Politics

Politics

There are 1,050 posts filed in Politics (this is page 71 of 105).

Discussing smoking in parks on WPTF

Perry and John in the WPTF studios

I was invited by guest-host Perry Woods to appear on the Bill LuMaye show on WPTF to talk about the proposed smoking restrictions the city of Raleigh is considering for its parks. I spent my lunch hour Thursday chatting about the proposed rule with Perry and his other guest, John Hood from the John Locke Foundation.

I’d never done an in-studio interview before and was a bit nervous at the start but overall I think I sounded credible. It was difficult making my points in-between the huge number of commercial breaks but I enjoyed it more than I expected.

You can listen to my portion of the show here:


MP3 File

Newter the EPA?

I used to think that Newt Gingrich wanted to be President someday. He’s no dummy. He’s slimy, but no dummy. Then I read that he wants to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency. I mean, it’s not like having clean water and air are important or anything.

What has it come to when the smartest potential GOP presidential candidate proves to be a moron like all the others?

Egyptian protesters march, denounce Mubarak

This is remarkable. Dissent is not usually tolerated in Egypt.

Thousands of anti-government protesters have broken a police cordon in the Egyptian capital and are crossing a major bridge over the Nile to join hundreds more demonstrators massed on the other side of the river.

The demonstration calling for an end to Hosni Mubarak’s government is the biggest Egypt has seen in years.

Police are showing unusual restraint in what appears to be a concerted effort by the government not to provoke a Tunisia-like mass revolt.

The demonstrators chanted, "Long Live a Free Tunisia" and "Down with Hosni Mubarak."

via Egyptian protesters march, denounce Mubarak :: WRAL.com.

Inaugural address of John F. Kennedy

Fifty years ago today, almost to the minute, John F. Kennedy was wrapping up his famous inaugural speech. I listened to it again today and it still inspires.

U.S. President John F. Kennedy delivered his only inaugural address at 12:51 (ET) Friday, January 20, 1961, immediately after taking the presidential oath of office administered by Chief Justice Earl Warren.

Kennedy began his speech at 12:51 (ET) Friday, 20 January 1961, immediately after taking the presidential oath of office.

The address is 1364 words and took 13 minutes and 59 seconds to deliver, from the first word to the last word, not including applause at the end, making it the fourth-shortest inaugural address ever delivered. It is widely considered to be among the best presidential inauguration speeches in American history.

via Inaugural address of John F. Kennedy – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Fetzer on idiot bloggers and mean politics

Happy to be doing my part!

When former state GOP chairman Tom Fetzer gave his farewell speech over the weekend, he did more than just talk about all the Republican victories last year.

“If I could give you one piece of advice, please ignore the idiot bloggers,” Fetzer said. “I don’t know those these people are and why they have time to do this stuff. But they need to get a life.”

via Fetzer on idiot bloggers and mean politics | newsobserver.com projects.

Homemade music: don’t try this in Raleigh

My family and I spent Christmas Eve at my parents’ house. After dinner was over, we got out our instruments and played some music, starting with Christmas songs and then moving on to others, like the bluegrass classic Keep On The Sunnyside, as seen on YouTube. It had been a long time since I’d played with my brothers (and dad) and we all had a great time. It reminded me of something I’ve been considering for a while (actually, ever since my daughter Hallie began violin lessons): hosting a regular jam session at the house for anyone who wanted to come over and play.
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Highlights of 2010: politics

The year 2010 was one full of more political stuff for me, and by that I mean the stuff outside of my Parks board and East CAC activities. With these two Raleigh civic activities I do my best not to lobby or persuade for one decision or another. I simply try my best to represent my “constituents.” There were a few notable legislative issues where I was an active proponent or opponent last year: all of them above the city level.

First up was a trip to Washington, DC to the Clean Energy, Jobs, and Security Forum as part of the Operation Free group of veterans who are pushing for changes in America’s energy policy. In January I flew into DC with other vets for a day of media training. I spent the following day in the Dirksen Senate building, starting off with speeches by Sen. John Kerry, Sen. Lindsay Graham, and other leading clean-energy advocates.
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Red Hat stays (relatively) put

There were rumors over the past few weeks that Linux pioneer Red Hat was shopping around for new office space, including digs in Massachusetts, Austin, and Atlanta, among others. Today, Governor Purdue announced that Red Hat would be staying in Wake County (though she didn’t say Raleigh, specifically).

A month ago when rumors started swirling I predicted Red Hat would stay, posting this on the WRAL story about the office search:

Red Hat would have a hard time finding anyplace with a better quality of life than it has right here. The company’s executives are savvy enough to know that.”

Sure enough, the first thing out of CEO Jim Whitehurst’s mouth when explaining Red Hat’s choosing to stay was this area’s quality of life. Now, Red Hat just needs to vacate the overpriced Centennial Campus space and hang their hat in downtown Raleigh and then they’ll be in business!

Highlights of 2010: helping out the community

It was a productive year for helping out in the community.

The biggest and most rewarding thing I did as the CAC chair was help organize the first East Raleigh Community Day event along with Ronneil Robinson, Raleigh Police, Raleigh Parks, WakeMed, and others. It was so much fun seeing everyone out and having a good time. I had a silly grin on my face all day long.

Part of the Community Day celebrations included the grand opening of the Police Department Field Office in the Raleigh Boulevard Food Lion shopping center. This was the result of an initiative I took two years ago to work with the city and the property owner to get it done. Now the shopping center is thriving, new businesses moving in, and the neighborhood has a nice local place to shop.
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