It is a well-known fact that the not-so-great state of South Carolina has only two things going for it: the coast and the city of Charleston. The coast is there by the grace of God and the gifts of nature. But it turns out that much of what makes Charleston a great place –…
Read MoreLocked in a wrestling match with the Governor over Medicaid (and how much it will go over budget) the Old Bull Mooses invited Art Pope (the Budget Czar) over to the Senate for a cordial visit then added if he didn’t come along peacefully they’d send him a subpoena. Pope, responding like a gentleman,…
Read MoreAaron Fussell was one of those modest World War II heroes who saved the free world, then came home and spent the rest of his life building a better world. I knew him as school superintendent and a legislator. But I got to know him best much later, on the golf course. That’s where…
Read MoreGovernor Pat (Stupid Hat) McCrory’s admonition worked! No deaths or injuries were reported from Hurricane Arthur after he went on television urging North Carolinians along the coast: “Don’t put on your stupid hat.” He even mimed putting on a stupid hat. And made air quotes around “stupid hat.” It got it on the CBS…
Read MoreThere’s a lit stick of dynamite – and one unanswered question – being blithely passed from hand to hand in the backrooms of Raleigh: Who will the State Senators and Representatives make pay to cleanup Duke Energy’s coal ash ponds – which Duke says is going to cost $10 billion and which, Duke also says,…
Read MoreThe Governor sent his budget over to the Senate. And as Rodney Dangerfield used to say, He got no respect. It was DOA. The Senate sent its budget over to the House. And it got no respect either. DOA, again. The House sent its budget to the Senate. And met…
Read MoreI know that people in the Governor’s Office read this blog. So please pass this message on to Governor McCrory: Josh Ellis needs some time off. Josh, the Governor’s communications director, responded rather sharply to my blog yesterday about McCrory’s new Governor’s Teacher Network (GTN). (See “McCrory’s Make-up Test.”) Josh’s email is below,…
Read MoreThe news from Iraq was puzzling. West of Baghdad, ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) was whipping our allies the al-Maliki government. At the same time, next door in Syria, President Assad was bombing our enemy ISIS. Meanwhile, in Washington, President Obama was asking Congress for $500 million to send…
Read MoreGovernor McCrory acts like a man who had a serious health scare and now vows to eat right and exercise. His main exercise is running away from the state Senate as fast as he can. Clearly, the Governor has seen the Senate’s poll numbers on education. He doesn’t want to catch that bug. …
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