Cooking the goose that lays the golden eggs
This blog was previously posted at www.batesandmills on March 21, 2013. It goes hand -in-hand with the post "Tolerating Crazy." In a slap to the state’s most impoverished counties, Pat McCrory’s budget steals $65 million from the Golden LEAF Foundation. For rural...
Tolerating crazy
One plot line unfolding in Raleigh right now is some combination of the ol’ bait-and-switch and the country bumpkin in the big city. The bumpkins are the rural legislators, many in their first or second terms, and they are getting scammed by the city slickers in the...
The Least of These
“Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I...
Tax Reform: Fraught with danger, but an idea whose time has come
The sudden collapse of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s popularity in the state should serve as a warning for North Carolina tax reformers hell bent in scrapping the progressive income tax in favor of a regressive increase in the sales tax. Jindal, who only a few...
The Secrets of Princeton
In today's Daily Read, Ross Douthat of the New York Times takes on the Ivy League elites. SUSAN PATTON, the Princeton alumna who became famous for herletter urging Ivy League women to use their college years to find a mate, has been denounced as a traitor to feminism,...
Democrats: Get over it and get moving
Two myths seem to be dominating Democrats’ analysis of their problems. The first is that Art Pope “bought” the elections for Republicans. The second is that focusing on education is the winning message for Democrats. Like many myths, they each have a grain of truth...
When In Doubt, Mumble—Dynamic Inaction May Be Our Best Hope
In the Daily Read, Joe McLean gives insight into how DC best operates in times of turmoil and change: The late James H. Boren, a mostly forgotten humorist, bureaucrat, and erstwhile philosopher (as well as the brother of former Oklahoma Senator David Boren) is...
Branding problems
Last week was a bad press week for the Republican legislature in North Carolina. They made the state a national laughingstock when two legislators introduced a bill, supported by Republican Majority Leader Edgar Starnes, that claimed North Carolina was exempt from the...
7 Ways North Carolina Republicans are Trying to Make it Harder to Vote
In today's Daily Read, Ari Berman of the Nation calls the NCGOP's voter suppression bills the nation's most extreme: Among all the states, North Carolina, which elected a Republican legislature in 2010 for the first time since the McKinley administration and a...
Fooling themselves
It’s impressive that Republicans can talk about their voter suppression bills with a straight face. With the Voter ID bill, Speaker Thom Tillis says they are restoring confidence in elections, though there is no evidence voters have lost confidence. Majority Leader...
