Listen closely and what you will hear, beneath the babble of political chatter and other mindless political noises distracting you from what’s really going on, are the dying squeals of the Fourth Amendment. It dies a little more with every no-knock raid that is carried out by a SWAT team, every phone call eavesdropped on by FBI agents, and every piece of legislation passed that further undermines the right of every American to be free from governmental intrusions into their private affairs.

Incredibly, with little outcry from the populace, the lengths to which the government will go in its quest for total control have become more extreme with every passing day.

RALEIGH – The dichotomy in the perspectives was striking.

As North Carolina legislators finished up their primary round of lawmaking for the year, the Republicans who now control the General Assembly said that they had done what they said they would do.

Democrats said that the new majority had overreached, that they were turning back the clock in a centrist state not interested in much of the agenda pursued by the Republicans.

Time, and the next couple of elections, will tell who is correct.

RALEIGH, N.C. – After one of the most efficient and productive legislative sessions in modern history, the North Carolina Senate adjourned early Saturday morning.

The Republican-led Senate passed hundreds of bills in 87 legislative days, including many long-overdue reforms that will put North Carolina on a new, more responsible path to better economic growth, prosperity and public education.

And it was the quickest adjournment in a long session since 1973.

RALEIGH – In the waning days of the legislative session, North Carolina lawmakers may give a big tax break to large, multi-state corporations that do business in the state.

Not that legislators will say that's what they are doing. They'll talk about tax fairness or uniformity.

In fact, if the bill in question passes, legislators will be giving multi-state corporations a green light to engage in the kind of creative accounting that state tax officials have been fighting for a couple of decades.

The result will be a tax break. No one will ever really know its true value.