Blog-IT-o ergo sum

	7/5/2006

North Carolina pork goes kosher

Thankfully, for now, this kind of reckless spending has not yet made it into the NC General Fund Budget:

There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Jewish Heritage Foundation of North Carolina, a nonprofit corporation, the sum of four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000) for the 2005‑2006 fiscal year to assist the organization in producing its heritage project, "Down Home: Jewish Life in North Carolina."

When this orgininal porker did not fly, its benefactor did not give up. This deal is still alive in the budget process under a new more innocuously titled bill, which will route the $400,000 through a third party company.

"When I was in public school, " we had people from our community that volunteered their time to come talk to us about our local history. The Down Home project is a perfect example of where because they're there, taxpayer dollars are being earmarked for something that could likely be had for free. I am confident that there are many people out there who would glaldly volunteer their time and personal touch to promote this kind of educational experience at no cost to the NC taxpayer.

$400,000 here and $400,000 there and pretty soon you're talking about real money.

10:56:15 PM

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Tired of having no choices on the ballot in NC?

The Electoral Fairness Act (House Bill 88) is on the agenda of the NC Senate Judiciary 1 Committee. The vote is on Thursday, July 6th, probably around 9:00am. Get on the phone to the committee members.

Currently, Republicans actually are more willing to support this bill. Seems the Democrats like things just as they are - being in absolute control. Call your Democrat friends in the Senate first.

The Electoral Fairness Act (EFA) originally was designed to significantly reduce both the signature and retention requirements for political parties to get and stay on the ballot in North Carolina. Currently NC is the third hardest state in the country to get on the ballot (according to Ballot Access News). EFA would bring us closer to the national average. The Libertarian Party already has gathered enough signatures to meet the proposed new requirements.

However EFA was amended in the middle of the night to eliminate all the positive gains of the bill, while retaining a new filing fee and other barriers. So now the EFA would actually make things worse for the Libertarian Party and other third parties!

Get more info from the NC Open Elections Coalition

8:37:30 PM

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Dependence Day

This was too mean spirited to post yesterday.

12:55:25 PM

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