Welcome to the Stupid Thing of the Week. North Carolina Republican Party chair Tom “I’m not gay, dammit!” Fetzer is throwing his party’s support behind the Palin/Beck faction and its move to purge the GOP of “moderates.” In a move that is leaving some political observers gasping or scratching their heads, Fetzer has invited New York Conservative Party congressional candidate Doug “Mr. Excitement” Hoffman to speak at the Republican Party’s Hall of Fame Dinner on Nov. 21 in Raleigh. Hoffman was endorsed by various Republican bigwigs – Palin, Pawlenty, Perry – over the GOP’s own candidate, Dede Scozzafava, who just wasn’t Neolithic enough for the new, improved, and increasingly nutzoid party.

Hoffman — who doesn’t even live in the New York congressional district in which he ran —  of course lost the race, giving that congressional seat to Democrats for the first time since the Civil War.  That’s success enough for Fetzer, though, who said Hoffman’s candidacy – against a Republican, remember – “inspired conservatives across the country . . . he will reach out to North Carolina conservatives to help us reclaim our government.” Well, good luck with that, Tom. Encouraging disarray in your own party is certainly one way to be remembered. By the way, here’s the kind of oratorical excitement you can expect from Hoffman if you head to Raleigh for his speech:

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Sometimes blogs are useful for simply passing along something worthwhile. If you’re like me and enjoy dark humor, like The Onion, and can’t stand even the thought of Glenn Beck, then check out this video from Onion News Network.

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Well, that’s a breath of fresh air. Mayor-elect Anthony Foxx says his first act as mayor will be to sign the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. We’ve written about the USMCPA before, Mayor McCrory’s refusal to sign it, and City Council’s dithering on the issue. Check out this link for a reminder.

The irony of McCrory’s refusal to sign the USMCPA is that he was chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors environmental committee, which drafted and approved the measure in the first place. At the time, McCrory was bucking for a federal job — scuttlebutt had it that he wanted to be head of the EPA, thus his slot on the mayors’ environmental committee — but it’s one of the jobs he couldn’t talk his way into, sort of like the governor’s office. McCrory wouldn’t sign the agreement because it didn’t include nuclear power as a recommended power source. As the Observer pointed out at the time, McCrory’s objections were irrelevant since local governments don’t build nuclear plants. Local governments can, however, carry out the climate agreement pledge’s suggestions, such as preserving open space, enforcing land-use policies, promoting public transit, and inventorying greenhouse gas emissions in city operations.

At the time, of course, McCrory was on the payroll at Duke Energy, which wants to build more nuclear plants. Now, I’m not saying McCrory was in Duke’s back pocket, but … yeah, actually, that is what I’m saying. Also, I’m saying it will be a nice change to have a mayor who’s able to tell the difference between the public interest and corporate profits.

FYI, the linked column above is included in my upcoming book, Deliver Us From Weasels, to be released later this month. End of commercial, thank you and good night.

Mayor McCrory as Duke Energy mascot Reddy Kilowatt

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In my ongoing efforts to point out the neverending wackness of my homestate of South Carolina, I couldn’t have asked for more than Rodell Vereen. You may remember him as the guy who had sex with a horse named Sugar at Lazy B Stables in Longs, S.C., near Myrtle Beach and, when he was given parole, went right back and was caught again, having sex with the same horse. At the time of the second arrest, the host of NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me comic quiz show said maybe the problem was that Sugar is “an unusually alluring horse.” A judge took another view yesterday, though, and sentenced Vereen to three years in prison and ordered him to stay away from Sugar. There was no ruling on the possibility that Vereen was unstable – ba-da-boom.

Sugar enjoys a post-coital smoke

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Mayor-elect Anthony Foxx ran strongly in all areas of the city other than the heavily Republican south and southeast. Why is that? Well, besides the usual reasons for winning a mayoral race — solid financial backing, strong grassroots organizing, a fairly dull opponent — I get the sense that Foxx’s victory reflected a deep, underlying concern with the way the city has been run.

John Lassiter is part of the Uptown/Chamber/development crowd that has run the city for so long, and it hurt him. Simply put, many Charlotteans are tired of seeing their part of town being neglected in favor of Uptown and southeast Charlotte; or even if their part of town is fine, many don’t like the fact that formerly vibrant parts of Charlotte have been allowed to seriously deteriorate. This may be hard to imagine if you haven’t been in Charlotte long, but back before all the money started flowing Uptown and toward the southern ‘burbs, the east side of town, North Tryon St., and the Independence Blvd. corridor were all solid, lively areas with strong businesses and safe, well-maintained neighborhoods. The Wilkinson Blvd. and Freedom Drive corridors, although less-populated and perhaps a little grittier, were also thriving areas.

The kind of deterioration that has taken hold in these formerly vital parts of Charlotte didn’t have to happen; it was the result of lousy planning and a thoughtless rush toward sprawl. It’s time to pay attention to the rest of Charlotte, and voters saw Foxx as the more likely candidate to do that. In this economy, there’s no way to predict whether the new mayor will be able to help revitalize the neglected parts of Charlotte, but no one can deny that it was “the rest of Charlotte,” which is, of course, most of the city, that voted to put Anthony Foxx in office.

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Yep, he’s back. Rep. Joe “You lie” Wilson (R-SC) would be better off keeping his neo-Confederate-by-way-of-the-Chamber-of-Commerce mouth shut now and then, but don’t count on it. Instead, less than two months after heckling the president during an address to Congress, Wilson once again opened his pie hole and spoke without thinking. Actually, maybe that is his way of thinking. Anyhow, Wilson is going around claiming that the delay in getting swine flu vaccine to everyone who wants it is the fault of President Obama.

“The current administration is solely responsible. They can’t blame this on any prior administration,” said the Low Country Wise Man. “This is the responsibility of the current administration. They’ve put the lives of Americans at risk.”

Joe, Joe, Joe. First of all, the delay in producing the H1N1 vaccine, as has been explained over and over, is due to the slow manufacturing process that requires growing the virus in chicken eggs. Not too much Obama can do about that, sad to say, although the Prez has said he’s “extremely frustrated” about it.

But secondly, and more importantly, Joe, do you remember the month of June? You do? Good. Now, do you remember when a supplementary appropriations bill containing special funding for H1N1 preparation came before the House of Representatives? You do? Great. Now, would you happen to remember how you voted on that bill? You don’t? Well, here’s the bad news, Joe: you, along with 95 percent of House Republicans, just said “no,” and voted against funding for fighting the H1N1 pandemic. Now, will you please shut up, Joe? No, I didn’t think so. We also understand your wife has H1N1 these days. How’s she feeling about your anti-vaccine vote?

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Yesterday, Chapel Hill elected its first openly gay mayor, Mark Kleinschmidt. He ran a strong grassroots campaign to become the third openly gay man to hold mayoral office in the state, in addition to Carrboro’s Mike Nelson and Franklinton’s Elic Senter.

Two steps forward, a step back, a step forward, a step back. So far, that’s been the story of the struggle for gay rights, with a slow, gradual movement toward equal treatment. The most publicized gay rights vote in the nation took place in Maine, where voters repealed a state law that would have allowed same-sex couples to wed. It was a tough loss for gay rights advocates, particularly in a section of the country that has, overall, been supportive of LGBT issues. Frank Schubert, chief organizer for the repeal forces, said, “The institution of marriage has been preserved in Maine and across the nation.” No, Frank, the institution of marriage has been preserved for the use of straight people in Maine. That’s all.

Meanwhile, in a less publicized referendum, voters in Washington state approved an expansion of the state’s domestic partnership law, which grants registered domestic partners additional state-granted rights currently given only to married couples, such as using sick leave to care for a domestic partner, and rights related to adoption, child custody and child support. Activists in that state called it the “everything but marriage” law. And, also, a gay rights anti-discrimination law was passed by voters in the Midwestern city with the great name, Kalamazoo, Michigan.

As The Man once said, “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”

New Chapel Hill mayor Mark Kleinschmidt

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Lately, it’s almost as if Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina has been going out of its way to aggravate people. First, the health care insurance behemoth sent out notices to its customers giving them the news of across-the-board premium and co-pay increases — and they decided to do that during the same week in which they also mailed out flyers in opposition to health care reform. Those flyers included postage-free anti-reform cards that BCBSNC customers were urged to send to Kay Hagan to oppose reform.

On Sunday, Raleigh’s News & Observer ran an op-ed by BCBSNC’s CEO, Bob “$4 Million Man” Greczyn, in which he leaned heavily on a “highly respected study” that was, in reality, a document that has been widely dismissed as a deliberately skewed, industry-paid sham.

Now, physicians have sent a letter to N.C. Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin, claiming that Blue Cross is trying to get around provisions of a new law controlling contracts between doctors and insurance companies. Read about it in more detail here.

Last but not least, we salute the Pitt County Board of Commissioners, which just voted to send BCBSNC a letter of disapproval concerning the recent anti-reform mailing aimed at Sen. Hagan. Details here.

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Every time Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina launches one of her wacked-out rants, you think she’s topped herself, but here she goes again, reaching ever greater heights of pure goofiness. Foxx has become one of Congress’ top entertainers, and by “entertainer” I mean “bizarre granny figure,” through her speeches in which she has touted the notions that Pres. Obama wasn’t born in the United States.; healthcare reform means senior citizens will be “put to death by their government”; and that “there are no Americans who don’t have health care.” Give Foxx credit, though, she always ups the ante in her nutcase sweepstakes. Now, she’s gone onto the House floor to declare that she and everyone in her district are living in fear (which, along with anger, seem to be the only two emotions rightwing extremists like Foxx have left at their disposal), and that health care reform is a more terrible threat to America than “any terrorist right now in any country.” Um, thanks for that valuable insight, Congresswoman; maybe next time remember to take your meds before giving a public speech.

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Mark this one down as yet another example of someone who’s completely lacking in self-awareness; or, maybe he’s just an asshole. Or both. Probably both. I’m talking, of course, about Rush Limbaugh who, yesterday, had the gall to tell FoxNews viewers that President Obama is “immature.” Coming from a man who has made a fortune doing mature things like making fun of Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s Disease and repeatedly making jokes around the word “anal,” it was a breathtaking example of personal cluelessness. No wonder so many people think Limbaugh talks out of his ass.

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