Governor Perdue’s Statement Monday: “The Republican budget is full of extreme, short-sighted and unnecessary cuts to education. It’s hard to understand in North Carolina why the General Assembly pitted deaf children against blind children in a fight to keep their school open. North Carolina must find ways to reduce spending, but our future demands that we also make investments in our people. Our constitution guarantees a quality education for all, and that includes deaf and blind children.”
That statement is regarding The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction announced plans Monday to close the Governor Morehead School in Raleigh, consolidate its administration and programs with the Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf in Wilson and operate a satellite program for students with visual impairments at the Morehead campus.
In US News, the debt-reducing super committee’s failure Monday to come up with $1.2 trillion in deficit-reduction measures has paved the way for an election-year battle by Republicans to rewrite the sequester rules and protect defense spending in the face of a White House veto threat. President Obama, however, made clear on Monday night after the super committee’s official collapse that he would veto any effort to alter the sequester as currently written. “My message to them is simple: No,” he said, “There will be no easy off-ramps on this one.” (read more)
It’s being argued however the committee did it’s job properly. The dozen people on the deficit panel reverted in the end to the self-protective behaviors that characterize politicians under pressure. Realizing their various constituencies would be better off in the short run without a compromise requiring sacrifice of everyone, the two sides elected to punt. The plans they submitted to each other were more about conflict than compromise. That is exactly the same dynamic that has kept Congress from doing anything productive about the deficit since the year 2000. Many hoped this time would be different, if only because it came out of the debt-ceiling crisis in August that did so much damage to U.S. prestige and credit worthiness. (read more)
The person at the heart of those negotiations – and some would say the person responsible for the deadlock – is neither a member of Congress nor the holder of any public office. He is a lobbyist and a conservative activist named Grover Norquist who, over the years, has gotten virtually every Republican congressman and senator to sign an oath called “The Pledge.” It’s a promise that they will never, under any circumstances, vote to raise taxes on anyone. And so far Grover Norquist has held them to it, controlling 279 votes, including the speaker of the House, the Senate minority leader and all six Republican members of the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction. (read more)
In news that confuses me… former American International Group Inc Chief Executive Maurice “Hank” Greenberg has sued the U.S. government for $25 billion, calling the 2008 federal takeover of the insurer unconstitutional. It said the bailouts that began on Sept. 16, 2008, violated shareholders’ rights to due process and equal protection, and a Fifth Amendment ban against taking private property for public use without just compensation, known as the “takings clause.” “AIG’s board of directors had an alternative choice to borrowing from the Federal Reserve and that choice was bankruptcy. Bankruptcy would have left all AIG shareholders with worthless stock. The Federal Reserve’s actions with regard to AIG helped to restore financial stability in the United States during a period of intense volatility and vulnerability in the U.S. economy,” said Jack Gutt, New York Fed spokesman. (read more)
And finally triangle based radio station 96 Rock has announced it is removing all DJ’s from on air. Among the on-air personalities that would leave out in the cold are Bob “The Blade” Robinson, a fixture on local rock radio for three decades. Obviously the station would recover some needed funds with the move, but the station maintains it is about providing more music and not a budget decision. (read more)
Our own station, HIH, has a very tight budget as well, as in pretty much $0.00. We really rely on our readers to send us local news to use but lately that has been lacking. Please remember this is a community website, where all are invited and encouraged to share information, I don’t want this to be a one way street of words. If you have ideas on how to better get us more local news please share them.
That said, we will be spending the next couple of days aggregating holiday deals from local businesses to encourage shoppers to shop Henderson first and not drive to Raleigh this weekend. If you would like your business included in our upcoming deal article please email us at submit@homeinhenderson.com. There is no cost for your business to be a part of this. However, we would like you to see the turnout from the article and consider using Home in Henderson to supplement your advertising in the future.
Welcome to the Tuesday Open Lines!