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shine a light on Democrat accomplishments

1/6/2023

1 Comment

 
by Kathryn Charles

The Biden Administration and Democrats in Congress have made historic progress with The American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS & Science Act, the PACT Act, the Safer Communities Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and other legislation.  In the last two years, Democrats have: 
  • Reduced the unemployment rate from 6.4% to a record low of 3.5%.
  • Created 10 million jobs, with more Americans working today than at any point in U.S. history. 
  • Guided the largest increase in manufacturing jobs in 70 years.
  • Implemented a historic vaccination program that has gotten 220 million Americans fully vaccinated against COVID conveniently and for free, resulting in a 90 percent reduction in daily COVID deaths since Biden took office.
  • Passed the largest investment in history to combat the dangers of climate change.
  • Passed the most substantial gun-safety legislation in more than two decades.
In addition to the $18 million appropriated for the revitalization of our North Wilkesboro Speedway, our commissioners have reported that Wilkes County has or will put to use American Rescue Plan Act Funding of: 
  • $1,000,000 on Sheriff’s Department and EMS vehicles; 
  • $600,000 for construction of the burn building at the Fire Training Ground; 
  • $3,100,000 for construction of Emergency Services Center on Call Street; 
  • $288,933 for the vaccine Incentive Program; 
  • $7,988,299 for Rural Community Wastewater Infrastructure Extension Project; 
  • $571,194 for a picnic area and bath house Lowe’s Park at Rivers Edge.

Despite these Democratic investments in America, Republicans are desperate to regain power. Yet, they offer no real plan for healthcare, the economy, the safety of our children and teachers in schools or improving the lives of Americans. 
Republicans have openly stated that they plan to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block, sunsetting those programs after 5 years. That would be devastating for over 2 million North Carolinians who depend on Medicare, and for over 64 million of us who depend on Social Security. Republicans also are planning a total nationwide abortion ban, without exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother. And because they have no real plan to help the middle class, they are attacking our right to vote, thus attacking Democracy itself.
Democrats have proposed measures to bolster Social Security and responsibly reduce the deficit without touching Medicare or Social Security, by making billionaires pay their fair share in taxes, while also lowering costs for working families. So, please keep in mind the best interests of your family and your community when you vote this year.






1 Comment

The Need For A HeadQuarters

7/6/2017

3 Comments

 
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Wilkes County Needs A Democratic HQ
Wilkes County Democrats haven't had a permanent headquarters as long as I remember. As a kid, it just seemed like Forester's Nu-Way was the HQ because of the critical mass of signs my grandfather would put up. During the bulk of my lifetime the Democratic Party has been, well, transient. We pool our funds long enough to get us through an election, but then after a few months, we'll let the building go in order to conserve funds. It's not always easy being a Democrat in a red county. 

But we feel like the time has come for the big ask. We need a reliable meeting space, an organizing hub, a place to store our supplies. With organizing at the local level more important than ever before, we need citizens of Wilkes County to know there is a place they can go for information and activism. We need a permanent HQ to be that place. 

We are ideally looking for something local in the $500 - $700 a month range, and we need recurring monthly contributors to help us budget and plan for the long-term. Municipal elections are just around the corner, and 2018 will be a huge midterm election year for us. Turn out is historically low for midterms, but with a visible and reliable presence, Democrats can make some changes in Congress. 

We are hoping you can help us procure a headquarters that we can all be proud of and that is a resource for the entire community. Even a donation of $5 per month is something we can count on to help.  ​Visit our Act Blue Page to help with this important initiative.  Thanks! 
3 Comments

Berger The Schoolyard Bully

5/31/2017

1 Comment

 
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NC's Senate President Pro Tem and his GOP Senate is coming for a lot more than our children's lunch money. 
1 Comment

Shifting The Burden

9/29/2015

2 Comments

 
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*clap,clap,clap* Way to go guys! This budget really works out for guys exactly like us!! *clap,clap,clap*
In a new opinion piece in the Raleigh News & Observer by Gene Nichol, he points out how the North Carolina's income tax rate decline actually continues to squeeze lower income families. Small cuts to their income taxes will be quickly gobbled up by increases in taxes on repairs for automobiles and appliances. It makes no sense. 

"The governor and the General Assembly just lowered, yet again, the state’s income tax rate. To help pay for it, they enacted a new sales tax on car and appliance repairs. The move continues an apparently defining project of shifting the tax burden from the wealthiest North Carolinians to the poorest."

Recently, our refrigerator died. It was a slow death, first the fridge went,...then the freezer. We couldn't afford a new fridge. We simply couldn't. So we had to get it repaired. So what makes our lawmakers think that if you can't afford a new fridge, you can afford higher taxes on getting your old one repaired? It makes no sense. I'd like to see our lawmakers go 3 weeks using ice and a cooler waiting for a part and hoping that you could afford it when it arrived. 


It's as if our lawmakers have no contact with their actual constituents - you know, the ones that don't donate to their campaigns. Transportation is a key to life in our many rural communities without public transit systems. It means the difference between having a job and not having a job to many. Repairs to cars are not only necessary, but vital to entire households.  

The wealthy not only have newer cars which need fewer repairs, but they can easily get loaner cars, may have multiple cars in their household, can even RENT cars to use if theirs is in the shop. But for those that are struggling, car repairs are a huge burden in keeping their older cars running. I've known many people that end up bartering with mechanics because they already struggle to make ends meet, and their car is essential to holding a job. Raising the financial burden on those already burdened is not a solution.

But that is precisely what our General Assembly chose to do. They blame the poor for being poor; for not being as smart as they are; for ultimately being failed millionaires. To empathize with the poor and needy means you have to accept that there may even be other paths to a happy life,...one that *what?* may not revolve around money or power. Our legislators need to simply stop making legislation that creates crisis after crisis in lives that they can't possibly relate to. 

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article36473067.html#storylink=cpy

2 Comments

Oh Well,...The Saga of the nc state budget

9/15/2015

2 Comments

 
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Lawmakers finally posted the two-month-overdue budget compromise online just before midnight last night. The 429-page bill and accompanying 207-page money report will face votes in the House and the Senate this week before heading to Gov. Pat McCrory.

What's it got inside? Let's just look at the things I picked up on:

  • Teaching Assistants have been approved! Wait. Only existing teaching assistants. So those 2 that were cut at the first of the year at my daughter's school because of uncertainty won't be added back. 

  • The standard deduction where a couple pays no tax rises from $15,000 to $15,500. Now if we could only raise the minimum wage and get their wages to rise so they could get into a better tax bracket altogether...

  • Car owners are getting it rough: The DMV is raising fees, local governments can charge heftier per-vehicle taxes and late fees for registrations are levied. So be ready to see even more mopeds?

  • Though a new "Save the Honeybees" license plate is going to contribute monies to the NCSU Apiculture program. That's good news for our county, with our bee farm equipment suppliers. 

  • State Highway Patrol salaries have been raised 3%. 

  • I'm going to cut and paste this next bit so that I get it right: prohibits the state's Department of Health and Human Services from contracting "family planning services, pregnancy prevention activities, or adolescent parenting programs with any provider that performs abortions," an apparent swipe at Planned Parenthood. However, the measure goes on to say it does not restrict contracts issued under the Medicaid program. (Yeah, I don't know what that really means either.)

  • Victims of the state's eugenics scandal are going to finally be paid another portion of their award,...but not the whole thing. Because why hurry on helping reduce THAT horrible blemish in our state's history? 

  • Moves our state attractions like zoos and museums from the Dept. of Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources over to the Department of Cultural Resources instead, and gives Dept. of Cultural Resources more flexibility to raise admissions fees. Will this make these even harder for segments of our citizenry to visit these gems? We'll see. 


The vote in the NC House and the Senate is predicted to take place this week. Pat McGrory will then have to sign it. 

Read a synopsis of highlights from WRAL at http://www.wral.com/north-carolina-budget-compromise-released/14900430/#qXGSU64Gisrqthl5.99



Read the entire 429 page bill for yourself HERE: http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2015/budget/2015/H97-PCCS30420-LRxfr-6.pdf


Or if you like to look at financial budgets more than me, check out the money report HERE:  http://www.ncleg.net/sessions/2015/budget/2015/Conference_Committee_Report_2015-09-14.pdf
2 Comments

Still no deal, wilkes education loses

8/19/2015

1 Comment

 
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Important takeaways from last week's Journal Patriot article on the State Budget impasse:

Rep. Jeffrey Elmore of Wilkesboro - an educator...didn’t vote. The Senate approved the action by a vote of 33-9, with . . Sen. Shirley Randleman of Wilkesboro voting in favor of the continuing resolution to drag things out and postpone budget decisions (with school starting back next week!) through the end of the month.


Dr. Marty Hemric, Wilkes school superintendent, said that under the Senate budget plan, the Wilkes school system loses about $197,000 for teacher assistants and about $160,000 for driver’s education.
“That’s over “$350,000 more (moved) out of public education and the local economy in Wilkes. We have reached a stabilization in the economy in North Carolina, but for some reason, after losing over $5 million of state funding during the recent recession, our Senate wants to keep cutting our resources instead of restoring the gap,” said Hemric.


Read the full story by the J.P. here:
http://www.journalpatriot.com/news/still-no-deal-on-budget/article_b59a868c-42aa-11e5-8198-4f7392bf2aa4.html
1 Comment

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