Posts by Carter Wrenn
Pirates of the Potomac
American government, it turns out, is a lot more colorful than I was taught in High School Civics class. Take the stale, old, boring ‘The Separation of Powers Doctrine.’ It turns out it’s not boring at all. The real theory here seems to be that most politicians are pirates. So the Founding Fathers set up…
Read MoreWhat Raleigh Needs Is a $150,000 Consultant?
Mayor Meeker and the City Council are considering changing Raleigh’s C.A.C. (Community Action Council) structure. And, of course, the first thing someone suggested was hiring a consultant to do a study. For $150,000. The C.A.C.’s are gadfly-like neighborhood groups funded by the city to advise the City Council. Right now, they claim 6400 members. But…
Read MoreEdwards Supports Gay Marriage?
Well, not John. Elizabeth. Mrs. Edwards made a pilgrimage to San Francisco to help kick off the annual gay pride parade which The News and Observer (6-25-07) described as ‘a campy civil rights celebration… attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators sprinkled with drag queens, leather chaps and a healthy dose of nudity.’ Mrs. Edwards promptly…
Read MoreBurr’s Contortions
Senator Richard Burr’s contortions on President Bush’s Immigration Bill have him tied in knots. First, Burr announced he was against the bill. And voted against it. Then, yesterday, he reversed himself, supporting Bush’s bill on a key procedural vote. Now, Burr’s staff is reassuring opponents of the bill, telling them he will vote against its…
Read MoreBloomberg
At first, I was a little intrigued by Michael Bloomberg’s running for President as an Independent. After all, the Republicans (at least the ones in the White House) have joined Ted Kennedy on immigration and the Democrats have marched so far left Hillary’s now a moderate, so I thought, maybe, shaking up the two-party system…
Read MoreOdds and Ends
It’s perplexing. How could Vice President Cheney not understand that when he said he was not a member of the Executive Branch just about everyone in America was going to look at him and say, Huh? Cheney may have a hoary legal point. But he just surpassed Dan Quayle’s misspelling potato when it comes to…
Read MoreOh, Johnny Boy
It may be a coincidence but just as John Edwards is redirecting the focus of his campaign away from the war and back to his crusade against poverty, the New York Times has published a scathing report about Edwards’ anti-poverty foundation, the Center for Promise and Opportunity. The Times reports, “The main beneficiary of the…
Read MoreMs. Pelosi, Work and Junkets
Nancy Pelosi, during the honeymoon after being elected the first woman Speaker ever, promised she was going to put the members of Congress to work after their indolent year under the Republicans. Then she set a schedule for House sessions this year. That gave members twenty weeks off (Dick Morris Reports, 6-20-07). No corporation can…
Read MoreAn Activist’s Nightmare
Here’s an activist’s nightmare. He – or she – camps out on the lawn of the State Legislature in the June heat for 51 hours with a ragtag band of fellow demonstrators alongside a troop of plastic hogs, piles of artificial hog manure and a baby wading pool full of the real thing (to send…
Read MoreWait and Hope
What to do about the war in Iraq has the Republican presidential candidates tied in knots. They don’t want to get out, they don’t dare say to go in deeper and the surge isn’t working. So Republican policy boils down to three unstated words: Wait and Hope. Imagine this: A presidential candidate says, “Look, we’re…
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