Politics

Politics

There are 1,056 posts filed in Politics (this is page 74 of 106).

Busy end to busy week

Wow, what a week I just had. I had a sales presentation I had to complete for work, to be done in-between conducting two days of product training for customers. After work I conducted the East CAC meeting Monday night, attended a public hearing Tuesday night, presented at the Raleigh Neighborhood Recognition Awards Wednesday night, went to my first Parks board meeting as the vice-chair Thursday night, took Travis to his piano lesson Friday night and then attended a neighborhood party afterwards.
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Able Archer: almost armegeddon?

I’m amazed sometimes that the world survived the year 1983. We came dangerously close to being blown up that year. Dangerously close. Able Archer was a NATO military exercise that place in November of that year. The exercise simulated an attack on Soviet forces, only the Soviets were convinced it was the real thing.

It was said that the misunderstanding so disturbed Reagan that he began to work towards defusing the standoff with the Soviets, leading to historic arms control treaties and eventually peace with the Russians. He toned down his rhetoric from then on, fortunately.

Able Archer 83 was a ten-day NATO command post exercise starting on November 2, 1983 that spanned Western Europe, centred on SHAPE’s Headquarters situated at Casteau, north of the Belgian city of Mons. Able Archer exercises simulated a period of conflict escalation, culminating in a coordinated nuclear release. The 1983 exercise incorporated a new, unique format of coded communication, radio silences, participation by heads of state, and a simulated DEFCON 1 nuclear alert.
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So much to say, so little time

I’ve been busting it for the past few weeks, working to get up to speed on work issues, shepherding a room renovation at home, and doing all of my public service stuff. Yesterday my day began with a meeting with Raleigh city manager Russell Allen, phone calls and labs at work, a reception for a city councilor at which I chatted with the police chief and others, visiting with the family, and painting that room until 11:30 PM. Is it any wonder that I fell asleep when reading at bedtime with Hallie?

I also took that voiceover class I’d been looking forward to for months. I’ll fill in the details later, as there’s a lot to blog about. Look for a string of updates soon!

Class president

My daughter is running for class president. So are 16 out of 22 of her first-grade classmates! Some of these kids have “campaign managers,” too. It sounds to me like the campaign managers outnumber the voters pretty decisively!

I’m proud of her, though. I hope it proves to be a good experience for her.

No more divisions

There was a shooting last night not too far from my neighborhood. Three kids and one 18-year-old got shot, the 18-year-old fatally. Police are still working the case and haven’t released many details but they did let the neighbors know it wasn’t a random shooting and that the shooting had nothing to do with the neighborhood. The fact is, this could have happened anywhere. I followed the story as it unfolded on the local media websites, trying to assure folks that my area of town isn’t a bad one. Later this afternoon police arrested a suspect: a 24-year-old man, apparently Hispanic.

Because the shooting happened in East Raleigh, some forum commenters somehow assumed the victims and suspect were black. Out came the ridiculous comments deriding African Americans. Then when the suspect was Hispanic, even more heated comments appeared leaping to the conclusion the suspect was an illegal immigrant. Some went so far to say that if he’s illegal he should just be lynched!
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Political musical chairs in Southeast Raleigh

Political goings-on in my area of town just got more interesting. Long-time Southeast Raleigh activist and Wake County Commissioner Harold Webb has tendered his resignation, citing his health. Raleigh’s District C City Council representative James West is being considered to replace him. Should West get appointed, this will leave a vacancy on the City Council that the Council will fill by making its own appointment. The leading candidate for that is Eugene Weeks, a Democratic Party activist, co-chair of the South CAC, and my colleague on Raleigh’s Parks board.

I have worked with Eugene on parks issues for the last two years and fully support his nomination to the Council, should West be tapped for County Commissioner. Eugene has worked hard to improve Raleigh’s parks as well as his Southeast Raleigh neighborhood. I have no doubt he will work just as hard for the citizens of Southeast Raleigh.

Raleigh’s website woes

The City of Raleigh’s new website was in the news again today. City Councilor Russ Stephenson picked it apart in an email to City Manager Russell Allen. Russ’s experience is the same as most folks’: he tried using the search engine to find something and failed utterly. When I critiqued it myself, I faulted it for simply relying on the search engine as heavily as it does. That wasn’t even considering that the search engine seems so completely broken.

My buddy Scott has built many a website in his many years of geekdom. He’s a professional. He tells me that he had seen many $500,000 websites, and what Raleigh got is not one of them.
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Did the SBI set up Floyd Brown?

The story of the SBI’s treatment of Floyd Brown, convicted by a dubious murder confession, should make everyone shudder.

Some of the shine has come off former golden boy Attorney General Roy Cooper. It’s a shame, since I once thought Cooper could do no wrong.

Here’s Floyd telling his story, brought to you by Travis Long, Shawn Rocco, and Mandy Locke of the News and Observer.

Agents’ Secrets: A confession doesn’t add up from Travis Long on Vimeo.