Chloe Gossage has a good piece about recent changes in review processes for line items, non-profs, etc. who will have to justify their funding. This means more transparency in Raleigh–which is always a good thing.
… was exemplified in these words by Senator Marc Basnight, quoted in the Insider:
"We took a big step in building a knowledge-based economy," said Basnight, D-Dare, adding that a vote of the people wasn’t a must because the projects are so important. (Emphasis added.)
I know it looks like we’re picking on Basnight, but he is one of the most powerful members of the General Assembly and he should take it on the chin. (Please, no horseheads in my bed.)
Seriously, though, what sort of arrogance and elitist thinking goes into a claim that: billions in debt should bypass a referrendum of the people, that he and his technocrat cronies know how to build a "knowledge economy", much less, that he knows the first thing about the money he’s spending, where it’s going, and its effects on the economy? I don’t know what should sicken taxpayers more, the "we know better than you" mien, or all the debt set at the feet of our children (sure to cancel whatever positive effects may rise out of their subsidized education). -MB
I’m thinking we might have to start a "Media Watch" blog just to point out all the misinformation and bias contained in media reports.
Unfortunately, at the current rate, we’d probably need to hire someone full time to write about it.
The latest entry is currently the headline article on the News & Observer regarding Progress Energy delaying the constructing of a new nuclear (er… nucular, right Mr. President?) reactor at Sharon Harris and committing to reduce energy consumption by 2,000 megawatts per day through conservation.
***Wait, hold on… Progress is doing this on their own and not being mandated to by government? How in the heck? You mean, business can do good and right things to "go green" without government edict? Really?
But anyway, back to the article, an interesting theory is advanced…
Progress will develop an energy efficiency program to offset 2,000 megawatts of electricity, equivalent to several power plants. At the same time, the company vowed not to propose any new coal-burning power plants for two years. Coal plants are the primary contributors to global warming.
What? The primary contributor? According to what research? How can a statement like this just be made by the largest newspaper in North Carolina as fact without any sourcing? Are there no editorial standards anymore?
Whenever you see a curious environmental regulation plugged randomly into a state budget, you have to ask: who benefits?
Consider this latest curiosity … a special provision of the proposed Senate budget bill (shoved between a section on funding for cancer research and a subsection about the powers of the House and Senate appropriations committees). It reads:
“At least twenty percent (20%) of any area designed to be used for vehicular parking, except for a covered area or multilevel area, shall be a pervious surface.”
A pervious surface. Okay. What’s a pervious surface? Why is it so important to the state of North Carolina that twenty percent of our parking lots be pervious? In short, pervious parking lots would contribute to the expansion of wetlands, the enlargement of old growth forests, and an increase in carbon offsets. No, seriously: pervious substances permit the flow of water, which should help control problems associated with storm water runoff. Sounds reasonable enough on the face of it.
But you start doing a little digging and you find out that some Raleigh company called the Rose Group has won awards for their designs using porous pavement… Fine. UNC got a green award for paving some of its lots that way. Not terribly suspicious… But when you Google “pervious” “concrete” “north carolina” – what’s the first thing that pops up? The website for Dare Concrete, aptly named for Dare County. Now this amendment came from someone within the N.C. Senate.
Who is the most powerful senator in North Carolina? Senator Pro Tempore Marc Basnight, a Democrat from – you guessed it – Dare County.
As it turns out, Dare Concrete is eager to take advantage of such opportunities. According to their Web site:
”Never has the opportunity been so great for Town officials and commissioners, the concrete industry and developers to work together to create a win-win solution that will benefit the community and the environment.”
So a major supplier of pervious concrete in North Carolina clearly stands to gain when it comes to this new regulation. Does Senator Basnight stand to gain something, too?
Everyone knows that Senate President Pro Tempore Mark Basnight (D-Dare) is one of the most powerful (if not THE most powerful) political leader in North Carolina.
However, for him to claim a statewide mandate may be a little far fetched.
According to the News & Observer when asked about the $1.2 billion in new debt proposed in the Senate budget without voter approval, Sen. Basnight responded:
Basnight said he did not see the need for a referendum on the capital projects.
"The voters elected me to make some decisions," he said.
Uh, Senator, according to the State Board of Elections, only about 30,398 voters elected you, so let’s hold off on claiming some kind of statewide mandate to saddle all us taxpayers with debt.
You know the old saying about how if you repeat something enough times, no matter what the veracity, that people will start believing them?
Well, it seems to have happened with the Associated Press and their esteemed reporter Gary Robertson.
Note this quote from Rep. Paul Luebke (D-Durham) on Monday, May 7, 2007 regarding the NC House’s budget continuing the $300 million in temporary taxes:
Without the extra money, "there’s no way to meet the educational and
health care needs of the state," said Rep. Paul Luebke, D-Durham,
co-chairman of the House Finance Committee.
Now read this quote from the same reporter from yesterday when describing the differences between the House and Senate budgets:
The House’s two-year budget approved earlier this month keeps a
quarter-penny on the sales tax and a higher income tax bracket for the
state’s top wage-earners for another two years. Those moves add about
$300 million to the government coffers next year to pay for education
and health care needs.
Out of a $20.3 billion budget, the argument can be made that the $300 million in additional taxes could be used to pay for anything in the budget, so why does Robertson echo the words of Rep. Luebke and claim that the increased taxes are used for education and health care?
So the N.C. Senate improves upon the house budget by phasing out the two temporary taxes, but then it wants to saddle our kids and grandkids with more debt.
See whole Senate budget.
Alexander Cockburn, a lefty, lashes out against climate change hysteria for a second time:
The greenhousers endlessly propose that the consensus of "scientists" on anthropogenic climate change is overwhelming. By scientists they actually mean computer modelers. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and their computer-modeling coterie include very few real climatologists or atmospheric physicists. Among qualified climatologists, meteorologists and atmospheric physicists, there are plenty who do not accept the greenhousers’ propositions. Many others have been intimidated into silence by the pressures of grants, tenure and kindred academic garottes. (Read the whole thing.)
Of course, I agree. And after listening (live) to a talk by eminent climatologist Richard Lindzen last week, I’m now thoroughly convinced that the so-called climate change consensus is more like a well paid inquisition fueled by special interests. The actual science precludes most of what the climate modelers are using to fuel the crisis. But too many groups stand to benefit from the political response–starting with ADM and the ethanol crowd.
(Note: Here in N.C., the pigs are already making their way to the trough. See my roundup of the Green Budget in the Old North State.)
(Update: more pigs, bigger trough.)
Any measures that might make healthcare markets more competitive (and bring down premiums) are being fought tooth and nail by the Blues, according to this piece. (Hat tip Jameson Taylor) Tell us something we didn’t know.
The same thing is happening in N.C. The Blues like the status quo because they enjoy a virtual monopoly here. But as they protect the status quo, waffle on mandates, and generally behave in their short term interests, they are providing fodder for the left to make the grand 2008 pitch for a single payer system. And the Blues have everything to lose if the left has its way.
So here’s a message to Blue Cross Blue Shield: fight for deregulation. Yes, you’ll have to compete like a real company, not a protected monolith that benefits from the regs. But at least you won’t go the way of the dinosaur. Such is your choice, as no one – neither the left nor the right – is prepared to keep the current system. Something’s got to give.
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