It is now illegal to throw plastic bottles in the trash in North Carolina. The only people who can get in trouble are waste haulers, and that is if enough of their clientele are throwing away too many bottles. In general, the law isn’t so much about enforcement as to help people think and feel green.
Read full article » No Comments »A public option, which the fair and balanced Associated Press defines to be “the term used to describe a new government role in healthcare,” experienced a minor setback today as Senators tried to trim a bill to fit the president’s budget. Even so, the surviving product proposed only excluding the very wealthy from eligibility for government-subsidized healthcare. Meanwhile, the folks at the Cato Institute continue to read the bills and comment on what they really say and what their natural consequences will be.
Read full article » No Comments »Asheville held its first nuisance court session September 24. Luminaries like Mayor Terry Bellamy and Vice Mayor Jan Davis were on-hand to observe. It is hoped the court will encourage prostitutes, graffitists, trespassers, holders of open alcoholic beverage containers, and others to find less obtrusive means of whiling away the hours. The court allows convicted perps to exchange jail time for community service.
Read full article » No Comments »I’m considering going to see “Money Driven Medicine.” The film documentary’s web site claims, “The U.S. Is the only industrialized nation that has chosen to turn medicine into a largely unregulated, for-profit business.” It would be interesting to learn how lack of regulation has eliminated competition, and thus resulted in skyrocketing prices. The film will be screened at the Unitarian Universalist Church at 500 Montreat Road, Black Mountain, at 7:00pm this Thursday. A discussion, likely about how government is the only cure for the problems it created in the healthcare industry, will follow.
Read full article » No Comments »Alcohol sales in Boone are up more than 50% over last year. As a reward, the state is giving the Boone Police Department 57% more, and Boone schools 42% more, than they received from a skim off the liquor revenues last year.
Read full article » No Comments »A mysterious flier showed up in the halls of UNCA last week. It suggested the college’s new Emergency Management Coordinator was hired out of cronyism. The article printed in the university’s newspaper focuses not on the allegations, but on the anonymity of the party that drafted and circulated the rumor.
Read full article » No Comments »Organizing for America would like people to prepare a thirty-second commercial exposing lies being told in the healthcare debate. The American people will get to vote on the commercials, and the winner will air nationally.
Read full article » No Comments »Citizens are doing a nice job of spreading the word about the proposed zoning ordinance for Buncombe County. You are invited to attend the October 5 public hearing; that is, if you can take off work at 9:30 in the morning.
Read full article » No Comments »In order to try to stay within the confines of McCain-Feingold, suffice it to say that certain candidates for Asheville City Council would like to enact a living wage, use tax dollars to fund unpopular candidates, and mail Progress Energy bills to neighbors so people will “keep down with the Joneses.”
Read full article » No Comments »The Housing Authority of the City of Asheville will receive $2.5 million in porkulus, added to the $3.3 million it was already awarded from the federal deficit. Funds will go toward making subsidized housing green.
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