North Carolina
The Lottery passed the Senate 24 to 24, Chapel Hill citizen and Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue cast the deciding vote.
Congressman Price:
I felt your pain during the policy speech and discussion on the Iraq war on August 12 at Binkley Baptist Church. The problem is one of epochal proportions. The human and financial costs of war already are astronomical, and far worse probably is ahead. You have given the dilemma great study and thought, and wrestled with the morality of pulling American troops out despite the consequences. Your very serious conclusions deserve your constituents' very serious consideration. Instead you received for your efforts not understanding, but a firestorm of protest and criticism. It was a sad occasion for all of us.
Last Friday more than 250 UNC workers rallied to protest proposed cuts in this years pay raises. According to the Herald,
The rally, one of three coordinated by the State Employees Association of North Carolina, was held in response to recent legislative deliberations that would lower a proposed raise for state employees from $1,086 to $625...
"Everybody's upset," Tommy Griffin, chairman of UNC's Employee Forum, said Friday afternoon. "Everyone had pretty much come to terms with the $1,086."
Yesterday, the N&O reported that House Speaker Jim Black, Rep. Richard Morgan, and Senate Leader Marc Basnight "weeks after the 2004 session, and without disclosing their action" secretly restarted a program to provide an additional 2-3 percent in raises to legislative employees. This action was only discovered when the N&O reporter went over detailed individual pay records, a painstaking task.
Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday July 16, 2005
The Raleigh-based Common Sense Foundation has launched a research and advocacy project to increase awareness of the many struggles faced by North Carolina's LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) community. This fall they will release a comprehensive study on the laws and policies affecting LGBT North Carolinians.
Issues to be addressed include adoption, child custody, marriage, visitation rights, gender identity, crimes against nature laws, employment/ housing/health care discrimination, harassment, hate-crime legislation and HIV/AIDS. For heterosexuals, many of these issues, the first few in particular, are matters that we take for granted.
Many of us are privileged in that we do not have to think about our sexual orientation, just as many do not have to think about their race, religion or gender. But in matters of fundamental rights, there should be no privileged class. Unfortunately, the LBGT community in North Carolina is being discriminated against in nearly all aspects of public and private life.
I was thinking of writing my own column on the question of the UNC system president's pay and the implications thereof. Perry Deane Young has done such a good job in today's News that I may not have to:
the university system's governors have suggested they may raise the university president's salary to $500,000 in order to attract the best candidate for the job. Never mind that the current president's salary of $300,000 carries with it an extraordinary expense account, a free car and one of the grandest historic houses in Chapel Hill.
Well, boy howdy, I hope you'll agree, it doesn't take a doctorate to figure out how wrong-headed this kind of thinking is. If candidates come here for $500,000, they would just as easily keep on going to the next place for even bigger bucks. Furthermore, if they're in it for the money, we shouldn't want them; we don't need them.
Pages
About Us
OrangePolitics is a not-for-profit website for discussing progressive perspectives on politics, planning, and public policy in Orange County, NC. Opinions are those of their authors. Learn more.
Community Guidelines
By using this site, you agree to our community guidelines. Inappropriate or disruptive behavior will result in moderation or eviction.
Zircon - This is a contributing Drupal Theme
Design by
WeebPal.
