EdCone.com

Good to see that the N&R is filling Binker's position.

I spoke with Jeff Gauger recently about the paper's future. He came across as clear-eyed about the opportunities and limitations he faces. Not sure I told him anything he didn't know, but at least I turned him on to the UHOP. 

The Friday before July 4 would seem an excellent time to dump some bad news into a memo, but there's not much drama in this week's report from the City Manager.

A libertarian says we should have gone with a single-payer system.

Germany's insurance-based system seems to work well.

Goat night at AFCC has been postponed til the end of July.

Previously: A micro-review.

Alert reader Dave Ribar linked to this video in this thread. 

Questions for further study:

• Could a network teevee show for kids make a casual reference to evolution in 2012?
• Does the competence of pop songs produced for silly teevee shows (see also: The Monkees, Lonely Island shorts (NSFW)) relative to actual songs from the parodied genres reveal something about those genres?

What would we talk about if we couldn't talk about the weather?

Awesome factoid of the day for persons of a certain age: "The chimpanzee that played Lancelot Link—who was essentially a chimpanzee that was supposed to be the same as Agent 86, Don Adams on Get Smart—is still alive."

UPDATE: SCOTUS blog covers the news:

The individual mandate survives as a tax...It's very complicated, so we're still figuring it out...

The bottom line: the entire ACA is upheld, with the exception that the federal government's power to terminate states' Medicaid funds is narrowly read.

/update

In anticipation of the Supreme Court decision, a look at how the GOP came to hate its own health-care policy.

Home. Dog seems glad to see me.

Our office moved to Hanover Square, so I stayed downtown last night. Walked the Battery this morning, had breakfast overlooking the WTC memorial. That's one of the pools reflected at the bottom of the pic at left.

Nice day to sit in a conference room.

Here's a passage from the NCGOP resolution against Agenda 21 (full text after the jump):

The United Nations Agenda 21 is being covertly pushed into local communities throughout the United States of America through the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), implementing local “sustainable development” policies such as “Smart Growth”, “Wildlands Projects”, “Resilient Cities”, “Regional Visioning Projects” and other “Green” or “Alternative” projects.

Here's Pat McCrory tweeting his proud support for the resolution.

And here's Pat McCrory talking about "sustainable business...sustainable infrastructure...sustainable process," and here he is lauding "smart growth," and here's a chat about regional visioning, and, well, you get the idea. 

So was McCrory working for the One Worlders at the UN, or was he merely their dupe?

Much more likely: The sensible Guilford County native was discussing sensible ideas of the sort that made him the popular mayor of a business-friendly city.

The real question is, what kind of governor would Pat be? The guy who ran Charlotte, or the one who panders to conspiracy theorists?

We'd better hurry up and pass that law against rising sea levels before it's too late: "This acceleration refers to increasing rates of sea level rise, not to the rate of sea level rise alone.”

Elsewhere has of late brought in over $200K in grants from foundations with national footprints.

That's good for South Elm Street's quirky art thing, and also good for Greensboro. 

It's been a tough couple of decades for workers here in North Carolina's rust belt, but our once-proud local business sector can still compete with the rest of the state when it comes to executive compensation.

Four of last year's ten top-paid executives at large public companies in NC are based in the Triad -- five if you include Burlington -- according to this article in the QCO.

Greensboro claims two of the top ten: Lorillards's Murray Kessler, who places second on the money list with just over $13 million, and Eric Wiseman of VF Corp. Winston-Salem also draws a pair, with Richard Noll of Hanesbrands and Daniel Delen of Reynolds American. LabCorp's David King puts Alamance County on the list.

Charlotte is the single best-represented city, with four names on the roster, including top dog Robert Toth ($15 million) of high-tech filtration company Polypore International. Sign of the times: None of the four is a banker. North Wilkesboro (Robert Niblock of Lowe's, $11.6 million) is on the list, but Raleigh is not.

Here's the full Top 50 list of compensation for public-company execs. Remember, it doesn't include privately-held firms or, for that matter, athletes or entertainers, so it's not an exhaustive catalog of best-paid North Carolinians.

The Observer's Ely Portillo points out that executive compensation was not always tethered to shareholder value. One example, from right here in the Triad: "Lawrence Rogers, CEO of Sealy Corp., saw his pay rise 285 percent, to $4.5 million...The company had a negative return of 41 percent for shareholders." Much of that income was from a stock grant; Rogers did not a cash bonus in the wake of that bad year, but he did get another 1.4 million shares of stock.

The State of Things talks with Liz Seymour about the IRC and her journey toward a "right-sized life."

Previous Liz linkage here. 

It rained on South Elm Street yesterday afternoon, and it rained harder at our house, a few miles north. 

But it rained really, really hard across northwest GSO. Our Brassfield correspondent reported a 6-inch deluge and a mud-filled swimming pool. The N&R posted some flash-flood photos.

We did lose power overnight, forcing us to repair to Smith Street Diner for breakfast. I had the Mexican Eggs -- essentially, huevos rancheros on grits -- and one of those giant biscuits. In the meantime our home was reattached to the grid.

The City's first compressed natural gas fueling station will open next Friday, and you're invited, says this week's report from the no-longer-interim Manager.

More here on the fueling station and the vehicles it will power.

Things you find while looking for other things: A photograph of my Cone great-great-grandparents playing cards, late in the 19th Century.

As previously reported, I am a disgrace to generations of my card-playing family, lacking, when it comes to poker, "the focus, acumen, and sangfroid required to excel at the game."

Do people still play the game of Casino?

That was a family fave at which I used to lose frequently.

I've never had livermush, but I would like to try it.

Also: "Illusive?" It's probably not really elusive, either.

Previously: "Not even Charlotte, the most boosterish city this side of Atlanta, pretends that it's famous for barbecue."

Women face some choices and challenges that men tend not to face, and there is value in this much-discussed article on that topic, but isn't at least part of the problem the false frame in which anyone has it all?

Outside of old beer commercials, of course.

I've made some tradeoffs in my life. Most men do. Again, not saying my choices were as tough as those facing many women, but, still, choices have to be made.

Good news on the downtown PAC: "To continue its work, the task force will evolve into a new entity or commission...It will include some task force members and city and elected leaders."

If they can come up with a solid plan, get private-sector money north of $20 million, and find a revenue stream from users (or hotel taxees), this thing could really happen.

So you decide on your early-morning walk that, instead of immersing yourself in the birdsong and silence of that gold-lit hour, you will talk on your mobile phone. 

Whatever.

My question: It's before 7 here on the east coast, who is on the other end of that call?

Previously: An embrace of fogeydom and ritual nod to the first Sydney Cone.

On Wednesday evenings at The Mission, a small but growing community church in south High Point, members study God’s word verse by verse, seeking to grow in their faith and learn how to become what Jesus called "fishers of men."

Right next door, at the Tiki Cabaret – which, if you don’t already know, is exactly what it sounds like it is – there’s a different kind of fishing for men going on. Exotic dancers – young, comely women wearing scarcely more than a fig leaf – shake what God’s given them in a seductive attempt to get men to, shall we say, slip a few bills in the offering plate.

Lede-writing 101, by HPE's Jimmy Tomlin.

Jeff Thigpen's new book, On Point: Voices and Values of the Young Elected Officials, is available now at his website and places like Amazon.

Guilford County's Register of Deeds somehow found the time (between modernizing his department and shining a light on the rigged mortgage game) to interview over 100 young elected officials across the country and then tell several of their stories. 

"Young leaders," he writes, "represent the emergence of the largest generational shift in our nation’s history."

Young leaders have the capacity and they will bear an increasing responsibility to help America rouse itself toward a higher level of consciousness, to wake up from the trance, capture our hearts and minds, and embody a more engaged citizenship in the 21st century.

It's a little alarming to see the ever-youthful Thigpen refer to himself as "increasingly seasoned," but I guess he's earned that distinction. 

Jezebel picks up the story of the Harvard-bound Raleigh native who says he was treated poorly because of his race at the cap city's Downtown Sports Bar and Grill.

Good to see a unanimous vote by Council for Denise Turner Roth as City Manager.

Things won't always be so cozy, but it's a nice way to begin.

Food trucks currently are not permitted inside Greensboro’s center city without a Special Event Permit.

Maybe time to change that rule?

The Azteca truck was a big hit at Solstice, and I'd love to see it in my parking lot.

Meanwhile, keep an eye out for that 1618 Mobile Kitchen.

Over the course of several weeks I have observed the 10th birthdays of my dog, my blog, and my car.

I've enjoyed all three, but Luna, who hits double digits today, deserves special mention.

The car runs well, although ticky-tacky plastic parts of the interior keep breaking. The blog is, of course, beyond repair.

I walked the dog a couple of miles this morning. She's in good shape.

Here's a column I wrote about her when she was a puppy, and one I wrote about the joys of dog ownership. 

UPDATE: Council extends the PAC process to nail down details (e.g., location) in advance of a possible special bond vote next spring...promises money to keep the effort going.

Seems like a win for the PAC team to me. A rushed vote looked like a loser from the start, now they have momentum and time.

No way this was the plan all along...right?

/update

Here's the PAC presentation for tonight's Council meeting.

Several hundred people turned out for the Weatherspoon Museum's annual Solstice Party on Friday (photo cribbed frm the Weatherspoon site; more here).

The show Zones of Contention got an opening preview. Also: music, beer, and good food.

When I first worked as a volunteer at the 'Spoon many years ago, the question was how to engage the broader community and get crowds into GSO's gem of a contemporary art museum. Looks like they cracked the code.

Commenters at this post about a black man getting hassled at Raleigh's Downtown Sports Bar and Grill say the same thing happens in Greensboro.

"The fundamental shift in principals and morality is about who gets to control and exploit the work of an artist."

A letter from a musician about the ethics of Free Culture and the choices facing the fair-trade coffee generation.

Agenda 21 conspiracy theories, recently backed by Pat McCrory, make their way to the floor of the NC House.

Also, Hitler was a vegetarian, so don't eat your spinach.

Dr. Doom Jr. may be right about the impending €uropocalypse and the über alles attitude of Deutschland, but isn't he wrong when he says, "There’s only so much money to go around"?

They can make more of it, they just don't want to.

There are reasons beyond Germany's atavistic fear of inflation to oppose that policy, but the option does exist.

For a classless society, we sure have a lot of twits complaining that the peasantry doesn't know its place.

Salmon concludes, "When rich liberals and rich conservatives agree on something, that thing is going to happen. Especially when that thing is in their own self-interest."

It's a truism that moneyed interests run the show in this country, but it's also a truth. And they're not doing a very good job of it. 

First George and Steph from Elsewhere get involved at Kulturpark, now Todd Drake is on an artistic mission to Berlin.

Friedrichstraße is the new Elm Street.

UPDATE: A video about Todd's work, by Jeffrey Sykes:

Wayne Abraham, via FB: "On Saturday at its State Convention, the North Carolina Democratic Party officially endorsed Marriage Equality in its platform."

That Germany-Greece soccer match on Friday should be fun.

If all goes according to form, the refs will bail out the Germans under the pretense of helping the Greeks.

They have played before:

Old-guy solidarity dictated that I kind of wanted Furyk to win the US Open, at least once the young amateur blowed up, but I was happy enough for a North Carolinian and Wake Forest alum to take the cup, esp. if Webb Simpson keeps his promise to return to GSO this summer for the Wyndham.

Watching Els' Texas Wedge roll back down the hill reminded me of playing golf with me. Flashback: So did this.

Had some good jerk chicken at AFCC on Greene Street. Curried chicken got high marks from others in our party. 

Last Friday in June will be goat night, with lots of goat dishes and special drinks.

I do wish they'd turn the televisions off during dinner.

UVA's case of the missing president grows curiouser and curiouser.

Jordan Lake rules, Coliseum parking, and more in this week's report from the Manager.

OMG yearbook pr0n! 

Or, not.

Charlotte's WSOC muffs story, issues ALL CAPS APOLOGY.

George Hartzman's complaint to the North Carolina Securities Division concerns alleged misbehavior by his employer, Wells Fargo, and "and other firms doing or that did the same," which is to say pretty much the whole TBTF industry.

Hartzman works for Wells Fargo Advisors, where he arrived with the acquisition of Wachovia Securities. He also teaches continuing education classes for CPAs, including a unit on ethics, and is visible around town as a blogger and frequent speaker from the floor at City Council and other meetings.

Hartzman is sharing his story far and wide. I've contacted Wells Fargo Advisors and the NCSD for comment. 

Hartzman claims that brokers at Wells Fargo and/or Wachovia were required to create financial plans for well-to-do customers in order to qualify for a bonus. He says the projected returns in these plans could be presented without showing investment costs that would reduce those returns substantially over time, and that in certain cases that omission was in violation of law, including Sarbanes-Oxley. "If Investment costs are not included in Envision investment plans, the proposals are inaccurate and misleading," he told the Securities Division.  

His other issue involves the secret loan program to big banks from the Fed. Hartzman contends that senior execs and auditors who knew about these loans and yet allowed brokers at their firms to give financial advice without sharing that knowledge were in violation of the law, too. 

Hartzman seems to be cognizant of the risks he is taking by going public with these allegations against the company that signs his paycheck. Whether or not his charges prove to carry legal weight, he's put himself in potential jeopardy for what he believes is right.

"What she said was offensive," said state Rep. Mike Callton, R-Nashville.

"It was so offensive, I don't even want to say it in front of women. I would not say that in mixed company," he said.

Michigan state rep Lisa Brown said "vagina" on the House floor, and then could say no more.

Common reactions to this story include, "She should have just said 'x'", where x = any vulgar or allegedly humorous slang term for "vagina," and, "She should know that in politics, only men can talk about women's reproductive parts."

N&R front-pages Killian's article on Guilford County's plans to establish its own parks department. 

Anyone expect things to get better for the parks and their patrons?

In any case, the lack of communication between GC and GSO seems counterproductive.

No matter how tenuous GSO's claim on Dolley Madison, it's nice to have our historical museum contributing a key artifact to the National Portrait Gallery's show about the War of 1812.

George Hartzman is going public with allegations of misbehavior by his employer, Wells Fargo.