Issues
The Star of Bethlehem
When we sat down to our annual Christmas lunch our group of old white conservative men were looking care-worn and weary;—they’d voted against gay marriage and won and a year and a half later gays were marrying right here in North Carolina; the newspaper headline on the table was even more discouraging: President Obama…
Read MoreNot The Faintest Idea
It was a simple question but back in February after the big coal ash spill it needed a quick answer: Were the coal ash ponds a ticking time bomb or nothing to worry about? A few days ago the State Official in charge of the coal ash cleanup told the Environmental Review Commission, “We…
Read MoreMaybe Not The Best Idea
About a week ago the Governor went on a tear about 60 Minutes, saying Leslie Stahl had done him wrong; that he’d sat sweating under the hot lights for an hour answering questions but she hadn’t even blamed Democrats once for the coal ash spill – all his work had been for nothing. Worse than…
Read MoreHe Gets No Respect
He’d been through, he said, the ordeal of sitting for a whole hour and fifteen minutes under hot lights, sweating, answering questions but then, he added, when he saw the interview on TV he had been shocked. He sounded – not in the TV interview but, later, when he described the interview to a…
Read MoreA Third Crime
The talk shows and newspapers were full of stories last weekend about riots and protests about white policemen killing young black men – people opined about our country’s ‘systematic racial problems’ and how Michael Brown was killed for stealing a box of cigars and Eric Garner died for selling tax free cigarettes on the street…
Read MoreCross of Gold
A little known prairie lawyer got up and gave a speech at the Democratic Convention in 1896 and the next day was nominated for President. Last weekend, a conservative posted a link to this speech on Twitter with a one word comment: Wow. It’s Elizabeth Warren’s talking about Citigroup and it’s as close…
Read MoreDebating Incentives
Ben Bradlee of the Washington Post used to say: “I come in every day with an empty bucket, and somebody fills it up.” Some days I come in with an empty blog, but TAPsters (readers, commentators and contributors) fill it up. Here’s a guest blog that’s timely in light of Senator-elect Andy Wells’ letter to…
Read MoreA Gift that Keeps on Giving
The Taliban’s on a tear and ISIS is selling women as slaves and it looks like Limited Wars have turned out to be a gift that keeps on giving and we’re about to fight one more. ISIS has reconquered half of Irag but to whip ‘em we’re not sending in the Marines or the…
Read MoreThe Seed of Wickedness?
Generally speaking it looks folks see the riots in Missouri two ways – Jim Martin who serves on the local School Board gave an example in the newspaper of one way: After the riots he explained to his fellow School Board members they were watching a ‘classic disconnect between how officialdom and people in…
Read MoreWhat’s the Difference?
Obama and the Republican Leaders in Congress are eyeball to eyeball over immigration with the President saying he’s done a fine noble deed to bring five million people out of the shadows and with Republicans saying Obama’s fine noble deed is just an unconstitutional power grab. They’re having a fine row but the…
Read More