Archives: March 2006
Fri Mar 31, 2006
JUSTICE SCALIA
LITTLE GIRL: Oh, mommy, look! Who is that man?
MOTHER: Why, child, that's a justice of the United States Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia.
LITTLE GIRL: Is he doing what i think he is doing?
MOTHER: Yes, he's waving at us.
LITTLE GIRL: I don't thinks so!!
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STREET PARTY SATURDAY NIGHT
I can remember a time when downtown Macon had two annual street parties.
They were occasions for lots of beer fueled anti-social behavior, public regurgitation, and under age drinking. In those days the fete seemed to swell in size by revelers from some far-flung trailer parks brought in by charter bus and conostago wagon.
The street party weekend has been tamed in recent years, mainly because we have less of them and the distant mobile home park folks found out it was more fun to stay home to party and audition for THE JERRY SPRINGER SHOW all at the same time.
So it ought to be a good show tomorrow. Runs from six to 11:00, costs a mere five bucks to get in. Of course you will have to pay for your beer and food. Still a cheap evening of live music and a chance to study humanity on a kind of street level.
See you there,
Ciao
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Thu Mar 30, 2006
A CONVERSATION THAT NEVER TOOK PLACE
Knock on Door
Luke: Who is it?
Mayor Ellis: It’s me, Luke, Mayor Ellis. May I come in for a just moment?
Luke: Certainly, your honor, I’ll be right with you.
Luke goes to door and opens
Mayor Ellis: To bodyguards you fellows wait out here for me. Won’t be long. (To Luke) So nice of you to see me on such short notice.
Luke: What can I do for you sir? Directs mayor to comfortable chair in living room. Won’t you sit down and make yourself comfortable.?
Mayor Ellis: Don’t mind if I do. Thanks. sits Luke, I came here to tell you just one thing. Short and sweet: I owe you one great big apology. You see, last summer when you asked me about gang activity at my news conference, I avoided the issue. I did so because I was afraid that if the issue became public, it would put our little city in a bad light. Hurt business, maybe. Damage our reputation. You know, that sort of thing. I should have listened to you, Luke. You were right all along and beginning now, we are going to put things right. Heading out to Los Angeles in a couple of hours to attend a conference on Gangs and gang activities. Thought you’d like to know.
Luke: That’s great news, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for taking the time to come by. That was a very gracious gesture. Good luck at the conference. Let me know how I can help. It is going to take the whole community working together to get a handle on this gang problem.
Mayor Ellis: Thank you for that. Time for me to go. I’m fired up right now. It is time to show some real leadership, to show that with the cooperation of the Council and citizens we can lick this terrible gang plague together. Let’s make Macon a safer place to live.
Luke: Amen to that, Mr. mayor. Amen to that!!
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FIGHT OF THE CENTURY
"IRON-CYNTHIA" MCKINNY
"IRON-CYNTHIA" MCKINNY
Controversial Georgia Congressional Representative CYNTHIA MCKINNY slugged a police officer yesterday. The reason, the Capitol Cop had pursued her for avoiding a metal detector. Drudge says that the incident was recorded on tape, the cop is pressing charges, and Ms McKinny will be arrested as soon as congress adjourns. Don't hold your breath.
Maybe her publicity people can arrange a charity fight between McKinny and Mike Tyson...profits to go to lawyer.
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MACON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM
CRIME, GANGS, and RACE
part one
from the pages of THE ELEVENTH HOUR
CRIME, GANGS, and RACE
part one
from the pages of THE ELEVENTH HOUR
Well almost. Almost from the pages of THE ELEVENTH HOUR.
The article as it appears in that bi-weekly has been stripped of statistics, which are very difficult to line up in rows and columns. What I spent much time and effort on, making the stats come out neatly, simply didn't seem to work on my primitive word procrssor.
When these stats were transposed to this program, the result was total gibberish. To make them seem reasonable, they have been simplified. You can view the whole sequence at the link provided.
In any event it is not a pretty picture.
Further, the editor removed some of what she thought would be too harsh from a racial standpoint. Old Luke, it appears, came on a little strong. I make no pretense of ever being 'politically correct', it's not in my nature, my genetic make-up, nor my feisty background. I fully appreciate THE ELEVENTH HOUR's need to be somewhat circumspect in the matter of being racially sensitive. But I do not have to be.
BTW...working on a whole new set of stats on the state and local levels.
Judge for yourself. This is the version of the article as submitted. In the paper today you will find the edited version.
More...
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Wed Mar 29, 2006
THE GEORGIA GENERAL ASSEMBLY NEVER HAVE SO FEW DONE SO MUCH TO SO MANY
Let us all give thanks, each in his own way and to the god of his understanding, that the 2006 Peach State legislative session has rolled into history.
That means simply that our elected officials can't do us any more harm until January, 2007, which seems a long ways off, but isn't.
In a few days we should be able to take a close look at some of the tom-foolery voted on in Atlanta over the legislative period. One that springs immediately to mind is the apparently passed law that would permit the teaching of the Old and the New Testaments in public schools.
Without any religious overtone, of course....teach the bible as a source of literature, history and Western Civilization.
Right. Of course. Here in thebible belt. It's not hard to imagine the unnumbered squadrons of teachers who are even now springing forth to teach the bible in high school....as a source of literature, history, and Western Civilization.+
There won't be a single religious fanatic among them, not a soul who is convinced that he is doing Yahweh's work by entrapping a class of twenty-five kids and pouring that old tyme religion down their throats.
Right.
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GEORGIA GOTHIC
![[IMAGE]](http://members.aol.com/luciusson/georgiagothic.jpg)
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Tue Mar 28, 2006
SOMETHING TO RELIEVE THE TENSION AROUND HERE
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Mon Mar 27, 2006
FROM THE GURU’S LIPS TO OUR EARS
CHARLES RICHARDSON SAYS SO
CHARLES RICHARDSON SAYS SO
Yep, we have gangs, Macon. Gangs all over the place….South, North, Inner City, and over the river and through the woods where I live.
It became semi-official shortly after six AM this morning when Charles Richardson, substituting for Kenny B, told us there were….and there have been for long years now.
Won’t somebody please inform Mayor Ellis who remains in deep denial?
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AS THE CIRCLE REMAINS UNBROKEN
SO THE HALO GROWS MORE TARNISHED
SO THE HALO GROWS MORE TARNISHED
conservative Baptist friends and neighbors.
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IGNORANCE OF THE LAW CAN GET YOUR KID A NEEDLE IN THE ARM
In a MACON TELEGRAPH article titled IT JUST WENT WRONG we read these words spoken by Liz Williams, aunt of Antron Fair, accused shooter of deputy Joseph Whitehead, “(He) was a good boy……The reason they had guns and they was all registered…was because guys had been coming through this neighborhood shooting at them.”
The good lady also denied that her nephew was ‘in a gang’.
Read that line again “they was all registered” demonstrates total ignorance about firearms laws in the Peach State.
More...
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Sun Mar 26, 2006
ANOTHER GAFF
IN THE MACON TELEGRAPH
Editorial Of 03/26/06
IN THE MACON TELEGRAPH
Editorial Of 03/26/06
Blind as a bat is the author of today’s lead editorial in THE MACON TELEGRAPH.
We suspect, of course, the usually sane Charles Richardson, but when he gets it wrong, he gets it very, very wrong.
The piece is entitled, DEPUTY’S DRUG RAID DEATH CONFRONTS THE COMMUNITY”.
More...
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MEDIA REDUX
AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT, WE'RE GONNA REDUX GANGS and CRIME, TOO
AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT, WE'RE GONNA REDUX GANGS and CRIME, TOO
I shall be reworking an article for THE ELEVENTH HOUR later today. As you might expect the topic has changed since the murder of Deputy Whitehead. It might even turn into a series. Can’t say right now.
But we are going to take a look at crime here in Bibb County. There will be some statistics, of course, some surprising. We will be asking the over-reaching question, “How dangerous is our home town?”
The public can’t count on the mainstream media for ready answers. Crime statistics don’t generate income for a newspaper or advertising time for a TV station. Keep the pabulum flowing, the people ignorant, the public in the dark. More...
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Sat Mar 25, 2006
DISRESPECTING AN OFFICER SLAIN IN THE LINE OF DUTY
DAMN MEDIA!!!
DAMN MEDIA!!!
It’s easy to get pissed off at the local mainstream media.
It has happened twice this weekend in the aftermath of the tragic and savage murder of officer Joseph Whitehead, once in this morning’s TELEGRAPH and earlier last night on Channel Thirteen.
More...
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Fri Mar 24, 2006
THE FOOL HATH SAID
WE DON'T HAVE A GANG PROBLEM
WE DON'T HAVE A GANG PROBLEM
A young Deputy Sheriff lies dead, slain in the line of duty, shot in the face while trying to serve a warrant on a suspected drug house. Five people in custody…one of two the actual killer, all charged with murder.
According to media this morning this drug habitat was turf in a ongoing gang war between two slimeball outfits called THE PRIDE FAMILY and THE MAFIA BOYS.
These gangbangers, apparently, were all young…late teens, early twenties. All black. The jury is out on whether they are abused as small children, grew up in a one family household, never finished middle school, can’t read or write or count beyond ten without taking their shoes off. Except we suspect each can count cash with some accuracy.
Wait a minute, Luke, you young idiot. Didn’t you tell us just a couple of weeks ago that in a press conference last summer Mayor Ellis said that Macon doesn’t have ‘a gang problem’ merely some young ‘wannabes’ trying to act the part.
I guess Hizzoner would control gang activities with midnight basketball.
Or hiding his head in the sand.
Or avoiding it until his term of office is over.
Yes, folks, that’s exactly what Mayor Ellis said as I pressed him twice at a media conference in City Hall last summer following the stabbing of a young woman in the teen-infested Colonial Mall. ‘Wannabes’ not gang bangers. We don’t have a gang problem.
No, siree, no gang problem at all. None whatsoever.
That was the last press conference yours truly got invited to. Ellis frequently confuses the message with the messenger. And we know from personal experience that the man considers your humble correspondent to be equivalent to his personal Public Enemy Number One.
The feeling is fast becoming mutual, unfortunately, which might cause problems in the objectivity department, but I don’t aim as high as he. To me he’s more like something called a ‘number two’, not a number one anything. But it is hard to remain objective about an elected official who verbally savages you personally on the threshold \ of City Hall shortly after a column he found unflattering.
A young deputy, husband, father of three lies dead. Killed by the very gangsters whose existence our mayor denies.
Truth in local government is that rarest of commodities.
And who's the fool?
One guess only.
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PROFESSOR MIKE ADAMS
(almost)
MEETS KANYE WEST
(almost)
MEETS KANYE WEST
The University of North Carolina at Wilmington, where the illustrious, delightfully conservative. criminology professor. Mike Adams, has invited Kanye West to give a performance in the next few weeks.
The school's President, Rosemary DePaolo, like Nancy Pelosi a good Italian woman whose talents might better be employed in a kitchen rather than the rarified realm of higher academe, has a history of inviting controversial performers to display her lefty credentials to the scattering of Black students her university actually has in situ.
Mike, of course, objects and writes about it. One brief paragraph:
Two of West’s album titles are “College Dropout” and “Late Registration.” No wonder Rosemary DePaolo’s administration is bragging about the appearance of West. He’s an intellectual giant with insatiable intellectual curiosity!
Love satire. You can read the entire column at http://www.townhall.com Look under columnists...seek and ye shall find.
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Thu Mar 23, 2006
CHICKEN EXCREMENT RIGHT HERE IN MACON CITY
“Are you still pissed off, Luke?”
You betcha. Still am!!
Troops in WW Twice had a name for what I’m sick and tired of. Called it ‘chicken shit’, and it usually referred to petty little rules and regulations that certain officers, civilians themselves but a few weeks or months before, shoved down or tried to shove down the soldiers' throats.
More...
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Wed Mar 22, 2006
![[IMAGE]](http://members.aol.com/luciusson/jesusneeds.jpg)
GLITCH
It happens every few months.
The host where i keep almost five hundred stories, raves, rants, and general nonsense is down. You can check http://members.aol.com/luciusson/contents.html ("where ever title is a link") and see the list in chronological order, but as of this morning (Wednesday 5:00 AM) the entire service is offline.
Normally the server comes back to life after a few hours or a couple of days. Was dead for almost five days in December....that's the record.
A read through the titles is kinda neat, even.
Please be patient, I'll chew my nails for all of us.
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Tue Mar 21, 2006
MADDER THAN HELL
Yep. I am madder than hell.
Have been since I heard that city was being sued for twenty million and then just a few hours ago when the Mayor vetoed the council vote to accept the Noble proposal.
It’s called piling on….Hizzoner saw an opportunity to maybe change a vote or two among the gang of fourteen.
But they over-rode his veto tonight (Tuesday) in regular council meeting. Sure is a fractured city.
I said the other day, and I believe it now more passionately than ever. The hotel will never be built. Macon’s downtown will never recover. It will undergo a series of mini revivals, but Macon is not yet ready for prime time. I'm ready to quit boosting this damn city and return to first principles....spiritualism, raising cats, growing a garden, and supporting the Second Amendment.
The hell with Macon, her government, her quaintness, her foibles, her mean spirited racism, her shitty educational ststem, her smug, self-satisfied xenophobia.
Might feel better about this tomorrow. I usually don’t shoot my mouth off so close to a happening….like to give it a day or two for me to cool down.
Not this time.
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MIKE ADAMS ONCE MORE INTO THE BREACH
My favorite college professor teaches Criminology at the University of Nortth Carolina at Wilmington.
He is a singular, conservative, no-nonsense educator within an ultra-liberal, fully nonsensical state university system which is what has happened up in North Carolina, once the home of some of the finest state-supported colleges in the nation.
We have made reference to Adams' writings several times. Today's column is a hoot.
I FEEL, THEREFORE I AM is its seemingly innocuous title. The whole is counched in the form of a letter to his students, students who tend to do what they do 'because they feel like it'. Feel like going to class, feel like taking notes, feel like paying attention, feel like text messaging during lectures, feel like not reading the syllabus....the list is endless when you lump a gaggle of these modern, self-centered, sometime post-adolescents together in a class.
Adams, by this account, has decided to take the 'if you can't beat them, join them' tack, and will structure his entire teaching philosophy around 'feeling like it'.
Good satire, lots of irony. Check Prof Adams out at http://www.townhall.com and use your superior sleuthing abilities to find this columnist an his latest eclat.
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Mon Mar 20, 2006
ODE TO SPRING
BRINGING CHEER.
BIRDS CHIRP,
FROGS BURP.*
from WRITE ME A POEM, BABY...book, vintage early 1970's, publisher and author unknown.
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MORE DISTURBING NEWS
DON'T BUILD IT...THEY WON'T COME ANYWAY
DON'T BUILD IT...THEY WON'T COME ANYWAY
Sure is an unsuitable time for some pissed off suits to file a lawsuit.
Twenty million bucks worth of lawsuit if I read the recently sold TELEGRAPH aright.
To the loser goes the spoils.
More...
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Sun Mar 19, 2006
SOME DISTURBING LOCAL NEWS
ITEMS THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA WOULD RATHER AVOID
ITEMS THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA WOULD RATHER AVOID
I have some very disturbing information.
Information that has not, apparently, made it into Macon’s local media outlets. Can’t scare away the tourists, you know.
This is a crime statistic, a shocking crime statistic, one that has obviously been suppressed, obviously.
More...
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CUZ THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO
GOD'S SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY?
GOD'S SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY?
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Sat Mar 18, 2006
COLLIER'S CORNER PRESENTS
If you live in Macon and don't know who Newton Collier is, you're either brain dead or plain dead. You need to go back to Cinci, Boston, or New York where y'all come from.
Collier is an ex musician (Trumpet, Trombone) who made his first big-time splash on the stage of the Apollo theater in NYC at the age of fifteen, played with the original Otis Redding band and was a permanent roadie with Sam and Dave for some fourteen years.
A first-rate video-photographer Newton is putting together an event that might just put old Mactown on the national music map once again.
More...
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SOME RECENTLY SEEN
BUMPER STICKERS
BUMPER STICKERS
I DON'T NEED NO EFFEN TALENT
I'M A RAP STAR
THAN ALL MY GUNS PUT TOGETHER
I'D GET MY GUINEA ASS BACK IN THE KITCHEN
I JUST HATE DEMOCRATS A LITTLE MORE
HOME OF THE FREE AND THE LITIGIOUS
FOOL ME TWICE AND I WILL BEAT YOUR FACE IN
Can't Tell The Difference Between
A Republican and a Democrat
Without A Program
LET HER SEE WHERE YOU ARE BREAKING YOUR ASS
AGAINST A GLASS CEILING
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Fri Mar 17, 2006
PINK BEER
THANK YOU KENNY B.
THANK YOU KENNY B.
Kenny B. made, this morning during Macon's finest three hours in radio a suggestion that somebody put out a pink beer for the Cherry Blossom Festival in emulation of the Green Beer served in Savannah and other cities of Irish tradition during Saint Pat's Day.
Great idea, Kenny, breweries need to fill this niche no later than next year. Shouldn't be topo hard to add a little food coloring to the kegs.
And this might just be the gimmick that will bring our thousands of college students away from their online chat rooms into the real world of the downtown bar scene. It would take a little edgey advertising, perhaps. Maybe appeal to the growing number of binge drinkers among the neo-post-adolescent set as they while away their time and their parents money in expensive private colleges.
A simple change in the Cherry Blossom's unofficial motto might be a good start. No longer will we be exhorted to 'think pink'. Soon the mantra could become PUKE PINK.
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THE WEARIN' O' THE GREEN
It's Saint Patrick's Day, not a legal holiday but a good time for many, a little like the Cinco de Mayo where nobody celebrates a certain Mexican military victory, but many good folks find it an excuse to abuse their systems with tequila shots and beer so bad it requires an infusion of lime to make it palatable.
Almost nobody knows who Saint Patrick was or what he did. A few have heard the legend that the good man 'drove the snakes out of the Emerald Isle", meaning, I guess, that our slithering friends long ago chose not to inhabit that lovely place. Too bad. It's beautiful with lots of wilds where snakes could be very, very happy.
Drink green beer if you will. That's your business. This good italian Lad will sit down to a home cooked meal of baked stuffed peppers in marinara sauce, enjoyiong thoroughly a festivita Italiana here at the outset of Macon's CHERRY BLOSSOM fete.
And I still refuse to wear pink. Goes back to my childhood when 'real men' wouldn't be caught dead in something that color.
But green I can abide, except I refuse to wear it on the day when social silliness dictates we do.
Luke, you are perverse.
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JOSEPH SMITH
and the
DEATH PENALTY
and the
DEATH PENALTY
Was the day when I couldn't justify in my fevered mind the death penalty. It seemed like judicial murder, pure and simple, and when the state took a life, it was always an act of revenge pure and simple, and government ought not be in the business of revenge per se.
Then came 9/11.
The world changed on that day and so did I. Revenge is mine sayeth pur country savaged by Muslim fundamentalists whose sole aim is to convert the world's peoples to their version of the true faith or kill them in the process.
Joseph Smith should die. He should die for the rape and murder of a little pre-teen girl named Carlie Brucia. In dying he will simply go to sleep with a needle in his arm. He will not suffer the horrors that his victim experienced, horrors unimaginable to most of us, horrors that make us realize that real life can expose the darkness of the human soul more even than the ubiquitous slasher and blow-em-up genre of modern 'cinema sauvage'.
Yes, Joseph Smith should die despite his claim that heroin and cocaine addiction was the real culprit. "I am an addict" has replaced "The Devil made me do it" in twenty-first century America. I don't believe in the devil either.
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Thu Mar 16, 2006
In The Matter Of George Brown
It is time to fish or cut bait in the matter of George Brown, former director of the regional airport, fired by mayor C. jack Ellis.
Brown has requested a hearing before the entire City Council as is his right in an effort to reverse his termination and present his side of the story. A scheduled hearing was called off by Brown's lawyers and has not been rescheduled.
It is difficult to get a group of fifteen (or fourteen) City Council members together for an extra meeting which will most probably be long, drawn-out, tedious, and likely contentious. But Mr. Brown deserves nothing less than a full hearing and a chance to clear his name.
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LUKE'S LATEST COLUMN
from
THE ELEVENTH HOUR
from
THE ELEVENTH HOUR
Once again it's alternative Thursday.
No, no...not like in junior high school where certain people were supposed to sport a certain color on that day of the week. Back then we were all very ignorant and not a little homophobic. But ignorance is a big part of childhood.
Every other Thursday Macon's bi-weekly THE ELEVENTH HOUR hits the streets and today is that day.
It is a very different column from what I usually write. It is tongue in cheek and intended to work one way for our Cherry Blossom visitors, and another for regular readers. Does it work? You will have to decide for yourselves.
Click on MORE and see the whole thing as submitted to the paper.
DISCLAIMER: this is what I sent in....I have no control over what the ELEVENTH HOUR does with it.
More...
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Wed Mar 15, 2006
THE IDES OF MARCH
“Beware the Ides of March,” said the sayer of sooth to Dictator for life J. Caesar.
J. Caesar was a stubborn, strong-willed child and paid no attention to the mystic simply trying to save his life.
More...
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JOHN STOSSEL ONCE AGAIN>
TIME TO TEACH
TIME TO TEACH
Don't know about you, but John Stossel really put his foot in it when he ran his 20/20 special, STUPID IN AMERICA a few weeks ago. He had a rather acrimonious face-to-face with hundreds of union teachers outside ABC in the Big Apple a few days ago. Last night he even appeared on O'Reilly, my least favorite purveyor of 'News Entertainment.'*
You can read his latest column by clicking on TOWN HALL amd, using your internet savvy, find Stossel and his column.
This is good stuff, folks. He is pushing for the simple expedient of funding kids, but not funding schools. Give the families the resources to make the choice as to which school the children will attend. The alternative is the kind of meaningless warehousing which is the current bankrup system.
*Whoops....have to think about that...local talk radio just broke in with a quick cut from Limbaugh whom I could not abide even were I drunk or stoned.
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Tue Mar 14, 2006
TEACHER BITES STUDENT
There is an old saw that runs, "Dog bites man, that's not news; Man bites dog, now there's news....probably rate a couple of days on the 24/7 channels.
Read in Drudge this evening, "A middle school teacher was fired Tuesday after being accused of biting one of her students. Caroline Kolb also is facing an aggravated assault charge in Jefferson District Court, The Courier-Journal of Louisville reported Tuesday. "
I don't remember ever biting anybody. Probably did when I was a little kid...all little kids bite some member of his family or a little playmate sometime or another. Just don't remember. But I bet there isn't a middle school teacher on the planet who hasn't dreamed of doing something particularly harsh and painful to one or more of the little bastards entrusted to his care.
I don't recommend biting as an alternative to traditional discipline, but the incident does point out that what passeth for discipline in today's American schools is something of a joke..
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CENSURE???
BRING IT ON!!!
BRING IT ON!!!
One of the best briends the GOP has inthe United States Senate is Democrat Russ Feingold of Wisconson. His proposal to censure the president for 'spying' on American Citizens, authorizing wiretaps, will only serve to split the Party of the Mythic Jackass right down the middle and embolden the Junior Party.
So bring it on, Russ...whether the censure vote comes in committee or in full session, you are playing right into the hands of Republican strategists who want to prove once again that clueless Democrats are weak on national security.
WHenever our congressional Republicans seem to be clueless, incapable, irresponsible, insensitive, stupid oafs the Democrats can always be counted on to one up them.
Wonder if Howard the Dean put him up to this.
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Mon Mar 13, 2006
COMING SOON
LUKE ON EDUCATION
THE SERIES
LUKE ON EDUCATION
THE SERIES
I am working hard on some articles on education.
You know education...we used to have lots of it in this country. Many factors have combined to put education out of its misery in 2006, or at least, imprison it in an ICU somewhere. It sure has fallen on hard times.
Like the weather, everybody bitches, but nobody seems to be able to do anything about it. There are some pretty good critics out there, but they are little more than a voice crying in the wilderness. At an ever quickening pace, our kids' learning is headed straight down the tubes.
I don't plan to pull punches in this series. There is lots of blame to go around including the federal and the various state bureaucracies, teachers colleges, teachers, administrators, parents, kids. I think there is a definite correlation between the decline of the strong family plus the rise of wuss theories of parenting and educational decline.
This series will not be all negative. I hope to be able to offer some positive suggestions, ideas that go beyond 'bring back strict discipline in the schools'. Discipline is important to be sure, but it is a tool and not an end in itself.
Hope to have the first installment ready before the end of the week. Keep reading.
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Sun Mar 12, 2006
OH, NO!!!
NOT AGAIN, MR. MAYOR
NOT AGAIN, MR. MAYOR
I am dead set against adding parking meters to the downtown.
These nasty little machines will do little if anything to add to Macon’s revenue.
Fact is, they are likely to have a negative impact on downtown business which will only further depress the city’s coffers by hurting retail sales.
I have discussed the matter with only a handful of merchants. They are, thus far, to a man or woman against the idea.
The city needs to raise taxes or4 cut expenses. It is high time to bite the bullet and start laying off employees.
A good start could be made by halving the gaggle of fourteen that surrounds Mayor C. Jack Ellis, serving at his (dis)pleasure.
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IT'S BACK TO SCHOOL FOR
BARBARA STREISAND
BARBARA STREISAND
Here she is seen competing in a spelling bee with other middle school students at Hollywood's Father Moe Lester Roman Catholic Middle School. Miss Streisand came in at 99th. place out of a possible 99.
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Sat Mar 11, 2006
QUOTES FROM TODAY'S
MACON TELEGRAPH
MACON TELEGRAPH
(1) "The rappers, when they started wearing them, we started wearing them. And the first thing girls look at is your mouth." Marques Tuff a student from Westside HS explaining the allure of 'grillz', the flashy, inside the mouth beauty statement favored by many young people and recently outlawed by the Bibb BOE.
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DIXIE CHICKS STILL DEFIANT
According to industry sources via THE DRUDGE REPORT, the all-gal copuntry group is including at least one anti-Bush song, NOT READY TO MAKE NICE, in an upcoming album.
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IT'S HIGH TIME FOR A VIABLE THIRD PARTY IN AMERICA
It is a pundito-commonplace in 2006 that our two main political parties are moving closer together in ideology and tactic.
The twin raisonm-d'etre of both Democrats and Repiblicans is (1) gaining power and (2) getting re-elected.
Long-term employment in the service of the United States translates into a cozy, assured future in the burgeoning lobby business or, at least, a cozy retirement without the necessity of paying into Sicial Security like the rest of us, the poor slobs who toil daily for a living..
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Fri Mar 10, 2006
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ALTERNATE TITLES FOR
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
This came in from Neal Boortz this morning. That Talk Show Host sends out (irregularly, I think) a kind of newsletter, subscription only, every so often. Under pressure from loyal readers to make the thing funny or at least entertaining, he has begun to expand it including topical humor and reprints of angry letters from his listeners.
This little gem is called 'Rejected Brokeback Mountain Titles'. And, please, I am not homophobic, but I like great humor particularly of the ironic persuasion. Click on MORE and please remember, it is not intended for young children:
More...
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Thu Mar 09, 2006
REPUBLICAN CONTRACT WITH AMERICA
PART ONE
PART ONE
The GOP came to power in 1994 by gaining a majority in the House of Representatives. It was two years into the Clinton Administration and under the leadership of Newt Gingrich, they did it largely by promising a kind of new deal (no caps) for the American People. The created a document called THE REPUBLICAN CONTRACT WITH AMERICA.
The current version of the party of the Imperial Pachyderm is trotting out the old contract in an effort to bolster what appears like a possible loss of majority in 2006. I will have more to say about this empty-headed reversion to an earlier time in our history. But in the meantime, please click on MORE and read the entire contract. It's short and to the point.
Didn't work too well back then either. The longer a politician sits in the halls of Congress, the less he is to be trusted. Exceptions? Yes, of course. but the number of honerable men running our government seems to dwindle with every passing decade.
BY THE WAY: There are six former congressmen sitting in prison right now. One is a Republican, five are Democrats.
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Wed Mar 08, 2006
PUPPIES AND KITTENS ARE 'CUTE'
CHILDREN ARE NOT
CHILDREN ARE NOT
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KEEN INSIGHT INTO THE OBVIOUS
ANOTHER HEADLINE IN THE MACON TELEGRAPH
ANOTHER HEADLINE IN THE MACON TELEGRAPH
Above the picture showing an older man holding a pistol facing what we can presume to be a target, the image of a tough, drooling, hirsute thug hoding a gun, the lead reads: NRA PUSHING GEORGIA BILL THAT STRENGTHENS DEADLY FORCE LAWS. Below the picture, the true ‘Headline’ says. Simply STANDING GROUND.
The article then goes on to inform us that the National Rifle Organization is behind legislation in Georgia and a dozen or so other states to make it legal and/or clarify the legality of a citizen’s use of deadly force outside his home or place of business.
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A HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READ
The teachers unions are mad at me
by John Stossel
The teachers unions are mad at me
by John Stossel
John Stossel, the Lone Ranger among ABC's news on-air cadre, has written another column based on the reaction of teachers' unions to his monumental educational expose STUPID IN AMERICA.
This criticism to his spot-on documentary is petty, petulant, and childish. The mindset that is educating America's kids will, more than anything else, destroy this country in the fullness of time. (My POV, please, not part of the article.)
If you have kids in school, or are in any way interested in the current state of education in America, please check out Stossel's brief essay. You can find it at TOWN HALL and check under COLUMNISTS. It should scare you enough to demand both action and accountability from the administrators who are guiding our kids.
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Tue Mar 07, 2006
SIGN(S) OF THE TIMES
YOU KNOW ITS MACON'S CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL WHEN.....
YOU KNOW ITS MACON'S CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL WHEN.....
....the MACON TELEGRAPH moves the downtown crime news to the second section, effectively hiding iit from the curious eyes of our visitors.
And, for what it's worth, I won't wear pink.
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Mon Mar 06, 2006
MONOPOLY IS GOOD FOR US
My Father Said Never Trust Big Business or Big Government
My Father Said Never Trust Big Business or Big Government
”Monopoly” is a dirty word.
At least it used to be. That’s what they told us in school.
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the government, working with all due tardation, spurred on by populist ‘trustbusters’ like Teddy Roosevelt, smashed the monopolies and saved the American People from oil, lumber, and railroad barons and their rapacious ilk. Democracy was once again saved from the threat of capitalism gone awry.
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Sun Mar 05, 2006
GETTING THE BLUES
Woke up in the morning, turned the news down low;
Woke up in the morning, turned the news down low;
Ol’ Mac-Town city, sho nuff is dyin’ slow.
I got the Macon Blues. Also got the Georgia Blues and the United States blues. Hell I got the whole world blues.
That’s how I woke up this morning, as opposed to other mornings, buried my poor brain in print, tv, and electronic news sources. All of a sudden I just wanted it to go away. The whole damn thing. Or me to go away. Quit. Out. Be gone. Not dead gone, that’s foolish, but out of the loop, going the way of all slackers, dropouts, tuned-outs. Why give a shit. Nobody listens. It isn’t worth it. More...
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OSCARS
I won't watch the Oscar(s) presentation this evening. But you knew that already..
Not that I've ever mentioned it, but enough of you know me to realize that i try hard not to do what 'everybody does'.
I wasn't one of those, "But, Mom, everybody has a ______" (fill in the blank of your choice," kids. I got into more than myshare of trouble by doing everything my way, on my own terms, at my own time. Which is why they hated me at school which was OK because I hated them right back. Dumb broads!!!
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Sat Mar 04, 2006
IT'S SATURDAY MORNING
WHAT ARE YOUR RUGRATS WATCHING?
WHAT ARE YOUR RUGRATS WATCHING?
Since the dawn of the television era beginning in the late '40's and early '50's, it has become a custom in many, if not most, American households with young children thastthe kids whatch 'my programs' for hours while the parents enjoy simple sleeping in or hangover nurture.
Me? We have three cats and they don't watch the tube, much, except Animal Planet, of course, and then only when subject appropriate....dogs, mice, other rodents. Their problem is they don't have a clue they are 'cats', so convinced they are one with homo sapiens are they.
Brent Bozell has written an excellent column on violence, body functions, and violence on little kiddie TV and you might be surprised at just how bad it might be. If you have little ones, it won't hurt to check him out. Go to http://www.townhall.com and find Bozell under 'columnists'. The piece is called POISONING CHILDREN, TOO. Well worth parents taking a look at.
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Fri Mar 03, 2006
AT FULL DOZE
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SHOOTING FIRST
The Georgia state Senate, in its infinite wisdom, has passed its version of a bill that would allow citizens with firearm permits to shoot to defend themselves when threatened in public.
Current law requires that a permit, not easy to get, by the way, is required to possess a pistol outside your home, vehicle, or place of business. There are further restrictions on guns in churches, schools, sporting events, and public gatherings. Can’t bring a pistol to a Braves game, street party, or your ex wife’s church wedding with the guy she left you for.
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Thu Mar 02, 2006
NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL
Whoooooeeeee
Just got an email which I will happily share with you in a second. It's from Johnny Harrison who is getting a new music festival off the ground. Hit MORE to read his letter....have edited only by removing some personal information.
This is the kind of thing we need more and more of which could go a long way to restoring Macon's tarnished supremecy in the world of Georgia Music.
Let's roll!!!!
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A TALE OF TWO CITIES
MUSIC FESTIVALS: Macon and Savannah
from the pages of THE ELEVENTH HOUR
MUSIC FESTIVALS: Macon and Savannah
from the pages of THE ELEVENTH HOUR
Click on MORE (below) to read this week's column fromTHE ELEVENTH HOUR. I haven't seen the print version yet, what you have here is what was submitted for publication over the weekend. It contain's a proposal that our Mayor might or might not take for what it's obviously worth. No, no...not talking about resignation here. We're talking culture, quality of life, music festivals which could make Macon world famous, but do not. Read and enjoy, or not. It's up to you.
BTW...it also contains a jab at our local Board of Lower Education
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Wed Mar 01, 2006
WHITWORTH MUMBLEY.....A FINAL WORD
What follows is my second (and last) reply to 'Whitworth Mumbley', who reads THE ELEVENTH HOUR and writes long letters. My reply lies below. To read his second epistle, click MORE:
Mr. Mumbley,
It is obvious that you have much more time than I to write long letters. This will be brief.
(1) You do me too much credit to think that any writing of mine can uplift you in the area of ‘digging deeper’ into the whys and wherefores of the mess downtown. My guess is that you have certain insight, real or imagined, but obviously choose not to share it. Your agenda is yours, not mine. Don’t look for salvation in the pages of a bi-weekly paper…or a b’log.
(2) It’s entirely up to you whether you read or not what I put in the ELEVENTH HOUR. Your choice. To quote the suave Rhett Butler speaking to the red-headed bitch of Tara, “Frankly……I don’t give a damn.” Or a rat’s ass, whichever applies.
(3) I don’t intend to ‘partner’ with anybody, for to do so would run the risk of compromising my integrity of my own ideas. That’s not to say I won’t listen to the right messenger(s), understanding that each of these has an agenda.
Luke Angelo
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NEW POLICIES
TO MAKE B'LOGGING SAFER AND SANER
TO MAKE B'LOGGING SAFER AND SANER
To improve our communal b'logging pleasure, two new policies are heretofore institute:
(a) After a picture has been up for a few days, it will be removed....but in it's place a link to that picture will remain. That way you can continue to view it, but on this end we can save bandwidth.
(b) There will be no more responding to emails where the identity of the writer is in doubt. To stand a chance of getting published, the email must have a verifiable name, address, and phone number. You can still use a fake screen-name to hide your true identity from the public, and I will never share that with anybody.
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SURPRISE SEX CHANGE
It was more embarrassing than substantive. Not a little humiliating.
Yesterday I took our five month old kitten to be fixed. She came to us as a tiny thing, surreptitiously removed from an abusive family which had killed several litter mates. She is the poster version of cute cat.
Told the vet that I wanted her spayed and given rabies shots for an loving animal who shall only somewhat limited access to the cruel, outside world. Vet took the animal back to his operating room.
Ten minutes later he came out into the jam-packed waiting room saying he wanted to see me privately. I was a little alarmed. Were there complications I hadn’t dreamed of? Had ‘Wiggles’ expired under anesthesia?
“Mr. Angelo,” he began, “I have some news for you. Your cat is not a female, but a Tom….do you still want him neutered?.”
I mumbled ‘yes’ and walked back into the crowd knowing that every eye was on my person, the only dude they had ever encountered who couldn’t tell the difference between a he and a she kitty.
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MACON'S AIRPORT MESS SHOWS EXACTLY WHAT'S WRONG WITH CITY GOVERNMENT
COMMUNICATION! COMMUNICATION!! COMMUNICATION!!!
COMMUNICATION! COMMUNICATION!! COMMUNICATION!!!
Macon's regional airport failed the federal inspection last week. That fact is not widely known, but is widely supected. Sadly it's true.
Despite the herculean efforts of Rex Elder, brought suddenly out of retirement to clean up the mess, there was simply too much mess to be corrected in the time allowed.
Details of the facility's real problems will emerge if and when the hearing for former director George Brown takes place. You can bet your collective bippies it goes far beyond the hole-in-the-back-fence featured over and over on channel 13, WMAZ.
Tonight (Wednesday) there is a meeting of the mayor and Council to examine the situation
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