Unity in diversity. Strength in liberty.
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Monday, 01 March 2010 14:17 |
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Governor Purdue made a plea for protectionism through state-contracts in an op-ed that ran in today's Fayetteville Observer. As usual, she doesn't understand basic economics. Read the article there: http://live.fayobserver.com/Articles/2010/02/28/979116 and then view my comment at the bottom. Also, I'd invite you to click on Daryl Cobranchi's name on the comment above mine. He has a blog that is pretty good. Or, you can visit it here: http://cobranchi.com/ |
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Friday, 12 February 2010 10:46 |
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Constructions crews officially broke ground on the new North Carolina Veterans Park this week, a state park that will be located in downtown Fayetteville not far from the Airborne and Special Operations Museum. I like parks, especially historical ones. However, I can't but feel slightly uneasy about the park's $1.4 million dollar pricetag. Where does that money come from?
The answer: tax payers from around the state (and around the country because part of the funding is federal) are the financiers of the operation. Did they take a vote on whether spending $1.4 million on a state park to benefit Fayetteville during a time of economic recession and 10% unemployment is a good idea? No. Did they contract out to small local construction companies who have been hit the hardest by the economic downturn? No. They contracted to a California-based company (ValleyCrest Landscape Development), with satellite offices in Durham and Charlotte.
Don't get me wrong, ValleyCrest is a great company and are perfectly capable of doing the job. But is sending wealth and taxpayer dollars out of the state really the best plan for North Carolina recovery? What this boils down to is that it is a pork project. Fayetteville/Cumberland County wanted a park built locally to make things look pretty for the new arrivals from BRAC. The a legislator in Raleigh wanted to make sure that for his vote, ValleyCrests office in Durham got the contract. Everybody wins right?
Well, no. The taxpayers lose. In the end Fayetteville will have a new, pretty park. But the money will trickle to California, very few jobs will be created as a result of the project, small regional landscaping businesses will still not get the extra work, and taxpayers who don't want a new state park are getting one anyway. The only winners are the council members and state legislators who use the project to tout their work for the state.
Politics as usual. |
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Tuesday, 26 January 2010 10:16 |
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The following letter was sent to the Fayetteville Observer on January 26, 2010.
I am responding to the Observer editorial, "Cleanup: Corruption needs bipartisan effort to cure it" on January 26, which addressed some of the corruption charges facing prominent N.C. Democrats, and the need for both parties to do something about it.
The editorial touched on a real problem, but fell short of giving a real solution. The problem of corruption isn't solved by the Democrats or Republicans. It isn't solved by government at all. The problem of corruption is government, and the only way to end that corruption is to decrease the size and scope of government.
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Monday, 01 February 2010 19:10 |
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President Obama has formally stepped up tension with Iran by moving U.S. missles to the Middle East, Reuters reported today. In retalliation to the missles, and the U.S. naval presense in the Medd, Iranian President Ahmadinejad has promised a show of force on February 12th. Even if he doesn't live up to that promise, it's important that we ask ourselves whether this is good policy, to provoke an already ill-tempered nation into what could be a nasty regional conflict? Read the Reuters article HERE. |
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Written by Ashley Smith
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Monday, 14 December 2009 23:45 |
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One need only look to the daily news to see that the public is ready for a change. Not “change you can believe in,” or some other semi-catchy slogan. Americans want real change.
The Democrats have had control of the House and Senate since 2006, and now enjoy a super-majority in both chambers. However, they struggle to convince the American people that the change we need is bigger government, more spending, and more government control over our daily lives.
Obama currently sits at a 44% approval rating in the most recent Rasmussen poll, the lowest of any previous president at this point in his presidency since the poll has been conducted. What this tells us is that Americans are beginning to understand that government programs are not free, and in order to pass massive “progressive” legislation, it will require the government intruding upon once sacred ground like doctor-patient relationships.
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