Isorhythm

But to couch this episode only as a Democratic victory would really miss the point. For the process by which such a shutdown and breakdown could happen is not just the work of a few cranky Tea Party types. It is rooted in an electoral system that is heavily gerrymandered, where only those who can pay, can play. The reason the Republican dissenters could proceed with such unstrategic zeal is because they are in safe, rigged seats and so risk no challenge at the polls. Indeed, given that they only have to fear nomination within their own party, rather than election by the nation at large, there is an incentive to act out in this way because it appeals to the base. When constituencies are so heavily contorted in the interests of incumbents that there is precious little consequence to anything a politician does, then you don't really have a democracy, you just have the vote. — " And so America's skewed democracy lurches on toward its next crisis ," Gary Younce for The ...

Under the proposal approved by the Revenue Laws Study Committee, a group of House and Senate lawmakers, the maximum weekly benefit for someone out of work would drop from $535 to $350. Also, the state would replace its 26 weeks of benefits with a cap of 12 to 20 weeks, based on the health of North Carolina's economy.  -- " Proposed cuts to jobless benefits heading to general assembly ," Laura Leslie for WRAL.com 01/08/2013   Gov. Pat McCrory said Tuesday he's determined to get North Carolina's public university system to focus on teaching what's useful in terms of getting a job and criticized an "educational elite" for offering courses in subjects such as gender studies that don't lead students onto clear career paths. "That's a subsidized course. And frankly if you want to take gender studies that's fine, go to a private school and take it," said McCrory, who graduated from private Catawba College. "But I ...

There's a huge problem in America with the thinking that if someone can't afford something, he or she does not deserve it; that we're only worth what we can pay for. I've been mulling over this for a few days, and my thoughts are still cloudy and not fully formed.

I am amazingly excited that the NC gubernatorial debates are being broadcast live. Voting affects everyone. Educate yourself .

There’s a pretty strong consensus among all but the most ideologically conservative economists that the solution would involve considerable public investment in education, infrastructure, and green energy, new policies to promote domestic manufacturing, more activist regulation of the financial industry in particular, and a more progressive tax structure. But no matter who wins the election, Faux said, the governing elite has pretty much already ruled out that agenda, in favor of light regulation and governmental austerity. "Obama, Romney and the Low-Wage Future of America." Dan Froomkin. As much as I care about accessible healthcare, marriage equality, and a woman's right to her own body, I would forego another flurry of such news stories for a frank discussion of jobs, especially one that addresses quality in addition to quantity.

Mark Binker interviewed each of the three NC governor candidates for WRAL. Among the typical questions regarding funding, private school caps, and teacher pay, Binker posed this question: If you could choose any course to go back and study, what would you want to learn more about? The three candidates -- a Republican, a Democrat, and a Libertarian -- responded as follows. Can you guess their political leanings? "Modern civilization, because you learn a lot from history. . . . We're into a new technical age (like) we have never faced before. But that's true of all history. Every generation, every decade, every century has faced new challenges. How was that handled? ... I continue to learn from that today." "I think we need to teach economics and accounting to more of our kids. . . . I've had to go through more of a self-taught process. I wish I would have had more of that in high school and college."  "I might have taken something along the l...