News-Record.com

How have the fear, pain and anger from 9/11 affected the concepts of patriotism and sacrifice in the years since 2001? If you oppose the war are you automatically unpatriotic?

If you support it are you automatically patriotic? Is open debate on the war a sign of weakness to the enemy? As for sacrifice, in an era of a volunteer military, have Americans rallied in any special way to support the war effort? Have they made any special commitments? Have they given anything up? Should they be expected to?

That's the topic of an editorial we plan to publish on Sunday. Sept. 10. As we gather our thoughts on the topic, we'd like to hear yours. We might even quote you in the editorial.

Please post your comments here. We'd strongly prefer you provide your real name and a valid e-mail address. Thanks.

I could sympathize with the Greensboro police officers who mourned the loss of their ace drug-sniffing chocolate Lab, Zeus (as chronicled in Eric Townsend's story Thursday).

I understand the realities of tight budgets, but too bad the city could have paid for Zeus's cancer diagnosis after he has served so admirably for so long.

This was, after all, a pooch who uncovered more than a million dollars' worth of illegal cash, not to mention illegal drug stashes.

True, the police department would have been criticized either way it went on this issue. (Not everyone likes or appreciates dogs -- as the overcrowded Guilford County Animal Shelter obviously attests.)

But it seems a shame not for the department to at least pay a share of Zeus's medical bills (an officer had to adopt the dog and do it on his own, a $1,100 bill for the diagnosis of a cancerous tumor).

Zeus was euthanized on Aug. 4.

This reminds me of a magificent police dog I encountered during a police ride-along in 2002. His name was Bear and it should have been.

Bear pinned down an armed robbery suspect single-pawed on that Friday night. The man was petrified.

Here's what I wrote back then:

"He doesn't get a steak or anything."

We attended the resumption of the Winston-Salem State-N.C. A&T football rivalry Saturday afternoon at Aggie Stadium.

This always has been a fierce but good-natured backyard brawl between close neighbors. (Many an A&T alum has a WSSU alum for a spouse or best friend.) But the annual game had to be discontinued because Division 1-AA A&T could not continue to afford two Division II opponents on its schedule (at the time, it was playing Division II WSSU and N.C Central every year). Now that's no longer a problem since WSSU is in the process of moving up to 1-AA.

Saturday's game had all the earmarks of a good time. A sunsplashed late afternoon. A packed house. The halftime battle of the bands. The tastes, smells and fellowship of wall-to-wall tailgating.

Only problem was favored A&T got slapped around 41-14 and I'm not sure it was even as close as that score. This was a butt-whupping in every sense of the word.

At least the A&T band was pretty good. Maybe next year ...

Despite the embarrassing outcome on the field, it's good to see A&T preserving a treasured tradition while cultivating new area rivalries with the likes of Elon.

Problem is, the A&T-Elon game packs the stadium when it's played in Elon; Phoenix and Aggie fans show up there en masse.

But when the game is played in Greensboro, Elon fans stay away in droves.

What's up with that?

As for the WSSU-A&T rivalry, Winston-Salem State fans always show up for their games and so do the A&T faithful.

If only the A&T football team, bless its heart, had showed up Saturday.

A Labor Day protest is planned for Monday to call attention to some black leaders' concerns about what they see as a pattern of racism in Guilford County.

As part of the protest, the organizers are calling on black citizens to buy only from black merchants as a show of African American consumer strength.

As I see it, all of these folks' concerns are valid: school achievement, suspension rates, the Willie Best firing, the problems in the Greensboro Police Department.

All raise issues that deserve an earnest and honest public discussion. But not all of them are rooted in racism.

As for the demonstration if buying power on a holiday? Who's going to be open?

These tactics are throwbacks to the 1960s. They are dated and will likely prove ineffective.

As a footnote to the SCAT debate and the problems Greensboro faces in expanding transit service amid rising expenses:

We are not alone.

The Winston-Salem Transit Authority faces a $1.1. million shortfall by the 2008-2009 fiscal year according to current projections.

That would mean with a cut in expenses (meaning services) or an increase in revenues (most likely a fare hike), the Winston-Salem Journal reports.

This is not an uncommon problem, given the high price of gas. And it's why I believe the city has gotten a bum rap as insensitive to the disabled because it plans increases to SCAT fares, effectuve in 2007.

As we have editorialized, the city is trying its best to squeeze limited dollars to do what's best by all transit riders, including the majority, who used the regular service to get to work and shop.

In response to the protests against "Intolerable Racism" Monday I suggested actions with more teeth, more substance and more traction.

I also referred to the "Covenant with Black America."

The Covenant itself originally was a thoughtful book that moves past emotional reaction and stresses proactive attempts at self-help and empowerment.

None of that victim-based stuff.

The Covenant becane an unlikely New York Times bestseller.

Now there's a Web site.

The movement, fueled by talk show host Tavis Smiley, offers this definition of its mission on the Web site:

The Covenant with Black America is a national plan of action to address the primary concerns of African Americans today -- from health to housing, from crime to criminal justice, from education to economic parity. The frustration and angst felt by Black Americans post-Hurricane Katrina, from California to the Carolinas, is palpable. As we move toward the national elections of 2006 and 2008, Black Americans are entitled to have questions answered and visions shared of where our leaders want to take this country and a blueprint for how we get there.

Amen to shared vision and a plan of action as opposed to a largely pointless march and "boycott."

Erskine Bowles spent 90 minutes Wednesday with the News & Record's editorial board.

The UNC system president was passionate and engaging, his eyes dancing as he addressed issues such as tuition rates, the role of intercollegiate athletics on UNC campuses, the N.C. A&T chancellor search, chancellor and faculty pay and teacher education.

Bowles made clear his love for the job, saying he looked forward to every day running the 16-campus system.

When apprised that someone said this was the job Bowles was born to do, Bill Clinton's former White House chief of staff didn't disagree.

But when asked if he thought in retrospect that it might have been a blessing for him to lose both of those U.S. Senate races (first to Elizabth Dole, then to Richard Burr), Bowles smiled and quipped, "Does that mean I get my money back then?"

More interviews this week:

This morning we meet with Sheriff BJ Barnes and his challenger, Berkley Blanks. Could be interesting.

This afternoon we meet with Former Sen. John Edwards.

Tomorrow, Congressman Brad Miller comes to town.

We'll keep you posted.

Now, a private philanthropist should be able to spend his money as he darned well pleases, but ...

The Raleigh-based John William Pope Foundation has announced a generous $2.3 million gift to UNC-Chapel Hill, $300,000 of which will fund study-abroad programs and summer research fellowships in Western studies, a pet interest of the foundation -- and $2 million of which will create an investment fund that will boost the pay of the Tar Heels’ assistant football coaches.

The fund will supplement the assistants' salaries by a total of $100,000 a year.

Apparently the poor Carolina assistants average only $146,778 in annual salaries and got only an average raise of $19,304 last year, The News & Observer of Raleigh reports.

An update, based on breakin sports news: Considering the outcome of Saturday's game versus Virginia Tech, maybe that extra money ought to be tied to performance incentives.

The head of the state NAACP expressed his concern Thursday that North Carolina's public schools are steadily resegregating and that no one seems particularly alarmed about it.

Good. That makes two of us.

Among the systems cited by the Rev. William Barber as especially segregated was Guilford County's. The others he mentioned were Winston-Salem/Forsyth and Goldsboro.

The News & Observer reports that Barber told state education officials that "the State Board of Education that it can't meet its constitutional mandate to provide a quality education to all students if schools are sharply divided by race.

"Segregation is a barrier to equal education opportunities," Barber said. "Segregation is a barrier to a sound basic education."

Barber pointed out that nearly all of the state's 44 lowest-performing high schools have predominantly minority enrollments and other problems such as fewer fully licensed teachers, fewer nationally certified teachers, fewer teachers with graduate degrees and higher rates of teacher turnover.

"Where there is segregation, there seems to be no political will to provide the same [educational resources]. So a few miles apart in the same city, ... you can have gross inequities which can be statistically tracked by race," Barber said.

Barber noted that nearly all of the state's 44 lowest-performing high schools have predominantly minority enrollments and cope with numerous educational disadvantages, including fewer fully licensed teachers, fewer teachers with graduate degrees or national certification, and higher rates of teacher turnover.

"Where there is segregation, there seems to be no political will to provide the same [educational resources]," he said.

Is anyone listening?

"Star Trek" turned 40 Friday.

To guys like me and John Hood, that's a big deal

Hood, president of the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh, generally likes to talk state politics, but between you, me and the bedpost, he's as much a sci-fi geek as I am. Maybe even more.

And he's got good taste to boot.

He and I may disagree more often politically than we agree, but you gotta give him credit: John's got impeccable taste when it comes to quality sci-fi.

He and I both agree that "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" may have been the best Trek of all.

He and I also like "Star Wars," but concur that George Lucas can't write a syllable of decent dialogue and that early stuff was far superior to the slicker but dramatically lame second trilogy.

And he and I will argue you to the ends of the universe that the new "Battlestar Galactica" is one of the best dramas on TV, period.

Not that we agree on everything.

For instance, John suggests that "Star Trek" is liberal and "Star Wars" is conservative and he even wrote a column about it.

And he lists a litany of arguments that he believes make it so.

For instance, he has written in what I'll grant him is a funny, whimsical column:

"In 'Star Trek,' storylines and characters make a fetish out of diversity, dwelling on differences and sometimes questioning whether a universal morality can truly be asserted across racial lines. In Star Wars, which is a fictional world of mind-boggling diversity, alien species work together and fight together with little self-conscious sermonizing or pontificating. It's obvious, at least visually, that the freedom-seeking rebellion against the Empire is a multicultural one. But the rebels aren't seeking to defeat the Emperor simply because he won’t hire enough Toydarian storm troopers, or because he prefers officers with proper English accents, or because he is Trent Lott with a (black) hood. They want to defeat him because he is an evil tyrant, period."

John also picks a bone with "Star Trek" for being too sympathetic to bad guys, from the Klingons to the Borg -- for its preoccupation with zapping bad guys with phasers set on stun rather than slicing them into pieces and being done with them. (Of course, BJ Barnes has his own take on stun guns.)

Our campaign interview schedule is heating up, and, as usual, you never quite know what to expect.

In addition to firm handshakes and campaign paraphernalia, some candidates come bearing gifts.

Twelfth District Congressional candidate Ada Fisher, a physician, brought souvenir pens shaped like little syringes — filled (gasp) with what I hope is fake blood — and candy shaped like little hearts.

N.C. Supreme Court candidate Rachel Lea Hunter brought her husband and a soft-spoken bodyguard with extremely outspoken biceps.

Sheriff BJ Barnes and his challenger, Berkley Blanks, brought attitudes.

We value these interviews because they give us face-to-face impressions of each candidate and a chance to dig deeper into their stances on the issues.

Not all candidates choose to attend these interviews. But most consent for the typically hour-long sit-downs, and some actually seem to look forward to them. Even state House member Earl Jones took time off from his announced boycott of the News & Record to do a Q&A side-by-side with his Republican challenger, Bill Wright.

One final note on the Labor Day protest: This week's Carolina Peacemaker notes that County Commissioner Paul Gibson joined the march "against intolerable racism."

The paper notes that Gibson was one of the commissioners who voted to fire County Manager Willie Best, who is African American.

The paper quotes Gibson as attributing his presence at the march to an incident involving one of his daughters.

"She was told she couldn't do something becasue she was a girl," the Peacemaker quotes Gibson as saying, adding that she came home "teary-eyed."

"It hurt my heart."

Highly recommended reading, in light of the five-year 9/11 anniversary: Sports Illustrated's superb cover story, in the current issue, on Pat Tillman.

So moved was Tillman after the terrorist attacks, the star player with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals walked away from pro football to enlist in the Army and serve in Afghanistan.

Tragically, Tillman died from what had been misreported as an enemy ambush, but what turned out to be friendly fire.

But it's an amazing, touching, upflifting story nevertheless.

Expect to see a number of outraged letters soon on efforts to help veterans appeal for benefits from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.

Lex Alexander's recent stories on area lawyers' efforts, including Greensboro's Craig Kabatchnick, to aid frustrated vets clearly has touched a nerve.

They also stirred memories of another Triad veteran, Winston-Salem's Lawrence Joel.

Joel, a Vietnam veteran who served as a medic, won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroism under fire in 1965.

While himself shot in his legs during a Viet Cong ambush, Joel crawled to the aid of more than a dozen wounded comrades as bullets still rained on his unit. He had bandaged his own wound and administered morphine to himself.

Says one account: "As bullets dug up the dirt around him, he held plasma bottles high while kneeling. ... Then, after being struck a second time, and with a bullet lodged in his thigh, he dragged himself over the battlefield and succeeded in treating 13 more men before his medical supplies ran out. Displaying resourcefulness, he saved the life of one man by placing a plastic bag over a severe chest wound to congeal the blood."

If Joel's name sounds familiar, that's because Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem honors him.

He is Forsyth County's only Medal of Honor winner. He was the first living black American to receive the Medal of Honor since the Spanish-American War.

He was presented the medal by President Lyndon Johnson on March 9, 1967.

A diabetic, he died bitter and in ill health in 1984.

The Walter Reed Army Medical Center dedicated its main auditorium in 1991 to Joel.

Yet, ironically, according to family members, Joels had been angered at the lack of help he was able to obtain from what was then the Veterans Administration.

This is not to say Veterans Affairs doesn't perform many wonderful functions. It is to say that at least some aspects need rehabilitation of their own.

I recently received this e-mail from reader Ellen Gerber, a High Point attorney:

"In the past 2 or 3 years you have not endorsed candidates for the NC Court of Appeals or Supreme Court. That decision is most unfortunate because these are the very races that people know least about.

"As someone who always works a poll on election day for judicial candidates, I know that virtually nobody knows who they want to vote for. Even those who get and read the judicial guides are left without any guidance as to who is best.

"This year the only statewide elections are for these seats. Turnout will be low. It is imperative that your readers get some guidance as to how to vote. In my view, these seats are far more important than any single legislative seat. Perhaps that is why other papers such as the Charlotte Observer continue to endorse judicial candidates.

"Please, please reconsider your decision and do judicial endorsements. We need them."

Actually, we have endorsed for the state Supreme Court races for as long as I can remember, but we have not always endorsed for the state Court of Appeals.

However, we will endorse in all statewide judicial races in this election. Doug Clark has taken these races as an election beat and will interview all of the candidates (see his column on judicial elections today).

We agree that it's a valuable reader service. Whether readers agree or disagree with our choices, at least they'll know more about the candidates and their qualifications.

Charles Sanders,appointed by the governor to shepherd the lottery's establishment in North Carolina, tells the News & Observer he still questions the use of the games as a means to raise money.

And even after a year on the job, he still expresses some of the same concerns that lottery opponents raised from the very start.

Hate to say I told you so ....

Karla Ewald, executive director of the Humane Society of the Piedmont Inc. said in a phone conversation Wednesday that her organization is working to organize a summit meeting soon on the pet overpopulation problem in Guilford County.

Good. It's high time pet lovers marshalled their collective forces rather than spend more energy snarling at one another.

A unified front against this epidemic is long overdue.

"Greensboro connects" did not connect three years ago as the city's slogan. So Action Greensboro is trying, again, to come up with a branding strategy that sticks.

Toward that end a panel Thursday centered on the city's unique selling points -- the character and qualities that make Greensboro Greensboro.

Then the attendees split into groups and brainstormed ideas.

The audience stressed such Greensboro qualities as location, climate and hospitality, Jim Schlosser reported in the News & Record.

One idea: The grass is greener here (insert Cheech and Chong joke here).

Seriously though, folks, this branding business isn't easy. There are people who makes gobs of cash devising some brilliant and many absolutely awful branding campaigns.

But cynicism aside, there's value on reflecting on we are as a community and what distinguishes us from other places.

For instance, if someone were to ask what makes Winston-Salem and Greensboro different, what would you say?

What about Greensboro and High Point?

I hate to break the news here, but their grass looks pretty green to me.

I don't mean to cast aspersions at a good neighbor (also, I lived there for nine years and loved it) but if it's any consolation, "Greensboro Connects" is a whole lot better than what Winston came up with in its own branding attempt: "O! Winston-Salem. Now That’s Living."

O wow. And they were dead serious, too.

I didn't know Kyle Petty was such a cinemafile.

But he was impressive today as co-host to showings of what were billed as some of his favorite movies.

One, predictably, was John Frankenheimers' racing movie, "Grand Prix."

A lot less predictable was the controversial 1932 oldie about circus sideshow performers, "Freaks."

Petty handled himself very well, and he obviously knew his stuff.

Soon a giant crane will begin the high-profile makeover of the old Wachovia building downtown.

We haven't seen big cranes downtown since the Bee Gees were big. It's high time one swung into action again.
Only a mile to the east is Southside, the award-winning village of shops and homes that dared to break ground — and taboos — in east Greensboro.

Southside may be a first in this city: a naturally integrated community in what traditionally is the "black side" of town. And they didn't have to bus one solitary soul into the neighborhood.
Lesser known but no less remarkable is the metamorphosis, even farther east, of Morningside Homes, or what we used to call "The Old Projects." When I was growing up, you didn't venture there unless you didn't mind getting your butt whupped by guys who always seemed bigger, faster and meaner.

Time was when the area, also popularly known as "The Grove," was to the local drug trade what West Wendover and Friendly Center are to retail shopping. You wanted it, they had it, especially crack cocaine.

I was dismayed to read this morning that one of Greensboro's most respected community leaders and businessmen, Ralph Shelton, lost his only child, Cassandra, over the weekend.

Cassandra C. Shelton, you may recall, gave such an eloquent and loving tribute to her father two years ago when he was honored by NCCJ with its Brotherhood Citation Award.

Cassandra Shelton also was vice president of her father's business, Southeast Fuels.

I never got to meet her, but she appeared to possess much of her dad's grace, smarts and warm disposition. I've gotten to know Ralph pretty well now. He and I were in the same Mosaic Partnership cluster group and I got to see firsthand his quiet but firm leadership and his thoughtful observations about our community's obstacles and opportunities.

My prayers and thoughts go to him and his family.

Coming up with a brand that speaks to Greensboro's strengths and sets it apart from other cities is back on the city's agenda. To get the ball rolling, political, business and marketing leaders who attended a recent brainstorming session were asked to consider several questions, including the following: "If Volvo stands for 'safety' and Nike stands for 'performance,' what does the Greensboro brand stand for?" What do you think? What qualities should be capitalized on in creating a branded identity for the city?

We plan to publish an editorial on the topic of branding Greensboro this week. As we gather our thoughts, we'd like to hear yours. We might even quote you in the editorial.

Please post your comments here. We'd strongly prefer you provide your real name and a valid e-mail address. Thanks.

I know HBO series aren't everyone's cup of tea but "The Wire" is one of the grittiest and most compelling hours on TV.

The Baltimore-based cop show features such fully realized, three-dimensional characters that you know the cops, the politicians and the drug lords equally well. And you are surprised at times where your empathy takes you.

What makes this year's episodes even more intriguing is a story arc that follows an ex-cop into the classroom as a teacher in an inner-city middle school.

The show tackles a number of issues that we're wrestling with even here in Guilford County without being preachy or overly moralistic.

This show can be violent at times. The language is graphic. But the lessons are real.

How safe and easy is it to walk, jog or ride a bicycle throughout the Greensboro urban area?

Local planners hope to make it safer and easier. They’ve drafted a Bicycle, Pedestrian and Greenway (BiPed) Master Plan, which would be implemented over a period of 25 years and add hundreds of miles of sidewalks, trails and bike lanes to the city and county landscapes.

You can read the plan here: http://www.greensboro-nc.gov/Departments/GDOT/divisions/planning/bicycle/BiPed.htm
How important is this to you? What suggestions would you make?

We plan to publish an editorial on this topic. As we gather our thoughts, we’d like to hear yours. We might even quote you in our editorial.

Please post your comments here. We’d strongly prefer you use your real name and a valid e-mail address. Thanks.

Guy in a van nearly runs into my car Thursday morning, suddenly drifting into my lane on North Elm Street.

Turns out he was passing a bicyclist, but totally disregarded me in the process.

I blew my horn to catch his attention.

Naturally he got mad at me and yelled someting unintelligible but clearly not friendly.

Even as they add more bike lanes in Greensboro, could more people please learn how to share the road with bikes?

Some of the things on my not-ever-to-do list:

1. Pierce any part of my anatomy.
2. Tattoo any part of my anatomy.
3. But a cell phone.
4. Buy an ear-clip cell phone ("Hailing frequencies open, Captain."
5. Buy a lottery ticket.
6. Watch an entire episode of "American Idol."
7. Bungee jump.
8. Chew tobacco.
9. Smoke a cigarette.
10. Rock climb.
11. Write an anonymous letter to anybody's editor.
12. Wear an earring.
13. Listen to Mike Savage scream to himself on talk radio on a Friday night.
14. Buy a designer dog.
15. Wear sandals.
16. Drive a Hummer.
17 Wear a Speedo.
18. Read the Enquirer.
19. Stereoptype someone because he's a Republican or Democrat.
20. Park in a handicapped spot.
21. Shortchange a church collection plate.
22. Vote any party's straight ticket.
23. Wear dress shoes and black socks with shorts. Never ever. If I live to be 200.

I'm a Carolina alum but I have to admit it: The finish of the N.C. State-Boston College game a few minutes ago was amazing -- and thoroughly entertaining. What a clutch throw and catch.

As for the Tar Heels, I keep reminding myself: Basketball season is just around the corner.

I'll have to respectfully diagree with my colleague, Doug Clark: Yes, the local college students who attempted to enlist as avowed homosexuals obviously did so to make a point.

That point is that the military's "Don't Ask. Don't Tell" policy is intherently unfair and hypocritcal.

The underlying premise: You have to hide your eexual orienation only if you're gay. Further, you still may be discharged from the miiltary for being gay, no matter how exemplary your service record.

That's just plain wrong.

Any American citizen who wants to serve in the military, and who meets the physical and educational requirements, ought to have that opportunity.

The Guilford County school board may very well find a convincing reason to pull law enforcement officers from county middle schools. But don't bet on it.

There are too many solid arguments to keep police on school grounds, and the most important of them has absolutely nothing to do with pepper spray and handcuffs.

Foremost, a consistent presence among sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders gives officers and deputies a chance to know students by being there, day in and day out. They have the chance to build trust and familiarity with students and staff. They get to understand the rhythms and personality of a school and, more importantly, they get to become part of them.

That seems preferable to having police or sheriff's deputies parachute in only when there's a crisis. And it increases the chances of defusing a potentially ugly situation before it becomes a tragedy.

Katie Couric's lead-story interviews with Secetary of State Condoleezza Rice were curiously soft and unelightening on "Sixty Minutes" Sunday night. Not one shred of new information came to light.

The interivew seemed more intended to showcase the new anchor of "The CBS Evening News" than to make any revelations about Rice. What a waste.

The New Orleans Saints are 3-0 in the NFL, having smacked around the favored Falcons Monday night in their long-awaited Superdome return.

That seems only fair, doesn't it?

Next up, the Panthers.

We interviewed District 2 school board candidate Garth Hebert Tuesday.

A long-time, outspoken opponent of the High Point Choice Plan and a fierce critic of the sitting school board and Superintendent Terry Grier, Hebert was more thoughtful and reasonable in person than I expected from some of his blog comments.

He also spoke forcefully for giving the neediest schools more resources, even at the expense of wealthier schools.

Hebert, a CPA by trade, supported Tasers in the schools and tougher discipline.

And he said, if elected, he would not vote to renew Superintendent Terry Grier's contract.

His opponent, Debbie Maines, did not respond to requests to be interviewed.

Meanwhile, Vernon Robinson has confirmed his interview on Monday, Oct. 2.

Up today: Alma Adams and Olga Morgan Wright in state House District 58. More on that spirited session a little later.

The News & Observer reports that Wolfpack fans are urinating and upchucking in the overcrowded student section at home football games because they don’t want to lose their seats by going to the restroom.

Reports the N&O:

"They didn't want to leave the section to go to the bathroom," said student body president Will Quick. Complaints about urinating and vomiting in the stands soon followed.

N.C. State uses an online ticketing system that allows students to print their tickets at home. They enter the stadium by scanning a bar code on the ticket, but enter their assigned seating section by showing the ticket to an usher. Quick said many students make copies of the tickets for the main student section so that they can sit with their friends, who may be assigned to a less favorable section.

State will attempt to fix the problem with a hand-stamping system. I sure hope they succeed.

We would have preferred to interview Vernon Robinson alongside his opponent in the 13th District, Congressman Brad Miller.

But Robinson has been tough to reach for an appointment. So we interviewed Miller -- who originally had consented to a joint session with Robinson -- by himself two weeks ago.

We do have a sit-down with Robinson scheduled for Monday afternoon.

Of course, we'll ask him about his ads, which have stirred all kinds of controversy, as his in-your-face campaigning typically does.

Robinson continues to press on such issues as homosexuality and immigration.

We are in "a cultural war," Robinson told me three years ago. He obviously still believes that.

I have known Robinson for more than 20 years from my time in Winston-Salem and I'm struggling to remember if he has always been so outrageous in his rhetoric and tactics.

The short answer is no. In the old days he had a tendency to drop by the office with with interesting but not always conveniently timed observations on politics and public policy. He could drive you crazy with his persistence and his aversion to short conversations. Today, the views seem more extreme. And the volume and the venom have shifted into overdrive.