Politics
There are 1,056 posts filed in Politics (this is page 64 of 106).
Wikimedia Commons pic by TurboTorque
Then I got handed off to the corporate HR staff, which sent me a 16-page job application to fill out. That wasn’t so bad, but on the porch today was a overnighted package with forms in it for a drug test.
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The N&O’s Jim Jenkins skewered Wake GOP’s Susan Bryant today. This had me laughing out loud!
“Susan Bryant clearly is a genius,” said the insider. “I expect Rick Perry will have her on as chief strategist. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the president simply decided not to run for re-election. He said to me just last night, ‘Look, maybe we should get out. If Susan Bryant in North Carolina can read our minds and follow our every move like this, what’s the point in trying to fight her?'”
via Obama’s conspiracy, revealed – Jenkins – NewsObserver.com.
The Atlantic Monthly takes a peek at Durham’s startup efforts:
Durham is a fascinating example of what happens when a community bands together to try to attract entrepreneurs. They’ve set up all the mechanisms and institutions to foster innovation and now they’re waiting to see if startup culture can take root. The city itself has “great bones,” as they say, with a dense downtown core filled with beautiful old-timey architecture. They even have some inspiring local business history to draw on. Durham was once known as “The Black Wall Street” because of the preponderance of successful African American-owned businesses on Parrish Street.
As I said before, Raleigh needs to get into the startup game pronto or face being forever branded as LawyerTown.
The deadly tornadic storm (seen right) retreats after laying waste to Raleigh's City Cemetery on April 16, 2011.
The truth is that the city’s parks staff would like nothing better than to have these cemeteries cleaned up. It’s just that it’s a monumental task, if you’re pardon the pun.
If you’ve lived around Raleigh for any length of time, chances are you’ve been through one of our occasional natural disasters. The first thing the city and state does after a disaster is to seek federal assistance in cleaning up. This money from FEMA comes with requirements that the city and state must meet if they expect their work to be reimbursed. Throw in a historic designation and you add yet another layer of bureaucracy that must first be satisfied.
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This is too funny. The Wake County GOP got its clock thoroughly cleaned in the latest municipal elections. Now its hapless chair, Susan Bryant, is laying the blame on Obama and his legions of “paid volunteers”
Actually, the only paid volunteers I know of was on the GOP side. A few days before the election, I spotted a small sign at the intersection of Louisburg Road and Perry Creek Road, seeking paid political volunteers. The sign emphasized that the volunteers needed to be conservative.
Wake County Republican Party Chairwoman Susan Bryant blames “President Obama’s national organization” for last week’s election results that could lead to Democrats regaining control of the county school board.
“Make no mistake!” Bryant writes in a GOP newsletter this week. “President Obama’s national organization was very much involved in the recent elections, with particular emphasis on Ron Margiotta’s and Heather Losurdo’s campaigns. They hired ‘volunteers’ and spent tens of thousands on mailers cleverly disguised as coming from non-related groups.”
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via GOP boss blames school election on Obama – Local – NewsObserver.com.
Update 4:20 PM: Looks like I’m not the only one who thinks this way. Sez one commenter on the N&O article:
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A few folks are raising a stink about Wake County School Board chairman Ron Margiotta’s recent use of school board video in his political ads. Some on the left are pointing to Margiotta’s use of the video as proof he enlisted county employees to help him in his campaign. WTVD’s Jon Camp did a story about it.
Now, I’m no fan of Ron Margiotta. He’s arrogant, grating, blunt, and I find a lot of what he says and does to be embarrassing. Still, you gotta hand it to him for thinking to use this video. Sure, it’s video of Susan Evans, his opponent in the school board race, and sure, it was taken with the county-owned video system. But that’s the point: it’s video taken by the public, for the public at an open, public meeting. The video is thus a public record and therefore available to anyone who requests it.
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I don’t know what to make of the Occupy Wall Street protests and the other protests that have spawned from these. I mean, I too am shocked at the wealth disparity between the very rich and the rest of us and am sick like everybody else of corporations shirking their tax obligations. Still, I don’t see how staying put in some place can be considered a “movement.”
This quote crystallized it for me. A protester at Occupy Chapel Hill was asked how long she intended to stay camped out:
“Till things are better,” Stephanie Daugherty said when asked how long she plans to sleep outside the Franklin Street post office. The 30-year-old unemployed IT worker was among the first 31 people to pitch tents and lay mats Saturday night after an Occupy Chapel Hill rally.
Earlier this month much hoopla was made by the Governor’s office when Gov. Bev Perdue visited Facebook’s datacenter in Forest City in Rutherford County. Facebook announced it was adding another building to the site, doubling its capacity.
In a press release, Perdue touted the jobs it would bring:
“Creating jobs is my top priority. Facebook’s additional expansion into North Carolina means more high-tech jobs and investment in Rutherford County,” said Gov. Perdue. “Facebook continues to be a ‘friend’ to North Carolina.”
Over the past few days, the US claims it uncovered a clumsy plot by Iran’s Quds Force to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States. The Iranians supposedly approached an informant posing as a Mexican drug cartel member in an effort to bomb a DC-area restaurant that the diplomat frequents.
I’m having some trouble buying into this plot. Yes, Iran engages in terrorism and assassination but this plot that officials have called “amateur hour” isn’t keeping with Iran’s history. This is the same Iran who allegedly carried out truck bombings in the past which obliterated the bombing vehicles to the extent that only scraps of metal were recovered (with no serial numbers)? How could this Iran suddenly have gotten so sloppy? Iran has shown that it is perfectly capable of carrying out its own bombings. Why would it need to enlist a supposed member of a drug cartel?
I’m a little wary of these charges until I learn more.
The Charlotte Observer rightfully takes Gov. Perdue to task for her mealy-mouthed stand on the marriage amendment.
Yes, jobs are important but so is taking a principled stand against constitutional bigotry.
In a press release late last Friday afternoon, Perdue said she’d vote against the amendment. No, not because she supports gay marriage but because “I cannot in good conscience look an unemployed man or woman in the eye and tell them that this amendment is more important than finding them a job.”
We agree that this ill-advised constitutional amendment could hurt the state economically, deterring good businesses and workers from locating in North Carolina. Some N.C. business leaders have begun belatedly speaking out on that issue.
But the governor missed a chance to stand up against the amendment for a bigger reason: The amendment is discriminatory. Her johnny-come-lately assertion came across as spineless and political.
