Great Georgia Citizen Journalism

And a great mashup of old/new media working together to further the (tax dollar boondoggles) story. Don't miss the jumping fish! Not that any self-respecting Mac user would ever have put those things in there, I still like 'em.

Georgia's, uh, Crisis Not Sexy Enough

Just when Sonny was, finally, back from Japan and seriously on his A-game, sounding every bit the powerful crisis-management leader, then wouldn’t ya know… along comes Schwarzenegger again, with his “perfect storm” sound bite and perfect bod and way-cooler disaster. Sonny got bumped down to second tier for America’s Best Crisis Governor all over national news last night.

We were reduced to a mere VO on ABC, while over on CBS’s second block, some babbling dope kept yammering about how “panicked” we were here in Georgia, yet failed to display anything remotely resembling this ”panic” we’re having. (You in a “panic?” I’m in a “panic” because my car has to go to the damn car spa — again.)

It’s just hard for a southerner to lead a national newscast nowadays when you’ve got Suzanne Summers and Ryan O’Neal evacuating estates in only their underwear. Between Malibu fires and Malibu Barbie (Valerie Plame Wilson) raging all over the national airways, Georgia’s water emergency never stood a chance at #1. Heck, even Tyler Perry’s movie dropped in sales over the weekend.

We are soooooo B-list.


This entry cross-posted at Peach Pundit.

Green Media and CNN

If you caught JMS on AC360 last night, you may, if you are the hardcore media junkie I am, have wondered how much energy was consumed to get that two-way shot with Stipe in Athens up to AC in NYC. A lot, I can assure you, given the price of gasoline used to transport a full MSM crew around Georgia.

Let's assume that a CNN crew based out of Atlanta was sent for the day to Athens, GA to set-up the shot. That's using XXX gallons of fossil fuel, right? In the kind of oversized vehicle needed to schlep all their gear back and forth. (Let's also assume no plane fuel was involved in the making of those TV minutes though, as that would be just thousands of gallons of fossil fuel burned, as opposed to mere hundreds.) And costs involved for that Athens-to-NYC air time were at least in the medium thousands. At least.

Meanwhile, CNN could have leveraged a terrific Green Media Moment (you read it here first; so yeah, you use it, I'll sue the pants off you) to do that live shot, which BTW was not live, but merely live-to-tape as we say in the biz. Notice the nice natural light on Stipe's shot, who was in the same time zone as a 10pm EDT Cooper; that was cool though because doing the shot outdoors saved plenty by not utilizing those energy-guzzling indoor lights.

Instead of incurring the costs for the (fossil) fuel, the superfluous personnel, and the ludicrously expensive satellite feed/uplinking capability needed to get Stipe onto AC360 last night, whereby he could then assist in the pimping of the upcoming green special, Planet In Peril, CNN could have had Stipe fire-up his laptop, plug a DV camera into it, get a wi-fi signal, jump on some live streaming platform like Ustream.tv, and voila -- live GREEN TV! Albeit via the Internets of course, but live or live-to-tape, and totally cool and totally pimp-able for being greener than the rest. A win-win for all. Even the marketeers!

Now of course there would be some energy resources expended to power the Internets-related tools that Stipe and CNN needed to employ to get the great, now-green media to everyone who was seeking such last night, but energy costs would have been drastically lower overall. And think if that laptop could have been... say... solar powered! Now we're talking Green Media, folks.

All the above said though, R.E.M.'s song put the soul into the CNN pictures we were seeing last night. There's energy and power in that kinda human resource that's immeasurable. Let's hope those kinds of energies are renewable, 'cause that's what we'll be left with when the other kinds are gone.

A Breath of Fresh Georgia Political MSM Air

Hope sproings eternal that there will once again be good, readable, analytical, political writing about Georgia that reflects the mood of the contemporary political scene, and not just chronic geezer-rambling about something someone felt 30-years ago. From Walter Jones at the Morris News Service, an unusual reporter in that he actually gets out of the office every now and then to place a finger to the winds (of change).

House Minority Leader DuBose Porter of Dublin admits now that the Democratic Caucus was too shocked to formulate a strategy for leveraging what remaining power it retained as a voting bloc of legislators.

"It took us a year or so to realize we weren't in the majority," Porter quipped recently at his fundraising reception in an Atlanta watering hole frequented by Democrats, Manuel's Tavern. Democrats squawked when the Republicans changed the legislative rules, underfunded the per-pupil school formula and toughened eligibility for the HOPE scholarship.

Other than a few lines in news stories as the loyal opposition, though, all their noise amounted to little. The only real horsepower they could muster on the floor of theHouse and Senate was to withhold the super majority required to pass the handful of constitutional amendments the GOP kept introducing.

Then came the 2006 election. It swept Democrats into the majority in Congress, which infused the Georgia party with a sense of possibility.

Read on here.

Georgia's Aviation History

There's a documentary in the works about Georgia's aviation history. Take a peek here.

Blog It Long Time Baby

I'm working really hard on my blogging addiction, so I've cut way back here on the SGR with the more personal kinda posts. However, I see no need to de-continue the media and political stuff, but I like doing that more over at Peach Pundit. It just pisses 'em off so much when I do that it's got to be a good thing! So, make a daily visit to PP part of your nutritious breakfast.

Rumor Laid To Rest

Ohpuuuhhlease. Jay Bookman is saying it was the paparazzi that killed Bernie's fish when we know it really was Camilla Parker-Bowles.

Nothing "Natural" on DNR Board

Let's count the envionmentalists on Georgia's DNR board!

If you can't find any here, then try counting the builders and developers instead. You'll find that more fruitful. Heck, there are two more dentists on the board than people who seek to protect our natural resources. What's with that? Might have to have one of my cellular chats with those dudes too, just for grins... and blogging purposes of course.

And of course, being a polite Southern lady, I'll be sure to invite them to the party for Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper on May 10th!


CITIZEN JOURNALISM MOMENT: Help me call some of these fine folks on the DNR board and invite them to River Revival!

A list of contact info for these folk is here. Another citizen journalism bonus point to see if any of these are also lobbyists.


DNR BOARD MEMBERS AND OCCUPATIONS
Per AJC, Oct 2006

William "Bill" Archer III, Lake Burton
Retired Georgia Power executive vice president; working as a consultant for the utility company on a three-year contract through 2009.

Earl Barrs, Cochran
Owner of Knapp-Barrs & Associates Inc., a Macon timberland management and investment company; also owns other land investment companies.

Jenny Lynn Bradley, Savannah
Community volunteer and former vice president of the Garden Club of America.

Warren Budd, Newnan
New York Life insurance agent.

William A. Carruth, Dallas
President of Aiken Grading Co., a land grading operation; also owns land development companies.

Cader Cox, Camilla
CEO of Riverview Plantation Inc., a quail hunting plantation on the Flint River; also owns a vegetable and timber farm.

Walter Hudson, Douglasville
President of Exxell Developers Inc. and Land Sales Inc., real estate development companies.

Mabel C. Jenkins, Millen
Retired.

Phyllis T. Johnson, Hazlehurst
Co-owner of Thompson Hardwoods Inc., lumber and wood products manufacturer.

Bob Rutland, Covington
Chairman and part owner of Allied Holdings Inc., a Decatur car-hauling business.

Loyce W. Turner, Valdosta
Former state senator, retired veterinarian, retired banker, farmer; runs a family foundation.

James W. Tysinger, Atlanta
Former state senator, retired sales industrial engineer from Westinghouse Electric Corp.

James Walters, Gainesville
President and CEO of James A. Walters Management Co. Inc., which provides management services for consumer finance companies. Managing partner of Walters Income Properties, which owns and manages commercial and office buildings, and shopping centers.

Tom Wheeler, Atlanta
Manager and principal owner of Wheeler/Kolb Co., a Duluth company that manages and leases shopping centers and office parks in the Southeast.


NEW MEMBERS SINCE OCTOBER 2006.
The following individuals replaced Sara Clark (Community Volunteer/League of Women Voters), Ralph Callaway (Callaway Gardens) and Jamie Reynolds (Developer):

Dr. David Allen, Atlanta (Oral surgeon)
Chair emeritus and founder, Oral Surgery Associates; Chair, Georgia Chamber of Commerce

Joe Hatfield, Baldwin
Chairman, Fieldale Farms Corporation

Dr. Gene Bishop, Dawsonville (Oral surgeon)
President, Health Service Centers


VACANT POSITION FOR GOVERNOR PERDUE TO FILL.
AT-LARGE BOARD SEAT PREVIOUSLY HELD BY SALLY BETHEA.

Shame, Sonny, shame. (All of the above are Governor appointees.)

Douglas County Giveth And Douglas County Sure Taketh Away

What's the price of consensual teen sex in Douglas County, Georgia? Is ten years at the Big House enough sin-washin' time for ya? Ten years. That's no joke. That's what high school football star Genarlow Wilson is doing right about now: ten years for getting a blow job from a gal who admitted prompting sex in the first place. From Wright Thompson at ESPN.com:

Once, he (Wilson) was the homecoming king at Douglas County High. Now he's Georgia inmate No. 1187055, convicted of aggravated child molestation. When he was a senior in high school, he received oral sex from a 10th grader. He was 17. She was 15. Everyone, including the girl and the prosecution, agreed she initiated the act. But because of an archaic Georgia law, it was a misdemeanor for teenagers less than three years apart to have sexual intercourse, but a felony for the same kids to have oral sex.

But hey, if Genarlow had just copped a plea deal ("taken his medicine") instead of insisting on a jury trial so he might somehow, someway not be branded a "child molester," he'd have had to serve only FIVE years! (And of course those upright, Bible-lovin' Douglas County prosecutors won't be ever labled "soft" on pervs that way either. Just kinda semi-limp. Makes you wonder what happens to their puffed-up little lawyerin' body parts during a good romp in the sack, eh? But I diverge...)

Barker (the prosecutor in the case) thinks five years is fair for receiving oral sex from a schoolmate.

If the world isn't falling out of their chairs laughing at our backasswater ways with the Milton County nonsense, then it is surely crying now. Shoot, even Erik The Republican over at Peach Pundit thinks this case is seriously extreme.

You can sign an online petition to help Wilson's case here.

Full ESPN story here. HT to Harley D.

Keep An Eye On HB1

All of you Georgia bloggers who are keeping an eye on our current legislative process, you lucky dogs, please let me know if there's any news about our HB1's, hopefully lack of, progress/news in the Legislature. Even though I blogged my impressions about an initial hearing for HB1, I don't follow politics as much as I do culture and media issues, so often Georgia's wide world of psycho political items can slip through my cracks, even pro-choice issues. So I need some backup in the Gold Toilet Bowl Dome.

Emily Bazelon, a Slate.com editor and indie reporter who wrote this week's key NYTimes Magazine cover story: Is There A Post-Abortion Syndrome?, has expressed interest in our lovely little HB1 and its (the bill) ties to the Justice Foundation. (The Justice Foundation, and the things they do, was critical to her cover story.) So help me help her stay on top of this bill. Thanks!

Hell Is Just Inside The Perimeter

While out committing genuine journalism, imagine that at the AJC, Alan Judd and Andy Miller's excellent reporting on the hideous conditions of our state mental health facilities has gotten the attention of the feds. Hopefully full heat will now be applied.

I field produced, a couple of years ago, a shoot for the Kaiser Family Foundation at Georgia Regional State Hospital for this package. Although this important-in-itself story about the Olmstead Act doesn't focus on the conditions at Georgia Regional and doesn't show the horrid stuff, that place IS hell on earth. In every (unimaginable) way possible. We treat animals at the county shelter much, much better.

Meanwhile, back at the source-of-all-funding ranch, a lot of nothing is busy happening.

Jesus Kept Me From Losing It

So I wander down to the Gold Dome this morning, the Coverdale Building actually, to see some gen-u-ine legislation in action for the first time in my life. What was going on was a public hearing on HB1, see post below, a bill written to completely ban abortion in Georgia.


What really was going on in Room 606 was a freakin' Jesus rally! An arms-in-the-air, bad music playin', Jesus worshipping prayer rally by fundamentalist Christian righties, masked as a legislative hearing of course.

Oh hon, believe me when I tell you there were tears and testimony and testifying and fiery God-like righteousness everywhere you looked. Pure theocracy-in-action, certainly not democracy.


For a moment there, I thought the righty goons were gonna all crawl along on their knees towards the altar, only there was no altar in this room, just the State Seal of Jesus Camp, I mean Georgia.

My new hero, Bernita from Blog For Democracy, blogged the whole freak show live. I was too stunned to do much except take a few of the shots you see here, then pray for the strength to keep my mouth shut and not get arrested by blurting out things like, "Oh God, just free us from these total fucktards!!!!"


We all need to now get on our knees and pray that HB1 never makes it out of committee.

FYI, the stack of documents in the above shot is "testimony" taken by women who have had abortions. (See Bernita for more on that nonsense.) The docs should now include blog entries written by women subjected to the horror of democracy being thrashed into theocracy by the psycho Christian Right.

The three shot below the seal is of the men (the people actually elected to public office by other people) who wrote and support this bill designed just for a woman's body.

I gotta go have a shot of something now. Just like Bernita. (You had to have been there. You'd be drinking now too, trust me.)

Pro-Choice Voices Need Hearing

Because the stupid people who want control of our most vital body parts are at it again. Honestly, what planet do these anti-choicers come from? Planet Georgia! Select members of the Georgia Legislature have once again taken it upon themselves to decide for us women folk what we will or will not do with our uteri. (Like that'll ever really happen.)

House Bill #1 kicks off the '07 session with a special anti-choice rally this Tuesday to urge the Legislature to pass the abortion ban, or HB1.

According to NARAL Pro-Choice Georgia:

Tuesday, January 9, 2007, from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm (in room 606 of the Coverdale Building), the American Life League and Rep. Bobby Franklin (sponsor of HB1, the near-total abortion ban) plan to hold a "public hearing" (a rally) pushing an abortion ban similar to the one defeated by voters in South Dakota last year.

We will not lose this fight for our reproductive health!

NARAL Pro-Choice Georgia wants you to know what anti-choice forces are doing and that we won't let their outrageous efforts go unnoticed.

We will be at the rally to observe and then inform our members and the media about these anti-choice activities that threaten our reproductive freedom.

Call 404-875-6338 for more details about this public hearing.

Please join us at the Coverdale Building anytime from 10am-3pm Tuesday the 9th, if you can, to counter this fundamentalist-driven, (some other person's) religion-based nonsensical babble they call legislation in this backasswards state. And believe you me, you'll need a smoke and a martini after wading through the fucktard drivel of HB1.

Vote!

Yes, now's the time when we all just shut the fuck up and go vote. And then maybe later meet-up at a Georgia Governor's race election night party, eh? To blog it all of course.

UPDATE: Manuel's tonight at 6:30pm seems to be the bloggers' choice for the jumping-off and drinking point.

GO VOTE!!!!!