Sunday, June 26, 2005

Flag burning. I was weary of this debate six years ago: "I'm tempted to just say to hell with it and let this impractical and un-American proposal slide through without further comment, but that would make me as lazy and numbed as the Senators pushing it, so here I go again." Nothing has changed. Even the headlines on the op-ed columns look familiar. My bottom line, then and now: "The very worst part of the flag amendment, the truly un-American aspect of this issue, is that it tells Americans how they have to think. "It says, This is how you shall be a patriotic American...To destroy the flag, you have to undermine the principles for which it stands, which is just what the amendment would do." Glenn Reynolds is rounding up arguments against the latest iteration of a bad idea. 9:14:45 PM   permalink   comment []

My internal map of Greensboro has overlays of the town as sketched by my father and his parents, inherited memories of things I never saw. It is a ghost city where street cars run on tracks through a busy downtown, the swells live in big houses on Summit Avenue, and Hamilton Lakes and the mill villages lie outside the city limits. It seems real to me...                                                      photo copyright Carol W. Martin/GHM collection My newspaper column is about the way things never stay the same and how that's OK sometimes but less good sometimes, too. Read the whole thing. 3:57:51 PM   permalink   comment []

We (finally) saw Crash. Powerful if imperfect; over burritos and beer afterward at Qdoba, Lisa faulted only its occasionally didactic tone but was otherwise impressed. Don Cheadle is great. Also very good was Ludacris, once more raising the question: why can rappers act, but rock stars can't? 12:04:05 PM   permalink   comment []

Kristof on the reckless fiscal policies of that endanger US security: "President Bush has excoriated the 'death tax,' as he calls the estate tax. But his profligacy will leave every American child facing a 'birth tax' of about $150,000. "That's right: every American child arrives owing that much, partly to babies in China and Japan. No wonder babies cry." 11:50:24 AM   permalink   comment []

Frank Rich on the new political correctness in public broadcasting: "Their guests were rated either L for liberal or C for conservative, and 'anti-administration' was affixed to any segment raising questions about the Bush presidency. Thus was the conservative Republican Senator Chuck Hagel given the same L as Bill Clinton simply because he expressed doubts about Iraq in a discussion mainly devoted to praising Ronald Reagan...'It's pretty scary stuff to judge media, particularly public media, by whether it's pro or anti the president,' Senator Dorgan said." 11:46:33 AM   permalink   comment []

Lenslinger looks at big changes in the local tv-news biz and imagines "the gradual transformation of local correspondents from overdressed poseurs to blue-collar news gatherers. Blasphemy you say? Perhaps, but a newscast focused more on stories than storytellers is one even I might watch. Might." 11:37:58 AM   permalink   comment []

Allen Johnson has a nice column about his dad in this morning's paper. I felt like I knew Allen a little better after reading about his father. My column has a similar theme about the loss of place and memory...but it's not posted, so you'll have to take my word for that. UPDATE: I posted my column from the original file. 11:29:56 AM   permalink   comment []

The N&R sold its first sponsored podcast. 11:22:12 AM   permalink   comment []

Jon Lowder built a Winston-Salem business blog. Next, the Triad? The whole state? Very interesting possibilities. 11:19:32 AM   permalink   comment []

It's not the problem, it's the way the problem is addressed. Or not addressed. True if the problem is with computer repair service, or just a long wait at a restaurant. Jeff says, "It'd be funny if it were SO DAMNED IRRITATING." I've gone through three laptops in the last few years, all Thinkpads, and a couple more hard drives. I use my portables pretty hard, travel a lot, carry them back and forth to my office every day, but I'm also careful with them. Sooner or later, they die. I'm fortunate to have tech support and access to loaners. I feel for Jeff. 11:10:11 AM   permalink   comment []