Issues
Be Careful What You Wish For …
A year ago when my health insurance went up I grumbled and blamed Blue Cross. Then, this year, my new bill arrived and the premium went up again even more. But this time I didn’t blame Blue Cross. I laid the blame squarely on the shoulders of one man: Barack Obama. In bygone days,…
Read MoreObamaCare: A New Ball Game?
Just as ObamaCare divides the nation politically, it divides Democrats strategically. Does it spell disaster in November, or can we score points with it? The President took the ball to the basket this week. His message: 7-plus million Americans signed up. Millions of Americans can now get health care. Republicans are just obstructionists and…
Read MoreThe Law of Unintended Consequences
A doctor is a simple creature. He measures achievement by a straightforward standard – the Hippocratic Oath. A businessman also measures success by a simple standard – money, income and outgo. But a bureaucrat has the misfortune of breathing and walking in the murky world of insider politics. Which is like no other…
Read MoreGot Something to Hide?
It’s amazing how fast politicians go from being all for openness and transparency to all-out for keeping public information from the public. Take the Republican legislators’ fight to keep secret their emails about redistricting. Hmmm, wonder what they might be hiding there? Then take DENR. Last Friday at about 5 pm, the department…
Read MoreCoal Ash
I don’t know why but I’ve become absorbed by the machinations of bureaucrats – it’s a bit like watching Alice in Wonderland: Down is up, and up is down. Take hard work. Businessmen work hard to get ahead. Students work hard for better grades. But who joins a bureaucracy to work…
Read MoreFracking, Drilling and Spilling
A federal criminal investigation. A massive, destructive spill. Deliberate pumping of bad stuff into water that people drink. Is this a description of the current Duke Energy debacle? Or a preview of hydraulic fracking for natural gas in North Carolina? The Duke mess is a huge – and perhaps fatal – problem for…
Read MoreDuke Up the River
Duke Energy badly fumbled the political/PR ball on the coal-ash spill. Duke should have quickly rolled out a clear plan to clean up the Dan River and to deal with long-term management of ash ponds. All we heard was the CEO saying ratepayers would pay. Politicians filled the void with preaching, posturing and their…
Read MoreSpill=One Term for McCrory?
Without Duke Energy, Pat McCrory wouldn’t be Governor. Now, with Duke’s coal-ash spill, he may very well be a one-term Governor. Get some popcorn and get a comfortable chair, because this movie is going to run for a long time. At least through the 2016 election. And it will dominate the rest of McCrory’s…
Read MoreIt’s the Schools, Stupid
Governor McCrory may have coal ash on his hands, but I bet most voters have education on their minds. So, does focusing on the Dan River disaster distract Democrats from a stronger issue? The spill is a tempting target. There’s the McCrory-Duke tie. You can tell the Governor is sensitive about it. When he…
Read MoreA Side-Step
It’s tough to stay a step ahead of a smart bureaucrat. About a week ago I wrote an article explaining how what a bureaucrat wants (for himself) and what’s best for public education isn’t always the same thing – and used Senator Phil Berger’s ‘Read to Achieve’ bill as an example. What…
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