Jul 302009
For anyone keeping score, Keith Brown, ably aided by Dr. David Wharton, has handed the TREBIC members their hats at Triad Watch. The pro-development bloggers made some rookie mistakes and came out with the puffed-up rhetoric of the truly afraid, but generally acquitted themselves well. Thus fortified, they have now made an appearance at Ed Cone’s blog.
The back story on this fight is KB has battled TREBIC in HP and won. They are right to fear him.
i like where some dumb ass thought it was me who posted on david wharton and wanted all legal remedies. Nice one.
Classic.
http://fecundstench.com/WordPress/?p=1427
here is a oldie but goodie
totally off topic, here’s an interesting state level political incident of dubious character: http://www.wwaytv3.com/node/17389
Keith, those were good times. I had previously teed off on Ed Cone, so he wasn’t around to keep me out of trouble. I’m having no such luck this year.
Keith, it’s very good work you are doing.
Given my experience in the GSO blogosphere (particularly how it relates to Cone’s association with the N&R – and how/why I wound up here), I gotta say, the thread at Word Up is fascinating because it is hitting all of the intricate dance moves of Cone.
It’s damned amazing. I can almost appreciate your admiration, Fec.
For instance, he wrote about it a year ago. It’s not about good vs. evil (even when it is). The power of the (wrong) people has increased. He (graciously) linked to your blog and Keith’s (insert: pulling you two out of relative obscurity). He has limitations as a communicator. This issue hits a lot of people close to home, but let’s not demonize the developers (that fence rail must chafe). Folks aren’t alone (unless they are delinked, banned and otherwise marginalized).
This quote is priceless: “. . . two different bloggers have come to something close to the same conclusion, with others, including me, agreeing with at least some of your agendae.
The “including me” was telling and priceless (and they say it’s all about me).
“I want to help take this issue mainstream, and get people talking about it.” So Cone can do more than wish people well when he wants to.
And this one: “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.” Still working on it.
And this one: “We could all use thicker skins and softer voices.” Indeed.
It is a beautiful dance. If Michael Jackson were not dead, he’d have something to learn.
Have a nice weekend, guys. I’m going to a Watermelon Festival.
Dr. J., let me clear up a few fallacies. Ed doesn’t get a bunch of traffic because he concentrates on local issues. As a journalist blogging since 2002, he’s the go-to guy locally and nationally on GSO bloggers. Taking the issue mainstream really means writing in his N&R column and putting it about among the many important local people he knows.
He knows these people because he’s made it his business. He is a creature of GSO. He takes the long view on everything. I’m glad he’s getting behind KB, but I splashed pretty fucking hard on this issue last summer without a peep out of him.
Cone is like me, a pragmatist. This train is pulling out of the station and he wants to be on it, if as nothing more than an observer.
Ed Cone does not want to be a leader. He’s a journalist. We make him into things like Christ, which he never intended to be.
Fec, the weather is very bad here, the lights just flickered out, and I lost a carefully-crafted comment that I simply do not have the energy to completley reconstruct tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Probably not.
As you well know, we disagree on the true meaning and intentions of Ed Cone of the Cones.
There are world of people in the GSO ether that Mr. Cone does not speak for – or speak UP for. We are a world away from 2002, and I’m not really understanding how Ed can still be considered the “go to” guy for the GSO blogosphere (as I said, my orginal retort was more pointed and well- reasoned . . . alas, it’s not in me to do again . . . I apologize).
As for our local mainstream media, the N&R’s citizen journalism train derailed a long time ago (about the time Ed, JR & company started de-linking and banning some of the more colorful characters populating this particular spec of ether . . . most of whom were ignored and a just a few barely mentioned in Mr. Cone’s banal & flat “blogger’s lament” last Sunday).
You’re right, of course. Mr. Cone stays in the rear/glass air-conditioned, well-accomodated, squeaky-clean observation car. Meanwhile, we engineers & coal-shovellers (I’m sure there’s a formal name for it), with our necks stuck WAY out the front window, are the ones with soot & bug guts on our faces.
There’s a reason newspapers are tanking everywhere.
And I’m sorry, in my book, journalists don’t get a free pass for their abject failures any more than doctors do. Our Edward is for-damned sure not “Christ” – for all that he’s wallowed in the misconception.
It might amuse you that one of my readers (also most disgusted with Cone) called me tonight to suggest that GSO be re-named “Conesboro”.
He was joking, of course. Just wanted to get my groat.
Get it? Groat. I’m so tired, I’m giddy.
Get some rest.
I have told Ed this and I believe it to be true of him: No one I have ever met has been more Christlike. Does he believe himself to be Christlike? He denies it.
I have defamed him repeatedly over the years and all I have gotten in return was his other cheek. Attack Ed Cone as you will. Invariably, you will be forgiven.
I am honored to call him my friend and I don’t say that very often. I also count you among that small circle. However, in the end I understand you no more than I fathom him. Highly complex people are not easily read. I flatter myself that I also remain an enigma, perhaps even to myself.
I do try to take a leadership role, or at least help rally the troops, on some issues, including FedEx and Protest Petitions. I think a public discussion of developers in politics and real estate in the public sphere is a healthy thing.
My relationship with the N&R: They pay me a pittance to contribute a opinion column, and give me virtually complete freedom to write what I wish. I also write what I wish about the paper at my own website. I am grateful to the succession of opinion editors who have kept me on over the past 13 years, but I have rarely seen and only occasionally spoken to any of them, and I can count the number of times I’ve been in that building. We have been on the opposite side of some issues and on the same page on others. I was pleased that they jumped into blogging after attending the conference Hoggard and I put on in 2004, but that’s pretty much the extent of my involvement on that front.
I believe we should all strive to emulate Christ, but I think my journalistic career is probably the root of the traits Fec describes so over-generously. The mill-town Machiavelli described by Mary is an entertaining creation, but he ain’t me.
Ed, there are a lot of people around here with Cone Derangement Syndrome. I suffer from it myself occasionally. This is how I have found peace.
You boys need to get a room.
Seriously (respectfully, and on bended knee) my liege, in terms of what you like to call “Cone Derangement Syndrome”, there is a major difference between you and me. Allow me some space to put this on the couch.
You are not in this blogosphere because your ultimate personal and professional happiness depend on a resolution that has been denied you by top-to-bottom civic corruption . . . the very same kind of corruption that the poor people in these more-or-less-soon-to-be-eaten-by-imminent-domain-houses face with these EVIL developers (the developers that Ed says are not so evil). The professional life I’m leading now is a shadow of what it could have been – because of what was done to me in Asheboro. Moving on along (ala Mama Sue) is much easier said than done.
You are not in this ether because of an invitation on the part of a local newspaper editor who joined forces with a few “most-favored” Greensboro bloggers (it’s a situation where our Ed most certainly took a leadership role), and promised that “citizen journalism” would be the best thing for stories-that-had-not-gotten-their-due/on-the-edge-of-the-mainstream since . . . well . . . Christ.
It was a lie. A damned lie. My problem now is I took these people at their word – just like I took the hospital excutives in Asheboro at their word, and the government at theirs.
As you well know, I’ve been delinked and banned and generally treated like pond scum by a good many of these enlightend people – mostly because I don’t drink the progressive blue Kool-Aid. My problems started during the Clinton administration. The Dems in Raleigh (Hunt/Sleazely/Cooper) couldn’t have cared less. I didn’t worship at the feet of the ultimate hypocrites, John & Elizabeth Edwards. And I think it’s very possible that Obama could be the USA’s financial and social Antichrist.
I’ve heard all of Ed’s excuses before, and they just fall flat in the case of Mary Johnson taking on the big dawgs in Asheboro. I’m not here to entertain anybody. My story could not be more “relevant” to all of the reasons why healthcare needs reform . . . it’s an in-your-face failure of oversight at EVERY level. And if our Edward really did “wish me well”, and was what he say he is, it would go something like this: Local journalistic scion of all things Cone prods N&R to take very seriously the story of a local Pediatrician in public service to the underserved, who (relying on the government for protection) got professionally robbed, raped and left for dead because one-night-in-the-middle-of-the-night-eleven-years-ago she made a spilt-second decision that put the sacred “cooperative relationship” between her hometown hospital and the hospital-that-bears-the-journalist/scion’s-family-name in a drawyer, put a dying newborn first, and saved a local nimnul FP employed-by-a-practice-owned-by-the-hospital-that-bears-said-journalist’s-family-name from his own ignorance and arrogance.
Hell, that last sentence is even shaped like a “hook”!”
If I am “deranged” about Ed Cone’s meaning, intentions and purpose in the GSO blogosphere, well again, Ed need look no further that the reflection in his computer screen. I don’t need or want his “forgiveness” (I make no apologies for calling them as I see them). I’ve needed his help. For over four years (dealing from a position of power) Ed Cone has consistantly denied that help – and now refuses to recognize all of the very good reasons why I might not take him at his word.
He appears to get a sick charge out of it.
“Friends” don’t do that.
I know Ed’s watching my blog/case now a little more closely now, because it looks like the tide is turning (since the Medical Board apparently has realized their President recently gifted me a lawsuit against the state on a silver platter). At some point, like a hobo looking for his next bed, he’ll hop the train and say he was on my side all along.
I’ve got to go get dressed, round on my babies, and trot over to a Watermelon festival a couple of towns over . . .
. . . as I keep rolling with the life I keep pretending to have in the wake of the ultimate Cone (they’re everywhere: http://drjshousecalls.blogspot.com/2009/04/welcome-new-readers-especially-oh-so.html).
I don’t have peace. And that, dear Fec, leaves you and I on different plains in this ether – and with very different perspectives on Mr. Cone.
Thank you for the space, time and opportunity to vent. I will do what little I can to forward your/Keith’s cause against these scumbag developers.
It’s the same old same old.
As I told someone recently:
Loving Ed Cone is the most humane thing you can do for yourself.
Mary,
You started a blog, and you chose the path you took with it, and you blame the people who introduced you for blogging for the fact it has not attained the ends you hoped for it. I think that’s pretty well understood by now.
Earlier this summer, I asked you if you wanted to be interviewed for my newspaper column. I made the offer in a public forum, told you when my deadline was, and offered to provide you with transcripts or tapes of the entire interview. You chose not to participate.
You can blame me for your troubles all you wish, and you can believe whatever bad things about me you choose to believe. Our feud has always been one-sided, and it remains so.
WOW!!!
As glen beck would say, “sounds like someone has a chip on their shoulder,” and I ain’t talking about Ed Cone..
Fec, this is a prime example why you are my favorite republican in GSO.
I am honored.
Fec, I finally garnered the courage to come back after telling you and Ed to get a room. Thank you for the reassurance you offered on my blog.
ngee, you’re way late to this party. Talk to me about a chip on the shoulder when you’ve been in this blogosphere for YEARS being treated like crap by its journalistic blooger kings (who love to pontificate on how open-minded and progressive they are).
We could have beers and talk for hours about some of the very ugly reasons why I don’t qualify for “victimhood” with this crowd, but I sense the effort on my part would be wasted on you – as it has been with Mr. Cone.
And, for the umpteenth time, while I descend from Republicans, and once was one, I left the party. Although I’m mighty fond of it and it still has its moments, it doesn’t represent me these days any more than the Dems do.
I’m not the cookie-cutter being you want to bake in your oven.
As for Ed, let’s get the facts straight (so “everybody” really does understand). In early 2005, I (very naively) answered JR’s call, and came to your class, and started a blog. Not feeling sure about my footing there, I let the blog lanquish for almost a year, and started out with commentary on various local blogs (again, under my own name because that’s the ONLY way you’re gonna change the world) – including yours – getting frequently “coned” for my trouble – by people who thought it should be very easy for me to lick my wounds and “move on”.
In their ignorance of how things in medicine really work, they could not be more wrong.
That made me a “troll”. So I returned to Housecalls and jumped through all your blogfatherly hoops and told my story in a half-dozen ways . . . short versions & long versions . . . going so far as to do series on Housecalls citing the actual evidence in hand (which NONE of our local journalists – including you – seem interested in). Nothing has registered with you-all. Despite the fact that what happened to me in my own hometown could not be MORE RELEVANT to what EVERYONE might shortly be dealing with in government-controlled healthcare, the mighty journalists made their decision years ago and, by damn, they’re going to stick to it. They’ve de-linked and they’ve banned and they’ve told me it’s my fault.
(Watching my language) cacca-de-torro!
During this several year process, I absorbed tongue-lashings and insults and VICIOUS character assasinations that would have driven a lesser being off a cliff. This ABJECT CRUELTY on the part of people billing themselves as progressive and enlightened was (of course) hurled for sport . . . and mostly partisian reasons (again, I don’t drink the blue Koolaid or worship at certain altars).
It was certainly not “Christ-like”.
I finally decided to concentrate on my blog and that’s where I’ve slowly gained the momentum that has you issuing pseudo-invitations for interviews on your blog . . . invitations where I, the “source”, have to chase the well-named journalist down and grovel for the crumbs he might throw.
Again, I cite the column you ulitmately wrote as proof talking to you would have been a waste of the small amount of time I do have at home.
But before deciding not to bite, I did turn to others for advice.
And do you wanna know what all of those people (save one) told me about talking to Edward Cone? “DON’T DO IT. HE HATES YOU because you’ve defiled his family name (with the TRUTH no less), and he has got to have some kind of ulterior motive”.
The one person who told me to take the bait (very poetically) told me that if I took it, I would probably get burned, but at least it might get me in the N&R – then I could answer on my blog.
That is apparently Fec’s opinion as well, although I dare speak for him here – especially after telling you two to get a room (please don’t kill me, Fec;).
Well, Bub, I’ve PAID ALL MY DUES in this medium and I’ve been burned enough. If you want to interview me, you are going to have to punch out an e-mail or pick up the phone and make an appointment for a face-to-face. The old-fashioned way. And OBTW, you might want to do that soon if you want to be on this train (and be not a laughing stock after it leaves the station).
Cause I’ll be cranking up steam very shortly.
To sum up, in Christ-like, biblical terms, you’re reaping what you’ve sown. This is YOUR medium. As Fec pointed out earlier, while I’m a lowly doctor, you’re the web expert. Our feud is “one-sided” because you’ve had all the power all along.
And/so you’re going to have to stop blaming me for your failures as a journalist (I suspect at least one of you ulterior motives all along) . . . and a blogger . . . and ANY kind of “friend”.
Once again, I apologize for taking up so much space on your blog, Fec. Thank you for the opportunity to vent.
You’re welcome. I dish it out more than anybody and have no problem taking it.
Mary,
You blame me for the behavior of others, including yourself.
I don’t hate you. And as I’ve written before, I hope the truth of your situation comes out, whatever it may be.
You have not defiled my family name. You’ve invented a character based on me, who is part of a family that resembles my own in limited ways, and ascribed motives to this character that do not apply to me.
You asked for my attention as a journalist. When I offered it, you declined. I regret that you chose not to accept my interview request, even after I offered to make the full transcripts available to you.
I understand that nothing I say will change your view of the situation. I regret that, too.
Mary,
You blame me for the behavior of others, including yourself.
I don’t hate you. And as I’ve written before, I hope the truth of your situation comes out, whatever it may be.* Ed
When Ed says he does not hate you! That really means he would cut your nuts and tits off given the first chance his keyboard had the courage to print it……..
Thanks, Connie, for your helpful comments. Images of grotesque physical violence elevate the conversation greatly.
Thanks, Connie, for your helpful comments. Images of grotesque physical violence elevate the conversation greatly.* Ed
Thanks Edward! So you think the term ” Batshit Crazy” won’t start a fight in a Redneck Blogging Saloon?
Two points: 1)somebody needs to apologize for conjuring up the State Agric Fair exhibit imagery of the good doctor.
2) When y’all decide whether he’s Christ or just a darn good likeness will somebody let me know? I need to know whether or not I’ve got some serious repenting to do!
When y’all decide whether he’s Christ or just a darn good likeness will somebody let me know? I need to know whether or not I’ve got some serious repenting to do!*cheripickr
According to the scriptures [depending on the many Bibles by many religious faiths and Orders, all claiming to have the truth or a corner on the Jesus healing Market]. Jesus never attended a medical school, or had a medical practice licence by the Roman Imperial Medical Board. However! It is claim that he heal thousands by the laying of hands on the sick and even replace the Ear of a Jewish Policeman that Peter hack off due to a vast misunderstanding with a Jewish SWAT team with a outstanding warrent on Jesus. Frankly, you would better off wasting your time by seeking the real Birthplace of President Obama and the present location of the Republican Party leadership and whether Ed Cone is really working for the Communist Party! Good luck and remember the next time you look into your bowl of Cheerios and see Jesus in the nude. Than join a another religious faith that has Jesus in a bowl of Wheaties, ” The Breakfest of Champions”
Fec, at the risk of being sappy (something I think you would not respect), while we originally got off to a very rough start, I am also honored to consider you a “friend” in this ether. I’m also am flattered that you (of all people) consider me “highly complex” . . . since I think I’m in-your-face simple. You’ve taught me, you’ve challenged me, you’ve made me think and you make me laugh all the fricking time. I’m going to have more scars from all the Dr. Pepper & Mtn. Dew sinus washes.
And no folks, we don’t need a room.
Cheripicker, I most certainly don’t require an apology from Connie. Behind the scenes and on the blogs, both he and Rachel have been very supportive and encouraging . . . much more so than our Edward Cone. If these two are “batshit crazy”, they’re crazy like foxes.
I also think “The Great Con’s” assessment and imagery is actually rhetorically spot-on . . . for ripped to bloody pieces is EXACTLY how I felt after some of the more “Christ-like” blogger-love Ed and some of what our Bubba calls “the usual suspects” dished out. And I’m sorry. When you verbally filet someone’s heart and soul like that, you KNOW exactly what you are doing. Moreover, your intentions are not good.
Therefore, I can see no reason for you to repent. For my own part, if I turn my cheek any further, my neck will snap. No more.
As for the truth “whatever it may be”, Ed, anytime you think you can handle it, you might try dropping me an e-mail or inviting me to lunch for a look-see at the sworn documents. I think we’ve more than covered why your only-very-recently-made “offer” was inadequate, and not trusted or taken at face value.
Perhaps this weekend – today in particular – was not the time for me to engage on this topic: http://drjshousecalls.blogspot.com/2009/08/why-this-doctor-really-dislikes-im.html
I apologize sincerely, Fec. The topic, as I recall, was evil GSO developers . . .
No problem.
Perhaps you didn’t read Keith’s blog, but Wharton is in favor of the draft LDO in its current state.