Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker hasn’t started the new year with a bang. First there were stories about mounting costs at the Civic Center. Then his partisans got into an ill-advised overreaction to a newspaper column. And now he can’t get the Council to approve his Hillsborough Street roundabout plan. For better or worse, the Mayor…
The powers that be have given our Marines in Iraq a new “counter-insurgency manual.” One of the greatest fighting forces on earth is about to start wooing civilians, “learning social networks, building personal relationships and creating jobs” – for Iraqi’s. (News and Observer; 1-9-07). The Marines may never be the same. The new plan –…
President Bush said on “60 Minutes” Sunday night that Americans must understand “we’re in an ideological struggle.” That’s precisely the problem, Mr. President. We understand that. We Americans will fight a war for our national interests and survival. That’s why we fought the Nazis and the Japanese. That’s why we fought the Cold War. That’s…
In Pakistan “outraged in-laws slashed the nose and ears of a college student who married a woman without the consent of her higher caste family, and then fractured his legs with blows from an ax.” (News and Observer; 1-4-07) The newspapers report thirty male relatives of Mohammed Iqbal’s wife ‘stormed into his mother’s village home,…
There is a new twist in the Duke Lacrosse case: Duke University has been sued by a lacrosse player over a failing grade. At times, the rhetoric coming out of Duke’s spokesman has sounded like they were overly concerned with not being as violating the standards of ‘political correctness.’ But Duke’s major responsibility during the…
As we watch President Bush try to unscramble the eggs he broke, we should reflect on the political cowards who now require more sacrifice from courageous troops. The cowardice of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, who sold us war on the cheap. The cowardice of Colin Powell, who knew better, but saluted and kept silent. The…
With North Korea building missiles and Iran building nuclear bombs it looks like the time has come for us to build the Strategic Missile Defense. After all, if Korea or Iran are dead set on building nuclear weapons, there doesn’t seem to be a way to stop them – short of launching a pre-emptive nuclear…
Now all the Big Shots have an exit strategy – politically speaking, of course. Bush: He apparently will link the surge – or escalation, if you prefer – with deadlines for the Iraqis to take over. If his plan doesn’t work, he blames them. John McCain: He’s always called for more troops. If it doesn’t…
President Bush goes on TV tonight to discuss Iraq. The Democrats in Congress, who oppose President Bushâs âsurgeâ just got some help form unexpected quarters: Iraqâs Prime Minister, Nouri al Maliki. Malikiâs spokesman told the press that when âPresident Bush told the prime minister he was ready to send additional troopsâ instead of saying, âYes.…
Senator Phil Berger was out of touch with voters in his district – and suffered the…
A reassuring lesson from our trip to Germany and Czechia is that dictators, despots and tyrants…
Gwyn and I just returned from a 12-day journey through 1,000 years of history in Germany…