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Monday, April 7, 2008
Proud to be in Winterville
He may be best known for God Bless the USA, but Lee Greenwood’s written a few other songs.
Wind Beneath My Wings, for one, and another, Good to Great, that’s a hit with supporters of GOP candidate for governor Fred Smith.
Greenwood will perform the song he wrote for Smith along with others today during a noon rally at Wimpies oyster bar in Winterville.
A little extra effort is what it takes to go from good to great, the song says, a take on Smith’s autobiography, Good to Great.
Smith’s campaign mailed the book to voters throughout the region recently along with an invitation to attend the show, Smith’s chief of staff Jonathan Hill said today.
The Winterville show is the 11th in series of 17 across the state through which Hill says the campaign is reaching core supporters, conservatives who will help raise funds, distribute campaign signs and get out the vote.
The 90-minute show includes an entertaining conversation between Greenwood and Smith and a performance by Greenwood, Hill said.
The shows have been drawing enthusiastic support, Hill said. About 120 attended a lunch show in Goldsboro recently, 150 turned out in Henderson and 120 came out in Alamance County.
“This in a continuation of our grass-roots effort,” Hill said. “Through all of these rallies we will cover the state.”
The concerts are free but campaign organizers are asking for a $25 donation.
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Candidate pledges full support for medical school
State Senator Walter Dalton, Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor, toured ECU’s Brody School of Medicine today. He was joined on the tour by former State Senator Tom Taft and ECU Board of Trustees Member David Brody. After touring the Family Practice Center Dalton called for funding a new family practice facility to replace the outdated and inadequate facility.
“ECU is providing a vital service to our state, especially rural and Eastern North Carolina,” Dalton said in a news release. “Brody School of Medicine consistently ranks as one of the best medical schools for Primary and Family Care in the nation. I strongly believe we should ensure that ECU continues to provide the best training and care for Eastern North Carolina and a new family practice center will help facilitate those goals.”
Dalton, who currently chairs the appropriations committee in the Senate, also cited the need to fully fund the remaining portion of ECU’s new dental school. He was on hand for the school’s groundbreaking in late February.
“Brody has been fulfilling its mission to bring more doctors and better health care to rural North Carolina and the dental school will soon continue that tradition by bringing more dentists to rural areas that have no dentists or are underserved,” Dalton said. “I have been very supportive of ECU in the state Senate and I will continue to support Brody School of Medicine and the ECU dental school as lieutenant governor.”
Dalton also expressed support for a decision by the UNC Board of Governors to expand the size of entering medical school classes at both Brody and UNC-Chapel Hill.
“We must ensure that as class sizes expand at our medical schools the state follows suit and supports the increase through additional funding and bigger, better, and modern facilities,” Dalton said.
For more information about Senator Dalton and his campaign, visit www.walterdalton.org.
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Locals start organizing, praying for Obama
New organization ObamaVegas is currently planning a meeting scheduled for Thursday for Barack Obama supporters to brainstorm ideas and strategies on how to get more information and flyers out to Greenville.
Definitive location and time has yet to be decided, but organizers are considering the Elm Street Gym around Noon.
For those who can’t make it out, resident Koren Washington is organizing a prayer movement to be held for about five minutes around 10:30 p.m. over the next three Tuesdays.
“This is an opportunity to exponentially augment that power, over the next three Tuesdays, by collectively focusing our spiritual attention and intention before the next critical primaries,” Washington wrote.
“Let’s all take a moment to pray for his continued protection, guidance, and victory at the polls.”
Remember: The deadline for NC voters to register is Friday!
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John McCain update: The ‘Service to America’ tour
Last week, Republican Presidential Nominee John McCain spent four days traveling through Mississippi, Virginia, Maryland and Florida on what he calls his “Service to America Tour.” In each place, he recalled significant moments in his life as an American and a soldier.
The tour began in Meridian, Miss., the location of McCain field and where he spoke of his deep military roots. The field is named after John McCain’s grandfather, an admiral in the U.S. Navy.
“A distant ancestor served on General Washington’s staff,” McCain said, “and it seems my ancestors fought in most wars in our nation’s history. All were soldiers — both Henry and Bill McCain were West Pointers — until my grandfather broke family tradition and entered the Naval Academy in 1902. He was succeeded there by my father, then me, and then my son.”
In Alexandria, Va., where he attended Episcopal High School, he spoke of a relationship he had with one of his teachers that would forever leave an imprint on his heart.
“I doubt I will ever meet another person who had the impact on my life that my English teacher at Episcopal High School did,” McCain said. “But I know there are many Americans who should teach and could influence children as beneficially as he did me.”
Then it was off to Annapolis, Md., the home of the U.S. Naval Academy, where McCain prepared to serve his country in Pensacola, Fl., after graduation: “I want every American to know that, despite its attendant risks and sacrifices, military service even for one or two enlistments or for a career is one of the most rewarding experiences you could ever have.”
The Service to America Tour ended on Day Four in Jacksonville, Fl., McCain’s home before his deployment to Vietnam and after he spent five years as a POW.
“The defense of my country was important not only to the security of my countrymen and the blessings of life in America. It was important to the world: to the peace and stability of the world and to advancing in a hostile world those ideals we believe are universal. I was part of that great cause, a small and unessential part, but a part nonetheless.”
Click here to check out videos and speeches from the tour
After the completion of the tour, McCain released a new Web advertisement. The video, almost 2 minutes and 30 seconds long, focuses on ideals of tolerance and respect:
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Walton to visit Brody School of Medicine
State Sen. Walter Dalton, a Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor, is touring East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine today during a visit to Greenville.
Following the tour, Dalton, co-chair of the state appropriations committee, is expected to make a brief speech on healthcare in eastern North Carolina and his plans to strengthen ECU’s medical and dental schools.
The speech is planned for 3:30 p.m. in front of the Moye ECU Physicians’ Center, 521 Moye Blvd.
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Clinton tells DeGeneres of her new breast cancer research plan
This morning, Hillary Clinton appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and announced her plan to find a cure for breast cancer within our lifetime.
“I know your mom is a survivor, and we’ve lost my incredible mother-in-law to breast cancer during Bill’s first term and first year in office, and I’ve just been really committed,” Clinton said.
“We should make it absolutely totally curable, and I also really want to try to figure out what causes it, because we just don’t know why some people are susceptible. I think it’s probably a combination of your genes and your environment and your behavior, but we don’t know quite how all that fits together and we haven’t done enough research, and we also have to get to universal healthcare, which means quality, affordable healthcare for everyone.”
Clinton’s plan would provide $300 million a year in increased funding for breast cancer research at the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, and the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program. Investments will also go to investigate the cause of breast cancer, including the role that environmental pollutants may have, as well as, potential genetic and hereditary links.
The Clinton campaign says the plan would also improve access to screenings and treatment by making mammograms more affordable and providing funding for treatment for low-income women. Under Hillary’s American Health Choices Plan, all women will have affordable, quality health insurance regardless of employment, marital status, or pre-existing conditions so they get the care and treatment they need.
To see what she told DeGeneres about her breast cancer research plan, watch the interview at the 2:50 marker:
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers facing women in America. In 2008, an estimated 180,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed among women, as well as an estimated 60,000 additional cases of in situ breast cancer, for a total of 240,000 new cases. In 2007, approximately 40,460 women died from breast cancer. Only lung cancer accounts for more cancer deaths in women. Millions more are impacted as family members and friends of women who are battling breast cancer.
