Robin Hayes was out and about yesterday, doing things any good Congresscritter should do, like sucking up to the media and uninformed voters. Keep reading if you haven't eaten . . . it'll make you ill.

As ya'll know by now, the right wing Puppetshow (aka, the John Locke Foundation) doesn't allow commentary on their statewide blogs. They do, however, have some local blogs that I visit from time to time to see what the Puppet munchkins are up to. It's occasionally enlightening, sometimes amusing, and mostly scary. For example, take this missive (please) from one Zeb Wright in Wilmington.

First, let me set you straight. I'm not some giddy little school girl - far from it. Meeting Larry Kissell made my day, yesterday. When I planned to go to the Mecklenburg County Democratic Convention I hadn't thought about the candidates who might be there. Once I saw a few shaking hands, I made a beeline for the Larry Kissell table.

He is tall. Not imposing tall, but Mr. Smith-goes-to-Washington tall. Oh...and humble...yes, the humility is palpable, as is the honesty. This isn't some slick talking, in-your-face, self-annointed savior of the 8th District. Nope, just the opposite. Larry is real.

More about the Kissell campaign below the fold.

Shocking news out of Henderson County. Charles Taylor showed up for his normal bi-annual pre-election "I'm wonderful" photo op tour and an out-of-control real journalist showed up to cover it.

In an alarming set-back to the normally all-powerful, media-dominating Taylor campaign apparatus, a Jonathan Rich of the Hendersonville Times-News actually included another point of view in his article about Taylor getting credit for something he had nothing to do with.

It started out well for Taylor in an article titled "Treasury secretary Snow visits BRCC" [okay -- I'm not sure how to do the link for it: http://www.hendersonvillenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006604010338

April fools. There are so many things I could have joked about. Black resigning. Taylor telling the truthHayes apologizing for selling out. But I figured to go for the big one. Unfortunately, the joke's on us. But remember, it's now seven months till November. Seven months till subpoena power.

April Fool's Open Thread. Jump in.

Groundhog Day

In 2005, both Groundhog Day and the State of the Union
Address fell on the same day. As Air America Radio pointed out, "It is an ironic juxtaposition: one involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to a creature of little intelligence for prognostication, and the other involves a groundhog."

It's a riot below the fold...

Forget sorry...these people should be jailed!

More silliness on the flip side

I guess none of us is surprised to see this happen. I didn't think the pileup would start this quickly, though. The second Democrat in the N.C. House has called for Jim Black to resign.

Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Democrat from Greensboro does have a slightly different take on the situation. He thinks Black should temporarily step down from his leadership position. Maybe this keeps him from the vulture-circling-the-body category, but it is unmistakably a sign that Democrats in the NC legislature are losing confidence in Jim Black's ability to lead effectively while he is dealing with his legal issues.

More below the fold

Rep. Lorene Coates, D-Rowan has called for Jim Black to resign according to both NPR radio and the Greensboro News and Record.

"I just think he really needs to step aside at this time," said Coates, D-Rowan. "He has been a friend to me, but I think he needs to focus his time on the court case. The Legislature, we need to be taking care of the business of North Carolina."

A little more below the fold

This is a brilliant observation. Seriously. From Common Sense.

Newspapers all over the state this morning had above-the-fold pictures of jubilant local lottery winners. With scratch-off tickets going on sale yesterday for the first time in N.C. history, state-sponsored gambling was the topic of statewide conversation.

Where were the pictures of people losing the lottery? Given the odds, they should have been much easier to find than the winners. For those who believe that the media only reports the bad news, the lottery is a glaring exception. And that’s unfortunate, because there are only two real winners of a state lottery: the out-of-state mega-corporation that runs the games, and the precious few lucky stiffs who defy fortune and win big.

Everyone else loses. According to the Raleigh News & Observer, a player who wants to win ten dollars in the Tic Tac Toe scratch-off game would have to spend an average of $112 on the game to do so.

I guess losing isn't news.