Clouds And Clods In Perry

Dark skies roiled around the Georgia National Fairgrounds as the candidates for U.S. Senate and the 8th Congressional district gathered at the stage of the Reaves Arena in Perry, Ga. Perhaps, Mr. Henry asked a favor of his new landlord, for the heavens indeed opened, threatening to drown out the lows of the manure slingers who temporarily infested the hallowed home the legendary cattleman built for his beloved livestock.

Despite the exhortations of the spare but raucous audience, the blather on the stage never matched the fury of the rain lashing the roof. It seemed every time a politician opened his mouth the whipping of water on the ceiling crescendoed, causing the occasional nervous eye to stare heavenward - possibly wondering where all would run if the thing peeled off like a potato skin.

As with most debates, there were no game changers. No particularly harsh gaffes. No soul stirring moments of inspiration. No pol succumbing to the pressure, stripping off every stitch of clothing and prancing around like a chicken. Not much fun at all.

Instead, with a weird format which limited answers to a couple of minutes and 30 second rebuttals at the discretion of the moderator, the entire affair was mostly limited to sound bite pablum found in commericials.

In the big daddy event of the Senate race, Democrat Jim Martin was more confident and forceful than expected - except when he lapsed into wonkish professor mode, droning on about billions and trillions.

Incumbent Senator Saxby Chambliss talked about winning wars, cutting taxes and saving us all from the liberal menace - except when he stumbled around on the immigration question and was met with an uncomfortable silence from his previously rabid supporters.

Libertarian Allen Buckley referred to his website about 243 times and appeared genuinely rattled any time the restless audience began burbling with either approval or disapproval. At certain points, if someone had whispered "boo", he might have just darted for the wings.

The congressional candidates were mercifully spared a full hour of the nonsense and spent a mere 30 minutes warbling mostly about "the vote".

Incumbent Democrat Jim Marshall mentioned a letter he received from the AARP, one of the debate sponsors, about half a dozen times in the hope that the powerful blue hair lobby would provide the karmic bailout bandaid he so desperately needed.

Republican challenger Rick Goddard spewed about better handling of the taxpayers money and his knowledge that 90% of Georgia opposed the bailout. Of course he had this handy fact because before making a public statement on the hot potato of the day, he had polled extensively - including inadvertently quizzing Jim Marshall's campaign office.

Somewhere in the middle, Goddard said "this is a strong market" and Marshall said he "hadn't paid much attention to either (Presidential) candidate's plans for Iraq". Despite the strength of these two gaffes, no blood ran because after 90 minutes of beating rain and bleating politicians, few still cared.

Afterward, when the hands were shook and signs were stowed, all waited in the lobby for the rain to cease lashing the fairground. There would be no quick aboslution for these political desperadoes who had invaded this innocent land of funnel cakes and candy apples.

Eventually the storm waned and a bright moon emerged from the clouds. Mr. Henry must have decided to once again rest easy - for tomorrow, the cleaner parade of cows and pigs would return to his arena.

My Morning Wooten

I try not to blog when I'm drunk.

So our homework assignment for the next class is to find the missing blogname on Thinking Right. Could it be that one of our liberal contributors was so frustrated by the strengths of arguments offered by intelligent and well-prepared conservatives here that he was driven to dirty tricks directed against our beloved Sarah? Who’s not here today and possibly dressed in orange and banned from participating, not by the genial host, but by order of the
court?

I'm not implying Jim was in some altered state when he wrote his most recent entry.

But...

He did say his blog is "often attacked by liberal hackers polishing their hurtful invective on the well-informed, kind and intelligent conservatives". So either he is confused about the difference between hackers and commenters or the AJC cyberdefense squad is the busiest in the metro area.

He then expresses his suspicions that recently indicted David Kernell, arrested for hacking Sarah Palin's yahoo email account, is a regular contributor to Thinking Right. So, either Kernell is the most bored or most well read freshman in University of Tennessee history. These would be the only reasonable explanations for a college student to obsess over a conservative blog published by a local paper in an entirely different state.

Then, just to top the crazy sundae with the looney cherry, Jim cheerfully sets his army of right wingers, the same ones he once gleefully proclaimed would banish fat women, on a witch hunt against all who have the temerity to express a differing opinion in the hallowed halls of Thinking Right. They might be hackers! Burn them!

When you have several hundred lunatics eagerly waiting each day for your written word, it is easy to become addicted to hubris. I do not imply Jim was drunk when he wrote today's babble - at least not on physical spirits.

An Idea

Let me tell you about my friend Tessa.

We met in a very modern way. Either she linked to me or I linked to her. It was so long ago in internet terms, I do not remember.

But soon we were commenting on blogs of common interest, meeting each other at geeky social networking happy hours and following each other on twitter.

I resisted twitter at first. Being a very private person, the idea of people following my every move seemed repulisive. Hell, half the time I don't tell my family where I am.

But I did eventually sign up and reluctantly began giving vague updates on my whereabouts. The moment of enlightenment came on the day I saw several friends say "hey we're all meeting at such and such for a beer". Sold!

But back to Tessa. As I was discovering the possibilities of impromptu drinking binges, Tessa was expandng her network of followers at a frightening speed. Like someone creating a patchwork quilt of people, she collected up aging hipsters, indie music slingers, nerds, engineers, entrepeneuers and even a degenerate writer or two.

As can happen with the growing fog of age, I didn't see the potential of the technology. It certainly was cool for meeting new people but that was about it, right? (Sidenote: I also said the same thing about text messaging when I was actually in the text messaging industry. I know.)

Perhaps it was because she is younger or because of her skills as a High Priestess of SEO, but Tessa saw much more. What she needed was a moment and then along came the great gas crisis of 2008.

Ironically, Tessa doesn't own a car. A favor to get gas for her mother's car carried her to the Lindbergh Quik Trip in the middle of the panic. Habit led her to report the craziness on twitter and then instinct led her to do just a bit more.

She created a hashtag. By simply adding the tag #atlgas to all of her updates, she was able to create a quickly searchable database of gas station updates. Then she lit up her network. She implored people to add the tag to their updates. When people forgot, she gently chided them.

Then something wonderful happened. Her network lit up their networks. Then those networks lit up their networks. Within days, thousands of Atlantans were reporting the status of dozens of gas stations. The reporting was so speedy and effecient, it was linked to by the Atlanta Journal Constitution and then WSB. Tessa's network now reached the entire metro area.

Her accomplishment was a startling display of the power of social networks and the idea of the individual who recognizes that power. The feat did not go unnoticed and she is featured in this week's Creative Loafing.

In the brief piece, she said she was "disappointed that neither city nor state officials have harnessed Twitter to either gather or spread information about gas availability to the community" and that intrigued me.

Today, I had my moment and finally realized the potential Tessa sees clearly.

As I sat watching some horrible movie on television, the screen suddenly went dark and that horrible familiar buzzing filled the room. Some poor child in Burke County had been kidnapped and the powers that be fired off an Amber alert triggering the Emergency Response System to interrupt every television channel with details of the snatch.

Think about it for a second. How many people are like me, sitting at home in the middle of the day and how many people are chained to a cubicle in some corporate drone farm surreptitiously refreshing twitter every couple of minutes?

Why aren't Amber alerts on twitter? Why aren't water contamination warnings on twitter? Why isn't every emergency alert conceivable on twitter?

It's as simple as creating an account and giving some intern the task of updating the stream any time something comes across the desk. Cost? Practically nil. Benefit? Well, Tessa's experiment showed the potential for the system to inform the public in a rapid and effective manner - possibly faster than traditional means.

And she's even said she'd provide tutorials for those interested.

So. Anyone interested in a practically cost free system to keep the public informed of emergencies?

Where I Be

Down in the sewers.

My Morning Wooten

Have you heard the news? Everybody's out to get poor Sarah Palin.

While the Left is watching Sarah waiting for something they can put on YouTube, the Right will be watching Gwen Ifill, the moderator. She’s writing a book, “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama” scheduled for publication on the day he is inaugurated as President of the United States. When chosen to moderate tonight’s panel, she neglected to mention her certainty that this is the “Age of Obama” and that her publisher’s preparing to release it on Jan. 20, 2009.

BUZZZZZZZZZ. Wrong again, Jim. Would you like to go for double jeopardy where the scores can really change?

FACT: The debate commission knew about Ifill's book when they asked her to moderate the Vice Presidential debates. Does this mean they are also part of the lefty hit squad?

FACT: Although it's unclear if the McCain camp knew about the book, they have since stated it's "no big deal".

FACT: The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz wrote about Ifill's book a month ago.

Time to play the Occam's Razor game, gentle readers. Which explanation makes sense - all these conservative political experts just discovered Ifill's book or they've known about it all along and only ginned up a story the day before the debate because it puts the debate commission in a no win situation (They can't replace Ifill and any question perceived as hard can be spun as biased).

Of course, you can hear the righteous indignation of the shocked, I say shocked, experts in such high places as the Sean Hannity Show and the Hugh Hewitt Show. I suppose you can also satisfy for your craving for fairy tales on the pages of the AJC.

Love Shack Closes

The site of my first venture into "real reporting" closes.

I'm oddly sad.

Cynthia's Back!

Cynthia McKinney (G nee D - Territory of Wacko) on the alledged coverup of 5000 government sanctioned murders in the wake of Katrina.

Tourney Time!

Who do you have in the final four?

Click to enlarge.

My Morning Wooten

Bloody Jim is back.

I can't. I just can't today. I was tempted to repeat the list of those who were on death row but were exonerated and point out Bloody Jim would probably have tried to rush them off to the needle too.

But I can't.

Partly because talking about the death penalty to a zealot wears my soul. But mostly because I understand the difference between innocence and the legal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt and how the recantations fit into the equation. But just like Jim, I am not an expert on these things.

So instead of the polemicists today, you should go listen to the lawyer.

Craptacular

If you've been here long enough, you've heard of my asshole rule.

I don't pay too much attention to BlogNetNews Georgia. I'm no tear down the walls zealot as are some of my friends, but I do find some of their methods distasteful so generally I ignore them all together.

But occasionally I do glance at their "Highest Rated" rating. Maybe out of hubris, maybe because my curiousity into how things work cause me to attempt to figure out their heuristics.

At the top is a blog I have previously never seen and it is rated as a perfect 10.00 by users. Not that surprising considering I doubt many people bother with the rating system and it would be perfectly reasonable for a new voice to use this innocuous platitude metric to garner a little notice.

But imagine my surprise when I saw every other Georgia blog rated as a 1.00. Every single one except this new blog.

It really means nothing in the greater context. The silly indexes of a would be credibility peddler mean little. For we are a community - a community where those of absolute opposites cohabitat (although at times uneasily) because even when we differ we always respect.

Any community ultimately stands on respect.

And we always remember how someone introduces themselves to our community.

Oh My God

A rare moment of absolute honesty from a politician.

"Oh my God", Jim Marshall (D-Down My Way), when told by NPR the bailout bill had failed.

As reported by the Political Insider.

Beano

Two words for everyone.

STOP IT!

Stop the madness. Stop the panic. I've seen a herd of cows in a frothing mess. Not a pretty sight.

If you've filled up, do not go back to the gas station for one week. If you approach empty before that time, you either are driving an M-1 Abrams or are running too many freaking errands.

Shortly, I will take my quarter tank of gas and go out into the swirl of chaos in search of go-juice and the essence of the human soul.

In the meantime, feel free to feel the panic by checking #atlgas on twitter. It's shooting up the chart with a bullet.

UPDATE: I've stared the beast in the eye.

I cruised up and down around the spaghetti junction area to all my familiar stations - No gas. I then began to roam towards Tucker. The QT at Chamblee-Tucker/Pleasantdale - No gas. One lonely little four pumper Marathon at the intersection had gas but I chose to forego the already formed line stretching onto the four lane. It seemed an accident waiting to happen.

I held little hope the Shell at the corner of Lawrenceville Hwy and Main St. in Tucker would contain fuel and shortly my doubts were confirmed. As I turned onto Lawrenceville Hwy towards Decatur, I made a crucial decision. Estimating I had about 50 miles of gas left in the tank, if I did not discover fuel by I-285, I would head south towards Forsyth until an oasis could be found.

Then, in the shimmering haze of the mid-afternoon heat, it appeared - the Citgo on Lawrenceville Hwy near Brockett Rd not only had gas but empty pumps. It was like spotting a Triceratops strutting down Peachtree.

It happened as soon as I pulled up to an empty pump. Like sharks whiffing blood from an ocean away, every car who saw my turn signal began darting into the station hoping to claim any morsel available. By the time I finished pumping, every pump had cars lined up and the queue stretched out onto the highway.

It was a feeding frenzy. It was madness.

I left with a full tank and the knowledge that my machine, unlike many of the more feral autos, could survive for days without additional sustenance.

My Morning Wooten

Meh

Bill Clinton demonstrates why he succeeded in politics. He understands voters. His explanation of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s popularity — her family, including the children, a husband who stayed in the 2,000-mile Iron Dog snowmobile race, going 500 miles with a broken arm. “Why say, ever, anything bad about a person? Why don’t we … just say that she was a good choice for him and we disagree with them?”

Even people who like Bill Clinton are getting tired of Bill Clinton. But isn't it funny how the people who blame every problem of the last 8 years on the big dog (could've caught Bin Laden, caused the recession, now caused the mortgage crisis, etc.) suddenly embrace his candor and honesty?

Meanwhile, after the trainwreck Katie Couric interview, another conservative wonders what the hell McCain was thinking. Are you simply getting deaf from the echoes in your chamber, Jim?

Why not to fly with famous people — or even the niche famous. You become the fine print. Two pilots and two passengers died in a South Carolina plane crash. Headline: “Performers hurt in fatal jet crash.” The celebrities were the former drummer for Blink-182 and a disc jockey.

Copy editor Jim returns! Jim, do you ever worry the the headline writers will one day just wander over and beat the hell out of you?

You know I make a lot of fun of Copy Editor Jim but I do not want to gloss over a more serious point. Jim's continued insistence on criticizing his own coworkers efforts is actually a carefully thought out strategy the right has used for years - you can't trust the press because they are obsessed with celebrity to the detriment of the common man. So, in a time where his own coworkers are being shown the door, Wooten fancies himself some half-ass ombudsmen here to save us all from the elitist copy editor probably making about 30K a year. And that's really not very funny at all.

Requiring specially-refined designer gas for the 45 counties in Metro Atlanta, even when pumps are running dry is not a government that serves us. It’s one that toys with us, intentionally inflicting pain on motorists. The federal Environmental Protection Agency yielded to pleas for relief from Gov. Sonny Perdue, but it should be automatic whenever a hurricane is headed toward refineries.

The irony meter just broke.

Designer gas? Where do I buy this special gas that turns my midsize into a blinged out sex machine? Actually, our fancy gas is "designed" to contain detergents so that during the summer months the layers of smog caused by the bajillion cars on our ever expanding road net do not smother us all.

As far as Governor Perdue's pleas, why didn't he make the request before last week? Surely he could also see the impending crisis as Ike loomed off the coast of Texas. Or is outrage over a Governor's dawdling with requests for Federal assistance while disaster lurks limited to Democrats who run Louisiana?

Think health insurance is unaffordable now? Wait until businesses are required to provide the same level of coverage for mental health as they do for physical. That was part of a massive tax bill the Senate passed 93-2 this week.

93-2. Hmmmmm. Methinks there might have been a few Republicans in that bunch.

John McCain afraid to debate Barack Obama? You’re kidding, right? Remember Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church forum and Obama’s declaration that questions about when a living being acquires human rights are above his pay grade? Obama off TelePrompTer is an uh and ah, off-message journey into trouble.

It seems some forget Obama "uhhhed" and "ahhhed" his way through multiple debates in the primaries. But no, let's focus on one muddled answer given in a evangelical mega-church. Or we could just return to discussing the high flying oratory of one Sarah Palin.

Selah.

My Morning Wooten

Nonsense.

Barack Obama, faced with the opportunity to reveal himself as presidential-in-crisis, flunked. He’s a stand-around kind of guy. Oh, if they need him, he’ll be there where the administration and Congress are attempting to save the nation from possible financial meltdown. But the campaign is more important and, besides, a President has to demonstrate that he can do two things at once — presumably campaign and save the nation by phone. He is, after all, talking daily with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others.

I'm going to cheat a bit this morning, dears, since The Atlantic's Clive Cook says it better than I.

I do think Obama is handling the crisis much better than McCain--not because he is suggesting better remedies (he continues to say little), but because his instinct to reflect before opening his mouth and his impeccable taste in advisers are both working to his advantage.

The "others" Jim fails to name are the same advisers to whom Cook refers and include two former Treasury Secretaries and a former chair of the Federal Reserve.

You tell me which shows leadership - quick action based on what you believe is correct and standing by it, consequences be damned or surrounding yourself with really smart people and after hearing all they have to say, making the final call.

I'll give you a hint. We've already had eight years of the former.

Best Of Atlanta

Creative Loafing's annual Best Of Atlanta is out.

Congratulations to the ladies of Pecanne Log on being chosen critic's choice for Best Local Blog!

I wonder what the devil's price was this year? Wait. Did I post that out loud?

Just joking! Pecanne Log is clever with just a hint of the twisted which is why it's a regular read of mine and can be found over to the right in the Georgia Voices section. Check it out. Bookmark it. LOVE IT.

The Mortgage Mess For Dummies

Poor Norwegians!

The mortgage mess explained by stick figure men.

WARNING: It's a very large gif so may be slow to load. Also adult language.

Reindeer Games

The stupid. It burns.

Unlike Left on Lanier, I have yet to hear any cries of "liberal bias" over the coverage of the public Democratic Rally in Gainesville last Saturday while ignoring some private Republican fundraiser, but it wouldn't surprise me.

Let me explain a few things to our more soft headed friends.

I'm betting most media outlets have a policy against covering private fundraising events. I certainly do. Why? Because they usually require a donation and giving any money creates the impression of support. Also, because usually there ain't a lot of news. Unless a candidate gets drunk and does a strip tease on the bar, all the news from a fundraiser can easily be found in one of the myriad press releases we all receive.

Putting aside the differing nature of the two events, one other truth the whiners of liberal bias oppression routinely ignore is the "man bites dog" rule. Now, you, my gentle readers, tell me which is human gnawing canine and which is not - Democrats stage a rally in Republican stronghold of Hall County or Republicans hold a private event in Republican stronghold of Hall County.

As Left on Lanier points out, all this is easily corrected. Invite some people. I'm non-partisan and have asked repeatedly to be invited to some of the secretive elephant meetings but am routinely ignored. The Republicans in this state are so secretive, I've compared them to the pledge scene in Animal House complete with candles, paddles and thank you sir may I have another. The Democrats on the other hand invite me to everything - even when they know it will be a goat rodeo and I may not present them in the most kind fashion, bless their hearts.

There. Now that some of the soft heads know how things work maybe we can avoid some of these misunderstandings in the future.

However, since that would eliminate a favorite Republican whine. Maybe not.

Mercy

Blessed are the merciful

For they shall obtain mercy

Troy Davis is set to die tomorrow evening. Now is not the time for rhetoric. It is the time for common sense and mercy.

Fish Story

Down in Willacoochee, Nashville resident Chad Leonard landed a state record gar.

The record did not come easy. Leonard fought the fish for an hour, shot it twice, then drove around with the creature for hours before weighing it. When he did, the Nashville resident discovered he’s the new Georgia title holder for catching a Lepisosteus osseus.

If this seems excessively violent, you've never met a gar. These fish are like relics from the Jurassic era.

My Morning Wooten

Pretzel logic.

The President’s three-page proposal will be fleshed out during a presidential election cycle by by Democrats who control Congress. The elements could not be worse. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, delighted to be talking about something other than “Drill Here, Drill Now,” has a beach-ball issue tossed her way. The President’s proposal, she said, “does not include the necessary safeguards. Democrats believe a responsible solution should include independent oversight [of the bailout program], protections for homeowners and constraints on excessive executive compensation.”

Much to the chagrin of many fiscal conservatives, Bush, his Secretary of the Treasury and his appointment to the Federal Reserve propose a bajillion dollar bailout of private companies but in Jim's world it's really Nancy Pelosi's fault? Well, at least it's not Clinton's fault. I suppose that's progress.

Credibility

Credibility is a word much bandied these days.

We are told that in this internet world where the abililty to tell a story is as simple as clicking a hyperlink, the traditional media is a refuge of credibility. We are assured the layers of "editorial processes" is a vanguard against myth and rumor. We are told that those who use their actual names as opposed to pen names are more trustworthy. We are told many things.

Yesterday, Atlanta Journal Constitution Assistant Editorial Page Editor Jim Wooten published a story regarding the hacking of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's email indicating that "sleazy political operatives are so unnerved by the prospect that Palin lit a fire under Republicans and is drawing more women and Independents to McCain that they’re willing to break the law". No evidence is given. No elucidation follows. These political operatives are never identified.

In fact, it was already known the apparent hacker boasted his deeds on an internet community known less for its politcal persuasion and more for its ability to cause chaos. This small morsel of information was ignored in order to feast on a meal of polemical vapors.

Confronted by the absence of fact in the piece, the AJC's response is no one knows the politics of the perpetrators therefore there is no factual error.

This is credibility.

In July of this year, Atlanta blogger Andre Walker reported the Democratic Party of Georgia had pressured the Georgia Association of Educators to withdraw its support of Senate candidate Rand Knight. The story was based on anonymous sources with no corroboration and quickly fell apart - forcing Walker to issue a retraction and an apology.

That same month, it was discovered Walker failed to disclose money received from a political candidate who he portrayed positively on his blog. Once again, although this time after much pressure from the Atlanta blogging community, he was forced to admit he should have acted differently.

Yesterday, Walker was quoted in an Albany Herald article alledging unrest within the Democratic Party of Georgia over the replacement of a Dougherty County School Board candidate. He indicated members of the Executive Committee were unaware of the actions of the party in the matter and presented as evidence the now familiar claims of anonymous emails and phone calls.

This is credibility.

We listen to those inhabiting the towers of higher learning warn of falsehoods and fraud. We are told about guardians of democracy. At times, these guardians whisper totemic phrases to mark that which they deem credible.

We are told many things.

My Morning Wooten

Seriously.

We are getting into fanboy territory here. Jim is approaching the cliff of sacrificing his last vestige of journalistic integrity to simultaneously support Sarah Palin and castigate those he believes are intent on burning her at the stake.

With Palin, they’re grasping for the stuff — the material, the appeal, the line of attack — to bring her down. Dig in. The dirt-diggers are out in full force. Hackers broke into the Yahoo! e-mail account used for official business and distributed on the Internet personal messages — nothing consequential,but personal — that they stole from it.

The implication - put forth with no actual evidence - that Palin's political opponents are somehow involved in this criminal act is so outrageous even a few of Wooten's normally foaming at the mouth commentors "partially disagree" with their ersatz oracle.

Polemecists are masters of pushing the rhetorical limit - at times touching the hyperbolic envelope - but they must maintain at least one toe on the ground of reality. Especially if you have the title Editor by your name.

UPDATE: Jim owes somebody an apology. PC magazine has the scoop on how the Yahoo mail account was hacked. Instead of the offices of some high powered Democrat dirt digger, it emerged from a notorious online community:

On Tuesday night, someone from the /b/ board ("/b/tards," as they are colloquially known) broke into Sarah Palin's Yahoo! e-mail account. They read the e-mails and posted the address and password on the board.

Fellow /b/tards proceeded to wreak general havoc with the account. The /b/tard in question used Yahoo!'s password recovery feature, and then proceeded to fill in the answers using Wikipedia. A message posted to the forum explains the process thusly:

"After the password recovery was reenabled, it took seriously 45 mins on wikipedia and google to find the info, Birthday? 15 seconds on wikipedia, zip code? well she had always been from wasilla, and it only has 2 zip codes (thanks online postal service!)

"The second was somewhat harder, the question was "where did you meet your spouse?" did some research, and apparently she had eloped with mister palin after college, if youll look on some of the screenshits [sic] that I took and other fellow anon have so graciously put on photobucket you will see the google search for "palin eloped" or some such in one of the tabs.

"I found out later though more research that they met at high school, so I did variations of that, high, high school, eventually hit on "Wasilla high" I promptly changed the password to popcorn and took a cold shower...

Better hurry with that apology, Jim. Not to the Democrats. No, bless them, their soft hearts will give you a few breaths to come up with an appropriate expression of regret. Hackers on the other hand, much like pitbulls (sans lipstick or otherwise), are known for rapid, righteous indignation when their work is not recognized.

UPDATE II: I rarely comment on commentors but here it seems relevant. I waded through the 200+ comments on Jim's piece today and can you guess how many times I saw some version of "Democrats hacked Sarah Palin's email!" Congratulations, Jim. You've given birth to a meme.

Only one question.

Are you proud?

Weird Florida News

A little jaunt south of the border.

THE VILLAGES — GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's campaign event set for Sunday on Lake Sumter Landing Market Square in The Villages has been canceled by her campaign officials due to weather concerns.

As St. Pete Times writer Adam Smith points out the only weather concerns in central Florida right now is severe thunderstorms - a phenomena so regular in those parts this time of year you can your watch to them.

The Villages is a massive planned community between Ocala and Wildwood. Populated with older workers, retirees and former miliary, it is conservative to the core and a visit from a rising Republican politician is practically a rite of passage.

One could go insane following the more tedious bits of strangeness in the campaign season, but given the calculated gamble of Palin avoiding traditional media rollouts, the motes of weird suddenly seem more relevant.

My Morning Wooten

The Left and their allies in the press hate Sarah Palin and will do anything to destroy her. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Ad Nauseam. Sorry Freeman but I think the well is about tapped.

Wait a second. There is one new morsel here.

Former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan, now a commentator, offers free but sound advice to the Obama campaign: Aim for the old guy. Palin’s trouble...They can do the gotchas. They can make sport of her observation about the proximity of Alaska and Russia, as Saturday Night Live amusingly did. They can dig for dirt. But they’d be smarter to take Noonan’s advice and ignore her.

Peggy Noonan, in a moment of unguarded honesty when she didn't know her mike was still on, recently gave some other free advice regarding Palin.

The most qualified? No! I think they went for this -- excuse me-- political bullshit about narratives --

So Wise Wooten - which utterance from the Oracle Of Noonan should be followed?

Jedi Mind Tricks

Apparently the press in the Athens area have abilities from a galaxy far, far away. So sayeth Paul Broun's campaign treasurer Tim Echols.

Instead of trying to manipulate debate in this election, maybe the media should sit back and cover the events as they happen.

These are not the debates you are looking for.

Songs In My Head

Rick Wright
1943-2008

Oh For The Love Of Cats

Don't get me started on license plates.

The good ladies at Pecanne Log expose the latest abomination to be displayed on our the backs of our cars - neutering kitties. What's next? Vasectomy plates?

It's very simple. License plates have one purpose, one purpose only - identification. They should not be moving billboards for the flavor of the month. Until someone can prove to me these things are somehow revenue positive, my hatred will remain.

Even then, I'll still probably boil a little when I see them.

Saturday Stupids

Quote Of The Night

From Janeane Garofalo, who I rarely agree with (that gets the independent cred out of the way)

She's running for Vice President, why does she need a reminder of the linchpin of a foreign policy of why we're in Iraq.

Yep.

Truth At The Convenience Store

Over heard at a Quik Trip.

Clerk 1: What is the tax on that?

Clerk 2: Too damned much.

My Morning Wooten

It might be a strange day, friends and neighbors - Jim and I agree on some things.

But not right off the bat.

Billionaire Henry Samueli apologized for lying to the Securities and Exchange Commission investigators in advance of sentencing, which has been postponed. Ever hear anybody who’s not been caught apologize for lying or some other offense?

No, but at least he didn't resort to some lame passive voice mealy mouthism like "mistakes were made".

Secretary of State Karen Handel strikes a blow for transparency, too, launching her “Transparency in Government” initiative. A Web site will include her budget, monthly spending reports, her personal and campaign financial disclosure and ethics policy. “Responsible fiscal management begins with a commitment to transparency and accountability.” Republicans who run Georgia should own this issue. It’s what Georgians want. Transparency, performance standards and accountability.

In other news Georgians want ice cream on Sunday. For reasons known only in the deep recesses of the Wooten brain, Republicans exclusively know how to combine milk, ice and rock salt. Democrats would rather people just eat dirt.

The state should not take over any local school system, nor any airport, nor any city’s sewer system or anything else that fails at the local level. It has no particular expertise running schools or other local services.

I'm intentionally cutting off the portion about vouchers because it just clouds the issue. Jim is correct here. As noted here last year, the city of Johns Creek had to have legislative approval to open a parks department. In our supposed laissez-faire state, we have far too much top down governance and that needs fixin'. Unfortunately the fixin' would require reworking the Constitution and if we let the scoundrels loose in there who knows what additional stink bombs we will find years later.

No unkindness today for Barack Obama or Joe Biden. They’re still reeling from the old guy’s boldness in picking Gov. Sarah Palin and, in the process, seizing the “change” momentum. It’s hard to think of a guy who’s never bucked the Democratic establishment (Obama) and a 36-year Washington insider (Biden) as agents of change. Easier to imagine that from two party mavericks.

No unkindness until the next sentence.

Oh, my. It can’t be long before those who believe high gas prices are good (take the bus; don’t build more road capacity) jump on a report from the Transportation Research Institute at the University of Michigan...

Seriously, Jim. Is there someone at the DOT who has a picture of you playing golf with the devil?

Universities can be very selective in determining which values they seek to impose on students. At the University of Miami, it’s use of public transportation, ride-sharing and biking —- their intent in banning cars for freshmen. Wonder if they’d require, say, the pledge of allegiance at the first-of-day classes. Nah. Too jingoistic

Speaking of pictures with the devil. So a private institution makes a decision to improve its environment and a "conservative" not only wants to interfere but somehow implies it is not patriotic? For those playing Wooten bingo, N-32!

Landing Ron Paul as a running mate would be a coup for Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr. That alignment could be trouble in some close states, since both pull from John McCain. Their pull could, of course, be offset by Cynthia McKinney’s pull with the left. She’s the Green Party nominee.

Jim, do you end Fridays with items like this just to give me an early weekend giggle? Seriously, I don't know who should be more offended - Democrats or Libertarians. Actually I do know, libertarians have their highest profile candidate in forever and a certain person thinks they'll be offset by a kook who was essentially run out of office on a rail. Too funny.

Selah.

UPDATE: This is just too good not to promote from the comments. Joe reminds of us a time when Jim was all for state control of, what else, transportation. It's like a Wooten koan! Road building worship, Republican worship and hypocrisy all rolled up into one slightly bitter treat!

Pause

No more politics today. I'm even taking it light on the Wooten.

Just this.

Powell Continues

The Powell case is starting to feel like trench warfare.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the strange little case of Powell vs Handel. In November. We also have a little thing called an election in November. This all might seem weird and disturbing but then again, we are the state that once had three governors.

One quick note. After discussions with some level headed attorneys, I can see how Powell could justifiably win. Thusly, I've lowered the odds to 5-4.

My Morning Wooten

Nah. Not today.

Some days there's no meat and only bone. Some days, you crack the bone and there ain't no marrow. Today there isn't even enough for a good stew.

Maybe tomorrow.

Sauce

Harold's loses one if its own.

When he wasn’t running the barbecue business, Mr. Hembree loved to go deer hunting, play golf and watch the Atlanta Falcons, his stepson said.

That's about right.

Uppity

First, Lynn Westmoreland did it. Now, Republican candidate for the 8th district Rick Goddard has done it. Both called an African American "uppity".

Let us speak plainly.

Anyone who doesn't understand the long history of racism associated with the term "uppity" is either ignorant or a fool - two traits we should desperately try to exorcise from our legislative bodies.

For those who continue to be in denial and are desperately trying to pirouette this into some weird partisan slam, just shut up for a minute and press play.

My Morning Wooten

Jim's wearing me out recently. Just a quick morsel today - a small riff on the law of unintended consequences.

“When freedom is taken away from some people I believe they are in a little better position to preserve it for the next generation,” said Huntsman.

Very true. We can only hope the American children in today's high schools and colleges learn from such practices as wiretapping and suspension of habeas corpus.

Songs In My Head

My Morning Wooten

There you go again.

Obama continues to be bedeviled by questions about his religion, something I picked up repeatedly from people who aren’t political junkies. It’s not surprising that Obama lashed out on that issue Sunday. He can’t shake the believe that he is a Muslim, the religion of his father and religion of at least part of his childhood...Obama badly needs to do something to shake that perception. A major speech, addressing it head-on, is warranted.

Does anyone have a count of the number of times Obama has clearly stated he has no relationship with the Muslim faith?

You know why this story doesn't go away? Because certain people use the rapidly thinning veil of "journalism" to keep raising questions already answered. Since the non-political see these members of the journalist class as somehow being "in the know", the mere whisper of rumor grows wings of truth.

A writer tells a good story. A journalist is a writer who tells a good story based on facts. At times, I wonder if Jim remembers the difference.

Georgia Gang Howler Of The Week

For reasons too strange to explain, I have not watched cable television in over a week. So, watching the Georgia Gang from last sunday is a bit like opening a time capsule. In this post-Obama / pre-Palin sliver of time the guys and gals focus on Barack Obama and the just concluded Democratic convention.

Of all the inanities spewed forth by the wonder twins of Dick Williams and Phil Kent, accusing Obama of using the race card in his speech (he didn't), accusing Obama of not noting the 45th anniversary of Dr. King's famous speech (he did), nothing could top Williams making fun of the way President Jimmy Carter pronounces nuclear.

Seriously?

This from a man who worships at the golden visage of a President who is absolutely Homerian (as in Simpson, not the Greek poet) in his mangling of the English language?

Time to move the time machine forward to the present. It's all too strange, bubba.

What's Going On: The Palin Edition

I can't listen to this yet so I don't know if I sound like a complete boob. You'll have to tell me.

Wilson and I discuss the Republican convention and the unusual pick which is Sarah Palin.

Listen here.

Sad

The only emotion I felt last night as John McCain finally accepted the Republican's nomination was incredible sadness. Sadness since I think even he realized this was his one shining moment - a political apex. Sadness for what could have been in 2000. Sadness that there are those within his own party who it seems are still uncertain of what to make of this genuinely good man.

What a terrible beast is this thing called politics.

Second Thought Of The Day

The librarian just told me I have time for one more.

People stretch the truth at political conventions? Really?

Next you'll tell me if it rains my grass will grow. The lawnmower waits.

Only Thought

My only thought from last night: The game is on - but a game is made of two halves and the second starts now.

I expanded my thoughts a little further this morning on Wilson's show (and unintentionally called out the mayor of Vidalia) and will post the audio as soon as it's up.

I'm pretty sure I said enough to piss off both Republicans and Democrats so the streak continues!

Percentages

4 sitting Vice Presidents have on their own been elected to office. That's less than 10 percent.

9 sitting Vice Presidents have been thrust into office because of death or resignation of the current President. That's over 20 percent.

Yet, for some reason, we obsess about potential running mates as inheritors of the office 8 years later instead of more immediately.

This is what we should be talking about instead of all this other mess. We are told that McCain would make a better executive yet we are told to not consider his first swipe at the decision making process every executive of every business in the world has to consider - the ability of a potential successor. Really.

I'll be on Wilson's show in the morning. Wonder what we are going to talk about.

Blowin With The Wind

So much wind. Hanna is headed our way and I need to go check on the southern outpost. Besides, the convention has given Wooten an excuse to write every day and I just can't take it. Time to flee the madness once again.

My Morning Wooten

O sages standing in God's holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre

An aide walked into the room and quietly relayed the news of the morning: The 17-year-old daughter of Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, is five months’ pregnant. She is not married but, as Governor Palin announced later, is planning to wed the baby’s father.

I may have missed this but once upon a time being a husband meant you were actually married.

Once upon a time there were people who lived on the fine point of distinctions. They claimed to be the arbiters of truth. They judged without mercy. They spared no swath of the sword for those who birthed babies out of wedlock. They railed against a society which allowed such sin.

They claimed there is no in between.

They also claimed a ticket to the middle of Minnesota. They travelled to that exotic place to preach against the wicked - those on the other side of the fall. But when one of their own drew just a bit short - they prayed we should ignore the frailties. We're all human - after all.

Foldy Foldy Foldy

Biloxi - Day 1

Buy-in: $500
Entrants: 429
Finish: Somewhere around 120

A frustrating day and Gustav is sweating me so I'll be brief.

Typical of my early tournaments, I didn't have much success but not much failure either. I grinded for six hours always keeping my head just above water. But I didn't have my A-game and the cards didn't go my way.

At the end, I was short stacked enough where I had to play any decent hand. With 44 all my soldiers went into battle. I was called by two players. One had JJ and one had KK. Oh well.

An interesting sidenote is I experienced a new form of play - storm play. With the big G sitting somewhere around Cuba many players were walking the swords edge of a desire to do well but the need to get home and prepare. This weird combination led to unusual strategies as many couldn't figure out just the hell what to do.

Now, there are mandatory evacuations and I'll be either leaving today or in the morning - probably with no more poker played. It's too bad because I love the facility at the Beau Rivage, love the poker and am feeling it today. But when the governor says you got to go - you got to go.

See you in the flipside.

My Morning Wooten

Welcome to delusionland.

The only question now is the spread, the over/under...Vice presidential candidates rarely affect election outcomes. The selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will...On the Friday it is announced, the sun is gloriously bright in Atlanta, appropriate to the mood of the Republican Party. In one morning, it becomes entirely clear: John McCain can be elected president of the United States. He can win and in the process make history.

Back in the real world the Palin pick is falling apart faster than cheap socks in a tumble dryer.

Let's sample some other, less 14-year-old boy in love, opinions.

Not so liberal Andrew Sullivan.

Yes, we knew McCain had an ego. We never quite appreciated how vast it was. Yes, Obama is inexperienced in foreign policy. But at least he has thought seriously about it. Do you really believe that Sarah Palin understands the distinctions between Shia and Sunni, has an opinion about the future of Pakistan, has a view of how to exploit rifts within Tehran's leadership, knows about the tricky task of securing loose nuclear weapons?

Marc Ambinder

A few are cautiously optimistic that it'll turn out OK, but most of the strategists and consultants I've spoken to, e-mailed with, or read/watched are struggling with it. They expect her to have a good week... and then to crash and burn when she hits the campaign trail as scrutiny catches up with her.

Safely not a liberal Pat Buchanan

I think this is the biggest political gamble, just about, in all of American history

And finally David freaking Frum

The longer I think about it, the less well this selection sits with me. And I increasingly doubt that it will prove good politics. The Palin choice looks cynical. The wires are showing.

But it is a sun shiney day in Wootenland. Maybe he thinks that warm wetness on his leg is just a brief shower.

Dodging Storms

Enough of the dark and seedy. It is time for something a step up the sleaze scale from politics. Gambling.

I'm headed south for the Gulf Coast Poker Championship. So, go ahead Democrats and take a few more days to thump your chests. The touchy one won't be here to hear.

My Morning Wooten

Just when my heart filled to the brim with hate for Democrats, here comes Wooten.

Is Hillary married? Just asking.

Are you kidding me? Are you effing kidding me? Why not just roll out the old lesbian canard.

This, friends and neighbors, is the high level of political discourse distributed by the largest selling newspaper in the southeast.

You know what? I'm no longer going to defend the south against inane criticism from the rest of the country. We get what we deserve.

Done

Words thrown either in my general direction or the direction of this Powell mess.

Shill

Witchhunt

Staggering

Cute

You know it's that last one that probably sent me over the cliff.

Katherine Harris. Election rigging. Ken Blackwell.

Just a few more things cavalierly tossed at the wall in the monkey cage.

Is it the fact that Democrats won't admit that the real reason they are happy is they get to keep a strong candidate on the ballot? Is it the fact that Democrats won't even admit the fact they pulled a judge right in their wheelhouse? Is it the incessant preening that somehow they have won a great noble victory? Is it the continued refusal to acknowledge those who disagree also concede portions of their argument? Is it all of these things and more?

No.

What it is, is the not the first time attitude by the party of tolerance and ideas that if you are not willing to run through the brick wall with the rest of the herd then you are the enemy.

Fine. You win. I have little doubt Powell will be on the ballot. And you guys can use whatever justification you want to claim your victory.

But trust me. The next time the screen pops up the Rs and the Ds, it will be remembered.

One More Time

Maybe if I put it in big letters it'll make a difference.

The specific address in the county or municipality in which a person has declared a homestead exemption, if a homestead exemption has been claimed, shall be deemed the person's residence address.

Gustav

First the bad news. Practically every model has Hurricane Gustav getting out into open water in the Gulf. If this follows it practically guarantees as U.S. coastal hit.

Now the really bad news. The Gulf is very warm right now which makes Gustav a potential "bomb".

The slightly hopeful news is the water near the Florida coast is slightly cooler meaning Gustav could weaken before landfall. Also there is a new disturbance just to the north which may cause this bad boy to weaken.

No matter what. This is a scary looking storm and bears watching.

In Which I Hate On Everyone

Georgia is quiet. The Dems are partying in Denver and you can follow their exploits at Tondee's and BfD.

You can even check out the antics of those who breathlessly grab their precious credentials and race to the convention floor to hear a speech that doesn't happen. The over/under on his retractions/non-disclosures is set at 2.

Back here in Georgia, far from the glitter, Fay sputters and spews, running rivers down into the sewers. Something compels me to follow the flow down into the darkness. Today, I'll be your janitor. Welcome to the sludge.

Atlantans And The Weather

What can keep a veteran political journalist from scooting off to Denver to rub elbows with the current powers that be? Well, probably budget cuts in the travel office. But what better to salve that wound than to send him out in the rain to stand in front of a blowed over tree to talk about Atlanta's never ending obsession with bad weather.

Two weeks ago, I sat in my little cabin in south Georgia as a squall line walked in. It was serious enough to make me consider crawling under a desk. But I never did. I continued watching my television with its spare, tiny crawl unobtrusively listing the counties under the ubiqutous tornado watch and ate a sandwich.

If I had been in Atlanta, there is little doubt I would have been inundated with bobbleheads screaming about STORM WATCH '08!

It's a good thing to have a place of perspective to flee the madness.

SpaceyG and The PP Boys

Yeah, I haven't commented on it. So what? Okay, fine I will.

As I told a friend, "Peach Pundit is the idiot pool but Spacey knew the rules before she jumped in". Spacey knew the site is primarily dedicated to Georgia politics, she continued to flaunt her violations of this parameter even after being warned and ultimately got booted. During her tenure and even after, she was heaped on with abuse - much over the line and uncalled for. Having said that, part of my own personal ethic is if you are an online persona you have to be able to defend yourself. Knowing SpaceyG as I do, I'm pretty sure she's got that covered.

So why comment now? Because of this stupid and classless comment. Some of the PP boys obviously miss their old whipping post. Even after successfully vanquishing the uppity woman they just can't resist the desire to take one more smack.

Classless. Erick, you're editor-in-chief. Does class not count for the "premier political blog in Georgia"?

Republicans And The Chi-Coms And The Nazis Blah Blah Blah

Williams Ayers, Reverend Wright, Tony Rezko, Chi-Coms, The Red Scare, wash, rinse, repeat.

Of course some take it a step further. Some choose to wade up to their chests in Godwin's law.

Comparison to Nazi Propogandist Leni Riefenstahl? Check. Actually comparing the Democratic Convention to a Nuremburg Rally? Check. (To be fair that last one was an idiotic commentor and as far as I know has no relationship to Jason who even when we disagree doesn't resort to this crap)

Yeah. You guys are the ones that relate to mainstream America. Keep on ascribing such self-importance while spewing statements so assinine a mule would disown you and we will continue to watch your party slip further and further into the wilderness.

Powell And The Democrats

As good as the copy is, I am rightly sick of Handel vs. Powell. What was once an interesting conversation about the law and separation of powers has become an opportunity for every tin-foil hat, voting conspiracy nut to crawl out of Democratic Party woodwork.

As I told an insider the whole thing can best be summed up as "Wendy Shoob is a nut and you guys got lucky."

But go ahead and continue to overplay your hand. Jump at every imagined booger in the Diebold bush instead of coming up with a coherent message to actually beat Handel in the court of public opinion instead of the court of crazy.

It's worked so well for you over the past six years.

Sincerely,
The Shill For Karen Handel

And now back up out of the sewers to the greasy skies of Fay panicked Atlanta. I'm not sure which is better.

Betting Window Back Open

Handel files an appeal in the Powell case.

I've been wrong on practically every prediction in this bizarre little story. Still, no one will take my wagers. 3-2 Court of Appeals overturns Shoob's wacky decision. Any takers?

Saturday Stupids

We need some new pictures

FAIL!

Shoobtastic

Given the political capital Secretary of State Karen Handel would expend in another appeal, the strange little case of Powell vs. Handel may soon fade into the political ether.

But still I have this irritation and it's an itch I'm just going to have to scratch one more time. Whether Judge Wendy Shoob followed the law or not is a question for the Court of Appeals. Whether Democrats, positively glowing in the wake of victory, continue to ignore the law is a question for political arena. So, here we go.

There are two relevant points of law.

First, the crux of the matter - residency requirement.

O.C.G.A. 21-2-27 section 14 states "The specific address in the county or municipality in which a person has declared a homestead exemption, if a homestead exemption has been claimed, shall be deemed the person's residence address".

That is crystal clear. If you claim homestead that is your residence. There's a reason it is called homestead. But it wouldn't be the law if there wasn't a twist.

O.C.G.A 21-2-27 section 15 states "For voter registration purposes, the board of registrars and, for candidacy residency purposes, the Secretary of State, election superintendent, or hearing officer may consider evidence of where the person receives significant mail such as personal bills and any other evidence that indicates where the person resides".

As is usual in the craft of law, the legislature provided a little wiggle room to allow for common sense to rule over absolutes. But the two little words Democrats continue to ignore are "may consider". May - not have to, not required to - may. It is absolutely within the Secretary's rights to ignore all other evidence no matter how compelling.

Certainly Handel's motivations for ignoring other evidence can be questioned. But what also has to be questioned is Powell's motivation for continuing homestead in Cobb County. The obvious answer is the tax savings. When confronted with this reasoning, most Democrats respond with some version of "So what? Wouldn't you?". Weak.

But back to the law. Those two little words are about to become very important.

Second, what powers does a judge have on appeal?

Very limited ones.

O.C.G.A 21-2-5 states "The court shall not substitute its judgment for that of the Secretary of State as to the weight of the evidence on questions of fact". In other words, the judge absolutely cannot factor whether the Secretary chose to exercise the option give in 21-2-7(15) of considering other evidence.

Given Judge Shoob's comments regarding the relevance of homestead to residency, it is difficult to believe she followed the letter of the law here.

So what can the judge do? Affirm, Remand or Overturn. And there are very specific requirements for all three.

21-2-5 goes on to state "The court may affirm the decision or remand the case for further proceedings. The court may reverse or modify the decision if substantial rights of the appellant have been prejudiced because the findings, inferences, conclusions, or decisions of the Secretary of State are..."

It then goes on to list the conditions which must be met to show prejudice. Let's look at them one at a time:

1. In violation of the Constitution or laws of this state. (Nope)

2. In excess of the statutory authority of the Secretary of State. (Handel clearly followed statute)

3. Made upon unlawful procedures. (Handel clearly followed all procedure)

4. Affected by other error of law (Nope)

5. Clearly erroneous in view of the reliable, probative, and substantial evidence on the whole record (Maybe)

6. Clearly erroneous in view of the reliable, probative, and substantial evidence on the whole record (The Dems would love to say this one but it does require actual evidence and not just speculation)

The Democrat's case and Judge Shoob's ruling appear to rely solely on test 5. In my mind "clearly erroneous" would be someone having homestead in one county but the Secretary ruling they must run in a different county, but others take a more expansive view of the clause.

One would think if the justification for a ruling relies on the vague terms of test 5, the error would be clearly delineated and explained in detail. Instead, we get a Judge questioning the relevance of a clearly stated statute and a hastily hand written ruling containing the briefest of explanations - not the brightest moment in the history of the judiciary.

But it is the Democrats. And they rarely win. So maybe they get a pass this time. But if the preening gloating continues - maybe not.

My Morning Wooten

Less perturbation. More eyerolling.

Environmental extremists oppose all efforts to add capacity —- oil, water or highway. Why? Managing shortages gives them the power to tell you where and how to live. It’s a life-control tool. When you see the word “alternatives” to more drilling, reservoirs or road capacity, it’s code for dig-in-the-heels opposition to solutions

Call me an environmentalist whackjob but my main objection to expanding I-85 at Pleasant Hill to 50 lanes is it is typical lack of government effeciency and typical income redistribution vis-a-vis using my tax dollars for the convenience of others - concepts surely a "conservative" understands.

The inexperienced Obama may not know what he believes, but he’s certain about this: He wouldn’t have nominated Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court because he doesn’t think he was “a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time.” What arrogance.

Despite the caterwauling about hairs on coke cans, there were plenty of level-headed people, including the American Bar Association, who pointed out Thomas' portfolio was awfully thin. But we can't point out any flaw in St. Clarence. Pointing out that liberal justice John Paul Stevens with more than 30 years experience on the bench a dangerous kook? Well, that's obviously a different story.

Good or bad, we get the behaviors we pay for. Mortgage brokers who signed up borrowers for high-interest/high-fee “liar loan” mortgages —- those requiring no verification of job, income or assets —- could make $15,000 on a $300,000 loan. A traditional loan would net $2,000 to $4,000. No surprise. Half of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac losses of $3.1 billion between April and June were due to liar loans. Invite people to rip off any business or government program, or to immigrate illegally, and they will.

From the mortgage scandal to illegal immigration in three sentences? For those playing Wooten non-sequitor bingo, I-42!

An Orlando newspaper reporter notes that McCain got a better reception among veterans attending a VFW convention than Obama. That information was conveyed thusly: “But McCain was the clear favorite among the predominantly older, white male crowd. …” Perhaps the louder applause was because McCain is a fellow veteran, was deemed to be the better leader on national security issues, or because he’s an older white male?

More of the old cutting off the nose to spite the face strategy. Jim loves to play editor with the straight news stories. Wouldn't it be fun to let some of the straight newsies do the same with some of his nonsense? Start with yesterday's My Morning Wooten.

Liberals and conservatives are alarmed about the growing national deficit —- but with liberals it’s never when proposing new entitlements.

And with "conservatives" its never when we charge the national credit card to the point where settling accounts means selling Oregon to the Chinese.

Take a deep breath. Count to 10 —- and then don’t say dumb things, like the response to a report that State School Superintendent Kathy Cox will appear on the game show “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” The quote is from Tim Callahan of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, which at one time did not act and sound like a union. Said Callahan: “The budget is in meltdown, the CRCT is a mess and you have a superintendent in Hollywood taping a game show. It gives new definition to the word ‘frivolous.’ ” Lighten up, bud

Lighten up dude! Republicans are just fun-loving people who like game shows hosted by funny guys with accents! I'm sure Jim will also take a deep breath, count to ten and remember his own advice the next time he sees a Democrat fiddling while Georgia burns.

Selah.

Judge Shoob's Order

Judge Shoob's Order in the Powell Case. (Warning. PDF.)

Hand written. From the bench. Not kidding.

Powell Wins?

Creative Loafing is reporting Jim Powell, the disqualified Democratic PSC candidate, won his appeal at Fulton Superior Court.

A few things to note if this is true.

A. These things happen. These hearings are not like normal proceedings and can happen at the drop of a hat.

B. Given the narrow scope of the court's powers under the statute, I can't wait to read this ruling.

C. It appears the change of judges benefited Powell.

D. Next is the Court of Appeals which has been known to smack around wayward judges.

UPDATE: The Fort Mill Times has the story. There was an oral hearing and the judge was Wendy Shoob. By my count she's the third different judge assigned to the case.

UPDATE II: The Fort Mill Times is in Fort Mill, SC. Either they cribbed an AP report or they somehow scooped everyone in Atlanta. What makes this more bizarre is I can find no connection between Fort Mill, Georgia or the PSC. What gives? This is very strange.

UPDATE III: AJC has more including a quote from Judge Shoob. "That is the worst argument to me because you are telling me I can just move, but if I didn’t withdraw that homestead exemption, I didn’t move". That's a rather strange statement since this isn't about whether someone moves or not but whether they legally change their residence. Since, O.C.G.A. 21-2-5 clearly states "The specific address in the county or municipality in which a person has declared a homestead exemption, if a homestead exemption has been claimed, shall be deemed the person's residence address", it's bizarre to say homestead is irrelevant.

MUR In Port St. Lucie

If you haven't heard, the coastal city of Port St. Lucie is basically under water.

Check out Amani's video where he's riding an airboat through the flooded streets.

This is why you should always have at least a three day supply of everything.

Obama Kills Babies

Not kidding.

My Morning Wooten

I'm a little perturbed this morning.

Democrats privately are questioning whether Barack Obama has a second-phase act, a follow-up once “change” wears thin, the Associated Press reports.

Faceless Democrats get a pass. Anonymous bloggers not so much. The sad fact is there are those who do not even comprehend the astounding level of hypocrisy in their accusations of agenda driven writing in blogs while simultaneously supporting an ever shrinking niche in the ecosystem which constantly wallows in the same mud.

I would comment on the rest of the article but instead I'll just refer you to this afternoon's Sean Hannity show or the GOP's website or whatever you prefer for your daily dispensation of Republican talking points.

Over 70 people were cut from the AJC with loss of institutional knowledge which may never be regained. Yet, some are allowed to retain the keyboard even though the core of their writing is simply parroting the tall tales of others.

And inevitably, sometime in the next six months, I will be the one who is questioned mercilessly because I do not attach my proper name to my writing.

College Students Worry About Beer and Condoms

About professors oppressing their political views? Not so much.

Then again it is a liberal paper just continuing the liberal conspiracy to keep the good hearted conservatives oppressed.

But it does remind me of a story. Story time, chickens! Gather round!

Back in the paleolithic when I could only afford the letters grif, I participated in that annual tribal torture ritual called freshman philosophy. The prof was a gregarious old fellow who had been tenured since Charles Darwin found his finches and apropo just didn't give a damn what might come out of his mouth. Mostly what came out of his mouth were vast clouds of acrid cigar smoke despite the school's no smoking policy.

As we meandered through Plato and Descartes and Kant, unlike the rest of us who dreamed of fake ids and ties on the doorknob, one student became more and more frustrated. At times she would challenge the aged dragon but mostly she just huffed and growled. From her arguments it was apparent she was deeply religious.

Then one day, the old codger finally broke the young co-ed. He said, "I believe at least once in their college career everone should try atheism". With a gutteral moan the religious girl grabbed her belongings and stormed out of the classroom. A few minutes later, she returned to the door and began screaming "I don't understand how we can come here everyday and question the existence of God!"

The professor calmly replied, "My dear, when you signed up, you did realize this was a philosophy class and not a math class?"

Now some would call him a godless liberal. And they'd be right. Doesn't make it any less funny.

Obama Party

Courtesy of grabbingsand.

Huh?

Eh?

It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others.

Thank god I have a +4 Shield of Stupidity.

h/t: BfD

Not Fayed Away

Dude, how can a storm junkie like you not talk about Fay? Damn good question.

Fay is currently a tropical storm and seems intent on wandering all over Florida. When I left the sunshine state a few days ago, preparations were already under way. One of the last things I heard my brother say was "we can run an extension cord from the generator to run the fridge". Strange weather makes strange conversations seem normal.

Like most things that troll around the back roads of the south, tropical weather is usually chaotic, at times weirdly beneficial or psychotically evil - sometimes all three at once. You just never know whether your going to get the psychotic, gap toothed serial killer or the clumsy handy man who fixes your well after backing over your chickens.

The same stew that boils up the horror of Katrina, Hugo, Andrew and Alberto also produces three-day drought killing rain storms we so desperately need.

So let's hope our new friend Fay is the the hapless helper and not the creeping killer. Still better hide the chickens though.

Express Lane To Denver

The thought of a road trip, even in these days of gas costing more than cigarettes (oh the price of sin), gets the blood boiling. It makes even the most road weary, drug addled blogger wish he could stow away on a bus full of Clinton democrats and later emerge from hiding somewhere around Tulsa.

Unfortunately, I missed my chance to secretly record the meanderings of the Unity Express.

But that doesn't mean we can't all virtually follow along.

They'se blogging.

They'se twittering.

They'se picture taking.

They'se flicker filming.

They'se generally having a good time. Drive safe guys and gals. And watch out for the bats.

For The Tweets

Proper twitter etiquette.

If it could get you fired, be used against you in court, or impede your ability to get laid, be-still your typing thumbs.

Truer words...

Georgia Politics Podcast Episode 18

Jen, Decaturguy, Catherine and Joseph discuss three-ways and other political numerology in the latest Georgia Politics Podcast.

Listen here.

Dear Bossman

In the olden days, the fading of summer was seen as coincidental with the fading of life. The ultimate passage seems to be a common theme lately.

I always enjoyed the glares, the incredulous stares of the neighbors, of the cops, the whispers of “I can’t believe you’re doing this,” or “scavengers,” as the reporting pack circled a family of five charred bodies on a smoky deck, a little boy’s tarp covered body by his crumpled bike, the corpse of a wrong-way driver still dangling from his safety belt. I almost enjoyed those glares and stares as much, the vacant eyes of the lifeless asking, “why?” as we smoked and joked about somebody giving somebody a blow job at a party.

As we watch the "bleeds it leads" grim faces of our 6:00 bobble heads, we rarely think of their graveyard humor - a reflex mechanization, evolutionarily specialized to such occupations as doctors, firemen, the po-lice and ambulance drivers. For those who wade into the grim on a daily basis, it serves to detach the humanity. Most of the times it works. Sometimes it doesn't.

Days

Read, learn, sing, dance, laugh, love, live.

And....

We're back

Fishin'

Time to stop wishin'

Time to go fishin'

My Morning Wooten - Monday Addition

A few days late and just a few plums to pick.

A high school in Gonzales, Texas, requires inappropriately dressed students to don navy blue coveralls — prison jumpsuits of a sort. Some parents object. What’s wrong with public education? These three things, among others: 1) parents who object to efforts to maintain discipline; 2) students who disregard simple instructions; 3) parents who don’t parent before the child hits school.

No swipe at unions? Shocking.

When Gwinnett’s minorities become the majority — minorities had reached 48.3 percent a year ago — can the world stop ascribing all the convenient “suburban” stereotypes to the place, specifically related to MARTA blah blah blah surburban whine blah blah blah.

No, not everyone is the same. But apparently Jim missed the comments on his own website where alledged citizens of Gwinnett moaned about MARTA bringing crime to their fair county (by the way, it's already there) and not wanting to pay taxes for other people's transportation (how many lanes does I-85 have at Pleasant Hill Rd?) - the same arguments I heard ten years ago when I was employed in Lawrenceville. Maybe if you surbanites would expend some energy changing troglodyte attitudes instead of wasting away with the whines, we intown folks might ease up on the judging.

Sure as shootin’ when state revenues dip, the casino-gambling/ horse-racing crowd emerges to push their agenda. The president of the Georgia-South Carolina Horse Racing Committee wants you to know he is very distressed about education funding in Georgia and the tax burden on old folks. Just guessing, but might he have a solution to propose? Coincidentally, yes. But no thanks. We’ll get by without giving poor people even more ways to lose the butter and egg money

Conservatives: We're against the nanny state - except when we're not.

See, these folks being held at Guantanamo are enemy combatants captured on the battlefield. They didn’t shop-lift at Wal-Mart.

Except we don't really know that do we? Since the government stubbornly refuses to reveal any evidence in these matters (only recently being dragged kicking and screaming to even present evidence to the accused), the only reason we have to believe these people were actually captured on a battlefield is because the government says so.

Conservatives: We don't trust the government - except when we do.

Selah.

New Blogs

New blogs added.

One on the left.

One on the right.

They'll be added to the headline thingie when I get back to civilization.

Goin' South

Don't break anything.

My Morning Wooten

Keeping it simple today.

Are you suffering Obama Fatigue?

I've heard this subject raised twice in the past 24 hours. The first time was on the Sean Hannity radio program. Enough said.

Songs In My Head

AJC Twitters

A typically bitchy"tweet" from Rusty Tanton about the AJC leads to an interview with Director of Online Development Chris Heisel and External Communications Manager Jennifer Morrow.

Bottom line: AJC is in your twitter scanning your complaints.

Pretty forward thinking from the dead tree folks. Even though I spend a lot of time slagging the local fish wrapper, I have met some of the online folks and despite the lofty pronouncements of some of the higher-ups, they understand the need for positive relationships with the online communities.

Martin And Jones On What Is Goin' On?

Primary day tomorrow.

Still haven't made up your mind? Maybe Wilson can help.

Listen to his interview with Vernon Jones here.

Money quotes: "Jim Martin is too liberal for Georgia. Even Saxby Chambliss is too liberal for Georgia".

"Fish don't go to work. People do".

And then check out Jim Martin here.

Powell Hearing Postponed

The Powell residency hearing has been postponed due to the judge recusing himself. Now what the hell am I going to do with myself today? Any porn kings being arrested?

A Legend Passes

Skip Caray, 1939-2008

"A woman walks into a bar, sidles up to a sportscaster and says "For $100, I'll do anything you want". The sportscaster slaps a hundred dollar bill on the bartop and says "Do the pre-game show tomorrow". ~joke told by Caray just a few weeks before his death

Saturday Stupids

Moving day!

My Morning.....Er Nevermind

Wooten gets a pass today. Frankly, after the fire and lightning of the past two days, it seems a little dull. And its mostly economic which always boring and Jim and I even tend to agree on those sorts of things. And that just isn't any fun.

Have a good weekend, Jim.

The Rhetorical Bermuda Triangle

This is some damned good advice.

h/t: Thomas