- "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." Martin Luther King, Jr.
"The reality is not that I lack respect for the law; it’s that I have greater respect for justice. Where there is a conflict between the law and the higher moral code that we all share, my loyalty is to that higher moral code."
Tim DeChristopher
“This is what you shall do; love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.”
Walt Whitman
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Tag Archives: NC Politics
We don’t have leaders in North Carolina, we have trained monkeys
January 23, 2013 – Greg Hall, reporter for The Courier-Journal, sits down for a one on one interview with Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer to talk about Comer’s bill to legalize industrial hemp farming. Comer distills into 24 minutes everything that you need to know about passing a hemp farming bill and the reasons why. North Carolina, like Kentucky, is a big agriculture state – meaning, we make our living from farming or processing farm products, or at least we used to. We … Continue reading
I Think I Must Be Losing My Mind
Many years ago, when I was so much older than I am today, and more heavily medicated too, I toyed briefly with the idea of running for political office. At the time I was in my right-wing, rifle-toting, militia mustering, freak of nature stage of development. I was way ahead of the times and even had a Gadsden flag license plate on the front of my car. How I got from there to here is a long, sinuous story for another … Continue reading
Dear Koch Brothers, Mind Your Own Damn Business
Here’s an example, all too close to home, of why we must to demand changes to corporate charter laws immediately. The Koch brothers, major funders of the Tea Party and hardcore libertarian group Americans for Prosperity, own a huge corporate enterprise which not only keeps them extremely wealthy, but under current laws affords them enormous power and influence all across the nation. Recently that influence was felt in a local school board election in my state. What right does anyone … Continue reading
A Long Rambling Rant About Several Related Issues
I recently contacted my state legislator regarding NC House Bill 422, a bill “to prohibit the department of transportation from accepting federal funds for a high-speed rail project without explicit authorization from the General Assembly.” I am opposed to this bill. My Republican legislator disagrees. Here’s the verbatim text of our exchange, copied from emails. Mar 29, 2011 Representative Pat Hurley Legislative Office Building, Room 532300 North Salisbury Street, Raleigh, NC 27603 Dear Representative Hurley, I am writing you today … Continue reading
Sick and tired of being sick and tired.
I’ve been away from my post here on the soapbox for a while now. It’s not that I’ve been too busy, though I have had a lot on the plate recently, and it’s had nothing to do with a lack of interest; I’ve wanted to post quite often. The problem seems to be that every time I sit down at my computer all I find is bad news, followed by more bad news, exacerbated by even more bad news, and … Continue reading →