Each year thousands of candidates run for elected office and only a few win.  This can often be due to the lack of skilled leadership in campaigns. This training addresses this need and empowers you to make a difference.  Details for this and other activism workshops at LeadershipInstitute.org

If this country is to be spared from the consequences of its current course, it will be done from the bottom up, not the top down. The federal government will not voluntarily nor willingly surrender the power it has acquired over the past century, even if there exists within its ranks a few principled patriots trying to stack their twigs in the rushing river.  Continue reading this thoughtful article at TenthAmendmentCenter.com  

On July 17, Republican voters in North Carolina have an opportunity to make a statement about the direction the state’s public schools will take in coming years.  John Tedesco, a member of the Wake County School Board, and educator Richard Alexander will face off in a runoff election for the right to face incumbent NC Department of Public Instruction superintendent June Atkinson in November.  Read more at TheDailyHaymaker.com

According to the Triangle Business Journal, special state tax credits for renewable energy, research & development, and capital purchases reduced North Carolina’s corporate-tax collections by nearly a quarter of a billion dollars last year.   They are not the only ones. North Carolina’s tax code is riddled with special credits, exemptions, and other preferences – many of them intended to make the state more competitive in national and international markets.  Read more at CarolinaJournal.com

The Obama Administration has dragged the Law of the Sea Treaty back before the US Senate this week.  What is L.O.S.T?  In principle, the treaty would assert UN jurisdiction over U.S. territorial waters, and eventually over waterways within our country.  Read more at CanadaFreePress.com

Track your Senator’s and Representative’s votes by e-mail at Congress.org  

Considering it a crime to not report treason when one witnesses it, earlier this week, a bill was introduced to the North Carolina General Assembly that would declare the National Defense Authorization Act unconstitutional and treasonous.  In the text of the measure the NDAA is accurately described as “repugnant to, and destructive of, the Bill of Rights of the United States and the constitutions of the United States and the State of North.”   Read more at TheNewAmerican.com

Interested in the key numbers and events related to illegal immigration in the United States?  Click ImmigrationCounters.com

When was the last time you were truly energized by ideas?   Immerse yourself in the thoughts and views of John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, James Madison, Adam Smith, Voltaire, John Stuart Mill, Henry David Thoreau, Ayn Rand, F.A. Hayek, Milton Friedman, and others for FREE.  Sign on for the self-paced Cato Home Study Course at Cato.org

North Carolina ranks 29th of the 50 U.S. states (plus the District of Columbia) when it comes to imposing laws requiring people wishing to perform certain occupations to get a license from the government, according to a new study by Institute for Justice.  From landscape workers to athletic trainers to cosmetologists, the state forces would-be entrepreneurs to spend thousands of dollars and sometimes several years in school to start their careers.   Read more at CarolinaJournal.com

In Federalist No. 45, Madison explained: “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.” That vision has been turned on its head; it’s the federal government whose powers are numerous and indefinite, and those of the state are now few and defined.

via Should We Obey All Laws? – Walter E. Williams – Townhall Conservative Columnists – Page 1.

Project Veritas, an organization formed by James O’Keefe, paid a visit to North Carolina during the May 8 primary.  Watch the video to see discussions with non-citizens who are registered to vote in NC, UNC leaders and Board of Elections officials.  CivitasReview.com

In the General Assembly session that begins Wednesday, the state’s gasoline tax could be a divisive issue. The state gas tax is currently 38.9 cents per gallon, the highest rate ever in North Carolina. It increased from 35 cents a gallon on Jan. 1. The tax is recalculated automatically twice annually – Jan. 1 and July 1 – based on a formula linked to wholesale gas prices.  Read more at StarNewsOnline.com 

More than 230,000 unemployed workers will lose their jobless benefits this weekend as portions of federal programs expire across several states. All told, 409,300 long-term unemployed Americans in 27 states will have lost upward of 20 weeks of federal unemployment benefits by this past Saturday, even as the many state jobless rates remain high, according to a new analysis by the National Employment Law Project (NELP).  Read more at TheHill.com

After NC’s primary elections May 8, it still is unclear who the Republican nominees for five powerful executive offices will be. The Democratic nominee for state labor commissioner also has yet to be decided.  GOP nominees for lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor and others still are up in the air.  Read more at CarolinaJournal.com  

In North Carolina, the GOP used the Guilford County Republican Party Headquarters to make phone calls on behalf of Romney.  The calls were organized in part by Al Bouldin, the Guilford County GOP Chair.  Bouldin was well aware of the fact that the Republican Party does not endorse candidates in the Primary, a fact he had stated a few days prior to organizing calls for Romney at the County GOP headquarters.  Read more at Examiner.com 

Also, the Republican National Committee threw their support behind Mitt Romney after Newt Gingrich announced he would be suspending his campaign.  Read more at Examiner.com

There’s a reason it took the country so long to pull out of the Great Depression under FDR, why Americans became acquainted with the Misery Index under Carter, and why we’ve had the weakest economic recovery from a recession in U.S. history under Obama.  Read more at Townhall.com

The Obama 2012 campaign is in full gear and playing from the Saul Alinsky playbook that has served it so well. You know the drill. Pick a target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize it.  Obama’s re-election team has set it sights on the Tea Party. Of course, it’s not the first time the Tea Party has been in Team Obama’s crosshairs.  Read more at TheAmericanSpectator.org

President Barack Obama and Wall Street occupiers, along with their allies in the mainstream media and on college campuses, have maintained an ongoing attack on high-income earners, people they call 1-percenters. Listening to their deceitful demagoguery, you would naturally think of them as 99-percenters, but you’d be dead-wrong.  Read more of Walter William’s piece at DesotoTimes.com

The nonpartisan Tax Foundation says that this year, U.S. citizens will pay more than $4 trillion in total federal, state and local taxes.  According to the foundation, the country will work 107 days this year just to pay for federal, state and local taxes.  Read more at FoxBusiness.com

The North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition is threatening to send a blogger to jail for recounting publicly his battle against diabetes and encouraging others to follow his lifestyle. Read more at CarolinaJournal.com

Medicaid services not required by the federal government but approved by the state legislature in years past cost $4.4 billion in 2010-2011. That accounted for 46 percent of the $10 billion Medicaid budget. North Carolina’s Medicaid program was referred to as a “Cadillac” program in a study by the Lewin Group a few years ago.  Read more at NCCivitas.org

The constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and civil unions is making North Carolina a national battleground, the extent to which is now coming into focus with campaign finance reports showing the referendum buoyed by big out-of-state donors and interest groups.  Read more at NewsObserver.com

CISPA may have cleared the U.S. House of Representatives, but the fight isn’t over. It’s shifted to the U.S. Senate. Here’s CNET’s FAQ on what you need to know about this particularly controversial Internet bill.  CNet.com

For the first time in the history of our country, we are seeing a broad-based educational reform effort that is not driven by the unions. Instead, parents and activists are working together on a local level, empowered by the national Tea Party movement, to apply the mechanics of the free market to struggling school systems.  Read more at Investors.com

If North Carolina were a separate country, we would not fare well in key international comparisons of economic competitiveness.  While it is more common to compare North Carolina to other states, and such comparisons can be instructive, they are not a sufficient response to the modern world. Like it or not, economic decisions don’t respect national borders. North Carolina competes not just with South Carolina but with South Korea and dozens of other developed and developing countries for investment, employment, and entrepreneurs.  Read more at CarolinaJournal.com

Roads are the arteries of the American Body, providing the lifeblood of commerce and recreation. But one road in particular (Highway 12) has become the target of environmental tyranny, posing a grave threat to the people who rely on it for their livelihood and safety.  The SELC, the Audubon Society, Defenders of Wildlife, and other environmentalists have waged a lengthy campaign to close or restrict access to the island’s beaches, prized attractions for islanders and visiting tourists.  Read more at AmericanSpectator.org

Ever wonder why you can’t get a Coke at Taco Bell?  Ten corporations control almost everything you buy, from Klondike bars to designer jeans.  Despite a wide array of brands to choose from, it all comes back to the big guys.  Read more and see the corporate web at BusinessInsider.com

U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), along with Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC), reintroduced the Preserving Public Access to Cape Hatteras Beaches Act, a bill that would reinstate the Interim Management Strategy governing off-road vehicle use on Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CHNS).  Read more at burr.senate.gov

Pending legislation will impose a legal requirement that all new cars made beginning with the 2015 models be fitted with so-called Event Data Recorders (EDRs). These are the “black boxes” you may have read about that store data about how you drive including whether you wear a seat belt and how fast you drive — ostensibly for purposes of post-accident investigation.  Data about your driving can be transmitted – as well as recorded. To whom? Your insurance company, of course.  Read more at TheAmericanSpectator.com

Last-minute opposition to the CISPA, which has been criticized as a “Big Brother” cybersecurity bill, is growing as the U.S. House of Representatives prepares for a vote this week. It’s hardly clear, however, that this wave of opposition will be sufficient.  CISPA would permit, but not require, Internet companies to hand over confidential customer records and communications to the U.S. National Security Agency and other intelligence and law enforcement agencies.  Read more at CNet.com and Forbes.com

Angry Pit Preachers. Posters invoking Dumbledore. Intense partisan debate. With all the controversy surrounding North Carolina’s proposed Amendment One, it’s difficult to discern where truth ends and exaggeration begins.  If all the heated rhetoric frustrates you, you are not alone. In this article you won’t be cursed by vehement speeches or courted by pretty posters. Instead, you’ll find newspaper articles, excerpts from North Carolina’s laws, and – hopefully – a bit of much-needed clarity.  Read more at CarolinaReviewDaily.com

Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society are choking off the lifeblood of communities that depend on North Carolina’s Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area. In 2008, the National Park Service — the federal agency responsible for the popular 70-mile-long world-class sport fishing and tourist destination — caved in to the two environmental groups’ lawsuit claiming human access to the area harms nesting birds.  Read more at WashingtonExaminer.com  

To pay for generous subsidies to purchase health insurance, an expansion of Medicaid, and other new spending, Obamacare raises taxes and adds 17 new taxes or penalties that will affect all Americans.  Read more at Heritage.org 

N.C. Rep. Bill Cook, R-Beaufort, and real estate broker Jerry Evans say regulations are stifling economic growth in eastern North Carolina’s Senate District 1, a vast region of eight coastal counties.
Both describe themselves as fiscal conservatives and say government is too intrusive.  And both say they entered the district’s Republican primary because residents want new blood in the legislative seat held for nearly three decades by Democrat Marc Basnight, the former Senate president pro tem.  Read more about these candidates at CarolinaJournal.com   

President Obama has an ambitious plan for Washington bureaucrats to take command of the oceans—and with it control over much of the nation’s energy, fisheries, even recreation in a move described by lawmakers as the ultimate power grab to zone the seas.  The massive undertaking also includes control over key inland waterways and rivers that reach hundreds of miles upstream, and began with little fanfare when Obama signed an executive order in 2010 to protect the aquatic environment.  Read more at HumanEvents.com  

North Carolina Sea Grant is seeking public input to update its strategic plan.  For more than four decades, North Carolina Sea Grant research and outreach have focused on the coastal region, with topics ranging from fisheries and seafood, to water quality and erosion.  According to a news release, Sea Grant leadership is now looking to update the program’s strategic plan, including goals for future core funding, mini-grants and outreach efforts. Public input will be a key factor.  The survey will take less than 10 minutes, and must be completed by April 30.  NCSeaGrantSurvey

All is bleak. All is woe! I speak of the Tea Party movement, the movement of 2009 and 2010 that was the hot news story of those years, and led to the Republican rout of the Democrats in 2010. Now the Tea Party movement is, according to reports in the media, in decline.  Don’t write it off just yet, at it continues to add candidates to this year’s mix.  Read more at AmericanSpectator.org

April 8 was the first day of NC Vote Tracker during this 2012 Election Year.  The first votes on Vote Tracker will be from absentee by mail ballots.  The Vote Tracker will also track absentee in-person voting when it begins on April 19, 2012. Civitas downloads the voting data from the State Board of Elections website and puts it in a user-friendly database so that everyone can use it.  The Civitas Vote Tracker breaks down the ballots by legislative and congressional district, precinct, party, gender, race and age, all while providing charts and graphs for visual comparison. Read more at CivitasReview.com  The vote tracker is at CarolinaTransparency.com

NCDOT will be holding information sessions about their plans for transportation improvements. Monday, 4/16/12, from 4pm to 7pm at the KDH municipal meeting room. There are similar sessions Tues. in Rodanthe and Wed. in Manteo. This is a drop in and learn type event. Staff will have displays of their plans and the issues they address. After reviewing the plans the public will be able to offer comments to staff. Please consider talking about the need for a multiuse path on Colington Rd.  NCDOT.org

A recent Daily Caller article examines some trends of the death tax, both at the federal and state level – and includes a focus on North Carolina.  If the federal-level death tax is repealed, then that will set North Carolina even further behind other states in terms of being an attractive destination for retirees. Only 22 states currently levy a death tax, and several more states are moving to eliminate theirs.  Read more at CivitasReview.com  

In his 2011 State of the Union Address, President Obama promised that American taxpayers would be able to go online and see exactly how their federal tax dollars are spent. The receipt launched that year and, now, they’ve updated the tool to reflect current spending. Just enter a few pieces of information about your taxes, and the taxpayer receipt will give you a breakdown of how your tax dollars are spent on priorities like education, veterans benefits, or health care.  Check it out at WhiteHouse.gov  

The liberties of more than 300 million people hinge on just one man.  Since the retirement of Sandra Day O’Connor, Swingin’ Anthony Kennedy has been the swingingest swinger on the Supreme Court, the big Numero Cinco on all those 5–4 white-knuckle nail-biting final scores. So naturally Court observers have been paying close attention to his interventions in the Obamacare oral arguments.  Read more of this interesting piece by Mark Steyn at NationalReview.com

Law enforcement tracking of cellphones, once the province mainly of federal agents, has become a powerful and widely used surveillance tool for local police officials, with hundreds of departments, large and small, often using it aggressively with little or no court oversight, documents show.  In cities in Nevada, North Carolina and other states, police departments have gotten wireless carriers to track cellphone signals back to cell towers as part of nonemergency investigations to identify all the callers using a particular tower.  Read more at NYTimes.com  & Cato-at-Liberty.org  

The cost of regulation, in 2010, according to this source, was $1.75 trillion, or about $15,000 per household — almost as much as the average family spends on housing.  Read more at AmericanThinker.com

According to data from the University of Illinois professors Lawrence H. Officer and Samuel H. Williamson, the value of the dollar had depreciated so much by 2008 that it took $5.31 to buy what it cost $1 in 1971 when Nixon decided that the dollar would no longer be backed by gold. Until then, $35 could buy a troy ounce of gold every day. Our dollar today is worth less than 19 cents when compared to 1971 and the price of gold fluctuates between $1,500-1,700 per ounce.  Read more at CanadaFreePress.com

How can we modify licensing in North Carolina? While it is doubtful that North Carolina will do away with occupational licensing in its entirety, common-sense reforms can alleviate many of the burdens that licensing places on our economy:  Read more at NCCivitas.org

North Carolina’s primary election season got started this week.  Here are a few important dates:

April 13: Final day to change party affiliation and register to vote for primary. (Voters can also register at one-stop early voting.)

April 19: Early voting begins.

May 1: Final day to request absentee ballots in writing (except for illness or disability).

May 5: Final day for early voting.

May 8: Primary day. Polls close at 7:30 p.m.

President Obama raised several hundred million dollars during the 2008 election, more than twice what Republican rival John McCain raised and a far cry more than any other U.S. President before him. The result? Obama’s fundraising achievements have ushered in a degree of crony capitalism Americans have quite possibly never witnessed before.  Read more at TheNewAmerican.com

Republicans have a real opportunity to restore credibility as a party and deliver the kind of candidate that the nation needs. It’s why the conservative opposition to Mitt Romney, despite being massively outspent, remains strong and credible. Far from being over, this Republican race is just getting started.  Read more at:

“We are the 99 percent!” That’s the battle cry of Occupy Wall Street.  What are we to make of it?  It’s a worthwhile question with a complex answer.  Corporatism is not the same thing as the free market. Read more at Reason.com

North Carolinians find that they run afoul of one of the most widespread yet least-discussed barriers to creating jobs and pursing one’s dreams: occupational licensing. Doing unlicensed business, or even in some cases doing work for free, in a licensed profession is typically illegal and can lead to fines or even criminal prosecution.  Read more at NCCivitas.org

Let’s face it, the federal government is broken.  It is dysfunctional, unconstitutional, careening towards a cliff at breakneck speed and if it is not stopped it will drag us all down with it.   We have been watching this process as it has pickup speed since the sixties but it has really taken off since 9-11. For those who believe in big government and they sit on both sides of the aisle, 9-11 was a crisis too good to let go to waste. In the name of security we have seen a federal government grow like a black hole sucking in state powers, sovereignty and our liberties but they tell us it’s for our own good, you know “to keep us safe from the bad guys.”  Read more Op-Ed at NCTenthAmendmentCenter.com

It now costs over $10,000 a year to “educate,” or brainwash, a child in a public school, whereas it costs about $550 to $1,000 a year to homeschool a child. The taxpayer pays nothing for the education of a child at home. Yet, the homeschooling parent must continue to pay the taxes for the public schools. This is just one of the minor injustices that exist in our society in the interest of education.  Read more at TheNewAmerican.com

America has been embroiled in a losing war far longer than any engagement in Afghanistan or Iraq. In declaring a “War on Poverty” in 1964, then President Lyndon Johnson asserted the grandiose claim that government could be the conqueror of a foe as old as mankind.  But with rising poverty rates and an exploding national debt it is time to reconsider just how to fight a “war on poverty” and whether government is of any lasting help at all.  Read more at HumanEvents.com

Have something on your mind?  This service will assist you by identifying your congressperson in the U.S. House of Representatives and providing contact information.   WriteRep.House.gov

A North Carolina county has thumbed its nose at the state’s ACLU franchise, which has been warning county officials all over the state to stop opening government meetings with prayer. As reported by the Associated Press, a “Rowan County commissioner opened the board’s [March 5] meeting with a Christian prayer, despite a warning from the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union that it would violate the law and potentially trigger a lawsuit.  Read more at TheNewAmerican.com

Imagine a practice that restricts freedom, stifles competition, crushes dreams of success, and takes money out of consumers’ pockets — often for little or no good reason. Would you call it bureaucratic red tape? Restraint of trade? Highway robbery?  In North Carolina and other states it’s called occupational licensing — the practice of requiring a permit, registration, certification or a license to pursue one’s chosen field. North Carolina agencies and boards impose occupational and regulatory licenses or other requirements on more than 700 professions, ranging from doctors and lawyers to barbers, kickboxing promoters, ginseng dealers and cemetery salespeople.  Read more at NCCivitas.org

The NDAA itself represents a massive expansion of the original Authorization to Use Military Force passed after 9-11. Do you realize the AUMF only granted the president the power to “use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons?” The NDAA expands the universe of persons the president can use force against to “associated forces” (whatever those are) engaged in hostilities against the U.S. or its coalition partners (whoever they are) and those who have committed a “belligerent act” (whatever those are). Read more at TenthAmendmentCenter.com  

As scrutiny of the Federal Reserve System and public outrage over its actions continue to build, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are working on proposals that would supposedly rein in the Fed or at least change the way it operates. And a new measure aims to tackle some of the issues head on.  Joint Economic Committee Vice Chairman Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) is preparing to introduce the latest effort to alter the nation’s monetary system in Congress later this week. Known as the “Sound Dollar Act,” the legislation would impose some major reforms on the way America’s powerful central bank does business.  Read more at TheNewAmerican.com

The Obama administration has used a variety of regulatory agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and other means, to violate the law at least 21 times, Republican attorneys general in nine states allege in a report.  Read the details at Newsmax.com

The “National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011″ is very good legislation for gun owners.  The time is past due to dispel the alarmist rhetoric about the bill, and to set the record straight.  H.R. 822 is a GOOD bill and is GOOD for gun owners.  The bill would ENHANCE Americans’ right to self-defense by enabling millions of permit holders to exercise their right to self-defense while traveling outside their home states.  Read more at NRA-ILA.org

Have you ever noticed how statists are constantly “reforming” their own handiwork? Education reform. Health-care reform. Welfare reform. Tax reform. The very fact that they’re always busy “reforming” is an implicit admission that they didn’t get it right the first 50 times.  Read more of this interesting essay at TheFreeman.org

Interestingly enough, as TSA officials like to routinely point out, their agency’s acronym stands for Transportation Security Administration, not the Airport Security Administration. This fact has extended the TSA’s reach has far beyond the confines of our nation’s airports. In October Tennessee became the first state to conduct a statewide Department of Homeland Security Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) team operation which randomly inspected Tennessee truck drivers and cars.   Read more at Forbes.com

For a list of candidates running in NC grouped by contest click HERE  

Americans For Prosperity has arranged transportation for the March 27, 2012 rally in Washington DC. Can’t beat the price for $10.00 from VA/NY/NJ/PA/MD and $15.00 from NC.  For details click HERE

From the Democrat Party website:

“Democrats are unwavering in our support of equal opportunity for all Americans. That’s why we’ve worked to pass every one of our nation’s Civil Rights laws, and every law that protects workers. Most recently, Democrats stood together to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act.

“On every civil rights issue, Democrats have led the fight. We support vigorous enforcement of existing laws, and remain committed to protecting fundamental civil rights in America.”

LIARS!!!  For the historical truth, follow this link to an excellent expose: The Democrat Race Lie | Black & Right X.  Today it is their giveaway government programs that keep minorities “barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen,” so to speak, rather than enabling them to rise out of their low status.  And they are always the ones who falsely cry foul and play the race card against Republicans and conservatives.  And they have the gall to claim the title of Civil Rights champions!  BS!

or Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire

The White House billed President Obama’s energy policy speech as a response to mounting criticism of record high gas prices. What he delivered was a grab bag of excuses and outright falsehoods.

Obama’s main message to struggling motorists was: It’s not my fault, so stop whining. The speech only got worse from there, recycling excuses and myths that Obama’s peddled for years. But there were some standout whoppers that deserve debunking. The five biggest:  Read more at Obama Speech On High Gas Prices Contained Five Major Whoppers About Energy – Investors.com.

Can this man open his mouth without a lie spilling out?

The only thing they don’t ask Republican candidates about much is economic questions and debt questions. Instead they ask horribly slanted, often irrelevant questions designed to make them look bad and help Obama. We’ve heard questions about contraceptives, religion, Newt’s angry ex-wife, Cain’s employees, Romney’s personal wealth, Gardasil, etc. Newt’s rise was because of the way he attacked the media and Obama in the debates because of the stupid and obviously planted questions.  So, what would happen if the mainstream media treated Barack Obama the exact same way they treat Republicans? The questions might sound a little something like this.  (Read more at Townhall.com)

This is from the UK Telegraph: “The amount of income tax paid fell sharply [in Britain] last month in the first formal indication that the new 50p higher rate is not raising the expected amount of revenue.” Well, duh. Everybody knew this was going to happen. This is why average Americans look at people who run governments and say, “Are you stupid?” If you want less of an activity, tax it, and after you tax it, if you want less again, you raise taxes on it. If you want more of an activity, you lower taxes on it. But look what government does.  Read more at Obama’s “Corporate Tax Cut” is a Tax Increase! – The Rush Limbaugh Show.

Obama’s “tax cut” is paid for by tripling the dividends tax rate from 15% to 45%.  Essentially half of your dividends will be taken from you.  What is this going to do to the stock market?  Beware of Obama bearing gifts.  Somebody’s gonna get screwed!

The Tea Party isn’t dead. It’s just looking down ballot. While fiscal conservatives remain split over the GOP presidential candidates, grassroots activists are coalescing around a stellar slate of limited-government candidates looking to reinforce and reenergize the right in Washington.  And in the spirit of the modern-day tea party movement, no entrenched incumbent — Democrat or Republican — is safe.  Read more at YourHoustonNews.com

While people have been celebrating the victory over SOPA and PIPA, here’s what has managed to slip by relatively unobserved, until now.  A bill, titled H.R. 1981, “Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011,” is being sponsored by Lamar Smith and is considered to be a wide-ranging Internet surveillance bill with many other domineering attempts by the government to invade privacy and control the Internet.  Read more at International Business Times

I’ve been contacted by many readers asking why I use the word “progressive” instead of “liberal.” I figured I’d write a little bit about why this week…

Remember when Democrats used to call themselves liberals? Then conservatives showed the world what liberals really were, and no one wanted to call themselves that anymore. Now, they call themselves progressives again – as they did in the early 20th century until their racist/fascist agenda was rejected and they went into hiding under the word liberal. Read more at Why “Progressives” and not “Liberals”?

…the United States and other nations should shift from a tax-and-transfer entitlement scheme to a system of personal retirement accounts. Some left wingers criticized the idea, saying the big drop in the stock market in 2008-2009 is proof that personal retirement accounts are too risky. You won’t be surprised to learn, though, that they are wrong.  Read more at  Even with a Volatile Stock Market, Personal Retirement Accounts Are Better and Safer than Social Security

Perhaps the greatest single piece of sociological, cultural and political legerdemain in the last 40 years has been liberals convincing the country that they have not moved left since John Kennedy’s death. Despite George McGovern, Roe v. Wade, the welfare state, gay marriage and now the Obama attack on religion, liberals have managed to present themselves as the voices of reason in a country gone crazily right wing. And the more liberals move left, the more hysterical their rhetoric about the right grows. At this point, anyone who claims that a balanced budget is good economics or that there are physiological differences between men and women is stamped a Nazi.  Read more opinion at TheDailyCaller.com

When Republicans took control of the North Carolina General Assembly in 2010, their victory won them more than just the ability to write the state budget or act on their legislative agenda. For the first time in the modern era, they won the power to draw electoral districts for federal, state, and even some local offices.  The GOP has exercised that power, even as some Republican leaders and members continued to offer rhetorical support for their longstanding position in favor of redistricting reform. The new maps for U.S. House, N.C. House, and N.C. Senate strongly favor Republican candidates. Those maps are the single-biggest reason – not the economy, not fundraising disadvantages, not concern over the national ticket – why so many Democrats are retiring or running for other offices in 2012.  Read more at CarolinaJournal.com

Thousands of pounds of good food is tossed in the garbage every day across the state and the nation. Schools have to follow the USDA meal guidelines in order to be reimbursed for the cost of the food. Kevin Campbell runs a pre-K program in Mecklenburg County. He is also a member of the North Carolina Licensed Child Care Association (NCLCCA). Campbell says every program has to report how much food is served to children and the school is reimbursed $1.50 for every meal even if the meal is thrown away. Campbell says he’s known programs to give a child a 50-cent apple, for example, and be reimbursed at the full price of a lunch.  Read more at NCCivitas.org

The following article by Thomas Sowell is a brilliantly enlightening revelation of the historical roots of the current Progressive philosophy that is at the heart of our modern day political problems.

Although Barack Obama is the first black President of the United States, he is by no means unique, except for his complexion. He follows in the footsteps of other presidents with a similar vision, the vision at the heart of the Progressive movement that flourished a hundred years ago.

Many of the trends, problems and disasters of our time are a legacy of that era. We can only imagine how many future generations will be paying the price — and not just in money — for the bright ideas and clever rhetoric of our current administration.  Read more at The ‘Progressive’ Legacy – Part 1.  Read Part 2.  Read Part 3.

For those who claim the voter ID proponents are making a big deal out of nothing, that voter fraud is rare, read the following article.

Suffrage: A new study finds that nearly 2 million dead people remain on voter registration rolls. So tell us again why Democrats oppose voter ID laws that would help prevent these errant registrations from being exploited?

The Pew Center on the States study found that our country’s voter registration system is “plagued with errors and inefficiencies….”  As many as 24 million registrations are invalid or contain significant errors, including almost 3 million who are registered in two or more states and 1.8 million dead people still listed as active voters.  Read more at Pew Voter Registration Study Points To Urgent Need For Stricter Voter ID Laws – Investors.com.

In an effort to make decision-making more accessible to the public, the Kill Devil Hills Board of Commissioners agreed Monday night to begin televising its meetings.  Read more at OuterBanksVoice.com

A preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School ate three chicken nuggets for lunch Jan. 30 because a state employee told her the lunch her mother packed was not nutritious.  The girl’s turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, according to the interpretation of the agent who was inspecting all lunch boxes in her More at Four classroom that day.   Read more at CarolinaJournal.com and TheBlaze.com

The FDA won its two-year fight to shut down an Amish farmer who was selling fresh raw milk to eager consumers in the Washington, D.C., region after a judge this month banned Daniel Allgyer from selling his milk across state lines and he told his customers he would shut down his farm altogether.  Read more at WashingtonTimes.com  

By Friday, February 10th, an estimated 500 Europeans had died from the freezing weather gripping the continent. This is the price they and British citizens are paying for embracing the global warming hoax, spending billions for wind power when they should have been building coal-fired and other sources of energy to heat their homes and businesses.  Read more at CanadaFreePress.com

Two incumbents and two potential challengers officially entered the race for seats on the Dare County Board of Commissioners as filing for the May 8 primary got under way at noon Monday.  Four seats on the Board of Education are available in the May 8 non-partisan election.  Read the details at OuterBanksVoice.com  

As Talking Points Memo points out this morning, President Obama’s proposed budget forecasts an average unemployment rate of 8.9% for the entire year. It also forecasts a GDP growth of 3% next year, which is a rosy figure considering the fact that Obama’s tax increases will kick in January 2013.  Read more at » Obama Budget Forecasts 8.9% Unemployment for the Entire Year – Big Government.

I believe Obama really is incompetent, as well as, like most liberals, having absolutely no clue how to run anything.  Not only is he a sneaking, lying conniver; he is ignorant and ineffective at it.

“The White House intends to boost government subsidies for wealthy buyers of the Chevy Volt and other new-technology vehicles — to $10,000 per buyer.”  Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/13/obama-hikes-subsidy-to-wealthy-electric-car-buyers/#ixzz1mJ4Mlkpt

More big government manipulation telling us what we have to buy, forcing us to pay for things we don’t want.  They have to pay us to buy them!  Light bulbs, Obamacare, autos, windmills and solar power, and more, forced upon us.  Along with the recent contraception insurance mandate for the Catholic church and religious or non-profit organizations, Obama is getting bolder, either because he knows his days are numbered and time is running short, or because he senses victory in November and the shackles of having to appear centrist are coming off.

For the 50th consecutive year, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012 provides funding and authorities for the U.S. military. It also includes several policy provisions regarding the handling of al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists. Some organizations and individuals have criticized section 1021, and some have claimed that this bill creates or expands federal authority to detain U.S. citizens indefinitely and without due process.  Read The Heritage Foundation’s analysis at Heritage.org

The Cape Hatteras Access Preservation Alliance (CHAPA) today filed a lawsuit against the federal government agencies in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in an effort to stop the Park Service from implementing its off-road vehicle management plan and ORV final rule, which becomes effective next Wednesday, Feb. 15.  In its complaint, CHAPA takes issue with just about every step in the process of ORV rulemaking, which, it says, began in earnest in 2005.  Read more at IslandFreePress.org

More than half of the candidates expected on North Carolina’s presidential primary ballots in May come from the Libertarian Party.  The three parties recognized by the state had until Tuesday to file letters with the State Board of Elections to identify their candidates for the May 8 presidential preference primary.  Read more at NewsObserver.com

The Post compared the annual financial disclosure reports filed by every member of Congress over the past decade to a wide range of public records. The resulting snapshot was then matched to earmarks and other spending provisions members sought for pet projects.  Read more at WashingtonPost.com  (Scroll over Rep. Butterfield)

State public campaign funding for key races is drying up, and that may leave some campaigns high and dry – at the worst time.  The funding for Council of State races (treasurer, insurance commissioner and superintendent of public instruction) has virtually run out, while “rescue funds” will no longer be available to supposedly level the playing field in appellate court races.  Read more at NCCivitas.org

These two charts (follow link below) show the stark contrast between what happens when you free up capitalism and when you thwart it. It is clear that Obama’s policies are prolonging the effects of the recession (just like FDR policies extended the Depression until WWII.) Follow link to see charts and to read more Obamanomics vs. Reaganomics « Government Gone Wild.

The Obama administration on Tuesday announced a new “public advocate” charged with listening to immigrants’ concerns about its law enforcement policies — but Republicans said the position amounts to an official mouthpiece for illegal immigrants being deported.  Read more at WashingtonTimes.com

Glen Bradley, (R-49) confirmed today his intention to introduce a resolution in the General Assembly to address the unconstitutional provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012.  Read more at NCRenagade.com

A new trailer is in place behind the National Park Service Visitor Center on Ocracoke.  A seven minute educational video has been made and screened.  Two full time and two seasonal jobs have been created and are in the process of being filled.  A new ramp and parking areas will open in the future.  Who is paying for all this?  Anyone who wants to take a vehicle into an off road area of Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  Read more at OcracokeCurrent.com

Much has been made of the 1% vs. the 99%; the “super-rich” vs. the rest of us, who are presumably the hard working, loyal Americans who’ve been left behind. But who are the rest of us, and how does who we are affect how much we pay in taxes, and how we may vote?  Read more at America’s Atlas Generation – The Forgotten 33% « Union Watch.

Congress is finally probing the administration’s shakedown of banks over alleged “lending discrimination.” At issue is backdoor funding of Acorn clones.  Read more about this most corrupt administration in decades at Congress Probes Justice Dept.’s Anti-Bank Witch Hunt – Investors.com.

An administrative law judge in Georgia could decide as early as this week whether voters in the state convinced him Barack Obama’s name should be removed from the 2012 presidential ballot because he is not qualified to hold the office.  But win, lose or draw, the fight isn’t going to be over, as other cases are erupting across the nation, with challenges being raised anew even in Obama’s own adopted political network in Illinois.  Read more at WND.com

“Constitution 101: The Meaning and History of the Constitution” is a FREE 10-week online course presented by Hillsdale College.  Lectures and other study materials will be released by noon each Monday according to schedule.  Each lecture is approximately 40 minutes in length.  Once released, they are available to view at your convenience.  HillsdaleCollege.edu

It seems self-defeating: A Republican-crafted redistricting plan hurting Republicans’ election chances. But in two North Carolina districts, it’s true.  Read more at CarolinaJournal.com

Could 2012 turn conventional wisdom on its head? Here’s the conventional wisdom: President Obama’s re-election is vulnerable to the weak economy and high joblessness.  Here’s what might happen: The economy gradually improves, and although unemployment stays high (exceeding 8 percent), what counts politically is the palpable sense that things are moving in the right direction.  Read more Op-Ed at RealClearPolitics.com   

Over the last three years, the number of Americans on food stamps has skyrocketed by two-thirds and stands at a record-high 46 million citizens, or one out of every seven people in the United States.  Despite the historic rise in food stamp use, however, the Obama Administration believes not enough people are receiving food stamps who should be and is offering $75,000 grants to groups who devise “effective strategies” to “increase program participation” among those who have yet to sign up.  Read more at BigGoverment.com

The year 2010 signaled significant change at the state and local levels. Not only did the GOP take both houses of the state legislature for the first time in a century, Dare Republicans also did remarkably well.  Read more at OuterBanksVoice.com

In his speech, Obama repeatedly turned to the tax code to explain what’s wrong with the country. It favors the rich, he said. It benefits companies that send jobs abroad. It subsidizes the dirty old oil industry. It’s the cause of our deficit problem. And worst of all, plenty of people and businesses aren’t paying their “fair share.”

None of it is true.

Read more at Obama’s Big 6 State of the Union Tax Myths – Investors.com.

via Obama’s Big 6 State of the Union Tax Myths – Investors.com.

President Obama made a number of questionable statements in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night. Heritage experts took on some of the policy issues he raised, but we at Scribe thought we would address the simple factual accuracy of 10 of the more outlandish statements from the president. Read more at The Foundry.

Speaking last night from the U.S. Capitol, President Barack Obama described the state of the Union as he sees it — strong and getting stronger, with future growth fueled by his pursuit of progressive policies and an expansion of government, all architected to bring about his brand of “fairness.” The President essentially redelivered his 2011 State of the Union address — complete with the same empty rhetoric, class warfare cloaked in “fairness,” and proposals for massive tax and spending increases. For the real world version and what four more years of Obama means to America, read more at Obama’s State of Omission.

When sites like Wikipedia and Reddit banded together for a major blackout January 18th, the impact was felt all the way to Washington D.C. The blackout had lawmakers running from the controversial anti-piracy legislation, SOPA and PIPA, which critics said threatened freedom of speech online.  Unfortunately for free-speech advocates, these pieces of legislation are not the only laws which threaten an open internet.  Few people have heard of ACTA, or the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, but the provisions in the agreement appear quite similar to – and more expansive than – anything we saw in SOPA. Worse, the agreement spans virtually all of the countries in the developed world, including all of the EU, the United States, Switzerland and Japan.  Read more at Forbes.com

In a scandal reeking of electoral fraud, a Democrat-linked political hack was arrested Friday for identity theft in an apparent bid to defame and replace Iowa’s GOP secretary of state. How far up does this go?

Zachary Edwards, who served as President Obama’s Iowa “New Media Director,” and a campaign organizer in critical battleground states such as North Carolina and New Mexico during 2008′s elections, apparently has quite a range of uses to the Democratic Party. One of those uses may include identity theft. Should heads roll? Read more at Iowa Electoral Fraud Scandal Unfolding: Will This Be Barack Obama’s Watergate? – Investors.com.

(G)oing budget-less for so long has devastated our economy as Democrats have spent “$9.4 trillion and added $4.1 trillion to the national debt,” plus over $1 trillion in deficits.

Read more at That Democrats Have Gone Three Years Without Passing A Budget Is An Outrage – Investors.com.

Interested in seeing the effectiveness your school or district?  Access the data at NCReportCard.org

The budget process forces Congress to set priorities to protect the people’s money and put it to its appropriate use. Instead, the Democrat-controlled Senate has abdicated its responsibility. The result? The deficit is soaring, causing a looming tax burden and injecting uncertainty into the economy, leaving jobs and economic growth on the table. It’s no wonder the U.S. economy’s growth is so tepid.  To read more from The Foundry, click here.

Ron Paul knows even less about the history of our enemies than he does about their proper treatment under the Constitution. He actually interrupted Monday night’s Republican candidates’ debate so he could interject the following:  Follow this link to read more from National Review.

The latest international Index of Economic Freedom revealed that the economy of the United States lost even more liberty for a fourth consecutive year, dropping from ninth to tenth place under the Obama administration and solidifying its designation as “mostly free” — earned in 2009, down from “free” the year before that.  Read more at TheNewAmerican.com

As the light bulb phaseout goes into effect, you may be surprised to know the law also requires their already-costly replacements to be phased out too.  That’s right, new light bulb efficiency standards set by Washington also mandate light bulbs become 70% more efficient than classic bulbs by 2020. The only bulbs that meet that higher standard are light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. And they are even more expensive than compact fluorescent lamps.  But an LED replacement for a 50-cent, 60-watt incandescent bulb costs as much as $60.  The Energy Dept. claims each household can save $50 a year in electricity by replacing 15 traditional bulbs. But the costs of the new CFLs exceed those savings. And they’ll only get worse with LEDs.  Read more at IBD:

The Conservative Leadership Conference will train, prepare, and motivate the citizens of North Carolina. They will have speakers and trainers from Heritage and Heritage Action, American Enterprise Institute, Americans for Prosperity, Civitas, and Texas Watchdog, along with radio personalities from the local and national level.  More details at Battleground.org

If you want to mesmerize small children and make them believe everything you’re saying, just grab a guitar and deliver your philosophy in the form of music. Soft sounds and attractive rhymes ring true with kids, regardless of the content or message.

Virginia-based non-profit called “Kid Pan Alley.” Musicians who belong to the group visit elementary schools for a reported $1,200 per day, supposedly helping children learn to write their own musical lyrics. When the “workshop” is finished, they help the kids perform “their” songs for classmates in school assemblies. The lyrics these kids come up with are amazingly adult in their political content, and startlingly liberal for very small children who generally have little coherent understanding of politics at all. Read more at  » Kid Pan Alley Encouraging Students to ‘Compose’ Left-Wing Protest Songs – Big Government.

The Transportation Planning Branch of the North Carolina Department of Transportation, in cooperation with Dare County and all its municipalities as well as Albemarle Rural Planning Organization, is developing a transportation plan for the county.   Voice your opinion at DareCountyCTPSurvey

Former Gov. Mike Easley will remain without his law license for another year under an order issued this week by the North Carolina State Bar.  The State Bar filed a formal complaint against Easley last month, seeking disciplinary action for his conviction for campaign fraud.  Read more at WRAL.com

This study from George Mason University comprehensively ranks the American states on their public policies that affect individual freedoms in the economic, social, and personal spheres.   Mercatus.org

70 percent of likely U.S. voters believe that voters “should be required to show photo identification such as a driver’s license before being allowed to cast their ballot,” according to a recent Rasmussen poll. Meanwhile, only 22 percent of Americans are opposed to the requirement.  Read more at Voter ID Prevents Election Fraud.

“We have been hearing consistently from the Senate offices that the President is considering a recess appointment of Richard Cordray along with a slew of other controversial nominees in the brief period between the two sessions of Congress,” a key Senate source said. “Now we are hearing from Senior Democrat staffers that something big is coming tomorrow [Jan 4].”  Read more at » Red Alert: New Unconstitutional Presidential Power Grab May Be Imminent – Big Government.

A new year will bring some new laws to North Carolina, with changes in store for teenage drivers, county jails and people buying certain kinds of cold medicine.  Read more at NewsObserver.com

Former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole has endorsed Mitt Romney in the race for the GOP presidential nomination.  NewsObserver.com

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr has endorsed Mitt Romney in the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.  NewsObserver.com

Medical milestone or privacy invasion? A tiny computer chip approved Wednesday for implantation in a patient’s arm can speed vital information about a patient’s medical history to doctors and hospitals. But critics warn that it could open new ways to imperil the confidentiality of medical records.  Read more at MSNBC

(Liv’s prediction: it will be mandatory if you have medicaid/medicare. Excuse: it keeps costs down & speeds service)  

For those who collect quotations, the American political landscape of 2011 was fertile terrain indeed. Many of the most memorable utterances were real head-slappers: politicians of both parties bragging, prevaricating, forgetting themselves — and misremembering the basics of U.S. history. Yet others were uplifting, or disarming by their blunt candor.   Read more at RealClearPolitics.com

With no public notice and no public input, the Winston-Salem City Council on Monday night considered temporarily changing the city ordinance governing free speech and public assembly to prohibit such activities on City Hall grounds.  Read more at Winston Salem Journal

State law requires North Carolina utility companies to generate 7.5 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2018. The standard can’t be met without wind, an energy source some scientists call counterproductive.  Electricity generated from the wind is inefficient, extremely expensive, and bad for the environment, argued scientists and economists at a forum sponsored by the John Locke Foundation Dec. 5, at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. Read more at CarolinaJournal.com

If history is any guide, North Carolina is headed for a lawsuit-riddled election cycle next year. One of the consequences could be a delayed primary for state offices, a possibility that could hurt incumbents during an election season that’s already projected to be infused with anti-incumbency fervor.  Delays could force a second election in August or September.  Read more at CarolinaJournal.com

Over the weekend, First Amendment impresario Floyd Abrams addressed two controversial Internet piracy bills, the Senate’s Protect IP Act (PIPA) and the House version, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). He argued that the bill, designed to stop Internet theft of intellectual property, has been denounced by critics for setting up “ ‘walled gardens patrolled by government censors.’ Or derided as imparting ‘major features’ of ‘China’s Great Firewall’ to America. And accused of being ‘potentially politically repressive.’ ”  Read more at WashingtonPost.com  & TheHill.com

Step aside, Bev Perdue and Pat McCrory. One of the most competitive Council of State races in 2012 already is shaping up to be for state schools superintendent.  More at CarolinaJournal.com

That effort got its start Wednesday in the House Committee on the State’s Role in Immigration Policy, which drew a crowd representing both sides of the controversial issue. The committee can recommend legislation to be considered next year.  Read more at NewsObserver.com

N.C. Rep. Dale Folwell, R-Forsyth, announced Thursday that he won’t seek a fifth term in office next year, freeing him potentially to seek higher office.  Asked if he would seek higher office in 2012, the Winston-Salem Republican didn’t name any specifics but left the door open.  More at CarolinaJournal.com

The collapse of the supercommittee in November guarantees that arguments over U.S. debt won’t go away in 2012. Instead, the presidential race should only intensify partisan bickering over our debt, who’s responsible for it, and what we can and should do about it.  Consider this your end-of-year glossary and guide to next year’s debt debate.  TheAtlantic.com

Anyone who is licensed to carry a concealed weapon in North Carolina received the freedom to carry their weapon to more locations due to a new state law.  However…      Read more and watch at News14.com

The U.S. House voted Thursday to end public financing of campaigns with all Republicans but one united in their support.  The one: Congressman Walter Jones of Farmville. Jones is an ardent support of public financing and wants more of it, not less. More at  NewsObserver.com

Despite strong pleas Monday from supporters of North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act, , state senators voted to repeal it.  The House already approved the repeal, it will now head to Gov. Bev Perdue’s desk for her approval.  News14.com

Dare County Human Resources Office 

Need to know who’s your state lawmaker? Or what new energy legislation would do? Yes, there’s an app for that.  The N.C. General Assembly debuted a free application for Android-powered phones this week that allows users to get quick access to committee meeting schedules, lawmaker contact information or even the text of legislation.  Read more at NewsObserver.com

Conservative interest groups and Republican lawmakers want Justice Elena Kagan off the health care case. Liberals and Democrats in Congress say it’s Justice Clarence Thomas who should sit it out.  Read more at HuffingtonPost.com

Scroll about 1/2 way down.  RollCall.com

1. Higher taxes lead to higher spending, not lower deficits.
2. A value-added tax would be a disaster.
3. A welfare state cripples the human spirit.
4. Nations reach a point of no return when the number of people mooching off government exceeds the number of people producing.
5. BAILOUTS DON’T WORK.

Read more details and see video at Forbes.com

As the Congressional committee charged with reining in the deficit nears its deadline for coming up with a way to cut it by at least $1.2 trillion over 10 years, the Tea Party — or at least, a small group aiming to represent the Tea Party — is presenting its own ideas.  The group, the Tea Party Debt Commission, has been soliciting ideas from Tea Party supporters over the past several months, and will release its final recommendations Thursday,  11/17/11, at a hearing on Capitol Hill convened for it by conservative Senators and House members.  Read more at NYTimes.com  (Liv: Small?  I don’t think so. )

The genesis of the problem in our universities is the “democratization” of education and the easy availability of student loans, “Affordable education,” November 7. The nation is thus saddled with a trillion dollars in student loan debt ready to follow the housing bubble.  Read more of UNCW physics professor Moorad Alexanian’s letter at Wilmington Star-News

House Speaker John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi pushed back hard Thursday against an upcoming “60 Minutes” report that is expected to raise questions about potential conflicts of interest between congressional leaders’ personal stock holdings and their involvement in legislation that may affect those investments.  In separate news conferences, the leaders were both asked by “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft whether they see such a conflict. But it was Pelosi’s exchange that attracted attention from conservative media.  Read more at Politico.com

From 1992 through the height of the housing bubble, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac used their monopoly position in the mortgage securitization industry to reward firms like Countrywide for making bad bets in the housing market. Countrywide’s success was a signal to other market participants to lower their standards as well.

Wall Street banks are not blameless for the financial crisis. But they were only responding to the incentives set up by the federal government. Read more at Conn Carroll: Facts show Fannie, Freddie led mortgage market to the collapse | Conn Carroll | Columnists | Washington Examiner.

Some editorial writers have called for evicting the OWS squatters from downtown Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park (a better solution: Lock them in! Wouldn’t society be much better off without these malodorous whiners?), but the longer the occupation lasts, the more valuable the lessons being learned by these youngsters. Their college educations obviously didn’t include even rudimentary tutelage about how a marketplace — and by extension (since most things are connected to trade) society — works.  Read more at Forbes.com

There’s an entire subject area in economics, known as tax incidence, that investigates who bears the burden of a tax. It turns out that the burden of a tax is not necessarily borne by the party or entity upon whom it is levied. For example, if a sales tax is levied on a cigarette retailer, the retailer does not bear the full burden of the tax. Part of it will be shifted forward to customers in the form of higher product prices. The exact amount of the shifting depends upon market supply and demand conditions.� Read more at Ignorance Exploited – Page 1 – Walter E. Williams – Townhall Conservative.

Thursday, attorneys representing 44 North Carolinians filed a lawsuit challenging the new, Republican-drawn redistricting maps. The new lines determine districts for North Carolina’s legislative and Congressional representation. The NAACP, Democracy North Carolina, the League of Women Voters and the Randolph Institute are expected to file another joint lawsuit against the maps Friday morning.  Read more and watch at News14.com

Freddie Mac, the US-controlled mortgage financier, has requested an additional $6bn from US taxpayers, following a $4.4bn third-quarter loss, the company’s worst three-month performance in more than a year.   MyGovCost.org

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the hybrid semi-private mortgage entities, are issuing seven figure bonuses to some of their executives.  12.79 million dollars in bonuses is expected to be doled out to ten executives.  WashingtonTimes.com  

The Senate’s PROTECT IP Act and its House companion legislation, SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), threaten to undermine the freedom we all enjoy on the Net.  That’s it.  No “trappings” of due process. Those sites will simply vanish from the internet.  Read more at CampaignforLiberty.org

At a million-dollar San Francisco fundraiser October 26, President Obama warned his recession-battered supporters that if he loses the 2012 election it could herald a new, painful era of self-reliance in America.  “The one thing that we absolutely know for sure is that if we don’t work even harder than we did in 2008, then we’re going to have a government that tells the American people, ‘you are on your own,’” Obama told a crowd of 200 donors over lunch at the W Hotel.  Read more at Independent.org  (Liv: Ask not what your country can do for you, rather what you can do for yourself.)  

The legislature’s main oversight committee meets in Raleigh Thursday to hear progress reports on the state budget. They may not like what they’re about to hear.  Read the details at WRAL.com

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is coming to North Carolina to help fellow Republican Pat McCrory and his all-but-certain repeat campaign for governor next year.  NewsObserver.com

“Occupy Norfolk” is struggling to find an identity as some protesters laugh about what the goal of the movement is.  Read more at CBSWashington

When’s the last time we’ve heard widespread complaints about our clothing stores, supermarkets, computer stores or appliance stores? We are far likelier to hear people complaining about services they receive from the post office, motor vehicle and police departments, boards of education and other government agencies.  Read more at Profits Are For People – Latest Headlines – Investors.com.

Hurricane Irene was the first major storm to batter America’s Atlantic coast in several years, and the effects are still evident today. But one of the most unusual aspects of Irene is the debate that lingers over an island road and the families who rely upon it.  Read more at WashingtonTimes.com

Four Republican federal lawmakers from North Carolina scored A’s on a new congressional report card from the Washington, D.C. watchdog group Council for Citizens Against Government Waste. At the same time, two of the most liberal members of the Tar Heel State’s congressional delegation scored zero.  Read more at CarolinaJournal.com

To underline how dramatically PBS and NPR have tried to shift the American political discussion to the left, Media Research Center analysts have assembled a list of the 20 most obnoxiously biased stories or statements from public broadcasting stars and stories over the last 25 years.  Read more at MRC.org

Let’s look at CEO salaries, but before doing so, let’s look at other salary disparities between those at the bottom and those at the top. According to Forbes’ Celebrity 100 list for 2010, Oprah Winfrey earned $290 million. Even if her makeup person or cameraman earned $100,000, she earned thousands of times more than that. Is that fair? Among other celebrities earning hundreds or thousands of times more than the people who work with them are Tyler Perry ($130 million), Jerry Bruckheimer ($113 million), Lady Gaga ($90 million) and Howard Stern ($76 million). According to Forbes, the top 10 celebrities, excluding athletes, earned an average salary of a little more than $100 million in 2010.

According to The Wall Street Journal Survey of CEO Compensation (November 2010), Gregory Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media, earned $87 million, Oracle’s Lawrence Ellison ($68 million) and rounding out the top 10 CEOs was McKesson’s John Hammergren, earning $24 million. It turns out that the top 10 CEOs have an average salary of $43 million, which pales in comparison with America’s top 10 celebrities, who earn an average salary of $100 million.

Prince of Peeps wants to know when are we having “Occupy Hollywood” and “Occupy Sports Arenas?”  Read more at Pitting Us Against Each Other – Page 1 – Walter E. Williams – Townhall Conservative.

President Obama’s class-envy strategy is built on a false premise — that the rich get richer at the expense of the poor. Amazingly, such zero-sum thinking is influencing public opinion.

This is an emotional response to both the hard economic times and dishonest political rhetoric. People are buying into the notion peddled by the left that the rich steal from people. It’s a pernicious myth left over from preindustrial Marxism. Read more at Busting The 1% Vs. 99% Myth – Investors.com.

Gov. Bev Perdue and Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco led a discussion today with business and education leaders in Beijing about opportunities for Chinese students at North Carolina colleges, according to the governor’s office.  Perdue used the event to promote Tar Heel schools as a destination for Chinese students.  More at NewsObserver.com  

The Republican Party’s national chairman this morning accused President Obama of “shipping union jobs outside North Carolina” for the Democratic National Convention.  Read more at CharlotteObserver.com

President Barack Obama kicked off a three-day bus tour of North Carolina and Virginia Monday, drumming up support for his $450 billion American Jobs Act.   Read a transcript of his speech at Asheville airport at CarolinaJournal.com

The president will land in Asheville Monday, speak to students at a high school in Millers Creek and spend the night in the Triad before turning north through Virginia, another battleground state the that he must carry if he wants to win re-election next year.  Read more at WRAL.com

Occupy Raleigh demonstrators were back at the Capitol Sunday, but this time stuck to the sidewalks.  The group is protesting corporate influence over politics and economic injustice. Twenty people were arrested for trespassing after being asked to leave the Capitol grounds following Saturday’s Occupy Raleigh rally. The arrests came more than four hours after the group’s permit to be on the grounds expired.  More and video at News14Carolina  & NewsObserver.com

As many state governments struggle to balance their budgets, it should come as no surprise that politicians are looking for new sources of revenue. Proposals to require state governments to collect sales taxes from consumers making purchases online again are back in play because, it is said, public treasuries are being starved of needed cash, and local “brick-and-mortar” retailers are being injured as more and more commerce shifts to a now-tax-free Internet.  Internet commerce may be the Commerce Clause’s last gasp. If so, we might as well cede all powers to Washington and obey the edicts of a totalitarian central authority.  Read more at Independent.org

The Obama administration cut a major planned benefit from the 2010 health-care law on Friday, announcing that a program to offer Americans insurance for long-term care was simply unworkable.   Read more at WashingtonPost.com  (Liv: no kidding)

The U.S budget deficit for fiscal year 2011 is $1.299 trillion, the second largest shortfall in history.  The nation only ran a larger deficit for the 2009 fiscal year, which included the dramatic collapse of financial markets and a huge bailout effort by the government. The nation’s deficit that year was $1.412 trillion.  Read more at TheHillcom

Herman Cain got what he wanted from this week’s debate — he drew attention to his 9-9-9 plan for tax reform, and he proved that he could handle attacks from the field and maintain his aggressiveness. But now that Cain has drawn attention to the plan he says will jump start the economy, he will find more questions and challenges as well as supporters.  Read more at Should conservatives back the 9-9-9 plan? « Hot Air.

To their chagrin, the media elite moderating the latest GOP presidential debate got schooled in the real causes of the financial crisis by the line-up of candidates.

At Tuesday’s forum, the Washington Post’s Karen Tumulty asked Michele Bachmann if she thought Wall Street bankers have been sufficiently punished for “the damage they did to the economy.” Only, the Minnesota congresswoman didn’t take the bait, instead giving the misinformed Tumulty a much-needed education.  Read more at It’s The CRA, Stupid! – Investors.com.

As Democrats celebrate their primary victories and seek to build on them next month, Republicans would be well advised not to react the way the Democrats did two years ago. They should not attempt to question the legitimacy of any shift in power by pointing to low voter turnout, as Wake County Democrats did in 2009. Turnout is always low in municipal-election years. That serves to magnify the importance of organized voting blocs who get out their vote, be they conservatives in 2009 or liberals in 2011. It doesn’t mean that the elections count any less.  Read more at CarolinaJournal.com

President Obama promised “a new era of open and accountable government.”  Now, amid scandals and an unlikely re-election, congressional allies want his documents locked away from historians and journalists.  Last year, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees the corrupt public/private mortgage entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, unilaterally exempted itself from the FOIA law and contended it was not required to release documents. As two scandals continue to unfold — Fast and Furious, in which the U.S. government gave thousands of firearms to Mexican drug lords, and Solyndra, in which the doomed solar panel maker got $535 million in taxpayer loan guarantees in the name of green energy — it’s an odd time to consider the Democrats’ “Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2011.”   Read more at Investors.com

A North Carolina college student was pulled out of his classroom last week and banned from campus after he complained on Facebook about his school’s aggressive marketing of a debit card company to its students. Officials at Catawba Valley Community College punished him for a satirical Facebook post deemed “contrary to the best interest of the CVCC community” .  ”Catawba Valley Community College violated the First Amendment by responding to obviously hyperbolic criticism with swift and severe punishment,” FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said.  Read more at TheFire.org 

Update:  Bechtol learned on Friday morning that all charges against him have been dropped and he is free to step foot on campus. Bechtol is still required to notify the college before using computers on campus, however, and CVCC has failed to revise the unconstitutional policy it used to punish him.  HuffingtonPost.com

ECSU has had its voting and voter registration problems before.  According to the most recent article, Elizabeth City Fourth Ward Councilwoman “Lena Hill-Lawrence said the allegations appear to validate concerns she has raised about ECSU students being told whom to vote for by off-campus groups.”   Read more at CivitasReview.com

Wall Street couldn’t have done it alone. It takes a government and/or its central bank, the Federal Reserve System, to implicitly guarantee big financial companies and/or their creditors that if they get into trouble they would be rescued.  Read more Op-Ed at FreemanOnline.org                               Related article: Obama’s Top Political Advisor Directly Linked to Occupy Wall Street Protests

Sen. Richard Burr [NC] joins a growing list of co-sponsors to audit the Fed.  CampaignforLiberty.org

It has been said that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. While losing an election is unlikely to have mortal consequences, it can cause a political candidate to seriously reevaluate their motivations, to stoke the fire in their belly, and to redouble their efforts, should they choose to run again. After all, former legislators can make for formidable candidates – they tend to have high name recognition and most possess a proven ability to raise the funds necessary to be politically competitive. A further analysis of the state legislative district maps approved by the Republican-led General Assembly in July suggests that GOP map-drawers were well aware of this and sought to avoid potential rematches with former Democratic lawmakers, either by drawing those former members out of their districts or by changing the demographic underpinnings of the districts to such a degree that a comeback bid is politically implausible. Read more at NCFEF.org

Think the Supreme Court is the only place to watch for the future of health care reform?  You might want to read a few polls first.  Read more at HamptonRoads.com

NCCivitas.org

Amid the political finger pointing Thursday over a failed state tax incentives deal, the N.C. Senate’s top leader signaled his interest in a more comprehensive review of North Carolina’s entire incentives program.  The issues that troubled Berger surrounded an incentives proposal for German-based Continental Tire that fell through this week.  The AP reported that Sen. Michael Walters, D-Robeson, and campaign donors to Gov. Beverly Perdue had ownership stakes in a Brunswick County site under consideration for the Continental plant.  Read more at CarolinaJournal.com

I am not the first to note the vast differences between the Wall Street protesters and the tea partiers. To name three: The tea partiers have jobs, showers and a point.

No one knows what the Wall Street protesters want — as is typical of mobs. They say they want Obama re-elected, but claim to hate “Wall Street.” You know, the same Wall Street that gave its largest campaign donation in history to Obama, who, in turn, bailed out the banks and made Goldman Sachs the fourth branch of government.  Read more at This Is What A Mob Looks Like – Ann Coulter.

What did the President know and when did he know it, goes the old Washington adage. Thus did the American people learn yesterday in separate but equally startling revelations that the Obama Administration knew more about two scandals than it has been revealing. The first is regarding the Operation Fast and Furious gun running disaster and the second is the now-bankrupt, Obama-backed Solyndra solar power company. Both instances provoke serious questions for the White House and demand long-overdue action.  Read more at New Revelations on Fast and Furious, Solyndra, Demand Action.

Supreme Court: Forget unconvincing liberal demands that Clarence Thomas recuse himself from the ObamaCare case because his wife is a Tea Partyer. Ex-Obama operative Elena Kagan has a true conflict.  Read more at Investors.com  

The AP has come out with a devastating piece on how several state governments, including North Carolina, spent thousands of dollars on a trip to Paris designed to lure aircraft manufacturing jobs to their states.  It was the fourth year in a row that NC has sent a delegation abroad for air shows in either France or England.  Read more at CharlotteObserver.com  

National tea party groups raised $79 million last year but local chapters are struggling to fundraise.  The imbalance is worrisome to some grass-roots tea party activists, who warn that the movement is at risk of becoming dependent on the type of centralized, top-down political structure that contributed to tea partiers’ distaste for both political parties, as well as Washington’s conservative establishment.  Read more at Politico.com

A state lawmaker and a group of Democratic political donors with ties to Gov. Beverly Perdue are poised to sell land at a handsome profit for a tire plant that’s being lured with $100 million in state and local incentives, according to public records reviewed by The Associated Press.  Perdue’s campaign has received more than $52,000 from five men with an ownership stake in the Brunswick County industrial park proposed for the new facility.  The governor’s son, Garrett Perdue, is also a lawyer and site-selection consultant for an influential law firm that a county official said was advising the tire company. The firm, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, does not disclose which projects the younger Perdue works on, citing attorney-client privilege.    Read more at WRAL.com and CivitasReview.com

Despite Solyndra, the administration shovels another billion out the door before the deadline as the lists of politically connected companies feeding at the public trough expands. Seems the sun also corrupts.

Follow the money, it has been said, and you’ll find out all you need to know. Two days before the expiration of the program that funneled $535 million to a failing but donor-connected Solyndra, another billion dollars was rushed to two more solar energy companies.  Read more at More ‘Green’ For Donor Energy – Investors.com.

Despite their party’s name, Democrats are having a tough time these days with democracy. With the popularity of their failed policies plunging, some aren’t so sure this democracy thing is such a good idea.  Read more at (Un)Democratic – Investors.com.

If you thought the half-billion-dollar, stimulus-funded Solyndra solar company bust was a taxpayer nightmare, just wait. If you thought the botched Fast and Furious border gun-smuggling surveillance operation was a national security nightmare, hold on. Right on the heels of those two blood-boilers comes yet another alleged pay-for-play racket from the most ethical administration ever.  Welcome to LightSquared. It’s a toxic mix of venture socialism (to borrow GOP Sen. Jim DeMint’s apt phrase), campaign finance influence-peddling and perilous corner-cutting all rolled into one.  Read more at PatriotUpdate.com  

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is world-renowned for such public health decisions as banning trans fat in food and proposing a special soda tax, but last week at the United Nations General Assembly, Bloomberg kicked it up a notch.  The chief of the Big Apple told the assembled governments at the U.N. that they are responsible for making sure everyone gets enough fruits and vegetables. In fact, he called it “government’s highest duty.  Read more at TheBlaze.com

Myths about the Constitution and federal government answered. For a more in-depth explanation click on the title of the specific topic.   The1789Project.com

Speaking to a Cary Rotary Club today, N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue suggested suspending Congressional elections for two years so that Congress can focus on economic recovery and not the next election.  ”I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover. I really hope that someone can agree with me on that,” Perdue said. “You want people who don’t worry about the next election.”  Read more at NewsObserver.com

While North Carolina is prepared to make a hefty $78 million interest payment this week on money it’s borrowed to pay jobless benefits, the state remains in a holding pattern about how to pay the underlying tab that’s 30 times larger.  The state Legislature passed a law in March ordering what was supposed to be an expedited analysis of how the state can best go about eliminating a $2.5 billion debt owed to the federal government for helping bankroll individual unemployment claims.   Six months later, the study hasn’t begun.  Read more at WRAL.com

Earlier this week House and Senate Democrats began a state wide budget tour to criticize the Republican-authored state budget and job losses in state government and the public schools. Democrat law makers, local officials and individuals directly impacted by budget cuts dutifully showed up at various stops to criticize policies and plead for more money. While media coverage reported plenty of criticism and hand-wringing the only item that seemed to be in short supply was the truth.  Read more at NCCivitas.org

The Obama administration chose not to ask the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to re-hear a pivotal health reform case Monday, signaling that it’s going to ask the Supreme Court to decide whether President Barack Obama’s health reform law is constitutional.  The move puts the Supreme Court in the difficult position of having to decide whether to take the highly politically charged case in the middle of the presidential election.  Read more at Politico.com

As the U.S. and much of Europe struggle to bring down unemployment rates, one country stands apart: Germany, where the unemployment rate is just 6.2 percent. In 2002, Germany looked a lot like the United States does today: it had no economic growth, and its unemployment rate was 8.7 percent and climbing.  Gerhard Schroeder, the German chancellor at the time, made an emergency call to Dr. Peter Hartz, who had gained a high profile as human resources director at Volkswagen.  In 2002, Hartz convinced unions to make concessions to save jobs.  Read more at NPR.org  

It’s been said a thousand times: Congress had to pass President Obama’s  health care law in order to find out what’s in it. But, despite the repetitiveness, the level of shock from each new discovery never seems to recede.  This time, America is learning about the federal government’s plan to collect and aggregate confidential patient records for every one of us.  In a proposed rule from Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the federal government is demanding insurance companies submit detailed health care information about their patients.  Read more at WashingtonExaminer.com

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filed a final version of its net neutrality rules Thursday, one year after they voted to pass the framework defining the principles of an ‘open Internet.’ The vote on the framework was passed on partisan lines, 3-2.  The rules, published on the Federal Register’s website, will go into effect November 20th.

Net neutrality, the principle that network providers should not restrict the content it provides to its customers, has been a hotly debated topic since the rise of the Internet as a commercial and information force. Advocates for net neutrality argue that information is a right, not a resource, and attempts to “tier” data usage will create artificial scarcity.  Read more at DailyCaller.com

The Obama Administration accepted its last Obamacare waiver application yesterday.   Nearly 1,500 healthcare plans have applied for waivers.  The waivers were requested to skirt around some of the most serious and harmful insurance mandates of Obamacare.  Together, these plans cover almost 3.4 million people.  To date, union healthcare plans still account for more than half of the total number of individuals who have received waivers – roughly 1.7 million.  Read more at CivitasReview.com

New cracks have begun to show in President Obama’s support amongst African Americans, who have been his strongest supporters. Five months ago, 83 percent of African Americans held “strongly favorable” views of Obama, but in a new Washington Post-ABC news poll that number has dropped to 58 percent. That drop is similar to slipping support for Obama among all groups.  Read more at WashingtonPost.com  

Obama sang the joys of non-violent change, but picked … well, an odd example or two:

“The Qaddafi regime is over…. Osama bin Laden is gone, and the idea that change could only come through violence has been buried with him.” (emphasis added.)

Er, maybe the President doesn’t recall this, but Qaddafi’s regime is only “over” — we hope — because NATO bombed the hell out of his army and Libyans fought a war of rebellion for the last several months. …What is that if not “change through violence”? And for that matter, we didn’t exactly end Osama bin Laden’s career as a terrorist through FTD arrangements and a box of chocolates, either.

via Obamateurism of the Day « Hot Air.

A SBI probe of Gov. Bev Perdue’s campaign is likely to produce more criminal charges, the lead prosecutor said Thursday.  Read more at NewsObserver.com

NC Sen. Richard Burr could be a dark horse candidate for the number two job in the Senate, Politico is reporting.  Most of the attention has focused on TX Sen. John Cornyn, who has announced his intention to run for the Senate GOP whip job that is now held by AZ Sen. John Kyl, who will retire at the end of next year.  SD Sen. John Thune has also been giving some thought to the post.  But Burr, who serves as chief deputy whip, says he may also enter the race.  “I think I may run for whip, and I think that’s still very much in the cards,” Burr told Politico.  Via N & O

Gov. Bev Perdue apparently will end the state’s effort to take over Alcoa’s hydroelectric facilities in Stanly County so that a manufacturing company can bring 250 new jobs to the Town of Badin. Perdue’s apparent reversal would end a four-year battle over control of the dams, the water flowing through them, and the hydroelectric power they generate.  Read more at CarolinaJournal.com

The Federal Reserve announced the arrival of “Operation Twist”. The policy is just as shady as it sounds. What is “Operation Twist” you ask?  Isn’t this is what got us into our current situation in the first place?  Read more at MyGovCost.org and CNNMoney

The stench from Washington is getting stronger. Rep. Darrell Issa has called for a special prosecutor to get to the bottom of the festering mess known as Operation Fast and Furious.  Hatched somewhere in the bowels of the Justice Department, that misbegotten scheme had the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives deliberately allowing high-powered guns to “walk” from Arizona and elsewhere into Mexico: Our agents turned a blind eye toward the straw purchasers who were funneling the weapons to the drug cartels.  Read more at NYPost.com

During the recent GOP presidential debate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said that Social Security is a “monstrous lie” and a “Ponzi scheme.” More and more people are coming to see that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, but is it a lie, as well? Let’s look at it.  Read more at Gov. Perry’s Right About Social Security – Page 1 – Walter E. Williams – Townhall Conservative.

President Obama unveiled deficit-reduction proposals in February, in response to his party’s electoral shellacking, and in April, in response to being shown up by Paul Ryan. Perhaps his latest grand budget bargain should be called “Deficit Reduction Part Three: This Time I’m Serious.”  Except he isn’t. The spending cuts seem mostly to be the work of Medicare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), an unproven entity soon to bring its magical rationing powers and King Solomon-like decision-making to health care near you. But the tax increases are easily identifiable enough.  Read more at The American Spectator

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told members of the National Restaurant Association on Monday that Americans need to “adjust” their tastes so that they like the kind of food the government believes they should eat—and “we have to make sure that what we do is create the appropriate transition.”  Read more at CNSNews.com

The argument for Certificate of Need is that improved government planning can both limit costs caused by duplicative services and encourage the development of healthcare facilities in areas with limited access; areas that are typically rural and with poorer populations.  However, CON laws have not lived up to their claims—most definitely not in North Carolina.  Read more at NCCivitas.org

The President’s “debt reduction” proposals released today are a fine statement of liberal ideology, but a poor attempt at fiscal policy. His so-called “balanced approach” – using a mix of spending reductions and tax increases – is the wrong formulation to start with.  Read more commentary at Heritage.org

On Sept. 13, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security held a hearing on H.R. 822, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011.  The bill, introduced earlier this year by Congressmen Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) and cosponsored by more than 240 of their colleagues, would enable millions of permit holders to exercise their right to self-defense while traveling outside their home states.  Read more at NRA-ILA.org

Saturday evening, about 30 protesters lined up on Raleigh’s  Hillsborough Street at the North Carolina AFL-CIO, and marched the half mile to the NC Republican party headquarters.  The union supporters then circled the front lawn, chanting slogans and demanding”justice”.  They wanted “union rights” and “rights for laid-off state workers” in North Carolina.  Oddly, no one was working in the Republican party office at the time.  Plus, very few workers have been laid off.  Read more at Katy’s Conservative Corner

The unemployment rate in North Carolina rose from 10.1 to 10.4 percent in August, reports the state Employment Security Commission. However, in the press release announcing the increase the commission began by noting employment increased by 16,500. Its not until the fourth paragraph down the agency reports the ranks of the unemployed rose by 11,747 to 468,140. Here’s another nugget of news for government workers in North Carolina. Their ranks swelled by 13,600 or two percent in August.  Via CivitasReview.com  

The Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act, H.R. 2587, passed the Republican-controlled House by a vote of 138-186. The bill would prohibit the National Labor Relations Board from ordering any employer to close, relocate, or transfer employment under any circumstance.  Read more at DailyCaller.com  

The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports program, or CLASS, became law in March 2010 as a part of Obamacare. Since PPACA passed, CLASS has drawn extensive criticism, with Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad, for example, calling it “a Ponzi scheme of the first order” and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius conceding the program is “completely unsustainable” — but the new GOP report shows that HHS officials warned for months even before passage that the CLASS Act would be a fiscal disaster. The administration blatantly ignored those warnings and continued to brazenly count CLASS as a cost-saving measure within Obamacare. (Emphasis added.)  Read more at The untold story of the CLASS Act: How concerns were ignored to ensure its passage « Hot Air.  

U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.)— today announced they are introducing a series of education bills to “fix” No Child Left Behind.

The legislation would address what the senators said were major problems with the law by giving states and local school districts greater flexibility to:

-Improve state accountability systems

·-Improve teacher and principal professional development programs

- Consolidate federal education programs to give state and local education leaders more freedom in meeting local needs

- Expand the number of charter schools

Read more a tAtlanta Journal Constitution.

NC Gov. Bev Perdue won’t answer whether she supports the National Labor Relations Board or the Boeing Company in the ongoing labor battle in neighboring South Carolina.  Because President Barack Obama is in NC on Wednesday selling his “jobs plan” to residents, the NC GOP is asking, yet again, where specifically Perdue stands on the issue.  Read more at DailyCaller.com

New York’s 9th district is a +20 Democrat district. 3-1 Democrat to Republican, where President Obama won in 2008 with 55%. 40% Jewish, making it among the most prominently Jewish districts in the country. It encompasses Queens and Brooklyn. This is not “bitter clinger” flyover territory.  And yet, for the first time since 1923, a Democrat lost that race. David Weprin didn’t just lose, he lost by a full 8 points.  Meanwhile, in Nevada, there was a special election in CD-2. In 2008, District 2 went to John McCain by just 88 votes. Last night’s election resulted in a 22 point blowout.   So, why? What has changed? Were these Republicans just that good?  Read more at FreedomWorks.org

A group from N.C. State’s Chapter of Young Americans for Liberty rallied Wednesday morning in protest of President Barack Obama’s visit to the school and the area.  More at TriangleNews14.com

In these times, lawmakers are all about attracting business to the state and increasing the number of North Carolinians at work. Great pomp and circumstance is placed on a single business moving to the state if it means jobs. The governor’s own website tracks new business opening in the state and how many jobs they create.  Yet, for all the care taken to attract business, North Carolina operates under a process that actively discriminates against new or growing medical businesses within the state. Called Certificate of Need, it stifles job growth, and reduces medical options available to the citizens of North Carolina.  Read the details at NCCivitas.org  

There were only 1.75 full-time private-sector workers in the United States last year for each person receiving benefits from Social Security, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Social Security board of trustees.  That means that for each husband and wife who worked full-time in the private sector last year there was a Social Security recipient somewhere in the country taking benefits from the federal government.  Read the details at CNSNews.com

In his address to the joint session of Congress last week, President Barack Obama called for $477 billion in new federal spending, which he said would give hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged young people hope and dignity while giving their low-income parents “ladders out of poverty.” And today, the U.S. Census released its annual poverty report, which declared that 46.2 million persons, or roughly one in seven Americans, were poor in 2010. What President Obama didn’t tell America as he was pleading for more spending–and what the Census Bureau didn’t report–is what it really means to be poor in America.  Read more at Poverty Statistics United States.

Bob Etheridge may be the living definition of a member of the Washington/Raleigh political class. Despite often being described as a part-time farmer and hardware store owner, Etheridge’s real career has been in elected office, occupying various roles for over 30 years.  Despite not being reelected, Etheridge has continues to collect government paychecks, thanks to Gov. Bev Perdue.  Read more at CivitasReview.com

The Constitution of the United States of America has endured over two centuries. It remains the object of reverence for nearly all Americans and an object of admiration by peoples around the world. Unfortunately, the assault by 20th century liberal theorists and activist judges has seriously undermined respect for America’s core principles, denigrating some constitutional rights they disagree with and making up others.

Fortunately, there has been a renewed interest in the Constitution in recent years, as Americans seek to understand the founding principles and enduring truths that form the bedrock of our chosen form of self-government. Clearly, the future of liberty depends on America reclaiming its constitutional first principles.  Read more at Preserve the Constitution, Now More Than Ever.

Ask yourself: when was the last time you freely discussed any conservative view with friends at work, or on campus, or in public — without hedging your every word?  When? Can you identify a single recent instance when you felt your conservative or even moderate views would be tolerated without provoking name-calling or public shaming into the nearest corner of societal oblivion?  Read more at PajamasMedia.com

In very round numbers, the package comes to $250 billion of temporary payroll tax cuts of one kind or another, with another $200 billion in new spending on infrastructure, unemployment benefits, and direct aid to state and local governments. But didn’t we learn from Obama Stimulus One that more government spending doesn’t grow the economy or reduce unemployment?  Read more at RealClearPolitics.com

The United States Postal Service (USPS) is going to have to find a way to make up for hemorrhaging financial losses (which has already rendered them incapable of making a $5.5 billion payment to its employee healthcare plan by the Sept. 30 due date) or face the possibility of closing shop for the winter.  Their unique situation raises two questions: first, how did it come to this? Second, how should it be addressed?  Read more at TheBlaze.com

Mitt Romney and Rick Perry’s barb-trading during Wednesday’s debate in Simi Valley, Calif., sparked the marquee battle in the hunt for the Republican presidential nomination. It is “inside baseball” to be sure, but it is not insignificant: Romney’s camp hadn’t issued a single on-the-record press release criticizing another Republican candidate until Wednesday night during the debate. Perry’s comments necessitated a change in that approach, as Romney’s team put out four documents taking the Texas governor to task on a range of issues.  Read more at RealClearPolitics.com

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Listen to the one minute update at NCCivitas.org

John Edwards’ lawyers have just filed what the Raleigh News & Observer describes as a “barrage of court documents” challenging the prosecution of their client on campaign-finance charges.  The lawyers argue that the federal government’s case is based on an untested, unreasonable legal theory that would, if accepted by a court, render it virtually impossible for a political candidate to have a private life. “The distinction between a wrong and a crime is at the heart of this case,” the lawyers wrote.  Read more at CarolinaJournal.com and NewsObserver.com  

The Fourth Circuit’s rulings today in no way affect any other case and should only speed up the Supreme Court’s ultimate consideration of the issues raised in all these challenges.  The dismissal of Virginia’s lawsuit on standing grounds merely removes one particular plaintiff from consideration, even as 26 states and numerous non-state plaintiffs remain in separate suits.  Similarly, the dismissal of Liberty University’s lawsuit, while interesting in that it marks the first-ever finding that the individual mandate is a tax (not for constitutional purposes, but statutorily in a way that cannot be challenged before it’s enforced), doesn’t change the jurisprudential calculus because there was already a split between the Sixth and Eleventh Circuits on the mandate’s constitutionality.  Via Cato-at-Liberty.org

Members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation enjoyed fewer soft drinks and munchies in the first quarter of 2011 than during the same period last year.  Tar Heel lawmakers spent $5,591 in taxpayer funds on food, beverages, and bottled water during the first quarter of 2011, compared to $10,186 during the first quarter of 2010, according to official congressional disbursement records.  The 13 representatives in the delegation also scaled back the total they spent to run their congressional offices — from $4.1 million in the first quarter of 2010 to $3.7 million in first quarter of 2011.  See who spent how much on what at CarolinaJournal.com

The legislature has already had a successful session, overriding several of Gov. Perdue’s vetoes and approving redistricting maps for both U.S. Congress and the state legislature.  On September 12, the legislature will meet again in a special session lasting an estimated three days to discuss potential constitutional amendments.  These amendments require a three-fifths majority in both chambers to be placed on the 2012 ballot for voter approval.  See the proposed amendments at NCCivitas.org

Daily Caller editor Peter Tucci has noticed that many Republican candidates for President have made scant mention of the U.S. Constitution on their campaign websites, despite the fact that the Constitution is a key part of the Tea Party movement.  ”I thought it would be interesting,” Tucci wrote, “to see what the Republican presidential candidates’ campaign websites have to say about the Constitution. Surprisingly, in many cases the answer is: nothing.”  By Tucci’s count in his “Constitution-less conservatives” article, here are the number of mentions of the U.S. Constitution on the candidates’ websites:  (story continues at TheNewAmerican.com)

The Federal Reserve was once content to be the giant elephant in the room that nearly everyone ignored. Few were questioning what the Fed was doing behind closed doors, let alone the mere existence of the central bank. But the rise of the Ron Paul phenomenon over the past few years has finally brought U.S. monetary policy under the spotlight where it belongs. It’s time for a full comprehensive audit of the Fed.  Read more at Forbes.com

In the custom of the Obama administration turning to regulation to achieve what it can’t get through Congress, the National Labor Relations Board has picked up the ball. It sped up union representation election procedures to deny employers time to make their case and employees time to learn about all the implications of unionization. The NLRB ordered that employers must post notices — with the agency’s bureaucrats dictating the poster’s dimensions, color and type size — about the right to unionize. Another NLRB ruling allows unions to cherry pick employees in nursing homes to participate in union representation elections in order to improve the chances of a yes vote.  The most notorious NLRB pro-union action is its effort to prevent Boeing from building a new jetliner-construction plant in South Carolina, a right-to-work state.  Read more at SunTimes.com

At the close of business on Aug. 31–for the first time in the history of the country–the publicly held debt of the federal government topped $10 trillion, according to data released by the U.S. Treasury Department at 4:00 p.m., Sept 1.  During Obama’s presidency, debt held by the public has now increased by $3.71694 trillion–or almost 59 percent from the $6.3073 trillion in debt held by the public that the government owed to its creditors on Jan. 20, 2009, when Obama was inaugurated.  Read more at CNSNews.com

A new poll of Republican voters in the early primary state of South Carolina suggests the question of Barack Obama’s eligibility is no fringe issue, as 65 percent of those polled question whether the current occupant of the Oval Office was even born in the U.S.  The automated telephone survey of 750 usual South Carolina Republican primary voters was conducted by the Democratic polling company, Public Policy Polling, from Aug. 25-28.  Read the details at WorldNetDaily.com

President Barack Obama signed a disaster declaration for coastal North Carolina, covering the tourist destinations as well as the less-affluent nearby counties. Gov. Beverly Perdue said Friday that preliminary losses in the state from Irene now top $400 million.  Read more at NewsObserver.com

Much is being made out of the DPI’s release of a document indicating that since 2008-09 North Carolina public schools have laid off about 6,100 individuals.  The numbers are from surveys the agency sent to all 115 LEAs. Duplin and Guilford County Schools did not participate.  Still there are reporting glitches. Yesterday afternoon DPI said the figures were being revised because they contained an error.  Read more at CivitasReview.com

The Justice Department has put the brakes on enactment of a proposed election-law overhaul signed by South Carolina’s Republican Gov. Nikki Haley, saying it wants more evidence that the changes will comply with Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.  The department requested additional information from the state’s election commission about the law, which requires voters to present photo ID at the polls—a sign that the department has reservations about the changes. South Carolina is one of nine states that must receive preclearance for any changes made to election law.  Read more at NationalJournal.com

An “Obama Clock” app is jockeying for position with National Geographic’s World Atlas atop the iTunes app store’s reference best-seller list, partly because conservatives are eager to monitor President Barack Obama’s skidding approval numbers and shrinking calendar, says the app’s designer.  Read more at DailyCaller.com

GOP Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, has launched an initiative aimed at ending what she calls “the era of no-strings-attached contributions” to the United Nations.  The total U.S. contribution to the United Nations in fiscal year 2010 was $7.69 billion.  Read more at CNSNews.com

A top tea party organizing group, FreedomWorks, is planning to protest Mitt Romney’s appearance this weekend at a New Hampshire stop of a bus tour intended to encourage tea party sympathizers to participate in the Republican presidential nominating process.  Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, is among the leading candidates for the GOP presidential nomination but is viewed warily by tea party activists, who believe him to be insufficiently conservative and particularly blame him for the Massachusetts state health care overhaul he signed into law.  Read more at Politico.com

Conservatives yearn for a big, clarifying electoral victory in November 2012, but they’re already winning decisively whenever Americans vote with their feet—or their moving vans.  New census numbers show citizens fleeing by the millions from liberal states and flocking in comparable numbers to bastions of right-wing sentiment. Call it the Great Political Migration.  Read more at TheDailyBeast.com

It’s been abundantly clear for sometime that the Obama administration does not like to be inconvenienced by pesky technicalities such as the rule of law, the constitution, or republican democracy. Whether it’s net neutrality, education, cap-and-trade, or labor policy; Obama is willing to subvert our elective bodies and use the bureaucratic oligarchy that has become Washington D.C. to force his leftist agenda down the throats of Americans who said by and large in 2010 that they wanted absolutely no part of it. Now, they are at it again. This time, they are trying to push backdoor amnesty by “prioritizing deportations” – a policy that will serve effectively the same function as the DREAM act which, as you know, also failed to pass congress.  Read more at PatriotUpdate.com

Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, more than a dozen U.S. states that had a history of racial discrimination in 1972 are still paying the price nearly 40 years later. Arizona says that’s unconstitutional, and its Attorney General has filed suit against the federal government to invalidate what he calls “an irrational system” that hasn’t given states credit for the progress they have made.  Read more at DailyCaller.com

Self-identified Tea Party supporters are more likely to support Texas Gov. Rick Perry for the Republican presidential nomination than they are to support former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney or Rep. Michele Bachmann, according to a Gallup poll released today Friday.  Read more at CNSNews.com

Republican U.S. Reps. Virginia Foxx and Patrick McHenry topped a congressional scorecard from the Washington, D.C.,-based conservative group Heritage Action for America.  Even though they were the highest ranking among the Tar Heel State’s 15-member House and Senate delegation, Foxx, of the 5th district, and McHenry, of the 10th district, barely eked out a B in the grading, earning 83 percent and 81 percent, respectively.  Sen. Kay Hagan has N.C.’s worst score at 5 percent.  CarolinaJournal.com & HeritageActionScorecard.com

Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., today announced that he will introduce a bill when Congress returns that does away with lawmakers’ future defined benefit pension plan. The bill wouldn’t touch any pension benefits accrued before its passage — or their Social Security and Thrift Savings Plan benefits — but going forward, no current lawmaker would add to the value of his pension, and future lawmakers would get no pension whatsoever.

via Federal Times Blog

ALEIGH — A little more than one year after North Carolina public school officials proposed a controversial plan to slice much of pre-1877 history out of the state’s high school curriculum, state lawmakers have stepped in to guarantee that the curriculum includes instruction on the nation’s Founding era.

via New Law Requires H.S. Students to Learn About Founders

Marriage, eminent domain, and term limits top the agenda.  For six months they wrangled over budgets, redistricting, guns, abortion, obesity, tort reform, and charter schools. Now, lawmakers in the state’s capital are poised to take another dip into the partisan maelstrom during a mid-September session devoted to constitutional amendments.  Read the details and get the links at CarolinaJournal.com

As a “supercommittee” tries to find $1.5 trillion in new deficit cuts this fall, Republicans will be pressing a far more ambitious goal: passing an amendment to the Constitution to require a balanced federal budget.  The idea is being pushed most forcefully by conservative activists eager to shrink the government and its spending but disappointed with the results they’ve achieved so far in Washington, where Democrats control both the White House and the Senate.  Read more at CNSNews.com

A national Tea Party group urged Democrats to adhere to their own calls for civility after Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters told a restless crowd over the weekend that the “Tea Party can go straight to hell.”

Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin, who lead the Tea Party Patriots, suggested President Obama should step in to put a check on the overheated rhetoric.

FoxNews.com

Next month, America will honor the anniversary of September 11, 2001, when terrorists killed nearly 3,000 of our fellow citizens. In the days after 9/11, Americans stood together as one, setting aside partisan fervor and recognized a common enemy in Islamist terrorist groups, particularly al-Qaeda. National security was rightfully restored as our nation’s highest priority.

Ten years later, Osama bin Laden is dead, delivering to victims’ families and the rest of America a bit of justice for the heinous acts we all witnessed.  Read more at Morning Bell: Never Quit.

Is there anything more condescending than a porcelain-skinned Hollywood liberal who attempts to show her presumed solidarity with minorities by referring to them as “people of color”?

Yes, there is: Two porcelain-skinned liberals attempting to show their allegiance to “diversity” by attacking “people of color” who happen to disagree with their radical politics.  Read more about how Janeane Garofalo accused Herman Cain of being a lackey for some white unnamed, unknown racist at Smacking Down Progressives of Pallor – Page 1 – Michelle Malkin – Townhall Conservative.

Tea Partiers have said repeatedly that they were nearly as turned off by President Bush and his administration several years ago as they are by Democrats in charge of Washington today. If “the Bushies” are already attacking Perry, it may help separate the new candidate further from the 43rd president and lend him more credibility with conservatives.  Read more at Quotes of the day « Hot Air.

President Obama had two years of a Democrat-controlled Congress to effect that bold and swift action. And boy, did he take action. He and his liberal allies in the House and Senate gave America a $780 billion stimulus that the President promised would save or create 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010. (He came up 7.3 million jobs shy.) And then there was the 2,700-page behemoth known as Obamacare, the 9,000-Earmark Omnibus Bill, $3.22 trillion in new debt, a $26.1 billion government union bailout in the summer of 2010, the $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program, and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform bill.  Read more of what Obama and the Libs have done for America at What’s the Truth About Jobs That Liberals Won’t Tell You? – AskHeritage.

(Reuters) – Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday added five triple-A-rated states to its list of candidates for possible ratings downgrades along with the United States.

via Moody’s warns could cut 5 states tied to U.S. credit | Reuters

Consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren’s likely entry into the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts could re-energize Tea Party support for Sen. Scott Brown, whose moderation in Washington has deeply disappointed the conservative grassroots movement that swept him to office in early 2010.

via FoxNews.com

The editors of the Washington Daily News have determined that Frank Palombo is a threat to Walter Jones. Check out this above-the-fold hit piece.

via Washington Daily News

Almost every Friday, Washington Post columnist and Fox News Channel regular Charles Krauthammer takes on a different role. Krauthammer tapes a program where he is the lone conservative on a panel. The show: The weekend broadcast of the nationally syndicated program “Inside Washington.”

via Charles Krauthammer | Barack Obama | Hope and Change | The Daily Caller.

We the people are being shoved between a rock and and a hard place — forced to accept tax hikes imposed by a deficit reduction committee or go along with cuts to defense and national security that, we are told, will imperil our safety and harm our troops.  Read more at NewsMax.com

North Carolina’s system of awarding taxpayer money called “matching funds” to political candidates participating in a state campaign finance program could be headed toward the scrap heap. A June U.S. Supreme Court ruling points in that direction. Daren Bakst, Director of Legal and Regulatory Studies for the John Locke Foundation, discussed the issue with Donna Martinez for Carolina Journal Read more at CarolinaJournal.com

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled Obamacare’s individual mandate that Americans carry health insurance was unconstitutional.  This 2-1 ruling directly conflicts with an earlier appellate ruling in June (Sixth Circuit decision), only increasing the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court will offer a final verdict at some point. Read more at CivitasReview.com

Former New Bern Police chief, Frank Palombo, begins his public bid Wednesday for the 3rd District seat in Congress held for nine terms by Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-NC.

Palombo said, “I’m not challenging anybody for anything. A challenge implies that someone owns the seat. No one owns that seat. It belongs to the people of the 3rd district and every two years someone makes their case as why they should be there.

“I’m making the case that I’m the man for that seat,” Palombo said.

via New Bern Sun Journal.

If there were ever any question about the looniness of global warming “scientists,” the following article should put it to rest.  Scientists are supposed to depend on empirical evidence, not astrology.  I think I have found another place to make some tax cuts.

A team of American researchers have produced a range of scenarios in which aliens could attack the earth, and curiously, one revolves around climate change.They speculate that extraterrestrial environmentalists could be so appalled by our planet-polluting ways that they view us as a threat to the intergalactic ecosystem and decide to destroy us.  Read more at Aliens Could Attack Earth To End Global Warming, NASA Frets | FoxNews.com.

The State Board of Elections, led by Directer Gary Bartlett and Board Chairman Larry Leake, want us to believe that everything is well and good with the state of our voting system and that there is no voter fraud in our state.  Instances of voters who vote more than once in an election, dead voters voting, voters who have registered and voted at the same time and then disappear have become commonplace in North Carolina’s elections.  Read more at CivitasReview.com

From CivitasReview.com   Today’s N&O has a short piece expressing relief about North Carolina’s continued AAA bond rating for its debt. As I point out in this article at www.nccivitas.org , however, there are some serious warning signs that this top credit credit rating may be in serious jeopardy in the near future.

Mitt Romney’s explanation of why he’s against raising taxes on corporations — indeed, America already has some of the highest corporate tax rates in the developed world — at the Iowa State Fair was a bit awkward but not wholly incorrect.  Read the details at Cato-At-Liberty.org

The U.S. government is not broken; it is dysfunctional. That is, it functions, but in an unhealthy way, a way that needs to be corrected. And that dysfunction was the direct cause of the debt-ceiling “crisis.”  Read more at The American Spectator : Thomas Jefferson Warned Us.

Three Wake County Democrats have admitted to voter fraud charges, according to local news reports.   The North Carolina Republican Party says this kind of fraudulent voter behavior is why the state needs a voter ID law.  Read more and watch at DailyCaller.com & ABCnews11-Raleigh

Bite Me,” “Harper’s Folly,” “Endless Pursuit,” “Net Results,” “Hopeful,” and nine other North
Carolina fishing vessels got new diesel motors through President Barack Obama’s 2009 stimulus program.  “Bite Me” owner Jay Kavanagh received $65,886 in public funds for a new diesel motor for the 51-foot charter boat based at the Hatteras Harbor Marina in Dare County.  The largest Marine Diesel grant was $93,000 to replace the engine in “Bald Eagle II,” a commercial fishing vessel owned by the Fisherman’s Wharf Restaurant in Wanchese.  Read more of this and other stories at JohnLocke.org

For some reason, Gov. Perdue has been selected by the National Governor’s Association to its Economic Development and Commerce Committee.  The NGA must be desperate. Consider Perdue’s resume on jobs: According the state Employment Security Commission, from Jan. 2009 when she took office to June 2011 (latest data available):

• Total employment in NC has dropped by 138,900 jobs – a contraction of 3.5%
• The number of unemployed in NC has risen by 22,243, a 5.2% increase
• The employment to population ratio in the state dropped from 58.9% to 55.8%
• The percentage of North Carolinians participating in the labor force (either working or actively seeking work) dropped from 64.9% to 61.9%

 Via CivitasReview.com & NewsObserver.com

College students and their families have struggled to pay for the rising cost of tuition, a cost that has been driven in part by swelling administrative expenses.  Over a 20-year period, the growth in administrative personnel at institutions of higher education has outpaced the growth in both faculty and student enrollment.  Read more at Investors.com and TheFire.org  (Liv: This directly applies to our UNC system)  

Unaffiliated registrations are outpacing the three major parties in NC. Latest numbers show more than twice as many registered as unaffiliated as registered in the Lib, GOP or Dem parties.  See the numbers at CarolinaTransparency.com

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) released a list of downgraded bonds following  the organization’s decision to revise its credit worthiness rating of the U.S. government.  Last week S&P lowered the rating from  AAA to AA+.  Among the the downgraded bonds listed by S&P  are four series held by the Board of Governor’s of the University of North Carolina.  The change is likely to add signficantlly to the interest costs UNC and taxpayers must pay to finance projects.  CivitasReview.com

From Rep. Dan Burton from Indiana.  ”It is a cardinal mistake in any competition, be it sports or politics – and politics is a competition of ideas – to underestimate your opponent. All too often, underestimating your opponent leads to disaster. I believe that America, especially America’s political class, is vastly underestimating President Obama; and if we continue to do so, it will be a disaster for America. Specifically, I am worried about the growing political story line that the Obama administration is “failing” because they are just inexperienced and the president is simply “in over his head.”  Read more at WashingtonTimes.com

The president’s Hollywood friends are planning an exploitation flick to hype his role in the bin Laden raid to debut three weeks before the 2012 election. What does the Federal Election Commission think of this?

The movie about the raid is set to premiere, (Maureen) Dowd writes, “as Obamaland was hoping, on Oct. 12, 2012 — perfectly timed to give a home-stretch boost to a campaign that has grown tougher.” Somehow this planned October surprise is no surprise, considering the shallowness of this administration and its supporters. Read more at SEAL Team 6 — The Movie? – Investors.com.

Santelli unleashed a furious critique of the Treasury Secretary for trying to “blame Bush, blame the sun” and instead Santelli urged: “In the end we need to address problems we know exist. A Treasury Secretary or a President should be out here, not fighting S&P, not grabbing the other coach and slapping him around, taking the umpire behind the barn – he should be getting the team psyched.”  Read more and watch the video at MediaIte.com

Our national hue and cry about balancing the federal budget is nothing new. Balanced-budget-amendment proposals emerge, cicada-like, about every 13 years. After 15 minutes of fame, they typically go underground again.  The prospect of amending the Constitution usually brings us around to one of the great immutable laws of Washington, D.C.: For every politician, there’s an equal and opposite politician. Or, more precisely, for every balanced-budget-amendment hawk, there’s a hand-wringer cautioning against tying Congress’s hands in times of war or other calamity.  Maybe there’s another way to go about this.  Read more at DailyCaller.com

Obama loves to make recess appointments of far left wackos when Congress adjourns.  Lucky for us, the Founders put a few “kill switches” in our Constitution for the House of Representatives to utilize when the Senate’s advice and consent is circumvented by a hostile president.

House Republican freshmen are employing these kill switches to initiate a multipart campaign against Obama’s ability to make recess appointments.  Read more at the Washington Examiner

From Matt Kibbe. ” I’m often asked why we’re not organizing another Taxpayer March on Washington this September 12th. Why, after more than a million Americans protested on 9/12/09 and 9/12/10, aren’t we headed back to Washington?  The reason is simple: we’re not just a protest movement anymore. We are moving closer to establishing the Tea Party movement as the permanent force for limited government, free markets, and individual liberty. But people’s interest in national politics is always temporary. I believe if this movement intends to be permanent, it must move beyond political space—into cultural space.” Read more at FreedomWorks.org  

The audit of former U.S. Sen. John Edwards’ 2008 campaign for president was completed Friday. Last month, the Federal Elections Commission voted to require the committee to pay back about $2.3 million, mostly in matching federal funds it received after Edwards quit the race.  Now that the draft audit has been completed, attorneys for the committee have 60 days to appeal. Last month, they said they would contest the audit.  Read more at NewsObserver.com  Also, Edwards donor in LA pleads guilty

Mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae said it would ask for an additional $5.1 billion from taxpayers as a weaker housing market causes continued losses on loans made prior to 2009.  Read more at NPI.org,  CNBC.com and YahooFinance.com

Many House and Senate conservatives are reviving their battle against federal regulations, claiming that the president hasn’t stopped issuing job-killing rules during the debt ceiling fight. “While Washington and Americans have been focused on the debt ceiling, the Obama administration has continued to roll out more crushing red tape,” said a spokesperson for Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso, who’s been championing the regulation fight.  Read more at USNews.com

Despite the now-admitted fact that the President does not create jobs, President Obama continues to manipulate the economy from the West Wing, offering “stimulus” here, threatening higher taxes there, and picking and choosing which industry can thrive and which cannot under his watch.  The government cannot create private-sector jobs, but it can strongly affect the conditions for job-creating economic growth. But instead, the Obama Administration has helped create the conditions to stifle job growth. This morning, (8/5/11) the unemployment rate was 9.1 percent. The positive news was that the unemployment rate went down from 9.2%.  Read more at Heritage.org

A White House terrorism strategy released today says Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks aid in “advancing violent extremist narratives” and should be monitored by the government.  The 12-page strategy (PDF), which outlines ways to respond to violent extremism, promises that: “We will continue to closely monitor the important role the Internet and social-networking sites play in advancing violent extremist narratives.”  Today’s announcement may signal that monitoring of social networks will broaden beyond the U.S. Department of Homeland Security already does. Depending on the details, it could also raise concerns about how to balance Americans’ privacy rights with desire of security agencies to collect and analyze information that is, more or less, publicly available.  Read more at CNet.com

The U.S. debt surpassed 100 percent of gross domestic product after the government’s debt ceiling was lifted, Treasury figures showed Wednesday, according to AFP.   The debt, which had been in somewhat of a holding pattern over the past several weeks, rose $238 billion after President Obama signed the debt-ceiling deal into law Tuesday to avoid the country’s first-ever default.  Read more at FoxNews.com

The State Bureau of Investigation is looking into accusations that former state Sen. Fred Hobbs’ consulting firm submitted falsified applications for federal stimulus money to help low-income residents in Yadkin County upgrade their homes, according to The News & Observer of Raleigh.  The Southern Pines-based Hobbs Upchurch & Associates is accused of falsifying homeowners’ signatures on applications, including those of two people who were dead and involving one house that had burned to the ground, The News & Observer reported Wednesday on its website.  Read more at ThePilot.com

U.S. debt shot up $239 billion on Tuesday — the largest one-day bump in history — as the government flexed the new borrowing room it earned in this week’s debt-limit increase deal.  The debt subject to the statutory limit shot way past the old cap of $14.294 trillion to hit $14.532 trillion on Tuesday, according to the latest the Treasury Department figures, which are released on the next business day.  That increase puts the government already remarkably close to the new debt limit of $14.694, which means one day’s new borrowing ate up 60 percent of the $400 billion in space Congress granted the president this week.  Read more at WashingtonTimes.com

The president said if he didn’t get more money, Social Security checks wouldn’t go out. Why not?

With $2 trillion, they can pay Social Security, Medicare, the interest on the debt and still have billions left. It’s billions more than the government spent when President George W. Bush took office. What’s the problem? Read more at Balancing the Budget.

Combine class warfare, demonizing the rich, getting as many people onto the welfare rolls as possible, and pushing the economic system to collapse and you have a flawless formula for Cloward-Piven 2.0 — and a vehicle that ensures Obama remains in power. Read more at American Thinker Articles: Cloward-Piven Paradise Now?.

Article by Thomas Sowell — Each of us may have his own idea of what poverty means — especially those of us who grew up in poverty. But what poverty means politically and in the media is whatever the people who collect statistics choose to define as poverty. This is not just a question of semantics. The whole future of the welfare state depends on how poverty is defined. “The poor” are the human shields behind whom advocates of ever bigger spending for ever bigger government use to advance toward their goal. Read more at How Images Of ‘Poor,’ ‘Elderly’ Distort Reality – Investors.com.

Rep. Ron Paul on Monday introduced legislation that would lower the federal government’s debt by canceling the roughly $1.6 trillion in debt held by the Federal Reserve.  Under his bill, H.R. 2768, the $1.6 trillion that the Treasury owes to the Federal Reserve would disappear.  The Federal Reserve began buying Treasury bonds in earnest late last year as part of its effort to keep long-term interest rates down. But Paul has argued that Fed purchases of Treasury debt represent a debt that the government owes to itself, and one that also leads to an unwanted and inflationary increase in the money supply.  Read more at TheHill.com

The influence of the Tea Party is about to endure a critical test, as lawmakers enter the second chapter of their deficit-reduction plan after approving a record increase in the debt ceiling. Conservative Republicans have been conflicted over the 11th-hour compromise and the course of the debate as a whole. While they claim credit for shifting the conversation in Washington from stimulus to deficit reduction, Tea Party lawmakers and activists were disappointed with the result of the debt-cap talks.

“The Tea Party movement has changed the debate. Next up is changing out more congressmen. (emphasis added) That’s where we will get our big policy changes,” Kibbe said. Read more at Next Phase of Deficit Battle Could Test Tea Party Resolve – FoxNews.com.

So, as our leaders congratulate themselves for saving the nation, the reality is that they may have just sold it down the river. By supposedly compromising to raise the debt ceiling, Congress and the President have now paved the way for ever higher levels of federal spending. Although, the nation was spared the trauma of borrowing restrictions, the actual risk of default existed solely in the minds of Washington politicians. But the real crisis is not, nor has it ever been, the debt ceiling. The crisis is the debt itself. Economic Armageddon would not have resulted from failure to raise the ceiling, but it will come because we succeeded in raising it. Read more Op-Ed at Euro-Pac.net

The Civitas Bad Bill of the Week Tournament is back!  Throughout the 2011 session, bad bills were selected based on their intrusion into the private lives of North Carolinians, for their frivolous spending, and/or for their attempt to increase unnecessary regulations.  There were many options to choose from this year but we narrowed it down to the worst offenders.  The tournament will begin with four play-in games.  Each week you will be asked to vote for the worst bill in each bracket until we crown a winner at the end of the tournament.  You may click on each bill for more information about them to help in making your selections.  See the brackets and vote at NCCivitas.org

Americans are disappointed. They are disappointed that the debate over our debt limit was about the needs of politicians instead of the needs of the country. They are disappointed with a broken government that refuses to fix itself. And they are disappointed that the Budget Control Act that passed the House last night and is likely to pass the Senate today does not make the transformative changes this nation requires. There are several elements of this plan that are simply unacceptable, read more at Debt Ceiling Debate: Our Work Has Only Begun.

Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller

• August 02, 2011
• Previous feature
• 

The 269-161 roll call Monday by which the House passed the compromise bill to  raise the debt ceiling and prevent a government default.  Read how they voted at Politico.com

Charts in the following article give a good picture of just how ineffectual, deceptive and useless this debt deal really is.  In Washington, it is business as usual.  America is being lied to.  It’s infuriating.

After months of talk about the nation’s runaway debt, lawmakers managed to agree on a plan that, at most, will cut spending by a mere 5%. Is it any wonder federal spending is out of control?  Read more at Editorial: ‘Painful’ Cuts? Anything But – Investors.com.

USdebt.Kleptocracy.US

Over the last two generations, most of the improvements in the material standard of living of America’s poor have proceeded not from the welfare system per se but by advances in technology and the affordability of goods that have come through the normal workings of free markets.  Read the numbers and excellent details at HuffingtonPost.com  (Liv: OK, class, who can spell Understatement?) 

RedState.com

Back in 1900, there were six candidates for president - from six different political parties. But since the 1950s, it’s been two main parties, with a Green Party here and a Reform Party there (Ralph Nader seized 0.7 percent of the vote as a Greenie in 1996, and 2.7 percent in 2000; Pat Buchanan pulled down a whopping 0.4 percent as a Reformer in 2000).  The times they are a-changin’. There’s a new power force in Washington, and it’s running the show right now, deciding the very fate of the nation (if you believe the White House on the calamity that would befall America if the debt ceiling is not raised to pay for things we can’t afford). Read more of this excellent commentary at WashingtonTimes.com  (Liv: Please no comments about the existence of Constitution and Libertarian parties.) 

Gotta see this short vid, just gotta.  Obama’s vision of “Winning the future.”

Internet providers would be forced to keep logs of their customers’ activities for one year–in case police want to review them in the future–under legislation that a U.S. House of Representatives committee approved 7/28/11. A last-minute rewrite of the bill expands the information that commercial Internet providers are required to store to include customers’ names, addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and temporarily-assigned IP addresses, some committee members suggested.  Read more at CNet.com

For the past two years, a steady stream of leaked memos reveal how the administration has expanded its amnesty-granting powers. The title of one, United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) memo says it all, Administrative Alternatives to Comprehensive Immigration Reform.  Not surprisingly, the memo suggests ways the government can delay or even prevent the removal of illegal aliens.  Read more at PatriotUpdate.com

At a time when Washington continues to struggle to trim deficits that approach $1.5 trillion annually, Republican-led states, along with a few Democratic officials, continue to take the tough steps necessary to balance their state budgets without tax increases. Here are a few of those states and the policies they have put in place to achieve these impressive results:

North Carolina prominently mentioned in this article. Read more at Republican states balancing their budgets – Washington Times.

Excellent short video exposing fuzzy math in Congress.  It’s absurd what they expect us to believe.  Paul Ryan is definitely one of the conservative rising stars in Washington.  Follow link to video.

Breitbart.tv » Rep. Paul Ryan Destroys Reid Bill in Blistering Speech; ‘Let’s Cover the Moon with Yogurt!’.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) is a man on a mission. The freshman senator came to Washington after defeating an incumbent Republican, angering some in the GOP establishment but exciting Tea Party activists for his desire to end Washington’s reckless spending. He hasn’t disappointed. Lee wasted little time crusading for a Balanced Budget Amendment, bringing together different factions of the GOP earlier this year to coalesce around a single goal.  Read more plus audio interview at Scribecast: Sen. Mike Lee on the Need for a Balanced Budget Amendment.

After months of dire warnings about not raising the debt ceiling, the public is still not convinced it’s a big deal. Maybe that’s because they’ve been repeatedly lied to about what’s at stake. Even with the clock ticking down, twice as many Americans still say lawmakers should vote against a debt ceiling hike as say they should vote for it. President Obama has said this is because the public isn’t paying attention. Just as likely is that they are paying attention, but have been turned off by the many falsehoods being bandied about — most of them by Obama himself. The five big ones: Read more at Five Big Debt Debate Lies – Investors.com.

The Tea Party has proved its power — and its principle. Now it’s time to declare an imperfect battlefield victory in 2011 and regroup for the more important struggle of defeating President Obama in 2012. Champions of smaller government, low taxes and a freedom-driven economy shouldn’t expect whatever the end result of “Boehner 2.0″ is to be worth very much cheering, especially after Harry Reid’s Senate gets through with it. But with the clock ticking on the federal government’s debt deadline, Tea Partyers should take whatever half-loaf now comes their way. Read more at Editorial: Tea Party, Fix Your Gaze On 2012 – Investors.com.

Congress’ job approval ratings have sunk to around 20 percent, while their disapproval is up to an average of 73.4 percent. Yet for all of America’s dissatisfaction—and Congress’ failure to combat the nation’s fiscal crisis—Members of Congress are earning salaries and fringe benefits that far exceed those of the average American, according to a new report by Our Generation and the Taxpayers Protection Alliance.  Read more at Heritage.org

After pursuing the substantive “Cut, Cap, and Balance” plan, Boehner is switching gears and showing his true colors by sponsoring a plan that is an embarrassment to the conservative cause. The Speaker initially claimed that his bill would cut more than a trillion dollars in spending in exchange for raising the debt ceiling by $900 billion. But the CBO scored the bill and found it would cut closer to $850 billion (only about $1 billion of which would be immediate cuts) – forcing Boehner to reconvene with his staff and return with version 2.0. The newly released plan increases estimated cuts to $917 billion over the next 10 years but again back-loaded most of the spending in later years. Only a fraction of the cuts are up front with $22 billion occurring in FY 2012 and $42 billion to follow in FY 2013. Since Congress votes on the federal budget on a yearly basis, there is no guarantee that any of these cuts will materialize. In fact, it is likely that they won’t. Read more at Surrendering to Statism: The Boehner Plan – J.D. Thorpe – Townhall Conservative.

House Speaker John Boehner admonished Republicans and tea party conservatives alike to “fall in line” and back his plan for legislation that would at once ease the debt crisis and hopefully appease Democrats.

All his posturing might go unheeded, however, as up to 20 Republicans (including fresh tea party faces from the 2010 midterm elections) announced they would oppose his latest effort, The Washington Post reported.  Read more at Boehner Gives Tea Partyers Tongue Lashing.

McCain slams Tea Party on house floor.

For months, Washington has focused on solving its uncontrolled addiction to spending. But while Congress and the White House use one hand to reach into your back pocket to take and spend your hard-earned dollars, they’re using another hand to wreak a different kind of nefarious harm—the proliferation of regulations, rules, and red tape, all of which impose heavy costs on America.  Read more at Report Shows Growth of Regulations Under Obama Administration.

That Republicans would love to have Reagan back is no surprise. He was one of our greatest presidents and our most recent great one. He was also the epitome of modern conservatism. Compared to his accomplishments, everything else seems small. He defeated the Soviet Union; we struggle with terrorists. He righted a terrible economy; we can’t seem to get a recovery out of neutral. He was unshakable in his principles; today, principles seem rare. But before Republicans let their gaze turn backward, they need to look forward to how favorable and influential current circumstances could be. Read more at Stars Aligning For Emergence Of New Reagan – Investors.com.

RUSH (LIMBAUGH): So Obama has told the bankers secretly and privately, according to the Drudge Report, that we’re not gonna be defaulting, that there will not be a default. Charles Gasparino had the story at the Fox Business Network. It’s just as we’ve told you. There isn’t gonna be any default and there probably won’t be a downgrade. All of this is hocus-pocus. Read more at Baseline Budgeting Makes Real Cuts Impossible in Washington.

A day after President Barack Obama asked Americans to contact lawmakers and urge them to reach an accord on the debt-ceiling stalemate, North Carolinians did it – in big numbers.  Read our Congressional members comments at CharlotteObserver.com

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) and Our Generation (OG) advocacy groups released a report Wednesday showing that federal legislators earn 3.4 times more than the average full-time American worker, and are among the highest paid legislators in the industrialized world.  Read more at DailyCaller.com  (Liv: I don’t begrudge anybody their income if it’s actually merit-based)  

PoP says:  Government welfare programs supposedly intended to help America’s poor, have instead reinforced and entrenched a poor underclass, unable to escape to find the American dream.

Poverty: The gap in wealth between white Americans and minorities is the widest it’s ever been, a new report says. Could it be that the government, while intending to help those in need, in fact ends up hurting them?  (emphasis added.)  Read more at Editorial: Gov’t Welfare Widens The Wealth Gap – Investors.com.

How have we arrived at this place where the fate of our federal budget, our economy – indeed, our capacity to have a functioning federal government – seems to depend on what two men, Speaker of the House John A. Boehner and President Obama, may or may not be secretly talking about in an interior room in the White House?

Regular order is a Washington term of art that means the exact opposite of writing a bill in secret by a few congressional leaders and the president. It means letting each house of Congress introduce bills, hold open committee hearings, mark up the legislation in public, vote for it and send it to the floors of the House and Senate where it is openly discussed. Then it is passed by majority vote and is sent to the president for signature.  Read more at BLANKLEY: Bypassing consent of the governed – Washington Times.

(C)onservative Republicans in the House, many allied to the tea party movement, said they don’t just want votes on the (balanced budget) amendment, they want an assurance it will be sent to the states. Mr. Jordan and other conservatives said they would prefer the Senate vote on the debt increase the House passed last week, that includes deeper spending cuts and requires both chambers approve a balanced budget amendment and submit it to states for ratification before any debt increase happens. Read more at House GOP revolts against Boehner plan – Washington Times.

Rep. James Lankford (R-OK) said his office is fielding significantly more phone calls today following President Obama’s prime-time plea last night. But many constituents are relaying the opposite message from what Obama asked them to deliver on the debt-limit debate.  Read more at Constituent Calls to Congress Go Against Obama in One Office.

North Carolina is developing an energy problem. Thanks to Senate Bill 3, North Carolina energy providers are subject to a Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (REPS) to force utilities to use “green” methods to fill 12.5% of their energy needs. This legislation effectively mandates alternative energy at any cost, and it’s not as “green” as supporters would tend to have us believe.  Read more at CivitasReview.com

Americans tuning in last night to watch President Barack Obama’s primetime address from the East Room of the White House might have thought they stumbled upon yet another re-run from the networks. Instead of hearing news that Washington finally broke the debt ceiling stalemate, viewers were treated to more of the same from their President. He still had no plan for dealing with government overspending and overborrowing, and he repeated his never-ending call for tax hikes. Unfortunately, the plans proposed by House Speaker John Boehner (R–OH) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–NV) don’t get the job done, either.  Read  more commentary at Heritage.org

“If we are selling off property that is not needed, or was purchased for [a] dubious reason, that is good,” (Americans For Prosperity North Carolina Director Dallas Woodhouse) said. “Over time it could raise tens of millions of dollars. If it is sold to the right owner and is privatized, the business or the property could get back on the tax rolls, and that’s a good thing.”  Read more at House to Look at Options for Selling Government Assets.

The false narrative is that the Tea Party is a bunch of stubborn nuts, if not outright racists.  In truth, the Tea Party has been right about everything, while almost everyone else has been nuts, especially the “experts”.  Read more at AmericanThinker.com

As North Carolina House leaders try this week to override Gov. Beverly Perdue’s veto of voter ID legislation, they’re ready to risk defeat on one of the most politically divisive issues raised by the General Assembly’s new GOP majority.  Read more at NewsObserver.com

The Federal Reserve has recently had a complete audit and according toVermont Senator Bernie Sander’s website, one of the big surprises found was the fact that the “U.S. provided $16 trillion in secret loans to bail out American and foreign banks and businesses during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.”  Read more at PatriotUpdate.com and HotAir.com

The entire political landscape is currently engulfed in debt ceiling flames, for largely artificial and concocted reasons. This man-made inferno is now centered around and fixated upon the August 2 so-called “drop dead” date for reaching a deal to raise the nation’s borrowing limit. If we do not by then do so, we are told, America will go into default. Which is little more than repetitive absurdity.

Read more via » Big Government.

Billionaires George Soros and T Boone Pickens to profit immensely at the expense of American taxpayers.

As the Administration’s push for alternative fuels grows stronger, Congress is set to consider H.R. 1380, which would create very generous tax credits to manufacturers who retrofit existing work vehicles to run on natural gas rather than on that terrifying global menace known as oil, and very generous subsidies to natural gas vehicle consumers: $7500 per car and a whopping $64,000 for heavy-duty trucks and 18-wheelers.  Read more at » Soros Making More Cash With Congress

This is serious. It’s no longer about cutting up the government credit cards. It’s about the Left as financial crack addicts. What John Boehner is doing — one hopes — is not negotiating but performing what drug and alcohol counselors refer to as an “intervention.”  Read more at  The American Spectator

‎’Mothers Little Helper’ has some SERIOUS side-effects!

A slew of organizations funded by billionaire George Soros have been utilizing the News of the World phone hacking scandal in the U.K. to call for investigations of News Corporation’s U.S. interests, particularly Fox News Channel.  Read the details at WorldNetDaily.com

Earlier this week, the RAND Corporation released the results of a study that found merit pay had no effect on increasing student achievement or teacher motivation.  Teacher union supporters are gleefully promoting this study as proof that merit pay does not work.

…Education Action Group would like to point out two serious concerns we have with the study:  First, buried three paragraphs from the bottom of RAND’s press release announcing the results, is this little stink bomb:

“Researchers also found that a majority of the schools disseminated the bonuses equally among the staff,…..” 

So where’s the merit?  This was a bogus setup to discredit merit pay.  Read more at Kyle Olson – Townhall Conservative.

It’s difficult just to wage a multi-front war, let alone win it.  Conservatives have to fight, not only against their politically liberal nemeses in the Congress, but also against the liberal media, (and even some Republicans with sketchy commitment.)  The following from a News Busters article.  Link to full story below.

ABC, CBS, and NBC ignored the existence of the Cut, Cap and Balance (CCB) bill until last week, a Nexis search revealed, despite multiple polls demonstrating overwhelming public support.

In addition to the blackout, none of the broadcast networks ever mentioned the positive polls in their coverage of the bill, even though 65 percent of the public backed a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget in a Mason-Dixon poll from May and 72 percent approved of such a measure in a Fox News poll from June.  Read more at Media Blackout: Nets Ignored Popular Cut, Cap, Balance Bill | NewsBusters.org.

Fiscal Policy: The Minnesota congresswoman suggests the problem might be that half the people pay no taxes and don’t care what the government spends. If all had to pull the wagon, maybe the load would be made lighter.

What Bachmann was getting at is the fact that, as Julie Borowski of FreedomWorks points out, a record number of Americans — one in six — are now dependent on government anti-poverty programs while nearly half of Americans pay no income tax at all.  More people are riding the wagon than pulling it.  Read more at Bachmann’s Right: All Should Pay Taxes – Investors.com.

“Shocked Norwegians began scratching their heads over the vicious attack, wondering, “why us”?  After all, no country has bent further backward to accommodate the Arab world in its ongoing conflicts with the West. From the early 1970s, Norway, though a tiny nation of 4.5 million people, opened its doors to thousands of Muslim immigrants, mostly from Pakistan, out of deep humanitarian concern.”  Read more at Norway’s 9/11 – Investors.com.

UPDATE:  (A police official) “said there did not appear to be any links to international terrorist networks. The attack ‘is probably more Norway’s Oklahoma City than it is Norway’s World Trade Center,’ he said referring to the 1995 attack on a federal building in Oklahoma City by domestic terrorists.”  Read more at http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/07/23/gunmans-background-puzzles-police-in-norway/#ixzz1SxBMhZ5f

The House-passed spending control plan rejected by the Senate is exactly what Republicans were elected to do last November. The president’s obsession with tax increases repudiates the will of the people.  Like a headmaster in chief of some Dickensian orphanage, President Obama earlier this month told us to “eat our peas” — meaning accept the tax increases we know are good for us.

Socialism has always come down to contempt for the will of the people, to a benevolent elite force-feeding its enlightened policies down the throats of the masses.  Read more at Editorial: Democrats Are Obsessed With Raising Taxes – Investors.com.

Just a glimpse at the American flag can sway voters, even Democrats, toward more Republican voting behavior, attitudes and beliefs, a new two-year study says.  FoxNews/a.

Plans to solve our out-of-control debt problem keep proliferating. But amid the welter of competing forecasts and estimates, Republicans should remember: your principles matter more than the numbers.  As the clock ticks down on their phony deadline for concluding deficit talks, the Democrats have lost all the public debates over more spending and higher taxes.  So their only hope is to manufacture a fake crisis, such as the supposed “default” date of Aug. 2, and with the media’s help, force Republicans to agree to a bad deal.  It wouldn’t be the first time.  (Read more at the following link.)

via Editorial: In Deficit Debate, Principles Do Matter – Investors.com.

For two years now, “Blame the Tea Party First” has been the Democrats’ favorite mantra. “Firsters” invoke the Tea Party to make sense–for themselves–of the otherwise inexplicable fact of large-scale public opposition to President Obama, and they hold the Tea Party responsible for many of the nation’s deeper problems, from incivility in our discourse to an inability to set aside intransigent partisanship. Read more of this excellent commentary at CommentaryMagazine.com

We find ourselves in the midst of an important battle, the outcome of which will be determined by decisions to be made in the immediate days ahead. We must win this fight. The debate over raising the debt limit seems complicated, but it is really very simple. Look beyond the myriad details of the awkward compromises, and you see an epic struggle between two opposing camps.

via Debt Limit Debate: The Fight We’re In.

I think I might know where we could make some spending cuts.  The following is an article on American “poverty” from Investors Business Daily.  Follow the link below to read the entire article.

American Dream: As debt talks burn on, Democrats keep bringing up the plight of the poor. This group, they say, will suffer from what they’re calling the Republicans’ “draconian” cuts. The poor aren’t so bad off, though.  via Embarrassment Of Riches – Investors.com.

With a homemade .22-caliber rifle he calls the Montana Buckaroo, Gary Marbut dreams of taking down the federal regulatory state.  He’s not planning to fire his gun. Instead, he wants to sell it, free from federal laws requiring him to record transactions, pay license fees and open his business to government inspectors.

Eight states have adopted his Firearms Freedom Act, which Mr. Marbut conceived as a vehicle to undermine federal authority over commerce…. read more at The Wall Street Journal

A special meeting of the United Nations security council is due to consider whether to expand its mission to keep the peace in an era of climate change.  There has been talk of a new environmental peacekeeping force – green helmets – which could step into conflicts caused by shrinking resources.  Read more at Guardian.co.uk  (Liv: We must stop funding the UN & throw their diplomatically immune butts out of NY.  Let the EU fund it, see how long it lasts) 

A 60-day public comment period has opened on a National Park Service plan to restrict beach driving on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  The new policy, chosen in December and set to take effect later this year, will permanently prohibit off-road vehicle access to 26 miles of the 67-mile seashore, including some of its most popular spots. About 28 miles will remain open to vehicles year-round, and 13 miles will be open seasonally.  Read more and get the comment link at EyeOnDare

Since May, President Barack Obama has experienced a 14 point shift to the negative in his job approval rating among North Carolina voters, according to a new poll released by the Civitas Institute.  The poll also revealed that voters continue to hold an unfavorable opinion of Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue.  Read the details at NCCivitas.org

In a joint statement, Senator Rucho and Representative Lewis explained that while they believe that the Rucho-Lewis #1 map fully complies with all applicable federal and state legal requirements, the changes in the new map were the result of comments received during “the public hearings, comments on the General Assembly’s website and feedback from members of Congress.”  See the new map at CivitasReview.com

While not having formally announced his candidacy for governor, Republican Pat McCrory leads Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue by 20 percent among North Carolina voters, according to a new poll released by the Civitas Institute.  The poll also found voters in both parties divided on who they would pick if their respective primaries for governor were today.  Read the numbers and details at NCCivitas.org

Rather astute observation from 1970′s educational cartoon Schoolhouse Rocks

As Congress struggles to find a way to cut spending as part of raising the $14 trillion debt ceiling, they should take a close look at the more than $1 trillion spent every year on welfare. You’ll be surprised to learn that many of the 30 million Americans defined as “poor” and in need of government assistance aren’t quite what you’d expect—rather than homeless and on the streets, the average poor American household has luxuries like air conditioning, cable TV, and X-box video game consoles.  Read the details and see the charts at Heritage.org

The newly formed black led South Central L.A. Tea Party group will hold a major rally to expose the lies and misinformation of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) during its102nd annual convention in Los Angeles on July 24. The purpose of the rally is to bring attention to the failed liberal big government agenda of the NAACP and to expose their lies and hypocrisy on race issues. via Black-Led Tea Party Group to Rally Against NAACP (7/24/11).

Throughout the debate over the debt limit these past few weeks, Americans have become increasingly alarmed with our nation’s staggering $14.3 trillion debt. Many might wonder how the government is ever going to repay its mounting debt.  Unfortunately, that responsibility will fall to the Debt-Paying Generation (ages 5-30). Currently, every citizen owns $31,871 of the national debt, but each American’s share of national debt is growing. If current spending patterns continue, by the time 5-year-olds are 45, they will each be responsible for $279,738 of the debt. See more at Heritage.org

ImmigrationCounters.com provides the key numbers and events related to illegal immigration in the United States. Live counters, statistics, news, money wired to Mexico, anchor baby counter, social service costs, number of incarcerated, number of fugitives.

North Carolina will be well represented on Fox News tonight with U.S. Reps. Renee Ellmers, Virginia Foxx and Sue Myrick participating in a Congressional  women’s focus group during a segment of the Sean Hannity show, according to  Ellmers’ office. The show is on at 9, with the roundtable segment at about 9:40, according to  Ellmers’ office. Hannity repeats at midnight.  NewsObserver.com  Watch on YouTube

Take a look at the proposed map for congressional elections in North Carolina, and you’ll notice right away: It features some crazy-looking districts.  Aha! This must be evidence of a dastardly Republican scheme to resegregate the state and return our politics to the era of Jim Crow, if not the antebellum status quo. Right?  Well, not really. The “evil Republican scheme” argument is likely the best one available to those in the business of bashing the GOP or promoting Democrats, but it ignores some key facts — facts that make the congressional map’s configuration a little less loony.  Read more at CarolinaJournal.com

If Congress and the president don’t raise the debt ceiling, the consequences  will be disastrous, politicians and pundits tell us, — the equivalent of an  economic Armageddon. And President  Obama warns that the consequences are so dire that he cannot possibly  tolerate any delay in making an agreement.  Read more at FoxNews.com

In what has been called a “serious set-back for the Holder Justice  Department,” a federal appeals court has chosen to allow a lawsuit challenging a  portion of the 1965 Voting Rights Act to go forward.  The case in question involves a 2008 referendum in which the citizens of  Kinston, N.C., voted to hold nonpartisan elections, which would keep the party  affiliation of the candidates off the ballots, a common practice in the state.  The Justice Department explained that citizens needed to have the party  affiliation so that blacks could elect their “candidates of choice,”  which the  department identified as Democrats and “almost exclusively black,” according to the Washington Times in 2009. Read more at DailyCaller.com

National Review reveals Democrats are demanding over $100 billion in new spending in debt ceiling talks – including “extending unemployment insurance for another 99 weeks at a cost of $43 billion” – and have taken “waste, fraud, and abuse” savings off the table unless Republicans “buy them back” with tax hikes. In addition, they requested another $10 billion to spend on research projects overseen by the National Institutes of Health.

This isn’t your typical Jim Lehrer-moderated debate on PBS.  Next week, seven Republican presidential candidates will take the virtual stage  on Twitter in what’s being billed as the first “Tea Party presidential debate.”  Read how to participate at DailyCaller.com

“To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves  and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”  Thomas Jefferson said these words roughly 200 years ago. Sadly, modern-day North Carolinians have been subjected to this “sinful and tyrannical”  practice for the past nine years in the form of taxpayer-financed political  campaigns.  Read more at CharlotteObserver.com

For the first time since February, more voters disapprove of Obama  than approve of him in North Carolina, and for the first time since November he faces majority disapproval.  News Observer

The state Senate has voted to override six vetoes that Gov. Perdue rejected last month.  The legislature is back in session, beginning today, to focus on vetoes and redistricting.  The session will resume until July 28th.  Read which bills at CivitasReview.com

An array of books covering the Tea Party movement, grassroots organizing, public policy, Austrian School economics, philosophy, history, public choice theory and political humor.  FreedomWorks.org

Despite complaints from the left about the recently released Congressional district proposals, the maps would preserve a registration advantage for Democrats in 10 of 13 Congressional Districts. Democrats would hold more than half of the registered voters in 3 districts, 2 of which are minority-majority districts mandated by the Voting Rights Act. Few dispute that these districts are almost certain to remain Democratic.  Read more and see the map at CivitasReview.com

The heavily Democratic state of Rhode Island enacted a voter identification law last week that will require a non-photo ID at the polling place starting January 2012, and transitions to a photo ID  requirement in 2014. In contrast to the highly partisan battle over voter identification in North Carolina, the measure passed the Rhode Island legislature with support from both parties and was signed by independent governor Lincoln Chafee.  Read more at CivitasReview.com 

Mitch McConnell is right now talking about making a historic capitulation.  So fearful of being blamed for a default, McConnell is proposing a compromise that lets Barack Obama raise the debt ceiling without making any spending cuts at all.  McConnell’s idea is to make the debt ceiling automatic unless Congress, by a 2/3 vote blocks the increase.  Oh yes, he put a salve on it by dressing it up in tough talk that, to quote the Wall Street Journal, “[a] real solution’ to U.S. fiscal problems isn’t possible as long as President Barack Obama remains in office.”  So since no “real solution” is possible, McConnell proposes to go Pontius Pilate and wash his hands of spending, blaming Obama while doing nothing himself.  Consider sending McConnell a weasel as testament to his treachery.  His address is 601 W. Broadway, Room 630, Louisville, KY 40202 and the phone number is (502) 582-6304.  Read more at RedState.com

The actual accounting done by the U.S. Treasury Department shows that federal tax revenues have exceeded interest payments on the federal debt by 20-fold since the Treasury announced on May 16 that the federal government had hit the current legal limit on the national debt.  In fact, since the government hit the debt limit on May 16, the ongoing flow of federal tax revenue has been more than sufficient to cover the combined costs of federal spending on interest payments, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the Veterans Affairs department and federal workers wages and insurance benefits (including wages and insurance benefits for military personnel).  Read more at CNSNews.com

The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the BULB Act this week, which was introduced by Reps Joe Barton (R–TX), Michael Burgess (R–TX) and Marsha Blackburn (R–TN). The legislation would repeal Subtitle B of Title III of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007—the phase-out of the incandescent bulb as we know it. The light bulb ban has become a symbolic representation of the federal government’s intrusion into the American individual’s freedom.  The insinuation behind energy efficiency standards—not just for light bulbs, but for vehicles, appliances, and buildings—is that consumers don’t know what’s best for them.  Read more at Heritage.org

In a survey from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a staggering 64 percent of small business owners said they don’t plan to add new jobs in the coming year; 12 percent said they’ll actually be getting rid of current positions.  Read more at FoxNewsInsider.com

Read 40 facts that prove the working class is being systematically wiped out at  IntelDaily.com

Former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor has launched a series of videogames that teach kids about government.  So far it has hooked kids in 12,000 classrooms across the U.S. on a selection of civics-themed games—now played more than 2 million times. The goal: revive
the teaching of civics in American schools to help prepare the next generation of kids to participate as citizens in a democracy.  Only 29 states require high-school students to take a civics or government
course.  Read more at Newsweek.com

Here are five ways that President Obama’s actions have directly contributed to Friday’s dismal jobs report, which included a rise in unemployment to 9.2%, the news that only 18,000 jobs had been created in June in a country of 300 million people, that wages have declined and that 250,000 people left the job market entirely.  Heritage.org

The American government is broke. Like many American families, it uses borrowed money to operate on a daily basis. But unlike the average American, the government doesn’t ask a bank or credit card company for more money; it can sell more debt on the open market and raise its own credit limit.  Read the six keys to understanding the issue at ABCNews.com

Two Democratic members of Congress, Democratic legislators and other critics Thursday lashed out at Republican-drawn voting districts, saying they violate  the Voting Rights Act and ignore natural geographic ties.  Others praised GOP lawmakers.  Read more at NewsObserver.com

North Carolina, which has seen more litigation over voting districts than almost  any other state, appears headed toward yet another round of court fights.  Read the details at NewsObserver.com

The Liberty Dollar’s creator, Bernard von NotHaus, was convicted 3/18/11 of “making coins resembling and similar to United States coins” and “issuing and passing Liberty Dollar coins intended for use as current money,” among other charges.  Federal officials also see gold. On April 4 a forfeiture trial began to determine whether the government is entitled to claim almost $7 million in Liberty Dollars and precious metals that was seized when von NotHaus was arrested. Von Nothaus also is facing multiple prison terms totaling 20 years and multiple fines that could total as much as $500,000 as well as loss of his seized property. Numismaster.com   (the state says this was a form of domestic terrorism, hmm…)

You can view the entire list of staff members & their salaries at the following link.  LATimes.com

If you thought it was the height of cynicism when legislators dubbed a massive expansion of government surveillance power the “USA Patriot Act” (recently extended—really!—under the heading of small business legislation), feast your eyes upon the Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011, on which the House Judiciary Committee is slated to hold a hearing next Tuesday. What kind of monster would dare be on the record opposing that bill?  As you may have already guessed, the handful of provisions in the bill that really deal specifically with child porn are a fig leaf for its true purpose: A sweeping data retention requirement meant to turn Internet Service Providers and online companies into surrogate snoops for the government’s convenience. Any provider of an “electronic communication” or “remote computing” service—meaning broadband providers like Comcast, but also companies like Google—would have to retain records of the “temporarily assigned network address” (such as an IP address) associated with each account for 18 months.  Read more at Cato-at-Liberty.org

There’s little that’s intelligent or informed about Time magazine editor Richard Stengel’s article “One Document, Under Siege” (June 23, 2011). It contains many grossly ignorant statements about our Constitution.  Read more of Walter Williams’ Op-Ed at Townhall.com

Bev (the Veto Gov), Legislative re-cap, & more at Civitas

Join FairTaxers from across the nation on July 28,29 & 30 for the “Storming the Hill” event.  Details of this and other events at FairTaxNation.com

The 4th of July cover article of Time magazine claims that the Constitution is irrelevant. As proof of its irrelevance, Time lists a dozen products of modern society inconceivable to the framers, including
antibiotics, “sexting,” and Medicare. The Constitution’s only virtue, they say,is that it has many meanings and thus leaves us able to do whatever we want to do. But not everything has changed since1787. When it comes to ordering society under the rule of law, what is most important?Knowledge of “collateralized debt obligations” or knowledge of human nature?  Read more at ColoniePatriot.com

Rather than argue about all of Obama’s failures, there is a simple chart which can be more effective in telling the story.   SodaHead.com

The White House’s Council of Economic Advisors reports that the “stimulus” has added or saved just under 2.4 million jobs — whether private or public — at a cost (to date) of $666 billion. That’s a cost to taxpayers of $278,000 per job.   In other words, the government could simply have cut a $100,000 check to everyone whose employment was allegedly made possible by the “stimulus,” and taxpayers would have come out $427 billion ahead.  WeeklyStandard.com

The text, different drafts, signers, Thomas Jefferson’s account, timeline, and more.  USHistory.org

Young people in this country are failing civics, which is a crisis for the nation.

via Hoover Institution