Archive for March 2007
Cooperating With Prosecutors
It is hard not to feel sympathy for a seventy-one year old man whose world has come crashing down around him as completely as Jim Black’s. Allies who not long ago defended him at the tops of their voices have abandoned him, the Attorney General is demanding he repay the state $30,000 in legal fees,…
Read MoreThe ‘Surge’ Hits a Snag
What happens to the terrorists when you occupy a big country like Iraq with too few troops? When you have a ‘surge’ the terrorist go to the provinces. In Diyala, thirty miles from Baghdad, the American commander put it this way, “You’ve got more than 20,000 more American troops pouring into Baghdad – so the…
Read MorePolls and Trial Lawyers
The Civitas Institutes latest poll was bad news for North Carolina’s two most prominent trial lawyers-politicians. Right here in his home state John Edwards finds himself in a dead head with Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton 22% John Edwards 24% Barach Obama 22% In politics, when the folks at home – who know you best –…
Read MoreHeckuva Job, Nicky?
ABC News reports that the Veterans Administration came up with a plan two years ago to make sure that American troops injured in Iraq and Afghanistan get the medical care they need. It was called “seamless transition.” The purpose: Don’t let injured troops fall through the cracks when the military turns them over to the…
Read MoreRichard Moore: The Old Bait and Switch
The newspapers have blasted Richard Moore’s shaking down state pension fund managers for campaign contributions. Moore’s response: He’s pulling the ‘old bait and switch.’ Moore, spewing statistics, claims it doesn’t matter how much he’s raised. All that matters, he says, is how the funds have performed. Which according to him is just dandy. Moore calculated…
Read MoreHow About You?
No politician in Congress is going to dare to propose a draft. The Democrats would impeach President Bush if he even brought it up. But looking back the President made a big mistake by not proposing a draft years ago. He wouldn’t have gotten in this mess if he had. He’d have known right then…
Read MoreIn the Soup
There’s a sad sequel to Mayor Meeker’s failed obsession with Lite-Rail. The News and Observer reports the Mayor’s Triangle Transit Authority is having a tough time keeping its fleet of buses afloat. The TTA has maintenance problems. Big maintenance problems. Problems so bad the City has filed a lawsuit to make the bus makers take…
Read MoreGovernor Easley’s Math
When Jim Hunt was Governor no one could open a Seven-Eleven without Hunt adding a new page to his new job recruitment statistics. By the time Governor Hunt left office he’d announced so many new jobs – some promised, some real – the unemployed were in a state of shock. He also made “Smart Start”…
Read MoreGovernor Easley
When Jim Hunt was Governor no one could open a Seven-Eleven without Hunt adding a new page to his new job recruitment statistics. By the time Governor Hunt left office he’d announced so many new jobs – some promised, some real – the unemployed were in a state of shock. He also made “Smart Start”…
Read More‘Let’s Forget the Whole Thing’
At first I thought it might be shock, or embarrassment, or not wanting to kick a fellow when he’s down: Democrats, led by Governor Easley, were silent as stones about Jim Black’s bribery conviction. Then I asked a friend who knows legislators, ‘Why aren’t Democrats howling from the rooftops in outrage at Jim Black rather…
Read More