30 July 2008

obamarama

he's about to crack 50% in the popular vote, at least according to these people---

27 July 2008

midtown sunday

they're already starting to glass in the loew's hotel, center right at left, across p'tree from 1010


25 July 2008

midtown

the view up the hill from w. p'tree opposite plaza midtown---

atlanta history center

they've drilled two or three test wells on the old bank property across crescent avenue from the margaret mitchell house---i think they are testing for contaminants as part of finalization of the history center's sale of the property---it would be surprising if the new owners actually started building something---

1010 peachtree

the cranes came down (and not by accident as happened earlier this year in manhattan---still putting up railings, but it's getting close to completion---it will be nice to have all the sidewalks on that side of the street back again----

24 July 2008

one world

the right wingers are freaking over all the "citizen of the world stuff" in obama's speech as if it were some brand-new god-awful symbol of the antichrist and impending doom----check out kennedy's inaugural address in 1961----
it is a little wierd that we also have former astronaut and moonwalker ed mitchell going on about aliens---not mexican or other furriners, but outerspace, alpha-centauri aliens---he is of the opinion that we should thank our lucky stars that they weren't hostile

obamamania

200,000 in the tiergarten to see b.o.----this from one of germany's alternative---the translation is "calm down"---but you gotta love it anyway, unless you're a fraidy-cat republican---only a handful of times that any presidential candidate has spoken to so many people even in our own country---and this in the heart of europe----a major historical event? could be

the post-nationalism is long overdue

more kool-aid anyone?

23 July 2008

waiting on the bus

that's martha: relax and enjoy the ride! it gives you time to notice that exactly half of the people you see here are obese---bad for their health, bad for the planet---no more meat, y'all---or at least quit the potato chips

22 July 2008

midtown atlanta

turn down the sound----the wind was blowing 35 or 40 mph

21 July 2008

obamania

from one of those crazy european newspapers:

“If he is elected President, the image of America will no longer be defined by Guantanamo, by torture, by Iraq,” says political expert, Derek Chollet, of the Center for a New American Security in Washington. “It’s difficult to imagine anything better than Obama as President as far as America’s image in the rest of the world is concerned."

mccan't

do we want a president who doesn't have a clue about the 21st century---heck, even j.c. knows more than mccain, and he's 86----

NEW YORK (AP) -- If Sen. John McCain is really serious about becoming a Web-savvy citizen, perhaps Kathryn Robinson can help. Despite John McCain's self-professed Web illiteracy, recent data shows that many seniors use the Internet. Despite John McCain's self-professed Web illiteracy, recent data shows that many seniors use the Internet.

Robinson is now 106 -- that's 35 years older than McCain -- and she began using the Internet at 98, at the Barclay Friends home in West Chester, Pennsylvania, where she lives. "I started to learn because I wanted to e-mail my family," she says -- in an e-mail message, naturally.

barack o'cool

who cares if he can't bowl?

e. coli conservatism

Once in power, E. coli conservatives shrink government by hamstringing it. They weaken rules that protect people, slash the budgets of consumer agencies and appoint industry friends to oversight commissions. The result: Some government regulatory agencies that we trust to protect us have shrunk to insignificance or serve private industry rather than consumers. . . . Enough. Instead of talking about the size of government, we should be debating how to make our government more effective. How many more people have to get sick before the government reclaims its mission to serve the people?

it's happened all over government---aside from katrina and the ongoing issues surrounding the f.d.a.'s monitoring, or lack thereof, of our food supply, one of the better examples of this was the revelation that the f.a.a. was referring to the airlines as its "customers"---we, common citizens, are but chopped liver where mammon rules

17 July 2008

universal truths

“Why of course the people don’t want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”
-Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, 1946

16 July 2008

o-ba-ma

knock knock
who's there?
i's
i's who?
i's yo next president


A Christian, a Jew and Barack Obama are in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean. Barack Obama says, "This joke isn't going to work because there's no Muslim in the boat."

the garden


we have banana

unruly children

some people just don't know how to behave:

Memo

To: All Residents

From: Metropolis Board of Directors

Date: 7/15/2008

Re: Association Sponsored Pool Events

Due to alcohol related inappropriate behavior at the pool, glass at the pool, assaulting of concierge staff and the need for police involvement; all Metropolis Pool Events have been cancelled by the BOD for the near future. Our pool is a private community pool and the greater community needs to take ownership of this asset.

The Board appreciates everyone’s cooperation and understanding related to this issue.

A community meeting to discuss pool concerns is scheduled for Tuesday, July 22 @ 7:00p in Club M.

This meeting is open to any interested resident.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the pool please direct them to our management team. Shawn or Tim will forward your comments to the five Board members.

15 July 2008

sixth street

irony is dead

long live irony

everybody needs to relax

13 July 2008

trees

some of the oldest trees in piedmont park are the water oaks (quercus nigra), which are scattered all around, especially at the south end of the park and around the lake---but they are nearing the end of their lives and starting to fall---most of one fell in june---this one is marked, literally---it's apparently hollow and at one point, indicated by the handy arrow, one can see entirely through the tree---they should wait until it blows over, which would probably occur when nobody is around----i'm willing to take my chances

12 July 2008

poor mccan't

In an interview with New York Times, John McCain confirmed that he doesn’t email, doesn’t read blogs, doesn’t go online, but does occasionally read Drudge. While he’s not a consumer of online information, McCain said he does “understand the impact of blogs on American politics today and political campaigns”:

Q: What websites if any do you look at regularly?

Mr. McCain: Brooke and Mark show me Drudge, obviously, everybody watches, for better or for worse, Drudge. Sometimes I look at Politico. Sometimes RealPolitics, sometimes.

(Mrs. McCain and Ms. Buchanan both interject: “Meagan’s blog!”)

Mr. McCain: Excuse me, Meagan’s blog. And we also look at the blogs from Michael and from you that may not be in the newspaper, that are just part of your blog.

Q: But do you go on line for yourself?

Mr. McCain: They go on for me. I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. I don’t expect to be a great communicator, I don’t expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need – including going to my daughter’s blog first, before anything else.

more birds on the balcony


juvenile or female indigo buntings, i think, or maybe a finch---

lime tarts

for some reason, i wondered about making lime tarts, googled it, and turned up this----i did not know that klaus nomi, one of the great artists of the last century, was also a great pastry chef---go figure----

butt to butt

10 July 2008

no more kennesaw

but the sky is still there

let's eat

poor mccan't

a question about viagra and he's totally wrecked---

another day at hyde farm


07 July 2008

gay rain


robert took an excellent little video of the deluge at yesterday's parade

06 July 2008

you asked for it . . . .

feathers in the rain

lightning


it wasn't just a rain event either---lots of lightning---a sweet gum in the park was struck, maybe fatally----

pride in the rain



the bottom fell out of the great sky king's wash tub just as the parade started---2 or 3 inches of rain over the next hour but the parade went on and most of the spectators stayed put

05 July 2008

pool party at metropolis

metropolis is supposed to be gay friendly, but this is ridiculous: 75 or 80 people at the pool (at 7 pm), approximately 5 of whom are women----yesterday afternoon it was only a 3/1 ratio---

bertha


the satellite map is from day before yesterday; the other map is today from noaa----it's a cape verde storm, which usually don't occur until much later in the season, bertha formed further east than any storm before----forecast to become a hurricane early next week----rain, rain, rain

a festive weekend

pride is running late this year since they threw everybody out of the park, ostensibly because of the drought--- an awful lot of guys all over, if you like that sort of thing----

02 July 2008

hyde farm

smack in the middle of east cobb county and soon to be added to the chattahoochee river national recreation area---

01 July 2008

kennesaw

another week, maybe two, and i'll only see a bit of the extreme western flank----

poor women . . .

all you girls need to stop right now and thank you jeebus that you warn't born in eyeran===this, we think, is an image of Ahmadinejad and his first lady which, true or not, is purdy funny anyway, in a sad kind of way