Posts by Carter Wrenn
Silly…
The economy’s in tatters, fifteen million people are out of work, Obama’s stimulus plan’s a bust and in Raleigh state government’s got a $3 billion hole in the budget – but, not to worry, the Governor’s got a plan. She’s ready to make the tough choices. And she’s already announced the first step: SHE’S GOING…
Read MoreOne Hundred and Thirty Seven Times?
When Zahra Baker – who is 10-years-old – showed up with bruises and black eyes her friends and relatives reported their concerns she was being abused by her parents to the Department of Social Services. Then, a week ago, Zahra’s disappeared. And now the police, saying it looks like homicide, have jailed her…
Read MoreMasters of the Universe
There ought to be a play in the theatre of the absurd about Wall Street: After making trillions in bad loans, and then getting bailed out by taxpayers, the banks and finance companies are staring into the abyss again: This time because foreclosures have ground to a standstill. And the reason (Wall Street is…
Read MoreWhat’s wrong with this Picture?
The economy’s in the tank, the deficits soared past a trillion dollars, and the economy’s so shaky all that’s saving the government from bankruptcy is the Chinese loaning us money. Listening to the news it sounds like half the country’s being foreclosed on and half is out of work – but, while the rest…
Read MoreThat’s Politics…
By now most everyone has figured out the two things Democratic politicians love to talk about more than anything else on earth are Education and Health Care. Beverly Perdue talked about both so much two years ago she got herself elected our first woman Governor. But there was a peculiar fact – about health…
Read MoreDarth Vader Comes to Raleigh
There’s a scene in the movie Erin Brockovich where Julia Roberts runs head on into the epitome of an oily corporate lawyer who represents Pacific Gas and Electric. In real life the lawyer who represented PG&E was Rene Tatro, who’s known as ‘The Darth Vader of the environmental movement.’ Attorney Tatro is now…
Read MoreHow the Government Really Works: A Train Wreck V
So here’s what has happened: Secretary Lanier Cansler promised legislators he could cut the Medicaid Home Care $50 million (because, he said, the 45% of the patients were cheats) – if they’d let him give out a no bid contract to one of his former clients. But it turned out only 3% of the…
Read MoreBlame the Editor
Here’s a caricature of how government works North Carolina style: The Chairman of the Wildlife Commission, who naturally got his job by giving money to Governor Perdue, orders the Commission’s CEO to write a nice article about the Governor and publish it in the next edition of their magazine and mail it out to hunters…
Read MoreHow the Government Really Works: A Train Wreck IV
The Rest Home lobby must have one of the most powerful – or lucky – lobbies in North Carolina. A few years ago, Congress passed a bill to give states the flexibility to care for elderly Medicaid patients in their homes instead of in Rest Homes and almost every state jumped at the opportunity…
Read MoreDesert Crosses, Crusaders’ Flags and Nose Piercing
Back in 1934 for reasons no one has explained the Veterans of Foreign Wars decided to build a sole wooden cross – as a memorial to soldiers who died in World War I – in the Mohave Desert, where hardly a soul would see it. The cross stood peacefully atop Sunrise Rock for six…
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