Tag Archives: North Carolina Politics

A Tale of Two Governors: Wisconsin’s Walker and Carolina’s Purdue

In Wisconsin, a properly elected Senate passed a bill that a properly elected State Assembly had also passed.  Then, a properly elected Governor signed said properly passed bill into law.

The reaction from the far left at the time:

They are showing that citizenship is rooted in the willingness to listen to one’s opponents and to find shared solutions. The governor’s refusal to do the same shows his aim to rule by executive fiat. He is setting himself up as a notorious adversary of the democratic process.

I love it.  Rule by fiat.  Hardly.  Walker signed a bill into law that was passed by the Senate AND the Assembly.  Adversary of the democratic process?  Hardly.  It’s just that in this case, democracy delivered a solution that doesn’t agree with the hard left wing segment of the Democrat party.

Now, here in Carolina.

A properly elected Senate passes a bill that was also passed by a properly elected House.  Then, a properly elected Governor vetoes the bill.

Said governor complains that life isn’t fair.

Said Governor then signs an executive order to get what she wanted the whole time:

RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Bev Perdue signed an executive order Friday to extend federal unemployment insurance benefits for thousands of North Carolina residents amid a battle with Republican lawmakers, who tied the extension to the state budget bill.

In April, the Republican majority in the General Assembly passed a bill to extend the federally funded benefits for up to 20 weeks…

The liberal hard left?

Perdue’s press secretary Chris Mackey said the governor gave “Republican leaders the chance to do the right thing and they didn’t. So, she found another solution.”

So, the lesson here, is that when “the right thing” and “other solutions” involve those things held most dear to the Leftist, fiat [using the right definition of the word] is fine; noble.

But, BUT, when a centrist republican follows the rule of law and signs a legally passed bill, he is called a ruler by fiat [using the Leftist’s version of the word].

Funny world, that.

William Barber: North Carolina NAACP

I don’t like groups of people that label other groups of people as racist.  Or of saying that they are doing things for racist reasons.  I mean, do those groups of people even know what racism means?

The belief that races have distinctive cultural characteristics determined by hereditary factors and that this endows some races with an intrinsic superiority over others.

Does the NAACP really think that a group of people, in this case the Tea Party, really feels that they hold beliefs that African American people have characteristics determined by hereditary factors?

It would seem so.

However, with that said, I don’t believe the answer to such gross mis-characterizations in such circumstances is to respond in kind.

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North Carolina Unemployment: May 27, 2011

The counties of North Carolina continue to heal; we’re lowering our unemployment and getting folks back to work:

RALEIGH — Unemployment rates decreased in 73 of North Carolina’s 100 counties in April. Rates increased
in 10 counties and remained the same in 17.

The good news is that this decrease in the rate is being brought about by adding jobs, not simply reducing the unemployed:

The number of workers employed (not-seasonally adjusted) increased in April by 6,751 to 4,046,255. The number of people unemployed decreased by 10,036. The number of unemployed people in April was 424,502 workers, compared with 434,538 in March.

I hope that the North Carolina congress holds firm on with holding continued unemployment benefits to our state’s unemployed.  We have long since passed the appropriate amount of time that those assistance dollars are required to transition to a new job.  It’s been nearly two years; two years to find a job.

The weekly benefit of those checks is nearly $300.00 a week, certainly not very much.  However, workers have adjusted to that amount by this time and taking a job that pays even $10.00 represents a 33% raise in wages.  Not an insignificant amount.

I hope that North Carolina can continue to lower her tax rates, keep the sales tax at a reasonable rate and bring business into the state.  It’s a good thing to see our unemployment rate fall, but there is much work to be done.

Peak Oil? We’ll Never Burn Our Last Drop Of Oil

Long before we get to the very last drop of oil, we;ll have identified another form of fuel for our society.  It may be another form of fossil fuel, it may be solar or it may be wave.  In any event, the idea that the work will run out of oil and the implication that our society will wither and fade away is ridiculous.

As people who make money on oil begin to realize that were close to running out of oil, they’ll raise the price of said oil.  And when THAT happens, that new fuel will be found.

Fortunately, we may already have taken a step in that direction:

Sanford, N.C. — Geologists have wrapped up research on natural gas deposits in central North Carolina and are awaiting an assessment from the U.S. Geological Survey in July.

North Carolina Geological Survey chief Kenneth Taylor says his assessment shows that Lee, Chatham and Moore counties could produce enough natural gas to power the whole state for 40 years.

40 years.

Of power.

No oil.

What could prevent this awesome resource from being utilized?

Government:

But state law would have to change to allow horizontal drilling and a process known as fracturing that uses chemicals and water to force natural gas from shale.

Figures.

North Carolina Unemployment Benefits

It’s tough.  It really is.

There’s a ton of us out there without work; we all know someone who’s looking for a job, a shot.  And as long as they’re out there, shouldn’t we do what we can and give ’em the support they’ve worked for all these years?  Isn’t that the right thing to do?

No.

And I’ll tell ya why.

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Price of Gas and the Daily Commute

I’m a big BIG advocate of the market.

I tend to think that people, in search of their selfish self interests, will signal to the market what is and what isn’t, important.

Commutes are no different.

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Unemployment Benefits End: 297 / 40 = $7.42

First, we’re talking about $297.00 a week.

Don’t forget that:

About 45,000 people have lost extended benefits in the month-long standoff between Republican legislative leaders and Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue, up from an initial estimate of 37,000 people who lost the chance to receive 20 weeks of federal benefits after normal benefits and all other extensions have been exhausted.

Each week, about 2,100 people are running out of benefits, which would pay them an average of about $297 a week, officials said.

So, I just checked and this is what I found:

I’m not sayin’……I’m just sayin’.

Governor Purdue: Spend More on Education – Tax More on Citizens

North Carolina government continues to debate the budget.  Even as the state’s deficit grows, the governor refuses to step back from spending.  And the number 1 line item in the budget?

Education.

This is governor Purdue’s explanation:

“We cannot go backward on education. It’s part of who we are as a people in this state and it’s what has differentiated us as a leader in the South,” Perdue said, according to her staff. “We are North Carolina, and we have chosen to become that because of our generational legacy of education.”

We cannot go backward.  Backward.

In what way and manner is she thinking we’ll go backward?

Spending?

Sure, but more spending doesn’t equate to better education.

She is preaching the old Democrat canard; Defend the defined solution – Don’t debate the problem.

See, the Democrats feel that the only way to improve education is to spend more.  Therefore they feel that as long as they are able to defend the fact that we want to improve education, and who doesn’t, we should only continue to spend more and more.

Yet not one once of study goes into the fact that education outcomes don’t always depend on money.

Teacher Insurance Rates: Teachers Pay Their Own Premium

North Carolina is broke.  Ba-Roe-K.

Hear it people.  We have no more money and things are gonna have to change.  And one of those things is that people who used to have the State pay for things are now going to have to pay for those things themselves!

Some will say that this is a pay cut, but I disagree.  It’s not a pay cut.  After all, it can’t be a pay cut if you didn’t count it as pay to begin with!

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Swimmin’ Wit Da Fishes

In breaking news, the sand and sand bars of North Carolina’s Outer Banks are prone to shifting, moving and overall change.  What once was impassable water often turns into a navigable channel.  In a similar manner, mother nature may decide that she would like to “fallow” a section of the sea from time to time.

This should not surprise any one.  Or alarm them.

But the expectations and actions of our government is both surprising AND alarming.

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