HB2; Pat McCrory, Phil Berger, Jon Hardister, John Faircloth, John Blust and Trudy Wade appear to be psychopaths

"They are elected officials who wreaked havoc on innocent lives by uncaring, unfeeling, selfish, irresponsible, parasitic psychopaths who lie to their constituents, trade political favors for campaign contributions, turn a blind eye to the wishes of the electorate, cheat taxpayers out of hard-earned dollars, favor the corporate elite and spare little thought for the impact of their thoughtless actions and hastily passed legislation might have on defenseless citizens.

Pat McCrory, Phil Berger, Jon Hardister, John Faircloth, John Blust and Trudy Wade have a tendency to be selfish, callous, remorseless users of others, irresponsible, pathological liars, glib, con artists, lacking in remorse and shallow.

A few Trudy Wade Campaign Contributors who haven't asked for their money back as far as I know

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-few-trudy-wade-campaign-contributors.html

Charismatic politicians, like criminal psychopaths, exhibit a failure to accept responsibility for their actions, have a high sense of self-worth, are chronically unstable, have socially deviant lifestyle, need constant stimulation, have parasitic lifestyles and possess unrealistic goals.

...Political psychopaths are all largely cut from the same pathological cloth, brimming with seemingly easy charm and boasting calculating minds. Such leaders eventually create pathocracies—totalitarian societies bent on power, control, and destruction of both freedom in general and those who exercise their freedoms.

Bigots; North Carolina State Senators Trudy Wade and Phil Berger; Bigots; NC Representatives John Blust, Jon Hardister and John Faircloth

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2016/03/bigots-north-carolina-state-senators.html

Once psychopaths gain power, the result is usually some form of totalitarian government or a pathocracy. “At that point, the government operates against the interests of its own people except for favoring certain groups,” author James G. Long notes. “We are currently witnessing deliberate polarizations of North Carolina citizens..."

In other words, electing a psychopath to public office is tantamount to hara-kiri, the ritualized act of self-annihilation, self-destruction and suicide. It signals the demise of democratic government and lays the groundwork for a totalitarian regime that is legalistic, inflexible, intolerant and inhuman.

...The willingness to prioritize power above all else, including the welfare of their fellow human beings, ruthlessness, callousness and an utter lack of conscience are among the defining traits of Pat McCrory, Phil Berger, Jon Hardister, John Faircloth, John Blust and Trudy Wade.

When our own government no longer sees us as human beings with dignity and worth but as things to be manipulated, maneuvered, mined for data, manhandled by police, conned into believing it has our best interests at heart, mistreated, jailed if we dare step out of line, and then punished unjustly without remorse—all the while refusing to own up to its failings—we are no longer operating under a constitutional republic.

“We didn’t see this coming,” Republican House member John Hardister told Triad City Beat." after voting for HB2, which Brian Cleary didn't mention in the article

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2016/03/we-didnt-see-this-coming-republican.html

...What we are experiencing is a pathocracy: tyranny at the hands of a psychopathic government, which “operates against the interests of its own people except for favoring certain groups.”

...“[T]yranny does not flourish because perpetuators are helpless and ignorant of their actions. It flourishes because they actively identify with those who promote vicious acts as virtuous.”

People don’t simply line up and salute. It is through one’s own personal identification with a given leader, party or social order that they become agents of good or evil.

...The goal of the modern corporate state is obvious: to promote, cultivate, and embed a sense of shared identification among its citizens. To this end, “we the people” have become “we the police state.”

Greensboro's News and Record covering for John Blust and John Hardister who voted for the anti-gay North Carolina legislation

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2016/03/greensboros-news-and-record-covering.html

We are fast becoming slaves in thrall to a government machine that relentlessly erodes our freedoms through countless laws, statutes, and prohibitions.

Any resistance to such regimes depends on the strength of opinions in the minds of those who choose to fight back. What this means is that we the citizenry must be very careful that we are not manipulated into marching in lockstep with an oppressive regime.

...While psychopaths may not care about how their actions harm other people, notes Beauchamp, “they very much do care about being able to hold on to their positions of power. A system that actually holds people accountable to the broader conscience of society may be one of the best ways to keep conscienceless people in check.”

That said, if we allow the ballot box to become our only means of pushing back against the police state, the battle is already lost.

Resistance will require a citizenry willing to be active at the local level.

...until we can remind our fellow Americans what it really means to be a free American, and until we can learn to stand our ground in the face of threats to those freedoms and encourage our fellow citizens to stop being cogs in the machine, we will continue to be treated like slaves in thrall to a bureaucratic police state run by political psychopaths like Pat McCrory, Phil Berger, Jon Hardister, John Faircloth, John Blust and Trudy Wade."

https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/from_democracy_to_pathocracy_the_rise_of_the_political_psychopath
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Did the State of North Carolina just eliminate Greensboro's LGBTQ ordinances with HB2?

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2016/03/did-state-of-north-carolina-just.html

Did North Carolina HB2 just get rid of Greensboro's MWBE program?

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2016/03/did-north-carolina-hb2-just-get-rid-of.html

Joan Monaghan Williams‎ to Nancy Barakat Vaughan; March 25 on the Transgender issues

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2016/03/joan-monaghan-williams-to-nancy-barakat.html

Maybe The Greensboro-Randolph Megasite Isn't About Attracting Automakers At All

Those who might be reading for the first time or come from somewhere far away may have never heard of a project known as the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite-- a 2,000 acre industrial park being built roughly 20 miles south of Greensboro, North Carolina on the Guilford and Randolph County lines and bordering the town of Liberty, NC.

The project, which is being pitched as a means to lure an automaker to North Carolina, is being funded with roughly $24 Million Dollars from the City of Greensboro, $13 Million from the State owned North Carolina Railroad, $200 Million from the State of North Carolina plus contributions from Guilford County, Randolph County, the City of Asheboro and other local municipalities.

Or as the Greensboro News & Record put it:

"Economic developers estimate construction costs would be upward of $100 million, and that’s not including incentives a company might demand from the state."

But what if, what if this megasite isn't about building cars at all. What if the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite is being built as a major military weapons manufacturing facility instead?

Sound far fetched? What if I told you that the largest petroleum storage facility east of the Mississippi River is located in Greensboro? It is, you know.

Fort Bragg, one of the largest military installations in the world and home of the US Army airborne forces and Special Forces, as well as U.S. Army Forces Command, U.S. Army Reserve Command and Womack Army Medical Center is only 67 miles away via what will soon be all improved 4 lane highway comparable to any Interstate highway in the nation.

Pope Air Force Base is adjacent to Bragg and with the news that Special Ops are getting increased funding while other bases are getting cuts and shut downs it doesn't look as if Bragg is going anywhere anytime soon. And while the Air Force is cutting back on operations at Pope, the air base must remain open as it is used for Army troop transport.

Walmart is closing stores across the country and all over North Carolina but Walmart is quickly adding new stores all around the Fort Bragg area as if they are expecting a huge increase in population the rest of us don't know about.

Purolator Facet in Greensboro and often touted as a major success in economic development by our local economic development agencies and politicians, manufactures OEM parts, filters and valves, for the Air Force's 400 Eisenhower-era KC-135 aircraft, M1 Abrams Tanks, Russian Tanks, Trident Nuclear Submarines, Apache Helicopters and many more.

General Dynamics Missions Systems has 2 plants in Greensboro.

Curtiss-Wright Flight Systems has a plant in Shelby and another in Gastonia where they make all sorts of military hardware.

Blackwater is headquartered in North Carolina.

Dick Cheny's Halliburton has a presence in North Carolina.

Allegheny Technologies in nearby Monroe  "is a world leader in the production of nickel-based and cobalt-based superalloys, titanium-based alloys, and specialty steels for the aerospace, oil & gas..." well you get the picture. The picture above an F-35 I snagged from their website.

North Carolina has a total of 114,654 active duty military personnel and 22,030 civilian military personnel. Only Virginia, Texas and California have more active duty military personnel than North Carolina. If you were a governor of a state that ranked high in active duty military and wanted to keep them in your state, how might you do it? One way might be to lure more military contractors and key military component manufacturers to your state.

Of the Ten Companies Profiting Most from War,

United Technologies has plants in Mebane and Charlotte.  Its Pratt & Whitney division has plants in Mooresville, Charlotte and Goldsboro. And UT operates Sikorsky Aircraft plants in Jacksonville and Cherry Point.

L-3 Communication, the 9th most profitable war contractor has no less than 4 plants in North Carolina.

Finmeccanica, number 8 on the list has plants in North Carolina.

I couldn't find that number 7, EADS, has any North Carolina plants but I did find third party companies who supply parts for EADS.

Raytheon, #6 and "the world’s largest manufacturer of guided missiles" has plants in Raleigh and Fayettville.

And don't forget that for every one of these companies there are dozens of smaller manufacturers making parts for the machines and weapons these companies send to war.

I mentioned General Dynamics earlier. They're #5 on the list.  "Currently, 74% of the company’s sales are arms sales. General Dynamics owns Electric Boat and Bath Iron Works, two of the largest naval vessel builders in the world. General Dynamics is notable known for its Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, the Seawolf-class submarine, the M1 Abrams tank and the Arleigh-Burke-class destroyer."

General Dynamics has no less than 8 plants in North Carolina.

Northrop Grumman #4 on the list and "...the fourth-largest weapons contractor in the U.S." has no less than 5 North Carolina facilities. Aircraft carriers and drones are their thing.

As far as I can ascertain, Boeing, at #3, doesn't have any manufacturing facilities in North Carolina but they do employ people in military analyst positions here in the state.

The #2 company on the list of the Ten Companies Profiting Most from War, BAE Systems, has no less than 4 plants in North Carolina.

Finally, Lockheed Martin, the #1 "...largest arms-producing and military services company in the world..." has no less than 4 plants in North Carolina.

And from The Economic Impact of the Military on North Carolina by the North Carolina Department of Commerce.

"The military supports 540,000 jobs in North Carolina, $30 billion in state personal income, and $48 billion in gross state product.

 340,000 of military-supported jobs occur in the private sector.

Professional and Technical Services, Administrative and Waste Services, and Construction are the top three military-supported private industry sectors."

As our economy continues to become more and more dependent on military spending, drafting women into military service again becomes a topic of political discourse: We're already hearing it in the Presidential debates. Only a barbaric nation builds an economy dependent on the constant invasion of other nations-- the draft, be it of men or women, is but a consequence of said policy.

Is North Carolina building an economy that will someday force the United States Military to draft women?



Update: Friday Feburary 12, 2016, I have just learned that  Bonnie Renfro of the Randolph County Economic Development Corporation has pushed Randolph County Commissioners to include weapons manufacturing as part of the description of the land use requirements for a recent rezoning of properties within the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite. Don't want your daughters to go to war? Stop this megasite.

Economic Development Is Not A Race

Each time I read Richard M. Barron's article entitled, Report: N.C. business climate drops to second in nation, and the solution to a non existent problem being pitched by NC Governor Patty boy McCrory I think to myself, Economic development is not a race. Besides, why are we trying to recruit multinational corporations when what we need most are more small businesses?

In the comments, Attorney and co-founder of NoMegasiteHere.com Alan Ferguson, sums it all up when he writes: 

"I can't help but note the irony of your story appearing in the same edition of the paper as a column by John Hood entitled, "Can't Blame Slow Economic Growth on the Politicians". He recited many of the factors he believes have held back our economy for many years now. Astoundingly, he then expressed his belief that even the Democrats were not to blame! Here is proof that everyone can learn. He didn't say so, but the corollary would have to be that even the Republicans, even now when they are in full control of State government, cannot reverse all of this.

As for the program, I cannot perceive of a change in public policy more likely to produce scandal and corruption. There is no part of this process to which the word "transparency" could be applied. "Transparency" has become a junk word that is used more to cut off public discourse and to hide facts from the public than to describe aspirations of public officials.

The entire public incentives business has been run for years on a need-to-know basis, with the public most definitely not included in the exchange of information except when it came time to pay. And all of this has been done under a cabinet secretary responsible only to an elected Governor. Now we are removing the process another step or two from elective oversight by making it private. Under this program, we will be paying what are really brokerage commissions to the beaters who will then go out and try to convince businesses to come to a state which already has the second best business climate in the country.

Human nature being what we all know it to be, I predict that you will have a number of colorful stories to report for a long time if we indeed create this private business brokerage. This program is designed for the expenditure of public money by groups operating in ever darker rooms, with the discussion of the ultimate recipients of that public money buried ever deeper in secrecy. We can all imagine what happens when a pile of money is put on a table in a room full of strangers, and then the door is closed and the lights turned out. That's our brave new economic development world.

And all of this is being done to climb from number two back to number one?"

I can't say for certain but I think Mr Ferguson agrees that economic development is not a race.

For reference: John Hood's article was also published in the Winston-Salem Journal with the title, John Hood says it's not just Obama's fault.

Previously: Alan Ferguson On North Carolina Politics.

Governor "Patty boy" McCrory Ain't Got No Plan

In case you haven't heard, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory is going around touting a "plan" for bringing an automaker to the Piedmont Triad and all of Greensboro's economic development "gurus" are jumping on the band wagon. Problem is: McCrory's only plan is to build empty industrial parks called megasites.

Among the problems with McCrory's "plan" is the fact that no automaker anywhere in the world has announced intentions to build new plants anywhere in the United States of America. As a matter of fact: even American automakers are announcing intentions to build new plants in India, China, Asia and Mexico.

You see, there exists in the US today more than enough empty auto plants to build all the cars Americans can buy and most North American auto manufacturing is moving to Mexico-- not North Carolina. And building cars for export? Absolute insanity when you consider the cost of American labor vs. foreign labor with shipping cost added in. And remember: those foreign countries play the incentives game every bit as well, if not better, than we do. From the Brookings Institute: 

"Mexico has gone on a tear and increased its share of North American automotive employment by over 50 percent. Since 2010 employment in Mexico’s auto sector has grown at an average rate of 13.7 percent a year. Soon Mexico will account for more than half of North America’s auto manufacturing."

And from the same report:

"In the future, no U.S. state is going to be able to depend solely on low wages as its chief source of comparative advantage. This is of particular concern to Southern states which, in the past, have leveraged low wage structures to increase their share of the continent’s auto sector. Now, that may need to change. Over the coming decade Southern states will be challenged by, on the one hand, Midwestern states that have roared out of the recession with leaner production platforms and more efficient wage and cost structures, and, on the other hand, by an increasingly sophisticated Mexican automotive sector that continues to grow at a breakneck pace and maintains substantial and sustainable wage advantage."

To add insult to injury, if you'll do a bit of research you'll find that every autoplant has a steelmill nearby. There are no steel mills in the Piedmont Triad. If Pat McCrory had a real plan to bring auto manufacturing to the Piedmont Triad he's be touting that steel mill he brought us. Where's the steel mill, Patty boy? From the same Brookings Institute report I cited above:

"Our suggestion: Foster the excellence of local supply chain coordination, cultivate a stellar workforce, and ramp up technology development. These are going to be the new determinants of local advantage in a changing auto sector."

Proves my point, the steel mills and other factories must come first. McCrory isn't talking about that because he has no plan to bring them here preferring instead to put the cart in front of the horse. That's how it happened in every location where auto manufacturing is located throughout the South, North and Midwest. Well guess what, Patty boy, pushing a rope is easy work but it don't accomplish a damned thing.

Now you can say whatever you like about everything else Governor McCrory has done while in office, I'll not comment, but when it comes to economic development McCrory is just another Patsy of TREBIC and the rest of North Carolina's and the nation's powerful real estate development lobby.

Not that it's a good deal-- it isn't-- but haven't you wondered why Patty boy, who is so quick to jump on the automaker bandwagon, is taking a pass on the Boeing deal? Simple really, besides the fact that Greensboro and Charlotte don't have sea ports (not a requirement set in stone) most of the required infrastructure, roads, runways, water, sewer, etc, is already built. There's almost nothing for the developers to do except perhaps a couple of bridges and a few buildings. But in the case of "attracting" an automaker, McCrory is planning multiple 2000 acre megasites right here in the Piedmont Triad, one between Gibsonville and Burlington and the other in northern Randolph county.

The cost of water and sewer alone for the 2 megasites McCrory is promoting will cost Greensboro taxpayers $103 Million Dollars plus cost overruns. And both sites are 20 miles outside of the Greensboro City Limits far from where the jobs are needed most. If McCrory's plan were to somehow susceed it would cause an exodus of taxpayers moving away from Greensboro to live closer to their jobs and devistate the city's tax structure leaving the rest of us to foot the bills. Believe what you like but people are not going to continue long commutes forever-- not when they have better options, better neighborhoods and better schools closer to where they work. Investing in megasites in areas that cannot be annexed is economic suicide for the City of Greensboro. And neither of these locations can be annexed by Greensboro.

Never mind that North Carolina already has 12 completed and empty megasites or that DH Griffin will soon be opening 2 privately owned megasites near Siler City and Ridgeway (Martinsville) Virginia to compete with these taxpayer funded megasites and another 500 acre site not 5 miles from the Project Haystack site near Gibsonville, Patty boy is set to go full steam ahead. Never mind that nationwide there are 180 completed and empty megasites, Patty boy is bought and paid for by real estate developers, construction contractors, utility contractors, paving companies and the like who, like real estate developers, construction contractors, utility contractors, and paving companies nationwide continue to perpetuate the biggest scam ever pulled over on American taxpayers in the history of these united states.

And never mind that Florida has already proved that Governor McCrory ain't got no plan, having persued the exact same "plan" Patty boy plans to bankrupt Greensboro and the Piedmont Triad anyway:

"Scott has pledged $266 million in tax breaks and other incentives in return for 45,258 new jobs. But 96 percent of the jobs have yet to materialize..."

There's something to be learned from the failure of others and the first thing is not to repeat their mistakes. That is: unless that's your intention in the first place. Is that you "plan" Patty boy?

Update: As if I needed more proof, GM, Ford and Toyota are closing auto plants in Australia to move to countries with cheaper labor. Patty boy is selling us a lie.