Comments by Gene Scarborough | Eastern North Carolina Now

I am PRAYING / BELIEVING the advances of modern medicine will prevail over the attack of serious cancer on Jimmy. How I do hope he will share his photography with us on BCN . . . I will certainly encourage him to do just that as he faces his future with hope and prayers undergirding the doctors doing the helping and God doing the healing!

Commented: Saturday, September 5th, 2015 @ 10:30 am By: Gene Scarborough

Another recent post on Jimmy Carter and FAITH . . .

Jimmy Carter’s faith by Leonard Pitts, epaperedition.com, 9-3-15
‘To want what I have, to take what I’m given with grace … for this, I pray.’ — ‘For My Wedding,’ Don Henley

America is a nation of faith. So it is often said.
In faith, a baker refuses to bake a cake for a gay couple’s wedding. In faith, a minister prays for the president to die. In faith, terrorists plant bombs at the finish line of a marathon. In faith, mosques are vandalized, shot at and burned. In faith, a televangelist asks his followers to buy him a $65 million private jet.
And no one is even surprised anymore.
In America, what we call faith is often loud, often exclusionary, sometimes violent and too frequently enamored of shiny, expensive things. In faith, ill-tempered people mob the shopping malls every year at Christmas to have fistfights and gunfights over hot toys and highend electronics.
You did not hear much about faith last week when Jimmy Carter held a news conference to reveal that he has four spots of cancer on his brain. The 39th president made only a few references to it in the nearly 40 minutes he spoke, and they were all in response to reporter’s questions. Yet, you would be hard-pressed to find a more compelling statement of belief in things not seen. Unsentimental, poised and lit from within by an amazing grace, Carter discussed the fight now looming ahead of him, the radiation treatments he will undergo, the need to finally cut back on his whirlwind schedule.
He smiled often. “I’m perfectly at ease with whatever comes,” he said, in such a way that you believed him without question. And it was impossible to feel sorry for him.
Partially, that’s because we all die and if — still only an if — cancer is what takes James Earl Carter Jr. away, well, there are worse things than to go having reached 90 years of age, having been president of the United States, having been married to the love of your life for almost seven decades, having sired a large and sprawling family and having done significant work toward the eradication of disease and the spreading of democracy in the developing world.
But here’s the other reason it was impossible to feel sorry for him. Feeling sorry would have felt like an insult, a denial of the virtues he showed and the faith he didn’t need to speak because it was just … there.
For all its loudness, all its exclusion, violence and ubiquity, the faith that is modeled in the public square is often not particularly affecting. It is hard to imagine someone looking on it from outside and musing to herself, “I’d like to have some of that.” What Carter showed the world, though, was different. Who would not want to be able to face the unknown with such perfect equanimity?
Carter presented an image of faith we don’t see nearly as often as we should. Which is sad, because it is also the image truest to what faith is supposed to be — not a magic lamp you rub in hopes of a private jet, not a license for our worse impulses, but, rather, an act of surrender to a force greater than self, a way of being centered enough to tell whatever bleak thing comes your way, “So be it.” Even fearsome death itself: “So be it.”
The heat and hubris of human life are such that that state is difficult to conceive, much less to reach. Our lives are defined by wanting and by lack — more money, new car, new love — and by the ceaseless hustle to fill empty spaces within. Media and advertising conspire to make you feel ever incomplete. So it is hard to feel whole within yourself, at peace with what is, whatever that turns out to be.
But who, gazing upon the former president, can doubt the result is worth the effort?
In faith, terrorists kill the innocent. In faith, televangelists swindle the gullible. In faith, so many of us hate, exclude, hurt, curse and destroy. And in faith, last week, Jimmy Carter told the world he has cancer in his brain.
And smiled as he spoke.

Commented: Friday, September 4th, 2015 @ 7:07 am By: Gene Scarborough

Go back to the 80's and 90's and what was the current Governor doing / the legislators???? Now, come up to 2015 and their activities have no rhyme or reason when you look at the current maps.

PLEASE DON'T INSULT OUR INTELLIGENCE when we have watched NC go down in the last 2 years, especially --- now the Republicans can't get up a budget --- Only a fool would use this to NOT DECIDE to vote for another party which can cooperate and help this state become Progressive as it was before the latest turn to Conservatism.

I am not aware that Roy Cooper has announced for the position yet and the NCGOP is throwing mud at a shadow at this point . . .

Commented: Tuesday, September 1st, 2015 @ 11:06 am By: Gene Scarborough

My Peace Article has Stan blocking comment ~~~ so I share a Prayer here . . .

Jewish Evening Prayer

"Help us, O God, to lie down in peace;
But teach us that peace means more than quiet.
Remind us that if we are to be at peace at night,
We must take heed how we live by day.
Grant us the peace that comes from honest dealings,
So that no fear of discovery will haunt our sleep.
Rid us of resentments and hatreds
Which rob us of the peace we crave.
Liberate us from slaving habits
Which disturb us and give us no rest.
May we inflict no pain, bring no shame,
And seek no profit by another's lose.
May we so live that we can face
The whole world with serenity.
May we feel no remorse at night
For what we have done during the day.
May we lie down in peace tonight,
And awaken tomorrow to a richer and fuller life.”

Commented: Tuesday, September 1st, 2015 @ 6:42 am By: Gene Scarborough

Do Republicans EVER run on ISSUES over SLINGING MUD???

Commented: Monday, August 31st, 2015 @ 6:15 am By: Gene Scarborough

The last video is a total farce --- "Middle Class Means" in these days of continued Recession is NOT $200,000 annual income ~~~ it is more like $200 a week so you do the math against $200K . . .

Commented: Sunday, August 30th, 2015 @ 5:59 am By: Gene Scarborough

Stan--- I give you the detailed connections and you return with : "Gibberish: How did you ever make it through Emory, Gene? / Answer the question of who, what, when and where?"

It has been a long time since I was part of the Emory Debate Team which won matches all over the nation and even the National Debate Championship. If anyone were so sharp as to have presented facts (several citings Stan) --- and then this kind of answer gets returned --- the Judges would kick them out of town and disqualify them IMMEDIATELY, man . . .

Commented: Sunday, August 30th, 2015 @ 5:45 am By: Gene Scarborough

Stan --- Here is the best research I can do on Fox News hate-speak over Jimmy Carter's terminal cancer situation:

1. Fox News On Jimmy Carter’s Cancer Diagnosis | Political ...
politicaldispute.com/.../14/fox-news-on-jimmy-carters-cancer-diagnosis
Fox News On Jimmy Carter’s Cancer Diagnosis. ... I mean its one thing to say like "woah that song is cancer" its another to just ... Jimmy Carter is a great man ...
2. www.dfwretroplex.com
www.dfwretroplex.com/2013.htm
•1952 SUSAN ESTRICH political commentator for Fox News born on ... the cancer has recently spread to ... It’s a sad day for us here at KOCO five news. We have to ...
3. Fox & Friends - Official Site
www.foxnews.com/on-air/fox-and-friends
Fox & Friends on Fox News Channel daily from 6AM to 9AM ET. ... A candid, funny memoir from the charismatic FOX News channel anchor and Miss America Pageant …
4. FOX VIEWERS TELL JIMMY CARTER "YOU DESERVE CANCER" in News ...
politicalconundrum.lefora.com/reply/47221656/FOX-VIEWERS-TELL...
FOX News Viewers React To Jimmy Carter’s Brain Cancer: You Deserve It by Colin Taylor • August 20, 2015. Former President Jimmy Carter, the world ...
5. Pictures - The women of Fox News - Arlington Conservative ...
www.examiner.com/slideshow/the-women-of-fox-news
May 24, 2012 · The women of Fox News. ... Fox News fans celebrate Jimmy Carter having cancer in his ... Fox News fans celebrate Jimmy Carter having cancer in his ...
6. Debbie Ford dies: Self-help author passes away after long ...
www.examiner.com › Arts & Entertainment › Celebrity
Feb 18, 2013 · ... Calif. after a long battle with cancer. ... Debbie Ford dies: ... Fox News fans celebrate Jimmy Carter having cancer in his brain, ...
7. Angry Twitter users hammer Fox News for insulting Jimmy ...
www.rawstory.com/2015/08/angry-twitter-users-hammer-fox-news-for...
... You can’t mock Donald Trump’s hair unless we can say ... Fox News for insulting Jimmy Carter on day ... words about the news. A cancer has ...
8. Worst President Ever Jimmy Carter Says Fox Commentators ...
scaredmonkeys.com/2010/11/22/worst-president-ever-jimmy-carter...
Nov 22, 2010 · Jimmy Carter said Sunday that Fox News ... Former President Jimmy Carter Has Cancer; ... 13 Responses to “Worst President Ever Jimmy Carter Says Fox ...

It took longer than I care to try and give you the requested details --- NOW --- can we have some peace or do we continue the pout???

Commented: Saturday, August 29th, 2015 @ 4:55 am By: Gene Scarborough

Here is a good observation on people being able to reason ~~~ www.youtube.com

Commented: Friday, August 28th, 2015 @ 7:59 am By: Gene Scarborough

Stan--- have you looked at my bio of late. It ends with "we can agree to disagree." I am finding this current attitude of yours "MOST DISAGREEABLE" --- but I continue to try and be nice . . .

Commented: Wednesday, August 26th, 2015 @ 8:02 am By: Gene Scarborough

If I am such a "liberal" why do I so agree with this "Moderate" good analysis of NC under Conservative Control????

Tom is at the core of NC government with way more NC experience than me. I have lived in NC / SC / GA from birth to churches served. I first came to NC to attend Southeastern Seminary, working my way through with Dorothea Dix Nurses Aide and Chaplain to the Wake County Juvenile Court --- all while living at Wake Forest.

I gladly left Georgia after Emory graduation in 1967. Lester Maddox, an avowed racist, had just become Governor and I as glad to get out --- until I discovered Jesse Helms doing conservative political commentary on WRAL my first day in Wake Forest. My thought was, "Lester had a first Cousin here in NC --- named Jesse!"

I left Wake Forest bound to 3 SC pastorates saying, "Raleigh will never be anything more than a Capital Cow Town." In 1986 we returned to Rocky Mount as I became Eastern NC Representative for Ministers Life Insurance Company. I was working a territory by zip codes from Durham to Wilmington and all the way to the Outer Banks so my exposure to "all things Eastern NC" was quick and good, in my view.

I was amazed how the "Capital Cow Town" had transformed with the Research Triangle Park at the core of growth and wealth. Greenville got the new Medical School and ECU was growing by leaps and bounds. Beaufort County and Bayview had not changed in the least. Poverty and strained job markets were still present as you left Pitt County and entered Beaufort County. We lived in Nash County and it was going into a sewer of drugs and crime. The split at the rail tracks between Edgecombe and Nash had Edgecombe moving quickly into Nash. All positive growth was to the West, on the eastern end of the area it was growing rapidly ONLY IN crime and deterioration of neighborhoods. When we left residence there for Beaufort County a good friend at the core of Rocky Mount business and government said, "Do you realize there are NO EXECUTIVE SALARIES LEFT IN ROCKY MOUNT?" From the railroad to textiles to much spent on downtown renovation, it was dying fast and continues to do so. They have the 2nd highest crime rate of any town in NC---second only to Gastonia.

All the observations Tom makes are right on target in my experience of NC since 1986.

My Alma Mater, SEBTS, was taken over by Southern Baptist Conservatives and that changed the kinds of preachers graduated to Baptist Churches, mostly in NC. Dr. Bill Friday observed when Dr. Page Patterson (from Texas) became the new President of SEBTS and he interviewed him: "The changes at this Seminary to conservatism are, perhaps the most important of the 1900's because they flavor NC from their pulpits and conservative outlook now." The largest religious group in NC, the NC Baptist State Convention, went conservative over some 15 years of manipulation at the core meetings from "Balanced Moderate outlook" to "Abject Conservatism." It is now a shell of what it used to be in numbers and public perception.

The NC Marriage Amendment passed with great rejoicing by Conservatives---only to be found Unconstitutional by the NC Federal Supreme Court. The proponents hauled aging and Parkinson-afflicted Billy Graham out at the last minute to give his blessing to NC Conservatism. I think he got "used for political purposes" --- just as are many good Baptists who vote in elections of NC.

Since 1986 I have seen Progressive NC turn into Regressive NC at the hands of Reagan Conservatives who went in masses to vote Conservative with the same claim as NC Conservatives: We are corrupted by Liberals and only a new Conservatism is the solution.

How's it going NC???? Not so well ---is my summation!!!

Commented: Wednesday, August 26th, 2015 @ 7:06 am By: Gene Scarborough

Since the Mighty Conservative Publisher (MCP), Stan, still has comments blocked on the latest Tax article --- here is the diagram of the Walmart Plan:


Get over you pout, Stan, it's not that bad to not have all bow down at your feet, my brother . . .

Commented: Tuesday, August 25th, 2015 @ 4:37 pm By: Gene Scarborough

One of the most interesting accounts from Winston Churchill and WWII is a time General Montgomery went to the Prime Minister's home insisting he must see him. The PM was in the lieu as his wife shouted in that Monty was there to see him on urgent business.

To which the great PM answered: "My dear, would you please kindly tell the General I cannottake 2 shits at the same time!"

Commented: Monday, August 24th, 2015 @ 3:32 pm By: Gene Scarborough

BT---I am being nice, now don't push me with too much BS . . .

Commented: Monday, August 24th, 2015 @ 1:14 pm By: Gene Scarborough

I so appreciate the way Stan is now cutting me off from comment on my own new article on Peace --- NOT

Commented: Monday, August 24th, 2015 @ 8:28 am By: Gene Scarborough

BT --- if you are going to post a video on "liberal" --- at least use one that doesn't sound swishy, if you please . . .I'm NOT IMPRESSED, man

Commented: Monday, August 24th, 2015 @ 7:58 am By: Gene Scarborough

This is funny! Massive highway projects in Atlanta have gone on non-stop since the mid-50's. It's rapid growth has always had it 10-15 years behind the current need for traffic relief. YET, they manage to avoid tolling those roads.

In Charlotte the growth is similar, but far different. I would guess that Charlotte, while it looks much like Atlanta, is gowning at 1/4 or less the speed of the massive Atlanta metro --- now claiming between 8 and 9 Million residents.

Atlanta wisely put in a light rail system many years ago to help. Charlotte is not even talking about that to the best of my knowledge. Lake Norman is a lovely and desirable area of Charlotte and it is no wonder they are congested getting there.

Is it possible the current Tax Code of NC is the real culprit? It seems we have adopted the outlook of conservatism which fails to tax large corps and the rich to pay for infrastructure they enjoy --- meanwhile the average worker/driver is being told they must be tolled to get somewhere on a better NC road???

Commented: Monday, August 24th, 2015 @ 5:30 am By: Gene Scarborough