As election day gets closer, politicians seem to closely guard the words they utter in speeches and debates so as not to give their opponents fodder for newspaper headlines that could swing tight races in their favor. The Associated Press’ Mike Baker recently reported on the current Social Security policy position of Senate candidates Richard […]
I was initially researching the subject of gerrymandering, a subject that crosses my mind periodically when I ponder how career politicians keep getting elected in spite of voters’ dissatisfaction with them. Despite what we were all taught in school on the subject of gerrymandering, it is alive and well and has been manipulating our electoral […]
Thanks to excellent coverage from PunditHouse on the pressing need for county commission debates, along with this scolding editorial from the Observer, Commissioners Chairman Jennifer Roberts and her Democrat colleagues changed their minds and agreed to debate Republican county commission candidates during a forum hosted by Speak Out Charlotte. You can hardly blame Jennifer and […]
One of the ways the federal government controls local governments is with strings. An amorphous agency gives some amount of money for some wonderful, pie-in-the-sky program, with strings attached. Local governments, being unwilling to say no to tax money taken by another authority simply because they aren’t held responsible for the taxes but get to […]
There’s an old adage common to rural America: He comes around with his hat in his hand. It means that one person has granted deference to another. When the subservient person meets the one who’s considered superior the hat is removed in recognition of that status. That adage can apply to relationships between entities and […]
The pending expiration of the “Bush” tax cuts at year end has given rise to much debate and discussion as to whether these tax cuts should be extended in part or in total. President Obama has taken the position that he does not favor the extension of these tax cuts to Americans at the upper […]
I opened my local newspaper recently to discover articles describing how our area is on the take. Grants and subsidies are being requested and doled out to the tune of thousands of dollars. One article stated, “the city and 29 businesses and nonprofit groups across the state learned Tuesday they would receive the coveted aid.” […]
For years, I’ve been suspicious that they must be putting tranquilizers in our drinking water. How else can you explain the voters of Charlotte nodding off, election after election, while those entrusted to do the people’s business have been thumbing their noses at the public, lining their own pockets and pockets of their cronies, all […]
[From the Editor] I had the opportunity yesterday to sit down with Loren Spivack, the Free Market Warrior, for a discussion on his recently released book “The New Democrat: The Parody for the Tea Party Movement”; a hilarious look at the first two years of the Obama Presidency told through the guise of a famed […]
The headline reads like an al-Qaeda recruiting poster. You know, “Death to the infidels,” and all. But this headline wasn’t ripped from a suicide bomber’s blog. It’s simply another celebrity’s attempt to confirm that Hollywood’s orbit is somewhere beyond the arc of Pluto. This time it’s John Cusack–hero of stage, screen and stupidity–proving that Tinsel […]
