Column for July 8, 2010

I got a phone call from a polling agency asking me four simple questions. The first question was simply whether I approve or disapprove of the job performance of President Barack Obama. For me the answer was a no-brainer. I obviously disapprove strongly of his job performance. I also disapproved of the job performance of George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George H. W. Bush. Each had their strong points (yes, even Clinton had a few good points). Each had their negative points (Ronald Reagan had a few negative points, as well).

At the risk of being branded a racist for any criticism of Obama by those rabid, blind fools who drank the progressive Kool-Aid, it is hard to find much positive about the Obama presidency in my view. I have an adverse reaction to actions that are entirely antithetical to the Constitution and the nation's founding principles. With massive bail outs, nationalized health care, increased size of government, quadrupling the federal debt, unnecessary moratoriums on offshore drilling, the taking over of corporations, support of environmentalist whack job policies towards non-existent climate change, bowing to foreign dignitaries, and the soon coming massive tax increases, it is hard to find anything of which to approve. To be fair, the foundation for some of these things was laid before Obama took office.

The more I have read behind Thomas Jefferson, the more I have mixed feelings about him. However, from time to time I do find some quotes by Jefferson that are poignant. "A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government." That does not describe American government today at the national, state, county, and municipal levels. It sums up my views and my answers to the survey.

The second question was whether or not I supported the health care system passed by Congress and President Obama. My answer was obviously that I do not and can not find anything constitutional about it. To quote James Madison, who was one of the biggest influences on the writing of our Constitution, "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 same quote can apply to the next question I was asked. Do I think that government is doing too much or too little to solve the crisis type problems in our nation? This is a paraphrase, since I do not remember the exact wording. Madison's quote in context was about the proposed expenditure of public money towards assisting people after a natural disaster. It also applies to private medical expenditures, welfare, public housing, food stamps, and the list goes on.

My answer was pretty much in line with Madison's quote. I did not find the constitutional empowerment for the government to get involved in a lot of its present activities. Therefore it is doing too much, in my view. The private sector and economy should be left alone.

The one exception I currently find would be the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, though it was not in the scope of the telephone survey. I have no problems with the government acting to secure our coastline from calamity. I see that as part of ensuring domestic tranquility and promoting the general welfare. I also believe that the financial burden should ultimately be upon the parties responsible for the incident in question.

The final question was simply that if the upcoming election was held today, whether I would support Elaine Marshall or Richard Burr for United States Senate? That was also a no-brainer to me. There are many things I have seen Burr support that I had misgivings about but many that I was happy about, as well. Elaine Marshall is a known progressive/liberal and I certainly have no love for progressivism or liberalism.

When thinking about issues of government action or inaction, always keep in mind the Constitutional requirements and purpose of government. The state and federal constitutions outline the scope of powers and limitations of government and are supposed to be our supreme laws to follow. I just wish governments would indeed follow them.

Column for July 1, 2010

Those of you who follow me on the internet know that I have become a fan of Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey. The more I see of Governor Christie standing up to political correctness, special interest groups, and labor unions, the more excited I get. When I see him being responsive to the reason he was elected, i.e., cut the budget, decrease spending, and restore the state of New Jersey to fiscal sanity, the more I love what I see.

One recent video had Chris Christie speaking at a town hall type meeting in which he was confronted by a school teacher. The teacher chastised the governor for cutting the education budget in New Jersey, much like we are facing here in North Carolina. The teacher, who asserted that she loved what she did for a profession was informed that if she did not like the pay scale, she could go find another job and that teachers know the wage scale before ever taking the job. I absolutely loved that answer and applaud him for it. Will we ever see that sort of bravado here in North Carolina? I seriously doubt it.

Public schools are a product of government. Since government has been bloated and allowed to grow unchecked over the years, I wholeheartedly suspect that school budgets are no different. Here in North Carolina, we have seen the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) complain about budget cuts. We have seen the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Crazy People) unfoundedly whine about "resegregation" when Wake County and now Wayne County have been moving to community based schools to not only save money but to restore common sense to school administration.

In Charlotte, there is debate over the merits of public pre-kindergarten education. Whatever happened to parental responsibility? Why is it the job of the populace to supply a babysitting service to four-year-olds? We have Smart Start, More at Four, and various other failed programs with a huge price tag. Why should anyone want his or her four-year-old placed a publicly funded education program other than to take advantage of free daycare?

Do you want to know what government thinks about looking after toddlers? The State of North Carolina wants to make it a crime to: "serve sugar-sweetened beverages to children of any age; serve whole milk to children two years of age or older; serve flavored milk to any child; serve more than six ounces of juice to any child regardless of age or how long the child is cared for." This is how government wants to intrude into private daycare center operations with House Bill 1726, which has already passed one vote. How much worse would it be in a public institution? Is this the sort of government control you want over your children? Is this the sort of government you want to live under?

I was intrigued by a news story I read about neighboring Wake County. That school district is in search of a new Superintendent of Schools after their old one whined about the direction of the newly elected school board. What I found interesting is that the county may not hire someone with an education background to be the next superintendent. The next leader there may be a businessman or former military leader.

As Governor Christie said in an interview, it is not the educators in his state that hate him, it is the education labor unions. They have created a society of entitlement for their constituency under the guise of being "for the children" in order to pad their membership roles. This of course leads to more union income. It is precisely that mentality that has been rampant in our school systems and why I would love to see someone with a background in business hired to run schools with a much higher degree of efficiency.

I work in private industry and we have to run with efficiency every day. We deal with budget and manpower cuts regularly and still produce for our customers and shareholders. We the taxpayers are the investors and shareholders in our public school system. We should expect a high rate of return on our investment. In order to cut down on public expenditure, I have openly offered to take the job of Superintendent of Schools in Johnston County for half the pay we are currently giving someone with a background in "education".

Think about this for a moment. Do you really want the "milk police" controlling what your child drinks? Do you want a law that regulates how much fruit juice your toddler is allowed to have? Do you want the same government controlling our children's education at age four or at any age?

Column for June 24, 2010

I look at the birdbath and bird feeder as a microcosm of American society. I wrote at the begging of May how I've had more birds and squirrels at my feeder this year than ever before. It is amazing that the birds and cute, gray, bushy tailed rats can empty the feeder in less than a day. I fill it up almost daily now. I have spent more on birdseed so far this year than I have spent on most previous years combined.

There are a few observations I have made over the past few months. Even if the feeder is empty, birds and squirrels still come by the feeder to check to see if there is anything to eat. When the birds see me coming, they will actually fly away, perch on a wire or tree limb, and as soon as I leave the freshly filled feeder, flock to it. I have actually had birds angrily scream at me when the feeder is empty until I finish filling it again for them.

I see more squirrels on my little quarter acre of land than I have ever seen before. I am pretty sure that some of these squirrels do not live in the old pecan tree behind my house. Instead, they seem to sneak across the property border and plunder the feed. Birdseed is not even meant for squirrels, but they don't seem to mind. When I have bags of birdseed set out under my carport, squirrels will invade my carport and tear into the bags of seed.

When I put the seed bags into an old trash can that I am using as storage, the gray, illegal alien squirrels actually ate through part of the plastic garbage can to gain access to it and plunder what was never meant for them in the first place. They leave seed hulls all over my carport.

The one good thing the squirrels do is to rake out seed from the feeder and spread it on the ground. When they do that, many birds and other squirrels do actually benefit from their labor. Apparently the birds let the squirrels do jobs that they, in theory, are not willing to do themselves. I doubt that is truly the case, since when no squirrels have been handy, I have watched an ambitious bird actually shoveling out seed from the feeder to the ground with its beak. There is an obvious parallel to society here.

It is all part of my birdie stimulus spending plan. Birds and squirrels have come from all over the neighborhood to my feeder. Why they come to my feeder in particular is a mystery to me. Perhaps they are looking for a better life than they can find where their own nests are located. Maybe the food supply is just scarce on the other side of the neighborhood. Either way, the birds flock to my feeder more than that of my neighbors and more than any other year since I have been living in this house.

The seed is meant to supplement the animals' own ability to find food, not be their entire source of substance. I would hope that these now dependent birds and squirrels are also searching for worms, insects, berries, nuts and whatever else birds and squirrels consume. The handouts I provide are not meant to replace their own food chain. It seems that some take advantage of the free food more than others.

I get birds of all colors. Gray ones, black ones, red ones, blue ones, and a variety of color mixtures all flock to my feeder. Some are more common than others. Both birds and squirrels seem to take to the water supply in my birdbath. I have to rinse out the birdbath and refill it just about every day. Some days it takes less than an afternoon and it will be bone dry.

Regardless of whom the bird feeder and birdbath are meant for, the common factor is that when I put out an abundant supply of free food, I have an abundant supply of consumers wanting the handout. When I don't put out the food, the birds and squirrels find another way to get their sustenance. America could learn a lesson from that.

I almost feel like the federal government, giving out more in handouts than at any other time in my living here. The big difference seems to be that I can afford the birdseed. I guess if I charged the bird food to my credit card to pay it off years later with a huge amount of accrued interest, I would be more like the federal government.

Column for June 17, 2010

Over the years, I have been somewhat critical of Congressman Bob Etheridge. I have also endeavored to be fair and offer praise whenever praise is due. As of right now, I have zero praise for Congressman Etheridge other than to say "at least he offered an apology".

You have seen on the news or read in the newspapers that our very own Congressman Etheridge assaulted two students on a Washington, D.C. street last week. The college students were doing some sort of school project. When Congressman Etheridge walked by, they had their camcorder rolling and they simply asked him the question whether or not he is in support of President Barack Obama's policies. That was fair enough. Congressmen were asked about supporting Bush in years past.

Instead of politely stopping and asking who these students were and for what they were doing an impromptu interview, old Bob got hostile. He smacked around the videographer, grabbed the interviewer by the wrist and later by the back of the neck. He repeatedly asked them who they were, who they were with, and demanded to know their identities. Apparently if you see people with a video recorder and asking questions whom you do not know, that justifies assaulting them.

When Congressman Etheridge ran for his congressional post the first time, I interviewed him several times myself. He had a bad habit of not wanting to answer questions then, and he knew who I was and who employed me. He came to us wanting radio airtime and we gave it to him, but he dodged questions. He obviously wanted to dodge questions from strangers, as well. Two election cycles back, I offered old Bob an interview for my column as I did his opponent. He did not so much as pay me the respect of declining the offer. I have also extended unacknowledged offers for interviews on my internet radio show that I used to host regularly. Thus I know first hand what Bob Etheridge thinks about the press, about interviews, and about people with whom he does not want to be bothered.

I am trying to give Bob the benefit of the doubt on this one. I got to thinking that he is a very busy man. Maybe he had just gotten some bad news or maybe he just plain was having a bad day. Even if that was the case, that in no way justified assault. I saw the video of the incident several times. Perhaps the students could probably have handled the situation a bit better, but they were young and naive. I doubt highly, as has been speculated, that Congressman Etheridge was "set up" on this video encounter. I have concluded that his actions were inexcusable and just plain despicable.

Sure, Congressman Etheridge offered a formal statement reading in part, "I deeply and profoundly regret my reaction and I apologize to all involved. Throughout my many years of service to the people of North Carolina, I have always tried to treat people from all viewpoints with respect. No matter how intrusive and partisan our politics can become, this does not justify a poor response. I have and I will always work to promote a civil public discourse."

Sorry, Bob, but you have often failed in your attempt to treat people from all viewpoints with respect. I know too many people who have found that out first hand, especially others in the media. Furthermore, assaulting someone whose politics or viewpoints you have yet to even hear is purely partisan on your own part. Assaulting two people does not rate merely as a "poor response", it is criminal, despicable behavior.

Congressman Etheridge, I personally extend to you an offer for an interview with me, someone you have known by name and reputation for years. You know my family since my in-laws were neighbors of yours in Harnett County for years. You know the newspaper and blogs for which I have written for years, and I offer the chance to show the world you can have respect for people of all viewpoints. Let us have a civil public discourse together. I warn you though, if you ever try to manhandle me as you did those college students, I will ensure that you make use of the Congressional health care benefits package.

Yes, I have been critical of Congressman Etheridge for his lack of response to me as a constituent, member of the media, and for his leftist, progressive agenda. I have been hoping for years that he would be voted out of office for the benefit of the country. I had serious doubts that Renee Ellmers could beat Bob Etheridge in the upcoming election in November. Now I have a little hope that old Bob will be sent back to Lillington for good.



For fun:



More fun:



And for those who thought that Bob Etheridge was only rude to the public in the previous videos:

Column for June 10, 2010

I just finished a several yearlong teaching on the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in which I went through the notes taken by James Madison during the Philadelphia Convention with two of my cohorts. During the course of the debates of the convention, the ideas, the purpose, and limitations of government were discussed.

What about state and local governments? Just today I started re-reading through North Carolina's state constitution. Many of the same principles found in the national constitution are present in the state document. It is always a good idea to brush up on such things so that my garbage detector can operate more accurately. I always have my garbage detector operating on my core values and principles, so when I hear of a news story or incident, my antennae go up when I catch a trickle of garbage.

Four garbage stories grabbed my attention lately. Three of the stories are from North Carolina and one is from Michigan. Here in The Old North State, our legislature seems to have adopted the idea that anything that is personally distasteful to a legislator can be banned. The idea that a person or group of people can and should control or limit something they detest, whether it is a moral issue or not, I often find even more distasteful than the item in question they seek to regulate.

There is currently a bill in the state legislature that would slap a one-year moratorium on further placements of electronic billboards alongside the state’s highways. Since when is it the job of the state to regulate what sort of billboards are along highways? That tends to be a local planning and zoning issue and should be treated as such. If billboards are allowed in a certain area, of what concern is it the type of the billboard? I have no problem with electronic billboards. Here in Selma and Smithfield, we have a couple of them owned by a local company and I find them no more distracting than a still board.

This is obviously not a safety matter but rather a matter of personal taste. If you want to regulate personal taste, I found it distasteful to cut down trees that buffered the view from Selma's cemetery at the corner of Pollock Street and Highway 70 to put up a billboard, instead. And that billboard does not change electronically. Even so, I would not want the state legislature getting involved in that decision taking process.

Another state issue is a bill proposed to limit local governments from entering the internet and data delivery business. This is one issue that requires full disclosure up front. I work for the area's largest cable television and data provider. Yet this does not have a bearing on my thoughts either way.

Cities like Wilson are using public dollars to provide their own broadband data network to attract industry and compete with big telephone and cable companies. Though I generally am not for regulation by large governments, I am equally opposed to governments at any level providing services at taxpayer expense that are readily available in the private sector. Cities and towns have no business getting into the broadband data business.

Two other governmental regulations proposed involve licensing. North Carolina wants to require providers of hair braiding services to be licensed just like cosmetologists and barbers. They don't cut, color, or treat hair; they just braid it. For that, the government wants to stick its dirty fingers into the pot, stir it, and extract more revenue and control in the form of licensing fees.

The other licensing issue proposed is from Michigan. Some Michigan elected officials actually want to require licensing for journalists. Now I will agree that there are many people in the journalism industry that are better off finding other careers. However, I also believe in a First Amendment principle that says that says, "Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…" The Michigan State Legislature is not the U.S. Congress, but this is one principle that you would think is inviolable. Even intellectually and ethically challenged journalists, usually employed at the Associated Press, New York Slimes, or The Washington Compost should not require licensing. The art of journalism is seemingly a lost one and journalists should study their craft, but not be required to hold a license. I doubt that the bill will pass.

Government is often over-reaching and over-bearing. There are just some lines that government should not cross, some things they should not regulate, and some endeavors from which they should stay away.

Column for June 3, 2010

On my way to church services last weekend, I had to stop for the friendly neighborhood police officers that were running a license checkpoint here in the booming Metropolis of Selma. I am fairly used this concept, since I have had to stop numerous times at impromptu checkpoints over the past few years. Each time I get out my wallet to produce my driver's license. This time, for the first time, I also had to produce my vehicle registration.

I actually have no problem with this concept, which may surprise some people. As long as such checks are done with consistency of fairness to all vehicle operators, I believe that it is a matter of public safety to ensure that people are sober, are indeed licensed drivers, and belong on the roads. It is a legal and reasonable use of governmental and law enforcement resources.

Since I as a driver have to produce proof that I am licensed to operate the motor vehicle I operate, I am astounded at the resistance to the Arizona law against illegal immigration. Their recent law allows for local law enforcement to ascertain the legal statuses of people that they suspect are in the state (actually nation) illegally. This is pursuant only to an already legal contact with law enforcement agents. This means that a police officer can not stop someone on the street or a driver on the highway whom they suspect is here illegally unless they have either committed another infraction of the law.

Liberals who have ignorantly decried this law as a violation of civil liberties have either not read the law or they are purposely being deceptive. President Barack Obama lied through his teeth when he claimed that the police would ask people for their papers when they are taking their family out for ice cream. The use of the term "papers" was specifically used to conjure up images of Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union's KGB. It is nothing more than a propaganda tactic.

If I, a law abiding citizen can be legally asked for my identification and "papers" at a license checkpoint, then a criminal can certainly be asked for theirs when they are caught in criminal behavior. Controlling immigration into America is one of the basic duties of the federal government, but one that they have abrogated most heinously. States and local governments have been paying the price for the lack of action on the federal government's part, so they in turn have begun to "step up to the plate" and begun dealing with the issue in their own sovereign ways.

There are legitimate powers of government for purposes of control and there are illegitimate ones. I think about this distinction often, and at all levels of government. Whether it is the national government, the state, county, town, or even church governments, there are legitimate uses of power and there are illegitimate uses thereof. Controlling our border for the sake of national protection is definitely a legitimate use of government. Ensuring that people who broke the law while entering the country and then enforcing that first infraction while enforcing other laws is definitely a legitimate use of governmental power.

Recently, the President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon had the audacity to criticize the sovereignty of Arizona and condemn their law against illegal immigration as a huge violation of human rights. He found it humiliating to be asked for proof that you belong in America. Oddly enough, he readily admits that the immigration laws in Mexico are far stricter than they are in the United States and illegal immigrants are readily deported or imprisoned. That flaming hypocrisy should be astounding to any logically thinking individual. What is even worse is the lockstep criticism by our current administration in the White House.

With all the irrational calls for boycotts against Arizona for their government's courage to stand against illegal immigration and to protect their own self interests, I am almost tempted to change my upcoming vacation plans and spend my tourist dollars in Arizona. I can only wish that legislators in North Carolina have the same fortitude to pass similar legislation in our state. Such a bill has recently been introduced into the North Carolina State Senate. I seriously doubt that either our weak governor or the state legislature would have such courage to pass it, however.

Cool. More hate mail.

On 6/1/2010 9:55 PM, Al Larivee brassmonkey1944@yahoo.com wrote:

Mr. Laplante: Do you vote in every election? Are you a Military Veteran? What are personally doing to right all the wrongs you seem to percieve? I you think your going to find utopia here on earth,you've got a rude awakening coming. This ain't no storybook world by any stretch of the imagination.Your whining,moaning,and bellyaching is the main reason i opted not to renew my subscription to The Selma News. The office staff at The Selma news must be as blockheaded as you,because my subscription ran out in early February and they still send me the paper,which i have no intention of paying for,as i wrote to them,stated so and dropped in the BIG YELLOW BOX in front of the Post Office .Respectfully Al Larivee 103 Wiggs Rd Selma

And my response:

Yes. No. You read it. Take a remedial English class. I know better than you there is no Utopia. Conservatives are the ones who realize that, liberals are not. Boo frickity hoo that you don't like or read my column. You finished your email "respectfully" but have shown none in your email, so you don't mind being dishonest. I do. I fail to see how all three questions are relevant to the conservative opinions that I have the courage to espouse. I am doubtful that you have answers that would be acceptable to own yourself, which means that you probably hold others to a higher standard than you do yourself, making you a hypocrite. I at least believe and live the things about which I pontificate (and am asked to do so) on a regular basis.

Column for May 27, 2010

I recently took a lot of heat for a commentary I made on former First Lady Laura Bush. As some of you may know, she now has a book that has been released and she has been doing the national talk show circuit to promote her book. During the course of an interview with Larry King, she revealed that she had strong personal disagreement with her husband on the subjects of homosexual marriage and abortion. She was in favor of both. She also later came out in support of the nomination of Elena Kagan.

My initial commentary consisted only of sharing the video clip with my online readers and saying that Laura Bush has lost a lot of respect from me. You would have thought I accused Laura Bush of twisting the heads off newborn kittens. Simply saying that she lost a lot of respect is apparently harsh, judgmental, and cruel.

Personally, I find her revelatory opinions to be extremely hypocritical and an endorsement of both Sodomy and murder, which I later expressed. In this I don't mind being seen as narrow. There is no excusing the killing of innocent babies or for the redefinition of marriage. It is not a matter of being open minded. It is a matter of being accepting of sinful behavior and destruction of the innocent.

If there is one thing with which Laura Bush should be familiar, it is that if you are going to put yourself in the public spotlight and stick your head above the crowd, you are going to have a few tomatoes thrown at you. I have had my share of them, too. In the case of her husband, a lot of tomatoes flew his way. Some of the tomatoes thrown at George W. Bush were justified. Many were patently unfair. When the views that someone publicly expresses are contrary to the faith of the majority of Americans and contrary to the majority of even secularists, then there will be some expressions in contradiction.

As a Christian, I personally believe that it is the duty of believers to do as Proverbs 31:8 states, "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves". That would include the unborn, whose wanton slaughter Laura Bush just openly endorsed. We are to cry aloud and spare not. Woe unto Laura Bush or any other who believe as she does. Isaiah 5:20 says "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." I for one will not remain silent in order to be seen as proper in the eyes of anyone who thinks that a Christian is to be quiet and "nicer than Jesus".

Just last month, my wife and I were in her OBGYN's office watching the ultrasound and listening to the heartbeat of our seven-week-old fetus. Just seven weeks and we heard its heartbeat! Nobody can convince me that my baby is not a living creature and to remove it from the womb would not constitute murder.

This begs the question about whether or not it is horribly judgmental to speak out against not only the case of Laura Bush, but about other topics that we know to be a matter of right and wrong. Should we stay silent in order to avoid accusations such as judgmental against the wrongs in our society? Is it wrong for Christians to acknowledge the presence of unrighteousness? Absolutely not. If that were the case, then we would still be a group of British colonies. Preachers like George Whitfield and patriots like Samuel Adams would have been considered heretics in their day. If it were the case, abolitionists of the 1800's would have remained silent and the Negro slave would have been allowed to stay in bondage.

If anyone thinks I just get paid to stir the pot with outlandish statements to attract and maintain readers for the newspaper, try asking the publisher how much I have received in compensation over my nearly four years of writing this column. Yes, I am opinionated and outspoken. But I have been faithful to write every single week to fill this space because I am committed to and passionate about a set of principles. I am committed to the difference between right and wrong; and to long standing values that made my faith, my country, and my God the greatest to have ever existed.

Whether it is Laura Bush, the federal government, a state governor, a local politician, or even clergymen, take a stand for what is right. It is not arrogant to stand on what you believe, especially if you are on the side of righteousness. God has blessed this nation with a form of government in which you have the right and the duty to take a stand. I encourage you all to do so.

Column for May 20, 2010

I see that Selma had yet another working fire over this past weekend. At one point, with as many buildings that caught fire in our town (and in my neighborhood in particular), I began to wonder if that was someone's method of "urban renewal". Seriously though, my heart goes out to the folks at Free Spirit Church.

If there is a program for town renewal that comprises fiery destruction, I jokingly suggest that the list include the house next to my own. It has been abandoned for about six years now, is in a state of disrepair, the grass is almost waist high, and looks like Herman Munster lives there. It is a charming place to dwell.

Speaking of renewal, my amazement is renewed every time I hear from people in town. We have seen buildings condemned and torn down. Some have been fixed to habitable status. The idea is to make Selma more attractive to residents to keep them here and to attract new ones to our town. I am fine with the idea of condemning some properties that have deteriorated into unsanitary slums, unfit for human inhabitation. There is a responsibility that goes along with property ownership. When one's abridgment of responsibility affects the community, then it is time for a community to act.

We are not going to attract or keep residents in our "Charming Place to Be", however, if we tell them that they are not valuable to our community. When residents are told at a Town Council Meeting that the town would rather lose 25 residents over inappropriate utility disconnection and keep a company on the outskirts of town that employs mostly people from out of town like Sysco, then we have a problem.

I was not personally at the recent Town Council Meeting, but I have been told by reputable sources that this is exactly what people were told when they spoke about their electricity being cut off over a misunderstanding of the grace period recently extended to pay extremely high utility bills. I was no different in that I had the highest bill I ever had while living in Selma, and I wrote so right here in this column. Fortunately I was able to handle that extra burden. Not everyone in town could, and I fully understand why.

Right across the street from the unfortunate fire at Free Spirit Church is what some in town (and I chuckled when I heard it referred to) as "The Mayor's Sandbox". I am in full support of the idea of development of the plot of land that has been "raped and scraped". However, for about two years now it has sat barren and undeveloped. I am told that the abandoned site is in violation of state land quality regulations and has been for a long time. This is why a local citizen has filed a formal complaint with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Division of Land Quality.

People who can not afford to fix up their homes have them torn down. Citizens who can not afford to pay electricity bills in full have their utility services cut off. Properties deemed as eyesores or public nuisances are being threatened with being torn or shut down. Is it right that a development that can not be finished for similar reasons be allowed to be raped, scraped, and out of state regulatory compliance for a couple of years be allowed to remain? I guess it is all in who is doing the finger pointing.

If the goal is to truly make Selma "A Charming Place to Be", then perhaps leadership should be by example. I will be the first to be congratulatory if and when the development project intended for the Mayor's Sandbox is finally built. If it helps with the local economy and with an eyesore being alleviated, then I am all for it. I am fully in support of local business and in development of our fair town.

Selma is not so charming, however, when citizens are told that they are not as valued as a business on the outskirts of town that employs few Selma citizens. If we are talking solely about revenue to the town and disregard all other facets, then perhaps that perspective is accurate. However, a town is comprised of a group of individual citizens, not businesses and revenue streams. They deserve dignity and equal treatment.

Column for May 13, 2010

I already miss the month of April. Besides being a pretty girl's name, April is a pretty month and perhaps my favorite of the year. Each year, I look forward to the first part of the old, "April showers bring May flowers" expression. At least here in North Carolina, April showers bring April flowers. Once it hits May, the flowers are pretty much gone and the temperature gets uncomfortably hot.

March can be rough or mild, but when April 1 rolls around, I just plain enjoy North Carolina for at least 30 days. This year, as soon as May 1 hit, the weather turned hot and uncomfortable. April weather is sufficiently mild so that we can open the windows during the day and enjoy a temperature that is cool enough to not run the heat and warm enough to not have to run the air conditioning. Because of that, April is an economical month because we don't have to pay as much for Selma's over priced electricity to make the house comfortable.

Each April, my lawn starts to come to life after its hibernation. I have to get out the old lawnmower and get it running for the first time. I pick up a lot of limbs in the backyard after stiff winds blow out old, dead wood from my ancient pecan tree. Of course we can not forget the pollen that comes along with April, either. My pine tree in my back yard was just a sapling when I first moved there, and "Little Tree", as I call it has grown tremendously since then. Little Tree also covers my automobiles, car port, and yard with nasty yellow pollen. This year seems to be about the worst I remember in my 22 years here in the Tarheel State.

I have put more bird seed into my wild bird feeder and put more fresh water into my birdbath in my front yard than in any other year I can recall. I am not an avid bird watcher as my step-dad used to be, but I enjoy watching the doves, cardinals, robins, and black birds come and partake of the feed I put out for them. I also get to watch the psychotic but persistent squirrels attack my feeder. I have tried several different types of feeders in times past. I have found two kinds that squirrels can not totally destroy but still can steal from. The one good thing about these cute rats with bushy tails is that they cause a lot of seeds to fall to the ground so that the doves can eat. Doves seem to be too clumsy and stupid to get on the feeder so they scavenge off the ground. Basically, they seem to be retarded pigeons, but are still neat to have around.

My bird bath has gotten quite a work out this year. I sometimes have to fill it twice a day, and usually every day at a minimum. I laugh when I see birds jumping in and out of the bath. There is a group of black birds that love to all come to my bird bath at the same time. I affectionately refer to them as the "town council". They all sit in a semi-circle on the ridge of my bird bath, chatter at each other, and take turns jumping in to the center of the bath, making quite a splash. When one has taken its turn, the bird hops out and another chatter box hops in the bowl to splash around. This may go on for quite a while. I can never anticipate how long their council meeting will last or whether or not there will be enough members to have a quorum, just as I have seen in times past here in Selma government.

Spring is symbolically a time thought of as a renewing or of new life. The Bradford Pear trees come to life with gorgeous though short lived blossoms. My dogwood trees and azalea bushes in my yard come to beautiful, fragrant bloom, although the dogwoods did not have as nice flowers this year as usual. In the vein of new life, my wife and I also found out in April that a new LaPlante will come into this world at the end of the year.

Because of the pleasant weather and the sheer beauty of nature during that month, if every month could be April, I would never want to leave North Carolina.

Column for May 6, 2010

Sometimes I just do not get Republican leadership. Several years ago I left the GOP because of their unorganized, hypocritical ways. For a year or so I affiliated with a third party that turned out to be nothing but a bunch of ineffective, disgruntled former Republicans who thought they were breathing fresh air. Instead they were in a dank, dark cave and were fewer in numbers than most endangered species. From that point on, I became just "unaffiliated".

With the pendulum swing towards radical socialism by so called Progressives, there has been a groundswell of ticked off citizens who have been protesting against big government and the change to a socialist nation. Quite honestly I relate to them greatly but have not joined their numbers at Tea Party events or protest marches. Instead I sat here in front of my computer monitor and have been proclaiming this since before people like Glenn Beck came on the scene and long before the Tea Party Movement got started.

I started becoming disenchanted with the GOP in the early to mid 1990's when I saw big government growing and spending increasing under Republican leadership. I was certainly not going to go to the Democrat Party. I believe that I would rather be stabbed to death with a plastic fork than become a registered Democrat.

Unlike in 1994 when Adolph Hitler could probably have gotten elected if he ran as a Republican, we probably will not see that easy a battle in 2010. The Progressives are too well organized and have too much experience with Joseph Goebbels style propaganda to be that easily defeated. The ironic thing about the Progressive Movement is that they keep trying to characterize right wing adherents as Nazis. Folks, Nazis were leftists, not right wing extremists. They were the National Socialist German Workers' Party. Did you read that part? Socialist was right in their party name.

By the time that this column is published, the 2010 Primary Election will be over. Here in our little county, I saw the worst of GOP disorganization and foolishness. This past weekend, I got in my mailbox a post card from the county GOP. It listed the candidates who were being touted as being "conservative". I am all for conservative candidates. Unfortunately, the local GOP was not pimping the best, most conservative, or most qualified candidates in each election.

In the non-partisan school board election, the GOP recommended incumbents Larry Strickland (who got my vote) and Butler Hall (upon whose campaign signs I already commented in a previous column). They also recommended Jamie Guerrero and Bruce Frierson, neither of which I am familiar. They may very well be conservatives, I don't know. The Republicans did, however, neglect one of their longest standing loyalists and perhaps the most conservative candidate, Dave Tuttle. Dave and I go back many years and are close friends because of our similar polotical and religious views. He also has a track record as a former school board member unlike some other candidates. I was disappointed that his name was not even on the little post card.

One would think that if the GOP wanted to ensure that a Republican/conservative got elected, they would have let everyone know who all of their candidates were, even in a non-partisan race. I just hope that Johnston County is not a microcosm of the national GOP.

I left the county GOP because of neglectful stuff like this. I went to regular meetings at a local restaurant and the turnout was regularly low. One time I was the only person who showed up besides the guest speaker. That was the last straw for me as a member of the local party. I have not been to another meeting or fundraiser since.

Yes, this is a rant in the truest sense of the term. I fully admit that, and I hope that it wakes up someone in the county Republican Party. I have been told that the GOP wants me and people like me back in their camp to help fight and make changes from the inside. However, if Republicans, the only real choice I am left with in a two party system, do not wake up, change tactics, organize better, and seize this opportunity to take the leadership role, I predict that many more people will drop off their voter rolls.

Column for April 29, 2010

Since there is an upcoming election in just over a week, I am sure you have seen the campaign signs all around Johnston County. One of the races is for school board. I already have my two candidates picked out and those are the only two for which I shall cast a ballot. I know I can vote for 3, but there are two people I know and trust to be worthy of my vote. One of which is my best friend.

There is one campaign sign that totally irks me when I see it. The slogan for the candidate reads, "It's ALL about the kids!" No, in fact it is not about the kids at all. It is about the education of children. There is a huge difference betwixt the two. It is not just a matter of semantics. It is a matter of world view. My world view is that it is the parents' responsibility to be about the business of children. It is the school system's responsibility to perform scholastic education as directed by the school board. When we confuse the two concepts, schools become an expensive, overstaffed babysitting service with little discipline. When the focus is upon imparting education, then it is realized that discipline and fiscal responsibility actually matter and taxpayers are the ones footing the bills.

North Carolina is facing a $1.2 billion budget gap this year. Some years we have had that much of a surplus and the state legislature went on a spending spree instead of paying down debt with the surplus. Now we are paying for that sort of irresponsibility yet again. With that much of a budget gap, we have to make large cuts in our state spending, just as we would do in our home budget. I have an email on my computer from the governor's office about proposed cuts in spending. Unfortunately, it also has a lot of spending increases outlined for the state.

In a time when the state is in a financial bind, you would think that government workers would be happy to even have a job. That does not seem to be the case with The North Carolina Association of Educators, though. That labor union has published a propaganda flyer (also on my computer for my viewing pleasure) that is pushing for restoration of funding from cuts made last year. In a year when the state is $1.2 billion dollars short in proposed spending, I have a hard time with agreeing to increase school spending by $225 million. Obviously schools have gotten along just fine without that $225 million.

The flyer goes on to opine the .5% pay cuts that teachers and government employees took last year. A half of a percent! That is nothing compared to the possibility of having no job at all. Show some gratitude, NCAE. Then the special interest group went on to rail about getting teacher pay up to the national average. Something to remember about the national average is that it takes into account very expensive regions and accordingly higher salaries. This is North Carolina, not New York City.

Governor Beverly Perdue is already promising to pay back that salary reduction. Sorry, but I do not agree with that concept at all. Where I work, if times get hard and we lay off employees, we suck it up and keep moving onward, doing our jobs. If we have to take a pay cut or reduction in an increase, then we deal with it and don't expect to get paid back for that. Instead, we realize that times are hard financially and are grateful to even have a job.

My wife lost her job a year ago January. We dealt with the loss of income. She would gladly have taken a .5% decrease in pay to keep her job at the time. Now that we have a seven-year-old, a nine-month-old, and one more on the way, we are actually glad that she gets to stay at home.

Private and parochial schools learned a long time ago that they could not operate on bloated staff count and had to run lean on budgets. Still, they tend to turn out a decent quality education. The schools I attended were public schools, controlled by the town. Local taxpayers and school board officials made sure that the schools ran on a tight budget but still cranked out a quality education for the area children.

Money is not always the answer to giving a quality education. School systems need to run lean, spending wisely the money that is forcibly taken from taxpayers whether they have children in school or not. Government in general has to start doing the same.

Column for April 22, 2010

My lovely bride and I had the pleasure of being chaperons for our boy's first grade class field trip to the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro last week. It was a beautiful day for such an excursion. Two days later I led a field trip of my own. I took my boy, nephew, future brother-in-law, and his son to the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores and Fort Macon. Yes, I was feeling the burn on Saturday, too.

The zoo trip was free for our son because of a funding grant, but we had to pay $9 each for admission. Normally the entrance fee for adults is $10, but since we were part of a group, we got a whole dollar discount each. The aquarium entrance fee was $34 for all 5 of us. That amounted to about a dollar a minute. The aquarium is smaller than I am used to, but is still a nice little fish zoo. The land animal zoo in Asheboro, by contrast, is a lot larger and more expansive than I am used to.

Here is the rub in all of this. If had known how all of this worked in terms of finances, we could have bought a $50 family membership and gotten in as often as we want, at no extra charge at either attraction. I did not know this until we were already at the aquarium and I sighed at the cost of admission for us all. I was told that if I wanted to pay another $16, I could get a family membership. Since I have no idea if we will visit the zoo or another aquarium in the next year or not, I passed on it. I wish I could have applied my zoo admission to the aquarium admission for a membership, though.

So why am I annoyed other than that? I look at the zoo and aquarium the same way I do at toll roads. I am already paying for the existence of the road, zoo, or aquarium with my tax dollars. If I choose to use the very thing for which I am helping to pay, I am charged for it yet again. That amounts to double taxation. Granted, the second taxation is voluntary, but usage fees or admission charges are nothing more than a tax to enjoy the public facilities for which we already pay.

I realize that it is expensive to keep animals, maintain grounds, keep fish alive in gigantic tanks, etc. That is part and parcel of having a zoo or aquarium. Fort Macon, on the other hand, I am sure does not cost nearly as much to run, even though it is a state park, has a nice new building, and park rangers on staff. Admission to Fort Macon is free, and it is one of my favorite day trip destinations.

I joined the Friends of Fort Macon organization. There are similar such groups for libraries, zoos, aquariums, animal shelters, and the like. Their purpose is generally for preservation, fund raising, and enhancement efforts. I am fine with that concept. I love private organizations and donation efforts for the public benefit and for those who are enthusiastic about preservation and about being benefactors.

I do believe that a zoo, aquariums, historic sites, and state parks are definitely worth having and serve the public good. I would prefer, however, that they be free for all North Carolina taxpayers. At one time, I was able to go to the aquarium at Manteo without an admission charge. I wish that were the case still. I don't like paying for the same service twice, whether it is for a zoo, and aquarium, or public highway.

I feel that same way about public education, which is why I support school voucher programs. If you send your child to private school, you are taxed for public schools and have to pay tuition for a private school. How about services at your local county courthouse? How many services do we pay for twice? If you pay high gas taxes and income taxes like we do in North Carolina then have to pay a toll as is planned for sections of I-540 in Raleigh, people are paying twice for the same stretch of road.

Maybe if we did not spend money on all sorts of entitlement programs and cut out wasteful spending, we could actually afford to have public attractions that do not cost North Carolina residents twice.

Column for April 15, 2010

One can not scream "Iceberg, dead ahead!" loudly or often enough. Not only is April 15th a day we dread as income tax deadline day, the passengers on the Titanic sure wish they had heard the words shouted earlier on the night of April 14th. In the wee hours of the 15th, the "unsinkable" Titanic made its way to the bottom of the sea.

Here in America, I have been shouting "Iceberg!" for years. I have done it on the internet, on radio, in this column, and in conversation. The iceberg population has grown significantly. More and more icebergs lately bear the sign "property rights abridgment". Whether at the local or national level, I yell the iceberg warning when I can.

I posed this question on my facebook.com page a few days ago. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 3:17 "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." And what about where there is no liberty or liberty is diminished?

This morning I was doing my regular news hound thing and ran across a few articles about new attacks on property rights. Liberty is being attacked yet again under the guise of environmental concerns.

Just in case you have not caught on to the scheme, socialists, so called progressives, and control freaks that love governmental control over the citizenry have flocked to the environmentalist movement. Under the guise of protecting our allegedly fragile environment, we often get punitive, liberty killing, and costly regulation.

I believe in being a good steward of our planet. I believe God gave man dominion over it and therefore we should not totally disregard protecting it. However, in His infinite wisdom, God also gave unto us the entire earth for our use. There is a balance betwixt the two concepts and I believe the balance is to bend further towards the latter rather than the former.

The latest abridgment comes in the form of "cap and trade" legislation. This is a boondoggle of a concept and it is based upon false science. It was major news recently that the data upon which the climate change believers relied was falsified, yet this did not stop Al Gore from giving speeches defending his fallacy. Nor has this truth stopped cap and trade legislation.

The insidious part of the legislation about which I comment is that it contains provisions that require you to submit to a warrantless search of your real property, should you choose to sell it. This is another method of government control to be able to condemn personal property or fixtures that will be out of compliance with guidelines set up by an un-elected bureaucrat such as the Secretary of Energy. This would effectively make a Cabinet member one of the most powerful men in America, probably second behind the President himself.

Can you imagine an inspector coming to your house that has just been listed for sale and told that you have to comply with a long list of energy expensive, efficiency improvements that some pencil pushing pinhead in Washington, D.C. regulates by mere decree? That is a lot of authority to grant someone and a whole lot of liberty that is being taken away from property owners.

My home was built in 1950. I know that there are appliances, fixtures, windows, and insulation that could probably be replaced with more efficient ones. Little bit by bit, I have been upgrading my home as I am able to afford to do so. However, should I choose to sell it, I should not be required by some desk jockey in big government to make changes to the house before I can even think about selling it. If someone wants to buy my modest little home as is, that is their business and my business alone.

Should this legislation be passed, we will have Energy Department inspectors requiring new appliances, water heaters, etc. all over the nation. Of course we have to bankroll these inspectors and their efforts. Basically we will pay people to take away our freedoms. The legislation has already passed the House of Representatives and is likely to be rammed through the Senate this year.

This is why we need to throw people like Congressman Bob Etheridge out of office and restore sanity to our government. Keep this in mind when voting in the upcoming primary and in the November election.

Column for April 8, 2010

"If you can find it in the Yellow Pages, government should not be doing it." I have heard that saying many times and I am very much in agreement with that sentiment. Whether it is landscaping, trash pick up, water supply, or electricity delivery, if I can find it in the Yellow Pages, then perhaps it is worth investigating termination of government services and leaving such services to the private sector. That is unless our own governmental bodies can perform such services more efficiently and cheaply than private industry can.

For instance, if Selma wants flowers planted around our downtown (oops, perhaps I should call it "Uptown", but the "rose by any other name" principle applies) and town employees can do so efficiently and cost effectively as opposed to hiring a landscape crew, then I am all for it.

However, I am not as concerned about pansies in downtown as I am about our electricity bills. Last November, one mayoral candidate ran on a platform that included lowering electricity rates in town. Though I agree with that sentiment, short of selling off the town's electricity system, laying off employees, and letting Progress Energy sell us our electricity, it ain't gonna happen. But I am all for that very idea.

I have absolutely nothing against town employees working a job they are paid to perform. This is not personal; it is a matter of efficient government and personal finance. The town electrical workers do a good job at what they do. I remember when the last hurricane hit this area several years ago and I sat under my carport when a transformer blew out just a couple of houses over. We got to watch some town electrical workers quickly and efficiently replace the dead equipment during the eye of the storm, restoring electricity within a few hours.

My wife and I stared in amazement at our latest town electricity bill. It was the highest we have ever had in over seven years of living here in the booming metropolis we call Selma. For a fairly mild month and only a 29-day billing cycle, we were stunned. So I did a little research to see if things would have been cheaper if we got our electricity directly from Progress Energy instead of the town.
I have heard for several years that our electricity rates were not appreciably higher than those of Progress Energy were. In effect, the town is a wholesale customer through Electricities. State law allows municipalities to purchase power wholesale and retail to its constituents. The town buys low and sells high. I have no problem with a business making a profit, but when a town gouges its citizens, I tend to get irate.

I went to the Progress Energy web site and downloaded the current electricity rate. They currently charge $6.75 per month base rate plus 9.557 cents per kilowatt-hour. Selma customers pay $7.50 base rate plus about 13 cents per kilowatt-hour. I did the math and that equates to approximately $100 on my bill this month. Therefore, I paid an extra $100 in TAXES this month to the Town of Selma. Yes, I said taxes, not electricity bill payments. If it is above the normal cost that I can purchase through the local power provider and the town gets the revenue, then this is a tax, not a payment for product or service.

The good thing I can say is that the town has finally dropped the line item for a fuel recovery surcharge. Basically we had an extra charge for a long time that was called a fee when it was really a rate hike without formally calling for a rate hike or having to publicize a rate hike. Whether that surcharge was dropped or the rate was changed to accommodate the increase, I don't care, as long as the bill is more honest in presentation. We do, however, continue to have a sales tax. So we pay extra on our electricity rates and then get taxed on that overage, making it even more insulting. It is a tax on a tax.

Whenever Progress Energy proposes a rate hike for residential customers, they have to get that hike approved through the state utilities regulation authorities. When they decide to hike rates on wholesale customers, such as the Town of Selma and every other Electricities member municipality, I am told that no such approval is necessary. I got that straight from a former Selma Town Manager. That means that we are subject to much more capricious energy prices than retail customers are.

I have long questioned the value of owning our own public utility. When I lived in Smithfield prior to buying my house in Selma, I was outside of their town's municipal grid and fortunately could pay lower electricity rates. Since I now live smack in the middle of Selma, I am captive to higher rates.

I firmly believe that we as a town should investigate the savings we could have by eliminating personnel costs, operations, vehicles, facilities, and the like by not owning our own public utility. I am willing to wager that we could operate the town for a year on the proceeds of a sale of the town's power grid to Progress Energy. I am all for it and my tax bill will go down $100 a month. Of course that $100 differential is not deductible on my income tax return as local taxation, but it should be.

Column for April 1, 2010

In every day life, I try to use good manners. I was taught to keep my elbows off the table at dinner, not to chew with my mouth open, say "please" and "thank you", as well as to use respectful terms like sir and ma'am. I try to instill these same values into my seven-year-old son. This is quite an undertaking with a hard headed yung'un, but I keep at it. If you don't believe me, try coming to supper at my house sometime and hear me get on my boy's case.

There is a huge difference between being polite and being politically correct. While I strive to be polite, I certainly do not strive to be politically correct. Political correctness is nothing more than brain washing to indoctrinate people into ideas such as equality of outcome rather than equality of opportunity and of being obsequiously compliant.

In December, I wrote that I was dismayed that my first grader came home and informed his mother and me that we could no longer refer to a waitress or waiter at a restaurant as such but rather had to use the gender neutral term "server". Today I heard three more such paradigm shifting, brain washing, gender bending examples of political correctness.

My seven-year-old informed us that he and other classmates were corrected at school today over simple, everyday colloquialisms that are more than proper. My understanding is that the discussion of a career day was at hand. (Career day? In first grade? Why? Since when does a child at that age have any clue about a career path? But I digress from the topic at hand and now return you to my normally scheduled column already in progress.) When asked what career he would like to dress as, my son said "an Army man". A guidance counselor (so I am told. A guidance counselor? Really? In elementary school? You have got to be kidding me. But again I digress and return to my normally scheduled column already in progress) informed my son that she would prefer that he used the term "Army soldier". Thus the primary connotation of someone in the Army being a male has been destroyed and thereby opening the entire world of military life to all women, regardless of the task, merely by the change of a term. To quote our Registrar of Deeds, Craig Olive, "That's hog wash".

I was also told that other children were chastised for using terms such as "mailman" and "fireman". Apparently the terms firefighter and mail carrier are more correct. I will concede that there are many people in the fire service who believe that a fireman is a person who stokes a boiler and the proper term is firefighter. When I joined the fire service many years ago, that point was made many times by the far more experienced pyro-gladiators. However, this was not a matter of gender bending, it was a matter of terminology. As a matter of fact, I recall the chief of that department informing us that the requirement to join that department would be that one would have to stand three or so feet away from the wall and be able to "make water" upon it. For further reference, I can only point you to the Bible in 1 Samuel 25:22 as one of six examples of which I write. The Bible was certainly not politically correct, nor was it gender sensitive when it came to a lot of things. I have read 26 different translations and paraphrases of that particular verse and some modern translations are fairly politically correct, but on that one it is hard to beat Ye Olde King James version.

If the purpose of political correctness is to take away the alleged offensiveness of normal speech, then I guess I can no longer refer to the Mexican ditch digger as such. I guess that I would have to now call him an "undocumented manual turf extraction technician". Sorry, but I am not going to go the distance on that one. In high school we nicknamed a teacher who spent summers digging graves for a cemetery "Digger". As much as he disliked the nickname, I doubt he would have preferred manual turf extraction technician any better.

Don't let the indoctrination whisk away you or your family. At the dinner table this evening while having this discussion, I told my boy that when monkeys flew out of my posterior, then I would give in and exclusively refer to waitresses as servers, Army men as Army soldiers, and my mailman as a mail carrier. I may use those terms from time to time in normal conversation, however I will never give in towards discounting the other terms of use. Yes, I am just that obstinate. I prefer freedom and common sense over politically correct fertilizer.