Thursday, October 07, 2004

John Edwards on Bush and Iraq: "You can't fix a problem if you don't see a problem." Gerry Canavan blogged last night's rally at A&T. Read the whole thing. 3:13:42 PM    comment []

More Gorbachev, from the BizJournal's Justin Catanoso. 1:07:00 PM    comment []

No WMD? No problem, says Cheney -- Saddam was going to start building them as soon as he could. "(D)elay, defer, wasn't an option," says the VP, although delay and defer would in fact seem to be options under the freshly confirmed WMD-less circumstances. This article suggests that the no-WMD-in-Iraq report is not playing very well in that country. 1:02:42 PM    comment []

John Robinson publicizes a fundraising drive by a "conservative" newspaper that hopes to start publshing soon in NC. 12:36:43 PM    comment []

Erskine Bowles will be at The Depot in downtown GSO this evening from 6 to 7:30. It's billed as an old fashioned rally, with free hotdogs, lemonade, popcorn, and balloons. Special guest: Jim Hunt. Info: 272-2580. I have to be elsewhere -- somebody ask Bowles how his day in DC went, and why it matters for North Carolina. 12:33:59 PM    comment []

A play  by Jennifer Krier and Hilary Illick, Eve-olution, opened this week at the Cherry Lane theater in New York. Go see it if you can. Jenny once recorded her Indonesian language lesson over my favorite Clash tape, but I love her anwyay. 8:57:19 AM    comment []

Duke is hosting a conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement. This upsets many people, including N&O columnist Rick Martinez, who says Duke is caving in to "political correctness." Mike Munger, chair of Duke's poly sci department, does not agree. "Even a moment's thought reveals this is absurd. It would have been much easier for us not to host the conference." More Munger: "(A)s a conservative in the academy, I recognize just how important a universal commitment to real freedom of expression can be. ...When I was asked by PSM if  my department would co-sponsor, I readily agreed, and gave money. Nonetheless, if you come to Duke's campus, you will find me outside, joining those protesting PSM's message. I disagree with PSM vehemently. But I defend Duke's decision to sponsor the conference just as vehemently." 8:49:50 AM    comment []

The BBC program "Michael Palin and the Ladies Who Loved Matisse" will show this evening at 7 at the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro. I will give a brief introduction. Come anyway. I am not the Ed Cone mentioned in the blurb for being in the film, that's my far more accomplished namesake, Edward T. Cone. I actually had a chance to be in it, but was otherwise engaged. The film does not suffer from my absence. I noted few errors in Palin's production, none of which will interest many people, e.g., he says my great-great-grandfather's business prospered during the Civil War, when in fact he lost it to Yankee sympathizers and spent the war farming along the Watauga river, where Claribel spent her earliest days. 8:38:29 AM    comment []

Also in the 'Boro last night was Mikhail Gorbachev. The N&R sent Eric Townsend to cover the speech: "Without naming names, Gorbachev faulted today's conditions -- from Middle East turmoil to environmental degradation -- on a lack of global leadership. 'A leader should be able to govern based on a broad analysis that is not fettered by dogma and ideology,' he said through his translator. 'Above all, you have to understand the essence of what is happening.' Gorbachev later criticized unnamed leaders who believe unilateral action can make a country safer. Peace must be achieved through world bodies such as the United Nations, he said." Now that's just frustrating. Who could he possibly be talking about? 8:20:03 AM    comment []

I had to choose between the Edwards rally in GSO last night and Elijah's soccer game. I hear the rally was great. The N&R gave it front-page coverage, but included no crowd estimate. PFKNC, a regular contributor to the comments at this site, puts the crowd at 1,200 - 1,500. From Eric Dyer's article we learn that the Bush folks thinks North Carolina is safely red: "A confident Bush campaign has reduced staff levels here so it can 'allocate resources' to more competitive states, said spokeswoman Rachael Sunbarger, who was moved from North Carolina to Florida." 8:15:04 AM    comment []