Chad Adams interview

Chad Adams is running for chair of the NC GOP. Here is a video interview with Chad done this week by a tv station in Wilmington.

Filed under: North Carolina , Chad Adams, NCGOP

What Comes Next?

When I’m not lamenting the death of the Republican Party I like to write songs and play music. Currently I’m in a groovin’ little three piece with two of the best musicians I’ve ever played with.

We are trying to record a basement demo so we can get some paid work around the area.

We set up some recording equipment in my friend’s basement and we’ve had two sessions so far.

This song is something I made up on the spot about two weeks ago. This recording is the second time we’ve played the song.

Its got its imperfections, but for a novice sound engineer and producer, I think it shows promise.

The song itself is just three bits played in order and then in reverse order. A simple chord walk down, followed by a dreamy bit and leading into some heavy distortion and then out again.

Don’t miss the bass player’s groove after the distorted bit.

Submitted for your consideration.

I suggest headphones at low volume to start because I am still learning about compression. You’ve been warned.

http://reidsvillenow.com/sounds/floyd.mp3 (hi quality steam)

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7372818 (Soundclick)
Possible titles:

What Comes Next?

Scott Free

Lorraine’s A-hernia

Filed under: Music , jeffrey sykes

Bad review of the day, Part II

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the longest-serving Democratic senator, is criticizing President Obama’s appointment of White House “czars” to oversee federal policy, saying these executive positions amount to a power grab by the executive branch.

In a letter to Obama on Wednesday, Byrd complained about Obama’s decision to create White House offices on health reform, urban affairs policy, and energy and climate change. Byrd said such positions “can threaten the Constitutional system of checks and balances. At the worst, White House staff have taken direction and control of programmatic areas that are the statutory responsibility of Senate-confirmed officials.”

Filed under: National , imperial presidency, President Obama

Miracle at St. Anna

Miracle at St. Anna

I watched Miracle at St. Anna this past weekend. I had been excited to see the movie for some time, but being one who refuses to pay Hollywood rates to see a movie in a theatre, I had to wait for it to come out on DVD.

The wait was worthwhile. What a great movie.

In brief, Spike Lee did an incredible job of threading together a host of elements in a patchwork story taking place in a small Italian village during the closing days of World War II.

The premise of the story is four black soldiers who survive a river crossing in the face of entrenched Nazi positions make their way to a barn where they come across a lone Italian boy. One of the soldiers, Train, lovingly described by a superior as “the biggest negro you’ve ever seen in your life”, is hauling a large marble statue head in a net bag around his waist.

All the soldiers seem tentative as they cross a field to the river, but the steely Sergeant Stamps and a medic named Hector, urge them forward. In the barn, Train discovers the small boy buried under some rubble after a shell hit the structure. He rescues the boy and the adventure begins with four black soldiers, an Italian boy and a miraculous statue head making their way to a small Italian village.

Filed under: Concepts, National , buffalo soldiers, Miracle at St. Anna, segregation, Spike Lee

S.S. Obama losing steam?

I guess polls are becoming like statistics, but this one was interesting. Approval down 10 and disapproval up 12 in the last month:

For the first time since Gallup began tracking Barack Obama’s presidential job approval rating on Jan. 21, fewer than 60% of Americans approve of the job he is doing as president. In Feb. 21-23 polling, 59% of Americans give Obama a positive review, while 25% say they disapprove, and 16% have no opinion.

Filed under: National

“Localism, community and limits”

Deneen:

Ironically, the very moment that the Left has re-connected to its message of “liberal faith” may be the very moment when that faith is proven to be too much evidence of things unseen. In the meantime, a critique of the American narrative – combined with a reconsideration of “Another America,” a tradition of localism, community, self-government based in limits, a culture of memory and tradition, undergirded by faith and virtue – may have found its moment.

Filed under: Concepts, National , conservatism, liberal faith, Patrick Deneen

Coalitions

Ross Douthat, noch ein mal:

A smart right-populism and a smart libertarianism have a lot of disagreements, but a lot to talk about as well. And the whole idea of a libertarianism that engages with the welfare state as it actually exists, and seeks revolutions within the form that enhance liberty and opportunity, is roughly what I want to see from the American center-right at the moment – which makes me loath to see people who have ideas along similar lines fleeing into the center-left.

Another voice from the past:

Friendly disagreement on positive principles meant genuine and healthy
diversity and freedom of discussion within right-wing circles. As Thomas
Fleming noted with astonishment when researching the Old Right, there
was no party line, and there was no organ or central GHQ that excommunicated
“unrespectable” members. There was a wide spectrum of positive
views: ranging from pure libertarian decentralization to Hamilitonian
reliance on strong government within rigid limits to various wings of
monarchists. And in all this diversity and range of discourse, no one would
react in shock and horror to any “extreme” views—so long as the “extremism”
did not mean selling out the fight against the New Deal. There was also
a great deal of disagreement on specific policies that had been open questions
in the Old, pre-New Deal, Republic: tariffs vs. free trade; immigration
restrictions vs. open borders; and what constitutes a military or foreign
policy truly consistent with American national interests.
—Murray Rothbard, “Life in the Old Right”

Hat tip American Conservative

Filed under: GOP, National , GOP, grand new party, libertarian conservatism, Life in the Old Right, Murray Rothbard, Ross Douthat, welfare state

Entitled to choices

This is a perfect picture of what is wrong with our country and its people.

This couple makes $55k annual and they have to resort to the foodbank? Talk about a sense of entitlement.

Jefferson wrote about the “pursuit of happiness” but no where in our nation’s history is there a guarantee of happiness (read prosperity).

Last year, my family lived on about 61 percent of what this family lives on. We have to make tough financial choices but we have never wanted for anything.

Before I hear all about the cost of living differential, just stop. We have become a nation of entitlements.

Related.

Filed under: National , food bank, hunger, poverty

Hundreds rally against card check

Looks like decent turnout for the AFP’s “Save My Ballot” kickoff events in Greensboro and Raleigh:

“The Employee Free Choice Act is just the beginning of government’s stranglehold on American businesses,” said Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity. “Binding contracts issued by government bureaucrats would remove the right of union members to vote on their wage levels and working conditions. Where is the ‘Free Choice’ in that?”

One attendee involved in the construction and siding business, Ed Jones, claimed that card check legislation would make it difficult to create new jobs: “We do not need another barrier to creating good jobs in North Carolina,” said Jones, founder of Eastern Surfa-Shield & Facelifters. “This is a bad piece of legislation– it is wrong for North Carolina and it is wrong for America.”

Related.

Filed under: National, North Carolina , Americans for Prosperity, big labor, card check, Employee Free Choice Act, union

What does government cost at the local level?

JLF’s Center for Local Innovation, under the astute direction of Chad Adams, has releases its ever popular “By the Numbers” report on what government costs at the local level.

According to Adams:

The ultimate reality is that North Carolinians fund growth from their personal incomes. Having said that, a document such as By The Numbers has ever more relevance because it helps taxpayers evaluate whether the services they receive from local government merit what they are paying for them.

We hope that taxpayers will continue to ask about the proper role of local government and its relationship to the state. We should be asking serious questions about Medicaid, transportation, mental health, and other issues. We should also have serious discussions about local and state incentives as they continue to become more prevalent across the state, have not protected jobs, and may have well accelerated unemployment.

Debate is healthy for a community and is more important now than ever. Vigilance is necessary to keep these discussions alive and to help to ensure that our local leaders remain accountable to the taxpayers.

Filed under: North Carolina , Chad Adams, local government, local taxes, North Carolina, taxes in north carolina

Republican legislative caucus discusses EFCA

Text via NCGOP.org

The Card Check Bill or so-called “Employee Free Choice Act” to be considered by Congress has far-reaching implications for North Carolina, a right to work state.

Under current law, a union must obtain signatures from 30 percent of employees in order to call for a union election.  Often times, union officials will not call for an election until they have 70 percent of employees willing to sign a card in public to support the formation of a union.  This is because they understand that what an employee feeling pressure from a union says in public can change once they cast a secret ballot.  51 percent support in public does not equate to 51 percent of secret ballots.

Under the Card Check Bill, unions would be automatically formed if union officials can secure cards signed in public by more than half of workers.  No election will then be called.  This process thereby eliminates the secret ballot for workers.

Filed under: North Carolina , card check, efca, Employee Free Choice Act, NCGOP

Where the ideas are

Ross Douthat on GOP renewal:

What the Republican Party needs, above all, is a generation of politicians who can fill the “center-right” space currently occupied by time-servers like Arlen Specter and Susan Collins with a politics that’s oriented around policy, rather than process. It needs a reform caucus that’s actually interested in reform (as opposed to deal-cutting), and that’s populated with politicians who have tried something new in difficult political terrains, and proven that it might work.

Filed under: GOP, National , Eric Cantor, GOP, Michael Steele, RNC, Ross Douthat

Opinions sought: How to handle the banking crisis?

There is a new poll at Conservative NC today. Stop by and vote if you have time. The poll asks your opinion on how the feds should handle the continuing banking crisis.

Filed under: National , banking crises, Federal Reserve policy

A move toward protectionism

Doug Clark examines some of the questions surrounding the “Buy American” frenzy associated with the stimulus bill:

“(A Business Week report) notes that some “buy American” requirements have been in place for years. There are limitations, the article states. For example, the rules don’t apply “if they’ll increase the cost of the overall project by more than 25%.”

When you’re talking about projects costing hundreds of billions of dollars, potentially overpaying by up to 25 percent adds up to a huge penalty for taxpayers. Not many of us could manage our household budgets that way, no matter how much we might want to limit our personal spending to the immediate neighborhood.”

Filed under: International, National, North Carolina , Buy American, larry kissell, protectionism, US trade policy

How to run for office in Rockingham County

An astute Rockingham County resident has devised a training class for would be county commissioners:

While the steps listed below may seem easy, they are, in fact, so detailed and complicated that the average Rockingham County citizen cannot even begin to understand them, thus necessitating the need for this class. Therefore, only the elite should register for the class; everyone else should just allow themselves and their property to be jacked around as we see fit.

Filed under: Reidsville , Amelia Dallas, Rockingham County property revaluation

Overcharged

This is how I’ve felt more than once after getting a bill for services rendered by a fine medical institution (even with insurance):

“My first reaction was to start laughing — I just kept saying, ‘No way, no way,’ ” Alanna Boyd, a 28-year-old receptionist, recalled of the $17,398 — including $13 for the use of a television — that she was charged after spending 46 hours in October at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan with diverticulitis, a digestive illness. “I could have gone to a major university for a year. Instead, I went to the hospital for two days.”

Filed under: National , health care costs, uninsured

Gun ownership insensitive?

Newsday has a poll related to a story about new Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand owning rifles.

One of the possible answers is “It’s insensitive to gun violence victims“

What’s insensitive to gun violence victims is letting the perps back out on the street or keeping murderers in jail for life instead of sending them to their maker.

Please take a minute to voice your opinion in the poll.

Filed under: National , gun ownership, gun violence, Kirstin Gillibrand, rifles

“On Sundays I elude the eyes …”

Filed under: International , red barchetta, rush

Feel Thabeet?

Any ACC fans out there hoping their team might go deep in the NCAAs might wanna read up on the diamond in the rough playing for UConn this year.

Hasheem Thabeet looks to me a lot like Shaq in college. Minus about 50 pounds.

The 7-foot-3 junior center nearly had his second triple-double in two weeks, finishing with career-highs of 25 points and 20 rebounds while blocking nine shots Saturday in No. 1 Connecticut’s 62-54 victory over Seton Hall, the Huskies’ 13th straight win.

Filed under: National

What North Carolina cities get for stimulus

This site has a list of projects deemed “shovel ready” by mayors in North Carolina.

Hat tip, Conservative NC.

Filed under: North Carolina , shovel ready projects in north carolina, stimulus plan

Making stimu-lee, making stumuli

There seems to be a lot of bitching on both sides of the spectrum about the stimulus bill. In between the rhetoric, though, lies a decent example of compromise. The Dems reached for the moon and the GOP did their best to reshape the legislation.

In the end, it seems we got lower taxes, a hefty amount of stimulus and not as much social welfare pork as might have gotten through in a one-party legislature.

One element I hope works out well is the amount of green stimulus apparently in the bill.

State leaders and energy experts were still unsure Friday about the precise amount headed for jobs such as building solar panels or retrofitting government buildings to save energy, but say it will be massive compared with what green companies are accustomed to. From the $6.1 billion that is headed for the state, nearly $113 million will be designated for low-income families and senior citizens to weatherize their homes.

Filed under: National , stimulus plan

Imagine that

McClatchy DC:

Another reason that some analysts frown on the stimulus is the social spending it includes on things such as the Head Start program for disadvantaged children and aid to NASA for climate-change research. Both may be worthy efforts, but they aren’t aimed at delivering short-term boosts to economic activity.

Filed under: National , liberal social policy, stimulus plan

Progressive chorus sings tax hike’s praises

I noted this post from our friends at Progressive Pulse recently.

Seems that Exile on Jones Street chimed in agreement with PP’s thoughts toward an increase in business taxes in North Carolina.

Here is a comment I left at Exile:

As a wage earner, I am quite satisfied with my tax burden and remain thankful that my employer’s tax burden is low enough that he can afford to pay me said wage because his business remains profitable.

As the wage earner responsible for keeping the books and thus seeing to it that the monthly and quarterly coupons are paid, I can tell you the tax burden on small corporations (ours has four employees) is such that it amazes me that any business remains viable.

Not only does my employer pay his own income taxes, but he pays thousands of dollars each month for state and federal income tax, double social security, and unemployment insurance.

That’s on top of worker’s comp and health care.

Do progressives in this state actually believe that raising business and corporate taxes in a recession is a good idea? I’d like a definitive answer from someone.

Filed under: North Carolina , business taxes in north carolina

NC progressives angling for business tax increases

Progressive Pulse notes that a recent Ernst and Young analysis found that North Carolina maintains the lowest business tax burden in the country while maintaining “… decent roads, a healthy and educated workforce and a clean environment.”

Why let a good thing go undisturbed, eh?

Progressive Pulse:

Hmm..maybe it’s time to close a few of those costly corporate tax loopholes that our state’s leaders have known about for years. It appears that we have at least a wee bit of room to maneuver when it comes to asking businesses to pay their fair share of taxes. After all, businesses benefit considerably when the state has decent roads, a healthy and educated workforce and a clean environment. And that’s pretty much what government spends most of its money on. Don’t tell the NC Chamber of Commerce but the tax-cutting portion of its legislative agenda looks even more irrelevant now than it did before. On second thought, go ahead and tell them.

Filed under: North Carolina , business taxes in north carolina

Your tax dollars at work

A friend of mine relates a strange experience she had at a public library recently:

I looked more closely. The twins are deep in concentration — lost in their video world. Both of them are playing the parts of animated faceless muscle men bludgeoning a lone animated female. The woman is lying on the ground struggling, the two attackers are standing over her, holding her down and beating her with some kind of poles. There is a lot of blood. A LOT of blood. Virtual blood, true, but still…

Horrified, I heard myself say, “Boys, you shouldn’t be playing that. Look at poor woman lying there hurt..”

Their father immediately rounded on me and shouted, “I AM THE ONE WHO WILL DETERMINE WHAT IS APPROPRIATE FOR MY KIDS TO PLAY!”

Filed under: Concepts