{inspired by this post at BlueNC}

Congressman Charles Taylor pretends to be a friend of the forests in western North Carolina, but his actions and political flip-flops demonstrate his lack of commitment to our district's most valuable natural and economic resources.

More below the fold

The Progressive Democrats of North Carolina are holding a Progressive Summit on Saturday and Sunday, June 3-4 at the Summit at Haw River State Park north of Greensboro. Go check out their website for more information and to register. I got this announcement last night from Pete McDowell who is president of the PDNC PAC. The main thing he said that caught my eye is this: There's a lot of interest in running a real progressive for Lieutenant Governor in 2008.

Mel Watt and six other members of the Congressional Black Caucus were arrested protesting on the steps of Sudan's embassy in Washington.

Good for them.

When free market types start moving their lips on the subject of education, you're sure to hear many wonderful stories about how the entrepreneurial spirit can transform schools, leading us down a miraculous path toward the corporate takeover of teaching and learning in America.

Well, there's one sector of education that has already been taken over by corporations: textbook publication. And in the neverending push to sell more books to more states, publishers have dumbed down their products to satisfy lowest-common denominator states, most notably Texas. It's a sad saga of profit-above-all-else, a perfect example of factory-schooling run amok where the only common good is creating wealth for shareholders.

I've just started reading Uninsured in America (by Susan Starr Sered and Rushika Fernandopulle, Univ. of Ca. Press, 2005), and I'm concerned. While the book is a much needed look at the working poor, and it promises to provide me with facts and stories I'll be quoting at cocktail parties for months to come, I'm worried that it won't make a lick of practical difference.

The point of the book seems to be to chronicle how working hard and playing by the rules is often not enough to let individuals and families meet crushing health care costs, and to shine a light on the often devastating consequences. It's a good reason to write a book. The potential problem lies in the presentation. Like most liberals, I already believe that if you work hard and exercise some minimal level of good judgment in managing your life affairs, a wealthy and powerful nation should be able to see to it that the necessities for health and happiness are available to you.

If this book is to make a direct change, then, it has to be aimed at the other side: people who believe (wrongly) that we do take care of our own; people who believe that because they are making it through, anyone can; and people who just don't give a shit as long as the market is humming. And by page 26, I've begun to worry that this book won't make a dent in that crowd.

The N.C. Conservation Network has posted what they view as the most pressing environmental issues of the N.C. Legislature's short session. This is a good guide of what to keep our Democratic legislature's feet to the fire on this year:

Energy efficiency. North Carolina residents currently pay over $10 billion dollars each year to import coal and natural gas from other states. Energy demand is expected to grow faster than population over the next several decades and our utilities have proposed to meet this demand by building new polluting power plants and burning more fossil fuels – but there’s a better way...

Today the Wake County School Board will come to terms with the issue of mandatory year yound edcuation. Whether it goes forth or suffers a defeat may largely have to do with a new bond proposal they will discuss tonight.

The debate is over whether to pass a $1+ billion bond to support new schools and trailers, OR to ask for a lesser bond around $600 million and convert almost all K-8 level schools into year rounds.

This is a very important issue for anyone with children in Wake County. And it may also be important to those in the surrounding counties as well as Guilford and Mecklenburg Schools. I don't have any kids, but as a progressive and democrat (small d) education is one of the key moral issues of our era. Better and smarter education policies will be the cornerstone of how the next few generations survive in the world's economy. Not to mention the future leaders of NC, espicially politicans, will come from this 48th in education state.

I would be interested in anyone's take on this project. A bill has been filed in the senate for the new Kannapolis biotech campus.

After hearing President Bush offer his carefully choreographed paean to anti-immigration Americans and to voting Hispanics, it became clear just how far out of the mainstream Congressman Charles Taylor is. His support of the hateful HR4437 demonstrates that not even our right wing President is radical enough.

The first reason you shouldn't vote Republican is that they don't have the best interests of North Carolinians at heart. The other 24 reasons are the Republicans moronic enough to pay $5000 each to have their picture made with Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani was in town recently to raise money for the NCGOP. About 300 people attended a luncheon. A couple dozen paid for pictures. Howard Dean came to Charlotte where 300 people attended a dinner and 450 attended a rally. He walked the streets ringing on doorbells. In the precincts he walked, voter turnout doubled on primary election day. Pictures with Howard Dean were free.