Doubtless there are hundreds of folks in North Carolina and the Triangle who threw themselves heart and soul into the progressive political movements of the past two years. Some, perhaps, worked as hard as Blaise Strenn. No one worked harder, or got more done. Indeed, Strenn epitomizes the best of what happened–and is still happening–within […]
Bob Geary
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Aligning with the troops in Iraq
The challenge for the left is keeping up opposition to the war in Iraq without alienating those whose natural instinct is to back the American position, right or wrong, while rejecting all critics. Step one, Knightdale’s Bridgett Burge thinks, is to align with the troops in Iraq and make their cause our cause. For the […]
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Pork, beer, concrete and a painkiller
In most of the United States, the news about political fundraising in the 2004 campaign was all about the Internet, small donors, Howard Dean’s successful gleanings followed by John Kerry’s, and the undeniable fact that–at the end of the day–the Republicans are still collecting more under-$100 contributions than the Democrats. But in North Carolina, time […]
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The rezoning would have been so convenient
By the time the vote was taken Monday night, Steve Stroud and Gary Pendleton were long gone, the failure of their effort to get commercial development rolling in the Falls Lake watershed around I-540 already apparent. For the record, the vote was 7-0, a unanimous Wake County Board of Commissioners choosing watershed protection–and a meeting-room-full […]
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Accept it. Learn from it. We lost. Again.
Accept it. Learn from it. We lost. Again. My first response was denial. Most of the national polls showed President Bush ahead from September on, but I adopted the John Zogby view that the election was John Kerry’s to win–that the undecideds always break for the challenger, the polls weren’t capturing the youth vote, or […]
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The good, the bad and the ugly liars of 2004: A recap
Elsewhere in this issue, some of us have contributions written after the election results came in. This was written before, however. Voter registration nationally was estimated to be up about 3 percent compared to four years ago. But turnout should be up by at least twice that much–adding another 12 million voters or more to […]
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Protecting “us” against “them”
Gotta say it: That Osama tape had all the earmarks of a Karl Rove phony. Also: Duck hunting in Ohio was a blunder, a Dukakis-in-the-tank moment. And: Gay equality is a just cause, but even though we’re gaining on it, it won’t come without a huge backlash. Finally: Bush won by 3 million votes. The […]
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Who’s stealing from whom?
It’s a simple issue. You’ve parked your car somewhere you shouldn’t have. You’re in a lot that’s marked “private property.” Or, the lot is public, but the space you’re in is reserved for customers of “Billy’s Bistro” and you go into “Donna’s Deli” instead. Boom. A spotter calls you in, a wrecker grabs your car, […]
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The 2004 campaign: Wrestling is real, there won’t be a draft, the lottery’s a great new revenue stream
Perhaps I’m misunderestimating the point Jesse Helms was making recently when he recalled being attacked by a candidate who said Helms “has a very good following among people who believe the moon landing was fake and wrestling is real.” But surely Helms was expressing alarm over the abysmal lack of basic knowledge that handicaps so […]
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Keeping watch at the polls
It’s convenient, it saves time, and it feels good to get it out of the way. Early voting, very popular this year, has many benefits for voters. One of the most important is that it has flushed out problems in advance of Election Day, giving poll workers and political groups extra time to solve them. […]
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