North Carolina Election 2012 – NC LS Statewide Analysis

Via Bernhard

In just over 2 weeks the voters of North Carolina journey to the polls and pick their respective nominees for the general election.  A lot has happened but in many races the status quo seems destined to prevail.  For your digestion I give you the current goings on in North Carolina's primary.  (feel free to pass this on to family & friends)

Governor -- For the GOP it seems that Pat McCrory is indeed the annointed candidate.  Despite having 4 other challengers McCrory is gliding along to an overwhelming victory that sets him up strongly for the fall.  McCrory has amassed a war chest of over $2 million which he had hardly spent any of.  This will be the most quiet GOP gubernatorial primary since 1992.

The Democrat's primary was upended when Bev Perdue opted against running for reelection.  The majority of potential candidates decided against a run viewing the odds against taking on a united GOP when the NC Democratic Party is in such disarray.  While the establishment quickly locked in for Lt. Governor Walter Dalton, it seems that Bob Etheridge has the momentum going into the final two weeks after a poised debate performance.  Whether it will be enough to avoid a costly July runoff remains to be seen given that Bill Faisson has been spending freely but going nowhere.  Etheridge's nomination will ensure a feisty governor's contest in the fall, but one where McCrory still has the advantage.

Lt. Governor -- On the Republican side there are 5 candidates but only 3 that are viable.  Dan Forest is the son of Congresswoman Sue Myrick and has been going around the State appealing to Tea Party conservatives for their support.  Unfortunately he is being outspent on TV by current NC House Speaker Pro Tempore Dale Folwell.  Both are conservative in the traditional GOP sense, with Folwell actually having a proven political record.  The 3rd candidate is current Wake County Commissioner Tony Gurley.  Gurley started early, but lacks the charisma of Forest and the connections of Folwell.  Given it's down ballot nature this race is highly fluid and will be unpredictable going into election day.

On the Democrat side we have the unique situation of both candidates being black.  Former director of State personnel Linda Coleman and Fayetteville State Senator Eric Mansfield have jockeyed for name recognition and sought to be identified as the most liberal/progressive in the field.  Consider Coleman to have the advantage as she has the backing of the SEIU and other unions from around the country who seek to gain a firm toehold in North Carolina.

Congress NC 7 -- This southeastern district that stretches from Johnston County to Southport has seen a barnburner GOP primary between Tea Party favorite Ilario Pantano and establishment favorite David Rouser.  This has been a contest between Pantano's biography and grassroots support against Rouser's money.  Polls had shown Pantano in the lead, but Rouser has advertised extensively to narrow the gap.  This will be a dragout fight to the finish for the chance to face embattled Rep. Mike McIntyre.

Congress NC 8 -- Larry Kissell is probably the most endangered Democratic congressman thanks to the handy gerrymandering the GOP legislature did to his district.  It is also why there are multiple GOP challengers jockeying for the right to take on Kissell in November.  Most of the GOP establishment has rallied to Richard Hudson, former district director for State GOP Chairman Robin Hayes.  Tea Party firebrand Vernon Robinson is the main challenger to Hudson in the primary and is making lots of noise as he is known to do in every race he has run.  Hudson can be considered the favorite in this race.

Congress NC 9 -- The retirement of Sue Myrick brought out a bevy of GOP aspirants in this Charlotte-based district.  Myrick decided early to give her blessing to current Mecklenburg Commissioner and former sheriff Jim Pendergraph.  Pendergraph is known for being the first sheriff east of the Mississippi to bring the 287g program targeting illegal aliens to his county.  Other notable GOP figures have endorsed Robert Pittenger, a former State senator and real estate developer.  The sheer number of candidates guarantees a runoff in July, most likely between Pendergraph and Pittenger.

Congress NC 11 -- The retirement of Heath Shuler has made this mountain district race hotter than a NYC Rolex.  7 Republicans are in the primary, with Jesse Helms conservative Mark Meadows battling Tea Party candidate Vance Patterson and Transylvania DA Jeff Hunt for the lead in the race.  While Meadows has the advantage in terms of grassroots it will be a battle to the finish on May 8 to see if he can win the nomination outright without a runoff.

NC LS Legislative Analyst

Pull you BofA accounts

Late on this.

McMillan Fiberglass Stocks, McMillan Firearms Manufacturing and McMillan Group International have been collectively banking with Bank of America for 12 years. But no more: In a recent meeting, the mega-bank told the firearms company that its business is no longer welcome.

Operations director Kelly McMillan told the Daily Caller that his company has never been late on a payment and has never bounced a check. The debt outstanding on its line of credit is at 61 percent.
But at the bank’s request, he said, the McMillan group of companies would soon be paying off its credit line and closing its accounts.

The Daily Caller

Lesson in survival and dying

SHTF School

VERBATIM POST

 

I work in medical field and last week we had emergency that reminded me of something I first learned in my SHTF time. It is lesson in survival even if it helps also with dying.

So during my SHTF time. The night this happened started normal. I left my house right after dark. That night shelling was a lot. I had bad feeling, I remember that. Not that it was not normal to have bad feeling going out but this night I remember was worse.

Before shell hits, depending on shell, you have a bit time to hide. Not much, seconds at best. So you hide to stay not seen and when you hear sound of artillery you try to make yourself even smaller. Usually jump behind next pile of rubble or whatever is there.

Early that night I came to bigger street and some shells came down in front of me. I was still in ruined building hiding so no problem. I made it over street a bit later and then saw the mess. Woman, I do not know age had caught shrapnel to her body and face.

She somehow got in entrance of house and was lying there in shock. It looked bad. I did not know what to do. She tried to touch her face but there was not much left. She keep on saying she can not see. I told her to be calm and that help comes. It did not but I did not know what else to say. There was nobody to help and hospital with few doctors and few medication was in different part of city.
Then I took her hand that she stop touching her face. She became more quiet, almost relaxed. So I sit there, hold hand and she start talking about how nice place was before war. We sit and talk maybe twenty minutes, not sure if she really heard me and then she was gone.

I thought that holding hands has helped her to take last journey more relaxed.

I saw many people dying in my time in war and always try to give them gentle touch if they want. It usually has same effect. They get more relaxed and peaceful. Some want to roll up and left alone too but many more do not want to be alone.

Now when I work in emergency service I know how important that is. Last week we had emergency car accident with older married couple involved. Man ended up dead right away, woman survived. I hold her hand on way to hospital and few days later she remembered and thanked me for that.

This is not only for woman but for man too. If you still see and under shock you might feel like in bad dream, someone holding your hand can help you bring you closer to normal.

So if you can do anything to help do it, if you know first aid and nobody else already doing it, do it. Other than that show that they are not alone. Holding hand can work wonders. They are scared and do not want to be left alone.

This can make big difference for someone even if it is in last minutes of life.

Welfare Spending Up 41 Percent Under Obama

 NEWSMAX

VERBATIM POST

In 1964, when President Lyndon Johnson declared a “war on poverty” in America, the poverty rate stood at around 19 percent.

Since then, total federal, state, and local spending on anti-poverty programs has amounted to $15 trillion, yet the poverty rate now stands at 15.1 percent, the highest level in nearly a decade.
“Clearly we are doing something wrong,” according to the Cato Institute, which has released a new policy analysis on welfare spending that calls the war on poverty a “failure.”

The federal government will spend more than $668 billion on anti-poverty programs this year, an increase of 41 percent or more than $193 billion since President Barack Obama took office. State and local government expenditures will amount to another $284 billion, bringing the total to nearly $1 trillion — far more than the $685 billion spent on defense.

Federal, state and local governments now spend $20,610 a year for every poor person in the United States, or $61,830 for each poor family of three.

“Given that the poverty line for that family is just $18,530, we should have theoretically wiped out poverty in America many times over,” writes Michael Tanner, director of health and welfare studies at the Cato Institute and author of “The Poverty of Welfare: Helping Others in Civil Society.”
Most welfare programs are means-tested programs providing cash, food, housing, medical care, or other benefits to low-income persons and families, or programs targeted at communities or disadvantaged groups, such as the homeless.

The federal government alone now funds 126 separate and often overlapping programs designed to fight poverty, Tanner points out.

There are 33 housing programs run by four different cabinet departments, 21 programs providing food or food-purchasing assistance administered by three different federal departments and one independent agency, and eight healthcare programs administered by five separate agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services.

The largest welfare program is Medicaid, which provides benefits to 49 million Americans and cost more than $228 billion last year, followed by the food stamps program, with 41 million participants and a price tag of nearly $72 billion. Other programs range from Federal Pell Grants ($41 billion) down to lower-cost programs such as Weatherization Assistance for Low Income Persons ($250 million) and the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program ($20 million).

At least 106 million Americans receive benefits from one or more of these programs. Including entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare and salaries for government employees, more than half of Americans now receive a substantial portion of their income from the government.
“Clearly we are spending more than enough money to have significantly reduced poverty, yet we haven't,” Tanner concludes.

“The vast majority of current programs are focused on making poverty more comfortable rather than giving people the tools that will help them escape poverty.

“And we actually have a pretty solid idea of the keys to getting out of and staying out of poverty: finish school, do not get pregnant outside marriage, and get a job, any job, and stick with it.”

4,000 Christians Show up at North Carolina Capital to Support Marriage Amendment

Via NC Renegade

 

Our Founding Fathers Would Not Have Recited the Pledge

Re-post

Our Founding Fathers Would Not Have Recited the Pledge: 

Another patriotic tradition that gets a lot of attention, particularly around this time of the year, is the Pledge of Allegiance. The Pledge did not exist during our Founders' lifetimes -- something that is very clear when looking at its text. The Pledge was written over a century after America's founding in 1892. It was also written by a socialist -- Francis Bellamy, whose original text was: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." According to our Founders, the states are not indivisible, but very much the opposite. In fact, when ratifying the U.S. Constitution, some states, such as Virginia among others, specifically declared the right to secede from the Union should they feel it necessary just as an extra precaution to make sure that that state right was understood. Our Founders took their states rights very seriously and considered the U.S. Constitution to be a compact amongst the sovereign states so that any state could secede if it felt the federal government had become oppressive. So, if not with a pledge, how would our Founding Fathers begin meetings and celebrations? The answer: most likely with a prayer. In fact, the very first resolution brought before the First Continental Congress, and immediately passed, was the declaration that they would open every meeting with a prayer.

Three articles @  FNC

********

I Pledge Allegiance

To The Constitution Of These United States Of America 

Whose form and spirit are derived from the Holy Scriptures in order to guarantee those God-given rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights, and thereby to secure to me and to my posterity Life, Liberty, and Property and, in the pursuit of these ends so limits the functions of civil government as that these rights cannot be abrogated by unprincipled men.

I will ever uphold and defend it against all who would seek to undermine, subvert, or destroy it, and to this end, as a sacred trust from those who first uttered these words, I pledge my life, my fortune and my sacred honor, trusting in that same Divine Providence in whom our fore-fathers put their reliance. Amen. 

 Link

West dresses down CNN on gay marriage

Tea Party power forces Hatch primary

Good.  Now let's replace him.

Sen. Orrin Hatch fell just short of an outright victory at the Utah Republican convention, meaning he will face a primary to secure the GOP nomination for his own Senate seat.

Hatch finished the second round of balloting with 59.1 percent of the vote, tantalizingly close to the 60 percent threshold he needed to lock up his party's nomination at the convention.

More @ The Washington Times

Italians, bidets and sodomy

The Italians are obsessed with bidets. They dismiss as dirty the people of any country that does not provide bidets in every bathroom, whether public or private. As a Briton who lives in their midst, I believe it is not simply because sodomy is so popular with straight Italian couples. Italians use the bidet not only to cleanse their bodies but also their souls. The bidet is a bit like the confessional. It may not absolve sins like a priest, but it kind of washes them away. Like so much else in Italy, the confession booth included, the bidet encourages but does not deter sin.

You would think that in a country so mired in corruption, the Italian state would have little time to waste on prosecuting the innocent. You would be wrong. In Italy, criminal investigations are run by prosecuting judges who spend much of their time hounding the innocent on the grounds that everyone is guilty of something.

These judges have terrifying powers.

More @  Taki's

GOP elite holds off the Tea Partiers

Via Southern Nationalist Network


The Republican Party establishment has withstood the tea-party revolution.
The tricorne-hat wearing, Gadsden-flag waving insurgents were nowhere near the Republican National Committee’s annual meeting of state chairman, which wrapped up at a posh resort here Saturday afternoon.

Instead, veteran party leaders — who wore business suits even in the 100-degree heat — reigned supreme.

The 2012 meeting of the Republican national command shows just how little has actually changed in the Grand Old Party since the tea-party movement helped Republicans capture the U.S. House majority two years ago and announced that they were a powerful force in American politics.
While tea-party activists have won county chairmanships and seats on state central committees, few (if any) activists have clinched slots on the Republican Party’s 168-member governing committee. That’s not to say that tea-partiers have disappeared or that they won’t get their moment in the sun — but it may take years for them to climb the party ladder the same way as everyone else.
GOP elders sympathize with the movement’s ideas and want to channel whatever energy the decentralized groups offer for November. But when asked about the tea-party’s influence in interviews here, the movement was always spoken of in the third person and as one constituency in the larger Republican coalition, sort of like defense hawks or fiscal conservatives.
Many Republicans here said that tea-party activists now understand that things will run more smoothly if those with experience are in charge rather than those who put a premium on ideology over process.

“The important thing for any group in the party to understand…is that you need experience to govern,” said New Hampshire Republican Chairman Wayne MacDonald. “Everybody has to start somewhere. It’s just important they learn the mechanics of how the party operates…It doesn’t mean new ideas aren’t welcome.”  (Screw you.)

More @ Politico