Flight of Fancy

My friend Damon Circosta, executive director on the N.C. Center for Voter Education, gets an A for effort but an F for persuasiveness.   Circosta, according to Under the Dome, says the flap over Governor Perdue’s campaign not reporting some flights is an argument for “voter-owned” (publicly financed) campaigns. http://projects.newsobserver.com/dome#ixzz0yBS20BU0    The logic goes over…

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Resolved

I’m amused by people who argue that the “mosque” shouldn’t be built near Ground Zero because a poll showed a majority of Americans oppose it.   Well, not along ago I saw a poll that found, for the first time, that most Americans think gay couples should be allowed to wed.   That settles it,…

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Only in America…

…could a charlatan like Glenn Beck (with Sarah Palin as backup) claim that holding his Washington rally on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s is “divine providence” AND simultaneously claim that an Islamic center shouldn’t be built two blocks from Ground Zero because it offends some people.   Am I the only person who thinks…

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‘They did a bad Thing’

Over in Afghanistan, according to the newspaper, 25-year-old Khayyam and 19-year-old Siddiqa fell in love;—now Khayyam already had a wife but that wasn’t a hurdle because in Afghanistan men can have four wives; instead the hurdle was his family turned thumbs down on the marriage, plus Siddiqa was already engaged to a relative of Khayyam’s…

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Can’t We All Get Along?

It’s a familiar question. I heard it again not long ago.   My Republican friend/foe Jack Hawke and I were tossing partisan grenades at each other during a panel on this year’s elections.   When it was time for Q&A, the question was: “Can’t the two parties put aside their differences and solve our problems…

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The Million Dollar Question

Well, Gary, you’re back and I’m glad we’ve got a little controversy on our hands (about the Mosque in Manhattan) and I suspect before we finish debating we may be disagreeing on more than just politics.   Let me ask – gingerly – three questions. Are all religions are equal? Should all religions be treated…

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Holding for AG?

The rumor among Republicans is that George Holding will run against Roy Cooper for AG in 2012.   That assumes, of course, that Holding doesn’t stay on as U.S. Attorney forever.   It also assumes he finally handles his high-profile cases: Mike Easley and John Edwards.   Maybe Holding will punt Easley to the state,…

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Perdue’s Luck

Governor Perdue can’t catch a break.   Today should have been a big news day for her: North Carolina winning one of the 10 “Race to the Top” selections.   That’s a big step forward in school reform. And, by the way, one of the most significant and least recognized achievements of the Obama administration.…

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The Inmates Are Loose

One thing is clear from Tuesday’s primaries: the lunatics are running the Republican asylum.   Rick Scott, a key figure in the biggest health-care fraud scandal ever, won the Republican nomination for governor of Florida. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski trails a Sarah Palin-endorsed Tea Partier. And John McCain, who gave America Sarah Palin, survived in…

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Not ‘94?

The last couple of weeks, I’ve talked with Democrats and Republicans who are deeply involved in this year’s elections.   And I found a ray of hope for Democrats: 2010 may not be 1994 revisited.   The reason: 1994 itself.   What happened that year is hard-wired into Democratic DNA – in North Carolina and…

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