NC Political Connections By News 14 Carolina reporter Tim Boyum
(At my house, I cannot get this channel anymore, as we were forced to give up cable due to poor bandwidth issues and move to the better performing Directv. Sorry Tim.)
Fern Shubert Speaks for Us Published by admirers of former Senator Fern Shubert. Shubert served the ole' North State well, until stepping down from her office to make a run for Governor in 2004. While she is greatly missed from office, she knows where the "bodies are buried" and is still found digging up the truth.
Mike's Nether Land The greatest conservative blogger in the state of Maryland. Check him out!
ARRA News Service News for social, fiscal & national security conservatives who believe in God, family & country. We seek to uphold traditional family values, Republican principles & ideals, limited government, free markets to promote innovation, & individual freedom. The ARRA News Service is an outreach of the Arkansas Republican Assembly.
Crystal Clear Conservative Blogger Krystal Weeks writes about N. Virginia and DC metro area politics, as well as national issues. Check her out!
Cuba Generation Y This 30-something blogger publishes at great risk to show readers outside Cuba what everyday life is like inside the oppressive, Communist nation. Think you like Communism...read this blog and think again!
Smart Girl Politics Conservative Women bloggers, and a few men, who are here to refresh you when you are thirsty.
LadyBlog A modern take on traditional women. Classier than tea service. Like Fight Club but with better hygiene. Sightly more aggro than a cucumber sandwich.
Peach Girl Politics Conservative mother of one. Blogs in the peach state of Georgia!
Top Conservatives On Twitter The top conservatives on Twitter. If you are conservative, you should follow these people. KCC is on the list and moves up and down, depending on the day.
The Political Byline One of my fellow Top Conservatives on Twitter. Check him out! He's not afraid to speak his mind. Based in the Motorcity.
Capital Letters Jordan Schrader covers North Carolina government for the Asheville Citizen-Times.
Sister Toldjah National conservative blogger who tells it like it is. She loves North Carolina and occasionally picks up items from KCC on her blog.
Called 2 Action Check out this site, run by Steve Noble. He's a member of the religious right and he tells the truth as he sees it. He calls himself an equal opportunity offender. Check out what he has to say!
Conservative Oasis A fellow TCOTer. Fellow conservative blogger. Get your drink today.
Inside Charm City A conservative writes about all things Baltimore. He has plenty of fodder!
The Repurblican Political News and commentary for urban Republicans
NC Politics New Bern native (and your blogger's fellow high school classmate -NBSHS '85) Steve Hale writes from Pitt County about his take on the North Carolina Political scene. Check out his blog and offer up your comments.
Dateline Obamastan Cary's John Byrnes writes about national, state, and local politics. He currently serves in the Army National Guard.
Driving With One Hand Kevin LeCount is apparently driving with his LEFT hand, as this blog is written by my good friend who works for SEANC, the union of the NC State Employees. His wife, Heidi, works at my alma mater, Meredith and are good folks, despite their political leanings. Check them out.
Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) said on MSNBC Wednesday morning, that the newly passed Obamacare bill will raise taxes so much that people will lose jobs. Additionally, he stated that this will not stand and that the fight is not over!
"We have to stop this continuous growth of government", he continued. "We don't need to answer this with more government and more debt...this is about freedom and the American people will push back hard".
Watch the interview below:
NOTE: If you are reading this post anywhere other than on KatysConservativeCorner.com, please go to the blog to leave any comments. You do not have to sign in.
On Saturday, your blogger, along with hundreds of others from North Carolina, and thousands from across the nation, loaded up on buses, planes, trains, and automobiles, and made our collective ways to our nation's Capitol. It was the most beautiful day we had seen all year and the weather there was much better than it was in Raleigh, KCC later discovered.
KCC's Live Posts on Twitter
Because your blogger had to carry everything she brought, she could not live blog the event from her laptop. Thus, she posted updates on her Twitter site. Go here to read them.
You do not need to have a Twitter account to read them. Just scroll back to Saturday's posts to see what KCC wrote and thought. KCC's twitter account is not quite as "family friendly" as is her blog. :-)
North Carolinians Storm the Capitol
For a small fee of $25, North Carolineans could ride one of about ten buses that were organized by the NC Chapter of Americans for Prosperity. From Raleigh, the trip was relatively quick and our group arrived precisely at noon at the South Lawn of the Capitol. Already, speakers were rousing the crowd and masses were gathering.
Buses departed fromevery part of the Ole' North State and were ready to rally. People made phone calls on the way, and were advised as to the polite way to get their points across to opposing Members of Congress.
Lamestream Media Says "Don't Come into Washington"
What should NOT have amazed this blogger, was that the "lamestream" media was actually telling people NOT to come into the District. The traffic was too bad, they stated. They did their best to keep our numbers down, but it did not work.
Indeed there were numerous rallies going on that day. The Communist Party USA was supposed to be rallying somewhere, and an anti-war group took over Lafayette Square, across from the White House.
Your blogger stood beside a retired New York City police captain for a few minutes. He was well-versed in crowd counting and estimated the group to be between 65,000 - 70,000. Meanwhile, the "lamestream" media was calling the crowd at only 1,500 - 2,000. They were declaring that Americans were happy with the bill and wanted it to pass. Even MSNBC disagreed and declared that 60% of Americans were unhappy with the bill. Your blogger is certain that MSNBC vastly low balled the number, but they were right that most Americans opposed this bill.
Much more on this rally coming soon. Watch this space for updates!
EDITOR'S NOTES: KCC also took videos of some of events of the day.
More on the Communist Party later. Let's just say they were not quite who they said they were.
Chris Marie Farr,grassroots director of the NC AFP told riders of one of the Raleigh buses, that she had no idea what was actually going on, as she'd been buried in logistics in getting people together for 48 straight hours!
Kudos to Chris and the entire NC AFP team! God bless them in what they do. They don't get rich and it's a labor of love for them. Give this group a donation. Help them out. Any amount helps! DONATE TO NC AFP.
ALL PHOTOS COPYRIGHT 2010 K BENNINGFIELD, KATY'S CONSERVATIVE CORNER
No photograph can be used without written consent of the photographer, K Benningfield. Email for permission here.
Your blogger grew up on Ray Stevens, including her personal favorite "The Streak". She also enjoyed the one about the Shriner named Coy getting kicked out of the club. Who can forget "Ahab the Arab"?
Turns out, Ray is supporting Sarah Palin, and deems her a "female Chuck Norris" in this little ditty. Check it out and see if the digs on CNN make you laugh, too.
When the time came for conservative columnist and humorist Ann Coulter to take the stage at CPAC, the audience roared in approval. She told one liners as if she thought of them right on the spot and reminded everyone that she is truly a hard core conservative.
Overview
She mentioned, how she "loved bombs", supported national security, the defense of our allies, and she mentioned a few social issues that are important to her. (She reminded this blogger a bit of her own mindset as blogger's high school nickname was " 'Ole Nuke 'Em 'Till They Glow". )
A large group of Ron Paul followers appreciated that she paid tribute to their cause by saying that she appreciated that he was pro-life and that she liked everything except his foreign policy.
She also got a lot of laughs when she weighed in on your blogger's least favorite former U.S. Senator. "John Edwards may go down in history as earning the National Enquirer it's first Pulitzer Prize." Coulter told punchline after punchline and your blogger couldn't even begin to take notes of them all. However, Coulter did close with this:
"Keith Olbermanis a girl. Yes, Keith Olberman is a girl." Yes, out of left field, but it was still funny!
North Carolinian Gets First Question
In the ten-minute question and answer session, Wake County's Jonathan Bandy (below, left in a 1998 file photo) went to the microphone asked the first question.
"I'm from North Carolina and what can we do to get more newspaper coverage of slimeball John Edwards?"
Coulter shot back, "I can't believe anyone at this conference is still reading newspapers. I'm sure the National Enquirer is available in North Carolina."
Probably not the answer the former State Young Republican Chairman was looking for. Your blogger thinks he probably meant more fair coverage of Edwards.
KCC believes that the worst culprit in the state in the John Edwards love fest, remains a Triangle-area TV station ( that streams online, for national readers).
WRAL's "Special" Relationship With Edwards?
This blogger dislikes WRAL-TV relationship with the former U.S. Senator. It has disgustingly followed Edwards around for 16 years and have covered every single move Edwards makes. When it came to Elizabeth's cancer, their marital problems, their children, his mistress, his hair, his former aide's book, or his cars, nothing was too "up close and personal" for channel 5.
Back when the former Senator was running as John Kerry's veep, people complained to the station about "too much Edwards", but co-anchor Pam Salsby, with her ever-rotating hairdos, took to the airwaves to explain that "this is a local story and people want to know".
-Another question from the audience was: "Did you ever date a liberal?" Coulter paused, smiled, and slyly answered, "He wasn't (liberal) for long".
Catch the entire speech, along with the funny Q&A session, in the videos below. You'll laugh your socks off and you'll wonder how someone could be so quick on her feet. Fellow blogger and top selling author Michelle Malkin, doesn't particularly like Coulter, because Coulter has a tendency to shoot from the hip. However, Coulter likes to make light of situations and make people laugh. She's more of a conservative comedian, while Malkin is a serious writer and conservative journalist. KCC enjoys them both.
Ann Coulter Speech Part I:
Part II of Ann Coulter Speech:
Ann Coulter Q&A Part I (after the speech)
Ann Coulter Q&A Part II
Editor's Notes
KCC picked up the nickname "ole nuke 'em 'till they glow" in 1983, when she was a Junior at New Bern Senior High School. Her Advanced United States History teacher (and the following year, her Advanced United States Government teacher) Howard Matthews, was a solid conservative, which often sparked debate in class amongst the students.
Your blogger was the hardest of the hardliners in class, regarding Communism, and the running gag in class was "why don't we just nuke 'em and be done with them"? Naturally, your blogger knew, even at such a young age that such a thing wouldn't be a practical solution, but received the nickname anyway.
She believed then, as she does now, that we should NOT negotiate with Communists or terrorists. Those people are irrational and cannot be trusted to keep their word.
Katy's Conservative Corner has discovered that there are spies (gasp in sarcastic horror) in our midst here at CPAC. Turns out, your blogger has run into on of her favorite liberals at CPAC, here on media row.
The Back Story
Last August, your blogger arrived in Pittsburgh, where the lefties were having their NetRoots conference, described on their website this way:
"It's about taking the passion, activism and attention that we drum up each year during the convention to an area that will be a crucial region in upcoming progressive policy fights."
Your blogger was in town for another conference. The Americans for Prosperity (AFP) decided to take the same passion to conservatives and sponsored an opposing event known as RightOnline. Organized by AFP's Erik Telford, RightOnline is, each year, a great place for bloggers and newbies to get together, exchange ideas, and flood the Internet with information about the conservative movement. Both events are held in the same city. RightOnline exists, in part, to "drown out" the "progressive" calls.
In the taxi on the way to the hotel, your blogger shared the ride with a nice lady named Adele Stan. In our conversation, we realized we were both in Pittsburgh for "the conference" and chatted about it. It several minutes before we realized that we were going to different events.
At CPAC
Fast forward until now. A nice lady asked to plug into your blogger's power strip and KCC gladly agreed. She recognized your blogger immediately as Katy "from Pittsburgh". She handed me her card and I realized who she was. Adele Stan is the Washington Bureau chief for AlterNet.
Naturally, much of the lamestream media here are pretty liberal, but not all. For example, KCC is sitting next to Fred Lucas, senior writer at Cybercast News Service.
Editor's Notes
- There are no pure Libertarians (with a capital 'L') here, to our knowledge, but there are plenty of libertarians who have joined the Republican party.
- Conservatives often refer to NetRoots, affectionally, as "NUT roots". Not this blogger. :-)
-You can follow Erik Telford on Twitter. His user id is JoeTaxpayer You can also follow your blogger on Twitter, who goes by Katys Her tweets also appear in the right bar of this page.
More On RightOnline
-RightOnline, hosts a Twitter contest and the attendee who tweets the most about the conference, during the event, is declared "the winner". No prizes were awarded, to KCC's knowledge, as she "won" and didn't received anything.
-RightOnline, like NetRoots, will be held in Las Vegas August 2010. Your blogger hopes to attend, should the budget allow. If you are interested in starting a blog, learning to Twitter, or just meeting some of the top conservative bloggers in the nation, this writer strongly encourages you to attend. You will leave with a level of expertise on how to organize a cause via the Internet from the very best.
The long, saga of Wake County's Chris Mintz (left) is over. Mintz, a former Republican, switched to the Democrat party due to his own, sorry political ambitions.
Your blogger first met Mintz when he was a college student at North Carolina State University and we lived in the same precinct.
Since Raleigh's downtown 01-06 literally had only 96 registered Republicans at the time, the eight of us who came to a precinct meeting in KCC's landlord's living room, agreed to split up precinct leadership with Mintz, taking the chairmanship and your blogger agreeing to be secretary.
Two years later, your blogger was awakened early one morning by an upset party activist and donor. "I cannot get in touch with Chris Mintz", whaled Olga Santo-Tomas, a Cuban American, and supporter of then-Mayor Tom Fetzer. She and her family had fled the Castro "revolution" and she has the highest respect from this blogger.
After searching high and low, Senora Tomas and I realized that Mintz was not reliable nor reachable.
Fast forward fifteen years. Mintz was now president of the Wake County Republican Men's Club. KCC thought at the time, "I wish I could have warned them." According to Under The Dome, the News and Observer's political blog, Mintz switched to the Democrat Party in 2005. He wanted to run against against conservative stalwart Rep. Russell Capps (below, right) but lost in the primary to Ty Harrell, (left) who sadly defeated Capps in the general election. Harrell resigned last year due to ethics issues with his campaign expenditures.
Capps founder of the Wake County Taxpayers Association, originally was elected in a "safe" Republican district, had been slowly been gerrymandered by the state Democrat leaders into a "swing" district and Democrats were now willing to take him on.
Dome reports that he was accused last July by federal prosecutors of taking more than $1 million from two elderly clients, via his position as an investment advisor. Mintz is scheduled to serve four years. Let's hope he serves every single day of his sentence. Your blogger does not believe in getting one day cut off of a sentence for each day of "good behavior".
Editor's Note: Your blogger has the highest respect for former Rep. Russell Capps. She first met him in 1992 in a parking lot in Raleigh, when he was campaigning against a convention center that was voted down by the public.
He started a grassroots movement that stopped the wasteful spending project and gave rise to the Wake County Taxpayers Association. He was then elected to the State House and became a champion for taxpayers statewide.
Former Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, has been catching a lot of flak in the lame stream media these last few days for her use of her own hand as a place to write notes. Frankly, your blogger thinks this is just plain silly.
Who hasn't had to give a talk and used their own palm to take down quick talking points? It's better than a huge teleprompter that President Obama is forced to rely on!
In her honor, this blogger dedicates KCC's palm to our favorite conservative, Sarah Palin (above left).
Monday morning, North Carolina GOP Chairman, Tom Fetzer (left), will hold a press conference where he will call for the resignation for "two high profile state officials" as well as discuss details of a renewed call for transparency in state government.
Your blogger agrees that we are not seeing it now and looks forward to the press conference. During Mr. Fetzer's term as Raleigh mayor, he was infamous for beating on the local liberals via the press and he has continued this tradition since being elected State GOP Chairman last summer.
He will take questions following his remarks and KCC will provide the feed of the conference as soon as it is over.
Because Katy's Conservative Corner respects copyrights, we do not, reprint articles without permission. However, we encourage you to review these.
Though KCC is primary focused on North Carolina politics, so much is happening nationally, we want to do our part to help keep our fellow conservatives informed:
This morning, your blogger was discussing with a friend, how amazed we are why those on both the right and left get so negatively emotional when they discuss former Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin? "Why are her naysayers so afraid", we wondered.
Palin has it all and is a politician out of central casting. She is smart, no-nonsense, and practical. She's devoutly conservative and is an adoring mother. Currently on her book tour, she's traveling with her young son Trig and her show-stealing daughter, Piper. Monday, she made a stop in North Carolina, meeting with troops and their families at Fort Bragg.
Everywhere she goes, the crowds are huge. Palin is not allowed to even personalize copies of the books she's signing. She just says "hello" to the purchaser and moves to the next person in line. This devotion on the level of rock star status.
During the 2008 Presidental campaign, Vice Presidential candidate Palin drew larger crowds than did the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain. Many conservatives told the press that they turned out only to vote for Palin, not to vote for McCain. Clearly, people see something in her that they like and they appreciate her home spun conservative values.
Your blogger has grown tired of hearing the same old line: Sarah Palin is not "smart enough to be President." Gov. Palin is extremely bright and history has shown that it doesn't take a member of Mensa to occupy the White House.
Ronald Reagan was an intelligent man, but he made sure to surround himself with the people he felt were the best in their areas of expertise and then he let them do their jobs. He didn't micro-manage as President James Earl Carter had done in the previous administration.
Today, KCC is saddened to see so many (liberal) women feel threatened by Gov. Palin's success. It seems that there is some sort of female jealousy about. They feel if you oppose abortion, support the death penalty, and act like a lady, liberal women run, not walk away.
Even Oprah got into the act last week on her show, when she interviewed the former Governor. She tried every way she could to imply that Palin was in some way, a poor mother. Yet, Palin handled Winfrey's intrusive and tacky questions deftly, with class and dignity.
Let's hope this doesn't extend to our fellow Republicans. It's certainly okay to support the candidate of one's choice, but to run down opposition in one's own party is simply not acceptable.
Palin may not have handled the infamous Katie Couric interview the very best she could have, and she clearly received some very bad advice during it, but she's easy on her feet when talking about her book, Levi Johnson, and her passions about her husband and family. Additionally, she enjoys discussing her world views and her ideals, and even becomes a little preachy to a liberal interviewer.
The very fear she insights in liberals is exactly what the Republican party needs in 2012. The GOP is above affirmative action for women or blacks. We want the most qualified individual and Sarah Palin is clearly in the bunch of contenders for 2012.
Right now, Palin says she is focusing on getting conservatives elected in 2010 and will worry about 2012 later. But when that time comes, anyone would be foolish to count Governor Sarah Palin out.
NOTE: Your blogger purchased Palin's book online via Amazon for $14.00 and received it in less than seven hours. She didn't pay extra for shipping! Talk about service!
If you read this blog post some place other than at Katysconservativecorner.com, please go online to make your comments. A lively discussion is encouraged, but name calling will be removed.
COPYRIGHT 2009 KATY'S CONSERVATIVE CORNER - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The Raleigh News and Observer reported over the weekend that Curtis Media station, WPTF AM 680, won't be the only kid on the Triangle-area block with conservative talk. Clear Channel's WRDU 106.1 FM plans to join the fray just after the Christmas season.
Your blogger is a long-time listener of WPTF since Rush Limbaugh came on the air in syndication more than twenty years ago. WPTF was one of the first stations to carry Limbaugh and contributed to his early success. They also carry a number of other interesting commentators, including afternoon local favorite, Bill LuMaye.
According to an article on the not-always-reliable Wikipedia, WPTF must drop Limbaugh as the program will only be run on Clear Channel stations, according to a new distribution arrangement.
The station, originally known as WVOT, beginning in the early 1960s, went on the air as WRDU on Labor Day, 1984. It played rock music for many years before switching to country in 2006. Currently the station is playing all Christmas, all the time. The station will make the switch on January 1, 2010.
RDU will also carry such right-wing talkers as Glenn Beck (left), and Sean Hannity. Hannity currently can be heard on WPTF.
Phil Zachary, President of Curtis Media, recently told the Triangle Business Journal, that he has decided how to replace Limbaugh, but "he won't reveal those plans just yet".
Your blogger's heart is with WPTF, but understands that the radio business can be cut throat. Her grandfather was in that biz from its early days and she continues to follow the industry with interest.
Clear Channel stations, in the past, have had problems with their "shock value" and have managed to offend everyone from the handicapped to cyclists. KCC learned that this behavior was actually encouraged to boost ratings during several local dust-ups with Triangle station WDCG, otherwise known as G-105.
Because local radio, with the exception of WPTF, became so unlistenable, KCC subscribed to satellite radio about three years ago.
Ham told the crowd that conservatives are NOT racists, astroturf angry mobs, domestic terrorists,or hate mongers.
Our group of Tea Partiers, she said, are simply a group of unsatified, patroitic Americans who are exercising free speech according to first amendment rights.
She compared our protests to the protests of the anarchists at the recent Pittsburgh G20 Summit.
In all of the Right's Tea Party protests combined, only 11 people were arrested, most of which were for minor infractions, such as pulling down signs. Only two of those were for actual assaults.
Seven of the 11 acts were commited by liberal counter-protesters.
At the Pittsburgh G20 Summit, the anarchists were in a completely different league, Ham said. They vandalized cars, smashed shop windows, threw rocks at law enforcement, and 65 were arrested.
Naturally, according to Ham, the press ignored the anarchists, and chose only to focus on the few bad apples in the conservative "mobs" at the tea parties and further tried to whip up fear and hysteria among the general public.
Ham admitted that she was tired of the "mainstream press" trying to demonize conservatives.
This North Carolina blogger apprecites the excellent work being done by Miss Ham, part of the new leadership of the conservative movement.
Thank goodness we have people like her, who are witty, sarcastic, and extremely bright. She can out debate any liberal on virtually any topic, simply by using common sense. Common sense is something we need more of, in our North Carolina state government, in Congress and in the White House.
Please enjoy the videos of the actual talk, shot by Ed Morrisey of the Hot Air blog.
Editor's Note: Thanks Ed! Sorry I didn't get the chance to chat with you at the Summit but you were constantly busy, and so was I.
We are all aware of the love affair that exists within the mainstream media toward President Barack Obama.
An upcoming hour-long prime time special called Questions for the President: A Prescription for America illustrates that affair with perfection. The event will be televised nationally on the ABC television network during which the President will answer questions presented by members of the audience selected by ABC News.
The network has refused to accept advocacy ads during the show. In an e-mail aimed at raising $100,000 to buy air time for a counterprogram, RNC Chairman Michael Steele said that his request to add the RNC’s views to the debate during the special was "flatly rejected" by ABC News.
This is blatant bias and it’s an excellent example of the partnership that exists between the Obama Administration and the main stream media. There is an un-American agenda that is being advanced by this administration and Conservatives across this country must act now in order to stop it.
I encourage every Freedom loving American to begin buying shares of the Walt Disney Company, the parent of the ABC television network. We’re all conscious of the recession, but if every Freedom fighter in America were to buy 5, 10, 20, 50 or even a 100 shares of Walt Disney, we could send a resounding message to the liberal media and the President.
When a news organization distorts its operations as a means to influence or advance a particular agenda, it contradicts the traditions of a free and uninhibited press. The Walt Disney Company should take all appropriate steps to insure the independence and integrity of its news organization by mandating that its broadcast network consent to opposing viewpoints during the President’s appearance.
If the Walt Disney Company rejects our call for fairness, then we as stockholders of the Walt Disney Company will have a deafening roar, because our voices will unquestionably be heard once we own stock.
We’re all mad as hell and its time we do something about the growing threat of Socialism in the United States of America.
On Wednesday, newly elected NCGOP State Chairman, Tom Fetzer (left, photo Katy Benningfield), held his first press conference. Fetzer wasted no time in establishing the type of chairman he will be.
Do you wonder how our liberal, yet dying newspapers will handle this one? Will they give this any ink?
The Report:
A June 23rd North Carolina Democrat Party fundraiser sponsored by Governor Bev Perdue and the Democrat members of the Council of State “honoring” Democrat Legislative leaders, gives the appearance of a violation of state laws. These laws were written in the aftermath of the corruption scandal surrounding disgraced formerDemocrat House Speaker Jim Black. (left, courtesy WRAL-TV, Raleigh)
“While our citizens look to elected officials for leadership, a lobbyist & PAC fundraiser during the heat of budget negotiations raises serious ethical questions” said Tom Fetzer, Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party.
Fetzer went on to say “At the very least this creates the appearance of pay-to-play politics. Given recent revelations involving former Governor Mike Easley (left, courtesy Ches McDowell) and many current Democrat members of Governor Perdue’s administration, a reasonable person could assume much worse.”
The ethics law, supported by then Lt. Governor Perdue and the current Democrat Legislative leaders including Senate Pro Tem Marc Basnight and House Speaker Joe Hackney, barred lobbyists from contributing to the campaigns of candidates and strengthened prohibitions on fundraising during the legislative session.
In spite of the restrictions, Governor Perdue and Legislative Democrats are skirting the law by soliciting donations from special interests during budget negotiations between the State House Democrats and State Senate Democrats.
“I join the call of North Carolina’s citizens who are fed up with Pay-to-Play politics and demand that the spirit of the Ethics Reform Law be respected and this fundraiser be cancelled” Fetzer added.
“Furthermore, this loophole in the legislation needs to be closed, less our citizens be left to wonder if the liberal-led culture of corruption has not ended, but instead simply moved its’ operations from private dining clubs and IHOP restaurants to the Democrat Headquarters on Hillsborough Street.”
Listen to Fetzer's Press Conference Below in MP3 format:
Editor's Notes: Your blogger was a proud Raleigh taxpaying citizen when Fetzer and company defeated the liberal elitists that ran Raleigh. They then took on the once-powerful News and Observer every day! We expect more of the same from our new chairman.
From the files of better late than never, North Carolina lawmakers will begin discussing the life and work of the late U.S. Senator Jesse Helms Tuesday afternoon. The stalwart conservative senator died last July 4th.
Read the entire (biased) story from the Associated Press, here.
UPDATED: Your blogger eagerly listened to the reading of the Joint Resolution honoring Helms via the live stream on the Internet. Republicans and Democrats alike, remanisced over the years working with, for, and sometimes against him. Many spoke of visiting him at his offices in Washington as youngsters and how kindly the Senator always greeted them.
Even NC Senate leader Marc Basnight (D-Dare) spoke about a time when the two worked together on a rock jetty in Oregon Inlet. Your blogger remembers this issue, as she was living in the District as a child.
Oddly, on the second reading, one Senator voted "no" and on the third reading, the resolution passed unaniously. In the audience were his family, including Mrs. Dot Helms, the Knott family, and one of your blogger's favorite people, Eddie Woodhouse. We hope to have a statement from Mr. Woodhouse on KCC about today's activities soon.
UPDATE 8:20 EDT: The Associated Press has reported that many legislators decided to boycott the debate and vote on honoring Helms. Read the full story, here.
Governor Beverly Perdue publicly stated Thursday that she is considering proposing additional tax increases on top of the cigarette and alcohol taxes included in her original budget proposal.
Longtime political reporter Rob Christensen, writing in Friday's edition of the Raleigh News and Observer, stated:
"Gov. Beverly Perdue said Thursday that a tax increase might be needed to prevent 'horrific' cuts in government services as state leaders try to close a projected $4.6 billion shortfall in North Carolina's budget.
Perdue didn't say what tax increases she might support. But she noted that her budget proposal made to the legislature earlier this year called for an increase in the excise taxes on cigarettes and alcohol. She said she would not rule out other tax increases."
"Governor Perdue has already broken her promise to refrain from raising taxes with her original budget proposal. Now she wants even more money from the pockets of North Carolina's working families. It is not the fault of North Carolina citizens that the state is facing a $4.6 billion budget shortfall. Years of mismanagement, oversight, and neglect have produced this crisis as Democrats in the General Assembly, including the Governor herself, have been derelict in their duty to protect North Carolinians from the predictable outcome of profligate spending. Good leadership should put state government in a position to survive not just in a robust economy but in lean times as well. Governor Perdue should start providing that leadership instead of scapegoating North Carolina taxpayers when they are most vulnerable."
Editor's Note: The N&O's Senior political reporter, Rob Christensen, has been covering the NC GOP for years. He's never been a favorite among Republican circles but he's got the vote of your blogger. After chatting with him at a University of Tennessee alumni "Football Watching Party" a number of years ago, KCC became a big fan.
Christensen knows North Carolina politics as well as anyone and can tell you what will happen before it does. In the State GOP chairman's race, your blogger's money is on Christensen.
According to news sites world wide, on Tuesday, blocked Twitter access from within its borders ahead of today's 20th anniversary of the Tinanmen Square massacre. Twitter is a "microblogging" site where one gets "followers" (readers) and sends tweets (microblog posts). It's extremely popular as anyone can send a tweet from a cell phone via a text message, a laptop computer, and via a number of other ways.
The Massacre was horrible. Your blogger was in summer school that summer, finishing up the last of her college coursework. Every night, Ted Koppell was on ABC's Nightline talking about the subject and the tension built. Many of we young conservatives at the time were inspired to fight communism and to work towards freedom and democracy for everyone, and for every nation. KCC became more dedicated to freedom than ever.
Then it was over and blood covered the streets of the Chinese capital city. The freedom-seeking university students were dead and we could do nothing about it.
According to Janet Watson (photo courtesy, left), writing for the Ottawa Citizen, and a student backpacking through Southeast Asia at the time,
"On May 13, thousands of pro-democracy students had occupied Tiananmen Square beginning a hunger strike to press for political reform. At the same time, international media had descended upon Beijing in anticipation of a state visit by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the first summit in 30 years between the two countries.
At the conclusion of Gorbachev’s visit, the government declared martial law, but it was half-hearted. Protesters blocked the army from entering Beijing and it retreated.
As we made our way north toward Beijing by train, boat and bus, we watched the growing democratic movement flourish, in villages and cities. With universities and colleges closed, students and workers, protesting corruption and inflation, marched through the streets chanting democratic slogans and carrying red and white banners to display their solidarity with the Beijing protesters.
Businessmen, shopkeepers and even the elderly cheered them on. I spoke with a retired professor in Chengdu, Sichuan, who said there had never been so much spirit in China. He said he wished he could be a student again.
We watched students climb aboard trains and buses headed for Beijing to join their comrades. Everywhere we went it seemed people were swept up in the students’ fervour for democracy.
We arrived in Beijing on May 30. Every day, after visiting tourist sites, we stopped at Tiananmen Square to speak with the protesters in their scattered village of tents.
The atmosphere was festive as the protesting students barbecued, sang along to rock music piped from loud speakers and huddled around guitars, strumming quietly in the hot afternoon sun.
As foreigners, we enjoyed celebrity status. The students often approached us, wondering what the world was hearing about their demonstration. They showed off their Goddess of Democracy statue, asked us to sign T-shirts and wanted to practice speaking English. A few said they were anxious to get back to their studies.
But on June 2, Deng Xiaoping and other Communist party leaders, humiliated by the international attention, ordered a military crackdown to end the crisis. On the afternoon of June 3, returning from an outing to the Great Wall, we dropped in at Tiananmen Square which was surrounded by army vehicles and tanks.
If you haven't heard much, if anything about this in the "lamestream media", don't be surprised. They want you to pretend that Communism is dead. It's not and your blogger can tell you this FIRST HAND.
Read an interesting history of the events leading up to the massacre, here. Also, watch the video, produced by the BBC on June 4th, 1989. If you are too young to remember this event, please educate yourself on this. Do not think for one moment that China is not our enemy.
Even President Reagan disappointed me when he dealt with Communist China. He continued to allow trade with this nation and assisted our efforts to trade with them, allowing this enemy to grow into the huge economic and military threat it is to us today.
In the opinion of this blogger, the opening of trade with China, not Watergate, is the terrible legacy of the Richard M. Nixon presidency.
According to a new Gallop poll, for the first time, more Americans describe themselves as Pro-Life than pro-choice. The poll, conducted May 7-10, 2009, found that 51% called themselves pro-life versus 43% pro-choice on the issue of abortion.
Additonally, the poll showed that Republicans are continuting their shift to the right. Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,015 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted May 7-10, 2009.
Gallop reports:
For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points.
Because Katy's Conservative Corner has a policy of not copying and pasting (i.e.stealing) the work of others, we urge you to read the full article, regarding the survey and methods. There are other interesting tidbits we think you'll find interesting, too.
Your blogger has been preaching Twitter (and other technologies) in her attempt to drag our political party, often kicking and screaming, into the 2008 election cycle, even though it is now 2009. She has a few allies, including fellow bloggers over at ConservativeNC.
We were beaten, soundly, not because Obama was so popular, but because we were out organized at the grassroots level. Even former Congressman Tom DeLay (R-Texas) spoke on this very topic at the Winter Board Meeting of the North Carolina Republican Women. (More on this in another post.)
Thankfully, new RNC chairman, Michael Steele realizes that the modern Republican party must return, literally, to its roots and has fired the entire staff. He supports running things from the bottom up, as our party used to do.
Whether conservatives like him or dislike him, he understands the importance of technology, in conjunction with grassroots organizations such as North Carolina's Civitas Instutute or the NC Chapter of Americans for Prosperity.
Steele is one of the most popular people on Twitter, as were all of the RNC chairman candidates. Your blogger is glad to see this happening at the national level and hopes that folks in the counties across our great state will continue to pick up on this trend.
If you are already on Twitter, I welcome you to follow me, and I'll follow you back. Find me at http://www.twitter.com/katys
If you are a Sarah Palin fan, like this blogger, you may want to spend a few bucks for her 2009 Calendar. The cover features her posing with a firearm, over her shoulder (left). Check it out here and get yours.
Editor's Note:KCC is a member of Team Sarah, an online group of supporters begun around the time Palin was added to the Republican Ticket, last summer.
She continues to support Sarah Palin and feels the Alaska governor got a bad deal in the "lame stream" media, last Fall. KCC isn't sure of the Governor's next move, but she is glad to see her staying active on the national scene. According to a writer on the Team Sarah site, Gov. Palin is working to "win back America for conservatives", which your blogger strongly supports.
Both your blogger and Palin are the same age, and were both in High School and College during Reagan's Presidency. We were both strongly influenced by his ideals and KCC is proud to see her take up the Reagan mantle and carry it forward.
KCC noticed, during last year's campaign, how many young people were excited by Palin, just as Palin KCC, and so many others, were excited by Reagan.
Could Palin be the "next Reagan"? Of course not, there will never be another. She'll definitely be the first Sarah Palin, and that's exciting.
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