Posts by Carter Wrenn
Irony
Leaning across the table, Eric, who attended Divinity School in Edinburgh, handed the press release from Redistricting Chairmen David Lewis and Bob Rucho to Richard, the intellectual, and said, This reads like a legal brief written by a Harvard lawyer set on explaining no matter how much sinning his clients are doing it’s perfectly fine…
Read MoreNever in the History of the World
Richard pointed to a newspaper article and said, We’ve built schools and hospitals and highways in Afghanistan to buy good will – but it’s backfired. On one project we paid Afghanistan contractors who turned around and gave $5 million to the Taliban. He went on to explain how a professor at Marine Corps University…
Read MoreObama Defines ‘Hostility’
President Obama’s spending $10 million a day launching drone attacks on Tripoli and dropping bombs on Qaddafi’s compound, but the President’s just sent Congress a message saying we’re not involved in any ‘hostilities’ in Libya – which means he doesn’t have to worry about the War Powers Act and doesn’t need Congress’ approval to go…
Read MoreThere Will Surely Be A Reckoning
The following article about the war in Afghanistan was in the newspaper Saturday: ABOARD A BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN By ANJA NIEDRINGHAUS, Associated Press The Army medics had just dropped off a Marine wounded in a bombing when one reached over and handed me a scribbled note inside the noisy U.S. helicopter. …
Read MoreA $200 Million Snafu
Secretary Lanier Cansler has landed in $200 million worth of hot water. Back in the days when Cansler was a lobbyist the Department of Health and Human Services gave his client CSC Corporation a $287 million state contract to process Medicaid claims. Shortly thereafter Cansler gave up lobbying and, thanks to Governor Perdue, became…
Read MoreSlipped Through
It’s strange how the wheels and cogs turn in the state legislature. Senators and Representatives sit and lolly-gag for months then a week before they go home all hell breaks loose and the floodgates open and suddenly 170 legislators are working day and night trying to pass hundreds of bills. It looks crazy. But…
Read MoreMore Political Foolishness
Talk 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 MoreFoolishness and Politicians
House 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 MoreThe Biggest Contract in State Government
It’s the biggest contract in state government. The $265 million Medicaid claims processing contract. And it’s awarded by Secretary Lanier Cansler’s department. For years the contract was managed by EDS Corporation, but during Cansler’s first stint at DHHS (when Mike Easley was Governor) the contract was awarded to another corporation – ACS Corporation. Which…
Read MoreCansler Strikes Again
Lobbyist turned Cabinet Secretary (and No-Bid-Contract-Awarder) Lanier Cansler has landed himself back in court. Sued for the third time. What’s got Cansler in a mess this time is his predilection for nursing homes – he seems to be about the only person in North Carolina who thinks it’s better to put an elderly person…
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