Perhaps, finally... the last, but in my opinion, the best-last, word on Commissioner Skip Alston's recent charge of racism among Greensboro's city staff comes to us from 'Seymour Hardy Floyd'.  'Seymour' has his own blog, but his insightful take on the issue was made in response to this post over at The Inside Scoop.  Here's a tickler...

"In the past, if whites merely charged blacks with a crime (such as whistling in the presence of a white woman), no documentation or evidence was necessary to ensure guilt (and/or punishment). Merely saying that a black person was guilty made it so.

Alston seems to want that same freedom that whites once enjoyed, simply to accuse and know that the so-charged individual will be considered, simply by that pronouncement, guilty. Alston appears to see little need to offer evidence or at least a more clear outline of his perceptions of racism."

Hey Shu... Lex found Seymour first... you are going to have to quit your day job to keep up, apparently.

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To me, a good case could be made for why a public official might not want to start a weblog over at City Councilman Tom Phillips' place.

Phillips was asking for ideas on shaping this year's city budget.  While he recieved a few thoughtful responses, mostly he wound up firing up the knowledgable and opinionated "Spin Dog" who is long on vitriolic ideas, but short on tact and civility of tone.  Shame too, because Phillips is trying to pave the way for other elected officials to try their hand at this medium.

We all know trolls when we encounter them and Spin Dog is borderline in my book and could go either way.  If he tones it down, he might be taken seriously - if he continues on his current path he may very well kill not only his own voice by obtaining the label of troll, but he may also squelch important voices of future weblogging efforts on the part of our elected officials.

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