Here’s an unusual experiment in ethics: Is Citibank guilty or innocent of bilking investors by selling home mortgage bond packages? The answer, the bank says, is neither. It’s neither innocent nor guilty. In fact, it’s neutral on the issue. But, the bank adds, it will pay a $285 million fine to put the past behind…
Read MoreA Republican TAPster sends along this N&O blog with the observation: “Looks like the Democrats might have found their version of an Art Pope.” Keung Hui, in a blog headed, “Dean Debnam’s group gives Common Sense Matters another $25,000,” wrote: “It looks like we should expect another flurry of mailers from Common Sense…
Read MoreOne industry in North Carolina is guaranteed to get a big boost next year: the political industry. President Obama’s two-day bus tour this week gave a glimpse of what’s to come. You’re going to see a lot of him the next 13 months – and a lot of the Republican candidate. And they’re all…
Read MoreSome ne’er-do-well over in Johnston County got himself arrested, thrown into jail, hired a bail bondsman, then skipped town leaving the bondsman holding the bag. Which left the bondsman with 20 days to file a motion to get his money back – if he could show the bail jumper had died unexpectedly or been locked…
Read MoreThere’s fall in the air and, suddenly, there’s spring in the step of Democrats. Part of it was last week’s elections, especially the prospect of capturing the Wake school board. Part of it is the natural joy Democrats feel when Obama pillories Republicans and big, bad bankers. Part of it is seeing Herman Cain…
Read MoreBack in the old days hardly anyone noticed when a Governor took a stand. But times have changed. Just look at the newspaper headline: Perdue Announces She Will Take a Stand. From there the process gets more puzzling. Before she would announce whether she was for or against the Constitutional Amendment banning gay…
Read MoreFirst President Obama announced he was going to raise taxes on everyone making over $200,000 – then he fell victim to logic; Senator Charles Schumer did the math, looked at the numbers and to Schumer the message was clear: There are a lot more people making over $200,000 than there are people making over $1…
Read MoreThe other morning after she finished reading the obituaries my wife turned to the front page of the newspaper and frowned then declared, That is ridiculous. Buried in the sports page I muttered, What’s ridiculous? John Edwards says he can’t be prosecuted because the government didn’t give him ‘fair warning’ he was violating…
Read MoreThe Occupy Wall Street/Washington/Raleigh/etc. protests are a classic example of a political movement that the general public may agree with, at least on some level, but not find agreeable. In politics, as in physics, every action generates a reaction. The Tea Party movement powered Republicans to victory in 2010, but may drag them to…
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