Archive for July 2007
The SBI Investigates a ’37 Ford
There’s an odd flap brewing at the Division of Motor Vehicles. It goes like this: A DMV employee, Joey Gardner, claims the head of the department, George Tatum, had a friend’s replica of a ’37 Ford reclassified as a real ’37 Ford – to save his friend several hundred dollars in taxes (The News and…
Read MoreBlowing Your Own Foot Off
Trying to put the icing on his comeback as a leader in the Senate, Trent Lott led the fight to pass President Bush’s Immigration Bill. He failed. Then grumped: “Talk radio is running America.” Then he suggested bringing back the Fairness Doctrine (McClatchy, 7-9-07). So we have a Republican Senate Leader proposing to muzzle Rush…
Read MoreIn Iraq in 2012?
I asked a friend who is supporting one of the Republican candidates for President, What’s he going to do when the surge fails? He said, Well, that’s simple. Here’s what’s going to happen. If the surge works Washington will bring the troops home. And if it fails Washington will bring the troops home. Now, I’ve…
Read MoreFred Thompson on the Rise
There’s a new poll out from Public Policy Polling, the Democratic pollsters in Raleigh. There’s not much change in the Democratic or Republican primaries for Governor. Beverly Perdue and Bill Graham still lead as they have since last fall. (And, in the Republican primary, a whopping 60% of the voters are still undecided). There is…
Read MoreAnother Black Eye for the School Board?
Ten months ago, a local developer signed a contract to buy thirty-two acres in Wake County (for $2.5 million). He purchased the land on June 6. And sold it the next day for $3.3 million. In other words, he contracted to buy the land, then found a second buyer, then flipped it and made a…
Read MoreEuphemisms
As just about everyone knows no one is more adroit than a politician when it comes to using a euphemism to hide bad news. The Mayor and his two liberal allies on the City Council – Russ Stephenson and Thomas Crowder – have a euphemism they’re using for raising taxes: Impact Fees (The News and…
Read MoreThe Affair dé Haircut
At first when the press (no doubt with help from his Democratic opponents) revealed John Edwards paid $400 for a haircut in Beverly Hills, Edwards blithely passed the buck saying his staff got ‘that guy’ to cut his hair. He didn’t know how much it cost. He didn’t even know ‘that guys’ name. Well, it…
Read MoreZigzags
John McCain may be right by removing four top staffers to resurrect his sagging presidential campaign. But it’s difficult not to suspect McCain’s deeper problem may be McCain. After the 2000 election, Senator McCain became a sort of maverick Republican in the Senate, co-sponsoring the Kennedy-McCain Immigration Bill, brokering deals with Democrats on judges and…
Read MoreBlack: 63 Months
This morning a federal judge sentenced former House Speaker Jim Black to 63 months in prison. But the scandals that have rocked Democrats in the State House may not be over. Monday federal prosecutors revealed that Black took $500,000 from a lobbyist and put the money in his campaign account in 2000. Of course, what…
Read MoreTaking a Break
This blog will tilt rightward for the next two weeks, because we’re taking a family vacation to Italy, and I won’t be blogging. I’ve never been to Italy. So I consider this an experiment to see how I like a country that features universal health care, two-hour midday breaks and an average of 41 vacation…
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