Looking Past The Obvious

HB2 is a controversial piece of legislation passed in accordance with the North Carolina Constitution. Efforts to repeal it recently failed. Actually, the Democrats in the North Carolina legislature (yes, I said Democrats) have blocked repealing it four times.

American Lens has the story and reports:

May 2016
The Charlotte Observer reported that a bipartisan group of Charlotte City Council (CLTCC) members went to Raleigh to meet with House Speaker Tim Moore to try to facilitate a deal where the council would repeal their ordinance in exchange for the state making significant changes to HB2.

In response, the Democrat-controlled council, led by Mayor Jennifer Roberts – and after heavy-duty lobbying by liberal LGBT groups – refused to put on the table the possibility of repealing the city’s controversial non-discrimination ordinance, which passed in February. The ordinance included a ban on sex-segregated facilities like showers, locker rooms, fitting rooms, and bathrooms in both public and private businesses.

June/July 2016
Charlotte’s WBTV News reported that a bipartisan deal to broadly amend HB2 was axed after political strong-arming from then-candidate-for-governor Roy Cooper (emphasis added):

September 2016
The NC Restaurant and Lodging Association said in a press release they had “received assurances this week from legislative leadership” that they were ready to move on a repeal of House Bill 2 provided that the Mayor Jennifer Roberts and the CLTCC agreed to repeal their ordinance

…December 2016
In a surprise flip-flop from their September stance, the CLTCC voted on Monday the 19th – over a month after the election- to repeal their February ordinance as part of an alleged deal “brokered” by Gov.-Elect Cooper in an effort to motivate the NCGA for a HB2 repeal.

A special session was called by Gov. McCrory in response and Republican members of the House and Senate began informally caucusing on Tuesday in advance of the Wednesday special session.

One small problem blew everything up, though. As it turns out, Mayor Roberts and the CLTCC did not repeal the February NDO in full as they’d previously announced.

So why did the Democrats vote against repeal? Because that keeps the issue on the table to be used to sway voters who do not truly understand the implications of the Charlotte ordinance.. Do North Carolina parents of high school girls want high school boys in their daughters’ locker rooms? Do North Carolina women using locker rooms at fitness facilities want men in their locker rooms? Keep in mind that the non-exclusive locker room part of the Charlotte ordinance that HB2 eliminated did not distinguish as to what private parts a person actually had. A fully equipped male (if he claimed to be transgender) was allowed to use the women’s locker room and women’s showers. I am not sure that every women in North Carolina would be happy to find a man in her gym locker room.

The purpose of leaving HB2 in place was to continue to bring outside money into the coffers of Democratic candidates in North Carolina. It’s not about rights–it’s about politics.

Why North Carolina Should Not Repeal HB2

HB2 was known as the ‘bathroom bill.’ What wasn’t mentioned was that it also applied to high school locker rooms, health club locker rooms, and other public locker rooms, generally assumed to be segregated according to sex. As long as HB2 was in place, your high school daughter in the high school locker room was not in danger of being walked in on by the high school football team or any member thereof. Now the Governor of North Carolina has decided that since Charlotte says it will repeal the law that made HB2 necessary (the Charlotte bathroom bill was unconstitutional according to the North Carolina Constitution), he wants the legislature to repeal HB2. Well, not so fast. Let’s look at some of the events surrounding the original dust-up.

Yesterday, The Daily Haymaker posted an article about the repeal of HB2.The article reminds us:

Let’s go back to the point about Charlotte’s initial move being unconstitutional. Now, WHO is responsible for dealing with actions that violate the state constitution?  Why, the elected attorney general.  If he refuses to do his job, as he has soooooo often,  the state has to shell out money to go to court itself.

So, Roy Cooper neglects one of the primary responsibilities of his job.  Gets caught lobbying businesses to avoid North Carolina because of HB2.  He spends nearly a whole year lying about HB2 to voters.  Now, the drive by media is ready to coronate him as a HERO.

So, what happens now — after HB2 is repealed — and, say, Carrboro tries something similar?  We have ANOTHER useless bastard in the attorney general’s office who likely ignores it.  And we’re right back into it.

The idea to repeal HB2 is a trap. It is the carrot over the door to the trap that the Republicans are supposed to walk into.

I need to state here that I do not think transgender people pose a threat to anyone. The threat exists in unstable people claiming to be transgender who are no such thing. The threat exists in a dare on the part of high school boys to go into the girls’ locker room. The threat exists in someone claiming to be transgender taking pictures in the dressing room at Target (that has already happened). The transgender population represents less than 1 percent of the American population. Why are endangering women and children for less than 1 percent of the population? Do you really believe that most family men want men or boys in the locker rooms used by their wives and daughters? Do you really believe that high school girls want boys walking into their locker rooms?

Leave the law in place–it represents common sense–men’s bathrooms and locker rooms for men and women’s bathrooms and locker rooms for women. It’s really not that hard.

One Of The Best Arguments For Voter Identification

Yesterday’s election did not go as many pundits expected. In North Carolina, there were some mixed results. There are also some questions about some of the results.

The Daily Haymaker posted an article today about some voter irregularities in Durham County, North Carolina. Yesterday I posted an article about the money poured into North Carolina by George Soros in order to prevent the voter ID law from being in place during the 2016 general election. We are probably seeing the results of that effort reflected in what happened in Durham County.

The Daily Haymaker reports:

Yesterday, Durham county had some “technical” glitches and got a court order extending voting hours.  They also –*Surprise!* — discovered 90,000 votes that had not been counted from early voting.

Holy Al Franken! (Yes, we’re citing the comedian turned US senator who won his seat mainly due to trunkloads of uncounted ballots mysteriously showing up after the polls closed.)

After all of that got added to the mix, a roughly 40,000 vote lead for Pat McCrory in the governor’s race turned into a 5000 vote lead for Roy Cooper.  Chuck Stuber’s lead in the auditor’s race turned into a 3000 vote deficit.  And Buck Newton’s 40,000 vote lead in the attorney general’s race turned into a 19,000 vote deficit.

You want all legitimately-cast votes counted.  But last-minute stuff like this tars the integrity of an election a lot like a last-second foul or penalty call spoils the integrity of a sporting event’s final score.

This sounds like Chicago in 1960.

Letting The 3.4 Percent Rule

There is an attempt being made by 3.4 percent of Americans to control the actions of the other 96.6 percent Americans. No–I am not talking about the wealthy–I am talking about the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender) community. I have no objection to members of that community being whoever or whatever they choose to be, but I do object when they try to impose their lifestyle on the majority of Americans. Most Americans are tolerant, but that doesn’t mean we have to condone something we believe is wrong. That battle recently came to a head in North Carolina when the City of Charlotte (in violation of the home rule provisions of the North Carolina Constitution) declared all restrooms (and locker rooms) open to whatever sex the occupant considered themselves. Aside from the problems with the law itself, only the North Carolina legislature has the power to write a law that impacts public buildings in the state. The legislature then passed a law requiring people to use the restroom (or locker room) corresponding to the sex they were at birth. Some companies and organizations have chosen not to do business in North Carolina because of this law, known as HB2. Meanwhile, many of those companies and organizations continue to do business in countries that execute homosexuals in cruel ways.

Breitbart posted a story on the continuing controversy on Wednesday.

The article reminds us:

GOP leaders in North Carolina are pushing back twice as hard against the Democrat-led alliance of business, gay and transgender advocacy groups which is now trying to damage the state’s economy in the run-up to the November gubernatorial election. 

…GOP leaders have been trying to finesse this transgender issue, because voters strongly oppose the transgender push while business leaders are pleading for an end to the Democrat-organized economic war against the state’s business community. But Gov. Pat McCrory and his deputies have now decided to go on the offensive against the far-reaching and unpopular transgender agenda, which would gradually stigmatize and outlaw the public’s recognition that the two sexes — men and women, boys and girls — want a civic society that supports their equal and different preferences. 

The problem here is not the LGBT community itself–it does not represent a danger to anyone. The problem is that there are disturbed people who will take advantage of an all-access law for their own nefarious purposes. I have no doubt that there would be abuses of the all-access law, particularly at the high school level. Do you really want the high school football team in your daughter’s high school locker room? Most Americans think that would be a really bad idea. Separate facilities for transgender students would easily solve the problem.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association issued a statement by Franklin Graham.

Here are some highlights from that statement:

The ACC website proudly features Toyota as an “Official Corporate Champion,” yet Toyota maintains factories and distribution centers in several of these discriminatory countries, including Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Egypt. Where is the moral outrage of the presidents of Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, UNC, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest?

Indeed, the ACC’s member schools compete in 25 sports divided by gender—12 men’s sports and 13 women’s. Though gender issues may be becoming more complicated in higher education and other parts of society, the athletic conference you serve as commissioner doesn’t seem to have any problem distinguishing between the two genders—male and female. Yet, when a state like the one I live in seeks to make the same distinction with regard to use of public bathrooms in an effort to protect its citizens from those who would use the men’s room today and the women’s room tomorrow, the academic elites who comprise your conference fake a moral outrage that is frankly shameful.

Ironically, the NCAA is more discriminatory towards transgender people than the public policy they apparently wish to see as law in America. For example, opponents to legislation like NC House Bill 2 support permitting people to use the bathroom which corresponds to the sex they identify with on a given day—meaning someone might feel like a man today and a woman tomorrow, switching bathrooms at will.

Yet even the NCAA doesn’t allow such casual gender identity for participation in collegiate athletics. The NCAA Policy on Transgender Student-Athlete Participation states, “Any transgender student-athlete who is not taking hormone treatment related to gender transition may participate in sex-separated sports activities in accordance with his or her assigned birth gender.” This is precisely what supporters of HB 2 have been requesting—that people use public restrooms in accordance with their assigned birth gender.

I think I represent the views of millions who would rather preserve gender-specific public bathrooms—a mainstay for generations—than to attend a football game in my state to determine the champion of a conference governed by politically-correct, morally hypocritical academics.

Mr. Graham concludes:

Commissioner Swofford, you maintain your conference’s decision is “one of principle” and that “core values…are of utmost importance.” Well, millions of us who oppose your decision do so as a matter of principle and core values—values of privacy, safety and protection of our sons and daughters in public restrooms, and the principle that God created just two genders and assigned them at birth.

Please don’t make political pawns of student-athletes who just want to play football or basketball in North Carolina, and don’t continue to offend millions of Americans who endorse thousands of years of gender-specific bathrooms while you continue to accept corporate sponsorship money from companies proudly conducting their business in countries that discriminate against homosexuals to the point of death.

We need to be tolerant, but we need to protect our citizens and our children also. It is possible to do both of these.

 

Voter Identification

I have listened to statements that voter identification laws are racist, that conservatives want to suppress the vote, and that there is no voter fraud in America. None of that is true. However, there are people who genuinely believe that the above is true, and that is a problem. Voter registration groups have not always been honest. There are numerous videos on YouTube by Project Veritas and others showing how easy it is to commit voter fraud. Recently I heard a man from an organization that is working to stop voter fraud talk about bus loads of people brought into North Carolina from other states to register to vote as if they were residents. During the voting, people claiming to be those people show up at the polls and vote. Remember, a fraudulent vote cast in any election means that a legal vote may not count. It is time to be on the alert for voter fraud and to prosecute it to the full extent of the law.

Now about the voter identification thing that is going on in North Carolina. In the primary election this year, a picture identification was required to vote in North Carolina. Voter turnout was actually higher than it had been in the last two primary elections. Voter identification does not in any way suppress the vote. I would also like to point out that in today’s world, a photo id is not something unusual. Admittedly, not everyone drives, but most people at some point in their lives have to cash a check, enter a federal building, or purchase certain drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes. I have a basic prescription that the drug store asks for photo identification every time I fill. When I buy some allergy medications, I have to show photo identification. Voter identification is not a burdensome requirement–it is a requirement that ensures that every legal vote counts.

So where are we with the North Carolina law? The Daily Haymaker updated the story today.

The article reported:

Governor Pat McCrory has formally requested U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to stay a ruling by the Fourth Circuit and reinstate North Carolina’s Voter ID law.

“Today we have asked Chief Justice John Roberts to stay the Fourth Circuit’s ruling and reinstate North Carolina’s Voter ID law,” said Governor McCrory. “This common sense law was upheld by the U.S. District Court. Our Voter ID law has been cited as a model and other states are using similar laws without challenges.

“Allowing the Fourth Circuit’s ruling to stand creates confusion among voters and poll workers and it disregards our successful rollout of Voter ID in the 2016 primary elections. The Fourth Circuit’s ruling is just plain wrong and we cannot allow it to stand. We are confident that the Supreme Court will uphold our state’s law and reverse the Fourth Circuit.”
 
A formal petition asking the Supreme Court to hear the case will follow this request for a stay.

The article further reports:

This IS actually a great move on McCrory’s part.  IF Roberts grants a stay, voter ID can stay alive for the November voting.  An appeal of the 4th circuit’s ruling will be filed by the state with the high court. It likely won’t be heard until 2017.  (However, we may have governor Cooper and attorney general Stein to deal with by then.)  

If this all works the way McCrory hopes, it will mean a lot less chaos and confusion on Election Day –two “crops” the Alinskyites and BluePrinters have been sowing in the state for four years now.  

Stay tuned. Just a note–I am for the suppression of all illegal votes–that’s why I support voter identification laws.

About That Bathroom (Locker Room) Bill

Lady Liberty 1885 (an amazing blogger) posted an article today about the latest legal actions regarding HB2 (North Carolina‘s bathroom-locker room bill). Twenty-three states are now suing the federal government for its attempt to force schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom or shower facilities based on ‘gender identity’ instead of biology. One of the problems with this federal overreach is that it can be taken advantage of by non-transgender people who have nefarious intentions.

The article includes the following quote:

Via Alliance Defending Freedom:

The Obama administration cannot unilaterally redefine federal law to serve its own political ends and lawlessly impose its will on local schools. Twenty-three states have now filed suit to stop this overreach, designed to force students to shower and undress in the same locker rooms and to share rooms on overnight trips with students of the opposite sex—something they shouldn’t ever be forced to do. The administration has exceeded its authority in threatening schools that choose to protect children’s privacy. Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson and the growing number of states across the country who joined him in this lawsuit are to be commended for exercising common sense and defending the privacy and safety of children.
– Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Kellie Fiedorek

The article reports on North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory‘s efforts to defend HB2:

A hearing has been set for August 1st at 10 a.m. in Winston-Salem by U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder, who will hear arguments on whether or not to block provisions of HB 2 while another lawsuit filed by six North Carolinia citizens is still pending in federal court.

Schroeder also indicated that there might be a consolidation of lawsuits at some point.

Transgender in children is a relatively new thing. Transgenders represent a very small number of people. I don’t want to see any group of people mistreated, but I think in this case we need to protect our children from people with evil intentions. There have been a number of incidents of people who are not transgender claiming to be transgender for evil purposes. We need to protect our children. If that means separate bathrooms for transgenders, so be it. At least everyone, including the transgenders, would be safe.

Bullies Don’t Stop Until You Stand Up To Them

Yesterday The New York Times reported that the Obama Administration will now direct all public school to allow students to use the bathrooms (and locker rooms) that conform to their sexual identity. I doesn’t matter what parts you have, you use the bathroom (or locker room) that corresponds to the way you feel at that particular time.

The article reports:

A letter to school districts will go out Friday, adding to a highly charged debate over transgender rights in the middle of the administration’s legal fight with North Carolina over the issue. The declaration — signed by Justice and Education department officials — will describe what schools should do to ensure that none of their students are discriminated against.

It does not have the force of law, but it contains an implicit threat: Schools that do not abide by the Obama administration’s interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.

…“A school may not require transgender students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or to use individual-user facilities when other students are not required to do so,” according to the letter, a copy of which was provided to The New York Times.

I don’t want to see anyone discriminated against or bullied, but it seems to me that this directive (aside from being unconstitutional) opens the door for bullying and all sorts of other high-jinks. Can the imagine the ‘dare you’ going around various teenage boys about going into the girls’ locker room? This is just plain silly.

The obvious answer to this is a private bathroom and changing area for anyone who feels that they need extra privacy. No questions asked. It is really sad that we are talking about discrimination in this matter rather than talking about protecting women and children from people claiming to be transgender who are not. There are already a number of criminal cases filed in various states where nefarious people have used transgender-sympathetic laws to gain access to women’s restrooms. What happened next was traumatizing for the women involved and has severe legal consequences for the man involved. Men do not belong in ladies’ rooms or in women’s locker rooms.

North Carolina’s Voter Identification Law Stands

Fox News 29 reported yesterday that U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder has ruled that the North Carolina voter identification law is constitutional. The law requires voters who appear in person to cast ballots to show an accepted form of photo identification like a driver’s license, a passport or a military ID The argument against the law is that it discriminates against minorities.

The law was in effect in the March 2016 Primary Election in North Carolina. In that election, 31.6 percent of North Carolina residents who were eligible to vote, voted. In the 2012 Primary Election in North Carolina, 31.5 percent of North Carolina residents who were eligible to vote, voted. (These figures are from the United States Election Project website.) I don’t think the identification requirement had a negative impact on voter turnout. It will be interesting to see if the new law impacts the general election.

Here are some excerpts from the Judge’s decision:

While North Carolina had a sordid history of freezing black voters out of the political process, the plaintiffs didn’t show that the law hampered the ability of minority voters to exercise electoral politics, Schroeder said.

The plaintiffs “failed to show that such disparities will have materially adverse effects on the ability of minority voters to cast a ballot and effectively exercise the electoral franchise” as a result of the 2013 state law, Schroeder wrote. That argument was made more difficult after black voter turnout increased in 2014, he wrote.

“There is significant, shameful past discrimination. In North Carolina’s recent history, however, certainly for the last quarter century, there is little official discrimination to consider,” Schroeder wrote.

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory released the following statement:

“Common practices like boarding an airplane and purchasing Sudafed require photo ID and thankfully a federal court has ensured our citizens will have the same protection for their basic right to vote,” McCrory said in a prepared statement.

If voter turnout goes down in the general election, I wonder if it will be because only alive, registered people vote. How do minorities board planes, buy alcohol or cigarettes, or buy cough medicine?

 

Sometimes The Media Just Lies

The HB2 bill in North Carolina has stirred up a lot of controversy. I have been called a bigot because I don’t want men in women’s bathrooms or locker rooms. I have repeatedly stated that I am not concerned about the transgender population, I am concerned with the people who will use transgender as a cloak for nefarious activities. It is instructive that the original spokesperson for allowing men in women’s bathrooms is a registered sex offender.

There was a rally in Raleigh yesterday. There were people there who support HB2 and there were people there who oppose HB2. The people who oppose HB2 made a great show of delivering boxes of petitions supporting their stand. But wait—exactly what was in those boxes?

Governor McCrory’s website posted some interesting pictures of the contents of the boxes:

The anonymously-funded, national smear campaign led by the Human Rights Campaign is grossly misrepresenting information about the petitions delivered to State Capitol today. Contrary to the media reports, the activists only delivered enough petitions to fill two boxes and the overwhelming majority of signatures were from out-of-state. The stacks on the right in each photo consists of out-of-state signatures.

HB2

HB2aIn comparison, here’s a photo of the boxes posted online by a reporter at the HRC press conference:

HB2bIf all you watch is the mainstream media, the above picture is what you saw. The truth is in the previous two pictures. There is some serious manipulation going on here. Most parents do not want boys or men in their daughter’s bathrooms or locker rooms. The aim of this picture is to make those parents feel as though they are a minority. Don’t be fooled.

There Is No Resemblance Between The Hype And The Truth

The North Carolina legislation passed a bill on March 23 called HB2. The media has gone totally bonkers every since–yelling discrimination, bigotry, and all the other things they traditionally yell. I haven’t heard much in the media about the danger bathrooms open to whatever sex you choose to assume on a given day pose to women and children. I need to mention here that the danger does not come from transgendered people–it comes from nefarious people posing as transgenders. The media also overlooked the fact that the spokesmen for the group sponsoring the legislation that HB2 overturned was a registered sex offender. I am sure that is simply an incredible coincidence. The spokesman was removed after his criminal record was exposed.

On Wednesday, World Net Daily posted an article that clarifies the issues involved.

Here are some excerpts from the article:

Widely known now as House Bill 2, or HB 2, the legislation was approved 82-26 in the North Carolina General Assembly. State senators approved it 32-0, although 11 Democrats decided not to vote and another six lawmakers were absent. Republican Gov. Pat McCrory signed the bill on March 25.

Lt. Gov. Forest said the city of Charlotte left lawmakers no choice but to act.

“This isn’t something the General Assembly brought up. The city council in Charlotte brought this up, against legal counsel’s advice and against the advice of a lot of folks. They went beyond their constitutional authority and tried to create a public accommodation law in the city of Charlotte,” Forest told WND and Radio America.

He continued, “That is expressly a responsibility of the state. The city of Charlotte and municipalities don’t have the legal authority, based on our constitution, to establish public accommodation law.”

In addition to overstepping its legal authority, Forest said the Charlotte council pursued a very troubling policy.

“The Charlotte ordinance said that the business community had to to comply with this ordinance,” Forest explained. “They said it was sex discrimination to have men’s room and women’s room labels on your doors.”

When state officials started hearing from sexual assault victims, the effort to reverse the Charlotte ordinance picked up far more steam.

The article further explains:

Forest said the ordinance only required the person to identify as a member of a particular gender, and to have completed or be in the process of gender reassignment.

He said, despite the protests, HB 2 does a few very simple things, starting with determining who can use which bathrooms.

“What HB 2 did was say that men have to use men’s rooms and women have to use women’s rooms in the state of North Carolina,” Forest said.

At the same time, he said people identifying as transgender benefit, too.

“What this bill did is it created accommodation for people that are transgender, for people that view their gender differently than other folks,” Forest said. “It also provides the opportunity for single-stall unisex bathrooms. Anywhere that you want to place them.”

Forest said, unlike Charlotte, the HB 2 only applies to government buildings and schools. Business owners are free to make their own decisions.

If you own a business in North Carolina, you are free to designate bathrooms in any way you see fit. The article notes that Lt. Gov. Forrest mentioned the possible NBA boycott of North Carolina because of the law. He stated that he found the possible boycott odd because the WNBA  does not allow men to play in their league or enter the locker rooms and the NBA does not open its league or its locker rooms to women.

Common sense needs to prevail here. Note that when the original ordinance was passed in Charlotte, state officials started hearing from sexual assault victims. That statement really tells you all you need to know. Our laws need to protect women and children.

Does This Qualify As A Conflict Of Interest?

Roy Cooper is the North Carolina Democratic Attorney General who is running for governor in November. However, it appears that some of his campaign donations are in direct conflict with his current job as Attorney General.

The Beaufort County Now posted the following graphic on Thursday:

RoyCooperThis might be something to pay attention to.

The Republican Ability To Form A Circular Firing Squad Is Present At All Levels Of The Party

This article is based on an article posted at The Charlotte Observer yesterday and an article posted at The Daily Haymaker today. Both articles have to do with the power struggle currently going on within the North Carolina Republican Party. The power struggle began last year when Hasan Harnett was elected to chair the North Carolina Republican Party. He was the choice of the grass roots, but not of the establishment. Since his election, the establishment has attempted to strip him of power and now they are attempting to unseat him.

In September, I reported on the efforts of the establishment Republicans to set up a separate fundraising entity–essentially a shadow party. The grass roots effort to fight back were stopped by the Central Committee postponing any negative consequences until they could gather the legislators who supported them to cast votes in support of the shadow party.

The Charlotte Observer reports:

Harnett has been under fire since the state party’s Central Committee voted Sunday to censure him. Its resolution of no confidence included a litany of eight offenses “deemed harmful to the North Carolina Republican Party.”

Among other things, they included a dispute over the cost of attending the state convention.

Now, less than a year after Harnett was elected the state party’s first African-American chairman with support from grass-roots activists, some party leaders are trying to oust him before the convention.

But Harnett plans to stay.

The Daily Haymaker reports:

The content of the text screenshots we received indicate that executive director Dallas Woodhouse is much more than an innocent bystander in the whole effort to fire party chairman Hasan Harnett:

…The legislators are WHO saved the necks of David Lewis and Dallas the last go-around.  Will our electeds once AGAIN ride to the rescue of cronyism, pettiness, and corruption?  We’ll see. 

As you read this stuff, remember that this organization is completely controlled by the McCrory for Governor campaign organization.  The governor COULD step in and calm this down IF he wanted to.  His silence speaks volumes.

It is time for the Republican Party Central Committee to listen to the people who generally vote Republican. These are the people who elected Hasan Harnett. I am sorry that the Central Committee’s little noses are out of joint because they do not control the chairmanship, but it is time for them to work with the elected leader. If they choose not to work with Hasan Harnett, many North Carolina Republicans will leave the party, and ultimately, the Republicans may lose the general election in November. The childish moves on the part of the Central Committee benefit no one.

Equal Rights Does Not Mean That You Have The Right To Deny Me My First Amendment Rights

Equal rights means equal rights. The First Amendment allows Americans the freedom to practice their religion. The implication is that Americans are allowed to live their lives according to their religious beliefs. That is their rights. As I have explained before, I do not care about gay marriage–marry anyone you want to. However, I do care about the violation of my First Amendment rights. What do I mean? If I am a Pastor who holds the Biblical view of marriage, or a baker who holds a Biblical view of marriage, or a florist who holds a Biblical view of marriage, I should not be forced to support your gay marriage. I don’t care if you get married, but I don’t have to be a part of that process. To me, that is what the law should be. Oddly enough, there are actually people who agree with me. (Not the ones who wrote the article I am about to refer to, but the ones who actually voted on the issue).

The Winston-Salem Journal reported today that the North Carolina House of Representatives has overridden Governor Pat McCrory‘s veto of a bill allowing employees who issue marriage licenses to refuse to complete paperwork for gay couples on religious grounds. In other words, the employees can exercise their First Amendment rights. The gay people can also get married–there will be someone there to do the paperwork. Everyone’s rights are respected.

The newspaper does not agree with my conclusion. The article states:

Gay rights groups and some Democrats said legal challenges were likely to come soon for the new law, the second of its kind nationwide. Utah passed one this year.

North Carolina‘s law took effect as the state House voted to override Republican Gov. Pat McCrory’s earlier veto. The Senate already had voted for the override. McCrory said though he believes marriage is between a man and a woman, no state employee should be able to break his or her government oath. His position puts him at odds with social conservatives aligned with his party.

Under the law, some register of deeds workers who assemble licenses and magistrates who solemnize civil marriages can decide to stop performing all marriages — for both straight and gay couples — if they hold a “sincerely held religious objection.” Employees with a religious objection must stop performing all marriage duties for at least six months.

This is not a perfect law–employees with a religious objection are being penalized for having that objection–that is not in keeping with their First Amendment rights.

The article goes on to list the inconvenience of the law going into effect. I wonder if the newspaper would be so quick to list the inconvenience if its First Amendment rights were taken away.

 

 

Cutting The Apron Strings

Unfortunately the federal government has developed apron strings that could hold up the George Washington Bridge. The federal government is always willing to fund things they want you to do (not mentioning that the money comes from the states to begin with) and often expects you pay back the loan or accept unfunded mandates as a result of the money given. The extension of unemployment benefits the federal government offered the states a while back was a classic example of this. States were encouraged to extend unemployment benefits for as much as two years. The federal government would pick up the tab. Unfortunately the money had to be paid back to the federal government. The way to do that was by increasing the unemployment taxes businesses pay. This, of course, cut down on the money businesses had to expand and hire people.

ABC11.com has the story of what has happened in the State of North Carolina:

At a news conference, McCrory thanked Republican leaders in the North Carolina House and Senate for coming up with reforms to help retire the debt.

“Let me give you a little history,” McCrory told a crowd of lawmakers and government higher-ups. “In February 2009, North Carolina started borrowing from the federal government to extend unemployment insurance benefits.”

The governor went on to sum up how the state found itself saddled with nearly $3 billion in debt and why paying it off matters. For starters, because each year the state didn’t pay off the debt, North Carolina businesses would end up paying incrementally more in taxes.

…McCrory said this year alone, with the debt paid off, North Carolina businesses would save $280 million in penalties.
Obviously there are those who are objecting to the cuts made in unemployment benefits and the length of time they can be collected. On July 1, 2013, extended unemployment benefits ended.
The chart below is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
 NCLaborStatsHeading
LaborStatisticsNorthCarolinaThere are two lessons here–first of all,there is no such thing as free money from the government and second of all, when you subsidize a behavior, it increases, when you take away the benefit, it decreases.
Congratulations to the Governor and Legislature of North Carolina.

Status Update On Common Core In North Carolina

Representative Larry Pittman is a member of the North Carolina General Assembly. This is his update on the status of Common Core in North Carolina:

Common Core…what really happened. Okay, most of you probably know that I am the one who started the fight against Common Core in the NC House by running a study bill. I actually wanted to go ahead and run a bill that would just get rid of Common Core, plain and simple; but not enough legislators knew enough about it to get on board with that. So I had to settle for a study bill, instead. Of course, since none of my bills were allowed to be heard in committee, they put forward a larger study bill which included establishing a study committee, instead. Michael Speciale and I were allowed to serve on that committee.
The study committee produced a very weak bill, which appeared to be about getting rid of Common Core, but which I felt actually left open the possibility of simply rebranding it. This bill was authored by Sen. Tillman, who had asked early on in the meetings of the committee whether we couldn’t just take the name Common Core out of our statutes and call it something else. I went ahead and voted to report it out of committee, but knew I would have to work to improve on the bill.
Michael Speciale, Bryan Holloway, and I were doing just fine making the bill stronger, when all of a sudden, Craig Horn, who had expressed support for Common Core early on, showed up at one of our meetings with a different version that removed some of the language I had written into the bill. So I submitted another version that added my language back into the bill. As I recall, this happened twice. In all, I submitted four versions of the bill before Craig agreed to leave my language in it.
Before we were through, Craig wrote something like 23 versions of the bill. The final version still had my language in it that would make sure that going back to Common Core and simply rebranding it was not an option. I never said or intended that if a way of doing something that was in Common Core happened to be a good idea we couldn’t use it; but I was urgent about making sure that if we did, we should reword it to avoid copyright violations. My main concern was that whatever we do would end a lot of the foolishness that is in Common Core. I was insistant upon not using assessment sources that were tied to Common Core. I also wanted to make the commission we were creating permanent, with the idea that it would be a watchdog to make sure DPI and the State Board of Education did not pull another fast one on us like Common Core, and that we never get ourselves entangled with further federal control of our education system.
Well, the result of all this work was HB 1061, which passed the House with a strong majority. When SB 812 came over from the Senate, we also got strong support in the House to remove the weak language of that bill and replace it with what was in HB 1061. This, too, passed the House with a strong majority. If we could have gotten the Senate to go along with us, I could assure you that we would be driving a stake through the heart of Common Core in North Carolina.
When the Senate failed to concur with the House version of SB 812, that caused the issue to be sent to a conference committee. As the one who started all of this, you might expect that I would be on that conference committee. However, I was not allowed to serve on it. Michael Speciale was on the committee, and I’m sure that he did his best to contend for what we had done. I appreciate him so much, and he should be commended for his efforts. However, he was outnumbered and outvoted.
The end result is a bill two pages shorter than HB 1061. The lack of those two pages is the result of the Senate insisting on removing everything I had put into it to make clear that continuing with Common Core is not an option. The bill as we finally passed it does repeal Common Core from our statutes, and has the potential to lead to the end of Common Core in our State. In the end, I had to vote to concur because I felt that if we didn’t pass something this year, it would be next to impossible to come back next year and start from scratch. At least with this bill, we do have a basis for coming back later to push for further reforms, if need be. While it does not call for rebranding Common Core, I fear it leaves that option open. So we must be watchful and ready to resist such an outcome.
Finally, considering what was removed from the bill, and considering the fact that Gov. McCrory, a strong advocate of Common Core, has already essentially said that he can sign it because it doesn’t change anything, I do not have a lot of confidence about what will happen. I got this thing started because I heard the cries of parents and children who have been victimized by Common Core. I heard from some teachers who sounded the alarm, also, and was told about many other teachers who were afraid to speak of their opposition to Common Core for fear of losing their jobs. If that is the case, something is really rotten about the whole affair. I fear that, in the end, the voice of wealthy special interests spoke louder than the voice of the people who suffer under the curse of Common Core. While good could come from what we finally passed, I believe the opponents of Common Core should stay on the alert. We haven’t necessarily won yet. There may be more to do.

Please do your homework on Common Core. If you are not a parent with children in school, talk to a parent who has helped their child with Common Core math homework. Aside from being an unconstitutional federal takeover of education, the Common Core includes data mining of children without proper security protection of the information. It also includes questions asked of the children regarding their parents’ religious beliefs and gun ownership. That information is none of the school or the government’s business.