In the 1930's, Joe Kennedy knew one of his sons would be President. That future president, everyone assumed, was to be smart, handsome, and charismatic Joe Kennedy, Jr. But Joe Jr. was shot down and killed in WWII. All eyes fell to John. Joe Kennedy lived long enough to see JFK become President, as well as the younger brother Bobby become Attorney … Read More
Our Local Senator Representative Is Entering Crazy Michele Bachmann Territory
In a telephone town hall yesterday, Senator Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said: "The Constitution doesn’t grant a right to health care, and most of us are living as much by the Constitution as we can. It also doesn’t give the federal government the authority to deal with health care. As you may know, the 10th amendment, it says if it … Read More
Hellphone Promo
Nice little write-up about the movie I'm supposed to be in (in an insignificant role) here. Also mentions a friend, Rebecca Clark.
Terror Politics
I've largely refrained from posting about the Bush White House ever since Obama became president, but sometimes my self-imposed ban is hard to maintain. Now that Bush is out of office, we're finding that the actual illegalities are just as bad, if not worse, than imagined. The firings of the U.S. attorneys, for example, were politically motivated and were orchestrated … Read More
Winston-Salem: The Frontier
First bears, now coyotes. Maybe it's my New Hampshire upbringing, but I don't see what the big deal is.
RIP Bob Novak
Some greatest hits: He was an old-school Washington reporter. He took a downward spiral when he became a member of the fledgling Tv network CNN in the early 1980's. The Evans-Novak Report was pretty thoughtful, but then came Capital Gang, and the Crossfire, setting the groundwork for TV political panel yell-a-thons. Then he became a tool for the Bush White … Read More
North Carolina Perspective On Obama
Perhaps some of my friends up north don't understand why I blog so often about the birthers. And that might be because the birther movement truly is fringe up north. But not here in North Carolina. According to a Public Policy Poll released yesterday, only 24% of self-identified Republican voters in North Carolina believe Barack Obama was born in the United States. … Read More
Sincerely, John Hughes
What started as a fan letter to John Hughes turned into a two-year penpal relationship for Alison Byrne (now Alison Fields). They corresponded often from 1985-1987. At one point, Hughes wrote: "You've already received more letters from me than any living relative of mine has received to date. Truly, hope all is well with you and high school isn't as … Read More
RIP John Hughes
Life goes by pretty fastIf you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. - Ferris Bueller From CNN: John Hughes, the producer, writer and director whose 1980s films such as "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club" and "Some Kind of Wonderful" offered a sharp-eyed look at teenagers and their social habits, has died, according to a … Read More
Film-Friendly North Carolina
They like us! They really like us! From the Hollywood Reporter: By the early 1990s, North Carolina had become the No. 3 production center in the U.S., behind California and New York, with a steady stream of productions flowing into the state — including such high-profile features as "The Color Purple," "Dirty Dancing, "Bull Durham," "The Last of the Mohicans" … Read More
You Still Can’t Take It With You
I learned today from the local Yes Weekly that "You Can't Take It With You", a show I was in last year with the Little Theatre of Winston-Salem, is being produced again by the Little Theatre of Winston-Salem this year on the exact same dates. Either that, or Mark Burger is recycling an article from last year.
Local Hunger
Not for nothing, but North Carolina has the nation's second-highest hunger rate for children under 5 years old, second only to Louisiana (which is still suffering the after-effects of Katrina). More than 422,000 children in North Carolina are "food insecure" – , i.e., unable to consistently access adequate amounts of nutritious food that is necessary for a healthy life. That amounts one-in-four … Read More
Quote Of The Day
In discussing the need for a balanced budget and PAYGO legislation, Congressman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) shockingly exclaimed: "We're not going to cry 'emergency' every time we have a Katrina." In other words, having a balance budget is of paramount importance, and we're not going to muck it up by spending money on emergency appropriations like we did when Katrina hit. … Read More
Storm’s A-Brewin’
One of the nice things about working in one of the tallest buildings in a small city is that you can see things like this coming — literally: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR… FORSYTH COUNTY IN CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA * UNTIL 415 PM EDT * AT 338 PM EDT… NATIONAL … Read More
RIP Uncle Walt
Yeah, I know it was last week. And he was on my “death watch” for a couple months. Still, it’s a bit of a shock and sad. I wonder how much a younger generation weened on the 24 hour cable news can appreciate the stature that Walter Cronkite had. I was less than ten during the 1960’s, and even then, I … Read More