Wednesday, February 16, 2005

In defense of (some) spam: Richard Burr, then a congressman, now our junior Senator, was doubly wrong when he said in a House committee hearing, "(W)e would all like to get the discount airfare offers, we would like to get the discount hotel offers. We never know when they are going to be advantageous to us. We would all like to get rid of the pornography that comes in." Well, no. Not everyone wants the kind of spam you say everyone wants, and not everyone wants to get rid of the kind of spam you say everyone wants to get rid of. Getting rid of it all would be the correct answer. Found via this NYT article, thanks for the tip Susan Kitchens -- who would like to see North Carolina's citizen journalists do some follow-though on the story. 2:31:33 PM    comment []

Jerry McClough is not happy with Skip Alston, not happy at all. "It is a total embarrassment to me, and to the black community to have someone to represent the state of North Carolina in the oldest civil rights organization in the world, is involved in such drama." 2:12:13 PM    comment []

Jeff Jarvis: "It's a dark day for the First Amendment. The House is expected to pass its indecent indecency bill raising the fine for any of us -- any of us -- who violate the very unclear rules of the FCC to $500,000." 11:19:14 AM    comment []

It's the pen, not the penis, that matters most in the "Jeff Gannon" story. I agree with Glenn Reynolds that having a "male prostitute" line on your resume should not mean that you can't ask the President questions. I'm all for opening up the media, and for public access to elected officials. But colorful details aside (along with speculation on the uproar had "Gannon" been a Clinton White House familiar), this story is important for what it adds to our knowledge of the way the Bush administration uses the press. 11:17:25 AM    comment []

Bruce Loebrich has a compendium of coverage of the Triangle blog conference. Nice work by one of North Carolina's ur-bloggers. 9:20:37 AM    comment []

Lux et Umbra asks about the N&R's religion blog: "Is it matters of faith, or actually matters of Christianity?" UPDATE: Nancy McLaughlin responds to what she calls Ben's "gentle smackdown." "Fair enough...Let me know of what's going on so much more of Greensboro can be included in my blog." 9:13:24 AM    comment []

Allen Johnson pays tribute to a Greensboro original, the Peacemaker's Hal Sieber. 9:08:07 AM    comment []

Hoggard on Tom Phillips and his ringing non-defense of City staff attacked by Skip Alston: "Phillips was a joy to watch as he deftly girded his loins... and.... punted." Maybe Tom can explain it all at his blog. 9:02:01 AM    comment []

Inkslinger on the Guilford County Health board's resolution of the Krishnaraj matter: "ass covered, taxpayers screwed once again." 8:54:25 AM    comment []

MMB in the N&R: "Guilford County Commissioner Melvin 'Skip' Alston is backing away -- ever so slightly -- from his recent statement that 'the city staff is racist.'" Not good enough. He still makes the general statement that he "'mainly was talking about people within the (city) housing department.'" Who, Skip? And what did they do that was racist, as opposed to merely displeasing you? Show me racism payed for with my tax dollars -- or even my newspaper subscription -- and I'm right there with you at the barricades. But don't smear people with a serious charge unless its for real -- it's not only wrong, it also serves to diminish the weight of that charge in other cases where it may apply. 8:51:49 AM    comment []

Young Adults in Politics is the first post at this new Guilford County blog, which was born shortly after its author left a Rotary meeting at which I spoke about blogging... 8:32:57 AM    comment []

Dave Winer in Spartanburg: "The Greensboro experience kept coming up. It was good to be able to provide an example, just up the road, three hours north on Interstate 85...they're going to start immediately with a first step toward blogging, by putting the Letters to the Editor on the Web in a format where readers can comment." 8:29:02 AM    comment []