The Ghost of Lauch Faircloth - Virginia Foxx

Back in 1998, on his way to getting run out of the Senate by John Edwards, Lauch Faircloth held "hearings" back here in North Carolina, on the IRS-menace that would have probably made the Founding Fathers move back to London and swear fealty to King George had they seen it. Faircloth had been elected to the Senate in 1992, in large part because he portrayed himself as being ideologically identical with Jesse Helms. That had been helpful, because despite a lifetime handling political money, Faircloth seemed to lack any ideas of his own.

Well, Virginia Foxx has strapped me into the way-back machine with this "hearing" (login, but no $ required). Like Faircloth, Foxx has decided to come back to her district, during an election year and hold a hearing attacking a trendy scapegoat. And she pulled out some Helmsesque demoagoguery to boot, saying, "Every dollar spent on an illegal immigrant is a dollar that was diverted away from a law-abiding, tax-paying citizen." (Because you know, dollars spent on all other people, the tax-paying citizen gets to keep.)

Like Faircloth, she didn't wanted to make sure there wasn't anybody around to disagree:

Of the five witnesses testifying yesterday, three hold elected positions: Folwell, Conrad-Shrader and Keith. All are Republicans running for re-election, which drew criticism from Sandra Hoyle, an organizer of Monday's rally downtown that drew more than 1,500 people in favor of legalizing immigrants here illegally.

Counting Mark Souder (the Republican Chairman of the House Subcommittee Foxx abused to claim this was an "official" hearing) there was County Commissioner, a District Attorney and a State Representative. What, no Register of Deeds or Clerk of Court candidate available to discuss the impact of Hispanic surnames on copying costs?

In response to the claim of one-sided panelists, Foxx cited her reknowned independence - "It had nothing to do with liberal and conservative," she said. "I don't think in those terms."

Actually, the evidence is that Foxx rarely thinks for herself. She votes almost every time with the GOP leadership - not surprising, because the House GOP leadership are some of her biggest campaign contributors. Like Faircloth, Foxx is an empty vessel for right-wing lunacy. If she's got any ideas of her own, like perhaps voting against helping Katrina Victims, they aren't really worth much.

I think one thing all members of Congress should consider before holding these flim-flam hearings, is that "every dollar spent on a needless campaign commercial of an insult to the deliberative democratic process is a dollar diverted away from tax-paying citizens." The right-wing likes to say they believe in small government. If it really believes that, it wouldn't waste even small amounts on these tax-payer funded antiquated ideas road shows.

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Yes, That's Right The "Hot & Now Sign" Is On, Get Your Activism HERE!

I like BlueNC. I think it adds a vital source of electoral-political information. But as I learned last week, it is apparently frustrated with progressive organizations not begging it for help in advertising their campaigns. I attempted to suggest that perhaps, the several posters who make up BlueNC should take advantage of the mailing lists to which these organizations send out alerts and then spread the word. I can't say I expected this:

I have no doubt that the NC Justice center does good work, but so does ACORN, Self-Help, the Nature Conservancy, Neuse River Foundation, etc. And there is no way that I can find the listserve information for all these groups, sign-up, and filter through my inbox for relevant information. These organizations should not place the burden on getting information on their events on individuals.

I tried, after, ohh, about ten minutes of web-searching, to help BlueNC out by sending them links to the subscription pages for the organizations they claimed weren't doing enough to make BlueNC the single source for progressives looking to get involved. And I'll admit, I'd basically dared them to take the information I provided them, and to serve as a conduit for progressives. They didn't post my comment. .....

I'll let that hang out there a moment, during which while you lie on your sleepmat at rest time, little chidren, you can consider that here was someone trying to save those heavily burdened individuals the time it would take to find a list serv. And Blue NC didn't think that was appropriate material.

But, guess what, this single individual feels no burden is too great when progress is the cause! I have gotten myself on the list serves BlueNC can't seem to find the time to sort out. And from now on you folks will be getting the inside scoop from HERE!

I want to thank BlueNC.com. I really appreciate their commentary on electoral politics and they are connected with the Democratic party, as far as this unconnected blogger can tell. But, I can also say with some certainty that being connected to the party, doesn't always mean much as far as being connected with changing the lives of working people in NC. So I want to provide the sort of clearing house which BlueNC for some reason can't do itself.

So watch here, we'll be coming to you with updates about what's going on in NC and beyond. I'll be passing along what I glean from the group's emails and what I can find on the web, and perhaps, as I know a few little birdies in the group, provide even greater detail into the services they provide and the battles they are fighting.


Editor's Note: This post was removed from its initial state, as I initially was so flabbergasted-annoyed at BlueNC's prima donna whining that profanity spewed forth like, well, not quite like Vesuvius, but more than I would like. (Well, at least for this blog. The profanity laced version may be coming to another blog near you.) So I cleaned it up, looks purdy, don't it?

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