Savannah Red

• FBI Says Georgia Is One Of The Least Hateful States

  
  The FBI Hate Crime stats are out and its stuffed with fascinating nuggets of data--enough to give every class of victim a reason to lobby the feds for more awareness-raising money. Tidbits like this from USA Today:
  
  "While anti-Jewish attacks make up the bulk" [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 10:11pm EST
  

• Saxby Chambliss & Johnny Isakson Voted For Eric Holder: Thanks Guys

  
  Both Georgia Senators (Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson) voted to confirm Eric Holder for Attorney General. Sen. Isakson, after voting for him, denounced Holder's decision to investigate the CIA:
  
  “I hope the Administration thinks carefully about what they are doing, that they will [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 6:19pm EST
  

• What's The Plan For The Savannah Children Zone?

  
  Savannah high school graduation rates are on the way up:
  
  "Savannah-Chatham's high school students are graduating at much higher rates. The 2008-09 graduation rate is 72.2 percent, up from 63.9 percent the previous year."
  
  This deserves a fair amount of huzzahs and congratulations [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 6:16pm EST
  

• Law Of Gravity: Savannah Named Best Performing City In Georgia, Leads State In Unemployment Claims

  
  Savannah is named the best performing city in Georgia by the Milken Institute (an independent economic think-tank) and is ranked #39 out of the top 200 largest metro areas in the US. The closest contender is Augusta--ranked #82. Atlanta? #106.
  
  So what's going on?' [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 6:17pm EST
  

• Veteran's Day Syllabus: From My Bookcase

  Taking stock of my bookcase on this rainy day off--a day to remember those who have fallen in the defense of our freedoms--I offer a syllabus for Veteran's Day:
  
  Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power by Victor Davis Hanson.
  
  From the chapter' [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 7:59am EST
  

• Seas Rise, Accuracy Sinks

  
  According to the front page this morning, the seas are rising and large area of currently dry land will be under water within the century:
  
  "Sea level rise could put as much as 50-100 square miles of currently dry land - an area" [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 8:14pm EST
  

• You Sank My Battleship: Same Sex Marriage Defeated In Maine

  
  The little cartoonist guy at the bottom of Mark Streeter's Tuesday election results cartoon is standing beside two guys (one who is holding a gay flag) with their fists upraised, shouting "Remember The Maine!" Streeter is referring to Maine voters overturning the state's new same-sex [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 5:39pm EST
  

• Tight & Focused: Buddy Carter Campaign Much Like Bob McDonnell's

  
  Over on the Savannah Politics site, there is a reprint of the Savannah Morning News story on how Dave Simons (political consultant to the Low Country!) helped Buddy Carter win the election--basically by carpet bombing likely voters with mailings and robo-calls:
  
  "Simons said going" [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 5:34pm EST
  

• Small Businesses Relocating To Savannah Will Need More Than A Drink

  
  I got an email invite from the Creative Coast Alliance to a welcome wagon-like event for two small knowledge-based businesses that are relocating from Atlanta to Savannah (not because I have any knowledge about anything creative, but because I signed up to be a CCA [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 6:16pm EST
  

• Interim Chief Willie Lovett Needs To Apply--ASAP

  
  Interim Chief Lovett needs to get serious about chiefdom. It might be a small thing not to have applied for the police chief job yet--but it can also be perceived as very meaningful and telling.
  
  "Interim Chief Willie Lovett has not yet applied, but" [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 8:26pm EDT
  

• One Decent Bar On Derenne Worth A Dozen Design Charrettes

  I saw a reminder today of the design charrette hosted by Project Derenne that will be held next week (11/2-11/6) to kick start the planning for Project Derenne. I don't know what a design charrette is. I know who Maurice Clarett is though:
  
  [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 8:08pm EDT
  

• Buddy Carter Or Billy Hair For District 1 Georgia Senator?

  I'm trying to figure out if I should vote for Buddy Carter or for Billy Hair in the vacated District 1 GA Senate seat (Eric Johnson resigned to run for governor). Buddy or Billy? Billy or Buddy?
  
  Such a southern-like choice! It's like fried chicken and okra or shrimp [...]
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  Posted: October 24, 2009, 9:24am EDT
  

• Obama & China Combine To Help Clean Up The Savannah River

  
  So I'm being made to think again. The lady from Environment Georgia claims that the Savannah River is the 4th dirtiest, yuckiest, most polluted, river in the United States. Practically the Ganges of the Southeast. I hate thinking about stuff that other people want' [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 8:39pm EDT
  

• City Talk: Gloom, Despair, & Agony

  
  
  The City Talk column today sort of made me want to slit my wrists then set myself on fire. I mean the local economic numbers are horrendous:
  
  "The Georgia Department of Labor estimates that in September the Savannah-metro area had 4,800 fewer jobs than in 2008," [...]
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  Posted: October 20, 2009, 9:59pm EDT
  

• Church Arson: Hate Crime?

  
  As much as the latest arson of the Resurrection of Our Lord Catholic Church saddens and disgusts me, (I sent a donation the first time it burned and received a beautiful handwritten acknowledgment from Father Chaney in return), I don't know if the arson itself' [...]
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  Posted: October 17, 2009, 12:38pm EDT
  

• Edward Fulford Draws Out The Poisonous Left

  
  Edward Fulford's editorial the other day (Obama wins popularity contest) is drawing out the poisonous left like a wet, clay poultice on a poison ivy rash. The left seethes (in a letter to the editor):
  
  "Honestly, I'm not sure Edward Fulford could" [...]
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  Posted: October 13, 2009, 10:23pm EDT
  

• Nobel Prize In Economics & Savannah Poverty

  
  African-Americans have the lowest marriage rate of any group in America--about 35%:
  
  "In 2001, according to the U.S. Census, 43.3 percent of black men and 41.9 percent of black women in America had never been married, in contrast to 27.4 percent and 20.7 percent" [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 6:42pm EDT
  

• Give A Social Media Guru The Savannah Police Chief's Job

  
  Why not? It makes as much sense as the op-ed I read the other day about giving Acting Chief Lovett the job. As far as I can tell in the op-ed, the reasons Acting Chief Willie Lovett should be given the job are:
  
  1. [...]
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  Posted: October 11, 2009, 5:49pm EDT
  

• Obama Should Follow Zombieland Rules

  
  Foreign policy decisions loom for President Obama. The American public is starting to get queasy and ill watching the indecision on Afghanistan. Iran's decision to not follow their commitments will make for a scary Halloween. What's a community organizing president to do? He [...]
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  Posted: October 07, 2009, 5:29pm EDT
  

• Mischaracterizations Of Captain Black

  
  In his column the other day, Nadra Enzi (aka Captain Black) insists that Black Muslims as a local, inner-city, population hold the key to fighting Islamic-themed terrorism and crime. Unfortunately, due to the numerous mischaracterizations throughout, Enzi's argument is less powerful than it could have' [...]
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  Posted: September 30, 2009, 5:46am EDT
  

• Cojamos Un Taxi! Freer Market In Havana Than Savannah

  
  The Savannah Taxi Owners Association and Savannah City Council want to reduce the number of taxi companies in Savannah. The president of the Savannah Taxi Owners Association is Larry Green. He owns Yellow Cab--the largest taxi company in Savannah. Green maintains that since there are so [...]
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  Posted: September 28, 2009, 8:51pm EDT
  

• SEIU & ACORN: Riding The MARTA For Signatures

  
  
  On the MARTA ride back from the Ga Tech/UNC game, a young guy wearing sport coat, jeans, and an Obama '08 t-shirt got on at the Five Points stop, his hands full of posters, brochures and a clipboard. He immediately went from rider to' [...]
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  Posted: September 27, 2009, 4:34pm EDT
  

• Paddling The Fever Swamp Of The National Endowment Of The Arts--In Savannah

  
  So the National Endowment of the Arts got busted this week for holding a conference call asking (suggesting? telling?) artists and artist groups to focus their artistic sensibilities on Obama's health care plan and other White House initiatives. Evidently, one Shepard Fairey isn't enough. [...]
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  Posted: September 23, 2009, 8:13pm EDT
  

• Willie Lovett Is The Acting Chief--Here Are The Stats To Act On

  
  I'm very glad that Acting Chief Willie Lovett is very encouraged about the positive vibes he's getting from City Manager Michale Brown and his counterpart in the county, Russ Abolt:
  
  "Fortunately for me, neither one of them have said don't do too much. In fact,'" [...]
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  Posted: September 21, 2009, 9:00pm EDT
  

• Pre-empting Mark Streeter: Jack Kingston's Health Care Forum Was Racist

  
  
  I figure Savannah Morning News cartoonist Mark Streeter won't be able to resist lobbing a few more liberal "Opposition to Obama's Health Care Plan Is Racist" cartoon bombs, so, why not extend a hand so he can go ahead and get it over with?[...]
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  Posted: September 19, 2009, 7:42am EDT
  

• Local Media Should Ask Mayor Johnson About Community Organizing A La ACORN

  
  In a Savannah Morning News story last week, Mayor Johnson explains his desire to leave office having helped create more social programs for citizens of Savannah:
  
  "It serves him as a kind of beacon, a reminder that with his remaining time in office," [...]
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  Posted: September 17, 2009, 5:43am EDT
  

• Coarsening Discourse: Joe Wilson Isn't The Only One

  President Obama laments the coarsening of political discourse over his health-care plan (which is really not so much a plan as a plan to have a plan):
  
  “The truth of the matter is that there has been, I think, a coarsening of our political dialogue. I will also [...]
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  Posted: September 14, 2009, 7:14pm EDT
  

• Fidel's Fellow Traveler To Direct Movie In Savannah

  
  I don't know if Robert Redford will bring out the stalkers like Miley Cyrus did for her movie filmed here, but if he does, they might be aging socialist types intent on basking in Redford's Fidel Castro loving aura. Redford has had play dates with [...]
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  Posted: September 13, 2009, 11:51am EDT
  

• Reasons For Glee

  
  I guess I'm not really alone. Glee viewership increased from the May debut:
  
  "+9% in Adults 18-34 (3.6/10 vs. 3.3/10) and +26% in Women 18-34 (5.3/14 vs. 4.2/12). GLEE built upon its lead-in by +22% among Adults 18-49 (3.3/9 vs. 2.7/8), +24%'" [...]
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  Posted: September 11, 2009, 6:00pm EDT
  

• Paula Deen Is Friggin Everywhere

  
  So I'm going through my Sports Illustrated NFL Preview issue, reading each team's review and prospects for the new season (Falcons are picked #1 in the NFC South), when I turn to the Denver Broncos review and absorb this sentence:
  
  "Kyle Orton's biggest'" [...]
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  Posted: September 10, 2009, 8:33pm EDT
  

• Firefly Cafe: Empty Nester Brunching

  
  With kids, we never brunched. What was the point? They hated sitting down in the middle of the day and eating stuff that wasn't necessarily breakfast, but wasn't quite lunch either. They hated brunch because no place good (to them) like Outback or Chili's ,ever [...]
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  Posted: September 07, 2009, 5:36pm EDT
  

• Savannah Craft Brew Fest: Notes From The Tent

  
  A few notes from a Saturday spent initially tasting and pontificating (Goodness, if this hefeweizen was any cloudier with wheat chaff, it would be sold in a box with Mary Lou Retton on it), quaffing (you mean Kona Brewing has FOUR to taste?), to outright [...]
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  Posted: September 06, 2009, 8:39am EDT
  

• Savannah Clean Air Group Brings In Don Quixote To Fight LNG Expansion

  
  Last week, the Citizens for Clean Air & Water group (and presumably they would be for energy independence, but its not part of their name)brought in Rhode Island's attorney general, Patrick Lynch, an avowed LNG tank hit man, to whack the Elba Island [...]
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  Posted: September 05, 2009, 7:34am EDT
  

• Taxpayers Walk Plank For Captain Biden, Er, Morgan

  
  Captain Joe Stimulus said this about how the $787 billion dollar stimulus package is going:
  
  "The Recovery Act is doing more, faster and more efficiently and more effectively than most people expected."
  
  I'm not sure who is recovering. Only $151 billion' [...]
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  Posted: September 03, 2009, 8:58pm EDT
  

• Is The White House Spying On Me?

  
  I tweeted about a White House procurement plan for a vendor to set up a system for the White House to gather personal data from social networking sites this morning.
  
  Dismaying headline of the day...White House Has Secret Plan To Harvest Personal Data From [...]
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  Posted: September 02, 2009, 8:16pm EDT
  

• Wilmington Island Boat Ramp: Good Use Of Eminent Domain?

  
  
  Above is what Bob Turner's place underneath the Spence Grayson Bridge looked like about 5 years ago. It was a fresh seafood joint and I stopped there plenty of times for a pound or two of fresh shrimp. Here is what Bob Turner's place [...]
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  Posted: September 01, 2009, 6:36pm EDT
  

• Savannah's Next Police Chief Should Be Blue--Not Black Or White

  
  Savannah's Captain Black, (Nadra Enzi) published an editorial where he calls for Savannah's next police chief to be black. Considering Mr. Enzi's professed background this is understandable--but the reasons he gives for having a black police chief don't jibe with Chief Berkow's performance. For example,' [...]
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  Posted: August 29, 2009, 4:46pm EDT
  

• The Unkindest Cut Of All

  
  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seems to be recommending that all newborn baby boys be circumcised to stop the spread of HIV. This seems needless when most of the new HIV cases reported in the US are to homosexual men (not infants):
  [...]
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  Posted: August 27, 2009, 8:32pm EDT
  

• Treefrog Recycling: Governmental Roadkill?

  
  I admire Danny O' Conner who started Treefrog Recycling as he identified a community need and decided to fill it:
  
  "In part, he started the business because he got tired of waiting for the county government to do it."
  
  This can' [...]
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  Posted: August 25, 2009, 9:47am EDT
  

• De-Centralized Intelligence Agency

  
  President Obama decentralizes the Central Intelligence Agency:
  
  "President Obama has approved the creation of an elite team of interrogators to question key terrorism suspects, part of a broader effort to revamp U.S. policy on detention and interrogation. The unit, named the High-Value Detainee Interrogation" [...]
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  Posted: August 24, 2009, 10:00pm EDT
  

• Rise & Drive: Notre Dame Drop Off

  The new catchphrase for Notre Dame football this year is Rise & Strike:
  
  
  
  Our Notre Dame catchphrase was only slightly different. Rise & Drive. We drove 15 hours straight to deliver the girlchild to college at Notre Dame University in South Bend, IN. [...]
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  Posted: August 21, 2009, 10:02pm EDT
  

• Tom DeLay Has Always Danced With The Stars

  
  If Tom DeLay dances like he ran the House, the likes of Donny Osmond and Aaron Carter don't stand a chance in the new Dancing With The Stars contest.
  
  Tom could dance with anyone:
  
  "You know, the Democrats want to balance the budget'" [...]
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  Posted: August 17, 2009, 7:01pm EDT
  

• Dillards Goes Big Love

  
  
  Saw this ad for Dillard's jeans in this morning's paper and wondered what Dillard's was trying to communicate. The tagline says, "JEANS FOR THE FAMILY", but I'm not sure about the Dillard's family that is depicted. There is the handsome, fit, father (?) standing' [...]
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  Posted: August 15, 2009, 7:23am EDT
  

• Does Chatham County Stimulus Money Stimulate?

  
  According to stimulus money dispersion stats, Chatham County is raking stimulus cash in ($60,259,468) at a much higher per capita rate than the rest of the counties in Georgia (almost a third more). I was curious as to what that $60 million dollars is being [...]
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  Posted: August 14, 2009, 4:51pm EDT
  

• Tiki Hut = Vibrant Community

  
  In Bill Dawer’s losing-road-capacity-means-more-vibrancy (!!) column the other day, he bemoans the suburban sprawl implicit with widening I-16 and I-95:
  
  “Such public expenditures would have the unwanted effect of encouraging sprawl. If area workers are guaranteed massive roads and high speeds, they will be [...]
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  Posted: August 12, 2009, 5:35pm EDT
  

• Recession Haircut

  My recession haircut, given by my wife, while free, was not without cost.
  
  
  
  [...]
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  Posted: August 10, 2009, 8:11pm EDT
  

• It Was A Dark And Stormy Night At The Savannah Pride Festival

  
  I nominate Arek Sarkissian II for this year's Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest--even though his work for SMN is news reporting and not fiction. (The contest honors bad opening sentences to imaginary novels with "It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents..." being' [...]
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  Posted: August 09, 2009, 9:26pm EDT
  

• Banksy On Wilmington Island?

  Has speaking truth-to-power graffiti art made its way to the conservative enclave of Wilmington Island using some underground anti-establishment symbolism that speaks only to the suburban subversive?
  
  
  
  Should concern be registered about the apparitional tags haunting my street?
  
  [...]
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  Posted: August 08, 2009, 2:40pm EDT
  

• Will Berkow Interview For LAPD?

  
  William Bratton leaves the LAPD in October to go to Altegrity, a private security firm. Along with cleaning up the LAPD and getting them out from under federal oversight, Bratton is a firm believer in the Broken Window’s theory of crime-fighting:
  
  “It has [...]
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  Posted: August 06, 2009, 6:47pm EDT
  

• Sweden Is The LAST Place Savannah City Council Needs To Go To Learn About Being Eco-Friendly

  
  Tom Barton gets it right in complaining about the mayor and Savannah city council heading off to Sweden to learn about eco-friendly building practices:
  
  "Maybe I'm missing something. But aren't plenty of people already hitting the road for Savannah? Do we really need to" [...]
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  Posted: August 02, 2009, 3:10pm EDT