Washington Politics

I asked a friend who works up in Washington for a Congressman, What’s going to happen on the debt ceiling?   They’re all, he said, all the leaders, dying to raise it. The Republican leaders will agree to raise the ceiling $2 trillion in exchange for $2 trillion in spending cuts over ten years.  …

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A Job-Killing Budget

Maybe it’s congenital. Democrats love complexity – and loathe simplicity.   So it is with state Democrats’ message about the Republican budget.   Yes, Governor Perdue has pulled up her polling numbers by standing up to the legislature – and saying the Republican budget hurts education.   But it’s hard to prove: that education was…

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The U.N. Goes Gay

Richard, the Intellectual, sat down at breakfast and out of sheer devilment looked across the table at Mike the Democrat and said, Well, I see in the newspaper this morning Obama’s now gotten the United Nations to officially go ‘gay, lesbian and transgender’  friendly.   Ole’ Will Patton, the lawyer, looked up and said, How’s…

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DENR Fires Back

Robin W. Smith, Assistant Secretary for Environment in the Department of Environment & Natural Resources, took issue with an earlier blog (“Chicken Littles”) about environmental regulation in North Carolina. Smith’s response follows:   “I read your recent post  about environmental regulation [Chicken Littles]  and  wanted to provide another perspective. I don’t believe the sky is…

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Bin Laden’s Victory?

Americans have celebrated the killing of Osama bin Laden. Now we’re debating how quickly to leave Afghanistan. But is there a chance bin Laden is still going to get what he wanted all along?   A week or so ago, I picked up a biography (“Osama bin Laden”) written before his death by Michael Scheuer,…

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No Holds Barred

Before it went home the legislature passed Representative George Cleveland’s bill to require employers to use the federal government’s E-verify program to avoid hiring illegal immigrants. Which sounded fine. Until I figured out I’ll have to use E-Verify. Which I’m guessing (since this is the government) may be like figuring out hieroglyphics. Irritated, I thought,…

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Oddly Familiar

The way I see it, Richard said putting down the newspaper, those Greek fellows have been living high-on-the-hog and paying for it with borrowed money for years and now half the country’s on the public payroll and the other half’s getting lifetime government pensions and now they can’t borrow anymore so they don’t have the…

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The Winners

A friend asked who the winners were in the legislature: Governor Perdue or the Republicans?   My answer: both.   Thanks to the legislature, Perdue got herself back in the reelection game. By taking on the legislature and wielding some big vetoes, she put some steel into what had been her mushy public image.  …

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Carville’s Advice to Obama

James Carville is still one of the smartest and most perceptive people in politics. Most of all, he knows how to get the hay down to where the goats can get it. So it’s worth sharing his advice to President Obama about the economy, courtesy of CNN: Sir, I’m sure the last thing that you…

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Lukewarm

“To the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write…thou art neither cold nor hot…”   Lukewarm seems to be a political watchword up in Washington when it comes to the war in Libya.   The House just voted down legislation giving President Obama the authority to continue the war – so the House is…

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