Hefty Fine

Former Guv Easley has been fined $100,000 by the State Board of Elections.

PLUS ... the Board referred the matter to the state prosecutor "to investigate whether laws were broken."

Yes We Can't

A few days ago a large manila envelop arrived in the mail. In it, an 8 x 10 glossy photograph of the 44th President of the United States, a little keepsake just for us (and a few million other of his supporters, we guess), a small reminder that he still holds us in high esteem, a billet-doux with a clear subtext: "Do you still love me?"

How did he know? How did he guess that our affection has been going south ever since it became abundantly clear that his message during the campaign about actual, fundamental change to American corporate cronyism was pretty much political theater (and just as nourishing)?

Okay, okay, we know all that cobwebby stuff about pragmatism and compromise being the lifeblood of political progress, that no one ever actually gets immediately what would be right and just but must accept baby steps and half-measures ... like, say, the House Democratic health-reform bill trotted out yesterday by Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the party leadership as though it were The Tablets brought down from Sinai.

So far, we ain't buying it, keeping in mind that the severely watered-down House version of health reform is just the starting point for further watering down, as everything in the weeks ahead tips rightward toward the real bill that will eventually emerge as the so-called "victory" for Change in America: that is to say, a huge corporate give-away with a mythical "trigger" meant to rein in the corporations some day down the road, like maybe never.

I think I'm just not cut out for compromise. "Compromise is never anything but an ignoble truce between the duty of a man and the terror of a coward." Somebody said that. I don't know who. Whoever it was obviously knew some Democrats, probably Blue Dogs.

It dawned on a lot of us months ago that the 44th President of the United States made a deal with big insurance corporations and Big Pharma and gawd knows who else approximately 30 minutes after Rahm Emanuel installed his favorite coffee mug on his White House desk, a deal that this administration would NOT challenge corporate control of our government and the legislative process. They've been dodging around ever since, trying to get someone else, like Harry Reid in the Senate, to take the fall for failing to deliver real reform. The White House is the culprit. They have not negotiated in good faith, far as we can tell.

So, no, I ain't happy, and I haven't framed your picture yet.

Some Car Wrecks Are More Fatal Than Others

It had to be a cringe-inducing moment for members of the State Board of Elections yesterday, meeting this week to hear testimony and decide whether former Gov. Mike Easley flagrantly (or only innocently) violated campaign finance laws.

From Mark Binker's eye-witness account, as the former Guv settled into the witness chair yesterday for almost five hours of motor-mouth self-explanation, he said to the members of the Board who will decide his fate, "Before we go any further, I do want to say I appreciate the board serving. I know it's an inconvenience and I know it doesn't pay that well. But I do hope since I had the privilege of appointing some of you on to say thank you for the service."

Would that not make your toes curl if you'd been appointed to the state Board of Elections by this man? Would you not wonder whether he was really saying, "Lookee here, Bucko, I gave you this job, so you'd better do right by me"?

In other words, AWK-WARD.

Chris Fitzsimon has a thorough summary of the whole scene that's worth reading.

The ex-Guv's "tell" was his general demeanor ... the famously anti-social Easley was all Junior-League smiles and air-kisses, hand-shaking with everyone in the room, back-slapping, striking a wholly unconvincing pose of "nothing to see here, and butter will never melt in MY mouth."

Using Blue Cross's Dime

It didn't take long for North Carolina citizens to figure out what to do with those Blue Cross NC postage-paid & pre-printed messages to Sen. Hagan opposing health-care reform. If you got one of those little pieces of propaganda, you might want to take a lesson in what to do with it.

Would-Be Book-Burner Threatened with Fine for Polluting the Air

Update on Rev. Marc Grizzard of Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Bethel, N.C., and his announced plans to burn a whole bunch of Bibles that aren't King James versions and other literature similarly inspired by the devil, including tomes written by Christian mullahs like James Dobson, and so-called Christian music by the likes of Amy Grant et al.

Previously.

Today's development.

Jacumin Out in the NC Senate-44

Jim Jacumin (R) has been representing Caldwell & Burke counties in the NC Senate for three terms, but he's announced he won't be running again next year ... opening up a real opportunity for Democrat (and Caldwell County veternarian) Beth Jones, who has already built a campaign structure and offers a younger, more vigorous, and more forward-looking vision for our sister Senate district down the mountain. Check her out.

This Person Is on Medicare

Virginia Anne Foxx ... Medicare recipient.

Virginia Anne Foxx, who HATES "socialized medicine," is receiving socialized medicine.

Virginia Anne Foxx, who has HERS, will deny you YOURS.

Blue Cross Is SO Going to Hell

The North Carolina insurance monopoly of Blue Cross/Blue Shield NC, the company raking in the "nonprofit" profits to enable it to pay its CEO some $3.99 million -- MILLION -- in "nonprofit" salary -- that company is flooding the state of North Carolina with little postcards designed for postage-paid mailing to Sen. Kay Hagan, saying we're opposed to socialistic, communistic, zombie-istic health care reform that might eat into said "nonprofit" profits.

If you get such a card, be prepared for the robo-call followup, as testified about in an e-mail this a.m. from some Ashe Countians:

Have people in Watauga County been receiving the BCBS postcard to send to Kay Hagan? At our house it was followed up by a robo call the next day telling us how easy it would be just to sign the card and send it in. I called the Greensboro Hagan office and learned that hundreds of cards had already been received. It is discouraging to fight a gorilla with so much money.

So much money that is otherwise NOT going to the health care of their clients but rather to fight much needed reform of the sort of criminal immorality that Blue Cross NC so amply illustrates.

The Gang That Can't Shoot Straight

That's Republican Senate Leader Phil Berger with a wheelbarrow load full of "voter surveys" which he later delivered to Gov. Perdue's office to show just how displeased North Carolinians are with Democratic rule in the state.

Two small problems with that load o' survey crap:

1. The questions were asked only of "conservative Republicans," and the questions were just a smidge prejudicial. Sample: "Do you think death panels made up of government bureaucrats should decide if your loved ones live or die?" Wait! Let me think about that.

2. Phil Berger himself did not know what was in those envelopes, because apparently neither he nor his minions had bothered to open them and read the contents. Well, the governor's office did open them and found a few surprises. By late yesterday, an aide to the governor had opened about a third of the 3,000 "surveys" and found (among other things) a check made to Phil Berger for $50 (unclaimed and uncashed) and a few comments suggesting that all of those "conservative Republicans" are not all that happy with the North Carolina Republican Party. Such as ... "I am embarrassed to be associated with this organization. Your tactics are disgusting and you're going to lose a generation of voters" and "Stop wording questions so geared up to get the answers you want and start wording them to actually find out the people's opinion, not just confirm your own. There are probably only three questions on here that are legitimate" and "Not sending you any more money."

After "Under the Dome" spilled these latter beans, a self-identified Republican posted a rueful comment, comparing the NCGOP to Wile E. Coyote and the Democrats to the Roadrunner:

We just cannot seem to catch up with the Dems. We're comfortable being bumbling idiots. Nothing ever works out for us politically. We would be in a mess if we had not been born rich.