A recent push by Senate Democrats in support of the government reform effort is to step away from the public option as proposed and put more emphasis on expanding programs like Medicare and Medicaid, by adjusting enrollment requirements and making benefits available to more people. Supporters of this plan claim [...]
In consideration of the Copenhagen Cabal, Climategate and the current temperatures in North Carolina, I felt compelled to repost this photo (which, incidentally, was one of the most read posts on our blog the last time it ran). Too bad for the believers of the Global Warming religion [...]
Worried about the economy, jobs and wages?
Not to worry, there is one major corporation that is growing, thriving, and I suspect hiring. In fact, roughly one in five workers in this corporation earns six figures – miraculously up from one in every seven during the last 18 months of recession.
“Progressives” take note, however: [...]
I recently submitted a letter to the editor taking issue with this N&O article.
The Dec. 7 column, “Warming Woes and the World’s Women” argues that women are most affected by global climate change because women represent the highest percentage of people living below the poverty line and bear a [...]
Congrats to Raleigh Charter School. Earlier this week, U.S. News & World Report named the school the 24th best public high school in the United States (USN&WR High School Rankings). Raleigh Charter School was the highest ranked school in North Carolina. Sixteen other charter schools were counted among the top 100 public high [...]
I recently submitted the following letter to the N&O in response to this column.
While discussing North Carolina’s tax reform efforts, Columnist Jack Betts describes our current tax structure as one which “no longer produces enough revenue to meet demands for basic services.” (Tax reform reaches the sticking point)
Disappointingly, Mr. [...]
Will the longest serving NC Senator be calling it quits anytime soon? Indictment pending, witnesses coming forward alleging all sorts of nefarious behavior, but Soles may well be the Tony Soprano of Columbus County. For now the senator is rather quiet about whether he’ll run or not. From WRAL:
RALEIGH, [...]
Correspondence from the Perdue Campaign to the State Board of Elections revealed that there are 6 more flights that were previously unreported. Four of the newly reported flights (2 in 2004, 1 in 2005 and 1 in 2006) were provided by Raleigh attorney Terence McEnally III. McEnally bought the local newspaper La Conexion in [...]
Elaine Marshall campaign consultant, Thomas Mills, says Cal Cunningham “is in the race because Washington wants to choose who North Carolina’s nominee is going to be.”
So familiar…
© Susan Myrick for Civitas Review Online, 2009. | Permalink | No comment
[...]Raleigh’s Barack Obama re-election headquarters News & Observer offers this unthoughtful, economically illiterate Obama droolfest of an article regarding our President’s “plan” to create jobs.
The N&O editorial board must live in some alternate universe in which centrally-planned economies manage to efficiently allocate scarce resources without trampling on individual liberty. [...]
Over at Public Policy Polling Tom Jensen is comfortable with where President Obama is in the polls because “His approval rating with liberal Democrats is 95%”. I don’t know if I would hang my hat on that. In his own national survey the breakdown is:
Q8 Would you describe [...]
Today I posted a report about State Auditor Beth Wood using a state car and not following procedure on reimbursing the state. I did not address the whole question of why we provide cars to elected officials, as well as other state employees, for them to use commuting to [...]
One of the more interesting findings of this month’s poll results on Perdue’s favorability is her relative weakness with members of her own party. So it has to be asked, could she be vulnerable to a primary challenge in 2012?
Let’s explore the evidence:
1. She’s already ticked off a big [...]
I blogged last week about Obama’s joke of a “jobs summit,” outlining what the all-too-predictable results will be:
more government spending, more central planning, more government redistribution, concessions to big labor and other special interests, and less freedom.
I wasn’t exactly going out on a limb with such prognostications, but today’s [...]
Despite the N&O’s assertion that Perdue is “winning over critics” the percentage of voters giving her a favorable opinion remains near her all time low. In fact, the percentage of voters giving her a favorable rating is down 5 percentage points this month. All that has changed with [...]
Supporters of the Dell deal in 2004 promised the state taxpayers that they would benefit from the $300 million tax giveaway deal. With Dell’s closing, even Speaker Joe Hackney is still trying to convince the [...]
If you’re wondering why it seems that the Obama Administration truly doesn’t understand how the free market works or why it thinks that we can simply spend our way out of a bad market, you need look no further than the make-up of the personnel on his team. In the [...]
Robert Samuelson in the Washington Post raises some compelling points regarding the current medical care bills being debated in D.C.
President Obama’s critics sometimes say that he is engineering a government takeover of health care or even introducing “socialized medicine” into America. These allegations are wildly overblown. Government already dominates [...]
Support for Obamacare continues to struggle in North Carolina according to our latest poll with only 40% supporting and 48% in opposition.
We’ve had the public opposed to the bill by an 8-10 point margin since September and it doesn’t seem much has changed despite all the rhetoric and debate on [...]
The EPA is asserting its newfound comfort and power amongst the lefties that now run Congress by asserting that greenhouse gases are dangerous and that they threaten public health. Yes, this is comical and sad, but it should not be a serious story and it is.
The EPA said that [...]
The News and Observer on Friday exposed the Raleigh City Council for holding a $10,000 welcoming suaree for themselves at the beginning of the new council terms.
While many members expressed shock and regret for splashing that kind of cash on themselves, it seems from their comments that they really [...]
An interesting development is unfolding in the Dell incentives story. Dell has already agreed to pay back the grant money they received from the state and local governments, but tax credits are a different matter.
Tax credits are tax obligations that Dell was exempted from paying during its tenure [...]
Apologies to Greensboro blogger Guarino for borrowing his title in describing Hagan’s actions (or rather inaction) on the nomination of a new US Attorney for the Eastern District of NC, but Burr’s announcement on Friday that he would not block Thomas Walker’s nomination is an even bigger misstep.
According [...]
Depending on what you chose to read and your outlook on life, neither blissful optimism nor negative cynicism can deny the fact that job prosperity is currently looking bad in North Carolina. The unemployment figures released today do not show any indication that the economy here is [...]
The Foundation for Economic Education’s Sheldon Richman comments on yesterday’s farce “jobs summit” and provides a quick economics lesson in the process.
What are the odds that yesterday’s White House jobs summit will lead to the creation of any real jobs? The summit was based on the magic theory of [...]
Since Tuesday I have been reading and hearing (including Tuesday night) a steady stream of whining from unions, special interests and supporters of the status-quo about how the newly elected board members were taking actions not supported by the citizens of Wake County.
Today President Obama will host a “jobs summit” in order to ”sound out ideas for accelerating job growth during the worst labor market in a generation.”
So, let me get this straight. Obama spent three terms as a State Senator in Illinois, three years as a U.S. Senator, campaigned for almost an [...]
Yesterday Chad Adams posted on allegations of insider trading concerning Law Enforcement Associates (LEA) by State Senator Tony Rand (D-Cumberland).
Among the allegations “…approximately 50 North Carolina Politicians, including former and present governors, who were personal friends of both Rand, and Carrington, its former owner. The list showed that [...]
Well, the actual headline hasn’t run yet here in NC, but do you think the left will push our Bar-B-Que industry to go green? It could well become a reality as researchers have created non-greenhouse gas producing pork. Yep, pork in a laboratory. Would you eat it?
SCIENTISTS have grown [...]
Looking for a stimulating discussion for a Thursday lunch? Tomorrow our friends at the Pope Center for Higher Education are sponsoring a Headliner Luncheon Panel Discussion to highlight a new report titled “The UNC School of the Arts: Should it be Self-Supporting?”. Panelists include the author of the [...]
Though not getting much press in NC, the entire man-made climate change movement is falling apart daily. Sen. James Imhoffe continues his relentless pursuit of the truth. One can be hopeful that others, including NC legislators would feel the same way.
Sen. [...]
Nah, say it isn’t so. . .The lead story on the WRAL website implicates the most powerful member of the Senate (Tony Rand-D, Cumberland) in an insider trading scheme.
(Paul) Feldman alleged that Rand and other politicians engaged in insider trading in 2004 and 2005 and that Rand also was [...]
Governor Bev Perdue is making a trip to Washington, DC today to petition for more federal funds for North Carolina. Instead of working to find better ways to cut spending, target waste and inefficiency in government, and provide tax relief for North Carolinians struggling in the recession – our Governor [...]
Today’s N&O reports that Raleigh City Council members are already considering a property tax hike to help feed the city’s growing government.
Last year, I wrote about how Raleigh raised its cost of living for residents with property tax hikes, increased water/sewer fees along with an increase of 155 other city fees. [...]
As Francis pointed out earlier, Gov. Bev Perdue seems to be bending the truth when it comes to her stance on the gas tax. During her announcement on of a controversial funding mechanism to finish I-485 she told reporters that she would not “ever” raise the gas tax.
Apparently she [...]
This letter in the N&O offers a perspective on the issue of school diversity efforts that needs wider airing.
But in any case, the pursuit of diversity, even if it were to produce a gain for some, requires continuous government coercion. Perhaps it’s an opportune time to ponder on a [...]
WRAL reports Medicaid spending in North Carolina is $150 million over budget in the first quarter of this fiscal year.
The reason for this, the Governor claims, is that over 8000 more people than expected signed up for Medicaid this year while unemployment still remains high and tax revenues are [...]
Many college and university endowments have taken a hit from recent economic downturn. Locally, UNC – Chapel Hill lost 20 percent of its value or about $440 million in the last year.
Jon King, CEO of UNC Management Company, the entity that oversees UNC Chapel Hill’s investment funds, [...]
Yesterday Gov. Bev Perdue was talking about completing the I-485 loop around Charlotte. While talking she said: “We want you to have a reason to bring it in under budget, and done well, and done so as to last for the next 50 years,” Perdue said. “The only way I [...]
Today’s N&O discusses North Carolina’s growing debt – to the Federal Government for unemployment benefits.
North Carolina’s high unemployment rate has stuck the state with $1.4 billion in debt – money that officials don’t know how they’ll pay back.
It gets worse. The debt is still rising.
The problem is that with [...]
Despite the rolling up of the illegal alien welcome mat by North Carolina’s Sheriffs with the 287 (g) program, criminal activity associated with illegal immigration continues to rise in the Old North State. Officials with the NC Department of Motor Vehicles report a 20% increase [...]
Tomorrow, HB 9, No Texting While Driving, takes effect. That’s right; get your texting done today because starting tomorrow if you are caught texting behind the wheel you can be fined up to $100. Gov. Purdue signed the Act in June making it unlawful to use a cell phone [...]
Want to know how many earmarks your U.S. Senator or Representative has requested?
Go to the “earmarks” tab of the website WashingtonWatch.com and check it out. You can sort by individual politician or by earmark request status.
The site makes for a handy tool for all you budget watchdogs out there.
© [...]
We’re slowly putting together the funeral for the Climate Change movement. As President Obama eagerly picks up a Nobel prize for endeavors he has yet to achieve and pushes for trillions of dollars to be taken away from our economy in the name of Climate Change, the world is reeling [...]
In an article by Josh Shaffer in Saturday’s newsobserver.com, local “Democratic strategist” Perry Woods said that he thought that as long as Clay Aiken didn’t vote in Chatham county (the county where Aiken resides) he would likely be “in the clear.” Woods sends the wrong message to North Carolina voters [...]
The Independent Institute reminds us with this article of the real story behind the very first Thanksgiving. We should all take a moment to think about these lessons between servings of stuffing.
Many people believe that after suffering through a severe winter, the Pilgrims’ food shortages were resolved the following [...]
20 lawmakers have sent a letter to Attorney General Roy Cooper and Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin asking for an investigation into Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s (BCBS) postcard campaign to get people to contact Sen. Kay Hagan to oppose the public option.
Apparently these 20 feel BCBS’s actions are at [...]
Proponents of the federal government’s push to further politicize the delivery of medical care in this country have continuously touted that part of their ”reform’s” benefits will be choice and competition for health insurance, and that nobody will lose their current coverage if they like it.
This WSJ article exposes that lie. [...]
Both the House and Senate bills propose that all private health insurance plans (individual, employer, employer group, or union provided) must adhere to detailed federal regulation.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force currently provides recommendations on health services ranging – A,B,C,D – where B, and C are “recommended” and “not recommended”, [...]
There’s little dispute that our current economic mess was triggered by government policies designed to prop up the real estate and housing construction industry. Such policies coerced mortgage lenders into scrapping traditional underwriting standards, resulting in a major uptick in payment defaults and foreclosures. Most rational human beings would learn a [...]
What did the drama surrounding new mammogram policies teach us about Obamacare? That, “the political left supports such medical rationing even as it disavows that any such thing is happening” says the WSJ’s opinion headliner. The article traces the “political duck-and-cover” following last week’s new health policy that said women [...]
The winner of the inaugural Bad Bill of the Year tournament is — SB 848.
This bill would allow illegal immigrants access to community colleges and the university system, sponsored by Sen. Charlie Albertson (D-Duplin).
It cruised to victory over the other finalist, HB 120 — public financing of municipal elections — [...]
In 34 short days North Carolina voter registration changes look like this:
Democrats +623
Republicans +750
Libertarians +225
Unaffiliateds +5188
© Susan Myrick for Civitas Review Online, 2009. | Permalink | No comment
[...]In this short commentary in the N&O, the editors continue to mindlessly recommend a larger government role in America’s economy. They observe that teen unemployment stands at remarkably high rates (as is to be expected in a recession), and their recommendation is, of course, more government!
President Obama plans a [...]
Today’s fun fact: Federal stimulus money to K-12 public schools in the United States totals $68 billion. That’s $68 billion over and above what the feds normally spend on public education.
What are Americans getting for the extra spending? Not much. That’s the conclusion reached by Chester Finn and Frederick Hess in [...]
ABC News reporter Johnathan Karl sheds light on a provision in the Senate health care bill revealing how our rulers in DC “debate” legislation:
What does it take to get a wavering senator to vote for health care [...]
Do you think we have seen the last of the undercover videos exposing ACORN’s true nature? Not by a long shot. Check out this interview from ReasonTV with Biggovernment.com editor Mike Flynn.
One of the revelations in the interview is that Biggovernment.com has several more videos that [...]
New data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statisticsshows that North Carolina’s unemployment rate climbed to 11% in Oct., up from 10.8% in the previous month.
The 11% places NC with the nation’s 8th highest unemployment rate – topping the list is Michigan at 15.1%. The national rate stands [...]
For those curious about where the NC’s federal stimulus money is being spent, check out stimuluswatch.org.2.0 to follow the money.
The site documents the more than 1,700 items (mostly grants) being funded by the federal stimulus bill – The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The site is interactive, allowing visitors to [...]
© Marianne Suarez for Civitas Review Online, 2009. | Permalink | No comment
[...]It appears that there are some within the NC GOP that want to go back to the days of excluding unaffiliated voters from the party’s primary elections. This would be a bad idea for a number of reasons.
1. The numbers of voters registering as unaffiliated is exploding. Just in [...]
The federal debt now tops $12 trillion. That’s a 12 plus 12 zeroes. You would have to earn a million dollars a year for 12 million years to accumulate that much money. $12 trillion also works out to $87,000 for every U.S. worker (as of Oct.)
North Carolina has a bit [...]
In August, we were all told by the leadership of the General Assembly that $1.1 billion in tax increases were necessary in order to stave off massive, destructive cuts to “critical” state services.
Apparently we were lied to.
According to the Gov. Perdue’s budget director, the state has about $600 million [...]
Today’s Garner-Clayton Record published my letter to the editor (third letter down) discussing why a Garner’s centralized “downtown revitalization” efforts are anything but market-based.
John Hodges, executive director of the Garner Revitalization Association, attempts to assure readers that his organization is embracing a “market-based approach” to Garner’s “downtown revitalization” (A market-based [...]
It is too easy to cheat in North Carolina Elections – just ask Clay Aiken.
In North Carolina, voters are required to sign an Authorization to Vote form before they are handed a ballot – the wording goes something like this:
I hereby certify that the address listed on the label is [...]
Our friends at Watchdog.org have done a great job of exposing the shoddy recordkeeping and the awarding of stimulus funds to phantom congressional districts in various states. After reading the story, I did a little digging myself and learned some interesting things about stimulus funds in North Carolina. First, [...]
This CNN report highlights another dog-bites-man story: the federal government is wasting billions of your dollars in improper payments and fraud:
The federal government made $98 billion in improper payments in fiscal 2009, and President Obama will issue an executive order in coming days to combat the problem, his budget [...]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began a task force to analyze 83 studies of contraceptive-based sexual education programs. The report concludes that group-based comprehensive risk reduction programs will reduce some of the negative consequences of adolescent sexual activity, writes the North Carolina Family Policy Council.
However, two [...]
That may well be the motto for the “health care rationing commission” that may be coming under Obamacare – as outlined in this Wall Street Journal article:
As usual, the most dangerous parts of ObamaCare aren’t receiving the scrutiny they deserve—and one of the least examined is a new commission to [...]
That’s the only sound you will hear coming out of the left-wingers today as another NC based business decides to expand its operations in our neighbor to the south.
According to the AP:
A research firm that develops advanced textiles for the automotive, aeronautics and defense industries says it will open [...]
According to the Capital Trail Motions Index posted online by the North Carolina Court System, defendants seeking to make a motion under the new Racial Justice Act should consult hire “CDPL’s Trial Assistance Unit” prior to filing.
The Center for Death Penalty Litigation, a North Carolina based non-profit, [...]
Recent news indicates that the Obama administration in interested in trying to re-inflate the real estate bubble.
Potential home buyers got an extra incentive Friday when President Barack Obama signed a bill extending a tax credit for first-time buyers and creating a new one for existing homeowners.
….
The bill gives a [...]
Sheldon Richman makes the case that “health care reform” is not about health care, medical care or health insurance at all. It’s about government power.
If the politicians who are bent on redesigning the medical and medical-insurance industries really wanted only to curb rising prices and help the uninsured get [...]
The General Assembly’s Fiscal Research Division yesterday released its revenue report for the current fiscal year (which began July 1). The early returns are not encouraging.
• Revenues through the first four months of the fiscal year are 1.5 percent below target.
• Collections through October are running $95 million below a $5.9 [...]
The face behind the “selling grades” fundraiser at Rosewood Middle School in Goldsboro, North Carolina is now retiring. The fundraiser would have allowed students to donate $20 to the school in exchange for 20 extra credit points. Susie Shepherd, the principal, stood behind the fundraiser insisting that the program was not [...]
In only the second time in our nearly four and a half years of polling at the Civitas Institute, Republicans lead the generic legislative ballot here in North Carolina.
Our latest poll has it at 40.7% Republican, 37.8% Democratic.
Coincidentally (or not?) the only two times the Republicans have led the generic [...]
In this excellent piece, John Stossel dusts off his Hayek to discredit the current health care “reform” efforts being foisted upon us.
The 1,990-page bill is breathtaking in its bone-headed audacity. The notion that a small group of politicians can know enough to design something so complex and so personal [...]
Gov. Bev Perdue is honoring veterans today by pandering for military votes telling businesses that they should hire more veterans by participating in a new program called “I Hire Military.”
That’s great and all, but has the Governor noticed unemployment in North Carolina is 10.8% (8th highest in the [...]
In an N&O article, Sen. Kay Hagan says, “I think people have to get their heads around this, that we can’t continue where we are right now …We’re in a window of opportunity right now, and it’s time for health care reform in our country.”
Reform – yes. The type [...]
Media stories and political spin about government budget “cuts” often need a translator for taxpayers to understand the true picture. It’s common practice to label something a “cut” when in reality it simply means that government is spending less on something than it had previously hoped to spend – even [...]
‘Desperate times call for desperate measures’ seems to be the motto at Rosewood Middle School located in Goldsboro, North Carolina. The N&O reports,
“A $20 donation to the middle school will get a student 20 test points- 10 extra points on two tests of the student’s choosing. That could raise [...]
The Cato Institute’s Dan Mitchell talks about the real cost of government run health care…
© Marianne Suarez for Civitas Review Online, 2009. | Permalink | No comment
[...]Robert Higgs of the Independent Institute is a distinguished economic historian, author of several books, expert on the Great Depression and arguably the creator of the concept of “regime uncertainty.”
This concept simply states that economic investment (and therefore growth) is stymied because entrepreneurs are uncertain (and often nervous) about the [...]
The Civitas Institute has posted this study examining the true debt burden of state and local governments across North Carolina.
State and local governments across North Carolina have accumulated nearly $90 billion in debt and unfunded liabilities. That’s equivalent to more than $9,600 for every man, woman, and child across [...]
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) which is the mother-organization of the state employees association (SEANC) apparently feels it is above the law when it comes to complying with North Carolina’s campaign finance laws.
The SEIU’s political action committee, like all PACs, is required to file regular reports with the NC [...]
This WRAL story highlights state government waste relating to the state’s motor fleet.
North Carolina’s state motor fleet is more than 8,500 vehicles strong and travels more than 100 million miles each year.
A WRAL News investigation found that some state agencies paid millions for miles they did not drive and others [...]
Though it’s far from perfect, the North Carolina School Report Card is usually a helpful place to get information about how students are performing in public schools across the state. Last week the Department of Public Instruction released the 2008-2009 data. One of the most interesting tidbits to come out [...]
WRAL has the breakdown of how North Carolina’s Representatives voted on the PelosiCare monstrosity over the weekend:
Eight of North Carolina’s 13 representatives, including three Democrats, voted against the health care overhaul bill approved by the House of Representatives Saturday.
According to the House’s online records, Democratic Reps. Larry Kissel, [...]
A new law signed by Gov. Purdue in May 2009 prohibits smoking in public restaurants and bars. North Carolina’s Smoke-Free Restaurants and Bars Law takes effect January 2, 2010 but local business owners are already getting ready. The N.C. Division of Public Health and the N.C. Association of Local [...]
This Under the Dome post exemplifies the hypocrisy of our state rulers.
The state’s college students don’t know enough about managing money and debt and get themselves in trouble, state Treasurer Janet Cowell learned on a debt tour of college campuses.
….
“This experience, along with national research, has demonstrated the need [...]
President Obama bragged yesterday about AARP’s endorsement of the latest health care reform proposal, claiming the endorsement should silent criticism regarding how seniors will be treated under the new plan. In his speech, Obama said:
The AARP knows this bill will make health care more affordable. They know it will make coverage [...]
The national unemployment rate for October was released today; the numbers don’t look good.
The unemployment rate has surpassed 10 percent for the first time since 1983 – and is likely to go higher….the loss of jobs last month exceeded economists’ estimates. It’s the 22nd straight month the U.S. economy has [...]
Some in and out of the the media have speculated that Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand’s move from the Senate to the Parole Board was partially motivated by the significant pay increase he would receive. His Senate salary is around $17,000 per year while the Parole Board pays in excess [...]
The North Carolina state House and Senate Finance Committees kicked off their “Study of North Carolina’s Tax Structure” with a meeting on Tuesday. This year’s study marks the third or fourth such “study” of NC’s tax system since 2000. Every time, the findings are to broaden the tax base [...]
Francis De Luca, Chris Hayes, Brian Balfour, Jessica Custer, Bob Luebke, Chad Adams, Marianne Suarez, Jeff Mixon, Susan Myrick, Jana Benscoter, Kasey Ginsberg
