Actually, this merits a double face palm.

“If Osama bin Laden ran in this district as a Republican, he would get 38 to 40 percent of the vote in any election year,” says Wayne Wingate, Spratt’s communications director, as he walks alongside the congressman at the festival. “This is a very Republican district. So you’ve got that plus this tea party angst against any incumbent in the world right now.”

Columbia Free Times

So that is the opinion that Congressman Spratt and his staffers apparently have of about roughly 300,000 of their constituents.  They think so lowly of the people they are “representing” that they think we would actually cast our votes for Osama bin Laden, a man who orchestrated the deaths of over 3,000 Americans nine years ago, rather than reelect Jack Spratt.

If I were Bubba I’d be shopping for a new communications director pretty damn quick because for a race that’s down to the wire like this one, he can’t afford to have an insidious douche like Wayne Wingate out and about flapping his yap for him.

Is this the same Wayne Wingate who used to own Durango Bagel?

ROCK HILL — York County Republicans are calling on local Democrats to cancel plans for a barbecue dinner and campaign rally on Sept. 11, saying the timing is inappropriate.

The day should be reserved for remembering terror attack victims and troops who died in Iraq and Afghanistan, GOP Chairman Glenn McCall said Tuesday.

“September 11 is not a day for partisan political rallies,” McCall said. “It’s a time for us to look beyond what divides us and come together to remember those who lost their lives.”

The Herald

You know, I’m just not buying into the “outrage” here.

“If Republicans aren’t capable of campaigning or holding a political rally on 9-11 that allows their candidates to reach out to the voters while at the same time being respectful towards that date’s meaning in our history, that’s their problem,” McCrae said. “We, as Democrats, are more than capable of doing so.”

And I completely agree with McCrae.  I don’t know why we’re even still having a reading of the names ceremony in New York.  It’s been nine years people.  Move on, already!  How long is September 11th supposed to be off limits?  What is the statute of limitations on feigned outrage over 9-11 political activities?  Is Pearl Harbor Day off limits too?  What about D Day?  Would it be wrong to have a political gathering on the day the first shot was fired in the War of 1812?

This is nothing more than a petty pot shot.  Nobody is outraged and nobody cares except the Republican political class trying to squeeze some PR points out of a weightless issue.

Rep. Joe Wilson acknowledged Tuesday that he’s under investigation by the House ethics committee for his use of travel funds while on at least one congressional trip to Afghanistan.

Wilson, a South Carolina Republican in a tough re-election fight with Democrat Rob Miller, said the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct — the official name of the ethics panel — is looking into his purchase of six goblets for $12 while in Afghanistan in August 2009.

“As a member of the House Armed Services Committee visiting troops in Afghanistan, Wilson was provided $13 a day for travel expenses,” said Pepper Pennington, his congressional spokeswoman.

“Wilson purchased six small tokens of his appreciation — under $2 each — for Afghanistan (war) veterans and their families,” Pennington said.

McClatchy

Oh, puh-leeeeze.  12 stinking dollars?  When I first saw the title of this very biased “Pravda” article “‘You lie’ Rep. Joe Wilson probed for use of travel expenses” I thought I was actually going to read about real abuses of travel expenses, like $100,000 flights for him and 60 of his friends and stays at 5 star resort hotels, because we all know that never happens…..

Do you know what this is?  This is the Ethics panel opening up an investigation over $12 as vengeance against him for shouting “You lie!” during the state of the union address earlier this year.  They want to try to damage his reputation right before the election to help Miller’s Congressional run against him.  And why else would McClatchy even take time writing an article on it unless they were going to point out the absurdity of the whole thing?  Those people really do deserve to be labeled state run media.   What a pathetic waste of time and resources.

Miller, a former Marine Corps captain who served in Iraq, has called Wilson’s trips to Afghanistan junkets

Naturally, because everyone knows that Afghanistan is on the top of everyone’s list of vacation hot spots to throw away money on luxurious junkets.

“I wasn’t impressed at all,” said Campbell, 29, of Sharon, shaking his head from side to side. “Nice fella, sure, but I sure don’t want him representing me. He didn’t know what he was talking about.”

Since his upset win in June’s Democratic primary over a heavily favored political insider, Greene’s candidacy has stunned and shocked York County, South Carolina and the nation.

The Democratic Party big shots have tried to get him to drop out of the race. But Greene is nothing if not persistent. He does not quit.

He showed courage Monday night.

“He sure seems like a decent young man, but what happened here tonight is just not right,” said Dick Bankhead, a thoughtful 66-year-old political independent from Sharon. “He didn’t know what he was doing up there. The Democrats better save him – from himself. Somebody needs to spend time with him.

“Nobody should have to be a laughingstock.”

Greene answered questions, in fits and starts. But he didn’t say specifically how he would do anything, pay for anything – or, really, why he would do anything – except to put America back to work.

Greene “put on a tutorial on how not to present yourself as a candidate,” said Frank Duncan, 63, from York, by not answering a single question with “coherence” – except by saying that marriage should be between a man and a woman.

Other than that, Duncan said, “he didn’t answer a single thing. He doesn’t have a clue. We got a bunch of dingbats up there in Washington, but at least they can speak a complete sentence.

“This was embarrassing. A farce.”

Jeremy Johnson of York, 45, asked Greene why he chose his first foray into politics as a Senate candidate rather than trying something on a local level in his hometown of Manning. Greene’s answer: “I can have the largest impact in a recession. I can do more.”

Still, Greene didn’t say a single specific thing he would “do more” of, or what he would do for “impact.”

But Johnson said Greene tried, and that was good enough for him.

“Even though he doesn’t have the polish, he did pretty good,” Johnson said.

Most in this curious crowd found Greene to be just what they expected – a candidate left hanging out to dry by his political party, trudging through answers like a mailman through heavy snow.

Greene delivered the mail all right; but it was mostly bills and junk mail.

A listener named Don Davidson said Greene won’t be good for the state, but everybody deserves a right to speak.

And speak Greene did, in mostly quiet monotone, for about 45 minutes, saying almost nothing specific at all.

“It’s a change, I will give him that,” said Don Johnson of Hickory Grove. “He tried up there, that’s for sure. I gotta give him that.

“But to elect this guy would be to go from bad to worse.”

Jenny Duncan, daughter of Frank Duncan from Sharon, listened to the whole forum. She was patient and gave Greene the benefit of the doubt.

But afterward she wondered, “How did this guy ever get this far?”

I have never before said I was embarrassed to be from South Carolina, but I might just say that now.”

Charlotte Observer

Yeah, that’s what you want to aim for when running to be a national representative for your state.  Leave everyone with a feeling of embarrassment and shame to be sharing the state with you.  I guess that’s why Bubba Gump can’t break 20% in the polls.

One thing is clear, regardless of whether we have Governor Haley or Governor Sheheen next year, South Carolinians can rest assured that their Second Amendment rights will be safe from assault (by the state government, anyway).  Nikki Haley has secured the endorsement of Gun Owners of America which is not surprising.  Republicans tend to fare better with firearm groups than Democrats do, but that’s not to say that Vincent Sheheen is a slouch on the issue.  Sheheen also has a pretty strong record of defending the right to bear arms.

“Few things are as clearly defined as the right of individual Americans to own and use firearms,” Haley said in a statement accompanying her Gun Owners of America endorsement.

“I hold a concealed weapons permit myself, and as governor, I will continue to fight against any government infringement on the Second Amendment,” she said.

Sheheen said that he owns a gun, leads the S.C. Sportsmen’s Caucus and has ties to the National Rifle Association.

“I have repeatedly worked with the NRA to protect the gun ownership rights of South Carolinians,” Sheheen said in a statement. “There is no candidate that is a stronger supporter of Second Amendment rights and as governor, I will make sure the rights of citizens to own guns are never infringed.”

Neither candidate highlighted a specific threat to the public’s right to own firearms.

The August Chronicle

Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley called for term limits on S.C. legislators Thursday as she released a plan that she said would make government more open, accountable and streamlined.

Haley has pushed many of the issues, which include requiring lawmakers to disclose their income and take more on-the-record votes, since she entered the governor’s race last year.

“From day one, our administration will demand accountability and reform across state government,” Haley said.

Haley’s plan would limit lawmakers to no more than eight years in the S.C. House or S.C. Senate, or a total of 12 years service in the General Assembly.

The State

There are a handful of states out there that have term limits imposed on their state legislators. Additionally, most states have limits on how many terms one can serve as governor.

I’ve always been a little iffy about term limits.  We the people are supposed to be the mechanism for term limits.  The idea was that it would be up to us to drain the swamp of politicians who get too powerful or too cozy with the power they hold that they start ignoring their Constitutional duties.  The problem is we aren’t doing the job.

We always hear in the news about a Congressman or member of a state government being referred to as a powerful politician,  Senator So and So, the powerful chairman of the Appropriations Committee.  Well, there aren’t supposed to be powerful politicians and that’s where the problems come from.  Whether it be Washington D.C., Columbia, or Raleigh, one doesn’t become a powerful politicians without selling out their constituency in one form or another.  We live in an age where lawmakers are scratching each others backs for seedy favors and then using our own tax dollars to “bring home the bacon” and buy us off for their reelection.  Term limits would go a long way in aiding to resolve that issue.

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr on Saturday urged Charlotte-area Republicans to “mobilize an army” to change the direction of the country from Washington “to the courthouse.”

“We have a tremendous opportunity in 2010 not just at the federal level to have a change in direction but in the state … all the way down to the courthouse,” he told more than 200 people at a GOP rally in east Charlotte.

Charlotte Observer

It’s difficult for me to take Richard Burr seriously when he calls for change in Washington.  Granted the deficits we are now seeing dwarf any of Bush’s deficits, but in Bush’s day the deficits he ran up were historical at the time as well.  Where was the call from Richard Burr to control spending when his own party controlled the purse strings?  It’s funny how politicians suddenly have a change of heart about the issues when the opposition is in control.

Republican congressional candidate Harold Johnson today dismissed a poll done for his rival, Democratic Rep. Larry Kissell, calling it “a desperate move.”

The internal campaign poll, by the Democratic firm Anzalone Liszt Research, showed Kissell with a 17-point lead over Johnson and a wider spread over Libertarian Thomas Hill in the 8th District.

Kissell highlighted the poll in a fundraising letter last week.

“I’m putting no stock in it,” Johnson said today at a GOP rally in east Charlotte. “You can’t convince me that with the sentiment in this country … he’s got a 17-point lead.

Charlotte Observer

I don’t discount that Kissell may be leading Johnson, but Johnson is right.  There’s not a chance in hell it’s by 17 points, not in a Republican leaning district in a Republican leaning year.  This was an internal Democratic poll, so it’s not to be taken with more than a grain of salt anyway.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina is saying that he will not be voting for his party’s nominee for U.S. Senate because the candidate has been indicted on a felony charge.

Clyburn said Wednesday that a vote for fellow Democrat Alvin Greene would be an insult to his three daughters and granddaughter. Greene is accused of showing pornographic images to a female University of South Carolina student

AP

Take immigration, for example. S.C. lawmakers have proposed an anti-illegal-immigration bill modeled after a new Arizona law, which national Democrats have roundly criticized. Sheheen said a South Carolina law approved in 2008 is a better law because it sets tougher standards for verifying employee residency and provides local law enforcement the ability to enforce immigration law.

“Ours is frankly tougher,” Sheheen said. “We need to fully implement the law that we passed and that’s not been done.”

The State

I honestly have no idea how our law stacks up against Arizona, but Sheheen is definitely correct about it not being funded nor enforced.  The Republicans passed this two years ago and Governor Sanford signed it and here we are with little of it being enacted.  What’s the point of passing legislation to crackdown on illegal immigration in the state if the legislature isn’t going to allocate funds to carry it out?  Was the state assembly seriously trying to address the issue or was it just window dressing to garner fervor with the voters?

Sheheen was less definitive about his position on the health care reform law, saying he supported parts of the law that prevented insurers from eliminating coverage for those who get sick or denying it to those who have previously had major illnesses. Sheheen also supported extending coverage to dependents until the age of 25.

While on the surface that may sound like a great thing, it’s those two provisions that have already begun driving up health insurance costs for everybody else.  And the extended coverage for “children” up to age 26 is bull.  If you’re dependent on your parents at 26 years old then you’re a total loser.  A 26 year old is not a kid and should be well adapted to taking care of himself.

But independent analysts have said the law will likely increase health care costs, and the S.C. Department of Health and Human Services estimates state costs would increase by $914 million by 2020 — a 4.4 percent increase over what the state would have spent if the new law were not approved.

“I’m seriously concerned about those. I think it’s the governor’s job to voice those concerns to federal officials,” Sheheen said, adding it was unclear to him how the law would affect the growth of Medicaid, the tax-funded health insurance program for low-income residents and the disabled.

“Time will tell how we handle these” questions, he said.

Yeah well, right now we can’t afford it.  Sooner or later Sheheen is going to have to be more clear about where he stands on ObamaCare, more so, where does he stand on the unconstitutional mandate?  This is going to be a huge issue in this fall’s election all across the country and skepticism as to where Sheheen comes down on this issue will hurt his chances.

On abortion, Sheheen, a Roman Catholic, said his position is clear.

“I have always supported life and my voting record has supported that,” he said.

So we know that both he and Haley oppose abortion.  That matters why?  Until Roe v Wade gets overturned, if it ever does, there is nothing Vincent Sheheen nor Nikki Haley can do to stop people from getting abortions in South Carolina so why is this even an issue in this election?

Republican state legislator Nikki Haley now earns 52% of the vote in her bid to be the next governor of South Carolina. Democratic State Senator Vincent Sheheen picks up 36% of the vote in the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state.

Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, while 10% are not sure.

Rasmussen Reports

Reeves said it’s hypocritical to have Thurmond’s name on the building when the late senator fathered a child with a 16-year-old household servant, particularly when many Democrats have urged Alvin Greene of Manning to abandon his U.S. Senate bid. Greene faces a felony charge for showing pornography to a college student.

The Post and Courier

This is why third party candidates so often at times don’t get taken seriously and people feel like voting for them is a “wasted” vote.  True, Strom Thurmond holds an ugly place in American history, but who really gives a damn about this?  Is anybody going to the voting booth in November concerned about Strom Thurmond’s name being on a Federal building?  Maybe two people, one being Morgan Bruce Reeves.

Reeves should be talking about the economy and what his plan is to lower our double digit unemployment rate and to improve education around the state.  Those are the things people really care about right now.  Then again, I have seen Reeves’ economic plan and for his sake, it’s probably better that he keeps it low profile.

North Carolina’s big win Tuesday in the federal “Race to the Top” competition will bring up to $400 million to the state and an era of new approaches to public education.

The state’s education community cheered the announcement by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan that North Carolina was among 10 winners in the latest round of coveted grants to spur classroom innovation. The others were the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island.

In its proposal seeking the $400 million over four years, North Carolina aimed to raise student test scores, boost high school graduation rates and better prepare students for careers and college work.

The News and Observer

Congratulations to North Carolina for seeing educational improvements.  There is certainly nothing wrong with that.  What I don’t understand however, is if the state is so successful in improving education, what the heck do they need another $400 million in Federal tax dollars thrown in their direction for?  Obviously, they have demonstrated they can realize improvements in educational performance without suckling even more cash from the government tit.

The State of North Carolina spends an average of $122,478 per student from the time they enter Kindergarten until they graduate from high school.  You break that down over 13 years and it’s a cost of $9,422 per student per year.  That’s a lot of money.  Are you telling me that $9400 isn’t more than adequate to properly educate someone’s child for nine months out of the year?

The three main components are: money to recruit and retain quality teachers and administrators; a turnaround plan for low-performing schools, and handheld devices that would allow teachers to continuously track students’ progress.

The average high school teacher in Mecklenburg County earns a salary of $74,654 a year which includes the cost of benefits.  That’s pretty nice for a job that gives you most of the summer off.  How much more money is needed to retain quality teachers?

When I was a kid my teachers taught us with a textbook, a chalk board, a Xerox machine, and an occasional VHS cassette.  Hell, going all the way back to my grammar school days we didn’t even have VHS players available.  I remember watching film strips and some of my teachers running off assignment worksheets on ditto machines, the fumes of which could supposedly make them high.  Now, I am not opposed to investing in modern technology like computers and Internet, but do teachers honestly need to have a “hand-held device” to monitor performance?  Excess is fine when you can afford it, but a nation with a national debt over $13 trillion can’t afford anything.

And then of course this brings me back to the old Constitutional argument I have brought up many times noting that the Federal government is not Constitutionally permitted to even be involved in education.  Nowhere in the document does it grant them that authority.  Therefore, all of these education mandates like No Child Left Behind and all of these grant dollars shouldn’t even be allowed to happen in the first place.

ASHEVILLE — The State Board of Elections fined the campaign of Gov. Bev Perdue $30,000 Tuesday for its failure to report as donations 42 flights on private aircraft during her 2008 run for governor.

The board, made up of three Democrats and two Republicans appointed by Perdue, voted along party lines to kill a push by the GOP to hold public hearings in which the governor’s staffers would be questioned under oath about the flights.

The board’s three Democrats also voted against a motion from Republican board member Chuck Winfrey to impose a $75,000 fine. Winfrey then joined with the three Democrats to impose the smaller sanction, making the final vote 4-1.

The News & Observer

I really don’t see this issue being that big of a deal.  Plus, a $30,000 fine for a campaign which probably has  a war chest of millions isn’t really that big of a punishment either , so really, what was the point in all of this?

Hundreds of Mecklenburg workers whose paychecks depend on federal stimulus money could be out of a job next month, county officials and employers say.

Local companies have hired 415 temporary employees this year through a government program that pays workers’ wages. But the program is set to expire Sept. 30 unless the U.S. Senate votes to extend it.

While some of the new workers have been offered permanent jobs, others will rejoin the ranks of the unemployed once funding runs out.

Charlotte Observer

I thought we needed to pass the porkulus bill last year so that we could get below 8% unemployment.  I thought this was going to be the summer of recovery.  You mean the trillions in borrowed Chinese money the Federal government  spent in order to save the economy didn’t work?  Gee, nobody saw that coming.

It seems the Republicans couldn’t manage an economy right.  The Democrats have demonstrated that they too are abject failures.  What’s a voter to do in November?  Oh that’s right, keep voting for the same two parties like always.  That will fix everything, while China meanwhile becomes the new world superpower.

The state’s largest health insurer plans to hit some members with sharp rate increases again next year, blaming changes from the health overhaul and rising medical costs.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina asked state regulators Thursday for permission to increase rates an average of 6.97 percent for its 300,000 individual members in the state. That’s the lowest proposed annual increase since 2007. About 28,000 people would see their rates decrease, including women in their early 20s.

But rates for some children, men and older members will increase 30 percent or more.

The News & Observer

Confused?  Are you asking yourself how this could happen?  I mean, we passed the health care bill.  It was absolutely dire we pass the health care “reform” bill to lower the cost of health insurance in this country, right?  Sure, if you were stupid enough to buy up that crap hook, line, and sinker.

It’s partly because of increasing medical costs and more people using expensive services, but also because the new federal health law is forcing changes such as eliminating annual or lifetime limits on coverage, expanding dependent care for children until age 26 and more, McDonnell said.

“With everything that’s been added, you can’t really expect costs to go down,” he said.

Get outta town!  You mean when we force insurance companies to cover people’s pre-existing conditions and do away with caps and make them cover their 26 year old “children” it’s going to cost the rest of us more, not less?  Like, real math at play here?

The rising rates will likely force more people in North Carolina to cut back on coverage or go without, said Adam Linker, a policy analyst with the N.C. Justice Center’s Health Access Coalition. And some of the additional “safety net” measures of the federal law won’t start until 2014, he added.

Ah, but you can’t go without!  That’ll be illegal!  Remember that whole individual mandate?  If you don’t purchase health insurance coverage the IRS will come knocking at your door.

Folks, the promises made by President Obama and his minions at the Kremlin was nothing but a ruse.  They knew this was going to happen.  They know you can’t throw 30 million people into the system and spend less money.  All of this was orchestrated.  The far left in this country has wanted a single payer universal health care system just like Europe for years and that is exactly the idea.  In passing ObamaCare, the Democrats have created a bureaucratic monster that will make health care so much more painful than it has been that they’re banking on the American people just throwing up their hands and crying to the government to fix “the fix.”  That fix will be single payer.  The government created the problem and they will use a socialist government solution to fix it.

The DNC and this administration knows that ObamaCare will not lower health care costs and that is why they are telling their members who are fighting for their reelections to no longer talk about the cost aspect of the health care bill, but instead use sympathetic, tear jerker stories of Tiny Tim who now, thanks to ObamaCare, can kick away that crutch and walk again.

The presentation’s final page of “Don’ts” counsels against claiming “the law will reduce costs and deficit.”

The presentation advises, instead, sales pitches that play on personal narratives and promises to change the legislation.

“People can be moved from initial skepticism and support for repeal of the law to favorable feelings and resisting repeal,” it says. “Use personal stories — coupled with clear, simple descriptions of how the law benefits people at the individual level — to convey critical benefits of reform.”

The presentation also counsels against the kind of grand claims of change that accompanied the legislation’s passage.

“Keep claims small and credible; don’t overpromise or ‘spin’ what the law delivers,” it says, suggesting supporters say, “The law is not perfect, but it does good things and helps many people. Now we’ll work [to] improve it.”

Politico

A majority of the country still opposes this bill so we have only two roads left to which we can turn.  One, we can rely on the Republicans to take over Congress and then the presidency by 2013 and repeal this disaster, but will they have the testicular fortitude to actually go through with it?  It’s hard to say.  Typically, they’re nothing but a bunch of gutless wonders.  The only other hope is that the Supreme Court strikes it down.  It should be struck down on Constitutional grounds, but their idea of what is and isn’t Constitutional these days is always a craps shoot.  Even if they find the mandate to be unconstitutional, which I think is the most likely result of these lawsuits, it doesn’t mean that the whole legislation will be voided.

Senator Kay Hagan, the lone Democratic Senator of the Carolinas voted for this train wreck, so be sure to call her office and let her know how you feel about it.  You can find the information here.

McCrory says he’ll be making a decision on a possible run for governor sometime next year.

Pat McCrory was in Raleigh today trying to raise money to help Renee Ellmers defeat “I have you by the neck” Bob Etheridge- Democrat NC-2.

I have to say that early voting here in NC is critical and that every voter of any political leaning who wants some real change here in NC and nationally had better get to the polls.  Two more years of Obama and or Perdue will be a disaster PERIOD!