Politics

Politics

There are 1,050 posts filed in Politics (this is page 35 of 105).

Davos to Detention: Why I Hate Coming Home to America

‘Murrica is broken, folks. Our lovely little security state has gotten out of control.

After a 14-hour trip, I wanted to stretch my legs. So I stood up, anxious to find myself back in the room, especially after having written to the DHS. “Take a seat,” the officer at the door sternly said to me. I told him I wanted to stretch my legs after the long flight. He told me I wasn’t allowed to stand up. You are also not allowed to use your phone or electronic equipment. I was also slightly surprised to find as many children in the room as there were cameras.

“Sir, I’m a U.S. citizen who wants to stand while being detained. Am I not allowed to stand?” I said, pointing to the Asian man and Pakistani woman standing with their toddler strapped to the man’s chest. Anyway, there were only two empty seats in the room with a capacity of 60.

“Sit down!” he repeated for the sixth time, and came and confiscated my phone, which I was using to try to text my coworkers who were waiting to share a car home.

via Davos to Detention: Why I Hate Coming Home to America | Ahmed Shihab-Eldin.

Consultant: Aiken is considering run for Congress

Gary probably can’t say this because he’s working with Clay and most likely is bound by what he can say. That doesn’t stop me, though.

District 2 is a conservative district and Clay has no political experience, but he can’t be counted out. He has name recognition, his own money to fund a campaign (I assume), and the brains to grasp the issues. As Kelly said to me, “I’d hate to run against him,” and she’s right. A lot of right-wingers are flipping out about this and for good reason.

RALEIGH, N.C. AP — Pop singer Clay Aiken, who first made a name for himself as a contestant on “American Idol,” is considering a run for Congress in North Carolina’s 2nd District, a state Democratic Party consultant said Friday.

The “American Idol” runner-up from 2003 has talked with him and other advisers and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee about whether to seek the seat now held by Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers, consultant Gary Pearce told The Associated Press.

via Consultant: Aiken is considering run for Congress – SFGate.

Lee Atwater on the “Southern Strategy”

A discussion on mobile phone safety led me to look up Lee Atwater. Atwater was the Republican strategist known for his divisive campaign tactics in the 1980s. Atwater died in 1991 from a brain tumor (thus the mobile phone safety angle).

I had long known Atwater excelled at race-baiting voters. Until today, though, I had no idea that this interview existed in which Atwater comes right out and explains the new codewords he used for this nefarious purposes. Those codewords are still being used today, sadly enough. Voters are voting on racial issues even now.
Lee_Atwater_1989
Perhaps Atwater will one day reincarnate as a black woman and get a feel for the hate-filled policies he put in motion.

Dogs in parks issue moved to committee

Last week, the Raleigh City Council moved the issue of restricting dogs from certain areas of parks to the Council’s Public Works committee. I was aware that might happen but don’t know what the committee might hit on that the parks board and its committees did not. We have carefully considered the issue, collected public feedback, and made sure all along to take our time to get it right.

Again, I feel the key to success here is to provide more dog-friendly areas, whether they be dog runs in existing parks or biting the fiscal bullet and ponying up for additional much-needed dog parks in our growing city. Part of the Parks board’s recommendation was to be tasked with studying where more dog-friendly resources could be added. I hope the Council will see fit to approve that.
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Highlights of 2013: Giving up the Parks board gavel

It was a great year to be chair of Raleigh’s Parks board. In February, I led what I consider the best meeting I’ve ever led. The energy I from these kinds of meetings will leave me giddily bouncing off the walls for hours. It’s a shame that I get good at this right before I have to turn it over to someone else.

I did get some good park dedications this year, some of which I probably didn’t blog about. In April, I gave what was arguably my best speech at the Neuse River Greenway dedication. I followed that up with a speech at the synthetic field dedication at the WRAL Soccer Complex. Though there wasn’t much of a crowd at this one, it was special because my parents got to witness it.
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Why I fled libertarianism — and became a liberal – Salon.com

After leaving my small town upbringing, I learned that libertarians are made for lots of reasons, like reading the bad fiction of Ayn Rand or perhaps the passable writing of Robert Heinlein. In my experience, most seemed to be poor, white and undereducated. They were contortionists, justifying the excesses of the capitalist elite, despite being victims if libertarian politics succeed.

If you think that selfishness and cruelty are fantastic personal traits, you might be a libertarian. In the movement no one will ever call you an asshole, but rather, say you believe in radical individualism.

via Why I fled libertarianism — and became a liberal – Salon.com.

Highlights of 2013: Volunteering

The year 2013 was a busy year for volunteering. Most of my attention was devoted to Little Raleigh Radio, both as a boardmember and as a volunteer. We obtained equipment and set up a studio on St. Mary’s Street. I configured a music server and helped integrate it into the studio. We worked together in the fall to locate suitable transmitter sites and filed our FCC application.

Then the filing window closed and we saw we were one of five groups to apply for our frequency. Not only that, we were the youngest organization to file, meaning we almost certainly lose out to the others when the FCC grants its license. We’re still plotting our next steps but it’s depressing to see this opportunity slipping away with little we can do about it.
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Opinion: What ‘House of Cards’ gets wrong – Joshua Braver – POLITICO.com

Kelly got me hooked on the Netflix series “House of Cards.” I spent the post-Christmas days going through all 13 episodes from Season 1. While I’m anxiously awaiting next month’s release of Season 2, I found this gem explaining what House of Cards. It’s good to keep this in mind after watching (though it does have some plot spoilers – be warned!)

I pity the writers of House of Cards.Sure, the lurid political drama, which debuted on Netflix earlier this year, has become an Internet sensation, with a dream lineup of actor Kevin Spacey and director David Fincher. Plus it’s now nominated for nine awards at the Emmys this Sunday, including outstanding drama series.

But the show’s writers have an impossible task — which makes for some far-fetched plot twists.

via Opinion: What 'House of Cards' gets wrong – Joshua Braver – POLITICO.com.

Christian Action League boss claims to know God’s position on the Bonner Bridge

Apparently the good reverend isn’t familiar with Matthew 7:26: “But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”

According to the Rev. Mark Creech, the Executive Director of North Carolina’s Christian Action League that’s him on the left – Creech, not God, those who side with environmental groups in favor of a longer and more sustainable bridge to replace the existing Bonner Bridge are acting counter to the Divine Plan. Creech said the following in an article that he authored and that was recently published in, among other places, the Christian Post

I also note that Dr. Creech provides no biblical references to back up his claim that a “biblical worldview” means that God wants us to plunder the earth:

The biblical worldview on the environment is that we should responsibly “subdue” (subjugate, restrain, control) and develop the earth and its natural resources in a way that best benefits the human race.

I don’t have any references to back up my position, either, but I’m pretty sure that’s bullshit.

via Christian Action League boss claims to know God’s position on the Bonner Bridge « The Progressive Pulse.

Rucho’s zero income tax?

I was doing some research on this annoying new requirement to fill out another NC-4 form to take advantage of new tax changes. I was reading the N&O’s story on the new changes when I saw the author of the changes, Sen. Rucho himself, had weighed in from his Facebook account:

Every employee was required to maintain a NC-4 and nowNC-4 EZ forms to establish their NC withholding from their pay checks. The standard deduction has been raised to $15K MFJ. That means that the first $15K of income is tax free. Then the NC tax rate has has been lowered to a flat 5.8% for 2014 and to 5.75% for 2015. The result will be that every taxpayer will have a higher take home pay to spend or save as they choose. It is your hard earned money not the governments. The good news is that this is a first step toward a personal Income tax rate of ZERO like Tx, Fl and TN.and a goal to stimulate economic growth and create more good jobs.

We can’t rebuild broken Bonner Bridges with Monopoly money. We can’t pay our teachers national-average-or-above wages with it, either. We can’t pave the tens of thousands of miles of roadways we have here with a capped gasoline tax and zero income taxes. Where will Mr. Rucho get the money?