Fatcow Icon
Opinion
From Entitlement Road to Poverty Road
Entitlement Road. It’s a wonderful place to visit, but it is a horrible place to live after a time. The visit is great at a time when you are in need, no one would disagree with this statement. But reality is just around the corner. Entitlement Road is paved with illusions, no matter how real the illusions appearance is, it is still an illusion. An illusion that after a time makes one think that this is a great way of life. Think about it, ...
full story
Governor should be Mr. Fix-It
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 McCrory has an...
full story
Tar Heel View: On praising first responders
The city of Boston and the town of West, Texas, could hardly be more dissimilar. One is a massive metropolitan center, with a combined residential population of more than 7 million, that also serves as the state’s capital, while the other is a rural crossroads of only 2,800 people that, until last week, was easily overlooked on a drive along I-35 between Austin and Dallas. However, these two communities share one thing in common — the brave...
full story
Tar Heel View: On reworking lobbying rules
Robert Brawley, Republican North Carolina House member from Iredell County, meet your governor, Pat McCrory. The governor rode to victory by campaigning against evil Democrats loading up on campaign dollars and doing favors for their friends and hobnobbing with lobbyists. Oh, they were bad, said then-candidate and now-Gov. McCrory. Gotta clean things up. Yessiree Bob. So why, then, having been around politics long enough to have seen form...
full story
Eastern_North_Carolina_eating_the_literary_way0_1366749798.jpg
Eastern North Carolina eating, the literary way
There are hundreds of reasons to celebrate Georgann Eubanks’ third and last in her “Literary Trails of the North Carolina” series. Follow her travels in the just released “Literary Trails of Eastern North Carolina,” and you will have the most enjoyable and efficient survey of authors and literary connections in that region. But one of my favorite parts of her books are the descriptions of the places where literary-connected people eat. ...
full story
My Spin: Slow down and get it right
Both Governor McCrory and our General Assembly reached milestones last week and, as we pundits are prone to do, they warrant marking and remarking about. Pat McCrory reached 100 days in his tenure as governor and nobody will refute he was thrown into the deep end on day one. With the notable exception of budget director Art Pope his team is largely new to state government and has experienced a trial-by-fire on-the-job-training. From the get...
full story
2013_Earth_Day_is_on_ground_level_in_Richmond_County0_1366668088.jpg
2013 Earth Day is on ground level in Richmond County
Earth Day 2013 was celebrated Monday in Richmond County. — The Editor Since its 1970 inception, the Earth Day phenomenon has led to much understanding of the consequences confronted when not caring for our natural resources. This awareness led to action to protect America’s land, water, air, wildlife, and, yes, humans. In Richmond County, North Carolina, America and around the world, environmental concerns are a primary focus among lawm...
full story
Pooling_our_resources_is_vital0_1366667452.jpg
Pooling our resources is vital
Many of you have mentioned you enjoy my occasional history lesson in my legislative report so here’s one for this week. In the history of our great state, have you ever known of a father and son who both served as NC Lieutenant Governor? This has only happened once and a prominent Anson County family has this distinction — the Taylors. Mr. Hoyt Pat Taylor Sr. served as Lt. Governor from 1949-1953, following his years of service in the NC Ho...
full story
The picture is of Prime Minister Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan reviewing U. S. troops in 1988 on the South Lawn of the White House.
Notes on Quotes: Margaret Thatcher’s close links to the U. S.
“Few Prime Ministers have been called upon to change so much. Few have been loathed as much for trying. Few have shown such courage.” — Michael Portillo, The Guardian Margaret Roberts Thatcher’s recent death has caused writers to reflect on her humble beginnings for the class minded British politics of her day. Her father was a local politician and mayor who owned two small grocery shops. The family lived above one of the shops. Margaret...
full story
The Raleigh Report for April 20, 2013
House lawmakers assembled this week for an agenda that included committee votes on the impending Voter ID legislation, as well as a final vote on Asheville’s water system. The House Elections Committee has endorsed a bill requiring voters to present photo identification at every election held after January 2016. The Voter Information Verification Act (VIVA) will allow people to present various state-issued IDs, such as public university IDs a...
full story
Tar Heel View: On privatizing parts of Medicaid
It flies in the face of reason to suggest that the way to make government more accountable is to farm out public services — and dollars — to entities that have no direct accountability to the taxpayers. Yet that is the game plan of Gov. Pat McCrory and the Republican-led General Assembly as they consider privatizing Medicaid and economic development and seek once again to funnel the people’s money to private schools. While it may make sense...
full story
Back to The Rock one more time
Dear Editor, I would like to thank Dawn Kurry, Laura Edington, Shawn Stinson and Jimmy McDonald for their fantastic coverage of the race last weekend at The Rock. I want to really thank Andy Hillenburg for inviting Tex Powell and the crew to bring Benny Parsons’ #72 car back to The Rock one more time. I was at the race that day, October 21, 40 years ago, at the North Carolina Motor Speedway and saw Benny Parsons claim the 1973 NASCAR Poin...
full story
Weather
Sponsored By:

Lottery
Sponsored By:

Stocks
Sponsored By:

Gas Prices
Sponsored By:

Featured Businesses
Recipes
Sponsored By: