Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
If Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker runs for reelection next year, he might face a challenge from a Democrat to his left. Like maybe Thomas Crowder. Meeker and other Council members aren’t happy with Crowder putting the issue of Marriott Hotel stucco on the front page. Not a team player, you know. And word is The…
I’m sorry, but I just can’t let go of the Cheney shooting accident. And here’s why. When a person acts like they’re hiding something, they’re usually hiding something. And I think Cheney is hiding something: drinking. In his Fox interview Wednesday, “Shooter” (as opposed to his old aide Scooter) was asked if anybody in his…
The price of Mayor Meeker’s downtown Convention Center just soared again: to $215 million. The City Council just approved spending another $23 million on the Convention Center without a blink or hardly a nay vote. In fact, every County Commissioner and every City Councilman but one – Councilman Tommy Craven – voted for the increase.…
How easy is it to make fun of Dick Cheney shooting a fellow hunter? Here are just a few of the jokes and one-liners I’ve heard since his hunting mishap: • The White House says it wants to make up with Hillary Clinton. So they’re inviting her on a hunting trip with the Vice President.…
The News & Observer recently called my old boss, Jim Hunt, the closest thing North Carolina has to a “policy Pope.” (I assume they meant Benedict of Rome, not John and Art of Raleigh.) Unfortunately, I’m afraid Pope Jim has taken on a tough crusade with tax reform. The Institute for Emerging Issues that Governor…
The downtown hotel has hit a stumbling block – but not because City leaders decided it was a mistake to stick taxpayers with a $20 million bill to build a Marriott Hotel. Instead, the problem is stucco. That’s right, stucco. Councilman Thomas Crowder is raising all sorts of cain because the builders want to put…
When I first heard about President Bush ‘wire taping’ calls (from U.S. citizens to overseas) I thought that sounded pretty bad – that the President shouldn’t just have the power to go out and wiretap calls made by American citizens anytime he wants to. Then I thought about the pictures on the Internet of hooded…
Ever wonder why the MBA presidency of George Bush seems so incompetent when it comes to managing government? I’ve got a theory. But first, let’s review the evidence: • “Heckuva job, Brownie” of FEMA and Katrina fame; • The lack of armor for American troops in Iraq; • The mess in the Medicare drug benefit…
Wednesday’s New York Times has a front-page story about the problem I’ve blogged about: national Democrats’ ineptitude at challenging governmentally inept but politically skilled Republicans. In the article, numerous Democrats concede the party has missed a golden opportunity while Bush & Co. fumbled and stumbled the past few months. And they blame the party’s current…
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…