Get the lie out first and ignore the truth later. That is apparently the philosophy that the media and the Democrats are running with today. You may have heard all the hype this morning about the CBO claiming that the health care bill will cost $940 billion and reduce the [...]
On top of the telemarketing hot-boxers the bank was in league with previously. We are now at over $300m. in fines and restitution that Wachovia has had to pay to the feds the settle the bank’s involvement with money laundering for drug cartels and scam artists who duped elderly [...]
North Carolina's sheriffs are lining up in support of a state Senate bill that seeks to bar convicted felons from being sworn in as sheriffs.
The bill, introduced by Sen. Stan Bingham of Davidson County appears to be aimed squarely at the candidacy of fellow Republican Gerald Hege for sheriff in [...]
This N&O article details a forum held at N.C. State in which “A group of Triangle academics pulled up research and data Wednesday as they urged the Wake County school board not to take the final vote to ditch its diversity-based student assignment policy next week.”
Indeed, the headline declares: Scholars [...]
Speaking at a company in Durham, Vice President Joe Biden touted the administration's recovery efforts today, saying it had helped create or save 62,000 jobs in North Carolina.
Biden appeared at Cree, a manufacturer of energy efficient LED lighting products that had received $39 million in tax credits through the federal [...]
Quite possibly a bigger threat to liberty than any other issue:
Cost-cutting has strained the state court system's ability to administer justice and protect the public just when those services are needed most, North Carolina's chief justice said Wednesday night.
She said there is never enough money in legal aid offices, [...]
Pundit House has unearthed a move by CMS to save money by reworking the Learning Community system called into being a couple years ago by Peter Gorman with great fanfare and even greater expense — over $10m. at least.
Funny what a tough reelection campaign will do to to a guy who recently boasted that "it is impossible for any candidate to get to the right of me from an ideological standpoint." This would be the same two-faced slacker who had an epiphany and voted with Democrats this [...]
Two Democrats from North Carolina — neither of them on board with the health reform bill — were invited to the Rose Garden ceremony this morning to glad-hand with President Barack Obama.
Obama signed the new jobs bill, which would give tax credits to businesses that hire unemployed workers [...]
The N.C. Association of Educators, an organization of mostly teachers, released its grades for legislators today.
The report card notes how legislators voted on bills NCAE wanted, and gives a final grade, Lynn Bonner reports.
The grades don't necessarily have much to do with the votes, though.
' [...]
H/T Under the Dome.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Share and Enjoy: [...]Sometimes an issue arises in the public that defies categorization as liberal, conservative, left or right. The Libertarian and Green parties challenge to North Carolina's ballot access laws is one example. The cause has made allies of a disparate coalition of political and public advocacy groups who otherwise would be' [...]
This article about voter fraud in Bald Head Island, North Carolina is a great example of the need for election reform in North Carolina.
And, in this Brunswick Beacon article we get an explanation of North Carolina’s weak voter registration laws and processes. Please note the statement by the State Board [...]
NYT writes up former Senator Alan Simpson, who is serving as co-chair of President Obama’s federal debt commission.
As you can probably imagine, Simpson’s co-chair, UNC system president Erskine Bowles, got a mention:
Mr. Simpson’s co-chairman is Erskine B. Bowles, a business-oriented Democrat who was President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff. [...]
If you think you have a million reasons to oppose Obamacare, you now have one more. Congressional Democrats have included legislation in the health care reconciliation act to takeover the student loan industry.
In a column that appeared earlier this week in Minding the Campus, Peter Wood of the [...]
North Carolina’s true state debt burden stands at roughly $9.4 billion, about $4,000 for every NC family of four. Per capita state debt has more than doubled in eight years. The state also has an unfunded liability for state retiree health benefits of nearly $30 billion. The state’s[...]
Doug Sea, a nonprofit lawyer in Charlotte and a constituent of Congressman Kissell’s shared his email to the Congressman this week on health care reform:
Congressman Kissell:
I live in your district. My wife, daughter and I all worked hard on your campaign to get you elected. I am a lawyer [...]
Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin reported on "Operation Medicine Drop" here at this site previously. Now, take approximately three minutes to learn in a nutshell about the program from the accompanying video. You'll hear first-hand from Commissioner Goodwin, and leaders from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the State' [...]
Congressman Heath Shuler made headlines for stating he is studying the healthcare bill. From a principled viewpoint, there should be nothing to study. Shuler took an oath of office to uphold the Constitution, which explicitly grants him, qua Congressman, no oversight of healthcare. Those who wish to control the [...]
Facts fight fantasy in Wake County, facts lose
One step back, one step ahead, also in Wake County
Women of god smarter than men of god?
OMG NC SOS DLCC ASAP RSVP WTF [...] I’ve been watching Supernanny for several years now and practicing many of her methods. So —thank goodness– I don’t have the need to respond to Saturday’s casting call at the Greensboro Natural Science Center.
Do we really have the likes of these little ‘tikes’ living here in our [...]
What do faith leaders and brewers have in common? They’re being flattered by the City of Asheville to construe themselves linchpins to help grow the tax base. Asheville wants to recruit Google. But rather than leaving the role of shifting the tax burden, to the advantage of favorite sons, in [...]
The Democrats will launch a new fundraiser this weekend in Greensboro. The Jeanne Hopkins Lucas Luncheon will be Saturday at the Koury Convention Center from noon to 2 p.m. (Get more info by clicking here or calling 919-821-2777x 206)
[...]In typical municipal government fashion, Greensboro —- with the City Council’s blessing —- has decided to hire an independent consultant to review the city’s waste disposal policy.
The N&R reports “nine companies submitted ideas on what to do with Greensboro’s trash,” with proposals including “expanding the current landfill, using alternative [...]
Mecklenburg County Budget Director Hyong Yi picked an interesting metaphor to describe county’s budget woes.
“The recession is over — economists have said it, people have declared it — but this is the eye of the storm for us,” Yi told the UPoR.
So the county has been blindsided by a [...]
National Democrats are watching North Carolina’s legislative campaigns carefully, according to a memo circulated by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. In the memo, executive director Michael Sargeant lays out where Democrats hope to make gains in state houses as well as where Democrats see themselves as in for tough campaigns.
Want to know why we need health care reform? Watch.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Share and Enjoy: [...]
Depending on the vote of undecided U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, half of North Carolina's Democrats could join congressional Republicans this weekend in opposing the final passage of a sweeping health care overhaul.
Already, the state's three most conservative Democrats are expected to vote no — just as they [...]
During tough budget times, local governments often complain about having the state export its fiscal woes, either by intercepting local revenues, requiring localities to fund more joint programs, or eliminating programs entirely in the expectation that localities will pick up the slack.
Now comes word from Brunswick County of a [...]
Ouch. This is not the kind of description that most Republican members of Congress would welcome. It came from Joe McLaughlin, a former Onslow county commissioner who ran against Rep. Walter Jones in the 2008 Republican primary. McLaughlin was defending a resolution passed by the 3rd Congressional District GOP that [...]
From the Independent Weekly comes Rep. Bill Faison’s (D-Orange and Caswell) comments to the Chapel Hill town council about voters and the upcoming election: (emphasis is mine)
Rep. Bill Faison said polls he’s taking “at the end of a handshake” have him worried that local frustration with Washington, D.C., will [...]
So it was exactly as we surmised: Mayor Anthony Foxx sent his don’t-sexually-harass-the-help email at the behest of City Manager Curt Walton and City Attorney Mac McCarley — almost certainly to head-off a formal complaint and a lawsuit.
Now McCarley and Foxx have clammed up on the matter — [...]
It appeared somebody had been duing diligence in scrutinizing the City of Asheville’s financials. Instead, an undisclosed source indicates claims of fraudulent benefits payouts were reported to the police by a former city employee. Reports quote city spokespeople saying nobody is allowed to comment on an ongoing criminal investigation.
[...]Pretty incredible debate during last night’s Greensboro City Council meeting that hopefully the N&R will pick up on. Surely the Rhino will have something tomorrow.
Triad Watch warned us to look at the consent agenda and note that coliseum director Matt Brown “is having a change in budget.”
Sure enough, [...]
Earlier this month, Republicans required a cloture vote on Barbara Keenan for the 4th Circuit Court in Richmond. Keenan was subsequently confirmed 99-0.
Richard Burr is part of this perversion of the United States Senate. Like a little boy holding his breath, fingers in his [...]
Another editorial about Titan America’s plan to rebuild a former cement plant in Castle Hayne rekindles the smoldering embers of the Stop Titan bonfire. The latest effort to delay plant construction comes from a state regulator’s recommendation: Before issuing an air quality permit to the company he wants to [...]
In a speech from the U.S. House floor, Rep. Bob Etheridge told stories of his constituents who are urging him to vote "yes" on the Democratic health care reform bill.
Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat, has not yet said how he intends to vote on the bill and has [...]
Because of the Vice-President's visit to Durham tomorrow morning, the ACEEE report relase at Southern Energy Management has been moved to 1pm.
' [...]
PRESS RELEASEWith the Health care debate one part of the equation is left out which is our responsibility as consumers.
I think we as Americans expect too much from medicine. It is not all are faults. You can not watch the evening news with out the deluge of miracle drugs for ailments [...]
Oh, the irony. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urges more governmental transparency while desperately trying to find a way for Democrats to pass Obamacare without having to cast a vote for it.
Not to take anything away from these proposals, which do little but nibble around the edges, but wouldn’t having [...]
U.S. Sen. Richard Burr broke ranks Wednesday and voted with Senate Democrats in support of a sweeping jobs bill estimated to provide $35 billion in job-related tax breaks and funding for construction projects.
Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, recently boasted to GOP supporters that "it is impossible for any [...]
Earning one of Steve's coveted Blue Stars for environ...okay, I don't really have any blue stars, but, if I did, the Charlotte Observer would definitely get one:
This failure to adequately assess the environmental impact of a plant that could put significant amounts of mercury emissions into the air each [...]
I’ve known Group Captain Hood a frighteningly long time. For this reason his column the other day on this nation’s impending health care Dunkirk seemed somewhat out of character — exasperated, defiant, and more than a little pissed off. That’s my petulant gig, not John’s — his is the [...]
Only 37 percent of the voters in U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge's district support the Democratic proposal for health care reform, according to a poll by Public Policy Polling.
Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat, has been the focus of pressure from both sides of the debate and has not yet' [...]
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation today released a report that shows middle class families have been hardest hit by the increasing cost of health insurance. Barely Hanging On: Middle-Class and Uninsured, looks at trends of health coverage from 1999-2008.
NC tied with Rhode Island and was only beaten by [...]
