I've been unable to
write about the state budget recently passed by Republicans in Raleigh, because
every time I began to compose, the rage threatened to choke off my air supply.
Plus Chuck Todd wants us all to lower the rhetoric.
Sorry, Chuck.
You know, right? that
the Republicans in the General Assembly cut the budget of the Department of
Justice by $10 million, which will force the Attorney General to lay off fully
one-third of the staff that prosecute crimes and/or defend the NCGA when its
unconstitutional laws are challenged in court.
They cut the Attorney
General's budget because Josh Stein won the election last November (just as
they've knee-capped the governor repeatedly for the sin of beating their asses
at the ballot box). You do not get more petty than that. You do not sink lower
than that. You do not do more direct harm to the citizens than handicapping the
law enforcement apparatus that should protect them.
The NCGA also tried to
buy off teachers by giving them a raise in the budget while also granting a tax
cut that will disproportionately benefit the top earners while keeping North
Carolina's ranking among all the states for public education spending at 41 out
of 50.
They zeroed out funding
for legal aid to the poor.
After screaming for
years about Democratic "pork barrel" spending, they jumped into that
soupy pool with both feet and clothes still on, designating over $70 million
for special projects in districts represented by Republicans. Some of the
largest earmarks go to Republican House Speaker Tim Moore's home county and to
Senate President Phil Berger's county.
It was corrupt when Democrats did it. It's still corrupt.
Some $5.78 million in pork goes to so-called "downtown
revitalization grants," like the one for Cliffside in Rutherford County,
which isn't a municipality and has a single retail business as a
"downtown," a Dollar General.
I must stop. It only gets worse. It makes me thirsty for revenge.
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