Politics
Entries related to things political.
Social Media and Local Politics: 2012 Amity Budget Referendum Results
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 21:37Another year, another budget referendum. Last year, the referendum passed, 870 to 542. This year, it passed 917 to 597. There was also a bonding issue, which passed 952 to 558. I tweeted the results and they were cross posted to Facebook. Instead of putting the results into tables on the blog, I also created a Google Doc with the results for the past three years, together with some enrollment information.
As is usually the case around the polling location, it was congenial and there were interesting discussions. Some of which was about election day registration. With the voting systems in place, if a person is registered to vote in a different municipality, they will be able to get their registration changed to the new municipality on election day. Of course this is only for Connecticut. It would be great to see voting systems between different states connect, if even just on one by one basis, like Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Already, there is some information that gets shared back and forth between states, such as when a person changes their driver's license or registration. This can be used for updating voting information. However, it does present interesting problems for people who split their time equally between two states, or even worse, between multiple states. Besides the issues of voting, there are car registration, insurance, and tax issues.
With that, as I mentioned last year, for municipal finance issues, people who are property holders can vote in elections in Woodbridge, even if they are registered to vote elsewhere. It makes sense. If you are paying property taxes somewhere, you should have some say in how they get spent. Yet this does not mean you can register to vote in multiple places. That remains a felony.
Meanwhile, up at the capitol, the legislature was arguing about revisions to the campaign finance laws, particularly around changing the disclosure rules for independent expenditures. It passed the House and is waiting to be heard in the Senate. The discussion got into some interesting points that perhaps should be considered in separate bills.
When is Facebook activity a campaign contribution or an in kind third party expenditure? This is something that has been argued in the past. Is it the value of what is given, or the cost to give it? If I make positive comments about a candidate, and I have thousands of followers, is that worth more than a comment by someone with hundreds of followers? If I'm a paid social media personality, is the value of my comments greater than someone who is on Facebook just for fun? Does it matter if I'm posting on my own page or some specific Facebook Fan page? When is, or should a disclosure statement be issued in social media? Do you need one on each tweet in Twitter? Can all of this be dismissed as 'de minimis'?
Then there are the issues of public access television, and for that matter newsletters or other forms of publications.
With that, it's getting late, and I'll save these questions for later, perhaps while I'm covering a congressional or state convention. These conventions are coming up starting this weekend.
Judicial Good Behavior
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 05/06/2012 - 14:54Today, I read the latest court order in Planned Parenthood of Hidalgo County Texas v. Suehs about whether the State of Texas can cut off funding to the organization that provides basic preventive health care to nearly half of the participants in the states Women’s Health Program.
This is just the latest in the ongoing court battles about health care in America. Opponents of the Affordable Care Act, and especially, opponents of abortion are seeking to block health care reform through State Legislatures and the judicial system. In the Planned Parenthood case in Texas, a District Judge order a stay of implementation of a new Texas law that would defund Planned Parenthood. A judge on the Fifth Circuit, overrode that stay, allowing the law to go into effect. Then, a three judge panel, including that judge, overrode the judge's override.
So, who is this judge? Fifth Circuit Judge Jerry Smith. Does the name sound familiar? Perhaps it should. Judge Smith was appointed to the Fifth Circuit in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan. He attended Yale for both his undergraduate and his law degrees. In 1996, he wrote the majority opinion in a case in which the Fifth Circuit struck down the use of affirmative action in admissions to the University of Texas Law School. This decision was later overturned by the Supreme Court.
Yet recently, he has been making more news. Last month, he was the judge that ordered the Obama Administration to explain its position on judicial activism. It appears as if Judge Smith is in favor of judicial activism when it comes to overturning liberal laws, but in favor of judicial restraint when it comes to defending conservative laws. That is, he does not seem to possess a fair and even handed judicial temperament.
There is a long tradition of not criticizing judges, but with the Citizens' United decision by the Supreme Court, that has all changed. The Pew Research Center recently issued a report, Supreme Court Favorability Reaches New Low. The report notes that:
The court receives relatively low favorable ratings from Republicans, Democrats and independents alike.
While there have always been bad apples wherever you look, the U.S. Supreme Court has usually stayed above reproach. Yes, there was the Dred Scott decision a century and a half ago, but that is often viewed as an exception.
After the Citizens' United decision, Keith Olbermann compared Dred Scott to Citizens' United, and by extension, Chief Justice John Roberts to Chief Justice Roger Taney. We shall yet see if Citizens' United will be a greater threat to the United States as we know it than the Civil War was, or if Chief Justice Roberts shall suffer a similar fate as Chief Justice Taney. However, the current trends do not look good for Citizens' United or the esteem that our courts are held in.
Judges like Fifth Circuit Judge Jerry Smith only compound the problem of Americans' faith in the judicial system and endanger their own legacy. Wikipedia, as well as NNDB do not list Judge Smith as having been a judge, either at the district level, nor on a state court prior to becoming an Appellate Judge. No, Judge Smith's qualifications appear to come from having served on executive committee of the Texas Republican Party for over a decade.
NNDB lists his wife as Mary Jane Blackburn and Fundrace lists Mary Jane B. Smith of Houston Texas as having contributed $866 to Ted Cruz's U.S. Senate campaign back in 2009. Cruz has been endorsed by the Club for Growth, the Tea Party Express and lists repealing 'Obamacare' as one of his top priorities.
The Constitution says that judges "shall hold their Offices during good Behavior". Traditionally, "good behavior" has been determined by Congress for Federal Judges. However, given the low esteem that both Congress and the Supreme Court are held in, is it time to reconsider what "good behavior" is?
Proles, Nietzsche and the Desperate Slacktivists Passive Interactivity
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 05/05/2012 - 15:12Recently, I stumbled across the article, What if Interactivity is the New Passivity? by Jonathan Sterne at McGill University. It is the sort of media theory stuff that I suspect many of my friends looking at how to monetize their social media activity tend not to read. It builds on the criticism of people passively consuming broadcast media, and asks if the interactions that we have now, liking pages, following friends, maybe even retweeting, or playing a game in Facebook, is really all that different than people watching television a generation ago.
It is an interesting question, and my thoughts quickly drifted to 1984, “If there was hope, it must lie in the proles”, or at least with those who are engaged in social media. Yes, I feel the ghost of Marshall McLuhan standing over my shoulder, whispering in my ear, “the medium is the message”.
Yet, perhaps, McLuhan isn’t all that far off. Perhaps what Sterne is saying is that interactivity, at least in terms of Slacktivists signing online petitions, isn’t really that much warmer of a medium than people a generation ago cursing at the news on the television.
Perhaps, the new, passive interactivity, reflects an even older idea; Henry David Thoreau’s “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”. That paragraph, goes on to say, “A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind.”
So, how do we transcend this desperate slacktivists passive interactivity? Sterne’s article starts off by talking about Malcolm Bull’s essay, “Where Is the Anti-Nietzsche?” Perhaps there is more of a relationship between these questions than the analogy that Sterne suggests. However, that should probably stand as a blog post on its own.
In The News
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 04/04/2012 - 19:06When I started this blog, many years ago, it was intended to serve as a place where I could gather my writing from other places. Over the years, I've found more of my writing specifically for the blog. When I started at the Community Health Center, I didn't have as much time and energy for personal writing and so the tenor of the blog changed. Likewise, as the audience changes, so does my writing.
I have not been cross-posting blog posts I write for the Community Health Center here, for a large variety of reasons. However, I there have been some blog posts there that I've felt were particularly important. Today, I posted one of them. Psychiatric Telemedicine for Uninsured Patients without Stable Housing. It has a wonky title, but I hope you will stop by and read it. As an aside, SB 13, AN ACT CONCERNING A STUDY OF TELEMEDICINE SERVICES passed the Insurance committee with all 18 members at the committee meeting voting in favor of it. Unfortunately, it was tabled for the calendar.
Another topic I've been following is a very lively discussion on SpinSucks, PR Crisis for Skittles In Wake of Controversial Teen Shooting. How should Wrigley's respond to the increase in sales and people suggesting Wrigley's should donate the money "to the family or causes that would help with racial reconciliation or underprivileged communities".
With around 150 comments there, mine might get lost, so I figured I'd share them here:
John F. Kennedy once said, "When written in Chinese the word crisis is composed of two characters.One represents danger, and the other represents opportunity". It seems as if there is too little focus on the danger, and not enough on the opportunity.
Like many corporations, Wrigley's has a commitment to social responsibility.http://www.wrigley.com/global/principles-in-action/people.aspx
"We aim to make a difference by respecting diversity and encouraging inclusion, consistently improving our health and safety practices, providing volunteer opportunities for our associates and through philanthropy with real impact."Wrigley should focus on this and highlight efforts to help make communities safer. "Any kid should be able to walk safely to a neighborhood store."
Use the opportunity to build the brand's Social Responsibility cred.
In a follow up I was asked how I would advise them to do it while staying out of the politics. I responded:
I believe that focusing on neighborhood safety can be presented as a neutral issue. Everyone wants safer neighborhoods, whether they be members of Neighborhood Watch, or parents of black youth. It is a common ground, and by focusing on the common ground, they aren't giving into the activists, they are staying neutral to the politics, and are probably least likely to end up in legal problems.If I were there, I would probably look at putting money into grants to neighborhood organizations that are working towards this. I'd probably try to do a little branding with this, something like the "Safer Rainbow Initiative".
I'd probably do it as part of the Wrigley Company Foundation as part of their "sustainable local initiatives... to improve communities around the world"
http://www.wrigley.com/global/principles-in-action/foundation.aspx
What is Woodbridge, CT?
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 04/03/2012 - 20:27No, this is not a question on Jeopardy, nor is it a rhetorical question. Instead, it seems to be a question at the center of many recent political disputes. When the Woodbridge Country Club went under, the people of Woodbridge voted to have the town take over the property to prevent the land being developed. Later, when the town tried to find ways of financing the debt incurred from the purchase, the people of Woodbridge voted against even a small part of the land being developed.
Woodbridge, CT is not a town that takes kindly to development. Perhaps it harkens back to being a quintessential Connecticut town of steady habits. It is a town with strong environmental and preservation leanings, as seen by the support of the Massaro farm and the recent moves to limit the use of pesticides in town.
This week, the focus shifted to commerce in Woodbridge, particularly in the 'Woodbridge Village District'. I grew up in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The main commercial section of town was Spring Street a road a quarter of a mile long where much of the shopping and social activity took place. It has a very distinct, small New England town feel to it, influenced by the nearby college.
I've only lived in Woodbridge for a few years, although my wife grew up in Bethany and spent much of her childhood visiting her grandparents in Woodbridge. I don't have the same times to any village district here that I had to Spring Street in the Village Beautiful.
Yet I thought about this as I listened to the discussions about the proposed gun shop in the village district. For many, it may be a simple black and white argument about guns. The NRA members very defensive of the right to bear arms, and the anti-gun activists opposed to the introduction of any new ways of guns coming into Woodbridge or the surrounding communities. There are discussions about the gun shop being near a teen center and what sort of impact that might have.
However, most of this seemed to miss the more important and more nuanced issues, what is Woodbridge? What is the village district? What sort of economic development do we want in town? What sort of shopping experience do we want people to have when they come to Woodbridge? Some of the people testifying at the Town Planning and Zoning meeting spoke about how the introduction of a gun shop to Woodbridge would make them less likely to shop in that area. Others spoke about the importance of any new retail shop, including a gun shop, going in.
Would a gun shop in Woodbridge negatively affect other businesses? Should we accept at face value the premise that any type of new retail shop is good for the shopping area? I think we need to question both of these, and return to the question, what is Woodbridge?
No respectable shop owner should want to alienate the people of the town where their shop will be, and townspeople should be careful not to drive away potential shop owners whose shops will truly fit in with the character of the town and promote enhanced commerce between all the shops.
As I listened to the testimony on both sides, I did not feel reassured that the gun shop, the way it is currently being presented, is likely to be successful and add to the commerce of town. I hope both sides can find ways to work together to address this.
Yet the gun shop was not the only topic on the town planning and zoning board meeting last night. Next on the agenda was Tasty Kale. They are looking for a zoning change to be able to dry more kale. Where the discussions about the gun shop were contentious, the discussion of Tasty Kale was light hearted. I had never heard of Tasty Kale, but their appearance at the TPZ may have been some invaluable advertising, at least to those who stayed tuned to the Government Access Television channel after the testimony about the gun shop.
It provided an interesting contrast. While I was at best ambivalent about whether or not the gun shop would add positively to the image of what Woodbridge is, Tasty Kale fit very well with my understanding; entrepreneurial, local, tied to the community, clearly providing benefit. Yes, I want to try Tasty Kale, and if it is as good as the website says, including the accolades from Faith Middleton, then I will gladly spread the word about Tasty Kale. The gun shop hasn't resonated that way.
The third request to the TPZ was from Shakti Bio Research. A long time resident of Woodbridge, who has a company in Hamden, is seeking to move the company to Woodbridge. Where does "Bio Research" fit into the question of what Woodbridge is? To me, in part because I'm married to a molecular biologist and have many friends involved in health sciences at Yale, it seems to fit in very nicely.
So, to the image of professorial environmentalists eating kale chips fits nicely. A gun shop selling 'protection' probably doesn't fit, at least the images in my mind that well, but a gun shop that is promoting safe and responsible outdoors sporting activities might have a chance.
So, what is Woodbridge, CT?
