News & Record propagandists

It is from the Associated Press, but the News & Record put their stamp of approval on it when the chose to place it under the "News" banner on their web site.

The "article" begins with, "Now you can be a high roller for just $5" then proceeds to promote new lottery games.

That's a sales pitch; a come-on worthy of a carnival huckster. It's propaganda, not news.

"An afternoon in the square downtown in Greensboro"

I found this on Greensboro101.com this morning.

An afternoon in the square downtown in Greensboro, N.C. 2010
by Numberonekisser
Music by Ahmad Jamal.

Mayor Mr. Clean

GREENSBORO, NC -- It is not that small gifts might be enough to "bribe" an elected official, it is that they attempt to ingratiate; not to create a quid pro quo, but to engender chummy good feelings. With the exceptions of food served at banquets, honorariums and souvenirs of nominal value, state law prohibits an elected official from accepting gifts from anyone who has or may have business before the official's public body. Such a gift-giver would also be in violation of the law -- even if the gift is just a delicious ham.

So bravo to Mayor Bill Knight for keeping everything on the straight and narrow by refusing to accept a gifted ham from former city council person and project manager of CICO, Inc. Bob Mays. CICO is trying to win the City's trash disposal business. Last week, city council person Jim Kee nominated CICO partner Paul Gilmer to the Zoning Commission, a board that will have an influence on CICO's prospects. Council unanimously approved the appointment. Greensboro's business needs to be decided on what is best for the citizens of Greensboro, not by special influence. The attempts to maneuver CICO to an inside track must end.

Gullible Guarino

GREENSBORO, NC -- Local blogger Joe Guarino posts a video of President Obama "saying" he was not born in Hawaii and that he is from Kenya. "Could this YouTube possibly be legitimate?" asks Guarino.

Hmm. Lets' see, either the President fessed up to the worst fears of the paranoid birthers or somebody mashed up some video and audio as a spoof. I wonder which it is.

Councilman Danny Thompson disregarding his oath of office

Danny Thompson takes the oath of office.

GREENSBORO, NC -- When sworn in on December 1st, 2009 to his seat on Greensboro city council, council person Danny Thompson, like all other council representatives, took an oath to:

"support and maintain the Constitution and laws of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the state of North Carolina."

North Carolina state law demands that the meetings of public bodies be open to the public. The law permits City Council to meet in closed session only for very specific and limited reasons.

So, when Thompson asks City Council to meet in a closed session while claiming to know of no reason that such a meeting would be permissible under the law, he is disregarding state law and violating his oath of office. From the Rhino Times:

Thompson said [Jim] Kee asked him to call for the special meeting and that he was glad to accommodate Kee, but he really wasn't sure why they needed to go into closed session.

The law says there must be a permissible reason for City Council to meet behind closed doors. If Thompson knows of no such reason, he has no business trying to shield council activities from public scrutiny.

Silly logic: Ed Wolverton edition

When you find yourself saying silly things, it is a good sign that your thoughts aren't supported by logic. Ed Wolverton of downtown Greensboro, tells Yes! Weekly's Jordan Green why it was necessary to impose a curfew for teenagers:

Anyone who has walked along Elm Street during the late night hours knows that sidewalks can become quite crowded. Sidewalk cafes bring life and activity, but they also remove space from pedestrians. Lines of patrons waiting to get into restaurants and clubs also limit the sidewalk area. When you further consider space used by trash containers, newspaper boxes, bike racks and other street furniture, sidewalk space often gets very limited. Space narrows down even more when push cart vendors set up on the sidewalks.

Wolverton goes on to "explain" why other problems also not caused by youngsters justify banishing young people from downtown. Silly Mr. Wolverton.

Too cozy: Board appointee's company lobbying city for trash business

hat tip: Triad Watch

GREENSBORO, NC -- At the November 16, 2010 City Council meeting, local realtor Paul Gilmer was appointed to the Zoning Commission (video; 05:27:08 mark). According to The Buiness Journal, Gilmer is a partner in CICO, a company trying to win the business of disposing of Greensboro's garbage with a scheme that includes reopening the White Street Landfill to municipal garbage and developing 600 surrounding acres as "light industrial and other commercial uses." Much of this land is currently zoned for residential use.

Serving on any City board while one's company is trying to win favor from the City is contrary to the tenets of clean governance. Serving on a board whose decisions are integral to the company's plans is even more odious. From the City's web site:

The Greensboro Zoning Commission hears and decides requests for amendments to the City's official Zoning Map. The duties of the Commission include rezoning properties, approving Conditional Zoning Districts, issuing Special Use Permits, and recommending overlay districts.

CICO's plans will require favorable decisions from the board to which Mr. Gilmer has been appointed. Even if he recuses himself from votes directly affecting his interests, it remains a seamy situation where Gilmer's position will give him an inside track to information and influence.

Councilman Jim Kee should have never made this nomination to begin with. Gilmer should decline this appointment.

Will Greensboro see The Nutez Garbage Disposal Facility at county prison farm?

Leon Nutez is a regular speaker from the floor at city council meetings. He never fails to use every second of his available three minutes. I'm sure he is one of the reasons Mayor Bill Knight thinks it would be a good idea to make it more difficult to address the council from the floor. Leon seems to be there for his own enjoyment and to talk about anything under the sun, although I confess, his scoldings against the evils of the three finger weed (or was it the devil's lettuce?) had me in stitches.

Last Tuesday however, he had an idea that left me thinking, "That might be worth thinking about." He suggested that Greensboro forget about the controversial idea of reopening White Street landfill and put a modern garbage disposal facility on the Guilford County prison farm property instead.

Lo' and behold, council person Jim Kee is proposing that Greensboro and the county consider it.

Here is Leon addressing the council:

Guilford County home sales down 24%

Uh... holy crap? Sales of existing homes in Guilford County for the third quarter are down 24% from last year, from 1,185 to 902.

Can you smell what council's got cookin'? Half baked guidelines for small group meetings

GREENSBORO, NC -- The current city council had previously adopted a policy against council people meeting in small groups -- less than the five that would compel them to abide by state open meeting laws. That was well intentioned. One need look no further than the opacity of city councils circa 2002 to 2009 to appreciate the public frustration, and the eventual inevitable loss of public trust, caused by much of the council's processes happening in secret.

Apparently, however, it was not clear what exactly was prohibited or allowed by this policy. The News & Record's Amanda Lehmert brings to our attention council's attempt on Tuesday to clarify this policy. They have raised more questions than they answered. From Amanda's Small groups: educational or skirting open meetings law?:

Councilman Zack Matheny offered a solution to the debate, allowing small meetings as long as the events are recorded and the media is invited. His colleagues -- except Perkins and T. Dianne Bellamy-Small -- agreed to his proposal.

But it raised other questions. Who, for instance, is the media? Council members invoked the names of three local print reporters in their debate. But what about TV folks? Radio? Bloggers? And why make a special exception for the media? If a citizen wanted to attend, could they? Or would they only be allowed to review the recording afterward?

City counsel Jemiah Waterman also raised the issue that this type of meeting could qualify as a kind of council subcommittee, which would require it to be advertised and open to the public. He asked for more time to review the issue, but the council didn't grant him it.

Amanda asks the right questions. Council needs to think this through further and better define this policy; making sure it aligns with the law is probably not a bad idea either.

So when did "so" become the way to begin every answer?

When did business people being interviewed on news programs start answering every question by beginning with "so"? I'm not kidding. It's spreading like wildfire.

Reporter: "Tell us about your new product."
Interviewee: "So it's all electric..."

Reporter: "How long have you been with the company?"
Interviewee: "So I started in 1999..."

Reporter: "What are your expectations for next year?"
Interviewee: "So we see demand growing..."

So it's really annoying. So it makes it hard to take you seriously.

"Closed to teenagers"

GREENSBORO, NC -- From Ed Cone, with another good post about the teen curfew, comes this: A facebook group dedicated to repealing the curfew.

TSA Enhanced Screening Procedures Explained

The incredible shrinking Quizno's sub

I used to really like Quizno's, but it seems as if their subs get smaller and smaller each time I visit.

Two years smoke free

Today is my anniversary: two years since I quit smoking.

If you smoke, it feels normal. Going without feels uncomfortable, impossible, wrong; but your body and mind are zapped, burdened, blurred and compromised to a degree you will not appreciate until you quit.

There is no right way to quit and no wrong way. I used pharmaceuticals, Chantix specifically. If you want to quit and haven't tried it, give it a shot. I'm proof it can work.

Baking up some white bread: Downtown curfew passes

GREENSBORO, NC -- City Council approved a downtown curfew for minors last night 6 to 3. Ed Cone has a great digest. I could not help but notice the number of times proponents of the curfew justified it by saying how they or their acquaintances were feeling "uncomfortable" downtown. Yes, the unfamiliar can be uncomfortable but, for Pete's sake, is passing laws that banish people who are making you uncomfortable an enlightened way to set public policy? No. It is a small-minded approach to baking up some tasteless white bread.

Particularly notable from last night was council representative Robbie Perkins saying that it was really a perception problem and that facts did not support the new ordinances before he voted for the new ordinances.

Here is a woman who lives downtown speaking from the floor against the proposed ordinances. I thought she made some good points:



Bonus
Greensboro's history of curfews: 1969 and 1979.

.

Remembering: Bill Knight, speaker from the floor

GREENSBORO, NC -- Greensboro mayor Bill Knight wants to reduce city council's time for speakers from the floor from two televised meetings per month to one. He also wants speakers to sign up eight days in advance.

I think Mayor Knight is doing a good job and I understand his frustration with the grandstanding and the time wasting, but a total of an hour a month and easy access for all are small costs for accommodating robust civic participation and public comment of city government. The mayor seems to be reconsidering, and that's good.



Let us remember that Mayor Knight himself, less than three months before he declared his candidacy, addressed the city council as a speaker from the floor. His topic was controversial and his opinions made some council members visibly uncomfortable. Yet he did not have to register eight days in advance; he did not get grouped, screened, handled or prepared for; he had something to say, went to the meeting, was called upon and said his peace. His remarks were televised, prominently and publicly, as it should be. Hopefully the mayor will remember what it was like from this side of the dais.

News & Record propagandists

The News & Record rearranges a press release it receives from the North Carolina Lottery and puts it online with the byline "Staff Reports." It is not a "staff report," it is unvetted and unbalanced propaganda duly regurgitated by stenographers.

A new newspaper for Greensboro's homeless

I found this on Greensboro 101 today.

News & Record editor: Mr. Consistency (not)

(Greensboro, NC) Yesterday, News & Record editor John Robinson questioned the methodology and value of:

"lists that are created only to draw traffic on the web..."

Today, a different tune -- no such skepticism. He's perfectly willing to accept at face value a list he can use to impugn the significance of Greensboro bloggers.

Robinson miscasts a report on the metropolitan area as a report on Greensboro. Once again, Greensboro is subjected to the dilution that occurs when it is included among Winston-Salem, High Point and the eleven county hinterlands and this time, the newspaper's editor doesn't even notice.*

[* For more on this kind of dilution of Greensboro's benefits and excellence when subverted to "regionalism," see former Guilford County economic development director Rob Bencini's excellent commentary.]

Aunt Louise

I have an aunt Louise. She's two months older than me. (My mom and dad started young, Grandma and Grandpa kept at it.) As a kid, I loved calling her "Aunt Louise," a little taunting--a lot endearing, and she returned the favor with "Roch junior." But, when holidays and family gatherings brought our Florida and North Carolina families together, we were always more than aunt and nephew, we were great friends

We only manage the occasional email and even rarer phone call now. I think that's okay. Our childhood memories are what we mostly have in common anymore. But still, even with our limited involvement with each other, that doesn't keep me from being incredibly proud of her and impressed by her.

Louise is single, a school teacher and a mom. She became a mom about ten years ago.

Sometimes the heart doesn't cooperate with the plan's of the head, add the whims of unpredictable men and there is a lot that can go wrong, a lot that can throw a woman off track. But Louise did not allow herself to be consigned to the circumstances of fate. She decided she was going to be a mom and she became one.

She went to Russia and adopted her lovely son Nicolas. Truth be told, I thought she was a little crazy -- I mean, could she make it any harder? And yet, nearly ten years later she and Nicolas are, as Louise decided they would be, a family.

Here is a recent picture of Nicolas.

Nicolas

That picture was taken last week...

... in Russia...

...where Louise and Nicolas are in the process of adopting Aleksi.

Nicolas and Aleksi

And that is what I can tell you about my Aunt Louise.

Aleksi and Aunt Louise

Anything but guns

Greensboro City Council member Zack Matheny brought downtown property and business owners, city staff and media together this morning at Melvin Municipal to enunciate the city's reaction to downtown shooting that happened last week.

As I predicted, the overreaction was swift and comprehensive. -- Yes! Weekly editor Brian Clarey

I agree with Brian's take, although I think he overlooks the slippery slope and eventual repugnant end of suggesting we cover "as much territory" as possible with surveillance cameras. Still, he ultimately comes to the proper conclusion that these onerous proposals dance around the real issue.

I like calling North Carolina home

Ahead of last night's anticipated freeze, I harvested these from our garden.

More on C4GC and Patriot Coaching: The other side of the same coin

Thinking further about Patriot Coaching's and Conservatives for Guilford County's toxic influence on local politics: You don't treat half of the population as enemies without making enemies. You don't get to contribute to the bifurcation of America without having to deal with the other half. Doing so is not an amputation in which the other half withers and dies, it is a cell division that feeds this:

You, who could not survive the thought of minimal health care reform, or financial regulation, or a marginal tax rate equal to that which you paid just 10 years earlier, perhaps are under the illusion that everyone is as weak as you, as soft as you, as akin to petulant children as you are, as unable to cope with the smallest setback, the slightest challenge to the way you think your country should look and feel, and operate.

But they are not.

And they know how to regroup, and plot, and plan, and they are planning even now — we are — your destruction.

And I do not mean by that your physical destruction. We don’t play those games. We’re not into the whole “Second Amendment remedies, militia, armed resistance” bullshit that your side fetishizes, cuz, see, we don’t have to be. We don’t need guns.

We just have to be patient.

And wait for you to pass into that good night, first politically, and then, well…

Let me head off any arguments about "who started it" or "see what we are up against?" Those miss the point, which is this: By failing to find a way to honestly and respectfully INCLUDE people who do not meet your purity tests, by fashioning an approach to politics that is premised on the very notion of a rigid "us and them"--the included and the excluded with no compromise--this is the battlefield on which you will fight. Read the whole thing. See your "enemy." Then decide if the tactics of division taught by Patriot Coaching and employed by C4GC are the best way to preserve the values you value or if they are more likely to result in their extinction. As the author of the above says, math dictates it's the latter. The only hope is to change the equation.

New comment policy

If you want to make a derogatory personal attack in the comments, you must identify yourself or your comment risks being deleted, at my discretion.

Patriot Coaching: The force behind local tea party failures

Despite the "historic" "wave" election, Conservatives for Guilford County failed to turn a single legislative race in Guilford County. Some good conservative candidates ran some very competitive races, and kudos to them for the effort, but those were despite, not because of, the antics of the C4GC, whose campaign-influencing tactics included producing faked video, defending opaque fund-raising, and adopting an "us versus them" mentality that found even well-known local conservatives on the outs for daring to ask questions.

It turns out that C4GC founders Barret and Jodi Riddleberger had teamed up with Drs.Gary R. Casselman and Timothy C. Daughtry to form Patriot Coaching, an organization that promised to teach local conservative candidates how to "defeat the radical liberal agenda in the public arena."

The central promise of Patriot's teachings, conveyed through a two-day "bootcamp," is to teach "us" how to fend off "them" with goals such as developing "razor sharp responses" to "subversive bloggers." The basic premise is that there is a hard line that defines people and if you are over where they perceive it to be, you are to be handled like an alien in need of special treatment.

I had a Don Vaughan (D) campaign sign in my yard this year. Neighbors had signs for his opponent Jeff Hyde (R). Other neighbors had Burr (R) signs, some for Marshall (D). Here is where Patriot Coaching and C4GC are off base. I know those people with Jeff Hyde signs, not well, but we talk and wave and look out for each other. We have attended neighborhood watch meetings together, keep our grass cut, rake our leaves, bring the garbage cans in from the curb, share gardening tips in casual conversation and fly the flag on special occasions. I don't freak out when one of them puts a sign in his yard with the "Christian flag." They don't think I'm subversive.

In short, our neighborhood could be divided into the "us" and the "them" that Patriot Coaching and C4GC think defines the local electorate. But we are not. We are neighbors. We don't question each others politics before lending a hand with a dead car battery, corralling an escaped dog, or bringing over a chain saw to dispose of a fallen limb. I know they probably voted for Hyde, Randall and Burr. They know I probably voted for Vaughan, Miller and Marshall. Doesn't matter. That is not a relevant filter. When we extend a helping hand, it is not to one of "them" or because they are one of "us." Maybe the people of C4GC just don't live in such a neighborhood. Maybe all their neighbors are "us." Not so where I live. Liberals, conservatives and moderates are not foreign species. We are just people living right next door to each other.

That's what Patriot Coaching and C4GC fail to understand. It is a concoction--a mirage--to subdivide, ostracize and vilify people who have political views that you deem, from your perspective, to require them to be treated differently. Should they ever stop trying to manipulate, aggravate and segregate; stop predetermining how one will be dealt with based on a perception of the person's politics; and, instead, talk to all people with honesty and respect, then maybe they'll get somewhere in local politics. For now, the records of C4GC and Patriot Coaching speak for the credibility of their tactics.

Next week on WFMY News2: Getting to "I do" with voodoo

Once again setting the bar for local journalism, WFMY will continue presenting stuff for which there is no scientific basis* as news with these upcoming reports:

• Better career planning with phrenology
• Getting to "I do" with voodoo
• Palm reading for a wealthier retirement

I can hardly wait.


[* Kudos to WFMY's Tracey McCain, Frank Mickens and Sandra Hughes for putting the weight of their professional reputations behind this important story.]

Library's used book sale, Saturday

Friends of The Greensboro Public Library Semi-Annual Used Book Sale
Books for adults and children priced from 50¢ to $2.00
CDs and DVDs

Saturday, November 6
9 AM - 2 PM
Central Library, 219 N. Church St (map).
Free parking on street or in parking deck next door
[more]

What a coincidence, Greensboro police checkpoint during primaries too.

GREENSBORO, NC -- In addition to the Greensboro police checkpoint in a minority neighborhood between Claremont Court apartments and their polling place at Peeler Recreation Center on this election day, it turns out there was also a police checkpoint on primary election day, May 4, 2010, also in a predominately minority neighborhood, between Parkview Apartments on Apache St. and their polling place at Hampton Academy.

This is not Mississippi in the 1960's. Why is this happening? It is not coincidental.

UPDATE: Commenter Brandon points us to Yes! Weekly's blog where Greensboro Police Chief Ken Miller addressed this matter at a community forum: "Miller said the checkpoint was cut short as soon as the department was made aware of the conflict with voting." More (8th and 9th paragraphs).

Greensboro police checkpoint. On election day. In minority neighborhood. What are they thinking?

GREENSBORO, NC -- Who thought this would be a good idea on election day?

Police will conduct a traffic checkpoint on Phillips Avenue from 10 a.m. to noon today. Police will be checking driver licenses between Drexel Road and Lombardy Street.

This checkpoint is between public housing Claremont Courts (and homes north) and those residents' voting place at Peeler Recreation Center to the south.

[This would be a bad move in any neighborhood on election day. That it is adjacent to a minority occupied public housing project makes it more odious as reminiscent of Jim Crow voter intimidation tactics]

Howard Coble

My day job includes web site design for Congressman Howard Coble. As such, I've had the opportunity to spend a little time with him when he's in the district. No matter where you may come down on the politics, one thing is unavoidable: The man is greatly loved and admired.

Time Warner Cable, your Road Runner internet access really, really stinks

Here is what Time Warner Cable advertises for my level of internet access:

Here are the results of four speed tests this morning: