Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Charlotte Observer: "Art Pope...is the most influential Republican in North Carolina not named Elizabeth Dole." "Pope's fingerprints are all over the Nov. 2 ballot...In recent years, his family has donated to dozens of Republican candidates at the state and national level and spent millions to promote conservative ideals. The race to control the N.C. General Assembly this fall can be best described as a battle not between Democrats and Republicans, but between Pope's wing of the Republican Party and the bipartisan coalition between Moore County Republican Richard Morgan and Mecklenburg County Democrat Jim Black. ...He and his parents, particularly his father, John W. Pope, are working to plant the seeds of a long-term philosophical shift in North Carolina and nationwide. To that end, they helped start the John Locke Foundation, a conservative think tank, and the Pope Center for Higher Education, which studies college matters. They recently spent $500,000 to help the N.C. Republican Party buy a new headquarters. They give to national groups such as the American Conservative Union and have, over the years, helped fund magazines and groups on college campuses. Recently they gave N.C. State $511,500 to create a program for undergraduates on the relationship between economics and politics." 4:50:30 PM    comment []

Newspaper takes back endorsement of North Carolina Republican over gay-bashing ads. Woody White is running for the N.C. Senate. The Wilmington Star-News endorsed him last week -- but today the paper said that new ads attacking his opponent for being a lesbian change the equation. "But now a vote for him would be a vote for intolerance and dirty politics," said an editorial in the coastal region's largest paper. White was appointed to fill the seat vacated by GOP gubernatorial candidate Patrick Ballantine, a seat he is now campaigning to win on his own. He had a lot of support. Star-News: "The Star-News suggested Friday that New Hanover County would be better served in the N.C. Senate by Woody White than by his opponent, Julia Boseman. That was before the Republican Party issued ugly and mindless campaign ads that focused on Ms. Boseman's sexual orientation and suggested she would pursue 'a liberal, activist homosexual agenda.' Mr. White seems to be a decent man. These are not decent ads. It would be legitimate to criticize the significant contributions Ms. Boseman has solicited and received from out of state. This is, after all, a local race to see who will represent voters in New Hanover County. And because the main source of those out-of-state contributions was a special interest group – an Internet fund that collects money for openly gay candidates – it would be fair to mention that. It's something else to use language such as 'known lesbian activists' and 'radical homosexual rights and privileges' and to conclude by saying 'The truth is … Julia Boseman seeks to be the first openly gay or lesbian State Senator in North Carolina History.'" Boseman site. 4:45:33 PM    comment []

Princeton says Edward T. Cone "produced two of the 20th century's most influential books about Western music." 1:46:30 PM    comment []

Mike Munger: "Wake up, you dolts! Brown, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Chicago, Stanford: lots of faculty at all those places belive that Israel has no firm right to exist, and that oppression of the Palestinians is a new Holocaust, with the Israelis ('The Jews') playing the role of Hitler." Previous posts on Munger, Duke, "The Jews," Palestinians, letters, and free speech here. 1:38:52 PM    comment []

"At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide." F. Scott Fitzgerald, Bernice Bobs Her Hair 1:29:42 PM    comment []

WSJ: Classroom Blogs Raise Issues of Access and Privacy (unposted) "While most agree on blogs' value for promoting student expression, critical thinking and exchange, there's no consensus on the amount of control over access and content that educators should exercise. As blogging spreads, it could revive debates over student expression similar to those that have cropped up around school newspapers." I would be pretty damn careful. Kids are, well, kids. They can be heedless and often cruel. Consequences are not on their minds, but words, especially written words, have consequences. Blogs are powerful tools. We make students go to Driver's Ed before getting a license, we supervise the power saws in shop class...student bloggers need supervision, too. 8:20:09 AM    comment []

"The biggest fear is an uncontrolled message slipping out." Why ad agencies are scared of blogs, in the NYT. Must. Maintain. Control. I don't want to be controlled. That's why I don't like your crappy ads. 7:53:09 AM    comment []

John Robinson has some advice for Greensboro's newsmakers: "You can't put water back into the faucet. Go ahead and talk to the reporter when he or she calls. At least you'll get to say it the way you want it said." Apparently the powers that be were not happy with the BizJournal and the N&R for reporting on their big economic-devleopment merger without waiting for permission. JR: "Here's how the news media works. We get wind of a story that we think our readers should know, we chase it until we get it. Now, with the addition of civic-minded bloggers to the mix, the number of people who report 'news' is growing every day." 7:47:24 AM    comment []

The Erskine Bowles bus tour rolls into G'boro this evening...but this schedule doesn't say where he'll be. 7:37:51 AM    comment []

Bill Buckley: "What needs to be said about oil is that it IS worth fighting for." Alert reader Scipio sent along the clip, with a note saying Buckley is clearly under my influence. 7:32:30 AM    comment []

Oliver Willis is pissed. He doesn't want Kerry to put any Republicans in his adminstration, and he doesn't want Andrew Sullivan's endorsement of Kerry. "Bipartisanship is dead," says Oliver. "These guys want nothing to do with us, and we should have nothing to do with them. If we win, we make them play by our rules. And if they win, we make 'em hurt. I didn't used to think this way, but then, I was naive before." Oliver my friend, you may be naive no longer, but the road to wisdom is long, and you need to check into a Holiday Inn Express and get a good night's sleep. You blast the "the DC media establishment." Guess what: nobody outside of DC cares. Maybe you should move before it curdles you completely. We're the inclusive ideology, remember? Let the other side be angry and spiteful. Let's win the election, and govern for the whole big complicated country. If talented and open-minded people want to help, let them. 7:23:20 AM    comment []

I gave Elijah an old copy of Animal Farm to read. He loved it. Then we talked about the allegory. He seems to have developed a strong pro-horse, anti-Stalin worldview. 7:00:25 AM    comment []