Issues
The Problem with Spending Other People’s Money
It’s a fault of human nature: When you spend your own money you look at it one way but when you spend someone else’s money it’s a different story. Once, years ago, I served on a church-school board with a half dozen tight-fisted, hard-eyed businessmen who could squeeze a dollar out of a turnip.…
Read MoreA Dead End
President Obama’s in full campaign mode with his eyes fixed on taking control of the House of Representatives next election. He’s put his campaign to work targeting Republican Congressmen and he’s telling voters because of the Sequester 7,450 children in Florida won’t receive vaccinations, 800 victims of domestic violence in North Carolina won’t receive care,…
Read MoreFrom Hack to Flack
Kim Genardo of NBC-17 is following a well-trod path from capital reporter to Governor’s communications director. Most every governor hires a capital reporter to tame the savages. I made that switch from the N&O to then-Lt. Governor Hunt in January 1976 – 37 years ago! (As I recall, I was about 13 years old.) …
Read MoreA Poster Child for Ineptitude
Cautiously holding their fingers to the wind most politicians avoid controversies like the plague – but State Auditor Beth Wood, a farm girl who put herself through East Carolina University, has a trait that’s all but extinct in politics: Grit. Last year, after Wood audited the state’s new Medicaid Processing Computer System, she blistered…
Read MoreGOP ‘Compassion’
“We are being compassionate,” said state Rep. Mike Hager of Rutherfordton. “We have a mindset of pulling…government burden off these small businesses.” Well, that sums it up. Republican compassion is for businesses and corporations, not people. Remember: People aren’t corporations, my friend. First North Carolina Republicans slashed help for people who can’t find…
Read MoreReasonable and Petty
I settled into my chair, rocked back, opened a book, and a few minutes later Obama’s measured voice floated across the room saying John Boehner ought to delay the Sequester, then Obama explained how government ought to do more for people with less and it’s only fair the well off pay a little bit more…
Read MoreOlder and Wiser
After Tea Party candidates rolled to victory in 2010 they headed for Congress to cut spending, and late one night, six months later, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner announced they’d made a deal to pass the biggest annual spending cut in history. Now, two years later, it turns out the cuts were…
Read MoreStupid Is As Stupid Does
Some Republicans seem determined to be “the stupid party,” in Bobby Jindal’s memorable phrase. Like U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx. The Sunday New York Times took a look at how some students today pay for college. The story focused on Steve Boedefeld, an Appalachian State University student who wants to avoid graduating with a…
Read MoreA Wayward Pleasure
Respect for higher education has fostered a long-time tradition of reverence for college professors. They’re honored and pampered. They get tenure and sabbaticals to study and think. Then the other day, out of a clear blue sky, the professors’ placid world rocked – when Governor Pat McCrory announced the way he sees it state…
Read MoreComing to America
Gary is taking a break from blogging. Our guest blogger is Tapster Joe Stewart. I grew up in Raleigh, graduating from Athens Drive High School in 1982. The athletic conference (note singular) at the time was the Cap 8 and included (what seemed like) the remote outposts of Fuquay-Varina and Smithfield Selma. I…
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