Law

Lance outlined the major provisions of the new commission earlier, but now it is official as Easley signed the bill creating the NC Innocence Commission. The commission is the only one in the nation that allows for appeals outside the current court system, where the bases for review of trial court decisions are very narrow. (article on the law here)

When I think about the many threats to the quality of our democracy, the growing influence of corporations in public policy always tops my list. Up until last fall, I naively assumed that influence was mostly contaminating national politics. But as my focus shifted to North Carolina and BlueNC, I have been stunned by the role corporate money plays in how our state government operates. On one hand, you have the Puppetmaster, illegally buying and selling elections with corporate money. And on the other hand, you have Chuck Taylor, running campaign commercials fully funded by the US Chamber of Commerce. And in between, you have a swirl of corporate contributions to politicians that is absolutely mind-boggling.

How did this happen? How did we allow our democracy to be hijacked by corporate interests? And what can we do about it?

Last week a North Carolina Superior Court judge struck down a law prohibiting unmarried couples to cohabitate (BlueNC post here). The case came up when a 911 operator was fired for violating the 200 year old law. Now the inevitable well thought out "proper" Christian response has come. Of course, they do not like people's private lives being free from government intrusion. This article by Rev. Mark Creech of the Christian Action League of North Carolina seems pretty representative and expected. Their reason for supporting the law is quite simply that it is God's law, derived directly from the seventh commandment (Thou shalt not commit adultery). I know that that logical jump from adultery to premarital cohabitation might seem a bit much, but that is why he is a preacher I guess.

Cross-post from UNCG Campus Watch

The Constitution of the State of North Carolina guarantees the General Assembly will provide that "the benefits of The University of North Carolina... as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense" (Article IX, Sec 9). With the counting of out-of-state athletes as in-state students, the General Assembly is starting to turn its back on the very people for whom the University was originally established in 1789.

All too often Democrats in this state wait until crisis time to start any real thinking, see e.g. Jim Black. The growing concerns of gangs in North Carolina is one area that the Democrats should start moving now. There is a wealth of statistical evidence on the problem of gang activity in North Carolina (focusing on Hispanic gangs) in the new study from the Governor's Crime Commission. The data that they found was disturbing:

Trend data indicates a 16.6 percent increase in the number of reported gangs

The General Assembly begins their even-year short session on May 9, and the right is helping us out a little bit with the pregame show. Here's the (John William Pope) Civitas Institute's agenda, as laid out in this piece in the North Carolina Conservative:

• Eliminate taxes that they call "temporary;"
• Enact the Taxpayer Protection Act (is this just TaBoR by another name?);
• Kill the Gas Tax (I think we've been over this already);