NC legislators advance bill to compensate eugenics victims (video) North Carolina is one step closer to offering tax-free, lump sum payments of $50,000 to each victim of the state’s forced sterilization program. On Tuesday, a House committee voted in favor of the compensation package outlined in House Bill 947, sending the bill on to the Finance Committee. Republicans Rep. George Cleveland and Rep. Ric Killian were the only two to speak against the bill. House Majority Leader Rep. Paul Stam told the committee it served no purpose to further delay the issue: “We can’t fix their bodies, but we can fix this. We can pay compensation, and we ought to do it. Get it over with, have it done, so they can enjoy it before ... Continue reading →

Vice President Joe Biden offered a defense Tuesday of the Obama campaign's questioning of Mitt Romney's business experience, saying that the Republican candidate's specific experiences are what make him a bad fit for the Oval Office. "Your job as president is to promote the common good. That doesn't mean the private equity guys are bad guys. They are not," he said in a campaign speech in Keene, N.H. "But that no more qualifies you to be president than being a plumber. And, by the way, there are a lot of awful smart plumbers." "All kidding aside," he told the audience at Keene State College, "it's not the same job requirement. So it's totally legitimate for the president to point this out." The Obama campaign has ... Continue reading →