North Carolina’s 4th and 5th Districts Could Be Interesting in a Month

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Thank God we only have a little more than a month until "Decision 08" as the tee-vee folks have dubbed this year’s election. That said I think there might be some interesting developments in two of North Carolina’s Congressional districts this year.

I’m beginning to believe that populist Democrat Roy Carter might have a chance at taking out Virginia Foxx.  She’s having a hard time painting him as a typical dirty-word-liberal, and her close ties to the Bush administration aren’t helping her. I’m not sure how the whole Wall Street bailout thing is going to work for her, because the last I heard she might be one of the House Republicans against the deal.  It might end up being a plus for her to be able to say she fought against bailing out the "fat cats on Wall Street", but on the other hand she might be too closely associated with the folks that got the country into this mess.

Over in the NC-4 Democratic incumbent David Price should be a lock in that district, but I’m getting the sense that challenger BJ Lawson might give Price a tougher run than people would imagine.  If nothing else I think Lawson is providing a lesson to other candidates in how to use the web as a campaign tool.  He has a very good blog while Price has a website that looks like something straight out of 1999 without any real substance. A perfect example of how much stronger Lawson’s online presence is, check out his extensive blog post about the government bailout versus the absolute lack of information on Price’s site.  Price doesn’t even have the typical, lame press release which of course makes his site uber-lame.

BTW, the only reason I found Lawson’s blog was because of the bailout post, which showed up in today in one of my Google Alert updates.  Google’s love of blogs is in and of itself a great reason for any candidate to have a blog.  Others would include the ability to communicate directly with constituents, the ability to frame an agenda without relying on mass media, and looking a little less out of it to the increasingly influential Millenial voters.

Back over in my home district I just found Virginia Foxx’s updated web presence which includes a blog and links to online video and pictures.  My hat’s off to her and her campaign, because it’s a vast improvement on her old site.   She’s only posted twice to her blog, but hopefully that will change as we enter the last month of the campaign.  She should check out her fellow Republican over in the NC-4 for a look at how it’s done.  Foxx’s opponent doesn’t have a blog, but he also has online video and links to Facebook and MySpace where he has profiles that look like they need to be fed and watered.

One of 4,300

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WXII is reporting that only about 4,300 households have lost power in North Carolina due to the storm that cannot be named.  Unfortunately we, along with two of our neighbors, were among those 4,300. Our power went out at 9:30 last night when the transformer on the poll next to our house blew.  That knocked out service to us and the two houses to our right, but the rest of the neighborhood was lit up like a Christmas tree.  In a way that’s more frustrating than having the entire neighborhood go down because you can literally see everyone else enjoying their evening in standard American energy hogging style.

Thankfully the power company was outside within an hour and we had power restored by 11:30, just in time for a midnight snack in front of the boob tube.

Mia’s House

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PhotoYou may recall that we adopted a puppy when we returned from our vacation in early August.  Mia’s been an, uh, interesting addition to the family.  If nothing else she’s annoyed the heck out of the elder statesman of the house, Arthur. They’re constantly
bickering over food and she’s constantly nipping at him which leads to a constant stream of “don’t touch me” yelps and
“please tell her to leave me alone” cries from Arthur.  It’s like our
kids multiplied by 10.
PhotoActually she’s been quite the influence on him.  For instance she’s taught him there’s no reason to accept confinement and now the two of them regularly collaborate to break out of various rooms, pens, etc.  She’s also given him amnesia when it comes to manners.  Before Mia’s arrival he never sniffed at things on the table, or jumped to get treats out of your hand.  Now he’s acting like a reprobate and we’re having to remind him that we don’t have to put up with that mess.  Thankfully you only have to tell him once.  Mia, on the other hand, gets me to talking like I did 10 years ago when the kids were toddlers.  “No, no, no, no…NO” and “Down, down, down, down…DOWN” and “Shhh, shhh, shhh, Shut Up!” are now the most often heard sentences in our house, and usually they’re followed by strangled curses like “Son of bi-gerching. What did you just do, dabberflabbit.  You little shicker…aw, dadgummit I just stepped in this pile of -, OH MAN MY NEW SHOES!  One of you kids better get this mutt outta here before I sell her for parts.”

Then there’s the chewing.  If it’s on the ground it’s munched, and it doesn’t matter what it’s made of.  Metal?  No problem.  Wood?  Yummy.  Clothing?  Rags.

Yeah, we love her.

Battle of the Green Eyeshades

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Winston-Salem is home to one large bank, BB&T.  We used to be home to Wachovia but then they went and "merged" with First Union and moved HQ to Charlotte, so we here in Winston have just one major bank that we call our own.  Thus it was with a little bit of hometown pride that I read in today’s paper that the bank’s head honcho sent a letter to the Congress critters detailing why he thinks the bailout stinks.

For John Allison, the high-risk rollers on Wall Street are getting
too much of the ear of Congress and having too much say in resolving
the financial nightmare that they created.

That’s why Allison, the chairman and chief executive of BB&T
Corp., submitted a 14-point letter Tuesday to all 535 members of
Congress with a simple message regarding the proposed $700 billion
bailout.

"There is no panic on Main Street and in sound financial
institutions," he wrote. "The problems are in high-risk financial
institutions and on Wall Street."

He said that it is important that "Congress hear from the well-run
financial institutions, as most of the concerns have been focused on
the problem companies. It is extremely important that the bailout not
damage well-run companies." Allison’s opinion is seconded by local
community-bank officials and community-bank trade groups.

"Community bankers did not create this financial crisis, but our
banks and communities are clearly feeling the impact," the Independent
Community Bankers of America said in a statement. "As the fundamental
drivers of local economies — we could be in a strong position to help
resolve this crisis."

Go get ’em Mr. Allison.

links for 2008-09-24

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DIY Wi-Fi Signal Booster

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Normally I would put an item like this in my "links" post, but I know so many people who have problems with their home wi-fi network that I thought it important enough for a solo post.  Here’s the deal: if you have a wire strainer you can use it to boost your wi-fi receiver’s power since it acts as a parabola that focuses the signal for your receiver.  Check out the post on Instructables for details on how they used a dumpling strainer to do the deed. They call it a "WokFi" which I like.

I’m willing to bet that any wire strainer will help, but since the dumpling strainer offers a wider surface than the average strainer it probably works better than a standard strainer.

Instructables also provides a DIY tip on how to extend the signal of your wireless router using tinfoil sails. Very cool.

links for 2008-09-23

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Want to Dump Your Teenager? Move to Nebraska

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In a true example of unintended consequences, Nebraska’s recently passed "safe haven" law that allows parents of unwanted infants to drop off their babies without any questions asked was written in such a way that parents (or other caregivers) of older children can also legally drop off their kids with no questions asked.  Of course the law was intended to address the problem of babies being left in dumpsters and such places by young parents who don’t want them, but so far the first three cases of people taking advantage of the law are caregivers of a 15-year old, a 13-year old and an 11-year old.

As the parent of a teenager I can tell you that there are occasions when you’re ready to throw in the towel, or at least throw your kid, but I can’t imagine literally just dropping them off somewhere and saying "adios" forever.  Of course I think we have great kids and we’ve never had real nasty issues to deal with, knock on wood, so I’m not going to sit in judgment of these people without knowing the whole story. However, it seems to me that if you make it easy for parents to give up then more than a few are going to do it.

Who knows, maybe it will end up being better for the kids.  After all, you need a license to drive but any fool with a hormone can be a parent.  That doesn’t mean I think this is a good thing, though, because in my mind people need to be held responsible for their actions and a parent being able to just abandon their child because things get tough just doesn’t seem right.  If nothing else the state should make sure the parents are held accountable for the child’s future care until the child is 18 through something like child support payments.  In addition maybe they could require counseling for the parents with the goal to move the children back into the parent’s home if appropriate.  Anything would be better than enabling abandonment with no questions or consequences.

Hopefully My Obit Will Read Something Like This

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The obituaries that appear in the Winston-Salem Journal are a tad dry, and they tend to involve people walking with Jesus or entering God’s embrace.  They’re usually quite nice and heartfelt, but they really aren’t the kind of thing I envision for myself when the time comes.  Me, I want mine to read something like this one in the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming) newspaper.  An excerpt for you:

Jim, who had tired of reading obituaries noting other’s courageous
battles with this or that disease, wanted it known that he lost his
battle. It was primarily as a result of being stubborn and not
following doctor’s orders or maybe for just living life a little too
hard for better than five decades…

He
was sadly deprived of his final wish, which was to be run over by a
beer truck on the way to the liquor store to buy booze for a date. True
to his personal style, he spent his final hours joking with medical
personnel, cussing and begging for narcotics and bargaining with God to
look over his loving dog, Biscuit, and his family.

He would like to thank all "his ladies" for putting up with him the last 30 years.

You’d have to change that last line from the plural "all his ladies" to the singular "his lady", but other than that I think it reads well.  Celeste really could be classified as "long suffering wife " but she’s a trooper and I think she’d appreciate the acknowledgment one way or another.

Why I Haven’t Been Wasting My Time the Last Four Years

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For all my friends (Ted) who think I’ve been wasting my time the last four years writing this blog, I would like you to read the following from non-other than Tom Peters.

"If you’re not blogging, you’re an idiot," management uber-guruTom Peters
told hundreds of attendees at the Inc. 5000 conference yesterday. "No
single thing in the last 15 years has been more important to me
professionally than blogging… It’s changed my thinking, it’s changed
my outlook… it’s the best damn marketing tool and it’s free."

Tom’s blog is featured on his company home page.

Peters’ fellow presenter at the conference was Seth Godin, and he had this to say about blogging:

Fellow panelist Seth Godin
agreed: "What matters is the humility that comes from writing (a blog),
that forces you to describe why you did something. It doesn’t matter if
anyone is reading your blog. You’re doing it for yourself."

So there!