Daily Archives: October 3, 2011

I ran across the Orange County’s  FAQs about the upcoming sales tax increase voters there will be considering in November. Here are a few things they fail to mention: They’ve already tried this.  The quarter cent sales tax failed in November 2010 by over 1,000 votes and 66% of voters opposed a land transfer taxContinue Reading

For several reasons, you should read this WSJ interview of Harold Hamm. One reason is that he is another case of a person who has done extraordinarily well despite the lack of a college degree, the supposed crucial ingredient in success. A second reason is that it will cheer you up to know that theContinue Reading

David Bass reports for Carolina Journal Online about the items state lawmakers left on the table during their most recent week in Raleigh.

Vern Pike was the first American Army officer to serve at Checkpoint Charlie, the dividing point between east and west Berlin, the night the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961. Pike has collected memories of his service in that Cold War hotspot in a new book. He discussed key themes from the book during aContinue Reading

Federal aid has become an increasingly dominant component of state budgets. In fact, Louisiana and Arkansas rely on the federal government for more than 50 percent of their revenue, and 16 states have dependency rates over one-third. (North Carolina receives 33 percent of revenue from federal aid.) While this money may be tempting to stateContinue Reading

John Rosenberg writes here about NC A&T’s new “chief diversity officer.” His previous post was at the University of Virginia, where he pulled in a cool salary of $315,000 per year. I’d like to know how much he’ll be paid at A&T. In any case, the job is just make-work, an offering to the godsContinue Reading

Reason interviews Jay Beeber, who persuaded the Los Angeles civilian police commission to vote unanimously against LA’s red-light cameras. A snippet: Q: One piece of information you’ve provided is that red-light cameras actually increase the number of accidents. How is that? A: Red-light cameras have been shown in a number of cases to increase rear-endContinue Reading

Even here in Raleigh, a group of people turned out to support “Occupy Wall Street,” but what do these protesters want? In watching them on the news and reading their answers to questions, I’m perplexed. I have not heard one concrete reason for their occupation. The answers and signs range from Wall Street and corporateContinue Reading