Under the Dome

A funny thing happened on Facebook today. I followed a link to where The Legion of Dome was commenting about the slowness of the news day and inviting press releases. So in the spur of the moment, I sent him one. And look what happened.

Up until today, I've had only rave reviews, including a couple of fan letters and a fan "call" too. But now that the news has spread to the Dome, I've heard from a person there named Tangoz, who wrote:

This book of fiction is just another way for him to unleash his fury against people who disagree with him.

The N&O and the Dome are all a twitter today with the story of L.F. Eason, a career state employee who decided he didn't want to lower the flag to honor Jesse Helms at his lab in Raleigh, as directed by the Governor. Here's the story as it ran in the newspaper, and as written by Ryan Beckwith.

L.F. Eason III gave up the only job he'd ever had rather than lower a flag to honor former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms. Eason, a 29-year veteran of the state Department of Agriculture, instructed his staff at a small Raleigh lab not to fly the U.S. or North Carolina flags at half-staff Monday, as called for in a directive to all state agencies by Gov. Mike Easley.

I visit The Dome many times a day. It is a good blog that is part of a good newspaper that is part of a good newspaper company. We all have an interest in The Dome being the best that it can be. Which brings us to our topic of the week.

Under the Dome is your inside source on North Carolina politics and government. Check here for the latest on state and federal government, political advocacy and upcoming elections. This blog is maintained by Ryan Teague Beckwith with the help of reporters Barb Barrett, Lynn Bonner, Rob Christensen, Dan Kane, Ben Niolet, Jane Stancill and Titan Barksdale, along with David Ingram and Mark Johnson of The Charlotte Observer.

Under the Dome has been a regular column in The N&O since 1934.

That's a long time.

Ryan Beckwith, master of ceremonies at Under the Dome, wants to hear from folks at BlueNC about your experiences here. I've invited him to use this thread to ask his questions, and to get your answers. His first question:

How would you describe BlueNC to a friend?

Now this doesn't necessarily mean that the McCrory family is challenged on the 'being up front' front, but it still looks kind of cheesey

The Dome reports today that Fred "The Asphalt King" is burning some money on advertising in Charlotte to create the impression that he's got all the momentum on his side.

The charge from our region to Raleigh is just getting started as Fred Smith, supported by an impressive assortment of local Republican leaders, is committed to providing innovative solutions to transportation, education, immigration and taxation problems in North Carolina," it reads.

That's really quite a remarkable claim. Because if you go to Fredly's website, you'll be hard pressed to find innovative solutions to anything. Mr. Smith has one vision for North Carolina and one vision only: more roads. More roads will heal the environment and clean our air. More roads will get us right with god. More roads will make it easier to round up illegal immigrants and bus them back to Mexico.