Fecund Stench's blog

Hat tip to Simon Johnson at The Baseline Scenario.

He hasn't been gone a day and already, I miss Mitch Johnson. Somehow, things don't seem as safe and secure knowing he's not there at the helm of Greensboro.

The torch and pitchfork club are well drunk by now, having made it a holiday.

From Amanda Lehmert at the N&R:

GREENSBORO - Depending on who you ask, it's either an unnecessary impediment to development or a citizen's right to influence the political process. Council members will decide Wednesday which side of the debate they are on. The council will consider asking the legislature to restore the protest petition - a tool that requires a super majority of the City Council, meaning seven of nine votes, to approve a zoning amendment if it is opposed by 5 percent of adjoining property owners. Greensboro is the only city is the state exempted from the zoning requirement.

I've been listening to Iron & Wine a lot, lately. Here's my new favorite song.

Thanks to Molly McGinn and monkeywhale.com, I finally have the Christmas Spirit.

I'm safely returned from a whirlwind trip to Asheboro and Stenchville. In the former I learned that the Goodyear plant bid their employees adieu until next year. In the latter I spoke with a father of two little ones who has been on half-time since June and was laid off today until the new year. He's getting by cleaning cars and doing odd jobs.

Being on the clock with no children to feed, I had no complaint.

God does not dwell in my heart, gristled as it is with hate and disappointment. No, our Saviour, being neither an idiot nor a fool, dwells instead in the hearts of the kind and the beautiful, who often happen to be, as a consequence, wealthy.

Such are the hearts of Greensboro City Councilman and soon to be Mayor, Robbie "Pave It" Perkins, and his family. I have yet to receive an invitation to one of their many planned gatherings, but my sources indicate their million dollar home has been trimmed lovingly. Should the editors of Town and Country ever deign to visit our quaint boro, the Perkins home would not disappoint.

I'm encouraged that BusinessWeek concurs with my opinion regarding our economy:

The great job bust of 2008 is being felt keenly in communities across the U.S. Few may be suffering more than Greensboro, N.C., one of the South's most scenic and livable cities and no stranger to disruptive economic change. Greensboro's local economy has been stress-tested by global outsourcing since the early 1990s, when jobs tethered to its two once-dominant industries, textiles and furniture, began to move to Asia.

Of course, anyone who's been paying even the slightest attention around here knows this quite well. Do not miss the comments. Hat tip to Ed Cone.

I'd like to extend a warm greeting to folks coming to Greensboro for the Wyndham Championship at beautiful Sedgefield Country Club. I hope you enjoy your stay and come again soon. While you're here, I'd like to give you some advice to make your visit more pleasurable, if less, shall we say, enlightening:

There are currently fifteen of us. One I know. We had a few beers at Natty's after last October's ConvergeSouth. He's a first rate thinker and journalist, so I'm encouraged.

Today's N&R reports that NC revenues are off $71 million for the ending fiscal year.

Another story relates how due to high gas prices and credit card fees, a Roseboro store will stop pumping gas. I heard on the radio that vendors are demanding cash for the same reason.

It is only a matter of time before we begin to see stories about outlying areas losing distribution of beer and cigarettes. God forbid they should stop delivering groceries.