Apriori Concepts

I really don't know what to say about this. It makes me very upset. I can't believe people like this exist on this planet, let alone in North Carolina. I think the first person to make a "product of their environment" excuse for Lovette and Attwater ought to be bitch slapped.

That's how I feel and that's putting it mildly. Very mildly.

AP:

"The report said Carson was shot five times, including once in the right cheek by a "full metal jacketed bullet" and in the right shoulder by a similar bullet that penetrated her right lung and traveled into her small intestine. She was also shot in the right upper arm and in the right buttock.

But the most vicious wound came from a shotgun blast that struck her right hand before hitting the right side of her head and brain, where the medical examiner recovered "numerous birdshot pellets and a plastic shot cup."

"These wounds most likely represent a single shot with the hand acting as an intermediate target," the report said."

That's not just some salacious report of how a vibrant young woman died. It means a man was standing over her armed with a firearm, pulling the trigger. Multiple times. Again and again. As she lay on the ground.

Animals.

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Can anyone tell me if this Amy Winehouse person has any talent and if I should be worried about her every move?

I can't keep up anymore.

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 07:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I've been holding off on this for a few days, but here goes. WTF IS MICHAEL JORDAN SMOKING?

How do you take a back-up point guard who is 5-11 with the ninth pick in the NBA draft when you need a freakin' center and the best center in the draft is still on the board? Brook Lopez was a top five pick and fell in your lap. Roy Hibbert was a lottery pick last year and was available.

You took a point guard with your first pick three years ago and have built a team around a dominant power forward and two swift slashers and all you need is a big man to take the pressure off Okafor and free up some lanes for Richardson and Wallace and you take a tiny back up point guard, followed by taking a seven-foot tall, 145 pound guy with the 20th pick who averaged FIVE points a game in the FRENCH LEAGUE!!!!

I try, I really do. But what is in the water in Charlotte? Next thing you know, the Panthers will take a running back with their first pick in next year's NFL draft.

You never can waste too many first round picks with a single-minded focus on one position.

RELATED: From Bill Simon at ESPN:

5:24: Our first stunner of the night: Charlotte reaching for D.J. Augustin at No. 9, followed by a shot of a devastated Brook Lopez in the stands. Hey, any time you have a chance to grab a career backup with the ninth pick, you gotta do it.

(Do you think Charlotte's war room is located on the ninth hole at MJ's golf course? Like, it's basically him on his cell phone and two other guys on Treos trying to rush the pick in before they sneak in nine more holes? The Bobcats might be the worst-run franchise in the league. And that's saying something. If MJ's Bulls career was like Ted Danson's run on "Cheers," then his Wizards comeback was "Becker," and this current Bobcats debacle is definitely "Help Me Help You.")

5:26: Stu explains Augustin is only 5-foot-11, but he has the wingspan of someone who's 6-3½. Well, that changes everything! At the very least, he's wearing the most interesting outfit tonight: a gray suit with a purple shirt and a pink tie. That will be a good look for him when he's Charlotte's 13th man next season.

5:28: New Jersey happily and graciously takes Brook Lopez with the 10th pick. Brook? Not so happy. He's still reeling from the past seven picks.

(Come on, Brook, look at the bright side -- you get to kick Chairman Yi's butt in practice every day for the next five years, and if that's not enough, you can learn how to fake injuries from Vince Carter and become teammates with LeBron James in two years. Things are looking up, buddy.)"

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 07:06 AM | Permalink

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 04:19 PM | Permalink

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 09:39 AM | Permalink

According to the NC Board of Elections, the Rockingham County Democratic Party failed to file a required campaign finance report by Friday's deadline as demanded in a warning letter dated May 16.

The report was due in April, and after the deadline was missed, the SBOE sent county Chairman Royce Richardson a warning letter demanding that he comply by June 20.

That was not done either, and so now the Rockingham County Democratic Party's active status has been suspended. *See update.

They will also be required to remit a previously waived $500 fine, and will likely be assessed another $500 fine if and when they do file the report that was due April 28.

Why regional and local media have failed to pick up on this story is beyond me. I guess if the local Democratic Party sent them a press release, like the sheriff does, and spoon fed them the information, it would make the paper.

Somehow, I doubt that will happen.

*UPDATED 11:35 a.m.:

I just received a call from Adam Reagan at 11:26 am. He said they received the RockCo Dems report in the mornings mail. He said, thus, they would recall the active status termination letter (since it would have been reactivated when the local party filed the report) but that since the local party already received a fine waiver this election cycle they would be issuing a fine assessment in a week or so. The local party will have to pay both the waived fine and the new fine.

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 08:38 AM | Permalink

Secretary of State Rice gives a broad review of the Bush foreign policy. I hope there is something worthwhile in there.

*What has not changed is that our relations with traditional and emerging great powers still matter to the successful conduct of policy. Thus, my admonition in 2000 that we should seek to get right the "relationships with the big powers" -- Russia, China, and emerging powers such as India and Brazil -- has consistently guided us. As before, our alliances in the Americas, Europe, and Asia remain the pillars of the international order, and we are now transforming them to meet the challenges of a new era.

What has changed is, most broadly, how we view the relationship between the dynamics within states and the distribution of power among them. As globalization strengthens some states, it exposes and exacerbates the failings of many others -- those too weak or poorly governed to address challenges within their borders and prevent them from spilling out and destabilizing the international order. In this strategic environment, it is vital to our national security that states be willing and able to meet the full range of their sovereign responsibilities, both beyond their borders and within them. This new reality has led us to some significant changes in our policy. We recognize that democratic state building is now an urgent component of our national interest. And in the broader Middle East, we recognize that freedom and democracy are the only ideas that can, over time, lead to just and lasting stability, especially in Afghanistan and Iraq.*

MP3 available. 

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 08:12 AM | Permalink

Before you pull the level for that Democratic state legislator this fall, remember this:

*In the Senate, where Democrats have been the majority party for as long as anyone can remember, Republicans' ability to do much of anything meaningful has always been at the whim of the Democratic leadership. And running roughshod over budget amendments proposed by Republicans is nothing new.

Many state legislatures across the country aren't much different. It's why winning a majority of seats in any legislative body is a highly coveted prize.

But not even allow Republicans to weigh in, for the record, on the most important piece of legislation to be considered by the General Assembly?*

Related. Related.

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 06:40 AM | Permalink

This defies logic. A 47-0 senate vote on a bill with a mere 15 percent of public support and opposition from the highway patrol.

*"The state Senate on Tuesday passed and sent to the House a far-reaching measure to put longer trucks, wider boats and some heavier farm commodity trucks on North Carolina roads.

Trucking and business interests have pushed for the Senate proposal to let 53-foot tractor-trailers use all primary highways -- replacing a 48-foot limit on most roads."*

I spoke briefly to the reporter and he was very courteous in taking my call. The impetus for the proponents of the bill seems to be understandable, but I think my opposition is more in deference to public and family transportation safety.

Or perhaps like on the CAFE/drilling issue, I am in a mood for compromise. But it seems to me that unless the state is going to enforce a zero tolerance policy for CDL violations, allowing larger, wider and heavier trucks on our road is not in the safety interest of families using our state roadways.

Related: An N&O series "Pounding the Pavement" concerning the damage done to state roads by overweight vehicles.

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 08:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

See SB 1756 

From Rep. Paul Stam:

"The purpose of taxation should be to raise revenue to fund important government services. There are several taxes that are counterproductive to that purpose.  One is the vestigial North Carolina gift tax. North Carolina is one of only three states (Connecticut and Tennessee) with a state gift tax (and Connecticut taxes only very large gifts).

While the checks that come in labeled “gift tax” total $18 million dollars/year, this tax actually raises no money.  It is a trap for the unwary and serves no socially useful purpose. The Senate has voted to repeal the tax, effective January 1, 2008. I propose the House pass this bill effective for gifts made after July 1, 2009.

1. Without this tax we would receive more money in additional income tax, corporate tax, and other taxes.

I have spoken to CPA’s who had wealthy clients locate to other states in order not to pay our state gift tax. If they had established a residence here, they would have paid more in income tax per year than we collect from the entire state in gift taxes.  There is an inordinate waste of time and effort spent in order to avoid the gift tax. Finally, if the transfer is made at death, then the donee has a stepped-up basis. If it is given before death, there is a carry-over income tax basis, and the state receives additional income tax on that appreciation on sale - a substantial offset against the 18 million dollar nominal cost of repeal.

2. This tax is a trap for the unwary. The memorandum from the Gift Tax Subcommittee of the Estate Tax Section of the NC Bar Association gives seven examples of people from North Carolina who pay this tax. There are many financial professionals, including lawyers and CPA’s, who are focused on federal gift and estate tax. They often  don’t notice that the clients triggered a state gift tax.

3. There is no social purpose for the gift tax. The origin of the gift tax is a backstop to a death tax. But our death tax has been conformed to the federal law so there is no tax on the first 2 million dollars. Our gift tax allows only $100,000 in lifetime gifts and we are unique and have a different gift tax rate for Class B, and Class C beneficiaries so that the $100,000 lifetime exemption is not available for gifts to siblings and sons of law.

Why would we encourage people to hold onto property until their death to avoid a gift tax? Why? Siblings often want to make gifts to each other to equalize inheritances. Yet this triggers the gift tax without the lifetime exemption.

Existing federal law says that 2010 will be an unusual year.  The federal estate and gift unified credit will be unlimited and then go back up to prehistoric rates in 2011. There will be a huge need for tax planning by North Carolina families in 2009-2010. By making the effective date of the bill July 1, 2009 it would be in place for gifts when it is most necessary, there will be no reduction in tax for the gifts that have already been made thus far in 2008, and families planning to make gifts in the latter part of 2009 and in 2010 can do so. Under these circumstances, a real life fiscal note would be zero instead of $18 million for 2009-2010."

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 10:38 AM | Permalink

The Reidsville Review will tomorrow be publishing a letter I sent them last week.

It relates to the local Democratic Party's inability to abide by state campaign finance laws over the past 18 months.

Related links can be found here and here.

Interested parties can keep track of the Rockingham County Democratic Party's compliance via this link. 

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 01:37 PM | Permalink

So I heard a GOP congressman say on the House Republican Conference podcast that there are 1.5 trillion barrels of oil* within reach of domestic production. I've been studying the issue and debating with my dad over ANWAR and offshore drilling. He was going on and on about the Chinese drilling 90 miles from Florida while we couldn't drill in our own territory.

I didn't really believe him, but I know he listens to talk radio all day in the car and watches Fox at home, so I figured it was a talking point last week.

Sure enough, there goes another member of the House conference talking about the Chinese drilling in Cuba.

It figures.

Now, I've been studying the domestic oil situation and came across a few USGS documents that said there are about 7 billion proven barrels in ANWAR and about 21 billion proven in the total US.

By comparison, our newest colony, where we have spent 520 billion dollars in the last five years, has 112 billion proven barrels of oil.

So here is my question. And my comment.

Wouldn't the absolute strategic thing to do be to drain all the oil we can from the rest of the world while sitting on our reserves (don't get high on your own supply, and all), thus ensuring that when the rest of the world is sucked dry, we still have 10-15 billion barrels in reserve?

Second, how is it conservative to advocate the draining of our own reserves, endanger our own natural resources, and abnegate our own technological development so that we can maintain our addiction to oil?

Maybe if the wingnuts will allow the pinko-environmentalist to raise the CAFE standards and bring more electric hybrids to the market, the whacko environmentalist will let the right wing fascists drill for more domestic oil.

Now that's what they call government.

* I'm going to assume the congressman was talking about oil shale, since we do have 1.5 trillion barrels in proven reserves of that. So the GOP plan seems to be to strip mine anywhere there is oil shale and have us run the economy off of this stuff, which one congressman says is opposed by "radical environmentalist" who claim it emits twice the greenhouse gases that regular oil products do. Those wascally wadicals.

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 06:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Dr. Jim Austin, a popular physician in Eden and an at-large member of the Rockingham County
School Board, passed away at his home this morning.

Austin was elected to the board in the 2006 expansion. He garnered the most votes in the
election, which featured 13 candidates running for five positions.

Early reports indicate that Austin was at home by himself this morning and fell ill. He was able
to dial 911 but passed away.

Board member Nell Rose said she was very saddened at the news. Rose said Superintendent Rodney Shotwell relayed the news to board members in the early afternoon.

"(Austin) had a lot to contribute and its hard to believe he is gone. I feel sad for his wife
and his parents and his children," Rose said. She added that Austin's wife is a media specialist
at Morehead High School, where his youngest daughter is a student. Austin has two more college
aged daughters.

"He was caring and I had a lot of respect for him," Rose said. "He had such  high expectations
for himself and others and he wanted to provide opportunities for students in and out of the
classroom."

Board chair Elaine McCollum amplified Rose's statements.

"It's a real personal loss to me. He has been very supportive and given me a lot of advice that
I well received. I am personally going to miss him very much," said McCollum. "As a board
member he thought out of the box a lot and I admired him a great deal."

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 08:28 PM | Permalink

Been listening to some podcasts from the American University in Cairo this week. I found this gem from Dr. Cornel West.

"The Vocation of a Democratic Intellectual" is the third from the bottom on the above link.

He spends the first seven minutes honoring his friend Edward Said, but then launches into an amazing examination of ideas in a breathtaking lecture.

I admire West's intellect so much that I give him a pass on his politics. This lecture is pure, brilliant Cornell West at his intellectual height.

Like this gem from the 18:00 minute mark, speaking about problems with advanced capitalist societies and "various professional managerial figures" and some academicians walking around "like a peacock, with the foliage visible."

*"I come from a tradition that says peacocks strut because the can't fly. They snub because they are insecure. Where is your courage to think for yourself? To shatter conformity. To shatter complacency. To shatter cowardice. To be yourself. To find your own voice like the great blues and jazz musicians."*

Damn.

I really needed to hear that today. Serendipity is a beautiful thing.

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 11:16 AM | Permalink

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 08:35 AM | Permalink

Posted by Jeffrey Sykes at 09:35 AM | Permalink