Posts by Carter Wrenn
Blind Dumb Luck…
A week ago, I thought, It’s too farfetched – Rick Santorum rising in the polls in Iowa would be like blind dumb luck or lightning striking. All year with pure steadfastness a quarter of the Republican voters have stuck by Mitt Romney though thick and thin. But they’ve been the only thing steadfast in…
Read MoreA Barn Raising
The other day in the newspaper, below an article about unemployment, there was another article headlined “NCSU chancellor gets ‘a great venue.’” Now, someone thought very carefully about the choice of that word ‘venue.’ North Carolina State University has a problem. Because building a new $3.5 million house for its chancellor in the…
Read MoreOnce we knew…but not anymore
The President of Afghanistan’s in a fix: The U.S. Army, he says, hasn’t won the war so there’s no peace to give his people the “individual personal security” they need. Half a century ago, in four years, we crushed Hitler’s armies and occupied his country and there was peace, but, today, it appears whatever…
Read MoreLaser-Guided Missiles
We defeated Libya with laser-guided missiles that, NATO said, never ever blew up anyone but the bad guys. It sounded too good to be true – and it was. Now, NATO admits, those laser-guided missiles killed a fair number of civilians – which isn’t a shock. But does leave one loose end. It may…
Read MorePure Spin
Last month, the state’s economy didn’t grow and create new jobs but unemployment went down. How is that possible? Well, look at it this way: Imagine you’re a politician running for reelection and you’re praying your policies work and unemployment drops but the Labor Department just insists on putting out pesky figures that make…
Read MoreThe Last Word
After he read the stories in the News and Observer about the hospital war in Raleigh between Wake Med and UNC Health Care, a retired health care administrator wrote in the newspaper that years ago Mayo Clinic founder William J. Mayo had said, “The best interest of the patient is the only interest to be…
Read MoreSubmarine Maneuvers
Twenty years ago SBI agent and blood-splatter expert Duane Deaver withheld evidence in a murder trial in Raleigh and an innocent man went to prison. Later, in a murder trial in Johnston County a federal judge ruled that Deaver had given “false and misleading testimony.” Then a few days ago Judge Orlando Hudson…
Read MoreLooking for a Miracle
Since last spring, like hopeful school girls, conservatives have been falling in and out of love with Michele Bachmann, with Rick Perry, with Herman Cain. Now we’re asking breathlessly, Is Newt the one? – followed by a harsher question, asked with a hint of desperation, Is there anyone else? It wasn’t hard for Newt…
Read MoreThe New Leader in Iowa…
Newt Gingrich’s ship seems to have landed on the rocks – nationally, the Gallop poll reports, Speaker Gingrich has plummeted from 37% to 26% of the vote and in Iowa the news is even worse: The latest poll shows Newt’s dropped out of first place. With so much bad news piling up Newt let…
Read MoreNewt and the Judges
He’s fed up with elitist judges, Newt says, so as President he’s just going to ignore their rulings. And what’s more, he adds, as a historian he knows that Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln would agree with him. Of course, the press pounced, immediately, asking, So, if President Newt can ignore court rulings –…
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