My Morning Wooten

We're gonna have some fun today.

Oh, yeah, Shirley, sure. Cut the check. Atlanta taxpayers and utility customers are at the limit of their tolerance on taxes, and therefore the feds should cut a check. People want to know, she told a U.S. Senate committee, “why didn’t the federal government help us more?” The Atlanta mayor also thinks Georgia should raise the gas tax to help. Don’t tax me; tax thee to help me. Spend.

Hey Jim, I'm a spending-hawk too. So, instead of carping the same old line about "tax, tax, tax", tell me your list of spending cuts and let's get to work. Maybe we can start with Chastain which Atlanta subsidizes and is enjoyed greatly by many a freeloading suburbanite. I bet we can come up with a whole list of cuts composed only of services cherished by many a Cobbite and Gwinettian.

Oh, goodness. Barack Obama’s in trouble with the lefties. He smokes. Cigarettes. He can’t be president. Hillary declared the White House a smoke-free zone in 1993.

Next - the political perils of toe-picking.

Wall Street Journal reporters generally know what they’re hearing when conducting interviews about taxes, business and the economy. The outlook Barack Obama offers “appears like a return to an older-style big-government Democratic platform skeptical of market forces,” news reporters write. Change. To yesterday. But then those who have listened to him already know that.

Darn that liberal media! They've even managed to brainwash some fine conservatives into the belief that this election is too important for the old scare mongering. Wait a minute...

Raul Castro, in what is being called his “boldest break yet from socialism,” directs state companies to develop a salary structure that pays hard workers more than slackards. Pay for performance. What a novel idea. One day even the teachers unions in this country will take the bold break from socialism. The view of the National Education Association is that merit pay “undermines the collegial relationship among teachers.” It will in Cuba, too, when the loafers discover that the performers have bigger paychecks. They’ll either work harder or organize.

We always knew those shepherds of our children were really communists! Organized labor has always been a front for infilitrators of the Red Menace! Send the company men to the coal mine to root out those troublemakers!

Seriously though. If you haven't noticed the right's predilection for rolling out the golden oldie called the "red scare" this election cycle, you aren't paying very close attention.

Hmmm. Would we prefer to have the third term of George W. Bush, as Obama refers to the McCain candidacy, or the second term of Jimmy Carter, as McCain describes an Obama presidency? Easy call.

Actually, most of us prefer living in 2008 with all its possibilities. Most. Not all, but most.

But it’s true. The effort by Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia to restore voting rights to felons is an effort to kick up the Democratic vote. Except for former state school Superintendent Linda Schrenko and former state Rep. Robin Williams, both Augusta-area Republicans, all the people in jail are Democrats, wrongly convicted, too. I’m sure of it.

Yes, yes. Nothing but Democrats packed into the hoosegows. Enron. Duke Cunningham. Scooter Libby. Jack Abramoff. Etc., etc., etc. Lord, how the Democratic Party will swell when felons are allowed to vote!

Pike Family Nurseries has to be kid-friendly. Its former CEO is one.

Huh? An ironically childish riposte regarding the former executive's arrest for sexual battery (must be a Democrat!)? Well, at least we get a little criticism of a local company by the AJC - more than we ever hear about a certain sugar water slinger.

Selah.

Atlanta Street View!

Google Maps has FINALLY added Atlanta to Street View.

As you can see from the above, the usual pigeons were not on the patio the day the cameras came by. But those plastic adirondacks? Yeah, we put 'em there.

I also checked out my house and my car was in the driveway. Kinda creepy!

My Morning Wooten

We're going to focus on one salient point this morning, gentle readers.

The problem is that much of the country seems to be unaware of the 60s and 70s, while many of those who are still cling to the era. The old-timers of the flower-children generation want one last Woodstock on the White House grounds before they go...But the question, really, is to identify something in Obama’s promise of “change” that represents actual change.

You may be right, Jim. You may be crazy. But you definitely ignore the point that most Americans understand exactly what happened in the past eight years.

An unneeded war. Foreign policy which wrecked the only remaining superpower's standing in the world. Attempts at suspending habeas corpus for U.S. citizens. Torture.

We could go on but instead let us roll that last word around the consciousness for a moment.

There are a great number of people in this country who understand exactly what change means.

Fever Dreams

Ahhh the joys of pain killers.

With Obama wrapping up the nomination, my current state of mind caused me to recall this.

The first, despite the furious mental masturbation of all the political junkies, never happens. The last brokered convention was the Democrats in 1952. The refinement of the primary process carefully shepherded by the new class of profressional political rustlers has pushed the possibility of some open political brawl into the realm of fever dreams of the deluded.

I haven't been right about many things lately but I sure nailed that one. Now I will reward myself with another Ben-Gay pain patch.

Goofy

Yesterday, I twisted my shoulder pretty badly. It's the same shoulder I twisted just last month. Nothing so serious to require a doctor visit but annoying as hell. So now I have a BenGay patch on my back and am gobbling OTC ibuprofen like they are skittles.

Later this afternoon, when the bats arrive, I'll begin fearless predictions and faithless ramblings.

PAR-TAY!

Obama opens Florida campaign headquarters in Ybor City.

Playing In Georgia

It's the question rolling around the addled minds of all political junkies - is Georgia in play?

A month ago I painted a scenario where Virginia plays the Florida/Ohio role in 2008. I'm sticking by that prediction but in the past year I also predicted Hillary Clinton would easily win the nomination and James Marlow would make the runoff in the 10th. So you have been warned.

But let's look at Georgia for a moment. Can Barack Obama flip a state which voted overwhelmingly for George Bush in 2004?

For your consideration, four factors which could be difference makers.

Vice President

Pro - It's only a pro for Obama if it is former Sen. Sam Nunn. Otherwise, Georgians probably won't care.

Con - South of Cordele most Georgians receive a mix of Georgia and Florida media. If John McCain selects popular Florida governor Charlie Crist as a running mate, a large portion of the state will see a face on the ticket which may be more familiar than their own Governor.

Bob Barr

Pro - Barr is the biggest name the Libertarian Party has ever nabbed. A native Georgian, he is polling somewhere between 3% and 5%. Some fevered Democrats have actually predicted he could pull 8%.

Con - No Libertarian has received higher than 1.6% of the vote in the last 20 years. Enough said.

Turnout

Pro - Despite a hotly contested Republican race, almost 100,000 more people pulled Democratic ballots in February.

Con - February is not November. A brutal campaign, disaffected Clinton supporters plus the possibility of an October surprise in the form of a Willie Horton style ad campaign gives McCain plenty of ground to gain.

African Americans

Pro - Almost 500,000 African Americans voted in the February primary and almost 90% voted for Obama.

Con - Only about 550,000 African Americans voted in the 2004 general election. It is a huge question whether the primary turnout can be maintained - particularly if Jim Martin knocks Vernon Jones in the July primary.

The first two factors are fairly clear but turnout is the more difficult beast to wrestle. Obama's ability to get so many new voters to the polls blows up most traditional political equations.

So is Georgia in play? Definitely. Maybe. I don't know. But the strange swirl of syncronicity certainly makes it intriguing.

Ramp Meters

The ramp meters are coming! The ramp meters are coming!

Ramp meters are traffic lights that are intended to control the number of vehicles entering and exiting the highway. They are to reduce traffic congestion on the ramps.

Between the Downtown Connector re-paving project and the recent destruction of the venerable 14th Street bridge, Atlanta seems to be swirling in an orgy of transportation experimentation. Now, the already addled speed demons of the autobahns will be forced to pay attention to "stop lights" on interstate on-ramps.

When these silent guardians popped up on my side of the perimeter, I pondered the madness which lay just over the horizon.

I remain cautiously optimistic. Previously, I was skeptical about roundabouts but having seen the effectiveness of the Lullwater/N. Decatur intersection, I am now their advocate. We can all only hope the ramp meters will also exceed expectations.

If not, at least we will have some fun with the new demolition derby mashup.

Tagged

I've been tagged.

Normally, I'm the crusty old bastard who doesn't join in blogger games, but I'll make an exception here. But I won't tag anyone else so the madness can finally stop.

Seven Songs That I Currently Do Not Skip When They Play On My iPod.

1. Let It Loose - The Rolling Stones
2. Oh! Sweet Nuthin - The Velvet Underground
3. Many Rivers To Cross - Jimmy Cliff
4. Goodbye - Steve Earle
5. Killing In The Name - Rage Against The Machine
6. Outshined - Soundgarden
7. She - Gram Parsons

End tag.

Saturday Stupids

Return of the stupids.

A short detour to the Creative Loafing Beer Fest then back to the lodge hall.

What The Hell Is That Thing?

Rusty and Amber explore east Georgia.

Birds, water towers and lubrication. What more could you want?

Pascoe-Perez Joins Lanier Campaign

Recently resigned Democratic Party of Georgia Vice Chair for Constituent Services Virgilio Pascoe-Perez has joined the campaign of Senate Candidate Josh Lanier as Chairman.

The candidate responded to inquiry on the "hire" with the usual wit.

Virgilio and I started a conversation when I first formed the exploratory committee in October '07 and it continues to this day. We've become great friends and talk daily about the issues, the future of America and this campaign. I trust and respect his judgement. I asked him to be Chairman so that he'd feel obligated to keep taking my calls.

Words For The Day

"Some people will say that words like "scum" and "rotten" are wrong for objective journalism which is true but they miss the point."

A Legend Retires

On a cool fall night in 1994, I paid a scalper's price to witness my high school football team win a state championship.

In the three deep crowd on the chain link fence, I noticed a man with cameras standing among the students, the scouts and the alumni.

I'd seen him many times before. From my place on the field. From the crowd in the stands. Decades passed and there was always that man with those cameras twined all around his body - standing right there.

October 1971: Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Fla. John Lennon releases “Imagine.” “Jesus Christ Superstar” premieres in New York City. President Nixon nominates William Rehnquist and Lewis Powell to the Supreme Court.

And John Mercer joins the staff of The Moultrie Observer.

Fresh out of the Air Force, where he developed reconnaisance photographs, Mercer took the job as the newspaper’s photographer, and he’s happily retained that title ever since.

Today is his last day of full-time employment here. He has worked for the newspaper for almost one-third of its 114 years.

Real newspapermen are rare these days. Read the whole thing. It's worth it.

In Which I Hate On Everyone

The downfall of embracing Zen ways is at times the plain awful can be pushed back as a minor irritant and eventually pushed away as not mattering at all.

It's been a while since I've been pissed. So pardon me as I carve the block.

Scott McLellan - To my conservative brothers and sisters. It seems you've decided to take the tact that former prevaricator-in-prime is simply cashing in on the "Bush hate". Well, hate is a strong word but given approximately 70% of the country currently can't stand the sonuvabitch, I only have one word of advice - let the market rule.

To my liberal brothers and sisters. It seems instead of chortling "I told you so" for finally having hard core testimony about the nefarious imcompetence of your primary target, you choose to scream about McLellan being a liar a few years ago. A press secretary obfuscating? Next you'll tell me poker players bluff. Grow up and enjoy the victory. You don't get them that often.

Unions - I like unions. I especially like the fact they require certain standards for employees in certain industries which could result in my untimely departure from this world. Like keeping airplanes in the sky. Like loaded guns on movie sets. Like sign printing for political campaigns. Wait a minute. Scratch that last one.

Look, I know Democrats have to cater to organized labor but is complaining about signs not having a union label really keeping your eye on the ball? In a state that's notoriously anti-union? In a state where your victories have been few and far between lately? Really?

Voter ID - Just because the Supreme Court gives you standing doesn't mean you have a case. Memo to DPG: Karen Handel is right. Stop wasting money on this snipe hunt and move on to better things. Like voter registration and driving old people to the polls. I could be wrong but I'm betting this would be a far more effective method to break that old 45% barrier.

Barack Obama - 57 states? Confusing Buchenwald with Auschwitz? And do I even need to say Rachel Ray? This is the continuous crap feed which almost caused me to stop writing? Then, I think to myself, if this is the best the right wing noise machine can gin up, why the hell should anybody worry?

And now that the spleen has found its vent, its time for a karmic band-aid of love.

Tommy Irvin - I doubt Commissioner Irvin would recognize me but if I told him my mama's name and where we lived, he'd probably ask how the cotton fared last year. Get well soon, Tommy. There's far too few of us south Georgia boys left up here.

The hate will return tomorrow and continue daily until further notice.

First The Explanation

Amani: 'Whatcha been up to?"

Griftdrift: "Just working the craft".

Amani: "How's that going?"

Griftdrift: "Not that good".

Many days I'm jealous of Jim Galloway and Thomas Wheatley. Deep in my lizard brain I know there are days when they also struggle, but the surface cortex, where the whining centers are located, wonders what it must be like to spend the day surrounded by other writers. Of course it is fantasy but it can be difficult to get past the image of bourbon soaked, smoked filled bullpens where somebody yells, "My god! Did you hear what Glenn Richardson's done now?"

I've been contacted by several people asking why I don't blog as much lately. When your in the depths of a whine binge, the mind roils around every conceivable excuse.

I've been travelling a lot lately. This is a fact but when I sat in my wifi-enabled hotel room not wanting to write about my latest poker adventure (something I know entertains my readers) something else must be amiss.

Everybody's got everything covered. Due to changes in my little business ventures, I've turned into a vampire. By the time I wake up each morning, the old guard and the new guard have covered everything under the sun. They do it well too and I feel I have nothing to add. I know there are certain readers who do not read every blog in Georgia and only come to my place to catch the latest news, but I can't force myself to be a simple repeater.

I became addicted to real reporting. Recently, I was interviewed by a grad student about new media. And if she's reading this I haven't forgotten about the release - I'll send it soon. She asked me what it was like to break a story and I told her it was like suddenly finding the pot of gold at the end of a treasure hunt. It's intoxicating. And addictive.

Soon, I wasn't satisfied with simple commentary. I had to find real stories about real people and tell them in practically real time. Fortunately for me, a few months ago a tip came my way about a potentially explosive story. After weeks of hunting, interviewing and researching I concluded either it wasn't a story or it was a story that was beyond simple ability. For the first time I felt despair. Failure is a terrible low after the highs of previous success.

But ultimately I realized the reason I wasn't writing was I felt awash in the negativity. I believed a Presidential election, especially one this important, would be a writer's dream. Instead, as the usual oil slick of awfulness began spreading across the land, I concluded it was only a vapor.

After writing six months about such obvious injustice as Genarlow Wilson, can one really get worked up about Barack Obama saying he visited 57 states?

This wasn't passion. This wasn't even parsing. This was nonsense.

But as it has in the past, last night poker taught me a lesson. Every poker player goes through a bad stretch. I call it swimming through the cold water. When you are in the ocean, through the vagaries of currents and thermoclines, you will suddenly find yourself in shocking cold water. You can't swim backwards. You can't stay there. You can only move forward and find the warm water again.

Poker also taught me something else. After a particularly hard turn at the tables, sometimes the negative can become your friend. Sometimes you must perform mental judo and flip the negative back on the blackness from which it comes.

Sometimes you have to embrace the hate.

My Morning Wooten

Only a Sith deals in absolutes.

If true — and we’ll have to wait for a more balanced historical accounting that includes first-hand accounts of the actual participants in decision-making to know whether Bush serving future generations, as I believe, or settling an old score for his dad, as the loopy-left believes — the news is hardly indictable.

Or as many reasonable people believed and McClellan is confirming, Bush used fear to forward a radical change in American foreign policy by mirroring the philosophy of the Project For A New American Century. An shift so naive in its absolutes many of us non-loopy folks said at the time it would be stupid and tragic. Do you really think we have to wait that long to be proved right? Hell, do we have to wait at all?

My Morning Wooten

Can you spot the logical fallacy?

Cheap rent is a form of public money given to a preferred group. You take their money, you invite their rules — and their meddling. The solution for the Scouts is to sever all ties with government, to either buy the headquarters or negotiate for the city to buy out its interest in the building and to relocate.

If Philadelphia is successful in punishing the Boy Scouts, it will be a sad day for community and for groups like the Scouts that have a reasonable basis for enacting and maintaining the membership qualifications they do.

Is it really so hard to understand that if you receive a government subsidy you cannot discriminate? Really? In 2008?

Editorial Note: I normally don't comment on commenters. In fact I have criticized others for doing so, but here I'm going to make an exception here. Notice the first commenter jbmlaw, who obsessively tends to be the first commenter on all of Jim's pieces, rolls out the tired "predator" meme. Way to tee it up Jim.

Hurricane Preparedness Week

June 1st is the beginning of the hurricane season and this is Hurricane Preparedness Week.

Georgians don't normally think about hurricanes but we are way overdue for a hit.

Make sure you check out the Palm Beach Post's storm watch page. It's the best coverage on the net.

Libertarian Convention Coverage

Most don't know Denver is the host of two political conventions.

Last week, our good friend Jason Pye attended the Libertarian Party National Convention. Check his extensive coverage of the all things political and bizarre.