so much for peace and good will

so they hanged saddam last night and good riddance i guess----but there's something so totally barbaric about executing somebody like that, nevermind what he did to the kurds or anybody else---but it's just like the rest of this "war," where we have allowed bush and the rest of his wretched cohorts to drag us down to their level---meanwhile we are far along with the ruination of our planet, the latest signs being the collapsing polar ice caps and even the bush administration admitting that the polar bear is an endangered specie---

a while ago

so i picked up j.c. and iris at 11 this morning, i drove them to my place, stopping at the chik fil a on the way to get chik fil a for our lunch----got them up to the 13th floor, where we ate and fed the dog----then i drove them around atlantic station and buckhead and lenox then back down through west end to see where his daddy had a produce business which wasnt there anymore and down lee st. and out campbellton rd to show them wells drive and then back through east point and college park and eventually back to their house where i took the plastic christmas tree to the basement and hemmed and hawed, said goodbye and got back home about 4----that is a total of 7 hours, i think, that i have been with them in the last five days----a record

the future

kuala lumpur, boxing day, 2006---from andrew sullivan---i am impressed

baby

i finally got to see andrew yesterday---purty worthless, like most babies, but will probably amount to something one day---looks like a tadpole version of daniel, which i guess he is---iris likes him---

christmas trees

a friend sent me this image of the "great tree" on rich's "crystal bridge," c. 1960---looks real christmasy, don't it---

dogs

in today's ajc: sam-i-am, a golden retriever that got lost during one of the Tampa hurricanes in 2004, showed up in illinois the other day, none the worse for wear and tear---he'd been microchipped, so his owners got him back---"When they were reunited, Sam stepped on her feet and then sat on them, just like always, and still answered to Sam."

meanwhile, hershey enjoys wallowing around in bed till 10 o'clock in the morning

images

iris has been talking about getting her slides from the 1950s digitized, so i have started on that myself, since wolf charges like $1.25 per slide and she's got hundreds and hundreds---some are pretty good, others not so much---

a devil food

they don't call it world-nut daily for nothing:

Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality. That's why most of the medical (not socio-spiritual) blame for today's rise in homosexuality must fall upon the rise in soy formula and other soy products.

little known fact

some people believe that squirrels look both ways before they cross the street, but a recent study showed that, if they did, they weren't looking for cars----fully 80% of radio-tagged squirrels in an urban area were flattened by cars and trucks.

not just another baby

holy shit---mary cheney is pregnant! the christianists' heads are currently exploding---

euphorbic holiday tree

as it has for years, the euphorbia turicalli makes a great christmas tree, although it's probly un-amurican to use anything but a douglas fir or scotch pine or, if desperate, a crappy old cedar----

jon's orchid is blooming, too, which is pretty nice---

ptree and north

this was the old first national bank's branch building (c. 1930) on the northeast corner of ptree and north---about 1960 it was replaced by the highrise building that they just tore down---

equality

equality formally arrived in south africa today----

In breaking with our past ... we need to fight and resist all forms of discrimination and prejudice, including homophobia,” Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula told members of Paliarment earlier this month, when the bill was passed by the National Assembly.

ignorance

god---some people are such idiots----all this brou-ha-ha about whether the new muslim congressman has to swear his oath on a bible---this idiot dennis prager on cnn going on about it and how he ought to swear on a bible so as to "affirm [it] as our central text" and then he argues that it's not a religious test----and he actually talks about "the american bible"---god

another generation

so i'm a great uncle----alexis had her baby this afternoon about 5:15----big baby boy, so far nameless---she called me to tell me barely an hour after she had him---mother and baby all doing fine---

beautiful design

i'm not all into cars or anything, but this 1937 cord is simply gorgeous--

addiction

somehow i think i have avoided most substance addiction, which might not really be all that surprising, given the myths about drug addiction---alcohol and a doobie are great, together or seperately, but i don't have to have them to function and i can and sometimes do go for days without either one, especially when i'm traveling---even then i don't get a headache like i get if i go a day without caffeine---oh, but nicotine---i have not had any for going on three years, but last night at a party i came so-o-o close to lighting up---the host had laid out a box, conveniently filled with parliaments, for the guests, most of whom were young 20- or 30-somethings smoking like there was no tomorrow---nothing else has that pull---

only maybe 10-15% of people that use alcohol become addicted, and about the same percentage of pot smokers become "heaviliy dependent," although few claim it is actually addictive---and, believe it or not, way less than half of those that try heroin or cocaine become addicted---but nicotine? some claim near 90% can't put it down---i believe that---

getting around

now this would be a real public transportation system\

an attentive dog

the natural world downtown

so brian took this excellent pic of the red-tailed hawk that has been chowing down on the five-points pigeons---there are probably too many pigeons i guess but i just wish he wouldn't eat sitting on the window sill outside our office---he doesn't eat pigeon feet by the way----

relaxing

and licking

paying the rent

yul brynner in 1942

the meyer lemon

the first lemon from my balcony----not ripe but it was a lot smaller than the other two and i thought it wasn't going to ripen---but it was juicy and right tasty in a vodka tonic---

hershey is feeling ok but the vet told me friday i would have weeks, not months, left with him----

southern baptists

this is happening in north carolina---what a pathetic group of people---

While we fully recognize that other sins assail our members, there is no other sin that has a national advocacy group where people march and try to change laws and cultural mores to gain approval for itself. This particular sin is creeping its way into acceptability by virtue of this group's advocacy, and it is time for us to take a stand."
-- Baptist State Convention spokesman Norman Jameson, as the body moves to vote to further demonize its LGBT members of its flock by expelling tolerant churches

cat and mouse

awwwww---robert takes cute kitty pitchers

fall

me and the dog spent some time in the park today----a gorgeous day with leaf color as intense as i've ever seen----the "active oval," which was the driving club's race track in the 1880s, is open again after a thorough remodeling---

new times

is the dam breaking? now mexico city has legalized civil unions for gays----

harper's ferry

harper's ferry has got to be one of the most spectacular places in the east---located at the confluence of the Shenandoah and the Potomac rivers where they break through the blue ridge mountains---a ferry and subsequently a town were established there in 1761, but it's most famous as the site of john brown's raid, when he barricaded himself in the old federal arsenal firehouse

happy days are here again

---at least, if i don't think about you-know-what----in addition to the "democrat" congress, queer-baiting seems to have fallen on hard times (no pun intended)----the homophobic marriage amendment in arizona didn't pass at all, which is the first time one of the goddam things hasn't passed---in wisconsin, it kinda backfired----and in virginia, too, where the analysis of the vote is fascinating and totally encouraging----the total number of homophobes in those states didn't go past 60%, a percentage which i think can also be used as an ignorance quotient, although you might need to add 10 or 15% in georgia and other parts of the south for it to be really accurate---

joy

a democratic congress and no rumsfeld----what more could one ask for now?

colors

african violet show at the botanical gardens this weekend---an amazing variety of leaves and blossoms----it's a shame they only come in pinks, and purple and what not---i got three new ones anyway---











it's fall in midtown

will they get it this time?

andrew sullivan:

I'm praying for Haggard, as I hope he is praying for me and every sinner. But the lesson of this to the religious right surely is: go and sin no more. Stop the lies. Stop the bigotry. Deal with the reality of gay people, our souls, our wounded hearts, our humanity, our right to be treated equally by our own government. It's what Jesus did. And it is your true calling now.

i guess i'm not praying for him too much---feel sorry for his family but not for him----

hershey

so , i guess it's kinda sad

guess i'll get to test some of my "dying-with-dignity" theories again---

Haggard: adj., appearing worn and exhausted; gaunt; wild or distraught in appearance.

oh god---another jim bakker kinda thing----ted haggard, head of 30 million national association of evangelicals and pastor of a 14,000 church in colorado springs, has resigned amid allegations of doing it with a gay hooker for 3 years----this is just what the doctor ordered for the sanctimonious homophobic bigots out there-----

fat asses

According to a new study in the October-December issue of The Engineering Economist (one of my favorite reads when I'm not sticking pins in my eyes,) Americans are now pumping 938 million gallons of fuel more annually than they were in 1960 as a direct result of their big fat asses. According to the researchers, with gas prices averaging $3 a gallon, the tab for overweight people in a vehicle amounts to $7.7 million a day, or $2.8 billion a year. The numbers are added costs linked directly to the extra drain of body weight on fuel economy.

Apparently if we all went on a diet and brought the national average back down to 1960 levels, we would save nearly 1 billion gallons of gasoline each year.

Think about it. If not for McDonald's, we wouldn't have needed to invade Iraq.

gawd

maybe it's not so bad after all......
on a totally unrelated note, or maybe not, who knows, the biopsies for hershey's cysts came back benign----still waiting to find out if he's got butt cancer---which would be sad

odd man out

this should give all us queers something to think about---- i been all about the equality through marriage thing, but susie here gins it up into something bigger in an innerresting sorta way i think, but that's just me and what do i know, huh?

"You're a goddam moron!"

that was then---this is now

In the aftermath of George W Bush's re-election as president two years ago, his campaign manager, Karl Rove, amused himself and his boss with a battery-powered "Redneck Horn". At the touch of a dashboard button, the device would yell insults in a raucous Southern accent, providing automated road rage for "red state" Republicans.

The toy's abusive messages ranged from the relatively mild "Slow down, dumbass!" to "Hey, hogneck, who taught you how to drive?"; "What the hell was that manoeuvre?"; "Are you freaking blind?" and "You're a goddam moron!" How they all laughed in the White House....

fools and fanatics

bertrand russell, as quoted in a letter to today's ajc from a woman in sugar hill:

the whole trouble with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.

i'll buy that--

end times

what a mess we are in:

For a quarter of a century – roughly since the start of the Reagan Coma of Good Feelings through the end of the Bush Catastrophe – we have been a nation aggressively asleep.

music box

hypnotize yourself

passages

robert turned 40 on wednesday---i took him and his sisters, doug, and his friends brooke and susan out to silk for dinner and then came back here for a big ol' nasty chocolate cake---he approved of the celebration---

hershey

hershey has had a lousy week---had some cysts removed which required at least two dozen stitches---wednesday and thursday nights were terrible, but clearly last night was better---

"the google"

george's retarded response when asked if he used the internets:

Occasionally. One of the things I’ve used on the Google is to pull up maps. It’s very interesting to see that. I forgot the name of the program, but you get the satellite and you can — like, I kind of like to look at the ranch on Google, reminds me of where I want to be sometimes. Yeah, I do it some.

liberals

we are liberals:

1. We opposed the war all along.
2. Israel has a right to exist.
3. We are not pacifists.
4. The president is using his illegal war as a pretext to take away our civil liberties.
5. Signing statements are an affront to the rule of law.
6. The war is distracting us from domestic issues.
7. We owe every citizen the means to a decent standard of living.
8. Everyone should be equal under the law.
9. Voter suppression is a big problem.
10. The president is in denial about global warming.
11. The administration is at war with science.
12. Reason is good.
13. Torture is unnecessary.

king's mountain

king's mountain was my venue last week---best thing was the Houser house, built by germans in 1803, and what's left of the old colonial road, used by both sides during the battle of king's mountain in 1780---

what century is this?

If there really is an afterlife, I'll bet the best way to contact it is through a plastic, mass-produced board game from Milton Bradley! --Mad Magazine

peachoid

heading north on i-85 at gaffney, it's a peach; heading south, well, it's nuttin if it ain't a butt---

poor dog

robert continuing to torture hershey---i just can't make him stop

orion nebula

more excess

this was announced in august but i guess i missed it---the palomar hotel with condos starting on the 18th floor---on w. peachtree at abercrombie place just north of the biltmore----kim king, who redeveloped his family's king plow company site on marietta street, is doing it---i found two more proposed towers this morning but i don't think i will post anymore until they actually break ground, which might be never

science fiction to reality

only a couple of weeks ago they were announcing a breakthrough in teleporting---now it's cloaking devices----the future is gonna be here before we know it

another one

i can't believe another condo building is going up in this neighborhood, but they have actually broken ground on onyx at 180 tenth street next to the fire station---supposed to be a 16-story, mixed-use building----

desperate people redux

if you can't beat 'em, start another war:

USS Eisenhower and Iran

boogered up

richard meier's first house (1962), on fire island -- mel brooks and anne bancroft owned it for a long time and i guess are the one's that boogered it up so bad in the 70s---found at tropolism

lakewood

well, after 17 years, the lakewood flea market, or "antiques show," as it so styled itself, is closing tomorrow---it was jam-packed today---i get burnt out on all the stuff pretty quick, but it's always interesting and i wanted to see the buildings again before they get boogered up or, worse, torn down----although it seems like it has been open forever, the antiques market didn't start until 1989---but i found a lot of stuff there, including all of my old mission furniture and a big portion of the furnishings for recreating the interiors of margaret mitchell's apartment--

the city has bought out the rest of the lease on lakewood park and is trying to figure out how to redevelop the site, which is where the city's first waterworks opened in 1875 (the paper dated it 1893, but that's when the "new" waterworks was constructed off howell mill road)---the city built exhibit halls #1 and #2 and opened the first "southeastern fair" at lakewood park in 1916---fulton county built a race track around the lake about the same time, which by the 1950s was being used for stock-car racing---richard petty won his first professional race there---two other exhibit halls (the last, #3, completed in 1948) finished out the original plaza plan on top of the hill above the old lake---it was an agricultural fair, so there were all kinda cattle and poultry and canned preserves and what all---great midway, too, including a wonderful wooden rollercoaster (c. 1920) called the greyhound and a giant ferris wheel---the fair closed in the mid-1970s and the greyhound was blown up for filming of Smokey and the Bandit in 1978---the racetrack was demolished in the 1980s and the lake was long gone before that---the ampitheater opened in the 1980s, too---

anyways they say it's the biggest parcel of undeveloped land in the city now that atlantic station is built---with carver homes gone and pryor road lined with new housing, something is gonna happen---

remodelation

sounds kinda like something bush would
say---but i kinda like it anyway---and
it looked like they were doing good work

desperate people

they are so desperate now they are trying to drag up the ghosts of chappaquiddik and gerry studs and whoever----and this from Cliff Kincaid of "Accuracy in Media."

It's early in the probe, but we may be looking at emerging evidence of a homosexual recruitment ring that operated on Capitol Hill. It's time to get beyond partisan politics and follow the evidence wherever it leads. Our media should not be intimidated by charges of "gay bashing." They must lead the way in getting to the bottom of this terrible abuse of power.

kinda leaves you speechless, don't you know, especially considering this study's conclusion:

As many as 654,965 more Iraqis may have died since hostilities began in Iraq in March 2003 than would have been expected under pre-war conditions, according to a survey conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad.

that's it---i gotta go run off some more queer application forms.

purdy places

cochran road in south fulton has
been one of my favorite places
since the folks took us down there
to watch the river flood in the
1950s---the county paved the
north end of the road and
somebody has just clear cut at
least 200 acres---but there
aren't many places like it less
than 20 miles from five points---
and the view north from the site
of campbellton is just the best----

dis n dat

1010 peachtree is getting underway i guess---
looks like a crane is going up---------







dog got a haircut---

turns out he doesn't need to on a
diet after all----lotta wool, fat not
so much



and fall is easing in---