A Hiker Passes Through Macon County: Jonathan Welch's Account

Jonathan Welch on Wayah Bald


A former staff photographer with the Mountain Xpress is attempting a thru-hike on the Appalachian Trail and is keeping an interesting blog of his experiences. [AT Blog]


He recently came through Macon County and made a stop over here, riding in the shuttle driven by Ron Haven.


You can see the two blog entries as he passed through our county by clicking the two links below:


Farewell GA, nice to meet again NC


"It's all about the smiles, not the miles!"


He is keeping an interesting record, photographic and written, of his journey and I hope that he keeps it up for the duration of his attempt. I will be checking on his progress from time to time and I hope that some of you will as well.


Hat Tip to the Mountain Xpress for posting a recent story on Welch's journey that alerted me to this endeavor.


Check out galleries of Jonathan's photographic work on his website.

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Buncombe Commissioners Refuse to Bailout URTV

The URTV Saga continues. Here is an excerpt from The Wild West blog of the John Locke Foundation regarding last night's refusal of the Buncombe County Commissioners to bailout URTV...

I felt like a sucker at the meeting of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners tonight. Questioning why I had never felt so before, I realized this was the first time I was hearing fiscal conservatism from the dais. Though swarmed by petitioners for money to bailout URTV, Commissioner Holly Jones said those who wanted URTV to survive would have to pool their mental resources and come up with a plan. Chair David Gantt echoed. He did not think it appropriate for government to be holding the purse strings of Public Access TV. Prior to public comment, consultant John Howell kept pointing his finger at the state for screwing the county out of revenues it could be channeling to URTV. When Howell said the commissioners had the option of giving URTV a special award, Commissioner Bill Stanley, replied thrice, “That’s not an option,” then added, “We can’t raise taxes.”

Source: Running Out of Dreams by Leslee Kulba (emphasis added by me)


I've not really blogged about the thing here because I've thought the whole thing an exercise in silly people pursuing silly power plays in an endless parade of silly Drama Queens. 


PEG, short for Public, Educational, Government access television got its start in the late sixties and early seventies via the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). These channels are typically only available to cable television subscribers, although many now stream their content on the Internet. It is my belief that the Internet has essentially rendered public access obsolete. Many more people can watch via the Internet rather than the small cable TV audiences. Here is a portion of what I have posted recently on the Mountain Xpress website regarding my thought on the matter:






PEG Channels have been rendered obsolete by technical means. Anyone with a camera and access to a fast Internet connection can make videos and upload them for the world to see…not just the few local cable TV subscribers in their town.


Cameras are cheap. You can get an HD camera for less than $200. Video Editing Software is cheap. Windows Movie Maker and iMove are free and there are many open source options available as well http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free_and_open_source_software_packages#Video_editing, and good editors can be had for under $100.


Training is cheap or even free if one can use a search engine and is willing to read and then conduct their own experiments to see if they’ve understood what they’ve read about the theory and application of filming techniques and various articles regarding technical aspects of building or operating a studio.


About your citation of the 1984 Cable Franchise Policy and Communications Act, the full text is available at http://www.publicaccess.org/cableact.html
You didn’t pay attention to the wording of the Barry Goldwater’s bill. It states “may require not shall require. May require means that it is an option, not a requirement. The local government has the option of keeping the money. Most local governments around the country keep that money.


PEG advocates may have intended the 1984 bill to save PEG Channels from the Supreme Court ruling against the FCC in FCC vs. Midwest Video Corp. http://supreme.justia.com/us/440/689/ , but it had the opposite effect due to the poor wording of the bill as sponsored by Barry Goldwater.


Public Access was created to provide a free-speech forum, open to all on a first-come, first-served basis without discrimination or favoritism based on content. I argue that the Internet, along with cheap cameras, free or cheap software and free or cheap training renders PEG Channels obsolete, if not already parochial.


And, as a bonus, you don’t have to deal with the ever-present internecine bureaucratic struggles for power and control of local PEG programming, facilities, equipment and funds.


...


One other thing I forgot to mention that makes Public Access totally irrelevant is 24/7 FREE WEBCASTING available via Ustream, Livestream (formerly Mogulus) and Justin TV. There are others that also offer this service.


You can do live shows, or upload pre-recorded content without having to worry about putting your hands in other people’s pockets for money to bankroll your operation or having to worry about open meeting laws or power-hungry people hiring a private investigator to dig up dirt on you or the person running the operation. You don’t have to worry about childish office politics as people jockey to get a better time slot or use a piece of equipment that Other People’s Money bought for you.




[Be sure to click over and read the lengthy discussion over there on the matter. (also check out this new discussion thread) It floors me that some people who consider themselves to be fiscally conservative would support bailouts on the local level...since they oppose them on the federal level. I consider that a hypocritical attitude.]


I think that the primary reason that the Buncombe County Commissioners are staying out of the URTV Saga is the violently vociferous actions of a few people who have been, in my opinion, seeking personal and political power via the URTV platform. In their mad pursuits, they have killed (or very badly wounded) the very thing they claim to support. 

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Mountain Xpress Switches From Paper to Twitter

Screenshot of Twitter-Powered Paper

Here is the video announcement:

Check out the twaper's (twitter-powered paper) announcement on their website.

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Mountain Xpress "Live Tweets" URTV Board Meeting

[Tonight’s] meeting of the URTV board will deal with a number of controversial issues, and Xpress is inviting attendees to assist our reporting on the events by joining in on the MXNow Twitter feed.

The URTV meeting may involve the dismissal of two board members who have been critical of the station’s management, as well as further discussion of the board’s compliance with state open-meetings law — a controversial issue over the past month.

Source: Mountain Xpress

Commentary

I hope the meeting is over by 9pm because I have a conference call that is due to start then...

**6.45am** Mountain Xpress has a rundown of the meeting. I enjoyed reading their tweets about the meeting, and I think that it should be a model for covering other local meetings and events in near real time. 

I love the idea of multiple people reporting and commenting real time!

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The Action Club Suffers Billboard Vandalism, Again

VANDALISED ACTION CLUB BILLBOARD By KATHY RHODARMER
View in HD Download 480p Version Visit KATHY RHODARMER's ExposureRoom Videos Page

The last time The Action Club put up billboards, they suffered vandalism as well [July 2006].


You can see a photo of the billboard on WNC Conservatives, and you can read the story posted at Mountain Xpress, along with video shot by Jason Sanford (who is seen in this video here questioning participants and filming during the press conference) who also runs the AshVegas blog.

Others covering:

Carolina Stompers
Buncombe GOP
Green Asheville
Zen posts a photo (read the comments for the laughter)

If you know of any more, lemme know in the comments.

The Asheville Slimes apparently did not cover the billboard vandalism, but did report that KKK was written on a car in Black Mountain. I'm guessing they couldn't be bothered. Typical.



The act was typical of someone with a lefty mindset...it showed a flagrant disregard for the private property rights of the people who paid for the billboard message, and the willingness to commit a crime to usurp the Free Speech rights of people with a different point of view. Lefties seem to feel a need to try to drown out any opposing viepoints by shouting down their opponents or by defacing the property of others instead of paying for a competing message, they stole property and time worth hundreds of dollars from The Action Club to get their message out...just as they would steal money out of your pocket (in the form of taxes) to pay for their pet projects.


Think about this as you go vote today. Remember the tactics of intimidation practiced by those on the left. Do you really want this nation ruled by people with a similar mindset?

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Ashvegas Jumps Ship From AC-T To Mtn Xpress

ASHEVILLE - Long-time Asheville Citizen-Times reporter and editor Jason Sandford announced today that he has resigned his job at the daily newspaper and will take his talents to the weekly Mountain Xpress in a move that has media mavens buzzing.

"I had a great run at the Citizen-Times and have many friends there. I'll miss them," Sandford said. "It was just time for me to move on, and Mountain Xpress offered me a great opportunity I just couldn't pass up."

"I also didn't want to be the last rat off a sinking ship," joked Sandford, who noted the massive changes rocking the beleaguered newspaper industry as it struggles to come to grips with the digital age of information delivery. He also noted C-T parent company Gannett's report today that fourth-quarter earnings were down a whopping 31 percent.

Source: Ashvegas

I think it'll be a good fit, as the Xpress is slightly more socialist than the AC-T, and the Mountain Xpress more willing to experiment with technology. The Mountain Xpress is also a better paper than the AC-T.

Update: Mountain Xpress

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To ashevegas joe

Apparently a limit has been reached or imposed on our thread at Mtn Xpress, and here is my response to ashevegas joes last:

ashevegasjoe:

well, above you said you were registered independent, then you said the following:

"Essentially , our founders were well read men who studied worldly, educated men who were standing on the shoulders of giants."

that is a VERY conservative position. To quote Kirk:

"Third, conservatives believe in what may be called the principle of prescription. Conservatives sense that modern people are dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, able to see farther than their ancestors only because of the great stature of those who have preceded us in time. Therefore conservatives very often emphasize the importance of prescription—that is, of things established by immemorial usage, so that the mind of man runneth not to the contrary. There exist rights of which the chief sanction is their antiquity—including rights to property, often. Similarly, our morals are prescriptive in great part. Conservatives argue that we are unlikely, we moderns, to make any brave new discoveries in morals or politics or taste. It is perilous to weigh every passing issue on the basis of private judgment and private rationality. The individual is foolish, but the species is wise, Burke declared. In politics we do well to abide by precedent and precept and even prejudice, for the great mysterious incorporation of the human race has acquired a prescriptive wisdom far greater than any man’s petty private rationality."

And as far as answering you, I have only done so when directly addressed.

I'll take the Iraq war since it is one I deal with on a daily basis:

"Let me start by saying I’m a registered independent, so the Democratic Party will probably not pick me to debate the Stompers. However, it is of no consequence, as there is little to debate. As for Mr. Nesbitt’s first point, the purpose of “the war on terror”, is to grab and occupy an antiquated, fossil fuel."

That is most patently false.

We have helped the Iraqis build their military:
Table of Order
[link]

Iraqi Security Forces Surge:
[link]

And here is a page listing the progress of turning the Iraqi Provinces back to Iraqi control...
[link]
you said...
"One that has cost many lives, much environmental degradation, as well as the growing disdain of the U.S. worldwide."

Our casualties and deaths are very significantly lower than nearly any other invasion in history, truly a historical success.
[link]

As far as Iraqi lives lost, do not believe the lies put out by the Soros funded Lancet Study...designed to hurt President Bush in the 2004 Election.
[link]

Even notoriously lefty site Iraq Body Count records about 14% and it does not distinguish between people killed by our forces, or the enemy forces, who are notorious for specifically targeting civilians.
[link]

And here is another site, which measures coalition force deaths, civilians, and other factors as well
[link]

And compare those figures to the number of Venezuelans who die violently to Iraqi deaths...a rate twice that of Iraq...and Venezuela isn't occupied by anybody other than Chavista thugs.
[link]


"enviro degradation"

Oh, like our restoration of the Marshes for the Marsh Arabs, who had their marshes (wetlands to you lefties) drained and burned, their homes destroyed?
[link]

And Saddam's burning Kuwaiti Oil Fields in 1991?
Who fixed that, I wonder.
[link]

He tried it again in 2003, but we stopped it.
[link]

And don't believe the lies about Depleted Uranium.
I hope you haven't flown lately, because many aircraft use DU as trim weights.


And as far as worldwide disdain of the USA, I don't give a rats tuccus what lefties think of our great nation, whether they be here, or on a sidewalk cafe in Pairs, or participating in a rent-a-mob protest for the cameras.

We are the last, best hope of humanity on this planet. We have saved Europe's behind three times in the 20th Century, and it looks like we may have to do it again to save them from becoming Eurabia.
[link]

That is, of course, assuming we haven't succumbed to the march of socialism here, or worse, yet Dhimmis ourselves.

We are in this Fourth World War to the death, whether we withdraw, or whether we continue to advance. I call it World War IV, the Salafis call it "The Third Great Jihad" and mean to destroy western civilization. Some of us will fight that, even if our government surrenders.
[link]

I could answer each and every one of your points at length, and in detail, but will not not add to what I feel has become an overly long response.


If you feel you need the other questions answered, just google my user name, and you'll find my blog. I think I have already answered most of your questions at one time or another there, or will do so upon request. This thread is supposed to be focused on The Carolina Stompers, so I'll bow out and let them assume center stage. I have not meant to steal any of the limelight, Chad, so please forgive me. I get worked up beyond my ability to control in the face of such utter ignorance of the world situation, and the bigotry of lefties everywhere. Were there a real Galt's Gulch, I would decamp there and leave the morons to die in their own filth.


"Who is John Galt?"

[edit] I think I like this style of composing material for dissemination, and am considering a series where I answer point-for-point a post on a lefty (or pauleroid) blog.

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