News reached us late Monday evening that two more candidates have filed to run in the Democratic primary for the 5th District congressional seat: Mark Dulaney Glen, a Winston-Salem architect, and Roger Sharpe, a former state senator and D.C. lobbyist for 95,000 elected school board members. Sharpe grew up on a tobacco farm near Winston-Salem. Besides his doctoral work at Harvard, he studied Christian ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
More to come as we learn it.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Virginia Foxx, The Female Jesse Helms
The National Journal has found, based on her 2005 votes on economic issues, social issues, and foreign policy, Madame Virginia Foxx is more conservative than 91.3 percent of the rest of the House of Representatives.
A feather in her 19th-century cap!
That she represents a far-right conservatism much more effectively than she represents the common people of the 5th Dist. of N.C. may be a fact that will some day dawn on our folks.
Here's how the dominoes stack: Foxx is more conservative than wet-behind-the-ears Patrick McHenry of the 10th Dist, who is in his turn slightly more conservative than Sue "Hell No" Myrick, who is in her turn slightly more conservative than Robin Hayes ... oh, go read the rest for yourself.
Except, please note that Elizabeth "Helmet Hair" Dole is 81.8 percent more conservative than the rest of the Senate ... more conservative than Richard "Dick" Burr.
A feather in her 19th-century cap!
That she represents a far-right conservatism much more effectively than she represents the common people of the 5th Dist. of N.C. may be a fact that will some day dawn on our folks.
Here's how the dominoes stack: Foxx is more conservative than wet-behind-the-ears Patrick McHenry of the 10th Dist, who is in his turn slightly more conservative than Sue "Hell No" Myrick, who is in her turn slightly more conservative than Robin Hayes ... oh, go read the rest for yourself.
Except, please note that Elizabeth "Helmet Hair" Dole is 81.8 percent more conservative than the rest of the Senate ... more conservative than Richard "Dick" Burr.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Finally, Bill Kristol Said Something We Can Agree With
Bill Kristol called Sue Myrick an "idiot" this a.m. on "Fox News Sunday," for her shoot-from-the-lip opposition to the Dubai Ports deal.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Rachel Hunter Stirs It Up
Rachel Lea Hunter, former Republican, current Democrat, and candidate for the N.C. Supreme Court, wants her nickname used on the ballot this year: Rachel Lea "Madame Justice" Hunter. (N&O coverage here)
There's actually legal precedent for this sort of ballot enhancement. Who will ever forget Leonard "Preacher Man" Harris, Ken "Stump Grinder" Dennis, Jeff "Radio Man" Wilson, Tammy "Lady in Red" Wilson, Leroy "Chicken Plucker" Jones, and Sam "Turdball" Green? (The first three of those are actually real examples.)
Hunter is giving the N.C. Republican Party fits, ever since they dissed her in 2004 by endorsing someone else in the race for another seat on the Supreme Court. Now she's running against Republican Justice Mark "Blow-Dried" Martin. Call him Mark "Nonplussed" Martin.
There's actually legal precedent for this sort of ballot enhancement. Who will ever forget Leonard "Preacher Man" Harris, Ken "Stump Grinder" Dennis, Jeff "Radio Man" Wilson, Tammy "Lady in Red" Wilson, Leroy "Chicken Plucker" Jones, and Sam "Turdball" Green? (The first three of those are actually real examples.)
Hunter is giving the N.C. Republican Party fits, ever since they dissed her in 2004 by endorsing someone else in the race for another seat on the Supreme Court. Now she's running against Republican Justice Mark "Blow-Dried" Martin. Call him Mark "Nonplussed" Martin.
First We Count the Votes and Then We Pray
Churches sending their member directories to the N.C. Republican Party are very likely endangering their tax exempt status with the I.R.S.
"Almost half the tax-exempt groups under examination [by the I.R.S.] are churches. Churches played a pivotal role in the 2004 elections, and the Republican Party, in particular, harnessed their influence to register, educate and deliver voters .... the North Carolina Republican Party made waves when its leader sent an e-mail request for church directories. Of the 47 complaints against churches under investigation, 37 were found to have merit." (NYTimes today)
"Almost half the tax-exempt groups under examination [by the I.R.S.] are churches. Churches played a pivotal role in the 2004 elections, and the Republican Party, in particular, harnessed their influence to register, educate and deliver voters .... the North Carolina Republican Party made waves when its leader sent an e-mail request for church directories. Of the 47 complaints against churches under investigation, 37 were found to have merit." (NYTimes today)
Friday, February 24, 2006
Watauga Sheriff Race Grows Smaller
Jim Furman the pharmacist says he won't be running after all for Watauga County Sheriff as an independent.
So much for THAT bizarre development.
So much for THAT bizarre development.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
What's Happened to Drudge?
Anyone know? Anyone care?
The DrudgeReport hasn't moved off the same dime in days.
And we sooo depend on him for the two-headed calf report.
The DrudgeReport hasn't moved off the same dime in days.
And we sooo depend on him for the two-headed calf report.
Jackalopes Are Running South Dakota
South Dakota lawmakers stuck their heads even further into precincts where the sun don't shine yesterday and passed the most far-reaching ban on abortion attempted by any state since 1973, deliberately and provocatively flying in the face of Roe v Wade. You see, these guys heard that El Presidente had put a couple of right-wing judges on the Supreme Court, so they felt called by the supreme god Opportunity to rush into passing a law banning nearly all abortions, including in cases of rape and incest. Can't for the life of me figger why, in fact, they would even leave in an exception for "life of the mother," since the lives of women generally count for so little in their state.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
"Conservative" Imposter
Interesting review of "IMPOSTOR: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy," by Republican conservative Bruce Bartlett, former executive director of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress who also worked in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and wrote the 1981 supply-side manifesto "Reaganomics."
Bartlett sees Mr. Bush as a "pretend conservative" -- "a partisan Republican, anxious to improve the fortunes of his party" but "perfectly willing to jettison conservative principles at a moment's notice to achieve that goal." Bartlett writes that the current White House is "obsessive about secrecy," argues that Mr. Bush has pursued "what could be described as a Nixonian agenda using Nixon's methods" and declares that when it comes to the federal budget, "Clinton was much better." Mr. Bush, Bartlett contends, has set the country on "an unsustainable fiscal course," resulting in a ballooning deficit that will inevitably lead to tax increases.
As Mr. Bartlett sees it, "the 2002 collapse of Enron" -- the giant energy trading company, which "borrowed heavily, paid little in taxes, and made big profits in ways that were known to be contrary to sound business practices" -- "may in some ways be a metaphor for the Bush Administration's economic policy."
Bartlett's critique extends well beyond the economic sphere. He argues that "Bush has driven away and even humiliated the few intellectuals in his midst, preferring instead the company of overrated political hacks whose main skills seem to be an ability to say yes to whatever he says and to ignore the obvious." And he declares that the president's "unwillingness to properly utilize the traditional policy development process" lies "at the heart of the failure of his Social Security proposal and possibly the Iraq operation as well."
"One of the hallmarks of George W. Bush's approach to policy that is disturbing both to friends and foes alike," Mr. Bartlett writes, "is an apparent disdain for serious thought and research to develop his policy initiatives. Often they seem born from a kind of immaculate conception, with no mother or father to claim parentage."
Mr. Bartlett argues that the failure of "the administration to chart or articulate a consistent economic policy" stemmed, in large measure, from "Bush's disinterest in serious policy analysis" and his sidelining of people with genuine expertise. He writes that Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and his successor, John Snow, were treated as "little more than errand boys," and that the Council of Economic Advisers was accorded little influence as well. It became clear, Mr. Bartlett writes, that the main job of the Council's chairman, R. Glenn Hubbard, "was not to devise economic policies, but only to offer support for those Bush had already decided upon."
Bartlett sees Mr. Bush as a "pretend conservative" -- "a partisan Republican, anxious to improve the fortunes of his party" but "perfectly willing to jettison conservative principles at a moment's notice to achieve that goal." Bartlett writes that the current White House is "obsessive about secrecy," argues that Mr. Bush has pursued "what could be described as a Nixonian agenda using Nixon's methods" and declares that when it comes to the federal budget, "Clinton was much better." Mr. Bush, Bartlett contends, has set the country on "an unsustainable fiscal course," resulting in a ballooning deficit that will inevitably lead to tax increases.
As Mr. Bartlett sees it, "the 2002 collapse of Enron" -- the giant energy trading company, which "borrowed heavily, paid little in taxes, and made big profits in ways that were known to be contrary to sound business practices" -- "may in some ways be a metaphor for the Bush Administration's economic policy."
Bartlett's critique extends well beyond the economic sphere. He argues that "Bush has driven away and even humiliated the few intellectuals in his midst, preferring instead the company of overrated political hacks whose main skills seem to be an ability to say yes to whatever he says and to ignore the obvious." And he declares that the president's "unwillingness to properly utilize the traditional policy development process" lies "at the heart of the failure of his Social Security proposal and possibly the Iraq operation as well."
"One of the hallmarks of George W. Bush's approach to policy that is disturbing both to friends and foes alike," Mr. Bartlett writes, "is an apparent disdain for serious thought and research to develop his policy initiatives. Often they seem born from a kind of immaculate conception, with no mother or father to claim parentage."
Mr. Bartlett argues that the failure of "the administration to chart or articulate a consistent economic policy" stemmed, in large measure, from "Bush's disinterest in serious policy analysis" and his sidelining of people with genuine expertise. He writes that Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and his successor, John Snow, were treated as "little more than errand boys," and that the Council of Economic Advisers was accorded little influence as well. It became clear, Mr. Bartlett writes, that the main job of the Council's chairman, R. Glenn Hubbard, "was not to devise economic policies, but only to offer support for those Bush had already decided upon."
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