A new report released confirms what supporters of the death penalty have said all along, namely, that the death penalty deters murder.
A 2003 study he co-authored, and a 2006 study that re-examined the
data, found that each execution results in five fewer homicides, and
commuting a death sentence means five more homicides. "The results are
robust, they don’t really go away," he said. "I oppose the death
penalty. But my results show that the death penalty (deters) — what am
I going to do, hide them?"
So how many lives are being lost through the current de facto moratorium that exists in North Carolina?
There is a lot of talk going around about how counties pay for growth and whether new revenue streams (transfer tax, impact fees, etc.) are needed, especially in my home county of Wake.
Then I read today that the Town of Cary has bought up 45 acres of prime real estate for $6.5 million to "preserve the land" for a open space and a park.
Every parcel of land snatched up and held by government is property that does not generate any tax revenue. So when all those people complaining about not having enough money to pay for growth come to raid the equity in your home when you sell, just think about how much land is taken off the market and "preserved" each year. As the tax base dwindles, those who do pay taxes will be required to pay more.
Looking ahead to next week at the General Assembly, a few significant or significantly interesting bills are scheduled to be discussed in committee.
Tuesday:
House Judiciary II Committee looks at HB 598 by Rep. George Cleveland (R-Onslow) that would levy a 5% tax on wire transfers of illegal immigrants.
Wednesday:
House Science and Technology Committee will discuss HB 1837 sponsored by Rep. Earl Jones (D-Guilford) which would set as policy of the State of NC that embryonic stem cells can be used for research and appropriates $10 million towards research projects.
The Senate Health Care Committee will take up HB 973 the mental health parity bill. Will the Senate try to remove the Charles Thomas Amendment that exempts businesses under 25 employees from the mandate? Will the Senate try and put back in language requiring coverage of substance abuse?
Wow! The Alabama Senate sure knows how to spice things up.
Good thing Rep. John Rhodes is no longer around or this might give him some ideas.
The State Board of Education today approved tougher graduation requirements for all freshmen entering High School in the 2009-2010 school year.
The question I have now is: If we have approximately 1/3rd of our students not completing High School in 4 years currently, how does making it harder to finish effect the graduation rate?
Seems to me if you make something harder to complete, less people will be able to do it without better training and better preparation at earlier grades. The problem with graduation rates will not be fixed in High Schools though, it needs to be addressed earlier, before kids get to high school and make the decision to drop out.
Just one more example of the shortsightedness of the educational establishment bureaucracy and one more argument for fundamental reform of the government-run educational system.
The more you read these budget bills, the more little golden nuggets you can find.
Included in the Senate budget is $37.5 million in recurring funds for "class size reduction" to maintain the 18:1 student/teacher ratio in grades K-3.
But wait, I thought the North Carolina "Education" Lottery was supposed to cover that cost. Apparently, since all of us didn’t buy enough lottery tickets, the Senate decided we should be on the hook for the money anyway.
Now, we can debate studies about whether class size reduction has any effect on student performance, (I tend to think it is more of a jobs program for the Teachers’ Union), but everyone should be in agreement now that the lottery funding formula absolutely must be changed.
This is what happens when the lottery – a non-recurring, variable source of income – is used to pay for recurring expenses (teachers’ salaries and students). When too few people play the lottery, the rest of us get stuck with the bill.
Our friends over at Public Policy Polling are out with their latest tracking poll and a couple of things jump out at me.
First, it’s obvious Fred Thompson is the buzz in Republican circles right now, but I have a feeling this is a temporary bump from being something new. He’s doing a masterful job of being a candidate but not doing candidate-like things like make appearances and participate in debates. Odds are good this is his peak, and he will begin to come back down from this.
Second, something is off with the survey of Democrats. You’re telling me that 34% of Democrat voters have picked a Lieutenant Governor candidate when only 44% of Republican voters have picked a Gubernatorial candidate? No offense to Pat Smathers, Don Besse, Walter Dalton or Hampton Dellinger, but I cannot possibly believe that anyone outside of their own constituency knows who they are, much less have 8-9% statewide support.
Also on the Democrats, 0% believe immigration is an important issue? Seriously, 0%?
I will definitely concede that there is a highly partisan gap between Democrats and Republicans over whether this is the most important issue, but our polling has consistently shown somewhere in the mid-teens of Democrats think immigration is the most important issue facing the state.
(One thing to point out here, PPP asks "Which is the most important issue to you" where our poll asks "what is the most important issue facing the state" thus we don’t include Iraq)
Our poll goes into the field next week, so we’ll see if we match Thompson’s level of support and we’ll have full results at our poll release luncheon on Wednesday, June 20.
Wake County Commissioners held a public hearing last night on the County’s proposed $914 million budget and to discuss how to pay for the growth in the county. Unfortunately, one thing on the agenda was the discussion of a 1% real estate transfer tax, also known as the homes sales tax. Civitas policy analyst Brian Balfour has written that this is nothing more than taxing the American dream.
In typical fashion, the leftist WakeUp Wake County organization spoke up in favor of the tax. However the most frustrating statement in the article was by a supposed "conservative":
Even former county commissioner Phil Jeffreys, speaking as a member of the fiscally conservative Wake County Taxpayer Association, was on board for a transfer tax.
"We need to make sure we go to the legislature and really push on real estate transfer fees," said Jeffreys, who was voted off the board in the last election after voting "no" on many spending proposals.
When the Wake County Taxpayer Association changed from an anti-tax group to a tax-increase advocacy group is unknown. Hopefully, Wake County Commissioners will know that he doesn’t speak for all of us.
As I was reading through the House and Senate passed budgets over the weekend drawing up some comparisons, I noticed a nice little slush fund for the DOT board…
FUNDS FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, SPOT SAFETY, AND TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM PROJECTS
SECTION 27.3. Of the funds appropriated by this act to the Department of Transportation in fiscal year 2007-2008, nine million three hundred thirty-eight thousand four hundred four dollars ($9,338,404) shall be used for economic development transportation projects recommended by the member of the Board of Transportation representing the Division in which the project is to be constructed in consultation with the Division Engineer and approved by the Board of Transportation. These funds, in addition to any remaining funds which were appropriated to the Department pursuant to Section 28.27 of S.L. 2005-276, shall be allocated equally among the 14 Divisions.
The Secretary of Transportation shall not prevent or delay the implementation of any projects approved by the Board of Transportation pursuant to this section.
The Senate version which gives each member approximately $667,000 while the House version gives each BOT member $1 million. Basically, each of the 14 members of the Board of Transportation gets a nice little chunk of money to use for "economic development" in his or her region.
Hmm… I wonder how much it would cost to get the road repaved in front of my house?
As we bake through a week of 90 degree temperatures, and as just about the entire state is gripped by a moderate drought, is it really the time to be discussing using taxpayer money to build a waterpark?
Good people of the Charlotte area, please do not water your lawns or wash your cars, we need more water for recreational uses. Oh, and we’re going to need $2.7 million of your tax dollars to "entice" them to build too.