Category: Politics

  • Amateur Day

    The state legislators A few of the State Legislators of Georgia apparently had nasty things to say about the Atlanta Police department after last Thursday’s traffic snafu in downtown.

    Rep. Edward Lindsey (R-Atlanta) said. “Yesterday, you let down the citizens of Atlanta, our commuters, and our guests to these great conventions. This is simply unacceptable for the great international city that I am so proud to represent.”

    This was after reported 3 hour commutes that would normally take 1, or 30 minutes to move 10 blocks in downtown. Suffice to say, it was a mess.

    However, the implication that the Police can run out and start directing traffic and make things better is a fallacy. Anyone who has ever tried to do signal coordination on a network of criss-crossing roadways is aware that optimizing traffic throughput is a non-trivial task. Skilled professionals working in conjunction with sophisticated computer models have difficulty getting it right. Changes to one area cascade throughout the system, and if you begin with a thoroughly saturated network, the best you can hope for is that everyone is trying to leave, which blatantly is not the case in downtown Atlanta. To expect that a police officer directing traffic can alleviate congestion in a situation like that is silly. At most, they can make sure all of the available space is continuously filled with vehicles, but until those vehicles actually leave the area, there will be no relief.

    The “best”* solution would be for officers to set up roadblocks prohibiting traffic from entering the downtown area while directing them to central parking and MARTA. However, once the traffic is already in the downtown area, it’s going to be a disaster no matter what response the police enact.

    To Representative Edward Lindsey, I say that you should spend a day in a traffic cop’s shoes before criticizing their capabilities or performance.

    *By “best” I mean, of course, the solution that leaves the most free roadway. No cars, no congestion. I don’t think anyone would be happy with that solution, however.

  • Bin Laden for President?

    Grandad has the scoop. Osama Bin Laden has thrown in his hat for the Presidency in 2008.

  • Kennesaw is Armed to the Teeth

    One of the blogs I read, Deltoid, came out with this tidbit today, about my neigboring town, Kennesaw, Georgia. It discusses the relationship between gun ownership and burglaries, and it mentions that Kennesaw passed an ordinance in 1981 that required all heads of household to own a firearm and supply it with ammunition. It was amended in 1983 to exempt conscientious objectors, people who can’t afford a firearm, felons, and the firearm-forbidden disabled.

    This ordinace is filed under the Civil Emergencies Chapter.

    I wonder what the firearm-owning-household to non-firearm-owning-household ratio is right now in Kennesaw.

    Full Text of the Ordinance:

    ARTICLE I. IN GENERAL

    Sec. 34-1. Heads of households to maintain firearms.
    (a) In order to provide for the emergency management of the city, and further in order to provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants, every head of household residing in the city limits is required to maintain a firearm, together with ammunition therefor.
    (b) Exempt from the effect of this section are those heads of households who suffer a physical or mental disability which would prohibit them from using such a firearm. Further exempt from the effect of this section are those heads of households who are paupers or who conscientiously oppose maintaining firearms as a result of beliefs or religious doctrine, or persons convicted of a felony.
    (Code 1986, § 4-3-10)

    Sec. 34-2. Use of firearms.
    No person shall fire a gun, pistol or other firearm in the city, except in the defense of person or property, and except peace officers or military forces of this state or the United States, in the discharge of official duties.
    (Code 1986, § 11-1-4)
    Secs. 34-3–34-25. Reserved.

  • War on Christmas

    There is a new perpetrator in the media-hyped “War on Christmas.”

    This “new aggressor” (as mentioned by The Moderate Voice) is shamefully ignoring its own conservative base, the very ones who initiated and continue to perpetuate this mythical “War.”

    I need to “use” more “quotations” in this entry to make it seem more “visual”

  • Polar Ice Albedo and Ponderings

    I’ve been reading (not exhaustively) Realclimate.org since it popped up on the 2006 Best Science Weblogs nominations.

    I like science blogs that stretch what I know about topics, yet are not so far past me that I can’t make heads or tails. This entry I find cogent and fascinating. It reminds me that topics such as global warming (just for one example) are always more complicated that than appear and require dedicated study to truly understand.

    It also reminds me why I usually dislike discussing “science” topics with people. I am science-knowledgeable enough to know what is fact, what is fiction, what is still under debate, and most importantly, what I don’t know enough about to have a legitimate opinion. However I’m not a professional scientist and I don’t have practice convincing lay persons that what they hear or read in the media is not everything to it. I especially find it difficult explaining that having a useful discussion about a slippery and detailed scientific field of study requires both persons involved having some expertise. “‘Cause I heard it on the TV,” is difficult to slap down when it’s considered gospel.

    Nevertheless, I try and explain without being insulting that the person may want to seek multiple sources of input before chiseling their opinion in stone. Practice makes perfect.

  • Republican Shenanigans

    Of course, I, being the good centrist that I am, prefer to say “Political Shenanigans” as I have no confidence that this kind of crap doesn’t go on with democratic staffers too.

    What would I do without Pharyngula to feed my funny-hunger?

  • A Traitor to her Sex

    This evening on NPR’s All Things Considered, Nadia Colin (spelling uncertain) of Texas was quoted saying that women shouldn’t be elected president. She said, “Coming from Texas, I think the majority of us feel that with a male leader we feel safer. I would not vote for a woman president, ever.”

    It is the year 2006. If anyone had uttered a sentence like that substituting “black” or “hispanic” for “woman”, they would be strung up and left to rot. The fact that anyone, anywhere still has these sorts of attitudes both depresses me and reaffirms my belief that all people are not created equal. They are indoctrinated from birth with preconceptions that they fail to question.*

    What is wrong with America, represented by this woman, that they cannot conceive of a woman wielding effective power? The quoted woman must reexamine her priorities. If women are only for cooking and making babies, she is hypocritical being interviewed on the radio. She is not qualified; she is a woman.

    Let us stamp out this stereotype. The best thing you can do for a woman is what you would do for anyone. Support their goals, don’t condescend, and above all, be aware that on average, 50% of women are smarter than you.

    *All high school frosh should be issued this bumper sticker.

  • It's all the fault of the School System! We Need Accountability!

    I laughed out loud at some of the questions on the quiz. If only some people didn’t actually think this way…

    Your ‘Do You Want the Terrorists to Win’ Score: 94%

    You are a terrorist-loving, Bush-bashing, “blame America first”-crowd traitor. You are in league with evil-doers who hate our freedoms. By all counts you are a liberal, and as such cleary desire the terrorists to succeed and impose their harsh theocratic restrictions on us all. You are fit to be hung for treason! Luckily George Bush is tapping your internet connection and is now aware of your thought-crime. Have a nice day…. in Guantanamo!

    Do You Want the Terrorists to Win?
    Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

  • My Pick for 2008!

    We are one step closer to my fantasy ticket for 2008. McCain-Lieberman!

  • Democratic Stronghold in Georgia and other Musings…

    Today was day-after-elections, as I’m sure you all are aware (if you’re a US reader). And there is a very interesting phenomenon taking place in Georgia. (If you aren’t familiar with Georgia geography and politics, this will probably not be interesting, but read on if you care…)

    If you look at this map, you’ll notice some interesting things:

    County Breakdown of Purdue/Taylor wins for the Georgia Governor Race. Courtesy CNN.com

    This is the cnn.com graphic for how the Governor’s race broke down between Sonny Perdue (incumbent, R) and Mark Taylor (D). More red indicates higher percentage of Perdue votes and more blue indicates a higher percentage of Taylor votes.

    As expected, Fulton, Dekalb, and Clayton counties (Metro ATL) all went for Taylor, although given the demographically diverse nature of north Fulton and south Fulton, it was a close thing. Clarke County (Athens, UGA) and a bunch of the counties around Albany (S.W. Georgia) where Taylor is from also went Democratic.

    The most surprising thing to me was that Hancock county, that dark blue spot in the middle right was the highest percentage of Taylor-voters in the state. I have no idea what’s in Hancock county other than the city of Sparta, and why they’re voting for Taylor, who knows. 1,600 odd voters though made for a 75% win! Go Hancock!

    Another interesting observation: The more republican you are, the farther north you live (generally). Of course, this also corresponds to caucasian/african-american divides, but if you look at that map, there are some trends visible that seem to follow geologic lines. The line through the middle of the state east-west which has near 50/50 split follows the piedmont/coastal plain fall line and there’s a heavy concentration of republican voters in the mountains. The mountains don’t surprise me, but the fall-line does. Very interesting…

    I’ll have to look at other voting indications and get back to y’all…