Liberal celebrities get hammered, conservative ones do not.

Media Log 2/10: The troubling spectacle of celebrities for peace.

Last night I tuned in the Fox News Channel to watch a mini-debate on Iraq with actress and peace activist Janeane Garofalo and the hawkish Ruth Wedgewood, who's with an organization called the Committee to Liberate Iraq. The phenomenon of entertainers' passing themselves off as policy experts is enough to make one wince, and I admit I watched mainly to see if a train wreck would occur.

I was pleasantly surprised. Garofalo parried Wedgewood calmly, intelligently, and with a moderate point of view, arguing not that the United States is evil, but that war will bring unintended consequences, mainly in the form of renewed terrorist attacks. (Isn't that what last week's Orange Alert was all about?) Garofalo didn't claim to have any special knowledge beyond being an intelligent, well-informed ordinary citizen. And she managed to get her points across even though the buffoonish host, Rita Cosby, kept trying to shout her down.

      

Bush and company ready to take money from the poor and give it to rich.

TBogg: The more flexible ... the more easily screwed.

T Bogg with a good rant on a NY Times story about the Bush administration getting ready to raise rents on people living in federally assisted housing as a way to promote work. Bogg covers the high spots and then lets loose:

Remember when they said that the "grown-ups" were back in charge? What kind of grown-up puts people on the street so they can have a nice shiny war to get re-elected? What kind of grown-up gives the money that they take away from housing and gives it to churches so they can build...more churches? If you didn't already know that the Bush Administration was made up of some the most evil bastards to ever roam the Earth...welcome to the new reality. The terrorists have not only won, they're running the government.

You have to wonder what is going on. Cut taxes on the rich and on large corporations, cut down on the costs of enviromental protections by pretty much doing away with enviromental protections, do away with an estate tax that only affects the most wealthy, start a war that will cost us hundred of billions of dollars, and give money to churches eliminating the separation of church and state. Then to make up for all this, bankrupt Medicare and Social Security, cut funding for the "no child left behind" bill, hold back funding for first responders, start charging veterans for benefits we promised to give them, and now begin squeezing more money out of the poor. Isn't compassionate conservatism great!

      

Notes about Washington 2/11: All of a sudden the GOP wants everybody to be fair?

Washington Post: Democrats vow to delay vote on Estrada.

My favorite part:

The Democrats' declaration came only a couple of hours after the White House issued a statement in which Bush noted that Estrada's nomination has been pending for nearly two years and argued that "fairness demands that he receive an up or down vote on the Senate floor" as quickly as possible.

So, Bush is effect saying that what the GOP did to almost all of Clinton's nominees was not fair? The Republicans held up nominees for years, not even giving them a hearing in committee, much less a floor vote. This was done to hundreds of nominees. The Democrats are now passing many of Bush's judicial nominees, but are holding back on a few conservative activists. Screening nominees that are too far out of the main stream, or who might have an agenda on the bench, is the purpose behind Senate confirmation. Estrada refuses to answer policy questions and the White House refuses to release papers Estrada has previously worked on, so the Senate is not even being allowed information they need.

I wrote more about his nominee here. My view is the same. Filibuster, and do not allow this nominee to come before the Senate. He is a conservative activist, and should not be allowed on the bench.

      

They are agreeing with me!

AJC: Traffic pros dunked by rolling party.

Going into the NBA All-Star weekend, Atlanta officials expected problems on the city's streets. They just hadn't planned for thousands of cruisers crashing the party.

.....

"Were we expecting people to come to the city and enjoy the parties? Sure. Were we expecting so many cruisers? No," the mayor [Shirley Franklin] said.

.....

Cruising wasn't the only problem this weekend, said Michael Meyer, Georgia Tech civil engineering professor and nationally noted transportation guru. He said event planners didn't do enough to emphasize the need for visitors to take MARTA, which adequately serves both Buckhead and downtown.

Thank you, thank you very much. Sadly, this is all true. If city officials and the police had put "freaknik rules" into play earlier, and planned a little better, much of the trouble could have been avoided.

The next big test for Atlanta will come in April when the city hosts an event organizers are billing as "the Woodstock of hip-hop." Officially called the Urban Hip Hop Music Festival, the celebration will combine a one-day panel discussion at Morehouse College with a two-day, all-star music festival at Turner Field. Expect to see cruisers at full throttle.

Uh oh! That's going to suck! Cruisers will be everywhere. I hope the city and police can get it together in time for this one.

      

Perdue unwraps flag referendum plans.

AJC: Perdue prefers public vote on current flag .

Gov. Sonny Perdue on Monday said he favors a yes-or-no vote on the current Georgia flag, and would not include the old state flag with the Confederate battle emblem as a choice in any referendum.

Oh man, there are some pissed off flaggers right now! Those little guys are hoppin' mad! They have made it clear that they are insisting on the old flag being on the referendum.

"If that's what [the referendum] does, so be it. We'll just vote the current flag out," said Charles Lunsford, president of the Heritage Preservation Association.

No, you will not be able to vote the current flag out. The votes are not there. With Barnes, you were a part of a coalition. Actually you were the part most people wanted to hide, because they were embarrassed about you, but that is another issue. For this vote there is no coalition. All minorities vote for yes for the new flag. All pro-business vote for yes for the new flag. I would guess most teachers do also. Other than the flaggers, I cannot think of many people voting to reopen this flag issue. It is too divisive, and most people are happy to see the whole issue disappear.

Politically, this is probably the best Perdue can hope for. He keeps an ill advised promise that he made without pissing off minorities and the pro-business camps. The referendum will take place without the confederate battle flag being part of it. The flaggers will be pissed, but they have little political power. The only reason they helped elect Perdue is that they were able to join a coalition against Barnes that was making the election close. They actually have very little influence.

      

Dude, yer gettin' a cell.

AJC: 'Dell dude' arrested on marijuana charge .

Like nobody saw this coming. If you thought this guy had never smoked a little weed, you probably thought Sean Penn needed to do a little research before filming "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."

The Dell dude, Benjamin Curtis, was arraigned for a misdemeanor drug possession charge, an amount of pot for personal use. I am against drug use for personal reasons, but I still hope that this does not hurt what is left of this guy's career.

      

Life University has accreditation restored.

AJC: Chiropractic school given new life

Finally, a judge has restored accreditation to Life University, temporarily giving relief to students who are caught in the middle of the vindictive Council on Chiropractic Education and a university that got rid of a stubborn old man a few years too late. There has been some politics involved in the accreditation battle, and the Council has acted in a vindictive manner, hurting Life and the students. Maybe with a little pressure from the courts, the Council and Life will be able to reach a compromise that will allow students to get on with their education and life.