Signs on the road, sign of the times.

My trip to and from work every day takes me through quite a few contrasting areas and neighborhoods. I start out in the residential area just north of the Decatur city limits; work my way past Lavista, I-85, Buford Highway and Peachtree Street. I head north through the tawny and wealthy neighborhoods of Buckhead and cruise up to the north end of the perimeter where I hop on 400 north and feel the adrenaline rush of driving with the hogs of the road until I am finally able to escape the high speed and substitute it with the stop and go of a red light every 100 yards in Alpharetta. The path is flipped around in the late afternoon for the gas burn home. I have alternate routes for when the traffic plugs due to a wreck or water main break or God knows what.

The trip is interesting in the morning as I can cruise very well and make it through many red lights before I finally have to stop. I can see the neighborhoods as I pass and get a look at my surroundings for a little while. The OCD aspect of my personality is best suited for the drive as I count things while I drive. A trick to pass time that I picked up years ago when I would drive home to visit family when I was on leave in the Navy. I count red lights, mileage, elapsed time and a wide range of other things. If I run out of obvious things to count I’ll turn my attention to car makes, models and colors.

The other week I found myself counting For Sale and For Rent signs along the side of the road. I tallied 25 homes for sale and 7 for rent. Of the 25 homes listed for sale, 16 of them were in the upscale Buckhead neighborhoods. This didn’t include the numerous condo projects that are still being built and the ones that have recently been completed. 16 multi-million-dollar homes for sale just between Peachtree Street and Pill Hill on the northside, and this was seen on one road, Peachtree-Dunwoody. Think about that for a minute, I’ll come back to it.

When financial “bubbles” burst, they do one of two things: 1) A sudden and widespread deflation. 2) A slow and prolonged leak. The mortgage crisis is a bubble that leaks like the latter, it’s a slow and drawn out process. The highest number of sub-prime loans that had a reset has just come and gone. October was the month that saw the highest number of interest rate resets. The fall out from those resets will not be seen for quite a while. The folks who have already been caught up in the crisis were those who got on the bandwagon early. The ones who jumped on while it was in full swing are just now being pulled through the wringer.

As I drove north on Peachtree-Dunwoody that morning and caught myself admiring the many older, more lovely homes I noticed that it was the newer infill style McMansions that had the for sale signs and very few of the older homes were for sale. I thought about the millions of dollars spent to buy the land, paying crews to tear down the old homes and build the new houses. I thought about what some of those places will look like after they have sat vacant for months. I thought of the stories we are hearing out of Cleveland and the Slavic Village neighborhood.

Slavic Village, for those not familiar, is an old, established neighborhood in Cleveland that was settled by European immigrants starting back in the 1800’s. It has been the most severely effected neighborhood in the entire nation, by this mortgage crisis. The last figure I saw stated that about 800 homes are vacant in this area and the director of a foreclosure prevention center in Cuyahoga County stated that it takes approximately 72 hours after a home is vacated before the looters break in. The looters are stealing recyclable materials such as copper and aluminum.

I don’t think this would happen in Buckhead as there is too much concentrated wealth and power living there to allow it to happen and I don’t think “white flight” is going to be an issue like Detroit saw decades ago. The housing trend in Atlanta has reversed in recent years with more people moving back inside the perimeter. Still, the thought of massive McMansions sitting vacant all through this upscale and power laden neighborhood is chilling.

Reports across the board show that the worst is still yet to come. An analogy would be that what we see now is simply the salad being brought to the dining table and the main course is only now being put in the oven. We are being bitten by commodity inflation and a trip to get groceries carries it’s own sticker shock. The earned wages of Americans have not kept pace with inflation over the last 6 years and now we are in a spot where the dollars is breaking records on an almost daily basis for all-time lows in value. Money doesn’t stretch because it is becoming worthless. Where will this end?

Like those homes in Buckhead, there are people who have massive personal wealth, the sort who can survive this economic slide with no problem. There are also people who are on the periphery and barely making it, even in the higher income brackets and even in those tawny neighborhoods. We, like our nation as an entity, are getting close to the breaking point. How much longer it will last before the rubber band snaps is beyond my knowledge. The fallout is going to be massive and it doesn’t take an economist to see that.

All any of us can do is hold on and wait to see when the other shoe drops.

Item #1 on the Sonny-Do list -- Pray that the Razorbacks whup the Vols.

For years I thought we Georgians would never see a Governor as lazy as Joe Frank Harris. Governor Harris, while intending to do good things, couldn’t have gotten less done during his tenure in office even if he had slept 23 hours a day. Yes, his education reforms were positive at the time and we have the Georgia Dome, but that’s about it for Governor Harris’ legacy. Now we have a real malingerer residing in the Governor’s Mansion. Sonny Purdue’s mastery of laziness is so powerful that when I recently drove down West Paces Ferry Road, I had to pull into the shopping center at the intersection of Northside Drive and take a nap. It's as though simple geographic proximity to the Governor will induce a deep state of lazy bones.

Other than trying to sue the living shit out of the Army Corp of Engineers and giving us an idea of how high the IQ’s of the Governor’s of Alabama and Florida really are when compared to his, Sonny has done little more of late than schlump his way through a prayer vigil for rain. Instead of action and leadership, Sonny will bow his head and pray for rain. I guess it’s easier for him to ask God for rain than it is for him to lead the state through this crisis. Now don’t get me wrong, I may be a member of the Church of No Permanent Abode but I do have faith and I am not mocking prayer or believers. The thought of our Governor wasting his time in a glad-handing public display rather than addressing the problem and making hard choices is just too ripe for me to pass up.

If we get a big gulley washer and the reservoirs all over the southeast fill to the brim, does this mean Sonny has favored son status with the Almighty? If that is the case, why did Sonny wait so long before he prayed for rain? If the prayer thing backfires and the drought worsens, does this mean Sonny is on God’s bad side? Should the Governor pray for something more attainable? For instance, how about a loss by Tennessee this weekend and a UGA win over Auburn? Can he get more mileage by praying that McKay and Blank can shore up the offensive line?

I’ll be praying today. I won’t be praying for rain, I’ll be praying that these stupid elected officials like Sonny Perdue don’t flush the damn toilet that this country is sitting in. I’ll pray to see a PSA on TV, with a brown and sun scorched lawn in front of the Governor’s Mansion and our bald headed, chubby boy named Sonny telling all Georgians that we have to rethink how we use this finite and precious resource known as water. I’ll pray that Bonaire’s favorite son will not embarrass us more than he already has.

Why do mollusks hate our freedoms?

Par for the course, the 100-year drought and looming water catastrophe for the metropolitan Atlanta area, is turning into a political mud fling (no pun intended). They did this and they did that, they said this and they said that. That’s the cream that is rising to the top. Meanwhile, Lake Lanier is dropping 1.7 inches per day. Rains are forecast for tonight, Thursday and Friday so we shall see if a drop of cool water will fall on us.

All day I face the barren waste without the taste of water,
Cool water.
Old Dan and I with throats burned dry and souls that cry for water,
Cool water.

Sons of the Pioneers, Cool Water, verse 1

This problem has been brewing for years, long before I was born and possibly before you were born. The problem can be read about in James Dickey’s novel Deliverance, it can be seen in the distinct shift in Georgia politics since the flawed Governorship of Joe Frank Harris and it can be told when you talk with a person who lives in Georgia regardless of what town or city they live in regardless if they are native or transplant. The problem, to be blunt, is hatred, hurt feelings and selfishness. We are all to blame, native Georgian and Yankee transplant living in Buckhead. All of us are to blame and no one wants to tell the truth about it. I am to blame as well as I have been apathetic to the fights even though I do not waste water.

The story should really start back in the post-war days of the mid and late 1940’s. The south as a whole was still in the process of coping with being an agrarian society that was converting to an industrialized society. The major cities of the south such as Atlanta, Birmingham, New Orleans, were all growing and basic resources were needed. Birmingham, along with Chattanooga, were the great industrial cities of the south, with steel being king. TVA was creating electricity for every type of manufacturing plant you can think of, and the horrendous flooding of the Tennessee River was a long ago trouble that only your Granny remembered well. Atlanta and New Orleans at one time fought backroom deals and pulled every old boy that could be found into the network to get the Federal Reserve Bank. Atlanta eventually won and got the bank but the bad feelings from the fight are still felt.

The night are cool and I'm a fool each stars a pool of water,
Cool water.
But with the dawn I'll wake and yawn and carry on to water,
Cool water.

Sons of the Pioneers, Cool Water, verse 2

Atlanta’s future growth was tied to two things, water and electricity. Atlanta was out of the TVA grid so Georgia Power was tasked with ramping up projects to make more electricity. Water could be provided through a reservoir system, which could also have the side benefits of creating hydroelectric power and provide a new middle-class with recreational facilities. Land was surveyed, families were chased away and before the 60’s arrived, Atlanta had a reliable water supply and power generating capabilities that would last for decades of growth before new plants needed to come online.

Quite literally, Atlanta had positioned itself as a city with growing room. The city had the utilities in place to support the massive population of today long before it even had a million residents or before the Interstate Highway System had snaked it’s way through the city. City leaders, businessmen and politicians recognized this early on and the big push was on. The catchy slogan came out, Southern Bell ran more and more wire out into what was then known as the suburbs and under the gold dome of the state capitol more and more funds were shipped to the metropolitan Atlanta area for projects tied to economic growth.

Keep a movin' Dan, don't you listen to him Dan,
he's a devil not a manand he spreads the burnin' sand with water.
Dan can't you see that big green tree where the waters runnin' freeand it's waiting there for me and you.
Water, cool water.

Sons of the Pioneers, Cool Water, chorus

The construction of the I-285 perimeter roadway is the embodiment of what Georgians have felt for generations. There are two Georgia’s, one in the city of Atlanta (Inside the Perimeter, or ITP for short) and one that comprises the rest of the state (Outside the Perimeter, or OTP for short). Old festering grudges have built up over the years. It has been “our way vs. their way” on both sides of 285 for a very long time and the resentment for a long line of real or believed slights has deepened.

In the meantime growth in Atlanta has skyrocketed beyond what anyone had envisioned. The city’s infrastructure is unable to handle the load. In some areas such as the storm water and sewerage systems, the advanced age and condition has been known about for decades but has only been addressed in recent years but is still not fixed. The land use issues have escalated between landowners and local/state regulators. The claims of overbearing laws and regulations are shouted whenever a developer is not allowed to completely cover acres of land or a homeowner is fined for cutting down trees. When real estate developers are told they cannot create massive infill housing in older, established neighborhoods they claim interference from government bureaucracy.

Whenever the serious problems have been discussed and brought out into the open the old and tired chants were given once the cost of fixing the problems was told. "We are taxed to death! We can't keep paying OUR hard earned cash to keep that city afloat." "Why should Georgians pay for Atlanta's luxuries. If they need to fix their system, let them pay for it." "Why should I not have control over my own future and give Atlanta the control over my business, my residential area and my zoning laws?" "No wonder Atlanta has so many problems, it's run by nothing but blacks. Whites moved out to the suburbs in the 60's and 70's and those cities are growing nicely." Yes, we have heard it all and they have said it all. It's the same old excuses, the same old stories and the same old lines they have been saying for more than 5 decades.

The shadows sway and seem to say tonight we pray for water,
Cool water.
And way up there He'll hear our prayer and show us where there's water,
Cool Water.

Sons of the Pioneers, Cool Water, verse 3

Our massive over-development has reduced the amount of land able to absorb rainwater and our water table is not being replenished as a result. The over development is not centralized in Atlanta it covers the whole state. Storm run off is increased and is funneled into the Chattahoochee with pollutants such as oil, fertilizer and pesticides. No water restrictions were put into place until the crisis loomed. There has never been a water conservation and awareness program in the state and no tax incentives are given to home and business owners who do conserve this precious resource.

Now, a triple whammy has hit us. We are in the midst of a 100-year drought and predictions of a drier than normal winter lies ahead. Our growth has taxed the capabilities of Lake Lanier to supply us. The last hurdle is two species of mollusks, which inhabit the down river areas of the Chattahoochee before it dumps into the Gulf of Mexico. The Army Corp of Engineers is bound by federal law and federal mandate to supply enough water from Lake Lanier to maintain the species with a specific flow of water every day. Now we have the chants that little old ladies will go without water all because of a couple of stupid muscles down in Florida.

Dan's feet are sore he's yearning for just one thing more than water,
Cool water.
Like me, I guess, he'd like to rest where there's no quest for water,
Cool water.

Sons of the Pioneers, Cool Water, final verse

So here we are. Living through an event we have no control over, the drought; and living under conditions of our own making, a water crisis. The muscles in Florida are endangered in part because of the low water conditions created by Lake Lanier’s construction and other water grabs along the path of the Chattahoochee River. Lake Lanier was constructed to control flooding, create a water reservoir and generate electricity. The people came to the area Lake Lanier supports with no strings attached and they have overloaded the system. Now that a real emergency is just around the corner whom do we blame? The muscles.

Why do mollusks hate our freedoms? I need a drink of cool water.

Don't be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Jesus Party!

Coming soon to a ballot in your district, The Jesus Party. I can easily see this happening following the comments by James “The Dachshund Beater (http://www.nospank.net/dugan.htm) Dobson; that he will back a third party candidate if the Republican Party doesn’t pick someone who is, “conservative enough.” Talk about balls.

I think it’s time for the radical religious freaks to form their own political party, the Jesus Party. Where free spirits and those who live life without lies or shame are called heathens and are cursed. It’s time to put the extremists in a position where every American can see just how fucked in the head some of our worst fellow citizens are. No reason to pussyfoot around and pretend to be a “compassionate conservative”, just show the world how full of hate and contempt you really are. The rest of us can see what those folks are really all about and make some serious choices.

The current crop of 4th tier bathing beauties who are running for President are too afraid of telling hard truths and making hard choices. The Congress is locked in it’s own paralysis of doing the right things for fear of being branded as one thing or another. They are afraid of the consequences. The consequences being the loss of their cushy job in DC and that fear is something that shouldn’t be a part of the job because we all know those lobbyist positions are lined up after a career in politics. We need men and women to make the hard choices and say the things that have to be said to get us on the right track. Instead they’ll talk the talk that they believe is the talk we want to hear.

There was a time, even in the small north Georgia town I grew up in, that getting a bit too full of the Holy Spirit would bring about the response of the common sense most of us have. There was a time that we did not suffer fools gladly and it was encouraged to call things exactly as they appear to be. The fundamentalists had a side role in local politics and social issues, the role of the lunatic fringe. This was the case up until the early and mid 80’s. What precipitated this change from sanity to all-out goofiness? The fear of satanic forces.

Starting with the whole back masking phenomenon in the early 80’s I saw the attitudes in my small town change. First it was the satanic influences upon the young with rock music. Then they added the “epidemic” of drugs and they brought it full circle in the early 90’s with fear of the Clintons and the supposed hidden agenda of one-world secularism. As if the whole scene weren’t enough, my little hometown newspaper began operating a program where they asked the local citizens to rat each other out over who was selling drugs. Honest to God, they instilled fear into the citizens and then asked readers to send in their reports of suspicious activity to the newspaper, which would be forwarded to the local law enforcement authorities. The editor of the paper at that time was a former aid to radical right wing Congressman, Larry McDonald.

How did they frighten and change the minds of these simple country folks who had always maintained country smarts? Fear of everything that sits on the other side of the mountain and fear of it invading and taking over their small town, that’s how they did it. In a town like I came from, there are two mountains that separated us from the rest of the world. Nothing good or positive happened on the other side of those two mountains. To add to it, one mountain was where the drug dealers had their crops and the other housed devil worshipers. I am serious.

Lookout Mountain was where, according to rumor, pot growers had clandestine fields of dope, guarded by men with hunting rifles and woe to anyone who happened upon them. The other mountain was where two Satanists lived in their estate named Corpsewood (http://theconspiratorsnest.blogspot.com/2007/04/from-archives-look-back-at-corpsewood.html) . The mountains were more than just geological boundaries for the community; they became symbolic of barriers to keep the rest of the world at bay.

This is was a microcosm of the path we as a nation have gone down in the past 6 years. Fear of anything beyond the boundaries of our coastal areas and fear of anything beyond the borders that separated the countries we are sandwiched between. Everything on the other side is evil and satanic and we are constantly being infiltrated by demonic forces that threaten us.

In many ways, the field of Conspiracy Theory studies is similar to this phenomenon. We, the CT enthusiasts, are constantly trying to warn everyone else of the dangers we see. Dangers being guided by unseen forces, forces of evil. The problem with both CT studies and extremists religious causes is that far too often we both go into extremely radical territory. I myself understand that I have ideas that stray into the fantastic. However, there is a difference between the two groups. The radicalized religious want to alter the way we all live. They wish to enforce their beliefs upon all of us. The conspiracy theorists only want to broaden their, and your, horizons and expose the false idols around us.

It is easy to see the far religious right wishing to enslave all of us while the conspiracy theorists are trying to free us by exposing the plots. What is most surprising to me in this process is how many conspiracy theorists wind up like Texe Marrs and become caught in anti-Semitism and I really believe there is a trigger point which starts this conversion. Once they head down the “Jewish conspiracy” path there is rarely an outcome other than far right-wing political extremism.

So let’s all cheer for the formation of the Jesus Party. Perception and reality, ideaology and truth rarely meet in the center. Sooner or later the far right-wing of this country will need to show their true colors, on full display for all to see. After all, if you are going to be a full blown fascist you might as well wear the t-shirt that shows you were there for the party.

Sembler Co., DeKalb County and the billion dollar disco ball.

Did I ever mention to you that I hate developers, more to the point Atlanta developers, with a passion? I also hate the infill folks and the “urban pioneers” who completely erase the historical legacies of the neighborhoods that they feel they are gracing with their presence, bad taste and bad manners. Cabbagetown is a shell of what it once was, the Oakhurst district is threatened and the newest threat to the way things are is the Sembler Co. looking to redevelop the North Druid Hills Road area just south of I-85.

Sembler has given us a new wrinkle to this mad money grab in the area of the traffic problems. If you have ever driven through that area at rush hour you know how it goes, for those not familiar with what happens here is the 411. If you are heading south on North Druid Hills Road, heading in the direction of North DeKalb Mall, on the worst day traffic will back up at Buford Highway. It’s a stop and go crawl all the way down to the Target Super Store across the street from the school. Traffic will thin out a little until you reach LaVista, where it’s stop and go all the way down to Clairmont. I have no idea how bad it stays past Clairmont but I am assuming it does follow a similar routine all the way down to the mall and Stone Mountain Parkway.

So, what is Sembler’s plan to relieve the already growing congestion to make room for the thousands of cars that will be added because of their billion-dollar project? They want to send the “regional” traffic (folks not stopping at their shrine to greed) underground. Yes, they want to make the rest of us mole people. There is a problem though. Have these knuckleheads ever seen the folks merge from the 85 exit onto N. Druid Hills? Have they ever seen people trying to scoot across 3 lanes of traffic to get onto Briarcliff? They expect us to believe their redesign of the roads will take that into account? Bullshit, I say.

What do they have planned for the “local traffic”, which would be those wanting to stop off at their greed shrine or at the Chik-Fil-A or the Target or Picadilly? Well let’s just throw a roundabout in the mix. These waterheads are convinced that a roundabout will solve all the traffic woes. Have those folks ever driven through a roundabout in America at a heavy traffic intersection? The fuckers don’t work in any way except to keep the auto body shops in business fixing sideswiping idiots.

A Sembler style project can work and be a benefit to the community if it is in the right place. Atlantic Station, for example, did a service to the community by cleaning up an abandoned industrial site and expanded an already expanding Midtown district. The area that Sembler wants to redevelop doesn’t need redevelopment. We need a better traffic plan but the answer isn’t building a billion dollar mixed-use development.

That area has numerous offices, thriving businesses and residential areas. I don’t see Loehman’s Plaza hurting. I don’t see the Picadilly, my favorite one in the Atlanta area, having trouble filling seats on any day or night. Guitar Center is PACKED on any given day. The Chik-Fil-A always has customers. The Target even expanded a few years back because the business is good. There is always a long line of cars at the QT waiting to fill up on their gas.

So, why does Sembler NEED to “redevelop” this area? It’s not needed, it’s unnecessary and it will make a horrible mess of an already congested area. Why does Sembler NEED to redevelop? Simple answer. They aren’t satisfied with just having a shitload of money, they want a king hell shitload of money. A billion dollar investment is one hell of a risk to take, especially in this economic downturn, and if they are willing to risk it they must have studies and reports sitting in their offices that show they can make a killing by doing a quick fuck job on the citizens of DeKalb County.

If you think this redevelopment plan is a good idea I think you need to talk with the folks who have seen how the Perimeter Center development has adversely affected the folks who live and work around that area. If you aren’t convinced you need to also ask yourself what is going to happen if this plan goes through and all the warnings you have been given come true. How would it even be possible to repair the sort of damage they want to do? How is DeKalb County going to pay for the upkeep of those tunnels they want to build?

If you think it’s a good idea, WHY do you think it’s a good idea? Is it because you want new places to shop? Go to Buckhead and shop, its only 15 minutes further away. Is it because you want the development to increase your property values? If your property values are so strongly tied to local commercial investments you should have moved your happy ass to Buckhead or Midtown and NOT the bedroom communities that surround this area. Is it simply because your easily distracted by shinny things? If that’s the case buy a disco ball and stare at it all you want.

Even Satan hates developers and McMansion dwellers

Greased palms keep the gears of capitalism turning and all of us know that. To think otherwise, that big political donations don’t have a positive effect for the givers of such contributions, is foolish, deceitful and naive. Does big business give money away to politicians as though they were charity, just to be nice? No, they do not. Do they do it simply because they “like” someone’s political stance? No, they do not. They do it to buy favor even if favors are not explicitly promised since such a promise would make the contribution a bribe and illegal.

We rarely get to see this process exposed to the light of day. Even with campaign laws written so that we can search for political contributions, sometimes online, we rarely look to see who is giving money to whom. I fall into that category as well, and when I have searched I mostly do not recognize the names of the contributors. Occasionally our media will expose some of this and we are left to consider the ramifications. Today’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a story that lays out how a major developer is greasing the palms of DeKalb county officials to get what they want.

I cannot say these county officials have taken bribes by the developer, but I can say that this smells fishy and the appearance of improper conditions for campaign contributions are the first thing I think of. Can they really maintain integrity and an unbiased view when they vote for this thing? I can’t say that the developer has given them bribes, but I will say that it certainly smells fishy to me that a Florida based developer, who is facing a major downturn in the Florida real estate market, would donate thousands upon thousands of dollars to county officials in DeKalb County, Georgia; who just happen to hold the yes or no vote on a project that will make millions for them and contribute nothing positive to the quality of life in the area they wish to redevelop. It will in fact turn an already busy and thriving area, which suffers from horrible traffic gridlock, into an even larger traffic nightmare and it will destroy and transform yet another former suburban district into the new Mecca for the greedy and tasteless of Atlanta.

The North Druid Hills corridor that they wish to redevelop is an area I am highly familiar with, in fact I will be moving back to Decatur in a few weeks, away from the worst mistake I ever made which was moving to Sandy Springs in 2002. I will in fact be living on North Druid Hills Road, and their project will indeed effect me. I am intimately familiar with the area targeted for redevelopment and I already have a major experience dealing with a similar development to which is planned by the Sembler Co.

I live a little more than a mile from the Perimeter Place development in Dunwoody and that development has totally fucked the area in terms of traffic and quality of life. Before that development was begun, driving through the connector roads that slice across the northern side of Perimeter was the perfect means of getting around the plug of traffic associated with the mall and the many office towers that are clustered in the area. Now the area is hopelessly plugged with traffic, the task of running errands is useless, as the development has created a third bottleneck for the flow of traffic. The other bottlenecks are the location and heavy traffic of Perimeter Mall and the layout of the cross connecting roads themselves as they were designed in an “S” shape for their entire length and not as straight thoroughfares.

The Perimeter Place development will be nothing when compared to the monstrosity that is planned for the area between I-85 and Briarcliff on North Druid Hills Road. The Sembler development will destroy affordable housing in the form of apartments on Briarcliff. Affordably priced apartments within a few mile radius of the development will suddenly become “fashionable” and the average working man and woman will have to move to yet another affordable apartment complex. The neighborhoods of the area, which have been shattered by the trashy infill buyers and developers will finally be ruined as the last of the greedy with no tastes will want to scoop up the remaining ranch house properties to make them McMansion hell.

Sembler will in effect, destroy the final vestiges of a neighborhood and a district all for their profit. The average citizen is being chased away by greedy and tasteless fucks who have a shitload of money and absolutely no common sense, human decency or good taste. Sembler is not interested in the common good for the citizens of DeKalb County, it is not interested in the community itself and it is not interested in the long-term quality of life for the residents of DeKalb County. Sembler is only concerned with one fucking thing, making a bigger pile of cash and fuck anyone who stands in their way.

Sembler has no interest in the fair and honest workings of the local government, they do not give a shit who takes their money all they want is for those who accept their money to vote in their favor. Sembler is the epitome of what is fucking wrong in this country as whole, the greedy want more and the average citizen who is in their way gets trampled over and to ease their way through the system they give fucking cold hard cash to politicians as their means of exercising their first amendment rights.

If DeKalb County officials allow this travesty to happen, we can say without doubt that mere trinkets and baubles distracted them into selling the rest of us out; and the price was just a few grand. I wonder how easy it is for the Sembler execs to blow through the same amount of money that they have already donated to the Dekalb officials. Their monthly greens fees are probably cost more than what they slid into the pockets of these officials.

Sociopath Tuesday! Politicians, athletes and the big toe of Big Brother!

There is simply too much going on right now to pick a single subject. Within the last 24 hours there has been the resignation of AG Alberto Gonzalez, another senior GOP Senator has been thrust into a sex scandal, Michael Vick apologists have been in over drive and there has been a curious media blackout regarding the murder of the former leader of the GOP in Georgia. It’s just too much to digest and sift through in one sitting.

AG Gonzalez, the man who never met a spy program he didn’t love, will be trying to outrun possible perjury charges for lying before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Of course the Democrats will capitulate and not seek those charges, nor will they ever seek to bring to justice the liars and un-American bastards who have led our nation into a deep, dark sewer over the past 6 years. Gonzo will head back to Texas with the blessings of his President after a brief tenure as the head of the Justice Department and a history that will show him to have been the most destructive and least protective AG in the history of that cabinet position.

Senator Larry Craig of Idaho once again shows me that maybe the really wild sex fiends are the members of the Republican Party. I have no problem with the homosexual community, gays and lesbians are just regular folks trying to get by and live their lives too, in my eyes. I feel sorry for closeted gays who cannot tell the world how they really feel. However, I have no sympathy or patience for a hypocrite like Craig, who maligns and demonizes the gay community, all the while he is looking for kinky public sex in an airport. If Sen. Craig were to just come out and tell us that he does indeed suck dick and he was wrong for demonizing the gay culture and wrong for repressing his true sexuality, I’ll jump on the man’s bandwagon and back him 100%. Instead we get another bullshit lie that his toilet stance is a bit “wide legged”.

Speaking of lies, Michael Vick, the disgraced former star athlete is now getting the coddling he so desperately wanted all because he finally admits his guilt for torturing animals for the sheer pleasure of it. Hey Vick, I forgive you since you admit that you did it. Now, how about working on atoning for your cruelty and show us some action instead of words on how you will re-enter society as a normal human being. It’s not simply enough to say I’m sorry. You have to do a little more than that. I’m sorry only works when a 5-year-old get’s caught sneaking cookies out of the jar.

It’s was not “immature” what you did to those dogs, as you so innocently described it, it was inhuman, vicious and anti-social. MV7, I hope you realize that psychologists have found a link between children who torture animals and serial killers. Prove to us that you can contribute to society instead of producing more pain and suffering like you did and then we can start talking about you taking snaps again. You have a serious mental condition to not see the torture of animals to be disturbed behavior. To the apologists, leave the man’s dick alone and stop sucking it like it was candy. He fucked up and all the excuses you can muster do not make it all right. It’s not about race and it’s not about the victims being “just dogs” and it’s not about other crimes not being hotly prosecuted by the feds. It is about acceptable behavior in a civilized society. If you find nothing wrong with his actions or still believe in him regardless of what he has confessed to; please seek psychiatric help. You have a serious sociopath condition and need medical attention.

As for the murder of the former head of the Georgia GOP, Raphael Gonzalez, it’s difficult to gauge what did happen and the cause. Gonzalez was murdered along with another man in a 3-person murder suicide down in Orange County Florida. Even the Atlanta media has been tight lipped about this and only trickles of info have come out. What is known is that Gonzalez and the other victim were roommates in a house that was owned by Gonzalez. The killer was a former roommate and Marine, who took his own life after murdering them.

Strange tidings on this Tuesday morning. Sometimes there is too much for your paranoid blogger to fully comprehend and write about. I’m sure my ADD and OCD predisposition do not help.

"Big Brother is helping." - Eldrin fucking Bell is still an idiot par excellence

(NOTE: For folks looking for my comments on the latest news about Big Brother's Little Helper, Eldrin fuckin' Bell; here is the link: http://theconspiratorsnest.blogspot.com/2008/07/titties-guns-and-butts-county-eldrin.html )

If this doesn’t just take the cake. Twice in one week we have seen metropolitan Atlanta officials thumbing their noses at any thought of civil liberties for its citizens. First it was the idea of controlling the masses by restricting the style of clothing a person can wear, now we have former Atlanta Chief of Police Eldrin Bell wanting to do mass background checks on it’s citizens by demanding all landlords in Clayton county turn over the lease agreements with their renters to the county.

Bell argues that an unsavory population has been dumped on Clayton County by the Atlanta Housing Authority and in an attempt to clean up the streets he wants to basically spy on every single house and apartment renter in Clayton County to see who is living there, under what conditions and report back to the landlord whether their renter has been naughty or nice. For those not from Atlanta, if you have ever traveled to the Atlanta airport, Clayton County is the area immediately south of the airport. If you could roll down the window next to your seat and chuck an empty Coke bottle, you’d be tossing it into Clayton County.

Bell’s comments on this are actually terrifying, "This is not to say Big Brother is watching," he insisted. "It says Big Brother is helping." The folks in Clayton county need to seriously address the lunatic ramblings of Bell and get his ass out of office. Don’t say you had no idea he was a nut, you all watched him on the evening news for years when he was the Atlanta Police Chief. Bell’s desire is proof positive that bastards who wield power are never satisfied until they have probed and prodded every single corner of control. There is only one distinction between dictators, are they large or are they small?

Will someone down in Clayton County please take the bottle away from the lips of Eldrin Bell, I think he is drunk enough with the power and doesn’t need more.

Hey kids, rock and roll. Nobody tells you where to go, baby.

I’m a fatality on the side of the fashion highway and I’m too damn old to want to dress like a twenty-something. The baggy pants culture has mystified me since it began, especially when baseball players began wearing their pants as though they were track pants but, to each his/her own. Now the kids have attracted the faceless bureaucrats and power mad creatures that lurk in the halls of government.

Atlanta City Councilman C.T. Martin has sponsored an amendment to the city’s indecency laws that will target clothing styles in which the wearer’s undergarments are exposed. Under fire would be baggy pants worn by young men and boys as well as styles favored by some young women and girls where their bra strap or the strap of their thong is exposed. Of course this amendment will get shot down for it’s extremist idea but the seed is planted. The tree expected to bear fruit is one of control over you and I and powerlessness to defend ourselves against an oppressive state.

I hate to say this but we have evil fucking rednecks all over the place that detest the baggy pants hip-hop culture styles that have found their way out to suburbia. It’s not because they don’t like the style or because they are too old to “get it” the anger and hatred is much more simple to understand. The stereotypical young, urban, and black thug epitomize this style. Don’t think for one second that we in the south have a monopoly on ignorant rednecks. Some of the biggest rednecks I ever met lived in Connecticut. Ignorance and hate know no geographical boundaries.

The point is this amendment will get support from the super radicalized extremists of both the left and the right. This leaves the other 60% to 80% of us asking ourselves what in God’s name does the city government have to do with policing the clothing we chose to wear or express ourselves with? The ultimate resting place for this amendment is in our minds. It is a reinforcement we have to subconsciously process. The government, ultimately, controls everything about you and your life and if it chooses to, it controls what you can and cannot wear.

A few years ago the City Council passed amendments to chase homeless people off the streets. They criminalized panhandling and began rounding up and shipping violators all over the metro area. Why did they do this? Complaints from the forces of downtown gentrification who were offended by the homeless asking for help. Some went as far as to say the homeless would “get pushy” sometimes. The idiocies of statements like that don’t even need to be addressed, they are self-evident.

Homeless rights advocates fought back but the groundswell was too much for them to overcome. Now, you are a criminal in Atlanta if you have no home and try to ask for money or help from folks on the street. The Atlanta Police Department will take you to jail for it. Now, a City Councilman doesn’t like the way young people dress, so he wants to amend the laws to absorb his fashion sense. What is next? If I wear a t-shirt down near the capitol that mocks our Governor’s “Sonny Do” list, will I spend nights in lockup at the Fulton County jail? If I put a bumper sticker on my car stating that Police Chief Pennington needs to go back to New Orleans, will my car be impounded and will I suddenly find myself in the backseat of a patrol car, at the mercy of the cop who is offended by my exercise of free speech?

Time and time again we have seen the rights of decent, regular Americans stomped on because they had something negative to say about their leaders. The current masters of government have turned it into an art form. To be honest, I wonder if I will ever get a visit at my front door for what I write here in this blog. We all know that all of our email, web traffic and phone calls are being monitored by the agents of our government. We are at their mercy because we allowed them to take control of our lives.

First they will tell us what we cannot do. They will tell us we cannot question authority, we cannot dress a certain way, we cannot say certain things. Once we are beaten down far enough, and live in constant fear and dread for the government targeting us for seemingly innocent “violations” of their codes, we are then ready for them to begin the real "control" phase. The final phase of control is not to tell us what we cannot do; it is the phase where our behavior is guided based on the mandates of government. Government sanctioned clothing, government-sanctioned entertainment and government sanctioned lives for its citizens.

The death of the 100th Georgian in Iraq

A grim milestone has been passed, the 100th Georgia service member has died in Iraq. The most recent fatality was a Sgt. Brian Ardon from Acworth, who died this past Monday in Baghdad. Another of our fellow citizens, neighbors, family members and friends; who is gone forever. How many more are we going to lose in a war that was justified through intentional and blatant lies? The forged yellow cake documents that scream of being faked by someone who is or was from the Intelligence Community. The pack of bald faced lies that were created by the people in the Office of Special Plans in the Pentagon. All of those OSP members were placed in their position with the expressed reason of circumventing traditional methods of Intelligence Analysis.

In the Vietnam War we lost 1,584 Georgia citizens, another war precipitated on lies, fear mongering and corporate greed. A generation later and we are once again in a war that has the same foundational legacy. Lies, fear mongering and corporate greed. How stupid can we be to allow things like this to happen all over again, in almost the same way?

The Democrats that were elected 6 months ago with a true "mandate" in their hands, end this war now, have turned their backs on the will of the American public and the men and women who have died in Iraq. The numbers of the dead keep rising, American and Iraqi. The politicians hand wring and keep on raking in the dough for their campaigns, hand over fist. I guess there is no time for crying when there is money to be made.

I wonder how many of that 100 from Georgia who have died ever got the chance to stand in downtown Atlanta in front of the Capital building, look up through those trees at the beautiful gold dome and at the numerous statues that surround our state house, and feel a certain twinge of excitement and pride at what our system of government represents? Reality is brutal and the fake smile of the "way things are" is cruel. If only we could live up to our potential and see through the smoke and mirrors and bullshit.

Another day, another 100 men and women gone forever. We are the poorer for their passing.

Harbin speaks out - Expresses regret to the family of the utility pole he destroyed.

(photo of Rep. Harbin courtesy of the House website, I have no idea if he has a tall boy Budweiser in his hands out of frame. Anyone know what Harbin's favorite drink happens to be?)


Rep. Ben Harbin, the chairman of one of the most powerful committees in the Georgia State House, has finally issued a statement about his DUI arrest following a 1 AM car crash on Memorial Drive last Sunday morning. Excerpts from his statement with my comments accompanying them:

"Obviously, I would like to express regret over my accident on Sunday,"

Translation – Damn, I hated wrecking that car.

"I would also like to express my gratitude for the overwhelming support and
concern I've received from my family and friends."

Translation – My family and friends are now worried about my political viability and have talked with me about what in the hell I’m going to do now.

"I am thankful to God that I was not injured,"

Translation – Whew! That was a close call. What? Shouldn’t I be glad that I didn’t kill an innocent person when I wrecked? Hell no. Anyone who’s out on Memorial Drive at 1 AM on a Sunday can’t be up to something good. If I had hit ‘em, well, let’s just say my legal bills would be a bit more pricey.

"I pledge to continue my public service to my District and the people of
Georgia."

Translation – Resign from office? Are you nuts! This is one cushy job and I ‘aint givin' it up until ya’ll run me off.

News - The depressing round-up of today's news stories

A daily dose of doom and gloom to get us in the mood for the Memorial Day weekend. So much is happening right now it’s tough to keep track of who’s batting, let alone who is on deck:

As I type this posting, former DoJ official Monica Goodling is testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The AP has reported this morning that Goodling broke down into tears in the office of a colleague shortly after the brouhaha over the fired US Attorneys broke, saying, "All I ever wanted to do was serve this president and this administration and this department," My only thoughts over this revelation are that it’s a sweet sentiment to have, hon, but the DoJ is a traditionally non-political and independent department from the White House. Goodling can squirt tears over her unrequited adoration of the President but I wonder how she would feel knowing that her slavish devotion to a man and not her nation or her sworn oath has damaged this country. I think Monica needs to spend more time at match.com than trying to please a sociopathic President.

The Democrats not only failed in their attempt to end the war in Iraq, they also rolled over and allowed the President to see their soft underbelly too. No word on whether or not he scratched their bellies. The President has infamously stated that being the President is hard work, now the Democratic leadership has proven to me once again that doing the only moral thing they can do as representatives of our nation, end the war in Iraq, is hard work if you aren’t willing to take responsibility. Don't go on Meet the Press and tell us we need a bipartisan plan, damnit we need to end that miserable lie and failure that is Iraq and try to pump the water out of this sinking ship called America. If you folks in DC don't have a pair give me a call. I'll loan my cajones out to you for a few weeks as long as they don't come back shaven or pierced.

In what can only be described as an overt threat, nine warships, including two aircraft carriers, entered the Persian Gulf yesterday for “training” in the full light of day. We now have three aircraft carriers in that sandy bottom bathtub known as the Persian Gulf. Transiting the Straits of Hormuz is tricky and dangerous to begin with. Masking operational intentions and maintaining OpSec has always looked at a nighttime transit of the Strait as a necessity. Doing so in broad daylight, in formation and with such sensitive ships as carriers is a pure double-dog dare you move by this administration and a terrifying scenario waiting to happen. The stakes are far too high and tensions too strained for this sort of bullshit bravado by the sociopaths of Washington. This story actually gives me chills and it worries me a great deal.

Gas is..well..gas is like a Mylar “Happy Birthday” balloon that has broken loose and is soaring higher and higher.

The melamine and cyanuric acid story is off the radar. Apparently Americans think it’s okay and safe, otherwise, why would we be able to eat off Melamine plates if it wasn’t safe?

Barry Bonds is 10 dingers away from tying the Home Run record set by the great and beloved Henry Aaron. Aaron, I believe can be argued, was the greatest all-around pure hitter the sport has ever seen. This paper argues that it’s ok to root for Bonds, after all, he is innocent until proven guilty. I say bullshit because we the fans aren’t a sequestered jury and that defense just doesn't cut the mustard unless you are a lawyer or on trial. Bonds did the juice and we all know it so let's stop making excuses for him and call the damn strikes and balls like we see them. This pussy-footing around the issue insults the intelligence of even the casual fan and is a slap in the face for lifelong fans who have followed the sport for decades. Henry Aaron is still a great leader and has been a true gem as a pillar of the community in Atlanta since retiring from the sport. I’d wash Mr. Aaron’s car and not ask for a tip or recognbition. I wouldn’t let Bonds pump my gas.

Michael Vick has morphed from miracle working hero of Atlanta football into the worst kind of trash imaginable. If only Steve Bartkowski were 25 again.

On a positive note, Memorial Day weekend is upon us and the two greatest race spectacles known to man will be run, the Grand Prix of Monaco and the Indianapolis 500. My weekend will be spent at home this year, saving gas, watching the two races, doing damage to my “to be read” stack of books and posting to the blog. Hurry up and get here Friday!

Ben Harbin is an excellent driver

(For more commentary on the Harbin DUI story, click here to read my other posts about Georgia Politics - The Conspiracy Theory Blogger)

If the folks in Augusta aren’t already wondering what in the world their state representative was doing on Memorial Drive at 1 AM on a Sunday morning, with a buzz on and a wrecked car, I’ll wonder about it for them. For a state representative spending what appears to have been a weekend in Atlanta, Memorial Drive isn’t the first place I would think of him hanging out, in fact it's probably on the list of the last 5 places on earth that I would expect him to be. But, apparently that’s where he really wanted to be and that’s where he wrecked his car, leading to a DUI arrest. I’ll at least give the man some credit, a witness who was quoted in the AJC about the accident said this of Rep. Harbin,

“Shortly after the crash, Robby Russ, a waiter at the Standard Food & Spirits, heard what he said sounded like a boom and looked out through the large window of the bar to see a utility pole "crooked like the Leaning Tower of Pisa."

Russ, 41, said he ran out to help. He said Harbin was coherent and without any visible signs of injuries. He wasn't in "bad shape on the intoxication level," said Russ, who has been tending bars for 18 years.

"I know he's been charged with DUI, and I know he's an important guy. But he wasn't wasted," he said. "He wasn't slurring his speech or falling over his face. He composed himself very well."


There you have it. A professional expert on drunken behavior gave the man two thumbs up for not acting wasted and that should account for something. Right? So, for all you folks down in Augusta who are worried and maybe upset at this little incident, be proud that Rep. Ben Harbin at least looks like he can hold his liquor. He may not be able to drive while he's loaded but he at least looks good with a snoot full. That should be worth some credit. It carries a lot of weight in my book.

News - Stacking the deck

Here is an interesting little news tidbit from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Faced with a funding shortfall, the state's public defender agency has
eliminated 41 full-time jobs — about a 12 percent reduction in its workforce.
Among those losing their jobs are 14 lawyers across Georgia. The layoffs are
expected to increase the caseloads of the remaining defenders. The statewide
system was created in 2003 to replace underfunded county-run programs that
provided legal representation for indigent defendants in criminal cases.
Lawsuits alleging constitutional violations were filed against a number of
county systems before the statewide system was established. Registration
(free) is required to read the rest
of the article.

I'm sure you have read various articles or heard news reports on the ever-skyrocketing rates of incarceration in this country. Here in Georgia we are faced with an ever growing prison population and an attitude that every citizen is simply a criminal waiting to be caught. Based on 2004 numbers provided by the Department of Justice, Georgia has a higher crime rate, prison population, incarceration rate, number of people on probation and parolees than the national average. We are also paying less per capita for prison expenses than the national average. And yet there are still constant demands to cut the cost of maintaining the prison system while there are still more new laws being passed and the ever present "get tougher on crime!" screams are heard daily. What the hell is wrong with us?

What we need in Georgia, and a lot of other states, is to get more people like Loretta Nall from Alabama involved in the political process in their states. Nall, who parlayed an overzealous pot bust into a serious run for the state gubernatorial seat last year, has stayed active in educating her fellow state residents in the fallacies and faults in their state's criminal justice system. Nall is bringing the common sense of the common man and woman to a higher level of recognition in her state, much to the chagrin of the front line elite of Alabama politics.

With this new round of budget cuts to Georgia Public Defenders office, what we see is the state attempting to stack the deck even more against the poor and defenseless among it's citizens to ensure that the prisons are stocked with fresh new faces. Georgians will only realize the false safety and failure to properly govern in this manner once one of our own can come to the forefront and stick the truths of this matter back into our faces.

Commentary - Think it's hard following national politics?

Even Eugene Talmadge would shake his head at this mess.

If you think it's hard following National politics try following local politics, especially in Georgia. Earlier this year the state Democratic Party brought forward a complaint to the State Ethics Committee against the Speaker of the State House regarding what has been described as an "improper" and "personal" relationship between the Speaker of the House and a lobbyist for the Atlanta Gas Light Company (AGL). At the time of the relationship, the Speaker co-sponsored a bill that was to have financed a $300 million dollar pipeline for the company. I may be a paranoid "Joe Six Pack" but even I know this is wrong and there is no amount of rationalization in the world to make it right.

What became of the investigation? Dismissed by the Ethics Committee, half of whom were appointed by the Speaker. Nice catch, Richardson, and a tip of the hat to the 12 members of the "Ethics Committee" who let this get swept aside. You folks are really representing your constituents well and you sure are making an effort to "earn" your keep. All sarcasm aside, we need to send a truckload of hand baskets from Atlanta to Helen, because that's where this state is going.

insideradvantagegeorgia.com, a political clearinghouse for Georgia political stories ran a poll regarding the Speaker's ethics problem and the results are pretty sad. 71% of the poll respondents didn't know or were not aware that there was even an ethics complaint against their own Speaker. Our mainstream news sources here in Georgia are no different than the Big 5 of the nation who blabber away about nothing, real stories that have an impact are pushed aside for fluff and distractions while the real news, the events that effect all of us get a fraction of the time spent discussing whether or not Mr. Mexico gets high at the dog fights or not.

In light of this I have to say that it's a shame that Ralph Reed didn't win the Lt. Governor seat. A Bible waving crook with no moral compass always knows his way around the gold dome. He would have been a better fit for the Georgia legislature.

From the Archives - A look back at Corpsewood

In December of 1982, Sheriff’s Deputies of Chattooga County Georgia were dispatched to a remote location on Taylor’s Ridge, also known as Corpsewood. The occupants of Corpsewood; Dr. Charles L. Scudder and Joseph Odom, had become mysterious and strange transplants into a community unaccustomed to outsiders moving into the area. Rumors swirled around the small, rural county that the men were Satanists. When the Deputies arrived they found the bodies of both men, dead from gunshot wounds.

While the story has become local legend within the county and the bordering counties, there is another aspect of the slayings that gained very little media attention and fits into a small corner of the history of MKULTRA. Dr. Scudder’s past and evidence found at the scene of the crime place the Dr. into the early days of the project.

Dr. Scudder was a professor of pharmacology at Loyola University prior to moving to Georgia in the mid 1970’s. His work at the University began at some point in the late 1940’s. Loyola helped to play a part in the MKULTRA program by working to recreate LSD-25 which the CIA had bought from Sandoz Laboratories. His later work centered around the study of mice in controlled environments.

Finding the research papers of Dr. Scudder has been difficult for me over the years, with only tantalizing glimpses of his work popping up from time to time. The greatest and most intriguing has been the detailed listings of the Stafford Beer collection at Liverpool John Moores University. Among the items in the collection is a series of papers, letters and research materials for a project named “Challenge to Paradigm”, which was planned to be published as a book. Scudder was among the 7 contributors to this book project, which was also comprised of 4 other University professors and musician Brian Eno.

The titles of the papers that Dr. Scudder was to contribute to the book are interesting to say the least, "The mind an evolving system of models","Mindless meaning; meaningless mind", "On the environmental mind” and "The brain: a neurohumorally regulated ultrahomeostat". It’s worth noting that with Scudder’s background and work with psycho-reactive drugs and neurophysiology, he would have been of serious interest to the CIA.

Among the items found in Corpsewood were several vials of a clear liquid. When the state crime lab analyzed these vials it was learned that the liquid was highly purified LSD-25 and it was believed that based on the chemical signature the vials were from one of the original batches of the drug which was imported by the CIA.

So, how did this researcher wind up in the hills of north Georgia, only to be murdered? In the mid-1970’s, Scudder had decided to move a remote location, one that was away from the hustle of everyday life. In a 1976 interview with Mother Earth News, Scudder detailed the process of becoming sick of modern life and his efforts to build his home and live off the land in the hills.

In the end, Scudder and Odom’s deaths were as violent and as senseless as any murder that could occur in Chicago, the city he escaped to live a quiet country lifestyle. The killers were two local men who planned to rob them at gunpoint. Scudder and Odom were known to host small parties with the local youths which involved wine and drugs. The killers used this as part of their plan to gain entry to their home however, once the drugs and alcohol took hold things got out of hand, which resulted in the deaths of both men.

The side story that Scudder left behind, his death, is almost as interesting as the research career he had.

News - Lobbyists brawl at Ga. State House of Representatives dinner

I saw this and had to laugh.

Apparently lobbyist Pete Stokes removed part of another lobbyist's ear with a beer bottle. I remember Georgia politics was a rough sport when I was younger, but the politicos seemed to have toned it down to simple reprisals, verbal attacks and vague slander. Seems like they've upped the ante again.

They still have a long way to go before they even rival the Three Governors of Georgia fiasco. Georgia politics haven't been as interesting since the Talmadge and Maddux days of yore. I especially miss the days when you could tell it was an election year by picking up the local newspaper and seeing the increase in stills being raided.