What is it like to be the person who acts that God’s will be done on earth? That was the question Jesus posed in his Sermon on the Mount, according to his disciple Matthew’s account. Jesus’ answer was contained in the beatitudes, the subject of Sister Evelyn Mattern’s 1994 book, Blessed Are You: The Beatitudes […]
Bob Geary
Posted inNews
Loneliness of the long-distance voter
On my way to vote Tuesday morning in Raleigh District D, I met Tom Anderson, who was working the polls for his friend, council candidate Jack Alphin. Anderson sported a straw hat with an “Alphin for Council” hatband, set off crisply against his blue blazer and tie. I trust he will not be offended if […]
Posted inNews
Citizen
History may record that, at the first Raleigh MeetUp of Draft Clark 2004, held at The Third Place in July, there were either four people present, or five. (Memories differ.) By August, at Border’s Books in Cary, it was 25. Last week, when the gang–having gotten General Wesley Clark to join the Democratic presidential race–gathered […]
Posted inNews
A Harnett’s nest: for-profit hospitals
A tale of two little hospitals, down Harnett County way, shows the folly of looking to the “free market” to resolve our health care problems. The clash between Good Hope Hospital and Betsy Johnson Regional Hospital has split even fathers and sons. In The Daily Record of Dunn last week, editor emeritus Hoover Adams–Jesse Helms’ […]
Posted inNews
Who’s really “right” about Raleigh?
Regardless of your politics, you have to feel sorry for John Odom as he campaigns for mayor of Raleigh against the incumbent, Charles Meeker. For one thing, Odom is just too soft-spoken, and too honest, to level the kind of scorching attack that would arouse his fellow Republicans and juice the turnout on Oct. 7. […]
Posted inNews
It’s a zoo out there
Dick Cheney’s Sept. 12 visit to Raleigh served to remind me why, though I have only the greatest admiration for the mainstream media, I no longer have the temperament to be one. Cheney, our vice president, popped up at the Fairgrounds–in the Kerr Scott Building–to plump the U.S. Senate candidacy of Congressman Richard Burr, fellow […]
Posted inNews
Kucinich Clears the Way; Edwards Loses His
With the greatest respect for Howard Dean, thank goodness for Dennis Kucinich. Dean, now the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, should thank goodness for Kucinich, too, as last week’s debate in Albuquerque made clear. Remind me again, Dean fans, why y’all are not for Dennis? Oh, that’s right, because Dennis can’t win–he’s too progressive. […]
Posted inNews
Three cases for a moratorium
The three cases moving fast toward the death chamber raise very different issues. Taken together, they demonstrate how capital punishment in North Carolina can be biased, misguided or–in the Hunt case–could result in the mistaken execution of an innocent man. (Based on information from lawyers for the defendants and the Center for Death Penalty Litigation.) […]
Posted inNews
The Wake elections are just so nice!
It’s a year of kinder, gentler candidates in Wake County, if there are any candidates at all. Take Carol Parker. She’s running for the Wake school board in District 3, up North Raleigh way. Some folks thought the school elections would be a serious throwdown over the “choice” issue–also known as neighborhood schools versus diversity. […]
Posted inNews
Stop the executions
Even after hearing that Quentin Jones had been served his last meal, the four dozen people who’d gathered for the vigil of his execution the night of Aug. 21 still hoped Gov. Mike Easley would spare his life. They hoped the long campaign for a moratorium on executions and a systematic study of capital punishment […]
