To Restore A Beacon

It appears that the only way to fight the thoroughly contemptible NCGOP legislature is from outside it:

North Carolina state Sen. Ellie Kinnaird (D) announced today that she is resigning her seat in the state legislature after 17 years of service. Instead she will work full time to reverse the blizzard of right-wing legislation enacted by Republicans since they took over the state government last January. In a message posted on her website, Kinnaird wrote that a major focus of her post-legislative work will be “a grass-roots project to make sure everyone in the state has a proper voter ID so that no votes are denied, even though” a recently enacted voter suppression law “is aimed at exactly that – repressing the vote.” Kinnaird’s replacement will effectively be chosen by Democratic officials.

Art Pope and the rest of the fleabag circus have made this state ungovernable in less than a year, effectively gerrymandering themselves into a position to wreak havoc upon the NC electorate – unless they wake up in the next year or so.  In the meantime, what we have to work with is the one thing an honest NeoConfederate cannot abide – an educated electorate.  Towards that end:

“I am heartened, however, by the many grassroots efforts to fight for the rights, the health and safety and the opportunities our people need and deserve from the Moral Monday movement to the many non-governmental organizations that advocate for the people of our state, not the special interests. It is here that I want and need to put my energy and efforts. I am working with others on a grass-roots project to make sure everyone in the state has a proper voter ID so that no votes are denied, even though the Voter ID bill is aimed at exactly that – repressing the vote. I am going to work for candidates in the next election who reflect our values. The values of all those who came to Moral Mondays and who have contacted me by emails, calls and letters expressing your dismay at what has happened to our progressive and forward-looking state. I look forward to working together to change this course and restore our state to the shining beacon it was for so long.”

This is what it will take to set things right.

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Don’t Mess With Grandma

In her 92 years, Rosanell Eaton has faced down the KKK and so-called literacy tests in order to vote. Now, she has to take on Puppet Pat McCrory and the rest of the “Back To The Back Of The Bus” gang:

…she faces new obstacles under the voter suppression law signed by Gov. Pat McCrory (R) Monday. For one thing, she may not qualify for the voter ID card required under the new law, because the name on her birth certificate is different from the name on her driver’s license and voter registration card. Reconciling this difference will be a costly and time-consuming administrative endeavor. For another, she has participated in early voting since it was instituted in the state. Now, it’s been cut back a week.

She is one of several individuals who, along with civil rights groups, are already suing the state for what may be the most restrictive voting law in the nation. Other restrictive new provisions in the law include the elimination of same-day registration and early registration for high schoolers in advance of their 18th birthday, and prohibiting certain kinds of voter registration drives that tend to register low-income and minority voters.

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Tuesday morning, she was back out again protesting the passage of the bill, this time delivering an impassioned address to an energized crowd. “Here I am at 92 years old doing the same battling,” she told the crowd. “I have registered over 4,000 citizens in the state, and at it again, alongside Republicans’ efforts to eliminate and cut early voting. … We need more, not less, public access to the ballot.” She concluded, “At the age of 92, I am fed up and fired up.”

The NCGOP has no idea what they’ve unleashed in this state – and it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving bunch.

Move Along Home

The one and only TBogg is retiring from the intrablogs.  To say that this is a loss would be somewhat akin to calling the Atlantic Ocean damp.  I’ve only known of him for a few years, but he has consistently been one of the funniest bloggers on the planet, one of the few people who could take the outright insanity of our political circus and make you want to laugh instead of screaming.  His “Your Mumia sweatshirt won’t get you into heaven anymore” is and will remain legend.

To Mr. Bogg I say, “Fair winds and following seas, and may the Prophets guide your path.”

RIP, George Duke

The music world lost a legend last night as George Duke passed away, one year after losing his wife to cancer.

Rest well George, and thanks for the music you shared with us.

The Vagina Demagogues

Zandar catches Art Pope and the gang in yet another lie, this time regarding the anti-choice law they just rammed through:

So remember how critics of North Carolina’s new anti-choice law said the legislation could be used to close all but one of the state’s abortion clinics under “ambulatory surgical center standards” nonsense? Guess which clinic just got hit with a raft of safety violations that will put it out of business?

The state Department of Health and Human Services suspended the license of a city abortion clinic, citing nearly two dozen safety violations discovered in a recent inspection.

FemCare of Asheville, Western North Carolina’s only provider of surgical abortions, is the only clinic in the state that meets the standards of an ambulatory surgical center.

The clinic gained attention recently following the passage of a controversial abortion bill, which critics say could effectively close all clinics in the state except the Asheville site if DHHS imposes standards similar to those of an outpatient surgical center.

State officials said the clinic’s license suspension was not related to the new abortion legislation.

Of course, throwing women under the bus wasn’t enough – McCrory offered up some baked goods in lieu of first aid.

I wish my state would wake up.