North Carolina
updated
8:38 a.m.
I'm clearly not in the habit of trying to help the opposition, but I just received a wonderful bit of news in my inbox that might be of use to the John McCain campaign . SAGE (Senior Action in a Gay Environment), the world's oldest and largest non-profit agency dedicated to serving and advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender seniors, has opened the first-ever fully-equipped ...
Pam's House Blend - 8:38 a.m.
The primary targets of this are the good folks at Blue Jersey , with the Blend receiving a cameo. The Garden State blog has been giving pathetic House candidate Chris Myers grief, so he thought he saw an opportunity to slam the lefty blogosphere when Democrat John Adler gave praise to the evil netroots. " They are the new journalists, they are the new citizen soldiers in term...
Pam's House Blend - 8:38 a.m.
TIME CHANGE: Office Opening and Canvass Event at 2 PM RALEIGH—The North Carolina Campaign for Change will hold the grand opening of its Durham Regional Office, tomorrow at 2PM. Congressman David Price and Durham Mayor Pro Tempore Cora Cole-McFadden will speak to volunteers before they canvass Durham neighborhoods to register new voters and encouraging their neighbors to support Sen. Obama and ...
North Carolina Democratic Party - 8:38 a.m.
I've met Stuart Rothenberg. He seems like a very nice man. However, like my opponent Robin Hayes, I think that maybe Mr. Rothenberg has been in Washington too long to understand that a people powered campaign isn't an urban legend. Thus in response to Rothenberg's latest column, For House Races now, It's All A Question of Money , I say he doesn't get it. At all. Kissell’s fundraisi...
DailyKos (North Carolina) - 8:04 a.m.
No surprise . The Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 is designed to help 400,000 homeowners avoid foreclosure. The bill also includes a federal bailout for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Virginia Foxx voted no, blaming the victims of mortgage scams for being victims. You should have known better. So what if you lose your house? Some packing crates make excellent shelter. The bi...
WataugaWatch - 7:08 a.m.
Becky Harper, a realtor in Raleigh, has filed a formal complaint with the State Board of Elections about the N.C. Association of Realtors' use of required dues to oppose the transfer tax. ( Earlier .) She notes that she is required to be a member of the association to have access to the Multiple Listing Service, which lists real estate for sale. "I do not believe that it is right that my requi...
WataugaWatch - 6:37 a.m.
Again, here we see the unyielding hatred of the fundies toward LGBTs. Rights that we have won are not permanent when they can continuously fight to put those civil rights up for a public vote. A judge in Montgomery County Maryland judge ruled that a new law protecting transfolk (blocked from implementation by a petition effort by a group called the "Citizens for Responsible Government") may be pla...
Pam's House Blend - Thu 8:42 p.m.
Good , but also good grief. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the nation's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, learned today that Mars Inc. will pull a controversial television advertisement for Snickers following communication between the HRC Workplace Project and Mars, the parent company. The ad features a man whose appearance and actions - speed ...
Pam's House Blend - Thu 7:38 p.m.
house negro : A black person who rejects their cultural identity to please the White Man. Generally less offensive than house n*gger. -- Urban Dictionary Cathryn Platine is a former blender we pulled the trapdoor lever on earlier this month because of her widely offensive language. Although I was the one who actually pulled the trap door's lever, it was done in consultation with Pa...
Pam's House Blend - Thu 6:35 p.m.
Daniel Johnson, candidate for North Carolina's 10th Congressional District, rebuked Congressman Patrick McHenry's vote against a comprehensive, bipartisan response to the current mortgage crisis. The American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act (HR 3221) passed with support from Republicans and Democrats alike. "While the subprime crisis arose due to the actions of irresponsible lend...
North Carolina Democratic Party - Thu 5:02 p.m. - 3 clicks 
Four New Regional Offices to Open Across the State The North Carolina Campaign for Change today announced a major, statewide canvassing effort that will begin on Saturday, July 26th, the day that marks 100 days until the election. Volunteers will be knocking on doors from the mountains to the coast, helping to register new voters and encouraging their neighbors to support Sen. Obama and o...
North Carolina Democratic Party - Thu 5:02 p.m. - 4 clicks
[Watauga County Republican Party Chair Jim] Goff said the party's mood was good, despite not having any county commission candidates, and the party was stronger after its local defeats in 2006. "There doesn't seem to be any local issues inspiring people enough to put themselves out there," Goff said, adding that some were content with the county's direction but others were opposed but didn't wa...
WataugaWatch - Thu 2:33 p.m.
The internecine strife among Republicans in the NC-11 has broken out into the public square. First, Carl Mumpower, the Republican congressional candidate running against incumbent Democrat Heath Shuler, famously suspended his campaign until at least half the counties in his district pledged to salute his version of "values." To which the Henderson County Republican Party has now replied , "Ki...
WataugaWatch - Thu 2:33 p.m. - 4 clicks
Barack Obama spoke in Berlin today, in front of a massive crowd (est. 100K) at an outdoor event at Tiergarten Park. The New York Mag liveblogged it (check out the photo ). Obama's speech is below the fold, but I thought I'd mention this study in contrasts -- while the Dem nominee is drawing enormous crowds both here and abroad, take a look at the state of the McCain campaign -- he's actua...
Pam's House Blend - Thu 2:33 p.m.
The horrible circumstances of LGBTs in Iraq has gone largely uncovered by the MSM. It has, however been covered extensively for some time in the LGBT press (see Doug Ireland's coverage going back to 2006 and the UN reports on the horrors, including the military death squads). CNN finally picked up the story, so perhaps more attention will be given to the plight of our brothers and sister...
Pam's House Blend - Thu 2:33 p.m. - 5 clicks
Dana Milbank at the WaPo delivers a stunning and accurate smackdown to the misguided, misleading and unhinged Elaine Donnelly of The Center for Military Readiness, who testified at yesterday's House Armed Services personnel subcommittee hearing on the law known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Donnelly treated the panel to an extraordinary exhibition of rage. She warned of "transgenders in ...
Pam's House Blend - Thu 2:33 p.m.
The religious right in Iowa, which has a stranglehold on the state GOP, has decided to punish one of its main supporters -- Sen. Charles Grassley -- for spearheading an investigation into fraudulent practices of prominent televangelists. The party has denied the conservative senator a spot as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN. Americans United for Separation of Ch...
Pam's House Blend - Thu 2:33 p.m.
"It has nothing to do with the homosexual situation and I'm just sorry that I forgot to take it out" -- Oklahoma homo-hating legislator Sally Kern who was packing heat when entering Oklahoma's capitol building The obvious question to ask is WWJD? By the way, this is the second time Kern has been stopped with a gun in her purse as she tried to enter the building. ( NewsOK ): State Rep. S...
Pam's House Blend - Thu 2:33 p.m.
This guest diary came to us at The Bilerico Project from Minnesota Congressional candidate Ashwin Madia. He wanted to share with us his experiences fighting against discrimination in the military and ask for the blogosphere's help in his competitive race to take a Republican's seat. More info below the fold. I am a Marine Corps veteran, an Iraq war veteran and the Democratic candidate for ...
Pam's House Blend - Thu 12:40 a.m.
Laura Leslie has the best account we've seen of the coercion going on at the NC Association of Realtors (NCAR), the strong-arming of members to cough up another $75 in extra dough so that NCAR can stomp on any county government even considering a land transfer tax (" De-Listed? "). Apparently, some realtor members are resisting, and they're being treated to less than subtle threats for their resi...
WataugaWatch - Wed 11:40 p.m.
"If [John] McCain has to play a serious game in North Carolina, then something is going on that is not very good for John McCain." --Ferrell Blount, former state GOP chairman from Pitt county who is advising the McCain campaign and hoping out loud that the Obama effort in the state is all a "feint"...
WataugaWatch - Wed 11:40 p.m. - 7 clicks
From Mombley's Musings : ...I spoke with a Congresswoman tonight. Representative Virginia Foxx, from North Carolina's 5th district called me this evening. (We are in the 4th district). She was doing fundraising, which I cannot help her with right now, but when I told her we had 9 children, she said we were doing our part to help our country. She then asked if we homeschool, which I replied, "Of ...
WataugaWatch - Wed 11:40 p.m. - 6 clicks
Last week I received an email from a reader, Robaire Watson , a Bay Area resident who spent 6 years in the Navy (from 1989 until 1995), serving as an openly gay man. He's one of the few black gay men I've seen so far who is willing to publicly discuss serving under DADT. In light of the hearings on the Hill today debating the issue of "unit cohesion" and working in close quarters, I though it...
Pam's House Blend - Wed 7:34 p.m.
I wish Joe Solmonese would just go away. Mr. Solmonese has morphed into a true lightning rod of a public figure due to last year's ENDA debacle. Wherever he goes now, he's a reminder that the HRC flip-flopped horribly on basic civil rights legislation for all of their stated gender variant constituencies -- constituencies which include transgender people. But he's not going away...
Pam's House Blend - Wed 7:04 p.m.
In order to bring home his point that gays and lesbians openly serving will lead to TEH GAY SECKS, The Peter chose to illustrate his post with a graphic pulled from a site dedicated to military man-on-man porno. So while Elaine Donnelly is fixated on rampant "lesbian assaults" that will naturally occur on unsuspecting enlisted women if DADT is repealed, LaBarbera has other visions in mind....
Pam's House Blend - Wed 6:08 p.m.
Some Thoughts about Charlotte, N.C. and on-site pre-trial police electrocution. The Charlotte Observer recently wrote an editorial on the brutal slaying and torture death of Darryl Turner at the hands of a member of the Charlotte Police Department. They wrote about how the officer delivered, what black social activist and blogger, Francis L. Holland and I call, ' on-site pre-trial po...
Pam's House Blend - Wed 4:00 p.m. - 13 clicks
After a successful kick-off tour through Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana last week, Governor Howard Dean continues his national voter registration efforts in North Carolina this Friday. The tour builds on the overwhelming enthusiasm and voter turnout seen during the primaries as Democrats mobilize and organize voters for the fall election. read more ...
North Carolina Democratic Party - Wed 1:37 p.m. - 13 clicks
The Matthew 25 Network is a community of Christians – Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal, and Evangelical – inspired by the Gospel mandate to put our faith into action to care for our neighbor, especially the most vulnerable. As a newly formed Political Action Committee, the Matthew 25 Network is reaching out to America's diverse Christian communities in support of Senator Barack Obama....
North Carolina Democratic Party - Wed 11:30 a.m.
Why do so many of us follow the news of the presidential campaign so closely? (I'm only asking) It's not like you have yet to make up your mind, is it? Isn't there a better way to spend your time? (lol) ...
DailyKos (North Carolina) - Tue 8:01 p.m.
The Screening Series at Netroots Nation was awesome. Listening to the filmmakers and folks promoting new venues for participatory film watching was energizing, to say the least. In the spirit of conference activism, I used a few moments in Austin to contact our local Obama for America office and set up a campaign event at Galaxy Cinema in Cary, North Carolina, where I'm marketing dire...
DailyKos (North Carolina) - Tue 8:01 p.m. - 9 clicks
Bob Hall of Democracy North Carolina is warning of voter gridlock in North Carolina come November 4 -- based on statewide voter registration growing to nearly 5.9 million as of last week. Hall is urging county boards of election to add more early voting sites and to have extra staff and voting machines ready for election day itself. Otherwise ... expect long lines and "a horrible traffic jam." ...
WataugaWatch - Tue 1:07 p.m. - 8 clicks
Four-foot-one-inch Congressman Patrick McHenry has loaned himself $175,000 to keep his campaign for reelection in the NC-10 on life-support. "McHenry spokesman Brock McCleary said the loan shows the Cherryville Republican is 'willing to make a personal investment in his fight for good jobs and lower gas prices for North Carolina.' " Say what? That's a slippery slope the Lit'lest Angel has ...
WataugaWatch - Tue 1:07 p.m. - 7 clicks
" Wachovia reports huge loss, will cut 10,750 jobs " "Wachovia Corp. announced a whopping second quarter loss of $8.9 billion this morning" "Wachovia announced this morning that it plans to cease making mortgages through third-party brokers" "The change in strategy is part of a larger plan to rein in mortgage losses, which have been on the rise since Wachovia's $24 billion purchase of Golden We...
WataugaWatch - Tue 1:07 p.m. - 10 clicks
Charlotte Observer Editorial July 22, 2008 N.C. Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry has given voters multiple reasons to change the leadership of that department in November. Now she's given them one more: She won't use additional money the state legislature provided to shore up the department's unsatisfactory oversight of a dangerous industry. That means the state will do little this year to...
North Carolina Democratic Party - Tue 12:31 p.m. - 12 clicks
Conservatives have been "cocooning," that's what. Encasing themselves in their own aromas of righteousness and letting nary a stray thought intrude into their crystalline palace. Well, we got a glimpse of what was gestating inside that cocoon, and it wasn't a thousand years of Republican rule, charted by Karl Rove. Instead, out stepped something supposedly blessed by Saint Ronnie but looking a...
WataugaWatch - Mon 10:03 p.m.
Mullah James Dobson is -- surprise! -- deciding that maybe he was hasty in declaring from the heights of his own Mt. Horeb that he would never, not even if hell froze over, vote for John McCain, because McCain believed in stem-cell research and in taxing the rich in off-years, but Dobson is now suggesting that he's gonna change his mind, using the old lesser-of-two-evils rationalization so po...
WataugaWatch - Mon 10:03 p.m.
Charlotte Observer Editorial July 21, 2008 The gang legislation N.C. lawmakers passed a few days ago is welcome and vital to dealing effectively with rising gang activity, and to steering young people away from criminal activity in the first place. Both are vital to public safety. Lawmakers are wise to see that. Congress should recognize it too. Last week, the Senate took up reauthorizatio...
North Carolina Democratic Party - Mon 5:35 p.m. - 14 clicks
"Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party." ~Winston Churchill Three years ago today on July 21, 2005, the spokesperson of my opponent Robin Hayes told the Winston-Salem Journal," Congressman Hayes is extremely pleased to create a fair and level playing field, but it still does not change the fact that CAFTA is not a ...
DailyKos (North Carolina) - Mon 5:02 p.m. - 11 clicks
As has been reported the NC Senate's failure to pass anti-bullying legislation in tact despite having the votes is disappointing shows a disturbing and unacceptable lack of courage and compassion. They threw kids in the state of North Carolina under the bus when they had an opportunity to protect them. I have communicated privately with many members of the NC House and the NC Senate regardin...
DailyKos (North Carolina) - Mon 5:02 p.m. - 10 clicks
Nino Saviano, a North Carolina-based Republican political strategist, has a column in today's Asheville Citizen-Times with a warning headline: "GOP had better pay more attention to young voters." (Hat-tip: The Political Junkies ) Saviano is reading the right (that is, the left) tea-leaves ... that young voters are going to turn out in large numbers for Obama and, given the dismal baggage the l...
WataugaWatch - Mon 12:01 a.m. - 18 clicks
Even Bush is sick of the Iraq fiasco...he has been mumbling about pulling out troops and about a " time horizon "...yes, "HORIZON," not a timeline, for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Don't know about you, but I have never heard anyone talk about "time horizons" before. Makes me think of an event horizon around a black hole...which is an ominous comparison. Remember, though, Bush's shif...
DailyKos (North Carolina) - Sun 8:02 p.m. - 39 clicks
The Matthew 25 Network -- "a community of Christians -- Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal, and Evangelical -- inspired by the Gospel mandate to put our faith into action to care for our neighbor, especially the most vulnerable" -- has filed papers as a Federal Political Action Committee (PAC) "that works to elect and promote candidates who share our values through grassroots mobilization, raisin...
WataugaWatch - Sun 2:32 p.m. - 2 clicks
The Boone Town Council voted -- unanimously -- Thursday night to go forward to the NC Court of Appeals challenging the Superior Court judge's ruling July 3 in the proposed Templeton medical clinic development on State Farm Road. We'll summarize the arguments in the appeal when those documents become available....
WataugaWatch - Sat 2:05 p.m. - 15 clicks
Today, July 18, 2008, Obama’s Campaign for Change announces the opening of several offices in North Carolina, beginning with grand openings in Wilmington and Rocky Mount on Saturday, July 19th. Offices will also open in Charlotte and Raleigh in the upcoming days. "We're putting together a great grassroots campaign from one end of North Carolina to the other. It's a ...
North Carolina Democratic Party - Sat 1:36 a.m. - 15 clicks
Since 2003, has your salary increased 270%? Is your house worth 270% more? Does your retirement fund or your children's college account have 270% more money in it? The likely answer to all of these questions is no. When Elizabeth Dole took office, the average price of gas was $1.52 per gallon. Now it's ballooned 270% to $4.10 per gallon. The rising price of gas isn't something that happened ...
North Carolina Democratic Party - Sat 1:36 a.m. - 17 clicks
Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that unemployment rate in North Carolina jumped to 6.0%, the fifth straight month of unemployment increases. This new data is just the latest confirmation that our economy is failing North Carolina’s families, and that we need to change course from the Bush economic policies that John McCain is intent on continuing. With the price of gas over $4.1...
North Carolina Democratic Party - Sat 1:36 a.m. - 13 clicks
A group of investors in various Ginn projects, including Laurelmor in Watauga County, are banding together for a possible class action lawsuit. They offer news links and ... a blog (gulp)....
WataugaWatch - Jul 17
"...Bush is akin to the Captain of the Titanic, except that before putting wealthy Republicans on the lifeboats, he takes all the valuables from the passengers who will be left to drown." -- The Political Junkies , commenting on the Bush plan to bail out Fannie & Freddie And this: "To rescue Fannie and Freddie is the ultimate implementation of socialism for the rich and the well connected." ...
WataugaWatch - Jul 17 - 2 clicks
Virginia Foxx writes on The Hill's Congress Blog that she came into a meeting of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, but they were discussing the lawlessness of the Bush administration (refusing to turn over documents about illegal activity and stuff). So she stuck her fingers in her ears and ran from the room, because "I did not want to have to listen to the comments." Sounds ...
WataugaWatch - Jul 17 - 7 clicks
Somebody in charge -- who? -- decided that the ban on photography from the Senate gallery was inappropriate. So the sign prohibiting photographs was removed last night. Good. North Carolina homophobes bulldozed the NC Senate into delaying -- killing? -- the anti-bullying legislation because it mentioned sexual orientation as one of the causes of bullying. Bad....
WataugaWatch - Jul 16 - 11 clicks
Good Gawd, ya'll. Virginia Foxx voted to over-ride El Presidente's veto of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act. Going all soft and squishy in her 65th year?...
WataugaWatch - Jul 16 - 8 clicks
We promise we're not making this up: the House Republican Conference, in an effort to boost the flagging morale of its soon to be smaller minority, has made up awards for pointless, endless gum-flapping on the House floor, and it gave one of those highly coveted awards to none other than Virginia Anne Foxx (NC-5). Groused one Republican member, who evidently didn't get an award, "The idea th...
WataugaWatch - Jul 16
If you can't beat up a kid 'cause he's queer, what's this state coming to? asked Bill Brooks, executive director of the North Carolina Family Policy Council. Brooks was yelling (GOOD GAWD ALMIGHTY!) about the anti-bullying bill up for a vote in the NC legislature today. I mean, what's next? Brooks asked. The anti-bullying statute could be used to file lawsuits and eventually be used to insert s...
WataugaWatch - Jul 15 - 7 clicks