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Cross-posted from Scrutiny Hooligans*, and inspired by a post that originally appeared @ Crooks & Liars... click here for relevant audio that I uploaded, thanks to BlueNC's spiffy new audio feature!

At the risk of showing my age, one my earliest memories involves my dad showing me how to use the family record player. I didn't have any music of my own, so I would listen to a lot of what was in the record cabinet, which was primarily what my dad was into in the 60s. He listened to a lot of folk music - he was particularly a fan of Bob Dylan's pre-electric period - and it was through my dad's record collection that I discovered the time-honored tradition of the protest song.

The blogs have helped NC - I am hoping the favor will be returned, please pass this around the blogs and the net.

Does the TN Democratic Party ask for help and get ignored? Do they just not ask? Do they just want the rest of the Democrats in this country to ignore what seems to be the GOOD OLD BOY passage of politics - you know the keep your nose out of my back yard type of politics? Well I have some big news for the Democrats in TN, the 2006 elections aren't just about Tennessee! Democrats all over this country are working hard to put a democratic Senate and House in place. So, what is wrong in Tennessee, and especially in Harold Ford Jr's back yard - Memphis, Shelby County, West Tennessee?

(cross-posted at The Christian Dem Home Journal)

Over at Daily Kos, we have a lot of Dem heavyweights post on a regular basis. Louise Slaughter, Paul Hackett, John Conyers, Brad Miller, Henry Waxman--even the occasional post from Ted Kennedy or Nancy Pelosi.

But I always wondered--why don't we see the same at Free Republic? How come Repubs like John Boehner, Sue Myrick, Robin Hayes, Deb Pryce, Jack Kingston, Marilyn Musgrave and the like barely drop by? Well, I got my answer when Dmsilev posted about a recent trip he made to Freeperville. There was some heavy discussion going on about a recent incident in Spain where a couple of men were removed from a UK-bound flight because they were speaking Arabic and the passengers thought they were acting suspiciously. Some of the comments there were just plain sickening.

The North Carolina Legislature was very busy in 2006, but I want to point out some of the good things they accomplished:

Session Law 2006-206 requires a committee to study the feasibility of reducing the state's energy and water usage by 20% by January 1, 2012. The study report is due in February 2007. The legislation also requires the state to develop a plan to implement a 2005 law that requires the state to reduce petroleum usage by transitioning to alternative fuels by January 1, 2010.

Democracy for America is hosting the second in a three part "Nightschool" training tonight at 8:30pm. Anyone can sign up to be a part of the massive conference call. Last week's Nightschool had over 1,400 participants.

It's o.k. if you weren't involved in last week's training, you can jump in anytime. Tonight's topic is "Leveraging Online Media", and here's a short blurb about it:

I started this as a comment to SD's new "hearts and halo" photoshop post. My "comment" took on a life of it's own - flowing uncontrollably out my fingers - and soon it was no longer a comment. It was a blog post. Some thoughts here echo what's been touched on by Robert P., momo and others. [AND ... at the end, there's an invitation to join us today at the Johnston County Democratic Party headquarters in Clayton.]

This, the week of the Photoshop flames at bluenc, with the Edwards pics and "Dear John," letters from SD has been amazing to watch - in a GOOD way. Seriously. I've seen more new posters at bluenc in the past week than I have since I started reading here.

More below the fold ... much more. :)

Sticking with the theme of unexpected allies, evangelical Christians may turn out to be one of the strongest political forces to pressure the Bush administration to get serious about climate change. A recent survey of evangelicals showed that almost 75% support causes to reduce global warming and 70% believe global warming will pose a serious threat to future generations. 50% even said that steps to curb climate change need to be taken today even if there is a high economic cost. Evangelicals felt strongly that God has commanded humanity to take care of the earth and that government and business care too much about money.

What: Kilowatt Ours Film Showing
When: Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Time: 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Where: NC Museum of Natural Sciences - Raleigh
Cost: ITS FREE!

Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth gave me all kinds of crazy nightmares - from penguins chasing me because they were seriously pissed off about the melting ice, to watching my liquor stash float away with my house because the polar caps collapsed and flooded Raleigh. The movie did inspire me to do something about climate change. However, I think the film missed an opportunity by not throwing out some everyday solutions.

Raleighing.com is reporting that there will be a new farmer's market downtown at the City Market starting Wednesday July 12. This gives our community another option in buying local produce which also reduces greenhouse gases (see June 25 entry).

Raleigh is really laying the foundation for a vibrant downtown community with farmer's markets, grocery stores, dense residential development, restaurants, and shops all within walking distance of each other.

North Carolina is known for being a relatively progressive state and leads the South in many policy areas. So why doesn't North Carolina have a renewable energy portfolio standard yet? Twenty other states do. A renewable energy portfolio standard is a state policy that requires electric companies to provide a certain percentage of their power supply from renewable sources. Maine currently requires 30%, New York requires 24% by 2013, and even a red state like Montana requires 15% by 2015.