This dispatch comes to you from the city of New Orleans, where my wife and I have been visitors the last few days. I love New Orleans but it scares me too. It’s a city dripping with money on one block and reeking with poverty the next. Great jazz and blues musicians play in bars […]
Bob Geary
Posted inNews
N.C. education chief Bill Cobey is on the right track—but his fellow Republicans are wrong
I find myself in an awkward position defending our public schools against the depredations of right-wing Republicans. I distinctly remember, as a restless public high school student years ago, outlining my new and improved method of teaching American history without boring everybody to deatha method that called for casting aside the textbook, with its maddening […]
Posted inNews
More on Randy Voller: Raleigh’s Nina Szlosberg-Landis, 1st vice chair, resigns in protest
While Randy Voller was elected chairman of the state Democratic Party in February by a narrow margin — just 11 votes out of some 600 — the newly elected first vice chair, Nina Szlosberg-Landis of Raleigh, won by a landslide. The combination of Voller, the grassroots guy, and Szlosberg-Landis, who combines big-time fundraising experience with […]
Posted inNews
Who’s the moron? Sen. Thom Goolsby on the protests he calls “Moron Mondays”
He’s keen to start executing people again in NC, and he sneers at the concept of racial justice. In fact, sneering at black people seems like it’s a specialty of state Sen. Thom Goolsby: Sen. Thom Goolsby, R-New Hanover, on “Moral Mondays.” He calls them “Moron Mondays.” Speaks — reeks — for itself: ncspin.com/2013/06/10/mor…— Bob […]
Posted inNews
Dissent in the ranks over N.C. Democratic Party Chairman Randy Voller
When Randy Voller, the embattled state Democratic Party chairman, called to order a meeting of the party’s executive council Sunday in Greensboro, he turned to Charles Johnson for a point of personal privilege. Johnson, 91, certainly qualifies as a veteran Democratic leader. He has been a delegate to the last seven Democratic national conventions. Johnson’s […]
Posted inNews
Dix Park: the daytime drama, starring Art Pope as the negotiator
In the continuing daytime drama that is Dix Park, last week’s episode featured Gov. Pat McCrory in a cameo appearance at the Capitol with his “good friend,” Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane. The two were all smiles as McCrory announced a “further partnership” regarding the 325-acre Dix Hill property, one that beginsstrangelywith the state ignoring Raleigh’s […]
Posted inNews
Scenes from Moral Monday at the General Assembly: June 3 should be the biggest yet
The General Assembly isn’t in session on Memorial Day — next Monday — so no “Moral Monday” protest is planned. The next one, on Monday, June 3, is shaping up as the biggest yet. A “Mega-Moral Monday,” if you will. As the poisonous policies of the Republican legislature are thrown at us, people are rising […]
Posted inNews
[Kicking can / Update X 2] House not ready to renege on Dix Park lease just yet
[Update x 2, 4 p.m. Wednesday] The House Judiciary Committee approved a substitute bill for Senate Bill 334 and sent it to the House floor. Does it renege on the state’s lease with Raleigh? No and yes. It says the lease is invalid, but takes no action to dissolve it for a year. Does it […]
Posted inNews
Public Schools First NC is sounding the alarm
While Moral Monday protests are growing at the General Assembly, a small band of progressive leaders is moving around the state on another important mission. Public Schools First NC is a grassroots organization sounding the alarm about Republican policies that threaten to destroy public education. From Asheville to Wilmington, Public Schools First volunteers are literally […]
Posted inNews
Gubernatorial candidate James Protzman could rouse the Democrats
A funny thing happened after James Protzman declared he will run for governor in the 2016 election. Protzman is a Naval Academy graduate, a successful businessman and a former Chapel Hill Town Council member. He co-founded and is the driving force behind BlueNC, for eight years the state’s must-read progressive blog. On April 2, he […]