Atlanta
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Tuesday afternoon news roundup
While I’m stuck on some SQL problems (use SQLite only if necessary), here is a quick roundup
- ‘American Taliban’ Father Urges Clemency – What does it take to lose your citizenship? I would think joining a foreign army should do it fairly easily, but it would seem not.
In the spring of 2001, John Walker Lindh told his parents he was going to dodge the desert heat and spend the summer in the mountains of Pakistan. He did not tell his parents that he planned to cross into Afghanistan and join the Taliban army.
The younger Lindh saw bin Laden speak twice while he was training in Afghanistan, but had no idea that he was involved in terrorism against the U.S., his father said.
On Thursday, Frank Lindh emphasized that John Walker Lindh was involved in an Afghan war, not a fight against the U.S., when the Muslim convert joined the Taliban army to fight the Northern Alliance. He noted that the U.S. once supported Taliban fighters when they were fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
This is either a blatant lie or a remarkably large error. The Taliban formed after the Soviets left and Northern Alliance was mostly composed of anti-Soviet fighters. Leave alone the fact Lindh could attend an al-Qaida training camp (one of whose main reasons to exist (though not it’s only one) is to kill Americans) and not know anything about it’s goals, let alone it’s many public declarations to that effect.
- Larry Franklin got 12 years for passing secrets to the Israelis. Seems a bit low to me.
- Maryland’s latest anti-Walmart legislation may come back to haunt them. The company may not build a warehouse in one of Maryland’s poorest counties.
It’s always amazing to me how people think that the way to help people is to limit options, whether it be 12 year olds building toys in Malaysia or 70 year old Walmart greeters. If they had better options, they would take them, why remove the best available choice to them?
- Russians endure, cheer frigid winter – curiously no mention is made of global warming. Since Russia contains one sixth of the earth, you would think this would be significant one way or the other. They certainly do stories about a lot less.
- Patients suspect they’ve been given tissue stolen from corpses
- Atlanta saves itself from people who would otherwise live in the suburbs. Isn’t mandating housing size a strike against diversity?
- Check out the fiddle tune book.
- Home genetic testing – find your true heritage for a remarkably low price.
- ‘American Taliban’ Father Urges Clemency – What does it take to lose your citizenship? I would think joining a foreign army should do it fairly easily, but it would seem not.
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A pleasant development
The AJC is covering the Bill Campbell trial in blog form.
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MARTA at it’s finest
Subway Rider Busted for Selling a Token
Transit police handcuffed and cited a man who sold a $1.75 subway token to another rider who was having trouble with a token vending machine. Transit authority spokeswoman Jocelyn Baker said Friday that the officer “acted within the law” after he spotted Donald Pirone, 42, selling the token Nov. 30 inside the West End subway station
Instead of giving Pirone a warning, the officer decided to handcuff him and give him the misdemeanor citation under a 1992 state law that bars passengers from selling Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority tokens, she said.
By all impression Marta would seem to have more employees than riders, but this is just ridiculous.
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Today’s clear concise phrase
Today’s line comes from Jim Wooten of the AJC.
“The fleas come with the dog”. Stated in reference to federally funded universities banning military recruiters.
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Job security inspires low standards all around
I was reading the two education related articles Schools want Beltline voice and Decatur tries to close racial gap in the AJC and was astonished by the poor quality of the writing and thinking. Nothing but one and two sentence paragraphs and no information that couldn’t be found on a press release.
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Synchonicity
Whilst going to see the A-Sides at Limerick junction last night I experienced a weird coincidence of sounds and scene. I was listening to the Waco Brothers album “To The Last Dead Cowboy” and for two miles the alienation of the music matched the inherent alienation of an urban landscape.
I was driving up McClendon, which actually goes for quite a ways. The neighborhoods were very nice, and very pricey, but also very old. It occurred to me that the builders and original dwellers of the neighborhood were long gone; it gave the neighborhood a strange, bruised feel. The houses had character and style, but they seemed lost without their original owners. The separation was somehow palpable (with the soundtrack).
Reading over this I don’t think I’ve captured the thought accurately.
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Times
From my place to the Airport (picking up Mark) – Door to curb – 22 minutes. Memorial Drive can be quite a timesaver. That was without really speeding too.
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As If
In a remarkably shoddy job of reporting, the AJC goes through an entire article about Avondale Estates’ quest for businesses to pay taxes and fill spaces on College Avenue without mentioning that they turned down the Walmart that would occupy the abandoned and dilapidated Avondale Mall.
And speaking of Walmart, in parts of New York, they’re trying not so subtly to ban them from building there.
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The Hendrix Show
I just returned from the Hendrix show. I had a good time, there was a good turnout and all in all it was a success. It was surprisingly well documented both in audio, video and photo.
Gallery Here (or just click on the Photo.) The photos didn’t turn out to be that notable, but not bad all things being equal.
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Get riled up with the AJC!
Naturally I was drawn to Cynthia Tucker and her column “So . . . illegals can work but can’t learn?”
Since 2000, Georgia’s colleges have employed a sensible policy that recognizes the academic potential of some illegal immigrants without swamping the state treasury. The Board of Regents voted to allow public colleges and universities to admit them if they pay out-of-state tuition rates. But the regents also gave each college president the latitude to waive that higher tuition for a limited number of students. That policy has worked well.
When I took a public finance class (around 1995 or so) at UGA I remember hearing that tuition covered about 20% of the actual cost of college for the average student. Out of state tuition was about two and a half times that of in-state tuition, so even if illegals are paying the out of state rate taxpayers are still picking up part of the bill. They are also displacing legal students who would otherwise be accepted. Also note how government acceptance of illegal activity doesn’t faze her at all.
She closes with
But Johnson has described employers who hire undocumented workers as only “part of the problem. If they [illegal immigrants] are here working and not using taxpayer funds, that’s not as much of a burden.” So, he said, he and his colleagues will take a close look at any proposal to crack down on hiring practices, making sure new laws don’t “impose an undue burden” on employers. After all, business executives are a reliable GOP constituency, and they fight any move to curb their access to cheap labor.
Apparently, Georgia’s official policy is this: We like illegal immigrants just fine, as long as they work for dirt and stay out of sight. They’re welcome to pay state income tax and local sales taxes, but that’s where the welcome ends.
Well, yes. You try to maximize the benefits while minimizing the price. How revolutionary. One thing to note, is that the current situation is entirely dependent upon the voluntary behavior of the illegal immigrants. Under the reign of cruel business they still don’t have to come here.
About 9 years ago I attended a Future of Freedom Foundation seminar on illegal immigration led by Jacob Hornberger (who, if memory serves was a really nice guy and a class act in general) who suggested that we let them come over to work but deny them all health, social and educational benefits. His prediction was that our kids would work for their kids.
I think that’s worth a shot. It’s certainly better than the look the other way policy we have now. It would also keep the self selection going in the right direction.