Blogs

The bad bills keep on coming, this time from a Democrat.

Dear Commissioner Goodwin.

You've done an outstanding job during your short tenure as Insurance Commissioner representing the interests of regular citizens, the people who elected you. In the spirit of that good work, we're hoping you'll wade into the latest fray involving insurance foxes and citizen hen houses. You're no doubt up to speed on the issues, but just to be sure, here's a recap straight from the News and Observer.

I'm looking forward to seeing a Bible-thumping serial adulterer at the top of the Republican ticket in 2012. Aren't you?

Last Friday’s Statesville Record covered Senator Burr’s speech at country club where he discussed his plan to balance the Federal budget by taking an axe to Social Security and Medicare.

“Reforming Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is essential to eliminating the massive debt in this country.”

Senator Burr couldn’t be more wrong.

Legal battle looming over Internet video:

The N.C. Association of Educators is refusing a demand from businessman Bob Luddy to remove a video it posted to the Internet.

The NCAE video, "Money and Privatization: A Love Story," alleges Luddy, a charter and private school founder, businessman Art Pope, House Majority Leader Paul Stam, and Wake County School Board Chairman Ron Margiotta are linked in an effort to destroy public education.

Considering the fact the U.S. Supreme Court just sided with the Westboro Baptist idiots re 1st Amendment protections, methinks this video is safe.

Hopefully this dude will abide:

Carolina Public Press is a nonprofit media project dedicated to in-depth, investigative and independent reporting on the overlooked and under-reported people, places and issues facing the 17 westernmost counties of North Carolina.

A sponsored project of the award-winning independent media organization, the Institute for Southern Studies, we’re a small, scrappy website dedicated to nonpartisan, balanced and fair reporting and photojournalism. We aim, every day, to offer high-quality news and information for and about Western North Carolina.

I like scrappy. Scrappy is good.

Exceptionally dry Winter not a good sign:

Forty-five counties are experiencing some level of drought, and 26 Piedmont counties stretching from Charlotte northeast to Roanoke Rapids have reached severe status. Levels of drought from lowest to highest are moderate, severe, extreme and exceptional.

While the volume of rainfall that replenishes our water resources may be an act of nature, the quality of our water resources is (without a doubt) determined by acts of man. Whether individual selfish acts or collective responsible acts are the primary drivers of that water quality is a choice even a 2nd Grader could answer in a split-second.

There’s a lot of ways to be petty and cheap and stupid, and a lot of ways to stick it to a program you don’t like, and by extension, the clients of that program…and this week the House Republicans have embarked on an effort to combine the two into one petty, cheap, and stupid way to stick it to the clients of Social Security and the workers who administer the program.

They’re going to sell it to you, if they can, as a way to “lower the deficit”, or words similar…but what this is really about is making the actual Social Security program work less well—because, after all, if a program is popular today, the best way to make it less so is to apply a bit of “treat ‘em like their cars were impounded” to every interaction customers have with the system.

And what better way to make sure that happens…then to aggressively demoralize everyone who works down at the ol’ Social Security office?