-05:00

According to the Wake Forest University website Colin Powell will be doing the commencement address this year.

Here are the speakers at the last three commencements.

Michael Bloomberg
John McCain
Barbara Bush

Pop Quize: What do all of these people have in common with Colin Powell?

News and Immigration

2004-01-07T11:07:00.000-05:00

The website I'm working for has no comment section, but if you have any feedback on my daily news summary, please let me know.

Today I wanted to highlight this entry. I am still putting my thoughts on this together, but I'll write something more substantial soon.

President Bush has floated some ideas to make it easier for immigrants to work in the United States. Here is an article in the Washington Post. But today the Raleigh News & Observer, has an excellent article on immigrants right here in North Carolina and how this new proposal will effect them.

Now, two major programs feed thousands of guest workers to the state's agriculture, seafood and timber industries. North Carolina hires the most agricultural guest workers of any state, said Carol Brooke, staff attorney for the Immigrants Legal Assistance Project in Raleigh. That totaled 11,000 last year, according to the N.C. Employment Security Commission. That was in addition to hundreds of crab pickers, construction and other unskilled laborers.
Experts expect their numbers to grow if Bush's proposals pass in Congress, which is already considering similar legislation.
Builders, who rely on foreign workers, advocate easing restrictions on immigrant labor.
"I don't know that we could accomplish what we accomplish as a business without that labor pool," said Hal Routh, a business developer with Tarboro-based Barnhill Contracting Co.

Watch this issue, because some Republicans are going to ignore the future and work this as an election issue. Why? Because of this.

North Carolina had the nation's fastest-growing population of immigrants in the 1990s, but a new poll suggests that many North Carolinians would be happy to see the new arrivals go home.
Three-fourths of North Carolinians think the United States admits too many legal immigrants, according to the poll commissioned by The News & Observer.

And the issue of Driver's license will probably be the hot-topic. And yesterday's ruling requiring the state to provide more Medicaid to illegal immigrants will also be on the agenda.

More news

2004-01-06T10:13:00.000-05:00

My news summary is here.

I should note that our site currently suffers from a complete lack of archiving, so all of these links will take you to the current news summary.

My favorite article today is by Barry Saunders at the News & Observer.

Eliciting sympathy for tobacco companies is a hard job, ranking right up there with soliciting contributions for Al Sharpton's presidential bid -- at a klan rally.

To most of you, no industry is less deserving of sympathy than one that -- as one executive was famously quoted as saying years ago -- for less than 2 cents, makes a product that hooks you and makes you a customer for life.

Then, he could have added, it takes your life.

So it's understandable if few are joining me at the wailing wall for the big tobacco companies that are being hurt by cheaper brands flooding the market.

...

If I represented the big tobacco companies, I'd offer coupons -- for instance, after your 10,000th cigarette -- good for a free tracheotomy at the doctor of your choice. That would most likely be "Mike's Discount Mufflers and Tracheotomies."

Or they could offer free designer coffins -- adorned with the emblem of the cigarette maker preferred by the dearly departed.

Don't think Attorney General Roy Cooper wouldn't leap at the chance to go on television, gaze earnestly into the camera as is his wont, take a long drag off a Newport and urge people to "smoke the brands that could get you a free coffin while filling the state's coffers."

Supporting our troops involves more than flying flags

2004-01-05T16:34:00.000-05:00

Last Friday Capt. Kimberly Hampton, who was based at Fort Bragg as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, became the latest fallen hero in Iraq. According to the pentagon, the 27-year-old pilot died when here OH-58 Kiowa went down near Fallujah. It is one of the many personal tragedies that comes with any war, but the event has other important implications for our country because she was the first woman pilot killed in combat in Iraq. And in case you thought this debate was over, some conservatives would like to prevent women from being in harms way.

Capt. Hampton was not a unique figure in Iraq or in the Army. A recent article in the Associated Press highlights the large role that women have played in combat operations in Iraq.

Female American troops in Iraq have killed Iraqis with bombs and bullets. They've won medals for valor and Purple Hearts for combat wounds. They've been captured as prisoners of war, killed by enemy fire and buried as heroes in Arlington National Cemetery.

American women have participated more extensively in combat in Iraq than in any previous war in U.S. history. They've taken roles nearly inconceivable just a decade or two ago--flying fighter jets and attack helicopters, patrolling streets armed with machine guns and commanding units of mostly male soldiers. Seven have been killed in combat.

And yet women are not the norm in combat. The above article says that only 15 percent of active duty forces are women and only 17 percent of National Guard or reservists are female.

So why would someone like Capt. Hampton choose to do something both dangerous and unusual. An interview with her parents reveals part of the reason.

Her parents say Hampton wanted to be a pilot since the third grade. "She liked to kind of blaze a trail â€¦ to be the first or the best," said Ann Hampton, Kimberly's mom. "(Kimberly) was very much a perfectionist."

A dedicated soldier, Hampton served in Korea and Afghanistan before heading to Iraq in August with the 82nd Airborne Division.

"It was much harder when she left for Iraq," said Kimberly's dad, Dale Hampton. "We knew it was serious stuff there, and we didn't have a good feeling about the whole thing.
"(Kimberly) enjoyed the fact she was making a difference over there trying to help the Iraqi people and protect our freedoms in this country. She was very much a patriot."

Other brave women have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country and paved the way for women in the armed service are Pfc. Lori Piestewa, Pfc. Analaura Esperaza Gutierrez, Pfc. Rachel Bosveld, Pfc. Karina Lau, Spec. Frances Vega, Chief Warrant Officer Sharon T. Swartworth and Staff Sgt. Kimberly Voelz. All died in combat in Iraq since October.

Yet some conservatives feel that these women are not heroes but victims. The conservative group Center for Military Readiness has launched a petition drive to remove women from areas where they may come under fire or be involved in combat. They reason that women are uniquely vulnerable to abuses and torture if they are captured. Most, if not all, of their concerns about rape or sexual mistreatment of women prisoners.

If young women and mothers are going to be routinely sent to fight our wars in areas involving a high risk of capture, the American people need to know what happens if they are seized by Saddam loyalists known to use rape as a weapon.
...

We need brave women in the military, but no one's daughter should have to suffer an ordeal comparable to that experienced by former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch. Not in the name of other women's careers, men's resentment of feminists, military necessity, or anything else.

Clinton-era assignment rules remain in effect today. Before the next major deployment begins, President George W. Bush should direct Pentagon leaders to find a way so that female soldiers can proudly serve their country without deliberate exposure to greater, unequal risk.

But looking at other opponents of women in the military it seems clear that underlying sincere concerns for the safety and well-being of our soldiers is a sort of condescending notion that women soldiers should not be put at risk because they are women.

Winston-Salem councilman and Republican Candidate for the N.C. 5th Congressional district Vernon Robinsonalso opposes the "feminization of the military."

On his website Robinson quotes Phyllis Schlafly as his mentor on this subject.

What is the matter with the men of this country -- our political and military leaders -- that they acquiesce in the policy of sending mothers of infants out to fight Saddam Hussein? Are they the kind of man who, on hearing a noise at 2 a.m., would send his wife or daughter downstairs to confront an intruder?"

There is still some room for debating the extent to which women should be integrated into combat units such as the elite Navy Seals or into submarine crews. However, the only reason for relegating women in the armed service into positions where they face no danger is an inexcusable contempt for the bravery and courage of the young women who are risking their lives for their country. Women like Capt. Kimberly Hampton understand better than Vernon Robinson or his ilk the risks they are taking. They do it out of a sense of duty and patriotism that we should all respect. To treat them as victims who have been duped into taking unnecessary risks is truly disrespectful. In reality the best way to keep both our American service women AND men safe would be to work as hard as possible to prevent future wars.

No presidential primary?

2004-01-05T16:03:00.000-05:00

I bet all of those Dean people who have been working their butts off to get the required 10,000 signatures won't like this.

OrangePolitics.org:

With the state redistricting in limbo, the NC Dem Party has posted a contingency plan just in case the primaries can't be held on time ncdp.org. Everyone needs to check out this plan and comment before the public review process is over. If the primaries don't happen (likely at this point) then caucuses would be held by county. Since the caucuses are county caucuses and the final delegate selection is by senate district (I think), then Orange and Durham votes will be added to create a grand total for the 4th district. This makes it important that Dems (registered independents won't be able to vote) show up for the caucuses if they are held. Whichever candidate -Dean- turns out the people -Dean- will win the nomi-Dean-nation.

I think that the final delegates are selected not by senate district, but by Congressional district.

Personally I think it is all pretty stupid because there are almost no scenarios under which North Carolina's delegates will play a determining role in choosing the nominee.

Just curious

2004-01-05T09:50:00.000-05:00

I recently came across Hippy Hill News, which is a pretty conservative blog. It does focus more than passing attention on state politics so it gets a link.

However, I am a little confused about this post which advertises for a local carpet cleaner.

I was lead to wonder exactly how much is advertising worth on a site which averages only (NOTE: I get far fewer) 49 visits a day?

But more generally I have been noticing a lot more ads on blogs these days. I guess the days of the amateur are over.

Blogging the blogs

2004-01-05T09:44:00.000-05:00

David Hoggard has a good post on upcoming Commissioner's elections in Guilford, over at Singing Nettle Shoveldog has something to say to conservatives in the NC Baptist Convention.

I am also going to link to an interesting post in The Political Junkies but note with saddness that they do not have any archives or permalink options.

Today's news

2004-01-05T09:02:00.000-05:00

I have finished my news summary for today here.

In particuar check out the stories about the Hunt case. It may have wider political implications in this election-year.

A little bit cleaner

2004-01-04T17:07:00.000-05:00

I finally took the time to re-do the layout.

I am concerned that things may look funny on screens of different sizes, so if you see anything odd looking let me know. In fact any feedback at all is appreciated.

I am trying to add a column to the left-hand ala Atrios, but I cannot quite figure it out.

Changing the past

2004-01-04T14:21:00.000-05:00

I suppose this not usually done, but I am changing yesterday's entry. Not because I think I am wrong, but because it was poorly written and generally useless. Still working on my writing style.

No surprises From Candidates

2004-01-03T13:35:00.000-05:00

In 2004 we cannot expect anything new from the Republicans it seems. Looking at the issue positions on the websites of the candidates for Governor it seems clear that we are in for a run of the same old flibberdijib.

Here is my summary of all of their issue stances.

1) They want to CUT taxes and RAISE spending, and will claim that they can ballance the budget by cutting waste instead of programs
2) They will make some sops to the christian right in the area of school prayer, flag-burning, abortion, or in these days of Dean -- gay marriage.
3) Inversely to plank 1, they will accuse Easley of raising taxes too much, cutting too many programs, stealing money from various trusts in order to spend on general spending, and wasting tax-payer dollars.

And of course all of this (because it is politics, not because they are Republicans) will be done in a deceptive manner that treats voters like they are intellectual pygmies.

China's Cheating Heart

2004-01-02T14:38:00.000-05:00

Forget the lottery, the war on terrorism, and schools. The big election issue this year is CCC. That stands for Cheating Communist China. In case you haven't gotten the memo, CCC is to blame for all of the job losses here in North Carolina. Yet examining the evidence it is clear that it is not China's cheating that has caused so many problems for manufacturers in the United States, but rather our own trade policies. However, that probably will not stop many politicians from trying to run against China instead of dealing with the cold hard facts.

Richard Burr, a Republican Congressman running for the U.S. Senate, likes to brag that he voted against normalizing trade relations with China. Jay Helvey, a Republican Candidate for Burrâ€™s 5th Congressional district, is already broadcasting ads set in a closed down furniture factory. What happened at this factory he asks? People "were cheated out of their jobs by unfair imports by countries like China." He ends by saying he "wants to stop the cheating."

Republican Robin Hayes, who is defending his seat in the 8th Congressional District, says that one of his top legislative priorities is legislation to punish the transshipping of goods.

These are goods made in one country that are shipped into the United States from another. China is one of the biggest offenders, he said, shipping its goods through Mexico, which then sends the goods to the United States. This avoids U.S. quota restrictions, he said.

Even Karl Rove has been taking notice. The Bush Administration recently placed import quotas on certain goods from CCC. Some observers have speculated that this was in response to pretty severe criticisms from stolid Republicans infuriated at the job losses suffered in the Carolinaâ€™s and elsewhere.

"The Solid South is no longer the Solid South for George W. Bush," said Jason Copland, executive vice president of Copland Fabrics and James' son. When Bush visited Winston-Salem this month and talked about the need to retrain workers displaced by shifting trade patterns, people here were not soothed. "It was kind of like a slap in the face," the younger Copland said. "Why are we sending jobs over to Communist China? It was just like he didn't get it."

Robert DuPree, vice president of government relations at American Textile Manufacturers Institute, contends that inexpensive imports from China are to blame for the demise of American textiles. "We're in a fight for survival, and it's not getting better," he says.

CCC, it seems, has much to answer for.

But a new series of articles printed in the Milwauke Journal Sentinel suggests that another CCC may be responsible for Americaâ€™s suffering manufacturing sectorâ€”Competitive Chinese Capitalism. Their four part series, Made In China: The New Industrial Revolution, takes an in-depth look at the pattern of job-losses in the manufacturing sector. They discovered some trends that should be familiar to many here in North Carolina.

It's a far bigger business these days, the Richardson Brothers Furniture Co. - big enough to cause a stir in the troubled American furniture trade and cries of pain in its hometown by launching a new collection of furniture.

This summer's lingering sense of shock in Sheboygan Falls, though, has little to do with the look of the new line. If anything, the Richardsons have outdone themselves. The solid oak pieces - "inspired from the court of French Emperor Napoleon I, 18th-century designs and American colonial" - could pass muster in a chateau.

...

The big difference with this collection, which is named the American Empire, is that Chinese workers at low-wage Chinese wood shops carved it, lacquered it and joined it - down to the bulging solid oak pedestals that hold up the regal tabletop.

The gala launch of the made-in-China American Empire, in fact, marked a major turning point in the company's 155-year history. Earlier this month, the Richardson family began shutting down its Sheboygan Falls furniture works and laying off the last of its craftsmen.

The series dramatically shows that China has indeed played a major role in destroying jobs in Wisconsin and throughout the nation.

Only a decade ago, imports claimed about 20% of the U.S. market for wooden furniture, said consultant Art Raymond, president of A.G. Raymond & Co. of Raleigh, N.C.

Today, he said, it's up to 55%. China, according to the U.S. Commerce Department, accounts for more than a third of the imports.

...

Within three years, 75% to 80% of wooden furniture sold in the United States will be manufactured in Asia, said Keith B. Hughes, an industry analyst in Atlanta at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Capital Markets.

"It's an industry ripe for this sort of attack from foreign competition," said Gary Shoesmith, an economics professor at Wake Forest University. "So here we are and now there's no time to catch up."

"China," Hughes said, "has changed everything."

But it is not China's cheating heart that is causing us so much pain. Certainly some entrepreneuring importers have been skirting import restrictions in order to bring in more Chinese goods. But it would be difficult to blame the 147,000 jobs that we have lost in North Carolina on cheating. The real problem is that China, with its almost inexhaustible supply of labor, can make these goods cheaper than we can. Combine that fact with the ever-lowering trade barriers that have been pushed for the last decade, and you have a recipe for disaster in the manufacturing sector.

The rise of China coincides with what economists clinically call "I.T.-enabled global labor arbitrage," as if jobs can be swapped across borders like securities on a dealing desk.

George Koo, a Chinese-born business consultant in San Jose, Calif., with the Deloitte & Touche advisory firm, spoke with Confucian simplicity about the borderless global economy. "As naturally as water flows downhill," he said, "products are made by the lowest-cost producer. It's just simple economics."
...

Since the Berlin Wall fell more than a decade ago, international trade barriers have been falling like dominoes. And since the latter '90s, the Internet has enabled a new business model for companies to outsource virtually everything. Further, in 2001, China joined the World Trade Organization, the 146-nation body that is dismantling the barriers of global trade.

Trying to calculate China's direct impact on U.S. factory jobs, some labor economists use a theoretical formula. The labor-oriented Economic Policy Institute in Washington estimates that Americans lost 344,000 jobs because of Chinese imports. And institute economist Robert Scott calls it "the tip of the iceberg."
"The job losses are having tremendous downward pressure on wages throughout the economy and prompting firms to threaten to close plants, which they are using to force down wages and having a chilling effect on wages in service industries," Scott said.

And we cannot expect this trend to end anytime soon.

"Every year, 20 million to 30 million people can move into the urban areas and employers would still keep their low labor costs," Cheng said.

In fact, even if all of China's current industrial workers quit at the same time, employers theoretically could replace every one of them and still have a surplus of rural labor. Nicholas Lardy at the Institute for International Economics, one of Washington's most respected China analysts, concurs that surplus labor so outnumbers demand that "entry-level unskilled wages have been stagnant."

And it is not just low wages that we are facing. Workers in China are willing to deal with conditions that would never be tolerated in the United States.

In hall after hall, there's not a single piece of idle machinery. Cascades of orange metalworking sparks fly off milling machines. The din forces Kwok to speak loudly:

"In the U.S., protective goggles are required," he yells, gesturing at his workers without eyewear. "Over here, we don't."

Sure, China may be cheating a little bit. But the real problems facing the United States is that our trade policies have doomed low skill labor to unemployment or drudgery in the service sector. The high-paying, low-skilled jobs we have lost are not coming back, and there is very little chance that they will be replaced.

A critic of the new textile import quotas wonders if trade barriers may do more harm than good. He points out that trade restriction raise the costs of goods and hurt retailers.

Will the new jobs in, say, textile mills make up for the losses at places like Wal-Mart?

A better question is do we want to replace high-wage factory jobs which often included generous benefit packages, with part-time jobs at faceless big box retailers. Moving people from the factory floor to cash-registers is too often the result of our free-trade policies

So if the problem is China's competitiveness and not their cheating, what can we do solve the problem? Perhaps a first step would to fire those politicians who like to rant and rave about Cheating Communist China.

Richard Burr, who opposes trade with Cheating China, just loves "free trade".

His website says:

I will continue to work with the Administration on trade agreements before they are finalized, in an effort to get the best deal possible for American industryâ€¦

Robin Hayes, who wants to get tough on China, also gave the President the power to negotiate the Central America Free Trade Agreement when he voted for Trade Promotion Authority. That treaty, championed by President Bush, is sure to send more textile jobs overseas.

The same politicians who want us to blame China, are ducking responsibility for their own yes-man attitudes towards free trade. GOP candidates like to mouth loyalty to the American worker, but they are ideologically opposed to the trade restrictions that many experts think may be necessary to foster what we really need -- Fair Trade.

And "Fair Trade" must be more than a buzz word. People of all political persuasions claim to be for fair trade. What it really means is that trade should be promoted in ways that seek to ameliorate hardships caused by globalization. Fair traders want to foster economic growth without lowering wages, causing severe unemployment, or damaging the environment.

It is unrealistic to demand that workers around the globe have the same wages and protections as U.S. workers. It is just as ludicrous to argue that international trade itself is detrimental to the economy. But it is reasonable and just to ask that our elected leaders require trading parnters to have SOME standard of protection for their workers. They do not need to have our minimum wage, but it would be a step in the right direction to ask that China impose ANY minimum wage. Likewise, it may not be necessary to outlaw all child labor, but it would be within the realm of reason to require countries to at least monitor working conditions to prevent egregious abuses. Certainly it should at least be legal for workers to unionize and fight for themselves. That is what fair trade means. We must acknowledge the fact that international trade has serious implications that cannot simply be ignored. To do otherwise is to join in the race to the bottom of wages, labor protection, and environmental standards.

We need leaders who will take a serious look at creating enforceable international labor and environmental standards. We need leaders who will stand up to corporations who WANT to be able to shop around for the cheapest workers. We need leaders who have not been bought wholesale by lobbyists and special interests.

In the Made in China series we are introduced to Dan "Dusty" Moore.

Moore is a bitter man. The United States, in his opinion, is going to hell. Greed rules. Fools run corporations and the government. "The golden rule is, those who have the gold make the rules," he said.

He's felt this way for a while, and losing his job at Metal Ware's Algoma factory has done nothing but reinforce his perspective.

He reacted angrily later when told that workers at Metal Ware's Chinese plants typically earn 27 cents an hour.

"They're going to drive America right into the ground," he said. "I thought they were making a buck an hour at least. Twenty-seven cents an hour. Who's making all the money?"

It "makes me want to overthrow this government and give it back to America," he said.

Next year many voters may agree with Dan.

Politics online

2004-01-02T10:07:00.000-05:00

Ed Cone has this post up that is worth considering.

Is North Carolina really a good test bed for Internet campaigning? That's one of the subjects Henry Copeland and I discussed yesterday at Thiggy's Pizza in beautiful downtown Greensboro.

Henry raised three questions: Is the passion behind Dean lacking in the Bowles camp? Is there a blog community of critical mass to sustain a Web campaign? And, doesn't the existence of a big, strong Democratic party in the state make the party less likely to adopt new tools?

I thought I would chime in with my own responses to these questions, although I would venture to guess that Mr. Cone knows infinitely more about it than I.

I could not agree more with his response to the first question.

My answer to number one: campaigns shouldn't try to out-Dean Dean. He's got the anti-war vibe going -- that's unique, or at least rare. The key is to abstract the online strategy by asking simple questions: does grassroots organizing matter? If so, are tools that make such organizing cheap and effective of value? Yes, and yes. Coordinated volunteer activity in 100 counties would be a big plus for any NC campaign. The Net can help you do that. QED.

No one is going to get the kind of momentum from the internet that Dean has. For starters there just are not enough people online in the state to accomplish goals like writing 60,000 letters or raising $15 million. Second, people do not see state level elections, rightly or wrongly, as important as the Presidential Campaign.

The only two candidates listed on meetup.com are Patrick Ballantine for Governor and Richard Burr for Senate. They have 1 member and 4 members signed up to support them respectively. It is just harder to get folks motivated.

BUT-- the campaigns will be doing a lot of grassroots organizing. From what I hear out of the Bowles camp, they are considering a significantly different tack for this campaign from the "blast the airwaves" tactics of the past. The Democrats know they are getting killed on the ground, and the Bowles folks (at least if people aren't lying to me) are interested in making up the slack. The internet is the best tool out there for cheap and efficient organization.

Two: the blog community. It's not there yet on the volunteer level, but with the right focus and seeding (local activists, universities...) there could be dozens of Bowles blogs by June.

I have serious doubts about this one. My feeling is that most people who start a blog will be going for the national scene. Even sites with promising names like Tarheel Pundit mostly focus on national level politics. I hope to be proved wrong, if only to have someone to fight with.

Finally, the existing party structure breeding complacency and turf jealously. Definitely a danger. But in a tight race, getting new voters out and convincing swing voters to swing your way will be critical.

In 1994 the Democrats got slaughtered in a number of ways. They lost the House of Representatives in the General Assembly. All told the Democrats lost more state legislative seats than any state party in the country. Their response was the Caucus system. They organized how state legislative races were run, coordinated fundraising and expenditures to reduce overhead, and worked to provide experience and expertise to every campaign.

The Caucus system had a good run, and the coordinated campaign was slapped on top to provide even more economies of scale. They now have a caucus program for the down-ballot council of state offices, municipal elections, and a little coordination between congressional campaigns. However, the tide is running red in the North State, and if the party wants to hold on they need to squeeze out every possible voter for every single race. The Democrats know this (or at least they should), and are looking for ways to hang onto control.

Ed says it well:

Forget the Internet-changes-everything fallacy -- if a good online campaign delivers, say, an incremental 3% of the vote, it's well worthwhile. And any campaign that loses a close race in which it doesn't deploy Internet tools deserves what it gets.

It's been a while

2004-01-02T09:47:00.000-05:00

Having somehow survived the holidays, I can now spare a moment to work on this blog. I hope your holidays were good. I know mine were fun, if extremely busy.

Since we're on a personal basis now, I should tell you that I am working full time on www.ncpublictrust.org in the hopes that we can improve the website significantly, and gain enough legitimacy to 1) get funded, and 2) get more organizations and people interested in contributing.

So if you want news, check out the site. I'll keep this site going for the views.

Wade Chestnut can do a good rumba!!

2003-12-15T13:24:00.000-05:00

Wade Chestnut is the director of party affairs for the NCDP.

I know that he has good rythm because someone got me into the Governor's ball held in Greensboro last Friday.

Besides seeing the leaders of our state slightly looped, and eating too much shrimp, I got a preview of the Governor's message.

As I suspected, it is the same stalwarts of Democratic campaigning--Education, Healthcare, and Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. The only other major component of the message was the fact (which I knew but forgot) that Gov. Mike Easley really loves the state of North Carolina. I think that is something important, and if he is as sincere and honest as he was in Greensboro about his love of the state, that will go far.

But the speech does bring back the question that I asked earlier. Is the same old message going to be enough to survive the rising Bush tide?

I think there is a chance. The Democrats, and progressives in particular, need to emphasize that although times have been tough with Democrats in charge, it will be a lot worse under a Republican dominated Assembly or a Republican Governor. By pushing the dangers and inequities of the Republican tax cutting strategy, progressives can demonstrate that an aggressive stance in support of the most vulnerable amongst us can be a winning strategy.

The Common Sense Foundation issued a statement that provides a good start for this attack. In their Consider This newsletter, they said:

TAX REFORM, NOT TAX CUTS

The Republicans did all they could to slash state taxes in the 1990s, claiming that the government had more money than it needed. Now, in leaner times, their one-note economic solution is--you guessed it--more tax cuts.

...

The single-minded tax-cut obsession not only rules out many excellent policy ideas, it's also downright dangerous for a state government that can barely make ends meet even before the tax cuts.

What's needed at this point is tax reform. Perhaps that should begin with a serious examination of expanding the sales tax to include more services.

Nearly every state taxes some services, many of them (like NorthCarolina) mainly utilities. Expanding the range of services covered would finally acknowledge that the state's economy has fundamentally and permanently shifted away from the sale of manufactured and agricultural products and toward an economy that is increasingly dominated by services.

...

In 1982 U.S. households began buying more services than goods, a trend that does not look like it will reverse anytime soon. Yet the 20% of American families with the lowest incomes pay 5.9% of their income in sales taxes, while the wealthiest 1% pay just 1% of their income in sales taxes. That?s a horribly regressive tax, so an expansion of the sales
tax to cover services would need to address that concern.

The state could tax only certain services, like investment advising or charter aviation, that are used primarily by the wealthy. Unfortunately, such an approach wouldn't raise more than a few million dollars in North Carolina. A better idea might be to establish a 'floor' for the services tax (say $400), below which the tax would not apply.

Ohio has just instituted a major expansion of the state sales tax onservices. Many other states tax more services than we do already.

A progressive tax reform would help stabilize, and possibly even increase, state revenues. Then the General Assembly could concentrate on funding education and health care ...

Running on raising sales taxes may seem like political suicide, but combine this proposal with several other shifts towards a more stable and progressive tax regime and you can sell the whole thing as tax reform--which it is. A possible route would be to make sure that the projected revenue's from the shifts in taxes would not increase. That would severely restrict credible conservative labeling of "tax-raisers."

But perhaps the most important part will be to make it clear to voters that they are choosing between a better education system under the Democrats (an important aspect in recruiting new businesses) and tax-cuts to the wealthiest us. That is a winning message if you work to sell it.

Copy editor fairy

2003-12-12T14:53:00.000-05:00

I think it would be helpful if a magical grammar fairy would fly around the internet. Then I wouldn't constantly put up mis-spelled words and sentences that don't hold together. Sorry about the mistakes. It's just that I'm so wordy, and yet I cannot spell.

Ruby, David, and Dean

2003-12-12T14:04:00.000-05:00

I went out to Durham to attend some Dean events scheduled there around the visit of Dean online organizer and super-blogger Zephyr Teachout.

I had an interesting chat with several people who made me really think.

The first was David who works (invented?) a nonprofit called The Fair Trial Initiative, which fights to empty Death Row and end the death penalty in general. There is something pretty inspiring about a man who dedicates his life to stopping a crime that is so often committed in my name.

The second person was one Ruby who works on OrangePolitics.org, blogging politics in the Triangle.

I talked to them about some of the ideas that have been running through my head, and they seemed to agree that there is room for an online activist group in NC focused on state-level politics. It was nice to meet people who have some of the same interests as me, but even nicer to meet people who know a lot more than me about progressive activism.

I have been working on a project called The North Carolina Center for Public Trust. The idea is to make it into a kind of an outlet for progressive policy ideas, but right now it has a long way to go. Developing such a project is something that requires the recognition and backing of a wide group of people with intellectual and financial resources. Thomas Mills is working with several people to build it and the concept has a lot of promise. Overall, I think the project is important. I will continue to actively support it, but there is another avenue that I also want to explore.

The event that got me online was the Dean campaign. I like Dean. I like his issues. But like many people, Dean was only the beginning of what got me hooked. What excited me was that his campaign, along with other grassroots activists and organization such as MoveOn.org and Kos, proved to me that the internet is a powerful tool in organizing political action.

And it is the word action that has so engrossed me. Last night Zephyr Teachout said something along the lines of, "Living in a democracy involves more than just voting." It is the potential of the internet to get people connected with their own government again that so excites me. It is the possibility ending the Bowling Alone phenomenon that has energized me from toe-nail to split-end. I am convinced that the future of political activism will be based on the technology of the internet

So what to do? Think tanks are great, but I want to participate in action. How can I help to contribute to the movement that will forever be associated with Dean? Ed Cone's case study outlines what Dean has done to foster net-roots. I think an online progressive movement in NC can grow from this, but I certainly cannot make it happen. For one thing I don't have the skills and experience. More importantly, this is not the kind of thing that can be simply cut and pasted from the Dean campaign into state politics in general. That kind of project requires the passion and contribution of a whole community of people within the state.

Talking with David and Ruby convinced me that there are people out there who are equally or more interested in fostering this kind of net-roots activity in North Carolina. More importantly, there are people out there who are interested in fostering net-roots who have the know-how and skills to get things done. I think that with inspirational people like David and Ruby around, it is only a matter of time until such an organization is developed.

The question is what I am going to do as part of this revolution. I'm no William Wallace. I'm just a college grad without a job and a lot of idealism. What should I do to help?

Here is the manifesto for my future activities that I developed based on these thoughts.

Step #1--Make this site better. I need to cut my teeth here on html, php, and developing content that inspires dialogue. This requires skills and experience that I don't have right now.

Step #2-- Join the community. There are a lot of progressive types in this state despite the dominant conservative culture.

I think probably the best way to do this is to jump fully onto the Dean train. The Democratic party is nice and all, but there are a lot of things that it can learn from Dean. Another option is to explore is the Progressive Democrats auxiliary group that is just organizing around the state. This site is called Carolina Progressive because I am a progressive. If I'm serious about advocating economic and social justice in this state, then I should join instead of watch.

Hopefully I can also find some others who would be interested in blogging on state politics and form an online community. This is supposed to be about building a community, not making me feel better about myself so I am hoping that other bloggers out there will also be focusing on state issues. Some, like The Political Junkies already are (although they are not a Blog). Others like the discussion board at The Common Sense Foundation are just getting warmed up. Obviously, there are plenty of blogs that mention state politics on occasion, but those are the only ones I know of that focus primarily on state politics on the progressive side.

Step #3--Work with this community, supporting it in any way I can, to build the tools and the sense of empowerment that the Dean people have proven are so effective.

Right now I'll focus on steps #1 and #2. I'll work on improving this site, and work to meet others who are interested and engage in a discursive dialogue about the future of NC progressive activism.

While we're taking our country back, we might as well take a stab at our state.

I am so excited

2003-12-10T17:27:00.000-05:00

I cannot even sit down. This is so huge. I just don't have time to write it all out....

The big winners of this--us

The parties are going to wake up and say....where did our party go? They suddenly are going to realize that they cannot run on image. Message is important, but without the trial lawyers and the NRA they are going to have to get down, reach out to their party members, and do some good 'ol fashion politics.

The other us will aslo win. The combination of Dean's success and this ruling is going to mean that the internet, and the fundraising and actavism that it allows are going to within two decades become the central component of any major campaign.

Expect and Easley Blog soon. I'm going to send an application.

This is so big

2003-12-10T14:18:00.000-05:00

Normally I avoid national level analysis. There are lots of sites that do that, and I don't have much to add.

But this is absolutely huge for all levels of politics:

The Supreme Court upheld the soft-money ban

A few quick thoughts at the state level.

1) There is going to be just....a huge, giant, enormous---really, really, really, big amount of money flowing into "party building", get-out-the vote efforts. "Grass roots" and grass roots just got more important. In my opinion that is one of the new loopholes that the money will flow to.

2) There are different regulations in McCain-Feingold for STATE parties vs. the DNC. I haven't had time to read this yet, but you can bet your bottom dolllar that the state party organizations just became a lot more important. That will be another place the money will flow. At least in NC, that's a big advantage for the Dems.

Helvey

2003-12-09T12:35:00.000-05:00

I saw the first ad for a Republican in the primary for the 5th congressional seat. He was promising jobs!! Shocker. But it was good, and it was on NBC instead of the stupid cable ads that some pretend candidates have been doing.

I believe!!

2003-12-09T12:25:00.000-05:00

I think I finally want my country back.

What do we say?

2003-12-08T17:32:00.000-05:00

I had an interesting conversation last week with someone pretty heavily involved in Democratic legislative races, and he asked me ... "What are we going to run on?"

The obvious stuff choices are -- Jobs, Education, Healthcare

But this is old hat.

The Repulicans are going to have a good year in North Carolina. The Governor's race looks pretty good for Easley but Bush is sure to do very well and the Bowles/Burr race is just starting and will be heavily in favor of the pro-Bush candidate. So if most of the voters are going to support Bush, how do Democrats blame him for the slow economy and still get voters who choose him to vote for Easley or the local Democratic State Senator.

It will be easy for the Republicans to claim that Democrat incumbents are part of the problem. The special "jobs" session scheduled for this week is cute, but it isn't getting nearly the attention that the Democrats need. Not only that but even with the incentives they are going to pass, it is not guaranteed that the targeted companies will actually come (it seems that Boeing has already decided to stiff NC). Republicans have the easy answer--tax cuts. But it is harder for Democrats to pass tax-cuts, because they know that a bad economy means that struggling families need more help and not less. And that costs money.

On top of that, a string of scandals is going to lead to a "sweep the scoundrels out" campaign theme for the Republicans. Not to mention that the obscene level of pork flowing to certain legislative seats will again be highlighted (remember the fun Blackbeard's pirate ship radio ads last cycle?)

So do the Democrats need something more exciting than the Education, Healthcare, Jobs mantra that they have used by candidates in the past few cycles?

One option is the environment. This is one area that voters do not trust Bush, and recent evidence that NC has some pretty dirty air may be helpful.

But a better option is to make the Education, Healthcare, Jobs mantra better. Get a state-wide TV and mail campaign up early explaining the issues. People in North Carolina have historically been willing to hold off on supporting tax cuts in exchange for better, more accountable schools.

The party needs to make sure that there actually IS a Democratic message this cycle, and that it DOESN'T come from the Presidential nominee. Perhaps start a campaign to guarantee only 25 students per classroom. Maybe put forward a major new initiative to guarantee insurance for every child in the state.

Sadly, this is probably not going to happen. But I'll wait to assign blame for that until I find a job.

Question For You

2003-12-06T08:35:00.000-05:00

I know I don't get a lot of hits, but I had a question for you brave souls who actually do read this site. Staty with me...I promise there is a question here.

As I posted below I'm working on a site called North Carolina Public Trust. It is a project to provide commentary and services to progressives in North Carolina. Hopefully, it will have some blog-like components to help build a community of activists in the state as well.

Or at least that's what it's going to be if it works out.

But someone asked me question that I couldn't answer last week when I was talking to them about this. I was expressing my enthusiasm for this project, and they asked me "so what?" He is someone who is busily preparing for the state legislative races next year. He likes the internet, LOVES what Dean is doing, but he doesn't see how it can help at the state legislature level.

In most state legislative races the candidates websites will get maybe 30-40 hits a month. It's hardly worth paying for the domain name. How can we build a site that will actually help candidates with shuch small constituencies besides doing the normal stuff of providing research, message, and money? I have a few ideas, but perhaps someone else out there has a better one.

Fate Is Strange

2003-12-04T16:36:00.000-05:00

Luck? Fate? Destiny? Or Just Random?

I come to NC looking for a job, and in my spare time start up a little blog to help myself follow the news better. Thomas Mills gets in touch with me and we end up discussing how he has read my blog!!

It's not a full time job or anything, but I am now doing news updates for the NC Center for Public Trust. I will also be dishing it out to John Hood and the John Locke Foundation. I don't quite know what I'll use this site for now. I'll have to consider it for a couple of days.

IF YOU WANT TO CONTRIBUTE ARTICLES TO THE NC CENTER FOR PUBLIC TRUST EMAIL ME!!! ----->

Abbreviated News Roundup

2003-12-03T07:59:00.000-05:00

I have to see a man about a job this morning, so this will be abbreviated.

Easley Challengers Take First Shots. The six candidates running for the nomination play nice for an hour to get together and attack Gov. Easely.

There was little to distinguish them.

Amy Gardner at the Raleigh N&O did her best to shed some light on their differences.

The AP has Mac McCorkle of the Easley campaign saying, "What they need to do is to join Governor Easley to get the attention of the Republican administration in Washington to stop its failed trade policies"

Under the Dome says Dan Blue is still considering running for Senate against Bowles.

Some follow up articles on U.S. Rep. Ballanger's decision to retire, from the W-S Journal,Raleigh N&O,

Ballenger has also weathered his share of controversy.

In October, he said that the breakup of his marriage was due to the stress of living near an American Muslim advocacy group and the decision by the House in the mid-1990s to ban gifts from lobbyists.

Last year, Ballenger said that a black congresswoman from Georgia stirred "a little bit of segregationist feelings."

He also came under increasing scrutiny from constituents for his support of foreign-trade policies. His district lost about 40,000 manufacturing jobs in the past four years.

Comedians around the country will miss him.

Eastern North Carolinians are unhappy with plans to put a new airstrip near their homes.

Two counties in Eastern North Carolina will pursue legal action to fight a proposed landing field for U.S. Navy jets that would cover 30,000 acres of what is now privately owned farmland.

North Carolina Schools are getting better and better.

More students are passing their end-of-year tests to advance to the next grade. However, the N&O decides to put concerns about social promotion in the headline.

One benefit of the promotion rule, she said, has been to force schools to better monitor student progress.

"It's raised the level of awareness to really look at individual children," Buchanan said.

The evidence shows that there has been major improvement in this area. But wingnuts will certainly point to this as proof of a failing school. Up is down, black is white, ignorance is bliss.

Funnily enough, John Hood wants people to mind their own business.

That's all I got time for today.

Blog*Spot

2003-12-02T09:15:00.000-05:00

This is the second time that Blog*Spot has gone down for a significant period of time since I started this website I will have to give some serious thought to finding a better service.

Misleading Or Just Wrong?

2003-12-02T08:40:00.000-05:00

The Triangle Business Journal today runs an article with this headline: State spending up despite cuts.

It uses real gems of illusion and mis-direction.

RALEIGH - Disabusing months of jawboning by lawmakers about belt-tightening, state government agencies spent 6 percent more in the first quarter of the current fiscal year than during the same three months a year ago.

See the thing is, the state budget is not like your home budget. State and Federal law often require the government to spend more when, say, Pillowtex goes under. Another example would be if more kids enroll in school. That should cost more money don't you think?

As if to prove the difficulty of reining in government spending, state agencies paid bills totaling $2.948 billion during the quarter that began July 1 of this year. That was $165.9 million more than the $2.782 billion that was spent from July 1 through the end of September in 2002. During the same quarter, the state raked in $1.3 billion in revenue after deducting the state-mandated essentials from the receipts.

Spending bumps, whether up or down, are driven largely by two areas of appropriations - education and health care.

"K through 12 enrollment, the university and the community college system and Medicaid - they are the growth areas that drive the budget," says David Crotts, head of fiscal research for the General Assembly

So the Journal admits it, but insists on putting up headlines that pretend that this makes no difference. The government is spending more than last year--thus there were no "real" cuts.

The real test should be if the government is spending less than they WOULD HAVE OTHERWISE. And that is happening.

I think I need to put these guys on my list of links. They need to be watched.

Democrats Sue Themselves

2003-12-02T07:58:00.000-05:00

Redistricting just never stops being fun.

David Rice at the WSJ one again gets the goods. In an effort to controls which judge will hear the redistricting suit, legislative leaders went to court to get clearance.

Meanwhile, the Republicans were in front of Judge Jenkins trying to get a ruling declaring that he should be the one to hear the case.

Less than a week after state legislators adopted new legislative districts, the dispute is already back in court - two courts, actually - as Republicans and Democrats argue over which judges should hear a challenge to the districts.

The redistricting plan that legislators adopted in a special session last week says that any court challenge to the districts must be heard by a three-judge panel in Wake Superior Court, which includes one judge from the eastern part of the state and one judge from the west.

Legislative leaders filed suit in Wake County yesterday, asking the court to declare that requirement constitutional because "litigation is imminent and unavoidable."

The lawsuit filed by House Co-Speakers Richard Morgan and Jim Black and Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight says that the case must be resolved quickly to hold candidate filing on time in February and primary elections in May. "We have a compressed time line, and we need to get on with it,"said Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand. "Everybody says, 'We're going to sue, we're going to sue.' Let's get it on."

At the same time, Republicans who filed a lawsuit that resulted in a Johnston County judge drawing districts for legislative elections last year filed a motion with the same judge yesterday, asking him to declare the "venue-stripping" effort unconstitutional.

You can't even make this stuff up.

Pender County is also going to sue over the new districts. They don't like being split.

My Prayers Are Answered

2003-12-02T07:54:00.000-05:00

I know some younger people who have literally spent their entire lives dealing with traffic jams in Greensboro.

At some points, I have been in favor of paving the entire city.

The Raleigh N&O reports today that someday soon the project may actually be complete.

Under The Dome--Still Worth Reading

2003-12-02T07:48:00.000-05:00

Under the Dome is a column that makes me believe in the value of journalism again.

Three things today:

1) The jockeying for conservative credentials is on among the contenders for the Republican nomination for governor next year.

Former state GOP chairman Bill Cobey is the latest to make his move.

Cobey, who quit his party post to join the gubernatorial race in July, announced Monday that state Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam, an Apex Republican, will co-chair his campaign.

In the announcement, Cobey described Stam as a "pro-life leader."

2) State Treasurer Richard Moore continues to attract national attention with his push for reforming the way mutual funds do business

3) North Carolina again leads the country in new nationally certified teachers, Gov. Mike Easley announced Monday.

U.S. Rep. Ballanger To Retire

2003-12-02T07:42:00.000-05:00

Another open seat in a district that any Democrat would have a hard time winning.

George Moretz, a former Ballenger ally and donor, has already said he will challenge Ballenger in the Republican primary in the 10th District.

Moretz is board chairman of Carolina Mills and said his candidacy stems from layoffs in textiles and other traditional North Carolina manufacturing industries.

Ballenger's district has lost about 40,000 manufacturing jobs in the past four years in the textile, furniture and fiber optics industries.

Ballenger cast a key vote in December 2001 that helped pass fiercely contested legislation giving President Bush authority to negotiate global trade agreements and submit them to Congress for a yes-or-no vote.

Waiting until time had expired on the roll call, Ballenger was one of a small number of Republicans who stepped forward to assure a one-vote majority for the measure.

I think 30 years is a healthy turnover time for Congress.

HTML And ME

2003-12-01T17:58:00.000-05:00

If you have checked out this site over time you may have noticed that I am continuing to build up my list of links. Let me know if you have any suggestions for sites I have missed. I was going to put up links to all of the weeklies, but I can't even find time to skim the dailies, so that is all of the newspapers I will put up for the moment.

Two people have now commented that they wish they could e-mail me directly. I have put up a new link for that, and I think it is working.

Mike Adams Is a Liar: Part One of Three

2003-12-01T17:20:00.000-05:00

[tongue firmly in cheek]

I have a working theory that whenever wingnuts start to make sense it is because they are lying.

I cannot prove this yet empirically, but I decided to use this blog to give my theory a whirl.

I came across this post at The Locker Room posted by Jon Sanders.

He said:

Read here about how the UNCW Student Organization Committee excluded its sole Republican member from the vote to derecognize the College Republicans.

So I did. That link goes to a column by Mike S. Adams in the online rag Townhall.com run by the Heritage Foundation. It is a follow up to this article that ran on Nov. 19 disclosing a controversy between UNCW and the College Republicans.

The controversy began when the CRs were asked to incorporate two non-discrimination clauses into their student group constitution. One requires that organizations not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, handicap, or sexual orientation. The other says that organizations must adhere to all University rules, regulations, and policies, as well as to all local, state, and federal laws. According to the constitutional Guidelines for all student organizations, both clauses must appear in all constitutions and by-laws (Emphasis theirs).? In other words, all student groups must follow them in their entirety.

So far so good. I'm with you Mike. Tell me more.

By making groups adhere to all University rules, regulations, and policies factors such as political affiliation enter into the mix. Because the graduate catalogue includes political affiliation and because the CRs have members who attend graduate school, they realized that the second clause posed a serious threat to the well being of their group. Put simply, they did not want to open up their group to Democrats, Greens, and Nazis (please pardon the redundancy).

Nazis in the College Republicans! No one can stand that much irony!! What did these poor College Republicans do?

So the CRs did the only reasonable thing under the circumstances. They told the university that they would not incorporate the clauses. Of course, the result was predictable.

In a letter to the CRs, the Assistant to Student Organizations in the Campus Activities and Involvement Center, Faydra Stratton wrote the following:

The (Student Organizations Committee, or SOC) voted to revoke the registration status of the College Republicans due to the absence of the required adherence clause (read: loyalty oath) and the required anti-discrimination clause in the College Republicans constitution?Because your registration status had (sic) been revoked, the College Republicans has lost all the rights and privileges of a registered student organization

OK, Mike, I understand. But what's wrong with having a few Democrats mixed up with the Nazis in the College Republicans. Isn't that part of President Bush's bi-partisan tone?

What Stratton and the members of the SOC fail to understand (or perhaps pretend to fail to understand) is that numerous opponents of the CRs could join simultaneously and create an instant majority. In addition to keeping themselves from being removed, they could fundamentally change the nature of the group.

So the College Republicans were booted because they refused to succumb to a vast left-wing conspiracy to join the CRs and then take them over. That makes so much sense. Oh, the outrage!!

BUT THAT's NOT ALL!! In his follow up article Mike lets us know just how insidious the leftists really were.

New information also surfaced this week to support the assertion that malice accounts for the decision to ban the CRs from UNC-Wonderland. In fact, on the very day my article appeared, a student visited me, who is on the Student Organization Committee (SOC), the body that de-recognized the CRs.

The student who visited my office is one of five students on the SOC. There are also seven professors on the committee, which is chaired by an administrator named Faydra Stratton. While in my office, the student explained that he is the only Republican presently serving on the committee. After that revelation, I asked whether he voted for or against the decision to de-recognize the CRs. He informed me that he could not cast a vote either way because he was not informed of the meeting that was convened to revoke the CRs status.

A quick examination of the voter registration records indicates that the decision to de-recognize the CRs was, in fact, done without the input of a single Republican. In other words, the SOC excluded Republicans from a vote to force the Republicans to include the Democrats under the threat of excluding the Republicans from campus if they don't. Is everyone following the logic of our leading educators?

But I'm afraid it gets even stranger than that. The aforementioned student member of SOC has also disputed Faydra Stratton's assertion that all student groups were subjected to the same review as the CRs. In other words, both the CRs and one member of the SOC are now beginning to say that the CRs were discriminated against when they were singled out to sign a clause designed to end discrimination. Are you still following me?

WOW!! That is really convincing!!

But now I need to focus. I am testing the theory that wingnuts like to make things up. So I started doing a little fact-checking. I didn't expect to find much. Who wouldn't believe that a conspiracy involving administrators, students, and faculty was targeting the College Republicans? Also, I spend my time writing cover letters and can't really get too involved in this.

Sadly for Mike Adams, (but good for my theory) almost none of what he said is true. And it wasn't even that hard to find out how much of liar he is.

Blogging is Still Hard

2003-12-01T16:45:00.000-05:00

Another thing that is hard about blogging is doing it quickly but getting all of your facts straight. Earlier I posted about the North Carolina Center for Public Trust. For some reason I got the impression that it was a splinter faction of the GOP.

It isn't.

My apologies.

Carolina Journal Has A Lot Of People

2003-12-01T09:59:00.000-05:00

Some days I beat the Carolina Journal with my list of stories. Today is not one of those days.

John Hood thinks the new maps are doomed to fail a court challenge.

There are also several stories linked here that are worth reading if you want to know who is running where.

Political Columns

2003-12-01T09:50:00.000-05:00

Ed Cone's column today is on electronic voting machines.

Mark Schreiner in Wilmington compares this round of redistricting to 1875. This is actually more interesting than it sounds.

Ballantine Bash

2003-12-01T09:44:00.000-05:00

Finally some coverage of the governor election.

And boy is it bad...

Former Wilmington resident Trot Nixon, right-fielder for the Boston Red Sox, will be a special guest next week at a rally, promoted as a "Ballantine Bash," for Sen. Patrick Ballantine, R-New Hanover.

But Sen. Ballantine doesn't know if Mr. Nixon is a Republican or if he is registered to vote. Mr. Nixon has a home in Landfall, Sen. Ballantine said.

I bet this story will really help the voters decide who to vote for.

I did like this quote.

"I can't win with just Republicans," Sen. Ballantine said, adding that he needs Independent and Democratic voters to win the governor's race next year.

I think removing the last three words of this quote would be more descriptive.

Sen. Larry Shaw Unhappy

2003-12-01T09:35:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I wrote about the important decision facing Black legislators. Today Sen. Larry Shaw says he is unhappy because his district will probably cease to elect Black candidates after he leaves office.

"People in my community have told me long-term ... that that seat is not viable" for black candidates, Shaw said, citing its 42 percent black population. White residents make up 47 percent of the population. While he thinks he can win re-election, he's worried about black candidates who try for the seat after he leaves office, he said.

If the district is 42% Black, that means that a primary race would be fought amongst a mostly Black electorate. The district is designed such that any competent Democrat should (by the numbers) be able to walk away with the general election. The fact that Shaw believes this district would immediately move to white representation after he leaves is a sad indictment of the party and the state.

Recruitment

2003-12-01T09:29:00.000-05:00

Now that redistricting is over, the next phase of the political cycle is for the parties to run around recruiting good candidates and telling sure losers to sit it out.

This is an extremely important part of the process. It is a pre-screening process that determines the quality of the candidates we get to vote for. But it is mostly done fairly quietly and is difficult to get into the newspapers because it mostly consists of rumors.

I have found a few articles that discuss possible candidates. If you here about any more non-incumbents who are running, please let me know.

Over the weekend I found this one. It covers all of the potential candidates in Harnett County including former State Sen. Oscar Harris. If I get more time to use the links on the right of the screen I should be able to find some more.

New Laws

2003-12-01T09:21:00.000-05:00

There have been a lot of stories about the new laws that go into effect today. Libertarians can worry about the new DNA database, but I'm not very freaked out. The only particularly interesting law to me is the new districts for the judicial candidates. The rest sort of bores me. But I was imporessed with the creativity of the Asheville Citizen Times in coverng this issue.

A: Amend hazing laws - Redefines hazing to include subjecting another student to physical injury as part of an initiation to an organized society, team or similar group.

B: Battery - Creates a new offense for sexual battery. This includes rape and sexual abuse.

C: Children and assault in the presence - Creates a new criminal offense for domestic violence that happens in the presence of a child.

Obviously It goes on....

No Love

2003-12-01T09:14:00.000-05:00

The editorial page of the Greensboro N-R apparently has no love for the new redistricting maps approved by the state legislature last week.

Republicans raise valid complaints that black voters were yanked out of those districts to protect neighboring Democrats. Such self-serving maneuvering, however, must at least pass U.S. Justice Department muster and probable judicial scrutiny.

But then they go off the deep end.

The predictable outcome is postponed primaries, lengthy court battles and defense of the status quo. The ultimate price: a fed-up electorate.

I'm sorry, but the electorate is fed up because the economy is in the toilet and they can' afford to insure their kids. I doubt that most NC would rank redistricting very high on their list of priorities. Only freaky news junkies like me follow this stuff that closely.

The Asheville Citizen-Times also gives the districts a thumbs-down.

Whether it was the House leadership - co-speakers Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, and Richard Morgan, D-Moore - or, more likely, un-elected minions working on their behalf, it's a good bet those drawing district lines knew a lot about voting patterns and virtually noting about the neighborhoods and communities whose voters they were impacting by separating them into different districts.

That's just GREAT

2003-12-01T09:05:00.000-05:00

Here is an article in the Charlotte Observer explaining that the water is polluted.

At first I was worried when I read the title "NC Cites Area Water Toxins."

But then I was releived to find out in the sub-title that: "Officials Say That Chemical Levels Not Dangerouse Unless Consumed Over Long Time."

Phew. For a minute there I thought that this might be a bad thing.

Who Me?

2003-12-01T08:58:00.000-05:00

Elaine Marshall is the latest NC politician to make "public service announcement" that coincidentally gets her name and face on TV with no cost to her campaign.

Secretary of State Elaine Marshall is warning about securities fraud in a television and radio ad. Marshall does not appear in two other ads on the subject, said her spokesman, George Jeter. Money for the production came from a settlement with Merrill Lynch last year in which conflicts of interest between investment banking and research programs were alleged. The state Agency for Public Telecommunications produced the ads.

Council of State members have been in heavy rotation on television this year. Attorney General Roy Cooper and state Treasurer Richard Moore also made ads. These public service announcements often draw criticism because they put the politicians' names and faces in front of voters at no cost to them.

It's good to be the king.

Local Redistricting

2003-12-01T08:52:00.000-05:00

It's good to know that it's not just a problem at the state legislature. Thomasville and Franklin County both battle of districts.

Words For Monkeytime

2003-11-30T11:39:00.000-05:00

Shoveldog at Stinging Nettle has a few words on Monkeytime's e-mail exchange with Mrs. John Edwards.

Somehow I get the feeling that Shoveldog does not approve.

Jack Betts on Redistricting

2003-11-30T11:23:00.000-05:00

Charlotte Observer columnist Jack Betts finds the GOP's complaints about diluting minority voting power unconvincing.

Republicans who usually aren't big fans of social engineering or affirmative action figured out a long time ago that the U.S. Voting Rights Act could work in their own interests. It could be used to concentrate black voters into a political district where they could win a seat, in the process making adjacent districts whiter, where Republicans were more likely to win.

What's interesting is that black lawmakers weren't siding with their Republican protectors who argued they were looking out for black voters' interests. They weren't buying what the GOP was selling.

Black leaders have an interesting choice in front of them. Diluting minority districts will decrease the number of districts where Black legislatures are destined to win. But if they support some dilution it will increase the odds of having a Democratic majority in the legislature. What it really comes down to is how valued the Black community is made to feel by the party. Does promoting a Democratic majority further the cause of Blacks in NC more than ensuring a specific number of minority members of the legislature? Will Black candidates continue to get party support and the nomination in slightly diluted districts?

John Hood at the Locke foundation seems to think that Black legislatures are outraged at the redistricting plan because of the dilution. The account provided by David Rice at the WSJ concurs.

Betts, on the other hand, seems to think that Black legislators are more supportive.

What was strange about this debate was not the Republican argument in support of the Voting Rights Act provisions. It was African American senators' resistance to what they saw as patronizing Republicans' arguments. Instead of siding entirely with Republicans about keeping larger concentrations of black voters in those districts, they supported Senate Democrats' plans to take some black voters out of Democratic districts in order to strengthen other Democratic districts. In those new districts, the scenario goes, coalitions of black and white voters could elect black Democrats, potentially increasing their numbers.

The decision Black members of the legislature make is important because without the support of Black legislature, Democrats will have a tougher time defending the new plan in the courts.

It may be an insiders game, but the decision of these legislators will be very indicative of how valued Blacks feel in the Democratic Party in the state as a whole.

Political Columnists

2003-11-30T10:57:00.000-05:00

Rob Christensen writes a heartwarming column about male friendship developing under adversity between U.S Reps. Etheridge, Miller, and Price.

Enforcing Trade Laws

2003-11-30T10:07:00.000-05:00

The Raleigh N&O breaks down the proposed tracer system and explains how it is supposed to fix the system.

The problem is that our trade laws are not easily enforceable. Even with maximum enforcement at the boarder it still wouldn't work, and we can't send inspectors to nose around in every foreign factory.

The United States has agreements with some countries that allow them to ship clothes here without quotas or tariffs if they use American fabric.

"That creates an incentive for the apparel being made in those countries to use U.S. components," said Jim Leonard, a longtime Burlington Mills employee who's now with the U.S. Department of Commerce. "It also creates an incentive to cheat."

snip

North Carolina's congressional delegation has been pushing for more customs agents to make sure trade laws are enforced.

But in some cases, Booterbaugh said, it doesn't matter how many agents there are if there's no good way to tell the fabric's origin.

If they had the technology, Leonard said, N.C. manufacturers could weave the marker into the cloth, send it to a factory in the Caribbean or Central America, and when clothing was shipped back in, customs agents could wave a wand over it to see where it originated.

The solution is to mark the fabric in some un-replicable way to ensure that it is truly Made in the USA.

This spring, Allgood narrowed the list of possible technologies to three: DNA markers; ultraviolet fluorescence; and nano-barcoding, an intricate code based on the fabric's reflectivity.

I strongly believe that in the long run few of these jobs will remain in North Carolina without significant leadership on the part of America to develop a world-wide labor code. But this system couldn't hurt, and would make shopping for American friendly Gap apparel that much easier.

Schism

2003-11-29T10:38:00.000-05:00

The Asheville Citizen-Times has an article about a (another?) possible rift in the Baptist Convention.

ASHEVILLE - Following the dominating win by conservative candidates at November's Baptist State Convention annual meeting, more moderate members are assessing whether they have a future in the state's largest religious group.

On Tuesday, some of those Baptist moderates will gather at the First Baptist Church in Greensboro to discuss the election results. Conservatives, who believe in interpreting the Bible literally, swept the elections during the Nov. 10- 12 convention in Winston-Salem.

The Rev. Buddy Corbin, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Asheville and a former Baptist State Convention office holder who will attend Tuesday's meeting, said moderates must face the reality of what took place.

"The outcome of the recent election pretty well entrenches the Southern Baptist Convention connection," he said.

At issue, Corbin said, is the right to autonomy by an individual church. He said he believes Tuesday's meeting won't lead to an outright decision, but will result in a "strategy" for the 400 or so moderate Baptist churches to consider.

As the largest denomination in the state-any major events within the Baptist Denomination is worth considering.

Mecklenberg's Budget

2003-11-29T10:32:00.000-05:00

Steward Spencer has a column in the Charlotte Observer outlining the tough choices before the County Commissioners.

His biggest point is that even though some things need to be cut to keep taxes low, education should be spared the axe. Get used to hearing that meme--the Democrats will be using it every day for 12 months.

Decker's Party

2003-11-29T10:21:00.000-05:00

I've heard a variety of opinions about Rep. Decker's chances in next year's elections. For a man who switched parties twice in as many years, there are an awful lot of people who think he has a good chance of holding his new seat.

But these kinds of articles cannot help.

When House Democrats held a private caucus meeting Monday to discuss new maps for legislative districts, they saw a familiar face.

But the fact that it was Rep. Michael Decker's face had some of them scratching their heads later, because Decker switched parties two months ago and became a Republican again.

How Bad Is It?

2003-11-29T10:10:00.000-05:00

We all know the economy is bad. But it's good to keep track of how bad it is.

Today's sign is the article on how more veterans are being forced to use VA health care now that they have lost their own.

WINSTON-SALEM -- The lukewarm economy is prompting more former soldiers and sailors to seek health insurance through Veterans Affairs offices in North Carolina, officials say.

Since July, the state Division of Veterans Affairs has averaged more than 2,000 claims a month for medical care, with many applications coming from textile-heavy areas.

On a side note--I know for a fact that this article ran in the W-S Journal first, but I can't find it on their website.

The Charlotte Observer has this article on food banks running out of food.

The economy is going to be an issue in next years elections no matter how much the national GDP grows. The only question is who is going to be blamed--Bush or Easley.

What is it with these guys?

2003-11-29T09:31:00.000-05:00

Pol 1: There's a big problems that the voters want us to fix!

Pol 2: We can't fix that problem.

Pol 1: I know, but they will expect us to anyways.

Pol 2: Let's start a meaningless committee.

I imagine that was the gist of the conversation between Reps. Howard Coble and Mel Watt when they started the ineffective Caucus on Furniture Industry Job Losses.

News Roundup

2003-11-28T12:49:00.000-05:00

Not much in the way of political news these past couple of days.

Yesterday the only thing I saw was in Under the Dome.

Former state Sen. Fountain Odom, a Democrat from Charlotte, says he plans to run for the new open seat that includes northern Mecklenburg County and part of the Queen City.
"Aha!" say Senate Republicans.

During the special session this week to draw new legislative districts, Senate Democrats listed that seat as one an African-American candidate would have a chance to win.

But Senate Republicans say District 40 fits the Democrats' pattern of parceling out black Democratic voters to prop up white Democrats. African-American voters were pulled from surrounding districts to create the new one.

"The last time I looked at Fountain Odom, he was a white man," said Sen. Robert Rucho of Matthews. "An old white man."

Today's Under the Dome covers a bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge and the delay in federal recognition of the Lumbees.

The only really important story I saw was that Thomas E. Strickland, 5-term state legislature, passed away.

Other than that all of the stories were about turkeys.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2003-11-27T04:46:00.000-05:00

I have a flight at 7am, and a family to spend time with the rest of the day.

We all have things to be thankful for. Let us all take a day to appreciate them and thank the one who gave them to us.

I have internet where I'm going so I should be back tomorrow.

Elizabeth Edwards and Monkeytime

2003-11-26T09:11:00.000-05:00

Todd over at Monkeytime has decided to come back and play.

He put up a fantastically interesting e-mail exchange that he had with Elizabeth Edwards that is worth reading (or at least skimming).

No Wingnuts Here

2003-11-26T08:27:00.000-05:00

Some moderate Republicans (yes, they do exist!!) have started a website called The North Carolina Center For Public Trust to take on the wingnuts over at the John Locke Foundation.

Here is a highlight.

The Goldwater Conservatives have been replaced by an unholy alliance between fundamentalist Christians and the modern day robber barons of multinational corporations. In this coalition, the corporate giants compromise their libertarian ideals of personal freedom in order to secure less government regulation and lower corporate taxes. The Christian conservatives willingly ignore New Testament teachings of obligations to the poor in exchange for legislation that imposes their Old Testament view of morality on society.

You may notice that I put up a lot of links to the John Hood and his John Locke friends. Believe me...this is not voluntary. It is just that they do a pretty good job of keeping up with current events in the state. I almost never agree with them (in fact I rarely believe them), but they have a lot of links.

But I will add the new guys to my list and read it regularly.

HTML and Me

2003-11-26T08:15:00.000-05:00

Ed Cone linked to one of my posts on his blog, and noted that the permalink does not work. Sorry about that.

HTML and me are brand new friends and we are still getting to know each other.

Update (8:34 AM): Apparently Blogger requires a title for the permalink to work, and I just figured out how to put on titles a few days ago. I have fixed it on the entry called Murky Waters below that Mr. Cone highlighted. I would do it on the rest, but who is going to link to those?

Tom Gilmore For State Ag. Commissioner

2003-11-26T07:42:00.000-05:00

This is also in Under the Dome.

State Rep. Tom Gilmore has been lobbying Gov. Easley to be appointed to replace Phipps as the Ag. Commissioner.

In a letter sent to party officials in all 100 counties, the chairman of the Guilford County Democratic Party asks Easley to appoint Gilmore agriculture commissioner now so he can run as an incumbent.

That's not likely to happen. Easley, a Democrat, already named longtime department official Britt Cobb interim commissioner. The governor is expected to announce as early as this week that he's taking the interim off Cobb's title and encouraging him to seek the office in 2004.

Who Is Going To Run?

2003-11-26T07:37:00.000-05:00

Several articles today start looking at who is going to run under the new district maps.

David Rice at the WSJ (no not that one) talks to some people eying the new 30th NC Senate district.

Mark Johnson at the Charlotte Observer notices that former State Senator and appropriations co-chair (who lost because of the last maps) happens to live in one of the new open, Democratic leaning Senate districts.

In the course of drawing the new lines this week, Senate leaders carved a district in north Mecklenburg that includes University City. That's where Odom and his wife, N.C. Secretary of Health and Human Resources Carmen Hooker Odom, rented a condominium and moved in October. They also have a condominium in Raleigh, since Hooker Odom works there.

Odom said he rented in University City because he will be lecturing at UNC Charlotte. His house in lower Steele Creek is under contract with a buyer.

"All of the planets may have been aligned for good things to happen," Odom said.

Yep...it was the planets.

Recruitment is an important part of the campaign game. If you hear or read about other possible candidates let me know.

More Audits

2003-11-26T07:29:00.000-05:00

Problems with Planes
Two agencies rented private aircraft for trips while state-owned planes sat in hangars. Some planes never get used, and others are used infrequently. Some pilots get paid for a 40-hour workweek but spend most of their time on the groung. State Auditor Ralph Campbell said Tuesday that those findings and others show the need for the state to consolidate its flight operations and develop consistent

The Greensboro N&R also has the story.

Under the Dome

2003-11-26T07:26:00.000-05:00

If you are interested in NC politics then you probably read Under the Dome every day. If you don't you should. Today I can't even summarize it. There is just too much good info.