LaPlante's Rants

Column for Feb. 2, 2012

2012-02-01T16:57:00.001-05:00

This political scenejust got a little more interesting. I am not talking about thenational campaign scene, either. There will be several changes that Ilook forward to seeing play out. Probably the biggest news is thatNorth Carolina Governor, Beverly Perdue has decided not to run forre-election. It was actually a bit surprising to me, though I did notreally expect her to win if she ran again, anyway. Apparently, neitherdid she. Wish low polling numbers, droves of voters expected to voteagainst liberal candidates, low funding for a campaign, and a strongopponent for the next election, I guess it was the smart thing to do.

Peoplehave been lining up to announce that they want to seek the governor’sposition. There is already a list of candidates that have eitherformally announced, announced that they will announce, or there isstrong speculation that they will run. Among them are LieutenantGovernor Walter Dalton and hugely liberal/socialist StateRepresentative Bill Faison from Berkley East, meaning Chapel Hill.

Other possible candidates are former State Treasurer Richard Moore,U.S. Congressman Mike McIntyre, Congressman Heath Shuler (from thewestern part of the state), and Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx. Thenthere is speculation that our old friend, Bob “Who are you” Etheridgemay seek the governor’s seat. If Old Bob runs, that will make for someinteresting moments in sports in our family. My wife’s familyliterally were Etheridge’s neighbors and think that he was the mosthonest and helpful statesmen to come along in ages. I, on the otherhand, found him to be your typical, greasy, snake oil salesman of apolitician who has no idea what the US Constitution says.

Withpeople like Bev Perdue and Congressman Brad Miller deciding not to seekre-election, I wonder if there was pressure from The White House tostep down so as to help Barack Obama in a key battleground state comeelection season. I realize that Miller, like Etheridge, is now inDavid Price’s district with the redrawn election districts, so that mayhave weighed heavily in his decision. Either way, I would like to takethis opportunity to formally announce that I am NOT seeking the officeof Governor of the State of North Carolina at this time.

Anothernoteworthy decision was that of Wake County School Board member JohnTedesco to run for State Superintendent of Public Instruction. I havelong supported Tedesco’s stance on local schools and abolishing theso-called diversity policy in Wake County. He will have my vote. Iwas disgusted to see some of the horrible comments that his critics hadleft on the internet on news stories from the local TV stations abouthis intent to run. Keep in mind that these are the sorts of people whocall conservatives intolerant bigots.

“Hahahe is such a moron [sic]”
“Ifully intend to support whoever runs against him. He's the WORSE.[sic]”
“He'sa true idiot and can't even put together a coherent sentence.”
“Thisis NO good for the state and it is really an insult that someone withso little experience with our state and the educational system ingeneral could even be considered to run for this position! I'mdisgusted!![sic]”

Ifind that last one very amusing considering that Bob Etheridge used tobe Superintendent of Public Instruction at one time with no experiencein the field of education. At least John Tedesco has served as amember of the board of the largest school district in the state.

Idecided to weigh in on this Tedesco discussion myself and left thefollowing commentary. “I think that all the previous commentators onthis thread are pretty hateful and ignorant. I will vote for him. Ilove his stance for Wake County Schools in getting rid of the useless,(not really) progressive, politically correct diversity policy. It wasonly common sense to let children go to a local school. Any ignorantfool who thought the policy that was in place prior to John Tedesco wasactually proper or effective should turn in their voter registrationcard and stay home.” I have no idea what comments may have been madeafter I gave my opinion on that public forum, but then again, I don’treally care.

Column for Jan. 26, 2012

2012-01-26T13:02:00.001-05:00

Before I start ranting, I wanted to rave a bit. I want to brag on my son, John, who took first place in the Pack 95 Cub Scout annual Pinewood Derby this past weekend. He put a lot of thought and effort into his car, as did all the boys who competed. I am the Bear Den leader, and all of “my boys” did well. I am very proud of the sportsmanship, creativity, and effort that went into each car. I can honestly say that I enjoy Pinewood Derby more as an adult than I ever did when I was a scout. It is amazing how much I get out of Cub Scouts as a parent and leader, as well as how much my boy gets out of scouting when he has an active, supporting parent to work with him. If you have a son in elementary school that would like to learn more about Cub Scouts, feel free to contact me. Now, in the words of M.C. Hammer, “It’s column time!” or something like that.

I hate toll roads. Whenever I drive through the northeast corridor or some parts of Florida, I end up paying a lot of money in tolls. Some states hit motorists at a high rate, others just nickel and dime you. A trip to New England costs over $20 in tolls, one way. My last trip to Miami was over $10. Now we have a toll road in the Triangle area. I was just reading about North Carolina wanting to have tolls on I-95. This is nothing new and the topic comes up every once in a while. Now that the ice has been cracked in getting an initial toll road, I knew that it would be just a matter of time until the I-95 toll idea actually took a stronghold.

The state Department of Transportation has just issued a report suggesting that I-95 be widened significantly, some bridges be raised, and some bridges replaced. I understand road maintenance, but widening I-95, putting up toll plazas, and spending $4.4 billion? Johnston County has the oldest stretch of the interstate, so it also has some of the oldest and lowest bridges. I cringed when I saw that rather than replacing bridges over the past few years, the DOT spent millions of dollars just raising the height of some bridges by a mere eighteen inches. Why not spend the extra money, do it right, and replace the bridges rather than having to come back later and replace them, anyway? That was a waste of taxpayer money, but it would not have given the DOT as much job security with some expensive busy work now, and some guaranteed work later.

We pay a high tax rate as it is, but a lot of money is seemingly squandered on busy work projects. I just pulled up an article I saved from last September when the DOT was going to hold public hearings on proposed road “improvements” on Highway 70. These so-called improvements included median closures at key intersections that will inconvenience motorists and are totally unnecessary. It was bad enough that the DOT closed the median crossover on Highway 70 at Oak Street in Selma. I used that crossover almost every time I drove home, but now I waste more gas and time going further down the road because some pinhead who has to justify his existence on the state payroll wants to improve a roadway at great taxpayer expense.

I used to live near where the Booker Dairy Road extension was going to cross Wilson’s Mills Road in Smithfield. That road now runs right next to where my driveway was. Now that the roadway is finished, I still fail to comprehend its great necessity or benefit over its cost and inconvenience with eminent domain and development processes. Furthermore, like a lot of bypassing roadways, some local businesses will suffer.

I have a friend in Shallotte, North Carolina whose business is suffering from a similar road “improvement”. About every business trip to Shallotte, I stop by his restaurant for some of the best chicken wings known to mankind. His restaurant business has dropped off considerably since a new roadway was built, bypassing a mile or two of roadway. The road was not so busy as to be burdensome in terms of traffic. The local residents, mayor, and town council are all baffled as to the need for the project to this day.

Even worse, these two bypassing projects were partially paid for with the so-called “stimulus package” federal spending. The boondoggle allegedly meant to stimulate business actually has helped kill business. Even worse still is that the DOT wants to nail us for even more money to pay for interstate improvements via toll roads all over after they continuously squander our tax money on road improvements that are unnecessary and inconvenience the very ones paying for it. We already pay taxes, and now it looks like we are going to be taxed a second time to drive on the roads for which our tax dollars pay.

Column for Jan. 19, 2012

2012-01-19T07:42:00.000-05:00

So, we have the Iowa caucuses down, the New Hampshire primary election down, and we are about to have the South Carolina primary election. I know from experience that the Granite State residents are happy to have their state back from the political sharks, pundits, and media hacks. I grew up there, and every four years the little state was invaded. I got to meet some politicians, even when I was in elementary school. I remember talking to Ted Kennedy when he made his run for president. Thankfully, he never did get elected. Still, he had plenty of influence and inflicted plenty of damage on our country as a Senator from Massachusetts.

Four main players in the Republican race have now bowed out of the race. I suspect that more will follow soon. But with 1144 delegate votes needed to win the GOP nomination, New Hamster (as I affectionately call the state) and Iowa only account for about 38 total delegate votes. Mitt Romney (whose first name is really Willard, so I guess I understand going by the middle name of Mitt) only has 14 pledged votes so far with the other candidates not at all far behind. The race is still wide open.

I am truly weary of the press constantly touting Romney as the front runner and basically the most electable. Many in the Republican Party think the same. I am no fan of Romney. There have been way too many changes of position by Romney on important issues and he does not have a solid track record of conservatism for my taste. Still, if he does get the nomination, I may hold my nose this time around and vote for him.

This week, John Huntsman dropped out of the race. That does not surprise me, since he never really stood a chance of winning, anyway. Of course, he endorsed Mitt Romney for President. That is also not surprising, since Romney, like Huntsman, is a former governor, and more importantly, is a fellow Mormon. Even Mormons I know think that Romney is not conservative enough for them. Non-Mormons seem to either have a problem with the fact that Romney is a Mormon, or think that he is not Mormon enough. Personally, both are true for me. If he was a strong, conservative Mormon, I would feel more sanguine in his ability to govern according to my own values. On the other hand, I have some serious theological problems with Mormonism and some of their beliefs on government and the prevailing religious positions in our country, and that truly dissuades me from throwing support behind such a candidate. I realize that I am voting for a president, not for a savior of the human race, though I wonder if the current President knows that distinction.

I used to like Herman Cain, and as I predicted, the knives came out when he was perceived as a threat. Because Cain was a conservative, he was going to be accused of being an Uncle Tom, a sell out, or some other derogatory name. Just like with Clarence Thomas, I knew that the liberal establishment would attempt to impugn his character in one way or another. Sure enough, the stories of bimbo eruptions started to emerge. The opposition kept at it until he finally bowed out of the race. I don’t know if the last major allegation was true or not, but it took him out of the race. These tactics are not new. True or not, allegations and rumors can kill a candidacy. However, if Cain was a Democrat, the allegations would probably be a resume enhancement.

Michele Bachmann, though intelligent, attractive, conservative, and articulate, was never going to win. This country is just not ready for a female president. I liked many things about her, but as with every GOP candidate, there were a few things that made me scratch my head in bewilderment.

Yes, I mean that about every last GOP candidate. I left the GOP years ago. They were no longer the party of small government, thrifty spending, and freedom. There are few candidates that truly represent that except maybe Ron Paul. Even though I had a “Ron Paul for President 2008” sign in my yard last election (and may have one in my yard again), there are things on which I strongly disagree with Dr. Paul.

With this being possibly the most important election in decades for the soul of America and the opportunity to bring us back to sanity and core values, one would think that we would have a better crop of candidates from which to choose. If Mitt Romney is the best we have, God help us. Still, if he is the predicted nominee, I will vote for him just to help get the socialist, Marxist usurper out of the White House. The only great thing about the Obama presidency thus far has been that it makes Jimmy Carter’s tenure look good. I pray that both Obama and Carter have the same duration of tenure in office.

Column for Jan. 12, 2012

2012-01-11T09:36:00.000-05:00

It has been said that politicians and diapers both need to be changed every so often...and for the same reason. As a father of two and another baby on the way, I can relate to that axiom. In our area, we changed our diaper when we voted Congressman Bob Etheridge out of office last year. Now, like a bad slasher film or Rocky movie series, he wants to make a comeback after just half of one term out of office.

Old Bob has been around a long time in North Carolina politics. I remember after he decided to leave his position at the Department of Public Instruction to run for Congress. I interviewed Mr. Etheridge on numerous occasions when I was working in radio. I had a habit of asking tough questions, regardless of party affiliation. I quizzed Democrats and Republicans alike with similar zeal. When it became evident to Old Bob that I would not throw softball questions at him each time he called the radio station, he stopped trying to get free public relations airtime.

I have followed Bob Etheridge’s congressional career over the fourteen years he was in office. When he did well on issues, I praised his performance. When he did poorly, I was critical. I believe in being fair and if I am willing to critique, I had better be willing to give kudos. Bob was relatively good on Second Amendment issues, but he had a serious problem with staying within the powers granted to Congress. He wrote and sponsored many bills that were patently unconstitutional. Then again, most congressmen have that same problem.

One thing that Bob Etheridge was known for was bringing federal tax money home to his district for various projects and issues. I remember seeing countless photo opportunities in which Bob was giving a symbolic giant check for road improvements, fire and police services, farmers, or whatever the current gimmick was.

I have relatives who literally were his neighbors and think that Bob Etheridge is a great, honest politician. From my experiences with him, I think that he was the stereotypical, constitutionally illiterate, dishonest sleazeball who was more concerned with his own re-election than with the well being of his constituency. Believe me, that has made for some interesting conversation at family gatherings. The measure of a good politician is not how much money is brought back to his home district from Washington, D.C., but rather how much money stays at home to begin with.

Bob Etheridge was quoted in the News and Observer as saying, “I’m like any American right now – frustrated at what is going on with our tea party folks up there. I think they have pushed our country to the brink three times this year, and lost our country its AAA bond rating as a result of that."

Say what? No, Bob, it is not the Tea Party that has been the issue. As a matter of fact, I am rather disappointed with the Tea Party candidates, in general. After one year in office, they have not done all that We The People have elected them to do...to undo what politicians like you did while you were in Congress. There has been the occasional slight glimmer of hope, but we eventually get the same old garbage that got us into this mess. Still, I will take a flawed Renee Ellmers over a politician like Bob Etheridge any day. We lost our AAA bond rating as a result of the reckless spending that has been rampant for the last two decades, for which the majority thereof, Bob, you were a member of Congress.

What irks me is that since the recent redistricting, Bob Etheridge now lives in the 4th Congressional District. He wants to run for office in the 2nd District, which was the seat he recently lost. For some incredibly stupid reason, law allows him to do that. If I have to live in the 2nd District in order to vote for representatives from the 2nd District, the representative should have to reside within the 2nd District. This is just another outrageous example of politicians writing the laws so that they themselves will not have to abide by them.

If you are not outraged by the current state of governmental affairs, then you are not paying attention. Our government was instituted by God (Romans 13), and in this country, we were entrusted with a form of government that requires our participation and assent. To that end, we must keep dishonest weasels out of office and elect morally strong, constitutionally literate individuals who will be more like statesmen than politicians. But, do we actually have any to elect?

Column for Jan. 5, 2012

2012-01-04T14:30:00.002-05:00

I have a rather libertarian bent in my views and I make no apologies for that. This is not to say that I am a member of the Libertarian Party, a political party. It means that I preach liberty as a way of life. This has been my guiding philosophy in my views in government, politics, civil affairs, and even in church life.

When I was a member of the Planning Board in the Town of Selma, I voted with liberty in mind. I believe in private property rights as long as they do not infringe upon the rights of others. With that in mind, there is a place in society for rules and regulations on property use and business, but a limited one, in my opinion.

I realize that my views are about to sound like fingernails on a chalkboard to legalistic church folks, especially here in The Bible Belt, but I really don’t care. My views are theologically sound and I am at perfect peace with what I am about to say.

Back when Johnston County was debating about whether to allow liquor by the drink, I heard some preachers hammering against the evils of alcohol. It is not the alcohol that is the problem, it is the people who abuse it. Alcohol consumption is not a sin, drunkenness is the sin mentioned in Holy Writ. I believe in Christian liberty, and since I doubt Jesus turned water into Welch’s grape juice as his first recorded miracle, I don’t want to hear some legalistic whining about it.

I take the same view on gambling. I had no problem with North Carolina instituting a lottery. I lived in states that had lotteries before. Our country has a history of colonial and state lotteries. What I had a big problem with was the way in which North Carolina passed its lottery bill. It was sneaky, underhanded, and unethical, but that is another discussion for another day.

When I was in Florida recently, I took note of how many internet sweepstakes cafes there were. In the city of Jacksonville, they were all over. When visiting my cousin, she took us to one and my wife and I both spent $20 each. After depleting my online credits playing video slot machines, I recouped all but $3 or so of the cash staked. My lovely bride actually won $66 or so, for a net profit of $46. My cousin and her boyfriend did not fare as well.

The Town of Selma has decided to delay action on a petitioned request to open an internet gaming cafe. The whole idea was to put off the decision on allowing the business or not until the state clarifies a ban on the businesses. This to me is the epitome of hypocrisy, on both the part of the town and the state.

The town wants to increase business but has declined to allow a tattoo parlor and delayed a decision on an internet gaming business within the past year or so. Personally, I don’t plan on allowing myself to be stabbed with a needle and ink, nor do I plan on sitting in front of a computer terminal playing video slot machines or Texas Hold ‘em poker. However, a town cannot constantly cede their decision taking authority to the state, nor frown upon every legitimate, legal business that some may find a tad unsavory. I hate tobacco products, but I defend wholeheartedly the right of JR’s Outlet to sell all the cigarettes they can to interstate travelers and locals alike.

Every once in a great while, I will buy a Powerball ticket. I don’t do it often, but when I was in Florida for the aforementioned trip and the jackpot was over $200 million, I did buy five tickets. I won $15 and am still waiting for the State of Florida to process my claim and send me a check.

I don’t drink a lot, but I do like the occasional mudslide or Samuel Adams draft beer with my dinner. At least we have decent quality restaurants in Johnston County and not just McDonald’s, country buffets, or barbecue restaurants because we chose to allow liquor by the drink and attract better quality restaurants. I am sure that also helps with sales tax revenues.

I am not a big gambler, but if I want to put a few dollars in a slot machine or play a few video games, that is totally my business and my freedom. I was recently in two casinos, one aboard a cruise ship and one in the Bahamas. I spent nothing at the casinos. If I wanted to, I could have. That is my choice, and my freedom either way. There is an internet gaming establishment across the walkway from the church my family attends each week. If I want to walk over after Sunday service and play video poker, that is my choice. I don’t do so, but I would have no problem with my conscience even if I did.

I would rather err on the side of liberty than tyranny when it comes to what some consider vices. That is the freedom we have in this country, and we should not hesitate to encourage it rather than defer or decline it.

Column for Dec. 29, 2011

2011-12-28T11:22:00.002-05:00

About a month ago, I wrote about gun rights and the Town of Smithfield. Their police chief, Michael Scott, seemed to be very much in favor of keeping gun bans in place in the town park system. To me, this is just another example of a freedom hating, constitutionally illegal action and attitude. I wanted to compare that attitude and how the Smithfield Police Department handles media relations to that of another law enforcement officer.

Spartanburg County, South Carolina is where my brother lived before he passed away two years ago. Most of his children still live in that area. At one time I had considered pursuing a job opportunity there to be closer to my family, but recently I found a news story that would have made me glad to be in Spartanburg County. Their county sheriff has a real grasp of reality.

When asked why I often carry a pistol, my answer is simply, “Because cops are too heavy to carry around.” Police can not be everywhere at all times. The old saying holds true. “When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.” I have a t-shirt in my closet that has a graphic of a Smith and Wesson firing a shot, blood spattering, and the caption, “I don’t dial 9-1-1”. Sure, I have called 9-1-1 on several occasions, including for the removal of a drunken Mexican on my doorstep a few years ago. But in life and death situations, sometimes you can not wait for the police.

When a woman was sexually assaulted by a repeat offender in his county, Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright gave a spectacular news conference. He correctly referred to the offender as an animal. He criticized the justice system as being dysfunctional. He said that “our form of justice is not making it. Carry a concealed weapon. That’ll fix it...I want you to get a concealed weapons permit. Don’t get Mace. Get a firearm.” He also said, "Gun control is when you can get your barrel back on the target quick.” If Chuck Wright ran for sheriff here in Johnston County, I would vote for him instantly.

Compare that to Smithfield Police Chief Michael Scott, who said that the updated rules adopted by Smithfield (pursuant to a new state law that allows concealed weapon permit holders such as myself to carry in parks) are designed to keep as much of the original ban in place while complying with the new law. Though municipalities are prohibited from outright banning carrying in parks, there is an exception for “recreational facilities” like playgrounds, swimming pools, and ballfields. Smithfield is taking the approach of having as much government control over law abiding citizens as legally possible.

The other thing about media relations and the Smithfield Police Department that cheesed me off was how they handled the fight over their budget. From what I have read, the Smithfield Town Council set a budget for their police department. The budget has less money for fuel for police cars than the police staff wanted. When the department requested to be able to transfer about $30,000 from other areas of their budget such as for office supplies to the fuel budget, the request was denied.

I have to admit that I don’t understand why funds within the department budget can not be fungible, considering that the overall dollar amount would not change. However, that was the decision by their town council. That should end the debate right there. Elected officials did what they felt was correct, even if I find it incorrigible and inappropriate.

What did I hear as a news story shortly thereafter on a Raleigh radio station? The Smithfield Police Department was warning that without the requested fuel funding, they would not be investigating misdemeanor crimes, only felonious ones; and that they most likely would not respond to every call for service. Obviously that came from someone inside the department attempting to wage a war of public opinion by using the media. No names were given as a source and no direct quotes were given. Granted, the police department can not control how something is reported, but I found the whole media outreach to be whiny, childish, and insubordinate.

When I compare the courage by Sheriff Chuck Wright in South Carolina to go against the grain of convention during a press conference, the call for freedom, and personal responsibility in the midst of reality, and compare that to the whiny, controlling paradigm that I see coming from law enforcement in Smithfield, I am disgusted.

Column for Dec. 22, 2011

2011-12-21T21:15:00.001-05:00

I can’t believe the piece of junk mail I got today. I get plenty of solicitations for credit cards, usually more than one a day. I get junk mail from my mortgage company, my life insurance company, travel agencies, car dealers, lawyers, and the list goes on. Today I got one that insulted my sensibilities.

My employer supplies me with a Blackberry, with which they expect me to use for work communications. I use it heavily for email and telephone calls. Several years ago I got another cell phone, which was a prepaid wireless phone. At the time I was dating a woman who loved to keep in touch by text messaging. Since I only had my work phone, I obtained another phone for personal use. Fortunately that relationship only lasted about three weeks. She was a liberal, non-practicing, Catholic who thought that Hillary Clinton was the greatest candidate for President ever. I am a right wing, conservative Protestant who thinks that Hillary Clinton is just about the Anti-Christ. For four years now I have kept that same prepaid phone going. My right wing, conservative, Protestant wife whom I met just one week after ending the relationship with the Clinton loving liberal carries that phone and has since we were dating.

Having a cell phone is not a constitutional right. I pay for my own Tracfone and have for years. If I want another cell phone, I will have to pay for it out of my own pocket. Most people I know, rich or poor, that have personal cell phones pay for them themselves. That is the way it ought to be. Though a great convenience, cell phones are not something to which anyone in America is entitled. For that matter, neither are automobiles, internet service, personal computers, or gourmet bread and ice cream.

For several years, I have frustratedly watched television commercials for Assurance Wireless. They provide free cell phones to people who are on Medicaid, food stamps, Supplemental Security Income, live in federal public (Section 8) housing, get free school lunch, get home energy assistance, or just plain have a low, qualifying income. The services are paid for by the federal government via the Universal Service Fund program. Make no mistake, you pay for this fund.

In researching the fund, I found “The Universal Service Fund (USF) was created by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1997 to meet Congressional universal service goals as mandated by the Telecommunications Act of 1996...As of the first quarter of 2011, the USF fee, which changes quarterly, equals 15.5 percent of a telecom company's interstate and end-user revenues.” If a telecommunications company pays the fees, you are the ones really paying for it, since fees are passed on to you, the consumer. Telecommunication fees are nothing new and consumers have been paying for them since the 1930’s.

The USF has been broadened to include internet access. Now we are paying to subsidize high speed internet to “under served rural areas” and for low income people. In reading, I found that “the FCC approved a six-year transfer process that would transition money from the Universal Service Fund to a new $4.5 billion a year Connect America Fund that will support the expansion of broadband services to areas that don't have broadband access yet.” So we will be paying for people who choose to live in the boondocks to have fast internet.

When my wife and I go shopping, we count the cost of groceries to make sure that we come within budget. It is infuriating to see a young, unmarried couple that have a toddler with another baby on the way pay for groceries with a food stamp card. We saw one woman get the most expensive bread in the store and a couple of gallons of milk pay for it with a WIC voucher, some of her other groceries with a food stamp card, and the remainder of the groceries with a bank debit card while talking on a cell phone. Here we were counting the costs of our own groceries still skimping on our own cell phone service, and paying full price for everything.

What is just as frustrating is that the companies who provide the free cell phone service make enough profit off from doing so to put on a full marketing campaign on national television and direct mailer solicitations. You and I are paying for it to happen, for people to get free groceries, and for people to have free cell phones. Is it just me, or is this not infuriating? How are people entitled to free cell phone service, which should be considered a luxury item, at our expense? Merry Christmas all year ‘round, I guess.

Column for Dec. 15, 2011

2011-12-15T14:48:00.003-05:00

Recently my wife and I went to an American Heritage Girls ceremony for our niece. We had never heard of that organization prior to being at the meeting, so I did a little research. My first source online is usually Wikipedia, since from there I can usually find links to other sources. It said, “Christian Scouting organization founded in 1995 by...parents...who were unhappy that the Girl Scouts accepted lesbians as troop leaders, allowed girls to substitute another word more applicable to their belief for "God" in the promise, and allegedly banned prayer at meetings.” I found no local area troops, however.

This was particularly disturbing since I am involved in Cub Scouts with our oldest boy, have a two year old who may get involved in scouting, and we have another baby on the way and if it was a girl, we would have encouraged her to get into scouting, as well.

Shortly thereafter, I found a news article that had just been published and Tweeted (put on my Twitter feed) “I am done buying cookies, if our baby is a girl, she won't be allowed to join. "Girl Scouts Of USA Says It Will Accept Transgender Youth"”. I mean that. We have bought our last Girl Scout Cookie. The Girl Scouts have abandoned their core values and I will not contribute financially to their existence. (We have since found out that we are having another boy, so the Girl Scout thing is out for now, anyway.)

After my Tweet, I was accosted by a person claiming to be “transgender woman...atheist bordering on anti-theist” and an activist. He was obviously scouring the internet, looking for someone with whom to be offended and wanted to pick a fight. I was chastised repeatedly in increments of 140 characters or less on how I just don’t understand transgender people, how I am a religious bigot, how being transgender is not a choice, and that I must think that someone like him is outside the norm and therefore sinful or evil, and that that is ridiculous. I was called a hate filled religious bigot and, well...the final end of the digestive tract.

Since I have opinions and am willing to put them out there for public consumption, I tend to attract a lot of hate mail, whether from column readers or internet readers. I lamented the departure of the Girl Scouts from their core values, so I must be some Bible Belt, Bible thumping religious fanatic, right? Well, I had not even gotten into the religious implications before I was accused of using religion to pick on people for being transgender. Just as a matter of ontological makeup, I was lamenting the decisions by the Girl Scouts.

Personally, I find transgender people to be whiny, emotional individuals who can't accept reality and are looking for attention. They demand that the world accept their deviant behavior as normal, and claim that everyone else is the problem for their lack of acceptance. So far I have only run across Chaz Bono wannabes who can’t accept the fact that they either have XX or XY chromosomes and blame either nature or God for some colossal, cosmic mistake of trapping them inside the body of a sex with which they can not internally identify. Instead of being mature about it and accepting the hand they were dealt with in life, these people basically want to garner negative attention, giving themselves “victim” status. That seems to be a miserable existence to me.

I was told that people like I just described are not malevolent but rather just ordinary people feeling their way through life. No, they are deviants from societal norms screaming for acceptance. I have compassion for them, I truly do. I also have no problem letting them know the error and sinful nature of their ways. I have been praying for this “man” and will continue to do so.

I truly don’t care what someone does in the privacy of their own homes, whether it be opining and dressing as the opposite sex or the practice of homosexuality. I will treat people I meet with respect even if I strongly disagree with their lifestyle choices. I don’t debase those in my family or circle of friends who are homosexuals. At least they are honest about who they are and for the most part, realize that they are not the majority of society. Of course there are those who are more rabid about their ways, even flaunting them in the face of society.

I am sure that some transgender people are very nice folks who just want to get along in life. I have not run across any in all of my dealings thus far, though. I have mostly run across whiny deviants who scream for me to accept their decisions about life. Thankfully I have the freedom, nay the responsibility, to decline either my acceptance or support of such lifestyles and influence upon my children and society. If my wife and I ever have a little girl, I might just have to help found a local American Heritage Girls troop.

Column for Dec. 8, 2011

2011-12-08T09:51:00.002-05:00

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” - Second Amendment to the US Constitution.

Recently, I got my concealed carry weapons permit renewed here in Johnston County. I have held such a permit for over a decade. That means that I had to take a class, prove that I am proficient in the use of a handgun, pass a criminal and mental health background check, and give my fingerprints for the state to have on file. A class costs time and money, gun range time costs money, ammunition costs money, and the application and renewal fees cost time and money every five years. I also hold a federal firearms curio and relic collector’s license. That means that I also got a thorough background check by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

Notice the text of the Second Amendment. There are no qualifiers on that statement. Is simply says that my right shall not be infringed. Unfortunately, many such qualifications have been placed on that right. I have to obtain and carry a permit for carrying firearms. I have to obtain a permit to purchase a handgun, and submit to a background check if I want to purchase a firearm. I am prohibited from carrying firearms through certain states. I am prohibited from carrying firearms in certain places.

There are several debates going on right now about compliance with a new state law that prohibits municipalities from restrictions on where one can carry a weapon such as in parks but allows exceptions for “recreational facilities”. Of course freedom hating gun control nuts will attempt to make those exceptions as broad as possible.

Close to home, Smithfield is still banning the carrying of weapons at the aquatics center and at certain parks. They want to keep as much of the ban in place as legally possible. The police chief in Smithfield seems to be in support of this, based upon his quotes on the subject. Then again, that is not surprising considering how whiny his department has been about their most recent budget and how they handled it, but that is another column for another day.

In Garner, the same battle is being waged. State level gun rights groups have gotten involved there in the fight there, as well as in Smithfield. Grass Roots North Carolina is a great gun rights organization, and while typing this, I am reminded to renew my membership with them.

There are a few exceptions to the control freak behavior. Down Highway 70 is the town of Havelock. Though the town’s athletic director proposed maintaining restrictions like Garner and Smithfield, two of their town council members are strongly opposed to the idea of maintaining any such gun restrictions. One councilman, George Liner, argued that concealed carry permit holders are law abiding citizens and have passed all the state requirements and expense outlined earlier. The other, Danny Walsh, said, “The problem is that for 200 years it has been understood in America, and one of the reasons no one has invaded us, is that everyone here has a gun and can use it. And the fathers of those 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds have been going to war for that right and other rights. I don’t want to infringe on a right that the federal government gave us 200 years ago that is reasonable." Walsh is exactly correct with the exception that it was not a right bestowed by the federal government, it was seen as a God given right and the federal government was to preserve it.

These debates are an example of why I am no longer a member of the National Rifle Association. They have been known for a lot of compromise on gun rights rather than being rigid such as Gun Owners of America and Grass Roots North Carolina. The NRA will attempt to influence national level elections, such as for Congress, but will not get involved in local elections, even though they have local field representatives. They can pull local databases to solicit local people for donations but refuse to use the same database for helping gun friendly candidates get elected to public office. I know since I have been down that road with them personally. Ironically, the very week that the NRA told me that local elections were not their concern regarding gun control, they moved their annual conference to another city because of the original venue’s stance on gun control. What hypocrisy.

I hope that all elected officials at the county and municipal levels take heed that people are tired of their liberties being eroded. Freedom loving, law abiding citizens are just that. It is the criminal element that is the problem, not people like myself who went through stringent scrutiny in order to exercise their constitutional right. There are no qualifiers on that right, but we still underwent unconstitutional requirements in order to “legally” exercise it . If that right is infringed, it is no more a right and is rather a privilege beholden to the privilege granter. Had people like me been around and were armed on the campus of Columbine High School, Fort Hood, or Virginia Tech, the outcomes may have been very different and lives saved.

Column for Dec. 1, 2011

2011-11-30T10:40:00.002-05:00

During recent a Republican Presidential candidate debate, Newt Gingrich was asked about his views on the killing of “enemy combatants” who are American citizens living overseas and actively fighting against America during a state of war (such as Anwar al-Awlaki). A member of the press tried to chastise Mr. Gingrich saying that the “rule of law” required a court of law to take the decision to kill an American “citizen”. Personally, I found Gingrich’s answer brilliant and on target (if you pardon the pun). Newt Gingrich is often one of the smartest people on stage during debates, but I don’t know that he will be a successful candidate and capable of taking The White House in the next general election.

I recently had the same conversation with a friend of mine from high school. I take the side of Newt Gingrich which is that someone who is actively pursuing war against America need not be convicted of treason before he can be a target of war. My friend, Roger, a career military man, takes the opposite opinion, in that he believes that the Constitution requires that a bad guy be tried and convicted of treason before we can whack him because he is technically an American citizen by birth, regardless of where he currently resides. With Roger’s permission, I am sharing the conversation.

Me: [sharing a video clip of the relevant part of the debate] “Gingrich gets it correct and this media hack moderator is a bonehead.”

Roger: “Troy, are you kidding me? Guilty under review? Where is that in the Constitution? The alleged (likely happened but we still have an obligation to try a US citizen before we execute them, especially when we have the capability to bring them to justice, as we did in the case of Awlaki) crime Gingrich describes is TREASON. Treason happens to be the only crime specifically outlined in the Constitution. Article III section 3:

“Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

“This is just populist drivel for him to get himself elected. Mind you, I'll vote for him if he is the nominee for one simple reason, HE IS NOT BARACK OBAMA.

“It really saddens me that the Constitution that I swore to defend and did defend for 21 years is so easily ignored.”

Me: “No, I am not kidding you. Where is it in the Constitution that someone who is actively engaged in war activity against the US (which is indeed defined as treason under the Constitution) and is resident in another country shall be captured, tried, and convicted rather than eliminated? The populist drivel is that he must be captured, tried, and convicted. When the individual is an active enemy, he is to be considered as such, regardless of his nationality. That is just common sense. If it means targeting someone actively involved in combat against the country, I do not see where the Constitution requires a criminal trial rather than an act of war during war.

“I am well aware of Article III Section 3. I taught on the Constitution and US history for about four years. Attacking your enemy in combat, regardless of the individual's nationality is not ignoring the Constitution. It would be different if we were no longer in a state of active warfare and the individual captured, or even that this scumbag was captured as a POW. THEN, we would have a case for a criminal case of treason and a reason for a trial. That is the nature of war. If a scumbag gets taken out during a wartime operation, c'est la guerre.

“If in the 1700's General Arnold was taken prisoner (and if the Constitution was in force then. But the Articles of Confederation did not have a provision for defining treason, only about extradition for, or as a reason to be able to inhibit freedom of speech in Congress) then there would have been a reason for a trial and a charge of treason. If he was shot and killed during an attack on the enemy, I can not fathom for one moment that there would have been a debate whether or not it was wrong to have put a musket ball through his head while engaged in warfare...”

The conversation was longer than this, but it is a relevant discussion about the future of our country and how we conduct our affairs. On the one hand, the arbitrary power of an executive to declare someone an enemy combatant and summarily execute them could lead to a slippery slope and the killing of American citizens at home or abroad without a court trial. On the other hand, it is also a matter of properly, efficiently, and swiftly conducting wartime operations in the case of scumbag terrorists plotting our demise.

Column for Nov. 24, 2011

2011-11-22T20:17:00.002-05:00

I am looking at the charter for The Town of Selma,. I am looking for its general contractor’s license or business development license therein. I am also reading through NC General Statues Chapter 160A, which specifies how towns are to operate. I am not a lawyer and won’t drag through every jot and tittle, but I don’t see the power of a town to become a venture capitalist. The only thing I have read that even remotely comes close is “A city may contract with and appropriate money to any person, association, or corporation, in order to carry out any public purpose that the city is authorized by law to engage in.” That would be a very broad interpretation.

I do see the power of a town government to regulate certain business, just not to create or subsidize them. Towns are given the right to levy taxes for various purposes, including “to provide public auditoriums, coliseums, and convention centers”, the key word being public. One statute (160A‑279) says, “Whenever a city or county is authorized to appropriate funds to any public or private entity which carries out a public purpose, the city or county may, in lieu of or in addition to the appropriation of funds, convey by private sale to such an entity any real or personal property which it owns; provided no property acquired by the exercise of eminent domain may be conveyed under this section; provided that no such conveyance may be made to a for‑profit corporation.”

In last week’s “The Selma News”, I read with interest the article on The Rudy Theater. The article did not seem clear on the ownership status of the theater, though the verbiage did mention "the Rudy Theater will transition from your company to the Town of Selma..." That leads me to believe that the theater is privately owned by them, not the town. Thus, I checked with one of our elected officials on the matter and verified this. It also seems that the concept of Selma becoming a theater owner, partner, or builder was something sprung upon the Town Council, which makes me wonder about some of the politics behind this whole plan. I am wary of the idea of a town of only 6,100 (according to the town’s own web site) going into debt to finance a sizable private business venture.

If the property belongs to the theater production company, why would the town consider using taxpayer money to renovate/expand/rebuild a private business? Though The Rudy is a nice thing to have in the town, I have a hard time believing that we generate enough tax revenue from either the theater or its patrons to pay for the public expenditure for its expansion. If we are looking at building a new facility, why? If Rudy Theatre Productions could afford to buy The Rudy and even do some renovations, they can build a new facility more to their liking themselves. For the town to consider both building a new facility and taking over the old is a double cost in that we will pay for the new construction plus for any renovations and upkeep of the old facility.

Just on principle alone, I would have a problem with the concept of the town paying for a private facility. Why would we subsidize the leisure activities of a few people? First, the majority of Rudy patrons are probably not local townspeople. I see buses come in from all over for their quality shows, and I doubt seriously that they heavily patronize our local establishments. Especially since, we have no restaurants to speak of in downtown any more, so we are not getting sales or meals tax revenue from them. Next, if the people are from out of town, why would the town subsidize residents of other municipalities to partake of their chosen leisure activities like live shows?

This is my major quibble with the building of sports facilities for football, basketball, and baseball teams. A sports team owner decides that he wants a nice, new stadium and threatens to leave town if he doesn’t get one. The town, state, and county involved generally capitulate and either perform major renovations (a la Five County Stadium) or build something new (like Charlotte, Minnesota, or other major sports areas) and the taxpayers are on the hook for millions of dollars to support the leisure activity of sports fans and for the employment of professional athletes. At least with major sports teams, the local economy generally sees a big benefit for hotels, restaurants, facility rent, naming rights, concessions, sales, local employment, etc.

I personally like to go to the firing range, but the town does not supply a shooting range for my enjoyment. There are more people who own firearms in Selma than go to the Rudy, I guarantee. Why would we not enjoy taxpayer subsidy for our recreation? Is it fair to subsidize one activity over another? For what purpose? The prestige of having a theater in our town, even if it is of little economic benefit? If we are going to subsidize businesses, since Selma chose to become "The Antique Mecca of the South", why would we not subsidize privately owned antique business to attract more patrons and boost sales tax revenues and the occupancy rate of downtown businesses? Why this one niche of business over others?

Let’s ask the citizens of Roanoke Rapids and Halifax County how the public expense of building a performance theater worked out for them. I drive to Roanoke Rapids regularly for business and pass by the empty theater often. They had a tenant with some major backing lined up and even performing regularly. Millions of dollars and several legal actions later, the town has ended up owning the entire complex and is deep in debt.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for allowing The Rudy to expand their own facility and am in support of even using the designated revenues set aside for marketing through The Johnston County Visitors Bureau to promote the theater along with other attractions in town. I am just not in favor of the town building their facility for them at taxpayer expense.

Column for Nov. 17, 2011

2011-11-17T08:54:00.001-05:00

I did not get to watch the municipal election results as they came in on television last week. I got home from vacation on Monday, and tried the best I could to catch up with all the stuff one has to do when coming back to work after a week off. I did manage to wade through some 600 or 700 emails, handle some communications, pack a suit case, go vote at my neighborhood polling place, and eventually head to Durham. After working there for the afternoon, I took off for Charlotte, which is where I am as I write this column. I watched the election results via my laptop computer and the County Board of Elections web site. That was good enough for me.

I read the vote count for the Selma mayor’s race and the town council race. I checked several web sites for local news outlets, as well. One local news outlet got the reporting wrong and it is still wrong as of this writing. It said that we have three seats on the Selma Town Council and the mayor’s position that were filled in the election. The last I knew, we had two of four town council seats up for election every two years and the mayor up for election every election cycle.

Personally, I was glad to see the outcome of the mayoral race. I have made no secret of my dislike for the methods of leadership employed over the past six years. I don’t like bullies or dictatorial leadership. I don’t like forced annexation, tax hikes, corporate welfare incentives, or wasting money on frivolity.

Congratulations to Cheryl Oliver, our new mayor elect. I believe in giving praise where praise is due. Mrs. Oliver ran a good campaign, which I expected after seeing her previous campaign for town council. She has been articulate, willing to listen, and laid out her views. I have not always agreed with all of her views, but I can appreciate that she has been able to articulate and defend her views. I can only hope that Mrs. Oliver serves with the same enthusiasm and slant on things as she has shared with me in conversation.

I know that Tommy Holmes was out campaigning this year, probably more than previous years. On a personal level, I like Tommy Holmes. I wish that his message was deeper, broader, and more articulate than “don’t raise taxes”, but that message apparently resonated with voters. When I ran for town council six years ago, I was relatively unknown, could do little campaigning, and Mr. Holmes got just 14 more votes than I did. I compare that to the latest vote where he garnered more votes than anyone else, including an incumbent and a long time public servant and former councilman. He seems to have worked harder this election. I know that Tommy came by my home while I was on vacation and he got to speak with my mother-in-law, who was house, dog, and babysitting while my lovely bride and I were out of the country.

In looking over the election results for neighboring Wake County and was sad to see that Heather Losurdo lost her runoff election for the Wake County School Board. The boldness of the school board in reversing the insanity of busing children across the county may eventually be reversed with a progressive, liberal majority again in Wake County.

As I wrote, I was stuck in Charlotte for the night of the elections. In Charlotte, Democrats swept a huge majority for town council and won the mayoral race. There looks to also be a shake up in the Mecklenburg County School Board. I don’t know what Charlotte and Wake County voters are thinking, but apparently they have not yet had enough of higher taxes, high spending, and Communist like social engineering.

There is one thing that I do know. There is another election coming up in just a few months for the Presidential Primary season. Also, there is another municipal election coming in another two years. Two years after that, every person just elected for town council and boards of education will be up for re-election. Every few years, we get the chance to change course and fix wrongs. That is the wisdom of our republican form of government.

Column for Nov. 10, 2011

2011-11-09T21:53:00.000-05:00

I wrote about voting with your feet several weeks ago. I just ran across another such instance. My lovely bride too the family automobile to an automotive service establishment for its routine service. I tend to have this performed on regular basis. For years, we have been taking our personal and my company vehicles there for oil changes.

With this particular establishment, I had taken my company vehicle there just a week prior for service. I noticed that the management and staff seemed to have changed since my last visit. Certainly the demeanor of the personnel and level of service I got was less than to which I was accustomed. Still, when the family mini-van needed service, my wife and I figured that this place would be fast, even though it was slightly higher priced than I like to pay.

When the wife came home with a bill of over $130 for an oil change, my curiosity was raised. The company had performed unauthorized service on our vehicle. When I called them to inquire about it, I was informed that my wife had authorized the work, which is something she emphatically denies. Knowing that my wife is not prone to telling falsehoods, I had confirmed with her ahead of the phone call as to the details of the experience. Basically, the manager there called my wife a liar. Well, they just lost my business, my company’s business, and that of my family and friends.

By the time this column is published, the local municipal elections will have taken place. Whether I wrote this weeks or a day in advance, I would not yet be able to comment on the results because of publishing deadlines. I want to know that a candidate is well informed, has looked at the issues, and shares most of my values before I will consider voting for him or her. I wrote earlier about not having found any election guides yet on the internet, but I read the one for the municipal election in the October 27th edition of “The Selma News”. I must admit that I was disappointed in what I read there. How in the world does someone running for local elected office turn down the opportunity to have their views published in the local newspaper? Three candidates only had, “Declined to comment” listed by their names. I can only assume that someone running for office believes that they can do better than the current crop of representatives already in office. That means that you have to convince voters of that concept. I specifically look for local candidate interviews and responses to issue questions.

Some of the candidates that did answer slightly disappointed me as well. On the one hand, one candidate “would like to see more police officers on the street and more programs for the senior citizens.” Then the same person says “under no circumstances I feel taxes should increase. I feel taxes should be decreased.” Well, we can’t have it both ways without substantial cuts in personnel and services elsewhere. We get the level of services for which we are willing to pay. If we are not willing to cut some services for the benefit of other ones we deem as more worthy and/or raise taxes, we can not afford more police on the streets.

Just about every candidate mentions the high rate of rental properties in town. I often wonder if this is a real issue to some, considering the rental property interests of some on the Town Council, but that is another issue. I agree that we have a disproportionate amount of renters in town. However, that will not change unless we make living in our “Charming Place to Be” enticing to new residents who would purchase homes.

All but two candidates discussed the need to keep taxes on the low end. One danced around the issue, and the other only stated that any tax increase would correspond to increased expenditures.

So, what does any of this have to do with the recent experience at an oil change shop? I just hope that we citizens and taxpayers don’t ask for one level of service, get something other than what we asked, and have to pay significantly more than we wanted or expected. If we do, more potential businesses and residents will be dissuaded from coming to our town.

Column for Nov. 4, 2011

2011-11-08T10:52:00.002-05:00

It is an odd numbered year. Signs are all over town for local candidates, whether they are large plywood ones, cardboard ones, or plastic ones. It must be municipal election season. This is pretty much an open letter to any candidate running for municipal office, in any town, but primarily my own.

I don’t know the position of every candidate running for office in my hometown. There are incumbents who have a voting record that I have followed. There is at least one candidate from whom all I have ever heard expressed for years has been, “Don’t raise taxes”. There are candidates with whom I am not familiar and have heard nothing about their views. As of this writing, I have looked for articles and questionnaires about candidates, but so far nothing has been found. I am writing this column a few weeks ahead of time, so I can understand why that may be the case.

The first thing I would say to candidates is to not be afraid to do what you were elected to do. If you were elected to stop irresponsible spending, then do just that. If you were elected to keep the tax rate down, lower utility costs, etc., then stand firm and do it. Do not let bullying tactics and political pressure keep you down. I was telling two candidates that I really want to see an end to dictatorial style leadership in my town. They were in full agreement.

As a citizen, I am interested in eliminating the superfluous spending on stupid stuff. I commented years ago about how the Town of Selma has Christmas lights on all year long and was criticized for my stance that it is tacky, a waste of electricity, and unnecessary. I stand by those comments, especially when I drive through town at night and see so many strands and bulbs that are burned out or non-functional throughout downtown. What a waste. Other wasteful things were the hiring of consultants for an unused “streetscape” plan, for a proposed new town hall, and for someone just to apply for a historic neighborhood designation. The historic neighborhood designation would realistically only benefit those who had older homes and have their personal egos stroked by having a house so designated. Those thousands of dollars could have been much better spent on fixing sidewalks, cleaning up the curbsides of town streets so they are not jungle-like, and many other projects.

I keep hearing one common theme from citizens and the couple of candidates with whom I have had the pleasure of speaking. That is about lowering the high utility bills in our public power community. I agree that something needs to be done, but it is probably more involved than just trimming rates. In reality, we need to divest ourselves of the electricity business and let private industry take it over. There would be more regulatory protections, lower rates, and we would get the exact same product. By and large, if a business provider can be found in the phone book, we probably should not have government doing the job.

I am a big proponent of personal freedom and property rights, unless those rights infringe upon my own. This can apply to forced annexation and the extension of planning jurisdictional authority. We do not need to greedily bring in more square miles in order to grow our town. We need to offer a better climate for growth. It seems that there are some sorts of businesses we can’t keep going in town. We do need a better approach to downtown development. I was opposed to the all antiques, all the time concept fifteen years ago and still am, as just one example.

Speaking of business development, I am not a fan of incentive packages for business. We need to be judicious if we are going to use them at all. I read about an incentive package the Town of Selma is giving to a Wendy’s franchise to build at Exit 97 off the interstate. Quite honestly, it is a good location and a serious business would be building regardless of an incentive, but at least the package offered was not a huge one. If it goes awry, or even well, taxpayers can get the short end of the stick, as with Dell, Verizon, FedEx, and other businesses that relocate to North Carolina.

Even Sysco was a successful failure as an “incentive”. Though Sysco came to Selma, the company calls the Selma facility its Raleigh Division, the facility has not necessarily employed a bunch of Selma residents or attracted hundreds of people to live in Selma. Even their vice president bought his house in Clayton, not Selma. There is so much more that I could write, but brevity is not my friend this week.

So, candidates for public office, know that citizens are looking for common sense, fiscally responsible, and freedom loving governance. Hopefully, the citizenry will hold you accountable to these standards.

Column for Oct. 27, 2011

2011-10-26T13:29:00.000-04:00

One of the things I have opined about since moving to North Carolina is the paradigm I found here about relative disregard for the inconvenience that people cause others. Call me a Yankee if you want, I really don’t care. I realize that I have a French surname not often found below the Mason-Dixon Line. Then again, I was born farther south than most anyone reading this column. I was raised in the state of New Hampshire and moved to Raleigh after graduating college to take a job there.

I have been in North Carolina more than half of my life now, certainly about all of my adult life. If that makes me still a Yankee in the eyes of some, so be it. I have a few news flashes for all those Southerners who readily throw around the term Yankee. First, the Civil War has been over since 1865. Second, Reconstruction is over and nobody who was considered a “Carpetbagger” is still alive today. Third, Yankees don’t consider the term a derogatory one, so try as you might, you are not going to get anywhere tossing that term around.

So why do I preface my column this way? Well, I was raised with the Yankee ethic that you should put forth a little more effort so as to not inconvenience other people if at all possible. For an area that claims “Bible Belt” status and high morals, the non-inconvenience concept does not seem to be among high on the priority list. Whether it is regard for others’ time, money, or effort, I have quite honestly found such consideration lacking in The South. Nowhere is this more evident to me than in the willingness to close roads around here.

In a small town of only 3.2 square miles (if Selma were a perfect square, that would mean that each side would only be 1.788854381999832 miles long) I find a good many street closings all allegedly in the name of safety or for the convenience of a select few. There are a bunch of streets that plain stop at railroad crossings. We have endured repeated street closings at live crossings that seem to drag on for weeks on end, and there has even been a debate about closing yet another street at a rail crossing. I wrote my opinion on that matter a few weeks back.

The Clayton Bypass was just fine the way it was for traffic entering onto Interstate 40. The problem was not design of the interchange but rather the sheer volume of commuting traffic. But some well intentioned control freak that does not mind further inconveniencing motorists thinks that it is a good idea to shut down one of the two lanes of traffic merging onto the interstate, so we have another example close to home about which to rant. Someone could not leave well enough alone.

What really cheesed me off recently was that I was driving to Research Triangle Park one morning and saw a work crew nailing down wood forms in the road at the rail crossing on North Pollock Street. I thought “To be sure, they are not going to make a traffic island there.” Sure enough, when I came home later in the day and drove southward on Pollock Street from Anderson Street, there were concrete traffic islands on either side of the tracks. Some pinhead behind a desk somewhere probably thinks that this is going to be a great safety feature. I see it as a huge inconvenience.

October 31st for many people means Halloween. For me, it marks the ninth anniversary of the day I closed on my house inside the 3.2 square miles we call Selma. I found out that there are some traffic lights that are short cycled and that there are some traffic lights that really need a protected left turn signal installed. One such light just happens to be on my regular route of travel here in town. In order to turn left onto West Anderson Street from Pollock Street, I used to wait at the traffic light on Pollock. Before 7 PM, that can be a difficult thing to do, believe it or not. I found that it is much more convenient to catch a break in traffic just after the railroad track and turn left onto Railroad Street, drive past the backside of my house, and go halfway around the block in order to get to my house. It is usually faster and more convenient that way. For the nine years that I have been living here, I have taken that shortcut, even if it is longer in distance. But no more.

Just how many reported accidents do we have at that intersection and rail crossing that would warrant the expenditure of revenue and inconvenience to drivers? I can not recall a single one that I have witnessed in my nine years of living here, not to mention several years of working in Selma previously. I am not sure if this was a governmental expenditure or a railroad expenditure. Either way, it was entirely unnecessary but probably made some bureaucrat feel good about the existence of his job.

Why the inconvenience and expense? Why the disregard for revenue expenditures and the inconvenience to motorists? I just don’t get it.

Column for Oct. 20, 2011

2011-10-19T20:34:00.000-04:00

I wanted to take a quick diversion right at the beginning this week to share a chuckle I had from the front page of last week’s “The Selma News”. There was a headline that said, “Just in time for Halloween: Selma has a bat problem”. I chuckled when I saw that because I have known that Selma had bats since I moved here. No, I am not talking about some of the residents or even Town Council members, but I have heard bats at night in this town for almost a decade now. Sometimes when I am outside late at night walking my old, trusty dog, Barack Odaga, also known as Slime Dog (his given name), I will hear the screech of bats overhead or nearby. I just took it for granted that this town had bats in it. Now I read that someone is just now making it known to the Town Council that there is a bat problem in town. I chuckled and sarcastically said to myself, “Noooooooooooooo, ya’ think?” Anyway, now back to the regularly scheduled rant, already in progress.

A friend of mine who lives in Wake County and decided to home school his son said to me and a television audience that if Wake County Schools are not smart enough to take a compass or protractor, lay it on a map, draw a circle around a school’s location, and have the children that live within the circle’s radius attend that school, then he didn’t want them educating his child. That seems like a common sense thing to me. It made sense when I went to school that I would go to the closest, neighborhood school available.

Unfortunately, voters in Wake County seem to have lost their common sense in their election this past week. They fell prey to the progressive mantra about diversity. The very people who fought for the right to simply go to a neighborhood school during the civil rights era of the 1960’s were the very ones who argued that the act of letting neighborhood children go to a neighborhood school in this present day is racist and hateful. They were organized and unrelenting in their attacks and disinformation. Of course the left leaning media outlets lapped it up like my aforementioned dog slurps the leftover milk from my morning bowl of cornflakes. As a result, some courageous school board members have been voted out of office.

Men and women who stood for the common sense concept of letting children go to schools in their own neighborhoods rather than needlessly transporting them across the county for the sake of racial and economic diversity will be replaced by potentially snivelling control freaks who don’t think that parents should have a say in the education of their children. One dear friend of mine was rather upset by this election result and, well, I can’t print here what she had to say about it.

I am thankful that we do not have such issues here in Johnston County. If we did and we were going to truly follow the spirit of racial and economic diversity, we would probably have to bus in White children as well as students from wealthier neighborhoods from the other side of the county. White children at Selma Elementary, by nature of the town demographics, are the vast minority. Also, children not receiving government assistance in the form of free and reduced lunch prices are also a tiny minority. In order to balance this out, should children from perhaps the Cleveland community be put on school buses and sent clear across the county to help populate Selma Elementary? For that matter, should students with Hispanic surnames who live in Selma be bused to Polenta Elementary School? Of course not.

Here is one thing I will say about the lefties in this country. When they think that they have a cause, they rally behind it, however misguided it may be. One only needs to look at the “Occupy New York” and other similar “Occupy” rallies held across the country. They have no real coherent message other than to demonize those who hold wealth in order to force some of it to be appropriated for use by others. Redistribution of wealth makes as little sense to me as redistribution of students for the sake of diversity. Both have politically correctness and socialist indoctrination as part of their core.

How is that “hope and change” thing working out for you? I would say not so well. Yes, there can be change, but let us not continue the slide into socialism and government control. Keep that in mind this next election season, even when we have municipal elections next month.

Column for Oct. 13, 2011

2011-10-13T12:48:00.000-04:00

Every once in a while, my thoughts in life seem to fall in direct order with something I will see or hear. I have had a few conversations recently with people and even written about my living in Johnston County and my involvement in public activities over the years. I believe in getting involved, whether at the governmental level, in Christian service, in a group like Cub Scouts, or even banging away on this keyboard for years. I endeavor to leave my impact on my town, my county, my state, and my nation in one way or another. It may be through my offspring or via my direct influence.

Sometimes I wonder if anything I write or say has an impact. Recently I had a conversation with a young man with whom I was engaged in a disagreement. Weeks later he came to me and told me that something I said during that less than calm dispute stuck with him. A seed was planted, took root, and bore fruit. This young man’s life was seemingly changed for the better.

Recently I had a conversation with someone who has stepped their foot into the local public spotlight. I was told that this person’s family reads my column regularly, for which I am grateful to hear. I have long said that I want to impact people’s thought patterns for the better, which in my opinion, would be the adherence to the principles I have been hammering away on and espousing here for the past five years.

Do I do it for the pay? (Snicker, snicker!) Good grief, no. My pay has remained the same for the past five years, which is the satisfaction of knowing that my ramblings are printed here each and every week and that people, whether they love or hate me, are reading. I do get a free copy of this paper every week, though, so I guess you could say that I do it for the satisfaction, the love of writing, and a $20 subscription. And for those, I am both very grateful and content. I am happy just being a small town newspaper columnist.

Many times I have listened to big name talk radio show hosts and known that I am better than what I was hearing come through the speakers of my stereo or streaming on my computer. Though I wonder why those opportunities come to some and not others, I am learning more and more to be content. I am striving to live out Paul’s admonition in 1 Timothy 6, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.”

Just this Sunday, I listened to a sermon that dealt with our attitudes towards government officials. I admit that I often fall short on that topic, primarily because there is so much of which to be critical and I happen to be a rather outspoken individual, having no shortage of opinions. Those opinions have grown and matured over time to a place where I feel comfortable with what I believe. Ergo I am confident to and endeavor to be a beacon with a truthful, steady message. Anyway, the passage mentioned was out of the book of Jeremiah, in chapter 29. “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (CEV).

Sometimes I feel like I am in exile, maybe even Babylon. I never wanted to move to Johnston County. I was quite satisfied living in Raleigh with the exception of the ever increasing rent on a townhouse I was renting. It took God Himself telling me that he wanted me in Johnston County to get me to move here. I have often wondered why. I have now been a Johnstonian for about fourteen years and a “Selmite” for nine. Wherever I find myself planted, I endeavor to seek the welfare of the city where I was sent. I try to do so with this column, with my community involvement at various levels, it is why I ran for elected office, and why I will continue to plug away at what I know to do.

The Jeremiah 29:7 principle sums up my reason for being in this town. I need to pray more for our community. I am sure that we all do.

Column for Oct. 6, 2011

2011-10-05T20:20:00.003-04:00

You vote with your feet. You vote with your wallet. How many times have you heard those two statements? Well, they are true, which is why those sayings are still around. Then again, untrue statements like, “It takes a village to raise a child” still linger in our vernacular. No, it takes committed parents to raise a child, but that is another topic for another day.

I vote with my feet. I decided to leave ineffective organizations, whether they were political parties, town advisory boards, church groups, civic organizations, or county government boards. I vote with my wallet, too. I currently have in place family boycotts on two restaurants and one grocery store. One restaurant boycott is in place because of political and ideological treason committed by its owner in 2010. The other restaurant boycott is against a Mexican cuisine establishment because they were closed May 1, 2006 in observance of “A Day Without Immigrants”. If you remember, that was a nationwide event in which primarily Hispanic businesses closed down for a day in protest against stances for tighter immigration policies and in support of illegal immigrants. I used to go to that restaurant almost every week because of their excellently priced dinner specials on Tuesday nights. The grocery store boycott is because of the obnoxious treatment I received from the store’s proprietor in 2005. For six years I have not bought any groceries at that one store despite its convenient proximity. For over five years I have not eaten at the Mexican restaurant. For well over a year, I have not taken my family to the other restaurant, and we used to patronize them regularly. These businesses have lost many thousands of dollars of my business as I voted with my wallet. The ineffective groups have not had my assistance or participation because I voted with my feet.

In a day when most politicians practice kissing babies while stealing their candy, and mortgage their futures with unsustainable debt, every so often one elected official does the right thing by voting with the wallet of his constituents and with his feet. I give applause to Johnston County Register of Deeds, Craig Olive, for his decision to withdraw Johnston County from the North Carolina Association of Registers of Deeds. That organization gets money from member county governments and has come under scrutiny for its activities behind closed doors and poor fiscal responsibility.

Mr. Olive was quoted as saying, “I fought against customer fee increases, membership increases, opposed the organization's secrecy, and pushed hard for the removal of personal identifying information that can lead to identity theft. When the statewide association wanted to close its meetings to the tax-paying public, I said no. They did it anyway. Last year, when the association wanted to raise customer fees and member dues, which come from county taxpayers, I said it was too much. They went ahead with them anyway. In an effort to cut costs in these dire economic times, I have reduced my office's budget significantly. Meanwhile, the statewide association continues to spend recklessly. Even after the recent newspaper expose, its leaders suffer an arrogant sense of entitlement. I can no longer contribute Johnston County tax dollars to support such a wayward association, so I will not be renewing our membership and our financial support of it.”

That sort of decision by Craig Olive took a bit of political courage to buck the current system, but it also took some common sense. Why continue feed the beast that is ravaging you? Why waste taxpayer dollars on causes that are antithetical to your charge as an elected official and your beliefs as a responsible citizen?

On a side note, I still cannot get past Craig’s elected title. Is not the Register of Deeds the official record of deeds whereas the person who oversees the register should be the Registrar? Who came up with the title “Register of Deeds” with which to refer to a person? That has never made sense to me. Nonetheless, my thanks as a taxpaying citizen and as one who voted for Registrar Olive. For what it is worth, Craig Olive has done a better job than for which I first gave him credit. I was willing to vote for him because he has always had an ambition for public service and because I knew his conservative ideology. He has been the exception to the rule, in my opinion, outperforming my personal expectations. Craig has fortunately voted with his feet and with our wallets on our behalf. Thank you, Craig.

Column for September 29, 2011

2011-09-29T09:54:00.002-04:00

When will these people get it? Liberal tax and spend Democrats (and even some Republicans) don’t know what the word, “NO!” means or understand basic economics. I was reading a news story about a North Carolina State Legislator who wants to bring back a one cent sales tax increase for us citizens to pay. It did not take long to comprehend why it is being proposed again. Bill Faison is a state representative from near Berkley East, meaning liberal Orange County.

The plan that he has been pitching is to reinstate a one penny (1%) sales tax hike to fund state jobs that have recently been cut. His wants to rehire over 6,400 state employees that were laid off because of budget cuts. His claim is that the tax hike would bring in over a billion dollars a year. His slogan is “Give a penny, hire a state worker.” I will admit that a one cent sales tax would be nearly invisible to the average shopper. When I go to Wal-Mart and spend a few hundred dollars, I may never notice the increase in the tax. However, over a year’s course of time, that one penny sales tax hike adds up.

Several things occurred to me as I read the news story. First is that someone is actually proposing a tax hike in a down economy. That is abject stupidity. Of course that is exactly what is currently happening on the national level, not just the state level. The second thing is that state employees were laid off. Obviously they were not essential to the workings of the government, hence their dismissal. That tells me that they was extra baggage that was attached to an already bloated bureaucracy. I feel for the people who lost their jobs. We had to deal with it in our own household, too, as my wife used to be a government employee. I know first hand as a former state employee that there are more employees than are necessary for the efficient running of the government. I also know that some agencies are anemic on employees whereas other departments are employee laden and bloated.

On December 15, 1802, Thomas Jefferson said in his annual address to Congress, “...when merely by avoiding false objects of expense we are able, without a direct tax, without internal taxes, and without borrowing to make large and effectual payments toward the discharge of public debt and the emancipation of our posterity from that mortal canker, it is an encouragement, fellow citizens, of the highest order to proceed as we have begun in substituting economy for taxation...” Congress, along with the previous two administrations had instituted certain taxes. Jefferson decided to eliminate those taxes and instead allow the economy to grow. A growing economy with lower taxes actually eventually brings in an increased amount of revenue. John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush also knew this principle.

One oft overlooked portion of that quote is “avoiding false objects of expense”. This simply means cutting spending levels and unnecessary expenditures. Jefferson also endeavored to eliminate the public debt rather than allow what he considered a moral canker to affect future generations. In all of the presidential administrations from George Washington to George W. Bush, the national government accrued some $12 trillion in debt. Under the present administration alone, we have doubled that figure. Jefferson would have most certainly considered this more than just a moral canker.

The Town of Smithfield has not figured out simple economics yet, either. Smithfield is attempting to force new businesses just outside of their public utility boundary to use their services rather than allowing them to use the cheaper, equally available electricity provided directly from Progress Energy. It is all about bringing in more revenue into the town. It has nothing to do with fostering a business friendly climate under which a company can thrive. It is all about feeding the voracious appetite of government.

I have written of my views on public power grids and their detrimental affect upon citizens and business. It would be one thing if Smithfield offered rates the same as Progress Energy, but they don’t. Furthermore, it is unconscionable to me to force businesses to go with a higher energy cost just because a town wants to use its governing power to gain more revenue. Lower overhead costs like the cost of electricity will help foster a better business climate, not forced, punitive, higher rates. Anything higher than what the power company would charge is nothing more than a tax increase, and I doubt that Thomas Jefferson would find it to be anything more than yet another moral canker.

Column for September 22, 2011

2011-09-23T09:27:00.000-04:00

As I write this week’s column, I am sitting in a hotel room along the North Carolina coast. I finally took a break from working on a project for my employer. I am a technician for a large multi-media and entertainment company. Sometimes I put in long hours, sometimes I travel, and sometimes during my travels, I have to stay the occasional overnight (or several nights).

It is part of my job to work long hours when needed. More than that, it is part of my ethic to do so. There are limits, though. I will have a life outside of my job and I will have extra-curricular activities. For instance, I volunteer with a local Cub Scout pack in Smithfield. There was a feeble attempt to start a new pack in Selma a few years ago, for which I offered to become involved in any needed capacity. Since that work never materialized, I became involved along with my eight-year-old son in the existing organization. I am sure that I will have to go through it all over again in four or five years with my toddler when he is old enough to get involved in Scouting. Then, when the “bun in the oven” is born and is old enough, he or she may well get involved in Scouting and Dear Old Dad will probably be involved then, as well.

Last week I had a weekend off from work. I got a phone call from a co-worker asking about a technical problem he was having. The technician on call had already been on the road that day and I was one of the few people who knew about the technology in question. So, I got drafted into working on a Sunday afternoon. In so doing, I had to blow off my commitment that day with Cub Scouts. That was the “season opener”, so to speak, for this year’s Cub Scout activities. I was not at all happy about it, but it was something that had to be done. After all, my employer supplies me with the job and salary that pays my bills.

On the way home, after working on my day off and missing my beloved Scouts, I had to stop by the friendly, local grocery store and pick up a few items. I took my less than twelve items to the express checkout lane, which was misnamed at this point. The young man behind the counter was obviously new. He had to constantly get help from other checkout staff no less than four times on one transaction. I don’t blame him for the problem and long wait. I do blame the company for putting such an untrained newbie at the register. I also blame something else.

As I was waiting in line for the incredibly long transaction, I could not help but notice that the couple getting the small amount of groceries and tendered the payment that caused the debacle most likely did not speak English as their native language and were probably from a land south of our nation’s border. They were using a WIC voucher as payment. It was the voucher processing that gave the young cashier such a problem, only because it was new to him. As I looked over at the next register, I saw a middle aged man paying for his cart full of groceries with a government issued food stamp debit card. I was less than thrilled to know that I was paying for their grocery purchases as well as my own.

In this present economy, I understand that a lot of people may be out of work. It is frustrating, however, to work as hard as I do and see my tax dollars supporting so many others who are not. I know people who have never worked in their lives but are collecting food stamps, Social Security benefits, disability benefits, or other forms of government subsidy. For those who do want to work, the government created the high unemployment situation with their own policies, and many just can’t keep up with the cost of living life with no job.

To make it worse, President Barack Obama is trying to push through yet another stimulus spending package and tax hike under the guise of a jobs bill. As I was explaining to a friend of mine the other day, this bill follows a pattern. I said to him, “Step one: institute plans that will financially injure the country and cause job loss. Step two: create a so-called solution to the problem just created with more of the same strategy that caused the problem to begin with. Step three: take an increasing amount of control over the population in the name of remedying the now increasing problem caused the solution to the problem originally created.”

I realize that this so-called jobs bill probably won’t pass through Congress, but I have a feeling that things are still going to get worse before they get better and I am going to see a lot more WIC vouchers and food stamps at my neighborhood grocery store. Maybe at least the nice but inexperienced grocery clerk will get better at what he does.

The next addition to the LaPlante family countdown

2011-09-16T22:47:00.000-04:00

Column for September 15, 2011

2011-09-16T09:04:00.001-04:00

Last week I wrote about the tenth anniversary of the attacks of September 11th, 2001. There were specials on television all weekend commemorating that anniversary and the events thereof. I have to admit that I was sufficiently busy that I didn’t get to watch any of them. However, on Sunday morning I was driving to worship services with other saints of God and I stated listening to the various memorial services that were being broadcast live on the radio. Live services were being broadcast from the Wold Trade Center site, the Pentagon, and the United Flight 93 crash memorial in western Pennsylvania.

As I started listening, I said to myself that I should turn the station, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. The more I listened, the more I recalled the events of that day. I recalled the innocent lives that were taken by acts of pure evil. I recalled the bravery of citizens aboard United Flight 93 and that of not only emergency response personnel in New York City, but of ordinary people who helped and gave their lives for others. I was literally moved to tears.

One thing that irritated me about the aftermath of 9/11 was that I predominantly heard about the police and firefighters who ran in to the World Trade Center buildings that day to rescue people and perished in their efforts to do so. Maybe I am biased, but I often thought more about those who were trying to run out of the buildings, not just those who ran into them. Don’t get me wrong, I am in full support of emergency service workers. I did it for a living, myself at one point in my life. It is the sheer bravery and sense of duty to their fellow man that drove men to run into burning buildings and save the lives of others. These were people who willingly put their lives on the line and they deserve every last shred of respect that they got. My perspective is slightly different in that this was indeed their jobs. Their jobs were noble and it takes a special breed to save lives and property. It is the untrained, average person that perishes that I weep over even more, especially in such numbers.

I cringe at the special legal and media attention given to “cop killers” sometimes. Again, don’t get me wrong. I have great respect for law enforcement personnel. They are often highly trained and professional. I guess that the difference is that they are just that. They are armed, trained, and are paid to risk their lives. For that they deserve our admiration and respect. It is when untrained, unarmed, innocent lives are taken by evil people and often given far less attention that steams me even more.

I think that my perspective is this way because I have done the emergency response career. I have worked for and with police officials. I expect others who do that line of work to be willing to put their lives on the line as much as I was. My wife is often the biggest critic of and is harder on restaurant wait staff than I am. The reason is because she was a waitress for years, herself. She expects others who do that line of work to be as dedicated to service as she was, and I comprehend that.

I started to weep Sunday morning over the lives that were lost, the evil that came upon people, the children who would grow up without a parent or loved one, and the husbands and wives who lost their life partners.

To top all of this off, I started watching the show “24” on DVD. I had never seen a single episode until about a month ago. I bought season one on DVD and then quickly bought seasons two and three as well. They are fairly inexpensive now on Amazon.com and this is how I often watch TV shows. I find a show I want to see and sneak in an hour of watching in between work cycles. I was watching season two the past few days. It sort of gives the show a different perspective right around the ten year anniversary of 9/11. Yeah, it is just a TV show. I see a lot of things that are very “Hollywood” and unrealistic in the show. I have to suspend disbelief in order to enjoy the show at times, but that is the case with most television shows. Watching terrorist plots destroyed by Jack Bauer does give just a little bit of a desire to cheer the good guy, I guess.

I did not plan on going in this direction in this week's column, but that is what has been on my heart for the past few days. I pray that we never have to endure another attack in this country, but I know that we eventually will. The terrorists only have to get it right once to succeed in an attack. We as a nation have to get it right each and every time in order to prevent one.

World Trade Center

2011-09-08T08:41:00.001-04:00

With the upcoming 10 year anniversary of Sept. 11th, I am sharing this photo. I found it shortly after the events of 9/11 and kept it. It is an artist's rendering of what the rebuild World Trade Center should look like. I am in full agreement. It sends a message to the ones who perpetrated the act. We are still here.

Column for September 8, 2011

2011-09-05T20:48:00.006-04:00

This coming weekend will mark the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks on the United States. I remember well how I began my work day at my computer on the dining room table and had the television on in the next room. Since at the time I was in a small, rented, single wide trailer, the two rooms were open and near each other. I remember tuning to a news channel out of curiosity of the day’s events and caught a breaking story about a jet airplane that had hit The World Trade Center in New York City. I watched with astonishment as I observed live on national television, the second jetliner slam into the other tall building. There was no doubt that this was not a coincidence.

Just the day before, on September the 10th, I remember driving through Raleigh. I had an urgent feeling within me to pray. I had no idea why, but I had the burden. After a while, the Spirit of God said very clearly to me, “War is coming to your shores.” I had no idea that it would take the form it did the very next day.

I could sense the rising anger in America that day. It was almost palpable. Just as after December 7th, 1941, this nation heard of “a day that will live in infamy”, we had our own generation’s infamous day. Can you imagine during World War II the government issuing guidelines to minimize the role of Japan in the attack on Pearl Harbor? Ten years after the slaughter of thousands of innocent civilians and public safety officials, that is just what our government is attempting to do. The administration of President Barack Hussein Obama has issued guidelines to federal government managers admonishing them to minimize the role of Al Queda (i.e, radical Islam) in Sept. 11th. The guidelines state, “As we commemorate the citizens of over 90 countries who perished in the 9/11 attacks, we honor all victims of terrorism, in every nation around the world. We honor and celebrate the resilience of individuals, families, and communities on every continent...” Furthermore, the document states that with Osama Bin Laden dead, there is reason to “minimize references to Al Qaeda” and that “Al Qaeda and its adherents have become increasingly irrelevant.”

Look, I don’t care what sect or organization from whence the perpetrators of 9/11 came. I do know that they were adherents to a radical view of Islam. Lately I have been doing more study on Islam and I don’t find it to be “the religion of peace” like we keep hearing. I find that their definition of peace is having every person in the world in submission to their god, whether by personal volition or by sword.

On June 4th, 2009, President Barack Hussein Obama gave a speech in Cairo, Egypt that was meant to address Muslims about the relations between the United States and Islam. He said, “I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America's story.” He is correct. If Muslims had not conquered Constantinople in the year 1453 and cut off the land trade route from Europe to India and China, Christopher Columbus would not have been sent to find a sea route to the Orient by sailing westward. In so doing, he found the North American continent in 1492.

Thomas Jefferson sent the newly founded navy and marines to fight the Barbary Pirates, who were Muslims that captured the ships of other nations. We built new ships for our new navy to serve not only in the Quasi-war with France, but also in The First Barbaby War. The USS Constitution was a frigate that served well against the weaker corsair ships that the Muslims had at the time. “Old Ironsides”, as The USS Constitution was nicknamed, is still in service today. I have personally stood aboard that vessel and hope to again soon.

Make no mistake that the attacks on the United States were about us, not other nations. Though there are terrorist acts all over the world, perpetrated by radical Islam upon us “infidels”, commemorations of 9/11 are about our own country being attacked by radical Islam. I can not imagine wanting to minimize the role of the responsible party. I believe in this so much that I have purchased and wear a ball cap with the word “Infidel” in both English and Arabic on it to make it easier for radical Muslims to spot this Christian patriot. I will never forget September 11th, 2001, who perpetrated the events of that infamous day, and why. May God bless America, the land considered by radical Muslims to be “The Great Satan”.

Column for September 1, 2011

2011-09-01T09:06:00.001-04:00

How did you fare during Hurricane Irene? At our homestead, we fared the storm rather well. We still have not gotten around to picking up the storm debris as of the time I am sitting and writing this, but we will soon. Oddly enough, the yard at the house next to mine, which normally looks like it is owned by Herman Munster, looks better than mine. The house has been abandoned for years and the town regularly has to enforce the tall grass ordinance upon its owners, but a work crew came out just after the storm.

We have family and friends closer to the coast that had some flooding and power loss. I have family in New England that saw a lot of tree limbs down. I have a friend in New York state that had his entire house flooded up to the second floor, and he lost his car to Irene, as well. The Northeast is often prepared for blizzard conditions in the winter but is rarely prepared for events such as the recent earthquake and hurricane. Irene was just a category one storm when it hit North Carolina and moved up the eastern seaboard, but it still dropped a lot of rain and destruction in its path.

Long before hurricane season, we discussed purchasing a generator for emergency power. Just before the storm was coming, I found a decent price on a small generator that would have been more than sufficient to power my freezer and refrigerator. It figures that when I went back to the store, the only one left had been sold. Oh, well. Fortunately for us, we never lost electricity, telephone, cable television, or internet. We were able to keep in touch with others and current conditions.

The county’s Code Red system even called us when there were flash flood warnings issued. If you have not signed up for the county’s emergency telephone notification system, you can do so free of charge. Just go to the county’s web site and look for the Code Red logo. I was on the Local Emergency Management Planning Committee when this system was demonstrated for the county. It seemed to work well and should be able to suit our needs. It is a service provided at taxpayer expense, so it is not in reality “free” but it costs no extra money for us citizens to make use of it. If we are paying for it, we might as well use it. No offense to Greg Fishel and WRAL, but if the county is going to pay for an emergency service, I doubt I am going to pay to subscribe to another service.

Now there is yet another tropical depression that could become named storm number 12 and is predicted to come towards the east coast. As the east coast recovers from the Carolinas to Canada, I can only hope and pray for those who have suffered loss. There is that and I can help financially as I am able. I encourage you to do the same. My employer has set up a donation fund I am going to investigate. There are also some reputable charities out there that can take donations. Americans are some of the most generous people on the planet. We reach out to help earthquake and tsunami victims on the other side of the globe. We also tend to help our own. According to the CIA’s own web site, 76.8% of Americans are identified as professing Christianity. I tend to think that has something to do with the charitable ethos.

I have to be honest in that I don’t always understand God’s ways. I figure that I am not supposed to, since his ways and thoughts are higher than mine (Isaiah 55:9). I know of theological schools of thought that believe that God sends every hurricane. I know other opposing views that storms like this are of Satanic origin. I suspect that the truth is probably somewhere between the Calvinist and the hard core Arminian beliefs. I do know that God sends rain on both the just and the unjust alike and that the winds and the waves can obey His command. Does He give the command for tropical storms to develop? I have to be honest and say that I don’t have the answer to that question, but one day I hope to have an answer. What I do know is that I am thankful for God’s provision, the life that He has given, the tribulations that make us stronger, for the family he has given me, and the shelter he has provided from the storms of life, both material and metaphorical. May we all reflect upon God’s mercy and grace and be thankful for what we do have.

Column for August 25, 2011

2011-08-25T12:40:00.000-04:00

Should a town be beholden to the State of North Carolina for every last decision? I say no. I was reading the article in “The Selma News” about about the Town of Selma’s desire to close the road around the railroad crossing on Preston Street by the old feed mill. I cringed when I read about how the Town Council decided to hold off on the vote until next month. I wish I still had the newspaper in front of me, but my two-year-old got to it, tore up the paper, and it got tossed in the recycle bin. I do recall that the town wanted to get input from the state Department of Transportation before taking a decision. I am all for having all the needed information before you prior to taking decisions, but that irked me a bit.

If Selma is an autonomous government agency, then it has its own jurisdiction and decision taking ability. I am told that Preston Street is a state road despite its length and termination points. It probably should be a town road, anyway. As much as I disagree with the proposed closing, I do believe that it should be Selma's decision to take, considering that the road is entirely within the town's jurisdiction.

There is a reason that each town has its own jurisdiction. I think back to when Selma was rezoning a parcel of land so that it could be used for industrial applications, specifically for an ethanol plant. I recall it vividly because I was on the town’s Planning Board at the time and was one of those who voted on that matter. I also went to the town council meeting about that decision. What irritated me about that meeting was that our neighboring town of Pine Level wanted to have a say in the matter. Speakers from Pine Level droned on for quite some time about their opposition to the ethanol plant. First, the agenda item was for a rezoning request, not for a debate over the merits of an ethanol plant. Second, this was a Selma matter within Selma planning and zoning jurisdiction, and not that of Pine Level. Selma can take its own decisions within its own jurisdiction, thank you very much.

As to the road closing request coming from a safety perspective, I do have experience in this area. Safety and risk management are part of my educational and work background. Sometimes there are acceptable levels of risk to take. Anytime you get into an automobile, there are inherent risks associated with travel of any distance. Yet we assume that risk regularly. How often are we going to shut down an intersection under the guise of safety? That railroad crossing has been decades and yet I don’t recall a single massive wreck associated with it in the news since I have been a Johnstonian. So to me, the safety issue is a non sequitur.

This safety claim reminds me of my very first column in this very newspaper about the Town of Selma spending thousands of dollars to take down an abandoned water tower for alleged safety and liability issues. The tower had been fine as it was for decades, but in a time of budget cuts and layoffs of town personnel, the town spent money needlessly at that point. It was reasonable, assumable risk at the time and could have been accomplished later in better financial times.

There are two more reasons that I personally oppose the closing of this railroad crossing. The first is freedom. I occasionally use this public road, for which I pay taxes for its upkeep. I despise the many roads that already dead end at railroad tracks in this town. How many more are we going to close? Shall we wait until only Pollock Street, Buffalo Road, Anderson Street, and Ricks Road remains as crossings?

Furthermore, I am not much for accommodating a railroad’s desire to close a road when they keep digging up our crossings almost every year, especially at Ricks Road. We have the worst crossing there now we have ever had. Another bad crossing is now near the train depot on East Anderson Street. Trenches with gravel tossed in them have been the norm now for quite a while and are simply horrendous. I can remember at least four times in as many years that the crossing at Ricks Road has been closed and torn up. Each time it’s never a quality job as was done on Peedin Road in Smithfield, on Buffalo Road, or even in the Town of Lillington.

Until all of our crossings are fixed nicely by all railroads that cross through our town and in a timely fashion, I would not be so willing to make accommodations for taking away more of our town’s access ways. As it is, I saw three signs on three different roads just this week warning of temporary crossing closures. Closing multiple crossings for construction has happened before, and I find that to be more dangerous in terms of cutting off emergency response by fire and ambulance equipment than any single crossing remaining open. It almost makes me want to see Railroad Days changed to some other type of festival. I can’t possibly be the only one who thinks that way.

Column for August 18, 2011

2011-08-19T17:25:00.001-04:00

My wife and I bought a family membership to the NC Zoological Society about a month ago. We were planning a family trip to the NC Zoo in Asheboro, so we bought a membership for us and one more adult. We figured that since we make about one trip a year to one of the aquariums at our state’s coast and the zoo admission was sufficiently high that a membership that covers both places would make sense financially.

Had I known of all the animal sightings we were going to encounter in the coming weeks, I would not have gone to the zoo. Just this Monday we saw a vulture in front of our house. It was checking out a dead squirrel that had gotten run over in the street. When we came out the door, the startled bird flew away and I was a bit surprised to see a large bird taking flight at the end of my driveway. Then I looked to see what he was munching on and saw the dead, flat, gray rat with a bushy tail laying in the road.

Selma has an ordinance covering stray dogs. “It is unlawful for any owner or keeper of any dog to permit such dog to run at large within the town.” That is verbatim from the town code. It seems that we have a lot of them running around lately. I do take my dog outside, generally off leash since we pretty much cover from my house to the corner and back. My dog knows his territory and in general stays within it. When he has done his sniffing (reading the newspaper, as I call it) and relieved himself, we go back inside. My dog is always indoors, with me as we go outside together, or in my fenced backyard.

Lately we have been having issues with at least five different dogs wandering through the neighborhood. Three of them are habitually running loose. They especially become a nuisance when I attempt to take old Barack Odoga outside. Just last night a stray Golden Retriever came up to play with my dog, startling both him and myself. The dog got underfoot and I stepped on one of its paws. Whether I use a leash or not (and I occasionally do), these strays are a nuisance. My neighbor’s dogs have been known to be up at 2 AM barking at strays. That of course sets off the entire neighborhood alarm of barking dogs.

Selma has another town ordinance that has to be fractured in order to take care of the aforementioned one. One of the stupidest ordinances in town simply states, “Any person using an air rifle in the town shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.” There are no qualifiers for this ordinance. On my own property, I should be allowed to fire my Daisy Red Rider that I have owned since I was age ten. As long as I am not shooting anybody else or damaging the property of others, I should be allowed to have a BB shooting range in my back yard if I want. Besides, a BB in the side of a stray dog has been known to get rid of the nuisance. It is obvious that there are no real animal control efforts going on, so someone has to make the pesky critters leave the premises.

The last animal display that we saw happened within the last week. I took my wife and children out for an inexpensive family meal. The establishment serves up a pizza, salad, and soup buffet. It is fairly cheap, so we have been known to go there once in a while.

On Saturday afternoon we were grazing on the salad and attempting to find some normal style and appealing pizza on the buffet when a swarm of locusts entered the restaurant. I almost felt like Pharaoh after I refused Moses’ demand to let his people go.

An entire team of child soccer players came in while we were there. At first I said that they were going to be like locusts and pick the buffet clean. These children were all wearing uniforms that actually had a foreign company sponsor’s name in a foreign language on them. I don’t care from whence you come, but if you are going to enjoy the freedom in America and the relative prosperity that we have, at least assimilate to the language and culture.

While my wife and I took turns going up to the buffet to bring back plates of different kinds of pizza for our two children and ourselves, the locusts acted more like wild jackals. They pushed, shoved, and handled their buffet of prey. They picked apart the food with their bare hands, stepped on feet, ran into people, and never once apologized for doing so. They were loud, filling the entire restaurant with a buzz of foreign language, laughter, and the sound of silverware and plates clanging. We could barely hear each other above the din.

Who needs the zoo when we have wild dogs, vultures, cute gray rats, locusts, and jackals right here in Johnston County?

Column for August 11, 2011

2011-08-10T10:07:00.003-04:00

I don’t know about you, but I don’t enjoy losing thousands of dollars overnight. Thanks to the Congress and President of the United States, that is exactly what just happened. Whether or not I recover that money remains to be seen. I am sure that there are others who lost a lot more than I did, but any loss like this is something I notice. If you are like me, you may have a 401(k) retirement savings plan or perhaps some other sort of arrangements. Maybe you invest in the stock market for income or to dabble and play. Whatever your status is, I am sure that you have heard the news of the falling stock market over the past few days.

Quite honestly, I am not a big time investor, but I have made a few investments over the years and am working on building a nest egg for my retirement years. For years I have been socking away money into my company’s retirement plan. Like all things economic, the market fluctuates. I took quite a hit several years back when my employer merged with another company and the company stock plummeted. I lost thousands of dollars in the value of my 401(k). Just since last week, my retirement fund has lost over $6000 and that does not include the downturn from today’s market. Still, I would rather put my money in the market and risk it than putting it in the government coffers and pray that the government can afford to give me back my own money with a far lower rater of return on investment than what I am still getting in my 401(k).

With the recent federal government’s “credit rating” being downgraded a notch, a lot of investors are having knee-jerk reactions. David Beers, the head of Standard and Poor’s (one of three key credit-ratings agencies) government debt-rating unit, got it right. He said, “Congress and the administration are jointly responsible for the conduct of fiscal policy. So, this is not really about either political party." Predictably, the ones most responsible for the financial problems have been pointing fingers at everyone but themselves. I have in front of me two news articles about blame shifting for the stock market and credit rating debacle.

Far left liberals have been branding Republicans as steadfast ideologues that were inflexible. Senator (and former Presidential candidate) John Kerry blamed the “Tea Party” followers for the downgrade. No, Senator, it was a problem with spending that led to the downgrade, not a particular group of people who stood in opposition to the irresponsible and reckless spending that we have seen over the past five plus years (and yes, I include some of the tenure of George W. Bush in this) that was the reason that the nation’s credit rating was taken down a notch for the first time in our history.

The sodomite Representative from Massachusetts, Barney Frank proffered yet another absurd explanation. He blamed our “spending too much money being the military policemen of the world." In all fairness, I am in agreement with Frank that we should pull back our military from much of the world and police our own borders rather than protecting those of other nations and supporting the economies of foreign countries. However, military spending is not the problem alone. The problem is with entitlement spending that is eating up the majority of our budget. We spend far more on wealth redistribution than we do on the military. Barney Frank has had his hands involved with the Fannie Mae and Freddy Mack scandals, which were costly to the American taxpayers. The policies that he does support and fight for cost Americans far more than our military ever thought of costing.

I recently heard a Christian book publisher speak in Wilson, NC. He seemed fairly naive when it came to political issues. He stated that Democrats were too far to the left (I agree with that) and that the Tea Party was too far to the right. He was way off with that last part. The so-called Tea Party folks simply want a few things such as a return to fiscal sanity and the restrictions imposed by the US Constitution. There is nothing “far right” about wanting to adhere to our founding document. The ironic thing is that the person who coordinated that speaking engagement is a leader in the local Tea Party movement. I could feel the tension in the room after he made that inane statement.

In the interest of disclosure, I am not a registered Republican, nor am I a member of any Tea Party organization. As far as I am concerned, both are way behind the times. I don’t consider the GOP to be conservative any longer and I was preaching constitutional government and fiscal sanity long before the Tea Party Movement came about.

Here is what I do know for sure. It is the irresponsible policies of Congress and the President that have seriously affected my personal wealth and that of millions of other Americans. The leaches who depend upon government handouts and like the current reckless spending notwithstanding, let’s all remember who has been affecting our personal finances when we go to the ballot box in 2012.

Column for August 4, 2011

2011-08-06T13:33:00.001-04:00

I have long heard that the Food and Drug Administration forbids the claim that consuming citrus fruits can cure diseases like scurvy. Scurvy is caused by a vitamin C deficiency. Citrus contains vitamin C, therefore preventing and curing the disease. The British Navy found this out in the 1700’s and thus supplied their naval vessels with limes and other citrus fruits. Hence the origin of the term “limey” in reference to English sailors and later the English in general. The FDA, however, says that the claim of a fruit curing scurvy shall cause said fruit to be considered a drug and therefore subject to its regulation. I don’t know what sort of pinheads get hired at the FDA, but they certainly lack common sense. They just struck again and you will not believe their controlling nonsense, effectively requiring their almost religious doctrinal endorsement.

You may not be able to buy Blue Diamond Walnuts at the supermarket any more. When you go to Cold Stone Creamery or Hula Girl, you may not be able to get walnuts in the near future. The FDA has classified walnuts as a drug. This is based upon the fact that Blue Diamond claimed that the Omega-3 fatty acids contained in their nuts can have health benefits. It has long been known that Omega-3 fatty acids are good for health, according to several studies. Walnuts happen to contain these Omega-3, but apparently once a nut company claims this, the nuts are considered a drug. Without the expressed approval of walnuts as a drug, the Blue Diamond company can no longer distribute their product in the USA if they continue to make the health benefit claims.

Blue Diamond is going to cooperate with the FDA on this, but they could have generated an entire black market demand for their newly classified drugs. I can just see Selma Vice cracking down on walnut dealers here in town. It would make me want to hang out near one of the local convenience stores near the railroad tracks carrying a ziplock bag and say, “Psssstt...hey you! Wanna buy a walnut? It’s good stuff!”

Of course this restriction on freedom of speech (and accurate speech at that) is incredulous. On the other hand, a restriction on freedom was recently lifted here in Selma.

I was ambivalent about the school uniform policy adopted by Selma Elementary School several years back. I figured that maybe a decent quality dress code might be a good thing for school discipline. Of course the uniform policy was not really uniform, since colors and styles of clothing were not really homogeneous across the board. However the policy was more restrictive than the Johnston County dress code. What this meant was that we had to purchase a certain type of clothing each of the last 3 years for our grammar school aged child. Shirts had to have a collar and could have no logo or brand name on them. Pants and shorts had to be plain with no trim on them. This was OK at first, but got to be a real pain as time went on. Our child could not go out to play in the school clothes later or wear clothes that he got for Christmas or his birthday to school.

My boy loves Star Wars and has several Star Wars shirts. There should be nothing wrong with wearing a Yoda t-shirt and a pair of good, clean denim jeans to elementary school. We had to essentially purchase two sets of clothes for our son. That got old real quick. Clothes that he could wear to church were not allowed at school, even though they are modest apparel. We have a much more casual dress style at the church we attend and we much prefer that to dressing up. My son could not express his good, clean individuality with his choice of clothing.

Thankfully, the dress code will be reverted back to the standard Johnston County Schools dress code for Selma Elementary beginning next month. My mind was changed after we had to abide by the abrogation of freedom and additional expense for three years. I can see perhaps a private school requiring a restrictive dress code, but the government run “because I think it’s a good idea” experiment thing got real old real fast.

A government hireling made our lives difficult in terms of school apparel. A government hireling is exercising control and dogma over common sense claims over walnuts. Let freedom ring, let the walnuts freely flow to consumers who can benefit from Omega-3 fatty acids, and I shall let my son wear his Yoda shirt to school.

Column for July 28, 2011

2011-07-28T22:54:00.001-04:00

“As I read the Constitution, the Congress writes the laws and you get to decide what you want to sign.” That is what Speaker of the House of the United States Congress told President Barack Obama recently. He is exactly correct. I am not a huge fan of Speaker John Boehner so far, since he has sold us out on a few issues, but at least he is taking a stand on this issue. It is true that the President of the United States does not write legislation. The context of this comment was about the debate over the debt limit and budget.

For weeks we have heard about possible debt default by the US government. We have heard a bunch of Chicken Littles running around predicting that the sky will be falling on August 2nd. Of course that is nonsensical. All the government has to do is stop spending money in non-essential areas. Furthermore, even if we did default on a few debts, the rest will not also be in default. We do still have a monthly revenue stream.

When we run short on funding in our home, we end up spending less in areas in which we can cut spending. I have to admit that ever since the Town of Selma hosed us by changing the due date on our utility bills that we have had to dramatically cut back spending during the latter half of the month. We have to cut back also because of increased debt that we took on by necessity. Cars broke down, our air conditioning system broke down, and unexpected medical bills popped up. As my French relatives would say, c’est la vie. We just spend less on groceries and luxury items, eat out less, and now have things for supper that normally sit in the back of the pantry and we don’t want to fix unless we have to roll pennies in order to buy a gallon of milk. The government must do the same.

Here is another quote. See if you can guess who said this. “The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.” That was Senator Barack Hussein Obama in March of 2006. It is ironic that he is the one who is leading the charge to raise the debt ceiling yet again, claiming that it is irresponsible not to do so. I wish that he would take his own advice.

In our home, we are faced with two choices. We can cut spending and refuse to use any of our credit cards or we can apply for more credit and keep borrowing. I fully realize that unforeseen circumstances can happen to anyone and emergencies arise. There are times when borrowing is necessary. In our household, when our air conditioning system died, we elected to put the repair on our Master Card rather than sit in a sweltering house. One of the greatest inventions that God gave man was refrigeration, whether for environmental comfort or for food preservation. When my dog was too feeble to walk and incontinent, I could either take her out to the country and put a bullet into her or take her to the veterinarian to have her put out of her suffering and pay for it with my Master Card. Since I did not feel like shooting my own pet (her name was not Old Yeller) we chose the plastic route.

In my analogy, I understand that America will have times in which we do need to borrow. During the crafting of the US Constitution, this topic was debated. The founders knew that there may come a time when we have a need to borrow money, such as wartime. Borrowing is how we obtained The Louisiana Purchase.

However, bank bailouts, automobile industry bailouts, welfare programs, foreign aid, cowboy poetry festivals, teapot museums, bridges (or roads and tunnels) to nowhere, extended unemployment benefits, early childhood education programs, prescription drug benefits, socialized medicine, USDA loan programs, and the like are just unsustainable costs and not worthy of borrowing trillions of dollars. Like we do in our household, government must stop spending in some areas in order to take care of the essential obligations. Just because something is a good idea or a nice thing to have does not mean we can or should afford it.

This same principle applies to state, county, and town governments. Whether you are running for Congress, County Commission, the state legislature, or Town Council, take heed. The constituency is growing weary of unsustainable debt, reckless spending, and we simply cannot take it any more.

Column for July 21, 2011

2011-07-19T23:12:00.001-04:00

It is hard to believe, but this column marks the five year anniversary of my first column in The Selma News. When I first got the opportunity to write for the paper, I had run once for Selma Town Council, I was an active blog writer on the internet, and had an active interest in community affairs. I don’t blog anywhere as near as much as I used to for a number of reasons and I don’t attend all town council meetings like I used to. There have been a good may changes in my life since my first column here. The topics have varied from town affairs to state and national ones, and have included politics and religion. The people and events that have been the subjects of my commentary have changed over the years, but my core values of freedom, faith, and conservative values have remained constant. For that, I make no apologies.

I had one of those “no apologies for my views” brief exchanges just today with one of our County Commissioners. He was critical of those in Congress who seemingly refused to compromise. He quoted an unknown (to me) news source that quoted an unknown (to me) individual which said, "What lawmakers lack in congress is the courage to compromise, therefore they do not do anything." I, on the other hand, applaud those who do not compromise. Personally, there are many things on which I don't want compromise. Compromise is not always a virtue, it can be a weakness. It is when Congress does something that we get hosed with more regulation and freedoms eroded. It is when they do nothing that we are the safest from intrusion in our lives and wallets. Sometimes the best thing for the citizenry is gridlock. There is no founding document, principle, speech, or precedent that government has to constantly pass some sort of legislation (doing, doing, doing) in order to be effective or viable. Inactivity is often the best thing, especially in Washington, D.C. I feel that same way about our towns, counties, and states, as well.

As I mentioned, I have an interest in public affairs and even ran for town council twice. I was tempted to run again, but quite honestly, I don’t know if I can devote the time to a campaign or the position, so I stayed out of the running. Some of my extra-curricular activities have died down lately, which is causing me to ponder my next media exploit. On the other hand, my work schedule has been hefty. I had a 15 hour day today, and I was about to go to bed when I realized that I had not banged away on my keyboard to write this week’s column. Before my generic brand version of Tylenol PM kicks in, I figured that I had better type something and get it in before deadline. I have come up with a fresh column each and every week for five years. It would have been shameful to miss the five year anniversary column.

By the way, I have each and every column I have written still on my computer and have also put them online. You can find every single previous column I have written for The Selma News through my web site, www.troylaplante.com. I even have LaPlante’s Rants t-shirts, if you want one. Nobody has bought one in five years, but I still have them available. I do believe that I have the only one in existence until someone buys one. Yes, I made t-shirts available, and I make no apologies for that, either.

It is hard to believe that it has been five years already, but it has. I would like to thank Rick Stewart, the publisher of this fine hometown newspaper, for the opportunity that he gave an opinionated nobody like me to be able to write my inane babblings in a newspaper. I would like to thank everyone for their feedback whether positive or negative. I love both, believe it or not, especially when the criticisms are civil. I also want to thank you, the readers. I do not take it for granted that you actually read my unintelligible musings. I am grateful for the opportunity and will endeavor to continue being faithful in the work.

FIVE YEARS

2011-07-17T22:25:00.002-04:00

This week marks the five year anniversary of writing "LaPlante's Rants" in The Selma News. It is hard to believe that it has been that long, but it has. I am grateful for the opportunity and will endeavor to continue being faithful in the work.

Column for July 14, 2011

2011-07-14T20:23:00.000-04:00

Recently I started playing a game on the internet (on Facebook, to be exact). I am not much for games. I have tried a few over the years. Some have interested me for a brief period of time, others not at all. This one, however, has kept my interest for a couple of months now. Quite honestly, I have learned a lot about the “ins and outs” of the game, and can see many parallels to real life.

The game is called “Glory of Rome”. It is a war game set in ancient Roman times. In it, you establish a city, build it up with various buildings, farms, quarries, and other sources of supplies needed to build up armies. The more buildings and armies you create, the higher the glory level you attain. One can attack enemy encampments, other cities, join alliances, work together with other players, and make it as much or as little as you see fit.

How is this relevant, you might ask? There are some things I see that pertain to real life. The first is that you have to start out small and take responsibility for your own growth. If you grow in this game, it is your own fault. If you stay small, it is your own fault. The same applies to one’s career and family. Sure, we all have opportunities that others do not. There are some people in life that seem to have opportunities handed to them and it seems unfair. In this game, however, you are directly responsible for your own growth and destiny, as are the vast majority of people in this world.

In the game, I choose to associate with an alliance. I have been a part of three alliances so far. An alliance is merely a group of people acting together as friendly people and the strength of the whole outweighs that of the individual. In any alliance, there are new players and more experienced players. There are players with a high level of proficiency, and there are those with a low proficiency level. There are those with a high availability of resources at their disposal and there are those who struggle with basics like food and building supplies.

When I did not like how the alliance was going in my first association, I quietly left. They were a weakening alliance and some players were leaving. Sometimes that is by necessity, sometimes by choice. I have the duty to myself to associate with those who would help improve my situation. My freedom of association is entirely of my choosing, provided that they choose to reciprocate and associate with me. I chose to better myself by associating with a better group of people. I was invited to join another group and they were much more like family. We all shared game strategies, resources, troop reinforcements, and did battle together. As I learned the ways of the game, sometimes at great expense, I grew in stature and power. I have always taken the time to help newer players learn what I have learned and share my bounty with them. In return, others have done the same with me. The third alliance came out of a merger between ours and a former enemy alliance with whom we were in a bitter war. Together, we are stronger and work well together. We can look over world and even American history and see the parallel. That is basically how the colonies became the United States of America.

I notice that all people who choose to help others do so at their own discretion. Nobody is forced into helping others, but those who do typically are the bigger players. Their success trickles down to other either less fortunate or less successful players. They are able to share their abundance with others without the need of a governing official requiring that we each give a certain amount of money to be redistributed to others. The benevolence proves the adage, “a rising tide raises all ships”. The same applies to the real world and our economic system.

In my cities, I am the dictator. I set tax rates in order to extract money from my citizens. I choose what and how many facilities I can build. I am ultimately responsible for the citizens in my cities. If I tax too heavily, the number of citizens will decline, happiness will decline, and my production of currency will decline. This hurts my troop support, the availability of fresh population for troop development, and hurts production on my farms, in my quarries, in my iron mines, etc. There is a basic economics lesson there.

If I produce the troops and population, I am responsible for feeding them. I don’t ask some government chancellor to feed my own population. If I birthed them, then I have make the upkeep happen, or they do not get fed. Why should anyone else be responsible for the population that I created? For my houses? For my transportation? If I take poor decisions, why should others be forced to pay the price to fix my mess? Others may give willingly to do so, but that is their prerogative. See the parallel to life and good governance?

Just from something as simple as a game on the internet, I can glean nuggets and parables of life, so to speak. By the way, if anyone wants to play the game, hit me up on Facebook. Just search my name and you will find me. Freedom of association is a beautiful thing.

Column for July 7, 2011

2011-07-06T11:04:00.002-04:00

In last week’s edition of “The Selma News”, it was announced that Councilwoman Cheryl Oliver will run for mayor instead of re-election for her own seat on the Town Council. If Charles Hester follows through with his announced intention to run for re-election, that will make for an interesting race. The town politics rivalry between the Baptists and the Methodists should be very interesting. For years I have heard about the unofficial rivalry between the congregants of the Selma Baptist Church and Edgerton Memorial United Methodist Church.

One thing that I will say for Cheryl Oliver is that she had a well run and polished campaign when she first ran for town council. Ms. Oliver has been one of the most responsive individuals whenever I have had a comment or concern. I may not always agree with her decisions, but kudos belong to whom they are due.

Cheryl Oliver said that she wants to promote and implement a higher level of teamwork between our citizens, elected officials, town staff, committees, merchants, etc. Also, to increase the level of community involvement in critical matters affecting the town. I am in full agreement, though I don’t see those as two different items but one and the same. I have not much cared for the dictatorial, bullying style of management that I have witnessed over the past six years or so. I let my term expire on two town committees since they were either never utilized or rarely heeded, and did not appreciate the indifference that resulted in frustration and wasted time.

One other issue that Ms. Oliver raised is ensuring “a high level of fiscal responsibility that addresses the realities of today and the possibilities of tomorrow”. Ms. Oliver’s marketing background obviously shows in all of her points, especially this one, but again, I am in agreement. We are in times of tight budgets. There have been high calls for fiscal responsibility at all levels of government, and people are growing weary of the freedom and resources that have been taken from them in order to support the opulent spending of government and power grabs over the last 60 plus years. We have to look no further than next door to the Town of Smithfield and the recent spending issues they encountered with unauthorized, hefty pay increases for an example.

In the same vein as fiscal responsibility, I look again to “The Selma News”, this time from two weeks ago when the town looked (yet again) at the idea of a new town hall building. I am a huge proponent of taking care of the facilities that we have rather than acquiring new ones. I am not saying that I am in favor of doing anything at all with facility improvements, since inaction in this case is indeed a very viable option. However, when faced with the two options of renovation of the existing building or erecting a new edifice elsewhere, I can only look at the numbers and location. The numbers show a difference of $400,000 betwixt the two options. To a small town like ours, that is significant, so renovation gets my choice as the lesser of two evils. The present town hall is right smack in the middle of our downtown district, which is where a town hall ought to be.

I have a problem with the argument that the existing building does not meet building code as a reason to build a new one. I have found that officials or consultants will throw out generally ambiguous and often specious “code requirement” arguments in order to affect a desired result. I have my suspicions on this report and the direction it points. Perhaps things have radically changed since I got my NC State Building Code class certificate years ago. Perhaps not.

As to the desired “future growth” for town hall, why would we need to grow? I don’t want any government growing, especially that of the town. Town governments are often the most overlooked but can be the most impacting. Towns affect how and where you can build, how you use your property, affect trash collection, electrical use, the roads on which you drive, and your tax rates. And yet people often dismiss local elections and government as being unworthy of their time or effort. I certainly don’t see it that way. If a government grows, it means that it is taking in more revenue in order to feed that growth. With said growth often comes erosion of liberty.

I have already edited out much from this column and have so much more to say, but I have to wind it up for the sake of brevity. I am not endorsing any candidate for the mayoral race. The filing period does not close for another week, and I am anxious to see who else may file for not only mayor, but for town council as well. One thing is for sure, though. I am looking for fiscal responsibility and teamwork from any candidate who may be running for office in my town.

Column for June 30, 2011

2011-07-01T10:34:00.001-04:00

Governor Beverly Perdue plays hypocritical politics with no real logic sometimes. I have come to the conclusion that she is not looking out for the best interests of the citizens of North Carolina but is rather looking out for the interests of herself and those who may keep her in power. I realize that this is not exactly a newsflash, but though I disagree with Old Bev on a good number of things, I have been trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. There were a few things that she did that gave me a glimmer of hope that she may be better than I originally feared, but she has been choking off the hope I was holding.

When 75% of your electorate support something, you had better take notice. Three quarters of North Carolinians (so I have read) were fully in support of the idea of having to prove your identity when casting a ballot in the state. The last I checked, we were still a sovereign state (at least the last time I read the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution we were, anyway). As a free state, we can decide how we wish to run elections.

Governor Perdue has vetoed a bill requiring people to show official photo identification at the polls. She said, “North Carolinians who are eligible to vote have a constitutionally guaranteed right to cast their ballots, and no one should put up obstacles to citizens exercising that right...This bill, as written, will unnecessarily and unfairly disenfranchise many eligible and legitimate voters. The legislature should pass a less extreme bill that allows for other forms of identification, such as those permitted under federal law.”

You see, that is the problem. People who are eligible to vote should have to prove that they are eligible. I have to show a photo ID when I cash a check, use a credit card, purchase alcohol, apply for a passport, open a bank account, request government documents, get stopped by a police officer for speeding, apply for a job, or any host of different activities. Why should voting be any different?

The argument that we would unnecessarily and unfairly disenfranchise eligible and legitimate voters is a specious one and quite frankly, you can use that argument to fertilize your garden, if you know what I mean. I do not buy the idea for one minute that a legitimate voter would have any problem producing a valid photo ID, whether it is a passport, driver’s license, or a state issued ID card. The only possible reason to not want a photo ID requirement is that you actually support election fraud, non-citizens voting, and are hoping that people who have no business voting for your overly liberal ideals will cast multiple ballots for you under fictitious, fraudulent, multiple, illegitimate, or unverifiable names.

As to the argument that we should scale back any proposed law to meet federal law requirements, I again point to the fact that this is North Carolina, not the federal government. We set up our own laws and are not required to merely duplicate some other guidelines. Anybody who thinks that federal government regulation should trump our own autonomy has either lost touch with how our government should and can operate or is completely ignorant thereof.

The hypocritical part is that at the same time, Old Bev did sign into law a bunch of bills that make her appear to protect North Carolina residents. Bills signed include tougher DWI penalties, the creation of a task force on fraud perpetrated against the elderly (not that a task force actually does anything but have meetings), mental illness care provision, new building code requirements, and the like. She just does not want to protect us against financial crisis and election fraud.

I mentioned that she sometimes does things with which I agree and that occasionally give me a ray of hope. Gov. Perdue signed a bill that improves existing gun laws (not that I am a fan of gun laws, but these provisions are at least providing more freedoms) and establishes the castle doctrine for home defense. That is a huge positive in my opinion. She also signed “The Founding Principles Act” requiring the teaching of US history in high school, and the “Government Reduction Act” which is intended to reduce state government by abolishing certain state boards, commissions and committees.

The blatant contradiction and hypocrisy here is hard for me, since I see the good, the bad, and the ugly in the decisions taken by our governor. I recognize the good decisions and want to have hope. But I have also seen the stupidity in action and that sort of cancels out the hope I had.

Column for June 23, 2011

2011-06-21T22:29:00.001-04:00

I have had some interesting discussions lately on the purpose of government, the origins of government, and the rule of law. In this country, we are thankfully guaranteed a republican form of government as opposed to a democracy. That federal guarantee flows down to the states, counties, and municipalities, since we have representatives that we engage on our behalf from within the public (res publica, meaning roughly “public matter”, the root of the word, republic).

It is a public matter what happens in our government, and we should take note of things that are contrary to the public good. It has been said that “you get what you pay for”. That is not always axiomatic. It is a surety, however, that we pay for what we get. Keeping an eye on what we pay for is indeed a public matter.

Occasionally we contend with sheer hubris on the part of our hirelings in government. Here is a case in point. You may have read about the Town of Smithfield’s dismissal of their town manager. The town manager serves at the pleasure of the town council and when it is right to do so, they should indeed remove their hireling from his job. Ostensibly, the removal was for unapproved hefty pay raises for a number of Smithfield town employees. The town council did not give the assent to these pay raises; the town manager agreed to give them without seeking their approval. To be sure the town manager did not act solely on his own and he was not the only one who knew that unauthorized pay raises were being given. Not only has the town manager been fired but the town clerk has left her position in disgrace. The Smithfield town attorney has put in many hours of legal work and advice, and that has cost the town many more thousands of dollars.

In a down economy where every level of government has to cut spending (a lesson that North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue had to learn the hard way), it was a travesty to see a town have a scandal like that, the public trust betrayed, and needless cost incurred in hard financial times. The government does not exist to provide employment for people. Rather it exists to serve and protect the people of the town. It is the creation of the townsfolk. The townsfolk of Smithfield did not get what they were paying for but they sure are paying for what they got.

The other day I interacted with a public educator who complained about last week’s vote by the North Carolina General Assembly to override the governor’s veto of the budget. The budget made necessary cuts to education spending. Since it is the biggest budget item, it has to be on the chopping block like everything else on which the state spends our money. We were spending far too much money in many areas, including education. We had a lot of extra staff that were not necessary and were funded by temporary revenue sources. Cutting the extra is not wrong, it is the responsible thing to do. We the taxpayers, via our elected representatives, demanded that our schools be run more efficiently and responsibly.

If any teachers or staff members will lose their jobs, I sympathize. My wife has been out of work for over two years and I have been unemployed before, too. Our household budget is tighter than it has been in years. But I also understand the public good versus the individual good. As I told this one educator for the record, I have worked for the federal government, the state, and a municipality in my career, so yes, I understand government work and public sector employment. It is both because of this and being a taxpayer that I have little tolerance for whining by public employees. Instead of decrying having to pay more for health care benefits and perhaps a slight pay cut, their attitude has to be one of gratitude that they still have jobs. I personally know too many people out of work who wish they had such employment.

Again, it is not the job of government to supply employment, it is to serve the public. As is the case with our public schools and for the taxpayers in the Town of Smithfield, the public did not get what they paid for, but are certainly paying for what they got from government.

Column for June 16, 2011

2011-06-16T09:42:00.001-04:00

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of taking a camping and whitewater rafting trip with a pack of Cub Scouts in the North Carolina mountains. Since we were in Swain and Jackson counties, we visited the area’s famous “Road to Nowhere” (or “Tunnel to Nowhere”, depending upon whom you ask). It is a classic example of government stupidity. I did some research on the tunnel and road project and unfortunately found that this is not an isolated case. If you are on the internet, use a search engine to look for “road to nowhere” and “tunnel to nowhere”. You will be amazed at what you find.

In this case, the US Government took a great deal of land from residents with the promise of building a new road. The Tennessee Valley Authority was going to take the land (including a regularly used road) to build a man made lake. The new road was supposed to link residents to the town of Fontana and some family burial grounds stranded by the TVA project. This began in the 1930’s and stretched through the 1940’s. After building only six miles of road, including a tunnel through 1200 feet of rock, the road project was abandoned by 1969. That left the other promised 26 miles of road undone. Forty years later, instead of finishing the promised road, the federal government just gave Swain County $52 million to settle the issue.

There are several things I take away from this debacle. First, that the government is, in general, inefficient at keeping its promises and really has little regard for the personal inconvenience it inflicts upon its citizenry. I’ll have more on that later. Second, if you have a dispute with the government, it can take a half century to resolve the problem, and in a manner generally unacceptable to those most severely affected. Third, the government is actually capable of abandoning projects and spending.

Depending upon your source, it is said that the Bryson City “road to nowhere” (which literally just stops at a horse trail on the side of a mountain. I walked through the tunnel and on the road to its terminal point) was discontinued because of funding. If the government can stop paying for a project that it can not afford, why can we not do the same with entitlement programs? Why can we not stop wasteful spending? When we hired too many staff members in government, schools, and/or obsolete, duplicate programs, why can we not stop spending on them, just like the road to nowhere?

To put an exclamation point on my perspective, just this afternoon I was sitting in stopped traffic on the Durham Freeway because all traffic was blocked in all directions around Durham and the RDU Airport because President Obama was giving essentially a campaign speech. When it was time for him to leave town, law enforcement closed down traffic, essentially shutting down the area for the movement of one person and his “yes men”.

The ironic thing is that the business he visited in Durham is Cree, Inc. Cree is a company that manufactures energy efficient lighting and employs about 5,000 people. He was supposed to talk about American job growth. This business has half of it employees in China and yet benefited from a $39 million advanced energy manufacturing tax credit through the last stimulus spending package. They have also received nearly two million dollars of direct taxpayer funding for research and development. OK, if tax breaks yield business development, why don’t we just lower taxes across the board? It worked for George Bush, Ronald Reagan, and John Kennedy.

I wonder just how much this major traffic inconvenience cost the US taxpayer. I am sure it was in the millions of dollars considering the employees who could not show up to work and were not paid because of the security, the cost of flying Air Force One and ground transportation into Durham, the cost of security at all levels of government, and the loss of advertising revenue on broadcast outlets that covered the speech.

If we can drop a promised construction project that would have given great benefit to a lot of people in a poor section of the country who lost their ancestral homeland to eminent domain, why can we not stop spending millions of dollars for a sitting politician to give campaign speeches at taxpayer expense? This is especially ironic and painful when I consider the fact that President Obama gave a speech on job creation and business recovery when he, probably more than anyone else, is directly responsible for the lack thereof.

We have proven that we can stop spending. Why, oh why can we not stop spending in areas that just plain make sense?

Column for June 9, 2011

2011-06-09T08:18:00.000-04:00

I don’t want to pay your electricity bill. I am sure that you don’t want to pay mine, either. In Selma, our electricity bills contain a lot of taxes. Anything above what we would normally pay by purchasing electricity through Progress Energy is in effect, a tax. The rate we are charged per kilowatt hour in Selma is significantly higher than Progress Energy would normally charge residential retail customers. I have done the math. That is why I kind of like the new “prepaid electricity” concept that Selma is moving towards.

With the majority of Selma residents being renters rather than homeowners, we have a higher than average possible transient population. This can lead to people skipping out on their utility bills. To combat this, the town instituted a hefty deposit requirement for new utility customers. I understand the concept, but also know that a lot of people cannot handle the $450 or so deposit. I know that when I bought my house in town, I would not have been able to fork out for that sort of deposit after all the money I paid just to be able to move in. I realize that the town has a different policy towards actual homeowners but, I am just saying it is difficult for many.

When people leave bills hanging and a deposit does not cover the cost, we, the remaining customers and townsfolk, pay for it one way or another. That is just the simple economics of it. The same principle works for auto or health insurance and private utility companies. We all pay for claims and losses in the end.

The pay as you go principle works well for a lot of people. I have a prepaid cell phone for my wife and we are happy with it for the little bit of use it gets. We can put as much or as little money on our account as we wish, depending upon our usage and budget. For a lot of people, this may be the way to go with electricity bills.

It is bad enough that our trash collection will be going up, which shows up on our utility bills. It is good to see that at least the town is considering ways to alleviate the heavy burden of paying utility bills all at once. Quite honestly, there have been a few times where it was a struggle for us to meet the entire bill. Money is tighter than it used to be for us, but I still make a comfortable living.

If you are like me, you struggled with getting two utility bills in the same month last month. I see that the due date is now different, and I am hoping it will not be permanent. Good grief, that would throw my entire monthly budget into chaos, since for almost nine years I have been budgeting to have my utility bill paid in the middle of the month and my mortgage payment at the end of the month. I am sure that others will have the same frustration. My utility bill can run as high as $400 a month and I don’t know about you, but a $400 swing across two weeks will take some getting used to.

The beautiful part of the prepaid or pay-as-you-go plan is that people can put money on an account ahead of time and their usage draws against that account. For those who can’t afford a whopping bill, are renters, are temporary residents, or frequently delinquent in paying their bills, this may be a great solution.

I have long said that if I am willing to complain about something, I had better be equally willing to compliment. I am complimenting the Town of Selma for the innovation. I am sure that the town would get a lot more compliments from everybody if they would change the rate we are paying on our residential electrical service. The town charges about 13 cents per kilowatt hour whereas Progress Energy direct residential customers pay 9.15 (or 10.15 depending upon the season) per kilowatt hour. Multiply that times the number of kilowatt hours you use and you will be amazed at how fast those extra three or four pennies adds up. One month that made about $100 difference in my bill. That extra $100 is what should be considered extra taxation.

If the town is going to be an electric company, I applaud the effort to be more flexible for its customers. Still, it would be better if we would just get out of Electricities all together, sell off our electrical grid, and let the private sector deliver the same service for less money.

Stephen LaRoque

2011-06-01T09:20:00.002-04:00

Just for the public record, prior to writing my column, I wrote Stephen LaRoque to thank him for his stance.

On 5/27/2011 4:30 PM, Troy LaPlante wrote:

Thank you for showing enough courage to stand up against William Barber and the NAACP. Racism is wrong, regardless of from whom it comes. Barber is a race pimp who constantly incites racist views in order to keep his job. Nothing will satisfy him on any topic as long as he can find a way to come up with an angle that enables him to stir up racism.

I am not from your district (I am from Johnston County), but I am proud of you for having the spine to take a stand. I wish that there were more like you in the NC Legislature.

http://www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/story/9653960/ is the story I read about you and I have shared it all over my web presence.

Column for June 2, 2011

2011-06-01T09:17:00.001-04:00

I have a new hero. I am not familiar with all of his stances, but Stephen LaRoque, a member of the North Carolina State Legislator from the Kinston area, showed what I thought was courage and conviction. I have remarked in the past about how I consider the “Reverend” William Barber, the state President of the NAACP, to be nothing but a race pimp that exploits his own people for money and power.

The NAACP was recently planning a protest against proposed state budget cuts and proclaimed, "Tea Party extremists seized the Republican Party and declared war on African Americans, poor people and other minorities." I find this patently absurd. The budget cuts have nothing to do with race or financial class. Then again, maybe they do. It is because of the alleged poor that we have so much entitlement spending. It is because of minorities that illegally immigrate from other countries that we end up giving away tons of money in welfare, health care, child care, food assistance programs, and have an ever increasing cost of educating their children.

I applaud the courage of Stephen LaRoque for not taking allegations like that without fighting back. He wrote the NAACP and told them, "I have no interest in receiving anything from a racist such as William Barber. He and the NC NAACP represent everything that is wrong with race relations in our state and country. You should be ashamed of yourself for continuing to promote racism but that is the modern day legacy of the NAACP as a racist organization led by racist individuals who are cowards."

Groups like the NAACP have made themselves irrelevant. In particular, the NAACP has become nothing but a group of self-serving troublemakers. They have no real interest in ending racism. If they did, they would not find racism where it does not exist. In Wake County, the desire to return to community based schools has nothing to do with race; it is a matter of common sense and fiscal responsibility. Cutting state budget over spending has nothing to do with race; it is a matter of common sense and fiscal responsibility. When the NAACP “stirs the pot” and cry racism where none exists, it is obvious that it is just another effort to create perpetual anger and animosity so that people like William Barber (along with Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Benjamin Jealous) can still have a job. If there was no massive perceived racism, there would be no need for the NAACP and race pimps.

Don’t get me wrong, there is racism still alive and well. When I first moved to the South, I ran across racism quite a bit, much to my astonishment. See, where I grew up, everybody was White, for the most part. People were mostly of French, Polish, Italian, or Anglo extraction in that area. My best friend while growing up (and we still are good buddies) was a Pole with a long last name that ended in “ski”. I won’t type the whole name so I don’t flip out my spell checker. The only Black kid in school had a last name of White (I am not joking, really) and was adopted by White parents. We told jokes about everybody, including ourselves. I grew up in a very French family and we told Frenchman jokes all the time. We had Black jokes, Jewish jokes, Polish jokes, and well, you get the idea. We all had a sense of humor and were equal opportunity offenders.

Coming from New England, I had always heard about racism in The South. I sure ran across it in a major way after moving here. And for certain, racism is not just one way. There are racists and racism in every ethnic group. I got a lot of racism from Black folks and I saw a lot of White folks exercise their racist attitudes and actions, as well. Regardless from which direction it came, it was wrong. I can honestly say that I understand it, but do not excuse it.

Just because the “Reverend” William Barber (who should spend more time preaching the gospel of Christ rather than the gospel of social justice that he peddles) is Black, that does not mean that he can not be just as racist as any Klansman. They just wear different style robes.

Personally, I am sick and tired of claims of racism where none exist. To me, it is only common sense to stop spending money we don’t have, to have children attend public schools local to them, and that not every decision made by men has racist undertones. But then again, if everyone thought that way, the NAACP would be out of business.

Column for May 26, 2011

2011-05-26T21:49:00.000-04:00

It feels really weird typing right now. I just got back from my doctor’s office a little bit ago and my left middle finger is totally numb. I had an infection build up in my finger for some odd reason and went to my doctor to have it checked out. Well, I had to get my finger numbed with a shot and the abscess cut open. I was sent home with a Band-Aid and a prescription for an antibiotic. It just feels really weird banging on the keyboard and not being able to feel the keys below my finger. I keep having to go back and fix typos as I go along.

One neat thing I observed while driving back into town to go to my friendly neighborhood pharmacy in “Uptown” Selma was the sure sign of the beginning of summer in this sleepy little town. Just before Memorial Day, the town puts up American flags all up and down the main thoroughfares. I noticed it this past weekend, but got to enjoy the sight of fresh, crisp flags adorning the town yet again.

I have to admit, I love the sight of dozens of flags up and down Pollock Street and Anderson Street. The only down side is that we don’t put up the sort of poles and flag fasteners that are tangle free. Here is what I propose. I will be willing to sponsor a flag every year in Selma if other people and businesses are willing to do the same. I would love to see the flags continue flying, even in bad economic times. I would also like to see the flags fly freely without being bound up on a cheap little pole like I would use in front of my house.

I am not the sort who needs my name attached to a sponsorship of a flag. I am sure that there are others who would like the recognition. For instance, I am a member of The Friends of Fort Macon. They have a current fund raising drive to purchase some replica cannons for display there. Personally, I love Fort Macon and its historic value. That is why I got there at least once a year, patronize their gift shop, and joined their support organization. I don’t need my name on a plaque proclaiming my support of a cannon purchase. I am sure that is an enticement to others, so if that helps them, fine. I don’t need a Selma flag plaque or anything, but I am willing to bring about the idea and lead by example. OK, so my offer is now public for all to read. I hope to spur interest by others, as well in so doing.

Speaking of nice flags, it is probably time to replace both the American and State of North Carolina flags in front of Town Hall.

The longer it takes me to write my column, the more feeling is returning to my finger tip. After two and a half hours, I am glad to feel the keyboard. Taking off the Band-Aid helped some, as well, and my rate of typos has been cut down, though still not perfect. I am sure that tangent was of great interest to somebody, just probably nobody reading this.

On July 4th, Selma will put on a nice fireworks display, if all goes according to previous years’ tradition. I read that the town was looking for private donations and sponsorships for that display. So the flag idea is not entirely original. The town does well on displaying its joy of independence and pride in America. This is commendable.

Here is my hope, though. My hope is that residents and government officials at all levels would take the show of patriotism one step further. Take the time to learn more about the history of America, her values, and the truths that have buttressed this nation for a few hundred years. Get to know the sacrifice and morals that brought this country her independence and what makes her stand out from all of world history. Feel free to contact me for some recommended sources of great information.

My toddler, who is in my office, is grabbing my hand and pulling on it. I can definitely feel the pain killer wearing off and painful sensation return to my sliced open, infected finger. I guess it is time to stop typing and re-bandage my red, swollen digit. I think we have some cool Scooby Doo bandages somewhere. Hey, I have two young children at home.

God Bless America...and may he bless all Americans in the context of Acts 3:26.

Column for May 19, 2011

2011-05-18T23:45:00.002-04:00

Today was a very frustrating day at work. I didn’t get anywhere near the amount of work accomplished that I had hoped. The past several days have been long and tediously frustrating, as well. My computer, which used to work well, started to get slower than cold molasses. I did some basic maintenance on it and it sped up nicely, but then started giving me massive problems with a connection to my company’s private network. It was one of those days.

Then I started thinking about some of the other things in my life. My television show lasted a little over six months and just recently went off the air because of a few different circumstances to which I can only shrug my shoulders and speak of my gratitude for the opportunity.

Occasionally I turn on the radio and listen to a disc jockey or talk show host and know that I am better at it than the person to whom I was listening, but still give thanks for the career that I have and realize that I am making more money now than I would be if I had pursued my broadcasting career. I have never been the best at any job I have had, but have always done well at most jobs and businesses I have held or owned. Some jobs I was not so well suited for, some businesses were not sufficiently successful to warrant my continued efforts. Nevertheless, I learned from them all.

I think about how the whole time I was growing up that I never won an essay contest, science fair, or craft fair but sure did have a lot of second place finishes. I think about how when I played Little League baseball, municipal league flag football, and high school football, I was never on a winning team. I learned a lot about teamwork, but I spent a lot of time watching other people play while I sat on the bench or stood on the sidelines. I was never a tremendous athlete, but I competed as I was able.

I think about how I have never won an election of any consequence (not counting some small club or organization) in school or in government, though I was always good at civics and social studies. I was always the one involved in youth government activities, reported on government affairs in my first media job, and did get the top overall social studies award in my graduating class. Though I have never gone further than I have, I am grateful for the influence that I do have in this little column, in my circle of friends, and on the internet.

I think about how my finances have gotten tight since my wife has been out of work for two years and I have had to take on another car payment recently out of sheer necessity. Then I give thanks that my wife is able to stay at home with my children rather than have some day care center raise my boys, that I have employment sufficient to meet all of our needs, and that I have been able to provide a happy, loving home for my family.

I think about how much work there is to do around my little quarter acre patch of earth. The hedges need trimming. The lawn that is looking shaggy. The house, shed, concrete drive and walkways, and fence all need power washing. I have a roof leak and some repair work to do in my kitchen. I have a finite amount of time in which to get it all done and don’t know how I will be able to accomplish any of it. Then I stop and give thanks that I have a temperate, dry house in which to live.

My wife and I are both getting older but have still been talking about having more children. I think about the stupid things I did as a youth that would make me a father of children the same age as the waitress I had the other night. I think about how my first marriage yielded no children for some thirteen years and how my present wife and I have suffered through two miscarriages just this past year. Then I stop and give thanks for the family I have. I have a dedicated, loving bride, a step son I love dearly, and a toddler that is truly the cutest baby I have ever seen. I have also been able to give my boys much more of a father than I got to have my own self when I was young.

You can usually find out where my thoughts are going from day to day on Facebook or Twitter on the internet, and today is no exception. I “tweeted” simply, “At least with Christ, I am always on the winning team.” In all the thoughts about how some things in life have not been as stellar as I would have hoped, I have other thoughts that can be summed up in this: His grace is sufficient for me, and for that I am grateful. Thank you, Father God, for your grace and for your son that you sacrificed for me, someone who never knew a winning team until you took me on as one of your teammates.

Column for May 12, 2011

2011-05-11T21:36:00.000-04:00

In a time when governments are running a deficit and having to make budget cuts, I am amazed at the mentality of many people who are on the government dole. The elections of last November were supposed to send a message to the state and federal governments that we have had enough of reckless spending. To stop spending means just that. It means that we have to cease spending in some areas. The whole “not in my program”, “but it’s for the children”, and “leave my entitlements alone” stuff just ticks me off.

I have in front of me three different news stories about whining people who decry spending cuts for their own benefit or that of pet projects. Make no mistake that most all opposition to budget cuts is not about the “overall good”. It is almost always about personal gain.

About a week ago, thousands of teachers gathered in Raleigh to protest possible budget cuts. The funny thing is that some of these public school employees were not smart enough to realize that states don’t fund the military. Some were carrying signs whining that we should fund public services, not wars. Why would one protest state government spending cuts by whining about federal military spending? And these people are educating our children?

What were thousands of “educators” doing at a protest rally instead of teaching our children, anyway? If they were really about the children rather than their own personal benefit, they would have been in the classroom instead of chanting while carrying signs on sticks. Of course the rallying cry, “It’s for our pockets” is not as effective as “It’s for the children”. I don’t buy the claims of catastrophe and dire consequences for cutting spending in education along with all other areas.

Education funding is not the only controversial subject of potential cuts. The North Carolina health fund is a program that is under scrutiny. It is a trust fund that finances anti-tobacco and obesity programs for children and teenagers. The argument against cutting that program is that the prevention efforts will be cheaper than the cost of health care later.

Call me crazy, but I figure that the responsibility of raising children is that of a parent and not the government. It is not the job of the state to keep teenagers from smoking or dipping snuff. It is not the job of the state to keep kids from putting on a few extra pounds. That is the job of a parent. As to the idea of health care later, is it not also the job of a parent to take care of a child’s health needs and not that of every other taxpayer in the state? I have two children under the age of nine. One of them has a birth defect and I do not expect the government to pay for his treatment. That is up to me as his parent and not everyone else reading this newspaper. By the same token, any other parent bears their own responsibility for their children’s health care. And truth be told, the effects of the use of tobacco products or obesity in children will probably not be felt until the children reach the age of an adult. Then it is their own responsibility, not that of the taxpayer.

I read another article about some very selfish people. In November, America overwhelmingly elected conservative legislators in the federal and state governments. Recently, Congressional Republicans went home on break and many of them held town hall style meetings to meet their constituents. Some Congressmen were booed, shouted at, and jeered by older citizens whining about any possible cuts to their Medicare, food stamps, and Social Security benefits.

I have sympathy for them, I really do. But I have said it before and I will say it again. If your plan in life was to rely upon the government to take care of you and you made no provision for your own retirement, then that is your own fault. If you bought the lie that was handed to you that you can coast in life when you reach a certain age at the expense of the taxpayer, then you have used poor judgment in life. It is not my responsibility as a taxpayer and citizen to take care of you or anyone else outside of my family. We as a people simply can no longer afford to keep doling out the cash.

In 1753, Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Repeal that [welfare] law, and you will soon see a change in their manners. St. Monday and St. Tuesday will soon cease to be holidays. 'Six days shalt thou labor,' though one of the old commandments long treated as out of date, will again be looked upon as a respectable precept; industry will increase, and with it plenty among the lower people; their circumstances will mend, and more will be done for their happiness by inuring them to provide for themselves, than could be done by dividing all your estates among them.” It is as true today as it was 258 years ago. To demand or expect otherwise is selfishness.

Column for May 5, 2011

2011-05-04T15:16:00.000-04:00

Proverbs 11:10 “When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.”

I am writing this on Monday close to noon time. I just got back from UNC Children’s Hospital where my son had minor surgery. Because of that, we were up very early this morning to have him checked into the hospital by 6:30. I tried to go to bed early as well. That means that I cut myself off from all media at an earlier hour than normal last night. When I woke up early this morning, I found the big news that Osama Bin Laden has been killed. I was elated.

I listened to the news, read some quick news reports online, and even put something on Twitter and Facebook about my “shouts of gladness”. With my gladness, I must give credit where credit is due. President Barack Obama continued the policy of engaging Al Queda and gave the order for the raid upon the compound where intelligence sources say that Bin Laden was hiding. I am proud of our military for the job they did and grateful that President Obama had the courage to whack this scumbag. Congratulations.

The Defense Department has said that this was a kill operation, not a capture operation. From what I have heard thus far, Bin Laden’s body was given a rapid burial at sea to accommodate the Muslim custom of burial within twenty-four hours. So, to quote my all time favorite movie, “The Godfather”, Osama “sleeps with the fishes”.

Personally, I had hoped that Bin Laden would have been captured alive. Granted, he has been fairly ineffective and out of play for a while, mainly because of the manhunt for his head. However, his capture would still have been a great symbolic victory. I would love to have had him paraded like a captured king. Then, I would love to have had him executed and the execution be made available on a pay per view basis on television and the internet with all the proceeds thereof to go to the families of the victims of 9/11/2001 and the families of the US soldiers who have died in Afghanistan.

Since Bin Laden’s execution has already happened (and ultimately I am OK with that), I would have preferred that his body not been buried at sea. This is first and foremost to deny him any consideration towards Muslim tradition. Most Muslims seem to deny that Bin Laden is a true Muslim (as I just heard on the radio yet again from a Muslim cleric) and not representative of their false religion. Thus, why bother giving him that dignity? I would rather the body have been preserved in some liquid preservation tank like he was an alien at Area 51 and taken on a road show across the country like a carnival sideshow. We could have charged admission to see his corpse with the proceeds again going to the families of the victims of 9/11/2001 and the families of the US soldiers who have died in Afghanistan. I would have even liked the idea of his corpse being permanently on display at the new World Trade Center when it is rebuilt in Manhattan.

I listened to one whining liberal woman today decry how much money it cost the US to find and kill this one man. When I got the chance to speak to her personally, I told her that it was worth every penny. She decried how other radicals will just take his place and we will have some retaliatory attacks against our country as a result. Well, there was a string of replacement waiting anyway, and I say, “Bring it on”. They attacked us ten years ago (not the other way around), and I have not forgotten. I have also not forgotten all the other attacks by the likes of Al Queda and other such groups belonging to the falsely so called “religion of peace”. I am so tired of the “let’s not tick off the Muslims lest they retaliate for the least little offense” mentality.

Legend has it that in 1911, General John “Black Jack” Pershing used brutal tactics in The Philippines when dealing with Muslim warriors, including burying their dead with pig entrails and dipping bullets in pig blood. It is said that to some Muslims, dying with unclean animals like will deny them entrance to Paradise. I am all for such intimidation tactics if they work. It is worth a try today. Radical and extremist Islamic zealots only understand the use of brute force. Since the days of the Crusades (which were in response to Muslim invasion and slaughter) all the way up to the Somali Pirates of present day, we have found this to be true. I am glad that we just showed the resolve to follow through. I pray that we have the spine to stay the course. Either way, I rejoice in the death of a scumbag and found the celebrations in the streets of New York City to be just fine with me.

Column for April 28, 2011

2011-04-29T12:38:00.002-04:00

For a long time, I have heard of Selma wanting to come up with some sort of method of business district enhancement. I thought it a worthy matter, so I joined the Selma Development Partnership several years ago. I gave it a couple of years of investment of my time and effort and quite frankly found the organization to be lackluster and ineffective. There was a lot of myopia on the part of the leadership at the time, I believe, and that caused the organization to flounder and dwindle. Since then, the leadership has changed and I hope that the organization goes in a different direction. From what I could see by the common sense changes made to the recent antiques and car show efforts, the group may be correcting its course.

In Smithfield, there is an effective organization, the Downtown Smithfield Development Corporation. The DSDC markets available properties and works to develop the downtown business district. They also put on such successful events as the upcoming Ham & Yam Festival. The corporation is funded by a special tax district that levies additional property taxes on local business properties. For some time, I have heard rumblings from Selma merchants that they would like the town to do more to promote downtown business. Is the implementation of a special tax district and the formation of a development corporation for the town the proper method? Quite honestly, I am not sure either way. Though it works in Smithfield, I am not sure it will work here or not.

There are several differences between the two towns. Smithfield has a much more diverse downtown than does Selma. For years, I have disagreed with the focus on antique shops in Selma as a way to “re-invent itself”. I have always maintained that diversity is the key to a better business climate for the town. We've had several restaurants fail, primarily because of poor management or implementation. I do patronize the local antique shops when I am searching for something in particular. Other than that, I only go to downtown to pay my electricity bill, pick up a prescription, mail a package, or dine at one of the only restaurants left in downtown.

Basic economics dictates that business patrons will ultimately be the ones who pay the tax, regardless of in which form it is levied. A property tax will jack up the taxation of the retail properties, which will end up in increased prices to consumers. Even if a business leases the property, the property owner will pass along the increased cost to the tenant, who will in turn increase prices to compensate for the increased cost of doing business. For that reason, perhaps a special district consumption tax would be more appropriate, but I suspect that there are state government approvals that are necessary for that to happen.

I will say this, though. I have been told that the business district is taxed at a lower rate than my residential property. I don't know that validity of that claim, but if it is true, I have no problem with evening up the two rates and putting the revenue from the rate differential into a development fund.

I am not sure how the town would administrate the funding nor the personnel. I do know that the news articles I have read indicate that Selma or a non-profit corporation would hire a part-time person for the development efforts. That seems appropriate considering the size of the town. However, I still wonder about the concept of whether or not someone could devote sufficient time and energy to be effective in a part-time position. If not, then the extra taxation would be in vain.

I can only hope that Selma will arise to the occasion should the town's leadership and the merchants agree to move forward with this concept. Since we have a successful example for guidance in the next town over, perhaps if the idea moves forward, it may work out. Personally, I am rarely supportive of increased taxation, but I also see the need of better downtown development and planning in Selma, so I am torn on this issue. Selma has a lot to overcome in terms of its image and in location with respect to the rest of the area's business districts. I would have to learn more in order to be persuaded either way, but I do tend to lean towards the cynical side when it comes to governmental efforts.

Column for April 21, 2011

2011-04-24T16:29:00.001-04:00

I am sure that the headlines and lead stories of this and other weekly newspapers will be full of information about the recent tornadoes that ripped through North Carolina last Saturday. I always thought it odd that my high school mascot was a Golden Tornado. Since that area has probably never seen a tornado, I doubt that they have any first hand knowledge of the weather phenomenon. They get blizzards and the occasional small earthquake, but no tornadoes. As a matter of fact, my mother was with us during the recent tornado event and got to ride out her first one ever. Having lived in North Carolina for the majority of my life now, I have seen first hand the force of tornadoes, especially ones that result from hurricane activity. Then again, North Carolina’s NHL team is called The Hurricanes. Go figure.

I struggle sometimes with tragedy, just as most people do. Sure, I have plenty of head knowledge of Biblical explanations and about the attributes of God. However, I don’t thoroughly comprehend the reason why some people are injured or killed and others live. I don’t always understand why some people had their homes destroyed and others were unscathed. I will nonetheless consider myself and my family to be fortunate that we were spared all but a few limbs having fallen from my old pecan tree in my back yard. I am grateful for our safety and my heart cries out for others who were not so fortunate at the same time.

When we saw the devastation in the gulf states as a result of Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami in Indonesia several years ago, the earthquake in Haiti, and the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, I am sure that we all had heavy hearts. Local businesses and charities are working hard to serve people affected by our own local storm. In North Carolina, we are accustomed to emergency response to natural disasters, since we are one of the most hurricane prone areas in the world. I have no doubt about the capabilities of our emergency service workers around here. Their courage and devotion to duty has always been outstanding.

I have pondered how I can be of greater assistance, as well. I figure if I can at least share some ways in which the general public can help, that is a minute thing I can do. I plan on doing more, but I can at least devote a column to the information. There are two organizing efforts I know of personally and know the people involved personally, so I would like to share them.

A local restaurant, Foodies At Heart, in downtown Selma will serve as a drop off point for items to be donated to storm victims. They are right across the street from Creech’s Drug store at 127 North Raiford Street. I have not gotten any more details at the time of this writing, so I encourage you to stop by, email, or call them. Their phone number is 919-414-8856 and their email address is foodiesatheart@yahoo.com.

A warehouse full of clothing and household items is opening to provide free goods for Johnston County residents who had storm losses. Basic Needs Ministry’s clothing closet and thrift sales area welcome residents with referrals from Johnston County churches, schools, social service agencies, and nonprofits who provide basic services for those in need. The public charity’s warehouse is at 5533 NC Hightway 42 in Suite D96 (the backside of Peddler’s Village). I personally know and recommend the man who runs that organization. Call 919-661-6565 to get answers to any questions about Basic Needs Ministries.

I wish that I had all the answers to the question, “Why?”, but I don’t. I do know that our response to such events are just as, if not more important. That goes for not only our heart’s reaction, but also to our humanitarian activities. I strongly encourage all readers to consider how you can help the victims of the tornadoes that hit our region. The storms affected our own friends, family, and acquaintances in different ways.

I firmly believe that this is our responsibility first and not necessarily that of especially the federal government. James Madison, one of the primary writers of the document said, “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” That is our job as friends, family, Christians, and citizens.

Column for April 14, 2011

2011-04-12T21:08:00.001-04:00

There is an old saying, “Follow the money”. It does not take much to do so in the obvious financial and political shenanigans we are tolerating nowadays. We had people tarred and feathered, run out on a rail, and tossed tea into a harbor for less than we are putting up with today.

In looking at the federal budget battles, the budget is obviously about money. However, money is a means of gaining and keeping power. I grow tired of the argument that there is “non-discretionary spending” in the federal budget. That is, that there are entitlement spending obligations that can not be touched. Sorry, but if Congress set up a program with a law, Congress can change or abolish the law, thereby changing what is discretionary and what is not. This is why we read in the Declaration of Independence that people “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights” and not by Congress. If Congress can grant the right, Congress can change that right. Then again, most of today’s actions and spending by Congress are prohibited by the Constitution.

I take issue with those who believe that we need the government to take care of people. I have no problem with helping others. I find it to be the Christian and just plain humanitarian thing to do. I do not, however, believe in making people into total dependents upon the government for their substance.

As I recall, we are supposed to rely upon our “Creator”, as referred to in the Declaration of Independence rather than government for our dependence. I take issue with those who state that it is only “Christian” to provide for people and that is why we render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, which is a euphemistic way of saying taxation.

A great example is Harry Reid, United States Senator from Nevada. In a 2001 interview he said, "I think it is much easier to be a good member of the Church and a Democrat than a good member of the Church and a Republican." He went on to say that the Democrats' emphasis on helping others, as opposed to what he considers Republican dogma to the contrary, is the reason he's a Democrat. Reid is a convert to Mormonism. Of course the vast majority of his stances run contrary to not only the doctrines of The Church of Latter Day Saints, but to Christianity.

I firmly believe that taking care of people is an obligation to be shouldered by the Church and families first and government last. The Church family has an obligation to look after people both because of Scriptural command as well as the precept of loving your neighbor as yourself. As I assured one old classmate from high school, “You will never have to eat dog food as long as you know me.” She was lamenting her fear that she would become a poverty stricken old lady who could only afford to eat Alpo.

Political gamesmanship happens at all levels. It is just more visible at the federal level because we are talking about trillions of dollars and a constant national media presence rather than billions or millions and state and regional media. Senior citizens are often the volleyball batted about by political gamers. Every action, however, has an equal and opposite reaction, according to Isaac Newton. Local governments and the federal government alike are struggling with the idea of Baby Boomers retiring. My own mother just retired about six weeks ago from her job of 35 years. I will be picking her up at the airport withing a 24 hour window of this column being on news stands and enjoying her newly found freedom.

As millions of such people are retiring, counties and towns will be struggling with revenue losses from the boomers taking advantage of property tax exemptions. Politicians used the promise of such exemptions in an effort to lure voters with money to gain power via votes. Now the bill for these exemptions is going to require payment (or lack thereof, as the case may be). It is all about power and money.

I have run across many such examples in the news this week, but I only have so much space in which to rant. Just remember, follow the money and associated power, and most of your questions about politics, whether they be in government, business, or even in churches will be answered.

Column for April 7, 2011

2011-04-12T21:05:00.001-04:00

I have been thinking about something that (eventually) President John Adams wrote to his son, the future President John Quincy Adams. He wrote, "...remember that all the end of study is to make you a good man and a useful citizen." My twisted mind works like this. When I hear “to make you a good man”, I think of two things. First is the Biblical concept written twice in the Psalms and once in Romans, “...there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” That is not to say that one can not work to be transformed into a better, more useful man and citizen. It is dealing with the state of sinful mankind and the nature of man under sin. Thankfully, I have Christ and my righteousness is in Him instead of my own self.

My second thought goes to something the character Melvin Udall said, as played by Jack Nicholson in the wonderful 1997 movie, “As Good As It Gets”. When attempting to give a compliment to Carol the Waitress (as referred to by Udall and played by Helen Hunt), he explains that he started taking pills to help him with his personality disorder because, “You make me want to be a better man.”

Though I sometimes feel more like Melvin “good times, noodle salad” Udall, I also wish to follow the advice of John Adams. I have to be honest. Overall, I do like John Adams, but there are some things about his years as President of the United States that make me cringe. Still, that does not negate the good I can glean from him. I feel the same about Ronald Reagan and others.

When the newspaper comes out, do you read it? Do you take the time to learn about what is going on in your community? Do you participate in elections? Do you learn about issues or just whine about them? I have opinions on just about everything, hence the reason that I have this column. However, I still have to look at things objectively rather than just swallowing the proverbial Kool-Aid dished out by any party or lobby.

I feel this way even when I get “the sky is falling” type alerts from groups I wholeheartedly support such as Second Amendment advocates. I got one such email today decrying abrogation of gun rights by executive decree yet there were no details as to the problem at hand in the message. I don’t mind contacting my Congressmen as suggested in the email, but I need information upon which to base a rational decision. Sometimes the cries are legitimate, sometimes they are factually challenged.

I am writing this column just after participating in a two hour long discussion on the history of slavery in the world and eventually in America. It is because I have read on this topic over the years that I can speak somewhat intelligently on it and not be so incredibly emotional about it. I can not tell you how many times people of white and dark skin alike have gotten into heated discussion while I remained calm on the subject. Slavery was on this continent prior to Africans being introduced and was practiced by Black, White, and Native populations alike. I find the idea of owning another human being repugnant, but I also understand how slavery played a roll in world history, not just American history. Those who are factually challenged are generally the ones who are the most emotional about such topics or are willing to drink the Kool-Aid of their overlords of thought.

I cringe when I see people lament budgetary cuts in bloated, unsustainable bureaucratic spending. When looking at things objectively, it is easy to see that America has a spending problem, not a revenue problem at most levels of government. Those on government payrolls (and I used to be one of them) often miss the concept that the government as a whole needs trimming and therefore decry budget cuts. History shows what such unsustainable spending does to a nation. The factually challenged and self interested are again, usually the most emotional.

I encourage everyone to get involved, learn about your government, learn simple economics, study history, and responsibly consider how you vote. Do you want to “be a better man” (or woman) and a useful citizen? Then I passionately implore you to study towards that end.

Column for March 31, 2011

2011-03-30T21:47:00.000-04:00

Every so often, I see some encouraging signs in business. I have been reading about a new day spa that has opened in Selma. Also in our own town, Foodies at Heart has been open for a little over a month and has seen some good success in its opening days, as well as some positive news coverage. I have had the pleasure of dining there with my family for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as to grab an occasional cup of coffee. Keith’s Cookin’ on Ricks Road has picked up the mantle of the town’s barbecue restaurant and has made a great effort at customer service and quality. My family has been eating out most every day as of late because our kitchen has been torn apart for remodeling for several weeks now.

On the flip side, I have run across a bad experience in the search for another automobile. We actually own a second car, but my mother-in-law has borrowed that vehicle and we are most likely never going to see it returned. I have often wondered why she doesn’t just buy a new broom and ride it instead of borrowing our car, but she is family and we love her. Yeah, I love mother-in-law jokes and she knows that I love her dearly.

I had searched for a car online at several automobile sales web sites and found one or two cars at one particular local, independent used car dealership. I checked out the car I had in mind. It seemed to be in good shape. It looked nice, was clean, and was about what we wanted for a second car that would be seldom used. Considering our family needs and our upcoming activities, it seemed a perfect fit. But I wanted to do my homework before buying.

I checked the three major web sites that offer used vehicle appraisals and retail values. All looked good. I then took the vehicle to my mechanic, and I am glad that I did. The car, though the dealer claimed that it had a clear title and collision history, was obviously damaged from a wreck. Either the dealer was hiding something or the vehicle history report was lacking in details. My mechanic showed me a broken bumper held on by duct tape and bungee cords, frame damage, leaking freon in the air conditioner, and several other things unseen at first glance. My mechanic saved me from a costly mistake.

I compare that to two dealerships I have also visited. Both had an eager to help manager who was very accommodating. Both had at least one vehicle that really interested me. One had a cheaper car that was probably a good deal, and although I liked the sedan, it was probably something less than first choice. The other dealership had four cars of interest to me, one of which we may end up purchasing. The manager there was friendly, up front, and encouraged me to take the vehicle to my mechanic for an inspection prior to purchase and offered a 30 day guarantee on his vehicles.

When I was contemplating a used vehicle, I had figured that I might find a decent, perhaps older vehicle that would suit my needs. Do you know what hindered that concept? It was the Cash for Clunkers program by the federal government about 18 months ago. Cars that were otherwise in good shape had to be destroyed instead of making their way back onto car lots for resale. In talking to car lot owners, Cash for Clunkers was a boon to new car dealerships but generally hurt the used car dealers. Many used cars I found were much newer and more expensive than I wanted to pay. The “new to me” vehicle I am probably going to drive home this week is almost $5000 than I really wanted to pay. Then again, I wanted a quality family vehicle with plenty of cargo space. Instead of a mini-van like I had imagined, I am most likely getting one of those evil SUVs that are causing global warming. OK there is no global warming, and especially none caused by mankind.

There is something to be said for keeping government out of the business world and good old fashioned customer service by business owners. Good service has kept us going back to a few local restaurants and has possibly made a customer out of me for an automobile purchase.

Column for March 24, 2011

2011-03-25T17:51:00.002-04:00

Jesus said “You will soon hear about wars and threats of wars, but don't be afraid. These things will have to happen first, but that isn't the end.” (Matthew 24:6). That was true when it was first spoken; it is still true in today’s day and age. I constantly hear from various groups declaring that the end is near. One particular group is saying that May 21st of this year is going to be the end of the world and that they can prove it Biblically. Yeah, good luck with that one. There will be a lot of disappointed people on May 22nd when they are still here.

For several weeks now we have heard of wars and fighting, especially in northern Africa and the Middle East. It all seems rather orchestrated to me, though I am not much for conspiracy theories.

I was on a camping weekend outing with my son this past weekend, so I never got to hear the news that America had joined with France and England in the military actions in Libya until Sunday evening. I find it amazing that many of the same liberals who decried our use of the military in Iraq and Afghanistan suddenly find it to be acceptable to use the military when it is “their” President who is in power at the time. I love the hypocrisy.

Oddly enough, I find myself agreeing a lot (but not totally) with The Nation of Islam’s “Minister” Louis Farrakhan in his chastisement of America for our actions in Libya. He whined about how America is acting in an imperialistic fashion. He brought up the fact that we are supposedly helping the military efforts in Libya on humanitarian grounds and yet we as a nation never stood up for the humanitarian needs of Darfur or The Sudan. Though I truly dislike and distrust Farrakhan, he is exactly correct about the blatant hypocrisy on the part of America.

I was opposed to our involvement in Iraq for the simple reason that I believed that we should have had a formal declaration of war prior to the invasion of that country and that there was no compelling interest of American national security. I feel the same way about Libya. Barack Obama is getting criticism from a few within his own party, such as Congressman Dennis Kucinich, who contend that a declaration of war is necessary for the President to use military force. Kucinich has gone so far as to declare that President Obama has committed an impeachable offense by employing US military air strikes in the efforts against Libya. Kucinich, though consistent (since he railed against George W. Bush also) is very ignorant of the role of the President as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. The military is his to command, not that of Congress.

I was happy to see President Obama doing almost nothing while the Middle East was imploding. I was happy to see him on yet another vacation and not proposing our involvement in Egypt, Libya, or Tunisia. These are not our struggles and there are no compelling US interests there that would warrant our military’s involvement. Many on both the right and left wings of the political spectrum were criticizing Obama for his inaction. I was happy that he was inactive until now, since it meant he could not entangle us in yet a third wartime front.

Though I believe that Moammar Gadhafi is a whack job that needs to relinquish power in Libya, I also believe it is not the role of the United States to facilitate that power shift. Unlike our new Congresswoman Renee Ellmers, I don’t see any compelling reason for our involvement. I do agree with Mrs. Ellmers, however, when she said, “The President needs to let us know what the mission in Libya is, what goals he has for the mission and what the plan is to achieve those goals. We must have a sound political and military strategy for our action in Libya and that needs to be communicated to the American people.” So far, we have not seen anything that has been clearly so defined.

As I stated concerning Iraq years ago, whether we properly invaded Iraq or not was a moot point once we took the country. From that point forward, we had to follow through. We will most likely have the same hypocritical posture in Libya. I do believe that the violence in their nation is horrid, as it was in other nations. However, it is not our fight. We have more babies dying in the womb on a daily basis in our own nation than there are dissidents and soldiers dying in Libya. I do wish that we would focus more on our own nation’s problems than that of other nations.

Column for March 17, 2011

2011-03-17T15:44:00.000-04:00

While writing this column, I have been thinking a lot about life and death. I have three family members who’ve had cancer scares this week alone. I am writing this on a Friday afternoon. After I finish writing, we will be packing to head to Florida for the funeral of my cousin’s husband, who died of cancer last week. On top of that, the big news lately has been the earthquake in Japan that has killed hundreds of people and sent a tsunami that has also killed hundreds thus far.

After writing the column I did last week about proposed legislation on abortion and miscarriage, the wife and I have been talking about life, about family, and about where we would like to go with both. I do hold life sacred, and lament its loss. I will be doing so with my cousin within 24 hours of my typing this and I am heavy hearted for the Japanese people killed in a huge earthquake. I lament the loss of so many babies to abortion and natural causes, which believe it or not, did not sit well with some people.

People from all over the country and sometimes the world read my columns, since I also publish them on the internet, but only after they have been published in print here, first. I have gotten some hate mail from internet readers already about last week’s column. I was informed that it is hypocritical of me to be supportive of “making abortion illegal but then offering little to no aid to mothers who have need to financial aid/public aid...people who are pro-life and want children to be born regardless of circumstance should be pro-welfare, too.”

My retort is “that it is not the purpose of government to provide your food, your housing, or your health care. A government that can provide your means can and should therefore be able to dictate your procreation activity limitations. It is in no way incongruous to say you are not allowed to kill a baby but then not supply you the means by which to raise a baby. There are plenty of adoptive parents waiting in line to have a baby (the discussion of adopting has just recently been ongoing in our own home). Why is it the responsibility of the populace to provide financial aid to a woman who did not exercise proper judgment, restraint, or birth control methods? Her decision as to whether or not to accept the responsibility of parenthood was taken the moment she opened her legs to a man. It is not hypocrisy to tell an individual to accept personal responsibility for their actions and procreative activity. Nor is it hypocrisy to tell a woman that either she takes care of her own offspring or allow someone else to love, care for, and raise that child.”

While Governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura was confronted by a single mother. She screamed at him about how she was left with children and bills by a man who decided he no longer wanted to support her or her children. She demanded to know what he was going to do for her in terms of college tuition so that she could get a college degree at taxpayer expense and a new job. I sympathize with her, I truly do. I have family members who have had the same situation, whether because of disability, divorce, or death. I am going to visit one such relative this weekend, as stated. Ventura’s answer to this woman was blunt and honest. I am probably slightly paraphrasing here, since I have searched extensively on the internet and have found neither the video nor the transcript of the exchange in question, but I remember watching it several years ago. Jesse said, “Why is it the government’s responsibility to take care of you and your children because you married a loser?” That seems harsh, but it is entirely correct.

Is life fair? Of course not. If it was, people who want to have babies would not have sterility issues or miscarriages while crack heads and high school girls still wouldn’t get pregnant or at least would not be able to slaughter their young. If life was fair, people wealthy enough to support dozens of children would not be sterile by either nature or choice, and the poverty stricken that don’t desire children would bear sterility, instead. Nevertheless, we have a God given responsibility to embrace life and provide for those under our charge.

Column for March 10, 2011

2011-03-10T17:31:00.002-05:00

I recently read of a new bill introduced into the North Carolina General Assembly that would “punish those who commit violent crimes against unborn babies and their mothers.” The bill is called "The Unborn Victims Of Violence/Ethen's Law". Currently, there is no law creating a separate charge for harming or injuring a fetus when a pregnant woman is attacked and that attack results in the death or miscarriage of the baby. Obviously, one would find such an attack heinous. There are exceptions included for acts of abortion, stillbirths, and miscarriages.

I have long believed that abortion is an immoral act amounting to murder of the unborn. I did not always believe that, however. I made my share of mistakes when I was young and stupid. With a newly found Christian world view, I changed my perspective on the act twenty years ago. But even from a civil government perspective, I look at our founding documents and find things that would similarly persuade me. For instance, in our Declaration of Independence, I read “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The “Life” portion is where I diverge from the Libertarian Party and most Democrats. I find it difficult to comprehend how anyone can believe in the sanctity of life, the right to life, or protection of the innocent while at the same time advocating a woman's right to wantonly commit infanticide. Regardless of how the pregnancy occurred, whether from negligence in employing birth control, or even cases of rape or incest, I firmly believe that the right to life trumps a woman's so-called right to choose. The ironic thing is that most (not all, but most) people I know that are “pro-choice” are against the death penalty. They are willing to slaughter the innocent for the sake of personal convenience but want to let the guilty live. Where is the logic in that?

From what I read about "The Unborn Victims Of Violence/Ethen's Law", it is better than the bill proposed by Republican Bobby Franklin of the Georgia State Legislature. He has introduced House Bill 1 that would “classify the removal of a fetus from a woman for any reason other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead fetus as "prenatal murder." Mr. Franklin, like myself, finds abortion abhorrent. However, he goes way too far in his bill. Though he would not place criminal penalties upon natural, spontaneous fetal miscarriages, his bill would require the issuance a fetal death certificate for miscarriages that occur within medical facilities. Miscarriages that occur outside of a medical facility would require an investigation by the government.

Thankfully, this is not proposed in North Carolina, and I do not live in Georgia. As much as I support the choice for life, I would have some rather unpleasant words for Mr. Franklin if he was my representative. In the name of his Christian values, he wants to protect the unborn to such a degree that he wants parents to give account for their due diligence in protection of the fetus.

Franklin's bill states "The State of Georgia has the duty to protect all innocent life from the moment of conception until natural death". With that, I agree. However, to require a full investigation into any miscarriage that does not take place in a medical facility is intrusive and absurd. This is where it gets personal for me. My wife and I went through two miscarriages in 2010, one on June 1st at a medical facility, and one at home just this past Christmas Eve. It was heart wrenching enough for us both to endure in losing our children. The last thing we would want or need is a government official knocking on our door inquiring if we did all we possibly could to keep our embryo/fetus from being miscarried.

With a Christian world view, I realize that we live in a sin cursed world. Sickness, disease, and tragedies occur as a result. That is our inheritance here on Earth as a result of the fall of Adam. As a joint heir with Christ, I look forward to life eternal where there is no sickness, disease, or miscarriage. I don't like the fact that our earthly existence has such things with which we must contend, but that is life. I don't have all the answers, but I do know that I disagree strongly with my libertarian minded and even my Christian brethren when they go to the polar opposites of either allowing the wanton slaughter of the unborn on the one hand or highly intrusive and unnecessary measures to “protect” the unborn on the other.

Column for March 3, 2011

2011-03-02T20:34:00.001-05:00

The United States Constitution in Article IV Section 4 states, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government”. Not to be confused with the GOP (Republican Party), it simply means that we have a representative republic for a national government. We don’t have a democracy, an oligarchy, a monarchy, or a dictatorship. We allegedly have the rule of law, division of branches of government, and a system of checks and balances. That seems to be lost on our current Commander in Chief.

There were three decisions by the Obama administration that directly affect some or all of us, depending upon your status, all of which are beyond the constitutional authority granted to the executive branch of government. Over-reaching power is nothing new. As a matter of fact, as of this writing (Monday afternoon), I will be teaching in a few hours on a huge power grab by the Supreme Court in the Marbury vs. Madison decision of 1803.

The Obama administration has determined that they will continue to enforce the so-called Obama Care health care reform legislation even though two courts have ruled it as unconstitutional. In another instance, the Obama administration has refused to allow the re-importation of historic military surplus rifles back into the United States, thus violating the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. Thirdly, the administration has decreed that the Defense of Marriage Act signed into law by then President Bill Clinton is unconstitutional and therefore will not enforce its provisions.

In the instance of Obama Care, it is sheer arrogance to continue to ram down a defeated and unwanted agenda. The government and the American people have bought into the principle of judicial review, a power never granted the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) or judicial branch yet was usurped anyway. That power was specifically debated and denied the judicial branch during the Constitutional Convention of 1787. If the judicial usurpation is accepted, then it applies regardless and we can not cherry pick what laws they can declare null. Either the court’s decision stands or it does not. If the law is indeed unconstitutional, then its continuation must also therefore be considered as such.

In the case of rifle importation, the Obama administration has simply decided to disallow the return of what General George Patton termed “The greatest battle implement ever devised”, the M1 Garand rifle. It served us brilliantly in World War II. During the Korean War, we left nearly a million M1 Garands and M1 Carbine rifles with the South Korean government.

I am a federally licensed Curio and Relics firearms collector. That means like thousands of other collectors in the nation, I went through a background check with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Many freedom loving, law abiding Americans, and/or shooting and history enthusiasts would also love to own an M1. This right is being denied by Barack Obama under the guise of not wanting the guns to “fall into the wrong hands”. Somehow I doubt that criminals will be engaged in using a long gun designed in the 1930’s that only holds 8 rounds when handguns are the preferred weapon of your average criminal. It is sort of hard for gang members to conceal the rifle, to carjack a car with, or for burglars to carry an M1 Garand during a break-in. This ban on the re-importation of historic rifles made by Americans for Americans is ridiculous.

Believe it or not, I tend to agree with Obama that the DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) is unconstitutional. However, the opportunity for the executive branch of government to declare it as unconstitutional rested with President Clinton. A later President can not simply declare something as unconstitutional and therefore not enforce the laws of the country. If you find the law repulsive, repeal it. We have a process set up for that. If we really want DOMA to be the law of the land, we should make it an amendment to The Constitution.

I have a copy of the letter sent to the Speaker of the House by the Attorney General’s office. The reasoning that DOMA “violates the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment” is preposterous. Not only is the Attorney General in error (the equal protection clause is not in the Fifth Amendment, it is in the 14th), but the amendment was designed to provide equal treatment under the law to people regardless of their skin color. Homosexuals have the same right to marry someone of the opposite sex as I do, so there is therefore equal protection under the law.

For the executive branch to simply deem a law unconstitutional and therefore refuse to enforce the law is a dangerous precedent, not to mention that ironically is in itself unconstitutional. What if a future president decided that the Civil Rights Act was unconstitutional and therefore refused to enforce it? This sort of thing can cut both ways.

We are supposed to be a representative republic, but if we allow things to continue, we are well on the way to becoming the very sort of dictatorship that President Obama has recently condemned in Libya, Egypt, and the Middle East.

Column for Feb. 24, 2011

2011-02-25T09:05:00.000-05:00

Well, Governor Bev Perdue finally did it. She submitted her budget and proposed to cut spending and jobs. All it took was a little discipline and courage. It isn't really all that hard. We had to do the same thing in our household. My wife has been out of work for two years now and we are living almost entirely on my salary. Some extra spending had to go. Essential items get paid for first, then other bills. If there is anything left over, then we contemplate our charitable giving budget, our dining budget, gift giving, and the like. The state of North Carolina should be no different in its approach.

The governor and I do not agree on all of the areas in which to cut spending. Just recently, I took the governor's budget cutting challenge that was on a state web site. I not only was able to balance the budget by cutting $2,633,800,000 in spending, I was also able to create a surplus of $1,233,800,000 according to the computer model. According to the model, I cut 27,027 jobs from the state's payroll.

Of course I believe that the computer model is purposely biased. There were options for increasing class size in K-12 schools by one, two, or three students. The same option was available for secondary education. I Seriously doubt that adding another few students per class is going to be detrimental to the education system and I seriously doubt the accuracy of the model. Somehow I have a hard time believing that by increasing class size by an average of 3 students per classroom, I would be cutting 18,027 jobs.

I understand the fears that many families have when being faced with job cuts. I was a state employee myself for several years. I have friends and family who work for state government. If layoffs come, who knows if they would be affected? Under the governor's plan, many unfilled job slots will be eliminated. 3,000 jobs will be cut from the state payroll that are presently filled by employees. The state is bloated with employees in some areas and lean in others. I know several state employees that are swamped with work while I have personally witnessed other positions that are overkill and unnecessary.

We have to determine what services are vital and what ones are not. That is what the governor promises to do in this budget, eliminating funding for 68 of what Perdue labeled as "nonessential programs". If they are "nonessential", then why were we paying for them to begin with?

Though I will give Beverly Perdue kudos for looking to cut the budget, I am still not as optimistic as many that we will actually end up with the sort of spending level we truly should have. I will say that at least our state executive seems to be more up front and honest about the problems of government spending that our national executive.

President Barack Hussein Obama has threatened to veto deep spending cuts proposed by Congress. Though the President was just on television giving lip service to responsible spending, he is threatening against responsible spending. What sort of double standard is that? You can not have it both ways. Either you support budget cuts or you don't. You can not be directly responsible for the most reckless spending that we have seen in the history of America, call for responsible spending, then take action against responsible spending. That is just political double-speak and twaddle. When the Department of Health and Human Services budget alone is bigger than the entire federal budget under Lyndon Johnson, something is seriously wrong.

We have far too many people dependent upon government for their means of supply. Whether that supply be the result of employment or social welfare programs, we can not maintain the previous levels of spending. If I borrowed 45% of everything I spent in my household on a consistent basis, I would rapidly be filing bankruptcy. The difference is that the government can print more money and issue more bonds and I can not.

If we had more people in elected office who cared more about the population in general rather than their own level of power and those who are most likely to help them attain it, we would have the very thing that James Madison wrote about our republic. Speaking of a government that applies both to the elected and the general population, he wrote,

"It creates between them that communion of interests and sympathy of sentiments, of which few governments have furnished examples; but without which every government degenerates into tyranny."

(Federalist Papers # 57). We have reached that degeneration already.

Column for Feb. 17, 2011

2011-02-16T20:42:00.000-05:00

I hope that your experience with income taxes will be more pleasant than mine this year. If you are one of those people who don't pay income taxes or gets back more than you pay into the system, just stop reading now. For those who work their tails off all year long, follow the rules, and pay more than their fair share of taxes, continue to paragraph two.

If you itemize your deductions as we do, the federal government would not even accept tax returns until Monday because of the need to retool their software. This was caused by lame duck session, end of the year tax legislation changes. The Internal Revenue Service could not keep up with the tax code changes in order to start accepting tax returns.

The State of North Carolina took our return on time, no problem. Or so I thought, anyway. I saw a reminder about how I can check the status of my return on the State Department of Revenue web site. I figured I would make use of that service this morning, since no refund had made its way to my checking account yet. Upon entering my identifying information, I got a message that said, "Please call [their phone number] about your refund amount." My first thought was that there was some attachment to my refund for some unknown past bill with the state. That has happened to myself and to others before.

I called the state IRS and spent some twenty minutes on hold only to be told that my return was still being processed and that I should expect it to take 45 days to process my return. OK, let me get this straight. The State of North Carolina is so technologically retarded that they can not put up a simple web page message that my return is still being processed, even though I know it was received. Then I wasted all that time on hold just to find out that information that could have been told to me in an instant over the internet.

What floored me was that the state is telling me that it will take a month and a half to process my tax return. I prepared my returns on my computer. I paid for the software and state e-filing fee so that the process could be faster and smoother. I even signed up for direct deposit so that the process could go even faster still. If it is going to take 45 days to process an electronic form that can be done instantly by their computer system, then why did we bother with the extra expense of filing electronically? We could have printed out the forms and mailed them for the cost of a postage stamp if it was going to take six weeks to process.

I am none too impressed with electronic transactions lately. When I send a payment through PayPal or other electronic service, the transaction is handled relatively instantaneously. When I pay bills through my bank's web site, sometimes it is rapid, sometimes not so much. Obviously the state Department of Revenue is in the "not so much" category.

The real slap in the face is that my refund is going to be somewhere around $1800 or more. That means that I am going to have to pay tax on that money yet again next year. The State of North Carolina hoses anyone who gets a tax refund by making us claim that refund as income the following year. This is money that was already taxed once. The money is a refund of an overpayment of taxes, not income. When that overpayment is returned to me, I am forced to count it as income yet again. That is just plain unethical.

I have more money withdrawn from my paycheck than needs to be. This is not so much so I will get a refund, since I don't enjoy lending the government my money, interest free. Rather I do that so that I don't have any surprises once a year and have to pay them. It is a personal choice. Still, that should not be counted as income twice. The state is not going to repay my money with interest. However, if I am late with a payment to them, they will charge not only interest but late penalties as well.

The government that can't process a computer transaction in a timely fashion is the same state government that is several billion dollars behind in its budget, has billions of dollars in fraud and waste, and double charges us on either tax over payments or underpayments. The state government wants to trust them with more projects, education, and our hard earned money WHY?

Column for Feb. 10, 2011

2011-02-10T14:07:00.000-05:00

"Thanks to God that he gave me stubbornness when I know I am right."

- John Adams

That quote has stuck with me since I read it recently. It has been my personal conviction for years. I remember a friend of mine telling me years ago (when we were discussing matters of interpersonal organizational politics within the Church), “That is what I like about you. You can walk into a room and tell everyone that they are wrong.” When I know I am right (and when I have such a conviction, I usually am, especially on principle, even if not on the minutia of details), I am stubborn that way. It is precisely that conviction that has sustained me through over four and a half years of writing this column, my internet radio show, and more recently, my television show.

I only wrote this because it was on my mind for a couple of days now. When you know you are correct about your convictions in matters of theology, history, politics, and the affairs of life, stand by them. Be open to correction where you are askew and ready to learn, but still be resolute. OK, on to the regularly scheduled column, already in progress, with a couple of topics in mind.

It was with sadness that I read of the death of Wilson’s Mills Fire Chief, Ricky Barbour. From my friends in the fire service, I saw pictures of the honor shown him upon the return of his remains to Johnston County. I was glad to see that his brethren showed him such an honor via pictures posted on Facebook. I’ve had several occasions to talk with Chief Barbour over the years, and found him to be intelligent, articulate, resolute, and having common sense. I never worked with him or knew him well, but these were my impressions of him each time I had the pleasure of speaking with him. The comments I read on Facebook.com posted by others were a testament to his leadership. I can only hope that the Town of Wilson’s Mills will have such a class act to follow his lead.

Did you have as big a reaction as I did when you opened your most recent electricity bill from The Town of Selma as I did? When I got my most recent paycheck, I started to write out a weekly budget for how to spend my earnings, as I do every two weeks. I figured that the billing period covered may be a heavy usage month, so I thought, “I’ll budget close to the highest payment I have ever had to make for my utility bill.” I had a few choice words to say when I opened the mail and looked at the amount owed. I was on vacation and out of the country for one of the weeks covered by that bill and it was 25% higher than the highest bill I ever got from this town.

I have read in newspapers for a while that hopefully the upcoming merger between Progress Energy and Duke Energy will result in lower utility bills for their customers. I pray that is the case, because I can not afford to get many more bills like this one. I make a decent wage. I make more money now than I have ever made in my life and I still struggled to be able to budget for this huge electricity bill. When my utility bill gets to be almost as big as my mortgage payment, something is seriously wrong.

One thing that I wish would come of the utility company merger is the nullification of the Electricities contract. I wrote about a year ago about how much more I was paying through the town for electricity (who buys from Electricities, who buys from Progress Energy) than I would have if I bought directly from Progress Energy as a retail customer. I am sure that this month’s bill would be even more than that $100 differential. In all fairness, my current bill was for 36 days of service rather than just 28 or 30. Still, that is a lot with which to sandbag customers.

If the town wants to attract more businesses and residents, then they have to do something about the high utility prices. Clayton, Smithfield, Benson, and other public power communities face the exact same problem. The highest prices for public power are paid by the small town of Hobgood in Halifax County. Hobgood has fewer people than Micro but is $2.2 million in debt on its electricity system, so the residents of Hobgood pay a high utility rate. According to one newspaper report, a $139 monthly bill in Smithfield would run $185 in Hobgood. Some residents have gotten bills of up to $900. My bill wasn’t $900, but it was sure getting there. Selma is not Hobgood, but something has got to give.

Column for Feb. 3, 2011

2011-02-03T19:59:00.002-05:00

I am sitting in front of my computer with a raging head cold. My sinuses have been inflamed to the point that it feels like I have cement poured in my skull and I am just shy of coughing up my left lung. My wife has a cough that has lasted over three weeks, not responded to antibiotics, and today she came down with a fever. My seven-year-old had to stay home from school today with a migraine headache. My toddler has started to get a runny nose. I have to get to bed early because in the morning I have to take my toddler to UNC Children's Hospital for treatment of a birth defect. We are still dealing with my toddler's first but most stubborn ear infection that has lasted a solid month. If the infection does not go away, we may be looking at surgical intervention.

For over a week, we have been putting up with people spreading gossip, lies, and sowing family discord. My wife has had to endure a friend of the family passing away, an elderly family member passing away, and her childhood best friend dying of cancer. Granny has been in the ICU unit for days. One of my best friends just got into an auto wreck, and my water heater is on its way out.

My tax software purchase I had made prior to the beginning of the year to save a few dollars on the purchase price was canceled by the company for some unknown reason, so I had to purchase it again…at the higher price. One stream of income in our household is about to come to an end.

Have you ever had one of those days where you think to yourself that when you get to Heaven, you want to go up to Adam and Eve, punch him in the nose and slap her across the jaw? Then sarcastically thank them very much for ruining the perfect Earth created for us all? Then maybe follow that by, "What were you thinking???" Yeah, it has been that sort of week.

Ironically enough, a friend of mine posted on Facebook (while I was typing this column) "Ever want to say: try that again and they'll be tracing you in chalk!" The timing brought a chuckle to my heart. I wrote back, "If you only knew how this evening has gone, you would know how well that fits."

The bizarre thing is that some people would actually take the "they'll be tracing you in chalk" comment as a real threat rather than have a sense of humor about it. I just ran across that very thing last week. I said to someone who was running their mouth, (after emphatically requesting that this person desist from gossiping) "I could pimp slap you!" as a way of conveying my level of annoyance and desire that this person would just be quiet. The next thing I knew, people were accusing me of threatening violence upon this individual. I guess that people never heard of colloquialisms and sarcasm before.

I have a lot of unanswered questions in life. I hope that some day, God will answer a lot of questions that we still have when we get to see Him. I keep asking questions here on Earth. Sometimes he answers them, sometimes not. Sometimes I don't get an answer for years.

All right, so why did I write all of this? Quite simply, it was to say this. Through it all, we have not lost faith in God, in His goodness, or His provision. We will make it, regardless of what life throws at us. Everyone has tribulation to go through in life. We have our own to endure. The things I endure now are greater than before, but I also handle them differently. As I grow older I tend to have a different perspective on life and now consider many things petty that I used to think were insurmountable or extremely important.

There are some battles worth fighting and some trials worth enduring. It is how we grow and learn as people.

Column for Jan. 27, 2011

2011-01-28T22:20:00.000-05:00

Just this past weekend, my wife and I returned from a Western Caribbean cruise vacation to Key West, Florida and Cozumel, Mexico. We had a great time, all things considered. There were some inconveniences that were beyond our control or that of the cruise line, but we still enjoyed ourselves.

I figured that since so many Mexicans have come to my country, I would return the favor. The major difference is that I went there legally, contributed to their economy rather than taking from it, and left to return to my own homeland. I had never been to Mexico before. I was a little surprised at some of what I saw.

Usually when someone goes to a tropical island paradise, they take in the scenery of brilliant blue ocean, palm trees, flowers, historic sites, and relax by the coarse sandy beaches. I did do just a little bit of that, but I wish I could have done that even more. Actually, I got some nasty scrapes on my legs from swimming in the Caribbean Sea in a Cozumel beach. There are plenty of rocks on their coast, as I found out.

As our tour bus drove across the island of Cozumel and outside of town, we passed through a lot of run down, unkempt buildings. I saw lots of people dwelling in relative squalor. Many businesses operated out of broken down buildings with thatched roofs. The docks were run down and ugly. There were many old Volkswagen cars in Cozumel. Many Volkswagens were manufactured in Mexico in the 1970's, so that makes sense. Being in the warm, sunny weather, the bodies of many of those Beetles seemed to still be in good shape.

I was surprised to find a resort island in this condition. Cozumel exists primarily as a tourist destination. All merchants take American dollars besides Pesos. Many merchants also take Euros. I found a lot of nice little shops that catered to European and American visitors and the trinket/souvenir market they generate. There were also shops that sold pharmaceuticals over the counter that are only available by prescription here in the U.S. (but should be over the counter, instead). Jewelry shops and bars were readily available.

Our tour guide told us that Cozumel has come a long way since she was a child there. There never used to be any colleges when she was growing up on that island, so she had to come to the U.S. to study. Now there are three collegiate schools, we are told, on an island of only 95,000 people. Those 95,000 people live within just 10% of that island. They now have total water filtration for the entire island and a safe drinking water supply. That is progress, it seems.

There were at least some people making a decent living. All merchants spoke good English. I don't know if the bar/restaurant on the beach we went to was any indication of the rest of Mexico's resorts, but they charged a good amount of money for food. We declined to pay $12 for the cheapest entrée available. While in Mexico we never ate any Mexican food, but within a few days we were home and ate Mexican food at a Smithfield restaurant. Go figure.

A T-shirt vendor refused to negotiate any lower on his price and I walked away without the purchase of two shirts. Perhaps he could afford to wait for some other big guy to come buy his larger shirts eventually, but I was not willing to pay his prices. Some of the lower priced shops were doing a brisk business. We spent a good amount on gifts for family at a few of these shops ourselves. Why then was there so much apparent poverty on that island?

I don't blame Mexicans for wanting to come to America and earn more money. I am sure that outside of the higher priced tourist shops, there was much poorer commerce going on. If the conditions of some of the people and buildings were any indication, I am sure it was the case. If Cozumel was any indicator of conditions in other areas of Mexico, I can certainly understand wanting to leave.

I compare that one tropical island to Key West, which is in America. Key West is a booming tropical paradise with high real estate prices, a lot more commercialism, and a lot more development. Other than proximity and a difference in economic systems, I am still pondering the real differences between the two tropical islands. Both had things that attracted me, and both had a few drawbacks. All things considered, however, I do believe that I prefer the American way.

Column for Jan. 20, 2011

2011-01-22T20:09:00.001-05:00

I have a family member that lives in Greensboro and has a Howard Coble for Congress bumper sticker on her car. Since I do not live in that district, I am not all that familiar with Mr. Coble. After reading an article on “The Greensboro News & Record” web site, I know why she supports him. Howard Coble supports something that is in short supply inside the beltway of Washington, DC, common sense.

Mr. Coble supports a bill that says you should be able to use whatever kind of light bulb you prefer in your own home. You see, in 2007, Congress passed a bill that requires certain energy efficiency standards for light bulbs. I don’t know what business it is of Congress to regulate what sort of bulbs you put in your lamp next to your living room chair or in your bathroom light fixtures, since I don’t see anything in the Constitution that allows them to do that. Furthermore, it is just plain common sense to let people choose for themselves what sort of lights they want to use.

I put compact fluorescent bulbs in most of my lighting fixtures in my home. I did this to hopefully save energy and money. I bought into the hype that these bulbs were just as bright as incandescent bulbs and would use far less electricity. I got tired of some bulbs blowing out on me and constantly changing them. One lamp in particular blew bulbs constantly. A fluorescent bulb solved that particular issue.

One thing that I found out, however, is that compact fluorescent bulbs were much more expensive than incandescent bulbs. They also can blow out and fail just like incandescent bulbs. More than once I have put in a fluorescent bulb and it blew out in short order. So much for saving money there. On top of that, I found out that after a while, fluorescent bulbs tend to dim. Not too long ago, my wife remarked to me, “Is it me or is the living room darker than it used to be?” Alas, she was correct. The ceiling fan lights just are not as bright as they used to be.

I know people that have rushed to stores and stocked up a lifetime supply of incandescent bulbs just because they do not want to be forced into more expensive bulbs and they don’t want the government telling them how to illuminate their homes. I am all for saving electricity, but I am not for the government mandating how I do it. If I prefer older, more inefficient light bulbs, that is my choice. If I want to waste electricity by leaving my door left wide open so that I try to heat the great outdoors during our record “global warming” cold snaps, that is my business.

I am not convinced that this common sense repeal bill will pass through Congress and be signed by the President, however. Remember that the Senate is still controlled by people who love to control you and your actions such as Harry Reid, and that the President used to have the most liberal voting record in the Senate when he would actually cast a vote. He already wants to tell you how to conduct your health care and what volume your television can be set to, so I doubt he wants to allow you the freedom to choose the type of light bulb you want to use.

Speaking of electricity use, I see that Duke Energy and Progress Energy want to merge. The arguments so far are that there will be more efficient generation and distribution of electricity thus resulting in lower electricity bills. I am sure that every single person who is a customer of theirs and especially those who are customers of public power towns may just want a utility bill break. Towns like Selma, Smithfield, and Clayton already pay higher electricity rates than direct customers of Progress Energy, so just maybe we can enjoy a lower rate for our electricity.

I would prefer that towns get out of their arrangement through Electricities all together and sell off our local power grid to the newly organized Duke Energy, but I doubt that will happen. The power Nazis want to maintain power over the people by monopolizing local towns’ electricity distribution to extract revenue from them. The light bulb Nazis may eventually come knocking on your door if you keep using your incandescent light bulbs. I may be a compact fluorescent bulb user, but at least you can never accuse me of saying, “First they came for the incandescent bulb users, but I was not an incandescent bulb user...”

Column for Jan. 13, 2011

2011-01-13T08:41:00.001-05:00

Generally, I find that when government gets out of the way of private enterprise, it operates more efficiently. When government tries to enter the world of enterprise, it generally is inefficient and more expensive. Three recent stories of government interference come to mind.

I work in the television industry for a large communications company. Company policy prohibits that I mention its name. I work with advertising video automation systems, so I have to deal with emerging and changing technologies on a daily basis. Trust me when I say that advanced technology has not necessarily made the job easier. Rather, it has become increasingly complex. When technology products are supplied by other companies, television networks, and advertising agencies, technology working and playing well together can be a real challenge. Welcome to my work life if that sounds confusing.

Having solved all other problems in this country, your Congress has passed a bill and our illustrious President Obama has signed The CALM (Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation) Act into law. It is a law that seeks to force video providers to control advertising audio levels on television.
The government forced television providers to institute technology that makes that very thing difficult and rather than deal with issues like national security, illegal immigration, profligate spending, and national debt, they thought that controlling the volume of your television was more important. That is typical of government; create a problem and then propose a difficult and expensive method of solution.

In other news, two dozen North Carolina Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) boards lost money in the 2010 fiscal year. Then the ABC boards had the audacity to turn around and oppose any thoughts of privatization of the ABC system in our state. Basically, they just oppose losing their jobs and control. It has been exposed that many ABC boards have been a haven for nepotism, bloated salaries and staff levels, and corruption. They are keeping private industry out of the liquor business, keeping it a monopoly. But that very monopoly is losing money.

In other states, liquor stores are privately run and are very profitable. Governor Perdue is contemplating the selling of the ABC system to private industry, and this is one area in which she and I agree wholeheartedly. There is no reason why liquor sales have to be run by government. The specious claim of the need for regulation and control has been made by ABC boards, but that does not mean that the stores and distribution system has to be run by the government. If government wants to regulate your television volume, they can certainly regulate the sale of liquor. Yet the president of the Association of ABC Boards has been quoted as saying, “We think control is a better idea than privatization.” We can have both. Other states do, and it works well.

Johnston County is getting in the way of progress when it comes to cell phone reception. The county has placed a restriction on the height of towers of 120 feet unless the company wanting the tower can prove that the lower height would hinder cell phone service in the area. Cell provider T-Mobile wanted to build a 195 foot tower in the Cleveland area. The county refuses to budge on the height restriction. The T-Mobile tower extra height would increase the tower’s range by 50 to 75%, but that does not matter to the county.

In Cary, some cell towers have to be made to look like freaky pine trees. In Raleigh, a cell tower was made into a church bell tower to hide its appearance. Out here in Johnston County, I don’t think that anyone wants bell towers or funky looking pine trees, but I am willing to bet that we all would prefer better cell phone coverage. For years, those in Johnston County who have mobile phones have had to tolerate what has been termed “cell hell”. We have experienced bad coverage, dropped calls, and slow internet service on smart phones. As the area has grown, so has the desire for improved communications systems.

I fail to see how a taller tower will be a detriment to the community. I don’t know why capricious, almost arbitrary regulations are set sometimes. Even when serving on the local planning board, I failed to see the need for some regulations whereas others were needful. This seems to me to be a case of government interference. Sometimes if government would simply get out of the way, we could have profitable liquor stores, better cell phone coverage, and private industry would not be pushed into difficult to control technology. Then again, why would we expect anything less than the oligarchical mentality we get from government?

Column for Jan. 6, 2011

2011-01-05T22:15:00.001-05:00

Two weeks ago, I wrote about Johnston County's proposed ordinance concerning limits on where firearms and projectiles could be used (to include BB guns and bow and arrow shooting). I sent that very column to my elected representatives on the County Board of Commissioners. I received some feedback from several of them. One such email I got was an official message from Allen Mims, the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners. It read as follows.

"As you are aware, the Johnston County Board of Commissioners was scheduled to hold a public hearing…to review and discuss the adoption of a proposed firearm ordinance. I, as well as my fellow Board members, have received several communications over the last week from concerned citizens regarding the implementation of such an ordinance. In light of these concerns, the Board and I have decided to develop a workgroup, consisting of Commissioner, staff and citizen representatives, who will review the proposed firearm ordinance, address the citizen concerns and develop a revised ordinance that is mutually acceptable among us all."

This shows that some people do still listen to their constituents when enough people make their voices heard. That is not to say that the reviewed and amended proposed ordinance will be any better, but at least the County Board is taking another look at the situation.

In other gun control insanity, I was reading an article about yet another gun buyback program that was in Providence, Rhode Island. This was not for unused our found firearms, though. It was for toy guns for children. That's right, toy guns. Providence is not exactly known for being conservative. I have known far too many left-wing control freaks that despise freedom and traditional American values from that area.

Children, especially boys, love to play with toy guns. I had cap guns, squirt guns, toy machine guns, and the like when I was a tot. My oldest son loves to play with his toy guns, and I have been teaching him about gun safety. Eventually I will gift him with his own real one, when he is old enough and mature enough. The same goes for my infant son. Toy guns nowadays come in bright colors or at least with orange tips, so as not to be confused with real ones. Even without the safety contrast colors, as children we never mistook our toys for the real thing and playing with toy guns never caused us to become violent in real life.

According to The Boston Globe, "In exchange for their toy guns, all the children received wrapped presents that were indisputably not violent — dolls, stuffed animals, and board games like checkers."

When I told my son about the program, he grabbed his toy shotgun, held it above his head, and proclaimed, "…from my cold dead hands!" Charlton Heston would have been proud.

Why is it that liberals will not be satisfied until everyone has equal misery? My boy is quite happy playing with his toy guns. I am happy when I get to play with my real ones. That does not make us violent. It makes us normal, freedom loving, American males. Liberals want to neuter people like us with anti-gun legislation, regulation, court decisions, treaties, and ordinances. When they can't reach children that way, they try to indoctrinate them into thinking that guns, even toy ones, are evil.

Look, guns are no more evil than the car you drive. Lighters are not evil, but evil can be done with them in the hands of an arsonist. Cars are not evil, but in the hands of a drunken driver, they can be lethal. Guns are not evil, but in the hands of an evil person, they can facilitate evil, violent acts. More people have died because of Ted Kennedy's car than have died from a bullet wound from one of my guns…and I have about 25 times as many guns as Kennedy had automobiles.

Since drunk drivers hurt people, I propose a buyback program for all toy cars and Jack Daniels bottles. How about swimming pools? Many children die in swimming pool accidents, so let's have a buyback program on all inflatable wading pools, backyard swimming pools, and Barbie Townhouse accessories. According to the logic used by liberals, it all makes sense to me.

As for me, I join with the bumper sticker sentiment of my son that was famously uttered by the late Charlton Heston, "...from my cold, dead hands!"

Column for Dec. 30, 2010

2010-12-29T21:31:00.000-05:00

“This would have doubled our tax base overnight.” We have heard that sort of claim before, and I am dubious. We heard that sort of claim when Sysco was looking to relocated to Selma. We heard figures about how many jobs this would bring to the town and how many homes would be built to accommodate the influx of laborers. That didn’t happen with the construction and operation of the Sysco facility. Even the executive in charge of the Selma facility bought a house in Clayton, not Selma. When large companies want to come to a town with promises of an increased tax base, jobs, and more residents, towns tend to get excited. They tend to make tax concessions, agreements to provide infrastructure, and other tax payer funded incentives. Basically, it amounts to providing corporate welfare. I don’t blame a business for going with the location that is to its greatest economic benefit.

As you may have read, Electrolux was looking at Selma as a possible location to build a new manufacturing plant. Electrolux used to be known in America only for its vacuum cleaners. I remember when my parents bought an Electrolux with the 1976 Olympics sponsorship logo decal on it. The woman who sold the vacuum was doing door to door, in home demonstrations. But the Swedish manufacturer makes a lot more than just vacuum cleaners. They also make a lot of appliances that have been showing up more and more in stores here in North America.

I am all for wooing a large business like Electrolux to build its factory in town. Though I did not necessarily want an ethanol plant in Selma a few years ago, I was all for their freedom to build one. If an area has the ability to provide the water, streets, natural gas, labor force, and real estate necessary to sustain a company, then I am all for it.

I do get concerned, however, when promises are made and plants like the Dell facility in Winston-Salem end up closing shortly after opening. I also get concerned when promises are made to be able to provide the 500 acres necessary for development. I have to be honest and say that if I was a property owner in the way of construction, I may very well take the offer to sell my property and leave. Money talks. But not everyone is willing to abandon land that may have been in the family for generations or is making money for their family, such as farm or timber land. You are only going to find 500 acre parcels in what was or is farm land around here.

What disturbs me is the possibility of eminent domain by a municipality to take land from one private property owner and give it to another private entity such as a developer or corporation on the promise of higher tax revenue for the municipality. In one of the greatest travesties of American juris prudence, that very thing was the result of Kelo vs. the City of New London, Connecticut just five years ago. The Supreme Court upheld New London’s decision to take land from a private citizen and give it to a developer for the sole purpose of potential greater revenue from land usage. The irony is that the financials never panned out for the developer and the taken land sits empty. That is, to me, one of the biggest abuses of eminent domain and unethical decisions to ever come along. Then again, that sort of dilemma may never have been an issue had Electrolux determined to build in Selma. I am, however, always vigilant in looking at such potential government abuse.

The bottom line is that though I support industrial development, feel that it is overall a good thing for the area, and would like to have seen the factory come to our little town, I would want to see all things done honestly and ethically. I would want to see development that would not cause us to give away all of our potential revenue increases as tax incentives to lure a company here and would not want to see private lands taken forcibly and given to private business in the name of the public good. Hopefully, that is how things would have gone.

It is good to see that industry is taking notice of our little gem of a location. We have railroads, easy interstate access, land, and an available labor force. Selma has now been through this drill a few times over the years. Sometimes the effort has worked, other times not. Perhaps with this unsuccessful bid, Selma will be ready for future endeavors here and other businesses will take note of the consideration of Selma for the Electrolux plant and also give us a look. I also hope that the puffery of promises of benefits to the town do not fail to deliver, as in times past.

Column for Dec. 23, 2010

2010-12-19T19:23:00.003-05:00

“Save us from ourselves, Big Brother! Please act as a father for us because we are but stupid sheep!” Does the Johnston County’s Board of Commissioners think that this is how we all think and that is what we all need? Sorry, but I am 42 years old, a responsible adult, and don’t need a group of elected officials attempting to codify common sense for me. I had parents to teach me, I am a parent doing the same, and some things are just plain common sense.

I am going to quote from Grass Roots North Carolina, a state wide Second Amendment organization. “Johnston County commissioners are considering an ordinance to ban shooting of any kind of projectile within 600 feet of a dwelling. This would include BB and pellet guns. Upon questioning, county officials admitted that this would even include bows and arrows.” I know what has really kicked this subject into consideration, and quite honestly, it is another instance of hard case making for bad law. Because some individuals operate a veritable shooting range on private property in the county (outside of any town limits or jurisdiction), the county wants to pass an ordinance barring all county residents from shooting even a BB gun.

I am already covered by such nonsense, seeing that I live within the town limits of Selma. I am not allowed to discharge a firearm for sporting or pastime purposes in the town limits. I can see the regulation within the closer quarters of town limits more so than in the more rural areas of the county. I only have a quarter of an acre of land on which to recreate. The insanity is that Article 13, Article I, Section 13-4 of the Town of Selma code reads, “Any person using an air rifle in the town shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.” I can not even take my Daisy Red Rider and plug a stray dog that threatens my children or teach my boy how to proficiently handle a BB gun in my backyard. Quite honestly, if I want to tape a paper target to my glass door in my backyard and shoot at it, that should be my business and nobody else’s.

The county is even taking it one step further. A football field is 300 feet long (100 yards x 3 feet per yard). The county wants you to have to be two entire football fields away from a house in order to shoot a firearm, bow and arrow, or even BB gun. My best friend has 3 acres out in the country. His nearest neighbor can barely be seen from his house. If I wanted to comply with the town ordinance and go to his house in rural Johnston County to shoot a BB gun or even a .22 caliber rifle, we would not be allowed to do so. And I am talking way out in the country. In my friend’s words, he lives so far out in the country that he does not get the TV show “Saturday Night Live” until Tuesday. If my friend wants to stand on his porch and shoot at targets or even psychotic squirrels, he will not be allowed to do so. He would have to be off his own property, over two football fields away from his house. That is just ridiculous.

My son just won a toy marshmallow shooting crossbow Sunday night. Will he be able to shoot it in Selma without being guilty of a misdemeanor? How about in rural Johnston County? Do we have to turn in his Nerf guns to county or town officials now as part of some Nerf buy back program? Should I have saved the receipt to return the BB gun I bought him for Christmas (he better not read this column and none of you had better tell him about it since this column is going to be published just before Christmas)?

We do not need government to save us from ourselves. When I was growing up, we rode in cars without seat belts, played with lawn darts, and carried pocket knives. We survived. We also learned how to shoot safely and away from other people. Just because a few yahoos are around does not mean that every last common sense using citizen needs to have Big Brother holding our hands or acting as a parent for us.

I don’t know about you, but I am going to contact all of my elected officials on the County Board of Commissioners and let them know that too much government regulation is just not welcome. If they don’t listen to me, I hope that they will listen to common sense from citizens during the January 3rd public hearing on the matter.

------

As a result of the lobbying efforts of people like myself and other citizens, I got the following email today.

-------- Original Message --------

Subject: Proposed Firearms Ordinance Hearing
Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2010 15:57:14 -0500
From: Rick Hester

From: Allen L. Mims, Jr., Chairman, Johnston County Board of Commissioners

Re: Proposed Johnston County Firearm Ordinance

As you are aware, the Johnston County Board of Commissioners was scheduled to hold a public hearing on January 3, 2011 at our 6:00pm meeting to review and discuss the adoption of a proposed firearm ordinance. I, as well as my fellow Board members, have received several communications over the last week from concerned citizens regarding the implementation of such an ordinance. In light of these concerns, the Board and I have decided to develop a workgroup, consisting of Commissioner, staff and citizen representatives, who will review the proposed firearm ordinance, address the citizen concerns and develop a revised ordinance that is mutually acceptable among us all.

Currently the workgroup will be comprised of the following members, with the possible addition of a couple more individuals:

Allen L. Mims, Jr. – Chairman of the Johnston County Board of Commissioners
Jeffrey P. Carver – Vice Chairman of the Johnston County Board of Commissioners
Rick J. Hester – County Manager
Steve Bizzell – Sheriff
Berry Gray – Planning Director

Citizens: Jeff Lawrence, Mike Walters, Jake McAllister, Stephen Reeves, Jonathan Parker and Todd Blackburn

Therefore, the public hearing scheduled for January 3, 2011 has been postponed until further notice. Upon receipt of a revised ordinance from the workgroup, we shall re-advertise the date and time of the public hearing.

Thank you.

Column for Dec. 16, 2010

2010-12-16T21:15:00.001-05:00

Sometimes a government action banning or outlawing something is a good thing. Other times, it is not. Then there are the cases in which I am very libertarian in my leanings and would rather the government just stay out of the way and let stupid people be stupid. For instance, I am extremely neutral on the subject of gambling.

Contrary to many of my Christian brethren, I was not in opposition to a state lottery here in North Carolina. I was, however, very opposed to the way in which the lottery was passed through the NC General Legislature. I thought it was done sneakily and underhandedly. Even so, I have been known to purchase an occasional lottery ticket. I don’t buy many or often, but when I have a few spare dollars in my wallet, I don’t mind purchasing a chance at winning millions of dollars.

In a short while, my wife and I will be on a cruise ship heading to the western Caribbean. I am told that there will be casinos aboard ship, and I very well may partake of them. I look at it as no more of a waste of my money than a trip to a Chuck E. Cheese to play video games with my son. I have wasted far more money on over-taxation, getting ripped off by vendors, various business schemes I have tried over the years, and the like.

As with my willingness to buy lottery tickets and try a casino, I have no issue with people who wish to play with internet gambling or digital poker machines. Internet cafes that sprang up across the state were, in my opinion, a legitimate business. They provided a legal service that people wanted and were willing to spend money upon. Well, they were legal, anyway. Now they are being forced out of business. The State of North Carolina, reaching its tentacles of regulation and control, has decided to outlaw such businesses.

I have yet to have a theologian explain to my satisfaction any Biblical problem with gambling. I have read many interpretations, extrapolations, and suppositions. The Bible deals with stewardship, covetousness, greed, and the love of money. There are plenty of ways that gambling can cause sin in those areas, but purchasing a lottery ticket, enjoying a casino once in a while, and visiting an internet cafe does not have to be such. I approach it the same way as I do alcohol and pornography. Both are legal products. I do not have much use for the latter, but I occasionally imbibe the former. Alcohol, contrary to many legalistic people in Christianity, is not expressly forbidden within the Bible. Excessive use of it, however is. Government regulation is not the best method of keeping people from abusing alcohol. Some have a problem with addiction to alcohol, but as history has shown, prohibition was a horrible idea. Hard cases and legalistic, self-righteous, religious views often make for bad law.

Pornography is not specifically banned, but lust and adultery are. The very purpose of pornography is to fuel one’s lust, so it is, in my opinion, sin. I partake of all the pornography I so choose. I just choose not to sit at home and download videos and pictures off the internet or buy porno videos. I know where I can get them cheap, but they just don’t interest me.

There are people who have problems with both alcohol and pornography. There are people who have problems with gambling. However, the total ban on any or all will only fuel Al Capone type figures who will find a way to capitalize on the illegality of it, just as Capone did with gambling and alcohol during the Prohibition era.

When there is a choice between liberty and legislated morality, I tend to choose liberty and to allow God to deal with the hearts of people, provided that exercising one’s liberty does not harm others (such as is the case with abortion). Because a few knuckleheads have problems with gambling is no reason to prohibit everyone else from enjoying a personal vice or diversion. If we are going down that road, why don’t we ban automobiles and return Prohibition as a Constitutional amendment? Of course that is ridiculous. It is hypocritical of the State of North Carolina to enact a lottery but to ban private gambling. If it is a matter of legislating morality, then the state should outlaw topless bars, thus “killing two birds with one stone”, ban the sale of Playboy and Hustler magazines, and require all internet service providers to block pornographic web sites from reaching North Carolina homes. I guess the government just doesn’t like the competition for gambling revenue.

Column for Dec. 9, 2010

2010-12-10T17:51:00.001-05:00

I have known for a couple of months now about the impending property re-evaluation for all of Johnston County. I know that every eight years, the county has to re-evaluate property values. If you are a property owner and have not received your new property value statement, you will. I got mine about a week ago. I bought my house in Selma just over eight years ago. Shortly after the purchase, I got my first re-evaluation. The tax value went up significantly, but it was not unreasonable at the time. Not this time.

I doubt very seriously that my property value has increased $26,530 in just eight years, especially in a down economy. Here in Selma, I see plenty of houses for sale, many of which have been able to sell for a long time. I have done some property value comparison just within the last six months because I was looking at refinancing my mortgage to a lower rate. I used two different services to look at my estimated property value, and both did not have my property value as high as Johnston County claims. I don’t know on which planet the value estimator was working, but it sure wasn’t in my neighborhood.

I understand the reason for a property re-evaluation. When you assess taxes based upon property value, only a re-evaluation of the property’s retail value will raise the taxation revenue per property. That means a property tax increase. In my case, this means an annual increase of $347.54 in my property taxes. That also translates to an increase in my mortgage payment of about $57.92 to make up for the shortage in my escrow account plus the tax increase itself. Needless to say, I have documents refuting that much of an increase in value and will be appealing that newly assessed value. If I am going to pay property taxes, then I want it to be fair.

Speaking of property taxes and my home, I have been contemplating what I wrote two weeks ago about the almost $22,500 that the Town of Selma wants to spend in taxpayer money (assuming that it will come from some public funding source) just for a consultant to make the application for a historic district designation for parts of Selma’s residential neighborhoods. The more I think about it, the more I find better uses for that $22,500.

Anyone who has walked along Selma’s old residential neighborhoods knows how horribly the sidewalks have held up. For years I have been squawking about how decrepit some sidewalks are. Not only are they not pleasant to see, they are a great safety hazard. I can not tell you how many times I have tripped over the uneven concrete pads just in front of my own home and on my block. That is a huge liability for the town. I used to get paid to help eliminate safety hazards, and I cringe every time I walk along my street.

I have not, nor will I formally petition for the horrendous sidewalk to be improved in front of my house. Why? Because the town ordinance states that “One hundred (100) percent of the cost of the improvements shall be assessed” (Chapter 14, Article III, Sec. 14-47 of the Selma Town Code) to me. Why should I have to pay to fix a sidewalk that the town has neglected for a half century? I don’t want to have the cost for the town’s negligence assessed against me and “the assessments shall be a lien on the property assessed...for collection in the same manner as property taxes”. (Chapter 14, Article III, Sec. 14-55) I don’t own that sidewalk, but I would be taxed for its improvement just because it is in front of my house. If I have to pay for it, I should own it. If I own it, I should be able to put up a toll gate on it and require pedestrians pay me a quarter to walk on my sidewalk.

That $22,500 would begin to pay for a whole lot of concrete that would eliminate a whole lot of potential liability for the town. Just one trip and fall could cost the town a whole lot more than that $22,500. I am baffled about priorities in some municipalities. I have said for years, “take care of what you have” before tackling new facilities or “things that would be nice to have”. Take care of infrastructure such as sidewalks, streets, water and sewer lines, and the like before worrying about things like historical neighborhood designations. After all, Selma is about to get an increase in property tax because of the re-evaluation done by Johnston County. I aim to give up as little as possible on that front, however.

Column for Dec. 2, 2010

2010-12-02T20:49:00.000-05:00

Who controls the purse strings in Johnston County? I thought it was the Johnston County Board of Commissioners. At least that is who I thought had the power to control county money, levy taxes, and portion out money as they see fit. That is why we elected them. There is a quote from the movie "Dune" which says, "He who controls the spice, controls the universe!" In the case of Johnston County, it had better be the Board of Commissioners that control the spice, not the Board of Education.

I have been reading with interest the rhetoric from the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Schools about the budget crunch here in our little county. This is nothing new and it is nothing applicable only to Johnston County. But how affairs have been conducted has been a media skirmish. The Board of Commissioners is asking for money back from the school budget. The School Board made counter offers and asserted that any further budget cuts would be devastating to the county's school system.

I don't buy that assertion for one minute. The schools will continue, even if on a shoestring budget. There are tons of wasteful and foolish things we can cut from the budget and still provide a decent education. I guarantee that if I was given a line item budget, I could find plenty of areas from which to trim expenses. Just because something is a good idea does not mean we should be doing it, providing it, or spending money on it. Right off the top of my head, I can think of several areas from which to cut, including middle school athletics, the superintendent's salary, and the pay increases given to the administrative office staff.

The one sacred cow that I would not mind seeing slaughtered is the threat of having to do away with some staff positions in the school system. Stupidly, 330 staff positions were being funded by federal stimulus dollars. It is just plain common sense to me that anything funded by the federal stimulus spending travesty (that my grandchildren will be paying for in years to come) will not be funded after that money runs out. So why then did the Johnston County School System depend upon that money to fund school worker salaries? It makes sense to me that when that money ceases, so do those jobs. We should never count short-term serendipity money as a basis for long term spending and employee retention. That is just plain foolish.

I was reading Superintendent of Schools Ed Croom explanation about how the school system accounts for the multi-million dollar reserve fund. If you are counting on a "reserve fund" rather than general funds to pay for construction projects, then something is amiss in how we are accounting for money. I have read some conflicting accounts from different sources that do not jive with that assertion, so the truth has got to be somewhere out there waiting to be fully explained to the populace of Johnston County. Figures have ranged from $23 million to $32 million of reserve funds and investment accounts.

If it is true that the school system has that much in undesignated funds, then I think that some taxpayers in Johnston County are due a refund. If these funds are indeed designated for construction costs, then the accounting needs to be made plain.

One thing that bothered me about this whole melee was that after the Board of Commissioners requested money back from the school system, the Board of Education countered with a lower figure with a stipulation attached that they could get the money back at any time. I don't see where they are in a position to be able to set terms. Another disappointment was that School Board Chairman Larry Strickland decided to hold a press conference in which he criticized the Board of Commissioners for being fiscally prudent in cutting the budget to the school system. I am now having second thoughts about that vote I cast on November 2nd.

The Board of Commissioners is supposed to be the elected body to control the spice. They supply the money, have the power to raise revenue, and should have the say about rescinding any budgets. Period. End of sentence.

Column for Nov. 25, 2010

2010-11-24T10:59:00.000-05:00

My house is 60 years old. I think I will start calling it historic. This year I sold my historic automobile, since it is technically almost an antique. The flag pole in front of the Selma Post Office is old, too. Maybe we should designate it as historic and name it after someone in town who was a dedicated mail carrier for years.

Everyone wants a legacy. Everyone wants to feel important. In little old Selma, it seems that people want to feel that our town is big and important. Not only that, but we need to name some of our important structures after Selma residents or past residents. And apparently we need to spend tax money on these things.

I have long said that just because something is old does not mean that it is of historical value. Residential neighborhoods in a town that have been around for 50 to 100 years are not necessarily important other than to those living in those homes. Let’s face it, the only really big claims to fame for Selma are that we are a convenient halfway stop between Miami and New York City and that Vicks Vaporub was invented here. Maybe we should have a Vicks museum and vending machines on every corner that dispense jars of Vaporub.

I read that the town is going to spend money “to apply for a historical designation for a residential area in town”. This will cost almost $22,500 just for a consultant to make the application. To what end, I wonder? Just because we have some old buildings does not make us historic. I barely consider the Mitchener Station building historic, and it certainly is not serving the public in its present usage or location. I have heard a lot of talk about doing something with that building, but that is all it has been, just talk. How many visitors to our town does that building attract?

I doubt seriously that an aging, nothing special, and rather unattractive residential neighborhood is going to do the public any more good with an expensive historic designation as opposed to without one. I seriously doubt that the town will recover the $22,500 from sales tax revenue from visitors flocking to Selma to see some aging, average houses. If this was Colonial Williamsburg, I would think differently. Even at that, Williamsburg is over rated. I have seen better, older neighborhoods still in use in New England. Other than making a few residents feel good about their houses at the expense of the rest of the town residents and taxpayers, the idea of an “historic” residential neighborhood designation will do little for the town.

On an almost related note, I was glad to see that the Town Council in Selma saw fit to refrain from naming every building, water tower, and flag pole after someone from Selma. I have no problem with honoring someone from time to time, but where does it stop? What is wrong with calling the Selma Police Station, “the Selma Police Station”? That works for me. Why do we waste time and money naming every water tower and building after someone? Why did we pay for brick columns and engraved plaques with a dedication? In my experience, those who want monuments erected to others often want to set a precedent for some to be erected for themselves.

In my hometown, the local police station was named in honor of a police officer who was slain in Afghanistan. I knew this man personally. We were in high school together, on the same football team, were in the fire department together, and he eventually served as a police officer in our hometown. He was in the National Guard and ended up serving in Afghanistan. He was killed by an improvised explosive device as his vehicle flipped over after the explosion. That town has several buildings named after a few past prominent citizens, like most towns do. When this man came home in a casket, his memory and life were honored as having an impact on the town. The town named the police station after him. This was the exception rather than the rule in that town. That is the way it should be, rather than automatically naming every edifice, street, park, tower, fence, light pole, and outhouse after a town resident.

Like I said, everyone wants a legacy. I don’t want mine to be a building with my name on it. I want mine to be that I had an impact on my community, that I gave my children a heritage full of faith and values, and the knowledge that I stood firmly and lived by what I believed.

Column for Nov. 18, 2010

2010-11-18T14:54:00.001-05:00

When a topic comes up more than once in a week, I figure it is something that may be worthy of my attention. I was reading an article in a Winston-Salem newspaper the other day with the headline, “Is N.C. now ripe for gay-marriage vote? Conservatives want GOP to put ban on ballot". I have also had conversations on the legality of constitutional measures, federal courts, and about homosexuality all in the past week.

I don’t hate homosexuals. I personally find their behavior repugnant, but I personally could not care less what they do with their private lives or in their own bedrooms. I do, however, take issue with ascribing legitimacy to their relationships under civil law as if equal to heterosexual marriage. What I do hate is the attempts by homosexual activists at forcing the majority of people to accept a deviant behavioral choice as normal. Again, I don’t care if someone engages in that lifestyle. Yes, I do have homosexual friends, relatives, and acquaintances. I do not treat them as less than human beings or without common courtesy. I just don’t want those who speak for their cause to force the government sanctioned indoctrination of my children and society in general towards acceptance of their behavior.

I have to laugh at most right wingers who make the claims that once homosexual marriage is passed, people will want to marry their pets or inanimate objects. Though I understand the thought process, it is indeed flawed language and an over-reactionary extrapolation. It is, however, a fundamental redefinition of marriage. Marriage, since the beginning of the human race, has been between male and female. There has obviously been some variations in cases of polygamy, but they have always been marriages between those of opposite sex. Male and female is the natural, God ordained order of things, both in human kind and in the animal kingdom.

There are plenty of civil reasons I have besides my religious values that go into my opposition to homosexual marriage. Note that I do not use the word “gay”. I despise the use of the word in this context. I hate that several good, wholesome things such as the symbol of the rainbow and “civil rights” have also been hijacked by the homosexual activists just like the word gay. I can’t listen to “The Flintstones” theme song anymore without cringing.

I take great exception with theologians who are accepting of homosexuality as anything less than a sin. I also take great exception with any politician who thinks that we should all be accepting of homosexuality as something intrinsically normal and should treat that behavioral choice just as we would the color of some one's skin or their national origin. That is why I even take issue with someone like Rush Limbaugh, who does not support homosexual marriage but does accept the idea of “civil unions”. That is tantamount to calling table condiment catchup as opposed to ketchup. They are both the same thing, just under a slightly different name.

Now that a Republican majority controls both houses of the NC State Legislature, I do hope for a ballot initiative to formally codify a ban on homosexual marriage in the state constitution. However, I also have a fear that if we did so, some foolish judicial activist federal judge would attempt to strike down the measure. Just within the past couple of weeks, we have seen the State of Oklahoma voted overwhelmingly to affirm a constitutional amendment that would ban the state from considering the use of Sharia (Muslim) or foreign national laws in determining legality in their state. That is only common sense and how a sovereign state works.

Simply put, a sovereign state has the right to determine its own laws. The Tenth Amendment does still apply in that the powers not specifically granted to the national government are reserved for the states. After all, it was the states that created the national government, not the other way around. If a state (which derives its power from the people thereof) that has the right to sanction and dissolve marriage chooses to pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anything but the natural order, fabric of society, moral principle of marriage being equal to one man and one woman, then that is their prerogative. A state should also be able to refuse to recognize marriages sanctioned outside of those parameters as sanctioned by another sovereign state. If you don’t like the marriage laws of a state, you don’t have to live there.

Column for Nov. 11, 2010

2010-11-10T23:53:00.000-05:00

Last week's election exemplified why I am not a Republican. I don't say this because I am tremendously disappointed with the election results, but I am disappointed in how the GOP has handled some issues.

Renee Ellmers had gotten little or no support from The National Republican Congressional Committee all during her campaign. They claimed that her campaign was "not ready for prime time". While I must agree that there were some issues not readily apparent to most of the public, the fact is that she was the one who was running against the incumbent Democrat candidate, Bob Etheridge. When your candidate is running, you do what you can to support that candidate. You put the novice status aside and you run with that person. I didn't see anyone else standing up to the plate to take on Ol' Bob this year.

Then came election night. I sat up until after 11:30 PM watching election results trickle in. I don't know what makes returns trickle so slowly in this day of electronic media, but even that late there were still returns not yet reported from all precincts in the district. We pulled up Harnett and Johnston County's Board of Elections web sites and watched the results come in quicker than television was reporting the data. The count was neck and neck for a long time, then Renee Ellmers pulled out far ahead of Bob Etheridge in both counties.

Now there is a recount in the voting district after more ballots miraculously showed up that were supposedly not counted. This put the incumbent within the margin needed for a recount, so it appears that we will have one.

What did The National Republican Congressional Committee do when asked to help keep Renee as the winner? They told Renee Ellmers to raise the money herself for the cost of the recount. They snubbed her twice. The second snubbing is beyond my comprehension, since she had apparently won the election. You would think that they would want to keep it that way, even if the GOP did sweep a lot of seats in The House of Representatives.

Political games and disrespect like that are reasons why I left the Republican Party and why I do not believe that they will be as conservative and effective as many pundits seem to think. Somehow, Republicans have forgotten how to take command once they have power and want to limp-wristedly try to compromise and not seem so sinister. That is not a winning strategy. If you are in control, act like it. The Democrats have this part down pat. The Republicans seemed almost apologetic about being in charge, in times past.

Locally, we saw a similar snub to Johnston County School Board candidate, Jamie Guerrero. I have met and interviewed Jamie. He is a conservative, concerned family man. The local GOP originally endorsed him. However, Jamie took issue with things such as the fact that teachers and staff got no raises in salary this year but overpaid bureaucrats in the school administration building got a 7% salary increase. That is a legitimate observation. He also railed against the $30+ million reserve fund that the school system has, but they are not using it to offset expenses in a period of tight fiscal times. Again, that is a legitimate observation.

Jamie was warned to get off these issues, but he held to his convictions. When the local GOP chastised him, he put the actual data on his web site to prove his claims. As a result, the county Republican Party rescinded their support of Mr. Guerrero, republished their polling place voting guides at the last minute without his name included, and refused to take his literature and campaign signs to polling places in the county.

A look at the election results had Jamie coming in fourth place. Only the top 3 candidates would take seats on the board. The top two Republicans got far more than the 3rd place candidate, who got just a little more support than Mr. Guerrero. It is entirely possible that had the local GOP not taken the actions they did, Jamie could be a board member elect today. Instead, they in effect handed the election to a liberal Democrat incumbent.

The Johnston County Republicans would rather tolerate a liberal in office than one of their own with the conviction and courage to state the issues. The national Republicans would rather keep a liberal Congressman in office than make sure he was defeated, the margin of control in Congress was increased, and party unity was shown.

I saw some of the same gamesmanship played at the local level several years ago. Local GOP representatives told me how things have "changed" since I was a Republican, and how the local party has improved. I see the same games played on the national level in my own district. As long as I see things like this, I will have a hard time believing that the GOP has returned to its conservative roots and that they are willing to change politics as usual. Until I see it, I won't believe it, and will remain registered as an "unaffiliated" voter.