Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
President Obama promised last night – after 10 years of war – that America is finally going to do what some people suggested we do in Vietnam: Declare victory and leave. Nobody will like the comparison, but a lot of Democratic and Republican politicians today put me in mind of George McGovern’s 3 a.m.…
The following article about the war in Afghanistan was in the newspaper Saturday: ABOARD A BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN By ANJA NIEDRINGHAUS, Associated Press The Army medics had just dropped off a Marine wounded in a bombing when one reached over and handed me a scribbled note inside the noisy U.S. helicopter. …
Is Raleigh becoming a local copy of Washington’s bitter partisanship and polarization? Long-time lobbyists say they’ve never before seen the level of anger, acrimony and arrogance that marked the Republicans’ first session. Some blame the Republicans’ determination to get everything all at once – and get back at anybody who stands in their…
Secretary Lanier Cansler has landed in $200 million worth of hot water. Back in the days when Cansler was a lobbyist the Department of Health and Human Services gave his client CSC Corporation a $287 million state contract to process Medicaid claims. Shortly thereafter Cansler gave up lobbying and, thanks to Governor Perdue, became…
It’s strange how the wheels and cogs turn in the state legislature. Senators and Representatives sit and lolly-gag for months then a week before they go home all hell breaks loose and the floodgates open and suddenly 170 legislators are working day and night trying to pass hundreds of bills. It looks crazy. But…
Iâm certainly prepared to believe that the Republican budget will damage education in North Carolina. But when it comes to the dire warnings about damage to the environment, Iâm a skeptic. Itâs a skepticism honed by 40 years of hearing environmentalists warn that the sky (and air and land) are falling into ruination, while…
The Anthony Weiner scandal exposes (so to speak) the deadly mixture of three narcissistic pursuits: politics, social media and the gym. Weiner, by all appearances (so to speak), is a classic political geek: the president of the debate club who wasn’t exactly Cool in School. But in politics, he’s cool. Once he gets to…
Talk about political double talk. President Obama says, Of course, it’s perfectly legal for him to make war on Libya without Congress ever declaring war. How’s that? Because, Obama explained, his war in Libya is not an escalating war. So, after two centuries of believing the Founders wrote only Congress could declare war,…
Anyone surprised that five Democratic House members voted for the Republican budget has forgotten that no animal in the wild has a more finely honed survival instinct than a politician. The media has reported the budget goodies the “Party of Five” received. And there is talk about Jim Crawford getting an Appropriations chairmanship, etc,…
The political sniping began even as chaos still reigned at the White House Correspondents Dinner. My…
A new nationwide poll shows that, if they could run against each other in 2028, Barack…
Senator Phil Berger was out of touch with voters in his district – and suffered the…