Tag: parties

War Declared in North Carolina

Yeah, it’s my second post today… so sue me. Ha! Oh, yeah. This ain’t the Great Orange Satan, is it? That’s good, because I just got an email informing me that Greg Sargent says It’s War: SEIU Starting Third Party In North Carolina.

In a shot across the bow of Dems, the labor powerhouse SEIU is starting a new third party in North Carolina that hopes to field its own slate of candidates, part of an effort to make the Democratic Party more reliable on issues important to labor…

An outgrowth of SEIU’s vow to hold Democrats in the U.S. House accountable for voting against health insurance reform and labor positions in general, the new party has a bare bones website up now, as it begins collecting the 85,000 signatures it will need to gain a place on the November ballot. Unless all of those signatures are gathered in the next week, North Carolina First won’t be on anybody’s primary ballots.

SEIU is working with the State Employees Association of North Carolina on this effort, and has more than a hundred people on the ground now getting signatures. While there are a number of good potential candidates who might be persuaded to run NCF against turncoats such as Heath Shuler, Mike McIntyre and Larry Kissell, there are many more who would stand for state and county office on this ticket.

While it’s being played as a protest action against the Powers That Be, I believe this country is in desperate need of a real new political party to represent the half of American citizens who now have no representation since the Democrats took over Republican territory (and Republicans jumped like lemmings over the wacko cliff), I cannot think of anybody better to field one than labor.

So. It can’t be the “North Carolina First” party for very long, but it it takes off, we here in North Carolina will be happy to tell our great-grandchildren that it started here. I will be checking further into this story and hope to have some in-depth, on-the-scene info very soon through some contacts in Raleigh. Updates sure to come!

Lessons of the Woodchuck

‘Round here the locals are known as “woodchucks” by some downstate.  It is an apt description as the majority of us are scruffy and prefer the woods to town.  So I thought it would be appropriate to share some life lessons I’ve learned by attending various woodchuck parties with you all in case you ever have the opportunity to go to one.

1. “We have a stage and everything” – this means someone laid down a piece of plywood on some tires.

2. “Weekend Festival” – usually means swatting flies in the hot sun or trying to stay dry under a tarp for several hours at a clip.

3. Showing up early means being recruited into the beer runs and setting up the “stage”.

4. Showing up late means having to park at the bottom of the hill and hiking up the treacherous 4WD road.

5. Bringing a propane stove and setting up coffee in the morning will make you everyone’s best friend for the day.

(10 more below the fold..can ya stand it?!)