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Monday, April 20, 2009
First, We'll Count the Chaste, and Then We'll Count the Bodies
In the debate in the N.C. General Assembly on whether parents of high school kids should get the option of putting Sally & Joe into "comprehensive sex ed" classes or into "abstinence only" classes or into study hall, where there'll be no info whatsoever about anything (the Healthy Youth Act, H88, would establish that parental option), some Republican members couldn't tolerate the thought of free choice:
While you absorb the political outlook that would sacrifice young lives for the sake of theology, Rep. Mark Hilton (R-Catawba) "argued the only people who want comprehensive sex ed are liberal fringe groups."
This is part of the reason the Republican Party is so robust and successful right now.
Guilford Republican John Blust accused his fellow House members of living "on Fantasy Island…with Tattoo and Da Plane," for thinking more information would lead to less sexual activity. But supporters say the educational change is less focused on curbing teens' sexual activity (which they're obviously engaging in, anyway) than on making sure they don't get pregnant or ill as a result of it. (Via Laura Leslie at Isaac Hunter's Tavern)
While you absorb the political outlook that would sacrifice young lives for the sake of theology, Rep. Mark Hilton (R-Catawba) "argued the only people who want comprehensive sex ed are liberal fringe groups."
This is part of the reason the Republican Party is so robust and successful right now.
Labels: Healty Youth Act, John Blust, Laura Leslie, Mark Hilton, Republican "brand"
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Tarleton Named To Head New Water Resources Committee
Speaker of the NC House Joe Hackney has named Rep. Cullie Tarleton of Watauga to head a new committee that is a direct result of last summer's major drought. Tarleton will head a new panel on "Water Resources and Infrastructure," which will take perhaps the first comprehensive statewide look at where the water will come from for future long-term economic development.Radio Girl Laura Leslie has an audio interview with Tarleton about the new assignment posted on Isaac Hunter's Tavern here (scroll down).
Labels: Cullie Tarleton, Laura Leslie, water resources
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Moral Equivalency, NC GOP-Style
Radio Girl Laura Leslie says that her reporting on the public hatefulness in Republican ranks (a reporter battered at a Sarah Palin rally in Elon, 30 tires slashed at an Obama rally in Fayetteville, a dead bear cub decorated with Obama signs and dumped off at Western Carolina University) has prompted an e-mail to her from Brent Woodcox, spokesman for the NC GOP, making the old "they do it too" argument as a way of excusing the nasty elements in his own party:
Yeah, Mr. Woodcox, tell it to Robin Hayes, Michelle Bachmann, Nancy Pfotenhauer. Hell tell it to your vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Tell it to your standard-bearer John McCain, who defends his national robo-calling ("Obama is friends with terrorists") as a truthful and honorable thing to do. They're calling all of us who don't agree with the McCain/Palin ticket "anti-American," "socialist" (which we know really means "commie"), not "real Americans."
Radio Girl rightly says that name-calling on the Democratic side is hardly a moral equivalent to personal assault, property damage, and dead animals.
"It is a point worth making that idiocy is not solely characteristic of any one party. We all share the blame for the current political environment and we all share the responsibility of moving to a higher road."
Yeah, Mr. Woodcox, tell it to Robin Hayes, Michelle Bachmann, Nancy Pfotenhauer. Hell tell it to your vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Tell it to your standard-bearer John McCain, who defends his national robo-calling ("Obama is friends with terrorists") as a truthful and honorable thing to do. They're calling all of us who don't agree with the McCain/Palin ticket "anti-American," "socialist" (which we know really means "commie"), not "real Americans."
Radio Girl rightly says that name-calling on the Democratic side is hardly a moral equivalent to personal assault, property damage, and dead animals.
Labels: Brent Woodcox, Laura Leslie, racism
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Debates at the Beach
Saturday’s opening head-to-head debate between incumbent Sen. Liddy Dole and challenger Kay Hagan during the NC Bar Association's annual meeting at Atlantic Beach produced this welcome description of Hagan, from the indispensible Laura Leslie: "Hagan ... came across as down-to-earth, confident, smart, and most of all scrappy, which she'll need to be to pull this off. She came out swinging and never let up."
We like scrappy.
Dole, on the other hand, in "TV makeup," was "distinctly grande-dame -- dignified, confident, witty, and impeccably prepared."
Leslie scored it a draw.
Gov. candidate Bev Perdue didn't do as well in her debate with Pat McCrory, with the crowd of lawyers seeming to favor McCrory (though some apparently thought McCrory was a bit shallow on detail).
We like scrappy.
Dole, on the other hand, in "TV makeup," was "distinctly grande-dame -- dignified, confident, witty, and impeccably prepared."
Leslie scored it a draw.
Gov. candidate Bev Perdue didn't do as well in her debate with Pat McCrory, with the crowd of lawyers seeming to favor McCrory (though some apparently thought McCrory was a bit shallow on detail).
Labels: Beverly Perdue, Elizabeth Dole, Kay Hagan, Laura Leslie, Pat McCrory
