grier martin

Poll results are in and the field is narrowed down for the races for Governor and Lt. Governor in North Carolina. While every name isn't included on the list, I included as many as I could and results were still fairly decisive.

Poll for Lt. Governor

Poll for Governor

Remarks I made at the NC Redistricting Public Hearing – East, at the New Hanover location at UNC Wilmington, 3:00pm – 5:00pm, July 18th, 2011

My name is Greg Flynn. I live in Raleigh, Wake County but I thought it appropriate to speak at a hearing in Wilmington because it appears there is no part of North Carolina, however remote, that can not be drawn into a Congressional District with Wake County.

Actually I am on vacation but am so disgusted by the State House and Senate redistricting plans released just last week that I took the time to drive here from Topsail to register my concerns. After my initial laughter at the absurdity of the boundary diagrams, that can charitably be described a resembling an explosion in a spaghetti factory, my concern grew on closer inspection of the delineation, if you can call it that, of the proposed districts. I couldn’t decide if the inspiration was mitochondria or Machiavelli, but the result is the same: Meandering and artificial division that obliterates all sense of civic geography and community place, and who might best represent it.

This week, Rep. Larry Brown sent out an e-mail denouncing gay people as "queers," and making fun of the Speaker of the NC House for receiving an award from Equality NC. He also refered to gays as "fruitloops" (activists happen to be sending him some). As we said the other day:

Brown was hinting that some legislators are gay by calling them "fruitloops," not calling gays in general fruitloops. If you know anything about North Carolina politics, you know that the only legislators who attend the Equality NC gala will be Democrats.

Well, it seems like a candidate for NC House has just as much of a problem with Equality NC as Rep. Larry Brown and his collaborator Rep. Paul Stam. Steve Henion, running against American Hero Rep. Grier Martin in NC-HD-34, wouldn't mention an endorsement for his opponent unless he thought it was a bad thing:

Grier Martin III is now endorsed by Equality NC http://bit.ly/bSdzLk #NCGOP #NCPOL #CONSNC #TCOT #NC34 #NCGA #TPP #TEAPARTY

Are the Republicans running against Equality NC in addition to equal rights? It was Rep. Stam that announced Speaker Hackeny's ENC award to the Republican caucus, and Stam is unafraid to equate same-sex marriage with polygamy. Candidate Henion released a similar tweet concerning Rep. Martin's Planned Parenthood endorsement, and Republicans have run against Women's rights organizations for a long time.

If you follow your nose to Henion's website, you find a candidate who supports "a Defense of Marriage Act in North Carolina." Organizations like Equality NC have kept North Carolina from passing such an amendment, and perhaps that's why they're on the recieving end of attacks from the GOP - even though battling human rights is a losing issue, morally and electorally.

What happens if you follow your nose to other Republican legislators?

This looks like an excellent event ... via email

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Please join us for the North Carolina premier of

Climate Patriots

Energy, Climate Change and American National Security: A Military Perspective

Please join us for the North Carolina premier of…

Climate Patriots
Energy, Climate Change and American National Security: A Military Perspective

You are invited to join Rep. Grier Martin and Tom Cors of the Nature Conservancy for the North Carolina premier of Climate Patriots, a short video that provides a military perspective on energy, climate change and American national security. Climate Patriots was produced in conjunction with The Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate which conducted a series of interviews with former military leaders to discuss the challenges posed to the U.S. armed forces due to the impacts of climate change and our energy posture. The video features interviews with Senator John Warner (R-VA), Former chairman U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee; Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn, U.S. Navy (Ret.); Former Captain James Morin, U.S. Army; and Admiral John Nathman, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

A lot of the vehicles in North Carolina's motor pool are diesel fueled. Also, NC will continue to purchase new vehicles as older ones head to the scrap heap. With gasoline prices at four dollars a gallon, wouldn't it make sense for North Carolina to move to alternative fuels and purchase only the most fuel efficient vehicles? It would save NC taxpayers untold amounts of money to have our motor fleet be as efficient as possible.

Grier Martin (D), Pricey Harrison (D), and Charles Thomas (R) have submitted legislation to do just that. HB 2720 - Energy‑Efficient State Motor Vehicle Fleets - has two components:

Doug Massengill, newly elected President of the NC Federation of College Democrats

Isn't this a beautiful morning, North Carolina? The sky is blue, the weather is lovely and we NC Progressives are beginning to align like the stars in the sky to make some serious noise in the election of our next US Senator.

By saying our NEXT US Sentor, I'm going out on a limb and saying to you, BlueNC, that we can and will be the driving factor behind that simple statement. Well, actually I'm not going out on much of a limb. More like, I'm hanging around the thick trunk of the tree and expecting the obvious.

You know who you are and you know what is obvious.

From Gary Robertson at AP:

Grier Martin just called and said he is not running for US Senate, choosing instead to stay in the state House and, more important, to stay with his family. I'm terribly disappointed, but I also understand completely. I'm sure he'll stop by and give you the scoop himself.

In the meantime, I'm going to turn my attention and support to Jim Neal. I've been asking around about him and folks have nothing but good things to say, which is encouraging.

So there you have it. No primary, no diversions.

In 13 months, North Carolinians will have the chance to vote between a missing-in-action Bushbot named Biddy Dole and a solid progressive Democrat named Jim Neal.

Let's get crackin' folks.