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Thursday, February 24, 2011
Arts / Today's Top Five / News Today's Top 5: Thursday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 8:00 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Feb. 24, 2011 — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Film screening Arsenic and Old Lace at The Light Factory
• Funny Bone Improv's Post President’s Day Show at The Comedy Zone Fort Mill
• Pile at The Milestone
• DrumLine Live at Belk Theater
• Masterpiece at Armour Street Theatre
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Arts / News Comedian Rory Scovel comes to town
Posted By Contributing Intern on Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 1:47 PM
New York-based comedian Rory Scovel is a hoot. In his act, he outlines the bouts of absurdity found in everyday life situations. You may have seen his stand-up on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham, but in case you haven’t, take my word for it (and check out the video posted below): He’ll make you laugh. See him perform live at the Wok Bar on Sunday, Feb. 27. Comedians Steve Forrest and Scott Moran open. $5 in advance. 7 p.m. Wok Bar, 127 N. Tryon St. 704-887-9720. www.wokbarnc.com/charlotte_comedy.html.
— Anita Overcash
Film / Film News / News Drive Angry trailer
Posted By Laura Camilo on Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 11:30 AM
Nicolas Cage plays a vengeful father who escapes from hell and chases after the men who killed his daughter. Opens this Friday, Feb. 25.
News $250 to kill your grass
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 8:44 AM
About a year ago, I went off on the CLog about how stupid grass is. (And it is.) It's a huge waste of resources, particularly water. That's why I'm happy to announce that New Jersey is considering paying homeowners $250 to tear up their grass within critical watersheds.
We should do the same thing along the Catawba River. Seriously. That's our drinking water.
From the Asbury Park Press:
The first legislation to give individual homeowners an incentive to help clean up Barnegat Bay proposes an annual $250 state income tax credit for people who replace grass lawns with stone or crushed shell in bayside neighborhoods.Getting people to rip out their lawns within 1,000 feet of the bay shore or the bay's tributaries will reduce pollution from fertilizers and lawn care chemicals, says Assemblyman James W. Holzapfel, R-Ocean, who introduced bill A-3750.
"The harmful effects of lawn fertilizers are devastating the Barnegat Bay, and we must explore all the ways that residents can reduce the pollution, while receiving tax incentives to make a change to their property," Holzapfel said in announcing the legislation.
The recurring $250 tax credit on gross income could also be claimed by people who already use stone or shell mulch as landscaping, Holzapfel said.
A new state law restricting fertilizer use is a key component of the state's plan for restoring Barnegat Bay. Scientists say pollution from excess nutrients washing in from the bay's inland watershed is driving the bay's ecological decline. Most of that pollution is nitrogen compounds, estimated at between 850,000 pounds to 1.4 million pounds per year.
Read the rest of the article, by Kirk Moore, here.
Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes commentary on Creative Loafing's CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.
News / Biz Gas prices up 8 cents in one week
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 8:38 AM
The Charlotte Business Journal is reporting that the average price for a gallon of gas in the Charlotte area has risen to $3.21.
Oh, yawn. Right? What do we care? We're Americans. We'll put that shit on our credit cards. Let the rest of the world spin into chaos; we're too busy with the kids' sports, yoga, walking the dog and picking our toe jam to care about anything outside of our offices or living rooms.
Zombies.
Meanwhile, not even the Saudis can tame oil prices:
The political turmoil sweeping the Arab world drove oil prices sharply higher and stocks much lower on Tuesday despite efforts by Saudi Arabia to calm turbulent markets.The unrest that has spread from Tunisia to Libya pushed oil prices to a two-year high and has spurred an increase in gasoline prices. The specter of rising energy costs and accelerating inflation in turn unsettled investors.
Oil is now at a price not seen since the recession began, and it is more than $20 above goals set in recent months by Saudi officials as strong enough to satisfy the top producers but not so strong they might suffocate the global economic recovery.
Although there are still plentiful supplies of oil and gasoline in the United States and in much of the world, American consumers are now paying an average of $3.17 a gallon for regular gasoline, a steep rise of 6 cents a gallon over the last week, according to the AAA daily fuel gauge report. With consumers paying roughly 50 cents more a gallon than a year ago, analysts are warning that prices could easily top $3.50 by the summer driving season.
“Higher energy prices act like a tax on consumers, reducing the amount of discretionary purchasing power that they have,” said Lawrence R. Creatura, a portfolio manager at Federated Investors. “It represents an additional, potential headwind for retailers.”
Read the rest of this New York Times article, by Clifford Krauss and Christine Hauser, here.
Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes commentary on Creative Loafing's CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.
News Breaking News: Not everyone lives in Chicago
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 8:36 AM
Hey people in charge of the "Breaking News"alerts: Stop it. Stop forcing us into this constant state of "breaking news" because your news cycle never ends.
Celebrity news is NOT breaking news, unless they die in a fiery plane crash or something. And, I don't need four alerts about some other city's mayoral race. Beyond that, I don't give a fuck about Rahm Emanuel's political career ... no matter how hard you try to make me. Neither do I give a fuck what Paris Hilton, Lindsay whats-her-face or any of the other coke-addled Hollywood party set are up to.
Reserve the "Breaking News" alerts for actual breaking news. I mean it. Otherwise people will start ignoring you. CNN's breaking news alerts are already getting stuck in my spam filter, and they can stay there.
Giant meteor zooming toward earth? Yes, please alert us. Paris Hilton going to jail, a former White House staff member winning an election? Don't fucking dare. If I want that news — which I don't — I'll seek it out, thanks.
Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes commentary on Creative Loafing's CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.
Arts / Today's Top Five / News Today's Top 5: Wednesday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 8:00 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Feb. 23, 2011 — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Once Upon a Mattress at Winthrop University
• The Malah at Double Door Inn
• Open Mic at Jackalope Jacks
• North to South exhibit at Green Rice Gallery
• Fox Karaoke Icon at Bailey's Sports Grille
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Boomer with Attitude / News Today's 'states' rights' crowd: just a pressed suit away from anti-civil rights rednecks
Posted By John Grooms on Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 2:48 PM
A slew of state legislators around the country, including in North Carolina, have got it into their heads that states can refuse to adhere to federal laws. They’re believers in the “Tenther” movement, whose members quote the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, saying that the powers not delegated to the federal government "are reserved to the states" or to the people. To put it very mildly, their argument is open to debate. The Constitution’s so-called “Supremacy Clause” in Article VI has long been held to mean that a federal statute voids state laws that contradict the federal statute. Moreover, there is an Everest-sized mountain of case law that overwhelmingly supports the view of federal law’s supremacy. In fact, no court has ever upheld a state effort to nullify a federal law.
At least 12 states are “opting” to refuse to go along with last year’s health care reform law, including North Carolina, and have launched a joint lawsuit to that effect. Other state legislatures have gone farther, including Texas and New Hampshire, where they would exempt locally made guns and ammunition made in those states from federal regulation. In Utah, lawmakers even passed a law declaring that the state can claim federal lands through eminent domain. In Arizona, state senator Russel Pearce, the guy who came up with that state’s infamous “Show Me Your Papers” law (now tied up in federal courts), wants to establish a panel that would review all laws coming out of Washington, and could "vote by simple majority to nullify in its entirety a specific federal law or regulation.”
North Carolina may have more “Tenther” legislation to contend with, too. According to the Associated Press, Rep. Glen Bradley, part of the new Tea Party wave that helped the GOP take over the General Assembly, is gathering co-sponsors “for bills that would exempt North Carolina farmers and firearm merchants from federal regulations if their goods are made, sold and used within the state.” Bradley’s actions came after Rep. George Cleveland (R-Onslow) introduced a resolution that declares "North Carolina's right to claim sovereignty over certain powers." The AP story quoted Rep. Cleveland, who was busy channeling the spirits of secessionists past, saying, "The federal government should not be dictating what we do in the states."
Now, if you have a grasp of American history, you know that these guys are, at best, pissing into the wind. What’s worse is that they’re on the verge of lighting a powder keg they’ve dug up from the cellar of U.S. history. For such self-declared students of history, these Tea Partiers don’t seem aware of how past efforts by states to overturn federal laws turned out. In the “Nullification Crisis” of the 1830s, during the presidency of Waxhaw native Andrew Jackson, South Carolina declared itself unbound by a federal tariff. Pres. Jackson, declaring that the Constitution “forms a government, not a league,” essentially told the South Carolinians that if they insisted on carrying out their “nullification” of the tariff, he would send federal troops to enforce the law, and would hang the nullifiers’ leader, John C. Calhoun. Soon, Calhoun & Co. agreed to a compromise worked out by Sen. Henry Clay. Late in his life, Jackson said the one thing he regretted the most about his days as President was that he “never got a chance to shoot Clay or hang Calhoun.” In addition, if memory serves me, there was another little set-to in American history that revolved around some states who disliked federal policies so much, they wanted to secede from the U.S. That one didn’t end too well for the nullifiers, either.
The point? The new nullifiers, including those in the N.C. General Assembly who voted to join the lawsuit against health care reform, are obviously historical ignoramuses, only a generation and a pressed suit away from the rednecks who spouted the same bogus arguments for states’ rights during the civil rights movement. These folks are playing with fire and don’t seem to give a damn that what they’re espousing has long been considered, at best, illegal, and at worst, treasonous. If they’re OK with the potential consequences of their actions, then, hey, go right ahead. If this new bout of “nullification” becomes a real crisis, though, and the state lawmakers who led the charge wind up in jail, here’s one writer who won’t miss them one bit.
News / Democratic National Convention 2012 Ooops. Charlottein2012 shoulda bought .org, too.
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 2:39 PM
For those of you who purchase domain names on the Internet or design websites, this news will probably make you laugh. For everyone else, this is exactly why hosting companies encourage you to buy .org, .info, .biz, etc.
The host committee for the Democratic National Committee's upcoming convention probably fielded the same decision. They could have bought Charlottein2012.org, but they didn't. Larry Bumgarner did. So, while Charlottein2012.com is the DNC's cheerleader site, Bumgarner's .org site is, ummm ... definitely not.
Bumgarner, by the way, also runs CharlotteLightRail.com, MintHill.org (which redirects from LarryBumgarner.com) ... and who knows what else. He classifies himself as an unaffiliated independent voter and he recently lost a bid for county council.
And, apparently, he's none too thrilled about the DNC coming to town.
At Charlottein2012.org (where the tag line is "Charlotte, the remnants of a fine place to live."), there are pages like "The NAACP doesn't want you," "Light Rail Facts" and even a place where you can "make arrangements to join others for your protests here and book early."
You can check out the rest for yourself.
Now, has everyone learned their lesson about buying domain names?
Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes commentary on Creative Loafing's CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.
News A physician's letter to environmental journalists
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 2:33 PM
This letter (below) speaks for itself. Though it was sent to several media organizations' environmental journalists, I've yet to see or hear any of them share the letter or comment on it besides allowing the original post in the comments to remain online. (Do correct me if I'm wrong.)
The author is responding to an article about the proposed ReVenture Park's proposed gasification-incinerator hybrid, and he offers a perspective not included in most of the media coverage about the project or the county's role in it.
Read more about ReVenture (though some of the project's details have already "evolved") in the February issue of Charlotte magazine (written by me), or online here: "ReVenture Under Review."
Now, in the interest of the First Amendment, here is Dr. William Blackey's verbatim response to a recent Charlotte Observer article:
Dear Bruce (and other environmental reporters). We've talked before and you'll remember me as a physician from Elkin, North Carolina. I read the recent article (link pasted) in the Charlotte Observer about ReVenture. Thanks you for reading my response below. I sent it in as a response on line.Sincerely, William Blackley, MD
Waste-to-energy beats landfills, experts say
In reading this article it’s apparent that Mr. McKittrick is being ‘sold’ on the ‘concept’ that the only safe way to deal with waste is burn it. He seems to be relying on advice from ‘vendors’ and others with financial interests in ReVenture.
Mr. McKittrick says, “pollution-control ‘vendors’ guarantee emissions will be within safe limits.” I notice he didn’t say that ‘ReVenture’ guarantees that the emissions would be within safe limits. Is this his way of saying that if there are problems the ‘vendors’ will be responsible or is it his way of saying that he doesn’t know if it is safe or not but the ‘vendors’ do?
One of the ‘expert’ proponents who testified at the recent conference sponsored by those with interest in ReVenture is Nickolas Themelis. He has established his own Waste to Energy Foundation. His bio says he’s the “inventor of about twenty patents related to high temperature processing.” (His) “Current research work is on integrated waste management and the design of processes for material and energy recovery from used products.” Sounds like his business is about waste burning ‘concepts.’
ReVenture is a ‘concept’ rather than a tested operation. Is there any plant like ReVenture in operation that has a track record we can examine? Would any of us buy a ‘concept’ car and put our kids in it for a test drive at highway speeds?
