skip stam

It was a routine drunk driving stop. State Trooper M. Cape saw the car swerving in and out of lanes around midnight on Feb. 13th. He pulled the car over, asked the driver, a 24-year old male, to take a blood alcohol test.

The man refused. The man was arrested. The man was given a court date.

Then the man ran for Apex Town Council, and with the help of Republican stalwarts Mayor Keith Weatherly and Rep. Skip Stam (R-Apex), he won.

Scott Lassiter, a 24-year old teacher at the Johnston Co. Schools, was been groomed by the Apex Republican establishment for years. Ironically, his mother is Ann Lassiter, a confidant of former Democrat Speaker Jim Black and recipient of several thousand taxpayer dollars to write a 20-page “book” about the General Assembly a few years back. But that didn’t stop her and Keith Weatherly from being close, or from Weatherly appointing Lassiter to the town Parks & Rec board when Lassiter was still in high school.

It's time to boycott North Carolina

"Different things can be treated differently if the things or people are in a very different relationship."

--North Carolina House Majority Leader Paul "Skip" Stam (R), referring to gay and lesbian same-sex couples and their eligiblity for civil equality, at a debate at UNC-CH Law School, 9/21/2011

Well, Skip this "thing" (a native North Carolinian, who pays her taxes and is in a legal marriage not recognized by my state already) is calling for a boycott of this great state. We have a state economy in the crapper (10.4% unemployment), a state budget in crisis, and quite a few pro-LGBT companies and institutions located here that don't deserve to be punished by a boycott.

Two events of significance are coming up this week in North Carolina's fight to beat back the discriminatory, job-killing marriage amendment measure that is going to go on the ballot next May.

Full video (31 minutes) of the press conference yesterday at the NC General Assembly where Republican Representatives Dale Folwell, Speaker Pro-Tem, and Paul "Skip" Stam, Majority Leader, announced the upcoming introduction of a state constitutional amendment to ban something that is already banned in North Carolina: gay marriage. Meanwhile President Barack Obama declared federal disasters in seven NC counties as Hurricane Irene destroyed more than 1,000 homes, decimated NC Highway 12 and croplands were flooded, with initial damage estimates of over $70 $190 $400 million. Glad to know they've got their priorities straight.
 

Can somebody hand Skip a copy?

Article IX, Section 2: "The General Assembly shall provide by taxation and otherwise for a general and uniform system of free public schools, which shall be maintained at least nine months in every year, and wherein equal opportunities shall be provided for all students."

And then there's Section 5: "The State Board of Education shall supervise and administer the free public school system and the educational funds provided for its support ..."

That second part should stamp "denied" on the idea for having a separate board, outside of DPI, to administer charter schools. If the GOP wants to adhere to the Constitution, that is.

If the voters don't like what you're trying to do, just call it something else:

The N.C. Association of Educators posted a video of House Majority Leader Paul Stam warning supporters not to refer to private school tax credits as vouchers. "The term voucher polls way below tax credit," he said. "So get it out of your vocabulary."

That's because the term "tax credits" is associated with a wide range of issues, not just the dismantling of the public school system.

In a move to fulfill their campaign promises to gut public education in North Carolina, Republican leaders are indeed pushing ahead with HB41, a half-billion-dollar giveaway to for-profit, religious and private schools.

Rep. Rick Glazier, a leading Democrat on education issues and a former school board chairman from Fayetteville, called the bill a direct assault on public schools. "I don't think taxpayers ought to be involved in funding private schools, nor do I think the taxpayers want their money going there," Glazier said. "It is not the constitutional mandate of the state to fund the private schools."

Hot off their latest "prayer breakfast," North Carolina's Grand Old Patriarchy is gearing up for what promises to be a long and relentless assault on the rights of women. And why not? Everyone knows that women can't think for themselves. The weaker sex needs the government to ensure they are informed about their own bodies before they decide to terminate a pregnancy.

You see, women are especially stupid and ignorant when it comes to pregnancy. Just ask Taliban Stam. He has it all figured out. The government shouldn't be telling women about the importance of safe sex. That would be an insult to god. Nor should the government inform women about the risks of, say, brain surgery. Who cares about that? No, the only thing that really matters to Taliban Stam is passing a new law requiring women to understand that god wants them stay pregnant and have those blessed children no matter what. Plus, of course, he also wants to strip abortion coverage from insurance policies covering state employees and college students in the UNC system.