Thursday, August 27, 2009
Sierra Club backs Meeker, Stephenson, Crowder, Koopman in Raleigh; also, Robison, Smith in Cary
The Sierra Club's endorsements are out in the Raleigh and Cary elections.
In Raleigh, no surprise that the environmental group is backing Charles Meeker for mayor, Thomas Crowder in District D and Rodger Koopman in District B -- all incumbents. (It also endorsed Nancy McFarlane, an incumbent, who is running unopposed in District A.)
In the at-large Council race in Raleigh, where the top two finishers will win seats, the SC's Capital Group -- 3,000 members strong -- endorsed only incumbent Russ Stephenson. In other words, the enviros kept their second vote in their pockets rather than endorse the other incumbent, Mary-Ann Baldwin, or one of the two challengers, either Lee Sartain or Champ Claris.
(Voters in the at-large race can cast one vote or two votes -- their choice. Or no vote.)
In the District C race, the Club endorsed nobody -- not incumbent James West, not challenger Charles Reisinger.
In Cary, Julie Robison, running at-large, and Jack Smith, running in District C, won the group's backing -- they're both incumbents. In District A, it was another no-endorsement call: Neither Jennifer Robinson, the incumbent, nor any of her trio of challengers (Lori Bush, Cynthia Sinkez, Terry Thorne) earned its favor.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
[image-2]Triangle Transit buses carried 1.1 million riders in the fiscal year that ended June 30, up 19%. It's the first year TT's been over the million mark.
Is it worth it? The reported farebox recovery rate (money in versus operating costs out) was up slightly, from 11% to 13%, despite the fact -- the agency (they're trying to bury their old TTA=Authority identity) said -- that over half their passengers ride free or on reduced fares. It's socialized transportation, but so is driving a car on a public thoroughfare.
More from the agency below:
Ted Kennedy thought that every American deserved health care coverage as good as what our members of Congress provide for themselves. He didn't live long enough to see it happen.
MoveOn.org is sending this clip around to its supporters.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
You're looking for glamorous places to sell your high-end goods -- furniture, for example. When Ethan Allen went looking, according to Furniture Today, its corporate eye fell on Dubai, perfect for a new "flagship store in the Middle East," and on Raleigh, N.C., also perfect for, well, pretty such the same store. (It opened last week at North Hills.)
Just struck me as funny. But was the N.C. really necessary? -- surely they know us in Dubai.
Or they would've known us if that Soleil Center thing had gone up at Crabtree Valley.
Monday, August 24, 2009
HCAN is holding rallies around the country, including in Raleigh.
Can HCAN's North Carolina organizers turn out the troops?
How many equals "big"? (Or, "huge"?)
Friday, August 21, 2009
It's a party/fundraiser to get an LGBT Center for Raleigh off the ground. More on this as we get closer to the date, hopefully; for now, we have this "Save the Date" note from the organizers:
Saturday, October 17, 2009 is the day RALEIGH COMES OUT!That's right. The LGBT Center of Raleigh is having a coming out party and you are invited.
It will take place at Moore Square in downtown Raleigh from 5 PM to 9 PM. Entry is free. There will be food, wine and beer to purchase, and free live entertainment to enjoy, along with the companionship of the gay and gay-friendly community from all of Eastern North Carolina.
Come and help us celebrate as we continue to build the foundation of a much-needed community center for all LGBT people and their friends.
But while we all want to have fun, this is also a fund-raising event, because without your financial support we can only go so far in making the dream a reality. Perhaps you can become a member at our Founders level by being one of the first one thousand people to donate $100 each, and take pride in knowing that you helped start a movement with huge consequences for us all. However, contributions of any size will be equally welcome. We know the economy has affected us all, so we will be grateful for whatever you can comfortably manage.
The LGBT Center of Raleigh is a 501-C-3 tax-exempt non-profit corporation. All contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
The Board of Directors hopes that you will all come out and have a blast.
LGBT Center of Raleigh
web: lgbtcenterofraleigh.com
Email: lgbtcenterofraleigh@gmail.com
Mail: 514 Daniels St. #152,
Raleigh, NC 27605
Wait a minute! I recognize a few of these billionaires, and I'll bet the lot of them aren't worth $100 million. They're making a mockery of our democratic process on a critical policy issue. "Let them eat Advil" indeed:
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Probably the biggest problem with keeping the "public option" as part of health care reform is that people don't know what "public option" means. Is it an "option" that would be available to folks who can't get insurance any other way? I can imagine that many people think that's exactly what it would be -- but it isn't. Under all of the proposals under serious consideration in Congress, most folks who have insurance won't have access to the public option at all, let alone be left with it as their only option. But even for those with no insurance, the public option would be one choice available to them among many others -- and all of the other choices would be from private insurers.
In other words, the public option -- when it's available -- would always be a choice to be taken or not. No one would be forced to use it.
There's a Survey USA poll out today indicating that when the "public option" is described as a choice, 77 percent of Americans support it. When the word choice is omitted from the description, however, as it was in last week's NBC poll, support for the public option drops below 50 percent. Huffington Post has a good writeup on the two.
President Obama held a health care forum this afternoon with his Organizing for America troops to talk about -- per OFA's introduction -- "our strategy and message going forward." It came as the debate raged among his supporters about whether Obama is committed to the public option and will fight for it as a critical part of reform; or, alternatively, has given up on it and is prepared to settle for a reform bill without it. There's really no telling about that, I guess -- and Obama didn't address that question directly -- though I have to say that if he's fighting for it, he's been doing it one-handed.
It's about time.
Just as reform's opponents managed to turn voluntary end-of-life consultations with a doctor into "death panels," a ridiculous mis-characterization that the White House is finally managing to turn back on them, the opponents have managed to depict the public option as some sort of government takeover of health care. That's not true either, but until just now, I haven't heard the President really push back. If he does, he just might find that most Americans think -- as he says he does -- that a public option makes excellent sense and would, indeed, be an "important" component of health care reform.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
I just read about Bob Hensley's death this morning. Bob, who represented Raleigh and Wake County in the legislature for 12 years, was a battler who was never afraid to stand up for progressive causes, but who also never forgot to smile while he was at it. He was smart, funny and always fun to be around.
Bob was part of the "Gang of Eight" in the House the last time (in 2001) that the state faced anything like this year's enormous budget deficit. The "Gang" (a press term that he didn't much appreciate) was a progressive group of Democrats who dug in on principle against the likes of former Speaker Jim Black, now in the federal slammer for corruption. They dug in and won some concessions, it should be added.
Six of the eight Democrats were members of the black caucus. Bob, one of the two whites, may be remembered as an honorary member.
When does an insurance coop equal a public insurance option? Let's see, what if we -- uh -- create a public insurance option and -- oh, goodness -- let the federal government run it but -- by golly, this is hard -- make it so that the policyholders are entitled to any surplus it generates -- after, of course, its bills are paid and a prudent reserve is set aside to pay future claims.
When a surplus is declared, policyholders could receive it in the form of a -- a what?
Man, this is tough.
Wait, I've got it!
Let's call it a membership dividend check.
But here's the toughest part, what could we possibly name this thing that could ever provide political cover for the many Democrats who've pledged never to support health care reform without a public option and the Democrats -- all three of them, but unfortunately they're all in the Senate -- who've said they'll never support a public option, only coops?
How about naming it the U.S. Insurance Cooperative Option? USICO, for short.
Hey, it's public, it's a coop, and if Sens. Max Baucus, Kent Conrad and Ben Nelson insist, it could even have state-level membership boards with the authority to create -- if their state's members approve -- new benefits above and beyond the basic package mandated as part of the public option ... I mean, as part of our USICO.
Wow, that took almost five minutes.
Sorry about that! Here it is: http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/may-16-cr…
by Denise Prickett, Indy Editorial Web Director on May 9 crossword puzzle (Crossword Puzzle)
wow interesting reading...I was particularly moved by the section discussing the "scalpeling away of our gender" by people.......Hahaha I really …
by Melissa Ann on How beauty pageants view transwomen (Eva Hayward)