I am just back from HKonJ 6. I wanted to create a place with this blog entry for people to share their experiences and photos from the march and rally. For me, it was a great event. It was really empowering to see so many people supporting equality, voting rights, raising awareness about HAVA, and social justice. I saw old friends, made new contacts, and even saw Rep. Miller there as well. What was your experience with this, or past HKonJs?

Making the gap between the Haves and the Have-Nots even wider:

In addition to taking a hacksaw to higher-education funding last year, the Honorables also cut money for financial aid. Some revenue from the tuition increase will go to financial aid, but as the price of admission rises more students will fall through the cracks.

I think it's safe to say that making the UNC System only available to the privileged few was exactly what the framers of our Constitution didn't want to happen:

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was a waiter. For seven years. Before PCs. Back in the age of LPs and carbon paper. I remember one customer who, after he'd signed his credit card receipt and I handed him his copy, asked me to give him the carbons (back then we used carbon paper).

I must have had a puzzled look on my face because he asked if I knew why he wanted them. I didn't. He explained that it was because criminals sometimes go dumpster diving for carbons to steal credit card numbers. Huh? It would never have occurred to me, I said. That's because you don't have a criminal mind, he replied. Maybe for the first time it dawned on me that it takes a certain bent of mind to turn one's creativity to criminal mischief.

All that is preface to Ari Berman's new Nation  essay, "How the GOP Is Resegregating the South." In their vanity, some liberals like to think of themselves as more intelligent and creative than their conservative counterparts, but Berman shows just how creatively Republicans of a certain bent have twisted the Voting Rights Act to renovate their Southern Strategy and dilute minority influence -- by packing as many minority voters into as few congressional districts as possible.

In virtually every state in the South, at the Congressional and state level, Republicans—to protect and expand their gains in 2010—have increased the number of minority voters in majority-minority districts represented overwhelmingly by black Democrats while diluting the minority vote in swing or crossover districts held by white Democrats.

Ed Cone is beating the right drum.

The big story is that the group does not want to acknowledge the full meaning of the issue it advocates: The proposed marriage amendment would make civil unions unconstitutional in North Carolina.

The latest tempest in the GOP tea cup is the concern that government is imposing rules on religions. At issue is the claim that health plans offered by religious organizations must cover contraceptives in the same way that other prescriptions are covered.

That claim is a lie. Religious organizations that want to be exempted from the contraception requirements already get those exemptions easily.

But given the brouhaha, it's clear that more clarity is in order. The time has come to defund all religions completely. They should have full freedom to do whatever they want, and should receive no grants, no matching funds, no tax exemptions, no nothing from taxpayers. And along the way, we can also agree to ban prayers in public schools or public meetings, gods on coins, mangers in front of court houses, and any involvement whatsoever by religions in official government affairs.

If religions want to be free from the burdens of government policy, let them be free from government funding too. Let's draw a bright line between Caesar and god. Never the twain shall meet.

I have tried to volunteer for three different statewide campaigns over the last three weeks and have yet to hear back from any of them. Campaigns run on volunteers: not paid staff and consultants so I can't figure out why I haven't gotten a response from any of the three.

I have run five campaigns (4-1) and have volunteered on many more so I know how valuable volunteers are. Since they are not paid, they can go anywhere and work for anyone they want and generally are very committed to a candidate because of this. Volunteers knock on doors, make phone calls, stuff envelopes and do the things that keep campaigns in front of the voters.

In this time of shrinking donor contributions and media consolidation, I can't quite figure out this lack of response.

Or maybe it is because I blog at BlueNC.

A vast unpaid workforce for news.

Increasing the ranks of professional journalists is no doubt the key to building stronger local public TV and radio newsrooms, but some stations are getting by without them.