So, as I was saying about the News & Record

What's "news" at the News & Record today?

• Top story: An AP report about expectations for rising beef prices. 
• An AP story about Lorillard profits
• A picture of an owl from the NC Zoo
• An AP story about a man run over by a truck in Robeson County
• An excerpt from another website about the death of a Reidsville police officer.
• An AP story about coyotes in Charlotte
• A video of a Charlotte school bus on fire
• Photos from last night's Duke/Carolina game
• A regurgitated press release about a local lottery winner.

 A few days ago, I wrote about the need for the new News & Record editor to make it a priority to light a fire of skepticism under his stenographers. What a convenient example that popped up that very afternoon.

The communications director from a political action committee came to town and attempted to influence the decision-making of Greensboro's city council Tuesday night with misinformation.

She cited what she said was information from a reputable polling organization in order to sway council to a decision favorable to the position of the PAC. It did not take much skepticism—much of a feel for Greensboro—to think, "That doesn't sound right." Unless you are a stenographer.

This blogger researched the PAC official's claims, found them to be lacking and wrote about it. Another blogger picked it up, did some more research and raised some more questions. Finally, a third blogger made contact with the communication director and ferreted out the truth. All under the nose of and without the help of, or even any mention by, the professionals at Greensboro's daily.

But that owl is cute.

Vote for Marriage NC communications director explains deception

Ed Cone reached Rachel Lee, the communications director for Vote for Marriage NC and asked her about the misinformation she conveyed to the Greensboro City Council Tuesday night. Here is Ed's account of the conversation:
-------------------

She said that on Tuesday, as she was rushing out the door for a television interview, a coworker gave her a spreadsheet with a lot of numbers on it.

This led to confusion. The numbers she attributed to PPP in Greensboro were actually, she said, from Civitas and for Charlotte.

She says poll numbers for Greensboro are actually 61% for Greensboro and 66% for the Piedmont. A comment from her coworker in the thread below this post indicates that these numbers also come from Civitas, not PPP.

I asked her if my reading of the amendment is correct, that it would outlaw civil unions in North Carolina.

She said the amendment defines marriage.

I repeated my question about outlawing civil unions. She said she was in a hurry, but civil unions already are not legal in this state.

I said, OK, but since you are in a hurry, could you tell me, yes or no, if this amendment would indeed make civil unions unconstitutional in North Carolina.

She said, I'm calling you back in reference to the poll question.

I said, So you will not answer the question, yes or no, would this amendment make civil unions unconstitutional in North Carolina?

She said, You have a good day, Ed, bye, and she hung up.

For and against Amendment One, speakers from the floor

Excerpts of speakers from the floor at the February 7, 2012 Greensboro, North Carolina city council meeting addressing the council's consideration of a resolution opposing Amendment One, the proposed amendment to the North Carolina Constitution that would prohibit domestic or civil unions.

The resolution passed by a vote of 8 to 1. Voting in favor were Vaughan, T. Dianne Bellamy Small, Nancy Hoffman, Zack Matheny, Marikay Abuzuaiter, Jim Kee, Yvonne Johnson and mayor Robbie Perkins. Voting against was Trudy Wade.

Lex's letter to Vote for Marriage NC communications director

Lex Alexander sent the following to Rachel Lee, the communications director for Vote for Marriage NC yesterday. (Hyperlink added)

Ms. Lee:

As a longtime Greensboro resident and taxpayer, I'm curious as to why you apparently stood up last night and attempted to influence our city's public policy by saying something that you either 1) knew to be false, or 2) recklessly asserted was true without having done your due diligence.

I'm referring to your assertion that Public Policy Polling -- a respecting polling operation, and deservedly so in my experience -- had polled Greensboro residents on Amendment 1 and that 70% of respondents supported the amendment. As you no doubt know by now if you did not know last night, no such poll has been conducted by PPP nor, as nearly as I can tell from both web and commercial database searches, anyone else.

So I'd like to know: How is it that you came to be standing in front of my City Council and saying something that was utterly untrue in an attempt to get them to reject a resolution that was in opposition to your position?

A prompt response would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

Hooper "Lex" Alexander IV

Vote for Marriage NC communications director makes misrepresentations to Greensboro City Council

[UPDATE: Via Matt Comer, Public Policy Polling tweeted about Lee's falsehood: "Not sure what that refers to. We have not done a poll of Greensboro residents." See below.]

At last night's Greensboro city council meeting, Rachel Lee spoke to the council from the floor. Lee identified herself as communications director of Vote for Marriage NC, a political action committee supporting Amendment One, the proposed amendment to the North Carolina constitution that would outlaw civil and domestic unions.

Lee said:

"70 percent of citizens here in Greensboro support the marriage protection amendment (sic) as cited by Public Policy Polling."

In fact, the latest poll from Public Policy Polling, released on December 9, 2011 January 12, 2012, does not provide specifics for Greensboro. It does break out results for area code 336, which includes Greensboro, Guilford County and fourteen other surrounding counties, an area extending from Asheboro north to the Virgina state line and from Burlington west to the Tennessee state line, hardly a sampling of Greensboro.

Nonetheless, within this expanse, the poll found that 56% 53%of respondents favor some sort of domestic union for gay and lesbian people, either marriage or civil unions.

Thankfully, the council ignored the mendacious Lee.

On Amendment One, Nancy Vaughan's finest moment

I believe this was Greensboro City Council representative Nancy Vaughan's finest moment on council, as she explained last night her opposition to Amendment One, the proposed amendment to the North Carolina Constitution that would ban civil and domestic unions.

"Our state constitution should be amended very carefully, it should be not used as a weapon to marginalize any population." — Nancy Vaughan

Mayor's justification for ending small groups policy bogus

On January 17, 2012 the Greensboro City Council voted 8 to 1 to revoke the policy that had required public notice when small groups of city council people were meeting with city staff. Mayor Robbie Perkins tried to assuage concerns that revoking that policy would put the public in the dark by saying that public records will still exist of council/staff conversations. He said during the discussion to the acting city manager (04:52:10):

"If I call someone at Water & Sewer and ask them a question, they are obligated to call your office or report that Robbie Perkins has talked to them and give the subject."

The acting city manager replied, "It's typically email."

I made a records request for all emails reporting Mayor Perkins' contacts with staff since he took office. I received two from December. None for January. Either Mayor Perkins has only had two conversations with city staff in two months or he was mistaken that an alternate public record is available.

Council voted to rescind a policy that had made the actions of city council public and transparent based, at least in part, on an illegitimate expectation. Will this just fall to the wayside as so much lip service or will council institute a policy that corrects their move towards secrecy?

Two priorities for the new News & Record editor

The News & Record has hired a new executive editor, Jeff Guager. If the guy is worth his salt, he probably already has a lengthy to-do list. Hear are two that should be priorities, the first should be his first:

1. Have your reporters stop being stenographers. We can read the press releases ourselves on blogs and social media. We can hear and see the assertions of people promoting their interests on Youtube and websites. We don't need intermediaries for those; we don't need professional regurgitators of the pronouncements of the self-interested, we need you to check them out and align them with the facts if necessary. A reporter who is unwilling or incapable of operating without a big fat dose of skepticism should be reassigned to the society page. 

2. Shake up your online department. It is simply ridiculous that for nearly a year now requests for a mobile edition of the website have been met with "We are working on an app, but we don't have the money; we are behind schedule but are working on an app."

A mobile version of a website does not require an app. It is simply a modified web design. If WFMY can do it, so can you. Get some people with design and programming skills and get out of their way. [Note, I said people with design and programming skills, not really good Drupal users.] Yes, make some apps too—this decade would be good.

Putting your best content behind a Google-proof wall is not smart either. People still link to such content, but the search engines don't find it.

Propaganda puppet

You know what does not make newspapers and reporters valuable? Regurgitating propaganda. From the News & Record today:

Li & Fung is recognized as the world’s leader in consumer goods design, development, sourcing and distribution.

Really? Recognized by whom? The parroting reporter doesn't say, although Li & Fung makes that claim word for word on their website; but so does this company.

"Wade ignores this basic point"

Fecund Stench on Greensboro City Council representative Trudy Wade's press release in support of Amendment One:

The same-sex amendment, while seeking to re-affirm the existing statute which ensures that marriage can only legally exist between a man and a woman of legal age, also seeks to proscribe civil unions/domestic partnerships. By the wording of her letter, Wade ignores this basic point. 

Part 2: Davenport & Smith, pro and con on NC's Amendment One

At the invitation of Greensboro Guardian editor Charles Davenport, Jr., I engaged in a writing pro/con with him over Amendment One, a proposed amendment to North Carolina's constitution. This is my piece in opposition, Davenport's piece in favor is here.
______________________________________

Americans are proud of our traditions. Perhaps none stands out as more American than that of liberty and justice for all. It was a promise delivered to us on our founding and one which has served as a guiding light through our history. Not always in a straight line, but with an eventual inevitability America has shown itself willing to abandon the familiar to fulfill its better ideals. We relinquished the norms of black people as chattel, women unworthy of voting and the criminalization of private acts between consenting adults. Generation after generation, Americans have moved forward in order to live up to the legacy of our Constitution.

The history of North Carolina's constitution reflects a similar tradition. It has been modified to abolish poll taxes, permit women to serve as jurors and to secure the rights of married women to manage their own property. While advancements were not without occasional interruptions, such as when the North Carolina Constitution was modified to require racial segregation in public schools, North Carolina ultimately moved towards more equitable liberty.

This is our tradition as Americans and North Carolinians—an eventual, if not consistent, strengthening of freedom and equality. Efforts to marginalize people or diminish rights have never gained a permanent foothold. The proposed “Amendment One,” on which North Carolina voters will vote this May, proposes the kind of step backwards that is contrary to this tradition.

Amendment One begins with “Constitutional amendment to provide that marriage between one man and one woman...”. Were this the totality of the proposal, a discussion about marriage might be fitting.

Such discussion, however, is a diversion from the most serious implications of Amendment One which says in its entirety that marriage between one man and one woman “is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State.” With that prohibition against any other type of domestic union, this amendment goes beyond defending marriage and establishes a mean-spirited barrier against consenting adult couples of the same sex ever having even approximate equality with heterosexual couples.

In the mind of some, I imagine, the response is, “Good!” They would outlaw homosexuality itself if they could. Absent that, a spiteful wielding of the heavy hand of government to keep gays and lesbians from becoming equal participants in society will suffice.

People not motivated by such hatred, however—even the most stalwart conservatives—will recognize that this amendment is at odds with our common values. Allowing two consenting adults to join in a legally binding union is not simply just and fair, it is good for society.

At Conservative Underground, contributor to the Greensboro Guardian, Tim Duncan writes of marriage:

“When the passions of mankind are constrained within an institution that directs these passions into positive, constructive ends – building a home, raising and providing for a family, training up the next generation – and away from negative, destructive ends – wildcatting around, no financial or emotional stability, disorder caused by sexual competition and jealousy – then stable social systems can be maintained, along with all the good things like education, prosperity, technology, and the rest that come about as a result of social stability.”

Indeed; and when a segment of the population is denied participation in stable social systems, they and society at large are diminished.

Few people openly advocate for a cruel relegation of homosexuals to second class status. Many conservatives even say they want gays and lesbians to have equal rights. As Charles Davenport, Jr., publisher of the Greensboro Guardian writes:

“[M]ost of us would support extending to gay and lesbian couples many of the rights traditionally associated with marriage: commingling of finances, hospital visitation and the like."

There are over a thousand rights and responsibilities conferred by traditional marriage that cannot, even with extraordinary effort, be acquired piecemeal. In truth, genuine equal participation by homosexuals in society's stabilizing systems requires a state recognized legal union. Amendment One, in saying that marriage between a man and a woman “shall be the only domestic union,” establishes an insurmountable barrier to equal participation in stable society for gay and lesbian people.

This is our generation's moment to demonstrate a commitment to North Carolina's best traditions. Like the misguided generations that used the state's constitution to enshrine school segregation or secede from the union, we too can be an aberration or we can rise to meet the responsibilities of the great legacy of our ancestors, stand with tradition and reject Amendment One.
__________

Roch Smith, Jr. is a website designer living in Greensboro. A fervent supporter of free speech and diversity of opinion, he built and maintains Greensboro101.com . His personal blog is at roch101.blogspot.com. He thanks Charles Davenport, Jr. for his counterpoint in this important discussion.

Part 1: Davenport & Smith, pro and con on NC's Amendment One

At the invitation of Greensboro Guardian editor Charles Davenport, Jr., I engaged in a writing pro/con with him over Amendment One, a proposed amendment to North Carolina's constitution. This is his piece in favor, my piece in opposition is here.
________________________________________

The debate concerning North Carolina’s proposed Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA) could be perceived as a clash between the accumulated wisdom of centuries (traditional marriage), and the accumulated “wisdom” of, relatively speaking, the past 15 minutes (gay marriage).

Champions of gay marriage are quick to condemn the “religious zealotry” of those who defend traditional marriage, presumably because traditionalists are imposing their morality on innocent bystanders. (The harm inflicted by such imposition remains unclear.) But of course, gay marriage enthusiasts (who are the minority) are imposing upon the rest of us (the majority) a vision of their own: a secularist, “non-judgmental” worldview, the disciples of which are instantly recognizable because of their flamboyant self-righteousness and sense of moral superiority.

Still, a concession is in order: overtly religious arguments are indeed promptly tuned out and ignored by a significant percentage of citizens, including some conservatives. Fortunately, there are other, equally persuasive arguments in favor of traditional marriage.

Let us consider three: recognition of and obedience to norms; respect for natural law, and reverence of tradition. Supporters of the MPA may not use these precise terms, but they are familiar with the concepts innately, or intuitively.

The late Russell Kirk, a founder of the modern conservative movement, was a prolific and profoundly influential writer. Norms, natural law, and tradition are recurring themes in his work. Kirk defined a norm as “an enduring standard” of public and private conduct, and “a law of nature which we ignore at our peril.” Norms exist in all places and at all times, regardless of whether the individual approves of or abides by them: “A norm endures in its own right, whether or not it gives pleasure to particular individuals.” Homosexual relations—and by extension, gay marriage—are abnormal, in the sense that they are a violation of established norms.

In his acclaimed volume, The Conservative Mind, Kirk identified natural law as a tenet of conservatism: “Belief in a transcendent order, or body of natural law, which rules society as well as conscience.” Natural law, then, is “a loosely knit body of rules of action prescribed by an authority higher than the state. These rules…are derived from divine commandment; from the nature of mankind; from abstract reason; or from long experience of mankind in community.” Aristotle, Cicero, St. Thomas Aquinas, Edmund Burke, and C.S. Lewis would concur.

Kirk delivered a warning pertinent to this debate: “When many persons ignore or flout the natural law for human beings, the consequences presently are ruinous—as with the unnatural vices that result in the disease of AIDS….” Note that there is a distinction between natural law as it pertains to man, and the laws of nature; animal behavior is irrelevant to the behavior of human beings. As Kirk wrote in Enemies of the Permanent Things, “There is law for man, and law for thing; the late Alfred Kinsey notwithstanding, the norm for the wasp and the snake is not the norm for man.”

Tradition is the means by which ancestral wisdom is transmitted to the present generation, and the institution of marriage as a union between one man and one woman is long-established. The hubris--the arrogance and conceit--of those willing to abandon centuries of human knowledge and experience in order to conduct a radical social experiment is astonishing.

Opponents of the MPA argue that it would institutionalize “discrimination” against gays and lesbians. Here is a fine example from Mayor Robbie Perkins, as quoted in today’s News & Record: “Greensboro wants to be looked at, in my view, as a place that is progressive and accepts all people and doesn’t tolerate discrimination.” We anticipate childish platitudes from liberals, who cater to intellectual peasants; such language from an elected official with an “R” after his name is mortifying.

Must we abandon North Carolina’s existing marriage law, which discriminates against youth, polygamy, and bigamy? Must we also repeal laws that discriminate against pedophilia, theft, and worse? “Discrimination,” an emotional term with a negative connotation, is utilized as a club to bludgeon into silence those who might otherwise dare to differ with enlightened progressives. Do not be silenced.

A couple of centuries ago, Edmund Burke, the celebrated British statesman, observed that “the individual is foolish. The multitude is foolish; but the species is wise.” Traditional marriage is among the pillars of civilization, and our disposition must be to preserve institutions centuries in the making. The burden of proof is on the radical social engineer, and the case for gay marriage has not been convincingly made.
 ______

Charles Davenport Jr. is the editor of The Greensboro Guardian. He applauds Mr. Smith for accepting his invitation to debate the marriage amendment. “Pro-Con” is likely to become a regular feature—a forum for serious contemplation of the issues.

Off the deep end II: Greensboro needs a good conservative blogger

Blogger Joe Guarino used to be a legitimate representative of Guilford County's conservatives. However strident or extreme, he used to be taken seriously most of the time  (when he wasn't attacking Presbyterians or repeating rumors of rumors of rumors).

That's gone. Now his years of blogging effort have culminated in a perpetual vomiting of rash flights of fantasy. I suppose that's what happens when one insists on supplanting thought with unyielding dedication to preconceptions. Some recent examples.

• Guarino blows off a suggestion that the ACLU might help a Guilford County conservative who is being unfairly treated by the County Commissioners as his commenters mock the ACLU as "communists" and "socialists."
  Verily: The ACLU, shortly thereafter, sides with the conservative and sends a letter on her behalf to the County Commissioners.
• Guarino writes that the reason the local press did not report on the marital tribulations of a Greensboro Republican mayoral candidate but the national press did report on marital history of a Republican presidential candidate is because the presidential candidate is more conservative, his conservatism attracting the scrutiny—according to Guarino.
  Verily: The local media did not report on the marital histories of any of the local candidates, even those more conservative than the mayoral candidate.
• Guarino goes off on Greensboro's mayor for not attending a Republican gubernatorial candidate's campaign announcement, writing:
  

  When the Republican mayor skips the announcement of the presumptive Republican gubernatorial nominee in his own city, it cannot be interpreted as anything but disrespect.

  Verily: The mayor had a longstanding commitment to a prior engagement with the Greensboro's largest organization of young professionals. 
  

Again, today, Guarino concocts some sinister motives to explain why a group that previously defended Guilford County citizens against a re-opening of a landfill in their neighborhoods is taking legal action to stop the disenfranchisement of other Guilford County voters caused by a defective redistricting plan. Guarino's suspicions are aroused because the group's efforts would help "predominantly white, middle class" people. (see above re: preconceptions)

With Guarino gone off the deep end, Greensboro could use a blogger who can articulate the positions of the right in a reasoned manner. Will anybody step up?

Painfully exquisite

Writing so exquisite it hurts.

Thomas Wolfe in You Can't Go Home Again, describing a face he sees day after day in a window across the street from his apartment:

And now, to his store of treasured trivia was added the memory of this man's face--thick, white, expressionless, set in its stolid and sorrowful stare. Immutable, calm, impassive, it became for him the symbol of a kind of permanence in the rush and sweep of chaos in the city, where all things come and go and pass and are so soon forgotten. For, day after day, as he watched the man and tried to penetrate his mystery, at last it seemed to him that he had found the answer.

And after that, in later years, whenever he remembered the man's face, the time was fixed at the end of a day in late summer. Without-violence or heat, the last rays of the sun fell on the warm brick of the building and painted it with a sad, unearthly light. In the window the man sat, always looking out. He never wavered in his gaze, his eyes were calm and sorrowful, and on his face was legible the exile of an imprisoned spirit.

That man's face became for him the face of. Darkness and of Time. It never spoke, and yet it had a voice--a voice that seemed to have the whole earth in it. It was the voice of evening and of night, and in it were the blended tongues of all those men who have passed through the heat and fury of the day, and who now lean quietly upon the sills of evening. In it was the whole vast hush and weariness that comes upon the city at the hour of dusk, when the chaos of another day is ended, and when everything--streets, buildings, and eight million people--breathe slowly, with a tired and sorrowful joy. And in that single tongueless voice was the knowledge of all their tongues.

"Child, child," it said, "have patience and belief, for life is many days, and each present hour will pass away. Son, son, you have been mad and drunken, furious and wild, filled with hatred and despair, and all the dark confusions of the soul--but so have we. You found the earth too great for your one life, you found your brain and sinew smaller than the hunger and desire that fed on them--but it has been this way with all men. You have stumbled on in darkness, you have been pulled in opposite directions, you have faltered, you have missed the way--but, child, this is the chronicle of the earth. And now, because you have known madness and despair, and because you will grow desperate again before you come to evening, we who have stormed the ramparts of the furious earth and been hurled back, we who have been maddened by the unknowable and bitter mystery of love, we who have hungered after fame and savoured all of life, the tumult, pain, and frenzy, and now sit quietly by our windows watching all that henceforth never more shall touch us--we call upon you to take heart, for we can swear to you that these things pass.

"We have outlived the shift and glitter of so many fashions, we have seen so many things that come and go, so many words forgotten, so many flames that flared and were destroyed; yet we know now we are strangers whose footfalls have not left a print upon the endless streets of life. We shall not go into the dark again, nor suffer madness, nor admit despair: we have built a wall about us now. We shall not hear the docks of time strike out on foreign air, nor wake at morning in some alien land to think of home: our wandering is over, and our hunger fed. 0 brother, son, and comrade, because we have lived so long and seen so much, we are content to make our own a few things now, letting millions pass."

What you should know before buying ebooks from Barnes and Noble

While most of the ebooks I have been reading on the Nook tablet are open source classics, I recently purchased one from the Barnes & Noble store. Then I discovered something very disappointing.

Although Barnes & Noble books are in the open ePub format, B&N locks them down with "Digital Rights Management," which means the book you purchased, in an open source format, cannot be read on anything other than a Barnes & Noble device.

Now that's a brilliant business decision: Incentive your customers to get their books from other sources. I could have purchased the same book for the same price from Google ebooks, readable on multiple platforms.

This combined with B&N's decision to lock down the Android operating system to prohibit loading of Android apps not approved by and sold through B&N are astoundingly shortsighted.

If you own Barnes & Noble stock, sell it. What once looked like B&N's salvation will be their doom, I'm sorry to say.

"His anus had become a gaping hole"

An interview with North Carolina Pastor Patrick Wooden, a driving force behind Amendment One, the ballot measure that would enshrine in North Carolina's constitution a prohibition against gay marriage and civil unions.(HT: Fecund Stench)

Skip Alston's mind-numbing misunderstanding of the U.S. Constitution

County Commission chairman Skip Alston on Guilford County's policy of restricting media presentations by citizens at public meetings, via Yes Weekly!:

“You can’t yell fire in crowded movie theater"

Yes, you can—if there is a fire. Which is what Jodi Riddleberger was trying to do when the Chairman—the mousy commissioners having already voted to prohibited media presentations during speakers from the floor—refused to put her on the agenda. 

Despite his superfluous misrememberance of fifth grade civics, Alston reveals precisely why he is on the wrong side of the issue and why the North Carolina ACLU has sided with Riddleberger: In the United States of America, government officials cannot exercise prior restraint of speech. Without a dire compelling public interest, the government or its agents, no matter how arrogantly ignorant or self righteous, may not decide in advance that what someone may be about to say is to be prohibited. 

For Alston to think that what Riddlerberger wanted to say was equivelant to FALSELY yelling fire in a crowded theater, is an admission that he is engaging in the very prior evaluation of her message the Constitution prohibits. Heck, he even says as much:

“As far as content, I think there should be some kind of restrictions on freedom of speech.”

Whether Riddleberger's message is true or false, annoying or flattering, the Chairman has no right to intervene and those who can stop the Chairman's misbehavior should do so. If it's not going to be the other commissioners, it's going to be a judge—to Guilford County's unnecessary expense and embarrassment. 

Coble to run for 15th term

Congressman Howard Coble announced today that he will run for a 15th term in the 6th district of North Carolina.

ACLU sides with C4GC against Guilford County Commissioners

Yes Weekly! is reporting:

ACLU of North Carolina Legal Director Katherine Lewis Parker expresses concerns about the constitutionality of the Guilford County Commission's proposed citizen multi-media presentation policy in a letter to the board today:

The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation ("ACLU-NCLF")was contacted last week by Guilford County resident Jodi Riddleberger ("C4gc"). Ms. Riddleberger has requested our assistance in connection with a recent decision by the Guilford County Board of Commissioners ("the Board") to ban any and all multimedia presentations during prescribed public comment periods of Board meetings. After conducting an initial investigation, we have concerns that your Board is violating Ms. Riddleberger's rights under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

It appears that the county's actions with regard to Ms. Riddleberger, as well as the passage of the ban on multimedia presentations during public comment period constitute violations of the First Amendment. First, we believe that the general requirement that individuals can show videos only if approved and placed on the agenda is an unconstitutional prior restraint on speech. [Roch: That's what I thought too] Further, Chairman Alston's specific comments and actions against Ms. Riddleberger suggest that these new rules, while they appear to be content neutral, are a thinly-veiled disguise for impermissible content discrimination, or even viewpoint discrimination....

[more]

Brad Miller for Governor?

North Carolina congressman Brad Miller announced he will not seek reelection to the newly gerrymandered seat that would have pitted him against a fellow Democratic incumbent. Miller has always struck me as a dedicated and smart representative and one who, without knowing his personal perspective, would not be dropping out of politics for good—not by his own volition anyway.

Assuming Miller is scanning the landscape for another political opportunity, is there anything on the horizon more promising than North Carolina's governorship now that Democratic incumbent Bev Perdue has announced she will not run? Miller would make a good challenger to sitting Democratic senator Kay Hagan in two years, but he'd be the underdog. On the other hand, he would start a campaign for Governor as a top-tier contender. I won't be surprised if he throws his hat in the ring.

Project Gutenberg

If you have an eReader, such as a Kindle or a Nook, you might want to take a look at Project Gutenberg. You've probably heard of it—the website that makes available books in the public domain—but if you haven't visited it yet, or lately, you might wanna. They now have over 38,000 free ebooks—classics, science fiction, detective stories, children's literature, philosophy, technology and more.

You don't have to have a reading device either, many of the book are available in PDF, but for a better reading experience, I recommend ebook in the open ePub format. You can read ePub books (and many other formats too) on your PC with the excellent and free Calibre.

If you visit Project Gutenberg on a mobile device, you will automatically be treated to their superior mobile interface. You can hit it from a PC here.

Calibre eBook Manager & Reader for PC

Calibre ebook management and reader for the PC (Windows, OSx, Linux) is great software for better management of eReader books, with native support for just about any kind of device (list here). For Nook users, just the ability to rename files and metadata of ebooks downloaded to a device (cover art, tags, etc.)  is worth it alone—these features regrettably absent from the Nook.

There is a bit of a learning curve—not too bad, I went from download to finish in about an hour—but it's worth it in order to:

• Safely backup books from an eReader to your PC.
• Edit metadata for better organization and nicer cover art.
• Search for books from multiple sellers with a single click
• Convert books between formats.

Calbre comes with a fine ebook reader too, one of the best I've seen for a PC. You can download it for free (donations are accepted) at calibre-ebook.com. I highly recommend watching the 10 minute introductory video on the main page.

Off the deep end

Fecund Stench on Joe Guarino:

Only someone so diabolical could think to use our least unfortunate for criticism of public projects paid for out of his taxes. He commits a logical fallacy by supposing that the Aquatic Center was constructed for such purposes, but camouflages with the implied arguments that the homeless are unclean and can’t afford to swim there, with the corollary allusion to the poor in general.

[snip]

Conflating the swimmers with the homeless is a gross misrepresentation of the responsible governance which has addressed the needs of both groups of citizens. The social retards no doubt think the notion humorous, but such a highly contrived expression of intolerance is the very definition of evil.

Local currency? Harumph!

The News & Record's Doug Clark is down on the idea of a local currency. To the idea that merchants may offer a discount for using the local bucks, he writes:

If they do, they'll lose my business. In effect, that would be penalizing me to pay with dollars.

Harumph! That'll show 'em!

Similarly, I'm going to stop shopping at merchants who offer coupons in the News & Record, because I'm penalized for not using them.

Intimidating college student voters

Fretting that Greensboro college students are going to swing an upcoming vote on a proposed performing arts center, one commenter demands:

"Anyone who cannot produce a NC ID with a an actual NC local residential permanent address is not eligible to vote."

That's wrong. Aside from the fact that, year after year, the university precincts in Greensboro consistently have the fewest number of voters voting anyway, and have never been a significant factor in any local vote, North Carolina election law is quite clear about the eligibility of out-of-town college students being allowed to register to vote in North Carolina. As Democracy North Carolina explains:

• You can declare your old address (probably your parents’ address) as your home, because that’s where you return periodically; in that case, you may register and vote in your old hometown.

• Or you can declare your new address as your home, because that’s where you return, day after day; in that case, you may register and vote in your new town. 

Let us hope that people do not start promulgating misinformation in an effort to intimidate college student voters.

SOLVED: Windows XP will not read USB mass storage device.

PROBLEM: Attempting to read a USB mass storage device (SDHC card, flash drive, memory stick, camera card, Nook tablet, etc) on a Dell Vostro 1500 laptop computer running Windows XP with service pack 3, results in the contents of the drive not being readable. Although the drive is assigned a drive letter and shows up in Windows Explorer, attempting to open the drive results in the following message: "The disk is not formatted. Do you want to format it now?"

Device manager will report the device as healthy but with an unknown file system.

I will not speculate about why this fix works, all I know is that hours of searching the internet yielded no clear explanation for how to fix this problem:

CAUTION: The fix described below is what finally, after many, many dead ends, worked for me. I make no guarantees that it will solve the problem you are experiencing nor am I responsible for any additional problems it may cause. Try at your own risk.

Having said that...

THE FIX:

1. In Windows explorer, navigate to C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers
2. Find the file fastfat.sys
3. Rename it to fastfat.sys.bak
4. Restart you computer

Try out a device in a USB port. Can you read it? If so great. If not, then this fix wasn't for you. Sorry,  I know it's frustrating. If the fix did not work, you may change the name of the renamed file back to its original.


[With apologies to my regular readers, this post describes a technical fix missing from the Internet and is void of my usual commentary or news. It was written in an attempt to be easily found in search engines.]

My email to the ACLU of North Carolina

I sent this to the ACLU of North Carolina today. You can send them your opinion too.

I am a resident of Greensboro, NC. I am not a member of the group Concerned Citizens for Guildford County Conservatives for Guilford County (C4GC), in fact I do not often find myself in agreement with their opinions and objectives. Nonetheless, I share their concerns regarding the recent actions of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners to limit what may be presented at public meetings, actions which I think, in my layman's opinion, constitute unconstitutional prior restraint of speech based on its content (and in the specifics of C4GC's complaint, speech that would be constitutionally allowable in any case).

Although the County attorney is quoted in the News & Record as saying the prohibitions are legal because they only control time and manner, the policy actually demands that content be reviewed by a small committee for approval. Therefore, I am encouraging you to give serious consideration to representing C4GC on this matter. Indeed, from my perspective, were the ACLU of NC to challenge this policy, it would be to the benefit of all the residents of Guilford County.

If I can be of assistance to you in further evaluating the possibility of your involvement with this matter, do not hesitate to let me know.

"I think the word you're looking for is 'experts'"

John Stewart rightly mocks lawmakers who would censor the internet while admitting they do not understanding the technicalities. He includes a well-deserved poke at North Carolina congressman Mel Watt (at the 3:27 mark. Hat tip, Ed Cone)

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Responding to Charles Davenport Jr.'s charge of cowardice.

A few days ago, local columnist and conservative apologist Charles Davenport, Jr. invited me to engage him in a pro/con for publication on his new website the Greensboro Guardian. Less than ninety minutes later, I accepted Davenport's invitation as a reply in the same thread were he issued it (he didn't leave any other contact information as I did in my acceptance).

Although I did not hear from Davenport, a few days later he writes that I "declined" his invitation, as he "suspected [I] would," he adds. He calls it "cowardice."

Davenport may not have seen my response, although that seems unlikely, but to say that I declined is just flat wrong.

I repeat my acceptance of Davenport's challenge, maintaining my initial preferences that it happen in a forum that allows public comment (his site or elsewhere) and that it be in type larger than the microscopic font currently deployed on Charles' website.

I'm even more eager now, because if I'm going against someone who cannot get his facts straight, it's going to be a cake walk.

Gingrich under fire because he is a conservative?

Joe Guarino suffocates thinking with preconceived suspicion and concludes that the reason the national press is covering the marital history of of a contending presidential candidate while the local press did not cover the marital troubles of a mayoral candidate is because Newt Gingrich is a more conservative Republican than the moderate Republican mayoral candidate. It's the conservatism that brings the scrutiny, he says. In Joe's mind, "it is painfully obvious."

Incorporate the facts though, and Guarino's conspiracy theory crumbles. The local media did not choose to report on the marital histories of ANY council candidate, including those of conservative Republicans. They did not apply a double standard, one for moderates and one for conservatives, they applied the same standard to all candidates, from the most conservative to the most liberal. I don't know why the local press didn't report on the marital histories of council candidates, it could have been because marriage laws are not an issue for city council, but different standards for conservatives and moderates was demonstrably not their reason.

The reason Gingrich gets legitimate scrutiny on this issue is this: Conservatives, all the Republican presidential candidates* and Newt Gingrich specifically, have pledged to refuse to allow marriage for gay people—that discrimination being necessary, they say, in order to "defend marriage."

If the implication is not obvious to you, here it is: If a candidate cannot keep their personal obligation under a marriage, cannot manage a marriage within their personal domain (or if they themselves are privately gay), they really have no businesses dictating, especially not through the power of law, that this institution is too sacred for the participation of consenting gay adults. Their rhetoric is contrary to their actions—hypocrisy. How qualified is a man who destroyed his own marriages to tell other people how to live theirs? Voters deserve to know if a candidate's public statements contradict their actions.


As Think Progress notices, Gingrich has a special place at the apex of hypocrisy on this matter. He doesn't just want gay marriage denied to a segment of loving, committed, consenting adults, he promises, through legislative action, to "defend" marriage as specifically and exclusively between one woman and one man—this while having asked his wife to share him with another other woman. Gingrich cannot keep his own marriage to one man and one woman, but he wants to legally impose that demand on others. It wasn't as if Gingrich's marriage went kaput because of unhappy circumstances either—not as if he was innocently a victim in some unavoidable disintegration of his marriage—it was his actions that brought down the one marriage he had the complete ability to "defend." Destroying his own marriage, he now he wants to control others'.

One of the reason I have thought since last fall that Gingrich would be a contender in this race is because he has vast political experience and the intellectual confidence to think on his feet. Demonstrating those qualities, he is turning this matter back on the media and it seems to be working—at least with the Republican crowd at last night's debate (it won't in a general election)—but for Guraino to proclaim that sinister motives explain the distinction between national media reporting of Gingrich's philandering and local media ignoring the marital travails of local city council candidates is to turn a blind eye to Gingrich's hypocrisy. Local candidates were not saying one thing and doing another and especially not while defending odoriferous discrimination. Gingrich is.

[* Ron Paul cuts a slightly different path, but clearly does not favor marriage equality for gay people.]

Fox8 covers yesterday's anti-censorship web protests

Although the anchor introduction announcing "nearly a dozen" protesting websites was off by about 75,000, Fox8's Brandon Jones' report does a great job explaining the opposition to the internet censorship bills pending in congress and yesterday's online protests.

I didn't know the story would be so much about Greensboro 101 going dark yesterday, but that was pretty great and has nothing to do with my impression that Brandon is a talent to watch. Seriously. He'll likely learn a lot quickly too if he keeps teaming up with, as he did yesterday, the seasoned veteran Lenslinger—who could just as legitimately claim Wordslinger for his jaunty prose.

 

Senator Hagan's justification for internet censorship debunked

North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan on why she is co-sponsor of the deficient Protecting IP Act, via Mark Binker: 

"We have about $58 billion a year of intellectual property stolen."

So say the motion picture lobbyists, but is that accurate?

Not really

From the CATO Institute, via Ed Cone:

Only $58 billion! We’re making progress! So where does that figure come from? The source here is a paper released by the Institute for Policy Innovation, and authored by one Stephen Siwek, an MBA and principal of a consulting firm called Economists Incorporated that produces economic analysis for hire on behalf of (among others) businesses seeking to influence policy makers. That does not, in itself, invalidate the research, but we should at least begin with the recognition that we are not dealing here with impartial academic studies produced by a university or government research agency.

What does invalidate the “research” is the inappropriate use of “multiplier” effects to double—and triple—count loss estimates that were dubious to begin with. As the GAO report notes in its typically understated fashion:

"Most of the experts we interviewed were reluctant to use economic multipliers to calculate losses from counterfeiting because this methodology was developed to look at a one-time change in output and employment."

Greensboro 101 on strike

For the first time since its inception in 2005, Greensboro 101 is not serving its function as a gateway to the news and ideas of the people and organizations of Greensboro. It's on strike in protest of some very bad legislation currently under consideration in the U.S. congress that would allow Hollywood media companies to censor the Internet with a heavy, ham-fisted hand.

The video above explains. It's only a little complicated, but worth your time and attention. More detail here.

North Carolina's senator Kay Hagan is a co-sponsor of the legislation. Our other senator, Richard Burr, is undecided. Contact them both and ask them NOT to support the Protect IP Act. [Email your congressional representatives here.]

Richard Burr: 1-800-685-8916; email
Kay Hagan: 1-877-852-9462; email

"Heavy handed abuse of power"

This is not a partisan issue and Jodie Riddleberger is very much right on:

Strike

Tomorrow I'm going to do something I've never done before—it's important I think; and tomorrow starts at midnight.

Small group meeting compromise

Greensboro City Council person Nancy Vaughan described her concerns about the current small group meeting policy, that the council will revisit this evening. She made a good point about the inefficiencies created by the policy. Specifically, the inability for two council persons to quickly meet with city staff is a hindrance to efficient action.

The policy demands a 48 hour advance public notice if any two or more council persons are to meet with staff. As Nancy pointed out, that is even more ludicrous if two council members are already at City Hall working together on an urgent matter. If questions arise, they cannot just pop into a staffer's office and get some answers.

So, yeah. Maybe we can clear the decks a little bit for council members who want to hustle. But that doesn't have to happen at the expense of the gains in transparency the policy achieved

Here are some ways that the policy could be adjusted so that council members are not frustrated and transparency is not stymied.

1. Keep the audio recording requirement.
   Establishing a public record keeps the meetings accessible to the public, even if after the fact, and does not interfere with speedy scheduling.
2. Increase the number of "small group."
   Raise the advanced public notification requirement for a meeting with two council persons to three or more.
3. Make a public notice within 24 hours of the end of the meeting. The point of public access to small group meetings is to know who met and what city business they discussed. With audio recordings available, a public notice shortly after the meeting would serve that purpose.

Greensboro city council may revert to greater secrecy

The Greensboro City Council currently has a small group meeting policy that requires any meeting of two or more city council persons with any city staff be announced to the public 48 hours in advance, audio recorded and open to the media. Newly elected Mayor Robbie Perkins wants to change that—and not for the better.

There is an item on the agenda for tonight's city council meeting, with Perkins as the primary contact, for the purpose of discussing changes to the small group policy. Documents attached to the agenda (item 32, pp 159 - 162) describe Greensboro's small group policy as being more than North Carolina public meetings law requires and as unique to Greensboro. It's clear the purpose of revisiting the policy is to attempt to weaken or eliminate it.

Greensboro government has a long history, with all too recent manifestations, of cultivating public suspicion by secrecy. The state law may not demand that Greensboro have this small group policy and other cities may not, but so what? When it comes to open government, can Greensboro not stand above the rest of the state? Must we revert to the norm by lowering our standards?

The current policy is a robust plank in support of public trust and an antiseptic against corrosive public suspicion. If it sets Greensboro apart, all the better. It should not be changed.

Newt Gingrich

I will be surprised if Newt Gingrich does not become more of a contender for the Republican presidential nomination than he has thus far. Unlike Romeny, his conservatism is in his bones, not an adornment; and unlike Santorum, he has the intellectual chops to make the case for conservative principles.

Yes, already Gingrich has said some things that assure he will be unacceptable to large segments of the population in the general elections, but he stands out—to me at least—as the guy most capable of making the race about a different direction for the country. If America is truly facing an existential threat from within, as the right frequently insists, Gingrich is most prepared to explain to and convince voters of the need for an alternative.

McDonald's ruins the milkshake

McDonald's has taken their iconic shake and added the word "cafe" to it, which apparently is McDonald's-speak for "shrinking a large to the size of the previous medium." The old large was 32 ounces, the new "large" is 22 ounces (a single ounce larger than the old medium) and the top fifth is filled with whipped cream you don't want.

On the other hand, the generous single quarter-sized slice of tomato on their premium burger made up for it. Not.

Guilford County: hick backwater

Thanks to our County Commissioners, specifically, Chairman Skip Alston, I am embarrassed to call myself a resident of Guilford County.

What kind of hick backwater outlaws multimedia presentations by speakers from the floor at public meetings in this day and age? Guilford County, sad to say.

In fact, no multimedia will be allowed during any portion of County Commissioners' meetings unless it is first reviewed by an "agenda committee" for "appropriateness."

Only with our approval, comrade.

This sounds an awful lot like it oversteps the Constitutional prohibitions against prior restraint of speech. Maybe someone will take it to court and we'll spin our wheels on another unnecessary issue while the world moves on.

WFMY: Government stenographers

WFMY dutifully regurgitates, again, another press release. Surely, one of the most basic duties of journalists is to challenge and check the pronouncements of the powerful, especially the government. The health of our democracy depends on news people doing journalism, not stenography.

Here is a story from WMFY's web site. Although it is identified as "written by Patrick Phillippi," it is almost entirely a reprint of a press release from the State Attorney General. The copied portions are highlighted.

Raleigh, NC -- North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper detailed his opposition to Duke Energy's proposed rate increase in a filing with the North Carolina Utilities Commission on Monday.

Cooper said, "Utilities commissioners should heed the economic damage to North Carolina consumers before signing off Duke Energy's rate increase."

Cooper went on to say, "The commission should come down on the side of consumers when considering a fair rate of return for Duke, especially the economy."

Cooper's Consumer Protection Division intervened in the rate case and questioned Duke Energy's experts in November. During that hearing, attorney's with Cooper's office questioned whether experts who calculated the rate of return to Duke Energy shareholders also took "changing economic conditions" into account.

Earlier this year, Duke Energy applied to the Utilities Commission to request that the company be allowed to increase its revenues by approximately $646 million. That earnings increase would be passed along to consumers in the form of higher electricity bills. If approved by the Utilities Commission, the proposed rate hike would have raised the average Duke customer's monthly bill by approximately 17 percent.

Hundreds of North Carolinians have written to Cooper asking for help and expressing their concern about higher electricity costs, according to the Attorney General.

The Attorney General's Office has filed copies of the letters with the Clerk for the Utilities Commission so that commissioners will be aware of consumers' views on the proposed increase.

Forty Creek Barrel Select

A couple of years ago, I discovered the joys of Scotch Whiskey. My still limited samplings have me favoring well aged single malts. The good stuff is expensive though and since North Carolina ABC stopped carrying the very good $22 10-year Tamdhu, I've been at a loss for an affordable replacement. (12 year Highland Park is beautiful but its $45 price, while still a great value, puts it into the "special occasion" category for me.)

My fallback "everyday" whiskeys had become Canadian whiskeys—Canadian Club, Seagrams*, Black Velvet.

Last night was the first time I noticed Forty Creek Barrel Select Whiskey among the Canadian whiskeys and its $19.95 price encouraged me to pick it up and read the label which described:

A whiskey where aromas of honey, vanilla and apricot fuse with toasty oak, black walnut and spice. The flavour is rich and bold on the palate and is completed in a smooth, long finish.

I was pleased to find that this whiskey offers the flavors and complexities I enjoy from Scotch. To my very uncultivated pallette, I might have even guessed it to be a Scotch, had I not known. For depth of flavor and price, I recommend Forty Creek Barrel Select.

[* Update: Seagrams is a fine domestic whiskey, not Canadian—as everybody knows]

Soggy Doggy

What a great concept, a self service dog wash. Such is the new Soggy Doggy (2511 Battleground Ave.). Prices range from $15 to $35 depending on the weight of your dog.The place provides state of the art walk-in bath tubs, aprons, nice shower heads, shampoos, cream rinse, wash cloths, towels, ear wash and cotton balls, and drying tables with adjustable blowers—in short, everything you need to give your dog a thorough cleaning. Owner Susan will even give you some tips on proper bathing techniques.

Journalist or stenographer?

Michale Hastings:

Look, I went into journalism to do journalism, not advertising. My views are critical but that shouldn’t be mistaken for hostile – I’m just not a stenographer. There is a body of work that shows how I view these issues but that was hard-earned through experience, not something I learned going to a cocktail party on f***ing K Street. That’s what reporters are supposed to do, report the story.

Word.

Cushy teaching jobs and slack ass parents.

I know a particular teacher quite well and I hear a lot about the ins and outs of her job. One thing that just plain infuriates me to hear is of parents who ask teachers to come in early for a parent conference, or to stay late or to schedule two conferences so that separated parents don't have to be in the same room together for a few minutes -- and then don't show up; don't call or email, just blow the whole thing off.

It happens a lot.

Conservatives are wrong that teachers have cushy jobs, they are right that too many parents won't bother to take responsibility for their children's success.

Another Earth

If a parallel Earth came into reach that held the possibility of a life as you but without the mistakes you've made on this Earth, would you go there? That's the question faced by Rhoda in the independent film Another Earth (currently available in Red Box).

The screenplay was written by Mike Cahill and Britt Marling, with Cahill directing and Marling turning in a wonderfully layered performance in the leading role. The film requires some willful suspension of disbelief (the second Earth floats into view in the sky, close enough for a rocket trip), but play along and you are rewarded with a poignant exploration of loss and love. The coming together of passionate directing, writing and acting—of Marling and costar William Mapother—make this film a rare gem, a movie that inspires mature joy and wonder without typical Hollywood sentimentality.

Stylometry

I learned of something new today. Stylometry.

Stylometry is the application of the study of linguistic style. Stylometry is often used to attribute authorship to anonymous or disputed documents.

"Businesses have the right to refuse service to customers on the basis of their religious faith."

Contrary to their name, the North Carolina Values Coalition does not represent the values of our state with positions like this:

"We also believe that private business owners have the right to refuse service to customers on the basis of their religious faith."

No, that represents an anti-American position dangerously indifferent to our great country's long history of hard fought battles to overcome discrimination, starting with our founding.

Big government make-work

From a Greensboro Police Department press release:

On Dec. 22 beginning at 10 pm, Greensboro Police will host a “Booze It and Lose It” checkpoint on Holden Road at the I-40 overpass.

Also participating are agencies with the Guilford County Driving While Impaired Task Force: High Point Police Department, Guilford County Sheriff’s Office, A+T University campus police, and UNC-G campus police.  

The checkpoint location is miles away from the UNCG and A&T campuses. Do those cops not have enough work in their jurisdictions? And the High Point police? That seems totally inappropriate to me—that Greensboro citizens will be subjected to the actions of a law enforcement agency over which we have no control.

The plagiarism just keeps rolling along at WFMY

Plagiarism: The practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own. -- Oxford Dictionaires

The practice continues at WFMY. The article below was posted to WFMY's website today and is identified as "Written by Devetta Blount" a WFMY staffer, but it is identical to an article that appears on the Visit Winston Salem website dated seventeen days ago.

Here is the article from WFMY's website, the copied portions are highlighted.

Winston-Salem, NC-- A Winston-Salem church that has some rich history is celebrating 150 years.

St. Philips African Moravian Church in Old Salem is celebrating its 150th anniversary on Thursday. Consecrated in 1861, the congregation held its first service in the church on December 15th of that year. Events celebrating the anniversary will be going on throughout the day.

The St. Philips Heritage Center is holding an open house from 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m to celebrate the occasion.  Visitors will be able to tour the African Moravian Log Church, St. Philips African Moravian Church and the African American and Strangers Graveyards.

Later on December 15, there will be "An Evening of Conversation and Music" beginning with a reception from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Old Salem Visitor Center. At 7 p.m., a program will take place at St. Philips African Moravian Church, which will include expressions by regional officials, clergy and community leaders as well as special music. Shuttles will transport attendees from the Visitor Center to St. Philips every 15 minutes ending at 6:30 p.m.

At the evening event, Dr. Rodney will be honored. Special guests include: Rev. William Brown, Pastor of Rising Ebenezer Baptist Church; Rev. Ronnie Roseboro, pastor of St. Andrews United Methodist Church; Dr. Patricia Bailey-Jones, Founder of Masters Touch Ministries International; Rev. Stacey Frazier, Pastor of Friendship Baptist Church; Rev. Darryl Aaron, pastor of First Baptist Church; Rev. Prince Rivers, pastor of United Metropolitan Baptist Church; Rev. Donald Jenkins, pastor of St. Paul Methodist Church; Dr. Sir Walter Mack, Jr., pastor of Union Baptist Church; Mayor Allen Joines; Dr. Vivian Burke, Mayor Pro Tempore and the North Carolina chapter of the National Liturgical Dance Network.

All the events are free and open to the public, although an RSVP is required for the evening program. RSVP by calling 1-800-441-5305.

Historic St. Philips African Moravian Church is the oldest African American church still standing in the state of North Carolina and one of the earliest in the entire country. Built for the African American congregation, the church matched most of the other churches in the area built at the same time with the large brick, Greek Revival style. The church was expanded in 1890 with the need to add more classroom space downstairs and above in the balcony. The church extended out into the graveyard, which later caused structural issues on the front walls. The congregation moved out of the building in the 1952, and the church sat vacant until restored for use as part of Old Salem Museums & Gardens tours. The steeple, which had been removed in the 1920s, was part of the exterior restoration. The original pews and other details are back in place inside the building. It was from the pulpit of this brick church that on Sunday, May 21, 1865, a Union Cavalry Chaplain announced freedom to the enslaved community in and around the town of Salem, now Winston-Salem.

The St. Philips Heritage Center in Old Salem is a sacred place significant to the unusual and unique history of this community, and it is a touchstone of the African American experience. The African and African American Moravian congregation, organized in Salem in 1822 among a mostly enslaved population, is one of the oldest Black congregations in the United States. It is the only historic African American Moravian congregation in the country. The Center is comprised of the Log Church, St. Philips Moravian Brick Church, the Strangers Graveyard, the Negro God's Acre and the Path to Happy Hill Overlook.

Elected to serve whom?

GREENSBORO, NC -- The ideologically paralyzed Joe Guarino has been lamenting on his blog recently that city council representative Zack Matheny "let down" former mayor Bill Knight and certain other council members by not siding with them on the landfill issue: As Joe puts it:

Bill Knight must feel awfully betrayed. 

Excuse me, and correct me if I'm wrong, but Zack Matheny was not elected to serve Bill Knight or any other council person. He was elected to serve the people of Greensboro. To suggest otherwise is to advocate for the politics of the "cabal" Joe famously decries when it works against him. More situational ethics, I'm afraid.

We don't need no stinkin' public interest

Lex Alexander:

Look, folks, this might be the most important, overarching issue of our time in this country: The IGMFY [I got mine... you] folks want to steal everything. Everything. And they’re using the power of government to do it. They stole our retirement, they stole our home equity, they’re doing their damnedest to steal our Social Security and now they’re going after the money we spend to educate our children. Enough is never enough with these people, and this crap will keep on until they have taken everything we have or until we bust them in the chops hard enough to make them stop and send them whimpering back into their corners.

Correction

Yesterday I wrote a post in which I said that the News & Record editorialists  "toed the line" of those clamoring for war with Iraq. That was my memory. Whether I was completely wrong, confusing the homegrown editorials with those of other columnists printed in the paper at the time or going on an impression more of the news coverage, I was not accurate.

While I was unsatisfied that the N&R ever adequately delved into the available information that contradicted the official warmongering claims, they did not accept those claims without question on the opinion page either. Former N&R reporter Lex Alexander brings this N&R editorial from six weeks prior to the start of the war to my attention. It questions the case for war, thus making my previous characterization inaccurate.

The News & Record's "editorial lassitude"

Fec on the News & Record's "editorial lassitude":

The problems with our local daily are many, but falling in line with the national media clamoring to bomb Iran is a disgrace to those many of its readers who know better.

We may remember, they—the same people, not just the institution—did the same thing in the run-up to the Iraq war. Good editorial makes one think, it doesn't just vomit an opinion at the expense of reason or knowledge.

Amateur hour and more plagiarism at WFMY

 How many errors can a reporter cram into a single sentence? Try this from WFMY.

Officers say an unknown woman stole the wallet, and her and another female used the credit cards and cashed a Cashier's Check that was in the wallet.

Then there is this article on WFMY's website, copied nearly word-for-word from a press release even though the byline says "Written by Teresa Ostuni"—another sad example of WFMY staff putting their names to things they did not write.

Here is the article as it appeared on WFMY's website, the copied portions are highlighted.

Greensboro, NC -- Bennett College has received official notification from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, that the college has been removed from its 6 month probation for financial instability.

After receiving word in June 2011 that the College was on probation, Dr. Julianne Malveaux, president of the College, said, "We look forward to the meeting we will have with SACS in October 2011, at which time we plan to demonstrate the 2010 one-time occurrences were just that, and are not part of our permanent fiscal picture or systemic in any fashion."

After learning the College [sic] was no longer on probation, Dr. Malveaux said, "I was elated to receive the official notice that by action of the SACS Board of Trustees, Bennett College has been removed from probation! As part of the College's 5-year report, we must evidence continued compliance with the SACS principle on financial stability."

True to President Malveaux's word, the College was able to demonstrate its financial stability to the SACS visiting team in October. The team of 4 visited the campus over a two-day period, reviewing records and talking with the College's stakeholders.

Dr. Malveaux assured the stakeholders once again, that "The College is at no risk. Bennett continues to be accredited and financial aid was not impacted by the SACS probation."

Bennett College is a small, private, historically Black liberal arts college for women. The College offers women an education conducive to excellence and scholarly pursuits; preparation for leadership roles in the workplace, society and the world.

For more information on Bennett College, visit its website, here.

Bennett College

Women's health is liberal, the White House is not

Can we stop trying to shoehorn everything and everybody into "liberal" or "conservative" when all we really are doing is attempting to create some shorthand to keeps us from having to think.

The News & Record's Doug Clark: 

The White House supported [Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebilius'] decision, which apparently has liberals up in arms.

If liberals are up in arms and the White House is not up in arms, then the White House must not be liberal. 

Maybe that's what Clark meant, or maybe the knee-jerk expectation that everything about public policy must be consigned to liberal or conservative, us or them, is superficial and insufficient. Maybe, "Some women's health professionals are up in arms" would have been more informative and less ridiculous.

"The film boasts the best use of 3-D I have ever seen."

I've been meaning to write something about Martin Scorsese's new film Hugo, which I not only agree is the best use of 3D technology I've ever seen, but which is also beautifully crafted as a story, as Avant Greensboro's Joe Scott explains in his excellent review. It is easily the best movie I've seen in a long, long time.

One way to deal with paranoid delusions

GREENSBORO, NC -- What does one do when paranoid conspiracy theories lead one to hastily post a concocted fantasy? Delete it.

Lest the content of the link above change, here is the original, now deleted, post:

Channel 13 Blacks Out Conservative Council Members' Parting Words

Tonight, there was a ceremonial "changing of the guard" on the Greensboro City Council.  The old council briefly met; and the outgoing council members had a chance to offer remarks.  Then the new council was seated and sworn in.

But an interesting "mishap" took place.  I am told that Channel 13 did not televise the first portion of the meeting, but did televise the second portion.   The conservative council members' parting remarks were therefore blacked out of the live telecast.

Readers will remember that Channel 13 recently refrained from telecasting the video that had been produced by C4GC.  It appears that a pattern is emerging.  Apparently someone did not want the portion of the meeting focusing on Bill Knight, Danny Thompson and Mary Rakestraw to be telecast.

This matter needs to be investigated; and corrective measures need to be taken.  It was completely inappropriate to pull this stunt.  How many times have we seen Channel 13 block out portions of meetings in the past?

There will be more to say about the meeting later.  But rest assured that corrupt machine government is back.

An electronic correspondence machine

I really don't get the "can't do" attitude of a segment of modern Americans towards advances in society. I'm certain they'll be forgotten in the dust; nonetheless, it's interesting to see how the expectations of "crazy" optimism can come to be quite normal as illustrated by this 1967 film.

WFMY corrects plagiarism

GREENSBORO, NC - WFMY published a story last week attributed to one of their staff when it was, in vast majority, copied from another source. ""Written by Lauren Melvin" of WFMY, it said.

WFMY has changed the byline on the story, now attributing it to CNN.

Here is a screenshot of the original.

WFMY has a history of very low standards of journalism, including copying works from other sources and attributing them to WFMY. You'd think that something this basic would be covered in the radio & TV classes these reporters must have taken to earn their degrees but, ultimately, it's management—the news director and the station manager—who set the bar. This kind of correction is a step in the right direction, with a little oversight and encouragement, management should be able to eradicate plagiarism completely.

Greensboro drivers love to stop, contrary to the rules of the road

There are two situations under which Greensboro drivers seem uncertain about when to stop and when to go, choosing to stop instead and unnecessarily delaying traffic.

First, school buses on four lane roads.
Under North Carolina law, when you are approaching a stopped school bus from the opposite direction on a four lane road with a turn lane, you do not stop for the bus. Only vehicles following the bus must stop. I'm talking to you, Pisgah Church morning drivers. (You must stop on a four lane road without a turn lane or on any road less than four lanes with or without a turn lane.)

From the N.C. Driver's handbook, p. 47:

Second, the four-way stop.
Under North Carolina law (p. 56), the first person to arrive at a four way stop is the first to go. Drivers proceed through the stop in the order at which they arrive at the intersection. If multiple drivers arrive at the same time, the driver to your right has the right-of-way. She may, in turn, be waiting to yield to a driver to her right. If only two vehicles arrive at the same time facing each other and one wants to turn left, it must yield to the other.

It's awfully sweet of you, but please don't try to "wave" me through a four-way stop contrary to these rules. If I should collide with another vehicle while following your invitations to proceed out of turn, it won't matter that you waved me through—I'd still be at fault. So, please don't get flustered when I decline your gesticulated invitations, just follow the rules and we'll all be moving smoothly and safely.