Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1174966
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 9-15, 2019 UCW 5 OPINION MARGARET DICKSON, Columnist. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. 700 Ramsey St. Fayetteville, NC 28301 • Incredibly Fresh Flowers • Custom Silk Designs • Lovely Plants & Dish Gardens • Fabulous Showroom & Gi Shop Corporate Services: • Lobby & Office arrangements • Grand openings • Promotions Flowers Express What Words Cannot The Pickin Coop Antique Mall Rogers & Breece Funeral Home Fayetteville Postal Credit Union Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6018 AK Mc Callum Jernigan-Warren Funeral Home Sullivans Highland Funeral Services Floral Arts Inc • Conveniently Located Within Minutes of Fayetteville Hospitals & Funeral Homes • Balloons, Plush, Fruit Baskets www.FloralArtsNC.com 910.822.0425 Thomas888b - Own work Celebrating 40 Years of Service Flower for October Calendula This, that and the other by MARGARET DICKSON Credence Clearwater Revival's John Fogarty nailed it. It feels all déjà vu all over again. Presidents Richard Nixon and Donald Trump appear on paral- lel tracks, nearly 50 years apart. Nixon may or may not have known about a criminal office break-in, but he and his admin- istration went to great lengths to cover up that break-in and associated criminal activities. His lies were exposed when a staffer revealed to congressional investigators a secret Oval Office taping system, which recorded Nixon's lies and duplicity — not to mention his racist and ob- scene language. Nixon resigned the presidency in disgrace after Republican congressional leaders told him there was not enough congressional support to save him from impeachment in the U.S. House and conviction in the U.S. Senate. After a whistleblower came forward about Donald Trump's requests for political favors from the president of Ukraine, Trump admitted soliciting several other foreign leaders for dirt on American political rivals, and has actually done so on worldwide television. At least one whistleblower, and perhaps more, have reported Trump's behavior to Congress, and impeachment investigations are underway. Trump continues to threaten the whistleblower(s), in- sinuating treasonous behavior that may have been punishable by death in earlier times. What remains to be seen is whether congressio- nal Republicans, including North Carolina's House delegation and Senators Richard Burr and om Tillis, have enough intestinal fortitude and strength of character to put the welfare of the United States before Trumpian politics. A political cartoon once depicted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and former House Speaker Paul Ryan as subjects for medical study as they are the only two human be- ings known to walk upright without having spines. To quote Trump, "We'll see what happens." ****************** Medicaid expansion has been a hot topic in the North Carolina General Assembly for most of the decade, with Democrats pushing for it and Re- publicans resisting. Democrats rightly argue that emergency rooms are the most expensive way on God's green earth to provide routine health care to uninsured people and financially burdens local hospitals. Republicans say expanding coverage for low-income uninsured people is just too expensive, even though the federal government picks up 90% of the tab. Last week, influential former Republi- can North Carolina House member and business leader, Danny McComas of Wilmington, came out in favor of Medicaid expansion. McComas says it would help combat North Carolina's opioid epidemic and points out that North Carolina ranks eighth from the national bottom in health insurance coverage. Wrote McComas in the Wilmington Star News, "Why are we ceding the competitive advantage and sending our federal tax dollars to 37 other states to stimulate their econ- omies, to create thousands of jobs in their communities and to provide affordable health insurance to their citizens? ... It certainly is not a good busi- ness decision." ****************** And, finally, happy belated birthday to former President Jimmy Carter, who celebrated his 95th birthday Oct. 1. at milestone makes Carter the longest-lived president in American history, eclipsing former President George H. W. Bush, who died last fall at 94. He survived a meta- static melanoma diagnosis in which cancer spread to his brain and continues to do the physical, mental and emotional work of building houses for Habitat for Humanity all over our nation, with an upcoming foray to Nashville, Tennessee. Carter and his wife, former first lady Roselyn Carter, have been mar- ried for 73 years and continue to live in tiny Plains, Georgia, where the former president of the United States regularly teaches Sunday school. Partisan politics aside, Jimmy Carter is in an entirely different league than Richard Nixon and Donald Trump. Republicans say expanding Medicaid coverage for low-income uninsured people is just too expensive.