Tenure Trap

If you did a poll – and Senator Berger surely has – you’d probably get overwhelming support for this proposition: “Should public school teachers get an 11 per cent raise in exchange for giving up tenure?”   Therein lies the challenge to Senate Democrats. Berger says: “You say you want higher teacher pay. Here it…

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Nastiness

    On Election Day my cousin Winifred who’s pure steel magnolia walked into the voting booth, stared at the names of the three judges running for Supreme Court, remembered the Republican ad saying Judge Robin Hudson was for child molesters, thought, I’ve seen enough of that kind of nastiness, and did something she’d never…

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Core Problem

California Governor Jerry Brown put his finger on the syndrome in 2012: “Everybody went to school, so everybody thinks they know how to teach, or they think they know something about education.”   Especially politicians. So, every couple of years, a new education reform takes hold in politics. And the politicians dictate a new set of…

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Tempting Women, Again

To get their votes, the politicians are up to a lot more than just promising women the ‘power’ to fulfill their heart’s desires – listen to the serenade Democrats are singing: If you vote for Kay Hagan, Democrats say, you’ll get more pay and equal pay and health care and birth control and education and,…

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Tempting Women

According to the newspaper one super powerful group is going to pick the winner in the Senate race: Women.    Not money. Or virtue. Or sin. But Women.   Which, of course, if you’re a woman, may sound like floozy flattery.    Or if you’re a woman, and a tad skeptical, you might be wondering,…

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North to Alaska

I’m just back from a family cruise to Alaska, a trip I highly recommend if you want to see a part of America that is a different world.   (And a big thank-you to the guest bloggers whom I trust kept your interest and blood pressure high while I was gone.)   We saw just…

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New Wrinkle, Old Politics

There are scads of Super PACs running around attacking Thom Tillis or Kay Hagan so one more came as no surprise except when Planned Parenthood said it was going to whack Tillis I thought, Whoever heard of a government-funded group spending $3.3 million on a Super PAC? It didn’t seem quite right. Planned Parenthood spending taxpayers’ money…

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Frick and frack

Gary is taking a break from blogging. Here’s one from a Tapster.   The Senate’s headlong rush this week to jumpstart hydraulic fracturing in North Carolina proves they’ve learned absolutely nothing from the Dan River coal ash spill. Senate Republicans say they want to create jobs and stimulate home-grown energy, and the sooner the better…

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Frick and Frack

Gary is taking a break from blogging. Here is one from a Tapster.   The Senate’s headlong rush this week to jumpstart hydraulic fracturing in North Carolina proves they’ve learned absolutely nothing from the Dan River coal ash spill. Senate Republicans say they want to create jobs and stimulate home-grown energy, and the sooner the…

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What Comeback?

Gary is taking a break from blogging. In his absence, he asked Thomas Mills to fill in. Thomas blogs at www.politicsnc.com where this article is cross-posted. Republicans in Raleigh have a problem with their storyline. They keep insisting that North Carolina is on a “Carolina comeback” but nobody’s feeling the benefits–except the rich. They cite…

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