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From a news release linked here:

It is an exciting time for North Carolina politics! As the 2012 campaign season heats up, Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin is ramping up his efforts to reach out to voters, colleagues and supporters.

Goodwin’s website has been redesigned to make it easy to find the latest news about his service to North Carolina, watch video messages on YouTube, or follow his updates on Facebook and Twitter.

Goodwin has made transparent and open government a cornerstone of his efforts in the office of Insurance Commissioner. Creating a clear and open dialogue with citizens is equally important in his campaign.

“I love to talk to North Carolinians about the issues that are most important to them,” Goodwin said. "North Carolina is a big state, but social media can bring us together almost instantly."

Learn more at www.waynegoodwin.org and/or follow on Twitter @WayneGoodwinNC.

WORLD WAR WEB ADVISORY #1: ARE YOU AN UNWITTING VICTIM OF INTERNET CENSORSHIP?

1. Emails about topics like Occupy Wall Street, 9/11, the USA Patriot Act, Citizens United v. FEC, AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA), the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the Protect IP Act (PIPA) and the Enemy Expatriation Act (EEA) are being blocked by Network Solutions, Verizon and other ISPs using Barracuda, Cloudmark Authority and other Internet censorship systems euphemistically referred to as "spam filters". The 99% can use the same weapon against the 1%: Whenever you receive emails from corrupt corporations - such as those listed at http://contractormisconduct.org - flag them as spam and report them to your ISP.

It's hard to imagine a more spectacular social business fail than what we've witnessed from Lowes over the past two days. Under pressure from a handful of high-profile religious activists, the company backed away from an informed business decision in order to placate bigotry ... which is never a winning strategy. The result? Lowes has pissed off millions of Muslim Americans, as well as millions of other people, like me, who object to their corporate cowardice.

A dumbass move and a crappy apology. If I were on their board, the CEO would be fired.

A charity fund run by Scott Stone, Republican candidate for mayor in Charlotte, is receiving some unwanted attention for the low percentage of fundraising dollars passing through to the supported cause. According to available tax returns, North Carolina Heroes Fund (NCHF) has raised $168,807.73 and distributed $39,210.37 to veterans in need. This means only 23% of funds raised has passed through to help veterans, not the 30% stated by the Charlotte Observer. In contrast, $41,542.48 has gone to one professional fundraiser in 2009 and well over $40,000 in unitemized expenses have been incurred. This leaves Scott Stone's financial competence wide open for criticism.

Today the Asheville Citizen-Times is reporting that Facebook is building a $300 million-plus data center in Rutherford County. The article cites that when completed, the facility will house between 35 and 45 permanent jobs, and mentions "incentives."

I am looking for definitive data, but I understand that Rutherford County and the state will pony up some $10 million in "economic development incentives" to support the Facebook facility.

$10 million for 45 jobs comes to just under $250,000 per job. From what I understand, the jobs created must pay the prevailing wage in Rutherford County, which I understand is about $13.50 per hour. Of course, this doesn't include a couple hundred temporary construction jobs for the 15 months or so it will take to build this high-tech facility.

Sometimes I think America is the proverbial child-star-gone-bad of nations: we have a crippling addiction, but we still won't go to rehab.

We are hooked on burning dirty fossil fuels like cavemen, and no matter how many times we hit rock bottom -- deadly coal mining accidents, the uncontrolled oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and American soldiers risking their lives overseas -- we won't embrace the safer, smarter, cleaner path of renewable energy.

Change shouldn't be this hard.

Everyone that has a Facebook account, please be aware. (Let the advertisement at the first of the video play first, then see what is being said).

Nothing to respond to...just something I got off of CNN.com. Important stuff.

Wake County middle school teacher suspended for venting about her bible-thumping students on Facebook:

"Today a student left a brand new bible on my desk with an anonymous card that said 'Merry Christmas; with 'Christ' underlined and bolded," Hussain wrote. "I can't believe the cruelty and ignorance of people sometimes."

Hussain later goes on to accuse her students of spreading rumors that she's a Jesus hater. She complains about the students wearing Jesus shirts, singing "Jesus Loves Me" and reading the Bible in class.

From Jesse Presnell (Billy Kennedy Campaign)

Thanks to all of your support, you have now put a new face on politics in Watauga County. The Watauga Democrat has published a FRONT PAGE article about your support. Here is an excerpt

"Old-school politics usually involved lots of backroom maneuvering of candidates, with a small party core deciding which candidates to put forth in coming elections.

That grooming process has been tossed out like punch-card ballots and train-whistle stops by Democrats who are lining up behind their favored candidate to take on incumbent Republican Virginia Foxx for the Fifth District U.S. Congressional seat next year.

A public campaign is underway called "Draft Billy Kennedy," with party faithful hoping to gently pressure Kennedy into entering the race. What makes the draft attempt different is that the momentum is gathering in the virtual world, driven by a younger pool of voters."

Sites like BlueNC, Facebook, Pam's House Blend, DailyKos and Twitter have helped open up a whole new avenue for reaching voters and many candidates are taking advantage of these new tools - tools that are newer to some than to others. Lately, though, I've overheard more than a few local people claiming to be experts in social media and online campaigning - people I've never heard of - and they're claiming that new media and online social networking play a more important role in successful campaigns than they actually do. Candidates will do well to remember that any middle school student can network a facebook page.