Happy New Year, Y'all

Billy blinked in 1958, traveled in time to 1961. It was New Year's Eve, and Billy was disgracefully drunk at a party where everybody was in optometry or married to an optometrist.

Billy usually didn't drink much, because the war had ruined his stomach, but he certainly had a snootful now, and he was being unfaithful to his wife Valencia for the first and only time. He had somehow persuaded a woman to come into the laundry room of the house, and then sit up on the gas dryer, which was running. . .

Somewhere in there was an awful scene, with people expressing disgust for Billy and the woman, and Billy found himself out in his automobile, trying to find the steering wheel. At first, Billy windmilled his arms, hoping to find it by luck. When that didn't work, he became methodical, working in such a way that the wheel could not possibly escape him. He placed himself hard against the left-had door, searched every square inch of the area before him. When he failed to find the wheel, he moved over six inches, and searched again. Amazingly, he was eventually hard against the right-hand door, without having found the wheel. He concluded that somebody had stolen it. This angered him as he passed out.

He was in the back seat of his car, which was why he couldn't find the steering wheel.

Kurt Vonnegut from Slaughterhouse 5

Have fun and stay safe!

Gearing Up For '06

Drinking Liberally Tonight

Tonight the forces of Drinking Liberally join with BlogAsheville for a night a consumption, opinion, leisure sport, and a heavy dose of whatnot. It's the last DL of the year, and the inaugural stop on the BlogAsheville Bowling Thunder Tour.

Come out. Invite your friends. Get involved.

Jack of the Wood 7pm for Drinking Liberally.

Kenilworth Lanes 9:30ish for Bowling Thunder.

See you there.

The Walbucks Takeover of North Asheville

(Crossposted from Edgy Mama)

I was astounded to see a Starbucks kiosk upon walking into the N. Asheville Ingles yesterday. It looks like a 21st century spaceship set down in a 1960s era grocery store. Three days before, there were card tables laden with sale items and large bags of candy where now stands a shiny dark wood and deep green altar to the great god java.

Within blocks of my morphing grocery store, a local Ace Hardware franchise that's been there for years is about to be taken over by Walgreen's. Another fancy drug store sits where once was a charming, slightly decrepit doughnut shop. A giant CVS has replaced the Auto Parts store (we seem to be needing lots o' drugs here in N. Asheville--6 phamacies within about 4 blocks).

All this "renovation" has occurred within a mile of my home within the past four years. Some change is good, I think, but this change is too much, too soon. Too many small local businesses are going under to big box retailers.

Despite the fact that we live in the PNAV (posh North Asheville villa--that's a joke, btw), I'm not sure I want North Asheville to become more posh than it already is. I want it to retain its funkiness, its rough edges, its local flavor.

But I've been pegged. Because as much as I'd like to avoid Starbucks, I know I'll be there, buying a skim latte, before purchasing my bananas, popsicles, and pasta.

Bowling Thunder - 2 Days Away!!!

What's Up, Bloggers?

1. Christmas Eve - Huge Lasagna, wine, nog, family at the Weaverville compound.

2. Christmas Morning - Coffee, netsurfing, jazz

3. Christmas Morning - Arrival of the soon-to-be-irreparably-spoiled young'un, presents opening, more coffee, fun around the tree

4. Christmas Morning - Quiches

5. Christmas Afternoon - Bocce Ball, Football, nog, beer

6. Christmas Night - a home-made dinner that couldn't be beat, King Kong at the Carmike, 15 holes of Urban disc golf on the deserted streets of downtown Asheville.

7. Boxing Day - Lolling, reading, sleeping, blogging.

You?

Happy Birthday Jesus

The face of Jesus of Nazareth

"In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirini-us was governor of Syria. And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn" - Luke 2:1-7

"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." - Matthew 5:43-45

History: "The middle of winter has long been a time of celebration around the world. Centuries before the arrival of the man called Jesus, early Europeans celebrated light and birth in the darkest days of winter."
[...]
In Scandinavia, the Norse celebrated Yule from December 21, the winter solstice, through January.
[...]
In Germany, people honored the pagan god Oden during the mid-winter holiday. Germans were terrified of Oden, as they believed he made nocturnal flights through the sky to observe his people, and then decide who would prosper or perish."

For a great book with every quote ever attributed to Jesus, try this.

Happy Christmas/Holidays to all of you from a gaggle of grateful Hooligans.

{cross-posted at ScruHoo}

Holiday Reading

by Christopher Guest

from The Huffington Post

The stress of gift giving, forced family visits, and too much bad food shouldn’t keep one from enjoying a good book. These are some of my favorites. Most of them have become classics. Some may be new to you.

1. The irresistible "Deke n’ Me" series by Gary Mint. I especially enjoy "Deke n’ Me Go Back in Time." In this often-hilarious tale, the boys find themselves on a witness stand during the H.U.A.C. hearings in the fifties.

Deke, with his good humor and sass, manages to throw the entire proceeding into confusion. Out of Print

2. The entire 26 volumes of the Oxford dictionary is quite an extravagant gift. In lieu of purchasing the complete collection, I would opt for volume 22, S to T. It doesn’t have the drama of D to E, or the sly humor of M to N, but it still manages to be a heartwarming read.

3. "The Race of the Century" by Lydia N. Cane. Admittedly, the title is somewhat misleading. This is the largely forgotten story of Donald B. Hinton, the inventor of the "cue card". There was, it seems, a contest in the late forties to see who could come up with the best system to prevent embarrassing on air gaffs. The tension mounts as Mr. Hinton battles fellow competitors and even death threats before finally succeeding. Out of print

4. "Packing," by Tgen Rinpoche. This former Tibetan monk reveals all he knows about how to pack for a trip. His tips are surprisingly simple and yet without any overlay of wisdom. He devotes an entire chapter to “The Weekend Trip”. If you have a tendency to read between the lines, this book discourages that tendency. Self-published.

This list is short, but well-rounded and manageable.

Happy Holidays BlogAsheville! What's on your list?

Lights

Friday sunset

Christmas Eve at Westville Pub

Gypsy Bandwagon is playing at Westville Pub on Christmas Eve. The band "wanted to do something for the folks that have nowhere else to go for the Holiday." I can't think of a better place to be on Christmas Eve.

The show starts at 8:00PM and is free to the public. Gypsy Bandwagon is an "Eastern European Pre Post-Modernist Folk Revivalist kind of thang." Should be a good show. Maybe I'll see you there. Cheers! Egg nog! and all that ho-ho Merry Christmas goodness!

Fox Carolina Hearts White Supremacists

We were talking about this last night at Drinking Liberally (which, since you asked, again more than doubled its attendance). Fox Carolina reporter Tami Birckner last month reported on the online superstore of White Pride, Stormfront.org.

The piece was fluffy and puffy, it intimates that the Stormfront gang are just trying to have some free speech and preserve their natural heritage. It doesn't mention that the reporter is a regular participant at the site's forums or that Stormfront advocates white supremacy. In a very brief visit to one of the site's forums I found lots of fascinating conversation in this Foxy free speech zone, including this: "I do not believe anyone that is actually true to our cause can say they are "White Pride"! In the very beginning Yes you were, but in todays world you can not just be proud of being White. That pride is forced into hatred by the mudds. If you take 10 minutes and look at the war we are in trying to save our race, heritage and nation you will hate the enemy. They hate you for just saying you are proud of being White and will do everything in their power to shut you up and take you down."

Link to the clip is here (Quicktime)

Here's the transcript:

"Stormfront.org
Nov 18, 2005, 09:59 AM

It’s a web site with everything from dating advice and homemaking threads, to discussion boards that focus on news that white activists want to know. Stormfront.org is a web site founded on the belief that the white race is a dying race.

One member says, “we really are just white folks that deeply care about preserving a future for our progeny.”

There are more than 65,000 members, and since Stormfront started in 1995 there have been more than 2,000,000 posts. Members live in all parts of the world, with close to 3,000 in and around South Carolina.

Bob Whitaker is a former Reagan administration cabinet member and an active member of Stormfront. He believes diversity and equal rights are at the center of a conspiracy against the white race. Whitaker says, “I’m worried about the disappearance of the white race.” Whitaker says too much is being done to diversify America and not enough is being done to protect people like him. “I’m worried about 2 things. I’m worried about the disappearance of the white race and I’m worried about the fact that no one is allowed to talk about the disappearance of the white race, which is even worse.”

But all Americans are provided equal protection under the law, which means equal treatment regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin.

Jamie Kelso is one of Stormfront’s senior moderators. He uses the screen name Charles A. Lindbergh, a well-known aviator who believed in the preservation of the white race. Kelso says, “I admire Charles Lindbergh as someone who throughout his life took pride in the white race and was very concerned about preserving it.”

Even though Stormfront was created by former Ku Klux Klansman Don Black, Kelso says their message isn’t one of hate. “We’re called anti-Semitic, we’re called neo-Nazi, we’re called racist [but] we’re none of that.” Instead, Stormfront members say their message is much more simple. “We don’t hate anybody. The only thing we’re concerned with is that 100 years from now, 500 years from now that there will actually be the kind of white neighborhoods and white nations that our parents and ancestors gave to us.”

Kelso says Stormfront simply provides a safe forum for people to use without fear of retaliation. “Really the political correctness today, you could even call it vicious. On the Internet you can anonymously talk to other people and open up and say what you want to say. This has really opened up a new chance for people to have free speech."

We knew that Fox shills for the Bush administration and feeds the public heaping doses of fear-based infotainment, but now we know they support nazism, racism, and the preservation of the white race. And Mark Hyman...

You can contact the station here with any comments.

Drinking Liberally: Battling for Hearts, Minds, and Livers in the War on Christmas

In the resolute struggle against the forces of "Saint" Nicholas and his guerrilla army of elven slaves, Drinking Liberally tonight asks you to take sides in the Global War on Christmas. Inebriated battle doesn't hurt as much as the awful sobriety mandated by the teetotaling Yule brigades. So come on out to pick up the gauntlet. In the War on Christmas there are no neutral parties. You're either with Santa or against him.



Tonight. Jack of the Wood. 7-10pm. Everyone's invited.

Houdini

I think they've got it covered

The window of Outspoken, a book store on Haywood Road in West Ashvegas.
(Click on the photo for the big view.)

Cityscape

This mural adorns a wall on a building just off Haywood Road in West Ashvegas.
(Click on the photo for the big view.)

Great Moments in American Freedom

Roosevelt resumed spying on Americans in 1936. He (like our own George II) faced a variety of real and imagined threats. Not only were there real live commies and fascists in the US, we were also involved in a nebulous "war on crime." So, to keep the American people safe from espionage and sabotage he issued a presidential directive to J. Edgar Hoover (kind of a SuperRove/Bolton type) to spy like hell. Just to make sure that they were able to cast a really wide net for the evil-doers, he added the phrase "subversive activities" to the mandate.* Hoover was one of those real go-getter types who loved his job and tended to go way beyond the call of duty.

By 1940, Hoover ordered the infiltration of 33 American political groups. Some of these groups were almost as scary and threatening as our modern day Quakers, such as the American Student Union, the National Negro Congress and the most subversive of all organizations past and present, the ACLU. In an act of presient patriotism reminiscent of our own Michelle Malkin, Hoover put ACLU founder Roger Baldwin in the Group A category, which included "individuals believed to be the most dangerous and who in all probability should be interned in the event of war."

Of course it's hard to imagine today, but Hoover had even set up a "secret detention program" which was completely unauthorized. He got caught in 1943 and was ordered to dismantle it, but having divinely intuited the true intent of our founding fathers which was to keep us safe from troubling ideas, he simply changed the name of the program and carried on.

*One America-hating Senator from Nebraska who was nearing the end of his forty year political career, actually spoke out against the plan, fearing abuses which could easily lead to a police state. Fortunately for America, Senator George Norris' views were so unpopular that they didn't even need to swift-boat him.

Bowling Thunder - 10 Days Away!

look for a post containing more details later this week...

A man and his horse

All Taxa Biodiversity Index

AC-T: "The goal of the All-Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) project is to catalog every life form in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP). It’s paying off. As of October, the eight-year undertaking has already found 3,572 species previously not known to inhabit the park and 565 species previously unknown to scientists.

“I think it just shows you how little we understand what’s in the Smokies, and it’s hard to manage it if we don’t understand what we have,” said George Ivey, director of the Waynesville office of Friends of the Smokies.

The flora and fauna inventory idea has caught on, and is spreading through the 388-unit national park system and to many state parks, including the 54-unit Tennessee park system that began its own inventory project last year. Wildlife management will be the immediate benefit, but other long-term benefits may arise as well.

A bacteria found in Yellowstone National Park was the basis for DNA fingerprinting, and a slime mold found by University of Georgia researchers could help in Alzheimer’s research.

“We won’t reap the benefit from the scientific knowledge for a few years,” says Smokies chief biologist Keith Langdon. “But the importance of management (is immediate). We are finding so many more things than we thought we had.”

And those “more things” aren’t always the things scientist are looking for, such as introduced foreign species and bugs and blights that are killing beech and hemlock trees, and threatening others.

“It is impressive what they can find and what they can alert us to,” Smokies Superintendent Dale Ditmanson said, crediting these studies with helping managers get a jump on the hemlock wooly adelgid invasion.

The National Park Service, aided with funds from Friends of the Smokies and the Great Smoky Mountains Association, has awarded a $4.5 million contract to build a Science Center at Twin Creeks, within GSMNP boundaries. The 14,600-square-foot building will house Discover Life in America, the nonprofit overseeing the ATBI, and the park’s natural history collection, a wet lab, a rearing room for invertebrates, an education room and offices for other park researchers.

The ATBI is a worthwhile effort, not only for finding out what lives in the most visited national park in the United States for improved management, but for the long-term benefits it may bring to mankind. We’re glad to see it continue and catch on across the country. Adding an important research facility to the Smokies and the region is a fringe benefit we can thank the lichen and lizards for."

Virgin ice

Local Blogger Asks For Your Help

Madison County is home to Paul Woodward's The War in Context, a rapidly updated news blog with a thousand readers a day. Paul's laptop finally overheated with all that activity, and he's raising funds to keep the site alive.

TWIC: "Now more than ever, this site needs your support. My laptop just died and the only thing separating The War in Context from oblivion is a funky old computer from the last millenium that's also close to the end of its life. All contributions large or small will greatly be appreciated to keep this operation going."

If you've got a few bucks to spare, Paul could really use your help keeping this excellent resource on the web.

Community Voices

Chris Bauer, a Weaverville resident who occasionally comments at BlogAsheville under the name MountainStyle, had this to say about the town's planned megadevelopment:

MtnX: "Let us stay Weaverville!
With the exception of Al Root, the rest of the Weaverville Town Council has sold out this quaint and peaceful hamlet to benefit the bank accounts of developers and to ensure the growth of unnecessary urban sprawl.

Reportedly, 1,500 jobs will be created by the building of the project the Council just approved. That's great, because with a town population of around 2,600, this shopping center should ensure employment for over 50 percent of Weaverville. And talk about convenience! The nine whole minutes it takes me to drive to work in Asheville every day is just wearing me down.

I can't think that 1,500 low-wage jobs will bring a lot of revenue to the town, especially when money made at the big-box stores will go into a bank pouch and then be whisked away to Arkansas or California or some other place far away from here, and never get spent in our town.

I'm sure the developers have shown that the effects of wiping out Weaverville's mom-and-pop stores will be minimal, at most, and with a population that small, there is no way a minimal effect will be that bad, right?

Tax base? Let's see – great schools, wonderful Main Street, no crime, no litter. Obviously Weaverville needs more money because life here just isn't quite pleasant enough.

This is a prime example of a pristine little community about to shoot itself in the foot because a developer says it will feel good. It's like calling McDonald's and asking them if they would please come to our town because we can't find a tasteless hamburger. I highly doubt the founders of Weaverville ever thought 36 acres of parking lots just wouldn't be enough in one spot.

[Council] needs to remain true to the citizens: Stay Weaverville. Instead of giving tax incentives and other concessions to developers, support local entrepreneurs and ideas which keep the town unique and flavorful. The town could provide incentives and opportunities for local artisans and citizens to maintain the small-town feel and advance the unique creativity of the residents of Weaverville, instead of lining the pockets of a multimillion-dollar developer from Charlotte. There is an old community building at Lake Louise that is in dire need of sprucing up. Revitalizing it would create a hub for the town to center around.

The future of towns like Weaverville is not set in stone. The people always have a say in everything that happens in their town. I don't think the Council's decision was well considered, though, and I will do everything I can to stop this bland and faceless piece of tasteless stucco from becoming my neighbor. If you think the rezoning is a good idea, you are entitled to your (wrong) opinion, and in the meantime, you can drive six miles to the nearest big box. Or is it five? Just kidding.

And by the way, Mike's Main Street Grill in Weaverville has the best-tasting burgers in the world."

Drinking Liberally - Building Democracy One Pint at a Time

UPDATE: We don't care about no steenking ice storm. Drinking Liberally will be held as planned. Even if WLOS predicts a cataclysm. Even if I have to skate all the way there.

You may have noticed the fancy new graphic gracing our sidebar. Asheville Liberals, Progressives, Democrats and other variations of the politics of the majority are now gathering weekly under the banner of Drinking Liberally.

Drinking Liberally is "an informal, inclusive Democratic drinking club. Raise your spirits while you raise your glass, and share ideas while you share a pitcher. Drinking Liberally gives like-minded, left-leaning individuals a place to talk politics. You don't need to be a policy expert and this isn't a book club - just come and learn from peers, trade jokes, vent frustration and hang out in an environment where it's not taboo to talk politics.

Bars are democratic spaces - you talk to strangers, you share booths, you feel the bond of common ground. Bring democratic discourse to your local democratic space - build Democracy one drink at a time.

Drinking Liberally "began in New York City in May, 2003, when it felt as though the politicians, press and public were giving conservative cons a free pass. We began as one-part support group and one-part strategy session, playing with slogans and ideas we thought Democrats needed to be saying.

And when we came up with a particularly good slogan, we made buttons.

Occasionally, we bring in group questions, or talking points to back up the buttons. Sometimes our group list shares articles and forwards. But mostly, we keep it non-programmatic and free-flowing and create a space where people learn about each other's ideas, activities and enlarge a circle of progressive friends."

The Asheville Chapter of Drinking Liberally is hosted at Jack of the Wood, 95 Patton Avenue every Thursday night from 7pm - 10pm. Your hosts, local bloggers Gordon Smith [Scrutiny Hooligans] and Felicity Green [The Hangover Journals], started the group this month along with Jay Joslin [Bird on the Moon]. It's a casual place to spend time with interesting people who do interesting things and who want to help create a broader progressive community here in Asheville. Also, please feel free to liberally pimp Drinking Liberally on your own site!

Everyone's welcome. Every Thursday. See you there.

Good Times

From the City Council eNews:

BONNIE RAITT ON SALE SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10 - Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. for this March 7 show at 8 p.m. in Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. More than just a best-selling artist, respected guitarist, expressive singer, and accomplished songwriter, Bonnie Raitt has become an institution in American music. This show is sure to sell out!

HOLIDAY POPS WITH THE ASHEVILLE SYMPHONY ON SALE NOW - Begin a holiday tradition with the Asheville Symphony's Holiday Pops concert 3 p.m. on December 18. Tickets are on sale now.

BELA FLECK & THE FLECKTONES ON SALE NOW - Bela Fleck is coming to Thomas Wolfe Auditorium on January 21 at 8 p.m. Tickets are just $31 and on sale now.

MOSCOW BALLET'S GREAT RUSSIAN NUTCRACKER ON SALE NOW - Don't miss this holiday favorite in Thomas Wolfe Auditorium on December 23 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale now.

PUBLIC ICE SKATING AT THE CIVIC CENTER -Avoid cabin fever over the holidays by lacing up your skates at the Civic Center. Public ice skating is offered all month along, and at $5 a session, it's an inexpensive holiday treat! Each session lasts 90 minutes. December schedule:

• Dec. 10: 10 a.m., 12, 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m.
• Dec. 11: noon, 2, 4 and 6 p.m.
• Dec. 22: 10 a.m., noon, 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m.
• Dec. 23: 10 a.m., noon, 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m.
• Dec. 26: 10 a.m., noon, 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m.
• Dec. 27: 10 a.m., noon, 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m.
• Dec. 28: 10 a.m., noon, 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m.
• Dec. 29: 10 a.m., noon, 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m.
• Dec. 30: 10 a.m., noon, 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m.
• Dec. 31: 10 a.m., noon, 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m.

Huw Raphael Opines on Chicken Hill

If you're not reading it, you oughta be. SARX, Huw Raphael's decidedly divine blog, is updated frequently and thoughtfully. Here's the beginning of another considered post:

"CHICKEN HILL is a Co-operative Housing Project being built here in Asheville. It was good to find such a project being built inside the city limits, as well as "inside the city": anyone familiar with Asheville Geography will understand that East of the French Broad River and West of Town Mountain is more "in the city" than Oteen or Biltmore or even West Asheville. Our "down town" is all on the side and top of a bluff overlooking the river. Anything off that bluff may well be in town, but it's not really "inside" - especially for pedestrians.

Anyway, so there is Chicken Hill - a Mill Town. Here's a page on the history of the community. Mill Towns are common in the South: a Mill would buy up surrounding land and build small houses. These houses would be sold to the workers, including the management and sometimes the owners - the mortgage payments coming out of their pay. A company store would be set up, and land donated for churches. A community would be built out of shared land, time and work."

Go read the rest.

Hey, Charlie

Rivers of beads

The Intergalactice Bead Show at the Ashvegas Civic Center brought an incredible diversity of beads to Ashvegas this weekend. It was just an amazing display of gemstones and glasswork. Hope you caught it.

So Sayeth the Mayor

Excerpts from Mayor Terry Bellamy's Inaugural Speech - December 6, 2005:

"Asheville is a great city. It is a city known across America and around the world for its outstanding quality of life and natural beauty. Since the railroads opened our city up to the outside world in the 1880's, we have been blessed with a dynamic mix of people - pioneers, European settlers, strong African-American settlers, wealthy newcomers drawn by our beauty. Asheville is home to scientists, inventors, writers, teachers, doctors, police officers, waitresses, childcare workers, individuals and families who are all proud to say, "This is where we live!"
[...]
"Asheville faces many pressing problems and opportunities. Our great city's land use policies must be transformed to meet the needs of our changing community; our city's infrastructure must be rebuilt; we have hundreds of children living in violent and unsafe surroundings, needing protection now. We stand at a crossroads, economically, with much to be done if we are to create high-quality jobs to attract and keep families in our community."
[...]
"Over the past four years, over one billion dollars has been added to the tax base. This is one of the main reasons that Asheville's unemployment rate is among the lowest in the state. However, this is a problem when a full-time employee working forty or more hours a week cannot afford to live in the community he or she is helping to make prosperous."

Read the whole thing here.

Speaking of Game On...

The Asheville Citizen-Times reports "Asheville High won its first state title in football since 1922 on Saturday with a 13-10 win over Western Alamance at Wallace Wade Stadium."

Picture by Tom Williams

"The Cougars (15-0) trailed 10-7 midway through the fourth quarter when quarterback Crezdon Butler completed a 70-yard touchdown pass to Rahkeem Morgan on a trick play.

Morgan ran toward the Asheville bench like he was going to the sideline but stopped short of crossing the out of bounds line.

No defender covered him and Butler’s pass found a wide-open Morgan, who sprinted to the end zone for the winning score.

Butler clinched the win with a leaping, one-handed interception with 2:44 remaining.

Johnny White scored Asheville’s first touchdown on a two-yard run in the first period."

Go Cougars! You fellas played hard all year. Grats to Butler, Morgan, White, and Coach Wilkins and the whole team!

Asheville High Cougars are the 2005 3A State Champions in Football!!!!!

Game On

The Hill: "As the political climate has turned sour for Republicans, Rep. Charles Taylor (R-N.C.) finds himself trailing his Democratic challenger by tens of thousands of dollars, dogged by ethics charges and running in an increasingly Democratic district.

Former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler (D) is challenging Taylor, in the 11th District, in rural, western North Carolina.

At the end of the third quarter, Shuler had $248,957 in the bank while Taylor had just $19,369, according to Federal Election Commission reports.

During the same period, Shuler raised $263,642; Taylor took in $134,791."

Gauging Interest

How many of y'all would like to gather for a year end BlogAsheville Bowling Thunder party during the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve? What day? I'm thinking Thursday, Dec. 29. What say you, bloggas?

Half of N.C. Families with Children Don't make Ends Meet

Picture from Lowell Allen's SerialPhoto

The Associated Press is reporting "Nearly half of the families with children in the state don't earn enough to pay for basic living expenses, according to a biennial report released Thursday by an advocacy group seeking economic assistance for the poor.

The report by the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center determined that 521,630 families with children, or 49.1 percent of the state, can't make ends meet based on "living income standards."

The living income standards, based on U.S. Census and other figures and developed in part with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, are the earnings levels equal to the true costs of being self-sufficient in urban or rural North Carolina.

The standards are generated by 2003 monthly expense estimates - the most recent available - for housing, child care, food, health care, transportation and taxes..."

Read the rest of the article.

There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America. -William J. Clinton-

Helping Heath Shuler

Crossposted from Scrutiny Hooligans

Sen. Russ Feingold and the Progressive Patriots Fund needs everyone to help in picking a Democratic candidate for 2006. The candidate that is chosen will receive $5000 from the Leadership PAC. This is a great way to get to know the 11 candidates that have made the list as well as showing them support in '06. I encourage everyone to go over and vote for a candidate. Voting will go through December 14th and the winner will be announced on the 15th.

You can vote here and you can also check the results every morning here.

Ya'll get out, click in, and show Heath Shuler some love in this contest.

You can read more about Heath at his website, Shuler for Congress.

Top 10 of 2005

For music junkies and WNCW listeners:

What were your 10 favorite discs you heard on WNCW this past year? Cast your vote now and you could be one of 10 lucky winners of the Top 10 of 2005!

Cast your vote here!

Citizen-Times, Gets Its Blog On!

Well, I can't express my joy at finding that the Asheville Citizen-Times has a blog. And, not just any blog, mind you; but a travel blog, detailing the upcoming Presidential election in Bolivia.

Benjamin Porter is the blogger, a freelance photographer, based in Asheville, who presently sits in Bolivia getting frisky with camera and computer alike.

All hail!

You can check out the blog at the following link:

Bolivia: Portrait of a Presidential Election

BlogAsheville will giving Honorary Blogroll Status to the blog while it is up and running!

Now if we can just get the Citizen-Times to put in some RSS feeds, hint, hint, nudge, nudge...

No, really.....RSS please.

Ashvegas City Council ready to roll

Mayor Terry Bellamy. Vice Mayor Holly Jones. Councilwoman Robin Cape. Councilman Bryan Freeborn.

Get used to those titles and names. It's a done deal, as of just a few minutes ago.

With plenty of pats on the back and kind words, Bellamy ushered out former Mayor Charlie Worley and Councilman Joe Dunn and grabbed the gavel. Then council got on with the business of appointing Freeborn to Bellamy's empty seat.

Council members Jan Davis and Carl Mumpower stuck to their party guns and voted against Freeborn. But there was no discussion.

Mumpower also filed a "no" vote against Jones as vice mayor.

The Redshirts are coming

Ashvegas City Council Election 2006 will wrap up tonight, with the official appointment of the newly elected mayor, Terry Bellamy, and the new council. As usual, the group sitting at the table may still dish out a little drama before it's all said and done.

That's because when the new council takes over, there will be one empty seat. Bellamy's seat. She ran for a mayor as a sitting council member, so the new council gets to appoint to fill that vacancy.

A majority of council has already gone on record saying it will vote to choose Bryan Freeborn, a West Ashvegas hippie who ran a helluva campaign but finished just out of the winnings. But Chris Pelly, another defeated council candidate, has been fragging Freeborn in the press and on television.

Pelly has seized on a paint job Freeborn and his buddies dreamed up for his West A neighborhood street, a mural designed to slow down speeders. All it really did was get Freeborn a $322 bill that he refused to pay. At least until he finished so well in last month's elections - he paid the bill a couple of days later.

Taking nothing for granted, Freeborn has e-mailed all his supporters, urging them to don red shirts and show their support for him at tonight's City Council meeting. It should be fun. You can watch the meeting on cable channel 10, you can go to the meeting at City Hall tonight about 5:30, or you can read all about it here.

Breakfast, barbecue, breasts?

As I drove down Riverside Drive this weekend, I spotted this sign and had to stop. It adorns the front of the restaurant formerly known as the Kountry Kitchen, in the right-angle bend of road where several the riverfront artists' studios are situated. Most recently, the spot was Daisy's Diner or something, but nobody remembers that.

Anyway, last year's flooding knocked Daisy out of business. Now the place is coming back to life as a barbecue joint. When I stopped to snap my pic, I also spotted a cute young woman, high atop a ladder, painting the business awning. I asked if if could shoot. She said yes, and gave me some background about the sign.

The provocative placards have gotten some attention, she said. The first sign mentioned something about "sweaty swine." The next asked, "Slathered, smothered, racked or raw - How do you like your meat?" or something like that, she said. Passersby started stopping and asking if the place was going to be a strip club.

Thus the latest sign.

12 Bones barbecue should be open in about three weeks. We'll be back to give it a try.

Raise your hand for Right Guard

Loved the Biltmore Village Dickensonian Christmas.

Edgy Mama's nativity

Shhhh. Don't tell Edgy Mama. She's such a Christmas light Grinch. But won't this look great when I set up this plastic goodness in front of her pnav on Christmas Eve for a big surprise!?! O yes.