John Edwards Supports “Open Source” for Voting Systems

John Edwards has become the first presidential candidate to support “open source code” for election systems. In a letter dated June 21st addressed to Alan Dechert, the Edwards campaign stated that, “To ensure security, these machines should be programmed with an open source code for complete transparency, and election results should be safeguarded by voter-verified paper records.”

See full article: Open Voting Consortium.

State Politics: A Primer

Or, My Summer Service

So, I did my 60 hours of Community Service for school by interning for Rep. Paul Luebke in the North Carolina House of Representatives. Before I went, I knew, of course, what I had been taught in Civics class Sophomore year of high school – the House met, debated and voted on bills that had been approved by committees, which were then passed to the Senate, if they hadn’t been there already, then signed by the Governor. I learned so much more, and I will share some of the more interesting points with you.

Once an important bill reaches the floor, its fate is pretty much already decided. Even if it is something contentious, like extending a .25c sales tax for 30 days (H.B 2044, which was the Continuing Budget Authority, which made sure the State kept running while House and Senate committees bickered on the budget for 07-08 Fiscal Year.) on which the vote appears to be close, everyone knew what was really going to happen.

If you really want to figure out what’s going on, go to committee meetings. There, the Senators or Representatives actually learn what is going on behind the technical jargon of the bill about 40% Slopes and NC GS maps (H.B. 1756, which was pretty confusing, I must admit). Sometimes, it’s pretty boring, with Representatives wondering, publicly, if the Dept. of Transportation realized that their printout of a proposed Blue Ridge Parkway specialized motorcycle license plate (S.B. 1036) was larger than life size. They also occasionally let rules of decorum totally fall to the wayside while they make fun of Sen. Ellie Kinniard (D-Orange) behind her back for proposing that a bill (S.B. 1359) to allow motorcyclists to run red lights that don’t detect their presence because the light is induced by weight or a magnetic sensor also include bicycles. Plus, you might end up on TV – you could see me staring off into space while standing behind one of the speakers in a committee meeting on Legislative Week in Review on WUNC.

Once a year, a certain Representative brings an ice cream maker and makes (read: tells pages to make) ice cream for all legislators and staff who want it. But sometimes, Eastern North Carolinians bring hog shit in a wading pool to impress upon the legislators to get hog farmers who spray waste or store it in cesspools to clean up their act.

Constituents rarely visit their congresspeople to share their concerns. If they did, they’d make an impression.

Those legislators really love to honor people. Every day, they’d spend 15 to 30 minutes honoring dead guys, radio DJs, Highway Patrol cadets, the National Guard or other random people. It’s nice, I’m sure, but it gets annoying when the clerk is reading for 30 minutes: “Whereas, W.W. Finlator was a really nice guy. Whereas, W.W. Finlator was pastor at First… zzzzz….”

The Senate is boring. They spent so much more time on ceremony and their pages looked funny, standing perpendicular to the Senators, who were sitting at funny curved desks. But maybe I’m biased because Sen. Clodfelter spent 35 minutes talking about S.B. 3 which would set a very low minimum for renewable energy/energy efficiency measures and would allow power companies to raise their rates to build new power plants, even if they don’t actually build them. Did his horribly long-winded speech do any good? I suppose not, because all the Senators were all surfing the internet or asleep. However, the bill did pass 97-1, with our friendly, principled Sen. Kinniard voting against.

Even on the floor, during Session, legislators aren’t paying attention. They are either having side conversations, getting pages to buy them milkshakes from the cafeteria in the basement, eating from the massive bowls of candy they have on their desks, or using their laptops.

Carry-On Liquid Ration Has Been Increased Again

This news brought to you from MiniLuv, I mean, the TSA. On the TSA’s main website, a link directs travelers to “Make Your Trip Better with 3-1-1″ and that “Travelers may now carry liquids and gels in their carry-on bag.” (Emphasis mine)

Interesting, no? How kind of the MiniLuv to grant me the privilege to carry a small amount of my lawfully-acquired property on my person. I wonder where the Federal government finds Constitutional justification for searching citizens and others who are traveling wholly without a warrant, and confiscating (stealing) items from them due to a perceived threat kept secret because it regards “National Security”

Never mind that the scare regarding bombs made from liquid was silly – that the alleged terrorists were terribly unorganized. In similar cases, Federal agents had infiltrated terrorist groups at such an early stage in the planning of the alleged attacks that an entrapment defense (that the alleged crime would not have taken place in the absence of the law enforcement officer performing a sting. An example is an undercover officer bugging a citizen to buy drugs so insistently that the otherwise-law-abiding citizen finds drugs to sell to the undercover cop and being arrested for drug-dealing. The crime would not have been committed had the officer not been present) would be viable. Never mind that the airport security scheme is so reactionary that it will never prevent a terrorist attack. That is, after the shoe bomber’s failed plot, no terrorist is going to attempt a shoe bombing again, but switch to a different, unknown tactic. Repeated audits of the TSA screening systems have shown that auditors can easily sneak weapons through checkpoints. Clearly, our airport security systems are nothing but theater, put on for the benefit of the voting public.

Further, see the stories of a woman fined $500 and placed on a terrorist watch list for accidentally carrying a butter knife through a checkpoint, who was told while being questioned that her constitutional rights did not apply and a women, stopped for carrying a sippy cup of water through a checkpoint for her toddler and refusing to believe that she was required to either surrender the cup (unlikely to please the toddler, and by extension the mother, father, and anyone within shouting distance of an unhappy toddler) or return to the end of a long checkpoint line to dump out the water, who accidentally spilled some and was arrested for assault on the officers around her.

We are told that the terrorists hate our freedoms. Apparently, the current Administration’s solution is to rid us of those freedoms (these incidents, as well as “free speech zones,” racial profiling for those entering the country, and other restrictions on our rights) so that the terrorists will leave us alone. My humble opinion is that this is not a good solution to solving the terrorist threat.

Did You Know?

Were you born on or before November 4th, 1990? If so, you can vote in the North Carolina primaries in 2008. Although you (and I ) may still be 17, you may register to vote on May 6, 2008. Vote for whichever candidate you feel most fit for the job, but I will be voting for John Edwards!

John Edwards Calls for Mandatory National Service

A few days ago, John Edwards called for mandatory national service, or at least significant national dialogue about such a plan. He said “One of the things we ought to be thinking about is some level of mandatory service to our country, so that everybody in America not just the poor kids who get sent to war are serving this country.” Right-wing blogs have been all over this as some sort of horrible plan, some sort of trampling of our rights as Americans. However, I agree with Mr. Edwards. Most of our parents, grandparents or great-grandparents served in the military through the draft, and most believed it was a formative experience for them. (And in typical older-folks fashion, they think that is why my generation is so horrible… heh… O Mores! O Tempora!)

This doesn’t seem like a horrible idea, which would cause some serious maturation in our countries youth. However, since I believe the current conflict in Iraq to be horribly unjust and dangerous to our nation, a military draft is not the way to go. Our government should offer significant incentives (although probably not require, at least not just yet) for young people, say, between 17 and 21, to embark on some sort of service learning journey – Peace Corps, Americorps, or just volunteering in one’s home community for a bit. For example, those young people who travel to an underdeveloped country show significant leadership ability, commitment and maturity. Just as servicemen and women can legally drink at age 18, I believe that those who embark on this kind of significant journey should be legally able to drink upon completion of this journey. This incentive would cause more youth to commit to community service, as well as a reduction in irresponsible drinking (I believe that once the rebellion factor is eliminated, fewer teenagers would drink irresponsibly.) and be entirely free to the government. A pro-rata reduced schedule of benefits (including college scholarships, maybe even cars) could be offered for those making fewer sacrifices for the sake of their country and the world. Obviously, the military is a significant and important part of our nation. Therefore, we should also offer significantly increased benefits for those who volunteer for the military, besides repairing our Veteran’s Affairs system, which embarrassed our nation with the Walter Reed scandal a few months back. The psychological effects of encouraging youth to do service and to continue this service after governmental incentives end would be immeasurable. My loyal readers, all like 3 of you (and you, Mom!), and the new ones linked to here from the NCATD site (shout-out and thanks to Jenna W!) what do you think about this?

By the way, as an NCSSM student, I am required to complete 60 hours of community service to the state this summer – I am interning with Rep. Paul Luebke’s office.

Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

John Edwards has launched an effort to reduce America’s contribution to global warming by asking YOU to reduce your carbon footprint. (Your carbon footprint is the amount, in pounds, of waste carbon you put into the atmosphere annually.) He has set up ReduceYourCarbon.com for Americans to pledge to reduce their carbon footprint. We, as youth, don’t have as much leverage in this issue (unless, of course, you buy lightbulbs for your family) but you can pledge to reduce your driving by 10% or keep your car tires inflated. Of course, the other suggestions, to raise your thermostat 2 degrees in the summer and lower it 2 degrees in the winter, to weatherize your house, and replace wasteful incandescent light bulbs with more energy-efficient fluorescent ones.

Again, ReduceYourCarbon.com and JohnEdwards.com

One more idea, when visiting colleges, take the train. It avoids nasty, nasty, traffic jams where you go 2 miles in one-and-a-half hours. I have firsthand experience

Hello Durham!

This blog has been set up to document whatever the hell youth in Durham are doing.  Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, non-partisan, LGBT, whatever.  Email me if you have a tip: jeremymerrill502@gmail.com.

By the way, I set this up due to a forum at the recent NC Teen Dem’s convention.