A Storm of Confusion

The more TV weather I watch, the more confused I get. Thursday afternoon, I watched two forecasts back-to-back on two stations. The local cable system news, Channel 14, said top winds from Ernesto were 70 mph. The Weather Channel said top winds were 30 mph. Click to Read & Post Comments

Read More

The TTA and the Little Engine that Could

Triangle Transit Authority trustee Nina Szlosberg doesn’t want the TTA to strike the flag on Lite-Rail – so when the other trustees arrived at their last meeting she gave them copies of the children’s fable The Little Engine that Could. Taxpayers have poured tens of millions of dollars into the TTA; we’ve paid for studies,…

Read More

The Democrats and Corruption

Sometimes you have to wonder if the Democrats in the State Legislature are really serious at all about cleaning up corruption. Attorney General Roy Cooper asked the Democratic leaders in the legislature to give him two weapons to fight corruption. He asked them to make “it a crime to lie to SBI agents, and to…

Read More

No Shelter from the Storm

New Orleans hasn’t recovered from Katrina. Nor has George Bush. And neither one’s prospects look good. Bush has never recovered politically because his actions in the storm’s aftermath burned an indelible image in the nation’s mind: an aloof, disengaged patrician totally unable to grasp the suffering of thousands of Americans. No one can imagine Bill…

Read More

Nature or Kids

What does Raleigh need more: another nature park or a place where teenagers can play basketball and stay out of trouble? It seems to me that is the issue in the Horseshoe Farm debate. Horseshoe Farm is a 146-acre tract of land off U.S. 401 in northeast Raleigh, bounded by the Neuse River. Nature lovers…

Read More

The Pope Political Legacy

I didn’t know John Pope, the uber-wealthy retail king who died this week. And I don’t know much about the business empire he built at Variety Wholesalers. But I know about his political empire. I don’t like it, but I damn sure respect it. Pope was the big money behind the John Locke Foundation and…

Read More

WalMart Vs. Democrats

Wal-Mart is becoming for Democrats what al-Qaeda is for Republicans: the source of all evil. The Democratic presidential candidates – even including moderate Senator Evan Bayh – are attacking the big retailer. Its sins include low pay, scarce benefits and big success. All this while Wal-Mart – with Al Gore’s help – is trying to…

Read More

Ethics in State Government?

After State Senator Howard Lee was defeated for reelection in 2003 the governor appointed him to the Board of Education. Serving on the Board is an unpaid position and the Board only meets two days a month. But The News and Observer (8/14/06) reports Senator Lee also spends “a couple of days a week” on…

Read More

Edwards and Lieberman

John Edwards and Joe Lieberman have little in common. But they do both have one big thing this year: running as outsiders. Most politicians fantasize about “outsider” campaigns. Usually when they get tired of playing insider games with other politicians, interest groups and contributors. But the dream has come true for Joe and John. And…

Read More

Reform-mania

Nothing is quite so repellent – or dangerous – as a politician in the throes of reform-mania. Witness the North Carolina legislature. To start with, no legislator really wanted to pass lobbying or campaign finance reform. They liked the old system. After all, they had designed it to serve themselves. So they did what they…

Read More