May 18, 2010

The haunting

Posted by David N. Bass at 2:55 PM

President Obama can't get rid of this guy:

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's controversial former pastor, said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press that he is "toxic" to the Obama administration and that the president "threw me under the bus."

In his strongest language to date about the administration's 2-year-old rift with the Chicago pastor, Wright told a group raising money for African relief that his pleas to release frozen funds for use in earthquake-ravaged Haiti would likely be ignored.

"No one in the Obama administration will respond to me, listen to me, talk to me or read anything that I write to them. I am 'toxic' in terms of the Obama administration," Wright wrote the president of Africa 6000 International earlier this year.

"I am 'radioactive,' Sir. When Obama threw me under the bus, he threw me under the bus literally!" he wrote. "Any advice that I offer is going to be taken as something to be avoided. Please understand that!"

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A packed crowd listens to the Senate budget presentation

Posted by Becki Gray at 2:00 PM

Here's a photo. You can listen to the discussion here. (Click the link for Room 643.) If you're on Twitter, follow Becki at twitter.com/beckigray.

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Not not covering abortion in the public option

Posted by Joseph Coletti at 12:39 AM

At the National Review health care blog, I try to follow a reference in the health care law to a provision of the law that isn't there. The short of it is: if you don't want to have a policy that covers abortion, it may be harder to find among the public options. Oh yeah, there's still a public option.

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You might be a progressive if.....

Posted by George Leef at 11:44 AM

If you insist that every institution in America must be "diverse" but see in problem in a Supreme Court where every justice graduated from either Harvard or Yale.

John Rosenberg has great fun with an attempted justification for this position by law school dean Christopher Edley here.

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Forcing unionism in NC

Posted by George Leef at 09:59 AM

In another in its long line of unconstitutional special interest bills, the Obamacrat Congress is looking to shove through a bill that would force unionism on public safety employees. Donna Martinez has a good story on this on CJ today.

North Carolina statute forbids public sector bargaining, but the bill (championed by none other than Harry Reid) would override that and mandate collective bargaining for police and fire fighters. This bill has been kicking around Congress for a long time, and is nothing than a political favor to police and fire fighter unions that would haul in more dues money.

The problem is not just that this is bad policy that will raise costs with no benefit to anyone other than union officials (and then their political allies). It's unconstitutional. Nothing in Article I, Section 8 remotely gives Congress authority to dictate to states and localities how they will handle employment. The Tenth Amendment specifically provides that powers not given to the federal government are reserves to the states or the people. This falls into that category. It's another instance of trampling upon federalism.

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Senate: read it and weep

Posted by Joseph Coletti at 09:29 AM

It went online last night.

Read the bill and the money report and follow their progress.

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Furloughs for teachers

Posted by Dr. Terry Stoops at 08:54 AM

From The Insider (5/18/2010),

Sen. A.B. Swindell, D-Nash and one of the Senate's chief budget writers, said the proposal would allow districts to require employees to take up to two days off without pay.

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N.C. Appeals Court rules against Ford in product liability case

Posted by Mitch Kokai at 08:43 AM

The N.C. Court of Appeals has thrown out a lower-court ruling in a product liability case involving Ford. The trial court had ruled in Ford's favor and against the representatives of children injured in a 2003 car crash in Mecklenburg County. The dispute centered on who bore responsibility for injuries linked to the seatbelts the children used in the backseat of a Ford Taurus.

While a three-judge panel agreed on the outcome of the case, which will allow the children to pursue their claims against Ford, at least one judge had concerns about the ruling. Judge Jim Wynn wrote in a concurring opinion:

Here the language of the statute is clear and we are duty-bound to follow the law as written. Nonetheless, while I concur with the majority in following the clear language of the statute, I do so mindful that the statutory language appears inconsistent with general principles of negligence, modification defenses in all other states, and possibly even the intent of our legislature itself.

In other opinions handed down today:

• A unanimous three-judge panel vacated a lower-court ruling in a dispute between the N.C. Department of Transportation and the owner of a 188-acre property near High Rock Lake in Davidson County that's slated for development. 
• A unanimous three-judge panel affirmed a lower-court ruling in favor of the City of Raleigh in a dispute involving a woman injured while crossing a downtown street.
• Appellate panels affirmed two lower-court rulings and reversed two others involved satellite-based monitoring of offenders convicted of sex crimes.
  

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Latest dispatches from the campaign trail

Posted by David N. Bass at 08:15 AM

• Union-backed forces ramp up efforts to oppose N.C. Democrats who voted against health care reform.


• U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx’s Democratic opponent addresses the party faithful at their 5th Congressional District convention.


• Elaine Marshall declines to debate Cal Cunningham on TV prior to runoff election.


• House District 41 GOP candidate Tom Murry makes a pitch for Morrisville to stand with Wake County School Board on its opposition to forced diversity busing.


• Civitas poll finds Senate District 50 race in virtual tie.


• Wilmington Councilwoman Kristi Tomey drops her bid to run as an unaffiliated candidate in the race to replace state Sen. Julia Boseman, the Star-News reports.

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To fight or not to fight

Posted by Mitch Kokai at 08:02 AM

That's the dilemma Republicans in the U.S. Senate face when it comes to President Obama's latest Supreme Court nominee. Byron York dissects the situation for the Washington Examiner.

York highlights a couple of positive statements supporting the qualifications of nominee Elena Kagan. The sources of those statements? Former Whitewater special counsel Kenneth Starr and conservative jurist Miguel Estrada.

Today, the conservative expressions of support for Kagan have disappointed a number of Republicans who want a shootout over the nomination. They fully expect Democrats to cite that support ("Even Ken Starr says ...") over and over again during Kagan's confirmation hearings.

But the bigger problem conservatives see is that the pro-Kagan statements put Republicans at a disadvantage before the confirmation even begins. "What Miguel and Ken are trying to demonstrate is that the president deserves to have his nominees confirmed as long as they are qualified," says one GOP Senate aide. "The problem is the Democrats don't do that, and so you unilaterally disarm."

Indeed, among Republicans "unilateral disarmament" has become shorthand for the divide between two competing ways of approaching the Kagan nomination. "This debate is the people who have a traditional way of looking at these procedural questions -- 'This is the way it's been done and this is the way to do it' -- versus the people who say the Democrats have changed the rules and we should respond in kind," the aide says.

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Barone looks at Florida

Posted by Mitch Kokai at 07:55 AM

Michael Barone turns his attention today to the hotly contested Florida Senate race. Here's a highlight from his brief contribution to the Washington Examiner:

Two weeks ago Florida Governor Charlie Crist’s decision to run for the Senate as an Independent rather than in the Republican primary looked like a winner. Pollster Scott Rasmussen showed him leading Republican Marco Rubio 38%-34%, with 17% for Democrat Kendrick Meek. Now Rasmussen's latest numbers look different: Rubio leads with 39% to 31% for Crist and 18% for Meek. Crist was slightly ahead of Meek among Democratic voters two weeks ago; now he trails among them. This despite the fact that Crist’s job approval is a positive 57%-42% among all voters—numbers many other governors would be delighted to have.

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Handheld devices carry over into senate budget

Posted by Dr. Terry Stoops at 07:51 AM

The Senate budget provides $15,000,000 in nonrecurring funding to "extend the Student Diagnostic Pilot program an additional year in the existing 40 pilot schools. Additional funding will expand the pilot program to additional school sites while also supporting the training needed for teachers to properly implement the program." (Emphasis added)

Expand the pilot program, i.e., give more teachers handheld devices and handheld devices training? Really? How did teachers survive before the invention of handheld devices, anyway?

The Race to the Top federal grant competition plays a big role in this. Diagnostic evaluation was one of the centerpieces of North Carolina's first application and, likewise, will be front-and-center in the second application for federal funds.

The state cannot appear to be pulling state funding from this so-called key educational reform, so I would not be surprised to see the House include it in their education budget.

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Bleary-eyed Senate Budget review

Posted by Becki Gray at 07:40 AM

 Reduces money to secondary road construction by $170,627 while increasing funding for Administration of the Highway Trust Fund by $371.520 (almost double).   

Driver’s Ed restoration after a continuation review:  $32M.  Shouldn’t this be a fee paid to cover?

  DMV reduces funds for maintenance of the State’s highway infrastructure ($7,709,150) while increasing funds for short line railroads by $2M and maintains funding for the Ferry division with $11,349,869.  Priorities, people. 

Adds 291 full time employees with most of these in Corrections to staff Central Prison Hospital and Mental Health Facility and to staff hospital and mental health facility at the Woman’s prison.  Eliminates 82 vacant positions.   

Grossly under funds the Rainy Day Fund with $5 M,  contributions to State Health Plan with $276 M  and State Retirement System $180 M

 

Cuts Victim’s Compensation Fund  by $1.3 M while increasing mental health and hospital care to prisoners by almost  $1B  and increases education programs for prisoners by $2.4 M   

Has the economy helped eliminate crime?  Youth Development Centers have seen a decline in commitments, (i-7),  Division of Prisons’ new admissions are down (I-9),and actual expenditures for victim’s compensation is down from last year (I-14)  

New Corporate Welfare:  $41 Million

Increases fee to rent the three state aquariums for special events instead of using General Funds. Dept of Commerce would charge fees for brochure space in Welcome Centers. 

funding for mosquito and tick management programs by $158,096 Ouch!

  Eliminates Medicaid funding ($125,148) for breast reduction, breast lift, panniculectomy (removes hanging fat and skin, typically after massive weight loss) and surgery for severe obesity. 

Reduces funding for Smart Start by $10 M but still funds it at $183 M

Expects to realize $6 M in Child Development Division savings through better management and eliminating fraud and inaccurate payments.  Why weren't we doing this before?

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Annexation reform in the short session

Posted by Becki Gray at 07:20 AM

The annexation bill that does nothing and may even be worse than current law, House Bill 524 was introduced in the Senate last night and promptly sent to the Senate Rules Committee a.k.a. bill graveyard.  

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Want some truth with your budget?

Posted by Joseph Coletti at 07:00 AM

The Senate continues Gov. Bev Perdue's gimmick-based budgeting, but on a slightly smaller scale. It only expands the stimulus-packed budget by $200 million over fiscal year 2010's budget. General Fund and stimulus spending combined equal $20.6 billion. Total appropriations from all sources will again be around $50 billion.

Spending also gets unloaded onto a number of other funds you never knew existed, like the Mercury Pollution Prevention Fund, the Telecommunications Relay Trust Fund, the Solid Waste Management Trust Fund, and the Natural Heritage Trust Fund.

The Senate does acknowledge the loss of revenue from the temporary repeal of the death tax instead of trying to hide it in the Savings Reserve Account. But the Senate budget also includes roughly $50 million in corporate welfare payments tax carve-outs ($10 million for a bill to be named later).

Whatever good ideas there are specific program savings pale in comparison to the utter irresponsibility of adding fuel to next year's fiscal bonfire.

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New Carolina Journal Online features

Posted by Mitch Kokai at 06:47 AM

The latest Carolina Journal Online exclusive features Donna Martinez's report on a federal collective-bargaining bill for government workers that could reach into taxpayers' wallets. 

John Hood's Daily Journal analyzes the response from politicians, activists, and others to the N.C. Senate's budget debate.

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