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Tues: Flying the colors
posted at 2009-03-10 23:23 | Last modified 2009-03-10 23:34
Seeing Green
Money, yes; beer, less so. Gov. Bev Perdue announced today she’s releasing her budget proposal March 17th. So instead of celebrating my Irish heritage, I’ll be poring over line item cuts. Cheers!
Pink Panic?
State House Republicans are banding together (unofficially, of course) to oppose H88, a measure requiring schools to offer two-track sex ed. Parents would choose whether to keep their kids in abstinence-only education, the currently mandated program progressives say doesn’t work, or comprehensive sex ed, a new program conservatives say will amount to a state endorsement of “alternative lifestyles.”
At issue is the following language from Section 5 of the bill:
"Each local school administrative unit shall also offer an abstinence-based comprehensive sexuality health education program commencing in the seventh grade that includes the following instruction:
"a. Teaches respect for marriage and committed relationships […]"
The new comprehensive program would include a lot of other things, too, of course, like more education for teens about sexual assault and abuse, and the role alcohol and drugs play in them. But H88 opponents are more worried about the lack of a definition for “committed relationships.” Mecklenburg Republican Ruth Samuelson says the term is too broad.
"This is gonna require that we teach that gay couples are the same as heterosexual married couples, or that polygamy is the same, because it’s equally as not legal in North Carolina, but an alternative committed relationship."
Samuelson also dismissed recent polling showing 2-to-1 support for comprehensive sex ed, saying the poll questions didn’t offer parents enough information about what the programs would actually teach.
H88 co-sponsor and longtime supporter Rick Glazier (D-Cumberland) was audibly irritated as he moved the vote on H88 in House Education today. Later, he said he doesn’t have a lot of patience for folks who think information is dangerous.
"Information to parents, information to students ought to be what we’re about, and trying to let people make intelligent choices about how best to protect themselves, given the reality of human relationships. And I think it’s time that we get our head out of the sand and deal practically with where children and students are and have been for decades…People have to deal with where people are, or they have to pretend, in a fantasy world, that they’re somewhere else."
The House Education vote was strictly party line, 32 to 21. Republicans deny it’s a caucus issue, but House GOP leader Skip Stam called for the ayes and noes, at which point three Republicans who’d pledged to support the measure flipped and voted against it. So hey, you tell me.
Blue Letter Day
The DOT announced today it’s going back to good old blue for your license plate numbers. And not just because customers (like me) didn't appreciate the aesthetics – it turns out public safety officials find blue-numbered plates easier to read than red ones.
The DOT switched to red numbers a couple of years back because they said the blue paint they were using was fading too quickly. (One assumes they’ve worked that out.) If you’re stuck with red, you’ll be back to blue in a year or two. Here's the release. (H/T: Paul Woolverton.)
Shades of Red
Perdue’s budget director Charlie Perusse will be talking to reporters tomorrow morning about the fiscal state of the state and the projected magnitude of the budget shortfall. It’s on background, mostly, as preparation for the Gov’s budget release next week, but I’ll fill you in later as far as I can.
Comments? Drop me a line.
