Politics
There are 1,056 posts filed in Politics (this is page 79 of 106).
Wow. I just saw Tom Fetzer on TV and boy is he not looking well. I know it’s been a long time since Fetzer wreaked havoc on Raleigh as its mayor but, damn, the years have not been kind to him.
I hope his serving as the state GOP head still lets him get in some tennis because it looks to me like his health may be suffering.
I was stunned to read the extraordinary words of Iranian opposition figure Mir Hossein Mousavi today, where he essentially called for a new revolution. Mousavi said that tyranny was not rooted out during the 1979 revolution, implying that the current government is corrupt.
“Stifling the media, filling the prisons and brutally killing people who peacefully demand their rights in the streets indicate the roots of tyranny and dictatorship remain from the monarchist era. I don’t believe that the revolution achieved its goals,” Mr Mousavi added.
This guy is begging the authorities to arrest him, or worse. With the anniversary of the Iranian Revolution coming up on February 11th, Iran could be in for another round of civil unrest.
I’ve been following the Southeast High Speed Rail project for quite some time now Last week, President Obama announced that $545 million is on its way to North Carolina to kickstart the rail project. That’s great news for the state.
The majority of the money will go to improve the track between Raleigh and Charlotte, which is the most used rail route in the state. There’s also $25 million to go to the project to revive the tracks between Raleigh and Petersburg. All in all, it’s a great investment in the future of transportation in North Carolina: rail travel!
I was attending a climate change forum in DC Wednesday and walked out of the Dirkson Senate Building for a walk during a break. As I’m waiting at the intersection for the walk signal, I notice I’m standing near a limo. Crossing towards the limo from my left walks Andrea Mitchell, whom I try to ignore. I have a pretty low opinion of national news media figures and certainly don’t look up to them (not after Walt passed, anyway).
In spite of my clear indifference to her, she offers a cheery hello. In fact, it was overly cheery, to the point of being … um, a little creepy. I could swear the wife of hall of fame former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan was hitting on me.
Now I don’t consider myself to be dazzlingly handsome and my man AG’s got more bank, but Greenspan makes me look like Tom Cruise. Regardless if her intention, though, it was a little disconcerting.
The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that corporations can meddle all they want in elections. This is in spite of the fact that they aren’t real persons and cannot vote. If you had any illusions that your political representative would listen to you rather than the big corporation happily polluting your neighborhood, you can forget about it. Hamilton’s vision for America was at odds with Jefferson’s and now Hamilton’s is firmly in control.
It’s nice to think that America is the land of the free. When you look at it closely, however, you begin to see that the cards are stacked mightily against the individual. As Joe Strummer of The Clash said in the song Know Your Rights:“you have the right to free speech … as long as you’re not dumb enough to actually try it.” That is, you have the right to be counted … as long as Exxon, General Electric, and other corporations are free to count more.
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Photo by Oleg Volk, www.olegvolk.net
It’s a busy week for me, with many after-hours meetings taking place. Yesterday, I met with the CEO of a local hospital. Tonight I went to an important City Council/Planning Commission meeting. Tomorrow I have my Raleigh CAC meeting. Thursday I have my Parks Board meeting. Few of these allow much blogging time afterwards, and the ones that do don’t leave me much time to rest. I actually fell asleep at 9:30 last night!
It’s all good, though. The work is its own reward, and doing good things for our city and community is something I love doing. It’s energizing to be around people who feel the same way.
I was nominated Tuesday for a seat on Raleigh’s Planning Commission. For those of you who don’t know, the Planning Commission is a volunteer board that makes major decisions on the city’s growth, including rezoning changes and development code. It’s a very important board. Our city councilors consider these appointments very, very carefully as the Commission works very closely with city leaders, city staff, developers, and community leaders. It may not quite be the major leagues in the realm of city politics, but it’s definitely triple-A ball.
Getting a seat on the Planning Commission has been my goal for quite some time. Lately, though, I’ve been totally focused on my work with the East CAC and the Parks Board. I wasn’t aware of this recent vacancy until I was encouraged to apply. It’s a huge responsibility and one that I do not take lightly. After some serious thought I put my hat in the ring.
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I was reading through the comments on this story about the Wake School Board when I came across this one:
“Our taxes are low! ”
We have some of the highest taxes in the nation! What are you talking about?
Timbo
GOLO member since September 19, 2008
January 6, 2010 8:59 a.m.
Highest taxes in the nation? This was news to me. I decided to check the facts.
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It makes me laugh when I think of my coworkers seeing me rush to take a call during the day. They have no clue that I’m often talking with city councilors, police officials, company bigwigs, or reporters. That was the case in 2009: another banner year for me for public service. I did things this year that I’d never done before and those challenges paid handsome dividends.
I began to really come into my own as chair of the East Citizens Advisory Council (East CAC). The presentations were interesting, the fedback was glowing, and people began to take notice. Several of my initiatives resulted in the largest attendance ever at the CAC. I created CAC business cards, started a CAC blog, ordered signs for putting out days before our meetings, and even dabbled in streaming video of the meetings on the Internet. I even held a “history night.” I believe these were all firsts for a CAC.
The chairpersons of other CACs began to take notes on what I was doing. It’s becoming a leader of leaders. And it seems now our area earns more respect from city leaders. Plans are being drawn up right now to completely revitalize East Raleigh’s major thoroughfares. It’s an exciting time to be in East Raleigh.
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There was a city election this year and once again I found myself in the middle of it. I pitched in with the campaigns of Rodger Koopman and Russ Stephenson.
Kelly and I hosted a meet-and-greet for Russ that had to get moved to a friend’s house when our daughter suddenly got sick. I also recorded a robo-call on behalf of Russ that went out to the neighborhood. We were happy to help Russ as he’s been helpful to our community. Then there was the all-day poll greeting I did, which I find is an odd combination of being exhausting and yet strangely energizing.
Unfortunately for Rodger, a reelection was not to be. In spite of my efforts he was defeated. I believe part of his undoing were the Wake school board elections, which brought out the angry voters. Still, Rodger may not be at the table now but he’s not through with politics. I’d like to see him take one of the Wake County Commissioners seats that will undoubtedly go Democratic this year. We’ll see.
