Carolina Politics Online

People have asked me about local and state offices and why I blame the democrats for the failures in this state. The issue cannot be sugar coated, the democrats are in charge in North Carolina and locally. They are
responsible for how bad things are getting here and to keep electing them to office is a further sign of either the voters being blind or just going along for the ride.

I stood inside of Mount Peace Baptist Church today and listened to Lindy Brown say that she needed more people like the ones that were represented there in that church on candidates day. She was probably not talking about me but the other DEMOCRATS. She is a county commissioner. I am the exception. I was one of 2 Republicans amongst 34 other democrats. Even Bev Perdue was there. I looked everyone in the eye that I greeted or was greeted. I proudly said I was Republican candidate for House district 33 after a couple democrats made it clear they were democrats. You see Dwight Spencer made it clear to the crowd that we were Democrats and Republicans.

Representative Etheridge was there and allowed to speak. He said that the country would make history. Elect a woman, a African-American or the oldest President ever. I could have taken him to task on the dig at Senator McCain, but I didn’t. It was out of respect to the parishioners of the church not point out the partisan-meanness of Rep. Etheridge. I was there to show that I truly wanted to represent all of the people and that Republicans wanted to represent everyone also.

Paul Terrell III

Terrell III for State House

Republican nominee for 33rd district-North Carolina State House

4549 Tollington Drive
Raleigh, NC 27604
919-523-0304 Cell

http://www.wakegop.org/paul-terrell.htm

Two Greenville police officers let Dixie’s Tavern off with a warning after finding about five patrons smoking on the patio, according to an incident report released Monday by the Greenville Police Department.

Mike Farmer, a manager, said that after police found no one smoking inside the building, he asked officers about what was allowed on the patio. When officers checked, they found some patrons smoking and said it wasn’t allowed, he said.

Farmer said he asked the patrons to move to the parking lot and no longer allows smoking on the patio. Patrons can continue to smoke in the parking lot, Farmer said.

The Greenville News

So you can’t smoke on an outside patio either?

I think every bar and restaurant owner in the city should get together and arrange a certain time and a certain night and everyone just light up across the city. Let’s see if they can fine them all.

Gov. Mark Sanford proposed a three-pronged plant to ease the impact of cuts the House and Senate spending plans include in a year where revenues are down $90 million.Sanford wants lawmakers to:

• Eliminate the the competitive grants program, which provides cash for lawmakers to devote to local projects. Eliminate the grants program would free up $18.5 million.
• Use the GEAR Commission recommendation to tap $10.5 million from the state Budget and Control Board’s $323 million “rainy day” funds
• Defer a $20.5 million proposal to create regional farmers markets around the state.

The State

An excellent plan by Sanford and exactly what the State Assembly asked for. Now the question is will they follow his recommendations or try to protect their fiefdoms.

A group representing liquor distillers called on S.C. to lift its ban on Sunday alcohol sales Monday.Now that Colorado has lifted its ban on Sunday alcohol sales, South Carolina is one of 15 states that prohibit hard liquor sales on Sundays.

“Like Colorado, South Carolina consumers deserve increased convenience, more choices and equal access to their beer, wine and spirits products,” said Distilled Spirits Council President Peter Cressy. “Seventy-five years after the repeal of Prohibition, South Carolina continues to cling to Prohibition-era Blue Laws that inconvenience consumers and businesses alike.”

The State

I agree. The only reason this law is in existence is because of Sunday being a Christian day of worship and the old southern baptists that dominate this region of the country looked upon alcohol as being sinful and appealing to temptation and vice. It’s an antiquated law for 21st Century America and should be repealed.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A teenager who was 12 when he killed his grandparents in their South Carolina home was disappointed but stoic Monday when he learned that the U.S. Supreme Court had turned down his latest appeal, a juvenile justice advocate said.

“I don’t know how he gets through it,” said Janet Sisk, who broke the news to Christopher Pittman by telephone. “He tries his best to keep up hope.”

The State

Oh boo hoo hoo, cry me a river.  Hopefully, he gets through it painfully every single day.  Is anyone supposed to feel sorry for this brat?  Does anyone seriously think that a 12 year old kid doesn’t know what he’s doing when he plans and executes a double murder and hatches out an escape plan?  It’s no wonder he was on medication at the time.  The shrinks apparently already knew he was certifiably nuts.

Republican Gov. Mark Sanford on Monday endorsed his former chief of staff Tom Davis in his run for Senate District 46, the second time in as many years that he has gone to bat in the district’s elections and that Catherine Ceips, the incumbent senator this time and a rising representative the last time, has been the opposition.

Sanford said it’s unusual for him to step into local races — “I can count on one hand how many” in the last 15 years — and that he reserves endorsements only in exceptional cases.

The Beaufort Gazette

I’m not sure that this is exactly a newsworthy occurrence. Davis was Sanford’s Chief of Staff so I can’t imagine there is a whole lot of shock and awe over this.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A proposal that bans 15- and 16-year-olds from talking and text messaging on cell phones while driving is up for debate in a House committee this week.

The measure makes it illegal for anyone with a beginner’s permit, conditional or special restricted driver’s license from using a phone or other wireless device while driving. In South Carolina, teens can get a regular driver’s license when they turn 17.

The bill is set for debate Wednesday. House members will consider exceptions for drivers using handsfree devices and emergencies.

The Aiken Standard

If they are going to make it illegal then make it illegal for everyone. When I have seen some idiot almost cause an accident because they are yapping on their cell phone it has almost always been an adult, not a teenager.

Of course, I don’t see the reason why any new law has to be introduced to deal with this problem in the first place. It’s already the law that you have to pay attention and be alert while driving. If someone causes an accident because they are being distracted by their cell phone they’ll pay the price for it. There are plenty of other distractions out there too. Are we going to ban screaming kids in the back seat or tuning the radio? These all cause accidents too.

After a failed attempt at the position in 2000, the Sampson County native ran again in 2004 and won against the three-term state auditor. Just like his previous elections, Merritt is campaigning as, “The Taxpayer’s Watchdog.”

“I’ve done what I said I would do when I campaigned and more,” he said. “We have proved that we can be ‘The Taxpayer’s Watchdog’ and we can make a difference with this office.”

As the first state auditor to be a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Merritt has reduced a backlog of investigative audits by 76 percent, reduced the processing time for non-profit reports and increased the emphasis on performance audits.

“I think that we have made some real headway,” said Merritt, who resides in Zebulon. “I ran for the job and felt like it is one of the key jobs in the state. I put it next to the governor and his cabinet.”

Looking over every department in the state, Merritt said he is non-partisan when keeping close tabs on employees. Having experienced the problems of serving as state auditor, he wants to finish some of the work he started.

Thomasville Times

Merritt has undoubtedly been an effective auditor.  The reduction in backlogged cases is astonishing in itself.  It would seem that the state is in pretty good hands and could benefit from his continued leadership.

Bev Perdue 41
Richard Moore 31
Dennis Nielsen 4

Bev Perdue’s pledge to eliminate negative advertising for the rest of the primary campaign is an instant hit with Democratic voters. Her lead is back up to double digits for the first time in four weeks.

56% of likely voters reported having heard about the promise, and within that group Perdue has a dominant 47-31 lead. The race is basically a tie with the rest of the electorate.

Public Policy Polling

Carter advocates moving the nation quickly to a system that would cover everyone under the same health insurance program that covers congressmen and senators.

“It can be done for the same price that we’re paying right now,” Carter said. He argues the country could pay for such a plan by taking the premiums currently paid by individuals and employers as well as negotiating with drug and insurance companies for lower prices.

Ovittore said Congress should work toward a universal, single-payer system but emphasized that transition must be undertaken in realistic steps.

“One of the ways to baby-step to universal health care is for me to put forward the mandatory military health-care bill, which basically is universal health care for soldiers class E6 and down in exchange for their service,” Ovittore said.

His suggestion would take these veterans out of the Veterans Administration-run health-care system, although the VA could still administer the benefits. “If we can prove on that level, we can handle our veterans and our soldiers’ health care with universal health care, then we can prove to the rest of the country we can do the same for them.”

Bratton said she favors the creation of a national nonprofit health-care company that could cover those who don’t have employer-based health insurance.

“We know that preventive care chronic disease management invests in long-term health and gives us cost return down the road, it saves us money…but there’s no incentive to the insurance companies to do that at this point because at the end of 12 months you may not be with them,” Bratton said.

Having a competitive national health insurance program, she said, would force private insurers to improve their services and rates. Eventually, she said, that could evolve into a single-payer system, but she emphasized she did not want to immediately shut down the private health insurance industry, calling such a step “unlikely to succeed” and potentially disruptive to the economy.

The News-Record

Bratton is the only one with a realistic proposal here and that is not all that surprising because she happens to be a doctor. If we eliminate the private sector out of the health care altogether we will ruin our health care system in this country. The main reason we are experiencing issues with rising health care costs is due to the free market hardly being involved as it is. The health industry is one of the most subsidized and over regulated in this country. All of these government programs, Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, all of the state’s individual programs, along with these “cadillac” insurance policies so many people have and the strict, bureaucratic regulation that has been put on the health care industry has caused all of these skyrocketing prices. We don’t have a health care crisis in this country. We have the best care in the world, but it is becoming less affordable with time. We need to deregulate and get the government out of it as much as possible and let a competitive market take over and bring down the costs. What we don’t want is complete government control. You only need to look at all the problems countries with Socialist health care are already experiencing to foresee what Americans can expect under that system.

The Federal Government has created this mess. The last thing we need is further intrusion from them on our behalf.

Media organizations from across North Carolina have sued Gov. Mike Easley, charging that his administration violated the state’s public records law through the “systematic deletion, destruction or concealment” of e-mail messages.

The complaint filed Monday in Wake County Superior Court asks a judge to declare that Easley violated the law because his staff told cabinet agency employees to delete or destroy e-mails sent to and from the governor’s office.

The Fayetteville Observer

Waynesville – Town officials on Monday told a Waynesville church to take down an anti-liquor display featuring a car demolished in a deadly wreck because it broke local sign rules.

The N.C. Highway Patrol even got involved, sending a trooper by twice to tell church leaders that the display would be towed if it wasn’t moved from the public right-of-way.

The church’s pastor said the real reason wasn’t the law, but politics.

“This is about the mayor and the Board of Aldermen,” said Rev. Jack Holland of Barberville Baptist Church on Russ Avenue. “They just wanted it out of the public view. It is just part of the spiritual warfare.”

Asheville Citizen-Times

While I do not agree with the Reverend’s position to continue the prevention of selling alcohol by the drink, I do agree with his opinion that the force to remove the display by the town council and highway patrol were politically motivated and not about a sign ordinance. Holland is correct in that the display in question sends a very powerful and certainly a non-politically correct message to voters and I imagine the town council was quite uncomfortable with it.

While the death of Mrs. Foster at the hand of a drunk driver is tragic, not allowing responsible citizens to order a drink at a bar will not stop it from happening again. Alcohol is a part of our society and has been with most civilizations since biblical times. We saw with Prohibition the harm that trying to ban it will cause. The key is teaching responsibility and harsher penalties for those who abuse it behind the wheel of a car.