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You Decice: How will technology shape our future?
My late mother-in-law loved gadgets. As soon as she could afford it, she had to buy the latest kitchen appliance, hi-fi (remember those?) and TV. Indeed, her family was one of the first to have a color TV. My wife, who was a small girl then, watched an entire baseball game just to see the green grass. She hasn’t sat through nine-innings of baseball since. Of course, today, we are spoiled by gadgets, especially computers, tablets and cell ph...
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The big lie about Medicaid
If there’s one thing you’ve got to hand to the modern American right wing it is this: they sure do follow orders and stay on message. Once Grover Norquist, Roger Ailes, Karl Rove or some committee of corporate bosses at ALEC hands down The Word, it’s usually only a matter of hours before it’s being dutifully repeated all over the country by radio squawkers, think tankers, newspaper columnists and bought-and-paid-for politicians. If you thin...
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Tax cuts’ painful costs
“Moral Monday” demonstrators at the General Assembly bring a wide range of grievances. They charge the legislature’s Republican majorities with failing to uphold the interests of North Carolinians who count on robust public education programs as paths out of poverty and doorways to success. They say poor people’s health care needs are being neglected. They decry what they see as methodical efforts to suppress the votes of African-Americans an...
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The risk of doing nothing
“We will not be Intimidated or Coerced by Certain Alphabetical Organizations or Committees under the Disguise of ‘Betterment of Certain Groups or Races’.” It reads like the reactions of some North Carolinians to the Moral Monday demonstrations at the North Carolina Legislative Building recently, doesn’t it? Like Gov. Pat McCrory, when he promised not to “back down” in the face of the demonstrations: “Outsiders are coming in and …they are ...
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House budget another side of a bad coin
The budget and tax dance is back on center stage at the General Assembly with the House pushing to approve its spending plan this week. Legislative leaders from both chambers will then return to the backrooms to work out the differences between the House and Senate proposals. Most of the discussion about the House plan that was released Sunday night has focused on how it differs from what the Senate passed a few weeks ago and there are majo...
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Beware, the Tax Man Cometh
Taxpayers shudder at the mere mention of the IRS. That image hasn’t been helped since the federal government’s most feared agency admitted to singling out conservative groups for unprecedented invasive scrutiny. In March of 2010, the IRS began targeting groups whose applications for tax-exempt status included terms and phrases such as “tea party,” “patriot,” “We the People” or ”make America a better place to live.” The demands levied by t...
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Free market Republicans?
Where are the free-market Republicans when you need them? You would think with Republicans firmly in control of the General Assembly, that the free-market advocates would be falling all over themselves to embrace Tesla Motors and their effort to sell some really cool cars in our state. But the Senate leadership doesn’t like the idea of free-markets and economic competition if it means the automobile dealers may be threatened. The Senate...
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A new book reminds us to say thank you
“Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops.” So wrote General Dwight Eisenhower on June 5, 1944, 69 years ago this week. According to Rick Atkinson’s new book, “The Guns at Last Light: The War in Europe, 1944-1945,” currently Number One on the New York Times Non-Fiction Best Seller list, Ike continued, “If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone...
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House offers broad tax cut
If reforming North Carolina’s tax code were easy, one of the many tax-reform efforts of the past 20 years would have succeeded. Didn’t happen. There isn’t just one obstacle to tax reform. There are many. For starters, at the macro level there is a lack of political consensus about the goal. Is it to raise additional revenue for government? To foster economic growth? To reduce complexity? While some politicians espouse them all, these goals ...
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School’s out for summer, and for some, for the rest of the year
It’s officially summer! Time for hot, lazy days, playing outside, swimming and NO SCHOOL. Yes, our kids are eagerly anticipating summer vacation. But if pending legislation passes the General Assembly this summer, thousands of preschoolers won’t have a school to go back to come September. Gov. Pat McCrory and President Obama have both recently proposed investments to increase children’s access to high-quality, affordable pre-K. Obama would ...
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Being an introvert isn’t a disease
Everyday, a large, albeit minority, segment of society is overlooked and under-appreciated. This segment is the introverts. The term “introversion” was popularized by psychologist Carl Jung, and simply means a person feels more comfortable when by themselves, or around a small group of people, rather than thriving in large groups with constant interaction like “extroverts.” Introversion isn’t the same as shyness though. Shyness is the fea...
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Benefits running out for 70,000 jobless
Tens of thousands of long-term unemployed workers will be suddenly cut off from their benefits July 1, a reality that many of the affected don’t realize. The N.C. Division of Employment Security has just begun informing the estimated 70,000 long-term unemployed about the looming cut-off date a little more than a month away. “We’re really desperate as to what’s going on here,” said JoAnn Loggins, of Morganton, who learned about the cut-off...
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The Charlotte Hornets – and an enemy general everywhere
What enemy general who fought in North Carolina is most memorialized here? Here is a hint. The Charlotte pro basketball team is taking back the Hornets name. One reason they are taking back that name is because the old Charlotte Hornets sports gear is still selling all over the world. It is in fact one of the most popular NBA brands long after original owner George Shinn moved the team to New Orleans. Why has this defunct brand been so po...
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Carolina needs capital ideas
Just about every political cause in Raleigh is being pitched as a spur to economic growth. It’s easy to see why. North Carolina continues to post one of the worst unemployment rates in the country. Poll respondents continue to list job creation as the top priority for their elected leaders. No matter what the cause, then, advocates promise the effect will be economic growth. The phenomenon goes far beyond the usual claims about the stimulat...
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Memorial Day a time to consider veterans’ health care, retirement
The Memorial Day weekend, and the unofficial start of summer, begins tomorrow with Monday marking the actual holiday. Originally celebrated as Decoration Day, Memorial Day is a day set aside to honor military members who’ve died in service to our country. Decoration Day began in 1868, when Union General John A. Logan designated a day to decorate the graves of Civil War soldiers. Within twenty years, the holiday was renamed Memorial Day, and...
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