Posts by Carter Wrenn
The Bottom’s Out of the Bucket?
For thirty years rural voters have been the bedrock of the Republican Party. President Bush beat John Kerry in rural America by 20%. But, suddenly, according to a new poll (www.npr.org) rural voters are poised to vote Democratic. John Edwards and Barack Obama are as popular in rural communities as President Bush, John McCain and…
Read MoreYou Want To See What? The Books? No Way!
There’s another scandal brewing in the State House, around Rep. Mary McAllister (D–Fayetteville). Last session Rep. McAllister slipped a line in a bill to give $500,000 to a non-profit that pays her a $115,000 a year salary. She also failed to disclose her conflict of interest. When the State Auditor found out he showed up…
Read MoreDemocrats Stretching Credulity
Rep. Mary McAllister is a Democrat from Fayetteville. According to a report published by Democratic researcher Joe Sinsheimer last year she sponsored a bill that read: “There is to be appropriated from the General Fund to Operation Sickle Cell, Incorporated, a non-profit organization, the sum of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for the 2006-07 fiscal…
Read MoreDemocrats, Corruption and Loopholes
Democrats must have a cadre of people working “round the clock” to find ways to skirt the state Ethics Laws. Take this example. Lobbyists in North Carolina for Time Warner Cable – just to pick an example mentioned in The News and Observer – are banned from contributing to Lieutenant Governor Beverly Perdue’s campaign for…
Read MorePolls Matter
Here’s a peculiar poll. And a good example why – if you’re a candidate – depending on polls is more reliable than depending on your instincts. John McLaughlin and Associates, a respected Republican pollster, reports Fred Thompson has gained nine points on Rudy Giuliani since April. Giuliani dropped from 28% to 24%. Thompson rose from…
Read MoreThe Politics of Immigration
The pro-immigration camp, politically, is small. It’s only 10-20% of the voters. They are mostly liberals though not all liberals – by any means – support the President’s plan to legalize twelve million illegal immigrants. The anti-immigration camp is huge. Roughly 70% of the voters. They are primarily Republicans and conservatives. But not entirely. Many…
Read MorePirates of the Pamlico?
Here’s another unusual footnote from eastern North Carolina. After ten years – and $1.2 million of taxpayers’ money – government officials still haven’t proved a shipwreck buried in the mud in Beaufort Inlet belonged to Blackbeard the pirate. The problem, they say, is lack of money. Now, how much would it be worth to prove…
Read MoreMental Health?
Here’s a really outrageous story. The head of the northeastern North Carolina Regional Mental Health Agency’s salary is: $319,000 a year (Charlotte Observer, 06-03-07). Plus a $1000 a month car allowance. Of course, the Governor only makes a fraction of that – as does the head of the much bigger Mecklenburg County Mental Health Agency…
Read MorePolitics and Immigration
There are three sides in the debate on immigration. The liberals. The conservatives. And what I will call Wall Street. The crux of the difference between liberals and conservatives is assimilation. Liberals believe immigration is humanitarian and immigrants will assimilate like the Irish, Italians, and Germans assimilated. Millions of new immigrants won’t reject our culture,…
Read MoreAn Odd Tale
The New York Times (06-02-07) reports the Internet has boomeranged on the pornography industry. It was initially a boost. But no more. With the World Wide Web awash in cheap, free, amateur pornography and x-rated DVDs traditional old-line pornographers’ profits are nose-diving. In an antiseptic financial analysis the Times reports when it comes to pornography…
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