Monday, September 27, 2004

Colin Powell is helping out with debate prep...for the Kerry campaign. 6:22:33 PM    comment []

"(A)rt establishes the basic human truth which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment. The artist...becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state." Will South quoted from that passage by John F. Kennedy in his interesting talk yesterday afternoon to open the Matisse and American Drawing show at the Weatherspoon. Good stuff, including three pieces from the Baltimore Museum of Art and a few of the 'Spoon's own Matisse's. It's a beautiful small show. I'll be giving a brief introduction to Michael Palin's BBC film, The Ladies Who Loved Matisse, at the Weatherspoon on October 7. This strangely-worded notice says I will "talk enthusiastically." Perhaps I will. Interesting, to a few of us at least: the portrait of Etta Cone used by Will in his lecture -- the one shown here -- shows such a strong family resemblance to my grandfather (her nephew), especially around the mouth. 6:09:28 PM    comment []

Conversation about the warping influence on blogs of money and power leads to comments about self-censorship...I have never felt any pressure to edit myself to please an advertiser, that hasn't been my concern about selling ads, I'm more worried about the way the blog might appear to readers, that it might look like a message board for others instead of a soapbox for me...Maybe if I was making thousands of dollars a month from this blog, I'd have a new set of issues. Meanwhile, I edit myself for other reasons. I try to adhere to some rough community standard on language and subject matter -- my vocabulary undergoes desalinization before publication. I am mindful of my own privacy and that of those I love: My family gets limited play in the blogosphere, especially relative to their centrality in my life. Confidences are kept. Professional obligations are respected. The key is that I calibrate the info flow, nobody else is filtering me. That's what I like, and what I want to preserve. 4:10:52 PM    comment []

Kaye Trammell finds validation for her optimistic view of blogs, blog-readers, and access to power. 3:43:05 PM    comment []

Will Jordan finally has a campaign website up. He is running as a liberal, not a sort of moderate Republican as some NC Democrats do. Might as well, since he's trying to budge an immovable object (Howard Coble) and jumpstart a 6th district Democratic base that has been gerrymandered into irrelevance and otherwise demoralized. And he's basically introducing himself to the public in late September. From the site: "Will Jordan believes the war in Iraq was wrong from inception. America is not safer with this war." "Will Jordan will fight to repeal the Bush tax cuts to reduce the tax burden now imposed on middle and working class families." "Will Jordan supports creation of a Universal Health Care program for all Americans." "Will Jordan supports a woman's right to choose." Maybe now he can get some coverage in the media -- the guy has gotten next to no press since he traded email with EdCone.com in May. He has not used the web at all until now, which is a little late when running against a 20-year incumbent with $1 million to spend. But at least he's out there at last, and he's saying what he believes in no uncertain terms. 1:13:19 PM    comment []

The Bowles-Burr debate will be webcast live at 7 tonight on WUNC.org. The Bowles blog says you can follow the debate live there, and you can always have a conversation in the comments; comments are open (with registration) at Blogs 4 Burr. UPDATE: The debate will air on WFMY 2 here in GSO; the station will also offer live streaming from its website. 12:39:35 PM    comment []

Proof that blogging and web-savvy alone do not make you a good candidate: Rachel Lea Hunter. We elect our judges in North Carolina. One hopes we will not elect Hunter recent transplant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania who refers to herself as "Madame Justice," although she is in fact an employee of Pre-Paid Legal Services. She spends much of her blogging energy fighting with other Republicans, so at least that's entertaining. 8:43:04 AM    comment []

Blue NC: "Surprisingly N.C. Democrats are trailing Republicans in the web race on the legislative level. Our goal at BlueNC is to show that the online community can have a dramatic impact at all levels of politics." 8:27:42 AM    comment []

Is John Edwards too nice and too low-key? Not at all, according to this article from the Congressional Quarterly (via Blue NC). "Give John Edwards a break...You just have to get out of the big city hotels to find Edwards. And when you do, his words are plenty tough... Edwards is going after the swing voters where they live. His recent Pennsylvania stops covered a suburban swath where nearly 20 percent of the state’s likely voters reside...he would have to set himself on fire to generate more heat in his campaign appearances." 8:26:16 AM    comment []

The Erskine Bowles campaign has raised more than $154,000 online from over 1,200 donors. The goal is to reach $200,000 in online contributions by midnight Thursday. Bowles and Richard Burr square off in a televised debate tonight at 7 -- carried live on UNC public TV. 7:59:44 AM    comment []