What's the most important thing Richard Burr has done in 16 years? POLL CLOSED

please go to this post where submissions were made. The prize will go to the top vote-getting piece of legislation (not including choice number 5).

You don't need to be a BlueNC community member or even a registered user. Just click the answer that you think represents Burr's most significant accomplishment.

PS Someone wrote to say this poll was stacked. It's not. We've been inviting submissions for a whole month now. If the poll was stacked, there would be a sixth answer:

"Started his own private run on banks."

I wonder if spouses like this were included (see segment of letter below)?

http://pamshouseblend.com/diary/17152/dadt-deployment-goodbyesi-worry-ab...

Here are just some to think about - they reflect what life is like for military families under DADT:

* Set up an alternative e-mail account that wouldn't show the gender of my name
* Establish a very generic, genderless form of communications over e-mail
* Never write "I love you" - or nothing that could indicate anything at all about the nature of our relationship
* No access to the Ship's Ombudsman - a point person for military families for all things very, very important relating to the ship and her crew
* Create a plan for dropping her off at ship - making sure our goodbye or welcome is in secret
* Never spending the remaining few hours on the ship like with the rest of families before a deployment
* Worrying about how close to the pier I could be without raising suspicion
* Before leaving home, be sure to say final goodbyes - no hugs and certainly no kisses allowed on or near the base
* Not being able to participate in any family video postcards to the ship
* Still trying to figure out how to deal with those pesky customs forms required when mailing anything to a "Fleet Post Office" - they require a name, so maybe use her parent's name or the dog's name
* Don't put anything too personal in care packages - those might arrive via barge, waterlogged and falling apart - therefore, they might be opened
* As a result of the rough handling from a helicopter mail drop, any other boxes I send could be opened if damaged
* Don't get sick, seriously sick, and don't get hurt while spouse is gone
* Hope she doesn't get hurt as no one would tell me - I can't be listed as her next of kin in her service record without raising eyebrows
* Remember to have her pack her personal cell phone and the charger for use six to nine months later - can't use any of the ship's communications, so the cell is the only way to coordinate a pickup upon return home

Knowing that when the other families are waiting at the pier, I wouldn't be able to stand among them anxiously awaiting my sailor's return. This isn't everything. It's just a glimpse.

Sincerely,

Chief Petty Officer Lee Quillian, USN (Ret.)