Politics

Politics

There are 1,050 posts filed in Politics (this is page 37 of 105).

Shutdown leaves poor hungry

Yesterday, Ligon Middle School’s PTA sent an email to parents titled “Donations needed:”

About 40 of our students who receive free lunch have fallen through a Federal crack and have lost their lunches for about a week. If anyone would like to donate, Mrs. Avery in student services is collecting money to cover their lunch.

Out of all the train wrecks this federal shutdown has caused, it’s this one that makes me the angriest. The morons in charge of the House of Representatives are playing a political game while kids who depend on the government for their lunches are going hungry. Oh, and the NSA contractors are still getting their $200k salaries, drone strikes are continuing, and some of our … uh, enlightened Congressional representatives refuse to give up their pay.

Real people are being hurt by this stunt and many more real people will be hurt if those who have held our government hostage succeed in pushing the United States to default. Voters will not forget this. I know I won’t.

Update 10:26: Ligon parents have done what House Republicans can’t do and paid for the kids’ lunches. Hooray!

We would like to thank everyone for their generous contributions to the lunch money fund. Ligon families are the best. We currently have enough money to cover the needed lunches.

Roy Cooper: the real deal?

So Roy Cooper is lining up to challenge Pat McCrory for the governorship in 2016. He’s the most popular politician in the state, which explains why the NC GOP is going all-out to attack him.

Yet he’s still a mystery to me. What does he believe in? Why is he just now speaking out on important issues when he passed up the chance on others in the past? Is he simply going with which way the wind is blowing? Or is he for real?

I know I was impressed watching him work a room but there’s more to leadership than shaking hands. I look forward to learning more about this man and his vision for North Carolina.

Fairness First – for fair redistricting

Earlier this week I was surprised to find a lengthy rant posted by one of my Republican friends on his Facebook page. My friend’s diatribe included allegations of treason against serving government officials. These types of allegations are often tossed around by so-called Tea Party “patriots” but my friend is nothing of the sort. He’s a well-spoken, thoughful, moderate Republican and the target of his wrath is Republican Speaker John Boehner. Boehner drew my friend’s ire for his reckless commandeering of the federal government.

A slew of comments grew out my friend’s post, from both sides of the aisle. I’d been pondering lately how we got into this political mess, too, so I weighed in with this:

In my opinion the center will continue to be ignored as long as gerrymandering guarantees the safety of extremist politicians. To fix the system we must demand fair redistricting. Currently few politicians have to worry about the wrath of voters. That has to change.

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Time to get moving on public transportation

R-Line-BikeOnBus
As I was weaving my way along East Raleigh streets taking my daughter to school this week, I realized what was missing from Raleigh streets: frequent, reliable public transportation. No offense to Capital Area Transit which is doing the best with what it has, but this city has taken a half-assed approach to public transportation for far too long. It has to start with the top: city leaders must be committed to making this happen. That includes proper planning and funding.

Truly great cities have great public transportation. Heck, even Charlotte has great public transportation. Raleigh strives to be a destination city but we don’t have the basic amenity of workable public transportation.

Raleigh (as well as Wake County) needs to get on the bus and improve its public transportation or it will be left hopelessly (and possibly irredeemably) behind. I’m hopeful the city council and new city manager Ruffin Hall can make this happen.

N&O doubles down on council criticism

The News and Observer often fires volleys at city leaders for being too secretive, as the city’s hunt for a new city manager clearly demonstrated. Yet the N&O itself often leaves me scratching my head. I should probably let it go, I know, but I’m still mystified the paper is sticking by its story that Randy Stagner’s parking email was somehow the impetus for firing former city manager Russell Allen.

Today’s editorial:

Randy Stagner was the one incumbent who lost, to Wayne Maiorano, a newcomer. Stagner was not a bad council member at all, but he got himself in a bad position when he appeared to be pushing for the ouster of former City Manager Russell Allen over a parking space.

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McFarlane tops in Raleigh; moderates rule again on the Wake school board

Bob Geary pins the blame on Randy Stagner’s loss on the News and Observer’s dumb decision not to endorse him. I wonder how long it will be before they have to acknowledge this mistake?

Maiorano can thank The News & Observer for his narrow victory. Somehow, the newspaper decided that firing Russell Allen was a terrible thing to do and that Stagner was responsible. The firing was debatable, perhaps. What wasn’t debatable was that Stagner, a council rookie, had little to do with it. Five other members, including McFarlane, made the call to get rid of Allen. Stagner’s vote made six.

Nonetheless, the N&O pinned the blame on Stagner in story after story, after which the paper endorsed Maiorano.

via McFarlane tops in Raleigh; moderates rule again on the Wake school board | Citizen | Indy Week.

“We Hate Teachers” signs

Photo from New Raleigh

Photo from New Raleigh

Yesterday I drove through Raleigh’s Five Points neighborhood when I noticed a handful of signs tacked onto the utility poles. Usually these are advertising home-buying services, or fix-your-bad-debt services, but these were different. They say “We Hate Teachers – NCGOP” and below this is a phone number of 1-800-ART-POPE. I hear these signs are popping up all around Raleigh, with another group around Wiley Elementary.

I don’t know who created or posted the signs and I have my doubts they’ll do anything useful. I don’t think Art Pope hates teachers and the N.C. GOP doesn’t,. either. Still, I did chuckle at the audacity of it all.

My Raleigh picture shows up on WTVD

WTVD_Raleigh_pic

I noticed in WTVD’s story on Raleigh’s new city manager that the station is using my public domain picture of downtown Raleigh for its graphics about the city of Raleigh. Also, during my city council appearance last month I was amused to see my picture now displayed on the city’s projector at the beginning of the council session.

It’s pretty awesome that I’ve got people seeing Raleigh the same way I do!

Obamacare

Stethoscope-2
Fourteen years ago I was a young know-it-all Linux geek working for an incredible employer, Indelible Blue. Once a leading retailer of IBM software and one of the fastest-growing companies in the area, Indelible Blue treated its employees like family. Even as a tiny company, it had on-site day care and some afternoons I could be found roller-blading around the parking lot with the company president. In 1999 it seemed Indelible Blue had a lot going for it.

You can imagine my surprise when a long-time employee, “Phyllis,” suddenly announced she was leaving. Phyllis was with the company right from the start and was an expert in the arcane IBM product known as MQ Series. Phyllis was a great person and her expertise was bringing lots of money to the company so I was baffled why she was leaving.

One rainy afternoon I sought her out as she stepped outside for a smoke break. She tearfully told me a heartbreaking story of how she loved her job and didn’t want to leave it but she had no choice. Her husband was suffering from a life-threatening health problem and Indelible Blue’s insurance coverage had been maxed out. Phyllis had to find another job or lose insurance coverage, which could lead to even worse consequences. A few weeks later she moved on.
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Color Run sees green, leaves Raleigh seeing red

Color Run in Seattle By Scooter Lowrimore (from Flickr)

Color Run in Seattle By Scooter Lowrimore (from Flickr)


A number of residents of Raleigh’s Historic Oakwood neighborhood were not happy to find their cars were missing from the street Saturday morning. The Color Run, a for-profit road run featuring dyed corn starch packets, had set up for its run through the neighborhood. Unlike most road races, organizers insisted that all the cars be removed from the street, most likely because of the colossal mess the corn starch packets make.

Raleigh Police posted “no parking” notices with as little as 13 hours notice, leaving many residents unprepared. Tow trucks hauled off their cars and stuck them with bills upwards of $150 to get them back. This in addition to the godawfully sticky corn starch that trashed their streets and homes.

Needless to say, residents were livid at their cars being taken and their neighborhood trashed. Council members were summoned and the city has agreed to reimburse residents for their towing charges.

I watched after the run as contractors worked to clear the starchy muck off of Wilmington Street near Polk Street. The contractor used a bleach mixture for this work, pouring this chemical-laden broth into our storm drains for eventual draining into the Neuse River. Nice move. I made a call to the city’s stormwater department when I saw this and begged someone to check it out. The city responded that this was just one of many issues they are collecting about the run.

Several runners question the motives of a for-profit company closing down city streets and using city resources. I watched at the end as a decal-laden Color Run car was loaded onto a tractor trailer that already held about 8 other shiny company vehicles. Apparently business is good!
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