It’s Christmas season once again! How do you know? Well, you’re shoving Thanksgiving leftovers into your refrigerator, untangling Christmas lights, wondering where you’re going to put your tree, and asked to decide which of 2009’s large collection of losers and assholes is the biggest, baddest, most obnoxious of them all- the [...]
UNCA tuition may increase 5.5% next year. The increase is needed to support an unprecedented number of students who cannot afford tuition.
Funds might also be used to keep the library open long enough for students to conduct research, remove the germ-ridden carpet from the sports medicine clinic, move the [...]
The StarNews‘ Patrick Cannon caught up with newly reelected Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo and asked him about the pervasive rumor that state Democrats have recruited him to run for the nomination to replace Julia Boseman in Senate District 9. Saffo’s answer was interesting:
Saffo said people have approached him about [...]
Shh, no one wake Rick Bonnell. But the NBA just banned for life a former Sacramento King scout who was betting on NBA games. Meanwhile, Tom Donaghy’s supposed bookie is claiming that a dozen more NBA refs were involved with his gambling operation.
See, it would be easier [...]
The Town of Boone is considering a smoking ban. Unlike most Lockers, I am supportive. I harbor a personal agenda based on a rational selfish interest to be able to:
See. I cannot continue to wear contact lenses in cigarette smoke, and often removal does not alleviate the stinging [...]The Macon County Commissioners approved a 1.5-cent tax increase. The county needs the money to build a new elementary school. The new school will replace one existing school and allow the county to shut down another. The consolidation is estimated to save the county $250,000/year in operation costs. Nothing was [...]
Brunswick County Sheriff John Ingram changed his registration from Democratic to Republican yesterday, which has set the local politicos to sizing up the general political trends in the county. Admittedly, it does have a whiff of 1994 about it, but let’s not get carried away with the analogy.
Anyway, Ingram [...]
Another interesting conversation held by Asheville City Council concerned a proposed gun buyback. Something there is about these programs that appears to run counter to the Second Amendment. Members of council admitted violent criminals usually aren’t the most ambitious to turn in their weapons. Instead, they said the greatest [...]
I sometimes wonder if this country would be better off if the use of caffeine and harder stimulants by Congress critters and their aides could be banned. Then, rather than churning out thousands of pages of bills, legislators could know how it feels to be unable to lift their foreheads [...]
Word is out that Gov. Beverly Perdue will consider some new ethics rules related to political appointees refusing to cooperate with investigations about government corruption. We would suggest that she look into some existing laws on ethics in government; specifically, conflicts of interest by state employees.
Article 2 of [...]
In an article by Josh Shaffer in Saturday’s newsobserver.com, local “Democratic strategist” Perry Woods said that he thought that as long as Clay Aiken didn’t vote in Chatham county (the county where Aiken resides) he would likely be “in the clear.” Woods sends the wrong message to North Carolina voters [...]
The Independent Institute reminds us with this article of the real story behind the very first Thanksgiving. We should all take a moment to think about these lessons between servings of stuffing.
Many people believe that after suffering through a severe winter, the Pilgrims’ food shortages were resolved the following [...]
I am relaxing the rest of the week in Florida. Like most of you, I’m sure, I won’t be thinking about this Web site for the next few days. Have a good Thanksgiving.
Press 7 for Celtic here... I too wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving, and remind you that turkeys should [...]
One argument in favor of Cary’s recycling program is to reduce solid waste in landfills. While recycling of certain materials makes sense, for others disposal in a modern landfill is the best option both for the environment and our economy. Contrary to popular belief, modern landfills are environmentally safe, relatively [...]
Town Manager Ben Shivar’s Budget Message from this summer included some ominous wordage: “… we will need … increased revenues through fees or taxes … in the very near future.” With debt service forecast to nearly double in the coming few years, unless the Town starts tightening its belt, dramatic [...]
In what can only be described as the stealth delivery of an early turkey, the Cary Town Council gave its final approval for a $17m program to install electronic water meters (AMR) in our homes that are capable of reporting your water usage on an hourly basis. Hello, Big Brother. [...]
20 lawmakers have sent a letter to Attorney General Roy Cooper and Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin asking for an investigation into Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s (BCBS) postcard campaign to get people to contact Sen. Kay Hagan to oppose the public option.
Apparently these 20 feel BCBS’s actions are at [...]
Columbus County’s only charter school, founded by JLF board member Baker Mitchell, is looking to expand.
That would be great news for school-aged children in and around the community. Check out the performance of the school compared with the average public school.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if successful charter-school operators [...]
Remember how big a deal it was a while back when one of Wilmington’s most prominent insurance agents, Don Bullard, was arrested on serious drug charges? Well, now the district attorney has dropped them all:
He was charged with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver ecstasy, along with destroying evidence.
Bullard’s [...]
It’s been documented that the most uncovered story in the lamestream media is Climate-gate, the story about climate-change scientists fudging their numbers to make it look like there actually is global warming.
But you’d think that stories in which academic beta males whine about the Triangle turning into the desert [...]
I’ve wondered about this aspect of the latest 485 financing plan since it was announced. Does the state of North Carolina have the authority to guarantee the debt of private contractors? It would essentially turn the contractors into government sponsored enterprises a la Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. And we [...]
An instant classic based on the Tommy James and the Shondells’ “Draggin’ the Line”:
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JLF’s Joe Coletti points out the irony of the request by 20 state legislators for a Roy Cooper investigation into Blue Cross Blue Shield. Just to shield themselves — poorly done, I might add — from the obvious political bullying they’re engaging in, the 20 acknowledge they want an [...]
How will the Senate’s health care bill impact North Carolina? Check out these comments from Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC).
[...]Just Economics succeeded in getting the City of Asheville to pass a living wage ordinance for city hires. It now wants the living wage to extend to persons contracted by the city. In her staff report, Brenda Mills said such an ordinance may be in violation of statutes [...]
The mainstream media and the lefty blogs were quick to blame right-wing fanatics for the death of a census worker who was found with the word “FED” written on his chest. The case has now been ruled a definite suicide and has been cleared.
Waiting for the apologies. Waiting…waiting…waiting…
[...]It’s been rumored for some time that Angelina Jolie is interested in playing Dagny Taggart in a movie version of “Atlas Shrugged.” When I first heard that a couple of years ago I thought she was just another Hollywood lefty bent on ruining the book for the screen, but [...]
Citizens of North Carolina: Be assured. You are safe from Demon rum. It’s codified in state law. Chapter 18B “Regulations of Alcoholic Beverages,” guarantee it. Check it out in 98 pages of legal language. Nothing is left to chance in 13 articles that “shall be liberally construed to [...]
Navy SEALS who just captured one of the most-wanted terrorists in the world are being charged with assault because THEY BLOODIED HIS LIP!
God help us.
[...]Hardly a scoop. Pitts has been clueless for years.
[...]Proponents of the federal government’s push to further politicize the delivery of medical care in this country have continuously touted that part of their ”reform’s” benefits will be choice and competition for health insurance, and that nobody will lose their current coverage if they like it.
This WSJ article exposes that lie. [...]
What started out yesterday as an interesting blog post on Charlotte’s homeless situation disappeared for a bit, only to be re-posted today with a softer, less jarring close and a lot of interesting dialog excised.
Yesterday CL blogger Brittney Cason rolled with My weekend in Uptown, with the homeless … [...]
Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Peter Gorman plunged into one of the most contentious topics in public education last month by announcing his intention to begin basing teacher pay on effectiveness in the classroom, rather than on experience and academic degrees. But if experience is any guide, he’ll face plenty of [...]
At Saturday evening's NC GOP Hall of Fame dinner, your blogger was pleased to see that Judge Barbara Jackson is throwing her hat into the ring for North Carolina Supreme Court.
Judge Jackson hopes to become Justice Jackson by continuing her [...]
Not completely a surprise, but US Airways has announced its deferring by three years each delivery on 54 aircraft it has on order. This is a huge deal for international flying but has little impact on the airline’s domestic operations.
Widebody: US Airways was due to take five 258-seat [...]
Usually, when only 19 percent of Americans believe something, they are considered to be either misguided, ignorant or delusional. So which one is U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan? The other day she confidently announced that one reason she was supporting Harry Reid’s health care bill was that it would help [...]
Both the House and Senate bills propose that all private health insurance plans (individual, employer, employer group, or union provided) must adhere to detailed federal regulation.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force currently provides recommendations on health services ranging – A,B,C,D – where B, and C are “recommended” and “not recommended”, [...]
There’s little dispute that our current economic mess was triggered by government policies designed to prop up the real estate and housing construction industry. Such policies coerced mortgage lenders into scrapping traditional underwriting standards, resulting in a major uptick in payment defaults and foreclosures. Most rational human beings would learn a [...]
What did the drama surrounding new mammogram policies teach us about Obamacare? That, “the political left supports such medical rationing even as it disavows that any such thing is happening” says the WSJ’s opinion headliner. The article traces the “political duck-and-cover” following last week’s new health policy that said women [...]
Remember a while back when Media Matters for America, the George Soros-funded lefty site that shills for every left-wing initiative going, excoriated George Will for having the temerity to question the global warming orthodoxy? Here’s what they said at the time:
In his July 23 Washington Post column, George Will [...]
Classic. Ari Fleischer, who I knew to be a smary, officious little functionary for Bill Archer’s Ways and Means Committee before he grew up to be a smary, officious little functionary for the Bush White House, has gone to work for the BCS. To defend the BCS and all [...]
I just realized that we are about to celebrate the 4th anniversary of “Squall Lines” next week. My JLF colleague and I have been delighted to provide you with this site, devoted to discussing politics and public policy issues in Wilmington, New Hanover County, and the surrounding counties and communities [...]
CMS honcho Pete Gorman provides here his most complete vision yet for a pay for performance regime for the district’s teachers. As he notes, the key is designing a system that the teachers themselves believe in and support. Not easy, but not impossible either.
To make it happen, however, we’ll [...]
Hundreds of Palin supporters arrived early at Fort Bragg, and one woman spent nearly 24 hours in line. Officials estimated that some 4,000 turned out. More than 500 had to be turned away as the three-hour signing ended.
This kind of turnout on a dreary Monday is the [...]
This story is a perfect example of the power of competition in a free market to reduce costs and expand options for consumers. My favorite store, WalMart, is taking on an up-and-coming rival, amazon.com. Guess what is happening? Yes, prices are dropping and we consumers are in the driver’s [...]
Long ago North Carolina’s pious, pandering politicians decided that selling the “Devil’s elixir” couldn’t be trusted to private enterprise. Presumably, if state government totally controlled sales, distribution and marketing of “hard liquor” consumption would be reduced; else Tar Heels would be seen falling-down drunk in the streets. Worse, they [...]
My mother had to explain this one to me. I couldn’t understand why Organizing for America was so afraid of Sarah Palin they felt they needed to raise $500,000.
If you need some local flavor, she came to town Sunday to visit with Billy Graham’s family. Reportedly, [...]
One of the major recommendations of Goody Clancy, the consulting group hired to prepare Asheville’s Downtown Master Plan, was that the review process for new development adhere to the rule of law. Too many developers were complaining about having sunk thousands of dollars into giving the various review boards what [...]
This morning, your blogger was discussing with a friend, how amazed we are why those on both the right and left get so negatively emotional when they discuss former Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin? "Why are her naysayers so afraid", we wondered.
Palin has it all and is [...]
The findings of the State Ethics Board are in and it is looking dismal for our dear leader. According to the board, Sanford has misused campaign funds to attend a meeting of the Republican Governors Association and a trip to Ireland among others. It also found he used the [...]
Kinda hard to tell.
Local attorney Tom Ashcraft asked a straightforward question: Which local non-profits and churches are getting funds from DSS? What he got back was a 1311-page, non-responsive data dump of all vendors receiving funds. Still, there are some interesting things to note at first glance.
Things like the [...]
The Raleigh News and Observer reported over the weekend that Curtis Media station, WPTF AM 680, won't be the only kid on the Triangle-area block with conservative talk. Clear Channel's WRDU 106.1 FM plans to join the fray just after the Christmas season.
Your [...]
The winner of the inaugural Bad Bill of the Year tournament is — SB 848.
This bill would allow illegal immigrants access to community colleges and the university system, sponsored by Sen. Charlie Albertson (D-Duplin).
It cruised to victory over the other finalist, HB 120 — public financing of municipal elections — [...]
The Fayetteville Observer reports that more than 1,000 people greeted former Alaska governor Sarah Palin at Ft. Bragg today.
[...]In 34 short days North Carolina voter registration changes look like this:
Democrats +623
Republicans +750
Libertarians +225
Unaffiliateds +5188
© Susan Myrick for Civitas Review Online, 2009. | Permalink | No comment
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