Thin Ice?

Rob Christensen has an essay in today's N&O in which he characterizes "insurgent Democrats" in N.C. as "mad as hell," which in his locution does appear to mean "off their rockers": "North Carolina Democrats have survived under Jim Hunt and Mike Easley as a moderate, pro-business party. I think some of the Insurgents don't realize that their party in North Carolina is skating on some exceedingly thin ice."

Shoot! You don't survive as a Democrat in the South without hearing the ice crack. You certainly don't survive as a Democrat in a majority-Republican county in the South without going under the floe a time or two.

But there's "pro-business" and then there's "pro-business." The pro-business mentality that gets our goat intends to make poor people "adjust" to their poverty, intends to make working people work longer, harder, for less money, intends to "wean" Americans off Social Security, intends to run everything for their own benefit and would like to put an end to those buzzing flies of democratic governance that make their form of business a tad more accountable.

We're all whores for something, I reckon. (They used to say in West Texas that Ticky Sue would do it for a button.) If "insurgent" Democrats in N.C. are peeved, it might be from seeing our own Ticky Sues climb into bed with every big-gutted asphalt company and corporate pig farmer. Those guys didn't get where they are today by being overly solicitous of "little people."

There's "pro-business" that likes economies of scale rather than scope, that nurtures entrepreneurship and brilliant innovation, that actually gets turned on by creativity and is embarrassed by blatant displays of greed. Doing what the big bankers always want you to do is "pro-business," we guess, by one definition, but corporations are an artificial lifeform that mimicks us in everything but feeling.

So, ridiculously burdened by the lead weight of differing assumptions, we set out across the lake.

Run as a Democrat, Tax Like a Republican

According to the N&O, the Guv's proposal to tax candy, movie tickets, newspapers (all our major vices), etc. is the first step in a national conspiracy to tax goods sold over the Internet. (The Internet is a miracle of democracy; the stupid decision by state governments to try to tax its commerce will only create a huge new class of scofflaws.) Meanwhile, the Guv's proposal to lighten the tax burden on the richest North Carolinians, while shifting it to sugar- and tobacco-addicted wage-slaves, just begs for comment from the new head of the state's Democratic Party.

And, indeed, reporters apparently appeared on Jerry Meek's doorstep about 30 minutes about the Guv laid his stinking sinker on the state legislature ... and Jerry Meek didn't answer the doorbell. Yesterday in the N&O, Meek "said through a spokesman that he didn't yet have comments on Easley's plan to raise taxes on cigarettes, candy, movie tickets, phone bills and more to settle the state budget, while also offering an income tax break for the wealthiest in the state."

Meek's in a difficult position, and everyone's watching to see what he does. He just beat (and humiliated) the Guv in winning the state chairmanship. The Guv has shown no particular interest in establishing rapport with the Party. If Meek is in fact a D-E-M-O-C-R-A-T and not of the Guv's persuasion (whatever the hell it IS), he'll be honest about the Guv's budget proposal, which means he's got a couple of chillier years to get through where he has no influence with the Top Dog he's criticized in public.

But what influence would he have if he kissed the Guv's rump?

Might as well be honest, if the outcome is going to be identical to being a great big ass-kisser.

Gene Wilson Wants to Make Mischief with Boone City Elections

If you can't beat 'em, rope in some no-zoners to vote 'em out.

Introduced into the N.C. House last Wednesday is a bill co-sponsored by our own Rep. Gene Wilson ... "ETJ Residents Vote for Council" ... which would mandate allowing residents in municipal "extra-territorial jurisdictions" to vote in municipal elections.

That would mean that residents who don't pay municipal taxes would get to vote to spend city tax-payers' money. But more to the motive: this bill would mean that residents who live under the zoning jurisdictions of those cities, but who hate zoning with a purple passion usually reserved for homosexuals and young women who have sex out of wedlock, would presumably get to vote in city elections for people with similar philosophical aversions to any controls on growth.

In the case of Boone, the residents in the ETJ would be sufficient to sway any election (and we'll try to get exact numbers soon). The no-zoners have not been able to win a majority on the Boone Town Council in a couple of election cycles now, so we see this as Rep. Gene Wilson's attempt to give 'em a leg up (like a dog against a hydrant) by means of state-wide legislation.

This hair-raising legislation has been referred to the House Committee on Election Law & Campaign Finance Reform. You can read the text of the bill here. Below are the e-mail addresses for all the Democratic members of the committee. We urge you to write 'em about this dangerous law:

Tim Moore, Chairman ... Timm@ncleg.net
Deborah Ross, Chairman ... Deborahr@ncleg.net
Paul Luebke, Vice Chairman ... Paull@ncleg.net
Mickey Michaux ... Mickeym@ncleg.net
Walt Church ... Waltc@ncleg.net
Mary Price Harrison ... Priceyh@ncleg.net
Hugh Holliman ... Hughh@ncleg.net
Edd Nye ... Eddn@ncleg.net

What's the Matter with Kansas?

It's like we went to sleep one night and woke up to a police state in Kansas, a foretaste of things to come (see the last post down-column).

Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline (and, yes, that's how he spells his first name ... one 'l' ain't enough!) is pursuing jihad against abortion in Kansas. He was against abortion when he served in the Kansas state legislature and helped write a very restrictive late-term abortion law (which doesn't quite ban it outright, an oversight he's clearly trying to correct). Kline has been Kansas Attorney General for two years, and he's been busy during that time sniffing out female sexual activity. Last year he made an attempt to require the state's health workers to report any sexual activity of girls younger than 16, but a judge blocked the order. Just so you know where he's coming from, he argued last year that Roe v. Wade should be overturned in an brief in the federal cases on abortions after the first trimester. No doubt about it ... he's a Republican mullah who intends to BREAK women of what he considers an annoying habit.

Now he's on a huge fishing expedition, and he's doing it under cover of investigating rape. He is demanding the complete medical files of scores of women and girls who had late-term abortions, claiming that he is looking for evidence of statutory rape of underage girls. He's gotten a state judge to sign a subpoena directed at two clinics, one run by a doctor who has been a major target of anti-choice activists for years (and who contributed hugely to Kline's opponent in the race for Attorney General). The subpoena is demanding "complete" records, which would include personal details like marital status, race, employment history, and emergency contacts. Lawyers for the clinics asked, "How can a woman's method of birth control or prior history of abortions or use of drugs and medications be relevant?"

The NYTimes says, "It is unclear exactly how the records could lead prosecutors to rape suspects, although the clinics say the files often include information about how patients became pregnant, among other 'intimate details of their lives' like sexual history, birth control practices, drug use, psychological profiles, information about fetal anomalies and communications with law enforcement."

If there's one thing that turns Phill Kline on, it's "intimate details" of women's lives. God help those women, if the courts don't.

Liberty Under the Mullahs

The attorney general of Kansas has gotten a court order to go snooping into the personal lives of some 90 women who received late-term abortions. "Under the order signed by a judge, the attorney general would get records that would include each patient's name, medical history, details of her sex life, birth control practices and psychological profile."

Balancing N.C.'s Budget on the Backs of the Poor

As promised, the Guv delivered his budget proposal to the legislature yesterday. He proposes reducing taxes on the state's richest while socking it to the poor in steep increases to the cigarette tax (which he proposes upping this year from 5 cents a pack to 40 cents a pack), along with taxes on other "vices," like candy, liquor, movies, newspapers, and live entertainment, such as circuses and other shows. Easley's plan would also increase to 7 percent the sales tax on phone bills and cable and satellite service.

When in trouble, tax consumers, eh, Guv?

"Why would we cut the income tax for people who live well and who don't have to worry about health care and make those who can't afford it pay more?" asked state Sen. Ellie Kinnaird.

It's so bad that the N&O felt obliged to remind readers ... "Easley [is] a Democrat." He's registered that way, at any rate.

'Nuff Said?

From this a.m.'s NYTimes: "Concluding a yearlong study on the effectiveness of President Bush's sweeping education law, No Child Left Behind, a bipartisan panel of lawmakers drawn from many states yesterday pronounced it a flawed, convoluted and unconstitutional education reform initiative that had usurped state and local control of public schools."

Flawed. Convoluted. And unconstitutional.

Does it get any worse than that?

A New Tax We Can All Get Behind

A state senator in Montana has introduced a bill that would impose a gross proceeds tax on "big box stores" like Wal-Mart. The tax, however, would only kick in if these stores did not pay their employees an entry level wage of at least $22,000 a year, counting both pay and benefits. The tax would only apply to a store if its annual gross receipts went over $20 million.

The logic is that Wal-Mart actually creates welfare dependency wherever it goes, because it pays its workers so little. The Montana bill would force the retailer to pay for the mess it creates.

Election Poker

The all Republican N.C. Supreme Court throws out over 11,000 provisional ballots in the November election.

The Democrats in the N.C. State Senate see that and raise the bet. Yesterday the state Senate voted 29-21 along partisan lines to make those 11,000 provisional ballots count.

"It is important to declare what was done was properly done," Sen. Dan Clodfelter, a Charlotte Democrat and the bill's main sponsor, said of the state's voting procedures. "The people whose ballots are in question here did nothing wrong. They acted in accordance with the instructions they were given."

The bill now goes to the state House, where a thin Democratic majority also (theoretically) prevails.

The low hum you hear from the east is the yowling of Raleigh Republicans, screaming that the Dems are trying to "steal" the election. Excuse me? This all started with a Supreme Court willing to disfranchise thousands of legitimate voters in an effort to make Bill Fletcher the new state Superintendent of Public Instruction. As always, the Republicans would much prefer the Dems to just sit still and take it.