Tillis hopes to compensate eugenics program victims
RALEIGH – N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis said Thursday that he plans to put together a legislative committee to craft a bill that would compensate victims of North Carolina’s eugenics program.
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Politics
Obama to start a program to help student loan borrowers
(By David Perlmutt and Meghan Cooke, dperlmutt@charlotteobserver.com) President Barack Obama unveiled a plan Wednesday that could give millions of young people, including thousands of recent N.C. college graduates, some relief on student loan payments. Obama will accelerate a measure passed by Congress that cuts the maximum required payment on student loans from 15 percent of discretionary income annually to 10 percent. He will put it into effect in 2012, instead of 2014.
Mallard Creek BBQ: Savoring pork and politics
(By Tim Funk, tfunk@charlotteobserver.com) James DeArmon Jr. kept busy Thursday, steering people into one line if they wanted to hobnob with politicians, or into another if they wanted to go straight to the barbecue. But during a lull at Charlotte’s famous Mallard Creek Barbecue, DeArmon sized up this culinary/political tradition that’s always held on the fourth Thursday in October.
Perry might skip some debates
(By Will Weissert, Associated Press) Rick Perry could skip some upcoming GOP presidential debates, sidestepping a campaign staple that hasn’t been kind to the Texas governor in his first two months on the national stage. It’s a decision that ultimately could cause other Republicans to bow out of the more than half-dozen face-offs scheduled between now and the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3. Perry does plan to participate in a Nov. 9 debate at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich. – his sixth – but he hasn’t committed to any others beyond that as political advisers hunker down to determine how best to proceed. He’s juggling fundraising and retail campaigning with only two months before the first votes in the Republican nomination fight are cast.
Debt plans might cut benefits, raise taxes
(By David Espo and Andrew Taylor, Associated Press) Rival deficit-cutting plans advanced by Republicans and Democrats on Congress’ secretive supercommittee would both mean smaller-than-expected cost of living benefit increases for veterans and federal retirees as well as Social Security recipients and would bump up taxes for some individuals and families, according to officials familiar with the recommendations. In all, the changes would reduce deficits by an estimated $200 billion over a decade, a fraction of the committee’s minimum goal of $1.2 trillion in savings.
DNC-inspired ordinance could restrict Occupy protesters
(By Steve Harrison and April Bethea, sharrison@charlotteobserver.com) To prepare for the Democratic National Convention, the city of Charlotte is considering an ordinance that would prohibit camping on all city property, which could stifle the ongoing Occupy Charlotte protest. In addition, the ordinance would prohibit the possession of “noxious” substances, along with items such as pipes, chains or padlocks if their intended use would be to block a street, sidewalk or building entrance.
Cutting Federal Spending Will Cripple Society
Lauded by the Washington press corps for his “courage” and “honesty” in confronting federal deficits and the national debt, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., wrote a budget that almost sank the Republican Party — and may still damage its prospects — because he proposed to dismantle Medicare. Yet his party still relies upon Ryan to speak on behalf of its most important constituency, now known in America and across the world as “the 1 percent.” Addressing the right-wing Heritage Foundation on Wednesday, Ryan sought to discredit Elizabeth Warren — the Massachusetts…
Shredding Kathleen Sebelius
If a private health insurer had engaged in the kind of criminal obstruction that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has been tied to in her home state of Kansas, it would be a federal case. Instead, it’s a non-story in the Washington press. Nothing to see here. Move along. On Monday, a district judge in the Sunflower State suspended court proceedings in a high-profile criminal case against the abortion racketeers of Planned Parenthood. World Magazine, a Christian news publication, reported on new bombshell court filings showing that Kansas health officials…
Rescuing Europe: A Solution or a Stopgap?
WASHINGTON — There’s an Orwellian quality to Europe’s latest financial rescue. Words lose their ordinary meaning. Greece, for example, has clearly defaulted, but no one says so. In July, private lenders agreed “voluntarily” to accept an estimated 21 percent reduction in their loans to Greece. Now, that’s been pushed to 50 percent, and private lenders’ consent is still described as “voluntary.” Well, it’s about as “voluntary as when one hands over one’s wallet in response to the choice of ‘your money or your life,’” notes…
Blame the Sexual Revolution, Not Men
Kate Bolick stares out at the world from the cover of The Atlantic magazine. She’s wearing a black lace evening dress. “What, Me Marry?” asks the headline. She isn’t smiling. In fact, she isn’t smiling in any of the photos that accompany her several thousand-word essay on singleness, marriage and the changing nature of dating and mating in America today. Bolick, 38, is groping toward accepting the idea that she may never marry. She badly wants to convince herself — and us — that older ideas about “unhappy” spinsters are silly cultural baggage best dropped…
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