Joe Jurney - Transmissions from Mebane

I just returned from voting. Long line at Hunter’s Chapel on Buckhorn Road. Add to that we had some mouthy northern transplant talking to/at us like every syllable out of his mouth was the most important sound ever. What’s new.

Mike Gravel is still on the ballot! So Democrats have a third choice even though the voters guide says he is now a member of the Libertarian Party. Look for Elmer Fudd and Mickey Mouse to draw more votes than ol’ “Give ‘em Hell Gravel” or as he is better known, “Who?”

I hope the state is taking notice to the early voting and primary turnouts and can do something, anything to alleviate the crush of voters that will undoubtedly be casting ballots in November. I would hate for North Carolina to become the new Florida or the new Ohio. I remember people waited for hours at some Burlington precincts back in 2004.

Even though this is just a primary, elections excite me. As a journalist, there is a certain rush of adrenaline that goes along with waiting for the returns and then hammering together headlines and packages in a white-knuckled frenzy right before deadline. I doubt it will be that exciting tonight but it will be a good test run for November. 

Update 1 p.m.: Hillary needs to stop calling me. If my wife finds out I’ll find my stuff out in the yard tonight. Bill called me yesterday. Just waiting on Obama and Gravel to blow up my phone. And how could I ever get tired of the “No to Land Transfer Tax” calls? I have enough of their mailers to re-paper the sunroom.

I also got a call from DirecTV trying to sell me HBO and Cinemax under some complicated contract. Like the run-up to the Iraq War, it sounded too good to be true. I wasn’t fooled then and I won’t be fooled now.

I saw a “60 Minutes” piece on a group called Remote Area Medical. One of the original purposes of this organization was to give medical help to people in the poorest areas of the world.

However, the group now does 60 PERCENT of its work within the UNITED STATES. This is simply unacceptable. There is no reason for this to happen in the richest nation in the history of civilization.

Yes, you better believe I am a supporter of single-payer health care. I cannot understand Americans who are so afraid of it. I am sick of people who still seem to live under some fear of Soviet communism (and a lesser extent, imperial Britain circa 1750) saying that a single-payer system is socialism. A single-payer system would simply take useless health care insurance companies out of the equation. The government would pay your bill for any doctor you would want to see. And it would be far cheaper in the long run because more people would be able to see doctors and receive more preventive care.

Some Americans are so hell-bent on competition and free markets for every sector of American life. Well, tell me, how is competition helping your health care (that is if you have any)? You pay monthly for insurance so you can go to a doctor that has to be in your network and then, guess what, you get to pay more money out of pocket. I wonder who thought up this great, American system. Sounds great! We’re really showing those Europeans something! USA! USA!

Of course, none of the presidential candidates are talking about this issue and until any of them have the guts to put forth the idea of a single-payer system, I will be voting once again for Ralph Nader. He is the only candidate who has been talking about this issue for the past 30 years or so.

Through his organization, Public Citizen, he has done more to fight for Americans against corporate greed than Obama, Clinton or McCain combined. The only problem is that Nader will have to get on every state ballot by way of petition because of anti-democratic laws that keep the one-party-disguised-as-two from having a challenger.

I must admit that I was not excited at first about Ralph running again until I saw him on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” last week and I couldn’t help but to smile. Something about that man’s monotone talk about health care and the trillion dollar disaster in Iraq just made me feel good and warm inside. I guess it is because viewpoints and beliefs like his are verboten or ignored in the mainstream media. Maybe what he has to say has too much substance compared to Obama’s specifics-less sermons, Clinton’s attempts to convince people she’s likable and McCain doing his Bob Dole impersonation.

Go, Ralph, Go! 

Actor/director/former Montessori school chief Tom Laughlin is running for president again. You may remember him from the 1970s film “Billy Jack” as a half-Indian protector of hippies and the powerless. A left winger with a powerful, nose-crushing right. This is what America needs now more than ever.

Imagine the scene: President Billy Jack is meditating out on the South Lawn of the White House and along comes a group of thuggish, Republican Senate Bikers known as Reagan’s Angels to try to cram a war appropriations bill literally down the president’s throat. President Billy Jack is against all wars and he won’t be strong-armed by the senators.

“Are you men looking for a filibuster? We’ll here you go,” the President says. Thwack! Roundhouse kick to Mitch McConnell’s head. Smack! Back falls Larry Craig in leather chaps after a punch to the nose. Lindsay Graham comes at Billy Jack with a chain. Billy ducks and gives a sharp hit south on the distinguished gentleman from South Carolina. As they all lay on the ground moaning, the President of the United States Billy Jack says: “How do you like that veto?”

Then First Lady Delores Taylor sings a Joni Mitchell-esque tune on guitar to a bunch of long-haired kids wearing hemp jeans, “Lookin’ Good” vulture and 7-UP T-shirts, and Chuck Taylors.

Sadly, Laughlin doesn’t look as strong nowadays but it’s always good to dream, right?  Billy Jack in ‘08!