While members of the Democrat-controlled General Assembly are patting themselves on the back for their "compromise budget", no one seems to be moving on a Constitutional Amendment to ban use of eminent domain for private ends.
Non-presidential candidate Fred Thompson has a blog post on the problem that’s getting lots of attention, and a Google News search reveals quite a few municipalities raising hell about megalomaniacal bureaucrats in bed with developers. According to Thompson’s post, California just used eminent domain to develop condos — a plan that will have the government taking over 600 properties and giving them to private moguls. North Carolina is not immune to such possibilities, either, unless the General Assembly acts. But they are sitting on their hands. (I wonder why.)
Jim Black testimony live now.
If this story is true, there could be a renewable energy competitive with gasoline and crude. It also illustrates how we don’t need central planners, and that we don’t need agricultural subsidies, either. While I’m not sure a biomass-based system of boutique fuels would be better for the environment – particularly given the land requirements – I like the look of the economics. (HT: aBetterEarth.org)
In light of the so-called "Voter-Owned Elections Act" being approved by the House over the weekend, the taxpayers of North Carolina might want a little heads up on just who is behind the nationwide movement helping to bring taxpayer subsidized campaigns to our state. One such organization is the Tides Foundation, a group that receives funding from socialist billionaire George Soros, and Theresa Heinz-Kerry, wife of Senator John Kerry. Furthermore, sitting on its Board is Wade Rathke, a former activist of the socialist group Students for a Democratic Society. Rathke is also the founder of the far-left group ACORN, an organization that has made nationwide headlines for its involvement in voter fraud. John Fund has an excellent piece in the Journal documenting some of ACORN’s recent actions. Among the highlights include:
But the most interesting news came out of Seattle, where on Thursday local prosecutors indicted seven workers for Acorn, a union-backed activist group that last year registered more than 540,000 low-income and minority voters nationwide and deployed more than 4,000 get-out-the-vote workers. The Acorn defendants stand accused of submitting phony forms in what Secretary of State Sam Reed says is the "worst case of voter-registration fraud in the history" of the state.
Fund continues, regarding a fraudulent voter drive by ACORN in Kansas City:
Of the 1,805 names submitted by Acorn, only nine have been confirmed as valid, and another 34 are still being investigated. The rest–over 97%–were fake.
The list of voter fraud violations ACORN has been investigated or indicted for is quite lengthy. I bring this up mainly to point out the hypocrisy of those in the "one person, one vote" crowd in support of taxpayer financed election campaigns. I guess when they say "one person," that person can be imaginary, dead, a convicted felon, or perhaps a TV character.
Maybe once "voter-owned" elections are forced upon us for all statewide campaigns, we can expect these folks to use ACORN-type tactics to scrounge up the qualifying contributions for their hand-picked candidates in order to demonstrate "public support". So now your tax dollars not only may be used to fund candidates with whom you disagree, but also candidates who qualified for public subsidies via the contributions of a few fat-cats using hundreds of fake names.
Stunning article on the war in Iraq by two very prestigious Brookings wonks after a recent visit.
The latest North Carolina budget increases spending nearly ten percent over the last. Ten percent. That is not sustainable. Say goodbye to the relative prosperity our state has enjoyed over the last decade or so. It won’t last at this rate. (Here’s a list of some of the goodies certain interests will get at your expense.)
Balfour’s clearly on a roll — quoted here, too, on taxpayer-funded campaigns:
Hoping that doesn’t happen is Brian Balfour, a policy analyst for the John Williams Pope Civitas Institute. Balfour said public financing of political campaigns threatens free expression. He said taxpayer money could be used to fund a campaign for a politician the taxpayer does not support.
Balfour also said that, contrary to its design, the act would not curb the influence of special interest groups on the political process.
"The problem is if you take a look at it, special interests can become more involved" with publicly financed campaigns, he said.
According to Balfour, special interest groups can simply mine their membership rolls to provide the 750 contributions a candidate would need for public financing, causing that candidate to become indebted to the groups.
Balfour makes the case for basic economics in this N&O letter to the editor – a case that, sadly, must be made time-and-again because bureaucrats and utopia-builders are usually deranged by zero-sum thinking. A snip:
"Diverting resources from the private sector into the less productive hands of government bureaucrats slows overall economic growth. A low rate of economic growth always disproportionately hurts the working poor, who are at the margins of employment and job security."
Laura Leslie’s reporting on the state budget has generally been excellent. Unlike most NPR material at both the local and national level (filtered, biased, and loaded as it often is), Leslie tries painstakingly to present both sides of any issue — as in this piece.
While no media outlet deserves the ‘fair and balanced’ moniker, a few dogged reporters remain in pursuit of that unicorn known as objectivity. Laura Leslie deserves credit and thanks in her efforts to arm citizens with good information and diverse viewpoints.
(Thank you, Laura.)
In the timeless nattering of the politician (quoted from this piece by Democrat handmaidens WRAL):
"Some people are not going to be happy, but they go home and say, ‘I didn’t want this, but how could I vote against my university getting a new building they so desperately needed or I supported teacher raises and I support insurance for children,’" said Sen. Linda Garrou, D-Forsyth, one of the chief budget negotiators.
Desperately needed buildings like what? A new university library that will cost double by the time the full debt is paid? A library that will be obsolete by the time its built, much less paid for (Google is currently digitizing Harvard’s library right now.) Or how about another student union? This wonderful compromise budget has $500 million in COPs and $300 million in capital spending for all these desperately needed goodies. Among the transfer tax, the Medicaid Swap, and the now-permanent "temporary" tax, where was the compromise? Oh, it was a compromise among legislators about where all the pork went.
Meanwhile the left whines incessantly about “special interests” giving $4,000 contributions to campaigns. But that’s a drop in the bucket when budget writers can give you millions in pork to secure your vote. Sickening.