Politics

Politics

There are 1,051 posts filed in Politics (this is page 83 of 106).

Admiral Mullen and Guantanamo

Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen was on ABC News This Week when the topic came around to Guantanamo. Here’s one snippet from the transcript that caught my eye (my emphasis):

STEPHANOPOULOS: The Republican leader of the Senate was quoted in The New York Times today saying there’s actually a very slim possibility now that the Congress will allow Guantanamo to close. If he’s right, and Guantanamo doesn’t close, what would that mean for your military mission?

MULLEN: Well, the concern I’ve had about Guantanamo in these wars is it has been a symbol, and one which has been a recruiting symbol for those extremists and jihadists who would fight us. So and I think that centers — you know, that’s the heart of the concern for Guantanamo’s continued existence, in which I spoke to a few years ago, the need to close it.

Admiral Mullen makes it sounds like that his only concern about Guantanamo is that it’s a jihadist recruiting symbol. While that’s certainly a concern, I would hope his bigger concern is that we are imprisoning people without habeas corpus, trial, or often any solid evidence. Admiral Mullen’s remarks seem to imply that what we’re doing at Guantanamo would be okay as long as it is done in secret. I hope that’s not the case.

America’s justice system is strong enough to handle terrorist trials. What remains to be seen is whether our cases against these individuals are as strong.

Apple tax incentives

I’ve been following the proposed state tax incentives the General Assembly is considering providing to a mystery company widely considered to be Apple. The list of incentives appear to be pretty hefty, considering Apple’s proposed facility will employ 50 full-time employees at the most.

I know of a datacenter in RTP capable of hosting 84,000 computers that is managed by about 20 people. An Apple iTunes Store datacenter could run very comfortably with a staff of 20. So anyone expecting lots of jobs from this company is fooling himself.

The incentives bill intends to lure this company to an area of the state with high unemployment. This would typically mean a rural area of the state, and thus not an area likely to be wired for high-speed Internet access. An area without high-speed Internet access makes an iTunes Store datacenter a non-starter. Let’s hope the lawmakers keep that in mind as they attempt to keep affordable broadband out of our cities and rural areas.

Dinner party

We spent the evening with our friends Lisa and Craig’s home, joining some of their friends for drinks and dinner while the associated kids played in the yard. I had been dragging most of today, with the heat and humidity (and, er, the beer I drank last night while still suffering from a cold) sapping my energy, but I perked up considerably from the socializing.

One of the couples were teachers and they had quite a bit to say about Governor Perdue swiping a huge chunk out of their paychecks without warning in her effort to balance the budget. It wasn’t the first time I’ve heard this complaint. As our friends said, teachers paved Perdue’s way into the Executive Mansion and it will be teachers who will show her the door.
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Back from Fred Fletcher awards

Tonight was the Fred Fletcher awards ceremony, during which I presented two awards: one to Mordecai Historic Park volunteer Beth Cobb and one to Cub Scout Pack 314 for their cleanup efforts on the Durant Nature Park greenway. I greatly enjoyed meeting all the great volunteers and finding out about all they do for the city. And Fletcher Theater is a beautiful facility. The event was a lot of fun.

There was one drawback from tonight, and one I seem to get more and more. Travis was excited to see me (briefly) home from work and asked hopefully if I could practice basketball with him. I had to tell him no because I had to get ready for the presentation. He didn’t seem outwardly disappointed, but I felt bad about turning him down.

Community service is all fine and good but too often it comes between me and my family. I don’t want to be remembered as the dad who never did anything with his family.

House Bill 1180 will deregulate N.C. phone service

A bill is sneaking its way through the state legislature that will effectively deregulate telephone service in the state. House Bill 1180 will free telecom companies to charge whatever they deem necessary, without regard to citizens having any other choices.

Not surprisingly, the AARP is against the proposal, and urges its membership to let legislators know. If you don’t want telecoms having free reign to do what they want in this state (and we’ve seen how that works out, haven’t we?), please do the same!

Suiting up

If I thought I was busy the past few days (and I was), it’s about to get busier for me! Thursday evening I have my usual Mordecai House board meeting at 6, but will be leaving it before 6:30 on my way to the Fletcher Theater. I’ve volunteered to present awards at the Fred Fletcher volunteer awards ceremony Thursday evening, so I’ll be dressing up and introducing two award winners at the presentation. I get to stand in front of people and speak again: what could be more fun? Then next week begins my crunch week: East CAC meeting on Monday evening, Raleigh CAC meeting Wednesday, and Parks and Rec meeting Thursday evening.

Life: it doesn’t stop until it stops.

N&O covers broadband backwater fight

The N&O ran the following story today on the fight to derail H1252/S1004, the [Un-]Level Playing Field Act.

Cable TV fights towns’ fast Web links
The industry backs a bill to impede municipalities offering high-speed service.
By John Murawski – Staff Writer

What started as an experiment in a small tobacco community in Eastern North Carolina has shown how a local government can provide its residents with some of the fastest Internet speeds available anywhere.

Read full article.

Leadership Institute

I was asked to speak yesterday to the city of Raleigh’s Citizen’s Participation Leadership Institute class. Never one to turn down a chance to speak to an audience, I joined two city staffmembers and a fellow volunteer boardmember to describe my role as CAC chair and a member of the Parks board.

Though I arrived a bit late, spoke for too long, and had to leave early, I greatly enjoyed the chance to talk with some of Raleigh’s finest citizens.

S.1004 study bill text

Here’s [PDF] the text from the today’s committee substitute for S.1004 (the “Level Playing Field Act.”). Note the commercial incumbent-friendly language.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2009
S D
SENATE BILL 1004*
PROPOSED COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE S1004-PCS55370-RL-33
Short Title: Level Playing Field/Cities/Service Providers. (Public)
Sponsors:
Referred to:
March 26, 2009
1 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
2 AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE REVENUE LAWS STUDY COMMITTEE TO STUDY
3 LOCAL GOVERNMENT OWNED AND OPERATED COMMUNICATION SERVICES.
4 The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
5 SECTION 1. The Revenue Laws Study Committee shall study local government
6 owned and operated communication services. The Committee may propose legislation, if
7 appropriate, to regulate the operation of local government owned and operated communication
8 services. In making this study, the Committee shall consider:
9 (1) The private and public costs and the benefits of providing communication
services through a private communication services provider compared to a
10 Continue reading →