Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
What 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…
A 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…
A Hundred Years in Afghanistan
In Argentina they’re celebrating the first snowfall in Buenos Aires since 1918. At Cape Canaveral they’re getting ready to launch a new spacecraft to Mars. And in Afghanistan a man just traded his sixteen-year-old daughter to settle a debt he owed for nine sheep. Which turns out not to be unusual. In Afghanistan fathers trade…
Men, Women, and Talking
Sometimes scientists say some pretty incredible things. Like the geologist who said – without a doubt – that he’d discovered indisputable proof while digging in the mud in the Amazon that South America was once part of Africa, ten million years ago. Or like the statistician who said he’d proved with a certainty of three…
The Long Knives Out for Thompson
Fred Thompson is surging in the polls so the political long knives are out on, of all things, Watergate. According to the spin Thompson – who was Republican counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee – was too pro Nixon in 1974 (AP, 7-8-07). Pro Nixon? Thompson was the man who asked the question that revealed…
More on Black’s $500,000
What is it about House Democrats and office buildings? Earlier this year, Democratic Representative Thomas Wright landed in hot water for using campaign funds to buy an office building in Wilmington. Now, former Speaker Jim Black is trying to explain away the $500,000 he got from a lobbyist and deposited in his campaign by saying…
The SBI Investigates a ’37 Ford
There’s an odd flap brewing at the Division of Motor Vehicles. It goes like this: A DMV employee, Joey Gardner, claims the head of the department, George Tatum, had a friend’s replica of a ’37 Ford reclassified as a real ’37 Ford – to save his friend several hundred dollars in taxes (The News and…
Blowing Your Own Foot Off
Trying to put the icing on his comeback as a leader in the Senate, Trent Lott led the fight to pass President Bush’s Immigration Bill. He failed. Then grumped: “Talk radio is running America.” Then he suggested bringing back the Fairness Doctrine (McClatchy, 7-9-07). So we have a Republican Senate Leader proposing to muzzle Rush…
In Iraq in 2012?
I asked a friend who is supporting one of the Republican candidates for President, What’s he going to do when the surge fails? He said, Well, that’s simple. Here’s what’s going to happen. If the surge works Washington will bring the troops home. And if it fails Washington will bring the troops home. Now, I’ve…