Reason: Maybe the GOP is Worried About Barr

The Republican Party's trying to challenge the Libertarian Party's ballot access in the fall 2008 election. Reason's Hit and Run blog explains why that's bogus ... and why the Republicans are running scared from a third party candidate.

I haven't decided who I'm voting for yet, but I'm strongly leaning toward Bob Barr (the libertarian candidate) and I'm in Pa., so I'm keenly interested in how this turns out.

Primary Day

It's Primary Day in Pennsylvania, that long anticipated Democratic political apocalypse. Obama's got chalk signs on campus, while Ron Paul activists have papered College Hill with signs. We got three phone calls from the Democrats yesterday reminding us to vote, and our house has been hit by both Obama and Clinton volunteers, neither of whom stayed to talk, instead choosing to slip fliers into our door. I blame the dogs, though they never scared off the Mormon missionaries...

As for me ... being the independent minded guy I am (and registered Libertarian to boot) I don't get to vote in either primary, so I'll just sit back and watch the spectacle.

Obama, Clinton campaigns opening Easton offices

I'm not a Democrat (I'm more of an independent, thank you very much) but I still find this notable: Obama campaign to open Easton office. Apparently, Hillary's opening one too.

While more than a few talking heads have lamented that the Democratic primary season has dragged on this long, I for one welcome it. Hell, I wish all primaries were as indecisive. It gives people a chance to really grok the candidates, and allows party members throughout the country to participate in the process, rather than just the handful small-but-influential ones who traditionally tried to crown a front runner.

I do find it odd that some of those who seem so passionate about "the people being heard" and "making every vote count" are so quick to wish for a swift primary season. Yes, I realize that gives the candidates more time to focus on the main election ... but it also means cutting millions of participants out of the process. Which would seem to run contrary to the whole idea of listening to the people.

Fortunately, things are running long, and the candidates are listening ... and now you can go talk to their representatives in downtown Easton.

Future Debt

So it seems like the federal government's going to go ahead and cut everyone in America a check, which is nice and all except for a) it will likely do little to stop a recession, seeing as how it's a tiny sliver of GNP and b) we'll have to pay for it later since there aren't any spending cuts elsewhere to balance the expenditure.

We're basically borrowing (stealing if you're of a more cynical mind) from our future selves to pay our present selves. But on the plus side, it will help me pay off my MacBook Pro...

Geeks Can Run for Office ... and Win!

Atlas Games President John Nephew's been elected to city council in Maplewood, Minnesota. According to Gaming Report, his opposition tried to play the "games are evil" card, but clearly it didn't work. I'm not saying I want to run for city council in Easton, I'm just saying I find it interesting that a gamer was able to do it ... and win.

Nephew talks about his win and the mainstreaming of games at ICv2.

Of Charters and City Councils

Easton voters approved changes to the city's charter yesterday, implementing home rule, diversifying its taxing powers and expanding the city council to seven seats while making the mayor president of the council. I'm a little surprised at how few people voted on the issue, given how important it was: 2,289 vs 3,643 for the mayoral race.

Democrat Sal Panto was elected mayor again, and brought with him a string of Democratic councilmen and women.

The big question now is ... where do we go from here? The city's got serious financial problems, which is why I voted for the charter yesterday -- relying entirely on real estate taxes to fund government services clearly isn't working. But what kind of Democrats got elected yesterday? The fiscally responsible kind that will use their new tax powers wisely, or the tax-and-spend kind that will spawn a few dozen pet projects that will dig the city deeper into the hole?

Based on what I've read, I'm hoping for the former, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Capitol Ideas, Two Rivers Daily

For a variety of reasons, some relating to my novel work for NaNoWrimo, some personal interest, I've been checking out the areas newspaper web sites recently. The PennLive remains a jumbled Borg-like mess that some how managed to assimilate a half-dozen newspaper web sites, including our local paper, the Express-Times, but the redesigned is surprisingly clean and reader-friendly. Moreover, its spun off a number of new blogs.

Of particular interest to me on Election Day was the political blog Capitol Ideas, which featured live blogging of election results and occasional quotes from activists at the various polling places. It's an amusing read that mixed together politics with Queen references. I kid you not. Honestly, I didn't think reporters were allowed to have this much fun, at least in public.

Their new Easton blog is Two Rivers Daily, which sounds great until you realize that it's died an unceremonious death on October 10. Prior to that it lived up to its name with a steady stream of local happenings and press releases. There wasn't much there in the way of personal observations or opinions, the sort of thing a blog really needs to keep people interested, which may explain the doom that befell it.