Comments by Gene Scarborough | Eastern North Carolina Now

Thanks for fulfilling your promise to get it back up. I have more stuff coming and hope the readership profits from some alternate views in BCN, my friend. . .

Commented: Sunday, April 26th, 2015 @ 7:42 am By: Gene Scarborough

Just hire me to do more tree work for you, Stan --- then I will have enough bucks to get caught up, my brother!!! I'm not a paid politician and this is my FREE CONTRIBUTION to Beaufort County Conservatism . . . I'm getting between 100 and 200 views with each article by giving you some diversity, man

Commented: Sunday, April 26th, 2015 @ 6:15 am By: Gene Scarborough

It's Gone with the Wind, bro!!! That happened over political bickering with you and Hood climbing the Conservative Monkey tree.

If we should have a fire and prisoner lives be lost or harmed, you will wish you had done something real instead of the party posturing . . . This has been a problem since the 1980's and is long overdue for solution, bud!!!!

Commented: Saturday, April 25th, 2015 @ 8:45 pm By: Gene Scarborough

I am most interested in your observations, Stan. Many of them I can uphold---especially the nature of a Republic vs. Democracy. Let me ask you a few questions:

(1) How can we know national candidates in a Madison Avenue world of advertising?
(2) Are you saying we did right by torturing POW's after 9/11?
(3) Why is it so important to divide rather than find a reasonable compromise?
(4) We are still in a recession brought on by a failed Trickle Down theory and tax code---how do we get out?
(5) You fail to mention my hero of NC politics, Sam Erwin and his sense of integrity over Watergate---any reason for this?
(6) NC is a big state with many outlooks contending for rule---should we simply legalize moonshine for which NC is famous and drink until we can be friends?
(7) NC made good progress from 1970-early 2000 ---WHAT HAPPENED????

Commented: Saturday, April 25th, 2015 @ 7:05 pm By: Gene Scarborough

I am interested in the psychotic disorder which made you think I support government spending money it does not have ~~~ nor taxing the mess out us in a failed economy to keep their income at 100% while mine is at 20%. . .

Commented: Saturday, April 25th, 2015 @ 6:38 pm By: Gene Scarborough

Stan, old sport ~~~ you now have me designated "far left of center." I dare you to make this "far left" as well as most things I write.

Maybe it's time for you to go and get some adjustments to you glasses and your eyes --- so "far right" they can't see the other end of the political spectrum. In the case of most Conservatives, there has been a 1/3 addition to the right end of the bench as well as an additional leg --- so it won't dump you guys into the River!

Commented: Saturday, April 25th, 2015 @ 12:33 pm By: Gene Scarborough

Thanks for the great pics, Stan!!!

The only thing which concerns me is how lovely our natural beauty is NOW vs. what happens when Fracking inland and possible Offshore Oil Wells in the Graveyard of the Atlantic threaten the Outer Banks and Gulf Stream?

If Fracking corrupts our rivers, streams, and aquifers flowing down hill to the Sounds and Offshore Drilling has a blow out (as did the Deep Water Horizon) ~~~ will we in Beaufort County become a CRUDE OIL SANDWICH????

Commented: Saturday, April 25th, 2015 @ 8:45 am By: Gene Scarborough

If the article started without the put down of Democrats, "liberals," and any not in his camp, it would be far more logical. Any time compromise is put down~~~we have a problem ever getting a cooperating Legislature and Government . . .

Commented: Saturday, April 25th, 2015 @ 8:31 am By: Gene Scarborough

Please correct my figure cites for the County Manager to those of Hood Richardson who knows all the details of the contract offered a new Manager...

Commented: Saturday, April 25th, 2015 @ 8:15 am By: Gene Scarborough

I think this is a Senator who has his hands in the Koch Brothers pocket!!!

When our Legislature got conned into Fracking as if there is no danger to aquifers inland and rivers which feed into our Sounds, they were stupid. Now, the plans to possibly drill for oil in the Graveyard of the Atlantic beside our Outer Banks and near the Gulf Stream prove we are being raped for a resource long past its need --- with alternate sources available besides fossil fuels.

Sometimes the long term good far outweighs the short term skinflints of Conservatism. If we take outselves back to the cave for polluting this earth's atmosphere and causing rising oceans, then get your beach chair and put it just outsides Fayetteville in the Sand Hills --- which were once the beach of NC!

Commented: Friday, April 24th, 2015 @ 10:26 am By: Gene Scarborough

Come on out to my next tree job and see how common sense brings down a tree within 5' of where I am standing to gauge the distance! The most basic math equation is~~~any object doubles in weight for every foot it falls so even a small looking limb at the top of a 60' pin can hurt your bad.

With the hard head of conservatism, Stan, you won't require a helmet!

Commented: Friday, April 24th, 2015 @ 5:15 am By: Gene Scarborough

"Yatta -- yatta -- yatta," says the expert on all things Conservative

Commented: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 @ 1:44 pm By: Gene Scarborough

I think this is a surface look at education which most will miss. To me, the purpose of Higher Education is to broaden the mind in the humanities and train the gifted for science or math. The ideal result is professionals who are conversant about things broader than their narrow area of expertise.

For this reason the first 2 years require courses in many areas before one selects a Major in the last 2 years. Those who want the Masters or PhD go then to Graduate Schools in that field where research and collegial discussions occur. At the College level it is teacher above student / at the Graduate level it is fellow educated and qualified students working as research partners with their Professors.

The major problem with higher education these days is "if you have the money, you can go to the party." Scholarships and loans help many to attend who are not really qualified by academic scores on the SAT and GRI. Many are taught to the test over "taught to think critically and creatively" . . .

Drunken athletic cheerers are the result rather than broadened minds seeking TRUTH. Too many graduate with an expectation of at least $65K and all the perks of Corporate America. Just because they have a college degree, they view it as a ticket to big bucks, a generous retirement, computer, A/C and no dirty hands or sweat. When any athlete can't speak proper English---something is badly WRONG!

That would be an elitist life of ease over that of a mechanic or farmer in the hot sun turning wrenches. Now the sophistication of computer technology in our cars has imprisoned the average owner to the manufacturer. It has destroyed the old shade tree mechanic who fixes things with duct tape and bailing wire to get through the day.

Most farmers get angrier over the A/C not working than the engine not producing the H.P. for pulling the plow it pulls. All of us are spoiled to comfort. Our version of suffering is having to watch a Black-and-white show on a color TV!

Commented: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 @ 10:46 am By: Gene Scarborough

Good questions, Ted . . .

A "call from God" is out of the biblical story of Abraham when God communicated with him over sacrificing his eldest son to show his love of God. It is straight from the pagan world of human sacrifice at the time. God provided a goat trapped in a vine and virtually said, "I was just testing you Abraham and you don't have to kill your son for my pleasure . . ." Later he had a dream which led him to father in old age the various sons who became the genesis of the Tribes of Israel.

Another "call" came to Moses in the burning bush event. At that point Moses was told to go to the Pharaoh and demand "let my people go."

Both "calls" were supernatural in nature. Moses protested that he could not even speak in public so Aron became the mouthpiece for Moses.

Both Billy Graham and my father were on the farm when they got their "call to preach." Both had a sense that God wanted to use them as Preachers. Billy went to a most conservative school, Wheaton, for seminary. Prior to that he was at a Conservative Bible College in Florida. My father entered Mercer, a more middle-of-the-road education institution started by Baptists in GA. He went from there to Andover-Newton Seminary at Boston because he felt it was the best institute of its kind in America with outstanding faculty in theology.

In Baptist world anyone can be "called." They focus more on the emotional experience and do not require educational credentials to pastor a church, just an invite from the Pulpit Committee. Methodists, on the other hand, and Presbyterians have more control of clergy. They both require a formal education at the college or seminary level which results in a Masters Degree. They ordain their ministers at the larger level with a promise to get them a pulpit. Methodists assign their clergy in their District or Conference / Presbyterians let individual churches call from the ranks of ordained clergy in their Presbytery.

In all this is the mystery of the Holy Spirit at work PLUS the politics of a circle of friends gleaned from who you know and who was your professor at seminary. In other words it is a mix of divine and human relationships and HOPEFULLY the good clergy person seeks to find God's Will for themselves and their churches each time along the journey through life and various churches. . .

Commented: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 @ 10:08 am By: Gene Scarborough

This article is giving me much enlightenment as well as entertainment!

We all know the days of oil and fossil fuel dependency need to end for the future of our planet. We have solutions here --- and coming down the pike --- in solar, wind, water, nuclear, and who knows what new concept to power humanity. Nobody in the South wants to give up their HVAC system. Were it not for such, the South would still be too hot to endure!
I first lived and worked in NC 1967-70 as I matriculated to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and lived in Wake Forest. I was the first Baptist Chaplain to the Wake County Juvenile Court and, before that, worked on the Alcoholic Ward of Dorothea Dix Hospital as a Nurse’s Aide.
When I left NC to begin my ministerial career in SC my comment was: "Raleigh will never be more than a Capital Cow Town with Jesse Helms shouting in the corner over WRAL." I was chagrined to have come from Atlanta as Lester Maddox's conservatism was sworn into their governorship. Atlanta was booming, much of GA was still as rural as NC which seemed to relish its textiles and tobacco to sustain itself along with tourism. There was little eye to the future in 1970!
Something happened in the interim while I was gone until 1986 I came to Rocky Mount and represented Ministers Life Insurance Company over eastern NC. I relished the good environment for our growing children and the flat roads that brought me back home most nights---even from Wilmington or Manteo. We had great connections for me in my travels.
Something dramatic had happened while I was gone. The RDU Triangle had boomed and Greenville now hosted a growing University and Medical School. All the things we a direct result of political decisions to open NC doors to clean industry and PROGRESSIVE THINKING. . .
I so love it when the "small government / no help from tax dollars" Conservatives have to admit solar energy (which is most PROGRESSIVE) is a direct result of tax use to promote the future of NC! My car tag even had the RTP letters on it which showed part of my tag fee went to PROGRESSIVE things such as a Commercial Jetport at Kinston, along with the progress in Greenville and the RDU Triangle.
I see NO PROBLEM with PROGRESSIVE thinking / I see great problems with REGRESSIVE outlooks controlling our Legislature in the past 10 years. We are all suffering from lack of vision and political infighting. Give BOTH Democrats and Republicans a hand when they have cooperated in the past for growth. We have lost most of our Textiles and now Tobacco is not the great source of wealth it once was. When you can't smoke on the Campus of Beaufort CC, we have become a bit too REGRESSIVE for me
We still have lost our way with Big Oil now Fracking NC and threatening to put Offshore Drilling in the Graveyard of the Atlantic---between our pristine Outer Banks and the Gulf Stream. We, in Beaufort County, could well become a crude oil sandwich between aquifers corrupted by Fracking and a guaranteed oil spill just as they had in the Deep Horizon fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico. I am told tar balls are washing up on the Outer Banks and lower parts of our coast.
Our future can be bright with new thinking of a Progressive sort. NC State has made significant contributions to the Space Program which is the instigator of solar energy and other innovations . . . They could help the tobacco farmer compete in the World Flower Market as we now have Commercial Jet service where large transports could speed fresh flowers around the word---in competition with Amsterdam.

Commented: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 @ 9:22 am By: Gene Scarborough

If it were a "Council" would it be any different from "Commissioner"?

Commented: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 @ 8:15 am By: Gene Scarborough

Stan---you and Hood are both smart men, but locked totally into an agenda of Conservatism.

Why not "conserve" some collegiality on the Beaufort County Council?

Commented: Wednesday, April 22nd, 2015 @ 6:42 pm By: Gene Scarborough