John Edwards – why should we care?

Does anyone else find the N&O’s obsession with John Edwards a bit strange? I mean, Edwards is no longer running for anything. He’s not a vice-presidential candidate. He’s not even on his local town council. He wasn’t much involved in party politics before he was elected and he hasn’t been since. He’s kept a relatively low profile after dropping out of the presidential race. In short, what John Edwards does or does not do is of absolutely no consequence to anyone. So why is he emblazoned on the front page of my newspaper?
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The W Presidential Library

Happy Friday, everyone!!!!!1!!1!!eleven!!one!!!

The George W Bush Presidential Library is now in the planning stages. The Library will include:

The Hurricane Katrina Room, which is still under construction.

The Alberto Gonzales Room, where you won’t be able to remember anything.
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East CAC

After some discussions with the current chair, I’ve volunteered to take over as the chair of Raleigh’s East CAC. I was nominated for the post at last night’s meeting but will be (hopefully) voted in next month.

The volunteer job consists of running a monthly meeting where things of interest to our neighbors are discussed: such as crime, new developments in the area, etc. I’ve been impressed with the number of regular attendees at the meeting so I’m hopeful there will be plenty of participation, too.

This all builds on my Raleigh Neighborhood College experience so I’m glad to have an opportunity to put it to use. And I get to work with Charlene Willard again. How could I say no?

Obama’s form-letter response about FISA

I wrote the Barack Obama campaign expressing my displeasure with his flip-flop on the Senate FISA bill. I got the following canned reply in response. Figured I’d post it to save y’all the trouble.

Form letter or not, it doesn’t cut it. Obama says “trust me.” That doesn’t cut it, folks. Not for me. I’ve had enough with having to trust kings.

As a former cryptographer I’m intimately familiar with the safeguards put in place on this activity. They’ve worked well for decades. “Grave threats” are not enough reason to chuck the Bill of Rights, our biggest safeguard of all.
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Change I no longer believe in

Add my voice to those who, are sorely disappointed at Barack Obama‘s going back on his word in regards to the despicable Senate FISA bill passed last week. Its apparent that Obama is just another politician who thinks the U.S. Constitution is a “goddamn piece of paper.”

The Obama stickers are coming off the cars and the yard sign will appear on Craigslist within the next few days. Any further money I might have donated to Obama’s campaign will be going to the ACLU instead.

Adventures in canvassing

I spent Saturday morning canvassing a Cary neighborhood for the campaigns of Janet Cowell (State Treasurer) and Al Swanstrom (NC House 36). I love getting out and meeting people, especially when the weather’s great.

It was a fair guess that a lot of the folks in this upscale neighborhood would lean towards the GOP. Normally when I canvass I’m used to a list almost exclusively of Democrats, so having independents in the mix (and many undeclared Republicans) presented an interesting challenge.
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