Rep. GK Butterfield Has Scheduled a Town Hall?

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It certainly seems so according to The Warren Record, though they avoid using the term "town hall":

In keeping with its practice of introducing area voters to candidates in key races, the Lake Gaston Association (LGA) will host the following political candidates at its next meeting: U.S. House District 1 candidates G.K. Butterfield (D, incumbent) and Ashley Woolard (R); and N.C. House District 049 candidates John May (D), who was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Lucy Allen, and Glen Bradley (R).

...

The public is invited to meet these candidates, listen to their positions and take the opportunity to ask questions on the issues.

But...

In order to allow sufficient time for each candidate to speak and answer questions from the audience, other LGA business will be kept to a minimum for this meeting.

This certainly sounds like a town hall. Brave man.


When:

Wednesday, Oct. 6
9:30 a.m.

Where:

Lake Gaston Baptist Church
( one mile north of Eaton Ferry Bridge on Hwy. 903, near the Food Lion Shopping Center)

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Rep. Brad Miller, Bob Etheridge, David Price -- And the Immorality of the Mandated "Generosity" Called Health Care Reform...

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Ed Morris said of Rep. Larry Kissell's NO vote on ObamaCare:

The Daily Vampire:It may even cost him his job," Morris said. "But if he can save one life, it's a moral responsibility."

Just how moral is ObamaCare? Let's look at church attendance between nations that compel attendance to those that leave the matter to individual choice.

IN the US. church attendance rates seem wedded to around 44% while in Europe the rates often fall into the single digits depending on the nation. These low rates that plague Europe could easily be rectified by law through the use of mandatory church attendance provisions. If we assume Europe achieves attendance records of near 100% through such measures could it then be argued that Europe is more moral than the US?

The obvious answer is NO. Morality can not be forced onto a people exogenously. Although it may look like morality statistically (a near 100% church attendance), it is not a true morality and negatively affects the church and nation. Religion is cheapened, as a whole, because it is understood that most people are only there to avoid breaking the law at which point the motives of all those who attend church become questionable.

True morality, on the other hand, springs forth from within an individual through voluntary action (40%-50% church attendance in the US) to positively affect the church and nation. Although the percentage of regular church goers is less in the US, those members that choose to attend are more frequently true believers which, in turn, positively affect the respect of the church.

If we now turn to generosity we find that liberals have a penchant for mandating generosity and calling such mandates "moral" even though this is no different than mandating that the citizenry attend church. When Ed Morris says "but if he can save one life, it's a moral responsibility," he is arguing that mandated generosity through ObamaCare is a moral imperative.

In so doing, liberals loose sight of the fact that true generosity, the giving of dollars of love, with love, is lost. The dollars they gather enter the gov. by force and as such are not dollars of love. Those dollars then work their way through the soul crushing machinery of governance. Many of those dollars are skimmed off to run the bureaucracy, while others lube the gears of political leverage and influence. The dollars that remain are soulless and without love or humanity when they finally get into the hands of those who need them. These dollars do not carry with them any sense of goodwill, but are instead dollars for the sake of statistics. Liberals then point to all those soulless dollars as a metric of morality.

Government taxes are increasingly crowding charity. Dollars that may have gone to The March of Dimes or to The Red Cross or may have been used by one individual to help another are instead absorbed by government. Compare the offices of any charity to the the offices of any Government program and ask yourself if the government's overhead is moral. Compare the way dollars are received by the recipient from the gov. to the way they are received from an individual and ask yourself which is more moral. We are witnessing the death of American charity and liberals call that moral.

There is no morality in ObamaCare, only the statistical patina of morality. Legislating morality is in itself immoral and cheapens morality in America just as religion is cheapened in a nation of forced adherents.

By voting for ObamaCare, Brad Miller lent his support for immorality, soulless dollars and a cheapening of American morality.





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An Exhausted Obama Voter Speaks...

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The Infantilization of Great Britain... Is Democracy Better off with a Soviet Foil?

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It starts with diapering the citizenry through nationalized health-care like ObamaCare... Via CNBC

The UK's tax collection agency is putting forth a proposal that all employers send employee paychecks to the government, after which the government would deduct what it deems as the appropriate tax and pay the employees by bank transfer.

The UK is loosing its sense of property rights.

Apparently some in GB. believe one no longer owns their time on Earth, at least, in the sense that their recompense for giving it up, it is suggested, should go to the state first, after which an allowance is doled out from the state.

Would this be suggested if the USSR hadn't vanished?

Perhaps more than we thought, in the decades of the Soviet presence, the very fact that the Soviet state existed worked as an example of the the obvious loss of liberty under state control and hindered state growth in western democratic nations.

Sometimes I feel that western democracy was better off with the foil of the USSR to define itself against .



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Will Rep. (In Hiding) Brad Miller Accept Bill Randall's Invitation to an Rockingham NC Town Hall Meeting?

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Brad Miller's penchant for immoral governance has forced him to avoid contact with his constituency unless it is done on his own terms. He has a preference for arriving at meetings without first alerting the public that he will be available. The press, of course, knows. Evidence can be found in their (after the fact) reporting of visits that leave the impression that Brad Miller is making himself available to the public in articles like these here, here, and here.

Apparently the press knew to be at these locations, but could not be bothered to pass information concerning Brad Miller's hushed scheduled visits on to their readers.

To that end Bill Randall has invited Brad Miller to a town hall in Rockingham Co. NC. today.



Via WGSR:

According to a news release from the GOP – Randall will meet the public from 6:30-8:30 that evening at the Rockingham County High School auditorium in Wentworth.

...

Randall’s campaign says that Miller has been invited to the Town Hall Meeting – but he hasn’t responded.

Brad Miller will not be there, though; he has no interest in his constituency's thoughts.

Brad Miller - Not your parent's Democrat.



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Rep. Brad Miller, Bob Etheridge and David Price -- Breaking the Common Bonds Through ObamaCare...

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---I wrote this in reply to a comment and thought it would make a good post on a slow news day.---


I was at a roadside watermelon stand earlier this summer. A third fellow by the name of Obama strolled up as I was about to buy a peach of a watermelon from the vendor. He said, "Hold on, let me take that $5 and buy that melon for you."

"OK. what could be the harm?" I said, and let the money slide into his left hand which he had oddly nicknamed "The Insurance Industry". He immediately took off and he dashed from one milling customer to the other attempting to influence them with his new stash. During all the scurrying he managed to flick three dollars into a nearby creek for what he deemed to be "future investment". This seemed slushy to me, but whatever.

Eventually he returned to the watermelon vendor and gave him a $1.50. Fifty cents had disappeared beyond the $3 of "future investment".

At this point Obama forced the watermelon vendor to hand me and another fellow, who had yet to spend a dime, each a watermelon off the vendor's table of week old melons that were normally half price. With that, he then had the audacity to claim he had created one free watermelon.

End result....

• Despite the fact that the vendor had lost money, I was pissed off at him for handing me a crap melon.
  
• The vendor, for his part, was perplexed to the point of frustration by my anger; as far as he could tell I never paid him for the melon he gave me.
• Although the vendor continued to kiss this Obama Character's ass in an effort to retain future business, he was pissed at being forced to operate at a loss until he realized he no longer needed to keep a supply of the best watermelons to retain his market.
  
• For Obama's part, between visits to collect more money for my next melon, the price of which had already risen to $15, he was too busy picking lobster from his teeth to notice the dischord he had created, nor did he have the inclination to hear my complaints.
  

Breaking the bonds of economic transaction yields hate between citizens and is the result of immoral governance.



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Obama -- "Guard the Change"...

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Drudge has been running a photo in conjunction with the story below. There is a more appropriate image to go with Obama's statements, though.

Via Yahoo:

[Obama]seeking to fire up an important part of his support base ahead of November's elections, told black leaders on Saturday he wanted their support to "guard the change" he was delivering.

Our divisive president destroying the common bonds that unite our nation.




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Christine O'Donnell's Career - The Palinization of O'donnell Begins...

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Bill Maher begins the Palinization of ODonnell with attacks on youthful indiscretion which ,of course, only apply to lovers of liberty, fundamental constitutional principals, respect for American tradition, and patriotism.

Isn't the Palin card maxed out, though?

Bill Maher -- on whose former show, "Politically Incorrect," O'Donnell appeared repeatedly in the late 1990s -- showed a previously unaired clip from Oct. 29, 1999, on his current HBO program, "Real Time," in which the GOP Senate nominee from Delaware said she "dabbled into witchcraft." From ThinkProgress:

O'DONNELL: I dabbled into witchcraft -- I never joined a coven. But I did, I did. ... I dabbled into witchcraft. I hung around people who were doing these things. I'm not making this stuff up. I know what they told me they do. [...]

One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar, and I didn't know it. I mean, there's little blood there and stuff like that. ... We went to a movie and then had a midnight picnic on a satanic altar.

Obama doing cocaine? No problem -- Bill Maher, another doddering Boomer lost on the seas of moral relativism where double standards abound.



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Obama -- Who is This Man? (Part 787830)

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Watch him pause while reading his prompter and reformulate

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,"

eliminating Creator.




Just words on a prompter from a politician's mouth....




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Rep. Brad Miller - Dressing Up Bank Giveaways as Saving Jobs...

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Brad Miller is at it again -- Dressing up Bank bailouts as jobs protection through an overtly friendly press.


Eastern Wake News:

Mortex owner Ed Morrell met with U.S. Rep. Brad Miller on Wednesday to explain how the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development office helped work out the details for a loan that kept his company afloat.

And this is how it was done...

Capital Bank's Triangle Region president Todd Warrick suggested the company and the bank work on an application to the USDA.

Under the terms of the deal, Capital Bank loaned Mortex $2.6 million on a 15-year note. They loaned the company another $500,000 on a 10-year note. The bank also extended a $750,000 line of credit, which Morrell says he does not plan to use. The loans are collateralized by the buildings and Morrell's personal savings.

Mortex didn't borrow any money from the government, a point Morrell made Wednesday in a meeting with employees. The deal calls for the USDA to guarantee 80 percent of the loans.

That means if Mortex defaults, the USDA would pay Capital Bank 80 percent of the loan balance.

And because the loans are fully collateralized, Capital Bank's exposure is limited.

That puts the pressure on Morrell and his family, which owns the privately-held company.

"(Morrell's wife) Kissie and I are on the hook," Ed Morrell told employees Wednesday. "If we fail, we lose everything we have."

Wouldn't you like to be Capital Bank in this transaction?

• Make a loan that is fully collateralized.
• Make interest on a no-risk loan due to an 80% back-stop on losses. In this case the loans total $3.1 million (credit lines do not qualify for the USDA 80% back-stop).
  

The interest rate of a loan is usually based on the risk of the loan. In this case the loan is fully backed with assets plus, in the event of default, coverage for 80% of the losses in the loan value. Where is the risk? There is none, yet the bank presumably charges interest. The interest rate is not given in the article, but business loan interest rates are generally quite a bit higher than home loans. In any event, interest charged on a risk free loan above 3% (estimated cost of loan administration and profit) is a government subsidized giveaway to the banks. The interest rate charged by Capital Bank is certainly much greater than 3%.


--This is a possible win for employees of Mortex, if Mortex doesn't fail.
--This is an absolute win/win no risk event for Capital Bank, whether Mortex survives or not.
--Supporting a weak business in a dying industry on the backs of taxpayers is a no win for America.


But how did Eastern Wake News report all this in the opening paragraph?

More than 600 people in Nash, Johnston and eastern Wake counties still have jobs thanks to provisions in a federal stimulus package that loosened underwriting rules for loans to companies in rural areas.

Brad Miller added:

"If you hear of people who say the stimulus package never saved a job, you can look at them and tell them it saved yours," Miller said.

It must be nice having friends in the press who are willing to throw reputation to the wind for the cause of your election.

Imagine the influence, though, -- Mortex beholden to government, Capital Bank beholden to government handouts, employees beholden to Brad Miller, and government under pressure of a $3.o8 million payout to keep Mortex from failing.

Now imagine weakened business across America taking advantage of such loans and the government giveaway (whether the business defaults or not) to Brad Miller's Bank friends at the expense of the productive class. Risk is for the little people not for the Miller's friends at the banks. Meanwhile Brad Miller dresses up this fleecing of citizens as a jobs saver. Immoral governance.

Are these connections likely to end in economic vitality, or or will they result in increased government influence for the ruling class and a loss of influence for the citizens of America?

Lastly, this sort of activity is what got America into the over leveraged position it that currently plagues our economy. According to this USDA Rural Development PDF this program "allows lenders to make loans above their legal lending limits".

Why does Brad Miller want the citizens of this nation indebted to his Big Bank Friends while protecting those same banks from all risk?

---

As an aside, a few questions have to be asked.

• Just how bad do the banks expect to economy to get that they require an 80% back-stop on fully collateralized loans before considering going forward?
  
• Just how bad does our government think things might get that they agree to this %80 back-stop?
  
• And finally, is inflation considered in measuring losses on these? A bout of inflation would not only increase the likely hood of default but it would run up the losses that could be counted against the %80 back-stop.

Thank You Brad Miller.


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Rep. Mike McIntyre Pulls All His TV Ads ASAP (Updated)....

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Updated:

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) -- Congressman Mike McIntyre's Campaign emailed TV stations in Wilmington and Florence, SC today to pull the candidate's TV commercials ASAP.

The campaign called us after reading our on-line story and said their TV buyer was confused about the plan this weekend. It isn't pulling ads, just starting new ones this weekend.

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) --Congressman Mike McIntyre's Campaign alerted TV stations in Wilmington and Florence, SC to pull the candidate's TV commercials ASAP. No reason was given in the request. We've called and left a message with Campaign Manager Justin Smith to find out more and will update this story when he returns our call.

Hmmm...



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Rep. G.K. Butterfield and His Pigs at the Trough -- Napolean Is Not Just an Orwell Character ...

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Rep. G.K. Butterfield (NC-1) tangled with BeafortCountyNow over the issue of congressional staffers being able to unload their student loan payments onto the taxpayer.


Butterfield was apparently unaware of the government perk.

"I've never heard anything about that and doubt seriously that it could be true. I have heard that some of them have gotten in trouble for not paying their taxes, but I don't know anything for sure on that."

Later it was discovered that such a lavish perk does indeed exist.

...the Committee on House Administration did establish the Student Loan Repayment Program to provide House employing offices an additional tool with which to recruit and retain qualified staff in the service of the House. In general, the program enables participating House employing offices to authorize repayment of qualifying student loans on behalf of eligible employees who agree in writing to remain in their employment for a period of one year.

It seems that there are so many troughs from which to feed that our N.C. Congressman from district one has difficulty tracking just those within his office.

With millions scraping to get by and graduates often finding it difficult to make payments on their loans, we have bureaucrats in DC fattening themselves as the graduates starve.

And where does this cornucopia of troughs from which the gluttonous DC bureaucrats feed lead? To DC largess, and private sector poverty:





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A Conservative Contract With North Carolina Via Paul Stam....

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Correction:

Rep. Stam wishes to inform the author that the statement "Democrats have held the North Carolina House since 1898" is inaccurate. Though this may be the case for the Senate, it is not for the House. The Republicans controlled the House for 4 years in the mid-1990s.

Corrected.


Democrats have held the North Carolina Senate since 1898. This is plainly unnatural. According to North Carolina FreeEnterprise Foundation the mood of the electorate this year could bring change to that:

Currently, Democrats control the Senate by a 30 to 20 margin. The chamber is the Democrats to lose. Based on national trends and voter sentiment, expectations are that 2010 will be a tough political year for incumbents and Democrats. It will be a challenge for the party in power to hold on to the seats they have, and regardless of the overall outcome of the fall election, the margin of control in the Senate is likely to narrow.

Attempting to capitalize on this climate of change Paul Stam, North Carolina House Republican Leader has introduced what appears to be a contract with North Carolina.

North Carolina’s state government must reduce costs and regulation on business, large and small, so that they can create jobs and prosperity.

If the people of North Carolina entrust Republicans with a majority in the General Assembly on November 2, 2010, we commit to govern the State by focusing on these priorities:

1. Years of overspending by Democrats have given North Carolina the highest tax rates in the Southeast and a budget deficit of at least $3 billion; we will balance the State budget without raising tax rates.

2. High taxes are killing jobs. We will make our tax rates competitive with other states.

Within the first 100 days you will see us:

1. Passing The Healthcare Freedom Protection Act, exempting North Carolinians from the job-killing, liberty-restricting mandates of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obama Care).

2. Fighting to protect jobs by keeping our Right to Work laws.

3. Reducing the regulatory burden on small business.

4. Funding education in the classroom, not the bureaucracy.

5. Eliminating the cap on charter schools.

6. Passing the Honest Election Act, requiring a valid photo ID to vote.

7. Passing the Eminent Domain constitutional amendment to protect private property rights.

8. Ending pay-to-play politics and restore honesty and integrity to state government.

Let's roll.

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Spag Correctness

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The Spag Report

"Of course you must replace something with something else, and the hope is that the Republicans will have learned their lesson, rid themselves of phony conservatives, and have a candidate that can sweep the nation the way Reagan did in 1980. It shouldn’t be hard after four years of left wing rule, but putting up just any Republican won’t help conservatives. I sense that the direction of the movement and the Republican Party if it is wise will be more towards Ron Paul and away from the neocons. That is the hope anyway."

I wrote that back in 2008 and it has proven to be true. I also wrote in May 2008 that an Obama victory might be exactly what conservatism needs to get back on course after too many years spent acting like Democrats and expanding government:

"They haven’t gotten the message of 2006. One big reason they lost was because they were acting like Democrats in form and substance. More of the same will not encourage conservatives to come out and vote for them. That’s why I say that maybe it is time for Obama. If we are going to be in the wilderness for awhile, we might as well get something positive in exchange."

continued here





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Dick Morris Understands the Tea Party Impact...

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We have been told repeatedly that the TeaParty is extremist in various ways. Most of those accusations have failed to weather the test of time. One accusation, though, continues to have currency (albeit inflated) -- that the TeaParty is more conservative than the republicans.

Bill Clinton is part of that chorus that the narrative that the TeaParty is extremist. He recently said:

HuffingotonPost
"A lot of their candidates today, they make him [Bush] look like a liberal," Clinton told an enthusiastic crowd.

His assessment is wrong.

The TeaParty falls between the Republican and Democrats in ideology. Their primary concerns are excessive taxation (Taxed Enough Already) and excessive government spending that has lead to deficits that have called into question the strength of our currency.

WSJ
Back in April, the New York Times/CBS did a poll of tea party supporters. When asked, "What should be the goal of the Tea Party movement," 45% said, "Reduce federal government." That is, cut spending. Everything else was in single digits.

These are the people who before there was a TeaParty heled put power in the hands of conservatives in 1994 to fix the spending problem. Those conservatives after a promising start failed them and in disillusionment turned to Obama who promised to reinstate "the spending policies of Bill Cinton" (better defined as the brief success of the 1994 congress who controlled the nation's purse at the time). Within months it was obvious that they had been had and they were pissed. With a nudge from Rick Santelli, the TeaParty was born and with it the Republican Party is being rebooted.

With the recent extreme spending and deficit growth their concerns are of more importance to an ever growing number of people. The debt spending issue unlike many issues is not divisive in the same sense that abortion or Iraq has been. It is an issue that disparate individuals can unite around. As a result profligate debt spending has become a transcendent issue between many conservatives and liberals and with a new home for them being created in the Republican Party the Republican Party has added member at the expense of the Democrat Party.

Dick Morris gets it...

But these days, social issues are in remission and economic/fiscal problems have, understandably, taken center stage. In this environment, purists of the right have a big advantage because nobody doubts the sincerity with which they embrace the goals of limited government, low taxes, and reduced spending. Politicians of all stripes – including most Democrats – vow allegiance to them as does the overwhelming majority of the electorate. In this environment, the distinctions of left and right give way to the difference between sincerity and insincerity, leaving the voters to judge. With candidates like Sharron Angle in Nevada or Christine O’Donnell in Delaware or DioGuardia in New York, voters don’t have to guess. They know real conservatives when they see them.

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Sen. Bob Etheridge Decieves His Constituency With Deceptive Image Management...

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I am revising this previous post that was based on a HomeInHenderson article that did not mention it was an Etheridge press release.

I can now reference the HomeInHerderson article to Etheridge as it is now posted on his site as his press release. I held back on my accusations of deception by Bob Etheridge in the previous post as the HomeInHenderson article could have been an accidental source of some of the deception. That is no longer the case as the HomeInHenderson article was an Etheridge press release.

This press release from Rep. Mike McItyre shows Bob Etheridge's press release to be deceptive.


In the Etheridge's press release Etheridge intimates that he put this event together, assembling hundreds of individuals for the express purpose of jobs creation in his district. The title even claims Bob Etheridge hosted this jobs event:

Etheridge Hosts Job Creation and Economic Development Conference

According to McIntyre's press release, though, Ethridge did not create this event., that the event was created by Rep. Mike McIntyre and it is the latest of 14 such gatherings that he has held. Etheridge was in reality only an invited co-host along with G.K. Butterfield, Larry Kissell, Patrick McHenry, Walter Jones, Mel Watt, and Virginia Foxx. That's right despite his claims otherwise, Bob Etheridge was only an honorary co-host and had little if nothing to do with gathering the hundreds involved.

U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-Lillington) today concluded his two-day 2010 job creation and economic development conference with business and chamber of commerce leaders from across North Carolina

This was not Etheridge's event.

----

Neither the location of this event nor its title were mentioned in Etheridge's press release.

Again, from Rep. Mike McIntyre's press release. Rep. Mike McIntyre refers to his event as “The Washington Perspective” business and economic development summit. The name is appropriate, though, as the event was held in Washington DC. Why would an event centered on helping the economy of NC be held so far from NC and where the attendees were drawn? One would think holding it locally would have benefited the economy of district 2 (the intent of the event) and if space were an issue Raleigh could have supported the event. Why drag hundreds of people and more importantly their dollars to DC? North Carolina and district 2 seem to have been forgotten.

But perhaps that explains Etheridge's omission of the event's location and title in his press release. It does not fit the narrative Etheridge was attempting to convey.

-----

Etheridge further claims:

“Our government is for the people, and by the people. This two-day job creation and economic development convention provides a great opportunity for me to talk to business leaders about how we can work together to spur job growth,” said Etheridge.

and,

“Keeping in touch with community leaders needs to be a bipartisan operation,” said Etheridge. “That is what these two days have been about – keeping in touch with the people we are here to serve.”

But Etheridge also provides a list of speakers who were presumably the source of new ideas to solve the issue of economic difficulty in district 2 over the two days:

On Monday the 13th:

• Dr. Joseph DeSimone, Chancellor's Eminent Professor of Chemistry, UNC
• The North Carolina Military-Business Opportunity Panel
• Eight North Carolina U.S. Representatives

On Tuesday the 14th:

• General James T. Conway (Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps)
• General George W. Casey Jr. (Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army)
• Secretary Ray LaHood (U.S. Department of Transportation)
• Barbara B. Kennelly (President & CEO, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare)
• Rep. John Lewis (U.S. Representative from Georgia’s 5th District).

I'm not convinced a group of local business leaders entirely made up of government employees fits Ethridge's description of "keeping in touch with the people we are here to serve."

Etheridge also said, "For the people, by the people" How? -- When the only people scheduled to speak were government employees at an event called "The Washington Perspective" held in Washington DC. How do community leaders outside district 2 help the people of district 2 by meeting in DC?

Additionally Etheridge appears to have mislead when he said,"Keeping in touch with community leaders needs to be a bipartisan operation,”. There was a time when community leaders meant just that, community leaders, not state leaders from across the state meeting in DC. who have been drawn exclusively from government employment rosters.

It appears that the "community" Etheridge is referring to are not the communities of district 2, but rather the government community. This conference seems to be government by government for government. Although Bob Etheridge is able to utter platitudes like "Our government is for the people, and by the people," he seems to have lost all touch with the people outside of government who make up district 2. Is Bob Etheridge aware that there is a private sector from which to draw advise? The private sector should not be viewed only as a beast of burden on which Bob Etheridge funds his governance.

Rep Etheridge press release is an example of image management, deceptive campaigning, and immoral governance to the extreme. It takes more Rep. McIntyre's jobs summit to burnish Etheridge's jobs reputation. Etheridge has claimed someone else's work as his own in an effort to enhance his own image. In the real world this would be called theft, but in the Etheridge's world of governance this sort of deception is apparently just fine. I don't think district 2 believes this deception is just fine, though.

Etheridge is not a man representing his community, but rather a representative of government by government for government attempting to deceive his constituents.






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Rep GK. Butterfield - Promulgating Outdated Myths...

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This past Saturday Rep. G.K. Butterfield repeated two myths that gained unwarranted circulation over the past decade but have subsequently been shown as false.


Via Wahington Daily News:

In his speech, Butterfield said the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act helped stabilize a freefalling economy, but it passed with zero Republican votes.

“The Republicans made a political decision to be the party of ‘No,’” he said, sounding a theme often aired by the White House.

Butterfield said the federal government enjoyed a $230 billion surplus when Democratic President Bill Clinton left office.

The surplus was erased as Bush, the GOP — and supportive Democrats he didn’t mention — launched measures including the war in Iraq, which has cost thousands of lives and $1 trillion, according to Butterfield.

To any of this one must suspend the reality that our congress has control over the nation's purse. The surplus he attributes to Clinton was in fact crafted by the Gingrich Congress. Bill Clinton was the lucky beneficiary of that success.

This myth of the "Clinton surpluses" allowed Obama to claim the mantle of fiscal prudence and that he in conjunction with Democrats in congress would cut national spending:

"When George Bush came into office, our debt -- national debt was around $5 trillion. It's now over $10 trillion. We've almost doubled it. ... But actually I'm cutting more than I'm spending so that it will be a net spending cut." -- Obama, during an Oct. 7, 2008, debate in Nashville

And that brings us to the second myth presented by GK Butterfield and Obama -- that of the "Bush" debt. Although, conservatives under Bush wallowed in debt spending to an unpalatable degree, it was not until Pelosi gained control over the national purse that the deficits Obama and Butterfield refer to were created. In fact, national debt was declining under Bush after the 9/11 economic shock until Pelosi forced increased spending during the last two years of Bush.

In both cases G.K. Butterfield asks us to believe that our Presidents control the nation's purse when, in fact, the congress does. The fact that G.K. Butterfield believes that his constituents will believe such blather attests to a contempt for his constituents. For G.K. Butterfield to continue to promulgate these myths in the face of the past two years congressional profligacy indicates a tin ear to reality and an example of immoral governance.

Although G.K. Butterfield could use a refresher course on how our constitutional republic operates, no understanding of our system of governance can alter the roots of his immoral governance.



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Karl Rove Needs to Man Up Over O'Donnell...

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On Greta right now... Rove was first up on Greta and he is airing O'Donnell's dirty laundry again.

This is the third time. Hannidy last night, Fox and Friends this morning and now Greta:


Karl Rove has the acumen to make his point without the collateral damage he may be causing O'Donnell. Rove is quickly becoming the face of a non-TeaParty Republican.
He needs to man up.



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Rep. Bob Etheridge -- Image Management or Deception?

polifrog


According to HomeInHenderson.com Bob Etheridge hosted a jobs conference with hundreds in attendance this past Monday and Tuesday.

It is interesting, though, the amount of information this article leaves out.

Bob Etheridge is quoted twice in the HomeInHenderson article:

“Our government is for the people, and by the people. This two-day job creation and economic development convention provides a great opportunity for me to talk to business leaders about how we can work together to spur job growth,”

and,

“Keeping in touch with community leaders needs to be a bipartisan operation,” said Etheridge. “That is what these two days have been about – keeping in touch with the people we are here to serve.”

Coming from a community "paper" this all sounds very local especially when there is no hint within the article of where Etheridge met these community leaders.

Moreover, the title of this article gives the impression that Etheridge hosted the event and that he had gathered an impressive group of local community leaders to discuss the issue of jobs and find how to corral a few more toward district 2.

A better description of this conference can be found at WWAY, McIntyre to host business and economic develoment summit.

First,
This was not Bob Etheridge's summit and was in reality Rep. Mike McIntyre's event (the 14th such conference). His co-hosts for this particular gathering included G.K. Butterfield, Bob Etheridge, Larry Kissell, Patrick McHenry, Walter Jones, Mel Watt, and Virginia Foxx. That's right, Bob Etheridge was only an honorary co-host.

Secondly, Rep. Mike McIntyre refers to his event as “The Washington Perspective” business and economic development summit, a name left out of the HomeInHenderson article. The name is appropriate, though, as the event was held in Washington DC. Why would an event centered on helping the economy of NC be held so far from NC and where the attendees were drawn? One would think holding it locally would have benefited the economy of district 2 and if space were an issue Raleigh could have supported the event. Why drag hundreds of people and more importantly their dollars to DC? North Carolina and district 2 seem to have been forgotten.

Third, here is the list speakers over the two days:

On Monday the 13th:

• Dr. Joseph DeSimone, Chancellor's Eminent Professor of Chemistry, UNC
• The North Carolina Military-Business Opportunity Panel
• Eight North Carolina U.S. Representatives

On Tuesday the 14th:

• General James T. Conway (Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps)
• General George W. Casey Jr. (Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army)
• Secretary Ray LaHood (U.S. Department of Transportation)
• Barbara B. Kennelly (President & CEO, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare)
• Rep. John Lewis (U.S. Representative from Georgia’s 5th District).

I'm not convinced a group of local business leaders entirely made up of government employees fits Ethridge's description of "keeping in touch with the people we are here to serve."

Etheridge also said, "For the people, by the people" How? -- When the only people scheduled to speak were government employees at an event called "The Washington Perspective" held in Washington DC. How do community leaders outside district 2 help the people of district 2 by meeting in DC?

Additionally Etheridge appears to have mislead when he said,"Keeping in touch with community leaders needs to be a bipartisan operation,”. There was a time when community leaders meant just that, community leaders, not state leaders from across the state meeting in DC. who have been drawn exclusively from government employment rosters.

It appears that the community Etheridge is referring to are not the communities of district 2, but rather the government community. This conference seems to be government by government for government. Although Bob Etheridge is able to utter platitudes like "Our government is for the people, and by the people," he seems to have lost all touch with the people outside of government who make up district 2. Is Bob Etheridge aware that there is a private sector from which to draw advise? The private sector should not be viewed only as a beast of burden on which Bob Etheridge funds his governance.

This is faux campaigning or image management to an almost dishonest extent. It takes more than another man's jobs summit to burnish another man's jobs reputation. Although Etheridge's quotes can not be denied, I believe that some of the responsibility of this poor HomeInHenderson article can be laid on HomeInHenderson.com itself. -- But then I wonder who the source for this article was.

I do know this, district 2 should be wary of these stunts.

Check out Renee Ellmers; she is a community leader in the traditional sense. There is a good chance you may have even met her.



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Establishment Republican Losers Need to Man Up -- No Respect for Tea Party Republicans....

polifrog

The Blaze:

Before Christine O‘Donnell even had a chance to deliver her remarks to accept the Republican Party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) announced that the party’s fundraising organization would not be supporting the Delaware tea party favorite in the Nov. 2 election.

How stupid.

Then this from The Hill:

A Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) campaign source confirmed to The Hill late Tuesday that the longtime congressman will not be endorsing Christine O'Donnell.

This sore loser response reminds me of (Establishment Republican) Bernie Reeves' lack of respect for (Tea Party favorite) Bill Randall after Randall's NC-13 primary runoff win this summer.

NewsObserver:

Reached at his home shortly after the results were known, Reeves said had run a solid campaign based on traditional Republican values only to be beaten by a tea party tide.

“The people have spoken,” Reeves said. “It’s sort of like anarchy out there, where qualifications and credentials don’t matter.”

Reeves losses to Bill Randall and reacts by calling him unqualified? Where is the mutual respect?

Petty.

Establishment Republicans damage not only the Republican brand, but their colleagues that they leave behind with such childish behavior. These losers need to man up and start writing magnanimous concession speeches.




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