EdCone.com

Tax burdens in NC cities (via Piedmont Publius).

Photo by Lisa Scheer. Click image to see a larger version.

Jim Schlosser, the Energizer bunny of Greensboro journalism.

One of the good guys.

Polinsky and Guarino ponder GPD's new shift policy.

Sue: "[W]as the change made to make some police officers happy or was it done in accordance with what’s best to reduce and control crime in Greensboro?"

Joe: "[T]the police union wanted stable shifts so much that it was willing to trade the racial allegations against Wray to get them."

Certainly the Greensboro Police Officers Association has been vocal on the subject. After the release late last year of this memo from the GPOA Schedule Committee, President Eddy Summers wrote Chief Bellamy: "As I have stated to you in the past, if you choose to retain the 4/4 schedule and stop rotating, I will guarantee to you and the City that self-initiated activity and productivity will go up in the patrol ranks."

Mark Kleiman on the doomed-to-continue-failing "War on Drugs", and some sensible solutions: The reforms needed to achieve these ambitious goals are radical rather than incremental. But they are not simple, or all of a piece, or in any one of the directions defined by current arguments around American dinner tables, on American editorial pages or in American legislative chambers.

Jews criticizing Jews for criticizing Israel.

My take on it from 2002: "These days, it's tough to criticize Israeli policy, or to express any sympathy for the Palestinian people, without being called an anti-Semite. At least that is the case in America. Israelis freely criticize their own government and its actions, but to many in the United States, Jews and non-Jews alike, all debate over Israeli policy is defamation."

Bob Moser opens his long article on the Democrats and the variegated South in Greensboro, 1972, but definitely is not stuck in the past.

Democrats who bucked the script and offered Southerners a frank, unqualified brand of economic populism in 2006 were more successful than the Clinton clones...

...The populist resurgence of 2006 suggests a way past the false dilemma Democrats have long believed they faced: Either ditch the South, or try to compete there with a "me too" message. Rather than attempt to "neutralize" the GOP Southern strategy by mimicking it, Webb, Yarmuth and McCaskill--all strongly prochoice, antiwar and outspokenly opposed to wedge issues like anti-gay marriage initiatives and restrictions on stem-cell research--reasserted economic fairness as the central "moral" issue of politics...

...An emphasis on the "value" of economic fairness (along with other Democratic issues popular with moderate evangelicals, including environmental stewardship) could help bridge those moral and pragmatic concerns--and help Democrats forge a new progressive coalition that cuts through racial divisions.

Related.

43: The Petty Story makes the Onion AV Club's Films That Time Forgot series.

Time may have forgotten it, but I haven't -- I saw it at the theater with my Petty-loving father.

Joe Biden on Barack Obama: "“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”

Not that he was going anywhere as a presidential candidate anyway, but that should just about do it for Biden.

UPDATE: The audio is somewhat less damning, but he should know that "articulate" is a loaded word...and he was a non-starter in the first place.

From a City press release (full document after the jump): "The City of Greensboro has hired Circa, Inc., a Raleigh consulting firm, to update Greensboro’s survey of historic architecture...The data collected will become part of the City’s Geographic Information System, which is used by city planners in neighborhood and land use planning activities... Funded by a $12,500 matching grant from the federal Historic Preservation Fund, the new survey will update a previous survey conducted in 1990."

Circa website.

Previously.

NYT front-pager: "Tobacco’s Stigma Aside, Wall Street Finds a Lot to Like."

The article deals mostly with Altria, and its sale of Kraft, but it should resonate closer to home.

"For all the industry’s apparent troubles, however, the future of cigarettes appears to be brighter than ever...Cigarettes have certain advantages over other consumer products, not the least of which is that they are addictive. They are inexpensive to make, require almost no innovation, there is a global market for them, and cigarette makers can raise prices without seeing much of a drop in business.

"On top of all that, a recent string of court decisions has convinced investors that the worst of the litigation against tobacco companies is over."

The Vice Fund, mentioned in the article, "invests in tobacco, gambling, alcohol and military contractors." 

Oops, they did it again.

Seriously, N&R, and for the second year in a row: if you are going to review wings, why not skip the crap from one of the national chains and write about something really good and local?

Minj was closed for renovations earlier this month, but that doesn't seem like an excuse for two years of neglect.

UPDATE: I, too, am willing to drink some beer and taste some wings, if only in the service of journalism and the spirit of fair play.

Scoble killed the annoying pop-ups on his page.

Thanks, Scoble.

So...I gather there was a "North Carolina Progressive Bloggers Conference" this weekend?

Matt knew about it.

Pretty sure I'm in North Carolina. Guess I'm not progressive enough.

The Iraq War De-escalation Act of 2007. "It is time for us to fundamentally change our policy."

            

Amanda Marcotte, aka Amanda from Pandagon, joins the Edwards campaign as webmaster.

I'm scheduled to be on the Brad & Britt show tomorrow morning at 8:10, talking about the Guilford College story.

101.1 on your FM dial; call in at 866-482-1011.

Reuters: "U.S. scientists felt pressured to tailor their writings on global warming to fit the Bush administration's skepticism, in some cases at the behest of an ex-oil industry lobbyist, a congressional committee heard on Tuesday."

Doug Clark and Hoggard criticize the Truth and Rec Project folks for jumping into the Guilford mess.

Hoggard: "Such a group, having adopted ‘truth’ as not only part of their name but also lists 'truth-seeking' as their stated goal, has absolutely no business making such statements without knowing - really knowing - all of the facts in advance.  They are jumping, all Nifong-like, into something that could very well come back to bite them in their pre-judgemental buttocks."

Note that this is the support group, not the TRC itself -- example number 7,482 of why the TR Project should have changed its name.

UPDATE: Also jumping the gun on the hate thing: the rabbis from Temple Emanuel. I appreciate the outreach to the Palestinians, that's important, and I like the understanding of the impact of the event on a Quaker-flavored community, but they are a little early on the "hatred" stuff. Also, as a lifelong member of Temple Emanuel, and a friend and fan of both men, I must say I'm not crazy about the presumption of speaking "On behalf of the Temple Emanuel community."

Inside Higher Ed has an interesting article about Quaker colleges, although it neglects to mention my favorite one; includes a look at the Guilford incident.

I've been wondering about the fight at Guilford, and the definition of a "hate crime."

If I beat up someone of a given ethnicity because of their ethnicity, it's a hate crime. But if, in the course of beating them for another reason, I use a slur against their ethnicity, is it just a fight?

Schaller on the supposed sellout of Cheney: "Somebody, after all, has to pay for the complete collapse of the Republican majority and the conservative agenda. And since Bush himself has never paid the price of his own failures in life, it is Cheney who will pay for them next."

Tierney vs the doomsayers: "Dr. Rees is not a knee-jerk technophobe — he expects great advances as researchers around the world link their knowledge — but he fears that progress will be undone by what he calls the new global village idiots..."

A high-tech witch hunt in Connecticut?

Porn, substitute teachers, clueless townspeople, and Windows 98 -- a volatile combination.

Fish without hemoglobin, thirty-foot waves, and dry scientist humor (I am sure he is grateful for the added experience and leadership opportunities this presents him...) as biologist Peter Bushnell writes from the research ship HMDS Vaedderen near Antarctica; his dispatches are posted at this IUSB blog.

Sandy Carmany pushes back against the fractious-Triad meme. Doth she protest too much?

Related.

Lisa took this pic on Lee Street. Click the image to see a larger version of the image.

N&R's Jim Young gets some love from stats guru Ken Pomeroy for this article about Dook's defense.

Okay, Young cites KPom in the story. But still. Dook plays tough D. Young wrote a good piece. And Pomeroy is a mad genius.

His stats paint a rosy picture for Carolina, too.

As some folks in Greensboro ponder the benefits of paying our mayor for the work he already does, Raleigh also considers making the job full-time.

Here's the N&O story TAP quotes, and the WRAL story, too. Props to Pearce and Wrenn for adding comments to their site...next, I hope, links.

John Robinson: Why I said "no comment" to Jerry Bledsoe.

University of Pennsylvania veterinary medicine message board for the late racehorse Barbaro.

Many a video at YouTube.

Deadspin coverage of the letters-to-a-horse phenomenon. Sample message (from when he was still alive): "Barbaro, wanted to say hello again. I keep thinking & praying 4 U! U R my inspiration. Stay STRONG & Keep FIGHTING CHAMP!!!!"

What now? Clarifying Christianity: "[T]he Bible is silent regarding an afterlife for animals."

Possible alternatives to horse heaven.

Hoggard says the upcoming free concert in Greensboro, featuring Chris Daughtry and Athenaeum, shows GSO to be "one very promotable city and not a just a bunch of scattered-point-of-interest fiefdoms."

Things you can do in .6 seconds in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Previously.

The State of North Carolina is buying Chimney Rock park.

And for less than half the original asking price. Good.

Update: I am worried about Mr. Sun. Is he ill? Will nobody click on the photo and make the Ben Grimm erection joke here?

Not so fast, David Kurtz -- you scorn the Bush administration's plan to block sunlight, but overlook the fact that exactly such a plan has already been executed.

Sean Coon reports from the DC anti-war demonstration. Dancing protestors and a soldier's wife. Good stuff.

TPM: "The Vice President of the United States refuses to divulge who works in his office...These are people on the public payroll. Wouldn't you say the public is entitled to know?...It's about a perverse sense of entitlement and a deep aversion to scrutiny and accountability. It is anti-democratic."

N&R's Amy Dominello catches up with formerly-homeless GSO blogger Michael Brown.

After a February article in the News & Record drew attention to the blog, people from around the world offered both critical and positive comments on the blog.

Brown was amazed by the response. For him, blogging was therapeutic.

The blog has changed as Brown's life has. His focus went from homelessness to being poor in the Triad.

It's still a form of therapy, but he does it less these days. He's thinking about stopping because he can't find the time or an Internet connection to post updates. Besides, Brown said, his main goal has been accomplished.

He wanted to let others know what it was like to be homeless.

Over time, his own stereotypes have changed. "Homelessness is bad, but the homeless aren't necessarily so," he said.

NYT says the quickly-debunked double smear of Obama and Hillary "illustrates how easily dubious and politically charged information can spread through the constant chatter of cable news commentary, talk radio programs and political Web sites."

More: "John Moody, a senior vice president at Fox News, said its commentators had erred by citing the Clinton-Obama report. 'The hosts violated one of our general rules, which is know what you are talking about,' Mr. Moody said...hosts of morning television programs and an evening commentator on the Fox News Network nevertheless devoted extensive discussion to Insight’s Clinton-Obama article, as did Rush Limbaugh and other conservative talk radio hosts."

Following the Death Star meme, I notice an uptick in Carolina-hatred on sports blogs in the wake of yesterday's undressing of Arizona.

I Dislike Your Favorite Team refers to "easily hateable, baby eating, dirty UNC."

Deadspin says, "I hate it when UNC is this good," noting that AZ saw this as "a game where they could prove that they were still a team to be reckoned with. And that's true, if by 'reckoned with,' you mean 'humiliated in front of a national audience.'"

Critical Sports is impressed, too, if less overtly haterific.

The hatred is a beautiful thing, because it is rooted in fear. Bwahahaha.

Other than the facts, though, what did she get wrong?

Michael Pollan in the NYT mag:

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.       

That, more or less, is the short answer to the supposedly incredibly complicated and confusing question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy...Once, food was all you could eat, but today there are lots of other edible foodlike substances in the supermarket. These novel products of food science often come in packages festooned with health claims, which brings me to a related rule of thumb: if you’re concerned about your health, you should probably avoid food products that make health claims. Why? Because a health claim on a food product is a good indication that it’s not really food, and food is what you want to eat.

Your tax dollars at work. Just not very hard at work.

N&O: After being paid roughly $80,000 for 20 months of work, state House Historian Ann Lassiter produced one completed report -- a 23-page history of the speaker's office that is filled with grammatical errors and makes factual blunders...

...[Former Speaker Jim] Black quietly made Lassiter, 61, of Apex, the House's first historian in May 2005 after she had gotten into trouble serving as the House page coordinator...

..."If you are offered a job making $50,000 a year that happens to have had limited responsibilities, is it your fault for accepting it?" she said."

Nice graphic, too, with the inset shot of the wafer-thin volume.

NYT map: Four Strategies for Saving Baghdad

Lisa shot this in GSO last week. Click image to enlarge.

Listening to George W. Bush deliver his penultimate State of the Union address on Tuesday night, I thought about Shakespeare's line that "some have greatness thrust upon them." Just our luck to get a president who pushed it away.

My newspaper column continues after the jump.

A Little Urbanity posts a letter to Bruce Nelson, Chairman and CEO of Office Depot, asking him to honor his company's stated policies of "good corporate citizenship [and] positive social impact" in Greensboro's Fisher Park and Aycock neighborhoods. There's video, too...

Update: Percy Walker suggests that the neighborhoods take a tougher tone.

Garry Wills: "We used to take pride in civilian leadership of the military under the Constitution, a principle that George Washington embraced when he avoided military symbols at Mount Vernon."

Wright and Ginyard out sick, and Carolina still hands Lute his worst-ever loss at Arizona's McKale Center.

WSJ: "The emergence of viable black, Hispanic and female presidential candidates -- combined with unprecedented pressure for campaign donations -- is drawing a new generation of female and minority donors to the intensifying contest for cash among 2008 Democratic aspirants."