Toll tunnel under east Atlanta?

A controversial concept to link Ga. 400 to I-675 by digging under east Atlanta has for a couple of years found its way onto some policymakers’ wish lists. But this month it found itself someplace better: Among the state Department of Transportation’s top toll projects pitched to private investors and road-building companies.

...“The tunnel is the one project that absolutely, head and shoulders above every other P3, moves the needle the most on congestion mitigation and mobility,” said David Doss, who chairs the state Transportation Board’s committee on such projects.

via ajc.com

However, I know I'm not going to live long enough to see this happen. For the last fifty years, Atlanta residents have been fighting with the GDOT to keep these roads from being built. The odd arrangement of the area interstates makes more sense when you know what the original plans were.

BLUE ROUTE: I-675 Of course Ga 400 and I-675 were meant to be one continuous route through Atlanta. They would both have connected to that stretch of I-20 that runs nearly north-south at Glenwood. But a lot of money lives at Druid Hills. A tunnel? Well, I wouldn't have thought the MARTA north line tunnel was feasible, so sure, I'll buy it.

RED ROUTE: I-420 Both ends of the existing Langford Parkway (nee Lakewood Freeway) make it obvious that the road was intended to go further. For all I care it still can: There's quite a bit along the proposed route that would benefit from being demolished.

GREEN ROUTE: I-475 The area's most notorious aborted road project is the one that was supposed to connect downtown Atlanta to Athens via Stone Mountain. Every time I drive Ponce de Leon, I weep at the traffic load it is forced to bear, and the skinny little parks alongside that represent the land GDOT had acquired for the project. Now, of course, it cannot be built without moving the Carter Center, which sits exactly where the I-475/675 junction was supposed to be. Damn hippies.

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

Welcome to the loyal opposition: Glad to have you

All I can say is: the president gave a speech he could have given at any point in the last three years. No one in that room could disagree with any of the things he said. I sure don't (with the exception of the hate crimes hooey). And he said it well and movingly. Like we didn't know he could do that.

But the point of electing a president who pledged to actually do things is to hold him to account, and to see if he is willing to take any risk of any kind to actually do something. I had a few prior tests of his seriousness or signs that he gets it, a few ways to judge if this speech had anything new or specific or clear. He failed every test.

via andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com

It does not please me to see the President's support base question his ability to deliver on his promises, or his will to do so. I feel no victory, no compulsion to shout "I told you so".

God knows Obama has plenty on his plate. Around about the time the banks started failing, he must have looked at his campaign advisors and said, "Somebody remind me why I wanted this job." I would think that Gay Rights would be rather low on his priorities just now. But Andrew Sullivan is surely right to be disappointed that even Joe Solmonese (chair of the Human Rights Campaign) does not intend to hold the President's feet to the fire on the subject.

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

Why I "friended" Sarah Palin

(Sorry, can't be embedded. Picture links to YouTube, where the video is hosted.)

I can address this thing a couple of ways.

1: Katie Couric asks Sarah Palin a stupid question.

"What newspapers and magazines did you read, before you were tapped for this, to stay informed...?" I expect better questions of Weekly Reader, never mind the editor in chief of the CBS Evening News. What kind of answer could Palin possibly give that wouldn't sound moronic?

Well, the one she gave. "All of them." She did her best to turn it into a sensible answer without discarding the question entirely. When Couric insisted on following up, asking for specific journals, Palin responded to the preconceptions that could lead a respected reporter to ask such a question. "Alaska isn't a foreign country, where it's kinda suggested," and you can see Couric lose interest in the topic here, "it seems like 'Wow, how can you keep in touch with what... Washington DC may be thinking and doing when you live up there in Alaska?' "

Seems to me Palin deserves a little credit for saying "it's kinda suggested" instead of "you're suggesting".

2: Who deserves to be laid out by "Terry Tate, Office Linebacker"?

Nobody. The Reebok commercials are amusing because, as in all cartoon violence, nobody really looks hurt, just inconvenienced. But "Palin" (a double by this point, I'm sure) goes down hard and stays down. This is funny? This is legitimate political debate?

Oh, no, not another conspiracy

modern perspective Originally uploaded by Mr. Mark

Yes, I saw that a goodly fraction of the blogosphere has leapt upon this report from Politico:

For the past two years, several hundred left-leaning bloggers, political reporters, magazine writers, policy wonks and academics have talked stories and compared notes in an off-the-record online meeting space called JournoList.

As I say, I saw that report. I've seen an ever-increasing number of bloggers spreading the word.

I've even read Ezra Klein's description of what JournoList is. He's the founder and organizer, if that's not too strong a word to use for a listserv mailing list. (In my own experience moderating mailing lists, I "organize" them only in the sense that the person who cleans out a litter box "organizes" it.)

Having read and digested this...Well, actually, I'm thinking I shouldn't use the word "digested" so soon after talking about a litter box. But I believe I've arrived at a reasoned, reasonable reaction: So what?

Klein said:

The idea, then as now, was to foster a safe space where policy experts, academics, and journalists could freely talk through issues, bringing up the questions they considered urgent and the information they thought important, with the result being a more informed commentariat. It's been of immense value to me, and through that, of value to my readers.

As for sinister implications, is it "secret?" No. Is it off-the-record? Yes. The point is to create a space where experts feel comfortable offering informal analysis and testing out ideas.

This all sounds eminently reasonable. It's the 21st century equivalent of going out to the corner bar after work, granted more importance than it deserves because it's On The Internet.

(Oh: The photo has nothing to do with this story. I just thought it was purty.)

Overwhelming support

Daily Kos ! President Obama addresses the nation
As we (eagerly!) await President Obama's first address to the nation, take a look at how the clown pundits (mostly conservatives, but even a few from the MSM) tried to spin the speech. Fortunately, nobody seems to agree with them -- the American public overwhelmingly supports the Obama Administration's economic recovery efforts.

Dear Daily Kos:

52 to 48 is not "overwhelming support". It is a majority barely larger than the margin of error. Please try to keep that in mind. God knows you didn't have any trouble remembering it in 2000 and 2004.

Hugs and kisses,
Folks who can still add

I dreamed I was an Obama girl

From Friday's New York Times, by Judith Warner:

As we all know, in journalism, two anecdotes are just one short of a national trend. I figured that my friend and I couldn’t possibly be the only ones dreaming, brooding or otherwise obsessing about the Obamas. Were other people, I wondered, being possessed by our new first family?

Ms Warner: Have you not read any newspapers in the last year and a half?

"the only way to take Rush Limbaugh down"

So, having successfully taken the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives (all of which will enable the taking of the Supreme Court), the Progressive front perceives itself to be sitting pretty. I get that.

And the Republican party having apparently forgotten what it's about, the most influential conservatives in the country may well be Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. I get that too.

So, the Daily Kos' FreeSociety now suggests:

It is clear that Limbaugh is going to give Obama the "Clinton treatment" for the next 8* years, and worse, the GOP will in lockstep follow this same agenda and play the role of obstructionist to the core. It is clear that Obama counter-attacking Limbaugh, while helpful for his "base", will have no meaningful effect on this. It is clear that Democratic Party members counter-attacking Limbaugh, while evidence of "a pulse", will have no meaningful effect on this.

But one thing will: Humor/satire

Recall that the one time when Limbaugh faced a little dip in his popularity, and the Democrats unexpectedly averted losing more seats in 1996, and 1998, came after Al Franken's book "Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot" had gained significant public attention.

Recall, also that Obama had indeed fallen behind John McCain in the polls, once Sarah Palin was picked, and that she was initially very popular. The Corporate Media could have easily overlooked and ignored her poor performance in a couple of interviews (as they had also happily done on behalf of Bush Jr., Cheney, and McCain himself), had it not been for the totally unexpected phenomena of Tina Fey's brilliant satire that then became the story, like a runaway train and impossible to stop.

A significant percentage of voters were unable to tell the difference between Tina Fey's caricature and the actual Sarah Palin. (Quotes attributed to Palin were actually uttered by Tina Fey, among them the infamous "I can see Russia from my house.") I'm not sure if that's due to "brilliant satire", wishful thinking, or just dumb luck, but OK. Let that go.

I have to say, though, that this explains a lot of what I heard on Air America. Six hours of airtime were devoted to two comedians (Janeane Garofalo and Al Franken) who weren't trying to be funny.

* Optimist.

Couldn't let it go, could you?

Originally uploaded by craparu

Inaugural Attendees Chant 'Hey, Hey, Goodbye' to Bush Chopper [NewsBusters]
[Article links to video from MSNBC. Below is a reader comment from the same page.]
Libs who keep whining about why conservies aren't accepting Obama, they need to stop and think about this.

After eight years of full-blown hate toward the president, saying he killed black people in New Orleans, accusing Republicans of stealing an election, accusing our military of genocide, making movies that fantacize the president being killed, wishing Dick Cheney had died in Iraq, showing up in Denver screaming "kill Michelle Malkin," hanging Sarah Palin in effigy, throwing projectiles at Ann Coulter, banning the military from public soil, and invading the House to approach Condi Rice with blood on your hands....

All the sudden that's all in the past and we're supposed to be friends.

Excuse us for being a bit skittish, but we have reason to fear the left and have no desire to lump ourselves together.

See also:
Sorry, Everybody (2004)
Apologies Accepted (2004)
Hello, Everybody (2008)
From 52 to 48 with Love (2008)

What's my point? In every aspect of politics -- which is to say, throughout human society -- there will exist people who cannot see that they have become what they profess to hate.

I am encouraged by my inability to find any video of this disgraceful behavior from any source other than MSNBC. I strongly suspect it was a relatively small percentage of attendees who couldn't stop themselves from breaking out in song (and booing the outgoing President when he appeared). But, I mean, good for Chris Mathews and Keith Olbermann for expressing disapproval -- but you still aired it, dudes.

Congratulations and good luck, President Obama.
Thank you, President Bush.

Is it just me...?

Is it excessively disrespectful to the office to depict the sitting President in this manner?

(Perhaps, given the room in which we might find this if it were functional, "sitting President" might not be my best choice of words.)

I depend on my friends to tell me when I'm mistaken, and I honestly want to know: Have those who disagree politically with the President and the party to which he belongs crossed a line here?

National holiday?

Not satisfied with the nation of Kenya having declared a national holiday to commemorate the election of Barack Obama (who wasn't born there, wasn't raised there, and never lived there), the downtown Topeka McDonald's will be hosting "Yes We Can" rallies on Tuesdays through the Corona- er, inauguration, to promote an American national holiday for Barack Obama as well.

Isn't that, you know, premature? Shouldn't we wait, oh, I don't know, until he actually does something?

Okay, I do realize that many people are still in the grip of obamamania and shouldn't be held responsible for anything they say until at least after inauguration day.

What landslide?

Well, what could be more unbiased than that?

From Eject! Eject! Eject!:

On Tuesday, the Left – armed with the most attractive, eloquent, young, hip and charismatic candidate I have seen with my adult eyes, a candidate shielded by a media so overtly that it can never be such a shield again, who appeared after eight years of a historically unpopular President, in the midst of two undefended wars and at the time of the worst financial crisis since the Depression and whose praises were sung by every movie, television and musical icon without pause or challenge for 20 months… who ran against the oldest nominee in the country’s history, against a campaign rent with internal disarray and determined not to attack in the one area where attack could have succeeded and who was out-spent no less than seven-to-one in a cycle where not a single debate question was unfavorable to his opponent – that historic victory, that perfect storm of opportunity…

Yielded a result of 53%.

Folks, we are going to lick these people out of their boots.

The Republican party had eight years under President Bush to identify a suitable standard-bearer to carry their message into the 21st century. And they found John McCain?

Congratulations and Good Luck

Best wishes to President-elect Barack Obama.

Mr Obama will inherit numerous problems large and small, most of which his party has ascribed to his predecessor. This tactic may prove to bite them all in the ass, if (as I strongly suspect) the president really doesn't have the power to have done everything he's blamed for.

With a solidly Democratic House and a near-filibuster-proof Senate, who will Kos and the Democratic Underground (overground?) blame when things go wrong?

President Obama will be on the spot to turn everything around. He's my president too. Have hope and don't expect overnight miracles.

What a country!

I'm very tired

Elective Sunset Super-Wide, originally uploaded by Fort Photo.

I'm voting for McCain.

I could tapdance around saying it, but I can't make the points I'm about to try to make until you know that.

So. In an effort to be as fair-minded as I possibly can -- and because I'm really not looking forward to voting for McCain, and was hoping someone would make a compelling case not to -- most of my current-events reading has been by progressive pundits, most notably by those writing for, and quoted by, the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post.

As a result, I've seen countless accusations of wrongdoing and non-specific fugg-headedness leveled at Republicans in general and McCain, Palin and Bush in particular over the course of this very long election season. I started to say I've seen all of them, but of course I have no way of knowing that I have. I'm only human, I've doubtless missed something.

One thing I've missed, for example, is any proof or confirmation that any of it is actually true. The news cycle on each incident starts with an accusation and, despite progressively (no joke intended) more intense name-calling, never really moves beyond it.

But then, the progressive intelligencia never really responds to accusations from the conservative side, either. They ignore the question, dismiss it as irrelevant, or question the motives of the accuser. Sometimes all three.

The so-called debates were no help. The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that the issues facing America today are far too complex to be boiled down to a 90-second answer. So, of course, that's what both major-party presidential candidates were asked to do. The Lincoln-Douglas debates took all day.

I should add that conservates are not innocent of the disinformative failings I've observed in progressives. But, in general, conservatives address issues, while progressives talk about feelings.

More importantly, conservatives speak of winning the war, whereas the most progressives will commit to is ending it, consequences to Iraq, Afghanistan and America's international standing be damned.

Okay, that's not quite true. Progressives are gearing up to fight a war that is much more important to them: The one that is going to engender riots in America and make the streets run red with blood.

I'm speaking, of course, of the impending doom and second American Civil War that will ensue if Barack Obama does not win next Tuesday.

I'm so weary.

But, of course, remember how disoriented progressives were four years ago? They cannot be counted upon to do the rational thing if they again succumb to that state of despair.

A key plank in the Democratic platform is gun control. If it were to come to a left-right civil war, who has all the weapons?

Is it "hate speech" for me to point that out?

Are Obama and McCain the best we can do?

Shock and Sadness: Hearing The Unspeakable

I listened to a woman in her early 50s across the table mock Obama as "The One" and "The Messiah" and scorn his policy for spreading the wealth. Then she dropped this bomb: "You know if I ever opened the newspaper and read headlines that something tragic had befallen Barack Obama, I tell you I wouldn't shed a tear."

My spoon froze on its way to my mouth. I heard our host, a Republican, shout at the woman, his sister. "How can you say that? That is beyond the pale. That is simply beyond the pale!"

There was much more screeching and protesting, but the woman repeated her explosive comment once again, justifying her horrid thought with: "I'm just being honest."

I must sadly assure you that I have heard as bad, or worse, from casual acquaintances as well as from people I am otherwise proud to consider friends.

However, as a semi-conservative-libertarian in an overwhelmingly majority Democrat area (Atlanta), I usually hear such hatefulness expressed in the other political direction.

In your situation, I would draw some hope from the fact that the host took his sister to task for her comment. And, if I understand you correctly, several others at the table, conservatives all, spoke up in objection. I can't deny that her like exists, just as I have experienced her opposite number on the left, but let us be aware, and thankful, that they occupy the fringe, not the mainstream of their respective points of view.

About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

I’m deeply ashamed right now to be called a “journalist”

Editing Their Way to Oblivion:
Journalism Sacrificed For Power and Pensions

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not one of those people who think the media has been too hard on, say, Gov. Palin, by rushing reportorial SWAT teams to Alaska to rifle through her garbage. This is the Big Leagues, and if she wants to suit up and take the field, then Gov. Palin better be ready to play...

No, what I object to (and I think most other Americans do as well) is the lack of equivalent hardball coverage of the other side - or worse, actively serving as attack dogs for Senators Obama and Biden. If the current polls are correct, we are about to elect as President of the United States a man who is essentially a cipher, who has left almost no paper trail, seems to have few friends (that at least will talk) and has entire years missing out of his biography. That isn’t Sen. Obama’s fault: his job is to put his best face forward. No, it is the traditional media’s fault, for it alone (unlike the alternative media) has had the resources to cover this story properly, and has systematically refused to do so.

Why, for example to quote McCain’s lawyer, haven’t we seen an interview with Sen. Obama’s grad school drug dealer - when we know all about Mrs. McCain’s addiction? Are Bill Ayers and Tony Rezko that hard to interview? All those phony voter registrations that hard to scrutinize? And why are Senator Biden’s endless gaffes almost always covered up, or rationalized, by the traditional media?

If only...

There is only one debate scheduled for the "third-party candidates" and it's tonight at 9pm at the Mayflower Renaissance Hotel in Washington.

I wish I had a handful of worthwhile prizes I could give away. I would walk the street asking people to name four people running for president in 2008, and watch their eyes go blank. I'm guessing a lot of people would misunderstand the question and say "Obama, Biden, McCain and Palin."

There are, in fact, six people running for president, and four of them were invited to tonight's debate. Two of them, Ralph Nader (independent) and Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party), have agreed to appear. Bob Barr (Libertarian Party) has a scheduling conflict, and Cynthia McKinney (Green Party) hasn't replied.

The debate will be carried on C-SPAN. If they were all there, for sure I'd watch it.

This campaign needs some intentional humor

Senator McCain and Senator Obama both appeared at last night's Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner in New York. They took the opportunity to let their metaphorical hair down.

Senator McCain, part 1:
"It's gonna be a long, long night at MSNBC if I manage to pull this thing off. I understand that Keith Olbermann has ordered up his very own 'Mission Accomplished' banner."



Senator McCain, part 2:
"Seriously, Chris, if they need any decorating advice on that banner, ask Keith to call me so I can tell him right where to put it."



Senator Obama, part 1:
"What you may not know is that 'Barack' is actually Swahili for 'That One'..."



Senator Obama, part 2:
"...and I got my middle name from somebody who obviously didn't think I'd ever run for President."

Hard-hitting news

Because it must be said:

Sarah Palin's eyeglasses will not make you look as good as Sarah Palin.

Our analyst adds:

As long as people are going to call it a presidential beauty contest, why not get someone in there with some experience?

That concludes this special report.

And now, this, from Cincinnati WKRC. C, i said. C. Not P. C.

Does Editorial Talk to Marketing?

I'm thinking, "no". These are the front and back covers of the new issue of Nature magazine.

The journal swears it is horrified by the coincidence.
"We didn't know until the issue landed on our desks," Nature pleaded to the media.
"It just goes to show that editorial and advertising aren't working in cahoots."

A-yep. (From the Daily Mail.)

VOTE 4 NOBODY

VOTE 4 NOBODY
Originally uploaded by K's Photo's

Georgia just opened the voting offices. We don't have to wait until Nov 2: I could vote today.

I might as well. The election is, in fact, over. Those of you who say you're going to leave the country if McCain wins may as well start packing. McCain WILL win, and the reason why is simply explained.

As always, the election is in the hands of the so-called "undecided voters". If you'll forgive a baseball analogy: A season consists of 162 games. The losingest team of all time still won 60 of them. The winningest team of all time still lost 60 of them. It's what happens to the other 42 games that determines the season.

Similarly, it's the "swing votes" that will decide the election. That's why we hear so much about the "battleground states." The Republican and Democratic cores are owned votes. (Some might say "bought and paid for".)

That said, which seems more likely: "Republicans for Obama" or "Democrats for McCain"? Which candidate is more likely to convince voters from the other party that he's electable?

Oh, changing the subject: Am I allowed to be amused by NOW's endorsement? Woman on the ticket for the Republicans: You have got to be kidding. Women in both positions on the Green Party ticket: Yeah, there's an association we want the public to make, NOW and Cynthia McKinney. A black man and an old white guy, the demographics that have historically had the least respect for women: There's our men.