EdCone.com

Microsoft discontinues Encarta; Dave digs up a poor (and grammar-challenged) prediction.

The Al Franken Decade is still on hold. Cornyn says it may not start for years; other accounts say it could be sooner.

If Skip Alston published a website and took questions from readers, his claims of transparency in county government might carry some weight.

But he doesn't, so they don't. 

What we've got instead is an old-fashioned political boss who does what he damn well pleases.

Maybe it will all turn out to be a big April Fool's joke. On the other hand, "having a safe machine doesn't mean you're safe."

Welcome to life in Mendota — the unemployment capital of California. With a 41 percent jobless rate, the town's social fabric is tearing at the seams. Alcoholism and crime are on the rise. To save money, some mothers wash and re-use disposable diapers. Unemployed men with nothing to do wander the streets and sit on benches.

The irony is obvious: In a large swath of the nation's most productive farming region, many struggle to fill their own cupboards.

A bad drought is the primary problem, but lack of construction jobs and other work as a fallback is hurting, too.

An explanation of those recent bank profits. In the comments beneath the post, some pushback on how surprising or sinister the role of AIG is in this case.

A possible direction for investigative journalism.

Not every experiment will work. But some will.

What racing does, and could not do, for Martinsville.

For all the damage done to Greensboro's economy over the past couple of decades, things are worse in some nearby places. Photo of Martinsville (click to enlarge) by Lisa Scheer, 2007.

"If I'm corrupt, it's because I take care of my district." Oh, well, in that case, never mind.

I remember liking this book in third grade, and I remember that it involves a kid and the American Revolution, but that's about it.

I just bought a copy for my nephews. Hope that works.

GhostNet is scary.

More: "A vast electronic spying operation has infiltrated computers and has stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world."

I am very happy for, and about, this UNC basketball team.

And I'm going to enjoy this week.

There's something special about a team made up of seniors and juniors -- something we don't get to see that often anymore. This group of players has earned  a place in the Tar Heel pantheon.

Yes, Villanova is a tough match-up. At this point, everyone is. Including Carolina.

So until Saturday, I'm just going to be happy.

From the same fine folks who wanted to privatize Social Security:

Just months before the start of last year's stock market collapse, the federal agency that insures the retirement funds of 44 million Americans departed from its conservative investment strategy and decided to put much of its $64 billion insurance fund into stocks.

Switching from a heavy reliance on bonds, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation decided to pour billions of dollars into speculative investments such as stocks in emerging foreign markets, real estate, and private equity funds.

The agency refused to say how much of the new investment strategy has been implemented or how the fund has fared during the downturn...

But wait, there's no cause for alarm: "Charles E.F. Millard, the former agency director who implemented the strategy until the Bush administration departed on Jan. 20, dismissed such concerns. Millard, a former managing director of Lehman Brothers, said flatly that 'the new investment policy is not riskier than the old one.'"

"American drug users are fueling demand for the drugs."

Mexico is in big trouble.

Over the past year, the country’s top organized crime prosecutor has been arrested for receiving cartel cash, as was the director of Interpol in Mexico. The cartels even managed to slip a mole inside the United States Embassy. Those in important positions who have resisted taking cartel money are often shot to death.

Maybe we all need to rethink the approach to the problem:

Three years ago, the Mexican Congress passed a plan to decriminalize the possession of small quantities of cocaine and other drugs, but Vicente Fox, then the president, killed the bill after American officials raised an alarm. Mr. Calderón made a similar proposal last fall, albeit lowering the amounts still further, and this time American officials did not utter a peep.

A very Charlottean answer to musings that the QC's days as a boomtown are over: "That's crazy...I see Charlotte in a great position."

"American politics is returning to a long-forgotten state of preoccupation with banking." Interesting how populist distrust of the banks, a major theme in U.S. history that helped shape the modern presidency under Jackson and, generations later, launch the progressive era, is missing from much of today's rage rhetoric. Pretending that the "elites" who screw the common folk don't include the financiers is a game that worked well for a while, but it feels pretty dated now.

"Obamanomics recognizes that the only resource uniquely rooted in a national economy is its people -- their skills, insights, capacities to collaborate, and the transportation and communication systems that link them together. Public investment is the key to attracting long-term private investment so that a nation's people can prosper."

Robert Reich frames the "powerful animating idea" behind Obama's policies.

More: "[E]very nation faces an implicit choice of whether its strategic advantage will lie in low costs or high productivity. For the better part of the last three decades America's job strategy has tended toward the former. But this inevitably exerts downward pressure on the real wages of a larger and larger portion of our population."

Not unrelated: Newtogso comments on the Forbes ranking of Greensboro as a cheap place to do business; we're 115th for educational attainment.

It seems that the number one ranking of cost of doing business isn't necessarily a positive. That means we are cheapest...that means we are more likely to attract companies that value that aspect of our populace more so than our quality of life. It also means that we appear to be more likely to give away the farm in the form of developer and business incentives. Look at the cost of doing business in places like Seattle and Portland. Sure hurts their reputations don't it.

"Lights out for Billy Clyde." A post-mortem on Billy Gillispie's tenure as Kentucky's basketball coach. Matt Doherty is invoked. We are told, "this decision had little to do with wins and losses," and, two sentences later, that Gillispie might have survived if he'd won more. Item 4 is particularly damning. 341 comments and counting.

The annual ALS walk in Greenboro will be held Saturday, April 4.

Our family has participated for the past few years, and plans to do so again this time. You can sign up to walk, or just make a contribution, at the link above, or you can support my mom's team here.

"A whole generation of policy makers has been mesmerized by Wall Street, always and utterly convinced that whatever the banks said was true."

The Quiet Coup:

In its depth and suddenness, the U.S. economic and financial crisis is shockingly reminiscent of moments we have recently seen in emerging markets (and only in emerging markets)...

...But there’s a deeper and more disturbing similarity: elite business interests — financiers, in the case of the U.S. — played a central role in creating the crisis...More alarming, they are now using their influence to prevent precisely the sorts of reforms that are needed, and fast, to pull the economy out of its nosedive. The government seems helpless, or unwilling, to act against them...

...[J]ust as we have the world’s most advanced economy, military, and technology, we also have its most advanced oligarchy...the American financial industry gained political power by amassing a kind of cultural capital—a belief system.

Tyler Hansbrough, the ACC's all-time leading scorer, has a chance to move into 12th place on the NCAA scoring list if Carolina keeps winning. But even with longer seasons and four years of eligibility, nobody challenges #1. Many videos at YouTube, including this one, which highlights some phenomenal passes, and the one below.

"While many of its rivals are retrenching in the economic downturn, VF plans to open 70 stores this year–for a total of 759 stores worldwide–and may add more if conditions improve." Greensboro's last big company refines its retail strategy.

An endorsement (and clear explanation) of the Geithner plan, with caveats: "It doesn't represent the end of the crisis, not by a long shot. But it represents the beginning of something we should be applauding, not condemning: cold, hard reality."

"President Barack Obama unveiled a new war strategy for Afghanistan on Friday with a key goal -- to crush al Qaeda militants there and in Pakistan who he said were plotting new attacks on the United States." Apparently it's 2001 again. I'm going to buy a bunch of housing and banking stocks, and then sell them before the bubble pops.

I don’t think this is just a financial panic; I believe that it represents the failure of a whole model of banking, of an overgrown financial sector that did more harm than good. I don’t think the Obama administration can bring securitization back to life, and I don’t believe it should try.

Finance got too big and too powerful at the expense of the overall economy -- Wall Street's mystique was its most successful and dangerous product of the last quarter-century. But I don't know how much of the machinery we need to mothball to create a saner system. And I'm still wondering what replaces the chunk of GNP that finance once drove.

The state unemployment numbers are out, and they are not pretty: 10.7%, up a full percentage point from January.

When calling people "socialists" doesn't work, you go for the hard stuff. She may be taking this tea-party business a little too seriously.

Credit Cramer for being ahead of the curve on this one.

Movie set in Winston-Salem sounds interesting, probably won't show in Greensboro.

"The Blue Devils are no longer the Blue Devils. They’re just another good program. Good, not great. They don’t have what Duke is accustomed to having. They haven’t for years. When they get into the grown-men rounds of the NCAA tournament, they don’t stand a chance." One could say the same thing about their once-fearsome conference.

Another questionable Forbes list. How can so many North Carolina cities rank as "best places for business and careers" when the state unemployment rate is among the highest in the nation? Greensboro is said to be the cheapest place to do business, but educational attainment and projected job growth drag us down to 41st in the rankings.

Debbie Westmoreland and Eddie Murray, with Debbie's godmother, Mabel Loving Hall, on the night of the Page High School senior prom in 1970. The photo will be included in Lisa Scheer's upcoming show at the Greensboro Historical Museum, which incorporates pictures by Lisa and family photos from mill village residents. The exhibition, part of the ArtBeat festival, opens May 1 and will hang for the entire month; Piece Work, a theatrical adaptation of poems by Barbara Presnell, opens at the museum that same night.

"The economic downturn has exacerbated a troubling trend in North Carolina, [...] adding to the number of people without health insurance at the fastest pace in the nation." Awesome. We've been among the leaders in job-loss rates, too -- interesting to see how tomorrow's unemployment numbers look.

Sexting, overreaction, and pushback. Criminalizing this stuff is insane.

"Science is not a matter of opinion; it is a question of data. Climate change is an issue for which Dyson is asking for more evidence, and leading climate scientists are replying by saying if we wait for sufficient proof to satisfy you, it may be too late." Freeman Dyson looks at the cost/benefit analysis and says the cost of limiting carbon is too high.

This is getting serious: Brenda Starr to be furloughed.

John Hope Franklin, RIP.

Chasing the bad guys, 7.25 years after Tora Bora:

U.S. and Pakistani intelligence officials are drawing up a fresh list of terrorist targets for Predator drone strikes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border...

...Underlining the fragility of the situation, the U.S. believes Pakistan's top intelligence agency is directly supporting the Taliban and other militants in Afghanistan.

"The White House is open for questions." Interesting to see how they filter 100K submissions, and how the quality of the discussion differs from the standard press con.

A prescient 1998 warning about the consequences of the Glass-Steagall's repeal (thnx to alert reader JC for the pointer).

New rules on the way. Wall Street's role.

Previously: Repeal, consequences, spin.

I'd say the best seat in the Dean Dome is whichever one I'm invited to sit in, but opinions vary.

Hagan's heroes: "Mr. Bayh's centrist coalition underscores the fact that many of the party's gains have come from the South, Midwest and Mountain West, and its new lawmakers reflect the conservatism of those regions."

Hagan press release on budget letter.

A list of newspapers worth acquiring includes the Roanoke Times, but not its sister company in Greensboro.

Whenever I find myself wondering about the future of journalism, a little voice chimes in, "Yer looking at it, pal."

Newspapering in Carrboro.

Transparency, Guilford County style, is not very.

Facebook responds to critiques of its redesign.

Arrington: Don't build a camel.

C. Yvonne Thomas of Jamestown writes the N&R: "Hagan captured a Senate seat riding the coattails of President Obama. Now, safely seated, she has become one of the 'ConservaDems,' so-called by the media because they are not supporting Obama."

I've written a couple of newspaper columns over the years about the value of the Greensboro Coliseum as a marketing and branding tool for the city, over and above the money it brings in to local merchants. Here's a take on that subject from Columbia, SC, which is left off the NCAA host-city list because of the Confederate flag flying at the State House.

For an NCAA basketball event, the host city essentially opens its front door and asks visitors to drop cash at area hotels and restaurants. The NCAA covers all expenses...

...Greensboro, a city comparable in size to Columbia, has been hosting NCAA basketball regionals and the ACC tournament off and on for decades. Basketball fans around the country know Greensboro as a mid-sized city in North Carolina that is basketball crazed.

All the money Columbia has doled out for music festivals and new slogans would come back in spades with just one weekend of NCAA tournament basketball.

Legislation filed Tuesday would let cities and counties open their local Alcoholic Beverage Control stores and allow restaurants and bars to serve liquor on Sundays.

The recession is buoying the bill's prospects. The longstanding resistance to selling distilled spirits on Sunday may weaken in a state grasping for revenue.

Makes sense to me, at least on the restaurant front. The state should not impose religious rules on private businesses.

GSO native Heather Sullivan works for the Humane Society of the U.S. She's in Canada this week for her job as PR manager of the Stop the Seal Hunt campaign. Below, the first video from the hunt.

UPDATE: Here's the column by Roubini and Richardson. "With this plan, it will still be a hard swim, but, at least, there is a path to shore."

Roubini kinda likes the cash-for-trash plan. Let's hope this positive take turns out to be as accurate as his negative ones.

Of course, positivity is a relative thing: "Mr. Roubini believes that the Treasury's plan does not preclude nationalization at all. Rather, he said, it will help to clear the way to full government takeover of some troubled institutions."