Fatcow Icon
Opinion
The_most_precious_tape_in_the_world0_1367707413.jpg
The most precious tape in the world
The metal spring broke in the back of one of my old radio and cassette-tape players last fall. Young people, you may look up “cassette tape” on your Internet, under ancient history. When I opened the back cover to check on the C batteries the spring just fell out. So I can no longer run the unit on battery power. Now when I want to take it outside on one of these beautiful May days I have to connect the unit to an extension cord for power...
full story
Addressing the Keys To Economic Recovery
The General Assembly is three months into the long session. More than 1,700 bills have been filed with fewer than 50 (as of this writing) now law. The first bill signed into law encourages students to develop job skills through expansion of career and technical education. The next ones include a measure shoring up a $2.4 billion unemployment insurance debt; a bill to shift funding from textbooks to digital learning; a decision not to operat...
full story
Protect Our Courts
As former Republican and Democratic governors, we often disagree. But here’s one area where we agree: North Carolina’s courts must be protected from the corrosive influence of special-interest campaign money. Judges in North Carolina run for election; that can lead to the awkward situation of judges raising large campaign donations from those who appear in their courts. To prevent possible corruption, North Carolina began a public campaign ...
full story
In_the_Absence_of_Argument0_1367502203.jpg
In the Absence of Argument
“People generally quarrel,” G.K. Chesterton once wryly observed, “because they cannot argue.” To the extent North Carolina politics looks increasingly quarrelsome at the moment, it is because of a breakdown of argument — of constructive debate among people of good faith who happen to disagree on public policy. Instead, traditional and online media alike are filled with venom, personal attacks, conspiracy theories, and overall boorishness. ...
full story
Past_Time_to_Increase_Competition_in_Health_Insurance0_1367530795.jpg
Past Time to Increase Competition in Health Insurance
As the uncertainty of ObamaCare looms on the horizon, state lawmakers have not been content to sit around and wait on the coming storm. Instead, the General Assembly recently passed legislation that will help take a bite out of spiraling healthcare costs. House Bill 247, Freedom to Negotiate Healthcare Rates, prevents health insurance companies from restricting rate negotiations in contract agreements with healthcare providers. Specifically...
full story
In_the_Absence_of_Argument0_1367892192.jpg
In the Absence of Argument
“People generally quarrel,” G.K. Chesterton once wryly observed, “because they cannot argue.” To the extent North Carolina politics looks increasingly quarrelsome at the moment, it is because of a breakdown of argument — of constructive debate among people of good faith who happen to disagree on public policy. Instead, traditional and online media alike are filled with venom, personal attacks, conspiracy theories, and overall boorishness. ...
full story
What Have You Got to Lose?
North Carolina’s official toast boldly proclaims that ours is a state where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great. But we can never be that great state as long as so many of us are so unhealthy. According to the non-profit United Health Foundation North Carolina ranks 33rd in overall health, continually among the bottom third of states. One in three children is overweight or obese while 26.5 percent of white, 42.9 percent of black ...
full story
Public notices need to be where the public notices
Public notices need to be where the public notices. But state legislators and a handful of local government agents want to take legally required public notices advertisements that tell you about major road closings, competitive bids being sought, elections scheduled, important public hearings set, etc. out of the newspapers that have run them for upwards of 200 years, and hide them in plain sight. They want the public not only to hunt for...
full story
Keep_our_grandfather’s_fire_burning0_1367345007.jpg
Keep our grandfather’s fire burning
“Everybody in North Carolina should have heard that speech.” Someone had just heard Tom Lambeth’s recent remarks to the North Caroliniana Society, which was presenting him with its annual award for service to our state. Lambeth, longtime former executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, used the occasion to talk about some of the people and some of the stories that help define North Carolina and its history for him. Lambeth...
full story
Racing_to_survive_at_750_1367113741.jpg
Racing to survive at 75
Newly inaugurated President Jimmy Carter once sat in front of a TV camera in a tan cardigan sweater with a White House fireplace blazing in the background. He proceeded to tell Americans, including yours truly, that in the midst of an energy crisis we must change our wasteful, energy-gulping ways. The year was 1977, and America had been buffeted by a shortage of gasoline. The shortage came from oil supply restrictions imposed by the OPEC ...
full story
Sensible_drug_testing_for_work_first_cash_and_training0_1366910733.jpg
Sensible drug testing for work first cash and training
Government has truly become Big Daddy in many people’s minds. Nothing proves this claim more than recent arguments on the floor of the North Carolina Senate regarding SB 594. The proposed legislation is simple. It requires a drug test in order for individuals to receive Work First cash benefits and job training. However, to hear liberal politicians rail against the law, one would think that supporters of the legislation were forcing the poo...
full story
The Writing on the Wall
Never before have there been more options for consumers in choosing how, when and where they shop. We live in a global marketplace. If I want to buy a new pair of shoes I have a multitude of choices where to shop. I can drive to my local mall, or visit the specialty shoe store just around the corner from my house. I can go online and type into the search engine the exact type and size shoe that I am seeking and will have shoe sellers around...
full story
Weather
Sponsored By:

Lottery
Sponsored By:

Stocks
Sponsored By:

Gas Prices
Sponsored By:

Featured Businesses
Recipes
Sponsored By: