January 2, 2007

There were 5 posts published on January 2, 2007 (this is page 1 of 1).

Nifong Thumbs His Nose At Public

I thought that the light at the end of the tunnel was seen when troubled Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong dropped rape charges in the Duke Lacrosse case. I was going to give him credit for gaining some sense. Instead I learned he was forced to when his alleged victim, ,

Today Nifong was sworn in again as Durham DA, only the weasel did it behind closed doors before the courthouse opened. When I heard that, I couldn’t help but think this is Nifong thumbing his nose at the public he serves.

Take a look at his reasoning why:

“This was not a media event. This was an event that is required for us to do our jobs,” Nifong said. “The message we’re trying to send is: This is 2007. We’re here to do our jobs. We’re not here to help you guys sell newspapers or get press coverage.”

Oh, really? Gee, Mikey, you sure didn’t mind the publicity when you were dragging these students’ names through the mud. You sure didn’t mind it when the New York Times came calling when you told the local media – the eyes and ears of your constituents – you weren’t doing any interviews. I’m starting to wonder if your apparent dishonesty in the case is just par for the course. Do you lie all the time, sir?

What’s more, he still doesn’t own up to the disaster that’s largely his own making:

“I don’t feel I’m part of the problem. I feel that I have assisted in revealing the problem,” he said, referring to the community outrage the case has stoked. “Durham has some healing to do, and I need to be part of that healing process.”

You want to start the healing process, Mike? Either step aside on this case or dismiss it.

Otherwise the State Bar will begin the healing process for you.

Our Hometown Newspaper

So McClatchy now owns both major newspapers in the state: Raleigh’s News and Observer and the Charlotte Observer. Now that the dust has settled on the acquisition of the Observer, I’ve been curious to see what improvements subscribers would see.

I’m still waiting. N & O readers are led to believe that the world does not exist outside the borders of Wake, Durham, and Orange counties. There is scant news from the state’s largest city, Charlotte, nor much from any other significant living area. I’d be willing to bet that Observer readers are as in the dark about Raleigh as we are of them. I just don’t understand why a newspaper company with news rooms in both cities isn’t doing a better job sharing that news.

I’ve been living in North Carolina continously since 1992 and first lived here in 1983. Since then the state has grown enormously. Among other things, its become home to megabanks, lured professional sports teams (some of which are national champions), and picked up new seats in Congress as its population swells. Yet in spite of all this supposed progress the N & O still feels like a small-town newspaper. It still does a poor job covering this great state.

The quality isn’t stunning. I found it amusing to read a wire story last week about threats to John F. Kennedy’s life during his visit to Ireland. The N & O’s headline told of threats to “JKF.” Oooookay. Today’s front-page story told of -gasp- Wake Forest University not actually being in Wake Forest! Stop the presses! Throw in the paper’s bizarre obsession with influenza pandemics and you’ve got some top-rate journalism here.

If this is what passes for journalism around here its no wonder that online news sources are eating their lunch.

New Year’s Day Projects

I spent a good portion of the holiday break catching up on house projects. First the Christmas tree and all decorations were packed up and placed back into the attic. Then more mulch was added to the side flowerbed. I turned my attention to the hole dug under the air conditioner by the varmit who visited us earlier, getting it patched up better than new. While there was a break in the rain, I realigned a downspout so it drains onto the driveway rather than the yard. This should help the new grass take better hold in that spot.

I also changed out the kitchen light fixture, something that had been bothering us for months. I also hung the flourescent shop light in the garage, providing much light there. I plugged various holes in the cabinets and other dark places with steel wool to seal out the mice. I cleaned under the fireplace and wiped all the soot off the fireplace glass. It looks worlds better now.

One thing I started but didn’t finish is putting another shelf over our washer and dryer. Hammering and drilling isn’t compatible with napping children so it will wait for another day. Part of that involves moving the existing shelf lower to make even more use of space.

On the geek side, I reflashed Linux onto my Linksys NSLU2 device and got it using the 1GB flash drive I added to it. I put Openslug on it since I didn’t need a web interface for it anymore. Instead I got a barely-usable Linux distro with no support for simple things like USB printers. It took a few hours just to get CUPS installed and working with HTTPS. When I found there was no USB printer support in the kernel (or modules) I threw in the towel. I’m not looking forward to having to recompile (and cross-compile, too) the Openslug kernel simply to get printer support, but it looks like that’s what I have to do. Linux on the NSLU2 isn’t just cutting edge, it’s bleeding cutting edge, only suitable for geek sadomasochists.

I’m sure I’m forgetting something in my list of projects but that’ll do for now.