Politics
There are 1,056 posts filed in Politics (this is page 95 of 106).
Senator Jesse Helms died early this morning at the age of 86. Though the Senator was wrong in nearly every stance he took, I have to admit he was one heck of a politician who did a lot for the people of North Carolina. The white, heterosexual people, anyway.
I’m reminded of my friend Wade’s bizarre brush with the late Senator back in 2005.
Happy birthday, America! You’re 232 years old today.
I watched American Experience’s episode on Alexander Hamilton this week. He was a far more interesting character in our history than I had thought.
Today’s News and Observer headline story about Mary Easley’s so-called pay raise may be the straw that broke the camel’s back as far as my being an N&O subscriber goes. I have no great love for the Easleys but the only way to describe this is overblown if not downright misleading.
Mary Easley is an accomplished lawyer in her own right. She lectures at NCSU and she recently went from part-time to full-time there. Her salary, while quite large from my point of view, is a pittance to what most attorneys earn. The N&O is twisting the facts. I can’t hep but think its punitive after the governor ducked out on an N&O reporter and his email deletion policy came to light.
Trust is critical to any news source; lose it and its gone for good. I have been an avid newspaper reader since I learned to read but that’s about to end. Unless the News and Observer cleans up its act pronto, it will find itself with one fewer subscriber. At least.
Infamous bank robber Willie Sutton, when asked why he robbed banks allegedly replied “because that’s where the money is.”
In a press release explaining his position supporting offshore drilling, N.C. Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory asked:
“If we’re not willing to drill off our own coasts, then where will you drill?” he asked. “Off Venezuela? Off Nigeria? Saudi Arabia? Russia?”
Um, maybe someplace where there’s actually oil, Pat? Have you noticed that Venezuela has four times the oil, Nigeria has almost twice the oil, Saudi Arabia has ten times the oil, and Russia has three times the oil we do? And it would be even more lopsided if Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay was excluded?
There is more oil in the Middle East than all other world regions combined. We don’t drill off North Carolina because that’s not where the oil is!
Please get a clue, Pat.
Anyone who wants to drill for oil off our beautiful North Carolina coast needs to check themselves into Dorothea Dix Hospital. Any oil there is too miniscule to make a difference in supply, it will take at least a decade to get anything from it, and one spill would absolutely devastate our coastal tourism industry: about the only thing Eastern North Carolina can depend on. Possibly for years to come.
McCrory and Dole need to get a clue. Bev Perdue wins on this issue.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay have the right of habeas corpus, just like everyone else. The ruling doesn’t mean they go free, or that they’re squeaky clean for that matter. It means that charges against them must be proven before they can be locked up forever.
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Speaking of politicians with guts, Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s recent resolution calling for the impeachment of President Bush made me proud. Sadly, it may never get anywhere as long as Nancy Pelosi’s in charge but at least Kucinich has the guts to make the case.
I’m glad there are at least two members of Congress who take their constitutional duties seriously.
I’ve become addicted to PBS’s American Experience series profiling the Presidents. Last night was the second part of their program on Harry Truman and it didn’t disappoint.
I knew of some of the important things Truman accomplished but the program really put them into perspective for me. Here was a guy who had been a farmer and a failed small businessman that was chosen to be Vice President. Less than three months later, he becomes President and has to pull himself up by the bootstraps as Roosevelt had basically ignored him.
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Barack Obama made a visit to Raleigh yesterday, kicking off a nationwide series of talks on the economy. The Progressive Pulse blog taunted Mike Easley for jumping on the Obama bandwagon late. I don’t think we should be so tough on him, however. You see, Easley was on the Obama bandwagon all along.
See that fist bump in the photo above? As evidenced by this poor display of fist bumpiness, Easley knew that whatever candidate he threw his support behind in the primary would become instantly unhip, consequently dooming Hillary Clinton. Fortunately, Obama has plenty of extra hipness to make up for Easley’s deficit.
Brilliantly played, Governor!
My Raleigh Neighborhood College graduation was on Thursday. If being elected valedictorian wasn’t enough, the flattering comments my classmates made about me were enough to make my head not fit through the door. I’m starting to think that might I have what it takes to play this game.
My speech was two pages, double-spaced and it was nothing special. I speak much better when I have a few points to make and can improvise how to move from one to another. When I’ve got a script to follow I’m hopeless. Ah, well, everything’s a learning experience.
As I said in my speech, its inevitable that I’ll be getting more involved with Raleigh. To what extent, we’ll see.
