Category Archives: civics 101
Schizo-phonic drivers warrant engineered enforcement
In a rare display of empty-headed posturing, Chapel Hill’s town council — which tends to pride itself on progressive politics and a heady, avant-garde constituency — laid claim to passage of America’s latest and most aggressive assault on cell phone … Continue reading
Filed under civics 101
Wheeler fends off public with tax-funded gallery Gestapo
It’s no secret Governor Perdue has been frantically searching for ways to trim the fat from state government. To lend a hand, I’d like to suggest a worthwhile, if modest, starting point: Larry Wheeler’s private army of Nazi art guards … Continue reading
Filed under art, civics 101, spleen
Independent thinking
We are already greater than the king wishes us to be, and will he not hereafter endeavour to make us less? To bring the matter to one point. Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power … Continue reading
Filed under civics 101
What’s in a name? Why, sales potential!
Raleigh’s city council has been needlessly unimaginative confining the field of naming sponsors for our spiffy new amphitheater to one maker of a low-cal beer. [For those who aren’t fully briefed, Anheuser-Busch has bellied up to the bar with $1.5 … Continue reading
Filed under civics 101, commerce
No room for fun in rules of road
Everybody’s favorite transportation reporter and mine, Bruce Siceloff, issued a call to readers for input as he prepares a piece about a nascent bill headed before legislators to address clashes between cars and group cycling in the Old North State. … Continue reading
Filed under civics 101
Begging his pardon
Governor Beverly Perdue’s doggedly worn excuse for sloth in the pardoning of wrongfully imprisoned Greg Taylor is the most insufferable pitcher-full of poppycock I’ve ever heard. (See The News & Observer articles, Taylor’s exoneration prompts police to reinvestigate case, Mar. … Continue reading
Filed under civics 101, man of letters
Be counted, early and often
Well, I received my U.S. census questionnaire in the mail this week … again! I mailed the first one back weeks ago, two days after it arrived, in fact. But now I suppose Uncle Sam’s not content to count me … Continue reading
Filed under civics 101, commerce, spleen
Distracted beyond reason
It seems the much-distracted, father-daughter driving duo who openly confessed their mutual cell phone addictions in the pages of The News & Observer last month has stirred up no end of commotion among the local rabble. Far be it from … Continue reading
Filed under civics 101, spleen
U.S. military as sick as Hasan
Under the classification of “throwing in my two cents worth,” I can’t resist commenting on the unfolding revelations about U.S. Army personnel evaluations of Nidal Hasan, the psychiatrist under indictment for mass murder at Fort Hood last November. The Associated … Continue reading
Filed under civics 101
Torture is truly relative
The News & Observer published a letter Friday in which the author, Raleigh resident Don Paschal, justified the torture of prisoners in armed conflicts on the grounds that information obtained from such interrogation was instrumental in saving American military personnel. … Continue reading
Filed under civics 101, man of letters
Managing public art wisely
An elegant stroke of civic genius. That’s what I’m calling the city Arts Commission’s decision to rotate sculptures from three pedestals at the new City Plaza (“City Plaza to crown downtown”), scheduled to open this fall. Admittedly, I was never … Continue reading
Filed under art, civics 101
Health care reform to fatten and delight the rich
Judging from the way the health care debate is shaping up around Capitol Hill these days, whatever reform eventually emerges — if, indeed, any ever does — promises to be the realization of every insurer’s wildest hopes. Measure by measure, … Continue reading
Filed under civics 101, commerce, man of letters
Factory farming rewards few, dooms all
A standing ovation goes out to UNC epidemiologist Steve Wing for connecting the dots so unmistakably in his op-ed essay, “Raising animals and rising threats,” published into today’s News & Observer. With ominous clarity, he sketches out the menacing risks … Continue reading
Filed under civics 101, man bites bear
Hate the sinner, not his free speech
I won’t deny for a minute that the very thought of his e-mail made me squirm in my seat. But it’s why I cringed that’s the point where I part company with Governor Beverly Perdue and state Rep. Alma Adams. … Continue reading
Filed under civics 101
Bailouts already bloating federal payroll
Practically from day one I could see it coming, when Congress started signing over billions of tax dollars to subsidize the financial and insurance industries that were barely treading water on account of their own misdeeds. Because wherever staggering sums … Continue reading
Filed under civics 101, commerce
Smart commuters challenged at every turn
When the SmartCommute Challenge kicked off on Wednesday, I could’ve told campaign planners and sponsors that the biggest challenge would be getting participants — specifically, anyone trying to ride a bus — where they needed to go on time. But … Continue reading
Filed under civics 101, commerce
Sudden outbreak of speechlessness
What cat is it that seems to have the tongues of so many officials and spokespeople this month? Every time I pick up the local paper, I’m reading quotes from someone who’s invoking “no comment” to reporters. In most cases, … Continue reading
Filed under civics 101
