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Guest Columns
Guest Columns
BP
Disaster Reveals Differences in Political Philosophy
By Marjory Holder
Sitting up here in our mountains, waiting
for the tomatoes and squash to ripen, it’s easy to forget that a few hours
south of us, the world has caved in on working Americans along the GulfCoast
-- again.
Most of us have seen the photos -- globs
of oil floating in the Gulf, aerial shots of huge oil slicks, sickening brown
fingers sliding across a blue sea, ineffective oil booms lying in fouled
marshes, shrimping and fishing boats moored at docks while the families who
work on them worry about how to feed their children when they can’t go out and
earn a living.
And this is a direct result of 30 years of
de-regulation by the politicians in Washington.
Is it just me, or does it seem to everyone else that folks in Washington are crazy?
This country (heck, the whole planet) has serious problems, and yet Washington seems to be
largely deadlocked in bickering and partisan stalling tactics. I feel as if I’m
on the Titanic and the people in Congress are just rearranging the deck
chairs.
Take the deficit. Have you ever seen anything crazier? I know it’s a problem
balancing the books in the current economy ... I’m having a problem balancing
mine, after all, and from what I hear, I’m not alone. But the people we elected
and sent to Raleigh are managing to keep North Carolina’s budget
balanced. We may not like some of the belt-tightening, but North Carolina has a
balanced budget, we still receive state services, and this state is one of the
few in the country that has kept its excellent bond rating -- which
means if we have to borrow money to build roads or schools, we can do it at a
low interest rate, which saves money in the long run.
You wouldn’t know it
from all the April 15th protests, but most working Americans paid
lower taxes this year than ever. Thank goodness.
After nearly a
decade of no real wage growth, coupled with skyrocketing healthcare and
educational costs, most of us have been feeling pinched in the wallet ever
since the end of the economic growth of the Clinton years. And the tax cuts
that came during the recent Bush administration didn’t affect most of us ... unless
we happened to bemillionaires.
Read the latest in the Watauga County political BLOG maintained by J.W. Williamson.
WataugaDems News
News
Billy Kennedy, the gentleman farmer
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
By Keith Barber, in "Yes Weekly":
If you close your eyes, Billy
Kennedy could easily be confused with Jefferson Smith, the character
played by Jimmy Stewart in Frank Capra’s 1939 classic film, “Mr. Smith
Goes to Washington.”
In the movie, the naive and idealistic
Smith is appointed to the US Senate by a governor that kowtows to the
state’s top political boss. Smith runs into political corruption when
he tries to advance a bill to create a national boys camp, and becomes
discouraged. One of the most famous scenes in the film portrays Smith’s
marathon filibuster on the Senate floor. Jimmy Stewart’s performance is
the stuff of Hollywood legend, but his profound words are what stay
with us forever. more...
Seth
Chapman Will Keynote Watauga Democratic Convention
April 13, 2010
Seth Chapman, the
man known across Western North Carolina as the
best Democratic stump speaker “in the populist tradition,” will present the
keynote address at the Watauga County Democrats’ annual convention on Saturday,
April 17, in the main courtroom of the County Courthouse. more...
Democrats
Announce Annual Precinct Meetings
Feb. 24, 2010
The annual precinct
meetings of the Watauga County Democratic Party will be held at various
locations throughout the county during the first two weeks of March. A complete
listing follows, with contact information for precinct chairs. All active
Democrats are encouraged to participate.
Faisuly Scheurer leads an incredibly busy life. She works at the
Blowing Rock Gallery of Homes and Land, she is full-time mother of two
energetic young daughters, and she is a published freelance writer and
photographer.
Once a month, however, she takes some time to do something for herself.
She volunteers.
Scheurer
is the organizer for the Watauga County Democrats group that is in
charge for feeding the homeless and hungry at the Hospitality House on
every first Tuesday of the month.
