Katy's Conservative Corner Covers Rally

She has a few videos of Senator Bob Dole, and in depth coverage of the rally she attended in Raleigh.

In my opinion, her coverage is better than anywhere else, so hers is the only place I will direct you to for information.

News for June 18th

North Carolina News Roundup

Asheville Citizen-Times|| Highway Patrol trooper shot near Canton, NC



|Ruminations From The Distant Hills| What's In a Name?



|Carolina Journal| Special-Needs Tax Credits Could Save Millions

Newspapers

|Greensboro News-Record| Hagan, Dole put focus on illegals


|Wilmington Star-News| Immigration irrationality



|Smoky Mountain News| Commissioner’s closed session taping challenged



|The Mountaineer| Pride training help emergency workers cope with tragedy


|McDowell News| Marion police charge two juveniles in liquor sign vandalism

Blogs to the Right

|The Wild West| Buffoonery Speaks Loudly


|Piedmont Publius| Who is Linda Brady?


|Crime in Charlotte, NC| Recent Arrests in Charlotte, NC


|Punditry| awrence Velvel’s Bad Case of Bush Derangement Syndrome


|Sister Toldjah| Gore’s “green” home uses more energy now than it did before


|John in Carolina| Bush made the world a safer place


|Longstreet| A World Afloat on an Ocean of Oil ... by Alan Caruba

Blogs to the Left

|Mountain Xpress| Parkside will still need city, county approval for permits


|Petulant Rumblings| Read These Now Because Boobies Need Air


|Where's The Outrage?| The Errington Thompson Show 6-14-08


|Dancewater| June is Torture Awareness Month


|Scrutiny Hooligans| Parkside: Holly Jones Weighs In


|WNC Peace Coalition| Lefty Events Calender

Podcast Appalachia: "Appalachian Abolitionism"

Johnny Norris Brown is settled in South Korea, and he has a new podcast.

Listen to it here. I am sorry, but I don't believe the service he uses allows other sites to embed the player, so you'll have to leave the website to listen.

Transcript

Appalachian Scribe

Tracy Bridges Expose on Spring Creek News

Spring Creek has an expose that is part of an ongoing series about corruption in local and state governments. Go check it out. I can't because the page is badly formatted, and scrolling back and forth a million times just to read an article isn't worth it to me. The webmaster over there should realize not everyone has a monitor that is 1920 pixels wide.

It has been my experience that where you find gambling, there you will find corruption. Local, State, Tribal, Federal...follow the money.

Hat Tip: Don

Ruminating on Fire Towers, Dreams, and Life

One of my favorite West of the Balsams bloggers, Gulahiyi, has blogged about a recent talk by the author of Hiking North Carolina's Lookout Towers given at Sylva's City Lights Bookstore.

Check it out.

New Member of the Blue Ridge Blog Family...

Marie has a new baby.

Congressman Virginia Foxx Co-sponsors Blogger Protection Bill

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx says bloggers need protection.

The Banner Elk Republican is one of 34 cosponsors of the Blogger Protection Act, a bill that would protect bloggers from Federal Election Commission regulations.

Two years ago, the FEC ruled that bloggers' rights to free speech should not be overriden by campaign finance laws and that blogs should be treated like other publications.

--snip--

"We must not leave the First Amendment rights of bloggers in the hands of the Federal Election Commission," Foxx said in a statement. "Bloggers’ rights are too important to leave them to the whims of a panel of federal regulators."

Source: Under The Dome
Hat Tip: Boone Web

I hope this can be passed before an enemy to Free Speech gets elected into the White House, whether it be John Mccain, Barack Obama, or Hillary Clinton.

Kudos to Representative Foxx for being a co-sponsor of this bill!

Does Asheville City Council Want to Track Your Vehicle?

This delightful read in from the Wild West:

On Asheville City Council’s agenda, under “New Business,” is the state’s 21st Century Transportation Committee Report. There is no verb attached, so I have no clue what council is expected to do with it.

Of particular interest in this pdf file of what looks like an eighth-generation Xerox copy, made all the more difficult to understand by bizarre syntax throughout; is a conversation about VMT (Vehicle Miles Traveled) devices. These Orwellian transponders let government know where, when, and how you are driving.

Asheville City Council current agenda.
North Carolina 21st Century Transportation Committee Report. [pdf file]

Doesn't surprise me one bit. With these devices, you would be taxed to death, and the control freaks could adjust the tax rates on different roads, and then watch us change habits (without the trouble of installing cameras everywhere) like so many ants in an ant farm...that is except for the people who could afford higher taxes. These "super-empowered ants" would then be able to travel on the expensive roads, much like the Communist Party apparatchiks...with no peons in their way. Also, I wonder if they would be willing to push for these devices to be placed on the holy bicycles that travel Asheville?

I am working on getting a correspondent to make regular reports from the Asheville City Council meetings, so stay tuned...this could get interesting.

NC Legislature on TV?

Jack Betts has hit on a topic near and dear to my heart, video coverage of the North Carolina Legislature in action:

That thought occurred to me as I sat in the audience Thursday at the annual Sunshine Day observance at Elon University and heard state Sen. Eddie Goodall, R-Union, repeat his call for a study commission to assess the need for televising all legislative sessions and certain committee meetings.

He's right to pursue a study; legislative leaders have not backed the idea of gavel-to-gavel coverage in either chamber, though of course commercial and public television stations provide varying kinds of new coverage on issues. But what the legislature needs is that kind of daily coverage so the public can see what's going on -- and what's not.

Source: Charlotte Observer
Related: This Old State (Jack Betts Blog)
Tracking: NC Senate Bill 701

Commentary

Anyone can afford to stream video these days 24/7/365 through the use of various free services.

A tool such as streaming coverage would increase the awareness of North Carolinians of what is going on in Raleigh, and I'll bet that is the primary reason they'll fight tooth and nail to keep it from being done. Use the link to track the progress of Senate Bill 701, and let your representative know what you think about it.

NC GOP Gubernatorial Debate Coverage

Those of you have have read this blog or Thunder Pig know of my fondness for presenting events via video. And that I prefer to present my coverage as "beginning to end" and let the viewer judge the events on their own merits, or lack thereof.



I plan on doing a live webcast of tomorrow's Gubernatorial Debate from the Bo Thomas Auditorium through the use of a borrowed laptop, and the Blue Ridge Community College Wifi Network. It may not work, because this will be my first test of the idea, but I'll be there to record the event with my cheap digital camera if my even cheaper webcam doesn't work (I paid $16 at Walmart).
Surely our state government can do better than me, a simple blogger using borrowed equipment.

I'll have the coverage here, and will link to my coverage from Thunder Pig and West Carolina Report.

Ginger Ale and Appalachian Settlers

I woke up in Dillon, South Carolina with one thing on my mind, and I found it at South of the Border. It wasn't kitsch I was seeking. It was Blenheim's. But it turns out the surreal roadside attraction on Interstate 95 provides plenty of kitsch and plenty of Blenheim's.

Source: Ruminations From The Distant Hills

I like Ginger Ale, too. But this Blenheim's sounds a bit scary. Our local Walmart "sometimes" has Vernors available, which I snap up when I see it.

Also, John Norris Brown has started a series of podcasts with a focus on things Appalachian. I hope he continues to pursue the effort.

Hooligans Cover Buncombe County Commission Candidate Debate

Gordon Smith, of Scrutiny Hooligans, covered the Democrat Commission Debate last night...and I've pulled the open to post below:

I walked into the Carver Center in Black Mountain just in time to hear David Gantt deliver the first of the opening remarks. Somewhere around fifty people turned out to hear the candidates and to ask them unscripted questions. Bill Stanley skipped the debate, and Carol Peterson apologized for him. She said he had to attend a Shrine Club meeting instead. If anyone asks, Bill Stanley was the big loser tonight for having his priorities out of whack. Everyone else came across as thoughtful and making a real run at the Commission. Incumbent Stanley’s absence spoke volumes.

The event was hosted by a group in Black Mountain called Democrats On The Move. They’re an independent group who put on a great forum. Thanks!

This “transcript” is rough as hell. My fingers were a-flyin’, but there’s only so much a brother can do. Direct quotes are in quotation marks. Everything else is an impression or paraphrased. Any mistakes are mine. I’ll probably follow up in the next little while with my personal take on the event, but this is as close to reportage as you’ll get here at ScruHoo.

Source: Scrutiny Hooligans

Commentary

As usual, Gordon does a bang-up job covering the event. I seriously doubt ANY of the local legacy media outlets will have even half the coverage he has given to us.
I looked around for more coverage of the event, and found none. I'll post an update on this post if I find more coverage. This is part of what is so great about blogs, it increases the granularity of local politics. It gets even better if there are more than one person from different organizations covering the same event...

**update** 10.02am

Buncombe County Democrat Party

Here are the websites (if any) of the Democrats running for the Buncombe County Commission:

INCUMBENTS
David Gantt
Carol Paterson (County Website)
Bill Stanley (County Website)

CHALLENGERS
Kay Bailey (none)
Cecil Bothwell
Vernon Dover (none)
Bob Hill (none)
Holly Jones
Keith Thomson

I may have missed a legitimate website, if you know of a candidate website I missed, please add a link to it in the comments. I added Holly Jones website when she ran for City Council because I could not find one geared for the County Commission run, and assume (I know!) that she'll re-launch it with a new design later.

Also, I am gathering information about where each of the candidates (both parties) stand on issues, and will be posting on each as I have time.

Daily Reads

Around the NC Blogosphere

Conservatives

Billions for Roads…and other stuff

by Ogre

2 Republicans Line Up for Chance to Face Alice Underhill

by Katy's Conservative Corner

NC Governor's Race (Post 1)

by John in Carolina

Clinton to withdraw?

by Hillbilly White Trash

Bike Plan

by The Wild West

Transportation: Hats off to NC Justice Center

by Red Clay Citizen

Liberals

Army Of Mumpower Against Cyclists

by Scrutiny Hooligans

Cleveland rocks!

by Left on 49

Nematodes among the "grassroots"

by Blue NC blogs

Our useless Congress

by dancewater

The myths of terrorism

by Bothwell's Blog

Primary Calculus

by Undercover Blue

In The News...

Friday Interview: Excellence in Education

Carolina Journal

Residents voice concern, effect little change for new schools

Macon County News

Judge orders county officials to pay plaintiffs’ attorney fees

Sylva Herald

Duke cutting too much? Power company defends tree trimming program

Cross Roads Chronicle

Foxx takes the ‘Robo-Pledge’

The Mountain Times

Libertarian Takeover of the BCGOP

Some rogue Libertarians say they are gonna takeover the Buncombe County GOP, and I have the story on Thunder Pig.

I'm serious, or rather, they are.

Ogre Found a Funny Joke About Liberals !!!

Ogre has found a funny joke about Liberals...I only hope he doesn't get sued for linking...

Heath Shuler is 26.2 % Republ;ican

Some Democrats are worried that Heath Shuler might become a Republican soon, due to his increasingly contrarian voting record published at Congressional Quarterly.

I'd have to say they are pushing him right out of the party, just like they are doing to Joe Lieberman.

When I saw Screwy's post title, I couldn't help but riff on it.

Hat Tip: Scrutiny Hooligans

Bloggers at NC-11 GOP Convention

Cross Posted from Thunder Pig

A couple of bloggers from the other side of the aisle attended the NC-11 GOP Convention Saturday, and here are their reports of the event:

Report filed at Scrutiny Hooligans:

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Karl Rove and the North Carolina 11th District Republican Convention

“They embrace a culture of defeat…death, and we have to fight them there, so we don’t have to fight them here.” - Karl Rove, in Hendersonville on Saturday, April 28, talking about Democrats or terrorists. I’m not sure which.

179 old white delegates gathered at West Henderson High School to hold their annual 11th district Republican Convention. Every county in the district had a section, and the empty half of the auditorium held the press, the non-delegates, and the Hooligans. Clay County didn’t bother sending anyone at all, though an imaginary source told me that they stayed away because Rove’s pheromones cause Clay county women to swoon and Clay County men to feel desperate and insecure.

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The same article was cross posted at BlueNC.

And they scored an interview with Jeff Hunt. Cross-posted at BlueNC.


Here's a little open secret about blogs: most of the truly interesting inside baseball stuff happens in the comments section, so pay attention.