EdCone.com

Lexington paper drops Monday edition.

Meanwhile, papers are bulking up on web sales staff...but their share of the local ad biz is down to just 27.4%.

Undoing Griswold: "The Bush Administration has ignited a furor with a proposed definition of pregnancy that has the effect of classifying some of the most widely used methods of contraception as abortion."

Previously, previously.

First Lutheran's struggle with auction rate securities makes BusinessWeek (thnx to alert reader JC for the pointer).

Bob Wilson: The N&O should cover the Enquirer's John Edwards story.

It seems to me that the Enquirer articles, and the national buzz around them, are stories unto themselves, regardless of the accuracy of the Enquirer's reporting and allegations.

UPDATE: Ask and ye shall receive. I hear the N&O is digging away on this story, even if the fruits of that labor are not yet visible.

I missed this story about High Point's Mary Fontaine and her grassless yard whilst on vacation, but it seems my hereditary lawn aversion is not so uncommon.

Homeowners' associations have their detractors, too.

A further thought on the death of dying in the obits: how can people say with such assurance that the dead, er, passed have gone to be with the Lord? Isn't that decision up to the Lord? Mightn't the Lord have some specific information about even the most righteous-seeming among us that would consign that person to Hell?

Seems to me the theology in these obits is as suspect as the vocabulary.

I hear that the Moses Cone-Wesley Long Community Health Foundation will join other local foundations in funding Action Greensboro, and that the economic development group will add community health to its list of priorities.

Lisa Scheer took this photograph on Sunday in Shartlesville, PA.

Previously.

Senator Richard Burr held a phone conference with bloggers this afternoon on energy policy (or lack thereof).

Short version: We need a comprehensive blueprint for energy independence, but debate in Congress is being stymied by Democrats who don't want to contradict Obama's positions. Drilling now would push down petroleum futures, which would provide near-term relief at the pump. Nuclear, alt-fuels, and conservation are parts of the long term solution. Prices of food and other consumer items will continue to rise.

After the jump, a closely-paraphrased version of Burr's opening statement and the Q&A that followed.

Mystery substance baffles scientists.

In 1957 my grandparents built one of the first houses in Browntown. I've mentioned its architecture here. Another distinguishing feature was that the large lot was unburdened by a single blade of grass.

The yard was beautiful and scrupulously maintained -- I spent a lot of hours working there myself -- with a mix that included ivy and pachysandra, rhododendron and boxwood, and many large trees.

My dad was no fan of grass, either, although he kept a bit in sunny parts of our yard. I've followed that pattern, delawning much of my own property and waging a passive-aggressive battle against the remaining turf.

Which brings me to this article by Elizabeth Kolbert, itself a handy reference guide to works that may help free your mind -- and your yard -- of the pernicious grass habit.

And yet our relationship to the Beautiful remains vexed. As the anti-lawnists correctly observe, the American lawn now represents a serious civic problem. That the space devoted to it continues to grow—and that more and more water and chemicals and fertilizer are devoted to its upkeep—doesn’t prove that we care so much as that we are careless.

Dole first to ditch funds from indicted Senator Stevens; Hagan campaign (in comments at TPM post) says she should give away more.

A music video created by Elijah and friends for Flobots' Handlebars. The high-res version looks good, if you feel like clicking through to see it.

Carole Perkins writes a multipart article on the Avett Brothers in Yes! Weekly.

The brothers, who are working with Rick Rubin on their next record, will play in Greensboro on Halloween night.

A positive review of the Proximity Hotel's green features.

I liked it for its hotel features.

Trouble in the land of the seven-figure teardown: a big machine topples into the basement of a soon-to-be-replaced house on Sunset Drive (click image to enlarge).

UPDATE: Another angle, thnx to alert reader EH.

Doug Clark makes a good point about the absolutism that dooms big-L Libertarians to the fringes, but it's not accurate to put Mike Munger in the same category.

From a column that ran in Doug's own paper:

[Munger] also risks the scorn of his own party by repudiating much of the "libertopian" rhetoric — you know, "Let's cancel the government tomorrow" — that keeps it on the fringes...

...He describes himself as "a pragmatic libertarian," convinced that government has a hard time doing things better than markets, but not that it's always bad. He is more interested in persuading others than in ideological purity...

...Much of his agenda, he confesses, makes him "a terrible Libertarian." Maybe. But it also makes him an important voice in a state that could use some fresh thinking.

Refuting myths about Obama's tax policies (via Glenn Reynolds).

The question back in December, when E*Trade unloaded its big basket of crap for about 27 cents on the dollar, was whether the deal set a price floor for distressed securities.

I guess not. Merrill's fire sale values its securities at about 22 cents on the dollar. Factor in ML's enormous loss in market cap over the intervening months, and hanging onto the junk looks like an even worse decision.

More: "Monday's deal is likely to set a precedent for other insurers and financial institutions that are facing steep losses from subprime mortgage securities created over the last few years."

"We have enough capital" has become the Wall Street CEO's version of "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

Orson Scott Card writes in the Rhino, "Because I oppose the legalization of 'gay marriage,' I am often attacked as a homophobe."

He's far too modest about his own oeuvre, which goes well beyond opposing gay marriage (and using quotation marks like latex gloves to avoid touching the icky term):

Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books, not to be indiscriminately enforced against anyone who happens to be caught violating them, but to be used when necessary to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society's regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society.

The goal of the polity is not to put homosexuals in jail.  The goal is to discourage people from engaging in homosexual practices in the first place, and, when they nevertheless proceed in their homosexual behavior, to encourage them to do so discreetly, so as not to shake the confidence of the community in the polity's ability to provide rules for safe, stable, dependable marriage and family relationships.

Previous citation here.

Lisa Scheer took this pic not long ago at Sprinkle Oil on Lee Street.

My first results with the new Cuil search engine were not very good.

Interesting to see how Cuil does as the bugs shake out, and users get accustomed to the presentation.

Who will be remembered as Bush's worst cabinet member? Rummy has to be the leader in the clubhouse, and the economic mess makes Snow a contender, but there's a case to be made for Gonzo.

Justice Dept report released.

The short version: "Senior aides to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales broke the law by using politics to guide their hiring decisions for a wide range of important department positions, slowing the hiring process at critical times and damaging the department’s credibility and independence."

The WSJ has a thumb-sucker on whether we are in a recession ("Maybe, maybe not") and a somewhat more relevant piece about the duration of whatever the current unpleasantness is called.

More useful: this NYT article about unfolding events in the real (i.e., non-economist-modeled) world: "Banks struggling to recover from multibillion-dollar losses on real estate are curtailing loans to American businesses, depriving even healthy companies of money for expansion and hiring."

Related: big deficit numbers.

Some female bloggers say they face a glass ceiling.

BlogHer is one way of addressing the problem; the conference road-show will hit Greensboro on October 18, as part of the ConvergeSouth weekend.

From the nation's leading business newspaper, three years ago today:

There is no housing bubble in this country...What we do have is a serious housing shortage and housing affordability crisis...Anyone waiting for prices to collapse before buying a home is likely to be in for a disappointment... housing prices are likely to cool off slowly, if at all.

This is good, too:

Sages from Warren Buffett to Alan Greenspan have warned of the increased risk from the use of new mortgage products, particularly adjustable-rate mortgages and interest-only mortgages. The theory here is that buyers are extending themselves to make payments, and when their mortgages reset they will be in trouble...these concerns are wildly overstated.

So we stopped for a Pennsylvania Dutch lunch in Shartlesville, PA, where the first inn opened in 1765 and thus probably saw earlier generations of Guilford County-bound travelers taking on much the same route we were taking home.

Anyway, when the waitress asked "have youse decided?," I asked about a side-dish: potato filling.

"It's like bread filling, but made with potatoes," she said, which was no help, since I was up to speed on the potato thing and needed an explanation of "filling."

I guessed that it was a regional variation of stuffing, and it pretty much is. Good, too.

For reasons involving the timing of a family birthday party and my work schedule, we made the 740-mile drive from VT in one day. Not as bad as it sounds, although I wouldn't choose to do it often, and a beautiful trip almost every mile of the way.

Battenkill River, near Arlington, VT, about three hours ago.

Stopped in after the river trip at Snow's Arlington Dairy Bar; chocolate malts are recommended.

Defending Heath Shuler's seat: maybe not such a big job after all.

Interesting times in NC10, too. It's not just that McHenry is something of a joke, Johnson is running a strong campaign.

JR on his paper's response to the John Edwards story: "[W]e got nothing to publish."

Pity the professional covering Howard Dean in GSO: "I'm all for citizen journalism (really!), but if you're going to wander into the scrum, could you at least observe some protocol? I can backpedal down a spiral staircase with three other guys I don't even like and still not spark fisticuffs. Can the cat lady with crochet-covered camera-phone please dig her elbows out of my spleen? I got a family to feed!"

Howard Dean rolls into GSO.

Munger will appear in at least one gubernatorial debate.

It's a start, but it's not enough.

Ahearn is good when she's disgusted, and the Lowe II case has given her a target-rich environment.

Regulation, intervention...everything old is new again.

Bill Gross:

PIMCO estimates a total of 5 trillion dollars of mortgage loans are in risky asset categories and that nearly 1 trillion dollars of cumulative losses will finally mark the gravestone of this housing bubble. The problem with writing off 1 trillion dollars from the finance industry’s cumulative balance sheet is that if not matched by capital raising, it necessitates a sale of assets, a reduction in lending or both that in turn begins to affect economic growth...

...the cost of credit is going up, not down, in contrast to prior cycles, because astute investors recognize the myriad of global imbalances that threaten future stability. In addition to home prices, $130 a barrel oil and their resultant distortion of global wealth and financial flows head that list. For now, investors should remain in high quality assets.

Related: "Disappointing housing data...a surprisingly bleak report from the Labor Department...no stabilization in sight for labor markets."

What the left does better online: report, rather than just opine.

Why they had to do it: the mainstream media was "browbeaten" into ineffectiveness.

Related, related.

Lisa Scheer took this photo three weeks ago in Carbondale, CO.

N&O has more on the big money flowing to McCrory from the RGA:

Most of it has come from a handful of contributors who have shown little or no interest in North Carolina politics in the past...

...McCrory has made a centerpiece of his campaign changing the culture of state government, which he says is controlled by big-money special interests. But his campaign is welcoming the association's help...

...One contributor, Dan L. Crippen, a consultant from Bethesda, Md. for Schaller Anderson, a health care company, said he did not know his $25,000 contribution was going toward the North Carolina governor's race.

Howard Dean will appear at a Register for Change rally at Greensboro's governmental plaza at noon on Friday.

Wake me up in November, please: "Political appointees at the Department of Labor are moving with unusual speed to push through in the final months of the Bush administration a rule making it tougher to regulate workers' on-the-job exposure to chemicals and toxins."

Down Home: Jewish Life in North Carolina, a documentary film, will premiere on October 19 at the Carolina Theatre in downtown Greensboro.

I might be in a few frames, but it should be good anyway.

Lorraine Ahearn advances the local urban chicken story: "A hearing on the city's rules for keeping chickens — and bees — is set for 5:30 p.m. Aug. 19 at City Hall."

Lisa Scheer took this photo recently in New York.

 

Liddy Dole's PAC has some high-dollar donors, many of them lobbying groups in DC (found Under the Dome).

UPDATE: Kay Hagan's supporters of similar ilk.

Buzz is building for the Wyndham Championship in GSO next month (thnx to alert reader JC for the link).

I notice that the tourney website has moved to the top of the Google rankings for "Wyndham Championship" -- it was about half-way down the page when I checked last week.

A more nostalgic view at the GGO blog.

If Wachovia was a cartoon character then Golden West would be the bomb hidden inside a giant piece of cake that it ate in one bite. Ka-pow!

A commenter at the QC daily says Charlotte would lose a lot if Wachovia gets bought. That's true, as people in Winston-Salem can tell you, and odds are good that Charlotte will find out what it feels like.

Meanwhile, a prediction that the housing swoon will last longer than previously anticipated.

The Republican Governors Association has a big pile of cash, and plans to use some of it to help Pat McCrory.

Looks like McCrory might enjoy a little home cooking from the Charlotte Observer, too.

Wanna be a pundit but too lazy to blog? The Dome has a place for you.

McCain and Obama oppose drilling in ANWR, Schwarzenegger opposes drilling off California, so a lot of the "drill now" talk is just...talk.

What I'd like to see is an energy plan presented on a simple chart, showing how different elements (including domestic production, nuclear, alternative fuels, conservation) fit together in a decade, two decades, and so on. Anyone seen something like that?