The 80th Edition of the Tar Heel Tavern

Welcome to the 80th edition of the Tar Heel Tavern. Most of us were just washed clean by Tropical Storm Ernesto and the chilled air that has come in behind the storm has me, at least, thinking of how autumnal the days feel. Perhaps the dip in temperatures is made more intense by the fallen leaves and pine needles that surround us when we walk outside, creating a deeper sensation of cold.

It is Labor Day weekend and many of us are out of town, enjoying well-deserved vacations. As is typical for me, I forgot that this was a holiday weekend until it arrived and my friends evacuated their homes and apartments for vacation sites or family visits. With that in mind, let us enjoy the down-time by sitting back and reading a selection of the finest writing this week in the Tar Heel blogosphere.

Our first submission came in from Billy The Blogging Poet. He calls us to action to boycott Jet Blue. Apparently, free speech is not a true-blue virtue with this airline, according to two articles about censorship of the clothes one can wear on flights by the carrier. So now, we have lost the right to wear the clothes we want simply because they may be adorned with foreign language script? What if that same t-shirt had been written in Cyrillic script, in Kanji or perhaps in Hebrew? Can you spell “racism”? R-A-C-K-E-T…oh sorry, I got distracted. Thanks for sharing Billy! It is always nice to know how our freedoms are being eroded so that we can be prepared when the ground has totally slipped from under our feet.

Gordon of Scrutiny Hooligans takes our attention to the mountainous west near Asheville where incumbent Republican Congressman Charles Taylor is in a fight with a young, photogenic, and popular “Reagan Democrat” Heath Shuler. It would seem that Taylor has deep pockets. Just how deep his pockets is as much an issue as where their depth originated. Have a read and decide for yourself which candidate you would support. I say turn out all the incumbents!! Except for the good ones, of course…

Thanks to Laura, of Moomin Light for attending the Paperhand Puppet Intervention’s presentation of four different tales and a fire dance at Chapel Hill’s Forest Theatre. The photographs make me wish that I could have attended. I will leave the break-dancing to Laura, though. I hope that Ben-gay and Advil help out!

I had to accuse Ogre of having a "go" at my expense when I opened up the lid to his submission this week. Nothing like a little good, clean toilet-humor to get our juices flowing! It reminded me of a photo I took in Naples, Italy, last summer. On one thing we agree, Ogre and I…Japanese Game Shows would never last in this litigious society we call home. I mean, seriously! Can’t a person have a “moment” in peace?

(Do you suspect, like I do, that something was lost in translation? Now Nutella, on the other hand, is almost good enough to eat out of a toilet! Not...just by the tablespoonful.)











Coturnix of Blog Around the Clock sent in a series of articles. It was my job to select one and to present it to you. I made the decision to go with this article on dolphin intelligence. Within this article, be sure to click the link about how dolphins play. It is fascinating to watch animals play and create their own rules. My schnauzers seem to do this all the time when they are bored, including when they form a chorus of howls in unison. Are they intelligent? Most of the time, they are. If stubbornness could be a sign of intelligence, they might be members of MENSA.

My friend Jude of Iddybud Journal has shared a powerful post about Senator Hillary Clinton of New York and her role in protecting the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS in her state. Ryan White Funding is a complicated issue of sharing monies with all the states for the treatment and care of indigent Americans living with the disease. Controversies about the formula for dividing up that money are at the heart of this discussion. Don’t miss the two videos at the bottom of the article that show everyday people living with HIV/AIDS. It may change your perceptions of who is infected and how we need to help out.

I will leave my submission this week to a brief description of what Ernesto did in Durham, NC. We were all lucky in North Carolina and especially inland where the impact was relatively minor as evidenced by this photo of a wet, leaf and pine-needle strewn deck surface. Let us hope that the tropics are kind to us this year.

Last but absolutely not the least in any way, Erin of Poetic Acceptance shares a poem about a belated balloon release to commemorate her daughter’s short life. Ernesto and the storms that preceded it had impacts I had not imagined. Read Learning by Repetition and try to hold back your own floodwaters. Bless you, Erin!

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Tar Heel Tavern. Next week, please send your submissions to Billy The Blogging Poet.

Categories: blog carnival blog+carnival Tar+Heel+Tavern North+Carolina 80th+edition