Yangtze River turns red -- in Red China. But no one knows why?

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / September 9, 2012

ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images

By Katie Kindelan abcnews.go.com/

Sep 7, 2012 1:52pm

For a river known as the “golden watercourse,” red is a strange color to see. Yet that’s the shade turning up in the Yangtze River and officials have no idea why.

The red began appearing in the Yangtze, the longest and largest river in China and the third
longest river in the world, yesterday near the city of Chongquing, where the Yangtze connects to the Jialin River.

The Yangtze, called “golden” because of the heavy rainfall it receives year-round, runs through Chongqing, Southwest China’s largest industrial and commercial center, also known as the “mountain city” because of the hills and peaks upon which its many buildings and factories stand.

The red color stopped some residents in their tracks. They put water from the river in bottles to save it.  Fishermen and other workers who rely on the river for income kept going about their business, according to the UK’s Daily Mail.

While the river’s red coloring was most pronounced near Chongqing it was also reported at several other points.

Officials are reportedly investigating the cause.

Super Saturday event slated for September 8 at Brunswick GOP Victory Office

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / Sept. 8, 2012 MEET AND GREET FRANK WILLIAMS, GOP CANDIDATE FOR BRUNSWICK COUNTY COMMISSIONER . . . As you know, the Obama campaign held its national convention in our state this week.  In the immediate aftermath of their convention, we need to make a statement that Brunswick County is Republican country.   This Saturday, September 8 is Super Saturday at the Brunswick GOP Victory Office.  Super Saturday is an all-day, all-out blitz of phone calls and door-to-door campaigning and will take place at every Victory office in North Carolina. I plan to be at the Brunswick Victory office at 9 a.m. Saturday.   Please join me, and please bring a like-minded friend.  Please let Jason Britt know if you can help.  His phone number is 910-297-7402 and his email is jason.britt@ncgop.org.   The Victory office is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and is co-located at the Brunswick County Republican Party headquarters, located at 971 Old Ocean Highway in Bolivia. ----- How You Can Help Many of you have asked how you can help with my campaign.  If you live in or near Brunswick County, there are several ways you can get involved: Volunteer with the Brunswick County Republican Victory Office.  They need help with Voter ID phone calls and door-to-door campaigning.  The Victory Office's efforts will benefit me and the entire Republican ticket.  The office is located at the Brunswick County Republican Headquarters, 971 Old Ocean Highway in Bolivia.  Jason Britt, our regional Victory Director, can be reached at 910-297-7402 or jason.britt@ncgop.org.  Please call or email him today to sign up and get involved.  Serve as a Poll Observer or Precinct Official during Early Voting or on Election Day. Put up signs. Distribute literature for the Republican Party on Election Day.  If you would like to help with items 2, 3 or 4, please click here and sign up volunteer with the Brunswick County Republican Party. ----- Helping Those Impacted by Hurricane Isaac As you know, Hurricane Isaac made landfall along the Gulf Coast during the Republican National Convention.  Isaac followed a path eerily similar to Hurricane Katrina and made landfall on the 7th Anniversary of Katrina's landfall.  Many along the Gulf Coast have been displaced or otherwise impacted by Isaac.  If you would like to contribute to the American Red Cross' relief efforts, please click here. Thank you for your support, Frank Williams Photos from Past Events Photos from Aug. 21 Fundraiser at Caffe Luna in Raleigh Photos from Aug. 27 General Election Kickoff Reception in Leland

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Krauthammer on Obama: 'One of the emptiest speeches I have ever heard.'

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / September 7, 2012

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER on FOX NEWS

I was stunned. This is a man who gave one of the great speeches of our time in 2004, and he gave one of the emptiest speeches I have ever heard on a national stage. Yes, it had cadence, and yes, there were deceptions in it, but that is not what is so striking about it. There was nothing in it.

This is a man who believes that government can and should do a lot. There is nothing in here that tells us how he's going to go from today to tomorrow. For any of the so called goals and what government is going to do, what is he going to enact?

At least Romney had a five point plan. What we heard from Obama was a vision. And he pulls numbers out of a hat. 100,000 new math and science teachers. 600,000 more people working in natural gas. Two million more trainees, and he doesn't say how we get from A to B.

It's a vision. I have a vision of an America where there is no disease and everybody has a private airplane, but unless I tell you how we get there, I’ve said nothing. And what is so surprising, is that - all he had left - he can't speak about his record on the economy, and it's not a good one. As we heard, he didn't speak about achievements, the one that's liberals like, ObamaCare, stimulus and etc… they're unpopular.

So, at least he would talk about the future, what he's going to to. There was nothing there. I’m amazed that he was -- it was like this is a guy who is the A student in the class turning in a paper clearly a C, and the teacher says, “How could you do this? Why did you mail it in?” I felt the Biden speech was infinitely better, because it was empathic and carried a message, but the Obama speech, I thought was flat and had no content in it. Otherwise, I loved it, really…

KRAUTHAMMER: Well, it is the heart of the debate with Republicans and Romney. The heart of the debate between left and right, since the French Revolution. The individual or community, and he stands for the community, which he translates as government. So with that abstract, a cleverly sealed argument.

But, that is not what you're talking about in an acceptance speech, when you've been in power for four years. People expect you to say I’m going to do X, Y, and Z, and we didn't hear any of that. So, as a philosophical issue, yes, but without any of that meat on the bone, I think it rings quite hollow.

KRAUTHAMMER: I think it does [affect Independents] and I think it's a negative. If you're an independent and aren't a committed person on the left or right. And you were sort of a pragmatist, and you’re listening and the President offers you numbers out of a hat, he wants a lot of this and that.

He’s mentioning again and again with wind and solar and algae, but he didn't use a word, he used biofuel. And you say, I’ve heard this, this is nothing new. This, is what he tried, he talked about. Where is the meat to make me think that I should have hope and faith? That we will achieve anything? That is what I think he's lacking. I think for independents, it will send him somewhat backwards.

USA Dot Com: Verne Strickland covers the DNC like no one else -...

USA Dot Com: Verne Strickland covers the DNC like no one else -...: CAN OBAMA RECLAIM THE FAITH AND CONFIDENCE OF HIS SUPPORTERS TO GIVE HIM FOUR MORE YEARS TO FINISH THE JOB? WELL, I CERTAINLY HOPE NOT. ...

Verne Strickland covers the DNC like no one else -- and you'll see why. He's at home, where he belongs, taking what the TV offers.

CAN OBAMA RECLAIM THE FAITH AND CONFIDENCE OF HIS SUPPORTERS TO GIVE HIM FOUR MORE YEARS TO FINISH THE JOB? WELL, I CERTAINLY HOPE NOT.

By Verne Strickland, conservative Christian blogger,
Wilmington  NC September 13, 2012
 
As I wrote earlier -- at the end of the day, there's no more day left. But there's a tomorrow. Then we'll see how much traction the conventions give the respective national parties. 

Tell you what -- when Obama takes the podium, he's got nowhere to look but forward. If the guy looks in his rear view mirror, he's toast. After falling flat on the ambitious promises he made in 2008, he has nothing whatever to brag about. 

Can he still reclaim the faith and confidence of his supporters to give him four more years to finish the job? Well, I certainly hope not. Soaring rhetoric got you to this point, Mr. Precedent. It will take more than that this time around. Verne. Be back soon.

9:40 pm Joe Biden in his cheerleader role for Barack Obama. He's not as eloquent as his boss, or as long-winded as Bill Clinton. But I like the guy. I think he's real and has a good heart. Anyhow, that's my story and I'm stickin' with it.

Now I don't want to drift too far from the crowded arena (which is the way the DNC wants it -- (remember the empty, dry Bank of America football stadium?) -- but there's a big issue out there somewhere, and the liberal media are running from it in panic.

The New York delegate who communicated a death threat against Mitt Romney -- know what? If the shoe were on the other foot, that creepy incident would have been up in neon and stayed there. Ah, the media -- the two-faced, deeply-biased, deceitful, dishonest liberal media. They have buried this shocking story because it is deeply embarrassing to the Democrats. Their selective indignation is sickening. If it weren't for conservative cable news programs and the internet, we wouldn't have a voice. But we do. And they will not shut us up. Amen.

10:40 PM The Precedent of the United States is now telling us why we need him. I've heard that before. I am watching college football -- Bowie State at Benedict, 4th quarter :50 remaining, Bowie State up 20-7. I can understand what they're doing. I just can't understand what Obama is saying.

Good night all. Another fun night with you. Verne.

Is bad weather really the reason to move Obama speech indoors? Weather guru speaks.

 

 Verne Strickland Blogmaster / September 6, 2012

By NATE SILVER   

September 5, 2012, 8:57 pm

 

On Wednesday, Democrats announced that they would move President Obama’s Thursday night acceptance speech indoors, citing a threat of stormy weather at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.

The Weather Channel’s forecast as of early Wednesday, when Democrats announced their decision, called for a 30 percent chance of rain on Thursday night. (The forecast has since been revised to a 40 percent chance of rain.)

But is a 30 percent chance of rain really all that far out of the ordinary? Rain is hardly unknown in the South — especially in the humid evenings of the late summer.

Perhaps Democrats are using the weather threat as an excuse to protect against the possibility that they couldn’t fill a football stadium? Or perhaps they liked how Michelle Obama’s speech came across indoors at the Time Warner Cable Arena, preferring its intimacy to an outdoor stadium’s grandiosity?

In order to put their weather claim into context, I looked up the historical weather reports for Charlotte in September at Wunderground.com, going back 10 years.


Specifically, I looked at how often there had been rain or thunderstorms between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. local time — the key hours for the speeches, and the logistics for getting everyone safely into the stadium.

In the Septembers since 2002, it has rained 13 percent of the time during these prime-time hours in Charlotte. Thunderstorms, however, are relatively rare during these hours, occurring just 3 percent of the time.

The Weather Channel did not provide a precise estimate of the chance of thunderstorms specifically, as opposed to any kind of rain. But if we infer that the chance of thunderstorms is 15 percent on Thursday night — half the chance of there being any type of precipitation — it is considerably greater than Charlotte’s long-term average.

Still, the threat of thunderstorms hasn’t stopped the Democrats before. Denver, where Mr. Obama made an outdoor address at the convention in August 2008, is a city prone to storms.

Thunderstorms are a little different in Denver. They tend to formulate quickly over the turbulent air of the Front Range, but also pass through the town quickly rather than linger. Fairly often in Denver, in fact, there is thunder and lightning that is not accompanied by rainfall.

Nevertheless, scheduling an outdoor speech in Denver is not something you do if you are extremely skittish about a severe weather event and its impact on optics, logistics and security.

Obviously, this is a close call — both in terms of the decision by the Democrats, and in interpreting their motivation for it. But some skepticism is warranted that the weather is the only thing they were thinking about.

Words of an angry activist, Sandra Fluke -- Full text from DNC 2012.

 

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / September 5, 2011

I PRESENT THE FULL TEXT OF THE  FLUKE SPEECH 

NOT BECAUSE I SHARE HER BELIEFS -- BUT BECAUSE

I DON'T.

Courtesy of Nancy Pelosi's Office -- Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke

By National Journal Staff   Updated: September 5, 2012 | 10:01 p.m. 

The Democratic National Convention released a full transcript of  the Fluke speech to the 2012 Democratic National Convention (as prepared for delivery). Read the full text below:

Some of you may remember that earlier this year, Republicans shut me out of a hearing on contraception. In fact, on that panel, they didn't hear from a single woman, even though they were debating an issue that affects nearly every woman.

Because it happened in Congress, people noticed. But it happens all the time. Many women are shut out and silenced. So while I'm honored to be standing at this podium, it easily could have been any one of you. I'm here because I spoke out, and this November, each of us must do the same.

During this campaign, we've heard about the two profoundly different futures that could await women—and how one of those futures looks like an offensive, obsolete relic of our past. Warnings of that future are not distractions. They're not imagined. That future could be real.

In that America, your new president could be a man who stands by when a public figure tries to silence a private citizen with hateful slurs. Who won't stand up to the slurs, or to any of the extreme, bigoted voices in his own party.

It would be an America in which you have a new vice president who co-sponsored a bill that would allow pregnant women to die preventable deaths in our emergency rooms. An America in which states humiliate women by forcing us to endure invasive ultrasounds we don't want and our doctors say we don't need. An America in which access to birth control is controlled by people who will never use it; in which politicians redefine rape so survivors are victimized all over again; in which someone decides which domestic violence victims deserve help, and which don't.

We know what this America would look like. In a few short months, it's the America we could be. But it's not the America we should be. It's not who we are.

We've also seen another future we could choose. First of all, we'd have the right to choose. It's an America in which no one can charge us more than men for the exact same health insurance; in which no one can deny us affordable access to the cancer screenings that could save our lives; in which we decide when to start our families. An America in which our president, when he hears a young woman has been verbally attacked, thinks of his daughters—not his delegates or donors—and stands with all women. And strangers come together, reach out and lift her up.

And then, instead of trying to silence her, you invite me here—and give me a microphone—to amplify our voice. That's the difference.

Over the last six months, I've seen what these two futures look like. And six months from now, we'll all be living in one, or the other. But only one. A country where our president either has our back or turns his back; a country that honors our foremothers by moving us forward, or one that forces our generation to re-fight the battles they already won; a country where we mean it when we talk about personal freedom, or one where that freedom doesn't apply to our bodies and our voices.

We talk often about choice. Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's time to choose.

Democrats change platform to add God, Jerusalem (on three votes)

• Verne Strickland Blogmaster / September 5, 2012
•  
• 
  Los Angeles Mayor and Democratic Convention Chairman Antonio
  Villaraigosa calls for a vote to amend the platform at the Democratic
  National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. (Wed. Sept. 5, 2012)
  Photo: J. Scott Applewhite / AP

JOSH LEDERMAN, Associated Press, JULIE PACE,  AP  5:22 p.m., Wednesday, September 5, 2012

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Needled by Mitt Romney and other Republicans, Democrats hurriedly rewrote their convention platform Wednesday to add a mention of God and declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel after President Barack Obama intervened to order the changes.
The embarrassing reversal was compounded by chaos and uncertainty on the convention floor, requiring three votes before a ruling that the amendments had been approved. Many in the audience booed the decision.
The episode exposed tensions on Israel within the party, put Democrats on the defensive and created a public relations spectacle as Obama arrived in the convention city to claim his party's nomination for a second term.
The language in the party platform — a political document — does not affect actual U.S. policy toward Israel. The administration has long said that determining Jerusalem's status is an issue that should be decided in peace talks by Israelis and Palestinians.
Obama intervened directly to get the language changed both on Jerusalem and to reinstate God in the platform, according to campaign officials who insisted on anonymity to describe behind-the-scenes party negotiations. They said Obama's reaction to the omission of God from the platform was to wonder why it was removed in the first place.
The revisions came as Obama struggles to win support from white working-class voters, many of whom have strong religious beliefs, and as Republicans try to woo Jewish voters and contributors away from the Democratic Party. Republicans claimed the platform omissions suggested Obama was weak in his defense of Israel and out of touch with mainstream Americans.
GOP officials argued that not taking a position on Jerusalem's status in the party platform raised questions about Obama's support for the Mideast ally. Romney said omitting God "suggests a party that is increasingly out of touch with the mainstream of the American people."
"I think this party is veering further and further away into an extreme wing that Americans don't recognize," Romney said.
Added to the platform was a declaration that Jerusalem "is and will remain the capital of Israel. The parties have agreed that Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations. It should remain an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths."
That language was included in the platform four years ago when Obama ran for his first term, but was left out when Democrats on Tuesday approved their 2012 platform, which referred only to the nation's "unshakable commitment to Israel's security."
Some delegates were angered by the change.
"There was no discussion. We didn't even see it coming. We were blindsided by it," said Noor Ul-Hasan, a Muslim delegate from Salt Lake City, who questioned whether the convention had enough of a quorum to even amend the platform.
Also restored from the 2008 platform was language calling for a government that "gives everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential."
For decades, Republican and Democratic administrations alike have said it is up to the Israelis and Palestinians to settle Jerusalem's final status — a position reiterated earlier Wednesday by the White House. Both sides claim Jerusalem as their capital, and the city's status has long been among the thorniest issues in Mideast peace talks.
The U.S. has its embassy in Tel Aviv, although numerous Republicans — including Mitt Romney — have vowed to move the embassy to Jerusalem.
During his 2008 campaign, Obama referred to Jerusalem as Israel's capital in a speech to AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobby. But as official policy, his administration has repeatedly maintained that Jerusalem's status is an issue that Israelis and Palestinians should decide in peace talks. The platform flub gave Republicans an opening to revive their attacks on Obama's support for Israel just as Democrats were hoping to bask in the glow of first lady Michelle Obama's Tuesday speech and gin up excitement for her husband, who will accept his party's nomination for a second term on Thursday.
But restoring the language did not placate Republicans, who used it to suggest that Obama's party is now more supportive than he is of the Jewish state.
"Now is the time for President Obama to state in unequivocal terms whether or not he believes Jerusalem is Israel's capital," said Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul.
Even as Democrats worked to quell the political fallout from the omission, some Democrats in Charlotte were in open revolt. Angry delegates screamed and threw their hands in the air as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the convention chairman, declared the amendments approved.
"The majority spoke last night," said Angela Urrea, a delegate from Roy, Utah. "We shouldn't be declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel."
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said the move was a "reasonable adjustment," but suggested the party could have avoided the skirmish.
Republicans declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel in the platform the party approved last week at its convention in Tampa, Fla. GOP platforms in 2004 and 2008 also called Jerusalem the capital.
___
Lederman reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Steve Peoples in Utah, Bradley Klapper in Washington, and Ken Thomas, Ben Feller and Matthew Daly in Charlotte contributed.

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Dems blame weather forecast for move indoors from Bank of America Stadium. (Yeah, right)

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / September 5, 2012

Democrats wimp out. 'No way 

Barack can fill a hole this big!' 

By Emily Goodin and Amie Parnes - 09/05/12 10:02 AM ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — President Obama's acceptance speech has been moved from the Bank of America Stadium to the Time Warner Cable Arena, Democrats announced Wednesday.

Democrats blamed "severe weather forecasts" for the move to the smaller, indoor arena from the large outdoor stadium. Thunderstorms are forecast on Thursday for Charlotte.

"We have been monitoring weather forecasts closely and several reports predict thunderstorms in the area, therefore we have decided to move Thursday's proceedings to Time Warner Cable Arena to ensure the safety and security of our delegates and convention guests," said DNCC CEO Steve Kerrigan.

The announcement comes after Obama campaign officials insisted the speech would go forward in the stadium "rain or shine." The stadium speech was meant to recall Obama's 2008 address in Denver, when he closed a largely successful convention with a speech to supporters at Invesco Field.

Republicans took glee in the decision, and expressed doubt that the weather was the real reason for the venue switch.

There have been questions over whether Democrats could fill the football stadium, which holds 73,000 seats, and the GOP was quick to argue that the real reason for moving Obama's speech was a lack of enthusiasm for the president four years later.

"Problems filling the seats," asked an email sent Wednesday by the Republican National Committee. It said Democrats were "continue to downgrade events due to a lack of enthusiasm."  Time Warner Cable Arena, where the Democratic National Convention has been taking place all this week, holds 22,000 seats.

Democrats pushed back at the Republican accusations.

"The bottom line is that you just need to look at the forecast," a campaign official said. "This was not a political decision. This was a public safety decision... We wanted this to go forward."

"Everyone will sleep soundly knowing we are making the right decision," the campaign official said. "You have to make the best call you can with the information you have at the time.

Campaign aides said a final decision was made on Wednesday morning. It is not immediately known how President Obama took the news.

Officials said they had given out 65,000 community credentials and advised that those people should not plan to attend tomorrow night.

"We were concerned about capacity on the high end not the low end," a campaign official said.
Democratic officials said 19,000 people were currently on a waiting list and that they were expecting close to 89,000 supporters on Thursday night.

Officials said they "can't accomodate" those people but encouraged them to hold watch parties with their neighbors.

A campaign aide called the move a "public safety decision" and added that the campaign is "disappointed we have to make this call."

Moving the event is "a logistical lift," said another campaign official, who reiterated Team Obama is "disappointed" that tens of thousands of people "won't be able to join us."

"Our top priority is the safety of our convention goers and guests," a Democratic official said.
— This story was updated 10:35 a.m.

Romney tweets: 'The government belongs to us.'

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / September 5, 2012

Mitt Romney must be keeping an eye on the Democratic National Convention, which began Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C., because a video shown on the convention floor sent him to Twitter with a dissenting opinion.

Mitt Romney @MittRomney

 "We don't belong to government, the government belongs to us."

September 4, 2012

According to the campaign, the tweet from Romney's official account was responding to a video shown earlier in the day at the Democratic convention.

"Government is the only thing that we all belong to. We have different churches, different clubs, but we're together as a part of our city or our county or our state," the narrator said in a video shown on the convention floor.

Buzzfeed has the portion of the video.

The video seems to echo the point President Obama was making in a campaign speech in Virginia earlier this summer, a speech that has become contentious after the GOP turned their response into a major theme of the Republican National Convention last week.

"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help," Obama said in the July speech. "There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges.

"If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. ... The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own."

Republicans have blasted Obama for the "you didn't build that" line, but Obama's campaign has fired back the outrage requires taking the president out of context. Romney has said Obama was demonstrating he prioritizes "the collective" over the individual.

"The point he was trying to make was things like education, infrastructure ... are things we do together," White House senior adviser David Plouffe noted last Sunday.

The chant "We built it" proved very popular with the GOP crowd last week in Tampa, Fla.

Gibbs: Religious references included in Dem platform replaces word 'God'

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / September 4, 2012

 

By Alicia M. Cohn - 09/04/12 08:44 PM ET

Robert Gibbs, a senior adviser for President Obama's campaign, ducked questions on Tuesday regarding whether or not the word "God" was deliberately left out of the Democratic Party platform.

"There's talk throughout the platform about faith and religion and I think that's what's important," Gibbs told CNN.

The platform, released late Monday, does not include the word "God," although it does refer twice to freedom of religion and religious tolerance.

Gibbs said the references to religion "lets people understand and know what this party is all about." But pressed to say whether the omission was deliberate, Gibbs shied away.
"I know there's thousands of God-fearing Democrats here tonight," Gibbs said, counting himself among them. "A lot of us here believe in a higher power."

Constitution cited less in Dem platform . . .

By Pete Kasperowicz - 09/04/12 10:16 AM ET

The Democratic Party released a platform late Monday night that makes just three direct references to the U.S. Constitution, in contrast to the Republican platform from last week that cites the founding document more than two dozen times.

Unlike the GOP platform, the Democratic platform makes no mention of the "Founding Fathers," nor does it mention Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson or George Washington. The GOP platform refers to the Founding Fathers twice, and mentions Washington three times, Jefferson twice and Franklin once. The Republican platform includes six full pages on the need to restore constitutional government.

These differences between the two platforms reflect the ongoing argument between the two parties for the last few years. During that time, Republicans have increasingly leaned on the Constitution to justify their effort to scale back what they say is an overgrown federal government, while Democrats have largely dismissed these GOP arguments and have said their policy prescriptions are in line with the Constitution.

A related difference can be seen in the use of the word "God" in the two platforms. The GOP platform mentions "God" or "God-given" rights in the context of the Constitution about a dozen times, but the Democratic platform makes no mention of "God," although it twice notes the freedom of religion in the United States.

VS: SO THESE ARE SOME GOOD COMPARISONS. WHICH DO YOU PREFER?

Ryan says Jimmy Carter era better than Obama's (Yikes!)

Verne Strickland / September 4, 2012

 

By STEVE PEOPLES   September 3, 2012

(AP) Greenville NC  — Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan is calling former President Jimmy Carter’s leadership “the good old days” compared to the last four years under President Barack Obama.

The Wisconsin congressman campaigned Monday at East Carolina University in Greenville, about 230 miles east of where thousands of Democrats were gathering at the Democratic National Convention.

Ryan says voters will hear a lot of words from Democrats in Charlotte this week. But he says they won’t hear evidence of how the nation is better off under Obama’s leadership.

Ryan says the only way to change the direction of the country is to change the president.

The message is part of a broader messaging strategy by Republicans in North Carolina and across the country this week.

Obama and his team believe a successful convention can propel him to victory. (Can they do it?)

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / September 4, 2012

 By Alexis Simendinger - September 4, 2012

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- President Obama and his campaign team believe a successful Democratic National Convention can help plow a path to victory in November. Having experienced the same phenomenon in Denver four years ago, they hope to bottle convention magic one more time.
Plenty of political scientists argue that public reaction to presidential nominating conventions is actually a poor predictor of the eventual winner -- even when polls edge higher for a nominee after a convention’s stirring addresses fade from memory.

In fact, the Gallup Organization suggests the state of a presidential race going into the conventions -- not the state of the contest coming out of them -- says more about who is likely to win.

Since 1952, the leader heading into the quadrennial gatherings has gone on to win the presidency in 12 of 15 elections, Gallup found.

In a neck-and-neck contest such as the one between Obama and Mitt Romney, then, the Democrats’ show in Charlotte could tilt momentum enough to realize a solid lead, add to it with the October presidential debates, and drive home messaging with TV advertising and through voter mobilization efforts in key battleground states.

Romney sustained no real bounce out of his Tampa convention and nominating speech, at least as of Monday, Gallup reported. “The public rated Mitt Romney’s speech the least positively of presidential nomination acceptance speeches Gallup has measured since 1996,” the organization said.
Democrats in Charlotte are talking about openings along at least six key fronts: 

1) Bounce and Hold: The president’s team wants to attract a hefty audience for speeches delivered by Obama, Bill Clinton, Michelle Obama, and a decidedly diverse roster of politicians and “American heroes” who can explain the Democratic Party’s rationale for four more years. They want to win public attention as measured by TV ratings and poll results by next week. With viewership down for the GOP convention compared with 2008 and no evident polling bounce for Romney nationwide, Democrats in Charlotte say they’re hopeful.

    2) Stoke Love (and Fear): Among African-Americans, Latinos, women and young people, Obama hopes to rekindle passion among voters who elected him president in 2008 -- and if he can’t quite pull that off, at least encourage voters to fear the GOP agenda outlined by Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Where enthusiasm for Democrats has waned, the president’s campaign team believes Obama can plug holes with doubts and fears about his opponent. Expect the convention program in Charlotte to be more explicit about what a President Romney would supposedly do in the next four years than what Obama promises to accomplish in a second term.

    3) Speak to Independent Voters: Support for the Democratic Party among independent voters has fallen 12 points from where it was at this time in 2008. Obama wants to use his convention to woo enough of the tiny tribe of squishy, fence-sitting persuadable voters to help him defeat Romney in November. “We try to look at this through the eyes of people making choices,” senior Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod explained when discussing the conventions Friday.

   4) Sketch an Optimistic Agenda: After the Tampa assaults on Obama pegged to tax policy, the economy, and his “you didn’t build that” comment this summer, the president’s convention will turn the tables with an agenda organized around the middle class. Expect the president to discuss Medicare, student loans, consumer protections, health care for women, and a better defined Democratic agenda for a second term. Because Romney did not discuss Afghanistan in Tampa, Obama will make as much as he can about his record as commander-in-chief and head of state. “By the end of next week, the American people will see the road map to restore the middle class,” said campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter.

   5) Reassure Voters about Washington: Americans indicate they continue to doubt whether Obama or Romney can fix what’s broken in Washington to achieve legislative changes that will improve their lives now and in the future. The president, who has spent a year campaigning against Congress and Republicans, has argued in interviews that the results of the November elections will “break the fever” and pave the way for tough decisions and bipartisanship. Democrats want their three-day convention to appear more optimistic, harmonious and keyed to middle-class worries when it comes to breaking the gridlock in the nation’s capital.

   6) Gain Traction in the Battleground “South”: As much as Democrats have sought to use the Charlotte convention as a way to replicate the narrow 2008 Obama victory in North Carolina, appealing to neighboring Virginia may be even more important to the party’s Electoral College strategy. “Everyone in the South is part of a convention like this, so there’s also a ripple effect to being in North Carolina,” said Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx. “We border Virginia, and some of the other states around us that could be competitive in this race, and I think particularly North Carolina and Virginia are going to be ones to watch in this election.”

Alexis Simendinger covers the White House for RealClearPolitics. She can be reached at asimendinger@realclearpolitics.com.

Protestors in Hong Kong riled over school 'brainwashing' by Communist China authorities.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / September 3, 2012

Thousands of protesters, parents, and their children outside 

the government headquarters in Hong Kong.

Photo: AP Photo/Kin Cheung

9:13PM BST 03 Sep 2012

Chanting "No to brainwashing education. Withdraw national education", some 8000 people denounced a Hong Kong government-funded booklet entitled "The China Model" they say glorifies China's single Communist party rule while glossing over more brutal aspects of its rule and political controversies. 

One hunger striker was taken away on a stretcher on the third straight day of protests after fasting for more than 40 hours.

The protests represent a challenge for Hong Kong's new pro-Beijing leader Leung Chun-ying, who took office in July, and who has come under pressure for policies that have highlighted underlying tensions as the financial hub becomes increasingly intertwined, economically and socially, with China.

Polls suggest Hong Kong public distrust towards China is at a record high some 15 years after the former British colony reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, with many fearing Beijing's hand encroaching increasingly into the city's cherished freedoms and political affairs.

Many of the protesters were young students who flocked to the demonstrations straight after their first day back at school, some heckling Leung to scrap the scheme or step down.

Despite protracted public opposition to the scheme including a late July rally that drew some 90,000 people, officials resisted calls to scrap it from local primary and secondary schools, saying it was aimed at instilling a greater sense of national pride and belonging towards China. 

"The important thing is to ensure that the public concern or the parents' and the students' worry about the so-called brainwashing will not happen," said Hong Kong's number two official, Carrie Lam.

"But that will only be achievable by more communication between the various stakeholders and by putting the trust in the school sponsoring authorities and the individual schools."

Hong Kong officials say schools may adopt the curriculum voluntarily with the scheme not to become mandatory until 2015.

The protests are a continuation of demonstrations that first flared on Saturday, with many pledging to fight on including a small band of hunger strikers. One middle-aged female academic was stretchered off late on Monday for medical treatment after going on hunger strike for over 40 hours. 

While the curriculum touches on some negative aspects of contemporary Chinese history including unfair land grabs by corrupt officials and a toxic milk powder scandal, it makes no mention of the June 4, 1989, crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Source: Reuters

Her Royal Bevness (Gov. Perdue) plays hostess at National Democratic Convention.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / September 2, 2012




NEWS & OBSERVER September 2, 2012
Staff writers John Frank, David Menconi and Bruce Siceloff

Gov. Bev Perdue will play hostess in chief this week with the world look at North Carolina amid the Democratic convention. Her tentative schedule started with four national cable news interviews Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union”.

On Monday, after rehearsing for her opening remarks on the convention’s first day, Perdue is tentatively scheduled to appear on MSNBC for separate interviews with Andrea Mitchell and Chris Matthews. And later in the week, she will appear on MSNBC again for an interview with Chuck Todd.

But one major N.C. Democratic face you won’t see on TV: state party Chairman David Parker, officials said. (The less he’s seen the better, some Democrats privately say.)

Parker is still toxic after a sexual harassment scandal rocked the party earlier this year. At the time, national party officials described Parker as “a man without a part,” but he survived repeated calls for his resignation and remains at the helm.

That said, Perdue has her own issues: unpopularity and former campaign aides indicted after an investigation into her 2008 election effort.

The musical lineup for the big event includes James Taylor; Foo Fighters; Mary J. Blige; Earth, Wind & Fire; Delta Rae; Inspire the Fire; Marc Anthony (singing the national anthem).
Ledisi, DJ Cassidy and Durham resident Branford Marsalis are among the acts performing earlier in the week.

GOP elite crash DNC party
The Republican convention in Florida continues – at least in part – this week in Charlotte as the party seeks to counter the Democratic message.

About 50 high-profile operatives and surrogates for presidential candidate Mitt Romney are coming from Tampa to North Carolina to run a GOP war room not far from the Democratic convention at Time Warner Cable Arena.

Among the expected surrogates: N.C. Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes, a former congressman and friend of VP candidate Paul Ryan; South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley; U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida; and RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.

New executive decision looms
Republican legislative leaders are in tune with the concerns of Democrat Gene Conti, who complained this week that he is underpaid as the state’s transportation secretary.

That’s why they amended the state budget this year to give North Carolina’s next governor new power to set salaries for non-elected state department heads.

“These agencies have gotten huge in terms of budget and responsibility,” said state Sen. Richard Stevens of Cary, one of the Senate’s chief budget-writers.

Conti said he took a big pay cut in 2009 when he gave up a private-sector job to take charge of DOT, with its $4 billion budget and 12,000 employees. Stevens agreed with Conti that the statutory salary limit – $121,807 this year for the heads of DOT and seven other agencies – could make it hard for the state to attract the best administrators.

So whoever wins the November election to succeed retiring Gov. Bev Perdue will have the authority to set these salaries, starting in the fiscal year that begins in July 2013.

“Either Gov. Dalton or Gov. McCrory, we think, will need the flexibility to bring in the best-qualified people to run these agencies,” Stevens said. “We think the state will be better off at the end of the day. We did not provide additional money for this. If the next governor pays the health and human services secretary double what the current secretary is making, he’ll have to find that money elsewhere in the budget,” Stevens commented.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/09/02/2312112/perdue-plays-hostess-in-chief.html

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/09/02/2312112/perdue-plays-hostess-in-chief.html#storylink=cpy

Parker is still toxic after a sexual harassment scandal rocked the party earlier this year. At the time, national party officials described Parker as “a man without a part,” but he survived repeated calls for his resignation and remains at the helm.

That said, Perdue has her own issues: unpopularity and former campaign aides indicted after an investigation into her 2008 election effort.

GOP elite crash DNC party
The Republican convention in Florida continues – at least in part – this week in Charlotte as the party seeks to counter the Democratic message.

About 50 high-profile operatives and surrogates for presidential candidate Mitt Romney are coming from Tampa to North Carolina to run a GOP war room not far from the Democratic convention at Time Warner Cable Arena.

Among the expected surrogates: N.C. Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes, a former congressman and friend of VP candidate Paul Ryan; South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley; U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida; and RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.


New executive decision looms
Republican legislative leaders are in tune with the concerns of Democrat Gene Conti, who complained this week that he is underpaid as the state’s transportation secretary.

That’s why they amended the state budget this year to give North Carolina’s next governor new power to set salaries for non-elected state department heads.

“These agencies have gotten huge in terms of budget and responsibility,” said state Sen. Richard Stevens of Cary, one of the Senate’s chief budget-writers.

Conti said he took a big pay cut in 2009 when he gave up a private-sector job to take charge of DOT, with its $4 billion budget and 12,000 employees. Stevens agreed with Conti that the statutory salary limit – $121,807 this year for the heads of DOT and seven other agencies – could make it hard for the state to attract the best administrators.

So whoever wins the November election to succeed retiring Gov. Bev Perdue will have the authority to set these salaries, starting in the fiscal year that begins in July 2013.

“Either Gov. Dalton or Gov. McCrory, we think, will need the flexibility to bring in the best-qualified people to run these agencies,” Stevens said. “We think the state will be better off at the end of the day.

“We did not provide additional money for this. If the next governor pays the health and human services secretary double what the current secretary is making, he’ll have to find that money elsewhere in the budget,” Stevens said.

Staff writers John Frank, David Menconi and Bruce Siceloff

more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/09/02/2312112/perdue-plays-hostess-in-chief.html#storylink=cpy