Politics

Politics

There are 1,053 posts filed in Politics (this is page 96 of 106).

PBS documentary on FDR

Kelly was out at a volunteer function last night, so for the first time in probably years I plopped down in front of the TV and channel-surfed. I was appalled at the crap that was on television: it was all just so dumb. Until I landed on PBS, that is.

The American Experience program The Presidents [self-playing Flash] was on and last night it featured Franklin Delano Roosevelt. For two hours I was captivated learning about his life from the time of his birth up to his becoming President.

I knew he was a great man but had no idea just how great he was until this documentary showed me. America was lucky to have a man like him during such troubling times in America.

Election night

It was an exciting evening last night as the results came in from yesterday’s primary election. As I predicted, Barack Obama rolled in North Carolina, 56% to Hillary Clinton’s 42%. Perdue won her race against Richard Moore as Democratic gubernatorial candidate, 56% to 40%. I was not happy with either campaign, but wound up not liking Moore more than Perdue. So I’m glad she won.
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Commercial debut

The Janet Cowell campaign commercial I mentioned is now available on YouTube. The first few times I watched I actually missed our scene. Then I realized we’re on the bottom of a split-screen part. Its not much screen time, but considering how Travis was making faces and our nerves were getting a bit shot, the scene is better than I expected. Regardless, it was a lot of fun!

Look for us 19 seconds into the commercial across the bottom of the screen when the announcer says “improving our schools.” Blink and you might miss it: we’re there for less than half a second!

Sold out

I saw that Barack Obama will be speaking at the Kerr Scott Building at 12:30 today. Tickets are required but the campaign headquarters is a short walk away from my office so I took a stroll to pick them up.

I was presented with a sign on the door saying tickets were sold out. I looked at my watch: it was five after ten. Tickets went on sale at 9:30 and sold out 25 minutes later.
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Taxes out of thin air

Kelly and I finished up our taxes last night. I thought it was pretty sneaky that our tax software asked if we had a refund from last year. Seems the IRS taxes refunds now. I’m all for paying my fair share, but getting taxing on money that I don’t owe? Well, that’s a bit much.

  • Refund = money you don’t owe
  • Paying taxes on money you don’t owe = a legal fallacy worthy of Alberto Gonzales

And some people wonder why others don’t trust their government

Snippy Sheehan

N&O columnist Ruth “I Love Jessie Taliaferro” Sheehan gets snippy with councilman Rodger Koopman in today’s column. The man must be doing something right. Perhaps she pines for the days of unresponsive, condescending council representation deep in the pocket of Big Real Estate.

I sure don’t. While I think the goals of the disposal ban were laudable, the people have spoken. Rodger is brave enough to admit he was wrong, and he listens to his constituents. Glory!

Daylight No-savings Time?

WRAL Weathercenter’s Nate Johnson posted about daylight savings time, which goes into effect this Sunday. Ah, daylight savings time: one of my favorite whipping boys. If there’s one thing that raises my government-as-nanny hackles, daylight savings time is it.

Benjamin Franklin is credited with conceiving daylight savings time (DST) as a way to save on candles. While candles may have been all the rage in Poor Richard’s day, it may be safe to say that we use energy quite differently nowadays. The energy required to shift one’s biological clock to match clock time is quite expensive, too, but not so easily measured.
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Raleigh’s Sign Nazis strike … selectively

I figured I’d get the jump on the real estate crowd by putting some for sale signs out on Durant Road in Friday morning rain. I got home that evening and they were gone: probably stolen by the City of Raleigh’s Sign Nazis.

We got another pair from the agent who put our house on MLS. I promptly put them out Friday night. By 8:30 this morning they were also gone.
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