Daily Archives: March 16, 2011

How to Tell We’re Making a Difference

Written on March 16, 2011 at 5:19 pm, by

As a proud member of the Art Pope Puppet Show, I was delighted to read the Independent Weekly‘s breathless, near-paranoid account of “Art Pope’s conservative empire.” Of particular interest to me was this bit about the Pope Center (since I work here, naturally): “A perennial complaint from the Pope Center is that the UNC faculty,Continue Reading

Expect wailing and gnashing of teeth

Written on March 16, 2011 at 2:55 pm, by

In honor of Sunshine Week, Sens. Debbie Clary, R-Cleveland, Tommy Tucker, R-Union, and Thom Goolsby, R-New Hanover, have introduced Senate Bill 344, Government Transparency Act of 2011. The bill would expand public access to government employees’ personnel records by requiring employers to make public the reasons for workers’ promotions, demotions, transfers, suspensions, firings. Performance reviewsContinue Reading

This is positively Orwellian

Written on March 16, 2011 at 1:54 pm, by

The only event not closed to the press at the White House today is one in which Barack Obama is being given an award for openness with the press: According to his public schedule, Obama has four behind-closed-doors meetings from 10 a.m. to 3:05 p.m.: his daily briefing, a talk with the USAID administrator, aContinue Reading

The Imam and the Tar Heel

Written on March 16, 2011 at 1:49 pm, by

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the controversial “Ground Zero Mosque” advocate, will be giving a speech tonight over at the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. It looks like things could get a bit rowdy with protesters pledging “not to let him get away with this nonsense.” The Charlotte Observer reports: Abdul Rauf is an advocate for theContinue Reading

The Art of Talking Around Medicaid and Transparency

Written on March 16, 2011 at 1:31 pm, by

This morning Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, met with the US Senate Finance Committee. At that time she was asked to address many issues pertaining to PPACA and Fiscal Year 2012. You can watch the entire video here.   As always, Secretary Sebelius managed to talk for over an hour and never actuallyContinue Reading

Politicians create jobs in the sense that roads create cars

Written on March 16, 2011 at 11:54 am, by

My latest Townhall.com column builds on a recent Locker Room post of mine, but in the course of explaining why so many politicians want to believe that they are the ones responsible for job creation (a notion I’ve discussed before), I write: [Politicians] like ribbon-cutting ceremonies and press releases where they can pretend they’re theContinue Reading

The seperation of nuclear power and state

Written on March 16, 2011 at 11:34 am, by

With all the concerns about the safety of nuclear power and whether or not the US should go forward with plans to expand nuclear power in this country, there is one thing that is going completely unnoted–the nuclear power industry is a creature of the state. Most of the research that gave rise to nuclearContinue Reading

Free Elmo!

Written on March 16, 2011 at 10:34 am, by

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., is about to introduce a bill (PDF) banning federal funding for National Public Radio and any other use of federal tax dollars for “radio content acquisition.” The bill would still allow funding for Voice of America and Defense Department-related activities. Lamborn represents Colorado Springs (home of the U.S. Air Force Academy,Continue Reading