GOP

TIME SENSITIVE REQUEST

We have just learned that the Revenue Laws Study Committee of the NCGA will likely consider whether or not to repeal North Carolina's estate tax at their meeting at 9:30 AM on Wednesday, March 7th (tomorrow!). Repeal of this tax would rob the state of $80 million in revenues ANNUALLY while benefiting ONLY those people inheriting estates worth $3.5 million in the case of individuals or $7 million for an estate left by a couple.

In other words, repeal of this tax would benefit less than half of North Carolina's 1% while slashing tens of millions of dollars badly needed in our state budget for many public services, including healthcare and our public school system -- already reeling under the burden of devastating budget cuts this year.

Trying to privatize and limit eligibility for Pre-K... denying there is poverty in NC... kicking peaceful protesters out of public areas in the General Assembly because they disagree with GOP policies.... failing to disclose conflicts of interests on campaign finance reports... surprise 1 AM votes to target teachers simply for political payback... wasting time on far right social agenda bills instead of tackling North Carolina's real problems... there are plenty of reasons why you should join us at a rally in Lewisville this Wednesday evening and let NC House Speaker Thom Tillis know that, under his watch, NC's government has spun out-of-control!

Join Progress North Carolina at a rally in Lewisville on Wednesday, March 7th at 4:30 PM to bring attention to the GOP's continuing assault on public education and the democratic process. Details on when and where inside...

You know you're dealing with unhinged adversaries when, in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary, they hold on ever more tightly to their delusions and fantasies. Nowhere is the disconnect more obvious than the current Republican line of attack, blaming Obama for rising gas prices. Here in North Carolina, the Tea Party's "drill baby drill" team is out in full force, with the magnificent Pat McCrory as their standard bearer for greed and gluttony.

There is no question that Republicans are better at exploiting human laziness and ignorance than Democrats are. We are a nation of fools, and the GOP Tea Party has our number. But for those few independent-minded Republicans who aren't quite ready to abandon rational thinking, Carter Eskew at the Washington Post today has a good summary of the essential ingredients that factor into gas prices.

AmericanLP covers all the top headlines in politics on both sides of the aisle in this morning’s news brief. Major headlines yesterday once again pointed to a rebounding economy. New applications for unemployment hit a 4-year low. Also, the DNC released a new ad, which you can view at the 1:15 mark, highlighting the diverging ideologies between the Obama administration’s decision to save the auto industry and Mitt Romney’s 2008 Op-Ed “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt”. The bailout was unequivocally a successful administrative decision for President Obama, and coupling this with the rate for unemployment applications falling, and last week’s news that the overall unemployment rate has fallen to 8.3 percent, we have public opinion of the President quickly on the rise. 44% of Americans, according to a Pew Research Center poll believe economic conditions will be better in 2013 than this year.

About a month ago I saw a tweet from my favorite polling firm that really caught my eye, 

Head to heads- Santorum leads Mitt by 18 in NC, Newt leads by 1. Perry trails by 17, Paul by 46: tinyurl.com/748397u

— PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) January 11, 2012

It was one in a series of polls that would be released in the coming weeks that predicted what we are seeing now, that Santorum, in large part because of his personal favorability, can mount a serious challenge to the inevitable nominee, Mitt Romney. 

Progress NC has joined with a number of other progressive groups to present a united front against the far right leadership in Raleigh that called for the January 5th post-midnight secret legislative session. We have created a website to explain what is happening in Raleigh, the events leading up to January 5th and the implications of the far right agenda for North Carolinians and their daily lives. Please visit the site and help us spread the word, especially to people who are not yet paying attention: www.outofcontrolnc.com. Thank you!

Either they admire this kind of stuff, or they just don't care:

Throughout his first campaign he was having an affair with a young volunteer. Dot Crews, who occasionally drove the candidate, says that almost everybody involved in the campaign knew. Kip Carter claims, "We'd have won in 1974 if we could have kept him out of the office, screwing her on the desk."

Hat-tip to Bill Franklin for pointing out this 16 year-old article. Meaning, none of those idiots below the border can reasonably claim they didn't know about this:

Those of you with the stomach for it know that if you follow right-wing rhetoric by politicians long enough, you can pick up on the latest inaccurate claims du jour. But for a long time, many of us dismissed their talk as transparent hyperbole unworthy of attention or feared that repeating their nonsense would make it seem more legitimate. As a result, last year, our state spent millions in taxpayer money for legislators to debate imaginary problems like voter fraud and we've seen state laws crippled by rumors, myths and religious beliefs.

Reflecting on my "evolution" comment of last night, I thought "That was over the top...I ought to apologize." I thought about it some more and decided, "No, I'm not going to do it. "This stuff about conservatives positioning themselves as the hardworking virtuous trying to save the country from the lazy and wasteful who want to redistribute wealth to their own advantage, and conservative's supposedly basing their decisions on logic as opposed to decisions made by liberal bleeding hearts...has come down to war. And, it's personal. And I'm going to fight...and don't really care if I insult some folks.

Up front, my wife and I are blessed. We don't have worries about how we're gonna pay the monthly bills and so on.