The N&R puts a positive spin on Gov. Easley’s expensive trip to Italy:
Gov. Mike Easley spared no expense on his trip to Italy in April. That’s a shame because his extravagance shifted the focus from the legitimate purpose of his mission.
Easley and a group of about a dozen state officials spent nine days trying to recruit Italian companies and promoting North Carolina as a tourist destination. That’s a role governors should undertake routinely, and Easley can be an effective salesman when he stirs himself to action. This is something the governor probably should have done more frequently during his two terms in office…..
The weak dollar that inflated the cost of Easley’s trip to Italy makes North Carolina a bargain for Italian tourists and businesses coming here. The governor extended plenty of invitations.
You can almost hear it: ‘Y’all come to North Carolina, ya hear?’
Meanwhile, sportswriter Rob Daniels says NASCAR should ban the Confederate flag from the tracks:
The whole “Heritage, Not Hate” rhetoric is so old by now that some put the flag on public display to wield a weapon of backlash. Years ago, some people started bringing the symbol to races. Then others dissented. And now we’re seeing the opposition to the opposition. (At the University of Mississippi, one researcher chronicled an obvious increase in the number of flags flown outside the football stadium in the immediate aftermath of a policy forbidding their presence inside the gates.)
As for NASCAR, a ban might even put some fuel in the tank of the organization’s alleged “Drive For Diversity,” which so far has as much movement as rush hour in Boston.
For years, the Frances have been the French on this topic; they’ve thrown up their hands and claimed they can’t do anything about it. One common line of reasoning says the First Amendment gets in the way. This is false. It’s the argument made by people who place “I Support Our Troops” bumper stickers on their cars but can’t name more than three freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.
