Kissell gets the lead out.

From LKSOC (the Larry Kissell School of Original Campaigning) comes the following event, which Under The Dome already calls "the most creative political event of the year".
The Democratic Congressional candidate will host free lead screening of toys from noon to 3 p.m. this Friday in downtown Concord.

"Not only as a candidate for Congress, but as a parent and school teacher, I'm concerned about dangerous imports and the safety of our children," says Kissell, "I don't believe you have to wait for an election to begin working on behalf of families in the 8th District."

A NC certified lead risk assessor using X-ray fluorescence, the most reliable technology available, will be on hand to examine items.

Millions of toys and children's items, many imported from China, have been recalled recently for containing lead. Lead paint is toxic and may cause brain damage, organ failure and even death in children.

While many popular toys like some lines of the Thomas the Tank Engine have already been removed from shelves, the list of toxic toys continues to grow and parents may be unaware that Holiday items purchased for gifts or already in their home may hold a deadly threat to developing children. The public is invited to join Kissell this Friday, December 21 from noon to 3 p.m. in Downtown Concord for the free toy lead screening service.

The event location is 9 Union Street, Concord, near the intersection of Union and Cabarrus Avenue. I hope to see you there!

Read More......

Veterans day

Between the events of this week and remembering our veterans today, there is not much to laugh about. So no "Monday Blues" feature today, but instead the following video:



In October, President Bush called on Congress to approve nearly $200 billion in additional funds to continue the occupation of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan. Iraq war costs have skyrocketed to roughly $2.5 billion a week. Maybe we can ask Congressman Hayes to stop rubber stamping the Bush war budget and invest some money instead in getting our homeless veterans off the streets?

Robin Hayes
Concord, NC Office:
137 Union Street South
Concord, NC 28025
(704) 786-1612

Read More......

Congressman Hayes would prefer you smoke instead of having a healthy kid.

Unbelievable. That was my first reaction when I heard How Robin Hayes keeps voting against the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) bill. I'm pretty sure you'll agree with Me after you read what his reasoning behind his vote is.

I didn't write this post to debate the actual SCHIP program, although I will do that soon, but I just wanted everyone to realize why Robin Hayes says he keeps voting against it. You see, even if you're a republican you'll have to agree that Hayes' logic on this one is extremely twisted.

Contrary to what I hear from most republicans, including our dearest President, Hayes is not against the SCHIP bill because it would "be a first step toward government run healthcare....bla bla....communists....9/11". That logic is crazy and dead wrong, but at least there's some logic to it.

No, Hayes is all for SCHIP, the only thing he disagrees with is the way it is funded. The way the expansion of the SCHIP program would be paid for is by raising the taxes on a pack of cigarettes by 61 cents. He fears it would hurt the North Carolina tobacco industry.

First of all, I don't think anyone is going to stop smoking because they would have to pay 61 cents more for a pack of cigs. Even if they do, is that a problem? I thought that quitting smoking was a good thing?
Tell me honestly, would you have a problem paying 3 cents more per cigarette you smoke if you knew that this money would pay for health care for millions of children?? Apparently Hayes thinks you'd have a problem with that.

Hayes quotes some economist that's been working for the tobacco industry for years and he estimates the damage to the NC tobacco industry would be $540 million. I seriously doubt these numbers because, like I said, I don't believe anyone is going to stop smoking because a cigarette costs 3 cents more. Even if you do believe this number, there is one thing Hayes forgets to mention.

He forgets to tell you that on Oct. 22, 2004, President George W. Bush signed legislation creating the Tobacco Transition Payment Program, better known as the tobacco buyout. This program pours approximately $3.9 billion into the North Carolina Tobacco farmers' pockets over a 10-year period. According to the program "Growers must use their producer payments to transition to a new era of tobacco production, out of tobacco production to other agricultural enterprises, or out of tobacco production to a non-farming occupation." So basically, it pays tobacco farmers to switch their business to growing something else.
The conclusion is that Hayes feels sorry for NC tobacco farmers because now, according to his own numbers, they'll only get $3.36 billion in taxpayers' money ($3.9 billion - the $540 million in "damages"). Awww... don't you feel sorry for them too?

I came up with a solution for Hayes that would let him support the tobacco industry and at the same time allow him to vote for SCHIP. Why doesn't he start a program to encourage as many kids as possible to start smoking? These kids would then support our tobacco industry and at the same time pay for their own health care program through the taxes they pay on their pack of cigs. Brilliant!

Seriously though, we need a representative in Congress who understands what "regular people" in our 8th Congressional district go through every day and how a lot of us are really struggling and having a hard time ensuring our kids have healthcare. Robin Hayes didn't have to struggle one minute of his life, he doesn't understand us and he never will. We don't need someone who was born with a silver spoon representing us in Washington, we need one of us. One of us last time came within 300 votes of firing Hayes from his job and next year he'll be giving Hayes his pink slip.

Read More......

Robin Hayes swears he doesn't have cooties.

Our local excuse for a congressman, Robin Hayes(R), is ticked off.
No, he isn't ticked off about jobs shipping to Central America and He certainly isn't ticked off by millions of poor children without health insurance, Robin Hayes is upset because he is convinced that people in Washington think he has cooties.

You can find the full story in today's Charlotte Observer.

The House Homeland Security Committee planned a fact-finding trip about public health preparedness at mass gatherings and decided to conduct the research at two of the nation's most heavily attended sporting events, NASCAR's Bank of America 500 event this weekend and the UAW-Ford 500 last weekend.
Staff who organized the trips advised the NASCAR-bound aides to get a range of vaccines before attending -- hepatitis A, hepatitis B, tetanus, diphtheria and influenza.

Rep. Robin Hayes, a Republican from Concord, was upset when he heard about it.

"I have never heard of immunizations for domestic travel, and as the representative for Concord, N.C., I feel compelled to ask why the heck the committee feels that immunizations are needed to travel to my hometown," Hayes said in an Oct. 5 letter to Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who chairs the Homeland Security panel.

Now, I most admit that I don't believe you need to be immunized to go to Lowe's Motor Speedway. The worst thing you can catch there is redneck fever or, on rare occasions, a tire on your head.
What Mr. Hayes doesn't seem to understand is that congressional staff wasn't advised to get immunized because they went to a NASCAR race, but because they were going to visit hospitals and various medical holding areas.

"Since committee staff members are visiting hospital and other health-care facilities available at or near these venues, including areas where groups of people are detained before being transferred to other off-site facilities, I believe that the recommendation (not requirement) that our congressional staff receive these same immunizations was sound," Thompson said in a letter responding to Hayes issued Wednesday.

You also can't really blame some folks in Congress for thinking we have some strange diseases in this area, since they probably base their beliefs on observing Robin Hayes from day to day, and he has had quite a few medical issues in the past few years.
He went from contracting the flip-flopping virus (aka CAFTA syndrome), to catching Crusader fever, to getting a serious SCHIP rash. Lately he's even been known to come into contact with quite a few rabid dogs.

So come on down Congressional staff, you don't really need vaccinations to visit my town as long as you stay out of the vicinity of Mr. Hayes.

Read More......

The myth of putting corn in your tank.

This past February the world community of scientists published a report on global warming under the umbrella of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). That report concluded that global warming is “unequivocal” and human activity is the main driver, “very likely” causing most of the rise in temperatures since 1950.

While the rest of the world moves on and is rapidly trying to find solutions for this global environmental crisis, a few republicans pretend nothing is going on. One of them, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), even thinks global warming is caused by farting.

So with most people being worried about global warming, except for a few republicans who also still believe that Earth is flat, folks are looking for solutions to be a little more earth and climate friendly. A lot of them seem to think that one solution for environmentally friendly fuel is corn. They couldn't be more wrong.

Let's look at a few common misconceptions about corn-based ethanol:

1. There's plenty of corn around
If every vehicle in the United States were powered by ethanol, only one of eight would be drivable. Already, 20 percent of the nation's corn goes to ethanol production. Replacing just one-eighth of U.S. gasoline consumption would require the country's entire corn crop. Even if we planted every single acre of farmland in the US full of corn for ethanol, we still wouldn't have enough to provide all the fuel we use in the USA.

2. Corn fuel reduces greenhouse emissions
Corn-based ethanol's contribution to fighting global warming is marginal at best. Corn-based Ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline, but its production relies heavily on diesel tractors and fertilizers made from petroleum, to the tune of some 140 gallons of oil per acre. Once you have produced the corn it is also very energy intensive to distill the ethanol out of it. A recent survey by the University of California at Berkeley found that corn-based ethanol cuts greenhouse-gas emissions by, at best, 13 percent over gasoline.

3. Corn fuel boosts your engine's performance
Ethanol does boost octane, and thereby engine performance, but supplies less energy per gallon than gasoline. While it is somewhat less expensive than gas, its lower energy content means you get fewer miles per gallon. Until the price of E85 drops to about 72 percent of gas, consumers won't see any savings.

Ethanol fuel can be part of a solution, but not when it's corn based. Ethanol distilled out of sugarcane and switch grass for example is preferable because it takes much less energy to distill and you don't need to use a mountain of pesticides to grow it. Ethanol distilled from switch grass and plant waste is know as "cellulosic ethanol". Unfortunately a lot of research remains to be done before cellulosic ethanol will be ready for prime time.

If you really want to help the environment and curb global warming (and you should), it is much better to first of all try using your car less and look into buying a hybrid car or at least a car that gets high mileage. Until we have completely clean cars of course.

The local spin on this story:

On May 9th 2006, Robin Hayes held a press conference at a gas station outside of his district in Charlotte, NC and filled his SUV with E85 (= corn-based ethanol) while at the same time announcing he would introduce a bill to offer tax incentives for businesses that develop facilities to sell E85. Hayes was obviously oblivious to the fact that corn based-ethanol is not the solution to our environmental problems nor is it a sustainable solution for energy independence. As with most of the bills Robin introduces (and anything else he does) it went nowhere and the bill never became law.

Read More......

Does Congressman Hayes actually do anything?

Nearly $3 million sought from the federal government for projects in Cabarrus County was left out of a budget approved by the U.S. House 2 weeks ago.

The omitted funding includes money for Kannapolis to improve N.C. 3 near the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis. Without the money, the city could have to find public funding for the biotech center's immediate needs, City Manager Mike Legg said.

Other projects whose funding wasn't approved include improvements at Concord Regional Airport and improved radio equipment for local law enforcement officials.

Local leaders were depending on U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes, a Concord Republican who put the earmarks in budget bills that were going through the budget writing process last year.

But Republicans didn't pass all the spending bills for this year before Democrats took control of the House and Senate last month.

Robin Hayes, a Concord Republican blames Democrats of course but fails to mention that last year's "do-nothing" Republican Congress failed to pass 80 percent of the Appropriations bills and, instead, dumped them on the new Congress.

If they had actually done some work all the spending bills would have been passed before Democrats took over.

Democrats have a good reason not to approve the spending. They say they are dedicated to restoring fiscal discipline and eliminating the Republican deficits. That means making some tough, yet responsible, choices. By creating a record deficit of 9 trillion dollars republicans have taken out a monstrous loan from our grandchildren. Someone has to clean up that mess and clearly the new Congress understands that.

So the question is: What has Robin Hayes been doing in Congress to earn the $165,000 we pay him each year?

Turns out he gives post offices new names.
During his whole career Hayes has introduced a total of 42 bills or resolutions in the House and only four have gone on to become public law. Of the four bills he's introduced or sponsored in the past 8 years that have been signed into law, three of them have been to rename buildings after people. Keep in mind that in this whole time period Republicans controlled Congress.

Isn't it time for a Congressman that cares about his constituents?
Apparently 49.86% of the voters in the last election thought so. Now if we can only get 0.3% more in 2008 everything will be alright.

Read More......

Will Robin Hayes listen?

Will Robin Hayes listen to these veterans?

Read More......

Fixing something you broke by breaking it even harder.

Our beloved President announced his "new way forward in Iraq" this week. Something he started thinking about right after the November election in which he, according to his own words, received a good "thumping". I'm sure it was pure coincidence that he didn't seem to think there needed to be a "new plan" until then.

The new plan can be summarized as follows:
I'm not listening to anyone. I'll do what I want, because I'm the decider. neener neener neener.

The president totally ignores his people, the result of the election and the Iraq Study Group (Baker group) report with this plan:

• According to many political analysts the Iraq war was the #1 reason for the huge loss of republicans in the November election.
• According to an AP poll Seventy percent of Americans oppose sending more troops to Iraq. Just 35 percent of Americans think it was right for the United States to go to war, another record low in AP polling and a reversal from two years ago when two-thirds of Americans thought it was the correct move. Other polls showed a similar result.
  
• The Iraq Study Group Report stated: “The United States should immediately launch a new diplomatic offensive to build an international consensus for stability in Iraq and the region. This diplomatic effort should include every country that has an interest in avoiding a chaotic Iraq, including all of Iraq's neighbors.” Instead the president chose to chide Iran and Syria in his speech again: "These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq." Not a very good start for diplomacy if you ask me.
  

Sending 21,000 additional troops into Iraq will bring the amount of troops to the same level they were 2 years ago. Oh yeah, we were doing sooooo much better back then.
A defense official said that the 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, would move first into Iraq under Bush's plan. The brigade, based at Fort Bragg, NC, is now in Kuwait and poised to head quickly into the country.

Local Bush lapdog Robin Hayes supports the "surge" of course:

"The Iraqis themselves need to step up their commitment to securing their own country," he said, "and (I) want to see a plan that uses our troops to ensure this happens at a faster pace."

How are you going to motivate someone to work harder by doing the work for them?

The real reason for this "plan" to me seems to stretch this clusterf@*# out into 2008 and leave the clean up for Bush's successor.

There was also a very remarkable sentence in Bush's speech:

"Victory will not look like the ones our fathers and grandfathers achieved. There will be no surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship."

No ceremony on the deck of a battleship..hmm..what does that remind me of?? oh, I know, this one maybe? :

The reason we went to Iraq in the first place was to punish the ones responsible for 9/11, take out all the WMD's of Saddam, spread democracy in Iraq. Until we ourselves get democracy by having a president who listens to his people, I don't think we need to try and spread that principle anywhere else.
The American body count stands at 3,018 and there's no end in sight. Happy New Year!

Read More......

Fall out from the Hayes BlueNC blogpost

The day after I posted the Hayes story on the bluenc blog, things took off like a rocket.
BlueNC's website hits went from a daily average of 1300 to 38,000.
The story was picked up by numerous other blogs, HuffingtonPost and DailyKos probably being the biggest ones.
It was only a matter of time after that until the "regular" media caught wind of the story.
It made the Charlotte Observer twice and MSNBC reportedly interviewed Dale Cline, the publisher of the Concord Standard (if anyone can find video of this online, please let me know).
And finally my crowning achievement: Tom Delay's blog.

Meanwhile in the Hayes camp his spokeswoman (she's actually a girl in her early 20's), Carolyn Hern, said she did not attend the speech but that she has "no reason to doubt the accuracy of Hayes' initial quotes".

It's interesting how these bloggers can distort the news," Hern said.

If you can explain to me how publishing the exact quotes of someone (and they themselves saying those quotes are correct) is in any way distorting news, i'll buy you a beer.

When I first read the original story I immediately thought "this needs to be on CNN". I didn't quite make it, but hey, MSNBC ain't bad.
So next time you want to break a national news story, keep your eye on those newspaper vending machines when you're out for a walk!

Read More......

The one that started it all (aka Hayes goes nuts).

This is the one that started my "career" as a blogger. As I was walking around in downtown Concord my eye caught the front page of our local newspaper "the Concord Standard" in a vending machine. I couldn't believe what i was reading. Since I knew our local paper did not publish their stories online and only the few 1000 readers of this paper had access to this story, I decided I needed to bring this story to the world. I posted the story on bluenc. I couldn't foresee what would follow.

Robin Hayes has the solution to the Iraq war: have our soldiers convert all Muslims to Christianity.

Having won the election by only a hair’s width and almost getting himself kicked out of Congress seems to have had some profound psychological effects on poor Mr. Hayes. A speech that flip-floppin’ Robin gave last week at the Concord Rotary Club seems to prove he has finally gone off the deep end.

Our local weekly newspaper the “Concord Standard and Mount Pleasant Times” reported on Mr. Hayes speech in his hometown:

First there’s the usual talk of how we’re “winning” over there: “The war in Iraq has got to be won; it’s being won” (A couple of months ago Hayes said that the rise in violence in Iraq was an indication that we’re winning.)

Then comes the real kicker: “Stability in Iraq ultimately depends on spreading the message of Jesus Christ, the message of peace on earth, good will towards men. Everything depends on everyone learning about the birth of the Savior.”

So if we just turn our soldiers into missionaries everything will be okay, Mr. Hayes?

First we sent our men over there to take out the WMD’s, then it was to “spread democracy”, now you want them there to “spread the message of Jesus Christ”? It so happens that people in Iraq already have a savior but unfortunately for Mr. Hayes it’s Muhammed, not Jesus.

If we can’t keep Muslims from killing each other over there, I don’t think that trying to make them all Christian is going to be any easier.

With this kind of talk Hayes just plays into the hands of Al-Qaeda by confirming what their leaders have always been saying: those American soldiers are just modern Crusaders. He is thereby strengthening the beliefs of terrorists that want to kill every American soldier they come across.

Read More......