City Council Retreat

Asheville City Council’s retreat just concluded. Jan Davis and Gordon Smith assisted by providing copies of the secret papers to members of the audience during the first break. Otherwise, it would have been a matter of turning our attention to items a through h on pages 3 and 4, etc.

Following are things I “learned:”

• The city needs to deal with the pending anti-Asheville legislation that would seize the airport, water system, and other properties. Esther Manheimer said the only difference between Asheville and other NC local governments is that they stand a chance of having legislators respond to their requests.

• “Lobbyist” is a bad word.
• Members of council were willing to wait for PACE programs to become legal before implementing one.
• People can pretend it really makes a difference if the city’s strategic goal is to become the safest city or just a safe city. Council deliberated this fifteen minutes in spite of the mayor stating twice the only thing that mattered was how council wished to reapportion funds going to police and fire.
• Prime downtown real estate should be used to raise crops for the food-insecure. A number of organizations are springing up in the city to assist with this issue. Urban green spaces help push sprawl into the burbs and give NIMBY’s a run-for-the-money in opposing infill development.
• Raising the wages of city workers by taking more from taxpayers directly injects money into the economy.
• Marc Hunt assumed “neighborhood services” pertained to sanitation and street repair, but was informed it was intended to suggest the creation of an Office of Neighborhood Affairs, served by representatives from Neighborhood Associations.
• One guy in the audience would have rather listened to cows breathe than hear about the different hats of group dynamics.

For Those Interstate-Commercial Fires

A total of $2.5 million in DHS grants will be awarded to NC fire departments.

FREEEEEEEEEE

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has judged policies of four-year higher educational systems to be restrictive of First Amendment rights. The group claims:

Too many racial, sexual and general harassment policies extend substantially beyond the limits of genuine harassment.

Appalachian State’s director of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Compliance was consulted to defend the school’s position. The ACLU has sided with the conservative group. Three First-Amendment benders perpetrated by the school were listed in a Watauga Democrat article:

“commenting inappropriately on someone’s appearance” [Free speech means you can say what you want, but inappropriately indicates the comments were so egregiously placed as to cause defensible injury.]

“sexual innuendos and comments” [These comments existed in every student conversation in my college experience.]

“imposing religious beliefs on others.” [This is definitely a violation of the First Amendment, and the good folks at FIRE need to rethink their tack if they suppose otherwise. To belabor the point, reading a Bible outloud is not imposing one’s beliefs on others. Examples of imposition would be giving students bad grades for not renouncing the faith of their choice, dragging one’s roommate to church against their will, sacrificing non-consenting virgins to one’s god. One practice engaged by peers, counselors, and other higher-ups when I was in college was trying to compel geeky do-gooders to violate their religious taboos.]

The same issue cropped up in another story today. NC leaders are not taking seriously a letter sent by the ACLU claiming it is wrong for leaders in the General Assembly to offer invocations. Since the issue seems to be more than one of interpretation, I will dissect it. The First Amendment reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; . . .

First praying in a state legislature is not an act of Congress. If, by popular demand, Congress were to pass a law forbidding prayer, then the First Amendment would be violated. If Congress takes no action and tells people to live and let live, it is in compliance.

The free exercise of many religions involves prayer. People praying are exercising a Constitutionally-protected right. Has Congress passed a law prohibiting prayer? If not, then Congress is still adhering to the law of the land. If the ACLU decides to place itself between the individual and his god, and forces Congress to pass a law prohibiting prayer, then Congress would again be in violation.

‘Nuff said, or am I going to be seeing this again in a couple weeks?

Good Work

The Atlas Shrugged people officially announced today that Part II of the trilogy will screen in October 2012. I commend the crew for their efforts on behalf of liberty. The novel, which is one of very few admittedly fictional works through which I have waded, was critiqued as “absurd” only a decade ago. Now, the former “absurdities” are viewed as flavorless, so-what givens.

Highly-Recommended

The Smoky Mountain News puts out an excellent product, and a current article by Quintin Ellison is among the best. It summarizes the pathetic results of loans from economic development programs in Jackson County. Five out of the nine companies receiving loans in Jackson County have defaulted. In perhaps the worst example, Q.C. Apparel renegotiated the terms of their $358,355 loan seven times. They now owe the county $425,901, and the collateral, $5000 in sewing machines, is a poor excuse for “public good.”

Thickening the plot, beginning in 2005, the Jackson County EDC was scandalized by power struggles and allegations of favorite-playing. Sheriff’s deputies seized the organization’s records for an audit, but the auditor could only conclude he had insufficient data to conclude anything else.

Not to be outdone, Macon County now seeks to emulate Jackson’s program. Quoting Ellison:

And, just as in Jackson County, leaders there are touting the system as a good method of igniting the engines of economic development. In this weedeater-like two-cylinder economy that once roared at a mighty 10 cylinders [The parenthetical comment was removed because it had the earmarks of editorial watering-down. I may be wrong.], any possible forward motion has moths-to-flame attraction for county leaders and business entrepreneurs alike.

It is a bit long for a newspaper article, but every word – excepting the content of quotes from politicians – is worth the read.

Dropping Like Flies

As high-ranking state Democrats keep announcing they will not seek re-election, one can only wonder what the investigative reporters at the Carolina Journal have uncovered. The sense that guilt-tripping is abundant is reinforced when the top-ranking Google search result for “Carolina Journal” takes one here.

For Consideration in Future TSA Scanner Designs

Franklin High School instituted a dress code, indicating certain parts of the human body are not for public consumption. Following this success, it is hoped the school’s principal will carry the message to TSA higher-ups, and thus provide inestimable stimulus for the aviation industry.

Undyed, Unpainted, Limpid, Pellucid, Bleached, Snowy

A white man has announced his candidacy for a seat on the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners. The article did not say how many white men had run before him, or how he intends to promote the cause of Caucasians. It did not even interview prominent white leaders to explain the significance of his candidacy for the white community. It even failed to mention the candidate’s race in the headline and body text.

Flashback

The winners of Advantage West’s Breakthrough Business Competition have been announced. For the record, I find nothing wrong with externally motivating innovation, and I am a fan of leaner, greener technology. I just agree with George Washington’s concept of the role of government in the process:

Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant, and a fearful master.

And yet, my hands are not entirely cleansed from government enticements to move technology forward in our mixed economy. My former employer had been nagged by Marc Millis of NASA’s Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program to submit a paper for some shindig or another. The BPPP rightly acknowledged the limits to jet propulsion, but questionably solicited all kinds of hair-brained ideas in search of diamonds in the rough. My boss, who was schitzy about anything that followed institutional protocol or initiated force, hemmed and hawed until the deadline had come and gone. Millis persisted, and another employee and I took it upon ourselves to write the paper. As we were putting the finishing touches on the submission, and Millis continued his pleas, the boss asked me fax MIllis the following:

We will meet the deadline. We are working on our time machine.

What Would You Do?

Adding an operator building and a chlorine chamber to Columbus’ proposed wastewater treatment plant could increase the $2.75 million price tag 10%.

[I'm wondering if I should have phrased that incorrectly in order to communicate to others in this environment where one takes for granted percentages will be misunderstood, thanks in no small part to 21st-Century classrooms funded by the North Carolina Education Lottery.]