The North Carolina League of Conservation Voters has announced that they are taking back the "Rising Star" award they gave Rep. Suzie Hamilton just a couple of weeks ago. Last night she cast the deciding vote that overrode the Governor's veto of the awful fracking bill. She apparently thought tax credits for the film industry is more important than the future of the environment in North Carolina.

As Dan Crawford, director of governmental relations for NCLCV, put it:

"Last night Captain America prevailed over clean drinking water and the property rights of North Carolinians. We found out that even this Green Tie Award winner has her price."

Unbelievable that still only one in five state legislators in the country are women. In North Carolina, our proportions could be even worse given that redistricting targeted our few incumbent women.

Carol Teal, executive director of Lillian's List, the NC counterpart of Emily's List, that works to get pro-choice Democratic women elected to the NC state legislature, told Talking Points Memo yesterday that

“Instead of getting mad, we’re gonna get elected.”

I'd say let's be mad as well as get them elected. Check out Lillian's List's 27 featured women candidates and make a contribution to make sure they are representing us in the next session.

Earlier this month two young women from Boone, NC were attacked by strangers apparently because they looked gay. I've signed the petition their friends have posted encouraging the legislature to include sexual orientation in our law against "ethnic intimidation."