Power versus Palin
Martinez: Consider the tale of two governors.
Despots don't change their spots
Martinez: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Kim Jong Il are teaching newbie President Barack Obama and the rest of the Western world a valuable lesson. Diplomacy isn't for sissies.
Reform takes care
Martinez: President Barack Obama seems determined to deliver on his campaign promise to develop a government remedy to the nation's dysfunctional health care delivery and finance system.
Cushy deals at the top
Martinez: The enduring scandal in the Easley-N.C. State University mess will not be that a sitting governor apparently used influence to get his wife a university gig.
Driven by conflict of interest
Martinez: The General Motors that will emerge from bankruptcy court should rightly be re-branded U.S. Motors.
Illusions at home and abroad
Martinez: Governing by illusion is dangerous business. The mirage being chased often diverts attention from a larger, more difficult problem that needs to be addressed.
Another go-round on the OLF
Martinez: Were it not for Osama bin Laden, I would be the man northeastern North Carolina most despises.
Telling the Navy to get lost
Martinez: Imagine if in 1941 North Carolinians had told the War Department to forget about building Camp Lejeune. What if they'd told the Navy that Marines could prepare for that nasty war in Europe just as well in Virginia as they could in Onslow County?
Gitmo is just the place
Martinez: In January, President Barack Obama received numerous attaboys for ordering the closure of the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Unhealthy for our finances
Martinez: The road to this nation's economic ruin will be paved with government-run health care programs. Remember that, as calls for health care reform ramp up during President Barack Obama's next 100 days.
Veterans in the spotlights
Martinez: Profiling is a tricky business. When done right, it can be an effective law enforcement tool. However, when imperfectly executed, profiling can degenerate into nothing more than crass discrimination.
