Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
The Republicans Salisbury attorney, Bill Graham, has spent a million dollars of his own money to pay for TV ads to express his opposition to the Gas Tax. And, now, he’s getting ready to spend another bundle of his own money to say he’s against illegal immigration. Graham’s potential opponents might call this buying an…
Two news stories from the same day: While Republicans in Congress and the Bush Administration fulminate over The New York Times’ “treason” in publishing the banking-surveillance story, Republicans in Congress criticize the administration for not telling them about the program. They wouldn’t know about it today if they hadn’t read it in the Times –…
John Edwards has called for us to immediately withdraw 40,000 troops from Iraq. Not next month. Or by Christmas. Or in a year. Now. Granted we’re in a mess in Iraq. But where does bringing 40,000 troops home tomorrow leave the troops still in Iraq? Are they safer? Mr. Edwards is running for President as…
I admire what John Kane has done at North Hills in Raleigh. He’s obviously a businessman with vision and guts. But I wonder if he knows what kind of political buzzsaw he has walked into now. Specifically, the anti-developer buzzsaw that seems to be dominating Raleigh politics. Kane has asked Raleigh and Wake County for…
The Mayor has increased the fees the city charges builders when they submit plans by $150,000. Sounds fine? Doesn’t affect you? You’re not a developer. Well, how expensive will the cost of doing business in Raleigh have to be before it does affect you? Those developers the Mayor uses as political foils serve people who…
When George W. Bush – the “compassionate conservative” – became President, the national debt was $5.6 trillion. Today it is $8.3 trillion. That is $2.7 trillion in additional debt. That is a 48 percent increase. By the way, if you’re having trouble grasping how much a trillion is: It’s a million millions. Click to Read…
There was a time – when Raleigh had a Republican Mayor – when growth meant no new taxes. Back then, when the city grew, new people and new businesses moved here, they paid new taxes, revenues went up and the city didn’t have to raise tax rates on the rest of us. Mysteriously, this has…
Put this under the category of non-surprising news: the Mexican election might be stolen. But the news made me thankful for the wisdom of our Founding Fathers. Namely, the much-maligned Electoral College. American elections are going south – literally. Thanks to Florida 2000, every closely fought presidential election will see charges of fraud. Just like…
Republicans are hoping the ‘pay to play’ scandals swirling around Speaker Jim Black will help them retake control of the State House this fall. So it sounds odd that a Republican, Representative Paul Stam, has introduced a bill to delete a key provision from the legislation to end ‘pay to play.’ Money and campaign contributions…
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…