Picking Winners and Losers

Everybody knows Republicans, and especially conservative Republicans, don’t like government subsidies. They’re corporate welfare. They’re government picking winners and losers.  And interfering with the free marketplace.    That’s why Republicans opposed Obama’s solar energy subsidies like Solyandro – a solar business ought to be able to stand on its own two feet and if it…

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Somnambulance

  Horrified by the vision of legions of fired Democratic state employees, back when Jim Martin was elected Governor, Democrats changed the law so Martin couldn’t fire much of anyone – then announced (with a show of virtue) they’d gotten nasty old politics out of the state government.   But the best laid plans of…

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Tax for Teachers?

As Democrats look to counter Senate Republicans on teacher pay, they should look outside the revenue box.   The 11 percent raise/end tenure plan caught the headlines and seemed to catch Democrats (and Governor McCrory) off guard. Democrats responded that the plan would gut education, UNC and Medicaid to fund an election-year pay raise that…

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Tenure Trap

If you did a poll – and Senator Berger surely has – you’d probably get overwhelming support for this proposition: “Should public school teachers get an 11 per cent raise in exchange for giving up tenure?”   Therein lies the challenge to Senate Democrats. Berger says: “You say you want higher teacher pay. Here it…

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Nastiness

    On Election Day my cousin Winifred who’s pure steel magnolia walked into the voting booth, stared at the names of the three judges running for Supreme Court, remembered the Republican ad saying Judge Robin Hudson was for child molesters, thought, I’ve seen enough of that kind of nastiness, and did something she’d never…

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Tempting Women, Again

To get their votes, the politicians are up to a lot more than just promising women the ‘power’ to fulfill their heart’s desires – listen to the serenade Democrats are singing: If you vote for Kay Hagan, Democrats say, you’ll get more pay and equal pay and health care and birth control and education and,…

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Tempting Women

According to the newspaper one super powerful group is going to pick the winner in the Senate race: Women.    Not money. Or virtue. Or sin. But Women.   Which, of course, if you’re a woman, may sound like floozy flattery.    Or if you’re a woman, and a tad skeptical, you might be wondering,…

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New Wrinkle, Old Politics

There are scads of Super PACs running around attacking Thom Tillis or Kay Hagan so one more came as no surprise except when Planned Parenthood said it was going to whack Tillis I thought, Whoever heard of a government-funded group spending $3.3 million on a Super PAC? It didn’t seem quite right. Planned Parenthood spending taxpayers’ money…

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Frick and frack

Gary is taking a break from blogging. Here’s one from a Tapster.   The Senate’s headlong rush this week to jumpstart hydraulic fracturing in North Carolina proves they’ve learned absolutely nothing from the Dan River coal ash spill. Senate Republicans say they want to create jobs and stimulate home-grown energy, and the sooner the better…

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Frick and Frack

Gary is taking a break from blogging. Here is one from a Tapster.   The Senate’s headlong rush this week to jumpstart hydraulic fracturing in North Carolina proves they’ve learned absolutely nothing from the Dan River coal ash spill. Senate Republicans say they want to create jobs and stimulate home-grown energy, and the sooner the…

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