Local Democrats, Republicans trade barbs — Pg. 3 LLE I V HE AS ASHEVILLEʼS GREATEST NEWSPAPER
April 2012
Vol. 8, No. 5
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WCQS declines to respond to challengers Board chair who promised response misses meeting
Four members of the Ad-Hoc Committee for Responsive Public Radio — a group which has challenged WCQS-FM’s FCC license renewal — said they left the WCQS Board of Directors meeting March 21 “surprised and disappointed” that the board did not respond to the letter the panel sent to the it more than two months ago. The committee’s letter included suggestions for how the station could be more responsive to the community. “I had an e-mail from board Chair Bryan Smith saying that our letter would be discussed at an executive committee hearing and the results reported at today’s meeting,” Weaverville resident Fred Flaxman, the committee’s organizer, said. “Believing Smith to be a man who was good for his word, John Campbell, George DeWalder, Mary Hall Rodman and I sacrificed our lunch period to attend the board meeting.” Afterward, Flaxman went home where he later discovered an e-mail from WCQS board Vice Chair Chuck Cloninger, who chaired the meeting in Smith’s absence, saying that there would be no response to the Ad-Hoc Committee’s letter because “the legal matter of your petition filed with the FCC to deny relicensing to us is still pending, we have no comment regarding you or your committee.” WCQS’ chief Jody Miller did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking her response to Flaxman at mid-morning April 4.
Having fun in the sun
Recent unseasonably balmy spring weather has allowed Western North Carolina residents to enjoy outdoor activities. Above, a young woman works on her laptop computer on a large, flat rock near Reed Creek, running through the Botanical Gardens of Asheville on April 1. To the right, Sam Tyson plays guitar and sings indie-folk music, accompanied by friend Sage Holmes in another area of the gardens. Tyson and Holmes are both freshmen at UNC Asheville. Tyson is from Chapel Hill, while Holmes is from New York.
Daily Planet Staff Photos
See WCQS, Page 5
‘Take a Stand’ duo take reins of Asheville station
From Staff Reports Radio talk-show host Matt Mittan and his co-host and producer Agness Cheek recently returned to Asheville’s airwaves with their show “Take a Stand’ on 1350 WZGM-AM. The show airs from noon to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday on the Black Mountainbased station. The duo also signed an agreement — as News Talk 50 Inc. — to take over content control and operation of WZGM, owned by HRNB, L.L.C., of Charlotte. The 10,000watt station is based in Bncombe County. About five months ago, when Mittan and Cheek departed from 570 WWNC-AM in Asheville, owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc., Mittan shortly thereafter
incorporated News Talk 50 Inc. to launch digital and sydicated version of the show as an independent broadcast. Mittan and Cheek have added five radio affiliates in the past several months, including stations in Hendersonville and Brevard. They also offer Apple App, as well as iTunes, subscriptions, podcasting and 24/7 streaming of “Take a Stand. As for format changes he is contemplating at WZGM, Mittan said he and Cheek will be adding other talk shows around “Take a Stand.” Already, they have Clark Howard from 11 a.m. to noon daily and Neal Boortz from 3-6 p.m. daily. Gospel music, the station’s traditional base, will fill the remaining time, for now.
Local radio talk-show host Matt Mittan and his producter Agnes Cheek flash smiles.
2 —April 2012 - Asheville Daily Planet
Asheville Daily Planet — April 2012 - 3
Education Governor ripped by GOP termed top at Lincoln-Reagan soirée Dem priority Democrats need to make education the state’s No. 1 priority, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bob Etheridge told the Buncombe County Democratic Party on March 31. He called education “the foundation” for the Democrats’ hopes for taking back the state legislature. About 75 people attended a dinner — of spaghetti, meatballs and banana pudding — at the BCDP’s headquarters on Old Fiarview Road. Etheridge is one of six Democrats seeking his party’s nomination to run for governor in November. The primary election will be held May 8. In stressing the importance of education, he was de-facto criticizing education budget cuts made by the Republican-dominated state legislature. Besides cutting teachers and increasing classroom sizes, Etheridge noted that tuition and fees continue to rise at colleges and universities. “If we want 21st century jobs, we have to invest in 21st century education,” he said. Ultimately, he said the cutbacks could damage the state’s reputation and result in a competitive disadvantage for students. The candidatee said he would seek to make education the state’s top funding priority. Etheridge is slightly leading his competitors, according to a recent Public Policy Polling poll.
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Pat McCrory, a Republican who is believed to be leading the state gubernatorial race, accused Gov. Bev Perdue of having an office riddled with corruption during a March 17 address in Asheville. His spoke to more than 250 people who packed a banquet room at the Buncombe County Republican party’s Lincoln-Reagan Dinner at the Crowne Plaza. McCrory also said any Democrats running for Perdue’s office will be aiming to protect the “good-ol’-boy” status quo in Raleigh. (Perdue recently announced that she will not seek re-election.) In addition, McCrory advocated reducing taxes to draw new businesses, pointing to South Carolina’s success with the strategy. He also charged that the Democrats’ failed policies have left North Carolina with a 10 percent jobless rate, which, McCrory noted, is higher than the national average Next, U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, RCherryville, was allowed a speaking opportunity because he is the only incumbent congressman representing Buncombe County. McHenry quipped that, with the addition of Asheville in his district, he has quadrupled the number of vegetarian restaurants in his district. He also took a verbal jab at President
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Barack Obama, alleging that Obamacare is bad for the country and that he has done little to help boost the economy. “Even the folks in the drum circle (in Asheville’s) downtown are worse off now than before he was president,” McHenry asserted, triggering laughter from the crowd. The BCGOP needs to shift Buncombe “back where it needs to be — back in Republican hands,” he said. Keynote speaker Cherie Berry ripped Perdue on a number of fronts, especially for flipflopping on fracking, a process using water and chemicals to extract natural gas.
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4 - April 2012 - Asheville Daily Planet
UNCA providing free tax preparation help With April 15 approaching, people who make $50,000 or less can get free help preparing their federal and state income returns, thanks to trained UNC Asheville faculty, staff and students volunteering in the IRS VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program. Already this tax season, UNCA volunteers have helped prepare more than 300 federal and state tax returns, and helped taxpayers file for more than $430,000 in refunds. UNCA’s volunteers are providing free tax help, with no appointment needed, at two Asheville locations: • Housing Authority of the City of Asheville central office, 165 S. French Broad Ave., from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 10. • Pack Library, lower level down the hall from the children’s section, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, April 14. UNCA volunteers have provided free tax help the past two years at Pack Library every Saturday of tax season that the library is open. “This is such a needed service,” says Monique Taylor, UNCA’s director of Internal Audit, who also directs the university’s VITA program, which trains students in tax laws and procedures, and confidentiality. “Everyone who works at a VITA site must pass the Volunteer Standards of Conduct exam, whether they are greeting taxpayers, preparing returns or packaging them,” says Taylor. UNCA’s volunteers this year include 10 students and five recently graduated alumni. Dwight Ehrlichman, who received his diploma in accounting and management last year, says performing this public service is
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Published monthly by Star Fleet Communications Inc. JOHN NORTH Publisher Phone: (828) 252-6565 • Fax: (828) 252-6567 Mailing address: P.O. Box 8490, Asheville, N.C. 28814-8490 Website: www.ashevilledailyplanet.com E-mail the following departments:
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UNC Asheville students, faculty and staff have provided free tax preparation help every Saturday since February at Pack Library. Photo by Perry Hebard tremendously satisfying, and he is putting in even more volunteer time this year as he studies for his CPA certification exams. “It’s such a good feeling,” Ehrlichman says. “You can see what a difference it makes in someone’s life and how grateful people are – people who can’t afford to pay a private tax preparer. Some people have been afraid to file, but when they see they’ve been owed refunds for a number of years and you get them all caught up, you can just see the weight come off them.” Extra work from Taylor, Ehrlichman and
other volunteers has enabled UNCA to expand the program this year, perhaps tripling the number of people who were helped last year. This year, UNCA’’s VITA program has begun outreach to members of the Eastern Bank of Cherokee Indians, through sites on the Qualla Boundary. University volunteers have traveled to Chrokee to provide in-person assistance, and Taylor has also implemented a “Virtual VITA” program where tax documents are scanned and transmitted securely to university volunteers. UNCA
volunteers also spent two days at Industries for the Blind in Asheville, providing free tax assistance to clients there. Each return prepared by UNC Asheville’s VITA program is reviewed multiple times, according to Joe Sulock, Cary Caperton Owen Professor of Economics who teaches the service-learning course that students take to become VITA volunteers. “Two accounting graduates, Dwight Ehrlichman and Rob Putterman, along with Monique Taylor, review the returns, so our returns are accurate.” says Sulock. “And we’ve gotten great feedback from the firsttime student volunteers – they learn about the tax code and they feel great providing a service to real people who need help.” Taxpayers coming to a VITA site should bring photo ID for themselves and social security cards for everyone covered by the tax return, including children and any other dependents. They should also bring wage and earning statements (including W-2 and 1099 forms), a copy of last year’s tax return if available, and statements from daycare providers that show amounts paid and the provider’s tax ID number. To facilitate direct deposit of an income tax refund, people should bring a blank check or other proof of bank account information. To file joint tax returns, both spouses must be present to sign forms. For more information about UNCA’s VITA program, call Monique Taylor at 2514599.
The ‘Doomsday Preppers’ headquarters for Asheville and Western North Carolina!
WCQS
Continued from Page 1 In responding to the Cloninger’s e-mail, Flaxman said, “The FCC encourages parties involved in a dispute like ours to try to reach an agreement which would permit the AdHoc Committee for Responsive Public Radio to withdraw its petition to deny WCQS its license renewals. “So your refusal to meet with us or respond to our letter is further evidence that your station does not deserve to have its licenses to operate public radio stations renewed, and we shall add this correspondence to our FCC filing.” Flaxman went on to remind the WCQS board vice chair that should the FCC not decide in favor of the committee’s petition, the committee has the right to appeal and to take this matter to court. But Flaxman said he feels that the committee’s license challenge will be successful, considering WCQS’s “track record of violating federal law and filing false affidavits with CPB. “We thought it was in the best interest of all parties (except the lawyers) to reach an agreement,” which he thought would be possible if WCQS had the best interests of the community in mind. Fllaxman called it “an irresponsible decision on WCQS’s part to continue to spend listener donations on attorneys rather than programming and personnel, turning down the opportunity to reach an agreement with us on this subject.” Flaxman wrote Smith, the board chairman, that he was going to recommend tohis committeeo that it take back its offer to withdraw the FCC petition, which depended on WCQS showing responsiveness to its concerns by meeting with the committee to discuss its issues with the station. However, Flaxman noted, WCQS has not offered to meet with them or “even had
the basic courtesy to respond in any way to our letter and proposals in more than two months. “It seems that WCQS is so sure it will retain its FCC licenses that it decided to stiff us rather than meet with us or respond to any of our perfectly reasonable proposals for making the station more responsive,” Flaxman said. He added that those 14 one-paragraph proposals are available upon request by e-mailing him at fflaxman@ frontier.com. Anyone wishing to join the AdHoc Committee should also contact Flaxman at that address, he said, noting that the it had 30 members when its FCC Fred Flaxman petition was filed. As for what did transpire at the WCQS board meeting, Flaxman wrote to Chairman Smith that his committee members “couldn’t help but notice how similar it was to an equivalent meeting at a commercial radio station. “Virtually the entire public part of the meeting was devoted to audience ratings, income and the like,” he wrote, “with no discussion whatsoever of how well the station was serving its mission or the community, except for its effort to help other nonprofits while raising funds over the air for WCQS. No mention at all of local programming, or, more accurately, the lack of it....” “In my opinion, ratings and money is not what public broadcasting is supposed to be about. When WCQS board meetings devote virtually all their time to the means (fundraising) rather than the ends (high quality local, national and international radio programming), there is something terribly wrong with your priorities,” Flaxman asserted.
Asheville Daily Planet — April 2012 — 5
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Call 828.274.2188 for an appointment Come see us directly or ask your physician for a referral
6 —April 2012 - Asheville Daily Planet
Calendar
Send us your calendar items
Please submit items to the Calendar of Events by noon on the third Wednesday of each month, via e-mail, at calendar@ashevilledailyplanet. com, or fax to 252-6567, or mail c/o The Daily Planet, P.O. Box 8490, Asheville, N.C. 288148490. Submissions will be accepted and printed at the discretion of the editor, space permitting. To place an ad for an event, call 252-6565.
Saturday, April 7
NATURE OUTING/BIRD WATCH, 8 a.m., Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary, Asheville. A celebration of spring for the whole family will be offered during the YouthQuest Nature Outing, hosted by the Ethical Society of Asheville. After meeting at 8 a.m. in the Bird Sanctuary for a guided bird watch, participants will enjoy nature games and activities followed by a picnic. Attendees are asked to bring their own picnics. Admission is free, but pre-registration is required for the craft project. For more information or to preregister, call 335-7287. YouthQuest is billed as providing age-appropriate programs, events and opportunities to build a community of active and ethically aware children and youth.
Monday, April 9
COIN CLUB MEETING, 7 p.m., basement, Grove Arcade, downtown Asheville. The Buncombe County Coin Club will hold its monthly meeting. WEST COAST SWING CLASSES, 7:30 and 8 p.m., The Hangar, Clarion Hotel, Fletcher. Free beginners’ lessons for West Coast Swing will be held at 7:30, followed by intermediate lessons at 8 every Monday. The lessons are free. After the lessons, an open dance will be held. CONTRA DANCE, 8 p.m.,Grey Eagle. 185 Clingman Ave., Asheville. A contra dance is held weekly. Admission is $6.
Tuesday, April 10
TANGO LESSON/DANCE, 6 p.m., Eleven on Grove, Grove House Entertainment Complex, 11 Grove St., downtown Asheville. Tango lessons will precede a dance. SWING LESSON/DANCE, 6:30 p.m., Club Eleven, Grove House Entertainment Complex, 11 Grove St., downtown Asheville. A lesson will be followed by a dance, with live music. SHAG DANCE, 7-11 p.m., The Hangar, Clarion Inn Airport, 550 Airport Road, Fletcher. The Mountain Shag Club’s weekly dance will feature a DJ. At 6:30 p.m., free lessons will be offered by Paul and Debbie Peterson. Admission is $5.
Wednesday, April 11
TEA TIME SOCIAL, 6 p.m., Apollo Flame, 1025 Brevard Rd., Asheville. The Asheville Tea Party will hold its weekly Tea Time Social. All interested are invited to attend. LECTURE, 7 p.m., First Congregational Church, 20 Oak St., Asheville. Asheville Green Drinks will host Dr. Helen Caldicott, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, who will advocate citizen action to remedy the nuclear and environmental crises. Refreshments will be served by Buchi Kombucha. Admission is free. FREEDOM FORUM, 7-9 p.m., Simpson Lecture Room, A-B Tech, 340 Victoria Rd., Asheville. Dr. Dan’s Freedom Forum will feature Curtis Bowers, producer of “Agenda: Grinding America Down;” Dr. Clare Gray, author of “The Battle for America’s Soul;” and Dr. Dan Eichenbaum, a grassroots activist and expert on Agenda 21 — billed in the program as “the United Nations’
incremental plan to take away U.S. citizens’ private property rights and, ultimately, U.S. sovereignty.”
Thursday, April 12
GREAT QUOTES PROGRAM, 7-9 p.m., Smoky Mountain Theatre, Lake Pointe Landing, Hendersonville. The Great Quotes program will feature Harold Hellickson, a retired MBA-holder. His quote — from Franklin Delano Roosevelt — is “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.” A question-and-answer period and general discussion will follow the presentation. See CALENDAR, Page 7 #2
How do I qualify for Social Security disability benefits? You are eligible for Social Security disability benefits when you have mental and/or physical problems that are severe enough to keep you from working for a period of twelve (12) months or more. You must be unable to work at any competitive job in the national economy, not just the ones you worked at before your disability started. Your age, education, past work experience, and ability to perform other jobs are among the factors that the Social Security Administration will consider in deciding your disability.
Tentative schedule! Subject to change!
Second Annual Sensible Mountain Preparedness Seminar May 4 - 5, 2012 Ridgecrest Conference Center, Black Mountain, NC Speakers: William Forstchen, author of “One Second After” Friday – 5 p.m. — Doors Open, Vendors, Meet & Greet. 6:30 - 7:15 Mr. Modern Survival – Getting your pastor on board 7:15 – 8:00 One Woman Warrior – Hiding in Plain Sight. 8:00 – 8:45 Tim Glance – Prep Vehicles 8:45 – 9:00 Q & A Saturday -7:30 — Doors Open 8:15 – 8:30 Opening Prayer, Presentation of Colors, Pledge of Allegiance 8:30 - 9:30 Engineer 775 – Finding water and energy 9:30 – 10:30 Southernprepper1 – Security & Sanitation 10:30 – 11:30 William Forstchen 11:30 – 12:00 Q & A 12:00 - 1:00 Lunch 1:00 – 2:00 MrMadMick15 –100 Items that will disappear! 2:00 – 3:00 Sootch00 - Weapons 3:00 – 4:00 Skinny Medic – Medications, First aid Kits
Times subject to change. Order seminar tickets at www.carolinareadiness.com or kkdjan@aol.com or come by the store. Advance Sale $15 ; at the door $18 Meals & Lodging, call Ridgecrest 1-800-588-7222 Meal tickets are $31, for 3 meals. There is also the Eatery where you can get sandwiches, hamburgers, etc.
Calendar Continued from Page 6
Thursday, April 12
CONTRA DANCE, 8 p.m., Bryson Gym, Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa. A contra dance is held weekly, preceded by beginner’s lessons at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $6.
Friday, April 13
CONCERT, 8 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place, Asheville. The Pacifica String Quartet will perform.
Saturday, April 14
PRESENTATION, 4 p.m., Laurel Forum, Karpen Hall, UNC Asheville. Asheville poet Allen Wolfe will present “The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices From the Titanic.” Wolfe will share exerpts from his poetic novel that brings the Titanic disaster to life from 24 points of view. The presentation also will include a reader’s theater by an ensemble cast, related music and more. The program is free and open to the public. CONCERT, 8 p.m., Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, U.S. Cellular Center, Haywood Street, downtown Asheville. Asheville Symphony Orchestra will perform “Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony.”
Sunday, April 15
STAMP CLUB MEETING, 2 p.m., Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community Center, 1617 Hendersonville Rd., Asheville. The Asheville Stamp Club will hold its monthly meeting. LECTURE, 2-3:30 p.m., Friends Meeting House, 227 Edgewood Rd., Asheville. Lotte Meyerson, a Holocaust survivor; and Mark Boyd, Ph.D, will present a talk on “Germany’s Response To Its Holocaust Past” during the monthly meeting of the Ethical Society of Asheville. Meyerson, who lived in Darmstadt, German, for the first 14 years of her life before immigrating with her family to Chicago, has visited Germany three times — the last two as guest of the City of Darmstadt. Boyd, a chemical physicist and computer scientist, says he was profoundly changed as the result of teaching humanities classes at UNC Asheville. He converted to Judaism and developed an avocation as a bicycle tourist that contributed to spending several summers in Europe, where he developed several close long-term relationships with Germany. He and Meyerson will discuss many ways Germany has owned up to the evid it did and the programs of education and resistution it instituted — both governmental and private. A discussion will follow their presentation, after which time will be allowed for informal conversations.
Monday, April 16
WEST COAST SWING CLASSES, 7:30 and 8 p.m., The Hangar, Clarion Hotel, Fletcher. Free beginners’ lessons for West Coast Swing will be held at 7:30, followed by intermediate lessons at 8 every Monday. The lessons are free. After the lessons, an open dance will be held. CONTRA DANCE, 8 p.m.,Grey Eagle. 185 Clingman Ave., Asheville. A contra dance is held weekly. Admission is $6.
Tuesday, April 17
TANGO LESSON/DANCE, 6 p.m., Eleven on Grove, Grove House Entertainment Complex, 11 Grove St., downtown Asheville. Tango lessons will precede a dance. See LETTERS, Page 8
Asheville Daily Planet — April 2012 — 7
8 - April 2012 - Asheville Daily Planet
Calendar Events Continued from Page 7
Tuesday, April 17
SWING LESSON/DANCE, 6:30 p.m., Club Eleven, Grove House Entertainment Complex, 11 Grove St., downtown Asheville. A lesson will be followed by a dance, with live music. SLIDE PRESENTATION, 2 and 6 p.m., Kaplan Auditorium, Henderon County Library, downtown Hendersonville. Occupy Hendersonville will host a PowerPoint slide presentation on “The Distribution of Income and Wealth: A Picture of What It Looks Like in America” in two separate sessions. Following the presentation, a question-andanswer session and discussion of income and wealth distribution will be held. SHAG DANCE, 7-11 p.m., The Hangar, Clarion Inn Airport, 550 Airport Road, Fletcher. The Mountain Shag Club’s weekly dance will feature a DJ. At 6:30 p.m., free lessons will be offered by Paul and Debbie Peterson. Admission is $5.
Wednesday, April 18
TEA TIME SOCIAL, 6 p.m., Apollo Flame, 1025 Brevard Rd., Asheville. The Asheville Tea Party will hold its weekly Tea Time Social. All interested are invited to attend.
Thursday, April 19
ECONOMIC FORUM, 7 p.m., Lipinsky Auditorium, UNC Asheville. Crystal Ball XXVIII will feature noted economists James Smith and David Berson making predictions for the local, state, national and world economies for the next 12 months. The forum will be preceded by a reception from 6:15 to 7 p.m. Admission is free. CONTRA DANCE, 8 p.m., Bryson Gym, Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa. A contra dance is held weekly, preceded by beginner’s lessons at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $6.
Saturday, April 21
STAMP/POSTCARD SHOW, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Comfort Inn Suites, 890 Brevard Rd., Asheville. The Asheville Stamp and Postcard Show will be held over two days. The show will conclude from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 22. Admission is free. CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., Conference Center, Blue Ridge Community College, East Flat
Nationally prominent economists James Smith (left) and David Berson, who have addressed the annual Crystal Ball Economic Forum for numerous years, will give their predictions again at 7 p.m. April 19 at UNC Asheville’s Lipinsky Auditorium. Rock. The Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra will present “Romantic Rhapsodies,” billed as a “delightful” concert of classical and romantic music. The works will include a favorite late symphony by Mozart, and a romantic piano work by Rachmaninoff, played by internationally acclaimed pianist James Dick. In addition, Dair Brooks, winner of the HSO’s Young Artist Competition, will be playing a movement from the St. Saens Violin Concerto, and then the orchestra will finish with “Midsommarvaka” by Hugo Alfven. For tickets, call the HSO office at 697-5884, or visit www.HendersonvilleSymphony.org.
Monday, April 23
WEST COAST SWING CLASSES, 7:30 and 8 p.m., The Hangar, Clarion Hotel, Fletcher. Free beginners’ lessons for West Coast Swing will be held at 7:30, followed by intermediate lessons at 8 every Monday. The lessons are free. An open dance will follow. CONTRA DANCE, 8 p.m.,Grey Eagle. 185 Clingman Ave., Asheville. A contra dance is held weekly. Admission is $6.
Tuesday, April 24
TANGO LESSON/DANCE, 6 p.m., Eleven
on Grove, Grove House Entertainment Complex, 11 Grove St., downtown Asheville. Tango lessons will precede a dance. SWING LESSON/DANCE, 6:30 p.m., Club Eleven, Grove House Entertainment Complex, 11 Grove St., downtown Asheville. A lesson will be followed by a dance, with live music. SHAG DANCE, 7-11 p.m., The Hangar, Clarion Inn Airport, 550 Airport Road, Fletcher. The Mountain Shag Club’s weekly dance will feature a DJ. At 6:30 p.m., free lessons will be offered by Paul and Debbie Peterson. Admission is $5.
Wednesday, April 25
TEA TIME SOCIAL, 6 p.m., Apollo Flame, 1025 Brevard Rd., Asheville. The Asheville Tea Party will hold its weekly Tea Time Social. All interested are invited to attend.
Thursday, April 26
CONTRA DANCE, 8 p.m., Bryson Gym, Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa. A contra dance is held weekly, preceded by beginner’s lessons at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $6. See CALENDAR, Page 9
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Calendar
Continued from Page 8
Friday, April 27
AGENDA 21 SPEAKER, 8-10 p.m., Pardee Education Center, Blue Ridge Mall, Four Seasons Boulevard, Hendersonville. Dr. Michael Coffman, billed as one of the foremost experts on Agenda 21, will deliver an address on two consecutive days. His April 28 talk will be from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Coffman, who holds a Ph.D. in forest science, is the president of Environmental Perspectives Inc. He also serves as executive director of Sovereignty International Inc. and the Local Environment and Resource Network. He provides professional guidance and training in defining environmental problems and conflicts, and developing solutions to specific issues as well as the hidden dangers of international treaties and agreements that threaten our Constitutional protections, especially property rights. He is billed as playing a key role in stopping the ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity (Biodiversity Treaty) in the U.S. Senate one hour before the ratification vote by anticipating
and exposing the unbelievable agenda behind the treaty. He has written three books exposing the environmentalist phenomenon — “The Birth of World Government,” “Saviors of the Earth? The Politics and Religion of Environmentalism, and Environmentalism!” “The Dawn of Aquarius or the Twilight of a new Dark Age?” The programs, sponsored through the Anti-Communism KTM of Western North Carolina, are free and open to the public.
Saturday, April 28
TRILLIUM FESTIVAL, 7:30-3 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Church, 500 Montreat Rd., Black Mountain. The church’s seventh annual spring festival, Trillium — A Festival of Follies and Flings, will be held rain or shine. Features will include live music, a rummage sale, cake walks, a bake sale, a book sale, games for children and adults and refreshments. Any profits will go to the UUC’s partner church in Medeser, Romania, and to local nonprofit agencies.
Asheville Daily Planet — April 2012 - 9
Coast Swing will be held at 7:30, followed by intermediate lessons at 8 every Monday. The lessons are free. After the lessons, an open dance will be held. CONTRA DANCE, 8 p.m.,Grey Eagle. 185 Clingman Ave., Asheville. A contra dance is held weekly. Admission is $6.
The Heart of
Downtown Asheville...
Friday, May 4
PREPAREDNESS SEMINAR, 5-9 p.m., Ridgecrest Conference Center, Black Mountain. The Second Annual Sensible Preparedness Seminar will be held over two days. Saturday’s session will run from 8:15 a.m to 5 p.m. Meal tickets (for three meals) are $31. For admission tickets, which are $15 in advance and $18 at the door, visit www. carolinareadiness.com.
Monday, April 30
WEST COAST SWING CLASSES, 7:30 and 8 p.m., The Hangar, Clarion Hotel, Fletcher. Free beginners’ lessons for West
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10 - April 2012 - Asheville Daily Planet
Faith Notes
Friday, April 6
FILM, 7 pm., Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place, Asheville. “Permaculture: The Growing Edge” will be shown for free. A discussion of the film will follow the screening. LIVING LAST SUPPER, 7 p.m., Asheville North Seventh-day Adventist Church, 364 Broadway St., Asheville. “The Living Last Supper,” a dramatization recreating Leonardo da Vinci’s fresco, will be presented. Those attending may also participate in an optional foot-washing service. The event is free, but an offering will be collected. Good Friday Service, 7:30pm., Unity Center, 2041 Old Fanning Bridge Rd., Mills River. A service billed as “communion, betrayal, forgiveness” will be held. “How do we love Him?” Unity asks. “Come and walk with the Master Jesus in the last week of His life.” Childcare will be provided.
Sunday, April 8
SUNRISE SERVICE, 6:45 a.m., Asbury Memorial United Methodist Church, 171 Beaverdam Rd., Asheville. A sunrise service will be held, followed at by a Cantata, “Up From the Grave,” at the 11 a.m. service. WEAVERVILLE SUNRISE SERVICE, 7 a.m., West Memorial Park, Weaverville. A sunrise service will be held. ENGLISH CHAPEL SUNRISE SERVICE, 7 a.m., English Chapel United Methodist Church, U.S. 276 North, Pisgah Forest. A sunrise service will be held, followed by a regular service at 9:30 a.m. Breakfast will be served after each service. EAST ASHEVILLE SUNRISE SERVICE, 7 a.m., East Asheville United Methodist Church, 48 Browndale Rd. (across from the VA Hospital), Asheville. The regular service will be held at 11:55 a.m. SUNRISE SERVICE, 7:15 a.m., Bethany United Methodist Church, 212 Bethany Church Rd., Fairview. A sunrise service will be held, followed by breakfast and the regular service at 11 a.m. SUNRISE SERVICE, 7:20 a.m., 1 Glen Falls Rd. (facing Beaver Lake), Asheville. The annual Easter sunrise service will be held. The service is sponsored by Trinity United Methodist Church. Easter SundaY SERVICES, 7:30 a.m., 9:30 and 11 a.m., Unity Center, 2041 Old Fanning Bridge Rd., Mills River. A “Sonrise” service for Easter will be held at 7:30 a.m. in the amphitheater (and inside if it is rainy). Regular indoor Easter services will be held at 9:30 and 11 a.m. The services will elebrate the renewal of life and the joyous message of Jesus’ resurrection. EASTER SEVICE, 11 a.m., West Asheville Presbyterian Church, 690 Haywood Rd., Asheville. The church will hold a communion with special music.
Sunday, April 15
Friendship Potluck, 12:30 p.m., Unity Center, 2041 Old Fanning Bridge Rd., Mills River. A potluck luncheon will be held after the 11 p.m. serrvice. Attendees are asked to brring food to share (six to eight servings of a main dish, salad, or dessert).
Friday, April 20
MYSTERY DINNER THEATER, 7 p.m., Weaverville United Methodist Church, 85 N. Main St., Weaverville. The dinner show will be the “Slaying of the South.” On April 21, a 12:30 p.m. matinee and 7 p.m. dinner show will be presented. Admission is $10 for the nightly dinner shows and $10 for the matinee. For tickets, call 645-6721, ext. 102. Annual Auction, 7 p.m., Unity Center, 2041 Old Fanning Bridge Rd., Mills River. Gift certificates and hundreds of all kinds of items and services will be auctioned. Live music will accompany the proceedings. A Silent Auction is set up on tables for written bids from 7 to 8 p.m. Selected larger items will be sold in a regular auction format. Admission is free.
Wednesday, April 25
PATTERNS PROGRAM, 7-8:30 p.m., Unity Center, 2041 Old Fanning Bridge Rd., Mills River. Alice McCall will present a two-part program titled “The Power of Unconscious Patterns.” The series ends on May 2. McCall will explore what could be unconsciously limiting oneself. The program will address: “Are you doing everything right to heal a health issue, but have yet to achieve success? Are you stuck in a spiritual plateau, left wanting more? Is your life showing you repeated patterns and experiences that you can’t seem to escape no matter how much you forgive and bless?” Attending both events is not required, but they are designed to work best together to expose what could be limiting an individual. A love offering will be taken. McCall holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s of business administration degree. She is a cellular level healing consultant, spiritual counselor, hypnotist and an author. A love offering will be taken.
Saturday, April 28
TRILLIUM FESTIVAL, 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Church, 500 Montreat Rd., Black Mountain. Trillium: A Festival of Follies and Flings will feature music, games, a plant sale and more.
Wednesday, April 11
SELF-CARE PROGRAM, 7 p.m., Unity Center, 2041 Old Fanning Bridge Rd., Mills River. Veronica Fisher will present a seminar ttled “Self-Care During Dark Times.” The program is based on an article by psychosynthesis therapist Anne Yeoman. The program will explore personal and global dark times and how they are interrelated. “The ways we move through personal dark times will help us find ways to move through global dark times,” Unity noted. Fisher is a psychotherapist in private practice. Admission is free, but a love offering will be taken.
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Asheville Daily Planet — April 2012 — 11
He’s the lard of the dance, according to his critical wife
When I got married, I was a slim 6’2”, but I’ve gained a lot of weight. My wife gained about 20 pounds but recently lost that and more. I’ve been as high as 265, but I’m now at 238 and losing about a pound a week, which isn’t fast enough for my wife. When I contemplate going on a stricter diet, what comes to mind is feeling angry, tired, and hungry at my high-stress job. My wife said that I obviously love food more than her, and that if I won’t lose weight for her, maybe I’ll do it for our boys. She considers me selfcentered and narcissistic because I’m not losing enough weight, and I consider her self-centered and narcissistic for framing every argument in terms of what she wants and isn’t getting. What do you think? Does being overweight mean you don’t love your significant other? — Fatso
Some women just can’t appreciate their husband’s collections: comic books, shot glasses, broken-down cars, chins. There’s your wife, wagging a carrot stick at you, telling you that if you loved her you’d be surviving on iceberg lettuce sandwiches or going on the Drink Your Own Urine Diet — whatever it takes to drop flab fast. Probably because weight loss seems easier for her, she assumes you’re lazy and self-indulgent. She’s now trying to guilt-ivate you into losing weight (“Picture your children fatherless … Doritobreath”), which is more helpful than voicing the other thing she’s probably thinking: “I don’t want to have sex with you; I want to harpoon you.” Chances are, the problem isn’t that your diet isn’t “strict enough” — as in, you should be sniffing celery sticks instead of eating them — but that you’ve been following the obesity-causing dietary “science” promoted by the government and much of the medical establishment. The “weight loss” diet they advise — high-carb, low-fat — is actually a weight-gain diet. Also, as Dr. Mary Dan Eades, co-author of “The Protein Power Lifeplan,” writes, “Study after study has shown the low fat diet to be a failure in treating obesity, in solving diabetes, in reducing blood pressure or in decreasing heart disease risk.” Investigative science journalist Gary Taubes spent more than a decade digging through the body of research on diet. As he writes in “Why We Get Fat,” the evidence shows that it is carbohydrates — from sugar, flour, easily digested starchy vegetables like potatoes, and juice and beer — that cause the insulin secretion that puts on fat. So, if you want to drop pounds — and not just one a week but like they’re stones falling off a truck — eat low-carb/highfat foods like cheeseburgers. Even bacon cheeseburgers. (Just see that you feed the bun to the pigeons.) Unfortunately, it seems your love handles have become resentment handles. Some of the ill will between you may melt away as you lose the gut that Ding Dongs and Mountain Dew built, but it points to a bad pattern. You don’t win marital arguments by clinging to how right you are and how wrong your spouse is; you win by working together to make things as right as you can for both of you (“us first” instead of “me first”). Some problems aren’t solvable, but you’ll be more able to shrug off an impasse if you’re consistently putting yourselves in each other’s place. That’s the spirit that keeps you from striking out in revenge — for example, by insisting you’re on the Zone diet (but not mentioning that it’s the zone from the outermost wall of Dunkin’ Donuts to the outermost wall of Cinnabon).
The Advice Goddess
Amy Alkon
Memory bank fraud
I’m trying to start a relationship with a woman, but I can’t stop thinking about my last girlfriend. I want a family (eventually), so I couldn’t marry her. She already has two children, which is a dealbreaker for me, and has other baggage: debt and baby daddy drama. But, we developed a deep love, and I’m having a hard time getting over her. — Stuck It was the best of times, it was the best of times. And it’s called selective remembering. Your mental projector keeps playing this loop of your ex trying on lingerie. There are never any misty shots of the repo man or your ex emerging from the mist to chase the baby daddy with a big cleaver. And where are the little mind movies of her children? Or as you call them, “dealbreakers,” not “dealbenders.” Keeping this woman as your fantasy girlfriend will be a wedge between you and any woman you’re with in real life. To move on, harness the power of negative thinking. Sure, go ahead and indulge. Take that walk down memory lane with your ex. Just be sure you ask the cameraman to pull out to reveal the stroller you’re pushing with some other guy’s screaming kids in it.
The spinster cycle
I’m a 32-year-old woman with a Ph.D. I’m beyond happy with my career path, but I’m not meeting men I’m impressed with or inspired to see again. A girlfriend sent me a New York Times op-ed by a historian named Stephanie Coontz, who said that highly educated women can find a man if they drop “the cultural ideal of hypergamy — that women must marry up.” Coontz advises women to “reject the idea that the ideal man is taller, richer, more knowledgeable, more renowned or more powerful.” She claims a woman’s marital happiness is predicted not by how much she looks up to her husband, “but how sensitive he is to her emotional cues and how willing he is to share the housework and child-care. And those traits are often easier to find in a low-key guy than a powerhouse.” She then adds, “I’m not arguing that women ought to ‘settle.’” Really? Sounds that way to me. — Dismayed Yes, you can have it all — a high-powered education, a high-powered career, and the perfect high-powered man to go with. Of course, it helps if you’re willing to relax your standards a little, like by widening your pool of acceptable male partners to include the recently deceased. I respect Stephanie Coontz as a historian, but as a forecaster of economic and romantic possibilities for women, I have to give her a thumbs-down. Coontz claims that “for a woman seeking a satisfying relationship as well as a secure economic future, there has never been a better time to be or become highly educated.” Actually, as doctorate holders “Occupying” sleeping bags outside city halls will tell you, that depends on what you’re becoming highly educated in. Ph.D. in financial engineering? Hedge fund, here
you come. Ph.D. in Tibetan gender studies? You’ll be lucky to be teaching the merits of pulverized lavender in the body oils section of the food co-op. Coontz is wrong again in deeming hypergamy — women’s preference for men of a higher socio-economic status — a cultural construct. The preference for the alpha male is biological, an evolutionary adaptation that exists in women across cultures — and species. (Do we really think the lady peacock wants the alpha male peacock because she’s been watching way too much “Desperate Housewives”?) Some feminist academics claim that women only want big bucks/high status men because they lack those things themselves. But, a number of studies by evolutionary psychologists have found that women with big bucks and big jobs want men with bigger bucks and bigger jobs. Even women who are feminists. Dr. Bruce J. Ellis writes in “The Adapted Mind” that when 15 feminist leaders described their ideal man, they repeatedly used words like “very rich,” “brilliant,” and “genius” (and they didn’t mean “genius with a baby wipe!”). So, if you’ve become the man you would’ve married in the ‘50s, don’t be surprised if your mating pool starts to seem about the size of the one that comes with Barbie’s Dream House. Biology is neither fair nor kind. What those pushing feel-good sociology don’t want to believe or tell you is that you increase your options by being hot -- or hotting yourself up the best you can. Obviously, looks aren’t all that matter, but while your female genes are urging you to blow past the hot pool boy to get to the moderately attractive captain of industry, men evolved to prioritize looks in women,
so powerful men will date powerfully beautiful waitresses and baristas. As evolutionary psychologist Dr. David Buss writes, “Women’s physical attractiveness is the best known predictor of the occupational status of the man she marries and the best known predictor of hypergamy.” There isn’t a person on the planet who doesn’t have to settle. (Maybe Brad Pitt farts in bed.) Want kids? You’re more likely to find yourself a husband to have them with if you do as Coontz suggests — go for a man who’s shorter, poorer, and not that intellectually exciting but who’s emotionally present and willing to be appointed vice president of diaper rash. Problem solved — if you can keep from seething with contempt for his lack of ambition and intellect. A lack of respect for one’s spouse is definitely not the ground happy marriages are built on. That’s why settling is most wisely discussed not as some blanket policy for women, but in terms of what an individual woman wants and what she’s willing and able to give up to get it. Realistically assessing that for yourself is how you find your happiest medium — between possibly being in a panic to find a sperm donor at 42 and trying to make it work now with some guy who watches the soaps after dusting a few surfaces and drinking a few too many glasses of blush wine. • (c) 2012, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved. Got a problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405, or e-mail AdviceAmy@aol. com (www.advicegoddess.com) Amy Alkon’s just-published book: “I SEE RUDE PEOPLE: One woman’s battle to beat some manners into impolite society” (McGraw-Hill, $16.95).
12 - April 2012 - Asheville Daily Planet
Daily Planet’s Opinion
Hunger in region needs addressing
Given that a recent study shows that Western North Carolina is ranked No. 3 in the nation for hunger or food insecurity, the issue certainly needs to be addressed. With the plethora of innovative minds in our region, surely some bright ideas will emerge among good-hearted people to alleviate the suffering of their neighbors, without creating a culture of dependence. Besides donating to local food kitchens, perhaps gardening opportu-
nities could be opened up for those who are food insecure. Short of producing one’s own, the only other way to obtain food are by earning money to buy it, or by receiving donations. As for donations, we reiterate the importance of Good Samaratians not becoming enablers. It is ironic that an area that hosted the filming of the new hit “The Hunger Games” — and is justifiably highly rated in many other areas — has a hunger problem. Now let’s tackle it.
On the left
‘Blessed are the merciful ....’
The ongoing effort by Republicans and their allies to eliminate Medicare and Medicaid is nothing less than appalling, and their success in dragging some centrist Democrats over to their side of the debate is frightening. As a person who believes that we have a moral obligation to care for the least of our sisters and brothers, I could never vote to undo the hard won progress we have made toward addressing the common good embodied in the U.S. Constitution. I challenge Blue Dog Democrats like Rep. Heath Shuler to explain their votes to kill Medicare. In many ways the history of civilization has been one of discovering better and better forms of government that address our common needs while preserving our individual freedom. And short of imprisonment, there is nothing that crushes individual freedom more certainly than serious illness without hope of help. As guidance in our treatment of others we tend to fall back on the moral teachings of our religious faith. The Golden Rule has rung down through the ages in various forms. “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them,” attributed to Jesus of Nazareth, is more commonly phrased in modern English as “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” In Judaism, the sage Hillel was asked to summarize the Torah and replied, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary; go and learn.” However it is phrased, the idea is that of reciprocity: “What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,” is the version we read in Shakespeare. In my own church, the Unitarian Universalist, our first two principles speak to the same issue. We believe in “The inherent worth and dignity of every person,” and in “Justice, equity and compassion in human relations.” This is the basis for our commitment to work in both the church and the wider community, ministering to the homeless, the disenfranchised, the hungry and the poor. One of our fellow believers, John Adams, second President of the United States and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, put it this way, “If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?” When I look at our nation’s history, I see that we have struggled to extend help to
Cecil Bothwell the helpless. Before Social Security was introduced, old age meant abject poverty for many. While it’s a grand idea that everyone should save for the day when their bodies are weary and aches become a daily companion, it isn’t easy in the press of everday living, when immediate needs and some few pleasures have our full attention. The organized collection of a payroll tax and distribution of benefits created modern retirement, where those who have paid their dues are rewarded with a far kinder and gentler sunset than our ancestors. Yet still, the extraordinary cost of some medical care meant that even with a government retirement plan, many seniors and many with debilitating illness or injury were sentenced to a life of poverty. So we implemented Medicare for all, and Medicaid for the very poorest in our midst. Those plans have worked well, with far lower overhead than private insurance plans, and clear benefit to our society and our economy. The poor and ill cannot offer their gifts to our community, they can’t give full expression to the wisdom gained through experience that makes all of our lives better. Conservatives bemoan the expense of our social safety net in order to distract us from easy answers. If we would simply eliminate the income cap on payroll withholding, Social Security would be solvent far into our future. To those who say that increasing the payroll tax on the rich is unfair, I ask “What would you do if you were in their shoes?” I would gladly pay. Meanwhile, the Obama administration is already testing a Medicare fix that’s cutting costs with better health outcomes—a winwin that promises to transform the system in years to come. Social Security and Medicare are earnedbenefit programs. You pay for them. You are entitled to them. Entitlement is not a four letter word. • Cecil Bothwell, a member of Asheville City Council, is a candidate for Congress in North Carolina’s 11th District.
Letters to the Editor Editorial termed way off the mark on infringement
The editor who penned the opposition to the outdoor lighting ordinance (editorial headlined “Star-gazing ... for the elite” in the February Daily Planet) should really take a look at the whole picture. Apparently Progress Energy had originally strongly recommended higher-wattage, less-energy-efficient lights for all of the public lights in Buncombe County. This is akin to big oil companies recommending less fuel-efficient cars to up their profit. This Progress Energy recommendation would have allowed a huge taxpayer expense at a time when cost-saving measures should be on everyone’s agenda. And the position of infringement is really the other way around. Too much light is an infringement on those who appreciate our God-given right to the darkened night sky. In any event, ADP editors labeling people as villains who stood up for nature being experienced for all is a waste of time and energy — just like the misguided rec-
ommendation by Progress Energy. Take a few deep breaths, look up at the night sky and behold the beauty and wonder of our existence. If one has to do this before starting up one’s tractor, then maybe something will be gained. Liz Labar Asheville
Skyrocketing oil prices blamed on a cozy nexus
The BIG lie about oil .... When Wall Street ran out of money in 2008, crude oil prices fell from $140 to $35 almost overnight. Mr. Bush and Co. then gave the Fat Cats nearly a trillion dollars of taxpayer money to get back into the game, and open interest on oil futures soared immediately by 400 percent within six months. Most of the cost of oil today is speculation in the financial markets, pure and simple. As soon as the bailout money flowed into the hands of Wall Street, crude oil rose from $35 back to $100.
See LETTERS, Page 14
The Candid Conservative
The perfection of deception
Man’s always been deceptive, but it’s become accepted practice in today’s America. It’s ironic that in a time of unprecedented plenty, truth has become the rarest of commodities. Part of this cultural slide comes out of the left’s message truth is relative. No, our point of view may be relative, but the point of truth is sharp and specific. Like a needle in haystack, it’s not easy to find. We live in wicked times. Our culture is being degraded at every level. Yet most conservatives, people of faith, culturists, and communities remain passive and silent. Truth demands more. Like anything that is valuable, it doesn’t come cheaply. Need an example of our society’s ability to take a lie and buy it as truth? How about the reality we’ve aborted 50 million children – a number matching the deaths of World War II – and are calling it choice instead of genocide. If that point doesn’t prick you, you’ve lost your interest in truth.
Franklin Graham was right
Christian evangelist Franklin Graham jumped into hot water a few weeks back. On MSNBC, Graham noted he could not “categorically” say Obama is a Christian. Liberals and Obama apologists went ballistic and Graham subsequently caved and apologized. He shouldn’t have. Obama’s Christian credentials, like anyone else’s, are measured by deed, not words. For anyone to sit in the venomous pews of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright for 20 years and claim Christian status stretches all levels of reason. Wright was an angry social activist who used his Church and Christianity as camouflage. Obama listened for 20 years and didn’t disavow the good Reverend until the media illuminated Wright’s venom. That’s spiritual opportunism folks – not Christianity. Graham was right to question Obama’s honest values. Graham’sa pology unfortunately demonstrated another version of spiritual opportunism.
Rush chickened out, too!
Say it ain’t so Rush! Did you really apologize for calling Sandra Fluke a slut? The dictionary defines “slut” as “a promiscuous woman.” It’s not a nice word, but it is evidently, per Ms. Fluke, an accurate word.
Carl Mumpower What do you have to apologize for – other than chickening out when the political correctness police got fired up. You weren’t alone Rush – Republican politicians were happy to walk on your head to escape the heat. Don’t you love the way the left makes an anti-government slogan out of “Keep your hands off my uterus,” and then uses government to force us to fund birth control so others can use that uterus as a toy? Our hyper-sexualized culture is making sluts out of lots of young ladies. It’s liberal nonsense to pretend any woman is uplifted or liberated by being used as a toy for immature little boys. In backtracking on Ms. Fluke’s promiscuous use of her body parts, Rush mislaid some of his own….
Left keeps spinning the right
In a recent issue of Vanity Fair, a magazine as characterized by its firstname as it is distanced from its second, the TEA Party and the parade ofRepublican Presidential candidates were liberally chastised. That’s liberally both in the sense of “a lot” and liberally in the sense of “spin.” Two Republican limitations brightly illuminated on back to back pages – one an article and the other an ad – were a supposed aversion to taxes and personal liberties. Both are distortions common to a political movement dedicated to the promise of something for nothing and making people more dependent on politicians. TEA partiers, Republicans, and conservatives are not against taxes – they’re against waste and resist taxes to resist big government. We’re also not against liberty. We’re against deviance and genocide endorsed behind a pretense of liberty. Factual hysteria is a dead giveaway of intellectual and moral bankruptcy Mr. and Mrs. Liberal. • Carl Mumpower, a former member of Asheville City Council, may be contacted at drmumpower@thecandidconservative.com
Asheville Daily Planet —April 2012 — 13
Guest column
Romney’s stance on envy fuels anger toward fatcats
Back in January, Mitt Romney was asked on the “Today Show” if he stands by his previous statement, that anyone questioning inequality in America and misconduct on Wall Street is envious of the rich. He repeated that if they do that, “it’s about envy.” He later said that discussions about inequality in our society are “very envy-oriented.” Well, Mitt, I believe that inequality is destructive to our society. And I don’t have an envious bone in my body. I have a great wife, great dog, great little house, great little car, great kids, great grandchildren. (no, that should be “wonderful” grandchildren). I’m a contented man. Oh, I might have a reaction to somebody’s 1955 Thunderbird convertible, but it’s more “How cool” than “I wish I had it.” When I was in business, I spent time with some of these people I’m supposed to envy, mostly CEOs of client companies. And I can only think of a couple that I’d want to spend an evening with. While they were looking down on me, I was sizing them up as people.Once I was in the room with two CEOs during a break and heard them one-upping each other on Gulfstream jets. I left the room before I puked. I had a few tell me with a chuckle about illegal or unethical tricks they’d pulled, like I was the family dog who wouldn’t understand. An exception certainly was the time I traveled with Stanley Marcus (of Neiman Marcus). A total delight. Let me define the people I’m talking about. These aren’t your penny-ante millionaires. They aren’t professionals. Many rich lawyers have happily crossed my path, and there are a few medical doctors I’d like to know better. (Doctors’ arrogance is usually professional, I’ve found, not personal.) The people I’m talking about are the super-rich. We’ve had a glimpse into their world through Romney and his five houses and his wife’s two Cadillacs. In dramas like PBS’ Downton Abbey, I think most Americans never quite understand the class structure─particularly how the underclasses know and keep their place. I’d have made a terrible peasant. The super-rich belong to another time, like when John D. Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Philip Armour, Jay Gould, and James Mellon paid someone else to go fight the Civil War in their places. Mellon’s father wrote to him that “a man may be a patriot without risking his own life or sacrificing his health. There are plenty of lives less valuable.” The super-rich are the French nobility in 11th century England. We’re the Anglo-Saxon serfs. Serfs back then used the English word “pig”; the nobility used “pork” from French. That is, one class raised the animal; the other class ate the meat. We don’t figure in their world, even if their activities impact us vitally. If they would stay on their estates and yachts, none of us would have a quarrel with them. Do you Jay Gatsby thing, dude. But they don’t. They intrude. As you read this, they’re buying the 2012 election. In Wisconsin, only 7 percent of Governor Scott Walker’s funding in his recall battle comes from Wisconsin. Most of the rest comes from billionaires in Texas and New York. As our May 8 primary approaches, you’ll see TV ads from “Restore Our Future”─ads that de-restore Rick Santorum─and you’ll wonder, Who is Restore Our Future? Search “restore our
Lee Ballard future contributors” on Google and find out. Look down the 10 pages at how much these donors gave and what companies they represent, and ask yourself, “Hmmm, what might these people expect in return from President Romney?” And in the fall, when you see “American Crossroads” on an ad, remember that 98 percent of Crossroads contributors are billionaires. (President Obama has a super-PAC, but it’s piddling compared to these super-funds.) Let’s put things in perspective and look closely at one of these super-rich. Robert Rowling, owner of the Omni hotel chain, is worth $4.7 billion. He gave $2.5 million to American Crossroads in 2010. That’s five-one-hundreths of one percent of his net worth. Now let’s suppose that you, the reader, have a stash worth $100,000. A contribution you’d make that would be comparable to Rowling’s would be…fifty bucks. Contributing a few mil doesn’t make a blip on his bank statement ─ but it can sway an election. That’s what’s going on. They give what is to them chump change in order to make it easier for them to make more after the election. Who do these people think they are ─ giving millions to political candidates who will favor them with low tax rates, trying to buy elections so they can play their highfinance games without interference from us Anglo-Saxons serfs (that is, government regulation)? Who do they think they are ─ taking all they can for themselves without regard to how their risk-taking impacts us all, even pushing an ideological agenda against assistance to the poor? Who do they think they are? Well, they think they’re the nobility, the masters of our future. And they could just be right. No, Mr. Romney, I don’t envy these people. They make me angry. And I’m going to do my best this year to see they don’t succeed. This Angle-Saxon swings a mean vote, and it will be against you and the birds that flock with you. • Lee Ballard lives in Mars Hill.
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Continued from Page 12 Why then does Big Media toe the government/corporate line that worldwide demand is the issue? It is not. In fact, world demand for oil never grows at a pace of more than 2 or 3 percent per year, and oil production grows faster than that! This kind of cozy nexus among Big Media, Corporate America and our government is exactly what fuels so many conspiracy theories. It is a sign of naked corruption on such a scale that it causes thinking people to question whether real reform is even remotely possible. A similar corrupt lie can be found in the inflation data. Any reasonable person
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