charlotte observer

Sen. Richard Burr last week co-sponsored a bill to overhaul the Medicaid program, overturn the federal health care plan and give states new flexibility to design their own health insurance program for the poor. [snip]
The Medicaid Improvement and State Empowerment Act would repeal the national health care law passed last year by Congress with the backing of President Barack Obama. It would provide money to the states to run their own programs.

Ah yes. Nothing like the smell of chickenshit in the morning. Burr doesn't have the backbone to take a principled stand on anything. If he's against entitlement programs and all in favor of states having more freedom, why not just cut states off completely?

This post brought to you via Under the Dome at the Charlotte Observer.

A class act all the way.

Having covered everything from the opening of tobacco auctions in the 1960s to the terrible hurricanes in the 1980s and 1990s, and every major statewide campaign in the past four decades, I find my knees have gone on strike and the eyes now miss what once was obvious at first glance. The time has come to move on. I'm going on leave and before summer is halfway done I will retire to the hills to see if I can learn to play bluegrass on a doghouse bass, plant an apple orchard and polish my woodworking skills.

Ooops.

[Republican] supporters said it would save money for local elections boards by shortening the time early voting sites are open. Legislative researchers estimate it would save counties about $2,000 per site. Bartlett disputes that. "That perceived savings would be more than offset by cost increases for several reasons," he wrote. Counties, he said, would have to deal with greater Election Day turnout. That might entail opening new precincts or buying new voting equipment. It would also reduce the flexibility early voting allows to allocate equipment and staff.

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It's unclear whether Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue would sign a bill. Spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson said, "It strikes us as one of the lesser important topics to be working on right now."

Who the hell is "us" Ms. Pearson? Are you saying that making it harder for people to vote is one of the "lesser important topics" to Governor Perdue? If that's the case, both of you should start looking for new jobs right about now.

Veto this piece of crap bill, Bev. And while you're at it, get a new spokeswoman.

How many times can you hit someone in the gut
before it really starts to hurt?

And the shrinkage continues:

The Charlotte Observer will eliminate 20 positions through a combination of buyouts, layoffs and frozen job openings, part of an effort to reduce costs in a sluggish economy, the company announced Wednesday. The paper is also implementing weeklong furloughs in the fourth quarter for full-time staff.

The changes come as the Observer reaches more readers than ever, due to the Internet. Yet the newspaper, like others across the country, hasn’t been able to generate comparable revenue from its online product.

What a bunch of horse shit:

The word in places like Raleigh and Chapel Hill was that if you needed help with a problem in Washington, call Sen. Richard Burr. He could cut through red tape, intervene with intransigent bureaucrats and help move things along.

Consider this an open invitation for anyone to come forward who has any evidence of Burr cutting through anything to do something of significance. Burr has been missing in action ... or at best he's been a Johnny-come-lately ... on every issue of any importance in recent history. I guess the Observer felt it needed to suck up to the slacker before asking him to actually do his freakin' job.

Kay gets a blue star for taking the time to educate the public, especially since she's not (currently) running for office:

These loans seem innocuous enough. Borrowers offer checks dated days later in exchange for a "short-term" loan. Most people borrow small amounts of money to cover unexpected expenses, like a medical bill or car repair.

But there's a catch. Predatory lenders trap borrowers into an endless cycle of debt.

Earning one of Steve's coveted Blue Stars for environ...okay, I don't really have any blue stars, but, if I did, the Charlotte Observer would definitely get one:

This failure to adequately assess the environmental impact of a plant that could put significant amounts of mercury emissions into the air each year is baffling. With a considerable population in the region, allowing even a fraction of the mercury allowed in the draft permit into the air, onto the land and into the water, however unlikely that may be, is scary.

The public depends on DENR to carefully assess the potential damage air and water pollution can have on public health and insist on high standards before it issues permits. If the state cannot demonstrate in a persuasive way that it has considered all the potential adverse effects and can assure the public there will be no harm to humans, it ought not proceed any further on a final permit.

In an otherwise interesting column today about North Carolina's US Senate race, Jack Betts writes:

But Francis De Luca of the Civitas Institute, more aligned with Republicans, noted recently that his polls show Burr consistently maintaining a lead "outside the margin of error against any of the announced candidates."

The Charlotte Observer editorial board announced yesterday that it is endorsing Anthony Foxx for the Charlotte mayoral race.

In the end, though, we back Foxx. We think he is a better fit for what Charlotte needs at this point in its evolution as a city.

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We believe the next mayor needs to be unusually adept at connecting with residents and uniting a diverse community. He needs to use the mayor's office as a bully pulpit. He should set the agenda and tackle our city's toughest problems with new solutions. He must reach out to our neighbors in the region, in Raleigh and in Washington to seek collaborative approaches. He needs to imbue the city with confidence that we can navigate through this daunting time and emerge stronger than before. He should not do things the way we've always done them.

This is one of the few times lately that I find I agree with the Charlotte Observer editorial board.