Carolina Journal Weekly Report

For the week of September 28, 2012 - carolinajournal.com

Reaction of the Week

RALEIGH — If predictions of more than three feet of rising sea levels by 2100 have you ready to flee from your beach house, a leading climate scientist might be ready to take your place on the North Carolina coast. He explains why in a new John Locke Foundation Spotlight report.

“I’m willing to offer you bottom dollar for your house because everyone thinks it is doomed and because they’re wrong,” said Dr. Patrick Michaels, director of the Center for the Study of Science at the Cato Institute. “While Carolina beachfront property owners continue to wait during blow-hard season for the Big One that will wash their homes away, the earth continues on a warming trend that is lower than it was forecast to be, and sea level is slowly rising.”

Michaels makes an offer — in jest — to buy your beach house “before it washes into the Atlantic,” but he bases his humor on serious science. “Unless there is a sharp change that is simply not being revealed in recent data, the expectation of 38 inches of sea-level rise in the next 87 years is not very likely at all,” Michaels added. “If, indeed, it becomes so, a change will be obvious over several decades, or the life expectancy of a beach house.”

The report reviews sea-level projections from the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission, which urged governments to plan for sea levels to rise more than three feet by the end of the century. That recommendation prompted protests this year from coastal county government leaders. The N.C. General Assembly responded to those complaints by placing a moratorium until 2016 on any use of CRC’s sea-level projections to limit coastal development.

Michaels devotes the bulk of his report to debunking the flawed science behind the 38-inch projection. Much of that flawed science is based on models designed to predict global warming.

“The hallmark of apocalypse projections is that they are usually rooted in some fact, blown wildly out of proportion,” Michaels said. “The real question is not whether climate will change —it always does — but how much, and how it changes.”

CJ: Perdue may spend campaign funds to publish papers
RALEIGH — Gov. Bev Perdue’s campaign committee is considering using some of the money left over in her campaign account to compile and publish papers from her life in public service.

CJ: Forest runs against Coleman in contest for lieutenant governor
RALEIGH — Tea Party favorite and political newcomer Dan Forest is calling for an “education revolution.” He believes he is better suited as a Republican outsider to deliver a vital sea change of innovation than his Democratic opponent for lieutenant governor, Linda Coleman, a career government employee.

CJ: Ellmers faces first test as incumbent
RALEIGH — North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District race could be a bellwether for the next two years of Congress and the Republican Party. The race pits freshman incumbent Renee Ellmers, a Republican who has become a frequent spokeswoman for the GOP leadership in Washington, against Steve Wilkins, a Democrat who embraces core liberal values.

CJ: It’s incumbent Berry vs. former Labor Commissioner Brooks
RALEIGH — Cherie Berry has been North Carolina’s labor commissioner for nearly 12 years, and the Catawba County native knows just how to describe her responsibilities.

CJ: Stossel, Dean debate role of government
CHAPEL HILL — Former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean displayed a self-deprecating wit, but Fox television show host John Stossel wasn’t laughing about what he viewed as Dean’s flawed grasp of the free market.

Monday, October 01, 2012 at 12:00 p.m.
Shaftesbury Society Luncheon
with our special guest John Hood
The Carolina Campaign: How America Won Its Revolution

Wednesday, October 24, 2012 at 12:00 p.m.
A Headliner Luncheon
with our special guest Dr. Charles Murray
Coming Apart at the Seams: America's New Cultural Divide

Capital Quotes

“You need to protect the integrity of the voting system. I don’t want Chicago politics to come to North Carolina.”
— Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory, as quoted by the Charlotte Observer, stating that, if elected, he would sign a voter ID law.

“It’s firing up the base, that’s all (Dalton’s) trying to do.”
— Democratic strategist Gary Pearce, talking to the Raleigh News & Observer about a new ad for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Walter Dalton claiming that Pat McCrory “just doesn’t understand the African American experience in North Carolina.”

“A lot of times, when government gets involved, it does more harm than good.”
— Nicolas Loris, an environmental economist at the Heritage Foundation, as quoted by the Durham Herald-Sun, speaking at a conference on environmental policy at Duke University.

“Arundo has got a lot of us scared.”
— David Crouse, an N.C. State University soil scientist, commenting to the Raleigh News & Observer about the possibility that Arundo, a grass being considered as an energy crop, could spread out of control like kudzu.


On The Air This Week…

This week on C J Radio…
JLF’s Terry Stoops analyzes a poll that shows broad voter support for school choice; legislators hear about the state’s growing Medicaid burden; UNC Chapel Hill professor Daniel Kreiss discusses social media impact on voter turnout; Paul Conway of Generation Opportunity explains the poor economy’s impact on young people; JLF’s Roy Cordato explains why flex-growth policies are superior to so-called “smart growth” policies.

This week on NC Spin…
Join moderator Tom Campbell for another week of political discussion and debate on the most intelligent television talk show in the state. Topics this week: A special interview with former Senator Jim Broyhill.