Wednesday, March 27, 2013 - 8:03pm

E-mails from the edge:

A proposal to muzzle the Public Staff of the state Utilities Commission grew out of an email exchange between a staff attorney and noted climate change denier John Droz. The sponsor, Rep. George Cleveland, R-Onslow, a friend of Droz, didn’t mention that detail Wednesday in a hearing on the legislation.

Of course he didn't, because he knows Droz is several sandwiches shy of a picnic. It's not for certain when Droz wandered from the trail of reason into the land of make-believe where fossil fuels are renewable and Madison Avenue (for some reason) decided to trick us into believing that clean energy makes sense. But I'm pretty sure I know why Droz started tilting at windmills:

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013 - 12:00pm

And it's the right thing to do:

"I know all our families do not look alike. We all want the same thing for our families. We want happiness, we want health, prosperity, a bright future for our children and grandchildren. After conversations I’ve had with family members, with people I go to church with and with North Carolinians from all walks of life, I’ve come to my own personal conclusion that we should not tell people who they can love, or who they can marry. It’s time to move forward with this issue.”

For all the flak Kay has taken (much of it justified) for some of her policy approaches and priorities, this took guts on her part, and should be remembered. The GOP will be gunning for her vigorously in the coming months, and it's going to take every tool in the box to keep from losing this seat.

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - 11:45am

We'll start out with a little brisk propaganda:

NCCivitas 4:19pm via TweetDeck While Wake Co. delegation meets #CivitasPoll finds 44% of NC voters support canceling #DixDeal, 33% oppose. #NCGA #NCPol

Of course, when you peel this rotton tomato, you better have some smelling salts handy:

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Monday, March 25, 2013 - 12:11pm

And by misappropriate I mean steal, of course:

The centers still would receive $7.2 million annually, while Golden Leaf would receive nothing going forward. Art Pope, the state’s budget director, said Golden Leaf and the two centers have “cash already on hand” to fund their programs and don’t necessarily need at this point an annual replenishing.

It's not "annual replenishing", it's a court-ordered disbursement. The Foundation was created in the first place to make sure those monies were specifically targeted to create/enhance non-tobacco-related commerce, and to keep that money from being utilized for projects that don't create new economic engines. Here's the breakdown of those targeted funds:

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Sunday, March 24, 2013 - 1:55pm

"Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."

It’s not the first time Hise, a Republican from Mitchell County, has weighed in on a state property transfer. In 2011, he was the sole sponsor of a bill that sold a shuttered state prison in his western mountains district to Mayland Community College. The total price for the property – valued on Avery County tax rolls at $2.01 million – was $1. The Dix lease calls for Raleigh to pay $500,000 a year, plus 1.5 percent annual increases, in a deal worth $68 million over 75 years.

Not really taking a stand on this issue, but I simply can't abide a hypocrite. I will say this: that $500,000 per year, or whatever revenue is generated from some yet-to-be-seen deal, should not be simply dumped into the General Fund. It should be earmarked for actual mental health services (as opposed to admin costs). NC's mental health situation is approaching a level that could be characterized as atrocious, and to move forward on a deal like this with barely a mention of that situation leaves a bad aftertaste.

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Saturday, March 23, 2013 - 11:41am

And the University dart board is back on the wall again:

“There should be no sacred cows,” the Winston-Salem Republican said in an interview Friday. “The UNC system needs to be subjected to the same scrutiny as everything else.” Brunstetter cautioned that it is too early in the dialogue to identify particular campuses that could close, merge or transfer to the community college system – all ideas lawmakers are considering.

Sacred cows? The UNC System has suffered cut after cut during this recession, while students and their families have been forced deeper into debt due to tuition increases, and he's talking sacred cows? But not to worry, closing public universities is not the end of the world, since Georgia did it:

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Thursday, March 21, 2013 - 3:08pm

But those things probably aren't their goal, anyway:

Sen. Bob Rucho, a Republican leading the tax overhaul efforts, said revamping the system is necessary because household consumption has changed, eroding the base of the state’s tax system. Rucho said he favors taxing all services on the list. “It should be a balanced approach because there is more and more of a shift toward the service industry in North Carolina … and it’s just a matter of fairness that everybody should be treated the same,” he said.

Taxing services instead of income is about as far away from "fair" as you can get. Not only does it shift the burden down to those who can afford it the least, it puts downward pressure on small businesses, who employ about 3/4 of the work force. And (if that's not enough) it will create a budget deficit the likes we haven't seen for decades:

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Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - 10:09am

I was going to say something about a stopped clock, but that would be ungracious:

I understand cities, towns and counties are the creation of the General Assembly. Under the state constitution, municipalities can’t wipe their noses without legislative permission. Still, the degree of local meddling that’s emerging is beginning to resemble political score-settling, not prudent governmental self-restraint the GOP says its supports.

It's about time somebody from the right stepped up to point out this contradiction between (claimed) ideology and actions. But of course, Little Ricky just can't seem to take a stand on something without taking some pot-shots at progressives:

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Tuesday, March 19, 2013 - 6:14pm

In honor of Sunshine Week:

gwfrink3 11:40am via Web Violating open meetings law? RT @SarahOvaska @NCPolicyWatch reporter @LindsayWagnerNC kicked out of meeting of #NCGA members & schl supers

The only reason they would do that is because whatever they're planning to talk about is going to be couched in misleading terms which could be easily unraveled to expose their true intent. Not good.

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