Wow! That was fast. The entire NC Senate voted unanimously to end video poker in the state of North Carolina. They passed a bill yesterday that would make it illegal everywhere except on the Cherokee reservation in the western part of the state. (aka - Them thar hills.)
To clarify what I mentioned earlier, Black was said to have kept this from coming to a vote on four previous occaisions. He claims it never made it out of committee. Heh. Wonder how that happened? Now it's time to find out who was sitting on the four previous committees. Let's start asking the tough questions.
Jim Black's political life is just about to get a lot more difficult. His legendary power and control of our state's legislature appears to be coming to an end. A NC Senate committee voted unanimously to ban video poker in North Carolina. Black has protected the industry in this state and according to an interview in The Charlotte Observer, he noticed this act of defiance.
The netroots have opened up the nominations for endorsements again. Now that the May primary date has passed and Larry Kissell easily won in the 8th District it's time to make the case for his inclusion in the project.
First, Thank You to those who have supported Larry enthusiastically at DailyKos, MyDD, ePluribusMedia, and BlueNC through diaries written by his supporters and those he has written. This truly is an amazing community and an invaluable resource to candidates and their supporters. The campaign trail can be long and hard and it's wonderful to come here and feel the energy, which for us has been completely positive. I have to admit, I'm not formally with the campaign. I am an independent blogger, but my heart is behind Larry Kissell and I won't pretend to be even a tiny bit objective about his candidacy.
ththththththwthwthwthweeeeeeeeeeeeeep.....(make this sound as you inhale giving the "p" a little pop at the end.)
That was the sound of your wallet getting lighter.
The Republican led Congress is contemplating raising the debt ceiling again after raising it only two months ago. These monkeys never met a budget they could stick to. The stenographers at The Washington Post are calling it a "bump" as the debt ceiling nears $10 trillion.
According to Tim Funk of The Charlotte Observer, there are only three races to watch from the Carolinas where the U.S. House of Representatives is concerned. Fortunately, one of them is the Kissell v. Hayes race in the 8th Congressional District in North Carolina.
Find out which races are being watched on the flip side...
After Tony Rudy's plea last month I quit watching to see how this case was progressing. I was a bit surprised to see this news in The Washington Post this morning. Neil Volz, Staffer #2, pled guilty to conspiracy charges in the scandals linked to lobbyists Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon.
Volz was Bob Ney's (Representative #1) chief of staff. Volz requested and received many gifts from Abramoff. These included tickets to sporting events, dinners and golf outings. Volz concealed the gifts by simply failing to report them.
As outraged as we are and as horrifying as the pictures of dead and injured children are we can find solice in the fact that we are horrified and outraged. We are not the war mongers of the right who simply don't seem to care how many lives they destroy as long as they get to play with their guns.
To leave this morning's discussions on a happy note, I found a site for a group called, Operation Iraqi Children. It was founded by Gary Sinise and Laura Hillenbrand. They are doing great work.
An amazing 15 year old girl, Ava Lowrey, started working about a year ago on animations that push back at the Bush administration and the Iraq War. She has produced at least 70. I will be highlighting her work over the next several weeks as we approach Memorial Day.
Some of her work uses the same pictures put to different songs, but all of it is very powerful. Please view the following video. It will only take a few minutes. Have a tissue handy.
For the past five and a half years we've watched as our country has fallen into the clutches of a lying, egomaniacal fascist who thinks God speaks to him. We've watched as our civil liberties have been ravaged and the man entrusted with protecting the Constitution that guarantees these liberties has reserved the right to break the laws of this land. In a country where no man is above the law, George W. Bush has elevated himself above all men and our laws. The scariest part of all of this, is that he has done it in the name of God.
Latest reader comments