This Tuesday Blue America will move to a new day. We're staying at 11am (PT) but our weekly guest will drop by on Tuesdays instead of Saturdays. And this week we're starting the new schedule with an iconic progressive figure from western North Carolina, Cecil Bothwell. No doubt you saw the news at the end of the week that Cecil's opponent, Blue Dog leader Heath Shuler, has decided to turn in his cleats and go become a lobbyist or a gym teacher. Since his voting record showed him siding with Boehner and Cantor more than 60% of the time and since he worked tirelessly inside the Democratic House caucus making bills less progressive and more palatable to his friends in Big Business, his retirement announcement is worth celebrating.

Now, of course, the DCCC and local conservatives are casting around for their idea of a Heath Shuler replacement. It isn't someone progressive. It isn't someone grassroots. It isn't someone independent-minded. In other words... it isn't Cecil Bothwell. Cecil was elected to the Asheville City Council and managed to get the most votes city wide-- although pundits insisted an atheist and unabashed liberal could never win. But he won and he won so big because he stands up for working families, not special interests. Even Tea Party members have recognized him as a friend of working people. He's straightforward and very clear about who he is, why he's running and what he plans to do in Congress. Please come by and meet him Tuesday at 2pm (ET). And the fascinating video above shows Cecil last week at a Tea Party candidates session. He's serious about appealing to all the people in the 11th district.

If you're a Facebook denizen, please join and share this event with your friends. It's never been more important to get real progressives into Congress.

And if you can, please consider making a contribution to Cecil's all grassroots campaign at the Blue America ActBlue page. The three coolest contributions before the end of the Super Bowl will get signed books. Which books? Surprise!

If you're a Facebook denizen, please join and share this event with your friends. It's never been more important to get real progressives into Congress.

Bad, bad news for the farmers -- and probably bad news for smokers, too:

Reporting from Craven County, N.C.— Before Hurricane Irene smacked his tender tobacco plants sideways, David Parker was headed for a terrific crop, maybe his best in 32 years of farming.

Now, as Parker rushes to save a few acres of shredded leaves before they rot on the dying stalks, the math looks different.

"I've never had a year I didn't make money farming, but I think this will be the one that gets us there," he said last week, driving up a dirt road between a beaten-down cotton field and a 17-acre patch of dejected-looking tobacco.

The green-gold tobacco leaves — which normally this time of year would be spread wide, waiting to be plucked, dried at a careful pace and taken to market — were hanging straight down, shriveled, with the stalks leaning the way that the wind had pushed them.

That's what this agricultural disaster looks like: wilted leaves, angled stalks, a tangle of cotton plants with fat bolls that had looked unusually promising but now might not open. Subtle stuff to everyone but the hundreds of farmers who, like Brown, now face what may be their worst losses ever.

"That's not vacation cottages. It's these people's whole way of making a living, and the impact will spread throughout all the people and businesses that rely on farmers," said Graham Boyd, executive vice president of the Tobacco Growers Assn. of North Carolina. "It's a tragedy, just terrible, terrible stuff."

State and federal officials say it will be weeks before the full extent of the farm losses are known, but the effect on tobacco, which is grown in much of the area where the storm punched hardest, is extensive.

Voter ID victory! At least, in North Carolina. Governor Beverly Purdue vetoed the Republican legislature's effort to suppress voting in North Carolina.

Via WRAL:

Gov. Beverly Perdue on Thursday vetoed a controversial proposal to require voters to present photo identification before casting their ballots.

"The right to choose our leaders is among the most precious freedoms we have – both as Americans and North Carolinians," Perdue said in a statement. "North Carolinians who are eligible to vote have a constitutionally guaranteed right to cast their ballots, and no one should put up obstacles to citizens exercising that right."

House Bill 351 would require a person arriving at a voting precinct to show one of eight forms of photo ID, including a new voter card available for free from county election boards. Without the ID, people could still cast provisional ballots but would have to prove their identity later.

Ironic, isn't it? The Tea Party Republicans are so sanctimonious about the Constitution and Bill of Rights, but when it comes to actually abiding by it when they don't like it, not so much. It took a Democrat to speak for the basic freedoms we all enjoy. Which, of course, has the TeaPublicans in a frenzy.

“We shouldn’t be surprised by how far the governor will go to score political points with the liberal wing of her party," Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger said in a statement. "A measure that ensures voters are who they say they are is a no-brainer, and most North Carolinians agree. It’s a shame Gov. Perdue is playing politics with the integrity of elections.”

Yeah, because it's only the liberals who care about voting rights?

Despite the North Carolina victory, other states are busily implementing new voter ID laws, including Florida, Ohio, Kansas, Wisconsin and Alabama. The Kansas version is the most draconian of the bunch on the voter suppression end of things. Kris Kobach, author of Arizona's AB1070 train wreck, is the man in charge of implementing a law that requires new voter registrants to show a birth certificate or passport at the time of registration.

I'm sure this won't go away until the Republicans are firmly in the minority again. Let's hope that happens in 2012.

Remember how, during this long-running controversy over the so-called "Ground Zero mosque" all the right-wing talking heads have insisted that heavens, no, they didn't have anything against Muslims generally -- and they certainly had no intention of violating their rights? They just think the location of the mosque is a bad idea. Riiiiiight.

But then they'd keep letting people like Pam Geller be their spokesperson.

What's especially interesting is the way Republicans out in the hinterlands, far away from New York, have picked up on the brouhaha as a way of waging the old culture wars against Democrats. And when they do, there's no pretense -- it's just outright Islamophobia.

Take, for instance, this ad from Renee Ellmers, the Republican running against Bob Etheridge in North Carolina's 2nd District:

After the Muslims conquered Jerusalem and Cordoba and Constantinople ... they built victory mosques,

And now, they want to build a mosque by Ground Zero. Where does Bob Etheridge stand? He won't say. Won't speak out. Won't take a stand.

The terrorists haven't won and we should tell them in plain English, No. There will never be a mosque at Ground Zero.

I'm Renee Ellmers and I'm running for Congress. I need your help.

Yes, Renee, you do need help.

And so do we -- just figuring out where to start in the sea of ignorance you managed to unleash in just a few short sentences.

Perhaps it would help if you could answer some questions first:

-- Did the entire Muslim faith attack the United States on 9/11? Or was it just a tiny faction of violent radicals?

-- Did they conquer New York City, as Muslim armies did in Jerusalem et. al.? If not, then how could they claim this as a "victory mosque"?

-- Does this mean that all Muslims -- including our current allies like Turkey, Pakistan and Uzbekistan -- are now our enemies?

-- Finally, just how exactly do you intend to say "No, there will never be a mosque at Ground Zero"? Will you assume super-dictatorial powers once you've become a member of Congress, powers that let you abrogate due government process and citizens' constitutional rights?

Just wondering.

At the end of July, Blue America and our pals at the Americans For America PAC launched the first in a series of videos that highlights what kind of people now lead the Republican Party. We featured Sarah Palin, Rand Paul and John Boehner. And we asked the readers here at C&L, at DWT and at Digby's Hullabaloo to tell us who to do the next ad for. Lots of votes for Ken Calvert and Michele Bachmann but it was that reactionary harridan from North Carolina, Virginia Foxx, who got the most votes.

As you can see in the ad above, there are a lot of things that the voters in western North Carolina need to think about when they consider returning Virginia Foxx for another term in Congress. But there's also an outstanding alternative. Populist champion Billy Kennedy would make a far better Representative for ordinary working families, a part of the population Foxx is dismissive of. Foxx already has $1,270,733 on hand. Her biggest donors are the sugar lobby, banks, the Medical Industrial Compex, alcoholic beverage companies, gambling interests and foreign powers with their own agendas. Meanwhile, Billy Kennedy has $70,406 on hand. He addressed the problem on the cascade of corrupt corporate cash flooding into congressional campaigns:

"The case of Citizens United v FEC was heard by the Supreme Court back in January. When all was said and done, the Court ended up changing the law so that corporations can now spend as much as they like on political campaigns without even identifying themselves. That’s right-- average working people get the short end of the stick. Again.

So the US House has now just passed the “Disclose Act,” a law which will at least require that these corporations tell us who they are when they put their fancy, high-dollar commercials on TV that attack anyone who would dare come up against them. The “Disclose Act” could most certainly be better than it is. If we didn’t have so many politicians in Washington beholden to corporate interests, we’d surely have gotten a better bill in the end, but the bill is at least a start.

Even so, I wasn’t surprised to hear Rep. Virginia Foxx rail against the “Disclose Act” on WPTF radio Thursday. I wasn’t surprised because Rep. Foxx’s record is pretty clear on this kind of thing. Her take is that working people need to get in line and work longer hours for less money and be thankful they’ve got any job at all. Corporations and rich people, on the other hand, deserve better because they’re the ones providing jobs for longer hours and less money. It sounds like code for "we can't do it because it's too complicated."

It’s worth noting that Rep. Foxx never said a word on any radio stations when the Supreme Court made sure individual Americans’ rights came up short against corporate rights. She wasn’t on talk radio, outraged, when Americans woke up one morning to find out they’d been sold out by corporate interests again. Not at all. The only thing on this whole issue that got Rep. Foxx in a tizzy and made her want to “sit down and cry” (as she said on the radio) was that someone in Washington was actually trying to do something about it. Rep. Foxx didn’t show up at any radio stations the morning after corporations stole the peoples’ power in the dead of night. But she showed up pretty quick to be outraged when some brave folks in Washington tried to reclaim it.

Rep. Foxx has been in Washington too long. She’s forgotten what she’s supposed to be doing up there, and she will say anything to be re-elected. It’s time to send her home."

If you'd like to help us put the ad on TV in the Piedmont and the suburbs of Winston-Salem, just click on Foxx's face-- and no, that photo is not photoshopped.

Wake County, North Carolina is an example of a situation where policy that sounds great in theory has, in reality, worked to re-segregate one of the most desegregated school districts in the nation.

Under the guise of creating "neighborhood schools", the Wake County school board ended its diversity policy at the end of the last school year, and with it, the desegregation of schools in the Wake County area.

Wake County school board member John Tedesco made a presentation Friday about his vision for the community assignment plan and why he says it works. Tedesco has stressed it will allow parents more choice and will take about nine to 15 months before the final makeup for the new schools zones will be finalized.

For now it's just a vision that John Tedesco hopes will be crafted into a plan for neighborhood schools.

But that vision looked like this to other school board members:

School Board member Ann McLaurin said she is happy to have a starting point, but is not seeing Tedesco's vision clearly.

"What I saw was a map that had zones with real poverty in them, with real economic and racial segregation, and there wasn't an explanation about how we're going to do that differently," McLaurin said.

Their action precipitated the resignation of the superintendent, sparked protests by students, and has opened a deep, wide rift in the community.

In the end, one of the contributing factors has to be what has been called "the age of forgetting".

Continue reading »

For Want of a Nail: Making sure one is on the right team

Reader Supported News: Right Wing Thought Police: An Analysis

R&D Mag: Alaska says to hell with polar bears. They cut into oil profits

Hullabaloo: Blasting right wing lies right out of the oil-soaked water

Counter Punch: Confronting rendition to torture in North Carolina

Bob Broughton: Hard to believe there's still a need to oppose this: International Day Against Stoning

I'm sure you've seen the video of Blue Dog Etheridge basically assaulting probably a couple of Breitbart-flunkie-wannabe jackasses. I'll never trust anything that Breitbart releases unless we got the entire video--unedited, but still there is no defense for Blue Dog Bob's behavior. He released a statement about it and apologizes for his outburst.

"I deeply and profoundly regret my reaction and I apologize to all involved," Etheridge said. "Throughout my many years of service to the people of North Carolina, I have always tried to treat people from all viewpoints with respect. No matter how intrusive and partisan our politics can become, this does not justify a poor response. I have and I will always work to promote a civil public discourse."

Glenn thinks he should be charged with a crime. I'm all for it. (Recently I had a close encounter with a conservacreep whose name appears in the original article which I'll discuss at a later date.)

Brad Woodhouse makes a good case that motives matter especially when right wing hatchet men are most likely behind it, but since Blue Dog Bob took responsibility for his actions, Woodhouse's response doesn't negate the crime. Maybe he could go for jury nullification if Brad is the defense attorney and Blue Dog Bob was on trial, but GGreenwald would know more about that. I picked the idea up from a great documentary called Terror's Advocate that we reviewed here on C&L and also Law & Order type shows--which I also love--delve into that tactic. My initial reaction was satirical and I wondered if Blue Dog Bob's inner conservative lashed out, but there is never any excuse for violence when a politician is being approached with or without some form of video camera or recorder.

Digby writes:

This idea that politicians, regardless of party affiliation, are allowed to assault citizens who ask them questions is beyond the pale, no matter who the questioner is. It's a tough gig, I know, but they chose it and they have to be answerable to the people. Even if one of them is an Andrew Breitbart stooge (which this kid probably wasn't, btw.)

But it should be noted that this kind of thing is hardly unprecedented and it never gets prosecuted. Recall Mike Stark questioning George Allen?
--
This Etheridge incident is disturbing. But it's just the latest in a long line of incidents in which people are physically assaulted for asking questions of politicians.

Wasn't it Ari Fleischer who said "watch what you say?" These guys mean it.

It's happening more and more in our society on a whole. Digby reminds us of the tasering at a Kerry event which wss sickening and more recently we had the tasering of a fan running onto the field of a Phillies game and the fans cheering for more.

Do you see a pattern developing?

Conservatives have been claiming that there's no such thing as racism anymore. Right-wing op-eds abound claiming that racism is a myth.

Heck, this caller is just angry that black callers are getting through.

No racism there.

A caller to C-Span this morning, who identified himself as a Republican from North Carolina, accused the network of taking too many phone calls from black people.

"You have black folks calling in on the Republican line, independents. And you have so many of 'em I can't believe this is just an accident. If you keep on with the way you've been programming, you should change your name from C-Span to black-span," he said. "I know they have an opinion but I wish that they would be honest and call in on the right line."

Remember this Rush Limbaugh rant? Rush Limbaugh Attacks Black Katrina victims and praises Whites as the Floods hit.

Limbaugh: I want to know. I look at Iowa, I look at Illinois---I want to see the murders. I want to see the looting. I want to see all the stuff that happened in New Orleans. I see devastation in Iowa and Illinois that dwarfs what happened in New Orleans. I see people working together. I see people trying to save their property...

I don't see a bunch of people running around waving guns at helicopters, I don't see a bunch of people running shooting cops. I don't see a bunch of people raping people on the street. I don't see a bunch of people doing everything they can...whining and moaning---where's FEMA, where's BUSH. I see the heartland of America. When I look at Iowa and when I look at Illinois, I see the backbone of America.

The NRO's Jay Nordlinger wrote the most farcical claim that racism is dead that I've ever read.

Tim Russert on the Imus show called it for Bush.