Tar Heel Worker Campaign

Progress NC is reporting that a behind closed door deal concerning a plan to cut a deal on reforming NC Unemployment Insurance System is underway in the NCGA. The deal is being worked out between legislators and Chamber of Commerce with out any input form Worker Advocates (which mean the employee will get the short end of the stick). Length of time and amount of unemployment in on the chopping block.

If you feel that this discussion belongs in the OPEN Forum Please sign the Petition at Tarheelworkers.org, (see below for links)

Petition | I am a Tar Heel Worker Campaign

tarheelworkers.org

11.19.2012 Yesterday, the Associated Press wrote that North Carolina policymakers are nearing a deal on reforming the unemployment insurance system that will likely include cuts to the amount of benefits and

Yes those wonder jokers that are elected by us want jobless folks to pay back the UI debt that they cause by years of underfunding by employers.. Do you think this is fair..

I’m all for reform, but these talks need to be held in a Open Public Forum, not behind closed doors..

Stop by their Facebook page for more info, too.

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Palin hits the books, and come up with this racist tweet..

I still have to wonder if it was Palin are some poor intern work for her sorry butt..

Over at her Facebook page, they are fast blocking those who don’t agree with statements..

Palin comments about recently release emails.

We now know that the State Department sent an email to the White House, the Pentagon, the FBI and others in the intelligence community about this Islamist group claiming responsibility. And yet for days afterwards the White House and State Department led everyone to believe that the attack was the result of a spontaneous protest over an obscure YouTube video that had been uploaded months prior. Anywhere from 300 to 400 people from the administration and our intelligence community would have seen that email. Why the lies? Why the cover up? Why the dissembling about the cause of the murder of our ambassador on the anniversary of the worst terrorist attacks on American soil? We deserve answers to this. President Obama’s shuck and jive shtick with these Benghazi lies must end.

this is from a commenter on this above story,

Palin is a Queen of "shuck and Jive"..She bailed out of her responsibility as a Governor..She is a Honky tonk Queen..

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FBI might shutdown the Internet on March 8!

via  Anonymous North Carolina via facebook notes

Millions of computer users across the world could be blocked off from the Internet as early as March 8 if the FBI follows through with plans to yank a series of servers originally installed to combat corruption.

Last year, authorities in Estonia apprehended six men believed responsible for creating a malicious computer script called the DNSChanger Trojan. Once set loose on the Web, the worm corrupted computers in upwards of 100 countries, including an estimated 500,000 in America alone.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation later stepped up by replacing the rogue Trojan with servers of their own in an attempt to remediate the damage, but the fix was only temporary. Now the FBI is expected to end use of those replacement servers as early as next month and, at that point, the Internet for millions could essentially be over.

When functioning as its creators intended, the DNSChanger Trojan infected computers and redirected users hoping to surf to certain websites to malicious ones. Traditionally, DNS, or Domain Name System, servers translate alphabetical, traditional website URLs to their actual, numeric counterpart in order to guide users across the World Wide Web. Once infected by the DNSChanger Trojan, however, websites entered into Internet browsers were hijacked to malicious servers and, in turn, directed the user to an unintended, fraudulent site.

In coordination with the arrests in Estonia, the FBI shut down the malicious DNSChanger botnet network, and, additionally, replaced them with surrogate servers to correct the problem. Those servers, however, were installed "just long enough for companies and home users to remove DNSChanger malware from their machines," according to the court order that established them. That deadline is March 8, and those surrogate servers are expected to be retired then. At that point, computers still infected with the Trojan will be essentially unable to navigate the Internet.

Who, exactly, will be affected? Security company IID (Internet Identity) believes that half of all Fortune 500 companies and more than two dozen major government entities in the US are still currently infected with the worm as of early 2012. Unless they take the proper steps to eradicate the Trojan from their systems, millions of users worldwide will be left hog-tied, helplessly attempting to navigate to nonexistent servers and, in effect, without the Web.

“At this rate, a lot of users are going to see their Internet break on March 8,” Rod Rasmussen, president and chief technology officer at Internet Identity, cautions Krebs On Security.

Currently, both the computer industry and law enforcement are working together through a coalition they’ve established called the DNSChanger Working Group. That group has been tasked with examining the options in phasing out the surrogate servers set up by the feds, but unless an alternative plan is agreed on, a great port of the Web will go dark next month.

“I’m guessing a lot more people would care at that point,” Rasmussen adds. While infected users are cautioned to correct the problem now, millions internationally are still believed to be infected. “It certainly would be an interesting social experiment if these systems just got cut off,” he adds.

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Join Lesbian Vet To Demand Dallas VA Hospital Fire Homophobic Nurse

VIA: Pam Spaulding FB Notes,

As of Veterans Day 2011, more than 10,000 people have joined a growing campaign on Change.org demanding Dallas VA Medical Center fire nurse who allegedly subjected honorably discharged lesbian Marine veteran to anti-gay tirade.

DALLAS, TX – More than 10,000 people have joined a popular campaign on Change.org supporting a lesbian veteran’s demand that the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center investigate and fire a nurse who allegedly subjected the veteran to a homophobic rant about her sexual orientation. 

According to a report in the Dallas Voice, former Marine Lance Corporal Esther Garatie, 28, went to the Dallas VA Medical Center on October 12 to “seek treatment for severe depression and possible post-traumatic stress disorder — including thoughts of suicide.” Garatie, who was wounded and honorably discharged from the Marines, claims that nurse practitioner Lincy Pandithurai told her the reason she was depressed and contemplating suicide was because she is a lesbian. 

“She sat down and looked at me, and her first question was, ‘Are you a lesbian?’” Garatie wrote in a personal statement written one day after the incident and published by the Voice. “Her second question to me was, ‘Have you asked God into your heart? Have you been saved by Jesus Christ?’”

“This is when I realized that I was no longer a United States veteran in her eyes,” Garatie continued. “I was just a homosexual.”

Within hours of the hospital visit Esther’s friend Jessica Gerson launched a campaign and recruited hundreds of supporters on Change.org, the world’s fastest growing platform for social change. As of Veterans Day, more than 12,000 people have now signed the online petition campaign.

“I can’t imagine Esther’s feeling very appreciated this Veterans Day,” said Gerson. “Esther was honorably discharged from the military for an injury she incurred while serving her country. How dare Nurse Pandithurai attack her with such bigotry and intolerance? She should be fired from the Dallas VA Medical Center and have her license revoked by the Texas Board of Nursing.”

Garatie has filed official complaints with the VA Medical Center and the Texas Board of Nursing against the nurse practitioner. Monica Smith, a spokeswoman for the VA Medical Center, confirmed to Change.org in an email that the Dallas VA is currently reviewing the complaint and will complete its investigation within the next few weeks. 

“We started a fact-finding review when this allegation was first brought to our attention,” said Smith. “To get a more in-depth look at the allegation, VA North Texas is now conducting an administrative investigation board review and expects to have that completed by the end of November.”

Live signature totals from Jessica Gerson’s campaign:

http://www.change.org/petitions/dallas-va-medical-center-fire-homophobic-nurse-for-harassing-lesbian-marine-veteran 

Dallas Voice coverage:

http://www.dallasvoice.com/va-nurse-accused-anti-gay-tirade-1093109.html 

Statement by Esther Garatie, published by the Dallas Voice:

http://www.dallasvoice.com/esther-garaties-statement-1093071.html 

Journalists interested in contacting the Dallas VA Medical Center or Texas Nursing Board public relations staff should try:

Monica A. Smith, Public Affairs Office, Dallas VA Medical Center

monicaa.smith@va.org

(214) 857-1158

Bruce Holter, Spokesperson, Texas Board of Nursing

bruce.holter@bon.texas.gov

(512) 305-6842

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Minority Leader Joe Hackney statement on job losses in the University of North Carolina system

The damage from this Republican-led General Assembly and its destructive budget plan becomes clearer every day. Today, we learn that our university system now has 4,500 fewer employees than it did a year ago, continuing to erode the quality of education for our young people. North Carolina once distinguished itself from other states with its commitment to our university system. That distinction is threatened under Republican leadership. Ensuring North Carolina has a world-class university system is the key to giving future generations the tools needed to compete in a global economy. Rather than protecting our children and grandchildren's futures, however, Republicans are turning back the clock on education and progress in North Carolina.

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Stone joins Tillis & Berger's call for court clarification on pre-K decision

Phil Berger

President Pro Tempore

North Carolina Senate

Thom Tillis

Speaker of the House

North Carolina House of Representatives

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 15, 2011

GA leaders call for court clarification on pre-K decision

Raleigh, N.C. – To protect taxpayers and the integrity of North Carolina’s pre-kindergarten program, Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger and House Speaker Thom Tillis are requesting clarification from Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning regarding his recent order on pre-kindergarten.

Leaders of the General Assembly believe Manning shares their intent to maximize the number of at-risk children in the state’s pre-kindergarten program. The state budget, which took effect July 1, ensures 80 percent of the slots in the program are available to children facing financial hardship – the same as every state budget since 2004.

For weeks, General Assembly leaders have urged Gov. Beverly Perdue to seek clarification from the courts. She did not. But Perdue mandated the state create a massive, multi-million-dollar entitlement anyway – a blatantly unconstitutional move that would bust state and local budgets. Perdue and the executive and judiciary branches have no constitutional authority to appropriate taxpayer money without the General Assembly’s approval, according to Article V Section VII of the North Carolina Constitution.

“The best way to protect North Carolina’s children and their future is to keep our budget balanced, protect our AAA credit rating, and resist the urge to recklessly spend money we don’t have,” said Berger (R-Rockingham). “We’re doing what Gov. Perdue should have done weeks ago. But rather than govern responsibly, Perdue chose to pick another political fight in a desperate attempt to boost her dismal poll numbers. Our children, and all North Carolinians, need leaders willing to protect our state’s fragile economy – not career politicians who use kids as pawns to win the next election.”

Perdue and state agencies insist Manning’s July 18 decision mandated a new pre-kindergarten/ daycare entitlement to every at-risk 4-year-old in the state – a position clearly contradicted by the North Carolina Supreme Court in Hoke County Board of Education v. State of North Carolina (i.e. Leandro II). A motion asking the court to clarify the order was scheduled to be filed Monday evening.

“This is an effort to gain clarification from the Court,” said Tillis (R-Mecklenburg). “The initial ruling was unclear at key points, and unfortunately, it appears that the governor has taken advantage of the lack of clarity to try to create a constitutional problem.  Our budget serves pre-K students in the same way that they have been served in the past.  The majority in the General Assembly has no higher priority than providing services to pre-K students.  However, we simply cannot afford an expanded entitlement program that the governor appears intent on creating.”

State attorneys representing the state in Manning’s Leandro hearing believe seeking a clarification creates a conflict of interest between the legislative and executive branches. With Wednesday’s deadline to appeal, the General Assembly was forced to retain private counsel with Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, LLP, of Raleigh.

The Attorney General’s office has assured members of the General Assembly that it will file a notice of appeal of Manning’s July 18 order by the Wednesday deadline.

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Sarah P: Lame Duck President

From I can’t do it Governor of Alaska, it would seem she finally got a good speech/note writer for her facebook account..

For those whom don’t follow this douchebag…

from her notes on Facebook,

After listening to the President’s press conference today, let’s keep in mind the following:

This is the same president who proposed an absurdly irresponsible budget that would increase our debt by trillions of dollars, and whose party failed to even put forward a budget in over 800 days! This is the same president who is pushing our country to the brink because of his reckless spending on things like the nearly trillion dollar “stimulus” boondoggle. This is the same president who ignored his own debt commission’s recommendations and demonized the voices of fiscal sanity who proposed responsible plans to reform our entitlement programs and rein in our dangerous debt trajectory. This is the same president who wanted to push through an increase in the debt ceiling that didn’t include any cuts in government spending! This is the same president who wants to slam Americans with tax hikes to cover his reckless spending, but has threatened to veto a bill proposing a balanced budget amendment. This is the same president who hasn’t put forward a responsible plan himself, but has rejected reasonable proposals that would tackle our debt. This is the same president who still refuses to understand that the American electorate rejected his big government agenda last November. As I said in Madison, Wisconsin, at the Tax Day Tea Party rally, “We don’t want it. We can’t afford it. And we are unwilling to pay for it.”

Now the President is outraged because the GOP House leadership called his bluff and ended discussions with him because they deemed him an obstruction to any real solution to the debt crisis.

He has been deemed a lame duck president. And he is angry now because he is being treated as such.

His foreign policy strategy has been described as “leading from behind.” Well, that’s his domestic policy strategy as well. Why should he be surprised that he’s been left behind in the negotiations when he’s been leading from behind on this debt crisis?

Thank you, GOP House leaders. Please don’t get wobbly on us now.

2012 can’t come soon enough.

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Pat McCrory's verbal attacks on the Governor

Via NC Democratic Party Facebook notes,

full text,

CHARLOTTE - NC Democratic Party Executive Director Jay Parmley issued the following statement in response to Pat McCrory's verbal attacks on the Governor in regard to new unemployment numbers.

"Pat McCrory's attack on the Governor is a shame and his solutions-- as far as we can intuit them-- are a sham.  The former Mayor continues to criticize the work of men and women who are leading during the toughest time in our state's modern history while doing nothing to solve those problems.  

He hasn't even announced he's running for governor, which enables him to attack Bev Perdue without facing any scrutiny himself.  That's cowardly and safe-- two things that Bev Perdue hasn't had the luxury to be since she defeated McCrory three years ago.

From McCrory, no solutions.  He gave us a hint about his agenda last week when he issued a robocall urging supporters to demand that their legislators override Bev Perdue's vetoes.  We can presume that he would have rubber stamped everything this republican legislative majority proposed.

This leaves voters triangulating McCrorys positions from one-sided press releases, speeches to tea party gatherings and the GOP agenda.  

On the jobs issue, we can only assume that he would have permanently frozen long term unemployment benefits-- without relief-- as the leaders of his party attempted to do this year.

He would have allowed them to make even deeper cuts to our schools and the public sector, which represent the single greatest job losses government has direct control over.  In this terrible economy, he would have laid off far more teachers than Thom Tillis and Phil Berger did this year already.  

The unemployment rate would be even higher under Governor McCrory.

Meanwhile, the Berger/Tillis/McCrory formula for job creation is "reg reform, med mal and energy" (quoting an @SenatorBerger tweet in response to today's numbers).  Not one of them has hung any details on that scant recipe for recovery.

Regulatory reform this session has taken the form of gutting environmental rules.  Are we to assume that McCrory would entice manufacturers by advertising the most lenient pollution rules in the region?  

Their Med Mal legislation sought to strip patients of their right to seek damages the event of an emergency room error.  This creates job opportunities for whom?  The lousiest doctors in the country, unemployable in states that care about consumer rights?

Finally, their energy plan seeks to open our pristine coasts and the piedmont to drilling and natural gas fracking.  This would welcome Big Oil to the Tarheel State, creating a revenue stream for Republican politicians looking for political donations, and the potential for environmental disaster and polluted water for the rest of us.  

Republican office holders and also-maybe-might-of-rans like Pat McCrory are pitching the same tired trickle down economics that most of us discounted years ago: tax breaks for millionaires, low wages for workers, zero regulations for polluters and big business.

It's a lie, and Pat McCrory is pushing it with impunity.  If he'd like to announce he's running for office and stand before the people and the press to face our questions, he should do it.  But the unfounded attacks that non-mayor, non-candidate McCrory has become so fond of don't do a thing to help bring down the unemployment rate.  That's cowardice, pure and simple."    

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