Since the Apple Festival was cancelled this year for fears that Ivan would bring in inclement and even dangerous weather (of course, it ended up being a beautiful day…), I’ve secured booth space for October 1st and 2nd at the Denver Days festival. The festival runs from 3-11 on Friday and 9-6 on Saturday, and I plan to be there for as much of that time as humanly possible.
Our legislators are proposing a fiscally dangerous amendment to the North Carolina Constitution called "Amendment One." This amendment would allow the state to issue "self-financing bonds" (which are the economic equivalent of perpetual motion machines–and just as unsound). This is nothing more than an extension of corporate welfare and a blank check for the state to increase debt as much as they can; make no mistake, North Carolina residents will be taxed more to pay for them. The experience with these in other states confirms this, and shows a negative return for the bond "investment."
Not only that, but voters are to be deceived in what this amendment actually says. The wording on the ballot is not the wording of the actual amendment (in violation of Article XIII Section 4 of the NC Constitution) and does not alert the voter to aspects of the amendment, such as locking in a minimum tax valuation and the burden of local governments to provide revenues to make up for any shortfalls.
Once again, I will be participating in the local CROP Walk to raise money for fighting hunger world-wide, 25% of which stays in the region in which it was raised. Hurricane Frances caused a huge amount of damage throughout the Southeast, and it looks like Ivan and others are poised to do even more damage. I’ve decided, as I do every year, to help out this effort by walking around and around in circles. Dozens of people are going to join me as we keep walking for 10km, which is the distance many people in the world have to walk to get food and water. You can donate to my efforts online by clicking here.
I will be at the Cabarrus County Fair in Concord, NC on September 11-12. I will also be at the Lincoln County Apple Festival on the 18th. Both times I will be helping to man the Libertarian booth and hopefully increase my support base. I’m getting really excited about my chances of victory in November!