Georgia
updated
4:45 a.m.
From The New York Times : Mr. McCain now sharply criticizes the bailout bill he voted for, pivoted from his earlier position that the Guantánamo Bay detention facility should be closed, offered only a muted response to the Supreme Court’s decision undoing campaign finance laws and backed down from statements that gays in the military would be O.K. by him if the military brass were on board. Mr....
Cracker Squire - 4:08 a.m.
John Murtha's dead, victim of what sounds like surgical error while he was having his gallbladder removed. Do we miss him? Are we merely glad he left before he got himself indicted? (This blogger thinks he spent as much time......
Blog for Democracy - Mon 8:24 p.m.
Just came across this at Fetterman’s official Flowery Branch City Council Blog: As a resident of Four Seasons and an observer of the proceedings, I found your communication devoid of empathy and respect to all the citizens that voted you into office. How UNGRACIOUS is that? Communication is 95% body language. I would say 3/4 of the [...] ...
Left On Lanier - Mon 2:28 p.m.
All her crib notes! For some great video of the not so great former Governor, beauty pageant loser, and grandmother check out this link. Never knowing what a failed GOP Vice Presidential candidate might say or write, most of us are relieved. We’re relieved that Palin didn’t have her hotel room number written in the palm [...] ...
Left On Lanier - Mon 1:08 p.m.
No big surprises to anyone. Foreclosures are up in the area. All of which makes the Flowery Branch annexation more suspicious. But let’s leave that to the activists in Hall County for now. Commercial foreclosures are up from January and from last year. Residential foreclosures are up about 30 percent over January and one year ago. February [...] ...
Left On Lanier - Mon 10:51 a.m.
For over a year, since Obama made healthcare reform front page news, the GOP has been crying. The crying has been that the process is too rushed. The process is too secret. The Democrats are unfair in using a super majority against the ‘will of the people [GOP people], and most of all, the GOP [...] ...
Left On Lanier - Mon 10:51 a.m.
Nice guess. Close. But no cigar. Guessing doesn’t really count but politicians are always guessing. By the way, you misspelled several words on your blog, including ‘eligant and gracful.’ The correct spellings are elegant and graceful. And a better word than elegant would have been eloquent. And graceful is just as meaningless in your context. The [...] ...
Left On Lanier - Mon 8:00 a.m.
Apparently, the GOParanoid are upset that they didn’t get enough high-speed rail money, and they think Congressmen Lewis and Scott are to blame for this conundrum. Anyone confused. The GOP claims that the stimulus is not working. The GOP claims that they didn’t won’t the money. The GOP claims that did not get enough money. Wow! Filed under: [...] ...
Left On Lanier - Mon 5:44 a.m.
From The New York Times : [There is an ongoing campaign by the financial industry] to thwart Mr. Obama’s proposals for tighter financial regulations. Just two years after Mr. Obama helped his party pull in record Wall Street contributions — $89 million from the securities and investment business, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics — some of his biggest supporters . . ....
Cracker Squire - Mon 4:02 a.m.
David Broder writes in The Washington Post : It was toward the end of President Obama's riveting visit on Jan. 29 with the House Republicans in Baltimore -- a rare 90 minutes of candor on both sides that produced the most fascinating and revealing politics in memory -- when Rep. Peter Roskam of suburban Chicago was called on for a question. "Oh, Peter is an old friend of mine," Obama said. "Pe...
Cracker Squire - Sun 10:25 a.m.
I've been hammering at Bank of America and other big banks for their predatory lending and awful customer service. Seems I'm not the only one: Italy Seizes Bank of America Assets - Fraud Is Finally Catching Up With Wall St./Bankers From what I can tell, the bank near me that has done the best is TD Bank. I am switching to TD and so far I am happy. They avoided predatory lending (probably bec...
DailyKos (Georgia) - Sun 9:44 a.m. - 18 clicks 
From The Wall Street Journal : The G-7 represents top European and North American economies, as well as Japan. The G-20, which includes developing nations such as China, India and Brazil, has overtaken the G-7 as the main forum for global policy coordination. But deficit-driven turmoil in European markets this week helped buttress a sense of purpose for the smaller group. ...
Cracker Squire - Sat 1:23 p.m.
Jim Galloway reviews some recent history in the AJC's Political Insider : In 1984, Gov. Joe Frank Harris asked Georgia voters for a change in state government that had been approved by the best minds in education. Georgia needed a well-seasoned state school superintendent handpicked by the governor, a blue-ribbon panel had argued, not one elected in an expensive campaign ruled by chance, good h...
Cracker Squire - Sat 12:45 p.m. - 6 clicks
The disgraceful ex-Governor of Alaska wants to fire people who use the word “retard.” . There is some common ground to adding this slur to the list of words that shouldn’t be used on TV to describe people. Story Only Rush Limbaugh is leading the charge to keep ‘retard’ as a slur in the mainstream, liberal, [...] ...
Left On Lanier - Fri 2:08 p.m.
Kind of an angry guy, isn’t he? And his comments remind me of a joke about ‘Open Door Management Styles.’ A potential employee gets a chance to ask questions during a job interview. The applicant politely asks about the management style within the office. The manager doing the interview answers, “We all have an open door [...] ...
Left On Lanier - Fri 12:41 p.m. - 2 clicks
Bobby Banks said it best. “We got thrown under the bus.” Everyone knew that Flowery Branch would go ahead with the annexation on McEver no matter what. And that happened. It happened with the pot calling the kettle black. It happened with promises to listen but no promises to act or react. Reaction from Hall County Homeowners [...] ...
Left On Lanier - Fri 11:03 a.m.
From The Washington Post : Congress agreed Thursday to revive the pay-as-you-go budget rules that helped wipe out massive deficits and balance the budget during the Clinton administration, although the new version includes a long list of exceptions that would permit Democrats to add at least $1.5 trillion to the nation's tab over the next decade. The return to paygo comes as record deficits pus...
Cracker Squire - Fri 4:40 a.m.
Originally posted on the Benrik website: http://www.benrik.co.uk/... Nate is READING: Plutarch, "Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans" LISTENING TO: The Irish and Celtic Music Podcast WATCHING: "Session 9" ...
DailyKos (Georgia) - Thu 6:44 p.m. - 2 clicks
Oh yes, today was International Panda Travel Day, complete with VIP send off and FedEx playing chauffeur! At the Atlanta Zoo Mei Lan was up two hours earlier than usual to catch her flight to DC to pick up Tai......
Blog for Democracy - Thu 2:51 p.m. - 3 clicks
In a press release from the Georgia House Democrats: House and Senate Democrats today announced new transportation legislation that will help ensure Georgia receives its fair share of federal stimulus money and create a mechanism for a regional transportation SPLOST.......
Blog for Democracy - Thu 12:08 p.m. - 6 clicks
Here’s the kettle calling the pot black. GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas says some questioning of the court and government is getting out of hand. Thomas told an audience Thursday at the University of Florida law school that some of the comments “border on being irresponsible” and “run the risk in our society of [...] ...
Left On Lanier - Thu 11:08 a.m. - 4 clicks
Georgia's senior senator Saxby Chambliss has always been a special member of the U.S. Senate -- special in the sense of those special education classes offered at most public schools.......
Blog for Democracy - Thu 9:24 a.m. - 2 clicks
From The New York Times : Alexi Giannoulias, the treasurer of Illinois and a basketball-playing friend of President Obama’s, won the Democratic primary here on Tuesday for the Senate seat once held by Mr. Obama. But his victory was hardly the free throw some had expected, setting off a new round of worrying among Democrats that the reliably Democratic seat might be picked off by Republicans in N...
Cracker Squire - Thu 4:20 a.m. - 2 clicks
Attend the Atlanta Stonewall Democrats 2010 Love Me, Love Me Not Valentine's Day Party and participate in our "Love Poll" for the Democratic Governor's race. Our Love Poll is similar to a straw poll. For just a small $5 donation......
Blog for Democracy - Thu 3:46 a.m. - 6 clicks
Well, this goes way beyond the average blog post. If this is what they're rolling out pre-primary on Ken Hodges, what in the world are they saving for the General? I don't want to jump to conclusions, but am completely......
Blog for Democracy - Thu 1:21 a.m. - 2 clicks
Little late this week getting the newsletter to Daily Kos. Some parts might be outdated, but most is up to date. I also want to draw attention to a fellow Culture Kitchen blogger, Leo Igwe, whose attempts to further reason and oppose fundamentalism in Nigeria have gotten him beaten up by a mob and harassed by cops. Here are his two most recent articles regarding Nigeria: Humanism and the Ques...
DailyKos (Georgia) - Wed 6:00 p.m. - 10 clicks
From The New York Times : Emboldened by the response to President Obama’s face-off with House Republicans last week, the White House is intensifying its push to engage Congressional Republicans in policy negotiations as a way to share the burden of governing and put more scrutiny on Republican initiatives. Top aides say Mr. Obama intends to follow through quickly on his State of the Union propo...
Cracker Squire - Wed 3:48 a.m.
Every Wednesday, Blog for Democracy and the Democratic House Caucus will provide views from Georgia's Democrat State Representatives. This week we hear from State Rep. Debbie Buckner (D-Columbus). She was first elected to the Georgia General Assembly in 2002. House......
Blog for Democracy - Tue 10:08 p.m. - 9 clicks
Dear Atlanta media folks, Ya'll need to lay off Republican Governor candidate John Oxendine. The continuous spinning of corruption conspiracies is just out of control. The Ox has served brilliantly as our State's Insurance Commissioner and has championed policies aimed......
Blog for Democracy - Tue 3:25 p.m. - 7 clicks
The trend has been evident for quite some time, but the latest poll should remove any doubts: Charlie Crist is dead meat in the Republican primary for Florida's Senate seat.......
Blog for Democracy - Tue 3:25 p.m. - 3 clicks
After watching today's hearing live on the web, I knew I had to write MY United States Senator Saxby Chambliss about his remarks. Whether he likes it or not, he has gay and lesbian constituents both in and out of the armed forces. On most controversial issues, my two senators are die-hard Republicans, and I know that my voice doesn't matter to them, so I don't bother to contact them. Why waste ...
Blue Heart of Dixie - Tue 11:06 a.m. - 2 clicks
Alas, I did have hope for Atlanta Progressive News when they first arrived on the scene. I believed then (and do still) that editor Matthew Cardinale had good intentions to bring a progressive voice to the Atlanta media scene. I......
Blog for Democracy - Tue 9:00 a.m. - 2 clicks
Richard Cohen writes in The Washington Post : There is almost nothing the Obama administration does regarding terrorism that makes me feel safer. Whether it is guaranteeing captured terrorists that they will not be waterboarded, reciting terrorists their rights, or the legally meandering and confusing rule that some terrorists will be tried in military tribunals and some in civilian courts, what...
Cracker Squire - Tue 4:46 a.m. - 3 clicks
From The New York Times : In a federal budget filled with mind-boggling statistics, two numbers stand out as particularly stunning, for the way they may change American politics and American power. The first is the projected deficit in the coming year, nearly 11 percent of the country’s entire economic output. But the second number, buried deeper in the budget’s projections, is the one that re...
Cracker Squire - Tue 4:46 a.m. - 3 clicks
From The Washington Post : New data out of Gallup shows that Democratic party affiliation has shrunk in 39 states over the past year but the party still retains a considerable edge in the overall partisan makeup of the country. The Democratic edge has narrowed by five points or more in 14 states, according to the numbers, which take a year's worth of daily tracking polls to produce their re...
Cracker Squire - Feb 2 - 3 clicks
We have cases of child prostitution in this country. Even ostriches that bury their heads in the sand know that. In Georgia there is a bill pending in the legislature that steer young girls under the age of 16 into diversionary programs instead of arresting them on charges of prostitution. . What can be more logical than this? Well, guess who is against the bill? The usual suspects a...
DailyKos (Georgia) - Feb 1 - 3 clicks
Georgia Democratic Gubernatorial candidates will have their second debate at the University of Georgia tomorrow, February 2. WHO: Thurbert Baker, Roy Barnes, Carl Camon, Dubose Porter, David Poythress. WHAT: Moderated debate hosted by WNEG-TV and carried unedited on TV stations......
Blog for Democracy - Feb 1 - 9 clicks
From The New York Times : The additional tax cuts and public works spending that President Obama has proposed to spur job creation would add $100 billion to this year’s deficit, bringing it to nearly $1.6 trillion, according to an administration official. A deficit of that size for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30 would be about $150 billion greater than last year’s deficit, which was the hig...
Cracker Squire - Feb 1 - 2 clicks
President Obama: 'It's not enough if you say, for example, that we've offered a health-care plan.... But specifically, it's got to work. You know, if I'm told...that the solution to dealing with health-care cost is tort-reform--something that I've said I am willing to work with you on--but the CBO or other experts say to me, "You know, at best, this could reduce healt-care costs...by a couple of...
Cracker Squire - Jan 31 - 6 clicks
From The New York Times : For much of President Obama’s first year in office, his national security team worked to devise a secure plan to send dozens of Yemeni detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba — the largest single group at the prison camp — home to Yemen, perhaps to a rehabilitation program. Then came the Christmas Day airliner bombing attempt, which was planned in Yemen, and the preside...
Cracker Squire - Jan 31 - 3 clicks
From Blooomberg.com : New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini, who anticipated the financial crisis, called the fourth quarter surge in U.S. economic growth “very dismal and poor” because it relied on temporary factors. Roubini said more than half of the 5.7 percent expansion reported yesterday by the government was related to a replenishing of inventories and that consumption depended ...
Cracker Squire - Jan 30 - 2 clicks
He's a little late to the game, but Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has called for the allocation of more money and more independence for the chronically underfunded and legislatively hamstrung State Ethics Commission.......
Blog for Democracy - Jan 30 - 2 clicks
The F-35 is designed to take off from short runways and land vertically. From The Wall Street Journal : To replace an aging fleet of warplanes, the Pentagon plans to buy more than 2,400 F-35s, known as the Joint Strike Fighters. The F-35 will be used by the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, as well as U.S. allies such as the U.K. Last year, Mr. Gates shook up the Pentagon's weapons prio...
Cracker Squire - Jan 30 - 2 clicks
Part of what Peggy Noonan had to say on the State of the Union address (from The Wall Street Journal ): President Obama's speech was not a pivot, a lunge or a plunge. It was a little of this and a little of that, a groping toward a place where the president might successfully stand. It was well written and performed with élan. The president will get some bounce from it, and the bounce will go a...
Cracker Squire - Jan 30 - 2 clicks
Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, shortly after his 2003 arrest and in a recent photo. This is a follow-up on two posts from 1-29-10 entitled "Obama begins to fix the disconnect & listen to America: Administration Considers Moving Site of 9/11 Trial" and "Yes; fixing the disconnect & listening to America continues: Obama faces dwindling optio...
Cracker Squire - Jan 30 - 3 clicks
From Political Junkie by Ken Rudin: At the beginning of the last decade, America had a budget surplus of over $200 billion. By the time I took office, we had a one year deficit of over $1 trillion and projected deficits of $8 trillion over the next decade. Most of this was the result of not paying for two wars, two tax cuts, and an expensive prescription drug program. On top of that, the effect...
Cracker Squire - Jan 30 - 4 clicks
CBS has refused to grant advertising airtime for the gay dating website mancrunch.com, but will allow an evangelical Christian group to air an anti-abortion ad during this year's Super Bowl. The ad reportedly will feature the University of Florida's superstar......
Blog for Democracy - Jan 29 - 2 clicks
Everyone is raving about the President's "Open Discussion" with Republicans yesterday, and for good reason. Related: The White House has partnered with YouTube to give everyone an opportunity to ask President Obama questions here on Citizen Tube.......
Blog for Democracy - Jan 29 - 2 clicks
I thought the phenomenon was fairly unique to Atlanta. With all the gay boys here from all over the Southeast, I figured the proverbial pond had too many fish. It seems like boys in relationships here always have one eye on the crowd to see if they might not be able to find someone "better". Rarely do you see people actually enjoying the person they are with. It's the most frustrating and depr...
Blue Heart of Dixie - Jan 29 - 3 clicks
From the AJC : North Carolina has spent more than $300 million since 1992 to bolster its passenger rail service. On Thursday, it saw a return on that investment: a $545 million slice of President Barack Obama's $8 billion high-speed rail stimulus. Florida got an even bigger piece of that pie -- $1.25 billion. The Sunshine State may have helped its case by boosting funding for mass transit afte...
Cracker Squire - Jan 29 - 9 clicks
From The Washington Post : The closure of the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is beginning to look like a protracted and uncertain project for the Obama administration as political, legal and security concerns limit the president's options. ...
Cracker Squire - Jan 29 - 3 clicks
David Brooks writes in The New York Times : If I were one of those fellows advising Barack Obama, I would tell him that . . . you need to distance yourself from the status quo. You need to detach from the Old Bull committee chairmen you foolishly affixed yourself to in your first year. You need to detach from all those deals with pharmaceutical lobbyists and earmark champions. You need to detach...
Cracker Squire - Jan 29 - 3 clicks
From The New York Times : Facing mounting pressure from New York politicians concerned about costs and security, the Obama administration on Thursday began considering moving the trial of the chief organizer of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks out of Manhattan, administration officials said. A decision to move the Sept. 11 trial from Manhattan would be a retreat by the administration from its cal...
Cracker Squire - Jan 29 - 3 clicks
[promoted from comments, h/t Bezerko, TPM] Senator Mary Landrieu's district office was the subject of some type of attempted interference with her telecommunications equipment. Not clear exactly what happened, but the alleged doers of whatever mischief include the below gentleman,......
Blog for Democracy - Jan 28 - 3 clicks
From The New York Times : Are the missteps at the White House rooted in message or substance? When Mr. Obama presents his first State of the Union address on Wednesday evening, aides said he would accept responsibility, though not necessarily blame, for failing to deliver swiftly on some of the changes he promised a year ago. But he will not, aides said, accede to criticism that his priorities ...
Cracker Squire - Jan 27
