It ain't your dad's (or granddad's) Chamber of Commerce, folks:

Having aired more than 8,000 campaign ads on behalf of GOP Senate candidates alone and having spent 85 percent of its current expenditure on Republicans, the Chamber's spending has "dwarfed every other issue group and most political party candidate committee spending."

What the ThinkProgress investigation found is that the Chamber has spearheaded efforts "to raise money from foreign corporations, including ones controlled by foreign governments" and funneled that money into its general 501(c)(6) account. Foreign members send money either directly to the U.S. Chamber or to their country's local American Chamber (AmCham), which then transfers dues payments back to the Chamber's H Street office in Washington, D.C.

Hat-tip to Rob Schofield of the Progressive Pulse.

The entire state of North Carolina is on evacuation alert today, with nearly nine million people expected to flee a perfect storm of free market fanaticism. Observers trace the pending catastrophe to the corporate takeover of government predicted by Republicans following the elections of 2010.

With nothing to lose but democracy, that takeover appears to have been engineered by Variety Wholesalers' Art Pope, who was joined by PPD, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Duke Energy, Blackwater USA, and Titan Cement in pouring more than ten million dollars into North Carolina elections. That will be enough to buy one US Senator, six judges, seven Congressmen, 50 school boards, and two-thirds of the North Carolina General Assembly.

The devil is in the details:

N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper is giving Bank of America until Friday to halt foreclosure proceedings in the state amid concerns the Charlotte bank and other lenders haven't properly reviewed documents.

Cooper has asked 13 other large mortgage servicers to also halt foreclosures in the state until they prove compliance. Those lenders have until Tuesday to respond to the attorney general's questions. North Carolina also seeks more information about practices at Ally Financial, which has halted foreclosure-related evictions in North Carolina and 22 other states.

Why talk about real issues when fear-mongering nonsense works so good?

...the average American goes to bed scared at night. Scared about what tomorrow holds. It’s not all limited to our job security, it truly is about whether the same America we have had the privilege to participate in is the same America that our children are going to enjoy.

To me the movement, whether you want to call it tea party or whether you want to call it Americans for Prosperity, whatever label you want to put, it’s like the cavalry coming to me. It’s a sign the American people have woken up, that they’re engaged, that they’ve said enough is enough, no more.

If AFP is the cavalry, then this is what their war is all about:

Someone needs a time-out in the corner:

In a surprise reversal, the Wake County school board threw out its controversial, 16-zone student assignment plan Tuesday night on a motion by vice chairwoman Debra Goldman, who spent much of the meeting complaining about being shut out of the development of the plan.

Tedesco, offering a handshake, approached Goldman before they left dais, saying, "I've enjoyed our friendship while it lasted." At one point, Tedesco called Goldman "a prom queen." The controversy seems certain to continue.

Also passed during meeting: the board voted 7-2 to restrict "tantrums" to a 15 minute period at the beginning of each meeting.

It is a masterful piece of spinning, worthy of any journalist who has no idea about the facts on the ground. It attempts to portray Richard Burr as actually having done something over the past 16 years, and falls laughingly short in that misguided mission. The whole article could have been condensed into four words:

• Much ado about nothing.

In what may be a first in Governor Perdue's tenure, it appears that someone somewhere is actually listening to progressive voices who are concerned about the environment. Binker has the story.

The Building Code Council, a group of gubernatorial appointees, had voted to table the matter in such a way that the revision would be put on hold until 2015
... However, e-mails coming in from backers of the code today tell me that the council has partially reversed itself. Rather than tabling the energy code, they are sending the revision back to committee and making it ripe for another look in November or, more likely, December.

I hope all the queers are thrilled to see him. I am sure there will be a couple legislative fruitloops there in the audience.

You need to put Variety Wholesalers and PPD on your speed dial:

Elected officials from five states are forming a coalition aimed at fighting unlimited campaign spending by corporations and independent groups. The group is known as CAPS. That stands for Coalition for Accountability in Political Spending.

New York City Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio said Monday that CAPS will urge corporations to voluntarily agree not to spend money on political campaigns. It also will press corporations and other groups to disclose all their donors.

You can go here to learn more:

In developments that can best be described as a hostile corporate takeover, Art Pope this week upped his bid for the North Carolina General Assembly.

The Insider is reporting this morning that Civitas Action, the explicitly political arm of the Pope Civitas Institute, has raised $264,889 for electoral activities according to filings with the State Board of Elections.
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You can guess where the money came from, $190,000 from Variety Wholesalers - that’s Art Pope’s company - and the rest from Americans for Prosperity, where Pope is a director and major donor.

The Insider points out that Pope is also a major donor to the Civitas Institute itself, which is a bit of an understatement. The group’s 2009 tax return reports $1.635 million in income for the year, with $1.620 million in contributions from the Pope Foundation.

Why does Art Pope hate democracy? I can only think of one reason. The voters of North Carolina had the chance to elect him as lieutenant governor in 1992 and gave him a big, whopping rejection. It seems he's still mad that he didn't win. Poor guy. It must be hard to live a life where spending daddy's money is the only way you can have any influence.

All that said, you gotta love those free markets. I hear you can buy a House seat in the General Assembly for less than $100,000 these days. That's chump change to the Show.

If I were a state employee in North Carolina, I would be telling Dana Cope to take a very long walk on a very short pier. How did this clown get to be in charge of anything ... and why is SEANC spending its political capital to help elect a government-hating Republican?

Ball-hogging Tedesco about to lose a teammate:

Debra Goldman, vice chair of the Wake County school board, says she will vote against the board’s emerging student assignment plan if she continues to be shut out of the process, leaving her unable to meet her promises to voters.

Specifically, Goldman says, the plan should provide each student with a base school assignment, a calendar option and magnet opportunities. But she says her efforts have failed to win support among others in the five-member school board majority, and that she's being shut out from the three-member committee that is designing the new assignment plan.

Do-Nothing sings a sad song for voters:

The candidates for U.S. Senate in North Carolina don't agree on much, but they concur that with persistent high unemployment and lingering uncertainty about the economy, voters haven't stopped worrying and struggling.

"It's the American people that feel it day in and day out," Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr said. "You can't judge it on whether Wall Street's up or Wall Street's down."

And if it was up to you, they'd be feeling it even more. By voting against extending unemployment benefits (several times) and voting against small business assistance, you've demonstrated your contempt for working families. But will they notice?

It's Time to Organize

No matter how the national winds are blowing, we're not going to be out-organized in 2010. Many of you already know that the Farm Team is asking for Hamiltons to defeat Burr.

We are committed to raising 1010 $10 bills by 10/10/10, but we can't do it without your help.