Let's call this for what it is......

Pimp the bonds, then pimp the tax increase.

It's an outrage, and a typical example of the "Business As Usual" disease which plagues Greensboro and Guilford county, and makes our part of the world a less atteactivbe place to live and work.

This unholy combination of corrupt special interest groups needs to be stopped.

Tom Ross: A history of funding various left wing activism

He was quickly confirmed to replace Erskine Bowles as head of the UNC system, but serious questions linger about his judgment.

Noteworthy:

"A friend to many far-left organizations and a relative novice to higher education, Thomas Ross makes for an unfortunately predictable choice to be the next President of the University of North Carolina System. From a career in law to his seven years as Executive Director of the far-left funding mechanism - Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation - and President of Davidson College for three years, Ross is set to succeed current UNC President Erskine Bowles in January 2011. What is really alarming about the North Carolina Board of Governor's choice of Ross as the heir apparent is his long history of steering hundreds of thousands in contributions to dubious organizations like ACORN.


...A friend to many far-left organizations and a relative novice to higher education, Thomas Ross makes for an unfortunately predictable choice to be the next President of the University of North Carolina System. From a career in law to his seven years as Executive Director of the far-left funding mechanism - Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation - and President of Davidson College for three years, Ross is set to succeed current UNC President Erskine Bowles in January 2011. What is really alarming about the North Carolina Board of Governor's choice of Ross as the heir apparent is his long history of steering hundreds of thousands in contributions to dubious organizations like ACORN.

...After scrutinizing Ross's record, it seems clear that the UNC System is positioned to take a decidedly left turn, and the new President's credentials leaves much to be desired. One can only hope that the implications of his leftist background and being a neophyte to the realm of higher education won't be passed on to the hundreds of thousands of North Carolinian students he will oversee."

It's just more Business As Usual at the statewide level.

Our old friend Jerry Weast moves on -- again

Washington Examiner:"Weast legacy: Doing less with more."

Noteworthy:

"Only in a region where government-at-all-levels is the biggest employer would spending more and achieving less be considered an accomplishment.

Worst of all, Weast's rocky relationship with parents and school board members has been variously described as "bullying" and "imperial." And an Examiner editor dubbed his lamentable efforts to dismantle the district's gifted-students program as "Leave No Child Ahead." Obviously, it was past time for Weast to move on."

This story is old news. But if you read the original WaPo story, you might think you're reading about two different guys.

Which story do you think most accurately represents the Jerry Weast we knew and "loved"?

On a side note, I wonder what Terry Grier is up to these days?

Ray Bradbury, at 90

"I think our country is in need of a revolution."

Excerpt:

"Russell Kirk picked up on the storyteller's abilities to impart moral truths through parables. Arguing in the late 1960s that Bradbury should wear the literati's scorn as a mark of honor, Kirk explained that critics 'perceived that Bradbury is a moralist, which they could not abide; that he has no truck with the obscene, which omission they found unpardonable; that he is no complacent liberal, because he knows the Spirit of the Age to be monstrous -- for which let him be anathema; that he is one of the last surviving masters of eloquence and glowing description, which ought to be prohibited; that, with Pascal, he understands how the Heart has reasons which the Reason cannot know -- so to the Logicalist lamp-post with him.'"

If they even bother to notice this landmark occasion for this important writer, I wonder if Cone and the Dwarfs will give Bradbury the slimeball treatment they love to heap on Orson Scott Card.

Tarnish on the saintly wife's halo

Kaus, on the Elizabeth Edwards follies:

"Elizabeth Edwards had to know at least that there was a good chance Young was not the father--and that her husband was. She certainly had known for a long time that her husband had had an affair with the mother, Rielle Hunter. Perhaps she wasn't proceeding with sure knowledge that she was asking Young to lie for her again, but it's hard to see how she wasn't proceeding with at least what libel lawyers call 'reckless disregard for the truth.' ... Did she ask Young if he was really the father before 'demanding'?. ....

Don't expect to read too much of this kind of stuff from the former Edwardsian cheerleaders locally. JR is certainly not going to put ace investigative reporter Lorraine Ahearn on it, and Cone is not going to talk too much about it.

They're going to stay pretty embarrassed about this whole thing for quite a while, until the political climate is right for a John Edwards' "redemption" type of thing.

#

Holder (sort of) gets his wish granted

Unfortunately for him, the agenda-driven outcome he envisioned is just not going to happen.

The local "smart guy" does his usual smarmy best to turn things to an outcome his "regressive" sycophants will love, but the reality based local blogosphere will be discussing the subject here.

#

Are you ready for another run on the dollar?

This time, its not George Soros and his thugs. It's the ChiComs:

Noteworthy:

"Do we all get that? The biggest holder of foreign debt, $2,000,000,000,000 worth according to this story, is going to try to slip away from the dollar while no one’s looking.

What Turbo Tax Timmy is doing is printing dollars to buy up Treasuries. Meaning, he’s printing money, which has no intrinsic value other than what you can get someone to trade you for it … that is, it’s basically a piece of paper, to buy up an asset which at least gives the appearance of having value since at least in theory the Fed will redeem it for dollars."

And yet the fools (especially those local ones) who say the financial meltdown is not a crisis of confidence will remain clueless.

I guarantee that they will be no more ready to protect themselves than they have been throughout this mess they helped in creating.

#

Exposing a traffic scam

In North Carolina, we got rid of the potential for scams like this several years ago.

Excerpt from the Chicago Tribune article, which quotes a revenue hungry local bureaucrat in a rare moment of candor:

"When the very first red-light camera was planted in the suburbs at 25th Avenue and Harrison Street in Bellwood, it instantly became more than just a traffic control device.

It became a cash machine.

That one device generates $60,000 to $70,000 a month in revenue from traffic fines for the western suburb, Bellwood Comptroller Roy McCampbell once declared as he likened the camera to “Lotto or casino type operations.”

'That intersection is a guaranteed amount of money,' McCampbell boasted to an Illinois Municipal League seminar in a 2007 presentation that was recorded and posted on YouTube. '… It just keeps popping.'

The reason is simple: The camera guards an entrance path to the Eisenhower Expressway and snaps away as cars and trucks make rolling right turns on red with astounding frequency.

....In his municipal league talk, McCampbell said he and other Bellwood officials lobbied for the new law. He aid the driving force was the deaths of four people in a July 2005 crash that involved red light running at Mannheim Road and Madison Street.

Bellwood has eight traffic cameras, but none at that intersection.

Let's make sure red light cameras NEVER come back to North Carolina, and let's make sure we stop any kind of talk of implementing this type of outrage before our North Carolina Vast Democrat Culture of Corruption money sucking vampires get their fangs out.

#

Official revision to the Coverge Right group photo

He's obviously mad that we didn't include his permanently swelled head in the original.

Anyone know of a real shrink we can call in to correct his situation?

#

Your Local Vast Right Wing Conspirators

(L-R) Sam Hieb, Sam Spagnola, Jeff Sykes, Tony Wilkins, Beelze, Cheri, Joe Guarino, Me, Keith Brown.

Stay tuned.....

Counter the Move On health care protest

Apparently, one of our favorite "progressive" thug low life "political action" groups, MoveOn.org, is running a protest at Kay Hagan's Greensboro office Thursday, July 9 at noon, in an attempt to pressure Hagan into voting for the execrable Obamacare bill, replete with its "public option".

Details at Jeff Sykes' blog.

Here's a chance to show how we feel about the incredibly wrong-headed and dangerous policy, and the lies these people support, as represented in this proposed law.

#

Today's NC Disgraceful Democrat /Vast Culture of Corruption report

Perdue and pals are ready to raise your taxes....MUCH higher:

Excerpt:

"Perdue and the Senate both counted on hundreds of millions in new taxes for their budgets. Perdue proposed steep hikes on alcohol and cigarettes. The Senate opted for a revised tax structure that would include new taxes on services. "

The Sleazleys News:

Phil Berger calls for an investigation.

Before this is over, Jim Black will look like an honest politician by comparison.

#

Did this song get sung (or will it get sung) at a GCS 5th Grade graduation?

I received some information that the following song was performed, or will be performed, at the Jamestown Elementary 5th Grade graduation ceremony.

Dear Obama

(Solo – spoken)

This is a letter to Barack Obama…it’s our way of saying thank you.

(Solo – spoken)

Thank you for showing me that no doors are closed.

I have the power to control my own future.

(Solo – spoken)

Thank you for showing me that I can stand tall and be proud of who I am.

(Solo – spoken)

You have given us strength, courage and hope.

And for that we all say Thank You!

(Verse 1)

Dear Obama, Hear us sing

We’re ready for the change that you will bring.

Going to shine the light for the world to see, to spread peace hope and democracy.

The time is now bring our troops home. Iraq can stand strong on its own.

And fight for healthcare for the young so that coverage is available for everyone.

And it’s time to find renewable ways to fuel our needs, so we don’t depend on Chavez and the Middle East.

We’ve got to stand up tall for the middle class and regulate the businesses that in the past got away with no oversight.

Doing things that we’re not right.

Giving loans and bad advice, expecting us to pay the price.

The change we need should begin today and Barack we stand behind you as you lead the way.

(Chorus)

Dear Obama – ba, ba, ba – Obama.

Dear Obama – ba, ba, ba – Obama.

You’ve broken down doors

No limits anymore

We all agree that Yes We Can

Dear Obama we must unite and pull together members of the left and the right

With terror threats bringing fear we hope our world you will soon hear

Diplomacy in Islaamabaad and please control Ahmidinejad.

With Hillary Clinton as your Secretary of State, your team has the opportunity to make.

The world will see us with adoring eyes.

And our popularity will rise.

Please pay off all our debts to China, and strengthen our forces against Al-qaeda.

You have the power to change education, giving our public schools some dedication.

Raising up teacher pay

Improving Schools in every state.

So every child can truly make it, in the steps that you have created.

(Chorus)

Dear Obama – ba, ba, ba – Obama.

Dear Obama – ba, ba, ba – Obama.

You’ve broken down doors

No limits anymore

We all agree that Yes We Can

(Solo – spoken)

And today is a new day where we can all see a new hope for our country.

And we know that all along your journey, people say mean things to you and about you.

But you never gave up and that gives us strength to never give up.

You are more than a President.

You are a role model, a father figure, and a man we can all look up to, and for that we say Thank You.

(Chorus)

Dear Obama – ba, ba, ba – Obama.

Dear Obama – ba, ba, ba – Obama.

You’ve broken down doors

No limits anymore

We all agree that Yes We Can

(Solo – spoken)

Sincerely, every child, every family, everyone…

Barack Obama – We Thank You!

"The time is now bring our troops home. Iraq can stand strong on its own.
And fight for healthcare for the young so that coverage is available for everyone"?

"We’ve got to stand up tall for the middle class and regulate the businesses that in the past got away with no oversight.
Doing things that we’re not right.
Giving loans and bad advice, expecting us to pay the price."?

"With terror threats bringing fear we hope our world you will soon hear
Diplomacy in Islaamabaad ...."?

"You have the power to change education, giving our public schools some dedication.
Raising up teacher pay."?

Can anyone verify that this did, or will,take place?

If so, who are the teachers and administrators responsible for this outrageous brainwashing?

Those who perpetrated this need to be gone from our school system.

NOW.

They have no business being in any position of authority over 11 and 12 year old kids.

#

The economic doom-and-gloomers: ' Pessimism Porn'

You have read here that I believe that one of the major causes of our current economic troubles has been a crisis of confidence.

This has been fed by the constant drumbeat of over the top economic negativism for almost two years, much of which was instigated by the desire to scare the public (ultimately successful) into installing a Democrat in the White House to lead us to the hard left in matters political, social, and economic.

Led by such "luminaries" as the execrable Paul Krugman nationally, and by people like Ed "The Ace" Cone locally, they got their wish. They've now switched their wailing and moaning about the situation into extending government control over every aspect of public life, starting with the financial world, telling absurd stories to justify more and increasingly onerous government intrusion.

What (besides driving the worldview agenda) could cause these fools to continue doing this?

Simple.

Many of these fools suffer a form of pessimism porn.

Here's just one example of the malady:

"This is cruder stuff than I usually go for. Abstruse financial analysis provides a more satisfying jolt of fright, dread, and incomprehension. One god-awful prediction that dances through my head at three in the morning is the 'coming dollar debasement trade,' which will happen when the Chinese and the rest of the world give up, en masse, on our currency as a reserve. The leading nightmare peddlers see it as nothing less than the end of civilized America."

....and:

"Like real porn, the economic variety gives you the illusion of control, and similarly it only leaves you hungry for more. But econo-porn also feeds a powerful sense of intellectual vanity. You walk the streets feeling superior to all these heedless knaves who have no clue what’s coming down the pike. By making yourself miserable about the frightful hell that awaits us, you feel better. Pessimism can be bliss too."

I think people like Cone and Krugman suffer from a variation of this perversion.

#

How the 'Racism!' accusation works in today's society

As we are well aware, it's generally not applied to real racism.

It's usual use is one of a vilification process against certain people and opinions that impede the Dem/Lefty/"Progressive" agenda parade. The process's implementation is through a cultural and political bludgeon, supplemented in much more insidious ways.

Noteworthy:

"In modern America, racism means anything you want it to mean. If you want a job you're not qualified for, or you don't want to work at all but still want to get paid, or if you want to stop someone from doing something, or you want to punish someone for doing something, just scream racism at the top of your lungs until your lawyer gets someone to pay you to shut up.

Here are some practical examples of racism, as practiced by racists, in modern America:

• Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal questions whether to take federal stimulus money because to do so may obligate the state to continue to fund some programs long after the federal money runs out. He's a racist.
• Dallas County Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield says paperwork that keeps getting lost in a county office has disappeared into "a black hole." He's a racist.
• Toddlers who say "yuk" when fed unfamiliar ethnic food. They're racists. (Technically, this was based on a British study, but they speak English, too.)
• An Indiana University student working as a part-time university custodian reads the book Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan in an employee break room (the book is available in the school's library). He's a racist.
• A man tells a co-worker he wrecked his car after losing control of it on a patch of "black ice." He's a racist.
• Anyone who suggests a link between Islam and violence is a racist.
• Anyone who suggests stricter border security is a racist.
• And obviously, anyone who didn't vote for Barack Obama is by default a racist.

These examples aren't made up. They're not hypothetical. They're real, and the people involved were accused of being racists, even the toddlers in the British study."

...and:

"The race mongers and the leaders of the racism industry are using the wrong word on purpose, because it is so effective. Other than being accused of child molestation, there is no accusation more feared by your average white person (a descriptive phrase I admit I lifted from President Obama's description of his maternal grandmother) than that of being called a racist. The beauty of the charge is that it doesn't have to be defined and it can't be defended. In the twisted logic of modern American culture, trying to prove you're not a racist proves that you are racist."

Unfortunately, there are many enablers of this mis-use of "Racism" here in our local media and blahgosphere. You and I and they know who they are.

#

It's time to revisit the techniques liberals use to tell lies

Even though we're all quite familiar with them, particularly as they're used in the local blahgosphere, it's worthwhile to publicly repeat them every few months.

John Hawkins does us this needed service in this column.

Key points:

"There are two reasons why liberals lie much more than conservatives. First off, this is a center-right country and liberal beliefs are much more unpopular than conservative ones. If liberals told the truth about what they believe and want to do, the Democratic Party would practically be wiped out in much of the country.

Additionally, conservatives tend to think liberals are merely stupid or emotional, while liberals tend to view conservatives as evil -- and liberals use that belief to justify lying about conservatives. After all, if you lie about someone who's evil to keep them from doing bad things, couldn't that be considered virtuous? You may disagree with that, but liberal politicians, bloggers, and journalists live by that rule. Any lie told about a conservative, even one that liberals know isn't true, will be uncritically repeat ad nauseum by the Left until the point it becomes politically disadvantageous to do so."

...and:

"When liberals want to avoid a losing argument, they sometimes just refuse to have the argument at all and assure everyone that the matter has already been decided. Why, there's no need for Al Gore to even debate global warming with people who could easily blow holes the size of the Grand Canyon in his arguments because he insists that there's a non-existent 'scientific consensus.'

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth? As long as the Kerry campaign ignored them, most of the mainstream media did, too, but then the line of attack was immediately that the Swifties had already been 'discredited.' Who discredited them? How did it happen? What made them less credible than Kerry, particularly since they made him change his story more than once? Whenever you hear liberals in some form or fashion insisting that the argument with conservatives on a particular issue is already over, it's a good indication that they believe they'll really get their clocks cleaned in a straight up debate."

Gosh....do we know anyone locally who uses those techniques?

Hmmmmm....

Let me think.

#

Will Bill Ayers get an 'FBI! We Have a Warrant! Open Up!' door knock in the near future?

He will, if justice is served and Team Zero's Justice Department does its job in this case.

That of course is not assured, given the presence of the execrable Attorney General, Eric Holder.

Quoting the San Francisco Police Officers Association:

"There are irrefutable and compelling reasons to believe that Bill Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn, members of the terrorist group 'Weather Underground', are largely responsible for the bombing of Park Police Station and other police stations throughout the United States during their 'tour of terror' in the late 1960s and early 1970s."

More:

"This case has been reopened and evidence is being gathered. Meetings have been held among local and state authorities, including current and former law enforcement officials, to obtain justice. That is why the "Campaign for Justice for Victims of Terrorism" held this press conference. They want to bring pressure on Obama's Justice Department, now headed by former Clinton Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, to release all of the evidence in their possession.

It's true that some evidence in the past that could have been used against the Weather Underground was ruled inadmissible -- because of the way it was collected, not because of its veracity. But there is much more that can and should be used. The belief is that it lies in the Justice Department or the FBI.

This is where a problem emerges. In addition to the outrageous pardons of fugitive criminal Marc Rich and 16 FALN terrorists, Holder provided key assistance to two Weather Underground members implicated in the Brinks Robbery murders, pardoning them quietly along with Rich -- who of course got all the headlines.

Given the Attorney General's apparent sympathy for terrorists, and Bill Ayers' perceived status as President Obama's friend and mentor, the Justice Department may be reluctant to provide all of the evidence in the Park Station bombing case unless they are forced to do so.

Under the Bush Administration, such a press conference would not have been necessary. After all, the federal authorities under Bush provided evidence and assistance that resulted in the 2007 arrests and indictments of members of the Black Liberation Army for the murder of another San Francisco policeman, John Young, in 1971. That case is now underway.

A process of evidence-gathering has been underway in the McDonnell case as well. But now that Obama and Holder are in power, that process could come to a screeching halt. That was the reason for the March 12 America's Survival, Inc. news conference -- to make sure that federal assistance doesn't stop and that it accelerates. One hope is that FBI Director Robert Mueller, who is technically independent of Obama and Holder since his contract runs through 2011, can act on his own to obtain and make available all the evidence that is needed in this case."

Mark to Market needs to go

Elsewhere in the local blahgosphere, you'll read some information about mark to market from a know it all who knows nothing, and a media source who is increasingly irrelevant.

Pay attention to what Brian Wesbury and Ron Isana say on this clip:


The stupidity on the economic situation is widespread throughout our local blahgosphere. Witness the absurd responses from one of the most usual of Usual Suspects regarding the damage Obama has done and continues to do to the economy.

This stuff isn't Rocket Science, but the people who have been aiding and abetting the down spiral for political reasons, sheer arrogance, or abject stupidity need to be called out....every time they run their mouths.

David Theroux has further thoughts on Obama's culpability in this mess:

"Meanwhile, Obama has greatly expanded upon the gigantic Bush $700 billion bailout that Obama supported last fall (as did John McCain) with calls for trillions more in federal spending, taxes and debt. Moreover his proposal for the housing meltdown is more of the exact same measures that created the mortgage bubble in the first place, and that he has long supported!"

Yet another example of Dem/Lefty/"Progressive" hate speech

Incidents like these are not rare by any stretch of the imagination, but they are virtually unreported because of the Tank Media's left agenda orientation.

Key point:

"While college demonstrators here and abroad regularly burn, deface, and desecrate the flags of Israel and the United States, something that the courts have repeatedly upheld as Constitutionally-protected speech, only on a campus controlled by Left-leaning faculty and radicalized students could the protest against the flags of genocidal terrorist thugs be considered, as it was here, an attempt to 'incite violence,' 'hateful religious intolerance' and an act by those who 'pre-meditated the stomping of the flags knowing it would offend some people and possibly incite violence.'"

As always, these sort of things only work in one way: To support an unsupportable Dem/Lefty/"Progressive" agenda item.

We have only to look at the national level, as evidenced by the recent exercrable racial remarks by the incumbent Attorney General, and to the local level, where the "intolerable racism" label is applied to all things Wray-related , by the News and Record, the local power brokers, and the run of the mill libthinkers who enable all of the nonsense and bad behavior.

We see many examples of this here in Greensboro, and the perps ALWAYS get a pass.

Stay tuned for more on this issue. By no means am I done discussing this disease, and the local people who are responsible for inflicting this affront to decency, common sense and the public good.

Setting the record straight about the origin of the 'financial crisis'

The Obamabots, the "progressives", and the "we need more regulation and government control" freaks have been, and continue to be WRONG about the crisis.

Indeed, they helped create the crisis by such nonsense as the CRA and subsequent vote-buying interference disguised as policy, and their continued wrong-headed campaign has actually made the situation worse. Plus, as is now apparently clear to people like CBO, their "fix" will make the situation worse.....likely MUCH worse.

But we knew that already, didn't we?

John Taylor:

"The realization by the public that the government's intervention plan had not been fully thought through, and the official story that the economy was tanking, likely led to the panic seen in the next few weeks. And this was likely amplified by the ad hoc decisions to support some financial institutions and not others and unclear, seemingly fear-based explanations of programs to address the crisis. What was the rationale for intervening with Bear Stearns, then not with Lehman, and then again with AIG? What would guide the operations of the TARP?

It did not have to be this way. To prevent misguided actions in the future, it is urgent that we return to sound principles of monetary policy, basing government interventions on clearly stated diagnoses and predictable frameworks for government actions.

Massive responses with little explanation will probably make things worse. That is the lesson from this crisis so far."

Most of what we've heard" from government officials" (read "political hacks"), and from so-called Dem/Lefty/"Progressive" bloggers/"experts" has been nothing less than pure trash, motivated by a desire to take advantage of events for purely political agenda reasons. In particular, doomer/gloomer negative talk since late 2007 was specifically designed to undercut the chances of a Republican presidential candidate's election last November. In cooperation with influential people inside and outsode the government, they succeeded.

Today we get word from Ed Cone, one of the largest local purveyors of mis-information about this subject. He intends to write a forthcoming N&R column about "doomers and deniers".

In recent months, I've been giving Cone the exact level of attention his work usually merits: little to none.

That may be about to change, particularly based upon his own doomer/gloomer attitude of the last 18 months, and the possible portent of the column mentioned above.

This is going to be interesting.

Stay tuned.....