Supreme Court Justice Speaks Clearly | Eastern North Carolina Now

    We have a problem in NC over voter turnout in the midterm. We know how much money was spent by special interests to elect Thom Tillis our new Senator from NC.

    Here is her take on the matter:

    The important text of basic comments:

    "It costs millions of dollars to fund a campaign for a state supreme court," Ginsburg said. "Something is terribly wrong. I think we are reaching the saturation point."

    Still, Ginsburg expressed hope. She shared her late husband's claim that the "true symbol" of the United States is the pendulum, that when things swing too far one way, they eventually have to swing back the other.

    "I can't say when, but one day sensible restrictions on campaign financing will be the law of this land. Yes, it will happen," she said.

    One of the more "shameful" byproducts of the Citizens United decision is the staggeringly low voter turnout in the U.S., Ginsburg added. She said it's difficult to go abroad and be hit with questions like, "how do you allow people with money to have access to the lawmakers, to the decision makers that ordinary people don't have?" and, "how do you have a system where legislative districts in the House are so gerrymandered that people don't vote?"

    I agree with her every word. . .

    We have our new Senator starting with "eliminate the rules for hand washing" since it is "intrusive on businesses." He and Burr, along with the Republican majority of the Senate and House, are promising to get rid of public healthcare passed years ago. The President has already asked for legislation he can sign and promised to veto any attempt to eradicate that which is in place and already benefiting working American taxpayers to provide coverage for all citizens. It failed to deal with high costs growing at 3-5 times inflation. It is but a first step toward joining the other industrialized countries in the world for citizen care.

    Now we see the influence of oil money on a proposal to offshore drill between the Outer Banks and Gulf Stream in the Graveyard of the Atlantic --- guaranteed to send violent storms over any drilling rigs. They could easily rupture as did the BP rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Those tar balls are now washing up on the shores of the Outer Banks. The chemicals used for disbursing the oil are now showing bad effects on wildlife and fish of the Gulf. I won't buy nor consume any seafood from there!

    Both my wife's parents, raised on the Mill Village of Rocky Mount, had cancer. The chemicals poured into the ground water and Tar River were carcinogenic. Until recent years, Rocky Mount poured untreated waste into the river which becomes the Pamlico as it crosses Highway 17 in Washington. We still don't really know what happens when darkness falls. They ignored the clean water mandate for sewage for some 30 years after told they were polluting ---- it cost them money, folks. . .

    We can sell out to fracking and offshore drilling, but we reap the results of not moving toward wind and solar sources of power. My grandchildren swim in this River in front of my house. I'll be damned if I will keep my mouth shut when we are raping NC for oil we do not need to keep us going.