THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JULY 2, 2009
Statement by the President on Health Care Reform Bill Released by Senate HELP Committee TodayRead more
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In light of at least three full page ads this week in the N&O by NC Big Pharma companies opposing any public option in health care, along with today’s news about the dismal job loss report,( which, of course, means more people losing medical insurance), it is truly a ray [...]
Cross-posted from Facing South with author Sue Sturgis's permission
There was a cryptic moment in the emotional press conference South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford held last week to apologize for committing adultery.
"C Street," Sanford said, is where men face "hard questions."
Later, in response to a question from [...]
Alright! We made the top five on a list. Woohoo! South Carolina has the fifth highest percentage of fat asses throughout the land with more than 30% of our state’s residence breaking the bathroom scale. That fact didn’t surprise me at all. I only have to walk outside to [...]
Use this thread to keep the conversation going over this welcome long weekend. For those in need of some patriotic festivities, please join us on Saturday from 4 to 7 in Chapel Hill. We'll have barbecue, tea and lemonade, and are asking folks to bring a side dish or' [...]
The Democrats want your help in promoting President Barack Obama's agenda.
Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee, will be visiting Durham and Asheville next week as part of a "listening tour" in North Carolina. The stated purpose is for people attending "to offer [...]
Nude is natural, you know. Give the guy a break. Sometimes you just have to let it all hang out.
After a male passenger removed his clothes mid-flight, a US Airways flight from Charlotte to Los Angeles was diverted to Albuquerque, N.M.
Dan Jiron, a spokesman for the Albuquerque airport, says 50-year-old [...]
"Today, Governor Bev Perdue signed into law the Gender Justice Act. This new act will allow men on death row to challenge the judicial system of North Carolina on the basis of Sexism. Men that have been sentenced to capital punishment will be able to use data and other [...]
A sight I often wondered would ever happen is apparently happening.
On the House Calendar for Monday night, the chamber is schedule to hear debate on HB 1268 which authorizes a referendum on amending the NC Constitution to protect private property owners from having their property taken from them [...]
Republican legislative leaders criticized Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue today for earlier saying she didn't care which legislative tax plan was used to balance the budget.
The GOP grief may have been a factor in Perdue's efforts today to clarify her comments.
Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger, of [...]
Legislators consumed with gloomy financial news took a few moments to recognize the North Carolina pop singer from the '60s famous for "Good Morning Starshine."
Lawmakers honored William Oliver Swofford, known as Oliver and namesake of the first annual "Oliverfest" in his native Wilkes County two weeks ago. Swofford's [...]
In his lastest series of commentaries on budget, Chris Fitzsimon simplifies the debate taking place between the House and Senate members into two fundamental approaches. “The Crux of the debate” looks at the differences between those who want to reform the tax system and those who want to build [...]
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan is going to celebrate the Fourth of July at Camp Lejeune.
Hagan, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, will join Marines at the base for holiday festivities Saturday evening.
A release from Hagan's office notes that her father-in-law is a retired two-star [...]
WCNC’s Tony Burbeck is back with more on the iffy status of EpiCenter and the contractors who built it.
Not surprisingly, Afshin Ghazi blames the general contractor — whom he owes $1.8m. — for failing to pay the subs who have liens on the property. It will be very interesting [...]
Yesterday, in a first for the 5,000 workers at the Smithfield Foods pork processing plant, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and the employees or the Smithfield plant ratified a contract with Smithfield Foods granting the better benefits, pay increases and working conditions.
The Press Release from UFCW:
WORKERS AT WORLD'S' [...]
Gov. Beverly Perdue does have preferences about what kinds of taxes are raised to balance the state budget.
Perdue's press secretary, Chrissy Pearson, asked today to clarify Perdue's comments from Wednesday when she told a gaggle of reporters that she wanted the legislature to promptly finish [...]
Online sellers likely will be able to continue scalping concert and sporting event tickets legally again, thanks to a bill the Senate passed Thursday.
The bill, which already passed the House, now goes to Gov. Beverly Perdue. It essentially resuscitates a law passed last year by removing a June [...]
The Jacksonville Daily News has a great editorial today on the state legislature’s proposed expansion of the retail sales tax to include digital downloads. A key point:
Supporters of collecting taxes on such Internet sales say that it’s a matter of tax fairness. If a North Carolina customer purchases an [...]
As reported in Under the Dome:
Online retailer Overstock.com has followed Amazon.com's decision to cut off a commission program to North Carolina-based Web sites.
The move would allow the companies to avoid having to collect sales tax on sales to customers in the state. Under the commission [...]
As some of you may know, I've been a frequent visitor and fan of the Under the Dome blog at the N&O since its inception. Indeed, I doubt there is another person who has done more to promote their site with links and commentary than I have. In recent months,' [...]
This post was based on a Wilmington Star-News article by Joe Johnson:
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As suspected, the Congestion Relief bill was pulled from consideration by the Senate Finance Committee yesterday. It is unlikely that the bill will be considered before the budget is finalized.
The major sticking point apparently continues to be the House bill’s authorization of local option quarter cent [...]
The following facts come from the Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services:
Sex trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery in which a commercial sex act is induced by
Senate minority leader Phil Berger had a letter published in the Wall Street Journal in which he blasted proposals to levy sales tax on Internet sales.
The Eden Republican said Amazon.com's decision to end a commission program for referrals to its online products proves [...]
I’ll be fair — I’ve interviewed Housing Authority of Winston-Salem executive director Larry Woods and he seemed very sincere about fixing the criminal problems left behind by previous director Reid Lawrence and board chairman Ernie Pitt.
And it’s also not certain who’s responsible for this latest screw-up:
Woods said [...]
The interventionist federal policies this country is being forced to endure are proven ineffective yet again. From the Washington Post, on the unemployment rate, which is now at a 26-year high.
Employers kept slashing jobs at a furious pace in June as the unemployment rate edged ever closer to [...]
Forsyth County GOP chair Nathan Tabor says two local Republicans are “95 percent of the way” toward challenging Allen Joines in the upcoming mayor’s race. It’s going to cost some money, though, as Joines’ campaign already has a nice stash. But everyone knows Republicans have all the money, right?
Note, [...]
Calling his trial an "abomination," former state Sen. Hugh Webster took the stand Wednesday in Caswell County Superior Court and denied the allegations that he violated the trust of his elderly aunt and embezzled $12,000 from her.
Webster, 65, contends the check from his 83-year-old aunt [...]
They’re pumping their chests over at the North Carolina Education Lottery. While most of state’s economy is mired in a prolonged recession, the Lottery has exceeded projections for the second year in a row. On Thursday, the lottery transferred $411 million to the public schools to be used for [...]
Cal Thomas writes today about Obama’s “Honduras predicament” — the predicament being Obama immediately meddled in what was decidedly not a “coup,” a meddling that had consequences for Hondureños, and he did so against the stark backdrop of his ballyhooed, world-renowned anti-meddling stance concerning the popular uprising in [...]
Online retailer Overstock.com has followed Amazon.com's decision to cut off a commission program to North Carolina-based Web sites.
The move would allow the companies to avoid having to collect sales tax on sales to customers in the state. Under the commission programs, the .coms pay a percentage [...]
Yesterday marked the first day of the fiscal year for most states. While North Carolina is among the states that have not yet passed a budget, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that 12 states with adopted budgets are already out of balance. The total deficit for those [...]
Shocking news on Politico this morning, the Washington Post is offering lobbyists the chance to sponsor discussions at publisher Katharine Weymouth’s house. Attendees would allegedly include top Obama administration playas and the top of the WaPo food chain. Doesn’t that beat all? Not quite. The news was broken by [...]
Small business owner or worker? Have an opinion on health care reform? The NC Health Access Coalition wants to hear your thoughts. We’ll even provide dinner. Just RSVP - see below:
Greensboro Small Business Roundtable Flyer
Share and Enjoy:I was a little surprised to the ultra-liberal Yes!Weekly quote Michael Sanera from the “conservative” John Locke Foundation in its big cover story on Winston-Salem’s taxpayer-funded downtown baseball stadium:
“At the very beginning, there are national and international studies that show these projects are grossly underestimated and then you [...]
Small business owner or worker? Have an opinion on health care reform? The NC Health Access Coalition wants to hear your thoughts. We’ll even provide dinner. Just RSVP - see below:
Pittsboro Small Business Roundtable Flyer
Share and Enjoy:Is that not exactly what Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones is saying here?
Jones said he accepts responsibility for ongoing mismanagement and fraud at the county’s sprawling DSS operation, yet he wants a special meeting with commissioners to address the matter lest the DSS issue “fester between now and my [...]
On July 20 the Prometheus Radio Project will host a National Call-In Day!
WE WANT YOU! to call up your congressional representative and tell him/her to cosponsor the Local Community Radio Act!
Check out the event for more info, and let us know you will attend! :
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=104733602166&ref=mf
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More brilliant video commentary from the folks at Reason TV. This time, they take aim at both Left and Right about the willingness of both sides of the spectrum to slice and dice the Bill of Rights.
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Is this good news or bad news? Joe the Plumber has decided not to run for office. For now. Think Progress has the details from an interview Joe gave recently to World Net Daily.
The fact that he gave an interview to World Net Daily [...]
My husband and I purchased the old Marrow-Pitt building at 305 N. Main Street in August 4 years ago. It looked pretty bad when we bought it, but the price was right, the location great and we only needed a warehouse for our internet-based business so looks didn't much matter' [...]
After trying for weeks to fix a state budget gone out of control, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers stood frozen in conflict Wednesday with the state at the brink of a meltdown.
A day after the state Senate failed in a late-night bid to close [...]
Betsy Muse at BlueNC is 
