kirk ross

Words of wisdom from our friend, Kirk Ross.

The 2013 session has proved a near endless mill of demagoguery, churning out bill after bill with triumphant titles sprinkled with words like "freedom" and "fairness" while the lines below sow the opposite.

It is tempting to use the more preposterous measures for talking points or to gin up outrage, but as Lewis suggested it might be better to concentrate on the ones more likely to clear both chambers and be signed by the governor. There's no shortage of preposterous ideas in that batch as well. The only difference is that one day they'll be law.

A new website discovered on a Facebook post by Kirk Ross, who is always up to something interesting. Worth bookmarking for sure.

Kirk, don't be surprised if Titan Cement comes after you for trademark infringement.

The GOP's formula for undermining the effectiveness of government appears to be working.

... while the Legislature has increased the amount of paperwork, studies and staff time required to write new rules, it's also continued to slice away at the budgets for DENR and other agencies.

From Ross's Almanac

If you've been feeling anxious about the North Carolina coast in recent years, get ready to dial up your Prozac prescription. Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. Kirk Ross has the analysis at Indy Week.

From Kirk Ross, publisher of the Carrboro Citizen

The odd waking dream in which many of us find ourselves continues unabated. On any given night, the idiot box lives up to its nickname, giving a megaphone to folks who on a regular basis compare various politicians to either Hitler, Stalin or both. Elsewhere in television-land, highly scripted “reality” shows have folks mesmerized.

The temptation is to shrug and ignore it all. But these are symptoms – clues, perhaps – of how upside-down we’ve become and how astoundingly-unchallenged a culture we’ve allowed to flourish.

Go read the rest of this inspiring column.

Paul O'Connor wrote Sunday in the Winston-Salem Journal about how "Politicians work hard to control the message", in an article about

...moves made by state officials to reduce press access and manipulate coverage.

When you click in the Printer-Friendly version of his story you get this message at the footer:

This story can be found at: http://www.carolinajournal.com/

I barely know Kirk Ross. In fact I barely know any of the people who post entries here at BlueNC. We are a virtual community tied loosely together only by an interest in North Carolina politics. In fact, when I talked to Kirk in December about how BlueNC could upgrade the quality of its content with more original reporting, I had to pump him for information so I could introduce him to our readers. This is what I wrote on New Year's Day:

Kirk has been hanging around BlueNC as “kmr” for a good long while. You haven’t seen him post much, but that’s not because he’s a slacker. Kirk is a prolific freelance writer and has other blogs, including Exile on Jones Street. When forced to account for himself last year, Kirk wrote this:

Last night, we introduced George Pence as a new front-pager at BlueNC. Today we're pleased to announce that veteran journalist Kirk Ross is also joining our ranks.

Kirk has been hanging around BlueNC as “kmr” for a good long while. You haven’t seen him post much, but that’s not because he’s a slacker. Kirk is a prolific freelance writer and has other blogs, including Exile on Jones Street. When forced to account for himself last year, Kirk wrote this:

. . . a longtime North Carolina journalist, musician and public policy enthusiast. Before striking out on his own, he served as Managing Editor and online development manager for the Independent Weekly. Prior to that he was a reporter for the Chapel Hill News covering government, higher education, politics and schools. He won the North Carolina Press Associations’ top investigative reporting award in 2002 for his work on post 9/11 immigration and labor issues.