It comes as a shock but waste dumps can be built in North Carolina without an environmental study to determine the potential harm when they are put in flood plains or near a water supplies. The Environmental Review Commission (which is studying four mega-trashdumps out of state companies plan to build here to bury garbage…
Read MoreThis is a peculiar twist. The ACLU and anti-torture activists want the Governor, the Attorney General and just about everyone else – including the Johnston County Commissioners – to investigate Smithfield based Aero Contractors, which provides charter flights to the CIA. No one – including the Global Transport Authority – has taken them up on…
Read MoreNo, it’s not George Bush. Not even Dick Cheney. Or Harry Reid. Or a woman – Nancy Pelosi. How about Mike Rounds? Who? Rounds is the Republican Governor of South Dakota. He could end up with the power to put Republicans back in charge of the Senate if the ailing Senator Tim Johnson can’t serve.…
Read MorePresidents should know they’re in political trouble when members of their own party break with them, especially U.S. Senators. That has happened now on Iraq. The Republican Senator is Gordon Smith from Oregon. CNN quoted Smith – “in an emotional speech on the Senate floor” last week – as saying the U.S. military’s “tactics have…
Read MoreWith only 52 votes Republicans don’t have much voice in choosing Jim Black’s successor as Speaker of the House. But here’s a suggestion: Challenge the Democrats to elect a new Speaker who is not part of the current House leadership. Why? Because a ‘fresh face,’ without ties to the current leadership, can best clean up…
Read MoreLast year, an eighth grader on her way to East Millbrook Middle School was struck by a car. The principal immediately asked the City to put a crossing guard on Spring Forest Road in front of the school. Months passed and nothing happened as the Mayor and City Council debated issues like new regulations on…
Read MoreSpeaker Jim Black did not invent the political system that embroiled him in the scandals that led to his announcement, yesterday, that he will not seek an unprecedented fifth term as leader of the State House. Instead he inherited the system (the press calls it ‘pay to play’) just as other Democrat and Republican leaders…
Read MoreThe political pot is boiling for Raleigh’s elections next year. Here’s a sampling of what we’ve heard – via emails and conversations – since we first blogged on the topic: There is talk of a Republican running for Mayor – maybe Tom Fetzer or Phillip Isley. But with registration 50-35 Democratic, I don’t see it…
Read MoreHere’s how you can tell how much trouble George Bush is in because of Iraq: he’s comparing himself to Harry Truman. I always know a Democratic candidate is doomed when he starts comparing his race to Truman’s upset over Dewey in 1948. It’s a sure sign of sheer desperation. Now Bush is comparing his place…
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