Archive for the ‘Old Media’ Category

Libraries Should Do a Better Job of Policing Pornography.

According to MSNBC, The American Civil Liberties Union is at it again.  This time they are trying to force libraries that receive public funding to offer online access to pornography.  Read about a particular case here.

Your blogger, who is not shy of creating controversy, had an experience with just such an issue, some years ago.  Here is KCC’s story:

About 15 or 20 years or so ago, I had to cut off my home phone line as a sacrifice to the “dot com bomb” and me losing my job.  Instead of me being able to using my computer at home, I went to the public library two or three times a week to check my email.

Rep. Dale Folwell (R-Forsyth) is well liked by both Republicans and Democrats in North Carolina and would be a difficult candidate to defeat in any election.

The big news from the Capitol press corps in Raleigh, Thursday, is that Winston-Salem state Rep. Dale Folwell, won’t run for re-election in 2012.

Laura Leslie of WRAL reported in a Twitter post that the 4-term Republican is double-bunked  in the new legislative maps with fellow GOP member, Larry Brown.  This means they are now in the same district.

Folwell added in a press conference that it “didn’t sway his decision”. Brown is running again, and if Folwell ran, they’d face each other in a primary. Folwell is popular, and your blogger believes that he could  defeat Brown, but was considering higher office anyway.

In fact, Folwell has been considering this action for months now.

He told this blogger he was running for a specific higher office (we won’t share which).

In the presser Thursday, Mark Binker reported that Rep. Folwell is considering running for State Auditor, State Treasurer, or Lt. Governor.

Your blogger suggests he will get in a state race, if and only if:

1.  He believes he can win.

2.  He has or can raise the money to win without putting him in tremendous personal debt.

Whatever race he chooses, this blogger would instantly support him over any other candidate she may have already been considering.  Dale Folwell has been an effective legislator, and has been able to work with both the front and rear of the house.  (In North Carolina, the minority party sits at the rear of the chamber).

We’ll have more on Rep. Folwell coming up soon.

Obama is making another visit to North Carolina next Wednesday

President Barack Obama is making yet another visit to North Carolina.  Next Wednesday he is coming to Fort Bragg in Fayetteville.

Sadly, this is the same man who must truly believe that ignorance is bliss.  The Foundry reported

He recently described France as America’s closest ally, and famously declared that he has traveled to no less than 57 states.

But it would be nice if the leader of the free world bothered to look at a map once in a while, or even paid a visit to the British Embassy in Washington, currently housing the Churchill bust that Mr. Obama unceremoniously threw out of the Oval Office soon after his inauguration.

WTVD reported on its noon news Thursday, that the President will speak with the Fort Bragg troops about “their sacrifices and achievements of those who served in the Iraq War.”

Obama was last in North Carolina in October, and we can expect to see many more times before the November elections.  Naturally, the local televisions will cover every second of his trip, from landing to departure and all of his speech.

Will his best friend in North Carolina, the embattled Governor Beverly Perdue, be by his side?

Lisa Jackson, Obama Administration EPA Chief

A reader wrote to KCC today, distressed that President Barack Obama‘s EPA chief is up to her old shenanigans:

Lisa Jackson doesn’t want to admit that her EPA policies are actually job killers and that it would raise costs on NC families and businesses. 

The Raleigh News and Observer reported

In a speech at Duke University, Jackson argued that EPA policies conservatives and Republicans in Washington are spreading disinformation in a bid to roll back this country’s environmental protections and to hobble the agency.

However, the paper concluded that Jackson’s speech at Duke is part of a broader counter-attack by regulators who are facing intense criticism from conservative critics during the nation’s worst economic downturn since World War II.

Jackson has been in trouble with the Obama administration before, for going too far in attacks on conservatives. In fact, she nearly had to step down from her high post.

Listen to her entire speech, in the  video below.

Red Hat is sucking money out of Wake County taxpayers, with approval of Republican leaders on the Wake County Commission

Once again, the Republican members of the Wake County Commission have failed the taxpayers of North Carolina’s capital county.   Red Hat, one of the Triangle region’s most successful companies, came hat-in-hand, to the public trough, asking for $650,000 and the GOP lead group, came through.  This is a group that the Wake County Republican party worked tirelessly to elect and we feel certain that they won’t be happy.

Republican Commissioners Paul Coble (running for Congress), Tony Gurley (running as “the conservative candidate” for Lt. Governor), Phil Matthews, and Joe Bryan all voted FOR this measure.  Liberals Betty Lou Ward and James West also joined in.

According to Board Clerk, Susan Banks, only Erv Portman  cast a vote against.  All conservatives should drop Commissioner Portman a note of thanks for standing alone to protect the taxpayers of Wake County.

Red Hat wants to leave its longtime home on North Carolina State University’s Centennial campus, and move to downtown Raleigh into the recently vacated Progress Energy building.  Progress Energy was recently acquired/merged with Duke Power and those employees have either lost their jobs or have been relocated.

In the name of “jobs”, Red Hat deemed that the “needed” this money to bring more jobs, not only to Wake County, but to lawmakers’ precious downtown, that has already received more than its fair share of public financing.

KCC understands that Red Hat, a successful manufacturer of the Linux computer operating system, would have been fine without the money.  We like to call this effort, the Red Hat Poverty Fund.

Former NC Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, quoted by the News and Observer in a North Carolina Lawyers Weekly article, said

politicians have become afraid to oppose the practice of luring companies with the promise of tax breaks.

It’s time to get companies off the public dole in the ole’ North State. However, it won’t be happening anytime soon. Both the State of North Carolina and the City of Raleigh are expected to vote to chip in to the Red Hat poverty fund. After all, no self-respecting politician wants to appear to oppose jobs, even in the face of principle!

Editor’s Note:  According to the News and Observer, Commissioner Paul Coble said it’s written into the policy of the county commission.  With a Republican Leadership, this policy MUST be changed!

Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx (D) won a second term as mayor on Tuesday

It was another big win for the Democrats in North Carolina this year, and a win that Republicans desperately wanted.  Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx won a second term Tuesday, driven largely by the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

According to the Charlotte Observer, Foxx won 67% of the vote, over Republican challenger Scott Stone.  Democrats also took all four of the city council seats that were up for election, making it a clean sweap over the Republican candidates.

Conservatives  wanted  to have the mayoral seat, as a sort of “bully pulpit” in which to welcome the Democrat guests to Charlotte next autumn.   Democrats and other groups out-organized and out-worked the Republicans.  In an election that saw one of the lowest turnouts ever, only 16 %, the liberal groups got their people to the polls, while conservatives did not.

This goes along with some of what was said at the Defending the American Dream Conference, held last weekend in Washington.  The event was sponsored by the Americans for Prosperity, a group founded in North Carolina and greatly disliked by President Barack Obama.

During a breakfast on Saturday morning for the North Carolina delegation, Dallas Woodhouse told the attendees that the opposition is organized for eight, ten, and twenty years out.

Just like the Wake County school board races, held a month ago, there wasn’t just one Democrat office running the efforts, there were four.  Each one was run by a different liberal organization, all working together and trying to undo the progress that members achieved the last two years, when forced busing was removed and the county saw a return to neighborhood schools.

Mayoral Challenger Scott Stone (Credit: The Charlotte Observer)

Republicans, conservatives, and their allies, must get on a track towards the long term, instead of just looking to the next election, then sitting on our laurels.

Sure it’s fun to celebrate victories, but the Democrats have our number.  They don’t like losing either and they have turned those efforts into victory.  This state and nation has much to lose, and gain, in 2012.  Let’s get together, recruit your friends and neighbors and get active.   It’s almost too late.  Join your local conservative group, tea party, or Republican party.

See also: Big labor favor: DNC may replace local workers with out-of-state union labor for convention

by Matthew Boyle at the Daily Caller

 http://dailycaller.com/2011/11/07/big-labor-favor-dnc-may-replace-local-workers-with-out-of-state-union-labor-for-dnc/#ixzz1dE2mS7Rl

Phillip Falcone

Phillip Falcone, CEO of  embattled LightSquared, told Fox News on Monday that his firm did not donate money to the Barack Obama campaign to buy access and favors from the FCC.  ”Why would anyone do that”, he asked rhetorically to Megyn Kelly, the interviewer.  ”I’m just trying to build a network.”

CNet News’ Roger Cheng reported:

LightSquared is attempting to build a nationwide 4G LTE network that it will sell on a wholesale basis to other carriers that want to resell its services. But the company has run into a major hurdle with a coalition of companies reliant on GPS equipment. They claim LightSquared’s spectrum interferes with the operations of everything from farming equipment to airplane systems.

Meanwhile, last Thursday, the House Armed Services Committee met on the impact of LightSquared’s effect on national security.  According to Wireless Week,

the Defense Department and military make extensive use of GPS that could suffer interference from LightSquared’s transmitters – but the nonappearance of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, scrutiny of lobbying in the executive branch and questions about FCC decision-making overshadowed  the event.

Immediately after opening the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, chairman Michael Turner called out the FCC chairman for not appearing, indicating that Genachowski had been seen in the building, but

LightSquared Logo

“That said, I have the unfortunate responsibility to inform the subcommittee that Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Genachowski refused to appear today.  I must also make clear that I consider the Chairman’s failure to show up today to be an affront to the House Armed Services Committee.  Further, it appears to be symptomatic of a disregard by the Chairman to the consequences of the FCC’s January 26 waiver to LightSquared.  I trust Chairman Genachowski is doing something very important this morning if he couldn’t be here to discuss the significant harm to national security that may result from the FCC’s action on January 26^th of this year.

On January 26, 2011, LightSquared was granted a fast-tracked waiver from the FCC (with White House approval).

One brave Air Force General, risked his career by appearing at the hearing. General William Shelton, who told the subcommittee, the week before, in a classified briefing,  that he has been  pressured to change his testimony to favor Falcone, the large Democratic Donor.

The notion that LightSquared’s version of the 4G LTE services is a national security risk, has been known since at least February 2011.  LightSquared has both debated the issue, and later issued statements that it intends to repair the problems.

General Shelton is the Chairman of the Air Force Space Command.

The difference between LightSquared’s 4G LTE network and those of carriers like Verizon and AT&T is that LightSquared’s is based on satellite.  Traditional carriers use land-based towers.

We leave you with this question:

Why should Falcone and his network get a free pass, when carriers like Verizon and AT&T followed the rules and built out their own 4G LTE networks with their own capital.  Which rule book is Obama and the FCC playing by, and is this fair to the American consumer?  Only you can decide, in November of 2012.

For More Information:

LightSquared: The Next Obama Pay for Play Morass – Michelle Malkin

LightSquared Says It’s Near Breakthrough in Mobile Wireless Network: Washington Times

LightSquared: The Next Big Obama Scandal: Human Events

Saturday evening, about 30 protesters lined up on Raleigh’s  Hillsborough Street at the North Carolina AFL-CIO, and marched the half mile to the North Carolina

KCC File Photo, NC Republican Party Sign

Republican Party headquarters.  The union supporters then circled the front lawn, chanting slogans and demanding”justice”.  They wanted “union rights” and “rights for laid-off state workers” in North Carolina.  Oddly, no one was working in the Republican party office at the time.  Plus, very few workers have been laid off.

North Carolina liberals have been unhappy for most of the past year, when Republicans won control of the NC General Assembly for the first time since Reconstruction.  (After over 100 years of corruption lead by Democrats, this blogger never thought she’d see GOP control in her lifetime.)

In January, when the Legislature convened for its long session, Republicans went straight to work.  They were left $2.4 billion budget deficit thanks to over spending by their  Democratic colleagues.

GOP members had to make the tough decisions, and nothing was immune.  State Universitites, community colleges and even public schools shared the burden, but not to the extent reported by the mainstream media.  Even state employees, the apparent untouchables of budgeting, felt the heat.

Frankly, there was no point in their march.  The General Assembly recently adjourned after putting a marriage amendment to the NC Constitution on the May ballot.  Union supporters got very little mainstream media coverage.  Only WTVD covered it locally and it appeared to this blogger that the marchers were not state employees at all, but rather people paid to be out a cool, wet night.  Let’s hope our state government does not hire those with dread locks, like the gentlemen who spoke with the television station.

Others of note that attended were members of Code Pink, a socialist/Communist women’s organization.

They marched  NOT to save state jobs, but rather to push unionization in an otherwise anti-union state.

Unions have felt the heat, lately,

The State Employees Association of NC affiliated with SEIU a couple of years ago. That association is now buried on the SEANC website.

with the 2012 DNC Convention coming to Charlotte.  Leaders have been pressuring the Governor to support President Barack H. Obama’s anti-union measures here in the State Capital.  He visited the city last week, pushing his so-called jobs program.

Meanwhile, where does NC Governor Beverly Perdue stand on the issue?  She refuses to take a stand, thus bowing to pressure from her union buddies who contributed heavily to her 2008 election campaign.

Editor’s Note:  North Carolina’s State Employees Association (SEANC) is affiliated with The Service Employees International Union (SEIU).  State employees in NC do not have collective bargaining rights, but they continue to  pushing anyway.

UPDATE: 1:45 a.m. Sunday 9/18/2011  Turns out, Saturday was a “Day of Rage” for Liberals.

UPDATE: 1:47 p.m. Sunday 9/18/2011 The News and Observer weighed in today, with one activist calling the situation a  ”crime scene”.  They over reported the number of activists, at 100.

Democrats anxiously hit the road in the kickoff of their “Tax Me More Bus Tour” Monday. The NC-Democrats, inspired by and

KCC Graphic

emulative of President Barack H. Obama’s recent “Debt-End Bus Tour,” have decided to embark on a “fact finding” mission for job solutions.

Before last week’s legislative session, Rep Bill Faison (D-Orange County) held a press conference to announce his proposal for a $1.1 billion tax-increase on the people of North Carolina.

NCGOP Communications Director Rob Lockwood told KCC: “The Democrats plan for jobs, as evidenced by Rep. Faison’s proposal, clearly indicates their desire to raise taxes on North Carolinians.

Their motto for job-creation is clear, ‘READ OUR LIPS: MORE NEW TAXES for everyone.’ The Democrats fail to understand a simple concept: new taxes do not create new private-sector jobs.

People of all political affiliations have serious questions for Governor Beverly Perdue and her Democratic colleagues.

They want to know why the Governor has been silent on the issue of “right-to-work” in the Tar Heel State.

Perdue has metaphorically put up a sign that states, ‘North Carolina doesn’t want non-unionized jobs, take your business to South Carolina!’

What is clear is that if the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) can interfere in South Carolina, they can interfere anywhere with right-to-work laws, especially North Carolina.”

Former NC Democratic Chairman David Young declared Friday, “YES, NLRB v. Boeing Fight Hurts NC.” David Young’s feeling that it was important to speak out publicly on the issue highlights the bi-partisan call for action by non-elected citizens.

Governor Perdue, where are you and North Carolina Democrats on the NLRB v. Boeing issue?

Last Thursday, the entire NC Republican US House Delegation voted to overturn the President Obama’s NLRB’s authority to squash job

Rep. Bill Faison, Courtesy NC General Assembly

growth in right-to-work states. Their public stance boldly tells any company “We’ll fight for your right to employ in North Carolina.”

The actions of the House members only go so far when the Governor chooses silence over fighting for jobs.

EDITOR’S NOTE: In related news, Rep. Bill Faison announced on Friday that he will not challenge Governor Perdue in the Democratic Gubernatorial race. He told WRAL’s Laura Leslie that he WILL run if Perdue were to not run for re-election.  Earlier in the day, he would neither confirm, nor deny whether or not he would challenge the Governor, Leslie reported.

Obama at NC State, Copyright WRAL http://www.wral.com

President Barack Obama visited Apex, North Carolina on Wednesday, trying to sell his jobs bill to a hand-picked small business.  The owner, Erv Portman, is an Obama donor, a Democrat, and a Wake County commissioner in a fight for re-election.

After the President’s speech in Apex, his motorcade drove down I-40 into Raleigh, onto the campus of N.C. State University.  He arrived at a nearly packed Reynolds auditorium, where 24 years ago this month, President Ronald Reagan visited.  Your blogger was in the house that day, along with Senator Jesse Helms and a number of conservative notables.  She remembers it being “wall to wall people”, something that didn’t appear to be on television today.

Twenty-four years ago, President Reagan drew a much larger audience than did President Obama.  Four large, industrial air conditioners were brought in to cool the huge crowd.  Even so, a number of people passed out from the heat.  Mr. Reagan even took off his jacket, revealing his bulletproof vest underneath his shirt, which was soaked through.

Wednesday, President Obama claimed that his jobs program would be paid for via higher taxes on the wealthiest taxpayers.  Meanwhile, these people already pay the bulk of our taxes and are our major job creators.

He now wants to tax them further so that the government can provide another “stimulus” of money into our state and others.  He even went so far as to promise the collegiate audience summer jobs.  Additionally, he promised more teachers and a $1300 “to the average working family”.

Since we are all working families, your blogger wonders who he is trying to push off his class warfare language on?

He then tried to sound like a conservative.  He promised that the government would live within its means and began his “blame Bush” tactics when he said that we had lived too well “these last ten years”.

Yet, Obama said “a lot of THEM don’t get it,” referring to Republicans, and added “Raleigh needs people who can put country before party.”  Believe us, Mr. President, Raleigh has these leaders and we plan to vote you and Governor Beverly Perdue, right out of office in 2012.

The President gave his students a homework assignment.  He told them to put on their marching boots and get to work contacting their members of Congress, “even writing a letter”.

We appreciate your orders Mr. President.  KCC will certainly follow up.  We will contact our Congressman and urge that he vote AGAINST this expensive and unnecessary jobs bill.  Have a pleasant flight to back to Washington.  There is a community on the south side of Chicago that is missing its organizer right now.

Word on the street is, that in setting up this visit, the President first tried to rent out a Wake County school.   An advance team contacted General Anthony Tata, Supt of Public Instruction for Wake County, gave them the thumbs down.  The White House then went looking for higher education.  Your blogger assumes that Tata didn’t want anyone exploiting Wake County school children for political gain, and KCC applauds him for his actions.

Editor’s note:  The President was very careful to stay on message and avoid using the “s” word.  He didn’t want to be associated with either of the two failed stimulus acts.

Your blogger’s husband is a double alumnus of NC State University, having both undergraduate and graduate degrees in electrical engineering and minors in math.