Iâm certainly prepared to believe that the Republican budget will damage education in North Carolina. But when it comes to the dire warnings about damage to the environment, Iâm a skeptic. Itâs a skepticism honed by 40 years of hearing environmentalists warn that the sky (and air and land) are falling into ruination, while…
Read MoreThe Anthony Weiner scandal exposes (so to speak) the deadly mixture of three narcissistic pursuits: politics, social media and the gym. Weiner, by all appearances (so to speak), is a classic political geek: the president of the debate club who wasn’t exactly Cool in School. But in politics, he’s cool. Once he gets to…
Read MoreTalk about political double talk. President Obama says, Of course, it’s perfectly legal for him to make war on Libya without Congress ever declaring war. How’s that? Because, Obama explained, his war in Libya is not an escalating war. So, after two centuries of believing the Founders wrote only Congress could declare war,…
Read MoreAnyone surprised that five Democratic House members voted for the Republican budget has forgotten that no animal in the wild has a more finely honed survival instinct than a politician. The media has reported the budget goodies the “Party of Five” received. And there is talk about Jim Crawford getting an Appropriations chairmanship, etc,…
Read MoreHouse Speaker Thom Tillis landed himself in a mess by picking the worst time on earth to pass out $30,000 a person pay raises to his staff. The whole thing, given the timing, looks just plain crazy. On one hand Tillis is telling voters the legislature’s so flat-on-its-back-broke it has to cut budgets to…
Read MoreTwo members of Governor Perdue’s staff took issue with my view that Republicans have successfully minimized the differences between their education budget and hers. I invited them to spell out the differences. They obliged with an analysis headed “Setting the Record Straight: Perdue Budget Would Invest More Than a Half Billion Dollars More in Public…
Read MoreI just knew there was a pony in the pile of manure that is the new state budget. And, thanks to Laura Leslie at WRAL, I found it. From the start, let me confess: This is all about self-interest. You see, we own a small condo at Nags Head. And one of my…
Read MoreWhen I fled the country just before Memorial Day, Governor Perdue had the upper hand in her PR battle with the GOP over the budget. But she lost it. She lost the battle – at least in the short term – because she couldn’t get the votes to sustain her veto. In politics, like…
Read MoreJohn Edwards should have taken the deal. He could have pled guilty to misdemeanors – not felonies. The circus would be over. There would be no trial – and no risk of a worse result. There would be no more leaks, no more tabloid headlines and no more sordid disclosures. Yes, there might…
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