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Opinion
20/20 - JOHN STOSSEL
Keeping nature exactly as is … forever
The human brain is torn between simple intuition and the more complex hard work of figuring out the unintended consequences of any policy. Who doesn’t like thinking about trees and greenery and happy animals? Who doesn’t want to see steps taken to protect those things, all else being equal? But all else is not equal. Civilization doesn’t work when central planners treat each tree as if its value is infinite. Politicians specialize in conv...
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Letter to the editor
Simply…. THANK YOU! Since being diagnosed with HER2 breast cancer seven months ago, I have met more caring and compassionate people than I ever realized existed in our small rural county. I have been presented with heartfelt cards, gifts of encouragement, donations, food for my family and endless prayers. It is overwhelming to know there are faces I’ve never met who have done so much to help lessen the burden of this challenge for my family...
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It’s boring, people
In just about six months, the nation will vote for a president. But if things continue the way they’re going, I don’t know how I’ll make it. The campaign blather is unbelievable. And even worse, it’s boring. Tedious. Painfully insipid. Let’s start with the phrase “at the end of the day.” Overused by pundits and politicians alike, those words are now making my ears bleed. Lights out on this one, please. Then there’s the “war on women.” It ...
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20/20 - JOHN STOSSEL
The assault on food
Instinct tells us to fear poison. If our ancestors were not cautious about what they put in their mouths, they would not have survived long enough to produce us. Unfortunately, a side effect of that cautious impulse is that whenever someone claims that some chemical — or food ingredient, like fat — is a menace, we are primed to believe it. That makes it easy for government to leap in and play the role of protector. But for every study tha...
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Letter to the Editor
Amendment One will take rights away from all unmarried couples across North Carolina — both straight and gay. If approved, it would set in the state’s Constitution a prohibition against legally recognizing civil unions between a man and a woman, as well as between same sex couples. It would prohibit the state from passing legislation that would authorize civil unions and strip domestic partner insurance benefits currently offered to employe...
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Rich guys
Mitt Romney says he will not apologize for being a rich guy who lives large and can buy whatever he wants by writing checks from his offshore bank account in the Caymans. The former governor of Massachusetts believes that what he and his father before him accomplished — that is, raking in the big bucks — is to be celebrated. Perhaps Romney’s campaign slogan should be: “I’m rich. Deal with it.” As a rich guy myself, I completely understand R...
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Is coupon clipping worth the effort?
Clipping coupons can shave dollars off your grocery bill. While it might see like more trouble than it’s worth, you can save serious money if you develop a plan and stick to it. Start by checking the Sunday newspaper each week. Add up the value of the coupons you’ll actually use and determine if it’s worthwhile buying additional newspapers just for the ads. If products you regularly use have coupons, take that as an opportunity to stock up....
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Charity and politics
Americans are being asked to decide many things this election year, but perhaps the most important is how the United States should take care of its poorest citizens. President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party in general believe that income redistribution is the way to go. Since Obama has been in office, entitlement spending has risen 41 percent to about $1 trillion a year. There are currently an astounding 126 separate anti-poverty pro...
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20/20 - JOHN STOSSEL
The economy needs no conductor
We spend too much time waiting for orders — and money — from Washington. The collapse of the housing bubble gave politicians a license to do what they wanted to do all along: spend. The usual checks on extravagance, weak as they are, were washed away. Budgets? We’ll worry about that later. Inflation? We’ll worry about that later. As I point out in my brand new book, “No, We Can’t: Why Government Fails — and Individuals Succeed,” a true fr...
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Letter to the Editor
To the editor, The debate over the marriage amendment should be first and foremost about civil rights. The amendment will not stop same-sex couples from living together in committed, long-term relationships. What this amendment will do, is prevent these couples from enjoying the same rights and benefits under the law as heterosexual couples. This is clear, unapologetic discrimination. Writing discrimination into our state constitution i...
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Letter To The Editor
The May 8 marriage amendment primary vote is going to be the most, if not the most important vote in our state’s history. For the first time North Carolina has been given the opportunity to express what the people not the legislative or judiciary believe about marriage. There are many that are intentionally stating falsehoods hoping to sway people away from voting the right way for the marriage Amendment. A vote For the marriage amendment m...
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The Book of Santorum
Mitt Romney would be wise to take a good hard look at what Rick Santorum did right and what he did wrong during his campaign. In his quest to unseat President Obama, Romney will face some of the same challenges Santorum faced. Back in the summer of 2011, nobody thought Santorum had a shot at the Republican nomination. Nationally, he was polling at about 3 percent. But through sheer hard work and persistence, he won the Iowa caucus and was c...
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Can government do anything well?
I’m suspicious of superstitions, like astrology or the belief that “green jobs will fix the environment and the economy.” I understand the appeal of such beliefs. People crave simple answers and want to believe that some higher power determines our fates. The most socially destructive superstition of all is the intuitively appealing belief that problems are best solved by government. Opinion polls suggest that Americans are dissatisfied w...
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Letters
Habitat receives local funds as well as federal
I would like to make a correction of remarks attributed to me in regards to the “Conversations with Kay” event at the Yadkin Senior Center. While Upper Yadkin Valley Habitat for Humanity does re...
29 days ago | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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Thanks to those who care
I want to heartily thank my neighbors, who came to the assistance of myself and my wife after I was struck by a car on the morning of Dec. 23. I also want to thank Roy Mojica and Justin Bowers of ...
4 months ago | 0 0 comments | 4 4 recommendations | email to a friend
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Letter to the Editor
With unemployment unacceptably high, we need to foster a climate in which businesses can retain and hire workers while maintaining production and investment. Earlier this month, President Obama vi...
5 months ago | 0 0 comments | 6 6 recommendations | email to a friend
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Letter to the Editor
I am responding to the article written by Stephanie Carroll Carson from N.C. News Service entitled, “Women’s Right to Know Act takes effect today” in the Oct. 27, 2011, issue of the Ripple. The ar...
6 months ago | 0 0 comments | 6 6 recommendations | email to a friend
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I was having a real good day
I was having a real good day. My wife and I went to Bojangles for our late breakfast, went outside, picked up our Tribune on the way home. I sat down in my La-Z-Boy to enjoy the paper. Right the...
10 months ago | 0 0 comments | 7 7 recommendations | email to a friend
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Editorial
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The Real State of the Union
Has Barack Obama learned nothing in three years? During his State of the Union address, he promised “a blueprint for an economy.” But economies are crushed by blueprints. An economy is really noth...
3 months ago | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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Get ready to file your 2011 tax return
You’ll be receiving your W-2 and 1099 income forms in the next few weeks. Your 1099 for bank interest and 1098 for mortgage interest paid in 2011 should show up in the same time frame. When they...
4 months ago | 0 0 comments | 4 4 recommendations | email to a friend
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Who teaches us how to live—and die?
Alzheimer’s. Just the word scares you to death, doesn’t it? A few years ago, I saw an article that described and gave examples of a new mental test that can make a very reliable preliminary di...
4 months ago | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
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You Decide: Should you buy local?
There’s a movement afoot to change how we buy. It’s not about how much we buy or even the kinds of products we buy. Instead, it’s directed at the origins of what we buy and where we buy. Broadly s...
5 months ago | 0 0 comments | 6 6 recommendations | email to a friend
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