Edwards, Again and Again

Every time there’s a twist or turn in the John Edwards case, I can count on getting a call from a reporter. I’m an accommodating soul – or maybe a publicity hog – so I usually oblige. Truth is, I’d rather stay out of it. But I know they’re looking for a quote from somebody…

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Irony

Leaning across the table, Eric, who attended Divinity School in Edinburgh, handed the press release from Redistricting Chairmen David Lewis and Bob Rucho to Richard, the intellectual, and said, This reads like a legal brief written by a Harvard lawyer set on explaining no matter how much sinning his clients are doing it’s perfectly fine…

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Never in the History of the World

Richard pointed to a newspaper article and said, We’ve built schools and hospitals and highways in Afghanistan to buy good will – but it’s backfired. On one project we paid Afghanistan contractors who turned around and gave $5 million to the Taliban.   He went on to explain how a professor at Marine Corps University…

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Obama Defines ‘Hostility’

President Obama’s spending $10 million a day launching drone attacks on Tripoli and dropping bombs on Qaddafi’s compound, but the President’s just sent Congress a message saying we’re not involved in any ‘hostilities’ in Libya – which means he doesn’t have to worry about the War Powers Act and doesn’t need Congress’ approval to go…

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The Politics of War

President Obama promised last night – after 10 years of war – that America is finally going to do what some people suggested we do in Vietnam: Declare victory and leave.   Nobody will like the comparison, but a lot of Democratic and Republican politicians today put me in mind of George McGovern’s 3 a.m.…

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There Will Surely Be A Reckoning

The following article about the war in Afghanistan was in the newspaper Saturday: ABOARD A BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN By ANJA NIEDRINGHAUS, Associated Press The Army medics had just dropped off a Marine wounded in a bombing when one reached over and handed me a scribbled note inside the noisy U.S. helicopter.  …

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Raleigh, DC?

Is Raleigh becoming a local copy of Washington’s bitter partisanship and polarization?   Long-time lobbyists say they’ve never before seen the level of anger, acrimony and arrogance that marked the Republicans’ first session.   Some blame the Republicans’ determination to get everything all at once – and get back at anybody who stands in their…

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A $200 Million Snafu

Secretary Lanier Cansler has landed in $200 million worth of hot water.   Back in the days when Cansler was a lobbyist the Department of Health and Human Services gave his client CSC Corporation a $287 million state contract to process Medicaid claims. Shortly thereafter Cansler gave up lobbying and, thanks to Governor Perdue, became…

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Slipped Through

It’s strange how the wheels and cogs turn in the state legislature. Senators and Representatives sit and lolly-gag for months then a week before they go home all hell breaks loose and the floodgates open and suddenly 170 legislators are working day and night trying to pass hundreds of bills.   It looks crazy. But…

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Chicken Littles

I’m certainly prepared to believe that the Republican budget will damage education in North Carolina. But when it comes to the dire warnings about damage to the environment, I’m a skeptic.   It’s a skepticism honed by 40 years of hearing environmentalists warn that the sky (and air and land) are falling into ruination, while…

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