NC NAACP and HKonJ to Visit the People's House to Hold a Legislative Briefing

on Poverty and Economic Justice on January 15, 2013 at 9:00 am (Press Conference at 10:00 am)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

9 January 2013

For More Information:            Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, President,919-394-8137

                                             Mrs. Amina J. Turner, Executive Director, 919-682-4700

                                          Atty. Jamie Phillips, Public Policy Coordinator, 919-682-4700

For Media Assistance:            Rob Stephens, Field Secretary, 336-577-9335

RALEIGH - The NC NAACP and Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) People's Assembly Coalition will convene at the People's House, (NC Legislature on Jones Street) on Tuesday, January 15, at 9:00 a.m. for a policy briefing on the long legislative session, which will begin in a few weeks. The news conference is at 10:00 a.m.

            The seven-year old Black-White-Brown People's Coalition will remind the Governor and the legislators, who recently swore on he Bible to uphold the North Carolina Constitution, that Article I , Sect. 2 of the Constitution requires them to govern "for the good of the whole." The policy briefing's theme is: "Addressing Poverty and Economic Justice in NC."

            On Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s actual birthday, the leading civil and human rights organizations in the state will hold the briefing as a follow up to the Truth And Hope Poverty Tour, held last year with stops in 27 communities across NC, to present the coalition's priorities for the upcoming HKonJ People's Assembly 7 on February 9, 2013 in Raleigh. The briefing as well as the People's Assembly will focus on a comprehensive call to address the issue of poverty and economic disparities.

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Medical Cost, Why we need medical reform

I recently had a mild attack heart, and boy the medical cost were shocking to say the least.

Beside being charge for medication that I didn’t need to a device that I didn’t need..

this device is 6 bucks on line, yet the hospital what's $172 bucks for it..

this is the device they gave me. tell me is it worth 172 bucks..

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Petition to Governor McCrory and NC Legislative Leadership to Remain Moderate in the Face of Extremism

Click here to sign this petition.

Dear Governor McCrory and NC Legislative Leadership,

We, the undersigned, urge you as esteemed leaders of the state of North Carolina to reject efforts by extremists on the far right to govern only for the good of a few and instead, that you remain moderate, do what the North Carolina Constitution requires, and govern for the good of the whole. The Republican Party now has a super majority in this state and as all of us believe, with great power and influence comes great responsibility. We are praying for your courage to act as leaders in this new year and always for the good of the whole.

The Civil Rights and Human Rights Communities are more than willing to work with you in ways that will advance justice and opportunity. No matter which party is in power we have always challenged our elected officials to lift our state from the bottom and govern as our state Constitution requires: for the good of the whole.

We believe in order to fulfill this Constitutional mandate, our leaders must commit themselves to the following nonpartisan values: 1) Economic sustainability, addressing poverty, full employment, living wages, disparate unemployment and labor rights, affordable housing, targeted empowerment zones and fair tax reform; 2) educational equality - every child deserves a high quality, well-funded, constitutional, diverse public education - and access to Community Colleges and Universities; 3) healthcare for all and ensuring access to Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security and providing environmental protection; 4) addressing the continuing inequalities in the criminal justice system for black, brown and poor white people; and 5) protecting, defending and expanding voting rights for all people.  

Some of you have indicated that your first agenda priority will be a photo voter identification law for North Carolina. Regardless of what some public opinion polls may indicate, taking these actions would do irreparable damage to the fundamental civil and human rights of millions of North Carolinians.

Moreover, we urge you to resist calls from regressive ideology that would push you to engage in what we deem to be ill-advised policy making such as tax policies that favor the wealthy, draconian approaches to the budget that devalue educational equity and accessibility, economic policies that ignore livable wages and punish the unemployed, and social policies that diminish human dignity.

We will be at the General Assembly for a bipartisan presentation on January 15, 2013 to further convey this message. We will be back on February 9, 2013 for our 7^th Annual Historic Thousands on Jones Street People's Assembly Coalition. We have great hope for our state and with that hope we know we have no permanent enemies, nor do we have permanent friends, but only permanent interests and issues.

Respectfully,

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II

President, North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP

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North Carolina Appeals Judge’s “Choose Life” License Plate Ruling

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 4, 2013

Judge Had Ruled that N.C. Can’t Offer a “Choose Life” License Plate without Offering an Alternative Plate Supporting Reproductive Choice; ACLU-NC Says It’s “Unfortunate” State Has Decided to Prolong a Clear First Amendment Issue

RALEIGH – Today the state of North Carolina announced that it would appeal a December ruling from a U.S. District Court that found the state’s plan to offer state drivers a “Choose Life” license plate but not an alternative plate with a pro-choice message was unconstitutional. The state gave notice today that it will officially appeal that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, VA.

The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation (ACLU-NCLF) originally filed a lawsuit against the state’s one-sided license plate scheme in September 2011. In a Dec. 7, 2012, ruling, Judge James C. Fox concluded, “the State’s offering of a Choose Life license plate in the absence of a pro-choice plate constitutes viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.”

"It's unfortunate that the state has chosen to prolong what is really a very clear-cut First Amendment issue,” said Chris Brook, ACLU-NCLF Legal Director. “The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has consistently ruled that any time the government creates an avenue for private speech, it cannot restrict that avenue to only one side of a contentious debate. This case is ultimately about the right of North Carolinians of all political beliefs to have equal access to avenues for the free expression of ideas, and we look forward to making our arguments before the Court of Appeals."

The ACLU-NCLF filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina in September 2011 on behalf of North Carolinians seeking a specialty license plate that supports a woman’s right to reproductive freedom. Judge Fox granted a preliminary injunction in November 2011 that temporarily blocked production of the “Choose Life” plate; that injunction was made permanent after Judge Fox’s Dec. 7 ruling.

During the 2011 legislative session, the North Carolina General Assembly passed House Bill 289, which authorized the issuance of a “Choose Life” license plate. However, the legislature repeatedly refused to authorize a plate that supported the countervailing position in favor of reproductive freedom. Six amendments were proposed in the legislature to authorize an additional new plate that stated either, “Trust Women. Respect Choice,” or simply “Respect Choice.” The legislature rejected all six amendments.

Read the notice of appeal here.

Attachment
Size

Choose-Life-Notice-of-Appeal.pdf
87.27 KB

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What the F*ck, how and why did they do it. 4 NC Reps Vote against Sandy Relief..

Three of North Carolina’s newest congressional representatives -  Reps. Richard Hudson, Mark Meadows, and George Holding – joined veteran Republican Virginia Foxx in voting against the federal aid.

Ok Virginia Fox is an bitch that need to be voted out of office, but these 3 freshman need to be one term Reps..

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If at first you don't succeed,

try again 33 more times and keep wasting money, ignore job bills, education bill, and other more critical bill too..

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Can you believe this Shit,

The 112th Congress gaveled to a close on Thursday afternoon without passing a relief package for victims of Hurricane Sandy or reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, but Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) isn’t too concerned about finishing what Republicans had left undone. Instead, at 12:00 PM she introduced the very first piece of legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which states are now busily implementing.

This B*tch need to go.. Vote her out of office asap..

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Just Fucking Wrong

Conn. paper runs gun show ad next to Newtown story cbsn.ws/UniKnZ

it was an oversight, my ass..

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