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'Change’ wins, but not Edwards

Presidential candidate John Edwards proclaimed "change won" in the Iowa Democratic caucuses. Unfortunately for the former North Carolina senator, he didn’t. Edwards finished second to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

Edwards’ second presidential run now depends on better showings in the next few contests, especially South Carolina’s primary Jan. 26. Otherwise, his bid to step up as the party’s alternative to Hillary Clinton will fail. If Democrats elsewhere, like those in Iowa, prefer the change Obama offers, then Edwards soon will have nowhere to go but home.

Carolina feels Kenya’s pain

Carolina for Kibera is a remarkable humanitarian organization established in 2001 and based at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Center for Global Initiatives. Its professional staff and student volunteers provide food, health, education, recreation and other services to people in the spKibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya.

Tragically, that mission has been under assault because of the post-election violence in much of Kenya, which has been intense in Kibera.

"Large swaths of Kibera are burned to the ground," CFK President Rye Barcott wrote in an e-mail to supporters Friday. "Yesterday we received reports that a group of community members repelled a gang of thugs from looting and burning our youth center."

Barcott said CFK has no Americans in Kenya at present, relying on local staff members, but stressed that the organization is still committed to providing "the forces and voices of positive change" in Kibera.

This strong link to Kibera makes the terrible events in Kenya more real for many North Carolinians.

Preparing for the worst

Gunfire breaks out on the UNCG campus, killing and wounding dozens and creating a massive panic. A fast and effective police response is needed.

Thank goodness it’s only today’s long-planned simulation, an exercise in preparing for the unthinkable.

Because of last April’s mass murders at Virginia Tech, nothing is really unthinkable anymore, and lack of preparation can have deadly consequences. UNCG and Greensboro police are wise to make plans that everyone hopes will never have to be carried out for real.

'The Bottom Billion’

Those who like to think about big-picture stuff might want to travel over to UNC-Chapel Hill Thursday. There, Paul Collier, former World Bank research director, will speak about his book, "The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It." The New York Times picked Collier’s book as one of the best economics books of 2007.

In it, Collier argues that the majority of the world’s population lives in countries where poverty has declined, so the best strategy for ending poverty is to aim at the 48 nations, mainly in Africa, where things haven’t gotten better. However, says Collier, neither globalization nor giving aid to these countries will help. What is needed is global action, including military intervention in some cases, against corrupt leaders. Hear him at 7 p.m. in the campus’ FedEx Global Education Center.

High Point offers schools a deal

The High Point City Council is making another offer to Guilford County Schools for Simeon Stadium. It amounts to a win-win proposition.

The city proposes to exchange an undeveloped 10-acre property for the athletic facility, which it wants to renovate and make available for community events. It would continue to serve as the football home for Andrews and High Point Central high schools.

The swap would relieve the school system of maintenance responsibilities and take the stadium off the anticipated bond referendum package. The schools propose borrowing more than $2 million to pay for upgrades at the facility.

The stadium can fit about 10,000 spectators and probably exceeds the 10 acres of land in book value. But the best value to taxpayers will be realized when it gets needed repairs and serves more public purposes. If that costs the school system nothing, there’s nothing to lose.