dealing with the homeless

the atlanta task force for the homeless may have finally lost their building to foreclosure --- it's a great building (1921 by ten eyck brown) but the task force has apparently made a lot of enemies --- plus the location is just too prominent for most people who had rather have the homeless entirely out of sight so they never have to contemplate the fact that a whole lot of folks live real shitty lives

building resumes

there have been hopes that the great recession would put an end to bloated housing --- the one under construction at the corner of argonne and ninth is typically too big and, worse, it replaces a 12 or 16 unit apartment building --- granted the apartments burned before i moved over here and were unsalvageable, but it's a shame to lose that density ---

setting priorities

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's appeal to what he called "common sense" at a congressional hearing Wednesday morning failed to sway two Republican senators [collins and graham] who said that giving the government the ability to block the purchase of guns by suspected terrorists would undermine the Second Amendment's right to bear arms.

it just sorta boggles the mind, doesn't it? i wonder what sort of horrorible event or events will have to unfold to bring about this use of "common sense" ---

honoring our elected officials at work

our inimitable legislature is gone and the loaf's golden sleaze awards are out --- as usual, they are not to be missed ---- just have a drink first

hypocrisy watch

Fundamentalist Christian leader [and baptist preacher] George Rekers, who founded the politically active and virulently anti-gay Family Research Council with Dr. James Dobson, has been caught by a Miami newspaper on vacation with a ‘rent boy’.

preacher man sez he just had surgery and needed help with his luggage --- this is right up there with sen. larry "wide-stance" craig in the minneapolis airport restroom --- like most homophobic bigots, these are seriously messed up people

update: and here's the rentboy according to joe --- doesn't look like the best choice for a luggage handler

actually this is worse than craig --- at least he didn't claim to be ministering to sinners

nice sky tonight

more gaudy flowers

lazy day

thank god

the criminality of deregulation

"Maybe we should consider mandating that BP and the other oil companies install automatic shut-off valves where the oil conduit meets the ocean bottom in case one of the platforms collapses."

"Naw.  That will cost them too much; and hell, I got $500,000 dollars from them last year."

"Me too!  I suppose they can regulate themselves anyway."

"Yeah.  It's in their best interest to be safe as possible."

two deadly mine disasters, a glimpse into the amorality of goldman sachs, et. al., and now this have made this past month quite special in demonstrating the total bankruptcy of that entire philosophy --- thnx b.c

how to ruin the world

you just have to weep for the gulf ----
b.c. got an update from gulf islands: "we're screwed" ---

 they are having the most prolific nesting season in years, and all the trucks and vehicles that will be needed to distribute the booms are gonna have to run over their habitat. And that's just the nesting birds.

bridges

two great iron bridges from last weekend --- the top one built across the red river for texas hwy. 78 in 1937 --- the other one a really fine old railroad bridge across the trinity river west of dallas

expendable landmarks redux

the world's largest free-span structure in the world when it was finished in 1958 --- now a heap of ruin

and, from last weekend, what's left of the recently demolished texas stadium, with still no use identified for the land on which it sat

seems like a mighty waste of material and labor unless there is a whole lot of recycling going on

thx for the link, tom

the canopy walk

the canopy walk was a little underwhelming --- i think they redesigned it after it fell during the original construction, so it's not all that was originally intended --- still nice with some cool little stools and benches

the garden grows

the botanical garden's new additions previewed tonight, with formal opening on saturday --- purty impressive --- quite a crowd tonight, but we had the tropical conservatory to ourselves for a while, listening to the tree frogs in the dark

disturbing images

yikes --- thanks andrew for the giant drain --- and jon for the mouse in the store window of your favorite chocolate store in nueva york --- 1 of 3, he sez

raining on peachtree

complete with a little hail

coming up on a full pink moon

or a full egg moon, if you prefer --- who knew?

parking hell

Since late last year, Inman Park residents and business owners have been the unlucky victims of a ticketing and booting blitzkrieg, and they've had enough. Residents complain that they've been ticketed by PARKatlanta – the agency outsourced last year to do the city's parking-ticket dirty work – as often as three times a day and as early as 8:30 a.m., when they claim parking enforcement isn't even necessary.

it's not just inman park either: i saw them ticketing a car on peachtree place this morning at 8:15 and it was the only car parked on the block ----

dissent or sedition?

"Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protester — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans?"

yeah, just imagine . . .