Category Archives: North Carolina

Koch Groups End Successful Integration Program In NC

If anyone still thinks the Tea Party Movement is really a grassroots effort, read this…

It’s all about providing cover for Big money Conservatives trying to influence politics and society to roll back the clock to a whiter, less diverse world…

We have to interact with as broad a range of people as possible if we are ever to truly understand each other, identify and build on our commonalities and lose the fear of those who may be different from us.  Of course, that’s not what these guys want….

And there is also the importance of  building an education system that allows everyone a chance to learn and succeed- not just the white and the wealthy…

From ThinkProgress.org…

Today in the Washington Post, reporter Stephanie McCrummen detailed how a right-wing campaign in the Wake County area of North Carolina has taken over the school board with a pledge to end a very successful socio-economic integration plan. The integration plan, which created thriving schools in poor African-American parts of the school district along with achieving diversity in schools located in wealthy white enclaves, was a model for the nation. However, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the Tea Party group founded and funded by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, worked with local right-wing financier (and AFP board member) Art Pope to fundamentally change Wake County’s school board:

More:   ThinkProgress » Fulfilling Father’s Campaign To Segregate Public Schools, Koch Groups End Successful Integration Program In NC.

Leave a comment

Filed under Education, North Carolina, Politics, Race, The South

Virginia Foxx: Tucson Shooter’s Beliefs ‘The Liberal Of Liberals’

The always tactful GOP Rep Virginia Foxx is at it again…

How does this woman keep getting re-elected?  She’s the craziest Congressperson in Washington, since Virgil Goode lost his seat a couple of years ago.

And that’s saying a lot…

From TalkingPointsMemo:

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) says political rhetoric doesn’t really incite violent behavior at all — but not before describing Arizona shooting suspect Jared Loughner as a “communist” and “the liberal of liberals.”

“This guy appears to be a communist,” Foxx told the Winston-Salem Journal. “His beliefs are the liberal of the liberals [sic]. There is no evidence whatsoever that this man was influenced by Sarah Palin or anybody in the Republican Party. This man is not a conservative; he’s a fan of communism – that’s the opposite of conservatism.”

In ascribing affirmative political views to Loughner, Foxx is going farther than her colleagues. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), by contrast, only claimed Loughner doesn’t appear to be a Tea Party member.

“I don’t think members of Congress incite that kind of rhetoric,” Foxx added. “I don’t think the things we say incite that kind of behavior. And I don’t know that the things other people say incite it. I just think we have deranged individuals in this country and occasionally they do bad things.”

via GOP Rep: Loughner’s Beliefs ‘The Liberal Of Liberals’ | TPMDC.

Leave a comment

Filed under North Carolina, Politics, The South

Deep Roots Market Proposes Downtown Grocery Store | digtriad.com | Triad, NC | Local News

This is great news from the News & Record.

I always want to support Deep Roots more, but they don’t ever have everything I need.  Hopefully this will enable them to carry more local produce and fresh, safe meats.  I love the idea of a cafe.

And this will be very convenient for us.  Good news all around!

Deep Roots Market announced it has signed a contingency lease agreement with North Eugene Partners, LLC to build a downtown area grocery store.

The builder will construct a 10,500 square foot building on the 600 block of N. Eugene Street, between Smith St. and Fisher Ave.

Final lease signing and construction will be depend on certain conditions being met in the next few months. If the project goes forward as scheduled, construction will begin in March and the store will open in October.

Downtown residents have long hoped for a grocery store within easy driving and walking distance.

The proposed store, on the northern perimeter of downtown, will be easily accessible to downtown residents and workers, but will also be connected by major roads to all parts of Greensboro. It will be located along the proposed path of the Downtown Greenway.

Deep Roots has been in business since 1976 and focuses on local, natural, and organic products. By expanding to this larger store, Deep Roots will be able to add a deli and café, clean-raised fresh meats, and a beer and wine section, as well as expanding other selections of the store. The new store will also offer a community room which will be available for classes, meetings, and other uses.

Deep Roots Market is owned by over 1,700 households in the Greensboro area. For more information about Deep Roots Market visit http://www.deeprootsmarket.com.

via Deep Roots Market Proposes Downtown Grocery Store | digtriad.com | Triad, NC | Local News.

Leave a comment

Filed under Food, Greensboro, North Carolina, The Environment, Virginia

Rielle Hunter, John Edwards Wedding Planned: Report‎

Gag me…

This just caps a day of insanity…

John Edwards has “reportedly” asked mistress Rielle Hunter to marry him, according to tabloid magazine The National Enquirer.

The Hollywood Gossip has a screenshot of the latest issue of the Enquirer, the publication that broke the original story about Edwards’s liaison with Hunter, his campaign videographer, and predicts that the two might tie the knot this summer, if at all.

While the Enquirer gained some credibility for its coverage of the Edwards affair, it is worth noting that they posted nearly the exact same story regarding an Edwards-Hunter nuptial and a “luxury $3.5 million beachfront home” last year, a report that was later denied.

John Edwards’s wife, Elizabeth Edwards, passed away last month after a battle with cancer. In her will, she left her possessions to her three children, while leaving out her estranged husband entirely.

via Rielle Hunter, John Edwards Wedding Planned: Report‎.

Leave a comment

Filed under North Carolina, Politics

NC GOPer Rips Sen. Burr For ‘Endorsing Immorality’ With DADT Vote | TPMDC

I still can’t believe Senator Burr voted to end DADT as it’s really out of character for him…I figured he just didn’t know what he was voting on.

I also figured the NC GOP, which is seriously crazy, would go ballistic over Burr’s vote.

I love the part about Military recruits being “preyed on” by homosexuals…

North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr’s vote to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ isn’t sitting well with some fellow Republicans back in his home state, even as one prominent local Democrat plans to thank him in writing.

The Charlotte Observer reports that county commissioner Bill James has vowed not to support Burr in future elections.

“I think there are a lot of things that people of all political stripes tolerate from their politicians,” James said. “But endorsing immorality and allowing military recruits to be preyed on by homosexuals is not one that I will tolerate.”

via NC GOPer Rips Sen. Burr For ‘Endorsing Immorality’ With DADT Vote | TPMDC.

Leave a comment

Filed under Gay, North Carolina, Politics, The South

Daily Kos: Kay Hagan betrays key constituency

I was afraid of this….

I supported Kay Hagan and contributed to her campaign.  It doesn’t look like I’ll be doing so again next time.  I will probably vote for her, but that’s it.

These Democrats need to learn they are not Republican-Lites and that is not why we vote for them…

Republicans excel in driving excitement in their Base. Democrats seem to live to disappoint and beat down their Base in order to look more Republican.

Fools….

From DailyKos:

Sen. Kay Hagan is already running for reelection in North Carolina for what she clearly sees as a tough hold in 2016. She will be a freshman senator running for reelection for the first time — the most vulnerable point for any elected official. If the economy and political climate haven’t improved by then — and there’s no guarantee that they will — Hagan’s road to reelection will be a tough slog. And she won’t have Obama’s coattails among African Americans to pad her numbers.

Without that black vote, she’s got a much more difficult path to reelection. She lost the white male vote 67-32, and didn’t fare much better with white women, 62-38. Given that the white vote was 72 percent of the total, and that she lost it 64-35 (with a significant chunk of that 35 percent being young voters), it doesn’t take a math whiz to figure out who delivered the knockout blow. It was brown voters.

Per the exit polls, African Americans were 23 percent of the vote, and Hagan won them 95-5. The four percent who were Latino and Asian were too small for statistically valid data, so their results are not included, but their pro-hagan margins were similar.

Four percent of the 4.1 million votes cast in the race is 165,000 votes. Hagan’s margin of victory in 2008 was about 360,000. So sure, Hagan could’ve won without that vote, but there are more Latinos in North Carolina now than four years ago — growth that will be a big factor in North Carolina gaining a House seat during reapportionment. And Hagan won’t have the benefit of running against absentee celebrity senator Elizabeth Dole again, in the best pro-Democratic climate since forever.

When your winning coalition includes ethnic and racial minorities and young voters, and you face the voters in a non-presidential year that would bring out those low-performing groups, you have two approaches you can take — you can try to win more of that white vote, even though no Democrat has managed to pull it off in a southern state, or you can tap into the growth demographics and make sure they stay highly motivated and engaged.

North Carolina’s rapidly growing Latino population will be a big factor in the state’s expected gain of an extra House seat during reapportionment. They, along with a growing Asian community, could potentially be a key component of her reelection coalition.

via Daily Kos: Kay Hagan betrays key constituency.

Leave a comment

Filed under Greensboro, History, North Carolina, Politics

Elizabeth Edwards: The link between who we are and who we could be | National | Independent Weekly

Great tribute from the Independent Weekly:

The day after she died, someone posted a newspaper article about Elizabeth Edwards on a progressive political blog and added this one-sentence introduction: “When all is said and done, she was one of us.”

Whatever “us” he had in mind, it seemed a perfect epitaph.

Was he thinking that she was a passionate advocate—and blogger—for social and economic justice? She was.

Was he thinking she was authentically, even brilliantly representative of the generation of Americans born after World War II? She was that, too.

Or he may have been thinking that the indomitable spirit with which she endured tragedy and continued to seek purpose in her life made her human in the fullest sense of the word. Because she was, millions of Americans—especially, but not exclusively, women—loved Elizabeth Edwards and mourned her passing last week.

It’s easy to see that Elizabeth and her husband, John Edwards, reached for the political heavens, and they came to grief. The Greeks would understand. But if this was hubris, surely it was more the gods’ fault than hers, or even his. After the death of their son, in a nation and world yearning for uplift, was it arrogant to think they were called to serve their country? Say instead that it was audacious and that Elizabeth’s efforts were, as the Edwards’ longtime friend Glenn Bergenfield said at her memorial service, never fueled by ego but rather by duty—and a sense that it was time someone of her generation tried for greatness.

 

MORE:   Elizabeth Edwards: The link between who we are and who we could be | National | Independent Weekly.

Leave a comment

Filed under Health Care, History, North Carolina, Politics, Social Commentary, Style

“The Eight Reindeer Monologues”

If you are looking for some great, irreverent Holiday fun, I strongly suggest “The Eight Reindeer Monologues”, a play by Jeff Goode, at The Broach Theatre here in Greensboro, NC.

I don’t want to give away too much information, but let’s just say Santa may be guilty of sex crimes, Mrs Claus has a bit of a drinking problem and the reindeer have much more distinctive personalities than you may have suspected.

Excellent performances from all four actors-Jordan Hayes, Camilla Millican and especially stellar work from Lee Strickland and Tal Fish.

Go see it…It runs through December 18th.  More information at www.broachtheatre.org.

You’ll never think of Santa and Rudolph the same way again..

Leave a comment

Filed under Entertainment, Gay, Greensboro, Holidays, North Carolina, Social Commentary, Style

Elizabeth Edwards ‘A Lighthouse to All of Us,’ Says Daughter Cate at Funeral

Sounds like a fine farewell to a great lady….

RALEIGH, N.C. – Elizabeth Edwards was remembered as a loving mother and loyal friend in a memorial service that acknowledged the turmoil she confronted with “grace and strength,” in the words of her daughter, Cate Edwards. Politicians with headline names joined the public in saying goodbye Saturday at Edenton Street United Methodist Church in this city she called home years before she became a national figure and symbol.

On Tuesday, Elizabeth Edwards, 61, died of cancer. On a gray, rainy Saturday, lifelong friends and family gathered to mourn and remember Edwards’ intelligence, sense of humor and uncompromising attitude. Following her mother’s draped casket into the church, Cate, 28, held hands in a line with her 10-year-old brother, Jack, their father, John Edwards, and sister, Emma Claire, 12.

In her tribute, Cate called her mother “feisty and smart as a whip.” She never held that against people, said Cate, “unless she was right and they were wrong.” She said her mother was a “consistent source of wisdom,” about everything from wearing solid colors to never marrying the first boy you date. (“You would never buy the first pair of shoes you try on.”)

“She’s been a lighthouse to all of us, a point of guidance when we all feel lost,” Cate said of her mother. “Even in her last days, she was comforting us.” She quoted from the letter to her children Elizabeth Edwards had long been working on: “All I ever really needed was you,” it said, “your love, your presence, to make my life complete.”

via Elizabeth Edwards ‘A Lighthouse to All of Us,’ Says Daughter Cate at Funeral.

Leave a comment

Filed under History, North Carolina, Politics, The South

Elizabeth Edwards, Rest in Peace

Great Tribute from a reporter, Melinda Henneberger, who traveled with Elizabeth on the campaigns.

 

The most disarming, beloved and beleaguered woman in the American political arena died of cancer Tuesday, at age 61, at the Chapel Hill estate that Mary Elizabeth Anania Edwards once told me she’d built in part to compensate for the succession of modest homes she’d lived in as a Navy brat.

“From years of living in military housing, I like a big room,” the wife of then-presidential hopeful John Edwards said in an interview in front of her hotel lobby-sized Christmas tree three years ago. Because some of the bedrooms she’d had as a kid were so dinky you couldn’t fit the bed in and still close the door, “my dream was to turn in circles if you wanted to.” The 28,000-square-foot result was just one of the ambitions Elizabeth willed to life, brick by brick, along with a few heartfelt myths and the clear understanding that she did not want to be remembered as anybody’s cuckold, or some modern-day female Job.

Before their 16-year-old son Wade’s Jeep was blown off the road in a freak storm in 1996, John and Elizabeth “had the storybook life and the storybook marriage,” his former law partner David Kirby told me as Edwards was preparing for his second presidential run. But like most pre-Disney fairy tales, it also included some dark and confusing turns in the woods. On the campaign trail, Edwards’ favorite fallback phrase was “It’s not complicated!” — but the years they lived in public certainly were. For most of us, her story really only began on the worst day of her life, when the state troopers came to the door to say Wade had been killed and she promised herself that if her husband ever had to hear bad news again, it wouldn’t be from her. I’ve often wondered if any of what followed — his political career, the birth of their two younger children, her breast cancer, which was advanced even when she discovered an egg-sized lump six years ago, and his affair with Rielle Hunter, who bore him a daughter — would ever have happened if Wade had stopped for a Coke instead of being where he was, when he was.

Link to complete Article:  Elizabeth Edwards, Rest in Peace.

1 Comment

Filed under History, North Carolina, Politics, Social Commentary