Politics

Politics

There are 1,053 posts filed in Politics (this is page 100 of 106).

Ebola: Now Available Locally

I once read a book called The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, a true story of an Ebola outbreak in Northern Virginia in 1989. I think its one of the most terrifying books I’ve ever read, particularly since I lived nearby around that time. So maybe I’m just being overly paranoid, but I’m not too keen about our government’s potential plans to set up a bioweapons lab in Butner. The NBAF would be playing with fun stuff like anthrax, Ebola, avian flu, and other deadly pathogens right on our doorstep.

The Butner facility is being deemed a replacement for the aging Plum Island facility in Long Island, NY. Plum Island has generated a lot of attention with books like these, detailing alleged safety violations at the bioweapons facility.

Hey, I like job growth as much as anyone. I just don’t like the potential of infecting the local population with some plague in order to get it. I’m thinking the NBAF is one Yankee transplant to which we can say “no, thanks.”

Cartoonist Doug Marlette Dead At 57

I was shocked to learn yet another of my cartoonist heroes has died a tragic death. Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Doug Marlette, author of the Kudzu comic strip, died in a car wreck today. He was 57.

While I thought Kudzu seemed stale as of late, it was the coolest thing back in 1986, my junior year of high school. This was Kudzu’s “moon pie” phase, a schtick that wound up decorating the signature pages of my South Meck High School yearbook. Continue reading →

General Assembly Moves To Limit Cable TV Competition

I cringed when I learned that Bellsouth would use the AT&T name. Though the new AT&T has little in common with the AT&T of old (aside from wanting to own the world), the name carries baggage for me. When I was in charge of phones at one former company, I was shocked to discover that AT&T had slammed my company – switching fourteen of our phone lines to their long distance service without our approval. I was so furious that I immediately filed a complaint with the N.C. Public Utilities Commission, after which an AT&T lawyer called to soothe my nerves. Had my employer not imploded days later (making the whole matter moot), I would have pressed the Commission to drop the hammer on AT&T. A similar case in Texas had recently cost a slamming telco $1.4 million. Seemed like a good starting point to me.
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Cheap Thoughts: Taking Back The Tubes

Senator John Kerry (D-MA), speaking of an upcoming FCC frequency auction, reminded me of an important fact (emphasis mine):

With this auction, we stand at a crossroads—we can either provide extraordinary benefits to millions of Americans or tilt bandwidth policy to line the pockets of a privileged few.

There is a clear path I believe must be taken: the airwaves belong to the American people, and their use should serve the public interest.

See that part? The airwaves belong to the American people.

We own the airwaves. We own the tubes over which America’s media conglomerates make billions.
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N.C. Seeks To Join National Popular Vote Compact

There’s a huge change underway in the process of electing a President. I happened to stumble upon this N&O article announcing North Carolina’s proposed plans to offer all of its electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. The plan calls for state officials to tally the popular votes from all of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and offer all of its electoral votes to the winner of that tally.

The plan, called the National Popular Vote compact, would give smaller states like North Carolina more clout in presidential elections. Campaigns currently focus most all of their resources on the battleground states. This plan would change all that. North Carolina joins California, Illinois, Colorado, Maryland, Hawaii, and Arkansas in advancing the measure through its legislature.

State representatives have been falling over themselves to introduce the measure. Bills from Sen. Charlie Dannelly (S760) and Sen. Dan Clodfelter (S954) are moving through the Senate, while Rep. Melanie Goodwin’s (H1645) is working its way through the House.

More on the plan can be found at the National Popular Vote website, or the book Every Vote Equal, appropriately available online for free.

If states implement the National Popular Vote measure, no longer would a presidential candidate win the popular vote but lose the election. Makes sense to me!

Lee Iacocca: Bush And Cheney Are “Bozos”

Maverick former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca takes aim at Bush and Cheney, calling them “clueless bozos” in his new book, Where Have All The Leaders Gone? Read this excerpt:

Had Enough?

Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, “Stay the course.”

Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I’ll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!
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Photos From RTP 2.0

I’ve posted my pictures from the RTP 2.0 social I went to the other night. You can check ’em out here. (My RTP 2.0 pics are hereby placed under the Creative Commons Attribution-3.0 Unported license. In essence: go crazy with them, just let folks know I took ’em.)

The beer at Tyler’s was outstanding, though the eats turned out to be two bags of soggy potato chips. Regardless of my hunger, the sponsors made the right call in favoring the bar over chips. I can eat stout all night!

I was happy with the people there, too. I met a Massachusetts-transplant graphic artist looking to team up with a photographer, a local entrepreneur/angel investor sniffing out the Next Big Idea, and an old friend/former coworker-turned-entrepreneur whom I hadn’t seen in six years. My only real complaint is there just wasn’t enough time to talk to all the interesting people there!

Kudos to Fred, CED, Broadwick, and everyone else who made it happen.

AttorneyGate Grows Shadier

Now let me get this straight: U.S. Attorney Carol Lam went after Randy “Duke” Cunningham, arguably the most corrupt member of Congress ever to serve (serve himself, that is), and instead of praising her for cleaning up politics, Bush fired her? Does this suggest there are Republican politicos who may actually defend Cunningham’s taking multi-million dollar bribes? That – in the words of Kyle Simpson, Alberto Gonzales’s chief of staff – the “real problem” isn’t shockingly corrupt politicans like Cunningham but the public servants who rightfully put them in jail?

Gonzales is so finished. If he lasts through next week there should be nationwide street protests. And this is just the beginning. By the time all leads are followed more heads will roll. Or should, if there truly is any justice in this country.

Once again, when is the media going to investigate the real reason why Dusty “Kyle” Foggo, a high-level CIA official, was compromising a member of Congress with money, booze, and hookers?