Sunday, February 3, 2008 - 2:55pm

Some here might be shocked to find that the 15,000 Baptists who convened in Atlanta this past week were each admitted to the meeting and invited to join the discussion without being asked once to show their voter registration cards or take a litmus test on any issues. As I entered the hall last Thursday for the luncheon, which coincidentally featured prominent Baptists President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Al Gore, no one challenged me as to how I could be a Baptist Deacon and a Democratic Candidate for US Congress. Nor did the Democrats and progressives who happened to take the stage try to convert the Republicans in the audience to their persuasion. Politics were actually forbade and the teachings of Jesus were front and center. What happened next was truly miraculous in our current political environment.

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Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 12:07pm

Dick Cheney is in my district having a private meeting with the Board of Directors of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. I hope he's here to do something good like bring back some of our jobs he has sent overseas, but I doubt it is that happy of an occasion. You know today is actually an important day that I doubt he is taking the trouble to celebrate. History tells us that President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act of 1935 on August 14, but I'm of the opinion that is not the birth of our commitment to our seniors.

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It was actually today's date, January 31, 1940, that our commitment was fully realized in the form of Check #00-000-001 to Ms. Ida May Fuller of Vermont in the amount of $22.54 - bringing life to law, and politics to people, which is what it should all be about.

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Monday, January 21, 2008 - 10:36am

This Time/CNN story got me thinking.

There's a lot to feel down about this month: the subprime mortgage crisis, stormy, unpredictable weather, rising gas prices, presidential primary free-for-alls. So, it would be easy to believe the theory set forth by Dr. Cliff Arnall, a researcher from Cardiff University, that the third Monday of the month (Jan. 21, this year) — a day he calls Blue Monday — will be our most depressing day of the year. Arnall bases his yearly prediction on a formula he developed, which factors in the weather, consumer debt from holiday spending and failed New Year's resolutions and arrives at that conclusion that we'll hit rock bottom on Monday the 21st.

From a Democratic perspective, if this is rock bottom, imagine the view from the cheap seats in the Grand Old Party. I wholeheartedly disagree with the good Doctor's theory of today being the most depressing day of the year, and in fact draw hope from it.

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Friday, December 7, 2007 - 11:36am

As those of you reading my recent campaign blogs, newsletters or Kick-Off press may have noticed, I’ve been asking folks for something a bit unusual for a congressional candidate this Holiday season – that being Belief in yourself and your fellow man.

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Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 11:43am

This 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month, I'd like to take a moment to thank our brave troops for their sacrifice, and remind everyone why we celebrate the solemn occasion of Veterans Day. Celebrated as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I in 1918 falls on this day, proving to all, including this Administration, that wars do end.

But Veterans Day is intended to celebrate more than that. We must honor all our veterans for their service, including those who served and returned to us safely, for having done their duty. And we must not forget them.

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Sunday, October 7, 2007 - 3:01pm

I worked in textiles 27 years. Now I don't. I teach school, praying my own kids and students can have some semblance of the life I and my parents enjoyed right here in some of the most beautiful country God ever created.

My opponent, multi-millionaire and mill owner Robin Hayes, still maintains his decisive flip-flop on CAFTA will make one of the poorest Districts in the nation and some of THE most unemployed counties in North Carolina, somehow better.

As the FREE people of Costa Rica go to the polls today to reject or ratify Hayes' singular shining contribution to American working families... Let's visit.

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Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - 4:33pm

As most of you know by now, Ambassador Joseph Wilson will be headlining an event for my campaign in Charlotte this Saturday. I hope to see you all there.

What you may not have seen yet, however, is the wonderful cover story in today’s Creative Loafing on the Ambassador’s visit. I hope you’ll read the entire article, but some of what the Ambassador says deserves mention here, as it serves to elaborate on why I’m so honored to have this patriot join me.

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Sunday, August 26, 2007 - 12:39pm

I don't know what it says about our Country that Women's Equality Day passes with such little fanfare. Today, however, marks the anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment and the end of the long battle to secure Women the right to vote. As we observe Women's Equality Day today and look back nearly 40 years ago when Bella Abzug established it, let's look not only at how far our society has come, but let's look at the work we still have to do.

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Wednesday, August 22, 2007 - 10:27am

Teaching full time while running for Congress in North Carolina's 8th District has it's moments, but it has endless possibilites too. Next week the graduating class of 2011 will begin high school and we have an opportunity, even a responsibilty, to get our Country back on track before they head out into the world.

Our next generation deserves so much more than mine has left them, but with your work here, and in communities like it both on-line and off, we will rise to the challenge.

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Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - 1:31pm

As I said when I announced my campaign, Fiscal Security is National Security, and China is a looming threat. I've repeated a thousand times that if the United States were a publicly traded corporation, our major stockholder would be China because they keep buying up all of the debt we've been spiraling into.

It comes as no surprise then, at least to me, that China is making more headlines today than criticism for press and human rights violations as they begin their one year countdown to the Beijing Olympic Games. Amid all the other bad news on Wall Street today, MarketWatch reminds us:

"The U.S. and China are engaging in mutually assured economic destruction..."

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