Posts by Carter Wrenn
Same Mistake: Third Time
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, just told Congress the military is “weighing new directions for Iraq, including an even bigger troop buildup.” Before anyone gets all lathered up, what the army really seems to be doing is studying all the alternatives. Sending more men. Sending fewer. Leaving the same…
Read MorePhony Politics
You have to say this for the Internet: It’s making life more dangerous for politicians. The whole foundation for Rudy Giuliani’s campaign for President is his record on 9-11. In that vein he recently boasted New York’s Firefighters “have no greater friend” than Giuliani (Cox News Service, 7-15-07). It turns out the Firefighters don’t agree.…
Read MoreA Third Black Eye
First, the School Board’s Administrators got a black eye from the press for buying land without getting appraisals. Then they got one from the County Commissioners for raising their own salaries. Now they’ve gotten one from the U.S. Department of Education. Ten Wake County schools have failed to meet ‘No Child Left Behind’ standards, so…
Read MoreThe School Board’s Second Black Eye
The Wake County School Board got a second “black eye” from County Commissioners. Commissioner Kenn Gardner blasted the Board for reducing teacher pay raises at the same time it was boosting Administrative spending 11% – twice the increase in school enrollment. Not so, Chief Business Officer of the School Board David Neter, shot back. He…
Read MoreTrash Dumps: Democrats Say Yes?
Democrats in the State Legislature have handed Republicans a gift. Last year, four waste management companies proposed to build huge trash dumps in North Carolina, primarily so they can haul trash and debris here from up north and dump it. It’s hard to see any merit in this proposal unless you happen to live in…
Read MoreNew Life for John McCain?
John McCain may have figured out a way to breathe new life into his flagging Presidential campaign. What’s puzzling is why no other Republican candidates have tried it. McCain’s strategy is simple. Attack Hillary. “Defeatism will not buy peace in our time,” McCain told Republicans at a rally in New Hampshire (AP, 7-14-07). “It will…
Read MoreSwat Team Recovers PlayStation
Two college students in Wilmington beat up a third student and stole a PlayStation. Campus police called the sheriff’s department. The sheriff’s department sent a swat team to get it back. Why a swat team? Because the students had posted a photograph on the Internet showing them holding semi-automatic rifles and pistols. So the sheriff’s…
Read MoreDoing the Impossible
Erskine Bowles should receive the “Magician of the Year” award. He’s just about done the impossible. Usually, anyone (much less the President of the UNC System) who proposes cutting the universities’ budgets, (News & Observer, 7-9-07), faces a public lynching from outraged faculty – who view every penny spent (except on basketball) on their campuses…
Read MoreWhat Happened to the Democrats?
When Iraq’s Prime Minister al-Maliki said U.S. forces could leave “any time they want,” I thought the Democrats in Congress would take him up on his offer the next day. That every Democrat from Harry Reid to Hillary would say, Well, it doesn’t look like we have to stay in Iraq until next spring after…
Read MoreA Billion in Land: No Appraisals?
The Wake County School Board got three “black eyes” in one day (last Tuesday) in The News and Observer. The first was the continuing a saga of the Boards ‘Land Acquisitions Office.’ If you buy a home the bank requires an appraisal. But the ‘Land Acquisition Office’ says that’s folly. It’s administrators want to buy…
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