Received the following from Rep. Price on the airport. Others may have received essentially the same communication, so apologies if this has already appeared elsewhere.

Noted, #1: the overt designation (twice) of the proposed airport as a "general aviation airport" - not a "University airport."

Noted, #2: his disavowal of having any role, even with his acknowledgment that funding and eminent domain are concerns. And while he does believe that OC board should join UNC and NCGA in the decision process, the outer limit of citizens' role or power should be "input."

Noted, #3: the specific information about funding sources -- indication is that the state legislature actually could/will control funding. Not necessarily news but a clear suggestion about where the action ultimately could/will be - not encouraging for opponents.

In a recent letter to constituents, Representative David Price described opposition candidate BJ Lawson's position on various issues.  It would be informative to get BJ Lawson's point by point response to each issue as described by Representative David Price.  Similarly, it would be informative to get Representative David Price's response to Price according to Lawson on the issues. I don't have the time to compile or find this one, if someone does please post it in the same format as this post but as a separate post.  Lets hope to get their responses ...

Why we support B.J. Lawson
This is a community of Democrats in and around the 4th District of North Carolina, and indeed from around the entire state and the entire country, who support the campaign of William "B.J." Lawson for House of Representatives. You may ask why we support B.J. when there is an 11-term and well-known Democratic incumbent, David Price, currently representing the 4th District. Well, for starters:

In the upcoming election, for Progressives, is BJ Lawson an alternative to Representative David Price?  BJ Lawson is running as a Republican and his winning the NC 4th Congressional District could contribute to Democrats losing control of the House.  Does BJ Lawson believe that there is no role for government in regulating the financial system or industry?

David Price's opponent in the November election, BJ Lawson, raised $170,000 yesterday in what is apparently a Congressional record for one-day totals in North Carolina. He has raised $237,000 total since David Price voted in favor of the Wall Street bailout bill last week.

Lawson says his latest polls have Price at less than 50% support in the Fourth District, compared to his usual winning percentage of more than 60%. With 10% of voters left undecided, is it possible Price is in trouble this election?

Lawson's Orange County coordinator, Rev. Ray McKinnon of Hillsborough, is a Democrat who campaigned for Hillary Clinton in the May primaries. Lawson has sent out mailings with testimonials from longtime Democrats who say they're voting for one Republican this year, the anti-war Lawson.

The country has been getting ransacked over the last couple of weeks.  On August 4th 2008  both houses of congress (Rep. David Price included) sanctioned  H.R. 3221 and the conservatorship of Fannie and Freddie  essentially saddeling the U.S. government with 5.4 trillion in debt that it is now responsible for!!! 

Had we had a debate and expressed the outrage over this back then, gone into the streets banging our pots and pans .... the latest outrage, the  proposed bail-out bill, would now be something that our Congressman David Price might think twice about before voting  ...  we should have broken down his door back in August!

The very wise, prophetic, yet ignored,  Catherine Austin Fitts has summed this bill up:

The Sunlight Foundation has a blog post today called Oil Industry Influence: Personal Finances. It contains a chart of public information about how much stock in Oil companies members of the US House of Representatives own.

This chart shows stock holdings in the leading oil companies by members of the House of Representatives. If you aren’t familiar with personal financial disclosures, they require lawmakers to list assets in a range (i.e.: $15,001-$50,000). In the chart you will see a low estimate, a high estimate, and an average. In some cases, lawmakers list the actual value - not a range - and that is listed in this color.

So, who’s going to make money if Congress passes pro-oil industry legislation:

North Carolina has offered county commissioners 2 choices in raising taxes: land transfer tax or sales tax. These taxes are, in part, needed as counties and municipalities are struggling to fill in growing gaps that are left after the funding cuts in social services that the Federal government has made as it diverts, the already diminished (due to tax cuts), federal tax revenue -- which is wasted on war.

The House of Representatives will vote as soon as today -- Thursday, May 8 -- on an additional $162.6 billion for the war and occupation in Iraq!

This just in from David Price's office:

GAO to Study Nuclear Fire Safety

Study Requested by Congressmen Price and Visclosky

WASHINGTON – Congressman David Price (D-NC) announced today that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has accepted his request to conduct a review of the enforcement of fire safety standards at nuclear power plants throughout the country.

Price requested the study in May after hearing from local officials in his district who were concerned about the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) vigilance in enforcing fire safety regulations. Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-IN), who is chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water, concurred with Price that the GAO should undertake such a study, and he seconded Price's request in a letter to the agency in June.