Do Unto Others

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The video below was shared by a friend on Facebook.  I lost contact with my friend when I left home for college and I consider it one of the great gifts of this age of social media that I've been able to reconnect with him and several other of my friends that I'd lost contact with over the years.

What's unique about this particular friend is that he is gay.  Back in the early '80s when we were in high school he wasn't yet officially out, and to my recollection we never discussed his or anyone else's sexual preferences.  But after watching this video I'm left to wonder if I ever made any hateful or harmful comments about "fags", to wonder if I ever hurt his feelings because I said things that teenage boys say about gay people because, quite frankly, we're scared to death someone might think we're gay.  I wonder if my own insecurity led me to truly hurt someone that didn't do anything to deserve it.

For those who don't want to watch this video because you disagree with the gay or lesbian lifestyle I would urge you to think about something; try to remember how insecure, confused and lost you felt when you were a teenager. If you were a straight boy you were terrified that your "manliness" would somehow be questioned, and you were petrified that you would be rejected by the girls you were interested in. Now imagine how insecure you'd feel if you realized that you weren't like most of the other boys, that you were very different than your parents in a most fundamental way.  The teasing and taunting that a straight kid who's not a part of the in crowd receives is bad enough, and we can only imagine how much worse it is for a kid who's trying to come to terms with being gay.

The speaker in this video is right that we need to help stop the bullying and cruelty that children face every day.  This is nothing new and it's a problem that I think every generation has dealt with, but that doesn't mean we can't do something about it.  I think part of the solution is treating bullying at schools in much the same way that fighting has been treated.  From what I see at my kids' high school, fights are much less common today than they were when I was in school and I think that's a result of the "boys will be boys" thinking being replaced with "we will not tolerate any fighting" thinking.

The larger part of the solution lies with parents.  I'm sure that in the sanctity of our own homes many of us say things that we'd never say in public.  Maybe it's a slightly inappropriate joke that we think is harmless, or maybe it's a diatribe against "those people", but without really thinking about it we send our kids a message that people are different and somehow beneath us. I'm confident that in many homes the inappropriate jokes are accompanied by that old Seinfeld line "not that there's anything wrong with that," but the message is still being sent.  I'm also confident that in many homes there are overt and vehement statements made against groups that the parents don't agree with, but that does not relieve them of the responsibility of teaching their kids that no matter how they feel about that other child's race, sexual orientation, etc. they cannot tease or bully that child.

Of course we live in the real world, and no matter what we say as parents our kids will be kids, and they'll say hurtful things to other kids so they can look cool or somehow feel more important. That's life, but as parents what we can do is come down hard on them and let them know it's not acceptable behavior.  We can also take a look at ourselves and recognize our own weaknesses, our own human frailty, and endeavor to do better.

Personally I only hope that those I may have hurt or offended will forgive me.

Twitter Fight!

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So, the Winston-Salem ballpark has reemerged as a hot button issue because of this:

The Citizens Baseball Stadium Review Committee got its first look last night at financial information about the progress of BB&T Ballpark during a discussion that was not open to the public.

The committee voted unanimously to close the meeting because, it said, the financial information that the members would discuss — likely the stadium’s revenues, expenses and profit through June 30 — is confidential and protected by North Carolina law.

The Winston-Salem Journal objected to the closing of the meeting. Earlier yesterday, the city rejected a request by the Journal for the financial information supplied by the team to the city.

In a letter to the Journal, City Attorney Angela Carmon wrote that “disclosure of such confidential, competitively sensitive business information could cause substantial competitive harm or otherwise adversely impact the business interests of the Ballpark Entities.”

The Committee's decision to meet behind closed doors led to a scathing column from the Journal's Scott Sexton and then a little tete-a-tete broke out on Twitter between Mayor Joines and Sexton:

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A little later this appeared on the Journal website:

Mayor Allen Joines said today he will talk with the Winston-Salem Dash to see if the baseball team can release some financial information that might not otherwise be publicly available…

Joines said that the private information in the financial data includes vendor contracts, and that the team is in the process of negotiating those.

“The bottom line is, we need to determine what are the critical things the public would like to know,” Joinessaid. “I don’t think they want to see a vendor contract. I think they want to know what the attendance was and what the general total revenues are. Hopefully we can get something that is a compromise that we can share.”

 

Endorsements for Kennedy

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Billy Kennedy, the Democrat running for the seat in NC-5 against incumbent Rep. Virginia Foxx, has recently picked up two endorsements.  The first was from the Winston-Salem Journal, which isn't surprising since they'd probably endorse a cardboard cutout over Foxx.  The second, and in my opinion, more important endorsement came from Zach Galifianakis.  Don't know Galifianakis?  Well, he's the one-man wolf pack from The Hangover and native of Wilkesboro. From Mark Binker's post at the News & Record about the endorsement :

So why does Galifianakis care? He’s from Wilkesboro, for starters. His parents still live there. He owns property in the county. And he has deep family ties to the Democratic party. His uncle, Nick Galifianakis, served in the N.C. House and the U.S. House, and ran unsuccessfully against Jesse Helms for U.S. Senate in 1972. In fact, it was Nick Galifianakis’ Greek heritage that prompted Helms’ famous slogan: “Jesse Helms: He’s One of Us.”

Two Takes

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Earlier this week the two candidates for Congress from North Carolina's fifth district debated each other. Here's what their respective campaigns sent out via email afterwards.

First, from incumbent Virginia Foxx:

Foxx Wins Congressional Debate

Ashe County, NC — Today Congresswoman Virginia Foxx debated her opponent at a public forum in Ashe County.  In the debate, Foxx highlighted her fiscal conservatism and her vision to get North Carolina back to work.  She also exposed her opponent's extremely liberal views on taxes, government spending, and health care.
 
Voters know that there is just one proven conservative in this race—and that’s Virginia Foxx.  Today’s debate illustrated that Virginia embraces common sense conservative ideas like reducing government spending, keeping taxes low and slashing job-killing federal red tape. 

 But the debate also exposed how out of step her opponent, Billy Kennedy, is with North Carolina voters.  He supports big government programs like the trillion dollar health care bill, a job-killing energy tax and the failed stimulus program.

 The choice this election is between strong conservative values or Washington’s failed liberal policies. Unfortunately Virginia’s liberal opponent would be a rubber stamp for big-government policies that mean more government, more debt and less freedom. In fact, Kennedy can't stop talking about all the new spending he supports.  North Carolina simply cannot afford to send big spenders like Kennedy to Washington.

Virginia is working to keep America the land of the free and a country of opportunity for everyone.  And she isn’t afraid to take on the liberals who run Washington.  As today’s debate made clear, Virginia Foxx is a conservative voice that North Carolina families and small businesses can depend on.

I think it's cool that all one needs to do to win a debate is to declare yourself the winner.  I need to remember that in the future.

Now from Foxx's challenger Billy Kennedy:

The Good Lord Gave Us Brains Too

October 13, 2010

Dear Friends,

Do you want to know how badly Billy Kennedy beat Virginia Foxx in last night's debate?

Click here to see one outstanding exchange.

Last night Billy showed voters he is up to the task of representing us in Congress, and he very clearly demonstrated why we are so proud to stand beside him.

The stakes couldn't be any higher.  Want you join us with a contribution of $10, $20, or $30 dollars?  

Our grassroots campaign is gaining traction everyday.  With an enthusiastic endorsement from the Winston-Salem Journal and a resounding win in last night's debate, we have the momentum to surprise all those Washington insiders who say it can't be done.

Early voting starts tomorrow and we are only 20 days away from the election.  Your contribution will help us share this message with voters from Watauga to Winston-Salem. 

Billy came out swinging at last night's debate.  The standing-room-only crowd agreed that Kennedy had won the night.

The incumbent seemed genuinely shocked that the audience was not with her. The greatest shock, no doubt, was that she found herself completely undone by a farmer from Bethel.

Join with us now.  We need you.

All best,

Jaret Glazer
Billy Kennedy for Congress
Finance Director

Once again I like the self declaration of victory, but I have to award style points for the headline, which referenced a line of his during the debate.  Anytime the "liberal" candidate can preempt the "ultra-conservative" candidate with a reference to God you have to give him props. 

Who knew that winning or losing was subjective? Oh wait, it's politics; everything's subjective.

 

Clear Title

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Clear title is becoming a serious issue in the residential mortgage sector. It might be more accurate to say that clear title has been a serious issue in the residential mortgage sector, but it's now becoming a more commonly known problem. It appears that what's happening is people are realizing that the banks have done some pretty crappy, and sometimes fraudulent paper work on the mortgages that they're now trying to foreclose, and as the courts have started calling them on it the title insurance companies have decided that they can't insure what the banks are trying to resell.  Here's the scoop:

So why is it a big deal that Old Republic National Title isn’t going to insure Chase’s or GMAC’s foreclosures?

Because if a house doesn’t have clear title, you can’t get a title insurance policy for it. If you can’t get a title insurance policy for a property, lenders won’t lend because there is a huge risk that someone else is going to come forward with a valid title claim and take away the property and they will lose the investment they’ve made in the mortgage.

Clear title is one of the main tenets of homeownership in this country. If lenders can’t be assured that the seller (in this case, the banks who are reselling millions of foreclosures as REOs) have clear title to the property, they won’t issue a mortgage.

Which means homeowners can’t buy homes.

Which will be the perfect storm scenario that tanks the already crippled housing market.

If you think the current foreclosure freeze is bad news, think about what will happen if the millions of homes that are already in foreclosure and the millions more heading into foreclosure can’t be resold.

You know where all this is heading, right? Hello class action lawsuits.

(h/t to Fec for the link)

 

You Are Here

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I hate malls. I hate shopping. So why am I at Concord Mills? Well the plan was to hit the outlets in Blowing Rock, but then we heard that today is App State’s homecoming. The only thing worse than shopping is shopping in the vicinity of a bunch of drunken homecoming folks from a school that is not your own. Thus we made the trek to the home of more than one million square feet of retail. I’ve gotta qualify for some sort of husband-dad award for this, right?

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Apartment in Paris Locked for 70 Years, Houses Amazing Portrait

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One of those stories that highlights why life truly is stranger, or at least more interesting, than fiction:

Behind the door, under a thick layer of dusk lay a treasure trove of turn-of-the-century objects including a painting by the 19th century Italian artist Giovanni Boldini.

The woman who owned the flat had left for the south of France before the Second World War and never returned.

But when she died recently aged 91, experts were tasked with drawing up an inventory of her possessions and homed in on the flat near the Trinité church in Paris between the Pigalle red light district and Opera…

But he said his heart missed a beat when he caught sight of a stunning tableau of a woman in a pink muslin evening dress.

The painting was by Boldini and the subject a beautiful Frenchwoman who turned out to be the artist's former muse and whose granddaughter it was who had left the flat uninhabited for more than half a century.

Hybrid Animals Kinda Freak Me Out

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I'm not a big fan of hybrid animals.  Flying squirrels?  Rats with long poofy tails are bad enough, but when they can fly they become downright repulsive.  Fish that can walk across land? Scary.  Fish that can fly? They just keep me from wanting to get into any kind of boat that's not armored.  Even if you don't agree with me you have to admit that this is kinda freaky: