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North Carolina is the lead example in the NYT's front-pager about redistricting woes for Democrats.

Love is the Answer: Rally Against Amendment One

Saturday, April 28

Governmental Plaza, downtown Greensboro

Games and food from 11AM-1:30PM

Rally at 2Pm

Music by Ivy Sky

A second significant public event against Amendment One has come and gone in Greensboro without a single word or photo in the News & Record. 

That's twice in four days that the local daily has completely ignored meaningful local news about a hot-button statewide issue.

As reported yesterday, people are floating various theories about the paper's lack of coverage. I tend toward my usual explanation: they fired too many people and lack the reporting muscle to do anything close to comprehensive daily journalism anymore. 

Depressing in any case. 

A bunch of college students showed up at the Guilford County Courthouse this afternoon to vote against Amendment One. Groups from Bennett and A&T rolled in just after I finished voting.

Having the chorus of "Vote Against Amendment One" in my head was helpful as I pondered the ballot.

At the rally outside in the plaza, I spoke to some people about the N&R's complete lack of coverage -- zero, zip, nada -- of Monday night's big rally against A1 at College Park Baptist Church. I heard theories (the publisher nixed it, they don't want to cover one side unless the other side has a comparable event, Gauger just blew it). Let's see if the large crowd of young people gathering right down the street from their offices makes tomorrow's paper.

Four construction workers and I had a good talk by the plaza. One was firm in his belief that the Bible ruled out gay marriage. I talked about the civil union ban. I don't know that anyone changed their minds but it was a conversation, not an argument.

I hear teevee ads are on the way, and a serious GOTV effort is happening as well.

Meet your new City attorney, Mujeeb Shah-Khan.

Press release after the jump.

It's a shame that the new design for Hamburger Square park includes no benches. 

Park benches are nice.

So are many homeless people, for that matter.

Luck Davidson took this pic today at the Guilford County Courthouse, where early voting for the May 8 primary (including the awful Amendment One) has, in theory, begun. 

Things should be more lively this afternoon, when students are scheduled to arrive en masse from UNCG [update, per Luck: the voting event includes other local colleges too].

I found the Standard Tools and Equipment blog referenced in the previous post via the BizJournal's Triad BizBlog, which has been live for quite some time but about which I have known only since yesterday.

The BJ has always done good work, but it's largely invisible online and I often forget it exists, so I'm happy to have a way to follow it more regularly.

Another interesting slide in yesterday's presentation showed unit labor cost trends in several countries over the past decade, with the US line being the flattest and lowest. This is sucky for Americans hoping for the occasional raise, but should make us more competitive in a global economy (although, if I read the slide correctly, it showed just trends and not numbers, so we're still more expensive than many other places, just relatively more affordable than we used to be). 

Anyway, this morning's happy news about Ashley Furniture in Davie County reminded me of this old post about the ebb and flow of manufacturing as global markets shift. Sources in the textile industry tell me not to expect that business to return in force to our shores, but furniture may be more promising. 

And on the same general topic, here's a post from Michael Kestler, CEO of Greensboro's Standard Tools and Equipment Co., explaining his decision to off-shore some manufacturing. 

Dear Pat McCrory,

Do you oppose civil unions for same-sex couples in North Carolina, now and forever?

Because the constitutional amendment you say you'll vote for next month would take the possibility of civil unions off the table in North Carolina.

You believe marriage is between a man and a woman.

But Amendment One goes far beyond a ban on gay marriage. It rules out civil unions as well.

You don't want to talk about this amendment, but voters deserve an answer from the man who would be Governor.

Please talk to us, Pat. 

Do you oppose civil unions for North Carolinians, now and forever?

I saw a couple of startling (to me, at least) charts at an economic forecasting presentation this morning in DC. One showed the very high level of debt at Chinese companies, which Oxford Economics chairman John Walker likened to the debt loads carried by Japanese firms before the Lost Decade.

The other showed that Spain's huge housing bubble still has a long way to deflate before prices return to the trend line.

Also interested to hear that North America could reach energy independence in 10-15 years. 

The tone was sober but not entirely bleak. Things look cheerier for the US and BRICS than the Eurozone, but potential bogeyman (e.g., oil shocks, a hard landing in China) still lurk in the wings.

...adding, I should mention that I am an employee of Oxford Economics, which hosted the event.

Joe Guarino, one of Greensboro's longest-running and most prolific bloggers, is hanging up his keyboard. 

He made high-volume blogging look easy, which it's not.

Home. Dog seems glad to see me.

GSO airport wifi works pretty well for airport wifi. It may help that competition for bandwidth is not intense.

Not the crime but the coverup, chapter the Nth:

The chairman of the state Democratic Party is expected to resign after an avalanche of top elected officials called for his ouster Tuesday amid revelations that he authorized a secret agreement to pay a former staffer to keep quiet after making sexual harassment allegations.

"Arnold and Wade said that how many meetings Conrad attended is beside the point."

Sorry, wrong answer.

We were looking for, "Having made a point about how many meetings Conrad attended, we are mortified to learn he was not even on the task force in question, and apologize to both Justin Conrad and the voters of District 27 for our shoddy attack ad."

UPDATE: A softer version makes the print edition: "The city attorney disagrees with the tourism bureau’s interpretation of the state law that governs the use of the tax. Interim City Manager Denise Turner Roth and Fourrier will meet today to discuss the issue."

/update

So if we can't use hotel taxes to fund a downtown performing arts center...then what?

Is this one attorney's opinion, or kind of the last word?

Tom Friedman named Wanker of the Decade.

Now, about that silent vigil...

Pat McCrory says he'll vote for Amendment One, that he believes marriage is between a man and a woman, and that he doesn't want to discuss the issue any further.

That's not good enough.

Does McCrory support a ban on any kind of civil union other than marriage between a man and a woman?

Because that's a clearly-stated objective of this amendment.

The presumptive GOP gubernatorial nominee needs to be just as clear with the voters of North Carolina.

Does he oppose any sort of civil union law? And is he comfortable with the amendment's wording as written, and the possible outcomes that are headlining political discussions across the state?

We deserve firm answers, Pat. I hope what's left of the political press in North Carolina will push hard to get them.

One major underlying issue that surfaced during the noise-ordinance debate is the lack of trust and communication between many small downtown businesses and the city's power structure, including DGI. 

Now that the ordinance is settled, at least for the moment, what's being done about this long-simmering problem?

Two new versions of Vote Against Amendment One, by Evan Olson.

You've got your spiritual, and your rock. Tasty.

Big rally against Amendment One last night at College Park Baptist Church. 

I figured on linking to the N&R coverage this morning. But there isn't any coverage of the event in the local daily.

Photo here of state NAACP president William Barber joining a group singing Vote Against Amendment One.

Here's some footage from a Winston-Salem teevee station.

UPDATE: Video here. A noise-issue speaker at around 1:20, topic resumes for real at 1:31, Carroll just after 3:00. /update

Big crowd for the City Council noise rules debate tonight.

Roy Carroll speaks after a guy [Matty Sheets] advocating a limit of 250,000 decibels and before him a lot of other antis. Carroll says, I have an obligation to speak up. This didn't start when I moved downtown. I did the good neighbor thing, I called Mr. Efird, this was spring and summer of 2010. The issue has been ongoing. The content, explicit and pornographic songs being broadcast [derisive laughter from the gallery] I have the lyrics written down. We can't regulate content. People coming out of Triad Stage with their kids and grandkids have to listen to this garbage.

He is followed by David McLean of King's English, who says it's a creative culture issue, and some limits make sense but maybe this case can be mediated.

[Disclaimer, ripped off from the estimable Dr. Weinberger: "NOTE: Live-blogging. Getting things wrong. Missing points. Omitting key information. Introducing artificial choppiness. Over-emphasizing small matters. Paraphrasing badly. Not running a spellpchecker. Mangling other people’s ideas and words. You are warned, people."]

Talk talk talk.

Read the whole thing after the jump.

Not Right NC has one simple mission, to defeat Amendment One at the polls on May 8, 2012. It's not consistent with Republican values, and it's just not right.

Republicans Against NC Amendment One.

Dinner outside at the Burger Spot. Bliss.

We used to go away at the end of April every year and when we came back in early May our last azaleas would be in bloom. This year they'll be long gone by then, but they sure make it nice to sit on the deck after work.

Yesterday my mom and Luna and I walked the greenway from Lewis Center to the Battleground. What a great amenity that trail network is going to be for this city.

It's all fun and games til the mosquitoes show up.

 “Our Constitution is for guaranteeing rights, not taking them away."

-- Bev Perdue, speaking out against Amendment 1, which would make civil unions unconstitutional in North Carolina.

Thnx to KG for the pointer.

Another broadband map, and an article on efforts by states to bring connectivity to underserved areas: "High-speed Internet plays a key role as regions compete to attract employers and encourage participation in today’s global economy." 

We're doing OK but much of VA looks like an internet desert.

Thnx to BH for the link.

You can vote here daily through 4/26 for Often Awesome, The Series, which is up for a Webby award.

Help this powerful, locally-produced series about Tim LaFollette's fight with ALS beat out competitors like Sundance Channel and PBS.

Press release and details after the jump.

Good thing for the NCDP that it's not an election year, huh?

D.R. Horton’s policy taps into lingering concerns among critics that fracking will exploit the environment and harm the public.

Protecting North Carolinians from powerful out-of-state interests should be a priority for legislators working on fracking regulations.

The Mississippi personhood vote showed how quickly public opinion can shift on a hot-button cultural issue.

It could happen with North Carolina's bad Amendment 1.

But where's the big campaign to jumpstart the movement?

Word-of-mouth and word-of-web are powerful stuff, but some big media and GOTV effforts could make a real difference in the next three weeks. 

Tick, tick, tick...

Invoking tradition when discussing marriage is a dangerous game, because social norms and legal rules change over time. 

Traditional marriage in the United States once deprived women of rights we now take for granted.

Biblical marriage often was polygamous.

And then there's this NC marriage amendment from an earlier era: "All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent to the third generation, are hereby forever prohibited."

Fortunately, "forever" did not turn out to be forever.

Even a major supporter of Amendment 1 sees a limited future for the proposed ban on civil unions. So why bother with it in the first place?

Allen Johnson's column today is headlined "Gay marriage debate may signal shift in black attitudes." 

This is an article of state-wide importance, but it's hidden in the Google-proof vault. That limits distribution and also keeps readers from across North Carolina -- people who are never going to subscribe to the GSO paper, in print or online -- from noticing the N&R website. What a waste.

A map showing Greensboro's digital divide.

Click here to see the interactive map with census data.

[A] third large wind farm project is in the pipeline, indicating persistent interest in wind development in this state despite longstanding frustrations and obstacles.

Article here.

I took this pic last year in Sicily, where wind-farming comes with a colorful story. 

QC airport undergoing massive expansion, RDU getting non-stop to SFO, GSO introduces...free wifi.

Nothing wrong with our airport that a booming regional economy wouldn't fix. 

Detail from a large wall painting by Houston Patton, on view for a couple of weeks in the space next to Escape Artist on South Elm St.

Sorry for the horribly lit phone-cam shot, you should go see this stuff live.

An abundance of applicants for the City Manager's job, annexation explanations, and GSO wins a lawsuit, all in your weekly report from the CM.

Free wifi makes the GSO airport more user-friendly, although it's hardly a trailblazing move in 2012.

Focusing on customers makes sense, but as long as there are tumbleweeds on the runways PTI is going to have issues.

North Carolina is competing with the world for business, he said, and "we have to be inclusive and open."

Speaking this morning in Charlotte, Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers compared Amendment 1 to Jim Crow laws.

Jeffrey Dean Foster covers Vote Against Amendment One.

I'm looking forward to the rap, soul, and punk versions. 

Also: polka, metal, glam, and plainsong.

John Hammer says it's a "ridiculous argument" for the folks at Greene Street to claim they "should be able to play their music just as loud as the equipment can produce all night long if they so desire" and that the club "demands as its right [...] that it be allowed to play music as loud as it wants outdoors on its rooftop at any hour of the day or night."

He's right, that is ridiculous.

But has anybody but John Hammer ever said anything like that about the noise issue?

My first reaction to Autobahn as a middle-schooler was probably "needs more guitars," but it is hypnotic and proved to be influential. Also, German is funny.

I would like to have seen Kraftwerk at MOMA, although I probably don't own enough black to attend.

A forum on Amendment 1, Tuesday 4/17, at Greensboro College.

A cover version of the song Vote Against Amendment One.

And another big media view of the NC vote:

[T]he passage or defeat of marriage equality isn’t just about weddings. It’s about worth. It’s about the message a society delivers to men who love and pledge commitment to and maybe start families with other men, and to women who love and pledge commitment to and maybe start families with other women.

John Edwards in exile:

He said, "I did a horrendous thing, but I don’t know why I’m getting such an unforgiving treatment when you think of what other people have done.'"

Objective standards are hard to apply when differentiating between charming rogues and unforgivable cads, but fathering a child while cheating on one's widely-beloved dying wife probably tips the scales.

A job listing for the News & Record: 

We’ve had long enough to talk about the need for print newsrooms to reinvent themselves. Let’s just do it. Like do it now. Do it with us as the Digital Motor at News-Record.com in Greensboro, N.C.

Nice that they're hiring in any capacity, and that online is getting some love. Now, if they also could add a couple of reporters...

Our local Quaker college is bringing one of the more awful cheerleaders for one of our more awful wars to back to town.

Do students at Quaker colleges still have silent vigils to support Quaker values?

Because I might join a protest outside a Tom Friedman appearance.

Retroactive irony points for his bubble analogy.

Donald Trump is very good at getting attention, but a lot of that attention is not very positive.

The NC GOP seems to be betting on entertainment value, which, to be honest, is not a bad bet in this culture.

Jeff Sykes writes about his grandmother, Mary Lawson, who died Sunday at 89. Nice photo, too.