Where to find me

In case you haven't guessed, I'm blogging/posting elsewhere these days.

From now on, the best place to find me is on Facebook. Or as a regular contributor to the JLF blog The Locker Room.

See ya on the Interwebs ...

Weber Q-140 electric grill

Because years ago some careless dolt didn't pay attention to his grill (and burned down his apartment building), it's against the law in North Carolina to have any grill using an open flame on an apartment balcony or patio. Gas or charcoal grills must be at least 10 feet from the structure.

Which makes barbecuing on the third floor a challenge.

Not grilling was not an option. So I had to obtain an electric grill and researched the alternatives. The result: A Weber (duh).

The Q series comes in gas and electric models; and if you saw "Dear Food Network" last week, you'll recall one of the hosts (it may have been Aida Whatsername) cooking on one of the Q series gas models.

This grill is not cheap. We got it at Bed, Bath & Beyond and using the standard 20% off coupon it was about $220 including tax. But it's a terrific grill that should last for years. And when we move to a house, I can see it being our primary grill when we don't use charcoal -- when we're cooking for just us and it's burgers or hot dogs or any veggie or non-steak protein that requires direct heat and can cook in less than 15-20 minutes. In other words, we probably won't need a gas grill to supplement our Weber kettle.

On the highest setting, the Q-140 can reportedly reach temperatures of 600 degrees F. That's because Weber developed a reflective coating for the cover and the base that intensifies the heat from the element.




All I know is, it really can sear meat, as you can see from these pork chops.



And salmon



It also does indirect cooking well, too. Turkey thighs



Stuffed peppers



The final word: An outstanding alternative to lousy tabletop appliances or cheesy George Foreman models if you can't have an open flame. Comes apart for easy cleaning, too. And you can buy accessories, including a stand with wheels (and trays) giving you all the convenience of a "real" patio grill.

Highly recommended, notwithstanding the hefty price tag.

Dems want Obama to make Easley/Edwards probes go away

"John Edwards admits federal investigators are asking him questions. Federal subpoenas were issued Friday related to Mike Easley.

"As the separate federal probes into a former senator and the former governor are emerging, Democrats are taking steps to replace the Republican prosecutor who is spearheading the inquiries about the highest-profile North Carolina Democrats of the past decade."

That's the lede of today's story by N&O reporter Andy Curliss on the deepening federal investigations of the two top Dems. (Curliss has been absolutely on fire lately.)

Curliss goes on to report that freshman Sen. Kay Hagan has chosen a panel to come up with successors to U.S. Attorney George Holding, a Bush appointee, who's led the probes. And Hagan said she might have a nominee in mind within a few weeks.

When a new president takes office (especially when that transition involves a change of parties), it's not at all unusual for the new administration to replace most if not all U.S. attorneys, not to mention other office-holders who serve at the pleasure of the president. Obama could have fired any or all of the nearly 100 federal prosecutors who worked for George W. Bush. But he didn't, and as Curliss reports,

So far, Obama has been slower to make changes than some of his predecessors. Bill Clinton asked all U.S. attorneys to resign when he took office, for example. Democrats this year also have signaled they want to keep some holdovers, including political independent Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago, who is overseeing the case against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat.

So with Holding knee-deep in the Edwards and Easley probes, any move to replace him now sure would look like a calculated move to help Democrats escape scrutiny now, wouldn't it?

Newspapers may be dying but journalism isn't

Thoughts on a world that will increasingly on different sources of information. It's my first Carolina Journal column.

North Carolina bans smoking

That's a four-word sentence I knew I'd never write. But it's going to happen as soon as Gov. Bev Perdue signs the law passed by the state House yesterday.

On a purely selfish, personal level, I'll be happy to no longer come home from a restaurant or bar with smoke-infused clothing. But as a matter of principle, this is a sad day for property owners. Setting aside cigar bars, private clubs, and some hotel rooms, the state ban outlaws smoking at all places of employment in the state -- including home-based businesses and one-person operations (think small convenience stores or shoe repair shops).

The law prevents state or local governments from banning smoking in private residences ... for now. (Strike that; you can't smoke in your home if you provide child-care services.)

So that exemption won't last forever.

"Former Gov. Jetsetter"

That's how Sam Hieb, Piedmont Triad blogger for JLF, describes the travel habits of Gov. Mike Easley during his two terms in office. And that's just part of what the News and Observer unveils in a two-part series on the former governor's outside-the-lines activities.

I'm proud to say that Carolina Journal did a lot of the early (and follow-up) reporting on Easley's taxpayer-funded private travel and his shady real-estate deals. You can read it all, dating from March 2006, here.

Back at the N&O, here's how reporter Andrew Curliss' series opens:

While he was governor, Mike Easley turned a small group of influential North Carolina businessmen into his own private air service, an arrangement Easley kept secret.

Starting in 2003, Easley took at least 25 flights on private jets, some in apparent violation of campaign laws and ethics rules, documents and interviews show. Some flights were free. The value of others exceeded campaign contribution limits.

Taxpayers also coughed up $72,000 to rent lodgings for his state-trooper security detail when Easley frequently visited his second home near the coast.

Turns out that Easley had plenty of money in his campaign coffers to pay for the travel and the troopers, but hey, who could blame him for getting the services for "free"?

Part two highlights the Easley family's dealings with longtime friend McQueen Campbell, who wormed his way into the administration of NC State University and seems to have rewarded Easley with a sweetheart deal on -- yes -- beachfront property at the Cannonsgate development. Along with a phony-baloney job at NCSU for First Lady Mary Easley that'll pay her $850,000 over the next five years.

The air travel and free cars the Easley family received from a couple of auto dealers through his second term, if not earlier (and that they continued to get after Mike Easley left office), and particularly the Cannonsgate transaction have gotten the attention of the U.S. attorney, as this CJ story reported.

Because Easley's no longer governor, this mess probably won't attract the outside attention that the Blago pay-to-play scandal received. But stay tuned. The feds may lay the hammer down on some major political players in the Tar Heel State.

Merlefest 2009: First take

Folks, the 2009 Merle Eddy Watson Memorial Music Festival was hot. And the temps were pretty high, too -- around 90 Saturday. A few highlights of the stuff we saw.

Friday, afternoon: The Chris Austin Songwriting Competition. This contest helped launch the careers of the first winner in the bluegrass category, Gillian Welch (1993), and Tift Merritt (2001), who was one of the judges this year (seen pictured with, among others, Jim Lauderdale and Leonard Podolak of the Duhks).



We disagreed with the judges in all four categories. And one entrant who was a finalist in two categories and finished first in one should have won for best country song instead of best gospel song, but whatever.

Tift Merritt played the Cabin Stage Thursday evening, and it was her first appearance at Merlefest since she won the Austin contest (and performed on the Cabin Stage) eight years ago.

Friday night, Watson Stage: The Del McCoury Band. For my money, there's no one better playing straight-ahead bluegrass. The band incorporates some contemporary influences at times (playing a great arrangement of Richard Thompson's "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," for instance -- which they've also recorded), but staying true to tradition without sounding musty or hokey. Forgot to take photos, unfortunately.

Friday night, Watson Stage: The Waybacks. Still our favorite Americana band. We wound up seeing them three times over about a 20-hour period.

Saturday morning, the Lounge: Doug MacLeod. You gotta see this guy play, especially if your only contact with him was his tenure several years back as the host of "Nothin' But the Blues" on KLON/KJZZ in Long Beach.



He's a terrific singer, songwriter, guitarist, story teller, and a charming and funny fellow. Plays traditional blues the way they're supposed to be done. He's based in SoCal, so if he's in your neighborhood, please go see him live. And if you don't live there, buy his CDs. He's a treasure.

Saturday afternoon: The Waybacks, the Walker Center. Set No. 2 with the guys, all by their lonesomes, before a SRO crowd. (Apologies for the lousy photo quality.) How James Nash makes that flattop acoustic guitar sound like a Stratocaster is anyone's guess.



Saturday afternoon, the Creekside Stage: The Belleville Outfit. The find of the festival, IMO. This group of kids, now based in Austin, launched their career on the back stages of Merlefest 2007. They've become quite an item on the Americana circuit. If your tastes run to gypsy swing and celtic, with a little Patsy Cline for good measure, you'll love the Belleville Outfit.

Saturday afternoon, the Hillside Stage: The Hillside Album Hour with The Waybacks and John Cowan. Last year they played Led Zeppelin II, start to finish. This year it was Sticky Fingers, with special guest Emmylou Harris handling vocals on "Wild Horses" (sure to be popular when festivallink.net makes the songs available as downloads). Sam Bush joined the band on 'lectric guitar (the first time I've heard of him playing anything other than mandolin or fiddle). The place was packed, despite the 90-degree temps, and it was a blast.



Saturday night: Emmylou Harris, Watson Stage. She was in great form, though she is what she is (as she joked onstage) -- a charter member of the depressing singer/songwriters' club. After nearly 12 hours of listening to music (and at the end of the third day of the festival), we were toast and couldn't even hang around long enough for Sam Bush's set. It was probably awesome. Rats.

Besides Sam, who else would we have liked to see but didn't? Doc, who performed only Saturday and Sunday. His Saturday night Docabilly set began after the Album Hour and we had to take a break and catch up with family and friends. And we didn't attend the festival Sunday. Again, we had hit our limit.

The Greencards. The Duhks (in a set by themselves). Sierra Hull and Highway 111. Joe Thompson. The Carolina Chocolate Drops.

Doc'll be in Raleigh this summer, and you wonder how much longer he'll be with us. So if you get a chance to see him, do so.

The 21st century's David Gergen?

Well, maybe the analogy is not precise, but I'm trying to figure out a way to peg NYT columnist David Brooks. He's the MSM's version of an acceptable conservative, who can offer presumably insightful platitudes to the chin pullers of PBS and the BosNyWash political class. Even though there's nothing really conservative about him (unless you think conservatism = martial state, because Brooks has long advocated some type of coerced government service as a rite of passage for young Americans). Brooks is the sort of guy who, like Gergen, gets invited to present the right-wing viewpoint on acceptable TV shows and in prestige newspapers. And though he can turn a phrase, he's pretty useless in that role, because in his heart of hearts he's hoisting his wet finger to the wind and trying to figure out how he can continue being invited to those really nifty public functions by the political elites.

Anyway, I typically don't waste my time reading him, but he was in the N&O today (it was yesterday's NYT column), and I had a couple of minutes, and, well, things happen before the first cup of tea kicks in.

Brooks recounts Obama's "National Foundation" speech from last week in a suck-up that must have made Gergen bow in admiration ("Obama then went on to describe his remedy in the soothing, understated manner of a country doctor prescribing a few small procedures." Must ... resist ... wretching ...). But nevermind that. What got me was this telling quote:

The first danger for the Obama administration, of course, is that his teams of experts may not be as farsighted as they believe. It may not be so easy to out-think the market.

Wow, ya think?

Brooks has officially become a Silly Person and I will no longer waste any time considering anything he has to say. I have regained an extra five minutes a week or so of my life.

Ross Douthat, the Times's new "conservative" columnist, has a lot of work to do to rise above the intellectual goo that Brooks considers insight.

The Times goes from Bill Safire to John Tierney to ... this?

P.S. If anyone can come up with a better mantle for Brooks to wear than Gergen's, I'm all ears.

While we were away ...

1) Ward Churchill won his lawsuit against the University of Colorado. And wants his old job back. Or a million bucks.

2) The Colorado legislature prepared a $1.9-million wish list of tax hikes it may soon pass -- without getting voter approval as the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights supposedly requires. Didn't take long for the political establishment to exploit the state Supreme Court ruling I wrote about here.

When I was working in Colorado, I can't tell you how many times we'd have an editorial board with Democratic politicians (Gov. Bill Ritter, former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, you name it) who would swear on a stack of Bibles their fidelity to the linchpin of TABOR: voter approval of tax increases. They'd say TABOR's revenue limitations ought to be tweaked, but by golly, any attempt to raise taxes deserves, no, demands a vote of the people, and they could not countenance any attempt to water down or bypass that explicit limitation on representative government.

I could dig out my old notebooks with those interviews and cite you date and time, chapter and verse.

Now that the court has ruled that the government can raise taxes without voter approval, however, those previous pledges have gone down the memory hole. And unless Colorado voters hold their elected officials accountable -- or at least insist that the people in office honor the language and the intent of TABOR -- Colorado will soon resemble Oregon, except without the lovely coastline.

3) Carolina won a title.



Hat tip: Jeff T. at Meck Deck.

Jim Calhoun is done

Don't get me wrong. UConn could still win the NCAA hoops championship this year. But the Hall of Fame coach may be preparing for his final weekend.

The much-talked-about Yahoo! Sports story provides solid evidence of multiple recruiting violations. Essentially, as UConn pursued recruit Nate Miles, a former team manager turned sports agent steered Miles in UConn's direction. In other words, professional agents aren't just representing players before they turn pro; they're signing them up before college. And in this case, the agent went to pretty significant lengths to arrange for Miles to qualify academically at UConn.

The specific violations may seem trivial, involving hundreds of phone calls between the agent and the recruit and the school at a time that NCAA rules limit contact between recruits and school officials to one a month.

But Calhoun's reaction Thursday and again Friday to the developing story was especially telling.

Could I have made a mistake? Sure. The (rules) manual is 508 pages. Someone could’ve made a mistake.

Not so fast. More than 1,500 contacts with a recruit during a time schools can make only one call a month is not an innocent mistake. Besides, coaches know quite well how often they're allowed to touch base with prospects.

This is, after all, the same type of violations that ended the career of former Oklahoma and Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson -- who was reportedly on the short list for the Carolina job when Matt Doherty was hired. Calhoun and his staff had to know the NCAA does not allow them.

It's as if a 60-year-old who hasn't filed taxes in 15 years gets caught -- and then blames the complexity of the tax code for "dropping out of the system." It doesn't wash.

Say what you will about the NCAA's rulebook. The regulations are supposed to apply to everyone. If you want to have a big-time college program, you have to comply. And if you don't, and are caught, you should suffer the consequences, not point fingers at the unfairness of the system.

ESPN's Colin Cowherd had it right this week. The head coach of a major college basketball program is like the CEO of a 20-person company. The successful ones know everything that's going on inside the operation. Besides, Calhoun said Miles was the most talented wing prospect he'd ever seen. He knew what was happening.

The question is, how long will Calhoun fight? And if he's forced out after the season, how long will it take UConn to become an elite program again? UNLV has never fully recovered, nearly two decades after Jerry Tarkanian was kicked out. And Indiana may be a doormat in the Big Ten for years because of the sanctions Sampson attracted.

UConn, the program Calhoun built from scratch, may fast disappear into obscurity.