the hillbilly ragger

Perusing the Gwinnett Daily Post so you don't have to?

2010-08-01T03:51:00.000-04:00

It was my mission statement. I honestly hadn't thought much about that, or even this blog, for a long time, for a practical reason--when we switched TeeVee carriers from MegaCorpCom to DeathCultMediaCom, home delivery of the Gwinnett Daily Post was no longer included.

So we no longer had the familiar "hillbilly rag" of yore appearing at the bottom of the driveway.

Some months passed, and it came to be that Mrs. and Mr. Ragger decided that the other printed newspaper really didn't need to appear in the recycling bin either. So no more AJC, either. We took the bold step of doing what virtually everyone I know had done about half-a-decade ago and installed a wireless network, plugged in something to get the news via the Interwebs in our breakfast dining area, and did without a paper.

Sometimes it's missed. Ok, sometimes both papers are missed. As virtuous as I may feel about going paperless and contributing just a tad less to waste on this planet, I feel poorly about playing a part in a somewhat independent media outlet's financial horror.

Then again, I'm not really responsible for present and future business models for monetizing the newspaper industry.

Stuff gets swiped

2009-10-28T19:37:00.002-04:00

hey, these things happen.

Folks write letters

2008-11-19T08:08:00.002-05:00

And, miraculously, sometimes they get published.

To the editor: Linder doesn't practice what he is preaching

Regarding the column by Rep. John Linder, R-Duluth ("Those who serve exhibit strongest courage, character," Perspective, Nov. 11) - his voting record got a "C" from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. He has a lot of nerve.

Coupla days after, not ready to leave yet

2008-11-07T08:55:00.003-05:00

My last Deep Thoughtish post might have been my last here, but I've had a few days to soak in the sun and I'm not quite ready to turn out the lights.

(Even though I did bid an official farewell to Bookman's joint. And I intend to keep my promise not to post there as this character.)

Why keep this thing around? Well, for one reason, I might use it to document what the Dead Enders are up to these days. For instance, I just saw some online commenter boldly state "Obama had a ghost writer for his two books", which means that the ridiculous Ayers-ghosted-those-bestsellers meme is still out there. This could become a depository for such treasures.

Mostly though I haven't formulated a vision for a new, more out-in-the-open online presence. If there is to be a Senate run-off here in GA, Martin's campaign might need a freelance Gwinnettian spreading the word online, and that necessity might drive some invention.

Deep Thought (actually kind of deep)

2008-10-12T20:07:00.002-04:00

For the first time ever today I contemplated how a Democratic rout--defined for my purposes as a decisive Obama win and gains in Senate and House seats--might change how I see the world.

It's probably dangerous to assume anything, and I am fully aware that the polling lead held by Democrats at this writing could slip away in three weeks. But historically that's not the way to bet.

Will it get uglier in Red America? No. I'm not thinking it's worth taking too seriously all the scary, dark things being uttered by some about how angry and violent the white backlash would be. I think, based on all the things I've heard and people I've known down here in GA that there'd be a resignation to a profound change among the voting public.

I think it will be much safer to be a rational person. I think the need to go underground, in online forums and the blog world, will be a little less pronounced.

I further think I'll probably suspend these operations and start a new blog under a totally different profile, likely as not, not anonymous. I'm tired of being underground. I want something public where people I know from all walks of life can participate.

If the Rag must continue publishing David Broder

2008-09-25T07:51:00.002-04:00

I guess I must point out his more laughable assertions. From his latest:

When I asked Hoyer how then he explained the terrible reputation of this Congress, he insisted that it did not reflect the reputation of individual members - which may be true but is not really a response.

I think that institutional reputation has been damaged by two things: the sense that Democrats and Republicans would rather score partisan points off each other than look for ways to work together, and the frustration at Congress' inaction on the big issues of greatest concern to voters.

Professor Broder knows why, of course, but he'd never say it. The answer is twofold all right, but not the two folds seen above.

1) Virtually every Democratic voter expected his/her Congressman to defund the Iraq occupation, or at the very least to go to the wall, to call Bush's bluff on his Excellent Adventure. Of course this was going to be very difficult, if not historically unprecedented; but when sufficient number of Bush Dog Dems wimped out and left Reid and Pelosi holding the flaming bag of dog poop, those Democratic voters weren't likely to say "Approve" when asked by pollsters their opinion of congress.

2) Real Clear Politics may be a respectable polling outfit, but they are of a right-wing persuasion, and they've taken out big ol' ads on FoxNews.com. Said ads have been running for nearly two years now touting this heretofore unheralded "Congressional Approval Rating" right next to the Presidential approval ratings, as if they were somehow equivalent. A very lazy corporate media noticed (because if it isn't Drudge rockin' their world, it's Fox) and ran with the story.

That's why.

"by God we stepped in and hit a home run with it"

2008-09-01T11:25:00.004-04:00

Always tying it to God, the local scam artists...

Commissioner Bert Nasuti, a tourism board member who originated the baseball idea, said he is convinced the money is needed.

"We've only got one opportunity to really build it right," he said. "If you make bad decisions now, you pay for them later."

Nasuti said it was the special touches such as extra padding in the seats that have given a "wow factor" to the Arena at Gwinnett Center, another project that came with a $25 million boost from the county's reserve fund. He wants to create the same atmosphere at the Gwinnett Braves stadium.

"I think with the test of time, people will say, 'Boy, you had an opportunity, and by God we stepped in and hit a home run with it," Nasuti said, excusing the pun. "It will more than pay for the pain and expense."

Best as I can tell from local reports, the reason for the cost overruns are due in no small part to larger-than-expected rocks encountered during excavation. To paraphrase our Commander-in-Chief, I don't think anyone anticipated hitting rock when digging in Gwinnett.

Who is calling out lying snake-oil salesman John Linder?

2008-08-15T21:49:00.002-04:00

That'd be Doug Heckman. Attaboy.

In 1995, John Linder voted in support of a proposed constitutional amendment for 12-year term limits on lawmakers in the House and Senate.
Sixteen years after Linder was first voted into office, he has retreated from his earlier promise and is running for re-election, hoping for at least two more years in Congress

"The stakes are too high for our Representatives to forget—as many have—that their job is to represent and seek progress for the American people. I think John Linder was right on term limits and he should honor his pledge. As with many of our representatives, the longer they remain in Washington, the further they are pulled from the interests of their constituents." said Heckman.

Deep Thought

2008-08-15T07:38:00.007-04:00

I sure do hope August does not come and go with Darell Huckaby neglecting to remind us that he is, in fact, from the South, and that he does, in fact, believe that being from the South ought to be considered somewhat meritorious.

How about Boondoggle?

2008-08-12T18:34:00.004-04:00

We're supposed to help name the new Gwinnett Braves mascot. Both the Hillbilly Rag and the DUNG (ok, WDUN) are involved.

We'll see if I can slip "Boonie" under the radar.

If I wind up flying out to the AA All-Star game in Portland, it'll be our little secret.

Jay Bookman, meet Doug Heckman...

2008-08-11T08:47:00.006-04:00

Or, as I just thought to post over at Jay's AJC blog:

Jay, you know that Fair Tax co-author and noted right wing neocon clown John Linder is facing a challenge to his seat by an Iraq and Afghanistan (Special Forces) war vet, Doug Heckman.
Of course Linder has money up the wazoo, and his whole Fair Tax cult (and Boortz’ knuckle-dragging listener base, presumably) surrounding him, but you never know, particularly if all those new uppity minorities and all them Yankee transplants were to get motivated to vote this year.

You think maybe that might be worth a column or two? Everyone likes a David v. Goliath story, right?

Given Jay's on-the-record takedowns of the Fair Tax, and his personal dislike for the book's other co-author (Boortz has refused to allow Jay to come on his radio show, insisting instead on a rigged town-hall meeting that would be packed with FairTax cultists shouting down naysayers), I think it's just a matter of time before we see Jay visiting this topic.

Hope it's in a dead-tree column, and not just online.

Better late than never

2008-08-06T07:34:00.002-04:00

The AJC finally got around to publishing Pitts' take on act of domestic terrorism at TVUCC, cited below.

Just two dead liberals. Nothing worth writing about.

2008-08-03T19:24:00.006-04:00

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that nobody from the Rag's stable of local and syndicated pundits bothered to comment, even in passing, on the two murders committed inside a UU church while elementary-school children were performing last Sunday.

Nothing from Bill Shipp, nor Todd Cline, certainly not Darrell Huckabee nor was anything forthcoming from Nate, who surely loves his stepkids, but not enough to fret so much about anyone else's, I guess.

That nothing appeared from the desk of the AJC's Jim Wooten, on the other hand, actually kinda shocked me a bit. Nor from Cynthia Tucker, nor anyone else. As far as I was able to ascertain, there was precisely one (1) AP wire story published about the incident; not one mention about it on their editorial pages, no follow-ups, nothing more.

At the end of the day, though, these are just a couple of dead liberals, shot and murdered in a church for the crime of being liberal, in a state that shares a border with ours. Nothing worth fretting about, at least not locally.

According to the minds of my local print media, there is no point in asking what role the radical right-wing rabble-rouser class might play. No point in wondering what equating terrorism with liberalism, as Sean Hannity did in the subtitle to one of his best selling books, might do in the minds of those who've been less than financially and socially blessed in the past ten, twenty years. (The murderer owned a Hannity tome.) No point in questioning whether calling liberalism a "mental disorder", as does Michael "Savage" Weiner, might justify culling the herd in the mind of an actual sufferer of mental illness. (The murderer owned a Weiner tome.)

Fortunately Leonard Pitts, who lives in a state that also shares a border with ours, and who is widely published, did bother to ask. And it pains me that I have to go to a syndicated columnist, and not someone local, to quote a passage everyone ought to be intimately familiar with by now:

[I]t is increasingly the case that what we are being presented isn't a debate between competing worldviews so much as it is a morality play: righteous good versus unholy evil. Conservatives have cast themselves in the former role, leaving liberals the latter. It's a libel to which liberals have responded as the bug does to the windshield: splat.
Unable to say what they believe or to frame it any compelling way, they have allowed themselves to be defined instead from without, standing ineffectual in a mudstorm of invective. They are, the propaganda goes, effete, unpatriotic, unstable, un-American, anti-God, evil, and the source of a voter's every problem, down to and including the death of his goldfish and the breakup of his marriage.
It is so over the top, so patently ridiculous, it's almost funny. Until you remember that dehumanizing people inevitably has consequences.
That's what Knoxville is, a consequence.
No, conservatives did not cause this bloodbath. Jim Adkisson allegedly did. But in telling him ''liberals'' were the source of his every disaffection and woe, conservatives certainly validated the hatred and madness that drove him.

They like me! they really like me!

2008-07-19T11:51:00.003-04:00

Ok, it took a carefully edited post of mine to make it sound more like a candy-assed Unity '08 kinda appeal, but the Hillbilly Ragger's verbiage made it into the dead-tree AJC today.

Makes me want to update this crappy little blog more often. We'll see.

Back to cover a guy who might be in play here

2008-06-20T08:10:00.003-04:00

So the polling says there's hope for Obama in GA after all. Good.

In the meantime, since the news outlets don't seem concerned about what Obama actually "promised" in that questionnaire, I'll post it in its entirety.

here's the question:

"If you are nominated for President in 2008 and your major opponents agree to forgo private funding in the general election campaign, will you participate in the presidential public financing system?"

and here's Obama's response in full:

"Yes. I have been a long-time advocate for public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time as a way to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests. I introduced public financing legislation in the Illinois State Senate, and am the only 2008 candidate to have sponsored Senator Russ Feingold’s (D-WI) bill to reform the presidential public financing system. In February 2007, I proposed a novel way to preserve the strength of the public financing system in the 2008 election. My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors, and stay within the public financing system for the general election. My proposal followed announcements by some presidential candidates that they would forgo public financing so they could raise unlimited funds in the general election. The Federal Election Commission ruled the proposal legal, and Senator John McCain (r-AZ) has already pledged to accept this fundraising pledge. If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election."

To call this a "broken promise" is to ignore the last sentence in its entirety, and to read the sentence-before-last without recognizing that McCain's already backed out of public financing during the primary season, presumably ceding any high ground on this issue.

Yet the corporate media last night (that I saw) gleefully referred to Obama as having "gone back on his word."

Must be time to lie about the Civil War again

2008-04-27T03:41:00.002-04:00

the Rag has Confederate stooge Bill Grimes telling us that nosirr, it weren't about no slavery!

"These men were representing what their political rights were, their right to own property; that's what they were fighting for," he said.

He's not that far off, though. Just substitute "black folks" for "property" and it's accurate.

Oh dear.

2008-04-23T20:32:00.001-04:00

Ouch. Was it something I said?

The Gwinnett Daily Post's corporate owner told investors Monday that it was in danger of being dropped from the NASDAQ stock exchange.

Triple Crown Media Inc. announced that it had received notice from NASDAQ officials on April 15 that the company had dropped below the exchange's $15 million minimum market capitalization requirement. Triple Crown Media will be delisted unless it raises its stock price high enough for 10 consecutive days by July 14, the company said in a news release.

Triple Crown Media carries about $82 million in debt, according to the company's latest quarterly financial report.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered Triple Crown Media's corporate credit rating in February to CCC+ — or junk bond status — from a B rating.

A pro-mass transit column? Could it be?

2008-04-20T08:34:00.011-04:00

Something like this doesn't really get to the heart of why Gwinnettians remain so pig-ignorant about the need for comprehensive mass transit, but it'll have to do for now.

To say the only people to benefit from commuter rail are developers is inaccurate. Even people who choose not to use the rail line will benefit from fewer cars on the road and fewer carbon emissions spewing into the air we breathe. Commuters and students who would choose rail over roads if given the option enjoy a commute that is 25 times safer and gives them the ability to safely use their cell phones to talk, text or laptops during their ride.

True, the automobile is highly flexible, but is also subject to the wide disparities in daily commute times based on traffic accidents, weather, holiday volume, increasing truck traffic and the stress that goes with it. Commuter rail service and its riders are immune to all of that.

Along with soaring fuel prices, I believe actual ridership numbers for commuter rail service will far exceed all projections.

This argument goes to the heart of what I've been trying to get through every thick skull I've encountered Down Here: that by promoting mass transit, you're getting drivers who do not want to be on the road, off the road. I don't know why that's such a difficult concept for folks to grasp, but I have to attribute it to long standing tribal loyalties, lingering, xenophobic fears, and a flat-out terror that one day, that might actually be Thick Skull riding the bus, himself, rubbing sholders with Those People.

Stupid white men will stay away from the polls in droves?

2008-04-10T11:03:00.003-04:00

That's my take-away from Nate's latest. Fine with me.

I guess it'd be nice if this guy would appreciate that lying about a blowjob might just be the teensiest bit less harmful to the nation than lying about the reasons to go and blow up and kill a whole bunch of people who weren't doing us any harm, but I'll take one less right-wing schmuck casting a vote for McSame any day.

The old coot is talking to himself again.

2008-04-10T10:36:00.002-04:00

It's dog bites man, I know, but someone should note when Cal Thomas takes to quoting a Wall Street Journal Editorial as straight news, and then criticizing others for not liking them some straight news:

As a Wall Street Journal editorial noted recently, when the surge began last year, 'al-Qaida dominated large swaths of central Iraq, Baghdad was a killing zone, Sunni and Shiites were heading toward civil war, and the Iraqi government was seen as a failure. ... Today, al-Qaida has been cleared from all but the northern reaches of Anbar and Divala Provinces, Iraqis feel safe enough to resume normal lives, Sunni sheiks are working with coalition forces, and the long process of Sunni-Shiite political reconciliation has begun ...'

What's not to like about that? Apparently plenty, if you are a Democratic presidential candidate, or part of the Democratic congressional leadership that is an appendage of MoveOn.org and other far-left groups.

So I will.

Honorable mention--the ongoing conservative mission to call Moveon.org a "far-left group" often enough in hopes that people will believe it.

A gutsy dose of religious skepticism?

2008-03-09T21:54:00.003-04:00

If only. Nah, it's just a cheezy-ass, shooting fish in a barrel swipe at Scientology.

For all I know, of course, these E-metering charlatans are every bit as evil as your typical fundie outfit. But ask yourself: When was the last time the Hillbilly Rag treated us to a story from a Christian church escapee's vantage point?

Yes, it is crazy.

2008-02-25T18:43:00.003-05:00

Thanks for asking, Unsigned Editorialist.

Borderline crazy? Don't reject SR822

[...]

Shafer's Senate Resolution 822 doesn't suggest a land grab, rather it creates a boundary commission to work with the states in resolving the border questions. Certainly, though, getting some riverfront property is the eventual goal.

It still might be a longshot, but Shafer points out that his legislation doesn't change the border at all; it just recommends the boundary - as Congress decreed - align with the 35th parallel.

To recommend any piece of legislation without acknowledging the reasons we're actually in this fix, to the point where we're moving a state border--to carry on in that vacuum without a word about how we knew full well that our crisis was coming and did nothing about it--well, that's par for the course.

Not fit for the kid.

2008-02-22T21:05:00.003-05:00

For the record, I rarely allow my elementary school-age child to have first look at the front page of this filthy rag, on account of stories like this above-the-fold piece.

Grisly testimony
Man accused of killing with ax appears in court

One petition that needs signin'...

2008-02-21T11:58:00.005-05:00

even if you're not a big believer on these here Interwebs petitions.

On the other hand, if you want Sonny to remain smugly attached to the notion that a small minority of Georgia's bible literalists should impose their weird notions about keeping demon alcohol away from the Sabbath, please don't go there.

When Those People get their own credit cards...

2008-02-21T11:36:00.005-05:00

My Klan-dar goes off when I see a story like this:

LAWRENCEVILLE - A paintball gun, mountain climbing gear, $4,000 worth of DVDs and Cosmopolitan magazine were some of the "unusual" purchases by government staffers found in a recent audit of Gwinnett County's purchasing card program.

While an official had an explanation for the purchases, Matthew Whitley, director of the Performance Analysis Division, said the items are examples of lapses in the county's purchasing card policy.

Why? When there's no terribly good reason?

Probably because of tales like this, from various right wing outlets to explain away all the fraud and corruption afoot in New Orleans post-Katrina without actually explaining anything, by focusing on small-time crap and ignoring the mountains of corruption and thuggery.

And I'll forgive myself for hearing the racist dogwhistle here, even though Camie Young's never given me good reason to think any such thing of her in the past.

You remember that "arguing on the Internet is like competing in the Special Olympics" gag?

2008-02-16T14:05:00.007-05:00

If you don't know the punchline, google it.

I only mention it because my first reaction to this LTE written by an Adrian Devine of Lawrenceville was "what a retard."

And I had plenty of justification:

Roger Clemens has been a remarkable athlete for more than 20 years. Now he is under scrutiny because of his success. [...]

Our Congress has turned this investigation into a witch hunt based on the claims of a dope-dealing liar. Are there hurdles for Clemens to clear? You betcha.

McNamee has "evidence," but is it able to hold water? Time will tell. Time and an awful lot of taxpayers' money that will be poured into this investigation. Remember, these are the same people who thought it was a waste of money to investigate Bill and Hillary Clinton some 10 years ago.

Roger Clemens? Hmmm. How about putting all of Congress under the microscope, and let's see who comes out unscathed.

Maybe Ted Kennedy or Hillary will volunteer to go first.

This is seriously retarded, in every sense of the word. Mentally, sexually, and politically.

Thing is, the mentally retarded folk I've known in my half-century on this planet have been the salt of the earth. I never actually watched Forest Gump but I've always taken to heart the notion that "stupid is as stupid does," and it takes a pretty decent sized IQ to write a truly stupid letter to the editor.

This piece of crap fails the logic test on so many levels I won't even begin to address the painfully obvious. I will ask this: Just how many Americans actually believe that Ken Starr's 70 million dollar Excellent Adventure was a good use of taxpayer resources? 20 percent? 25, maybe?

Cowering Cal Thomas' Moooooozelum "Invasion"!

2008-02-14T12:20:00.005-05:00

While once again grasping at straws to draw analogies between our Warren Terra and The Big One, the crazy old coot is back at it again with the religious bigotry:

While Sept. 11 was an overt act, many covert acts are occurring that will render Britain and America less able (and less willing) to respond to the next attack. An estimated 2.5 million Muslims have invaded Britain.

They didn't immigrate, they didn't come to Britain legally and seek employment and a better life, these scary swarthy Mohammedan types. Nope, they "Invaded!"

Still, a part of me would rather endure this stupidity than the Hillbilly Rag's token DC "liberal" chatting up the splendid bi-partisanship and making me wonder if Barney Frank is really a tool since David Broder's taken to saying nice things about him.

You don't get out much, that's why.

2008-02-13T08:21:00.005-05:00

Bill Shipp asks "How could I be so wrong on so much?"

Among the things he admits to having been wrong about is, rather embarrassingly, how...

Obama seems to be on a roll. I still say he can't go all the way. No matter what I say, however, Obama is the new kind of black leader we'll be seeing for the next generation. Al and Jesse's strategy of "every black a victim" may be evaporating.

Bill, "Al and Jesse" weren't, and aren't, you know, actual elected officials. Barak is; has been for the better part of two decades. "Al and Jesse" aren't determining "strategy" as Co-Kings o' de Black Folk, much as you and some of your so-called liberal media mouthpieces want to continue to believe it.

Wanted to give credit where it's due

2008-02-12T19:26:00.001-05:00

but can't, not really.

It's a decent bit of reporting on a straightforward story that affects locals. Three trash haulers won't be able to do pickups in Unincorporated Gwinnettlandia; according to the county's Connie Wiggins,

"Companies much smaller than these two companies have been able to get all the insurance and bonds they were required to do."

But it's not enough to report that the haulers in question didn't return phone calls. The thing we needed to hear is verification from one or two other "much smaller" companies that had, in fact, obtained the insurance and bonds required of these three.

I want to believe when a county official official makes a claim like this. But I really can't, not until it's verified, somehow, and there's nothing in the story that does that for me.

Filed under "We gots Flush Toilets!"

2008-02-10T14:20:00.002-05:00

Ok, mustn't hate. Mustn't take cheap shots at decent people doing decent things. And I'm not, really; I think it's great that this couple are carpooling to work twice a week, and it's even greater that the Clean Air Campaign provides incentives:

"Our company at Micromeritics, we joined forces with the Clean Air Campaign," she said, "and we've got at least 10 or 15 people here who do some sort of carpooling."

It's even easier for the Ellisons, who don't have to stop by any other houses.

The arrangement, it turns out, is beneficial in several ways, the couple said. For the first 90 days they rode into work together, the Atlanta-based nonprofit paid them $3, as long as one of them logged in.

Soon, their names were being entered into giveaway drawings, for which they were eligible to win Visa gift cards. Charlie has already won twice so far.

Anne, who has been participating in the Clean Air Campaign longer but has never had her name drawn, said, "Lo and behold, like, the month after (Charlie) started logging in, he was one of the $25 Visa gift card winners. And it was so funny, because apparently that very same day, they had picked his name a second time."

What isn't great is that this is, apparently, so newsworthy here that it merits above-the-fold coverage in the Sunday Life and Leisure section. One might think that the reporter covering this one might've found a graf or three to reflect on this, or to even manage to report some kind of relevant statistics about how many Gwinnettians manage to share a ride even once a month, but... nope.

But we gots us at least one couple of carpoolers that we know about.

Addicted to Nazi Radio? (Some sane podcasting alternatives.)

2008-02-09T07:52:00.001-05:00

Well, of course you aren't a Kool-Aid swiller. If you're reading this, you probably believe that Rush Limbaugh is a lying asshat who's done more than any single man since Joseph McCarthy to destroy America's foundational concept of justice for all; that Neal Boortz is a cult leader, that Sean Hannity's outer-borough bleatings are those of a frustrated closet case, etc.

But it's likely you know those folks who are, who suffer the foolishness of the above mentioned radio stars. They're decent, reasonable people who may disagree vigorously most of what they're hearing on the air, but find themselves in need of something, anything pundit-like whilst out on the road, say, after their NPR affiliate's switched from news to music. And in spite of themselves, they find themselves, if not agreeing, at least saying "well, so-and-so is kind of entertaining to listen to."

Presumably you have some kind of left-leaning (or at least more-moderate) radio lifeline out there via podcast. But I'll bet your friend doesn't.

It doesn't have to be that way, of course. I figured the time had come for me to provide some kind of guide to those who are either dealing with friends who are enthralled with AM hate radio, or have -- shock, horror -- fallen prey to the siren songs themselves. My links herewith are in no particular order; I don't have a "favorite" as such, since the nature of talk radio is such that it's easy to get burned out on anyone, even a nice, reasonable fellow like, say, Peter B. Collins, whose shows can be downloaded here at the Green960 site, or here, at White Rose Society's.

Thom Hartmann took over Al Franken's old noon-3pm (EST) weekday slot on Air America. At the moment, San Francisco's Green 960 offers his shows as podcasts here. He's noteworthy for engaging actual conservatives in debate on his show fairly and openly. Unlike most hosts, once a conservative's made an appearance, he'll actually tell his callers to lay off any verbal attacks on the the guest in question, reasoning--imagine that!--that it's not fair to allow a show to attack someone who isn't there to defend themselves. Go ahead and cite the right-wing whackjobs who'd extend the same courtesy. That's ok, I'll wait...

Rachel Maddow's star is rising of late--she makes frequent appearances on MSNBC panels, often paired with the racist xenophobe anti-Semite Pat Buchanan. Rumors have abounded that she might get her own show on MSNBC, but for now, she does one of the snappiest, wittiest two-hour slots anywhere, broadcast weekdays 6-8pm on AAR and postcast here.

If you're more in the mood for something that goes right for the gut, you want Randi Rhodes (postcast here or here) or Mike Malloy (whose podcasts from Nova-M radio are paid-subscription.). Neither host is terribly interested in playing fair or making nice. Both are utterly necessary, if, like me, you believe that if you're not outraged, you're not paying attention.

I suppose I could point out what ought to be bleedin' obvious, that there are more middle-of-the-road talkshows available for podcast. Given that Georgia Public Radio's talk offerings are mostly timid and corporate-friendly, it'd behoove one to check out the WNYC site's podcasting lineup which includes two prime examples of what a "fair and unbiased" show might really sound like, Leanard Lopate and Brian Lehrer.

So far I've only cited weekday talk shows, but there are some terrific catch-up weekenders worth mentioning as well. My all-time favorite is Sam Seder, who used to have a primo morning slot on AAR until the corporate geniuses decided that the squishy, Libertarian Lionel (who, I'll admit, I actually find tolerable in small doses) would rake in the advertising bucks, and sent Sam to Sunday evenings 4-7pm. His Seder on Sunday show's mission: to document and lacerate the bobblehead Sunday-morning TV atrocities, and put the week's events in rational perspective. He includes a regularly scheduled "Watchdog" segment and, best of all, two or three liberal bloggers who'll discuss the week's events the way you only wish corporate media could muster.

It's a little more Establishment and middle-of-the-road most of the time, but AAR's Ring of Fire is a good resource for underreported items as well. And it's got RFK, Jr. so what's not to like? (Available as a free AAR podcast here.)

+ + +

Technical note: If you (or your friend) doesn't realize this, there is a little bit of work involved in getting a podcast from the website to the mp3 player. Rather than delve into it here, I'd suggest looking at the website's recommendations and if there's any trouble, simply post any troubleshooting tips or questions in the Comments link below.

Are there any Republicans

2007-11-25T11:24:00.000-05:00

who aren't claiming that Democrats are horrified by the prospect of "victory" in Eye-Rack?

Just wondering.

Here's what the filthy, lying "representative" John Linder (he of the FairTax scheme) had to say on the topic in today's Rag:

Q: Is recent progress in Iraq making it more difficult for Democrats to argue that any war funding bill must come with a timetable for troop withdrawal?

A: The biggest blow to the Democrats' position is (Rep.) Brian Baird from Washington, the Democrat who went over there in August and came back saying ... 'We've made great strides.' ... We had some bad strategy at the beginning. ... It was Gen. (David) Petraeus (commander of U.S. forces in Iraq) who turned the entire status around ... There's some real progress.

Whoever wants to waterboard Linder, get in line behind me.

Some good news on the Perspective page

2007-10-07T09:19:00.000-04:00

At the bottom of page 7A:

For this week's columns by David Broder and Bill O'Reilly, visit our Web site at www.gwinnettdailypost.com and click on Perspective.

I've been known to write to the Hillbilly Rag and let them know when they've done something right. Sparing us the printed lunacy of Dild O'Reilly and Broder's "this is good news for Republicans!" faux-centrism is a mitzvah to be acknowledged, if only for one week, and if only due to printed space considerations.

It was SEVENTEEN freekin' years ago, people!

2007-09-14T21:17:00.001-04:00

Yep, 17 years ago the painfully ignorant Gwinnetians shot themselves in the foot and voted down a referendum to bring MARTA tippy-toeing into the county, as we're reminded in this front pager.

Warbington said preliminary results show the Gwinnett Place station would have the highest ridership of any stop on the line.

But because of the unpopularity of the idea nearly two decades ago, the CID has also stepped forward with $11,500 to conduct a public opinion poll on all modes of transit, including MARTA.

About 500 voters will be surveyed by the end of the month, Warbington said. Results are expected at the CID board meeting next month, which is when the MARTA study should also be available.

"We hear all the time Gwinnett County won't support it (MARTA), but we're trying to get a baseline as to what the county would support," Warbington said about the poll. "We're on a fact-finding mission."

I'll admit to being somewhat astonished if this poll doesn't reveal the residents of this county have, in fact, done a 180 on this. I've just spoken to too many, in recent years, who finally see the need, although that ridiculous "ya build a station, it's gonna invite crime!" riff continues to play among the knuckle draggers... so maybe I'm being too charitable.

Poor Nate's dreams dashed

2007-08-24T17:39:00.001-04:00

He thought he'd found his hillbilly dream house...

It was where we wanted to live. The location was perfect, out in the country but a few minutes from everything in the world. It had more space than anything else we'd found in our price range. It was bright and open, with all the amenities we wanted. The yard was landscaped beautifully. We even liked the color.

But what's this?

Then I did a search for the street address on the Internet looking for a map of the area. What was the first thing that came up? The Georgia sex offender registry.

All's not lost--he's establishing his WATB conservo-twerp cred by claiming victim status at the hands of evil, unnamed civil-libber types.

And all you whiny so-called civil libertarians and creepy convicted sex offenders who e-mailed me the last time I wrote about this subject calling me a witch hunter and worse can save your breath.

Somewhat novel approach, this pre-emptive attack, for our Nate.

Well, I guess you'll just have to go on being one of those renters you so wish to be in a position to loathe until another cheap, hell-and-gone-from-anywhere house comes along.

What a Hillbilly Believes

2007-08-15T09:48:00.000-04:00

And regurgitates, courtesy of today's Letters page, emphasis mine in case you needed help spotting the flat-out lie:

[Barak Obama] said he would meet one-on-one with our enemies, carry out military attacks in Pakistan and revealed to the world his predetermined decision to never use nuclear weapons.

This bit of geopolitical wisdom comes from one Deryl Duncan.
(Or possibly from his other bother Deryl.)

Church 'n skoolz "on the same team"

2007-08-15T08:59:00.000-04:00

the Rag's unique brand of unsullied-by-knowledge journamalism in full effect for today's above-the-fold front pager:

Brian Offutt of the North Atlanta Church of Christ in Dunwoody said the schools and churches are "all on the same team."

"We're all working together to help form the students more into the image of Christ," he said.

Makes us all wish we'd-a been there!

You worry your purty little head all you like!

2007-07-11T12:40:00.000-04:00

Apparently the Hillbilly Rag is ok with its columnists ripping the Establishment... so long as they're wimminfolk, and safely tucked away inside a Heath & Wellness section.

Coke is now trying to brainwash consumers into thinking their product is good for you, that the bubbly drink is part of a healthy diet.

The Atlanta-based company must truly be suffering if they're trying to reel in buyers by convincing them this sweet drink has nutritional benefits. And my condolences to those who believe it.

Why, they're even allowed to be shrill (emphasis mine).

But why consume man-made sweeteners like aspartame, which has been proven to cause brain tumors and cancer

Just keep that stuff outside of the editorial pages, y'hear?

The Headline with the mostest

2007-07-11T12:33:00.000-04:00

potential for irony, that is: Acting Presidential.

Per expectations, though, it was about the cat-and-mouse will-he-or-won't-he-run nonsense that could've been phoned in by someone nowhere near the event.

Thompson said he wants to make sure he has the right people in place and has weighed all the factors with his family before throwing his name in the ring.

"The more you're blessed, the more you want to make sure you're doing the right thing and you're giving what you have to offer," Thompson said.

"And God willing, I'll be able to help the ball team."

I'll keep looking for that sidebar about the infuriating tendency of the Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce to provide aid and comfort to neocon thugs, or for a single comment about Freddy's direct involvement with last week's biggest story (remember? Guy name a' Scooter?), or the atrocity that is Sean Hannity's Freeance concert series...

Potty humor!

2007-06-01T11:07:00.000-04:00

A truly creative blogger would compose a letter of protest about Cal Thomas' little bathroom joke making an appearance on their Very Serious "Perspectives" Pages:

As the Pentagon reportedly drafts scenarios related to U.S. troop withdrawal, the enemy plans for victory. Al-Qaida's number two (an appropriate designation for those who can remember junior high humor), Ayman al-Zawahiri,

Email it, and then high-five himself on seeing the faux outrage in print.

right?

Nate McCullough don't like brown people

2007-05-25T10:21:00.000-04:00

well, not all brown folk, but he sure has a problem with them illegal Mexicans (emphasis mine):

And there are a lot more Joe Averages (right now at least) than illegal immigrants, and the Averages are not happy with having to learn Spanish to order at the drive-thru and watching people who aren't supposed to be here in the first place protesting - a right reserved for citizens.

Not to get all catty but dude, I've seen your pic; I imagine your daily drive-thru ordering is, shall we say, a pretty intense transaction and probably difficult enough to comprende in your native Hillbonics.

"County urging safety for weekend"

2007-05-25T10:16:00.000-04:00

Filed under "you can't make this stuff up" -- that's the actual headline title for this story, the above-the-fold 84-point-typer.

IIRC, the New Republic once held a "Most Boring Headline" contest and the winner was "Election Turnout in Netherlands Lower than Expected." And yeah, that's pretty good but--

I think we have a worldbeater here.

The most positive possible spin

2007-04-17T08:19:00.000-04:00

For the Rag to acknowledge that Georgia may be fought over by Presidential candidates this year and next, and for votes, not just for money, is progress of a kind.

The GOP vote really took off four years later, when President Bush carried Georgia by a wide margin, and he repeated that strong showing in 2004.
But local backers of Obama and Giuliani say Saturday’s rally may be a sign that public campaign stops are about to become more the rule in Georgia than the exception.

But O, my kingdom for an honest headline! "Georgia may be in play in 2008" is swell, but "Arrogant White Wingnuts no longer Calling All Shots" would be infinitely sweller.

End-to-end Whiny White outrage

2007-04-13T09:06:00.000-04:00

I know, same stuff, different day, but usually the Hillbilly Rag manages to find two opinion pieces that cover slightly different topics.

But not today. After all, today's biggest story isn't, oh, that the White House has been erasing evidence about Abu Gonzolez' US Attorney purge; it sure isn't about Iraq's parliament getting blown up.

Nope, it's about the poor, oppressed white man, and how he can't get a break from nasty ol' colored folk. Starting with our local guy

It's what happened to the Duke boys. Trial by media storm. Convicted and sentenced to a life forever shadowed by the words "racists" and "rape charges."
Someone should be standing up for them now.

Apparently Nate McCullough never heard a minute of AM talk radio, nor happened upon any of hundreds of websites and publications that've been not just pulling for the frat-boy stripper-party attendees, but calling for Mike Nifong's head since soon after this story came to light.

Then it's on to the Rag's second-tier RW pinup (I guess they still don't want to spring for Malkin or Coulter) who is also just indignant as all get-out that those mean colored folks won't show proper respect for the white man's indignity:

In the Duke case, we will succumb to suffocation, I suspect, if we hold our breath waiting for Sharpton and Jackson to apologize for feeding the racist frenzy that condemned those three young men whose lives were nearly ruined by innuendo, lies, an out-of-control prosecutor and a complicit media.

Nearly ruined! Why, it almost came to trial! And there was a slight possibility that the prosecution's witness might've had a chance to get obliterated by any defense lawyer with a blood-alcohol-level below .15%! Surely no colored folks have ever faced such injustice--where's the outrage, you "racist" frenzy-inspirers!

I'd like to sum it all up by making some pithy statement about the hopelessness of ever expecting certain demographics of ever coming to terms with their own culpability in the ridiculous state of race relations in America today, but I just can't.

Mostly I'm just bewildered that in 2007, people still actually write, publish, and read this stupid, whiny shit.

Posting has been light.

2007-03-23T08:32:00.000-04:00

It's not that there hasn't been plenty to bitch about here in Gawdz Country as covered by Gawdz Newspaper, it's just that it becomes a little bit of a shooting-fish-in-a-barrel kinda deal after awhile.

And besides, I've detected more than just the teensiest change in political heart on behalf of the Hillbilly Rag. Maybe it was that favorable war-protester coverage by Camie last week. Maybe it's been some relatively sane LTEs in the past few months.

Anyway, there will be outrages worthy of note, and I'm going to keep this going for awhile.

later gators.

Golly, for a minute there...

2006-11-19T09:08:00.000-05:00

I thought the Hillbilly Rag might've grown a pair.

A front page story about the little ol' Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) Insider blog, which has of late been driving the tyrannical J. Alvin Wilbanks regime bonkers by publishing documents that more or less prove to passers-by beyond the shadow of a doubt what we've known all along, that the GCPS is run by theocratic, old-boy-networking numbskulls.

But as you dig in, you realize, it's just another fair-and-balanced example of ass kissing. Heather's gone and made sure to publish the couple of feeble "b-but you guys are JUST AS BAD by, um, complaining about the corruption!" posts that the blog's drawn.

And where's the url? Not in the lede, not on the front page. It's there, though--on, literally, the last line of the story, after the jump.

Never fear. The sun will rise in the East, water will still be wet, and the Hillbilly Rag is still cowardly and terrified of upsetting the evil regime that lords over a billion-dollar budget.

Bill Shipp's cheap, correct shot

2006-11-15T14:23:00.000-05:00

Speaking of shots, it'd be like shooting fish in a barrel to take Mark Taylor to task for running such a wanktackular Goobernatorial campaign, but Bill's on the case.

And why not; the Big Guy had it coming, as do the delusional head cases mismanaging what's left of Georgia's Democratic party. Problem with the piece is, it's kinda all over the place, and at this relatively late date it might've behooved Bill to have focused somewhere and run with it. There's a kernel of a great idea in the last line of this graf (emphasis mine):

The Taylor bunch also fixated late in the campaign on Perdue’s questionable but complicated real estate deals and never pinned down the incumbent on his specific plans for the state. Party discipline also disappeared, if it ever existed. After her defeat in the Democratic primary, Cathy Cox seemed to take orders from Republican strategists. Former Gov. Zell Miller, still flying the Democratic banner, ran all over Georgia and Pennsylvania campaigning for Perdue and Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. Santorum lost. No Democrat in Georgia bothered to call out the renegade Miller.

That's worth a new column, Bill.

Voted early, not often

2006-11-07T15:20:00.000-05:00

Hopefully it will count. Not that it matters much in Georgia, circa 2006. We need a far higher percentage of

a) enfranchised/encouraged African-Americans and Hispanics;

b) rational people of the ethnic groups not traditionally disenfranchised (them wot did the disenfranchising.)

And it'll happen, slowly but surely. Main thing to remember about Georgia is, it's never been about Democrat vs. Republican, but rather White Supremacist Creep vs. Decent Folk.

The Georgia WSCs have held sway more or less since this country's founding, but in fits and starts the DFs have had some say, and they will have more as there are more and more residents Not From Around Here.

Not that all folks who move from blue states vote blue, but they're more likely to than the WSCs.

AJC and the Hillbilly Rag – Separated at birth?

2006-11-03T08:47:00.000-05:00

There’ve been times when I’ve pondered aloud to Mrs. Ragger as to whether or not it continues to make sense to pay good hard earned cash to subscribe to the local metropolitan daily newspaper, in this case, the Atlanta Journal Constitution. It’s not as if there’s a whole lot in their print version that isn’t available online anyway that I’m able to read in the 20 or so minutes I spend with it during breakfast prior to heading off to put food on my family.

And it was in that spirit, some weeks back, that we let the subscription lapse, and allowed the Hillbilly Rag to provide us with all of our print journamalism needs. It was an interesting month, but in the end, it was just too much to do without a “real” daily newspaper. So we re-upped, and a coupla days ago we received our first AJC after the hiatus.

And as a kind of reminder that no good deed ever goes unpunished was this endorsement from our so-called liberal media for the warmongering, Chimp-fellating, anti-choice, flat-taxing John Linder, which contained these chilling words:

In the 7th District in northern Georgia, incumbent Republican John Linder has made a name for himself with his advocacy of the so-called Fair Tax, which proposes to replace the income tax with a national sales tax. He is opposed by Democrat Allan Burns, another first-time candidate who is well-informed on the issues, but who hasn't been able to get much traction in this conservative district. Linder is the better fit.

Let that sink in for just a minute. “Linder is the better fit” because—why? Because Gwinnettians deserve a suck-ass Representative? Because we’re too stupid, unlike the true-blue intowners who apparently composed this drek, to comprehend the complexity of a sane, rational individual like Allan Burns? Because dumb-shit crackers deserve to be given the mushroom treatment--kept in a dark place covered in shit?

I don’t see any other way to scan this particular endorsement. Linder is a “better fit” because, well, we deserve this bastard, just as this bastard feels he deserves another two years in Congress even though he’d promised to voluntarily term-limit himself and not seek this term.

I guess I shouldn’t take this quite so personally. I guess when an AJC-ish editorial staff gets together to pick its endorsements, it makes decisions about which demographics it’s going to please and which ones it doesn’t mind pissing off, and after all, how many Gwinnettians even bothered to vote for John Kerry in 2004?

Hell, it was only 90,000 or so, give or take a few. Screw ‘em.

Yeah, I love you back, AJC.

They say it like it's a bad thing

2006-10-24T12:37:00.000-04:00

It's not.
ATLANTA — U.S. Rep. John Linder built additional public momentum during the 109th Congress for his signature issue, the “fair tax’’ — replacing the federal income tax with a national sales tax.
But despite a meeting with President Bush to push the proposal, the Duluth lawmaker still couldn’t get it through the House, let alone before the Senate.
Now, a businessman from Lawrenceville is working to sink the bill for good by unseating Linder after 14 years in office and becoming part of the first Democratic majority in the House in a dozen years.
And not a minute too soon.

I really want to chuckle whenever I see some naive local with a "FairTax" sticker affixed to his modest vehicular conveyance. These poor fools really think that Linder's idiotic 30% sales tax on all goods and services is going to auto-magically eliminate any Federal oversight of revenue collection (i.e., "Abolish the IRS") and, of course, save them a bundle.

I want to, but then I remember it's not really all that funny.

More brilliance from our locals

2006-10-18T07:23:00.000-04:00

How might the Hillbilly Rag's demographic view 300 million Americans? Let's get the view of Local Man.

Local man Darrell Moore thinks that’s too many people too fast. Moore said he’s worried about what might happen to all those people if the stock market crashes or if something else happens to upset the financial balance.
“I don’t think the country’s ready,” he said. “Think about all the wildlife and stuff, the trees and stuff. All that’s going to have to be torn down to accommodate them.”

"...they didn't vote for us anyway."

2006-06-20T09:36:00.000-04:00

The purported full sentence from James Baker, back in the Bush 41 days, when asked how an issue under consideration might adversely affect the Jewish vote was, "Fuck the Jews; they didn't vote for us anyway."

That spirit of inclusiveness lives on today, as we draw closer to the July primaries and nobody seems to have the foggiest idea if our Voter ID law is actually legal or not.

Beyond concerns over whether the state is ready to enforce the new law, opponents on Monday repeated the arguments against the photo ID that were heard during the past two legislative sessions.

Joe Beasley, Southern regional director for the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, compared the requirement to the poll tax and grandfather clause, laws that kept Southern blacks from voting during the Jim Crow era.

But Randy Evans, who represents the Georgia Republican Party on the elections board, said GOP legislative leaders made sure the law allows voters who don’t have valid photo IDs to get them as easily as possible.

"As easily as possible." That's why, at last check, there was exactly one (1) bus with a history of frequent breakdowns available to those without access to mass transit or carpooling to an officially approved Voter ID center.

But why would the GOP care? The party manages to draw African American voters in the very low single digits in their primary (that was the case in 2002, at least).

They didn't vote for them anyway.

Warren Furlow clears it all up for us

2006-06-19T10:36:00.000-04:00

Well, no, not really. But he does let on what the recent Gwinnett County library director's firing wasn't all about:

we are not trying to dictate some fundamentalist religious agenda, we do not want to establish a fascist theocracy and we don't burn books or witches!

Whew!

More enlightening commentary here.

And it just now dawns on him that Neal Boortz is a dick?

2006-05-24T10:52:00.000-04:00

Better late than never.

It's the usual namby-pamby retreat from a Hillbilly Rag's winger:

It wasn’t because I disagreed with Boortz on the issues. As I said, I usually agree with him, in principle at least, and even when I disagree I enjoy the intellectual engagement. And it wasn’t because I’m some “liberal hand-wringer,” as he likes to describe detractors.

Ok, "Winger" might be a tad harsh. Rob Jenkins has been known to have a clue, to think independently and express such thoughts in his columns. But he's being far too kind to Boortz by claiming the radio cretin is merely uncivilized and nasty.

Boortz literally loathes the public. He has done more than anyone else to demonize the 90% of American students in public schools as being "government school" zombies.

And yet, surprise surprise, Boortz, an alleged libertarian, fully supports the invasion and continued occupation of Iraq and the continued bleeding of hundreds of billions of dollars of government funds to support same. And sees no contradiction in that.

Rob, that's what you should've focused on. But y'see, that'd require courage, and a willingness to piss off your golf buddies...

What brings a blogger out of semi-retirement?

2006-04-19T09:10:00.000-04:00

I wasn't quite ready to acknowledge my semi-retirement, although frankly I was getting a little bored posting one shooting-fish-in-a-barrel note after another.

But this one, a poor soul on a one-woman mission to ban Harry Potter from da liberry, is just too good to pass up.

Laura Mallory of Loganville filed an appeal last week to get the best-selling book series out of the schools’ media centers. She is an evangelical Christian who has three children at J.C. Magill Elementary School.

“I think the anti-Christian bias — it’s just got to stop,” Mallory said. “And if we don’t say something, we’ll just keep getting pushed out of the schools. And I pay taxes, too, and I think that gives me a voice to speak out about this.”

I keep waiting for the tipping point, where otherwise decent people recognize that they're being had by the likes of Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter and innumerable flying-monkey wingnuts who insist that "Christianity is under ATTACK." I keep thinking, "surely these voters recognize that they are being played for fools, right?"

And then the depressing reality sets in, that this foolishness more self-perpetuating than I'm willing to credit. The more reasonable people criticize censorship attempts like this, the more Christ-like a Laura Mallory allows herself to feel. She's the real victim! She's the one being persecuted!

Dick builds the bestest straw man ever

2006-03-13T12:24:00.000-05:00

I can only hope that there aren't any "liberal weenies" who reply, thus humoring this pathetic attempt to grab attention.

In fact, I thought long and hard before even bringing it up here at the blog, but it's worth having a look just to see what ridiculous lengths some will go to demonize their (imagined) enemy.

Just a taste:

Why are you willing to have a loon like Howard “Yah-Yah” Dean as your leader? The man is so out of touch with the average American that he couldn’t find the mainstream with a flashlight.

Why do you go mute over your poster boy, Sen. Ted Kennedy, whenever I mention his past behavior?

And are you aware that you couldn’t get a single one of your current candidates for president elected dogcatcher, let alone head of the free world any place south of Richmond or east of Arizona?

It actually goes downhill from there, resorting to the usual Islam-bashing and race-baiting.

After all this, Dick wants our input. "I eagerly await your response. I just hope I don’t upchuck my biscuits and gravy."

I can only hope and pray that nobody obliged his request. Because the opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference.

Decades after the horses have left the barn

2006-03-02T08:40:00.000-05:00

A committee is formed to decide whether the door should be closed. This is how progress is measured in Gwinnett County--we've gone from a shamelessly pro-development government (under Wayne Hill) to a shamelessly pro-development government that pretends like it might be persuaded to care, given some more time to think about it.

Gwinnett's study committee on impact fees started Wednesday searching for questions.

The answers will come later, officials said, but first the eight men brainstormed on the kind of information they will need and how it will come to them.

Wednesday's session was the first for the Impact Fee Study and Advisory Panel, named by the Board of Commissioners last month to give an opinion on whether Gwinnett should charge developers to pay for infrastructure such as roads.

This just in: Racist cretins are not polite

2006-02-22T08:26:00.000-05:00

Bill Shipp apparently got email-bombed by a bunch of little green snot-ballers who took exception to his non-bashing of Jimmy Carter's remarks at Coretta Scott King's funeral.

Apparently that was an act of race-traitorin' or something.

As far as I know, Rush Limbaugh was not privy to the arrangements, though he had plenty to say. My e-mail critics let me know that once again the Pied Piper of the right was dead on. Carter, Lowery and other hated Democrats (read black leaders) were way out of line.

Despite e-mail assertions to the contrary, my relationship with both Carter and Lowery has ranged from poor to worse over the years. I am not a buddy of either, and I have written critically of both.

Nevertheless, the harsh e-mail was instructive. I occasionally forget who’s out there. Reaction to the King essay was a wakeup call. The electronic age has invigorated incivility. Cordial discourse is on the wane. Mean-spirited epithets are in vogue.

Indeed. Someone needed to wake him up and make him recognize that the thin veneer of racial civility some profess here in the "new South" is just that, and not much more. Here's hoping he manages a few more feisty columns before, presumably, the Hillbilly Rag either drops him or tells him to shape up and put that pink tutu back on.

...

A hair off the topic but worth sharing--as I pondered the hysterical over-reaction to Lowery and Carter's remarks that seem to show little sign of abating (although JC's backing of GWB's UAE port thing might mitigate this a tad) a little lightbulb went off. One reason the right wing loathes the left so very much is that they've no unique American heros of their own.

Sure, they can point to some people -- your Reagans, your um, um... ok, there must be someone else -- seen as somewhat larger-than-life in retrospect. But for a Reagan, there's an FDR.

Who does the Right have that's a right-wing image of Martin Luther King or any of the other civil rights heros? Nobody, that's who. And so they squirm and complain when MLK or his wife are praised; it's gotta hurt. The best they can do (and I mean that genuinely, because MLK was fighting for everyone) is co-opt and claim partial ownership of the ideals, and that's fine as far as it goes.

But the final solution, the end game that southern right-wingers have to play, is to elevate their anti-abortion movement into the realm of civil rights. I think many on the right consider it their own personal abolitionist movement, one that will be recognized in time as necessary as that of John Brown.

Until that (very unlikely) day arrives, though, they have to sit and squirm as Bush did during Coretta's funeral. Which is why any unflattering remarks about the current US government (via Lowery), or even that of LBJ (via Carter) that might remind the right of what a wretched history it has, and how unheroic it's been, were so very hard to swallow.

They loves them some underaged defendants

2006-02-17T15:03:00.000-05:00

So much so that they'll plaster the kid's face on the front page the moment he shows up for a bond hearing.

Ok, granted, the molestation charge is pretty heinous, but we are talking about an 17-year-old diagnosed with a mild form of autism.

You'd think the Rag could restrain themselves, and at least wait for a verdict.

Voter ID: Can't make a case? Just steal someone else's.

2006-01-26T07:21:00.000-05:00

There's still no online version available, but here's what appeared on 11A of yesterday's rag:

[Sen. Preston] Smith [R-Rome] and other Republicans said the bill's purpose is to prevent voter fraud in Georgia, an issue of growing concern across the nation in light of allegations of wrongdoing stemming from the last two presidential contests.

Once again, the party of Rove is projecting; the diligent efforts by those progressives who are determined to expose the irregularities of black-box voting are being conflated with the ancient cries of "voter fraud" that have been bandied about to, among other things, suggest that John F. Kennedy didn't really beat Richard Nixon in 1960.

I should make it clear that I have no problem with the other side making a case to address any real grievance. Hell, I don't even mind if they make a case to address phony ones; what's the point? They'll make 'em anyway. But this is something else entirely.

The Republicans in Georgia have been challenged many times to come up with a justification for their accusations of "voter fraud", and to back up their bluster with documented cases. They can't. And now, instead of bothering to make that case, they simply imply that the "allegations of wrongdoing stemming from the last two presidential contests" are about the "voter fraud", and not about database hacking, nor about systematic disenfranchisement of inconvenient American citizens who petulantly refuse to vote Republican.

"As Southern as cotton" and almost as intelligent...

2006-01-21T10:26:00.000-05:00

Darrell Huckaby's website portrays him as the second coming of Lewis Grizzard. Luckily I never had to read the white-trashy ramblings of Mr. Grizzard prior to his untimely passing, but alas, Huckaby continues to rate a weekly column that's invariably a week late, a dollar short, and about twelve cards shy of a full deck.

Today's is no less unremarkable, ranting as it does about Hillary's "plantation" comment (there's some farm-fresh commentary for ya). And while I'd expect a guy like him to have absorbed Hillary's remark and reacted precisely as his right-wing noise machine overlords tell him to, I'd also expect anyone who considers himself to be even a half-assed observer of human nature to ask himself, golly, did anyone on the other side of the aisle ever make such an analogy?

Had he done so, he might have ventured here, or here, or to zillions of other places where allegedly "conservative" pundits and politicians have used the term "liberal plantation" to describe most any institution or group of people they dislike.

Just when you think this rag can't sink any lower...

2006-01-21T09:38:00.000-05:00

Nothing like posting the picture on the front page of a 15-year-old kid who'd been expelled the unchurchly act of kissing another girl. Posting it just for the sake of getting yet another shot in at the heathens' child.

The stomach turning story is here, and you had to go to the jump to get the very bestest quote:

Principal J. Anthony Knight and school founder Emmaline McKinnon sent home a letter Friday informing Covenant families that the lawsuit had been withdrawn.
Knight also sent a copy of this letter to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

The letter did not explain the Bradleys’ reasons for dropping it, but it did assure parents that the school hadn’t offered to settle the case, or paid any settlement money. It described the withdrawal as a blessing from God.

Shorter Athony Knight (and, in collusion, the always-sympathetic hillbilly rag itself) "don't worry, devout fundie asshole readers--we won! We dodged another bullet! Them gawdless ACLUer types won't be suing us for behaving like baboons!"

(apologies to any real baboons who may be reading this.)

Whiny Ass Titty Baby letter of the week

2006-01-11T16:15:00.000-05:00

WATB Ralph Greene notes that some liberal people are well-off and he's upset.

Bill Gates, liberal inventor and reputedly the world’s richest man, has been buying a lot of Berkshire Hathaway stock lately. Berkshire Hathaway is run by even more liberal Warren Buffett, the second-richest American. Both of these characters admit to voting for Bill Clinton, and Buffett was a big fundraiser for Hillary Clinton’s Senate run. Seldom is any of this stuff mentioned in the press. Funny, isn’t it? The Republicans are the ones portrayed as the hated “rich” in the lamestream media.

"Lamestream media." Golly, hang out at Free Republic much, Ralphie?

"If the country of Liberia can use it, why can' we?"

2006-01-10T08:27:00.000-05:00

Who says Georgia Republicans have no vision?

The House Governmental Affairs panel focused on a controversial voter bill that would require photo identification at the polls.

The law actually passed last year, with Everson’s special election last summer becoming the first where photo IDs were required. But the law was suspended in October by a federal judge.

Everson said he supports the Republican initiative, which caused blacks to walk out of the Legislature during debates last year. There were no problems reported during the special election.

“If the country of Liberia can use it, why can’t we?” Everson said.

Dare to dream--of Liberia! If Ralph Reed continues to get slimed in the wake of the Abramoff scandal, I guess they can always draft this guy to run in his place:

Hot coot-on-coot oral action!

2006-01-10T08:16:00.000-05:00

If your idea of a good time is Cal Thomas fellating the noted French racist Jean-Marie LePew, the Hillbilly Rag is more than happy to provide XXX-rated access.

If you like it extra-kinky, make sure to catch Bible literalist Cal mustering concern over a potential loss of "French culture, possibly French secularism and liberty" if those evuhl Mooslims wind up outnumbering the, um, you know, um...

Well, he's too chickenshit to come right out and say it, but we all know what he means here.

Careful, for a moment there

2006-01-09T12:07:00.000-05:00

a Hillbilly Rag reporter actually intimated that an opposition party exists.

House Minority Leader DuBose Porter, D-Dublin, accused GOP leaders of pushing the issue now to cover up what they tried to do last year.
“These people intended to take property rights away,” he said. “What they’re doing now is a smokescreen.”

Don't worry, though--the rest of the story is pure GOPee, including a bit about how those good ol' boys are gonna polish that Voter ID turd so that it gleams real purty.

How this blog works

2006-01-06T08:27:00.000-05:00

As is the case with so many Gwinnettians, I get a daily newspaper I never asked for. It is supposed to be a free subscription with the monthly cable bill, although I know of neighbors who aren't hooked up to cable who also get it and they aren't paying for it, so who knows.

I could post a sign saying "No right-wing rags, please" but I doubt that the delivery person would catch on.

So it's here in all its printed glory virtually every day. I've tried to ignore it--sometimes for months on end I'd succeed--but most of the time I am tempted to peek inside and see what it's trying to say.

Some ask: "why don't you just write letters to the editor if you dislike this rag so?"

But I have, you see. Several times. Polite, carefully composed, not-too-long missives, taking respectful issue with various editorial positions, over the past couple of years. They have been ignored. There appears to be exactly one (1) regular letter-writer who is allowed to be to the left of Rush Limbaugh, who gets an airing every couple of weeks. He is regularly savaged by other LTE authors, of course. (he will remain nameless, since I'm sure he gets enough grief from these yahoos as it is.)

The only reason I'm writing this now, several weeks after I started this blog, is because once again the paper's website is down and I can't link to anything I saw this morning. Kinda hard to work up a good head of steam of righteous indignation if there's nothing to back it up. So this'll have to do.

Carnage on da Streets!

2006-01-05T09:04:00.000-05:00

Omigosh we had about as many total fatalities in 2005 as we had the previous year in Gwinnett County!

More great journamalism--i.e., not a word about miles driven in the county, a comparison of population from one year to the next, actual death rates per thousand. . . Nope.

In short, nothing to make the raw numbers relevant to anyone's life in any way. Which is good enough for the hillbilly rag's front page.

Anyone want to pitch in and help me buy these goobs a few pass-around-the-office copies of Innumeracy? Anyone?

Say it in broken English

2006-01-04T08:15:00.000-05:00

Along with such delightful anachronisms as "Orientals", "Coloreds" and "Injuns", I thought I'd never again read in a daily newspaper the term "Broken English" to describe how those folks for whom English isn't a first language might communicate. Not in a front-page news story anyway.

Generally, in such cases, a journalist will either

a) attempt to transcribe such a person's comments in such a way as to convey the feelings without editorializing about the person's linguistic skills; or

b) find a translator.

Item b) is a toughie sometimes when the language is as exotic to these parts as is Spanish, but some do manage.

But at the Gwinnett Daily Post, where we are still, apparently, living in the first term of the Eisenhower Administration, no such standards exist. And so the boyfriend of a stabbing victim's heartfelt expressions of grief are, in 2006, described as having been uttered in "broken english." Just loverly.

I won't hold my breath waiting for the Post to describe, say, Education Ruler-For-Life Alvin Wilbanks' utterances (wherein he describes the first year of elementary education as "kindygarten") as "Hillbilly English." But wouldn't it be loverly, too, if that were to happen?

No more holiday ragging

2005-12-22T15:23:00.000-05:00

until next year. 'later.

Re-thinking that "Pink Tutu" label for Bill Shipp

2005-12-21T13:31:00.000-05:00

because I couldn't have put it any plainer and righter than he did today

(Ruder, yes.)

A Fox cable-television guy wrote a book called "The War on Christmas," and this whole fuss is rooted in peddling his book before time runs out on Sunday. After that fateful day, "The War on Christmas" will probably sell for about a quarter on the remaindered table.

Bless you, Bill, for not mentioning John "Five in the Noggin" Gibson, Fox fascist blowhard, by name, but instead dissing him as a mere "cable-television guy."

Bad enough to stumble upon Harpy Grace

2005-12-20T07:49:00.000-05:00

whilst trying to find something to kill a few minutes' worth of time--last night I had to listen to Harpy yelling at the Rag's Andria Simmons, who had just filed this story about Dentist Gone Wild! Barton Corbin.

Harpy had just "learned" from Andria that the prosecuter was not going to seek the death penalty. Being the bloodthirsty, grandstanding cretin that she is, Harpy screamed "WHAAA NAWT???"

You kinda had to see it/be there. I've no link to video, nor do I really want to have it. To Andria's credit, she just smiled and tried to answer the question, not that Harpy was interested in hearing it.

Rob Jenkins, the Rag's whiny titty-baby

2005-12-19T07:33:00.000-05:00

He just hates it when them libruhls wanna git all inclusive 'n stuff.

It just wouldn’t be the Christmas season if ...

The ACLU wasn’t suing a municipal government somewhere in America over a courthouse-lawn nativity scene.

--

My elementary school-age children hadn’t just celebrated the “holidays” with a “winter party” featuring multicultural snowpeople.

--

if I wasn’t wondering whom I might have just offended by using the word “Christmas.”

Duh greatest healthcare in duh world!

2005-12-17T13:20:00.000-05:00

Another one of those "if I read between the lines, I'll have to assume..." stories.

Health officials have penned a grant seeking funding to bring a federally qualified health center to Norcross, an area deemed medically underserved.

As opposed to a clinic that focuses on sickness prevention, this center would be a primary care facility concentrating on patients once they are sick.

I'll have to assume the GDP's staff are happy it's in Norcross and not, say, closer to their own neighborhood.

I'll have to assume we can look forward to more stories about the progress of this project without ever hearing a peep about why health centers like these are becoming necessary.

And heaven forfend that the GDP might look under the hood and shed some light on why the richest country on earth can't provide healthcare coverage to all of its citizens.

What the world needs now is another anti-O'Reilly rant

2005-12-16T08:15:00.000-05:00

not really. I think the entire left blogosphere is probably giving the old perv more attention than he deserves. And since you would be better off going to Media Matters to keep regular tabs on Falafel Boy than bothering with my crappy little blog, I'll keep it short.

But in today's column, carried OF COOOUUUURSE by the Hillbilly Rag, I can't let this howler go unmentioned:

No matter how you feel about the Iraq war, we should admire Lieberman for sticking up for what he believes.

Aside from the absurdity of requiring admiration for Joementum for remaining foolishly consistent, who the hell is a loudmouthed prick like Dild O'Reilly to begin a sentence with "no matter how you feel about the Iraq war"? when has Dild ever allowed for even the appearance of dissent against Dear Leader's vanity conflict, his bogus Warren Terra, in Loofah Boy's twisted world?

Ok, that's my quota of gratuitous O'Liely shots for the month. Last one this year, promise.

The staff subversive

2005-12-15T15:46:00.000-05:00

Maybe I shouldn't come out and say it, being that a) who knows if anyone in a position to do anything at the Hillbilly Rag will ever happen upon this blog entry, and b) who cares, period? but:

Lisa McLeod is the closest thing to a subversive element, as far as I can detect, writing for the rag. Earlier this year she managed to publish a column advocating a Department of Peace, which must have been roughly akin to getting the American Legion to book Jane Fonda as a keynote speaker.

Less spectacularly, though, week in and out, her column (consigned to the wretchedly-titled "lifestyles" section) and the sane opinions expressed therein is a lone beacon visible in an ocean of thuggish wingnuttery.

Doesn't someone need to have a "little talk" with this man?

2005-12-15T08:12:00.000-05:00

Oy vey. Emphasis mine; this guy has Lost. It.

Though true abstinence-only programs have been effective in altering sexual behavior, the so-called “sex education” programs in government schools do more to promote sex than prevent it, giving lip service to chastity while spending most of the class time teaching kids how to use condoms.

If parents care enough about their children to want to do more than fret about such things, they are going to have to radically alter their approach to child rearing.

Step one is to pull them from the government schools that serve as hothouses for this kind of behavior and thinking. Step two is to reduce lavish lifestyles so that parents work less and invest more time in their children, with one parent actually staying home to make the home a safe haven. Step three is no television in the home. Television has become hostile to the things most parents want their children to believe and embrace. It is deadly to their moral development; it encourages disrespect for fathers and undermines those things that used to make families a strong, positive cultural force.

And none a' them horseless carriages neither! They's the work of the Devil!

Just how religious-nutty is the hillbilly rag?

2005-12-15T07:54:00.000-05:00

So nutty that they printed this letter. And no, there's nothing especially unusual about the LTE in today's paper save for one thing--our designated fundamentalist defender o' XXXmas, Carolyn Buckner, is replying to a previously published LTE that ran on November 18.

November 18. As in, twenty-eight days ago. The week before Thanksgiving. That's how important it is for the Gwinnett Daily Post to keep the hatred alive. And yeah, it is hatred; on the ground, amongst ordinary people, this whiny, ginned up complaint about a "war on Christmas" serves to accomplish nothing, absolutely nothing, but ill will toward men. You couldn't be any less Christ-like if you were trying.

My favorite bit of logic from Ms. Buckner (she'll probably take offense to me calling her "Ms.," which is precisely why I do it--yeah, pettiness is a two way street, buster!):

the Bible claims Jesus to be God, so all religions are not the same and they all do not promote love and good wishes.

Got that? if you don't worship Jesus as a god, then you are incapable of promoting love and good wishes.

If that's not religious bigotry what, pray tell, is?

They loves them some bald Nazis

2005-12-14T16:47:00.000-05:00

In this case, a bald Nazi named D.A. King who cranks up his "keep out them Messicans" rhetoric in today's rag.

I won't bother quoting from it, you've heard it all thousands of times before. But in case you collect hate site urls, here's his.

Maybe I'm just anally PC

2005-12-14T16:16:00.000-05:00

But the photo accompanying the front-pager about "affordable housing" bugged me.

It's a good bit of reporting from Douglas Sams, and I suspect most GDP readers had never stopped to contemplate how literally impossible it is for a minimum-wage worker to afford to rent most any one-bedroom apartment in this nation.

But about that photo--it depicts the dreaded "Townehomee" construction that terrifies so many a homeowners' association. It's as if the GDP couldn't possibly run a story about poverty without reinforcing the notions so many cling to, that only po' folks would ever want to live in, well, you know, shoulder-rubbing proximity to their fellow humans.

I don't know how Gwinnettians imagine they can continue to cram another 25,000 citizens into the county every year without going to denser housing. Also don't know how people can live their lives without having some clue of how the rest of the world lives theirs.

John Linder is a LIAR

2005-12-14T10:04:00.000-05:00

Alas, the hillbilly rag's token pink-tutu Democrat Bill Shipp wouldn't ever get a cool, and utterly accurate, headline like that for one of his oh-so-carefully-calculated-not-to-offend editorial pieces, but if you're willing to read the thing it's there in black and white.

Linder delivered the above declaration early in 1993 shortly after he was sworn in to his first term as a Georgia congressman. A few weeks earlier, he told the USA Today newspaper, "I will come home after 12 years."

Now the consummate Washington insider, Linder is completing his seventh term in the House and preparing to run next year for an eighth term. He doesn't discuss term limits now. Such talk seems so nineties-ish. Term limits were a big item on House Speaker Newt Gingrich's Contract with America in 1994.

Ah, this would be such a fine, fine smackdown if only Bill had taken this to its logical conclusion and explained why the voters would be nuts to continue re-electing representatives from Party of Newt who unabashadly lie like a cheap rug. But, well, we mustn't appear shrill. Or partisan, for goodness sake.

Bigotry: it's all about Pride!

2005-12-13T13:17:00.000-05:00

Just when I was starting to get something approaching warm and fuzzy upon reading not just one but two sensible editorials in today's rag that weren't utterly batshit-insane in their "defense of Christmas"--including one from a most subdued Cal Thomas--along comes an incredibly vile reprint from Rome, GA's News-Tribune.

Georgia Republican congressional delegation is to be commended for seeking to scrap Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which must be renewed by 2007.

As the area’s congressman, Phil Gingrey, R-Marietta, correctly put it: ‘‘You don’t have much of a snowball’s chance in hell of winning. You still feel like it’s the right thing to do, so you strap on your helmet, go out there, and if you fail, you walk away with your pride.’’

Yeah, it's a thankless job, keepin' our dark-skinned folks down and in a world of shit, but someone's gotta do it! Christ on a cracker...

Front page story not especially dreadful

2005-12-13T13:11:00.000-05:00

Dave Williams' "Immigrant bill tough but flexible" threatened to be the typical kiss-ass Republican talking point monstrosity we've come to know and love in the GDP but--shockers!--the article actually included what sounded like something kinda sorta like criticism from a GALEO spokesguy, Jerry Gonzalez, but you had to get past the puffery to get to it.

Of course, no quotes from actual Congresscritters with "Ds" beside their names, who are in a position to actually oppose the legislation. Can't have that.

What do these people imagine the ACLU to be?

2005-12-12T10:27:00.000-05:00

I literally cannot pick up a copy of the GDP without the American Civil Liberties Union being angrily denounced or, at minimum, demonized at least in passing.

Yesterday, Dick Yarbrough couldn't manage to complete his upbeat, rah-rah column without taking a passing shot:

Whoa! Ask and you will receive. A few weeks ago, I suggested you might want to write the men and women of Georgia’s 48th Brigade Combat Team in Iraq during the holiday season and thank them for their sacrifices. Your response has been overwhelming. The troops are going to get a lot of mail because of you.

I have heard from individuals, civic clubs, churches, schools, hospitals, business groups and even a group of jail inmates, all pledging to send as many cards and letters as possible to let their fellow Georgians know that they are appreciated and offering prayers for their safe return.
More individuals have written than I have the space to list, although one of my favorites came from Allan Hytowitz, a self-styled “Jewish kid” from Alpharetta. He has sent members of Charlie Company, 1/121st Infantry out of Gainesville, a six-and-a-half-foot Christmas tree, complete with decorations. Allan says now he is no longer a “Christmas tree virgin.” Don’t let the ACLU know, Allan. That kind of stuff just confuses them.

Yes, I know Dick is "just kidding." I especially liked how he felt compelled to describe Mr. Hytowitz; them's funnies too, Dick!

But seriously, just how much juice does your typical GDP reader imagine the ACLU has, anyway?

Maybe it's a regional thing

2005-12-12T10:20:00.000-05:00

but I cannot for the life of me understand the ongoing newsworthiness of a gas station's sensible anti-theft measures.

This is hardly the first time the GDP has covered this as earth-shaking news, and I thought it was weird then, and I still think it's wierd that anyone even pays cash for gasoline purchases any more. What is up with that? Who takes the time and trouble to walk in to pay for a fill up these days?

Of course they covered the circus

2005-12-09T07:32:00.000-05:00

after all, some chick dressed as Queen Liz showed up.

But you had to go to the jump and read the very end to get the real story from last night's GC Bored o' Eddication meeting:

The board voted unanimously to renew Wilbanks’ superintendent contract for another two years, extending it until June 30, 2008.
He will receive a base salary of $228,375, a 4.4 percent cost-of-living increase equal to the average increase for teachers. He will also receive a 7.5 percent increase in his current expense allowance, and an 8 percent increase in his current transportation allowance.
With health benefits and other expenses, his total compensation package will be based on an annual salary of $276,422 from Jan. 1, 2006 until June 30, 2006.

Per usual, the marginally competent hands at the AJC managed to lead with the bleedin' obvious.

Not above, below, or anywhere near the fold today

2005-12-08T12:31:00.000-05:00

nor anywhere else in the rag, is a friendly reminder that there's a Gwinnett County Board of Ed meeting tonight that should be especially entertaining, given that supporters of the pushed-out-the-door-for-showing-an-R rated movie to seniors teacher, Ed Youngblood, are planning to raise hell.

Nice. As any "kindygartner" could tell you, it's but another lovely example of the hillbilly rag's collective tongue placed firmly up J. Alvin Wilbanks' backside. Fortunately, the AJC's Gwinnett Section found this to be front page news.

Below the fold today

2005-12-08T12:22:00.000-05:00

Duking it out are the taser-death civil suit and some nusisance legislation that--I kiddeth you not--ensures one's first Amendment rights to say Merry Christmas.

They're just gonna milk this one for all it's worth, aren't they?

I don't want to fall back on the typically idiotic LTEs seen in the hillbilly rag, but this graf was astonishing in its utter ignorance of history. It comes to us courtesy of Emily "Litella" Kroemer, drinkin' the Dacula Kool-Aid:

Christopher Columbus, the man who originally discovered this great country,

Did you know that he discovered the USA? Hey, it's here in the paper!

kept a log of his reasons for searching for undiscovered land. One of his reasons is said to be to “bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the heathens.”

"And if that didn't work, well, there's always the smallpox blankies..."

What right do we have as citizens of the country to try to destroy the original basis of the discovery of America? None.

um, that was my head exploding. Sorry.

But as long as there are those people who have nothing better to do than nitpick details and whine about what they think is politically incorrect, someone will be there to comfort them and aid them in their fight for “fair treatment.”

Per usual, no actual cites for the alleged "whining."

thanks again, Dild O'Reilly. And John "Five in the noggin" Gibson.

What got me here

2005-12-07T14:02:00.000-05:00

There's a bare-bones VOY-based forum, hosted by a group wot calls itself Concerned Parents of Georgia that I've been in and out of for most of my time here as a Yankee transplant. When it's not overrun by troll (yes, singular) it can be a hella lotta fun. And it's probably got as much to do with me deciding to start this silly blog as anything else.

Anyway, my first few months as a Georgian I didn't really care about local issues, and hence I never really looked at the GDP much prior to pitching it into the recycle bin. Then I learned that an elementary school was about to be built between two landfills, one of them still actively adding Georgia's junk.

Next door. To an elementary school.

Suddenly, I didn't just care, I had to care; my kid was being redistricted into this new elementary school. I was hungry for something, anything covering local stuff.

So I started posting inquiries to that forum. And I started actually reading the news stories in the Gwinnett Daily Post. Sometimes they'd cover something that didn't appear in the AJC.

And to be fair, sometimes they do a bit of half-way decent reporting on a local story. But it's mostly the same kind of kiss-ass, go along to get along garbage that infests (in an inadvertantly entertaining fashion) their editorial pages, and most of their regular columnists.

What the GDP could be

2005-12-07T13:50:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'm too fried to think about such lofty things, but in time I will have something besides ragging in here. I will pledge here and now to publish actual suggestions for improvement, real-live constructive criticism, and not just shoot fish in a barrel.

The syndicated columnists

2005-12-07T13:29:00.000-05:00

It's hard to say which of the GDP's stable of right-wing stooges is most offensive. But today's piece by Cal Thomas, singing the praises of American propaganda, surely puts him in the running.

They's declaring war on JesusMas!

2005-12-07T12:42:00.000-05:00

Not one, not two, but Three-count'em-THREE LTEs in the GDP about how those no good secular humanisticals are killing Christmas.

Angela Arce from Duluth gives us:

We have allowed our country to be watered down to the point where we do not stand for anything. I am a Christian and I am happy to acknowledge Kwanzaa and Hanukkah along with my friends and neighbors. I am taught through the word of God to love everyone and not to judge. I am leaving the judging part up to God; he's much more qualified than me.
If possible, I would like to know other stores who choose to banish the word Christmas. I'll be happy to take my money elsewhere.

Jane Vineyard, also from Duluth (someone slipping some nog into the water there?) gave us the barftacular:

Jesus is the reason for the season! If folks get offended, it is because they don't understand the true meaning of Christmas. To repeat the words from an old, old song that Gene Autry sang:
C is for the Christ child, born upon this day
H is for herald angels in the night
R is our Redeemer
I is Israel
S is for the stars that shone so bright
T is for three wise men, they who travel far
M is for the manger where he lay
A is all he stands for
S means Shepherds came ...
And that's why there's a Christmas Day.

And lastly, we have this two word review

Shit sandwitch.

er, I mean this, from the Bufordians Sue & Ross Skinner:

Don't take Christ out
Yes, too many retailers are taking Christ out of Christmas.

I can see how it took a collaborative effort to pen such a mighty, festive manifesto.