Humble Cal

Poor Cal Cunningham; the young man has had so much ‘humbling’ lately if he wasn’t a politician he might be facing the possibility of sainthood.   First, before he announced he was running for Senate, he said he’d been ‘humbled’ by how many folks wanted him to run. Then, after he declared he was running,…

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Don’t Drain the Swamp

There was a pretty glowing report in the paper Wednesday about the Copenhagen Summit, saying just about everyone’s agreed to compensate poor countries for preserving forests and swamps. (Just think, once, not too long ago draining a swamp was a virtue).   It seems the big hurdle standing in the way of an agreement was…

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A New Day?

Governor Perdue has the Easley scandal on her hands and the Tony Rand scandal on her hands and she’s got a Cabinet Secretary – Lanier Cansler – who used to be a lobbyist passing out $250 million in no bid contracts, a lot of them to his friends and former clients.   Her solution has…

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Politics and Evolution

There’s an old folk tale about a group of Confederate soldiers sitting around a campfire during the winter of 1862-63 arguing about Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.   A British war correspondent – arguing in favor of evolution – waxed eloquent then resting his case leaned back on his elbows, and one of the Confederates…

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Politics – Montana Style

I figured brazenly appointing your wife to a top-paying government job (or swapping a political appointment for a deal on a beach front lot) was a temptation our local Democrats couldn’t resist because after two decades in power they’d lost their humility.   But, yesterday, I read Montana’s Democratic Senator has succumbed to temptation too…

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The Rescue of Mike Easley?

  I reckon U.S. Attorney George Holding has done more to fight corruption than just about anyone in North Carolina except News & Observer Editor John Drescher. But, now, it looks like Holding’s days are numbered.   There’re three Federal Judges and three U.S. Attorneys for President Obama to appoint in North Carolina – want…

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The Scarlet Pimpernel

Once I asked a friend what he thought of a prominent South Carolina politician and he laughed and said, Well, you know what they say about LeRoy – he hasn’t met a principle since high school.   Back when she was running for Governor, Beverly Perdue promised liberals and environmentalists there was never, ever, ever…

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Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Democrats have no pity.   No sooner did unemployment hit double digits than Mayor Meeker and Raleigh’s City Manager and Meeker’s allies on the City Council announced a plan to raise property taxes.   Think of it: Right now almost everyone in Raleigh is paying taxes on overvalued homes and the Mayor and company are…

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Landing in the Soup

  You can tell when a politician lands in the soup – because he starts writing op-eds in the News and Observer – praising himself. What put Secretary Lanier Cansler in the op-ed writing business was a story on WRAL-TV about Cansler trying to cut medical care to a 20 month old infant on Medicaid.…

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While Rome Burns

Over at the Federal Courthouse in Raleigh a Grand Jury’s investigating former Governor Easley for corruption.   The newspaper reports just before he left office former State Treasurer Richard Moore handed a San Diego hedge fund $500 million in state pension money to invest – then a few weeks after he left office took a…

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