Column for Feb. 24, 2011

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

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

"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

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

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

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

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

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

“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

“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

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

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

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

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

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

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.