Can't Shut Up Disease

Why I will never vote for Joe Biden; an iron clad rule to never vote for someone so stupid they cannot avoid contracting Can't Shut Up Disease.

I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," he said. "I mean, that's a storybook, man."

Shut up. Just shut up.

God Bless Little Old Southern Ladies

If you are having a bad day, you should go watch this.

"I love Jesus, but I drink a little."

I wonder how many people here in the southland are wondering if this is a long lost relation.

Townships In Georgia?

If you listened to the January Georgia Political Podcast, you heard me mention Neighborhood Improvement Districts, sometimes referred to as Business Improvement Districts. NIDs allow unincorporated areas to avoid the onerous task of incorporating, but, through contracts with private entities, control services such water and sewer. In a metro area such as Atlanta, racked with separatists movements and bitter fights over resources and revenue, returning some control to local areas without permanently balkanizing an already divided region is a Gordion's Knot few polticians are willing to ponder.

Senator David Adelman from Decatur has more courage than most. He is not willing to implement something as radical as NIDs but he has submitted legislation to allow the creation of Townships. These entities would allow unincorporated areas to control land use and zoning. It is a small step but an encouraging one. More encouraging is the attitude of Sen. Dan Weber, a member from across the aisle who just happens to represent one of the separatists areas.

[He] has been pushing Dunwoody incorporation for several years. He said this week that the community might have chosen to become a township had the option been available two years ago...."We do need a reasonable middle step," Weber said.

Last Thursday, I wondered if there were any true leaders left in Atlanta. Looks like Decatur has had one all along.

h/t: Doug

Justice Off The Rails

I normally avoid individual tales of woe as too many people will conflate these incidents to indictments of whole systems. However, this one is the ridiculous exception.

A 21 year old Tampa woman was alledgedly raped during Gaspirilla. When she finally found a police officer, he ran a routine check and discovered the woman had outstanding warrants. Instead of continuing to the crime scene to further the investigation, the woman was cuffed and immediately taken to jail. Although the woman had received an examination by a nurse at a clinic, she was never taken to the hospital for a proper medical evaluation. While in jail, a guard with "religious" objections alledgedly refused the required second dose of the "morning after pill".

The young woman claims she believed the warrants had been satisfied. A convenient excuse? Well, I personally know someone who was carted off to jail following a routine traffic stop. His crime was idiotically forgetting to pay a parking ticket. It happens.

However, there is no excuse for the further traumatizing of this woman over some unpaid fines. There had better be an investigation. Are you listening Tampa? We will be watching.

UPDATE: Tampa officials have apologized. Good first step. But only the first.

UPDATE II: Tampa's Weekly Planet (for you Atlanta folks, it's their version of Creative Loafing) blog Blurbex has a further update. Tampa's police Stephen Hogue has updated policy to require in the case of assault a shift commander weigh all circumstances involving the assault before exercising action on any outstanding warrants. He has also initiated an investigation into the allegation the young woman was denied the morning after pill while in jail. Swift action. Good job Chief Hogue.

Inside Bobby Franklin's Head

Can I get an e-ticket for a ride through the cranial convultions of Rep. Bobby Franklin brain? Earlier this month, he held a good ol' fashioned tent revival in the guise of a public hearing for his heinous House Bill 1. Now, with House Bill 6, he wants to insure the gummint can't take away our guns during a declared emergency.

...the bill which is aimed at preventing law enforcement from seizing your firearm during a declared state emergency. It would also prevent the state from imposing new regulations regarding the ownership or sale of firearms just because of a declared emergency. Basically, whatever rights you have when an emergency doesn't exist, can't be taken away just because there is an emergency.

I imagine somewhere in the dark recesses of Rep. Franklin's brain, in between synapse flashes of images of dead babies, resides a thought that some time in the near future during an apocolypse, we will be forced to raise arms against some totalitarian government.

I guess it's not really such a bad bill. No one wants some insane, out of control government suddenly declaring an emergency and scooping up all the guns. But logic necessitates my pointing out to Rep. Franklin that in such a situation with such a government, I doubt they will care very much about the niceties of law.

An Impeccable Sense Of Timing

Georgia Rep. Barry Fleming wants to eliminate the requirement for unanimous jury agreement on the death penalty.

Given that we are less than one week from a man's release after being held 22 years for a rape he did not commit, is this really the time to start dicking around with the surety of the one punishment where there is no opportunity for a do-over?

Oooooooo I'm Scared!

Guess I shouldn't hold my breath waiting on that state House press credential.

Then, [Speaker Richardson] added, "if I have any more incidents of coming on the floor of the House (and) asking members if they want to speak ... (and) if they don't, then reporting they are avoiding you, I will revoke your credentials to come on the floor of the House."

Ya know Speaker Richardson, there used to be an old saying. Don't pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel. Well, why don't we modify the old saw just a bit. Y'all probably don't won't to pick fights with people that get bytes by the mega.

I bet I'm not the only thinking this way.

h/t: Amy

A Question For Saxby Chambliss

Georgia Senator and fellow Moultrian Saxby Chambliss is in Switzerland rubbing elbows with the intelligentsia and talking about global warming. He is one of the those I spoke of who will question the potential armageddon as cyclical going so far as to say it may be "nature taking its course".

I have a question for Senator Chambliss.

Senator, you have shown remarkable flexibility on immigration issues. This open-mindedness is certainly understandable given the reality of undocumented aliens being vital to agri-business in our state. Given your willingness to buck your own party on this issue, I am curious why you are not also willing to at least entertain discussion on global warming given the possibility its effects on the world economy could ruin south Georgia farming for generations?

We Won't Be Here

Did you know it's possible at one time the Earth was a giant snowball? The hypothesis is still in the early stages and the evidence is far from clear, but the "snowball Earth' theory is gaining some traction. One of the most common attacks on global warming is fluctuations in the global mean temperature are cyclical. It is an effective attack because as with most effective attacks it contains a kernal of truth. For example, in the past the state of Florida has fluctuated from a climate equivalent to New Hampshire to being underwater. Snowball earth is the most radical scenario of global temperature fluctuation. It presents an Earth grown so cold that the oceans freeze over. If he had been alive a Hans Brinker character could have skated from Holland to New York.

We should have no fear of anything as radical as snowball Earth in the near future but a report being released on friday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change should startle us nonetheless. It predicts a rise in ocean levels from 5 to 23 inches by 2100. Earlier published journals have the oceans rising up to five feet. Not even skeptics at the conference doubt there will be some rise in the waters, the only question is by how much and what damage will be caused. It should be noted even the most hard core skeptics, those who do not subscribe to doomsday scenarios, accept these unavoidable conclusions are the result of man's interaction with his environment.

But then again maybe its all cyclical. Opponents will certainly run this canard out again. And how should one answer these doubters? A simple two word answer will suffice. So what. So what if it's cyclical? The fact is it is happening and there will be consequences. We may not yet know the extent of these consequences but they might range from economies turned topsy turvy due to changes in agri-business to entire population centers being displaced due to flooding to the end of life as we know it.

It reminds me of a comment I heard long ago. Someone said, "the end of the world is coming". Someone else replied, "no, the world will be fine, we just won't be here". Our tiny little mudball will continue to spin around our rather mediocre star for a few billion more years whether we are scurrying around or not. We are the first species in a line of millions of already extinct species who have some ability to preserve ourselves from the vagaries of catastophic planetary change. What a cosmic laughing stock we will be if we don't embrace that opportunity.

Is It All Just An Act?

It's all just an act. This defense is the usual suspect when a talk radio host goes down some dark path and utters something completely bat sh*t crazy. For some I am sure it is true but for others my feeling is not likely, bubba. On ABC News This Week, Torrie Clark confirms my suspicions:

In the fall of 2004, I had not one, not two, several conservative radio talk show hosts off the air say to me, you know we're going to be okay with McCain this fall because he's being good to the President and on Iraq, but don't let him think we've forgotten and he's not one of us.

So John? How's all that right-wing mollycoddling going?

Ticket To Ride: The Georgia DPG Elections

Before the circus began, I commented to an acquaintance that I had to give Democrats credit in one area. They are nothing if not heavily into symbolism, even when it's self-deprecating.

After receiving an appreciation gift which looked like a paperweight, outgoing Chairman Bobby Kahn then received two plane tickets. Mr. Kahn was gracious enough to finish the joke by asking "is it true one of them's one way".

The hall was SRO and I heard someone comment it was the highest turnout in years. This may have presented a problem for Michael Thurmond and Doug Stoner. The two vertically challenged politicians stood near the rear and were asked by a bystander if there was a height requirement for the Vice Chair's race.

I would go into the gory details of what happened during the next three hours but I just stopped the bleeding in my eyes and I don't want to relapse. Suffer it to say the procedure is a candidate is nominated and then there's a speech and then there's another speech and then there's another speech. Then they get to move to the next candidate. Wash, rinse, repeat. Through five candidates. As we approached the end I asked Jon Flack, " JESUS GAWD PLEASE TELL ME THEY DON'T GET TO TALK BETWEEN EVERY BALLOT!'

Voting took four rounds with a Survivor-style elimination of the lowest vote getter. First, Carol Jackson bit the dust. Then freakishly rambunctious Reverend Jim Nelson. Finally, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin's number one gal Hattie Dorsey was eliminated leaving the two horses everyone came to see.

Every vote between Jane Kidd and Mike Berlon was close but with each successive ballot Kidd pulled closer and finally led. In the end, I believe Berlon suffered a gender double whammy. A source told me it was the belief the Dorsey bloc wanted a woman chair. Also the weird bylaws require the chair and the first vice-chair to be different gender. With two strong male candidates in the first vice-chair race, Berlon may have been doomed before the final ballot was cast.

Final Vote: Kidd - 138, Berlon 101

So, congratulations Jane Kidd. Now how about working on some bylaws requiring these things to either have shorter time limits or an open bar. And to those of you who provided a tail gate version of the latter, many thanks.

P.S. I really want to be Jim Galloway when I grow up. My envy grew three times in one day as people kept coming up to him and whispering in his ear. Oh the tales he must hear.

Into A Bag Of Wet Cats

I'm going to watch the Democratic Party of Georgia elections. Pray for me.

Why We Do Good Things

I went to a gathering of drunks and a science discussion broke out.

You may not believe it but when my usual gaggle of rednecks, hillbillies and ne'er do wells gather the talk frequently turns to current events, politics and even occasionally science. Recently I brought up a personal favorite topic, evolution. I was grilled on the usual difficult questions. How does evolution explain such very human needs as altruism, love and generosity? I did my best to answer, secretly knowing that certain scientists were working on the answers I didn't have. Well, now maybe they do.

"Perhaps altruism did not grow out of a warm-glow feeling of doing good for others, but out of the simple recognition that the thing over there is a person that has intentions and goals. And therefore, I might want to treat them like I might want them to treat myself," explained study author Scott Huettel, an associate professor of psychology at Duke University Medical Center, in Durham, N.C.

The beauty of science is it doesn't destroy mystery. It enhances it.

Milton County Update

Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson indicates the formation of Milton County will probably not make it out of the legislature this year. The creation of a new county would require a constitutional amendment moving the cap on the number of counties from 159 to 160 (yes, non-Georgia readers you read that right, 159 counties) or have two other counties merge to create room under the cap. Either method would require a 2/3 majority in both houses to create the new county and Richardson says that just ain't happening.

So guess what children? We get to roll around in this mess same time next year. Sandy Springs gnawed its bone for 25 years and finally succeeded. There's no reason to think the Miltonites won't do the same.

There's Always A Silver Lining

On the heels of a rumor that a Georgia Republican legislator is proposing a New York City-style ban on transfats right here in the heart of fried chicken and fat back country comes a report out of Durham, NC that scientists have created caffeinated donuts.

Let the market rule baby!

Wing Nut Conspiracy Land

Oh and you thought I was pissed yesterday.

There's yet another story floating around the sphere purporting more evidence of President Carter's anti-semitism.

Former Holocaust Museum Council member Monroe Freedman alledges thirty years ago President Carter complained there were "too many Jews" on the council. He also claims Carter rejected a potential board member because his name sounds too "jewish".

Oh, how the smell of blood seems to refresh memories.

I don't know if the allegations are true or not, but I would ask when someone relays them to you that you consider the source. Freedman's statements came in an "exclusive" interview with World Net Daily.

Not familiar with World Net Daily? Well, for those of you who do not take a dip in that fetid pool on a regular basis, let me present you with a few examples of their fine journalism.

Last week, WND "reported" an exclusive interview with an Air Force officer who reported seeing UFOs in Arkansas. It took only a few days for the Air Force to explain to the soft headed children the "lights" were caused by fairly standard parachute flares being used in a training exercise. For good measure, the original article was accompanied by an advertisement for a book that discusses the possibility of UFOs being demons sent by Satan.

Other "news" World Net Daily has covered in the past?

• Despite reports from the FAA and the Department of Defense, WND continues to put forth "evidence" TWA 800 was shot down by a terrorist missle. Once again followed by an ad for some whack-job conspiracy theorist.


• An alledged "super highway" from Mexico to the U.S. created under the auspices of NAFTA. Followed by an ad for their own newsletter containing articles on a conspiracy in the highest levels of government to create a North American Union with Canada and Mexico


• Multiple attacks on Evolution usually single sourced to a creationist minister such as Ken Ham, usually followed by an ad for a book on James Ussher, the 17th century Bishop who claimed to have sussed out the exact time the world was created.

But let's talk a little more about this Jerusalem Bureau, the one who uncovered Carter's alledged comments. In one week, its star "reporter" Aaron Klein had the Israeli government secretly handing over the West Bank first to Mahmoud Abbas and then to a European task force.

World Net Daily's motto should be "All News Fit To Make Our Subscribers Froth At The Mouth".

The internet is a wonderful thing. But sometimes, it's still just the internet.

In Which I Hate On Everyone

I have a terrible temper. I was talking with a friend about it just the other day. She also has a terrible temper. We both laughed as we discussed having to consciously control our urges to fly off the handle. The one thing we didn't talk about is the slow burn. You sort of snicker at a comment. Then you think about it later. Pretty soon the thought consumes all others. You only suffer the final blow up if the situation which lit the fuse continues.

When the Milton County / Vincent Fort kerfluffle began, I approached it with cold logic attempting to bypass the racial rhetoric and address what I believe to be the actual problem. I didn't know at the time but the fuse was lit. Now I'm madder than a baby with a loaded diaper. I pretty much want to drag all the combatants into a room and give everyone a swift kick in the ass.

So here we go...

To the Atlanta Legislative Caucus, Fulton County Commission, Atlanta City Council, etal:

Do you ever step back and ask yourself if what you are doing is actually serving the people? I would love to ask about serving the region, but hell let's start with the small steps. It is your history of not even showing a willingness to come to the table that led to the formation of the city of Sandy Springs. We now all reap the fruit from that poison tree. Your mule headed intransigence has led every separatists group in the metro area to believe brinksmanship is the only tactic in discussing resources and revenue issues. Constituents questioning your wisdom on appropriating their tax dollars is not inherently racist. Even when the constituent is, God forbid, white. Blood on the walls? A chairman's race that could throw us back to the dark ages of fire hoses and police dogs? There is a proud history of leadership in this city, this county, this region. Somehow that leadership has lost its way in the past ten years. The current leaders better find that way again or someone will come along and show them the way out the door.

To North Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett and all the other enclaves outside downtown:

Your whine is showing with your cheese. You bitch about lack of services and high taxes. Well, I have visited your shangra-la of the ways thing should be. What I didn't see were houses burning to the foundation because all the fire trucks are in south Fulton. What I didn't see was little old ladies dying in the gutter because all the defibrillators are in south Fulton. What I did see were plenty of sidewalks and fairly good roads (adding more lanes as we speak). What I did see was uncontrolled sprawl with strip malls where every the last tree sprouts. What I did see were new cities, these havens of good service, immediately deciding to waste money on trying to shut down porn kings and forcing businesses in good standing to reapply for licenses via new onerous bureaucratic processes.

It is your history, stretching from Cobb County's proposal to require residence identification before boarding the county transit system to Gwinnett County's stupid refusal to allow MARTA access while the DOT continues to slap down new lanes on I-85, that contributes to the black eyes you are now suffering. You want to enjoy all the benefits of Atlanta, from Grady's trauma center where your 16 year old is treated after wrapping the new SUV around a tree to Chastain where you can chatter your way through quiet acoustic melodies, but God knows don't actually associate yourself with being Atlanta. The only people in this world who still believe you can have all the chocolate without the bellyache are three year olds. Grow up.

To the national media, blogs, etal:

You don't know us. You think you do but you don't. Here's some things to help you. While adults were throwing rocks at children in Boston, Atlanta and surrounding counties were quietly using busing and minority to majority programs to peacefully integrate schools. While African-Americans in such citadels of enlightenment as Detroit continue to try to push a single toe into the pool of economic growth, Atlanta has one of the fastest growing African-American middle classes in the country. Yet, you will take the easy way out by painting us as a bunch of gun-totin', Confederate flag wavin', banjo pickin' stump jumpers who probably need another good burning by General Sherman. My grandma had a saying. Sweep around your own stoop before spitting snuff on someone else's. Well y'all out there in the "cultured" part of the world just keep on with your preaching. My stoop is swept and my mouth is full of chaw.

2007 and we still have to go through this crap. Shame on us all.

Begala On Changing Communications

Bernaise Source has an excellent interview with Paul Begala. Go read it.

Bloggers on both the left and right bedevil corporate media, and I couldn't be happier about it (even though, as a mainstream media pundit at CNN, I get my share of grief from both the left and the right). They keep us honest. You have to have a thick kin, but why should media be immune from the same sort of scrutiny we give politicians?

Yep.

We Made The Blogs, Mabel!

Well, it's gone beyond the "local" blogs.

Get ready for the whole Milton County separation movement to be the national blog "cause celebre" tomorrow.

You can read my thoughts in the comments here.

It's telling that our state only makes the internet buzz on good ol' fashioned racial issues. Whether they are ginned up or actual, maybe all of us, both sides, should learn something, step up and do something about it.

P.S. Some of you big fish bloggin internets folk could give credit where credit is due. Some of us overall wearin, banjo pickin yokels have been talkin about this for some time. Don't doubt the power of all us bowin' up (that's a southern term, worth lookin up) as one voice when outsiders come lookin' in.

Quote Of The Day

From Shakespeares Sister on President Bush commenting on how "the best health care decisions are made not by government and insurance companies, but by patients and their doctors".

Unless, of course, you have a vagina

Snark.