Horry County Now

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Bill Clinton staged an incredible comeback in 1996, following the HillaryCare fiasco, by practicing triangulation -- positioning himself somewhere between the liberalism of his fellow Democrats and the conservatism of the Republicans.
The 2012 election cycle didn't offer a lot for Tea Partiers to get excited about.
For savers, compounding interest can be a great thing. It helps to accelerate the rate of increase of your money in the bank.
Senate leaders used a Tuesday press conference to announce their long-awaited tax proposal, a proposal that would lower personal and corporate income tax...
As should be obvious by now, North Carolina is undergoing dramatic change in 2013. A new Republican governor and legislature are pursuing new approaches to...
Today's college freshmen can be trained to write well--and in one semester. I will describe one way it can be done.
It's a year before the primary vote to pick a GOP challenger to North Carolina's "Accidental Senator."™
In a perverse way this dereliction of journalistic duty while reprehensible is understandable because the press lapdogs of this administration do not want to admit that Obama's PC national security policies involving Muslims might have contributed to the Boston attack.
State Sen. Gladys Robinson is posing a question that has been popular among charter school advocates for years.
When I walked in the door, I could tell something was up with the owner of a small business I frequent. We talk about current events and politics when I stop by...
Air traffic controllers being furloughed. Parks being closed. Tax rate increases. White House tours being cancelled. But our government can STILL find the time AND money to peddle rock music to overseas consumers.
Results from the Civitas Institute's latest poll show overwhelming opposition to North Carolina's program of taxpayer-funded political campaigns.
A bill allowing the treasurer more leeway to invest the state pension plan in riskier portfolios is set tonight for its first Senate floor vote.
This story is a tangled mess that recently made national news. But it belongs to a large genre, familiar to the first author from his years as dean of Harvard College.

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Government

Publisher's note: The author of this post is Barry Smith, who is an associate editor to the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Leaders offer outline of proposal with details to come

RALEIGH Senate leaders used a Tuesday press conference to announce their long-awaited tax proposal, a proposal that would lower personal and corporate income tax rates, along with the sales tax rate. It also would expand the sales tax base to cover services not currently taxed in the state.

"Our current tax code was written in the 1930s," said Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, who along with Sens. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, and Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, announced the plan.

"The world has changed dramatically since then," Berger said. "But our tax code remains stuck in the 1930s."

The GOP leaders said that the plan also would reduce taxes by $1 billion over three years. They call... (read more)
Publisher's note: The author of this fine report, Dan Way, is an associate editor of the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Defenders of traditional schools wonder why independent board needed

RALEIGH State Sen. Gladys Robinson is posing a question that has been popular among charter school advocates for years.

"If we're going to say we can have charter schools, why isn't the state supplying the funds" to operate them properly, the Guilford County Democrat asked.

Robinson was part of a unanimous vote in the Senate Appropriations/Base Budget Committee last week to approve Senate Bill 337.

The measure would establish an 11-member state Charter Schools Board to oversee the state's growing number of charter schools and operate independently of the State Board of Education. The bill is scheduled today for a Senate floor vote.

After the committee meeting, Robinson's comments ... (read more)

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Op-Ed & Politics

Publisher's note: Brant Clifton reports on the reallocation of revenues in his "bare knuckles" Conservative online publication known as The Daily Haymaker.

Bill Clinton staged an incredible comeback in 1996, following the HillaryCare fiasco, by practicing triangulation -- positioning himself somewhere between the liberalism of his fellow Democrats and the conservatism of the Republicans. NC House Speaker Thom Tillis & his team -- eyeing a 2014 US Senate run -- have apparently taken note of Clinton's successful mid-90s strategy.

The GOP majority in the state Senate has been pushing through some serious, respectable conservative reforms -- reducing the renewable energy mandate, charte... (read more)
Publisher's note: Brant Clifton questions the whereabouts in his "bare knuckles" Conservative online publication known as The Daily Haymaker.

The 2012 election cycle didn't offer a lot for Tea Partiers to get excited about. One candidate we could embrace was a tough-talking, passionate architect-turned-amateur-politician from Raleigh named Dan Forest. Dan was running to replace Walter Dalton, who -- at the time -- was the most invisible lieutenant governor the state has ever had.

Dan traveled the state in a campaign bus for two years prior to the vote. He shook a lot of hands and spouted a lot of good solid positions on the issues, like THESE. A lot of Tea Party - aligned folks --... (read more)
Publisher's note: This post, by Brian Balfour, was originally published in the Budget & Taxes section(s) of Civitas's online edition.

For savers, compounding interest can be a great thing. It helps to accelerate the rate of increase of your money in the bank.

For state budgets, however, the concept of compounding budgetary increases can rapidly create out-of-control spending obligations.

For state budget writers tempted to think it safe to increase spending by, say, 4.5 percent annually during this slow recovery instead of a more responsible rate of growth, it is important to remember how seemingly small annual differences in spending growth rates can snowball into big differences in... (read more)

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Community

A Moore County man who was on probation for domestic violence charges is accused of killing his live-in girlfriend, whose body was found Wednesday near the entrance to the county landfill, authorities said.

Business

Let's face this one truth together: For a periodical to be successful, that communicative device must be frequented by people ... people inspired to use your literary auspices to learn stuff. Understanding this one precept, one must agree that the publication with the most traffic, unencumbered by a poorly functioning delivery system, is relevant and must be considered as a worthy vehicle to to bring people together: for, and with, ideas, upcoming events, fun stuff and products and services of intuitive sponsors, aesthetically designed and well positioned.

At Beaufort County NOW, we have well conquered the delivery of content conundrum, yet we endeavor to improve our state-of-the-art delivery system, Symbiotic Publisher, on an ongoing regular basis ... and that will never end. The one thing that we have not done yet is sell our wide array of web services, but that will soon end as I... (read more)

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The Region

Publisher's note: This first person account of Hurricane Sandy is Alicia Colon's contribution to our understanding of what she saw, and is still experiencing, from this devastating storm, which was originally published in The Irish Examiner.

It's that time of year when "I'm not an atheist and I don't think I can call myself a pantheist. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangements of the books, but doesn't know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God." - Albert Einsteinsecularists and atheists join forces to eradicate all signs of Christmas from the Christmas season.... (read more)

The Arts


Why Did I Go See This Movie?

In a phrase: The film had flying baboons. To be perfectly honest, I thought they (the baboons) were flying monkeys like the original film, "The Wizard of Oz," in which this prequel was based upon, as well as L. Frank Baum's other 13 books of this Land of Oz; however, flying primates are well enough incentive to lead me to any film, especially one dedicated to everything Oz.

Since we are being honest, I must admit, I am of the age where the original film, with Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale and Frank Morgan as the Wizard, had a profound effect on me. The original film was a huge part of my 1950/60's childhood, and since I am extremely open minded, I did not expect this prequel to be representative of the original film directed by the great Victor Fleming in 1939; however, I was pleasantly surprised to discover the film to be sufficiently well constr... (read more)

Bilbo's Curiosity Triumphs Over Hobbit Pragmatism

Director Peter Jackson's first installment of his three part treatment of "The Hobbit" is, in essence, his collaboration with a long deceased J.R.R. Tolkien to create a sweeping fantasy that well represents one of the greatest stories of the Twentieth Century. It was a story that I well loved as an adolescent and as a young man, and as I grow middle-aged, I cherish it still.

One of the Twentieth Century's greatest childrens' stories was a fantastic adventure of one Bilbo Baggins, known simply, in the titular vernacular, as "The Hobbit," was written by J.R.R. Tolkien to entertain his children and the children of other war weary parents across Great Britain in the decades following World War I - "the war to end all wars". While "The Hobbit" was the impetus for the in depth, deep and very dark "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, it also ... (read more)

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Living

For immediate Release:

(Washington, NC) The Marion L. Shepard Cancer Center offers a variety of special programs and activities to help cancer patients, survivors as well as their primary caregivers deal with the emotional and physical challenges associated with having cancer. The Cancer Center's vision is to provide integrative therapies that complement traditional care at no cost to the participant. The programs are not limited to patients of the Marion L. Shepard Cancer Center, any survivor or caregiver is welcome!

Healing Words beginning Tuesdays, May 7th 10:00 am - 12:00 noon
Facilitated by: Deborah Midgett

Join us at the Brown Library for our 4 week complementary program designed for survivors and caregivers on how to cope with the emotions that cancer brings. Each participant will receive a new, hand-made journal. Pre-registration is required.

Knowlege is Power - ... (read more)


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