From the September 18, 2013, Asheville Citizen-Times:

An anti-abortion activist [Margaret Peal] has been hired as a senior policy adviser at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the latest in a string of politically charged hiring decisions made at the embattled state agency.

Records show Peal recently served on the board of the anti-abortion Carolina Pregnancy Center, a group that emphasizes Christian scripture and encourages abstinence. She was also an early organizer for the conservative Eastern North Carolina Tea Party and gave $1,250 to the 2012 campaign of Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.

When we moved here, this state was promising to be a southern version of Pennsylvania.  Now it is rapidly mutating into a northerly version of Texas, thanks to Republican control of all branches of government.  It is all about cutting taxes and reducing services.

Oh, by the way.  Our North Carolina anti-tax Republicans are anti-tax only when it comes to those who can afford to pay.  In the latest update to North Carolina sales tax law…

• The sales tax on manufactured and modular homes (the kind you find in trailer parks) increases from 2.0% to 4.75%, effective January 1, 2014.

• The sales tax will now apply to newspapers sold by vendors and home-delivery carriers, effective January 1, 2014.  This targets readers who do not use the internet.

• Effective July 1, 2014, breads and other baked goods sold at a bakery thrift store will be subject to the general state and local sales tax (6.75% in my area).  Prior to this, such items were subject to the 2% food tax rate.

• The “Sales Tax Holiday” for clothing, school supplies, instructional materials, computers, computer supplies and sports or recreational equipment sold between 12:01 A.M. on the first Friday of August and 11:59 P.M. the following Sunday, is now repealed.

Our state Republicans are seeking to reverse defeats from the 1960s and maybe the 1860s.  If you thought North Carolina had become a purple state, you would be wrong.  This is a chimera state, composed of several different populations with different origins and cultures and values.  The color of chimera is not purple but a blotchy blue-gray.