Mitt Romney has taken the lead over President Obama in a North Carolina poll, 48% to 46%

Democratic pollster Public Policy Polling says Mitt Romney has taken the lead over President Obama in a North Carolina poll released this month.

The poll shows Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, leading Obama 48 percent to 46 percent.

"It's a small lead but still significant in that it's the first time we've found Romney ahead in our monthly polling of the state since October," Tom Jensen, director of Public Policy Polling, said in a news release.

A month ago, Romney trailed Obama by 1 percentage point.

Four years ago, Obama claimed North Carolina by just 14,171 votes, out of more than 4.3 million cast for president.

Given Obama's past election history, the potential for voter fraud in North Carolina will be extremely HIGH.

NC Democrats pushing back HARD against Republican led effort to institute Voter ID requirement.

Where Are All the Fracking Accidents?

A Yale University Energy Study Group has done a cost-benefit analysis of shale gas extraction and has determined that at current levels, the extraction of shale gas has generated a consumer surplus of slightly more then $100 billion for the American economy:

Gas production in 2008 was 25.6 tcf so that the surplus to consumers by the price reduction from shale gas equaled $102.9 billion.... [It] is startling to acknowledge that consumer benefits from the technology of shale gas drilling and new gas production can be expected to exceed $100 billion per year, year in and year out as long as present production rates are maintained.

Yet the whole point of the analysis is to weigh the benefits of the new and cheaper fuel source against the costs of extraction, especially the potential environmental accidents that can occur.


To determine how significant the environmental costs were, the authors used an EPA report to determine the scale of accidents associated with shale extraction, with a focus on incidents of groundwater contamination. The number of times this happened was surprisingly few:

To undertake such an assessment of costs, we have reviewed current studies and reports on accidents, misuse of technology and poor well design and installation. A 2011 report for the Secretary of Energy (“Deutch Report”) counted 19 instances of problems with frackwater over the previous few years, amid thousands of wells drilled.

Since the paper claimed there were only 19 reported instances of problems with frackwater contamination I had to read the original EPA report to determine where this number came from. The EPA report itself does not give a number, instead stating that opponents of fracking tend to lack a lot of solid cases to point to:

Advocates state that fracturing has been performed safety without significant incident for over 60 years, although modern shale gas fracturing of two mile long laterals has only been done for something less than a decade. Opponents point to failures and accidents and other environmental impacts, but these incidents are typically unrelated to hydraulic fracturing per se and sometimes lack supporting data about the relationship of shale gas development to incidence and consequences.

 There are hundreds of thousands of shale gas wells across America, and while there are many horror stories in the media, it seems there are surprisingly few documented and confirmed cases of accidents occurring, especially with contaminated water.

Read more here.

Bracing for DNC data surge

Major wireless carriers are shoring up Charlotte's digital network for the Democratic National Convention -- and the extraordinary wave of texts, tweets and Facebook postings expected from thousands of smartphone- and tablet-toting visitors.

AT&T announced Wednesday that it is investing millions in network improvements throughout the Charlotte area. Upgrades include adding Wi-Fi "hot zones" at popular uptown areas, and activating a dozen new cell sites from Concord to Ballantyne.

AT&T is not the only carrier getting ready. Spokespersons for T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon said their crews have been bustling around Charlotte for months.

Verizon Wireless teams walked hotel hallways to see how phones and devices worked in rooms. Sprint analyzed call connections during major uptown sporting events, and designed improvements to limit blocked and dropped calls. T-Mobile, expecting demand to be up to 10 times that of the 2008 convention in Denver, also is adding capacity to existing sites for faster connections.

And all are planning to bring in the COWS during convention time -- temporary towers called cells on wheels.

Read more here.

Ranting pro-Obama North Carolina teacher to retain her job

The North Carolina high school teacher who berated a student after that student, through a question, criticized President Obama will keep her job. The teacher, Tanya Dixon-Neely, was suspended without pay, but she will return to school next year. As a condition of her return, she reportedly will be required to start what was described as a “monitored growth plan.”

Read more here.

Pictures: John Edwards and daughter Quinn spend Father's Day frolicking at Figure Eight Island, North Carolina

Just days earlier he was contemplating whether he might lose his freedom but now John Edwards has been seen publicly for the first time with his 'precious' daughter Quinn enjoying Father's Day weekend. 


The one-time presidential candidate was pictured with the four-year-old - whose mother is his former mistress Rielle Hunter -  playing on the beach at Figure Eight Island in North Carolina. The 59-year-old ran in and out of the water with the girl as the pair chatted easily together. 


Edwards publicly referred to Quinn for the first time last month after he was acquitted at a trial where he had been accused of using campaign money to cover up his affair with Hunter, 48, and her subsequent pregnancy.

Read more here.

Only Voters Can Hold Obama Accountable for Illegal Amnesty Policy

President Obama’s new amnesty policy regarding illegal aliens violates the law. But there’s probably no route to trump it either in Congress or in court, so the only recourse is for the American people to trump it by electing a new president.

President Obama’s shocking power grab--which I and a colleague predicted he would make in two books that we coauthored--also carries an ominous and profoundly disturbing warning. This president is willing to engage in such a brazen power play only months before he has to stand before us for reelection. Just imagine what he will do if he gets another term, knowing each day of those four years that he will never again have to answer for anything, to anyone.

Five days before the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama proclaimed on television, “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” The Constitution forbids any president such sweeping power to fundamentally transform our beloved nation. Now we see proof that he knows this, and so the way he is fulfilling his vow to fundamentally transform this nation is by violating his oath of office to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

For that reason alone, Americans must vote this November to replace this president.

Read more here.

UNC's academic scandal deserves greater scrutiny

Last week, the University of North Carolina system president appointed a panel to examine the university’s internal investigation into an embarrassing academic fraud scandal. The four-member panel named by Tom Ross is tasked with taking a close look at the investigation’s findings, and is not a new investigation.

Investigating the investigation has something of an absurd feel to it, but it is a wise move, and affirms that the university system is taking this case very seriously.

The blame in the fraud case has been placed at the feet of two individuals: former Department of African and Afro-American Studies chairman Julius Nyang’oro and longtime department administrator Deborah Crowder.

The university’s investigation found that from summer school 2007 through summer school 2011, evidence of serious and fraudulent irregularities were discovered in more than 50 classes. Eighteen of nineteen students in one class were members of the UNC football team, and one was a former team member. The scandal came in the aftermath of an NCAA investigation into the football team that led to the firing its head coach, a postseason ban and scholarship restrictions.

Perhaps most disturbing are allegations of forgery of professors’ signatures on grade rolls.

Read more: The Herald-Sun - Academic scandal deserves greater scrutiny

Michelle Obama 'descended from white Irish immigrants'

Michelle Obama's ancestry has been traced back decisively for the first time to white Irish immigrants in the Deep South of the United States. 

By Jon Swaine, Washington

5:46PM BST 17 Jun 2012

The First Lady's great-great-great-grandmother, a slave called Melvinia, was made pregnant in 1859 at the age of about 15 by Charles Shields, one of her owners' sons, according to a comprehensive new book.

Shields, who was about 20 at the time, was a descendant of Andrew Shields, a protestant Irish immigrant who fought against the British in the American revolutionary war in the late 18th century.

Mrs Obama was not aware of the family tree uncovered by the book's author, Rachel Swarns, who also alerted a series of white cousins around the US to their genealogical link to the White House.

 Mrs Obama's bloodline was traced back to Melvinia in 2009 by Megan Smolenyak, a genealogist who has also traced Barack Obama's maternal ancestors back to Moneygall in Ireland.

Valued at $475, Melvinia was transported at the age of about eight from South Carolina to Mr Shields's 200-acre farm in Clayton County, Georgia, where she worked as one of three slaves.
Henry Wells Shields had grown up 190 miles to the north-east, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where his grandfather Andrew apparently settled after migrating from Ireland in the 18th century.

Melvinia eventually had four children, and after being freed following the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, continued to work as a farm laborer on land belonging to Charles Shields.

Read more here.

Rodney King Dead at 47; Found in Pool

Rodney King, the black motorist whose 1991 videotaped beating on March 6, 1991 by Los Angeles police officers was the touchstone for one of the most destructive race riots in the nation's history, has died, his publicist said Sunday, June 17, 2012. He was 47.

 

Beau Biden gaffes on attack meant for Romney, hits NC’s Democrat Governor Bev Perdue instead

On Saturday evening, Vice President Joe Biden’s son and Delaware attorney general Beau Biden tried to attack presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, but the punch ended up hitting North Carolina’s Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue instead.

“I’ve never met a successful politician who didn’t run again,” Biden said during his keynote address at the North Carolina Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson dinner, in an attempt to attack Romney’s decision against running for re-election after his sole term as Massachusetts’ governor. Biden had characterized that comment as “off script” just before making it.

The crowd “collectively groaned,” according to the Raleigh News and Observer, because Perdue had decided against running for re-election this year.

Perdue’s administration has been plagued with its own scandals and gaffes  — including alleged sexual harassment among staffers at the North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDP) and Perdue’s suggestion that the country “suspend” congressional elections in order to “help this country recover.”

Read more at the Daily Caller.

Cartoon: For better or for worse, Perdue on marriage amendment

Gov. Bev Perdue's statement on the marriage amendment didn't satisfy opponents who wanted something stronger. Here's Charlotte Observer editorial cartoonist Kevin Siers' take (via the Raleigh News & Observer).

Read more here: http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/cartoon_for_better_or_for_worse_perdue_on_marriage_amendment#storylink=cpy

Cartoon: How Walter Dalton morphs into NC Governor Bev Perdue

The Charlotte Observer's editorial cartoonist Kevin Siers drew quite a bit of laughter with his rendering of the Democratic candidates for governor earlier this year. In his new cartoon, he sheds light on how he draws Lt. Gov Walter Dalton, the North Carolina Democratic party's nominee.

via the Raleigh News & Observer

Read more here: http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/cartoon_how_walter_dalton_morphs_into_gov_bev_perdue#storylink=cpy

An Imperial and Imperious President

Posted by: Hugh Hewitt at 3:33 PM

Don't be diverted by president's rhetoric, a reporter's trespass on the rules, or the president's walk-away without answering questions.

What matters here is President Obama's enormous grab of power, and it is an enormous grab of power.

If the president can do this vis-a-vis this category of immigrants he can do it vis-a-vis any category of immigrants.

And if he can do it vis-a-vis immigration law, he can do it vis-a-vis other laws, whenever hus standard of "justice" is satisfied.

The president rightly said last year he could not do this.  Now, because his political fortunes are falling fast, he grabs for a power no other president in U.S. history has ever asserted.

That's the story.  And most of MSM will miss it because one reporter shouted a question and a flailing president pouted.

One more question: Has the president added to the marginal incentive for a parent to take minor children across the border regardless of the dangers involved in the crossing?

 

http://www.hughhewitt.com/blog/g/14c93921-2412-41dd-b99c-b1e8c113dd64

White House Quietly Moves Obama-Praising Text from Past Presidents' Bios

A month ago, the President had his tech team add a little something to a host of past presidents' biographies on the official White House website, raising eyebrows across the country. At that time, team Obama thought it would be a great idea to add sections at the end of many presidential bios touting how great Obama is.

In an admission that they overstepped propriety – now that the outrage has died down – the White House web team has gone back into these pages and pulled the Obama horn tooting out of the bio proper and put them in a separate area.

In May, many Americans were aghast at the arrogance displayed by Obama for having the temerity to insert himself into so many bios of our illustrious past presidents. Obama added bits touting his own wonderful policy ideas into the bios of such presidents as Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Calvin Coolidge, and many others.

Obama was widely criticized for the move, and the imprudence was said to have shored up the perception that Barack Obama is President Me, Me, Me. It all embarrassed the White House, as well it should. Even ABC News' Jake Tapper looked askance, saying that the additions are not "historical, but rather something else entirely."

That something else is arrogance.

Read more here.

NC Governor Beverly Perdue signs bill that allows Harrah's Cherokee Casino to offer Vegas-style card games like poker and blackjack

North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue has approved a bill that would sanction the Harrah's Cherokee Casino to offer Vegas-style card games like poker and blackjack. Perdue signed the bill into law about an hour after the measure was given final approval by the Senate on Wednesday, according to CBS News.

Live-dealer games are illegal everywhere in North Carolina, but Harrah's Cherokee Casino has been seeking permission to offer live card games since the casino opened in 1997. The new legislation will bring up to 400 additional jobs to the Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel. A percentage of the revenues from the casino will be sent to the North Carolina education department.

"It's a deal that I think puts money in the classroom of North Carolina for our kids," Perdue said, according to CBS News. "It helps us get 400 new jobs in the west. And the derivatives from the economic development activities from the tribe will be remarkable to us. I'm happy with the deal."

Many of the video machines offered by Harrah's Cherokee Casino will be replaced by live dealers. Chief Mitchell Hicks says he hopes the live games to be up and running by July 4.

CBS News has more.

Pat McCrory Hits The Airwaves In NC Gubernatorial Race

Transcript: Okay, we're struggling in North Carolina, but we're still the best state in the nation. Let's forget about politics for a while and think about us. That's what we tried in Charlotte when I was Mayor. People of all parties built that city into an economic powerhouse. I'd be honored to help do the same for North Carolina. I'm Pat McCrory, and I'm running for Governor.

North Carolina poses uphill battle for Obama, though Charlotte is DNC host city

By Adam C. Smith, Times Political Editor
In Print: Sunday, June 17, 2012

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Preparations for the Democratic National Convention are humming along in this model city of the New South. But unlike their Republican counterparts in Tampa, Democratic organizers have a nagging distraction: constant second-guessing about the decision to put their convention in North Carolina.

Prominent union leaders decried rewarding the state, one of the nation's least friendly to organized labor. Major unions announced they would not help fund the event. In 2008, labor groups contributed more than $8 million to the Democratic Convention in Denver.

Then came North Carolina's vote last month to ban gay marriage. More than 28,000 people signed a petition to move the convention from Charlotte because of that vote, something that has no chance of happening.

Meanwhile, pundits have become increasingly skeptical about President Barack Obama's Tarheel State prospects. Just look at the trends: A Democratic governor, Beverly Perdue, so unpopular she opted not to seek a second term; Republicans taking control of the legislature for the first time in more than a century; a state Democratic Party in turmoil after its executive director resigned in a sexual harassment scandal and its beleaguered chairman refused calls to quit.

Not to mention John Edwards' former mistress, Charlotte resident Rielle Hunter, has a tell-all book coming out and presumably will be happy to chat with reporters in town for the big show. Or that Obama will accept the nomination Sept. 6 in the Bank of America Stadium, named after an institution that received a $45 billion bailout.

Awkward.

So did the Obama team blow it by picking Charlotte for their convention?

Read more here.

New North carolina law to keep booze flowing for Dem convention in Charlotte

By MICHAEL BIESECKER — Associated Press

 

RALEIGH, N.C. — Adding a twist to blue laws in an increasingly red state, North Carolina's Republican-led legislature is toasting a measure intended to keep the booze flowing at the Democratic National Convention.

President Barack Obama and other Democratic Party headliners are set to be in Charlotte for the nominating soirée held every four years, which kicks off with a Labor Day party at a stock car track. The state's government-run liquor stores are closed Sundays and for the Monday holiday, presenting a potential problem for bars, restaurants and hotels needing to replenish depleted alcohol stocks.

The convention is expected to draw tens of thousands of people who will spend millions on food and libations.

To the rescue is a bipartisan group of lawmakers in Raleigh sponsoring a bill to keep the Alcoholic Beverage Control stores in Mecklenburg County, which includes Charlotte, open for Labor Day 2012.

Co-sponsored by Republicans and Democrats from the Charlotte area, the measure flowed through the state House last week on a voice vote and is awaiting approval in the Senate.

Read more here.

Roy Williams Addresses New Team's Inexperience, AFAM Scandal

Anne Brenner Reporting

CHAPEL HILL-Head UNC basketball coach Roy Williams addressed a variety of topics during his summer press conference last week—and some of his most talked-about remarks had nothing to do with his own sport.

Williams spoke briefly on the scandal surrounding UNC’s African Studies Department that has plagued the university’s football program. Although small number of basketball players were purportedly enrolled in the questionable courses, Williams says he doesn’t think the scandal is relevant to the university’s basketball program as a whole.

“It’s a very sad time,” he says. “But I strongly feel that it’s not a basketball issue. Regardless of what comes out, I’m going to be interested, and I’ll be sad if something negative comes out, but I’m worried about it from a university standpoint, not from a basketball standpoint.”


Read more here.

NC Dems want to put party dissension in past

ALEIGH, N.C. — The sexual harassment scandal that rocked the North Carolina Democratic Party this spring may still be gaining headlines, but party activists agreed it won't matter come November.

They gathered Saturday for their state convention, the annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner, at the Raleigh Convention Center.

Despite a defamation lawsuit filed just Thursday that names him, party Chairman David Parker said that "inside baseball" won't affect election outcomes.

"I don't see any indication that the leadership of this party has any impact on electing Democrats in November," Parker said.

Read more here.

Presidential Heckler Sam Donaldson plays the race card!

The mainstream media's response to Barack Obama being interrupted by a Daily Caller reporter during a Rose Garden press conference Friday is getting more preposterous with each passing second.

ABC's former White House correspondent Sam Donaldson told the Huffington Post Saturday, "Many on the political right believe this president ought not to be there – they oppose him not for his polices [sic] and political view but for who he is, an African American!"
 
As a little backround, Caller editor Tucker Carlson said in response to the controversy surrounding Neil Munro's aggressive questionning:

I don’t remember Diane Sawyer scolding her colleague Sam Donaldson for heckling President Reagan. And she shouldn’t have. A reporter’s job is to ask questions and get answers. Our job is to find out what the federal government is up to. Politicians often don’t want to tell us. A good reporter gets the story. We’re proud of Neil Munro.

Donaldson communicated with the Post via email Saturday

Read more here.

Our take on this - You know the liberals are losing when they play the race card. Unfortunately for them, we are getting to the point where they are sounding like the boy who cried "Wolf" one too many times.

Obama campaign appears absent at N.C. Democratic Party convention

Amid all the campaign signs at the state Democratic Party convention Saturday afternoon, one is conspicuously absent: Obama for America.

The only signs touting President Barack Obama in the convention hall are vendors selling buttons and T-shirts. The Obama campaign doesn't appear to have a table, or an organized presence at the event, where more than 1,200 party members are gathered.

A number of Democrats privately note the absence as odd, but the Obama campaign apparently dismisses the notion. "Obama campaign is working. We are talking to voters about moving our economy #forward," said Michael Halle, the general election director for the president's North Carolina campaign, in a tweet from his personal account.

Read more here.

Read more here: http://projects.newsobserver.com/node/24916#storylink=cpy

Ross On UNC's African Studies Scandal: "We've Tried To Be As Open As Possible."

Anne Brenner Reporting

CHAPEL HILL- Amid concerns about a lack of transparency surrounding UNC's African Studies scandal, System President Tom Ross is defending the Board's efforts to keep communication channels open.

During Thursday’s meeting of the Board’s Governance Committee, Board member Fred Eshelman said he feels he's been kept in the dark about the investigation.

"I think a lot of us have been surprised, haven't fully understood what was going on, and have found out about it after the fact," he says.

But Ross says officials both from UNC Chapel Hill and the UNC Board of Governors have actually taken efforts not to sweep the scandal under the rug.

“I think we’ve tried to be as open as possible,” he says. “[UNC] Chancellor Thorp disclosed the report about what’d happened in the department under rules that allow him to disclose otherwise confidential personnel information. That indicates that he was certainly trying to be transparent, and then we shared that with our board once we had it.”

Between the summer of 2007 and the summer of 2009, according to an internal investigation conducted by UNC, nine out of 616 total courses in the department were considered aberrant. Students in those classes completed their written coursework and received grades, but no evidence exists that any faculty member actually supervised the course.

Read more here

NC social worker back to work despite charges

By MITCH WEISS — Associated Press

 

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina social worker accused of failing to take action on complaints that could have saved a 15-month-old girl's life has returned to her job even though she's still facing criminal charges in the case.

Candice Lassiter, 28, returned to her job Monday. She was charged in February with three counts each of obstruction of justice and forgery related to the investigation of Aubrey Kina-Marie Littlejohn's death.

Lassiter answered a call at the Swain County Department of Social Services office in Bryson City on Thursday, but declined to discuss the circumstances surrounding her return.

"I just can't talk about it," she said.

Read more here.

Ex-staffer sues NC Democratic Party over sexual harassment scandal

The sexual harassment scandal that caused havoc in the North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDP) weeks ago resurfaced on Thursday when the former staffer who made the original allegation sued the party.

Adriadn Ortega, who was fired from the NCDP in November 2011, alleged that now former NCDP Executive Director Jay Parmley sexually harassed him. Ortega charged that his firing was retaliation for voicing complaints about Parmley’s alleged sexual harassment of him. The NCDP made a financial settlement with Ortega, and everybody signed non-disclosure agreements in an effort to keep the issue out of the press.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/06/14/ex-staffer-sues-nc-democratic-party-over-sexual-harassment-scandal/#ixzz1y0jB3I4a

Academic scandal 'not a basketball issue'

June, 14, 2012 

By Robbi Pickeral | ESPN.com

 CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- North Carolina coach Roy Williams reiterated Thursday he does not think the latest revelations about academic fraud in the school’s African-American studies department will affect the basketball program.

Four times in his summer news conference, he said it’s “not a basketball issue.”

“I'm concerned about it because going all the way back to the NCAA stuff, I've said the same thing consistently: It's a very sad time. OK?” Williams said in the media room at the Smith Center. “But I strongly feel that that's not a basketball issue. I'm in charge of the basketball program as much as the chancellor and the athletic director allow me to be. It's not a basketball issue, regardless of what comes out.

“Am I going to be interested? You're darn right. Am I going to be sad if some negative thing comes out? You're darn right. But -- I think the way you phrased it, am I worried about it? I'm worried about it from a university issue but not from a basketball issue.”

Read entire article

List of those who don’t believe president has constitutional authority to suspend deportations includes… Obama?

By Doug Powers  •  June 16, 2012 06:43 PM

**Written by Doug Powers
Iowa Rep. Steve King says he intends to file a lawsuit against President Obama for his administration making the unilateral decision to halt deportations of young illegals who came to the U.S. as children.
Others are also of the opinion that President Obama doesn’t have the constitutional authority for such a move, including… President Obama:

Here’s a transcript of that clip, which is from a 2011 Univision town hall:

“With respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations through executive order — that’s just not the case. Because there are laws on the books, that Congress has passed — and I know that everybody here at Bell is studying hard so you know we’ve got three branches of government. Congress passes the laws. The Executive branch’s job is to enforce and implement the laws, and then the Judiciary has to interpret the laws. There are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system, that for me to simply through executive order ignore those congressional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as president.”

 http://michellemalkin.com/2012/06/16/president-constitutional-authority/

Bloggers honor Breitbart in Las Vegas

Breitbart is being honored at the conference for conservative bloggers. | AP Photo

By TIM MAK | 6/15/12 10:47 PM EDT

LAS VEGAS — The RightOnline conservative bloggers conference opened Friday evening with a tribute to Andrew Breitbart, the late conservative pundit known for his pugilistic journalism and confrontations with the left.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/77483.html#ixzz1y0UvXKBb

Top Ten Quotes from Sarah Palin's RightOnline Address 

from  Breitbart

Here are the top ten quotes from her address. 

1. On not being co-opted by the permanent political class

2. On Andrew Breitbart's legacy of fearlessness 

3. On Matt Drudge and his clairvoyance 

4. On national security leaks and augmented figures in polls 

5. On the Tea Party’s steel spine

6.  On the mainstream media's failure to vet Obama 

7. On Obama's failed energy strategy 

8. Teasing Obama for having eaten a dog in his youth in Indonesia 

9. On the power of truth 

10. On being influencers in pop culture