progress

happy days are here again

The budget will, among other things, come as a huge relief to Democrats who were starting to feel a bit of postpartisan depression. The stimulus bill that Congress passed may have been too weak and too focused on tax cuts. The administration’s refusal to get tough on the banks may be deeply disappointing. But fears that Mr. Obama would sacrifice progressive priorities in his budget plans, and satisfy himself with fiddling around the edges of the tax system, have now been banished.

vanishing georgia

this is old news, but the state's vanishing georgia collection is a real time waster---you can search by county or whatever---18,000 images, nearly 1,000 from fulton county alone---aftermath of the 1917 fire out boulevard, chain gangs, you name it---

springish

but then there is this in sunday's forecast:

the liberry

they are coming to their senses:

Even John Szabo, the director of the Atlanta-Fulton County Library System, who enthusiastically promoted Pitts’s vision for a new central branch when advocating for the bond referendum, now seems inclined to renovate the Breuer building. “It has a number of attributes functionally for us, in addition to being just a really fabulous building architecturally,” he says.

worthless republicans

pile it on, paul:

The intellectual incoherence is stunning. Basically, the political philosophy of the GOP right now seems to consist of snickering at stuff that they think sounds funny. The party of ideas has become the party of Beavis and Butthead.

i'm going to be sick

he's vowed to eat nothing but bacon for a month

signs of spring

another couple of days and sunset will disappear behind plaza midtown for a month or so

the orchid

misc.

they had a huge hail storm in fayetteville last night---jc's wasn't so bad, although there was still some on the ground this morning, to which the accompanying image attests; but mikey, who lives a mile or two to the south, really got clobbered---his van all dinged up, gutters messed up, even some glass broken--- there was a pile of ice on his deck under a roof valley this morning that was still 30" in diameter and 18" high--- weather channel showed conglomerations of ice as big as a tennis ball down there---


but one of the phalaenopsis is starting to open!!!!!!!

big weather

robert gets the best view as everyone else cowers in their hallways

hobbies

ok so i got the web page back up, although i might take it back down again at any time, and i will always be fiddling with it and all----it will take a while to post the things that i want to post, but the translation from word docs to dreamweaver html is great---it even sets up the links between note numbers and end notes---

marital discord

so after 9/11 this muslim guy and his wife started an islamic tv station in buffalo to counter negative muslim stereotypes--she filed for divorce and, yesterday, he cut off her head----

damned elitists

a sobering assessment of source of our problems, and i have to agree---

I still have moments when I think that maybe, this time, it really is morning in America, but a voice from outside the ether cone keeps whispering that we haven't changed at all, that we're as dangerous to ourselves as we've ever been, and that the relative closeness of the popular vote in this last election (given the almost embarrassing superiority of the winning ticket and the parade of catastrophes visited on the nation by the outgoing party) proves it.. . . Praise me for a citizen or warm up the pillory, it comes down to the unpleasant fact that a significant number of our fellow citizens are now as greedy and gullible as a boxful of puppies; they'll believe anything; they'll attack the empty glove; they'll follow that plastic bone right off the cliff. Nothing about this election has changed that fact. If they're ever activated — if the wrong individual gets to them, in other words, before the educational system does — we may live to experience a tyranny of the majority Tocqueville never imagined.

h/t cousin judy p, for sending it

stimulating the parks

this from our weekly legislative report----it's all passed, of course, and obama signed it today---not as much as we were hearing at one time, but sill enough to get a whole lot of work done

On February 13, the House passed the conference report on H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Division A, TitleVIII—Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriates $750 million for the National Park Service; this includes $146 million for operations,which includes deferred maintenance of facilities and trails and for other critical repair and rehabilitation projects; $15 million for projects at historically black colleges and universities; and $589 million for construction. Title XII—Transportation and Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies specifies that $170 million of the $27.5 billion for Federal Highway Administration Highway Infrastructure Investment shall be used for park roads and parkways.

poor rich people

wonder how much of their fantasyland architecture is gonna get finished

[F]aced with crippling debts as a result of their high living and Dubai’s fading fortunes, many expatriates are abandoning their cars at the airport and fleeing home rather than risk jail for defaulting on loans. Police have found more than 3,000 cars outside Dubai’s international airport in recent months. Most of the cars – four-wheel drives, saloons and “a few” Mercedes – had keys left in the ignition.

Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

to my valentines

thanks cousin bethany

reshaping america

glad i don't live in detroit:

No place in the United States is likely to escape a long and deep recession. Nonetheless, as the crisis continues to spread outward from New York, through industrial centers like Detroit, and into the Sun Belt, it will undoubtedly settle much more heavily on some places than on others. Some cities and regions will eventually spring back stronger than before. Others may never come back at all. As the crisis deepens, it will permanently and profoundly alter the country’s economic landscape. I believe it marks the end of a chapter in American economic history, and indeed, the end of a whole way of life.

happy birthday abe & charlie

idiots

from andrewsullivan:

This much is now clear. Their clear and open intent is to do all they can, however they can, to sabotage the new administration (and the economy to boot). They want failure. Even now. Even after the last eight years. Even in a recession as steeply dangerous as this one. There are legitimate debates to be had; and then there is the cynicism and surrealism of total political war. We now should have even less doubt about what kind of people they are. And the mountain of partisan vitriol Obama will have to climb every day of the next four or eight years.

nice light

dead critters

a year ago today

big weather

robert got this shot from his place just now

job-fair hell

oh, my---they held a job fair in the lobby downstairs, which they do once in a while, but i've never seen anything like this---aside from bumper-to-bumper traffic all around looking for a place to park, there have never been lines out the door, but this time not only were there lines out the door, but lines encircled the entire block twice---at one point, they were three abreast along forsyth, alabama, and mlk----the ajc sez "over 1,000," but i think it was more like 2,000, and certainly more than that since not everybody that came was in line at the same time----

atlantatimemachine

if you haven't checked out atlantatimemachine.com, you probably should---it's gotten good coverage recently in creative loafing (first) and ajc (second)----a huge collection of historic images with commentary and present-day shots of the site, which in this case is that of the spire----the cabana had a mural painted in 1959 by roman chatov, the same artist that created a hand-painted silk scarf for isadore duncan, the same scarf that subsequently got caught up in the wheel of a car in which she was a passenger, breaking her neck----if you love atlanner, it'll be a real time-waster

wheeeee

we don't get too many traffic accidents, and it's been a long time since there's been one, but it went kathunk a while ago and there were three cars stopped in the middle of the street---i was hoping for an altercation, but there weren't even any sirens, which left guinness all disappointed

the economic soothsayers

nate silver can cover you up with statistical analysis, but there are also some interesting links

kindle 2

i must have it---looks like paper, thin as a pencil, and weighs less than a paperback, stores 1500 titles, plays mp3 background music if you want, and has wireless access to wikipedia---oh man

forty years on

24 march 1943 - 9 february 1968

back to the park

well, it's a little sad that pride won't be in june---there's a reason why most pride parades are in june: the stonewall riot started in the wee hours of 28 june----but halloween weekend in piedmont park sounds great---another year or two out of the park and i think the whole idea would have died--and there's lots of reasons to like halloween, not the least of which that it's our driest time of year, and it's never so stinking hot you don't wanna do anything----plus if they would have the parade at night, it could be huge

12th and midtown

it will be kinda nice to see the skyline without cranes for a while

orchid daze

mornings in the garden are the best, no matter the garden----but especially places like the botanical garden which can feel over-run on the weekends--- "orchid daze" is this weekend, interspersed with some inneresting art glass----an orchid market, too---meanwhile, both of my phalenopsis are budding---

hyde farm

they pay me to do this?

signs of spring

nice little scene on penn avenue

old buildings

this is one of midtown's best shingle-style buildings---the owners tried to tear it down but then decided to just tear the rear off---there was supposed to be a new addition that would allow it all to be chopped up into condominiums, which would at least ensure preservation of the house---now i would guess the owner is bankrupt and the whole place has been boarded up---it may not survive the mess we are in

push back

obama was fired up and ready to go last night at the dem retreat in williamsburg---we need more of that, as krugman writes this morning---

It’s time for Mr. Obama to go on the offensive. Above all, he must not shy away from pointing out that those who stand in the way of his plan, in the name of a discredited economic philosophy, are putting the nation’s future at risk. The American economy is on the edge of catastrophe, and much of the Republican Party is trying to push it over that edge.

the wheels of justice

the ninth circuit court has just ruled the defense of marriage act is unconstitutional and that federal employees' same-sex spouses are entitled to benefits---

brave new world

As we regrow or engineer more body parts we will likely significantly increase average life span and run into a third track of speciation. Those with access to Google already have an extraordinary evolutionary advantage over the digitally illiterate. Next decade we will be able to store everything we see, read, and hear in our lifetime.. . . But rebooting other body parts will likely be easier than rebooting the brain, so this will likely be the slowest track but, over the long term, the one with the greatest speciation impact.

wishing for a brawl

i was griping today about wishing obama would whack some republicans upside the head and get on with it---but this observation may be right:

You have identified an approach by Obama that seems to be confounding the political pundits on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC, among others. For example, the political “experts” on CNN yesterday wondered why Obama let the Republicans in the House get the “upper hand” on the stimulus bill. They are still operating under the grudge expectations of the past (i.e., now that the Democrats are in charge they can take retribution against the Republicans). Obama clearly seems to want none of this.

he may just be giving them enough rope to hang themselves

philistine/comedian

damn, coburn is a small, small man----i can never decide which one is more ignorant, him or inhofe---i always respect the indians,and oklahoma, unless i start thinking about those two---"rotating pastel lights"? where did that come from?

Senate Amendment to Bar Museums From Any Economic Recovery Funds
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has introduced an amendment to prohibit any funds
in the economic stimulus bill from going to museums.

The language of the amendment, (Amendment No. 175, as filed) is, "None
of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may
be used for any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo,
golf course, swimming pool, stadium, community park, museum, theater,
arts center, or highway beautification project, including renovation,
remodeling, construction, salaries, furniture, zero-gravity chairs, big
screen televisions, beautification, rotating pastel lights, and dry heat
saunas."

rudely speaking

What the truly out of touch upper-middle class people, like Brooks and, yes, like many Republicans, are leaving out of the equation are the poor and plain old middle class, people for whom no bunch of stupid ass tax cuts and other supply side bullshit has ever done jack. 'Cause, see, we know, despite right-wing bleats to the contrary, that this whole clusterfuck of economic difficulties were caused by the very rich, in the banking industry, in the Congress, and, until recently, in the White House. As Robert Reich points out in today's Washington Post, "As late as 1976, the richest 1 percent of the country took home about 9 percent of the total national income. By 2006, they were pocketing more than 20 percent."

piedmont park

the much-debated parking garage is nearing completion----i was never all upset about it like a lot of people, and i feel even more justified in that opinion now that it's actually built----it's really not noticeable down the hill---i need to see it from monroe drive---i remember when you could drive through and park along the park drives and how accesssible the park was even if you lived wherever----i don't want that back but too much of the current effort of the conservancy crowd (which overall is great) aids and abets the privatization of public space---sometimes i think they want it to be a giant gramercy park where the neighbors get keys and everybody else gets to look over the fence---

entertainment tonight

a funny thing happened on the way to the forum is a very funny movie

"it's the stupid, stupid"

I've been hollering for days about this or that Republican's picayune complaints about the Stimulus Bill -- either line items for minuscule dollar amounts or bogus complaints about spending items that demonstrably will create lots of jobs and improve the economy over the long term. And now, according to the Post, President Obama is "frustrated by the public perception that the recovery bill was becoming laden with partisan pet projects."

he should read their beads on this one---"There are serious critiques and unserious ones. Most of those on cable news are unserious. This we know."

grrrr

the democrats should just quit trying to get along with these people if this is what they are arguing about while millions of people are losing their jobs----they were all about almost as much being dumped into the banks with nary a question asked or oversight proposed----let go of all of it, and you lose maybe 2%

(CNN) -- On Monday, Congressional Republican leaders put out a list of what they call wasteful provisions in the Senate version of the nearly $900 billion stimulus bill that is being debated:

talking to republicans is the real waste:

gimme a break

it is so ridiculous that phelps has had to go through all these motions of apologizing for "bad judgment" and what not---there are few things that would do more good more quickly than decriminalizing marijuana---empty the prisons, seriously undermine the drug cartels by eliminating a black market, add a gazillion dollars in taxable commerce, quit hassling people dying of cancer or whatever, and free us all up to do something worthwhile---the hypocrisy of it all is just too much.at least kenya has had the good sense to drop charges against obama's bro----

a puritan is somebody who is desperately afraid that somebody somewhere might be having a good time---h.l. mencken

hollywood

i've been scanning and reformatting and editing some of my old building histories, including tara----all of them i did in the last century before internet research really amounted to much, and it's amazing how much more you can get at now ten years later----like this excellent site, retroweb.com, that has all sorts of stuff, including bunches of images of rko studio's "back forty," which was actually 29 acres in culver city where they built sets for cecil b. demille's king of kings in 1926 and king kong in 1933----the first scenes filmed for gone with the wind in december 1938 were the burning of atlanta, which was actually the old sets from king kong and king of kings going up in flames so they could clear the site and build tara and downtown atlanta----after world war ii, the tara and atlanta sets were continuously adapted and remodeled and, along with new construction, were used for a whole bunch of teevee productions---yancey derringer's new orleans, andy griffith's mayberry, and the cartright's bonanza were all created on this back lot----in at least one scene from the 1960s batman series, the batmobile can be seen racing past the ruins of the atlanta depot set----that's the tara set at right in 1958 not long before it was taken down----the entire lot was sold and cleared for redevelopment in 1976