Politics: The art of the impossible Someone called politics “the art of the possible.” But, in the era of the modern welfare state, politics is largely the art of the impossible.
Those people morbid enough to keep track of politicians’ promises may remember how Barack Obama said that ObamaCare would lower medical costs — and lots of people bought it.
But if you stop and think, however old-fashioned that may seem these days, do you seriously believe that millions more people...
Time for president of the Black Caucus to shut up To the Editor,
I am tired of the president of the Robeson County Black Caucus, Mr. Jimmy Gilchrist, making false allegations against individuals or groups with no facts to back his claim.
Ain’t nobody wronged Mr. Gilchrist and the Robeson County Black Caucus. He is lucky that himself or the Black Caucus have not been sued by now.
If anyone wronged Mr. Gilchrist, it was an accident. All the trouble Mr. Gilchrist has raised here in Robeso...
It is time for the Lumbee people to be ‘idle no more” To the Editor,
If you asked the man on the street, he might say that the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is controlled by roughly 300 of its 57,000 members. These numbers mean that almost zero percent of our enrolled tribal population is doing everything for themselves and nothing for 100 percent of our tribe.
I estimate that 99 percent of all Lumbee people are not interested or concerned with our tribal government. We feel our government ...
The Clinton and Obama reparations Abraham Carpenter Jr., a farmer in Grady, Ark., has more insight into human nature than the average sociologist. “Anytime you are going to throw money up in the air,” he told The New York Times, “you are going to have people acting crazy.”
Carpenter is quoted in an astonishing 5,000-word Times expose on the federal government’s wildly profligate program to compensate minority and women farmers for alleged discrimination. The government rigg...
Legalization of marijuana paying off The good things that should happen after marijuana is legalized are happening in Colorado. In November, voters in Colorado — and Washington state — legalized pot for recreational use. (Many states allow medical use of marijuana.)
What are the good things?
For starters, money, money, money for the state coffers. As of last week, lawmakers in Denver were still tussling over how heavily to tax marijuana sales. A leading plan centers on excis...
The danger of white America It was cool and rainy Sunday morning when the bomb ripped through the building. At 10:22, a group of children was just heading into the basement to hear a sermon at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. According to a Washington Post account at the time: Dozens of survivors, their faces dripping blood from the glass that flew out of the church’s stained glass windows, staggered around the building in a cloud of white dust raised ...
Gun opponents exploit grief to beat Second Amendment To the Editor,
The present gun debate has caused people to focus on the U.S. Constitution. It is important to take a close and long look at the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee to gun owners and people who obtain a gun or guns. The Second Amendment reads: “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep bear arms shall not be infringed.”
People have the right to purchase and carry a ...
The real state of Robeson Co. As he should have, Noah Woods, chairman of the Robeson County Board of Commissioners, on Thursday brought plenty of lipstick to apply to his annual State of Robeson County Address.
To his credit, Woods spent a moment on some of the problems facing this county and looming challenges related to a new governing philosophy in Raleigh — one that bristles at government dependence — but his presentation was mostly upbeat.
Woods is an elected off...
Taking us to the ground for a point The air traffic controller furloughs are the White House tours of the sky.
From time immemorial, a government that doesn’t want to tighten its fiscal belt finds high-profile ways to inconvenience the public to try to turn it against spending cuts. In keeping with this so-called Washington Monument strategy, the White House canceled tours in the immediate aftermath of sequestration. In an escalation, the Federal Aviation Administration has f...
Governor should be a Mr. Fix-It RALEIGH — Now that Pat McCrory has passed the oh-so-important mark of 100 days in office, the political class in Raleigh feels obligated to offer a critique of his administration. The most common one is that Gov. McCrory is playing “small ball.”
That is, the critics say that because the governor didn’t propose a major spending program in his 2013-15 budget plan, he’s not really doing anything of consequence. Even the reform initiatives McCr...
Genes and race: Both are in play During decades of watching both collegiate and professional football, I have seen hundreds of touchdowns scored by black players — but not one extra point kicked by a black player.
Is this because blacks are genetically incapable of kicking a football or because racists won’t let blacks kick a football?
Most of us would consider either of these explanations ridiculous. Yet genes and discrimination were the predominant explanations of blac...
Times are a changing The political strategy of divisiveness is thriving in this country, and neither party has the stronger grip.
On the national level, criticisms from the right of twice-elected President Obama are that he is a communist, foreign born, a Muslim, or all three — charges that reveal much more about the accuser than the accused. The left counters by embracing class warfare, saying that Republicans are for the rich, and don’t care for the middle cl...
Obama’s nice campaign a failure If there was one thing the left was certain about in 2008 it was this: George W. Bush had catastrophically undermined America’s world reputation with his unprovoked aggression and use of torture. The advent of Obama would reverse the damage. As Andrew Sullivan wrote in 2007, among best assets Obama brought to the “rebranding” of America was “his face.” The election of Obama and his friendly approach to the Muslim world would make the United S...
Our duty is keep the terrorists out The uncle of the accused Boston Marathon bombers got the boys right. They were unable to settle into American life, Ruslan Tsarni told reporters from his home in Maryland, “and thereby just hating everyone who did.” He called the two brothers “losers.” I prefer the term “weaklings.”
As the story thickens with detail, it would seem that the older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, now dead, was the ringleader. So let’s concentrate on him.
Tamerla...
Cutting of wrestling programs will affect other high schools To the Editor,
I must say I am extremely disappointed to read the article on the decision to drop the wrestling programs at St. Paul and South Robeson high schools. My understanding is that both of these schools will be jointly in one conference in the state’s new realignment. The decision by Superintendent Johnny Hunt and the school board will present challenges to the other schools in the conference and the regional schools that need to s...
