South Knox Bubba goes on a rant.

SKB: The real traitors.

The Bush Administration has occupied the White House for 751 days. During that time, we have experienced one of the worst economic declines in history, we've erased trillions of dollars in personal wealth, we've turned record budget surpluses into record deficits, two million people have lost their jobs, we've suffered unprecedented terrorist attacks on our own soil, we've turned former allies against us, and we are a nation at war.

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Our government and our very idea of America has been hijacked by a corrupt band of marauding robber barons with no regard for civil rights, the welfare of the American people, or our standing in the court of world opinion. And "we the people" aren't doing anything about it.

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But George W. Bush is not to blame. That would be giving him too much credit. He is clearly the mindless, inarticulate, simpering dupe of a larger political machine, who would not be president without them. In fact, his record of moral, corporate, and political corruption paints a picture of a man to be pitied, not feared or reviled.

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Conservative cheerleaders and Bush apologists, on the other hand, are following the current administration down a road of economic disaster and war. They are being played by the likes of Carlyle Group, Halliburton, Hess Corporation, Enron, Peabody Coal Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon. They are allowing their 401Ks and pension plans to be raided and plundered by corrupt politicians who are the henchmen of corporate robber barons. They are trading our environment for cheap power and our core values for huge executive bonuses. They are allowing policies of groups such as The Heritage Foundation, The Christian Coalition, and the Council of Conservative Citizens to shape a new conservative agenda of deepening class division and hate.

But worse, by blindly following and supporting this corrupt gang of thieves and criminals, self-styled patriotic conservative are allowing men to be sent off to die for profits and repressive ideologies under the flag of the United States of America. Our so-called leaders are systematically perverting everything that flag stands for and that past generations fought and died for. And they dare call those who oppose them unpatriotic. They dare call us traitors. These men are not patriots. These men are criminals, and these are the real traitors.

Now, if you haven't read South Knox Bubba before, you might think him some lefty wingnut. He is not. From reading his blog daily I have found him to be a middle of the road, gun owning, southerner from Tennessee who likes single malt scotch. He tends to be level headed, and writes well thought out entries. He lists lefty and righty blogs off his blog. His rant seems to be in line with much buzz throughout the country. The buzz is that people are fed up that Bush is not doing what he said he was going to do. He was elected as a moderate, and has turned out to be a conservative wingnut. Rules are being changed to give the country to the big corporations and ultra rich. Our retirement in 401ks and social security is being looted. Medicare is going to be trashed. Corporations are being allowed to break promises of benefits to retirees. Accountants are once again being given free reign to report whatever they feel like. Our enviornment is under attack. Our young men are being sent off to fight a war we do not want to wage. And finally our judicial system is about to be handed over to the Christian conservatives, who plan to strip away any and all protections the people and environment have left.

SKB is right. This sucks! Lets impeach!

      

Cruisers kill Atlanta Traffic.

11 Alive News: Shoppers Evacuate Lenox Square Mall"

This was not a good weekend for Atlanta traffic. There was deadlock in Buckhead, Midtown, and downtown. This was not because of the NBA All Star Game, nor the rodeo, and not even because of the flower show. The deadlock happened because an extra 60 thousand plus people, intowners and out-of-towners, wanted to drive their cars around looking cool. The traffic and behavior was very similar to the old Freaknik. It truly made a mess of the entire weekend.

Atlanta can handle big events, Super Bowl and Olympics, but it cannot handle tens of thousands of cars trying to just "cruise." Freaknik showed this for a few years until the visitors got so tired of the traffic that they quit coming. The NBA All Star weekend showed this again. Atlanta's roads are stressed to begin with. Throwing slow driving cruisers into the mix just shuts it all down.

Other casualties this weekend were some of the malls. Lenox Mall was overcrowded on Saturday, and shut down by fire marshals. On Sunday, fights, firecrackers, and reportedly women getting naked caused the shutdown. Phipps Plaza followed suit, as it was not going to be able to handle everybody from Lenox running across the street. Dumping all those cars onto Peachtree at once made horrible traffic worse. Why the hell are women getting naked at Lenox Mall, other than maybe to try on clothes? Two other area malls shut down also.

What about MARTA? The buses were stuck in the same traffic as the cars. The trains? Reportedly thay were not crowded at all. Maybe MARTA failed to get the word out to the visitors. Maybe it is just too hard to look cool cruising down the tracks on mass transit.

      

Commuting 101 is session.

AJC's Lane Ranger: Be smart about your commute.

Traffic and commuting expert Joey Ledford is about to share much of his knowledge on the skillful commute. We start with the easy stuff:

A clever commuter always has a plan -- every morning and every evening. It's a plan based on experience, timing and geographical knowledge.

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Over the years, I've developed at least seven routes to work, and variations of each. I base my decision on which route to take on a number of factors. The weather is usually the most important. Never expect to make a rainy day commute in the same amount of time as a sunny day drive -- not in Atlanta.

A savvy commuter prepares in advance whenever possible by jumping online. The Georgia Department of Transportation maintains one of the nation's best transportation management systems. Unfortunately, too few people have heard of it.

Go to Georgia Navigator for a one-glance real-time report of Atlanta freeway conditions.

Hopefully there will be more coming.Be sure to read them all.

I have been reading the The Lane Ranger for years. Mr. Ledford publishes some great stories about Atlanta Traffic. It would be much easier to track down older stories if the Atlanta Journal-Constitution would give him a page with all his stories indexed on it- hint, hint.