Guarino

Episcopal Involvement in Protests against GPD Discipline a Manifestation of Misplaced Priorities

The Greensboro Pulpit Forum has co-opted the support of a major, mainline Protestant denomination in its efforts to protect black GPD officers from being disciplined.  Various clergy with the Episcopal Church have taken on this issue as a cause.  They are presumably doing this as a manifestation of their "social justice" orientation.

We had previously discussed the ethically bankrupt nature of this approach several months ago in connection with  First Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Church USA, and other mainline denominations-- especially those within the National Council of Churches.  The Episcopal Church falls in this category. 

The Episcopal clergy getting involved in this issue don't know all the facts regarding the individual cases involved.  They have no idea of the risks involved when an employer-- especially a public sector employer-- terminates a minority employee.  It is unlikely that the City of Greensboro, which has a black city manager and which is controlled in part by a black political machine, would take these disciplinary decisions lightly.

It is more disturbing that these Episcopal clergy would seek to undermine efforts to restore discipline within the department.  This is particularly problematic given the troubled history of the GPD, which is partially rooted in the historic political prohibition on holding minority officers accountable within the department. 

(As usual, BTW, we do not hear the outcries of the separationists when the religious left attempts to influence the actions of government).

Sometimes churches lose sight of what their primary missions should be.  A great article that illustrates the manner in which the Episcopal Church has gone astray is found here.  (HT: Stormy).

Episcopalians in Greensboro who are distraught about the direction of their church, but who wish to remain within the Anglican tradition, have an alternative in Greensboro.  It is St. John's Anglican Church, located on W. Friendly Ave. 

Drastic Turnaround at the GPD

All of a sudden, we are seeing black officers getting fired at the Greensboro Police Department.  A number of them.

The department had been laboring under the weight of an employee population excessively beset by attitudes of entitlement and aggrievement.  It had been going on for years.

Then we see the leadership of Tim Bellamy come to a close, and an interim replace him.  Much of the action has taken place during the brief period of leadership of the interim chief.  We also have a new assistant city manager leaving an imprint, presumably with the blessing of a relatively new city manager.  Suddenly, we are seeing what appears to be an effort to restore discipline and honor within the department.

Of course, there is a reaction.  The Greensboro Pulpit Forum remains at work, coordinating the "Justice Summer" activities that tend to characterize the department as corrupt because of its newfound disciplinary zeal.  There was a significant event at a large black church yesterday.  The News and Record is giving this side increasingly sympathetic coverage.

We now learn that dozens of ministers are signing on to the effort to obtain a federal Department of Justice investigation.  Included among these are black ministers and local Episcopal clergy.  The high-profile involvement of the Episcopal priests is a bit surprising given the fact that they do not know the whole story.  They are putting their credibility on the line, big time.  Protecting these black police officers from accountability might turn out to be the wrong position to take.

I hope Mr. Young and Mr. Speedling know what they are doing, and that they are fully prepared to defend the personnel decisions being made. 

One of the interesting things about the recent round of firings is that the stars of the Bledsoe series-- Hinson, James, Fulmore, etc.-- are left relatively unscathed.

I do not know the facts of the most recent cases in which officers are being recommended for termination.  But if these personnel actions are justified, then they potentially represent an important step in reestablishing discipline and restoring the department. 

Greensboro's Acres

The Great Library Filter Debate

It has now been several weeks since the great debate regarding pornography at the Greensboro Public Libraries materialized.  The prospect of patrons viewing internet pornography on the libraries' computers has been a matter of concern for some citizens.  I think this is an appropriate moment to review this entire episode, which at times has been absolutely grotesque.

1. Councilman Danny Thompson made a motion on the matter without advance notice at a City Council meeting.  Immediately, the hackles of certain council members were raised.  It was decided to discuss the issue two weeks later at the next meeting.

2. During the ensuing two weeks, efforts to oppose Thompson on this issue developed in the local media.  The explanation?  Simply put, this was regarded as a religious-right type of issue, and the effort therefore had to be extinguished.  This is, after all, Greensboro.

First, the News and Record editorialized against requiring filters.  That was predictable.

Second, the News and Record began to advocate against filters in a not-so-subtle manner on its news pages.  The paper began to focus on the reduction in porn viewing since Sandy Neerman and the library board instituted its half-hearted "throttling" solution.  It did not primarily focus on the fact that it is still very possible to view internet porn at the libraries.

Evidence of the worldview guiding the reporting in the News and Record is found in a couple of recent blog posts.

Amanda Lehmert has done some of the reporting, and wrote the latter post to which I linked.  She is married to Joe Killian, a local journalist-blogger, who also is employed at the News and Record.  Someone suggested that I do a search on the topic of "Joe Killian and porn".  The result of that search is found here. 

I think it is fair to say that the worldview of these folks would necessarily make them less concerned about the prospect of porn being viewed at the libraries.

Third,  Ed Cone and his minions in the local blogosphere had a series of posts and threads that sought to undermine the effort Thompson had made.  Ed also devoted part of a column in the N&R on this topic.

3. The last Greensboro City Council meeting was an ugly, filthy display.

Sandy Neerman and library board chair Steve Allen made their presentations.  I wrote more about Allen here.  There was no way for viewers to know at the time how "connected" the library board chair might be here in Greensboro.

The discussion among council members was a sight to behold.  Zack Matheny took an open, gratuitous shot at Danny Thompson.   Matheny behaved like an absolute jerk, and seemed to be expressing moral indignation at the putative offenses that Thompson had committed.  It brings to mind the words of Jesus Christ about taking a speck out of the eye of someone else when there is a log in your own:

"You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye."

Immediately thereafter, Robbie Perkins and T. Diane Bellamy-Small piled on.  Of course, one can rely on both of these politicians to do the wrong thing quite regularly, but in the case of  Bellamy-Small, the behavior was quite interesting.  Why?  When I circulated questionnaires to council candidates last year, she indicated she supported using filters in the libraries.  She outright flip-flopped, even to the extent that she joined efforts to oppose Thompson actively.

Thompson made a motion to require filters, and it was voted down 6-3.  The six council members who voted in an amoral fashion were Robbie Perkins, Zack Matheny, Nancy Vaughan, Mary Rakestraw, Jim Kee and T. Diane Bellamy-Small.

A motion then passed to gather more data regarding the number of porn sites viewed at the libraries over the ensuing three months.  Certain parties in the local media and blogosphere stood up and applauded.  Yes, they said, we need data.

The only vote against filters that was difficult to understand was that cast by Mary Rakestraw. When all the others voted against filters, it was unsurprising. 

Rakestraw serves as the council's liaison to the library board.  My concern is that her relationship with Ms. Neerman and that board might have clouded her judgment on this matter.

4. We subsequently learned about an incident last year that had been reported on television.  A library customer had been arrested for viewing child pornography.  The problem is that the protections subsequently adopted by the library system do not preclude the act of browsing for and viewing child porn in the libraries.  They merely slow things down.  The library computer user who is patient remains fully capable of flashing child porn before other customers; and the system will not block it.

Of course, it was the library system that had distributed child porn to that customer; but no city official was arrested or disciplined after this happened as far as we know.

5. We then learned that the city manager requested statistics from the library system regarding the number of porn sites viewed during the previous month.  The results showed upwards of 700 attempted visits per day, although there were factors that obscured the meaning of this statistic.

Predictably, those in the anti-filter camp in the local blogosphere tried to diminish the significance of this statistic to make it appear that filters were not necessary.  They did so even though it was their side that had been demanding the statistics.  When the numbers rolled in, they merely disavowed them.

6. We also learned the "throttling" system adopted by the library system will necessarily slow the loading of certain websites such as those discussing matters like breast cancer.  Much political hay had been made of the idea that library customers would not be able to access these sites if the libraries installed filters.  But it turns out that those sites falsely identified as porn-- such as those on the topic of breast cancer-- will be slowed severely by the library system, likely causing customers seeking this information to be quite frustrated.

7. This entire civic discussion has offered a great object lesson on the subject of relativism-- a term I have used repeatedly over the last couple of weeks.

Princeton University is one of the top two or three national universities in the country.  It is much higher ranked than anything we have in Greensboro.  How does Princeton define relativism?

(n) relativism ((philosophy) the philosophical doctrine that all criteria of judgment are relative to the individuals and situations involved)

We have seen relativism on full display during the library filter debate, in all its blazing glory.  We have seen it on the editorial page of the News and Record, and also on its news pages.  We have seen it in the News and Record blogs.

We have seen it in the blog comments of folks like Ed and Roch and Sue, and in the comments of their fellow travelers in the blogosphere.

But most importantly, we have seen it in Sandy Neerman, the library director; the library board; and among six members of the Greensboro City Council.  Again these include Perkins, Matheny, Vaughan, Rakestraw, Kee and Bellamy-Small.

These parties have collectively decided that the false god of "library information" accessed through the internet is at a higher level of priority than the moral imperative of protecting minors.  They have constructed an idol in their minds-- and that idol is unobstructed access to the internet.

Furthermore, during this entire conversation, we have likely also seen nihilists on display, advocating their position:

(n) nihilist (someone who rejects all theories of morality or religious belief)

There has also been a distinct undercurrent of sexual liberationism, which is quite prevalent in our society.

8. Greensboro cheerleaders have liked to promote the city as being family-friendly-- as being a great place to raise a family.  But when you are at significant risk of being exposed to internet porn in a city's public libraries, the right to call that city "family-friendly" no longer applies.

It seems to me that prospective newcomers to the city of Greensboro should be advised that they are at risk of viewing internet porn if they visit the city's libraries.  It seems to me that would be the decent thing to do in the interest of full disclosure.  Furthermore, they should be advised that the city's highest ranking leaders obdurately refused to correct the situation when they were afforded the opportunity to do so.

Then those folks can make an educated decision as to whether they wish to move to Greensboro.

Soulmates

Dr. Mary Johnson catches up with a gentleman from a prominent Asheboro family.  And she finds someone who surprisingly has reason to empathize...

Small town North Carolina no longer has the luxury of chasing away some of its most productive citizens.

Assuring the Best Electoral Outcome

(Click to enlarge)

The Guilford County Sales Tax Increase Proposal

Now that it is official, we can discuss the upcoming campaign to increase Guilford County's sales tax.  But in order to do so, we need to refresh our minds on a bit of history.

Recall that Action Greensboro is, along with the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, part of the umbrella group called the Greensboro Partnership.  A couple of years ago, during the 2008 election season the Partnership engaged in a covert campaign to pass the bonds.  We saw posters and yard signs and expensive ads sprouting up all over town, and it was later discovered through Keith Brown's efforts that it was the Partnership or its subsidiaries that was paying for this campaign.

Then, we learned that Action Greensboro itself had given an illegal $5,000 contribution to the Simkins PAC in order to get the bonds passed.  The PAC would then tell everyone on its mailing list to vote for the bonds.

The bonds passed, and Guilford County now finds itself in a serious fiscal predicament.  George Hartzman illustrates the severity of the crisis facing Guilford County government over at Triad Watch.

The main line item that is creating the problem is the school bonds.  But we must once again look to our elected leadership to determine which of these bright lights voted to place the bonds on the ballot back during 2008.

The guilty parties are as follows:

Kay Cashion, Carolyn Coleman, Bruce Davis, Paul Gibson, John Parks, Kirk Perkins, Linda Shaw, Mike Winstead and Billy Yow.

And it was, for the most part, this same group that voted in favor of the sales tax increase.

Skip Alston was absent for  the meeting at which the vote was taken to put the school bonds on the ballot.  But it should be noted that Skip is a principal in the Simkins PAC, which dutifully accepted the illegal Action Greensboro donation and endorsed the bonds.

Now, we are witnessing squabbles over where new schools funded by the bonds should be located.  But these new schools should not be built, period.  We don't have the money.  It is lunacy to raise taxes in the midst of the most severe economic downturn since the Depression.  And we must remember that local conditions here are much worse than much of the rest of the country, in part because of our recent history of overspending, overregulating and overtaxing.

Perhaps we can expect that the Greensboro Partnership or Action Greensboro will once again covertly fund a campaign-- this time to get the sales tax increase passed at the polls.

It seems unlikely to me that the voters will pass the sales tax increase, but that means property owners will be stuck with the tax increases.  There appears to be no appetite in Guilford County government to halt planning and construction on the various school bond projects, in spite of the county's precarious fiscal condition.

When voters think about the ways the county is increasing our taxes, they also need to think about Mr. Alston and the nine commissioners highlighted above.

Robbie Perkins Watch: Spending More Taxpayer Money for Trash

Hammer:

One of the recurring themes of the meeting voiced by Councilmembers Dianne Bellamy-Small, Jim Kee and Robbie Perkins was that the landfill should not be reopened...

Perkins several times gave his spiel on the need for a regional solution.

Yes Weekly:

Perkins, who has long expressed support for a long-range plan to develop a regional compact for solid waste likely utilizing traditional landfill technology, was the first to stake out a position.

“We need to keep doing what we’re doing now,” he said. “We need to look at alternative technologies, but we’re not there yet.”

We need to pay very close attention to what Robbie Perkins is saying and doing regarding the White Street Landfill.  He is the leader of the Melderec con Simkins majority on the Greensboro City Council.

Let us be clear.  Our current approach, albeit very expensive, is a "regional solution".  Perkins is not seeking the most cost-effective alternative for Greensboro taxpayers.  Instead, he is seeking to continue to curry favor with the east Greensboro political establishment.

When Perkins says we should continue doing what we are doing, he means taxpayers should continue to "pay through the nose" to ship our trash elsewhere.  He means that the political prohibition on using the White Street Landfill based on identity group politics must continue to be enforced.

Greensboro residents concerned about their local tax burden ought not be deceived in any way that Mr. Perkins is looking out for their interests.  Future trash disposal expenses are a major cost item for the city, and we should be seeking ways to minimize those liabilities, particularly in the current economic environment.  But Robbie thinks we should keep doing what we are doing.

Nathan Tabor, Not Guilty; Govenor Spencer, Guilty

The Winston-Salem Journal reports, as transmitted on the News and Record website.

Spencer will not be doing jail time.  Simkins PAC-affiliated attorney Joe Williams, who represented Spencer, declined to comment.

Some of us likely will tend to believe that the right verdicts were rendered.  The question is whether justice is being done.

Update: Sam Hieb reported earlier this morning over at Piedmont Publius.

700 Porn Hits Per Day on Greensboro Public Library Computers

Tony Wilkins reports this evening regarding the number of attempted porn hits on Greensboro Public Library (GPL) computers:

Two anonymous sources have confirmed that from July 23 to August 23 over 21,000 visits to pornographic websites occurred at the Greensboro PUBLIC library. Emphasis on PUBLIC.

Over 700 per day.

This data was compiled reportedly because City Manager Rashad Young requested it of library staff.  This amounts to approximately 0.25 million attempted porn hits per year at the GPL.

Various parties were demanding data before agreeing to require the use of filters, and the data is now available.  I don't know what else they could demand at this point.

The relativists on city staff, on the Greensboro City Council and in the local media/blogosphere will attempt to downplay the significance of these numbers.  We are already hearing some rumblings.  There are, for instance, suggestions that one attempted porn visit might generate numerous counted "hits".  In addition, it appears that these numbers do not necessarily reflect porn sites that were actually visited.  When one attempts to visit a porn site at the GPL, the Cymphonix system slows down the process of browsing considerably.  Every attempt will not result in a porn site viewed.

But if the relativists use these arguments-- and similar ones-- to diminish the signifance of the numbers generated, I only have one reply.  Why bother generating the statistics in the first place?  If the Cymphonix system cannot generate true statistics of porn sites viewed, then why did the geniuses on the City Council demand these statistics?  And why were the media and blogosphere voices all applauding the call for numbers?

Another ploy will be to demonstrate that the 700 attempted visits per day is but a small percentage of the total websites browsed at the library.  But that does not diminish the significance of such a large number of porn sites potentially being viewed.  If the library customer seeking porn is patient, he will view porn-- and it might be child pornography.

The Cymphonix system slows browsing as noted above.  But the degree to which the slowing occurs depends on the nature of the site.  It will slow video the most.  Audio is slowed to a lesser extent than video.  Then comes pictures.  Plain text is dead last.   So the order of slowing, from greatest to least, is video, audio, picture, text.  A porn site with pictures only will not be slowed nearly as much as a site that has video.

But the process of slowing has its costs.  Recall that much ballyhoo has been made over the difficulty library customers would encounter getting information about breast cancer if a filter were in place.  But under the Sandy Neerman/ Steve Allen Cymphonix system, the person seeking information about breast cancer might face very frustrating delays.  Imagine if there is a video on the site demonstrating a breast self-exam.  The site would be very slow to load!

So what is the cost of slowing porn sites using the Cymphonix system?  The cost is to slow sites that are legitimate-- including some of which have been used politically to oppose filters.  The cost is to markedly diminish the level of service legitimate customers receive from the library's internet capabilities.

In any event, the burden is now on the relativists and the nihilists to demonstrate why filters are not appropriate, in view of the fact that we now have 700 attempted porn hits per day; and in view of the fact that breast cancer sites and many others are currently being slowed inappropriately by the Cymphonix system.

Constitution Tutorial

Lightning Striking Three Times: The Greensboro Library Board Chairman

As I watched the Greensboro City Council meeting last week, I was fascinated to watch the performance of Library Board Chairman Steve Allen, who strained himself to claim repeatedly that there was no imminent emergency at the Greensboro Public Library because of the ready availability of pornography. 

I remember thinking to myself-- Steve Allen, I've heard that name before.  And then it came to me.

Regular readers of this blog might recall a post here several months ago about the Greensboro Aquatic Center.  I had explained my efforts to send a letter by certified mail to the attorney who was acting as bond counsel for the city on the matter of the swim center.  Unfortunately, despite two attempts, I never received confirmation that the letter had been delivered either time; and in each case, the Postal Service indicated to me they could not find any trace of my letter.

It turns out it was a fellow named Steve Allen who was acting as the bond counsel for the city.  It was Mr. Allen to whom I had attempted to send the two certified letters, neither of which could be traced.  Lightning had struck twice.

It is my understanding that acting as bond counsel for a unit of local or state government on large bond packages can be fairly lucrative business for attorneys.

I do not know whether the Steve Allen to whom I was writing is the same Steve Allen who chairs the library board.  But Ed Cone had a post suggesting the man who leads the library board is a former judge and a current seminary student, implying these are inherent qualifications for making an ethical decision on internet porn in the libraries.

It is quite apparent that, in spite of the election results last November, the city of Greensboro still has a long way to go.

Child Pornography, the Greensboro Public Library and Sandy Neerman

One of the regrettable aspects of the internet is that it enables the easy circulation of child pornography. 

We learn from Cara Michele that an incident took place at the Greensboro Public Library last year during which a "patron" was viewing child porn.  This person was summarily arrested.  It was reported on television at that time:

Undoubtedly, this was one of the factors that led the Greensboro Public Library to develop its "throttle" or Cymphonix capability to slow the browsing of porn sites.  But as one views the video, Library Director Sandy Neerman's relativism once again becomes apparent.  We are worshipping the idol of unrestricted access to "library information", and placing that at a greater level of importance than protecting minors. 

Note how she said the problem was "inappropriate use" that infringes on the rights of other customers.  Blame the customer for accessing the product you peddle.  Ignore the moral content of the situation, and your own role.

But here is the irony.  If any bookstore or video store locally was engaged in the distribution of child pornography, the owners would likely be arrested.  But when the city of Greensboro and its library system are engaged in the distribution of child pornography, it is the customer who is arrested.  The library is therefore absolved of responsibility.

Perhaps someone with the city should have been arrested for allowing this to happen.  We need to remember that, for approximately ten years prior to that date, Ms. Neerman resisted the use of filters at the library even though she knew fully the nature of some of the content on the internet.

And in fact, she is still resisting the use of filters even though her domain has been engaged in the distribution of child pornography.

BCBS of NC Says Obamacare Will Cause Premium Increases

HT: Obamacare Watch

WRAL reports that Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC is blaming Obamacare for some current and future health insurance premium increases:

While citing rising medical care costs as a primary driver in the proposed rate increases, company officials said provisions of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act health care reform law also will impact rates charged under the two plans. Those provisions include requiring insurers to remove the cap on lifetime benefits, enhance preventive care coverage and allow unlimited mental health services, prescription drugs and other types of care...

"Given what is known today about the health care reform law, premiums will be generally higher for individual policies after 2014," the company said in a statement. "Rates generally will be lower for less healthy consumers and higher for healthier consumers than they would have been without reform."

Note that the article indicates the premium increase for my HSA plan will only be 2% this year.  The premium increase last year was reasonable also.  That is one of the things HSA plans are supposed to do-- keep the premium increases as low as possible.

But folks, according to our state's predominant insurer, just wait until 2014 when the full effects of Obamacare become manifest.

Why Businesses are Not Creating Jobs in North Carolina

Joe Coletti of the John Locke Foundation explains how the looming $3 Billion budget shortfall, with anticipated tax increases next year, is part of the reason North Carolina businesses are not creating new jobs:

Jerry Bledsoe Says Sandy Neerman Censored Him

From a previous thread regarding pornography at the Greensboro Public Library, noted author/journalist Jerry Bledsoe left the following comments:

As a person who has been censored by Sandy Neerman, I can testify that she has zero credibility when it comes to censorship. Some years back, I was invited to participate in a round-robin novel by Greensboro authors sponsored by the library and the News & Record. My chapter, which poked fun at a fictional newspaper, was omitted because it was deemed offensive by Neerman and News & Record editor John Robinson. However, they had no qualms about stealing the character I created who solved the mystery. Porno and literary theft are fine with Neerman but satire is unacceptable.

Confrontation with Greensboro's Own Kay Hagan

The 2008 election season was notable for the mass, collective ignorance that swept across the voting populace in the state of North Carolina.  One of the manifestations of this ignorance was the repeatedly stated need to replace Elizabeth Dole in the US Senate because she did not spend enough time in North Carolina.  If we had a real North Carolinian representing us, so the thinking went, we would be better off.

Kay Hagan won.  Are we better off?

Of course, the emphasis on how often a senator should visit her home state was a red herring. It enabled Hagan's campaign to distract attention away from what her voting record would be if she were elected.  But some of us knew.

It turns out that Senator Hagan provided the deciding vote for the passage of Obamacare.  If she had not been elected two years ago, the monstrosity would not have passed.

A video has been circulating over the last week that demonstrates one of the benefits of having United States senators come home to visit with constituents.  Several other local and regional bloggers have posted about it already, including Mary Johnson.

The video reveals the esteemed Senator Hagan's relative cluelessness. It also demonstrates how happy at least some of her constituents are with her performance thus far:

Perkins, Matheny, Vaughan, Rakestraw Vote to Permit Porn Surfing at Greensboro Public Library

I am interrupting my break to report on a development at tonight's City Council meeting.

There was a prolonged discussion on the matter of filtering computers at the Greensboro Public Library.  Councilman Thompson offered a motion to filter the entire system.  (We learned tonight that the library systems in Charlotte and Raleigh do so.)

Thompson's motion failed 3-6.   Among those opposing his motion were Robbie Perkins, Zack Matheny, Nancy Vaughan, Mary Rakestraw, Jim Kee and T. Diane Bellamy-Small.  These six council members support allowing library patrons to continue to surf for pornographic sites.  That is very, very unfortunate.

There is much more to be said later; and we certainly will.

Update: In the lead paragraph of its above-the-fold story, the News and Record blatantly misrepresents the manner in which council members voted:

After two hours of debate, the City Council unanimously decided against adding pornography filters to library computers.

Unanimous!  In order to provide political cover for the six who voted in favor of internet access to porn, the paper blatantly misrepresented the vote.

Hasta Luego

It is time for me to take a break from blogging, perhaps for upwards of several weeks.

Our youngest son leaves for college in a couple of weeks.  We are getting ready for when both will be starting school.  It is an empty-nesting time for our household, a time of change.

I will be visiting other blogs, and otherwise will try to resist the impulse to post here.  Thanks for reading.

A Deja Vu-Style Police Story, In More Ways Than One

The city of Louisville, KY has a police chief named Robert White. 

There was an interesting story in the Louisville paper this past weekend regarding a police officer on that force named Charles Moore.  This officer has had seven suspensions, eight reprimands, and a 794-page internal police file.  And Chief White is described in the article defending this particular officer.

How could such a police officer remain employed with that kind of record?

It is reassuring to know that could never happen in Greensboro.:)