Carolina Politics Online

I”m hanging out in Wilmington today and tomorrow. See y’all on the waves!

Alright!  We made the top five on a list.  Woohoo!  South Carolina has the fifth highest percentage of fat asses throughout the land with more than 30% of our state’s residence breaking the bathroom scale.  That fact didn’t surprise me at all.  I only have to walk outside to see everyone stomping and waddling around like a herd of bloated hippos.  It’s even more frightening in Wal-Mart.

The south pretty much dominated the fat list and the reason isn’t too hard to figure out. Southern food is not particularly healthy. If we can fry it, we’ll eat it. I also think the heat and humidity plays a role down here and makes everyone a little more lazy than they may be somewhere else.

Nude is natural, you know.  Give the guy a break.  Sometimes you just have to let it all hang out.

After a male passenger removed his clothes mid-flight, a US Airways flight from Charlotte to Los Angeles was diverted to Albuquerque, N.M.

Dan Jiron, a spokesman for the Albuquerque airport, says 50-year-old Keith Wright of New York disrobed Tuesday while sitting in his seat in the back of the aircraft.

Jiron says Wright was unresponsive when a flight attendant asked him repeatedly to get dressed and refused to be covered with a blanket.

Jiron says law enforcement employees who were passengers on the plane helped subdue and handcuff Wright before the flight landed.

Charlotte Observer

I’m guessing they had to subdue him while he was in the buff.  That must have been awkward…….

This past week, Kevin LeCount of the SEANC sent out another Marxist memo to his herd of cattle instructing them to call up their state representatives and demand they rob the wealthiest residents of North Carolina of their hard earned labor.  The purpose, he says, is to stave the furloughing of state employees, those who do not produce any wealth for the state, but rather feed off of it.  He states that “now is not the time to furlough and lay off state employees” yet it is perfectly acceptable to rape and pillage the productive instead.

Here is the problem with this view.  The top wage earners in North Carolina and every other state for that fact are the ones that own the businesses and employee all the people and provide us the goods and services we want.  It is also they who pay for all of the “free” hand outs that go to the irresponsible and the non-productive.  They are already being taxed more in North Carolina than any other state in the south.  This soak the rich, class warfare view, has only one end result.  It will push those people and their businesses out of the state.  Why live in North Carolina and pay the highest taxes in the south when you can move across the state line and pay less in South Carolina and Virginia, or go to Tennessee which has no income tax at all?  It’s the exact same concept experienced in urban flight.  The middle and upper classes leave the urban areas run by tax hiking governments to more tax friendly rural areas.

Mr. LeCount would have North Carolina turn into Michigan.  Michigan has the worst economy in the nation.  It has been completely obliterated in large part due to the parasitic UAW which has played a major role in destroying the American auto industry leaving tens of thousands of people unemployed not just in Michigan, but other places as well.

Let me tell you a quick story about Michigan. My parents live there.  My father was transferred there for his job four years ago.  My grandfather recently passed away and my parents had to rent a U-haul truck to take some of the furniture from his home that they wanted to keep back to their house.  They went to a small mom and pop place near their home that offered U-haul service, however the lady running the place had no trucks and hadn’t had any in months.  The reason?  Everyone in Michigan is getting a one way rental out of there.  They’re leaving the state in droves.  Since nobody is moving to the state they aren’t receiving any trucks.  They are only leaving.  My parents finally found one at an actual U-haul branch some miles away.  I also work with a guy who moved here to Charlotte three years ago from the Detroit area.  When they moved they had to drive 100 miles to pick up a truck because none of the U-haul places in the Detroit area had any available to rent out.

Is this the future you want for North Carolina?  If the answer is yes, then by all means, follow LeCount’s advice.  Here is the email.

June 25, 2009

Upcoming News & Events

SEANC Calendar of Events

Compete in the Membership Committee’s Button Contest

Let’s All Make A Call: Raise Income Tax on NC’s Wealthiest and Help Stop Furloughs and Layoffs!

SEANC
PO Drawer 27727
Raleigh, NC 27611
800-222-2758
919-833-6436

Dear SEANC member,

Right now the House and Senate are debating the differences between their two budget proposals for our state–the House bill contains a small tax on North Carolina’s wealthiest citizens while the Senate bill does not. That means we have a few days to stress the importance of the essential public services we provide and fight for the jobs that North Carolina needs.

Our message is simple to our senators. With the demand on state services rising, now is not the time to furlough and lay off state employees. We urge all senators to support a tax on North Carolina’s wealthiest to keep vital services for our citizens.

Now is the time to call our senators and request their support for a small income tax increase on North Carolina’s wealthiest citizens. To date, the Senate leadership has refused to consider raising revenue from the richest citizens (or asking cost concessions from Blue Cross and Blue Shield), but had no problem asking each state employee for an additional $600 in out-of-pocket health care expenses.

We’ve all heard about the painful cuts that the budget shortfall will require and more revenue is needed at this critical time to help stop further salary cuts and layoffs.

Let’s call our senators today to request that all senators support the House tax proposal on North Carolina’s wealthiest to keep vital services for our citizens.

Thank you,
Kevin LeCount
Director of Member Action & Politics

I received an email from someone with a tip about an alleged Democrat challenger to Henry Brown in next year’s election.  The information I received was regarding a Robert A Dobbs, a resident of Wisconsin who I am told has purchased a business in South Carolina’s First Congressional District and will be residing there with his family.  I am told he is of the “Blue Dog” persuasion of the Democrat Party, a name for a coalition of Democrats in the House that are more conservative and centrist.  I looked him up in the FEC and sure enough he does appear as a registered candidate.  I also received his resume which notes that he once served as a City Councilman for the town of Two Rivers, Wisconsin.

Now interestingly enough, I did a little more digging myself and came across some archived election information on a Robert A Dobbs in Two Rivers, WI, who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2000 as a Republican, not a Democrat, and also made a donation of $215 to the Republican Party of Wisconsin back in 1999.  This would appear to be the same guy, unless he has a politically active father with the same name who is a Republican.

Not a big deal I guess, but I just found that somewhat interesting.  We’ll see if this gentleman eventually surfaces and officially kicks off a House campaign against Brown.  Assuming he ends up being the nominee for his party, being a Blue Dog Dem will probably help him peel some voters away from Brown who may not care for him.  On the other hand, I am skeptical as to how well he will appeal to voters in the district being that he is an outsider just recently moving here.

S. Sen. Jim DeMint could gain a high-profile challenger later this summer.

State Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, said he is looking at entering the race and plans to make a decision by Labor Day.

“A lot of people have asked me about that, and I have responded to them that I would consider that,” he said. “I’ve been in the process of talking to people about that, but I haven’t made any decisions yet.”

Hutto, a 51-year-old lawyer, was elected to the District 40 Senate seat in 1996.

The Post and Courier

I don’t know that I consider Hutto to be a “high profile challenger”, but I imagine he is as close the Democrats will get to having one.  I don’t think DeMint is going to be in any real danger next year, although a lot of people said that about Elizabeth Dole and she was handed an upset loss by a State Senator so who knows.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, already struggling to salvage his family and his political career after admission of a scandalous affair, added explosive details Tuesday, including more visits with the mistress he calls his “soul mate” and additional women in his past.

The once-promising presidential prospect said he is committed to reconciling with his wife, but professed to The Associated Press his continued love for the Argentine woman at the center of the firestorm that gutted his political future.

In emotional interviews with the AP over two days, he said he would die “knowing that I had met my soul mate.”

The State

Yes, well, telling the whole world that his wife is not his soul mate will most certainly send her running back to him with open arms as he tries to reconcile their marriage.  Good grief.  He also states that he has crossed the line with some other women during their 20 years of marriage.  This just gets better each day.  I’m telling you, I am waiting for the love child.  This just screams John Edwards all over again.

It will be at the Halifax Mall (same place as the June 3rd Tea Party) from 1pm-5pm.

More info at www.ncteapartyrevolution.com.

If you’re like me -and let’s face it, who doesn’t want to be?- one important question has been at the forefront of your mind for a few months.

What’s Les Merritt been up to?

Well, N.C.’s government watchdog, who was shown the door last November by a bunch of clueless, straight-ticket voting dopes, is back doing what he does best-

The Foundation for Ethics in Public Service, Inc. seeks to bring a new level of transparency, accountability and integrity to all levels of American government. The Foundation will accomplish its mission by receiving and independently investigating allegations of corruption in government, providing reports of corruption to investigative journalists, and pro-actively educating government leaders and the general public on the true nature of ethics in government as well as the causes and remedies of public corruption.

The Foundation for Ethics in Public Service

Good luck, Les! You’ll need it.

COLUMBIA — Gov. Mark Sanford said legislators and friends encouraged him to stay on the job, in part, to not set the state back and to not interfere with the 2010 governor’s race.

Sanford, who is limited to two terms, would be replaced by Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer if he resigned. Both men are Republicans.

Bauer told CNN that he would be willing to assume the position on the agreement that he wouldn’t run for a full term after serving Sanford’s remaining 18 months. Bauer said that would help to take political angling out of the picture.

But Sanford said he is no longer considering resigning. Leaving office would be the easy thing to do, he said. Resigning was his initial reaction.

“If the good Lord’s going to make changes in your life, you’ve gotta stick around for the process,” he said.

The Post and Courier

Whatever, but the taxpayer money he used to pay for the trip might result in him being forced out of office by the legislature.  Even if he does pay it back like he said he would, would he have done that had he not been caught?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Aaron Groen

June 26, 2009
202-225-2071

Foxx votes against national energy tax

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (NC-05) today voted against H.R. 2454, a bill that would essentially create a national energy tax through a “cap and trade” scheme. Some estimates found that the total tax impact of this legislation will amount to $2,979 per year for a family of four.

“As we struggle to make our way out of a recession, I could not vote for the creation of a new national energy tax,” Foxx said. “North Carolina families and businesses can’t afford the financial strain of high energy costs in this bill. We should be working to ensure taxpayers are less burdened by taxes and red tape-not more.”

Under H.R. 2454, electricity costs are estimated to rise by 90 percent. According to the Heritage Foundation, employment will be lower by 1,105,000 jobs per year as a result of this national energy tax. The bill will have an especially negative effect on energy-intensive sectors like manufacturing-which employs one out of six people in North Carolina’s 5th Congressional District. H.R. 2454 will also reduce the United States’ economic output by $9.6 trillion.

“Tens of thousands of people in North Carolina who work in manufacturing are at risk of losing their jobs due to the burdens placed on employers by this bill,” Foxx said. “Many employers will be forced out of business or out of the country because of high energy prices and the new regulations in this legislation.”

The legislation will be particularly damaging to rural areas and farming communities. Because rural households spend 58 percent more on fuel than urban residents as a percentage of their income, high energy prices cause disproportionate harm to rural families. The Heritage Foundation also estimates that farm income will drop by $50 billion by 2035 if H.R. 2454 becomes law.

###

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 26, 2009
Contact: Brock McCleary
(202) 225-2576

McHenry Statement on Vote Against Cap and Trade

WASHINGTON – Congressman Patrick McHenry (NC-10) released the following statement regarding his vote against H.R. 2454, the cap-and-trade bill.

“For this Congress to cut jobs and raise energy costs on working families at a time like this truly boggles the mind. The economy is shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs every month and families are struggling to pay their bills. So I fail to see the wisdom in eliminating 88,000 jobs in North Carolina alone, raising energy prices by $1,400 annually on every household, and hiking gasoline prices by 77 cents per gallon. For what? So we can possibly lower the earth’s temperature by two-tenths of a degree by the end of the century. Any serious climate change initiative must include binding commitments from China and India to reduce carbon emissions. In the absence of that, we are asking the American people to bear enormous sacrifices at a time when they can least afford it – for two-tenths of a degree by 2100.”

(sources: Heritage Foundation, Congressional Budget Office, American Petroleum Institute)

NOTES:
Groups opposing the legislation include the National Association of Manufacturers, National Textile Association, and American Farm Bureau Federation.

“Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.” – President Barack Obama

“Nobody in this country realizes that cap-and-trade is a tax, and it’s a great big one.” – Congressman John Dingell (D-MI)

###

At 4 a.m. this morning, Amazon shut off its Associates Program in North Carolina. In an email to its partners, Amazon said it closed the program due to a “tax collection scheme” passed by the state’s legislature.

Through the the affiliates program, Web publishers can earn money from Amazon linking to it’s products and taking a slice of any resulting sales. North Carolina passed a bill to tax this transaction yesterday.

The Business Insider

There you go, the affects of over taxation front and center.  If this new budget with these massive tax hikes goes into affect the legislature and the governor will be taking the prosperity of this state and doing a complete 180.  This is just the very beginning of the closing of business for North Carolina compliments of Bev Perdue and the Democrats who control the state legislature.  They are now the least competitive state in the southeast, but I live in South Carolina, so I guess that’s good news for me.  That just means more growth for us.

The Business Insider also published the email received from Amazon announcing their pullout from North Carolina.  You can read it at their site.

Uh-oh.  This is going to put the Bible thumpers in a tizzy.

South Carolina Rep. Bob Inglis made a name for himself in the late 1990s as one of Bill Clinton’s most zealous pursuers, an impeachment “manager” who attacked the moral failings of the president with a gusto that earned him a devoted following in the staunchly conservative “Upstate” of conservative South Carolina.

But with his governor now felled by similar temptations, Inglis sees an opening for the Republican Party, a chance to “lose the stinking rot of self-righteousness” and “to understand we are all in need of some grace.”

The Wall Street Journal

I don’t disagree with Inglis’s comment.  The Republican Party throughout the Bush years allowed social conservatism to define them.  They threw fiscal responsibility right out the window, which makes it all the more amusing to watch them preach about it as Obamination spends us into oblivion.   Instead they railed and hollared about morality and that is why they get slammed so hard by the media when one of them don’t live up to the moral pedestal they have put themselves on.  Sure, there is a leftward bias in the mainstream media.  I don’t deny that, but Republicans have branded their party as the party of traditional family values so when they screw up, like Mark Sanford and Diaper Dave Vitter and Mark Foley, etc they get thrown into the frying pan.

The GOP should put the social cons on the backburner for now and get back to their fiscally conservative roots if they are to win over the trust of the American people to put them back in control of Congress.  That’s not to say that social conservatives can’t have a home within the Republican Party, but they can’t have 90% of the seats at the table anymore.  That shift is what drove away people like me who used to support Republican candidates that truly believed in the idea of personal freedom, responsibility, and limited government, not the ones who falsely preach morality and then try to use their power in government to force it down our throats.  I think that is what Inglis is getting at.

UPDATE-

I need to check my mailbox more often. It turns out Bill Randall emailed me on Wednesday about his congressional run. Here’s what he has to say:

Good day to you.  This is Bill Randall.

I intend to run for the U.S. Congressional seat in the 13th District
(…currently held by Democrat Brad Miller).  I have discussed the matter with my County Chairman (Claude Pope, Wake), and this has also been communicated up-the-chain to my NCGOP 13th District Chairman (David Robinson) and the NCGOP State Chairman (Tom Fetzer).  For the record, my campaign will be launched “officially” on July 1, 2009.

The race for this pivotal U.S. Congressional seat will be challenging, and will
require that we are all pulling in the same direction.  The vital importance of your support, along with the other counties in the 13th District, CANNOT BE OVERSTATED.

For your information, I have been invited as one of the speakers at the
Independence Day (Family) “Tea Party” at Halifax Mall in downtown Raleigh (1:00 -5:00 PM).  Website:  www.ncteapartyrevolution.com

Feel free to call or e-mail me anytime. Your thoughts and input are key to a
Conservative Republican “comeback” in 2010, as well as in our winning key
municipality races in 2009. 

Thank you for your stalwart work behind-the-scenes in your counties.  I look forward to seeing (and hearing from) you once again in the near future.

Sincerely,

William (”Bill”) Randall
bill@pray4ncgop.com

/UPDATE

Wasn’t it just two weeks ago that I hoped aloud that Bill Randall would continue to be active in politics?

Bill Randall, an unsuccessful candidate for state GOP chairman, plans to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Miller of Raleigh next year.

Randall, 42, a retired Navy meteorologist from Wake Forest, plans to announce his candidacy July 1, reports Rob Christensen.

“I believe the current representative is out of touch,” Randall said. “With his voting record he does not represent the average constituent in the district along with the so-called stimulus plan.”

The N&O

Brad Miller is one of the 219 assholes who today voted for the biggest tax hike in American history. Godspeed, Mr. Randall.

Caution: Shameless self-adulation ahead.

Today I’m patting myself on the back in hopes that the warm fuzzy feeling it gives me will replace the gaping hole in my wallet.

I’ve said for some time now that we have a responsibility to stand up to the socialists-with-values and the RINO’s that feign conservative principles to get elected only to vote like Democrats. I understand about all that “Big Tent” stuff, but the greatest theoretical physicist in the word cannot hypothesize the dimensional applications of a tent large enough to house both myself and the three Republican U.S. Senators who voted for the Scamulus Package, or the 8 Republican House members who voted for Cap-and-Fraud. Impossible. Neither in this universe nor a in theoretical nega-universe fused with anti-matter could myself and one of these clowns share a philosophical plank. I believe in smaller government and more freedom; they do not.

Enter Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida. Chuck and his perpetual tan were elected as “Republicans” in 2006. These days, however,  they get higher approval ratings from Democrats than from Republicans in Florida. That’s because he’s spent the last three years taking a leak on the conservatives who elected him. His crowning moment came when he stood next to Barack Obama and supported the Scamulus Bill. I’m not sure what he thinks about the Federal Cap & Fraud Bill, but I’m betting he supports it; he enacted something similar in Florida.

Now Charlie and his tan are running for the U.S. Senate, and standing in his way is Marco Rubio, a true conservative and one of the rising stars of the party. When Rubio was speaker of the state house, he’d send small government reforms up to Crist only to see Crist water them down or reject them outright. Marco Rubio needs to be elected to the U.S. Senate from Florida, not just for the sake of the Republican Party, but for the country.

So that’s why I told Charlie to “kiss off”. No, not to his face- although I wish I had the chance. Longtime readers of this blog have heard me mention a few times that I’m a campaign consultant. Well, I was offered a chance to work for Mr. Tan Man. It would have been good money, too. Turned them down flat without even flinching.

Yeah, I know that I’m just one loser consultant who will be easily replaced by another loser consultant. But people like you and I, people who see the inevitable consequences of electing and re-electing the Crists, the Specters, the Richard Stevens, the Fletcher Hartsells and the like- we need to take a stand and retake our party from these clowns. When they and their enablers come calling, we need to tell them “no”. Even at the cost of temporary sacrifice, we must stand on principle. As long as they can call themselves Republican, that word is meaningless.

We finally rid ourselves of that parasite Arlen Specter. I’ll have no part in replacing him with a younger, spray-on tan version. Charlie Crist can keep his 30 pieces of silver while I try to hook up with the Rubio campaign.

Civitas finds another, ahem… crappy bill-

While it does not appear that this bill will go anywhere, (I will try and resist any and all jokes about this one) House Bill 1122, NC Colon Hydrotherapy Licensure, by Rep. Verla Insko (D-Orange) illustrates the problem with licensure bills. While this may be a therapeutic procedure some people desire, is it necessary to put the North Carolina official seal of approval on it by licensing colon hydrotherapists?

So called “professional licensing” serves several political interests; it restricts competition and raises prices, increases revenue to government through fees, fines and other new costs, expands government by increasing bureaucracy and extends the regulatory arm of government.

Personally, I just serve myself a good heapin’ of Colon Blow every morning.

North Carolina lawmakers are pushing through a hefty increase in the tax credit for movie makers even though a study commissioned by the state film office says the state would lose money on the deal for at least two years.

The N&O

There’s more, but that one sentence really just says it all, doesn’t it?

Dead Republican Walking

I really am curious how our favorite RINOs Richard Stevens and Fletcher Hartsell would have voted had they been present.

By a vote of 219 to 212, the House narrowly passed the Cap and Trade bill that will cost us millions of jobs and devastate the American economy even more as it starts going into affect. Just ask Spain how well it went for them?

This still has to pass the U.S. Senate of course and that is nowhere near certain. They need 60 ayes just to be able to vote for it and I imagine there will be Democrat defectors there just as there were in the House.

Those who voted to raise your energy bills by about $1500 a year to “save the planet” are as follows:

• G.K. Butterfield (D-NC-01)
• Bob Etheridge (D-NC-02)
• David Price (D-NC-04)
• Heath Shuler (D-NC-11)
• Mel Watt (D-NC-12)
• Brad Miller (D-NC-13)
• Jack Spratt (D-SC-05)
• Jim Clyburn (D-SC-06)

Those who voted to protect your liberty, labor, and livelihood were:

• Walter Jones (R-NC-03)
• Virginia Foxx (R-NC-05)
• Howard Coble (R-NC-06)
• Mike McIntyre (D-NC-07)
• Larry Kissell (D-NC-08)
• Sue Myrick (R-NC-09)
• Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10)
• Henry Brown (R-SC-01)
• Joe Wilson (R-SC-02)
• Gresham Barrett (R-SC-03)
• Bob Inglis (R-SC-04)