I'm a couple of days behind on this, but kudos to Gov. Bev Perdue for appointing Eric Levinson to the Superior Court bench in Mecklenburg County.

What's so notable?

First, Levinson is highly qualified. In fact, he has served on the N.C. Court of Appeals.

He resigned in 2007 to take a U.S. Department of Justice position in Iraq, advising that country's judicial system. Perdue gave him appropriate recognition for his service to country.

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Rush Limbaugh wrote:Michael Jackson's biggest successes, and as it turns out his final successes, real successes took place in the eighties. That was Billie Jean, Thriller and all this. I mean he was as weird as he could be but he was profoundly, because of his weirdness, an individual. He wasn't a group member. He reached a level of success that may never be equaled. He flourished under Reagan; he languished under Clinton-Bush; and died under Obama. Let's hope the parallel does not continue.

I did just say it. You want me to go back and say it again? Okay, Michael Jackson's a weirdo. As such he was a supreme individual. I mean, he defined individuality. Not a group member. He reached a level of success that may never be equaled. He flourished under Reagan, languished under Clinton and Bush, and died under Obama. I mean facts are facts, the timeline is the timeline, let's hope the parallel doesn't continue.

WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein believed Iran was a significant threat to Iraq and left open the possibility that he had weapons of mass destruction rather than appear vulnerable, according to declassified FBI documents on interrogations of the former Iraqi leader.

"Hussein believed that Iraq could not appear weak to its enemies, especially Iran," FBI special agent George Piro wrote on notes of a conversation with Saddam in June 2004 about weapons of mass destruction.

He believed Iraq was being threatened by others in the region and must appear able to defend itself, the report said.

The FBI reports, released on Wednesday, said Saddam asserted that he was more concerned about Iran discovering Iraq's weaknesses and vulnerabilities than the repercussions of the United States for blocking the return of UN weapons inspectors who were searching for WMD.

"In his opinion, the UN inspectors would have directly identified to the Iranians where to inflict maximum damage to Iraq," according to the documents obtained and released by the National Security Archive, a nongovernmental research institute.

An unknown life form picked up by sewer snake-cam in North Carolina. Believed to be of ET origin.

RALEIGH -- Deep below Raleigh streets, a prehistoric animal caught on camera is thrilling the nation with its wet, pulsating body: the Sewer Monster.

Footage of the beast in its new habitat beneath Cameron Village has appeared on Web sites across the nation, prompting such comments as, "The Sewer Monster is going to eat us all!"

Actually, the sewer monster is made up of thousands of tiny organisms called bryozoans, or moss animacules, said N.C. State University biologist Thomas Kwak. Invertebrates, they bunch together in colonies and feed with tiny tentacles.

"They can get as big as the size of a watermelon," he said.

They've been known to clog pipes, but Raleigh officials aren't worried, even though bryozoans can move up to 10 centimeters a day.

"I don’t know if we’ve seen anything move on its own inside a sanitary sewer line," Public Utilities Director Dale Crisp said.

As for whether the colony of worms poses a danger, Crisp said if the city found such an infestation it would clear it quickly.

"Anything other than water, human waste and toilet paper and you run the risk of having a blockage created by any debris, whether it’s a sack of worms or anything else," he said. via

It couldn't be more obvious this time of year, when the shorts and bathing suits come out: North Carolina is not a skinny state. The most recent report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ranked our state as the 12th fattest in the nation, 14th for childhood obesity. With a rate of 28.3%, we've gotten bigger every year for the past three years.

The good news is obesity rates are slowing. Last year, 37 states showed a rise in obesity levels, but this year it was down to 23. Maybe that's due in part to the focus on kids and installing healthy eating habits and lifestyles. Locally, we've got the Farm to School program that provides locally-grown, fresh fruits and vegetables to area schools for kids' lunches. And recently Brenner's Children's Hospital received a sizeable grant to start grass roots programs in communities that will work with families on nutrition habits and exercise programs.

Don't wait for school to get your kids eating some local food! Take a trip to one of the largest farmer's markets in our area, the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market, and pick up some of the best of what summer has to offer. With a plate full of watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes, fresh beans and corn, it's hard not to love eating healthy.

In response to Tom Arcaro’s column June 28 (“Nonbeliever: Is there a place for professed atheists in America?”):

I fail to understand why some folks are offended by my atheism. After all, neither God’s existence nor nonexistence is determined by my absence of belief.

Guy Sinclair
Graham

Counterpoint:

By Walter Sperko
 

Could it be that when you become a Nobel Prize winner, you get to make up your own facts? This appears to be the case in Paul Krugman’s “Current economic crisis had origins in Reagan administration” (N&R, June 2).

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Is anyone staying abreast of what is in the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (HR 2454) passed June 26 by the U.S. House of Representatives? The bill passed by a 219-212 vote with 44 Democrats voting against it.

The bill is so massive, however, it says to me the federal government will control every aspect of energy used in the United States. Forget states’ rights. State laws will be superseded by federal law. It is another step toward socialism.

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"This reduced compensation in turn is going to reduce the supply of health-care services. In this environment, investors are not going to pony up the funds for health clinics and hospitals; new ones will not be built, and existing ones will just deteriorate over time. Investors will not be interested in funding the development and adoption of high-tech medical equipment like MRIs and CAT scans, or the development of biotech or genetic therapies. Drug companies will sharply cut back on investment in the development of new, cutting-edge miracle drugs.

Along with financial capital, human capital will flee health care. Experienced doctors will retire early and seek more remunerative post-retirement employment. Young talent will seek other, more promising professions."

"Obama’s budget czar, Peter Orszag, spills the beans even more obviously in saying, 'Future increases in spending could be moderated if costly new medical services were adopted more selectively in the future than they have been in the past, and if the diffusion of existing costly services was slowed.'

In other words, the government is going to reduce costs by delaying implementation of technological innovations, discouraging investment in the development of new technology, and leaving patients suffering as they wait for the latest diagnostics and treatment. This will only further discourage investment in the development and adoption of new, advanced medical technologies and drugs, as discussed above.

Implementing all of these cost-control measures will involve the government’s controlling our health care in great detail. Remote government bureaucrats, rather than you and your doctor, will be deciding what health care you will get and when. They will be deciding what health-care advances will be adopted and when.

All of this involves pervasive and detailed central economic planning, which experience teaches us will not work. In other words, Obama’s cost controls involve government rationing of your health care, just as in all those foreign countries with socialized medicine that the CEA admires in its report."

Far be it from me to meddle in someone else’s church affairs, but when Shiloh Baptist in Greensboro booted yet another pastor last week, you had to wonder why.

The church has seen four pastors in 10 years.

The latest Shiloh pastor to be shown the door by a sharply split congregation was the Rev. F. Willis Johnson.

Johnson may have been in over his head from the start. He was young and relatively inexperienced. This was his first job as a head pastor.

And Shiloh is a tough room to play for even a veteran preacher.

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Americans just aren't explicit when they talk about having "had sex."

"Sex is a word and nobody is really in charge of that term," said Kinsey Institute scientist Erick Janssen. "In a way, our thinking of sex and definitions of sex is more complex than they were in the past."

In 1998, just as Clinton was defining what "is" is, two other Kinsey researchers were publishing a paper in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association on how people see sex. The answer: We can't really agree.

The study, based on 1991 survey of 599 college students, found something odd considering the parsing of male politicians. Women in general were less likely than men to consider oral sex or mutual masturbation as having "had sex."

Of the women, 37 percent considered oral sex as, well, sex. Forty-four percent of men did.

A second survey in 1996, asked "Is oral sex 'real' sex?"

About 52 percent of the men said yes, but only 46 percent of women did.

A single mega-colony of ants has colonised much of the world, scientists have discovered.

Argentine ants living in vast numbers across Europe, the US and Japan belong to the same interrelated colony, and will refuse to fight one another.

The colony may be the largest of its type ever known for any insect species, and could rival humans in the scale of its world domination.

What's more, people are unwittingly helping the mega-colony stick together.

Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) were once native to South America. But people have unintentionally introduced the ants to all continents except Antarctica.

These introduced Argentine ants are renowned for forming large colonies, and for becoming a significant pest, attacking native animals and crops.

In Europe, one vast colony of Argentine ants is thought to stretch for 6,000km (3,700 miles) along the Mediterranean coast, while another in the US, known as the 'Californian large', extends over 900km (560 miles) along the coast of California. A third huge colony exists on the west coast of Japan.

While ants are usually highly territorial, those living within each super-colony are tolerant of one another, even if they live tens or hundreds of kilometres apart. Each super-colony, however, was thought to be quite distinct.

But it now appears that billions of Argentine ants around the world all actually belong to one single global mega-colony.
...
However, the irony is that it is us who likely created the ant mega-colony by initially transporting the insects around the world, and by continually introducing ants from the three continents to each other, ensuring the mega-colony continues to mingle.

"Humans created this great non-aggressive ant population," the researchers write

There's a great Playboy Interview with Judd Apatow this month (link is work-safe) in which he talks a little about the cancellation of his TV shows Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, which featured comedy superstars Seth Rogan and Jason Segal before they were famous.

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A woman called on Monday to say we had too much Michael Jackson in the paper.

I protested: "But he was only on the front page once."

She said: "See what I'm saying?"

I fear we disappointed her again this morning. Even though the first news article on the aftermath of Jackson's death appears on page A9, we have included an outstanding standalone poster of the pop star in the morning paper.

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High-end liquor in North Carolina is getting cheaper, thanks to an economy that's on the rocks.

"Distillers of the good stuff are chopping their prices to hang on to recession-weary customers," the News & Observer reports.

Discounts begin Aug. 1. Examples include a half gallon of Grey Goose vodka dropping from $71.95 to $59.95 and a fifth of Absolut vodka costing $19.95 instead of $21.95.

We love to give away things at Piedmont Parent, and during the month of June we held one of our most popular contests ever, free tickets to Carowinds! With two different ways to win, through the Web site and Facebook, it gave our readers more of a chance at winning a family pack to the area's exciting theme park.

Facebook Winners:
Sarah Beth Shoultz, Greensboro
Cindy McDonald Odum, Greensboro
Erin Miller DeRoo, Winston-Salem
Kim Chisholm Buccino, Winston-Salem

Web site Winners:
LaChaya Jones, Greensboro
Paulette Rucker, Walkertown
Nicole Belgarde, Randleman
Sheri Hall, McLeansville

For those of you who didn't win this particular contest, don't stop trying. We have more exciting things in store, including a chance to win a free family-pack of passes to a Winston-Salem pool of your choice during the month of July! Make sure you visit PiedmontParent.com every day to take advantage of our great contests, catch up on the latest parenting news and find out what's going on in Winston-Salem, Greensboro, High Point and beyond.

One of the most sickening alleged crimes in North Carolina recently raises one haunting question:

Who let Frank Lombard adopt children?

Lombard is the Duke University official charged with sexually molesting his 5-year-old adopted "son" and offering the child for sexual abuse by others over the Internet.

Here's CNN's report from yesterday. There hasn't been a lot of coverage in the North Carolina media considering the very distrressing aspects of this case.

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At ease, soldier.

Those serving our country can cast their lines or bag a deer for free in North Carolina under a new law that takes effect today.

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It was disappointing to see that the City Council finally knuckled under to pressure and voted to “regret” an incident that occurred more than 30 years ago. Pressure exerted from a small (but loud) group of crusaders otherwise known as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission finally made its mark.

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The following is a Counterpoint:

By Ryan Monson

Regarding Charles Davenport’s May 31 column: I can’t recall ever reading an article with so many skewed “facts.” I would like to focus on four of them.

“Fact”: Teachers are whining because they are getting a .5 percent pay cut.

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Pam Spence says she’s the “bed bug lady” at the Guilford County Department of Public Health.

It’s not good that Guilford County needs a “bed bug lady,” but calls about the blood-sucking pests have been increasing. Spence, a community health educator, answers them.

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"The ad played on the theme of giving into temptation but stopped short of showing the nun and priest kissing," the ASA said. "The ad stated 'kiss temptation' and the two were portrayed in a seductive pose, as if they were about to kiss passionately.

"We considered that the portrayal of the priest and nun in a sexualised manner - and the implication that they were considering whether or not to give in to temptation - was likely to cause serious offence to some readers." via

FROM EVE TO JEZEBEL . . . SEXIEST WOMEN IN THE BIBLE!

By AIDEN LOUIS

Here's a secret reason so many men read The Holy Bible from cover to cover -- its pages are packed with sexy babes!

"If the Bible came with pictures, every guy would run out and pick up a copy today," says Dr. Jonah Watkins, Professor of Divinity at St. Aloysius School of Scriptures in Darwin, Australia.

"Women who lived before and during Jesus' time on earth were full and curvaceous with huge bosoms and even bigger sexual appetites. More often than not they were lusty, wild and wicked."

Here are Watkins' top four Biblical Pinup Girls:

1. EVE -- The first woman on earth, set down by God into the Garden of Eden with hubby Adam. "In Genesis 2:25, it says, 'And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed,' " says Watkins. "So Eve strutted her bodacious bod around paradise in her birthday suit. Of course Adam was happy as hell. Wouldn't you be?"
2. DELILAH -- "This lady was a hot mama who liked to slather on the makeup like a hooker," says Watkins. "She was also a first-class b@#%& who betrayed the man who loved her without blinking an eye." The story goes like this: Bible strongman Samson falls head over heels for Delilah. The Philistines make a deal with her. "Entice him and find out where his great strength lies and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver." No problem. She nags him until he tells her. She reports back, gets her cut, and Samson is captured. The Philistines put out his eyes and make him perform stupid tricks like a monkey. "All in a day's work for a Bible babe," says the professor.
3. THE QUEEN OF SHEBA -- "Another Bible babe who thought she was really hot stuff," says Watkins. "She was Arabian royalty. She heard that King Solomon was wise, but didn't believe it so she made up a sheet of test questions to make him look stupid. She was the one who ended up looking like an idiot because of course because Solomon really did know everything. He made himself a nice temple with lots of gold and riches. After that, he just sat on his throne and everyone who wanted an answer came to him and brought him gifts. The Queen fled the country with egg on her face."
4. JEZEBEL -- "This nasty piece of baggage married Ahab, King of Israel," says Watkins. "Ahab wanted a vineyard and when the guy wouldn't give it to him Jezebel wrote off a couple letters and signed her husband's name. The notes urged her friends to trick the people into thinking the vineyard owner was a blasphemer of God and stone him to death. They did. Later, God got her back. He told eunuchs to throw her body out the second floor window. Dogs ate her flesh, leaving only her skull and feet and the palms of her hands. She got hers."
5. SALOME -- "This scheming babe knew her stepfather had the hots for her, and she took full advantage," Watkins says. "When he offered her whatever she wanted to do a dirty little dance for him, she demanded the head of her enemy -- John the Baptist -- on a silver platter! Ouch."
via

OKLAHOMA CITIZEN’S PROCLAMATION FOR MORALITY
We the People of Oklahoma, Invoking the guidance of Almighty God, in order to
secure and perpetuate the blessing of Liberty; to secure just and rightful Government; to promote
our mutual Welfare and Happiness, do establish this proclamation and call upon the people of the
great State of Oklahoma, and our fellow Patriots in these United States of America who look to
the Lord for guidance, to acknowledge the need for a national awakening of righteousness in our
land.
WHEREAS, “It is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon
which Freedom can securely stand” (John Adams); and
WHEREAS, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with
human passions unbridled by Religion and Morality” (John Adams); and
WHEREAS, “Our Constitution was made only for a Moral and Religious people” (John
Adams); and
WHEREAS, “We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the
power of government…but upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity
of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to
the Ten Commandments of God” (James Madison); and
WHEREAS, “Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that
belongs to us by the laws of God (Benjamin Franklin); and
WHEREAS, “God who gave us life gave us liberty and can the liberties of a nation be
thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the
people that these liberties are of the Gift of God” (Thomas Jefferson); and
WHEREAS, “Whether any free government can be permanent, where the public
worship of God, and the support of Religion, constitute no part of the policy or duty of the state”
(Joseph Story); and
WHEREAS, “We hold sacred the rights of conscience, and promise to the people…the
free and undisturbed exercise of their religion” (Roger Sherman); and
WHEREAS, “This great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians”
(Patrick Henry); and
WHEREAS, “When you…exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be
impressed upon your mind that God commands you to choose just men who will rule in the fear of
God” (Noah Webster); and
WHEREAS, “The principles of genuine Liberty and of wise laws and administrations
are to be drawn from the Bible” (Noah Webster); and
WHEREAS, the people of Oklahoma have a strong tradition of reliance upon the
Creator of the Universe; and
WHEREAS, we believe our economic woes are consequences of our greater national
moral crisis; and
WHEREAS, this nation has become a world leader in promoting abortion,
pornography, same sex marriage, sex trafficking, divorce, illegitimate births, child abuse, and
many other forms of debauchery; and
WHEREAS, alarmed that the Government of the United States of America is forsaking
the rich Christian heritage upon which this nation was built; and
WHEREAS, grieved that the Office of the president of these United States has refused
to uphold the long held tradition of past presidents in giving recognition to our National Day of
Prayer; and
WHEREAS, deeply disturbed that the Office of the president of these United States
disregards the biblical admonitions to live clean and pure lives by proclaiming an entire month to
an immoral behavior;
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that we the undersigned elected officials
of the people of Oklahoma, religious leaders and citizens of the State of Oklahoma, appealing to
the Supreme Judge of the world, solemnly declare that the HOPE of the great State of Oklahoma
and of these United States, rests upon the Principles of Religion and Morality as put forth in the
HOLY BIBLE; and
BE IT RESOLVED that we, the undersigned, believers in the One True God and His
only Son, call upon all to join with us in recognizing that “Blessed is the Nation whose God is the
Lord,” and humbly implore all who love Truth and Virtue to live above reproach in the sight of God
and man with a firm reliance on the leadership and protection of Almighty God; and
BE IT RESOLVED that we, the undersigned, humbly call upon Holy God, our
Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer, to have mercy on this nation, to stay His hand of judgment,
and grant a national awakening of righteousness and Christian renewal as we repent of our great
sin.
Signed on the second day of July in the year of our Lord Christ Two Thousand and Nine

Harold Martin took the chancellor's job at A&T with super high expectations.

And he's raising them.

Our edit board (Allen Johnson, Ken Irons and I) just finished an hour-long conversation with Martin. Allen is now taping a NewsMaker video interview with the new chancellor.

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Clothes and shoes will be a buck today as part of Goodwill Industries of North Carolina's "Dollar Day" sale.

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Click here for today’s Washington Watch column.

The column included:

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It seems we've had a lot of bad news from schools lately. Budget cuts forced by the state government meant cuts in extracurricular activities, shorter sports schedules for some teams and now one of the hardest to deal with, teachers losing jobs and larger class sizes. There have already been cuts in Guilford and Forsyth county, and Guilford reports there are more to come, including language teachers in elementary school and the strings teacher at Weaver Academy.

The good news is that even among all this turmoil, teachers still love their jobs. And it's not just the threat of layoffs and budget cuts that make their job hard, they also have to deal with backtalking kids, tardiness and maybe the hardest part of all--the parents. When rating job satisfaction, 27 percent gave it an "excellent" and 43 percent gave it "good" in Forsyth County for the past year.

I've always felt that being a teacher is a calling. Considering the mediocre pay and all the stuff you have to put up with, it's almost a given that people who stay in this profession do it because they love it. They love the kids and they love seeing the light bulb come on when a student gets it.

So hopefully, even with all the bad news this summer for schools, when our kids go back to school in the fall they'll still be loved, nurtured and inspired by teachers who love them and love the art of teaching.

Get a free regular "Beef 'N Cheddar" sandwich at Arby's on Wednesday when you buy a soda.

It's part of the fast-food restaurant's Wednesday freebies special that ends Aug. 26.

Here's the list of what's being offered.

The offer is limited to one per person.

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The rules put into effect by Parks and Recreation concerning the Farmers’ Curb Market are hurting the farmers and, ultimately, consumers. Let consumers decide what is local to them, whether produce is only from Guilford County or North Carolina.

The decisions made by a few will drive loyal customers away to the grocery store, where they can find a lot of variety grown outside of North Carolina. The board needs to reconsider policies that benefit everyone, not just their own agenda and opinions.

Ben Turner
Whitsett

We’ve debated universal health coverage for decades. While the rest of the industrialized world has adopted it, we continue to watch people get sick and die under the system we’ve got.

We like to think of our nation as the greatest on earth, and in some ways we are. But not in health care. We may be the richest, but several other nations are much better than we are on life expectancy because their health care systems are better.

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The House passed its version of S 311, the continuing resolution bill, Monday night. It now returns to the Senate for concurrence. A CR is needed because the new fiscal year begins on July 1 and budget writers in the House and Senate haven’t reached agreement on a new plan.

Background here.

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Back in April I wrote about coal ash ponds in North Carolina and a nascent effort to regulate them. (Click here for that.)

These are ponds of toxic goo that, in most cases, sit by water ways. There are two of them up in Eden.

They started getting national attention in December when a 5.4 million gallon coal ash pond/pile run by the TVA in Tennessee broke lose and spread waste over hundreds of acres.

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