Puppetshow

It’s a Republican gerrymander, pure and simple.

Hat tip to Ed Cone for pointing in the direction of the Carolina Journal, where John Hood calls a spade a spade in the case of Republican redistricting shenanigans. He's a little late to the party, but has arrived nonetheless. Hood deserves full credit for taking this principled stand.

In any honest discussion, the funding schemes Art Pope uses to influence elections and public policy in North Carolina would be called money laundering.

If you think The Show already has too much influence on content at the N&O, just watch what happens when the paper loses another round of reporters. Soon Art Pope will be the number one content source for the entire operation. Sad news for us all, but especially for those staffers caught in the crossfire.

The News & Observer will eliminate about 20 jobs in the latest cost-cutting effort by the Raleigh-based media company. The staff reductions announced today will affect most areas of the company, including the newsroom. Some employees will have the opportunity to accept voluntary severance packages, but a few positions will be eliminated through layoffs.

Surprise, surprise.

Perhaps more than any other North Carolina politician, Sen. Jim Davis owes his place in the state legislature to Republican millionaire donor Art Pope. And now, Davis is the lead sponsor of a bill that Pope and his network of conservative groups have made a top priority this year: to dismantle the state's system of publicly-financed, "clean" elections -- a reform aimed at lessening the influence of outside money in politics.

In a year of record-shattering spending for state-level elections, about 75 percent of the outside, non-party money in North Carolina's 2010 races was funneled through three groups backed by Art Pope: Americans for Prosperity, Civitas Action and Real Jobs NC.

Welcome to the Show, Mr. Davis.

A free market wet dream comes true.

North Carolina lost nearly 10,000 public school jobs for the current school year, and the state slipped to 46th in the nation in per pupil spending, a new report from the state teachers group says.

Business as usual at the Show.