Brutal cold is being predicted by one of the most accurate meteorologists in the nation, Joe Bastardi from Accuweather. From his blog on Dec. 25th. “What is facing the major population centers of the northern hemisphere is unlike anything that we have seen since the global warming debate got to the absurd level it is [...]
Monthly Archives: December 2009
- Dec23
2009 State Tax Change Roundup
The Tax Foundation sums up the major state tax rate changes passed in 2009. As I had noted before, North Carolina was unique in the southeast in that we raised taxes far more than other states in the southeast – both in the number of taxes raised and the amount of the tax hikes. A review of the [...]
- Dec23
A Sign I’d Like to See
Back in April, I blogged about the silly “jobs now” signs that North Carolina will be placing by government-funded construction sites. The signs are merely there to reinforce the easily seen “benefits” of government stimulus spending. But as everyone knows, government can not spend money without first taking that money out of the economic system. [...]
- Dec22
Poll Odds and Ends
The full poll results for December will be released on the website tomorrow, but if you’ve missed any of the results so far, the press releases are up on our website here. A couple of tidbits before the full poll comes out tomorrow: Generic legislative ballot is back to a 3 point Democratic advantage after [...]
- Dec22
Penny for Your Thoughts, Billions for Your Vote
Looks like Nebraska Senator Ben Nelsonwasn’t the only one receiving goodies in the health care bill. National Review spotlights the special exemptions and handouts given to a number of Senators who voted in support of the bill. Anybody realistically think such political patronage and cronyism will actually stop once the U.S. completely politicizes the medical [...]
- Dec22
ACORN Still Out There
Despite the lack of recent media coverage of the continuing scandal known as ACORN, America’s leading “community Organizers” are still at work. What you don’t hear from the so-called “mainstream” media are shouts from members of Congress like Rep. Steve King of Iowa who recently told the American Spectator, “It’s thousands of times bigger than [...]
- Dec22
The Hidden Costs of Economic Incentives
Yesterday’s Asheville Citizen-Times had this article chronicling the (surprise!) poor track record of one of North Carolina’s largest corporate welfare programs. Many companies celebrate receiving one of North Carolina’s top two kinds of economic-development grants, only to never fulfill enough of their job-creation promises to collect the money. The state has closed the books on [...]
- 1Dec21
Illegals and Comm. Colleges: Lessons in Ignoring Public Opinion
I attended part of last week’s public hearing on a proposed rule change to allow the admission of illegal immigrants to North Carolina Community Colleges. For the better part of an hour I heard teachers, students and former community college officials say education is a right (it’s not) and how North Carolina can’t turn it’s back on these children ( [...]
- Dec21
More Expensive Vote-Buying for Health Care Bill
As you’ve probably heard by now, the U.S. Senate cleared an important hurdle over the weekend in their efforts to further politicize the delivery of medical care and health insurance in America. It should also come as no surprise that political backroom deals and favors were involved. In particular, Sen. Ben Nelson (D – Nebraska) [...]
- Dec21
Never Miss An Opportunity To Pass A New Law
Legislators, desirous to make a name for themselves, love to come up with trendy new laws that sound good, but exist only to hamper freedom without a basis in science. No, I’m not talking about Global Warming, but cell phone use. Yes, those awful cell phones are rotting your brain or at least should come [...]