The Kids are Alright

Despite the many worried letters to the editor this morning, we're pretty sure the front page headline writers are all right. They were probably just being nostalgic:





YouTube video courtesy of deargirl

Andrew Sullivan answers Ross Douthat

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat argued Monday (in a piece reprinted on our Viewpoint page today) that the ideal of lifelong heterosexual marriage "is still worth honoring, and still worth striving to preserve. And preserving it ultimately requires some public acknowledgment that heterosexual unions and gay relationships are different: similar in emotional commitment, but distinct both in their challenges and their potential fruit."

Douthat doesn't explicitly say that that acknowledgment means denying gays the right to marry, but that conclusion seems implicit when one reads his column.

At least Andrew Sullivan thinks so. Writer, blogger and editor ("Same Sex Marriage: Pro and Con, a Reader"), Sullivan replied to Douthat's column on his blog later Monday afternoon. After describing Douthat's column as "Ross at his most Catholic", Sullivan goes on to say:

"Ross' core argument is that "lifelong heterosexual monogamy at its best can offer something distinctive and remarkable — a microcosm of civilization, and an organic connection between human generations — that makes it worthy of distinctive recognition and support." I'm going to repeat what I have said before: I don't disagree with this at all. I remain in awe of the heterosexual life-long coupling that produces new human life. There is a miraculous, sacred, awe-inspiring aspect to it. I understand why this is a Sacrament, and have no interest in being included in such a Sacrament since it is premised on the very Thomist arguments Ross puts forward. . . .

"This is why the Catholic church upholds this as an ideal. And it does so with great wisdom. But, as Ross concedes, the question is whether this ideal should rest on its own laurels or needs to be elevated by law and doctrine to the highest level of human relationship, and also, in order to achieve this ideal, actively exclude others - both in the religious and the secular sphere? . . .

"To exclude gays and gays alone is therefore not the upholding of an ideal (Britney Spears and Larry King are fine - but a lesbian couple who have lived together for decades are verboten) so much as making a lone exception to inclusion on the grounds of sexual orientation. It is in effect to assert not the ideal of Catholic Matrimony, but the ideal of heterosexual superiority. It creates one class of people, regardless of their actions, and renders them superior to another. "

Sullivan's entire argument can be found here, along with photos from his own gay wedding.

Hey, Lindsey Graham, stop thinking!

Well, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham has certainly been put in his place.
The Greenville (S.C.) County Republican Executive Committee voted 61-2 on Monday to rebuke South Carolina's senior senator.
His transgression? The unpardonable sin of voting for what he thinks is best for the country.
Consider this sedition:

• He voted for TARP money for banks, much of which has been paid back, with interest, already.
• He voted to confirm Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan as Supreme Court justices, despite the fact that the Democratic president's picks hold views that are left of center.
• He supports fixing America's broken immigration policy.

We certainly hope Sen. Graham has learned his lesson and will no longer fall out of line. Oh, good! We see he is already getting the message: He is calling for a constitutional amendment that would make newborn children illegal if their parents are in the country illegally. Now that's more like it, Graham!

-- Posted by The Observer's editorial board

The new 'haves' and 'have-nots' in N.C.?

The Civitas Institute is reporting a different kind of wage gap in North Carolina - a gap between government employees and private sector workers. In their weekly review today, the group said there is a widening gap between the two major classes of income earners in North Carolina.

"In the modern-day version of the 'haves' versus the 'have-nots,' state government workers earn significantly more in wages and benefits than North Carolina's private sector workers.
Indeed, the wage gap between state government employees and private sector workers in North Carolina doubled from 2000-2009.

"Data from 2009 reveal state government workers earn an average wage of $44,158, compared to the private sector's average wage of $39,350, a difference of 12.2 percent. The 2009 wage gap was double the 6 percent pay differential from 2000, when average state employee wages were $32,832 compared to average private sector earnings of $30,977. An increase in state government employee average salaries of 34.5 percent from 2000 to 2009 - compared to just 27 percent for the private sector - accounts for the widening pay gap," the report said.

Read more at www.nccivitas.org.

Mitch Miller

The Observer's obituary today of record producer and TV star Mitch Miller mentioned his collaborations with Tony Bennet, Frank Sinatra and Aretha Franklin, but my favorite was always his performances with the great jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker on the 1950 LP "Bird with Strings" combining Parker's be-bop with lush orchestrations (re-released by Verve Records in 1995 as "Charlie Parker with Strings"). Here's a sample below. Miller on oboe solos at the beginning, at about 1:40 in the middle, and again at the end.




YouTube video by EnriqueRLopez
Posted by Kevin Siers

Burr-Marshall Senate race looks competitive

A new poll from the conservative Civitas Institute shows U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican, leading Democrat Elaine Marshall 44 percent to 37 percent. That's within the margin of error, barely, of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Fifteen percent of the 600 registered voters polled July 19-21 were undecided. It was conducted by Republican pollster Tel Opinion Research.

It's the third recent poll that suggests Marshall may be in striking distance. Burr led Marshall by just five points in a poll by Democratic pollster Public Policy Polling earlier this month, and he trailed by two points in a poll commissioned by the Marshall campaign.

Polls in July don't mean much, and they suggest that Burr is probably slightly ahead. But as a 16-year member of Congress running against a low-profile challenger in a year shaping up to be Republican friendly, Burr should perhaps be concerned that this race is at all competitive.

UPDATE: An alert reader shares with us a Rasmussen poll we had not seen that shows a more comfortable lead for Burr. Burr has a 52-37 lead in that poll of 500 likely voters. It was conducted July 6 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

-- Posted by The Observer editorial board

Gamers play one more hand with Perdue

The video sweepstakes guys aren't giving up. Despite the N.C. General Assembly's overwhelming vote to ban the internet sweepstakes games, they took their cause to Gov. Bev Perdue today - in a hand-delivered letter.

In the letter, they asked Gov. Bev to veto the bill that would ban gaming, saying it would put 10,000 workers statewide out of jobs. They say Perdue should “send the issue back to the General Assembly to review next year legislation that would regulate and tax video gaming.”

The letter, signed by Entertainment Group NC President William Thevaos, says the ban “has the potential to add an additional burden of more than $2 million per week in new unemployment benefits that these citizens will need if this law goes into effect.” It also said that at a time of financial crisis in state government, walking away from potential revenue that doesn’t involve a tax hike is unwise. “Next year’s budget projections are even worse than this year. According to published news reports, the state is eyeing a $3 billion deficit or even more,” states the letter.
“A regulated video gaming industry could provide more than $576 million in new revenue to the state without raising taxes,” says the letter, citing data from the NC Education Lottery released in May.

Don't expect the plea to do much good. These are the same arguments the gamers made before and during the legislative session. They didn't sway Perdue then, and the governor's press secretary said Wednesday she is expected to sign the law.

Lawmakers' lottery shuffle hurt counties

Counties are still sorting out the fallout from the shifting around of N.C. education lottery funds state lawmakers did this legislative session to help save teachers' jobs statewide. But some have already calculated the damage.

Johnston County Manager Rick Hester told WRAL-TV Wednesday that his county will lose almost $2.3 million in capital expenses for its school construction needs. "I think frustrating and disappointment would be the best words (to describe our situation)," he said. The county has invested about $350 million to build, renovate and expand school buildings over the past decade. Bonds paid for the building. "We have to make $33 million worth of (bond) payments this fiscal year, no matter what happens," he said.

Mecklenburg County may be in the same boat. It's education lottery funds are also used for bond indebtedness on school construction. When lawmakers designated education lottery funds that counties used for school construction needs for teacher jobs instead, they were hurting instead of helping some school districts and counties. Mecklenburg County commissioners are discussing cutting the local money they've allocated to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools by the amount the state has taken for teacher jobs. That could be as much as $9 million.

Some counties aren't hit as hard. Wake County, for example, loses only $101,835 because of the lottery funds shift. Meanwhile, Cumberland County loses $3.6 million, Durham County loses $2.2 million and Orange County loses $1.3 million.
Many counties will likely have to postpone school construction projects or find other cuts so they can make their bond payments.
Johnston County officials said they aren't sure how they will balance their budget, but they don't anticipate job losses or tax increases.
"We did not think that on July 14 we'd already be in the process of trying to figure out how to recoup $2 million somewhere," Hester said.

N.C. opposition to offshore drilling gushes up

You don't see public opinion swing like this every day. North Carolinians overwhelmingly favored offshore drilling just three short months ago. Now more oppose it than favor it. Hundreds of millions of gallons of oil in the Gulf can do that.
In April, before the spill, 26 percent of N.C. poll respondents opposed drilling off the N.C. coast, Public Policy Polling in Raleigh said today. In May, after the spill, 38 percent opposed it. In June, 39 percent and in the latest poll, 46 percent. That's a near doubling of opposition in three months.
Forty-two percent still support it, down from more than 60 percent in April.
The scariest fact from Public Policy Polling as far as we're concerned: Asked about Republican congressional candidate Bill Randall's theory that the federal government caused the spill on purpose, 11 percent believe that and 15 percent aren't sure. More than a quarter of North Carolinians are that delusional? Yikes.

-- Posted by The Observer's Editorial Board