Influential lefty political blogger Markos “Kos” Moulitsas Zúniga of DailyKOS fame has added a stop in Raleigh to his national book tour. Kos will visit Quail Ridge Books on Friday, May 12th at 7:30 PM to tout his new book, Crashing The Gate, which is a sober look at today’s Democratic Party and how it could be improved.

I’m out of town that weekend, but I’d be front-and-center if I was here. For a political junkie like me, it should be a very interesting talk.

For once I have to side with George Bush, hard as it sometimes is. The deal allowing Dubai to run U.S. ports isn’t a threat to security. The controversy is nothing more than a few idiot Congressmembers grandstanding to the media in an effort to show they’re tough on security.

I visited Dubai during one of my naval deployments. It is the Las Vegas of the Middle East: a Westerner could feel right at home there. Dubai knows its future depends on doing business with the West.

Today’s weather promised to be mild, so after breakfast we packed up into the car and explored a new park in our neighborhood: Horseshoe Farm Park. Horseshoe Farm Park gets its name from the bend in the Neuse River which surrounds the park on three sides. We’d heard about it in the news lately but decided to see for ourselves what it was all about.

The park has been in the news because of controversy in determining what to do with it. The city is currently working through a master plan for the park, which is where the controversy lies.

Members of the Horseshoe Farm Park Master Plan Committee were tasked with coming up with the best use of the property. They were obstensibly supposed to do this with the public’s best interest at heart. Instead, they got a push in a developer-friendly direction when they were nudged to make it an “active” park: with ballfields, tennis and basketball courts, a dog park and a gynmasium. This put local activists in a snit, who then proceeded to push their vision of the park as a nature preserve . Throughout the planning process, public comment on the park has always strongly favored this natural approach.

Some have questioned why Raleigh first pitched this park as a nature preserve, then changed course and pitched an active park to the planning committee, only acquiescing when the public let its nature park preference be known. I think the answer came this week when Raleigh revealed the gift from Dr. Annie Louis Wilkerson, a wealthy obstetrician who left her 155 acres to the city with the stipulation that it remain a nature park. Most importantly to the Horseshoe Farm park saga, Dr. Wilkerson’s deal hinged on the City of Raleigh keeping it a strict secret. Members of the Parks and Rec advisory board weren’t even aware of the gift.

The city (or at least some in the city) has known about Dr. Wilkerson’s gift for almost a decade. The question they have to grapple with is this: does Raleigh need a 155-acre nature preserve less than five miles from a 140-acre nature preserve?

Not having been to Wilkerson park (because it’s not yet open), I can’t say what it has to offer. On the other hand, Horseshoe Farm with its rolling pasture area, open hay barn, wooded trails near the riverbank, and abundant wildlife, seems perfect just the way it is. Try as I might, I just could not picture gyms, tennis courts, or any other urban-oriented buildings going there. I love playing sports, but there are plenty of places for that stuff. Horseshoe Farm Park isn’t it.

The park’s planning committee meets again at 7 PM Wednesday night, March 1st at Durant Nature Park to continue hammering out the park’s future. Among the audience will be Kelly or me – two happy converts to the “nature park” cause.

Links:
City of Raleigh: Horseshoe Farm Park Planning Committee
Friends of Horseshoe Farm Park
Indy: Battle over Horseshoe Farm Park heats up
Indy Blog: A Big win at Horseshoe Farm Park
N&O: Tennis, gym, dog park nixed
N&O: Two park planning committee members resign, spur email war
Durant Nature Park: site of March 1st committee meeting

Let me add my voice to the growing crowd saying Jim Black must go. More and more it looks like he’s had some, uh, serious “ethical lapses” if not downright broken the law.

Black should step aside and the rest of our representatives should own up to any of their own shady dealings. We need – no demand – clean politics. The days of the good ‘ol boy network are over.

Harpers has a transcript of radio transmissions of Israeli troops guarding the Gaza Strip. Last year was apparently open season on ten year olds and three year olds in Gaza.

Hey, let’s reward ’em for being good shots with another billion dollars of weapons.

Walking to my gate at the airport yesterday, I caught the tail end of a CNN story on NSA Whistleblower Russell Tice. There was lots of noise (it being an airport after all), but one thing he said caught my attention. He said that current NSA employees he’s spoken with consider Bush’s illegal wiretapping to be a “betrayal.”

“If you are a signals intelligence officer, it is drilled into your head from early training on that you do not spy on Americans, period,” Tice said.

Absolutely correct. As I said before, Bush has brought undue suspicion to an agency doing heroic work for our country.

It’s time for some answers.

Yesterday was the court date for the protesters who protested against Aero Contractors’s support of the CIA’s extraordinary rendition (i.e., torture) flights. The protesters were looking forward to their day in court, as it offered them a chance to shine more light on Aero’s role in the torture flights.

The protesters were planning a similar protest at Aero’s hanger at the Kinston Regional Jetport today. This is where Aero bases its Boeing 737, which is too large for the Johnston runway. Other than the groundbreaking of their new hanger at Kinston, Aero has maintained a low profile around Kinston.

I hope that with more publicity Aero will be convinced to get out of the torture flight business. Shame on Johnston County and the state of North Carolina for turning a blind eye to this abhorrent practice.

My friend Jamie Gaines posted a pointer to his friend Jason Lefkowitz’s blog post regarding the revelations that Bush bypassed the FISA courts to spy on Americans. A few of the comments on his entry got my goat and I got caught up in knocking down the myths some see in this War On Terra.

You might find the discussion amusing. It sure was fun participating.

In Bushworld when you get caught doing something shady or, uh “extra-legal,” its proper to launch an investigation. Only instead of investigating if what you did was legal, make sure you go after whoever snitched on you.

This may be a good test of the federal whistleblowers act.