Metro region’s drought of leadership, vision
And then the rains came.
Good hard rains, day-long rains, that soaked into the earth and have filled streambeds and lakes, turning the North Georgia landscape a shade of green I haven’t seen in years. In fact, parched conditions had come to seem so normal that I had almost forgotten just how lush and wet spring can be in this part of the country.
Or, to express it in more practical terms, water levels at Lake Lanier are just 5 feet below full pool, rising 13 feet since Jan. 1.
However, this is just a temporary reprieve from Mother Nature, not a pardon. According to Aris Georgakakos, director of the Georgia Water Resources Institute at Georgia Tech, serious droughts recur here on a cycle of eight to 10 years. The question is how well we use that time.
The challenge is compounded by the fact that in a highly manipulated watershed such as the Chattahoochee, with dams up and down its course to the sea, droughts can be both natural and man-made.
There’s a very real danger that the effects of the next natural drought could be compounded by decisions made, and not made, by mankind.
In a courtroom in Jacksonville last month, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson heard oral arguments on a crucial point in the ongoing “water war” between Georgia on one side and Alabama and Florida on the other. The question is whether Buford Dam and Lake Lanier were built in part to provide water to metro Atlanta, or whether that purpose merely evolved over time without congressional approval.
I’ve read the extensive briefs filed by both parties and followed accounts of oral arguments last month, and from a layman’s point of view I would not be surprised if Georgia loses that case. If that happens, the consequences would be serious.
If supplying water to metro Atlanta is not deemed an authorized purpose for Buford Dam, the Corps of Engineers cannot legally store water in Lake Lanier to protect metro Atlanta against the next drought. In effect, the next natural drought would be compounded by a man-made drought, leaving metro Atlanta high and dry.
So far, Georgia leaders haven’t dared contemplate what losing could mean. Among other things, it could shift both the battleground and the combatants in the ongoing water war. A fight that today pits Georgia against its neighboring states could easily turn into a civil war of sorts that pits Georgian against Georgian.
In the recent drought, farmers in the Flint River basin in central and southern Georgia consumed considerably more water irrigating crops than metro Atlantans consumed for municipal and industrial uses. If Georgia is forced to live with a certain allocation of water from the Chattahoochee/Flint/Appalachicola river basin, the water needs of rural Georgia could be pitted against those of their urban upstream neighbors, and that’s a fight no statewide politician would like to see.
Atlanta has been granted a reprieve in another sense as well, although it is at best a silver lining in a very dark cloud. For the moment, growth in metro Atlanta has slowed considerably thanks to the economy. A region that once produced new houses like Detroit produced automobiles now struggles with a Detroit-like recession, with major development companies and banks collapsing.
But like droughts, such things come in cycles. It’s easy to foresee a time a few years from now when development has picked up again and the natural drought cycle begins to reassert itself. And the question of what we have done to prepare ourselves will be all the more important.
In that light, the passivity of Georgia leadership to major challenges continues to confound me. In this case, the apparent strategy is to bet everything on the outcome of a legal fight in which victory is far from certain, with no fallback prepared.
We can only hope that vision and courage are cyclical phenomenon like the rain, and like the rain will appear when we most need them.
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© 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
121 comments Add your comment
I Rule You :-)/ You Whine :-(
June 2nd, 2009
8:07 am
I knew this was coming-
Rains just reprieve from drought By Jay Bookman
So when do we get a reprieve from the rains, Doctor Cloud?
Now that we got the scare mongering headline out of the way, let’s deal with the meat of the story, hidden within-
If supplying water to metro Atlanta is not deemed an authorized purpose for Buford Dam, the Corps of Engineers cannot legally store water in Lake Lanier to protect metro Atlanta against the next drought. In effect, the next natural drought would be compounded by a man-made drought, leaving metro Atlanta high and dry.-Urinal
Lake Lanier provides for controlled releases to satisfy the demands of the downstream uses, they have this ability because they store water. If Lanier were not there, the downstream flows would be subject to reductions due to drought conditions, one week the power generation plants could run, the next they may not have enough water. The mussels would be dry one week, massive flooding would wash them into the Atlantic the next.
Ditto on the City of Atlanta drinking water, they take their water from the Chattahoochee River downstream of Lanier, as does East Cobb.
Normally, more water flows into Lanier than what Atlanta or Cobb uses, the rest is stored to provide a reserve, hence the name reservoir.
Now here is the glitch with bookman’s logic. Even during the lowest flow drought conditions did the incoming flows to Lanier ever drop below what Atlanta or Cobb draw out. Regardless of whether Lanier was there or not, both municipalities would never have run out of water.
The reason the level in Lanier fell so much was due to a “faulty gauge” at Buford Dam, the moron government entity in charge of releases didn’t bother to look over the side of the dam to see how much water they were letting go until the bottom of Lanier show up and these dullards started wondering why. Only then, after all the water was gone, did they close the floodgates.
The water level in the lake continued to fall because of the discharges required for power generation and “mussels” downstream continued unabated. Had the discharges been lowered to provide only what was required by Cobb and Atlanta, the villains in the Pinko Horror Story that bookman propagates, THE LAKE WOULD HAVE FILLED BACK UP.
So, I ask, what are you talking about, bookman?
I Rule You :-)/ You Whine :-(
June 2nd, 2009
8:10 am
Hey, maybe we could make the spam filter into the blog view window, that way we could see all of the comments it eats?
Or run two blogs, one for uneaten comments and one for those that don’t pass muster?
jt
June 2nd, 2009
8:14 am
Instead of paying the lawyer fees, we could A)build desalination plants on the coast B)dig a canal from Mississipii C)Supply every Georgian resisdent with lifetime supply (cooking,drinking,and washing) with Sam’s water
Possibly ALL three.
Redneck Convert
June 2nd, 2009
8:20 am
Well, I don’t see a big problem here. If we go into another drought we just get the guvner and some preachers out on the front steps of the capital and do some praying for rain. It worked to get us out of this one, so I don’t see why it won’t work again.
Worry warts like Bookman can go around grinding their teeth all they want. But the GA Water Plan works, so there’s no big deal. If we just pray every week or so we might could avoid another drought all together.
I just hope this court case don’t ruin the fishing at Lake Lanier. Have a good day everybody.
jt
June 2nd, 2009
8:21 am
The money spent on the bottom-feeding tax-payer mooching lawyers to litigate this issue could supply every Georgian resident with a life-time supply of Sam’s Choice water.(cooking and washing).
jt
June 2nd, 2009
8:22 am
Or a few desalination plants on the coast.
@@
June 2nd, 2009
8:25 am
…and aside from conservation the solution is?, jay
a giant sponge.
A civil war over resources?
I think we’re already in it.
DB, Gwinnettian
June 2nd, 2009
8:26 am
Or a few desalination plants on the coast.
riiight. Because it’s not only cheap to run those plants, getting the water supply back inland, uphill a thousand feet in elevation, is a breeze!
Mrs. Godzilla
June 2nd, 2009
8:26 am
jt
I’m with you…..
Thirsty? How ’bout a cool, refreshing cup of seawater?
here:
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/drinkseawater.html
DB, Gwinnettian
June 2nd, 2009
8:26 am
An earlier request for Jay to provide a link to those briefs he read got eaten. I’ll try again. Links, Jay? So maybe some here might have a clue what this is really about?
AmVet
June 2nd, 2009
8:32 am
Another beautiful spring morning! What a great day to be alive!
Every day I try to remember to be thankful that I was fortunate enough to be born an American.
And wise and decent enough to be an anti-Republican. At least this abomination it has become.
The game is on. And the outcome looks clearer and clearer.
More young people than ever are voting. And taking on their civic responsibilities.
More people of color than ever are voting. And taking on their civic responsibilities.
More Republicans than ever are leaving that hijacked political party. Many forever.
More Americans than ever are repulsed by those bigots and buffoons who spill their hatred and bile – and yes, their fear – here and elsewhere daily.
Election after election they are getting their clocks cleaned. From sea to shining sea.
The cowering lunatic fringe, that stands for all those things that the best of America now repudiates – hateful and sometimes murderous intolerance, sham morality, and a deep irrational loathing for knowledge and progress – grows more desperate every day, every week, every month.
And now, at long last, even some of these ostriches can finally see the writing on the wall.
The writing that grows larger and more recognizable each day. The writing that they wish beyond wish was not there. But can neither erase or run away from.
We will take NO quarter. We will never stop. We will vanquish this evil. Even if takes the rest of our lives.
And that makes those of us who stand against these thugs and who fight for the best of American ideals, celebrate…
Bud Wiser
June 2nd, 2009
8:37 am
Have I been “whacked” again, Jay? I have made several comments that never see the light of day
BDAtlanta
June 2nd, 2009
8:37 am
Need to flood some more valleys in N. GA. pronto. Well, they should have done that 15-20 years ago but it’s not too late to start.
Road Scholar
June 2nd, 2009
8:38 am
Leadership? Go fish!
Land couldn’t be cheaper for acquisition for additional reservoirs. Conservation has gotten us out of the immediate hole; continued conservation is one key. But we need a comprehensive plan. Maybe Sonny could fund it?
Speaking of Sonny and loans, why can’t he provide accurate and up to date info on his loan and alledged payoff? You either paid it off or not. It’s a yes or no question, Sonny!(even if you are negotiating another loan)
BDAtlanta
June 2nd, 2009
8:39 am
Or, build de-salination plants off the GA coast. The facility should include water energy creation abilities that can power the desalination as well as the local region’s power needs.
WhoCares
June 2nd, 2009
8:39 am
So what’s to stop the city of Atlanta from taking it’s water out of the river below the dam?
I Rule You :-)/ You Whine :-(
June 2nd, 2009
8:43 am
I dropped the bomb on bookman but it languishes in the spam filter, how convenient.
Paul
June 2nd, 2009
8:44 am
Hey AmVet
I’ve been wondering as I’ve been reading your posts… now that the neocons in the ilk of the Perles of the world have gone off to who knows where… that farfarright of the Republican Party seems to be past hope of resurrection…
Just to liven things up I read your post and substituted “farfarLeft Democrats” for the farfarright Republican part. Much of it seems to work, too.
Says something about ideological extremes, eh?
Not really a debating point. Just a fun observation.
Hey, Jay, spam filter’s alive and well in the previous thread.
DB, Gwinnettian, I said ‘good morning’ down below. But I don’t want to go through last night’s reposting stuff that didn’t show, only to have it ALL show up later. So I’ll see if it does show up later.
Northern Songs Ltd
June 2nd, 2009
8:45 am
Or maybe we could mass produce that gizmo the International Space Station is using to convert urine and sweat into drinkable H2O.
TnGelding
June 2nd, 2009
8:52 am
The development simply has to stop, as does the immigration and baby-making. Mother Earth can’t support any more inhabitants. ZPG!
TnGelding
June 2nd, 2009
8:54 am
I Rule You
/ You Whine 
June 2nd, 2009
8:43 am
Are you sure it didn’t have a delayed detonator?
I happened to catch Hannity last night when he revealed he has two Escalades and loves them. His are hybirds. Are yours?
S GA dem
June 2nd, 2009
8:55 am
Amvet, should have saved that one for the fourth of July. Fight on!!
S GA dem
June 2nd, 2009
9:07 am
By the way, single payer health insurance. NOW!! That’s the only discussion we should be having until it’s a done deal. Health care costs are killing us all, whether you realize it or not. Pass it on.
RW-(the original)
June 2nd, 2009
9:14 am
However, this is just a temporary reprieve from Mother Nature, not a pardon. According to Aris Georgakakos, director of the Georgia Water Resources Institute at Georgia Tech, serious droughts recur here on a cycle of eight to 10 years.
You mean this isn’t an anomaly brought on by man made global warming? Blaspheme!
Dave R
June 2nd, 2009
9:25 am
I see that Ambling Veterinarian is coming off another schnapps-induced hangover this morning.
Maybe it would be nice to have a comment from him on – oh, I don’t know – WATER ISSUES maybe? But that would take independent thought, I suppose.
Jay has it mostly right. It is a failure of leadership – Republican AND Democrat. This has been going on longer than Perdue was in office, and long before the GOP took over the reins of government. And it has largely been ignored or minimized by everyone inside of state government. Surprisingly, more work has been done at the local level by counties surrounding Lake Lanier than has been done by the state; we’ll see if that work pays out in the future.
The biggest culprit continues to the the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Government with their Endangered Species Act. Using North Georgia’s only supply of drinking water to save 7 female sturgeons and some freshwater mussels is no justification for the millions of dollars spent to litigate this matter, nor is it justified to the loss of 50 years of environment established by the lake, nor the loss of property values incurred by those who once had lakefront property before the Feds mismanaged this resource.
Hopefully, the judge brought in (from Minnesota, I believe) who is schooled on water resource issues will finally make some sense out of this mess. The one from Alabama who consistently ruled against this state in favor of her own certainly did nothing to help matters.
AmVet
June 2nd, 2009
9:27 am
Paul and S GA dem, thanks.
Paul, the far left is a problem in this country. No doubt.
But at least their misguided incompetence is not nearly as deadly and vicious.
Over 4300 Americans KIA’d needlessly in Bush’s Botched War. Tens of thousands more maimed. Untold zillions of dollars squandered and given away to mercenaries like BlackWater and Dick Cheney’s Haliburton.
A planet under plunder from the eco-rapers, sanctioned by the flat-earth, science hating neo-cons, who make nary a peep about the 6 million tons (12,000,000,000 pounds) of greenhouse gases and carcinogens pumped into the dumping ground called our atmosphere by the US alone!.
18,000 Americans dead every year because the plutocrats deem them unworthy of care.
Millions facing financial ruin because the Wall Street criminals and their co-conspirators in government found integrity is just too old fashioned and not nearly profitable enough.
And who among them is calling for justice?
And where is our government of the people, by the people and for the people?
Your morning jolt: Charlotte blinks at the 2012 political conventions | Political Insider
June 2nd, 2009
9:30 am
[...] Jay Bookman takes note of metro Atlanta’s drought of leadership and vision. [...]
@@
June 2nd, 2009
9:35 am
I keep seein’ those Political Insider sign-ons. Are they some sort of stage hook?
Joey
June 2nd, 2009
9:37 am
Near Guntersville, Alabama there is a dam on the Tennessee River. The average hourly discharge through the dam is 13,000 cubic feet per second; or 97,000 gallons per second; or 8,000,000,000 (billion) gallons per day.
If metro Atlanta purchased and pumped 4 million gallons per day from the Tennessee River below Guntersville Resevior into Allatoona and Lanier, that would be less than 0.025% on the daily flow.
Guntersville Reservoir has a surface area of 68,000 acres. That is 1.8 billion gallons in the top 1 inch. Instantaneously removing 4 million gallons would remove one quarter of an inch of water from the surface of the lake. That is negligible. But the impact on the lake of removing 4 million over 24 hours could not even be measured.
A solution that hurts no one.
Redneck
June 2nd, 2009
9:39 am
S GA dem, how are the dems doing in S. Georgia? Do they have any elected dems in office yet? Last time I checked it was harder to find an elected dem in S Ga as it was to find was hens teeth.
Oh, as for socialized health care, that system in Canada will be bankrupt in 2 years unless the government raises their tax rates from 65% to 75%!!! Even with the high tax rate they pay the average wait time for a MRI in Toronto is 109 days. How long in St Marys Georgia, 48 hours if there is no rush and immediately if its an emergency!!!
Dave
June 2nd, 2009
9:43 am
In the long run clean water in America may become just as important to us as oil. I think it is important to start thinking of ways to conserve this valuable resource. Maybe we should rethink all these green lawns that consume so much water and maybe look for alternatives like rock gardens or maybe plants requiring less maintenance or water. No doubt America needs to do a better job in making sure our underwater aquifers are less contaminated. A lot of cancers today may come from water contamination.
mm
June 2nd, 2009
9:46 am
Redneck,
Good to see you quoting the lies about Canada’s healthcare system, just like a good little wingnut.
booger
June 2nd, 2009
9:58 am
Joey,
Good point, especially since most of the water in the Tennessee river originates in Georgia. The primary sources for the Tennessee are the Little Tennessee river in Rabun co., The Hiawassee River, The Nacoochee River, and the Toccoa river [called Occoee in Tenn.]
In fact except for the southern portion of Rabun County, practically all the water north of the Blue ridge divide in Ga. ens up in the Tennessee.
mm
June 2nd, 2009
10:03 am
Do you really expect the republicans running the southern states to come up with a solution to any problem? No, they will just point fingers and call each other names. And draw a line in the sand and dare anyone to cross it. Compromise is not a republican trait.
josef nix
June 2nd, 2009
10:04 am
Paul–good to see you here and top o’ the mornin’ to ye…the spam filter on the previous post finally let my apologies to you get through Its eating of one of your earlier posts caused me to misinterpret another of yours. Sorry.
sd
June 2nd, 2009
10:05 am
“It’s easy to foresee a time a few years from now when development has picked up again and the natural drought cycle begins to reassert itself”
It easy to see that and its unfortunate. We need leadership that is willing to forgo growth just for the sake of new property tax dollars. If you were like me, and lived next to a construction site that developers ran out on two years ago, you would see that constant growth is not needed.
What we need is leadership who can effectively manage a stagnant or shrinking population.
Take a look around and see all of the vacant commercial business locations. And then look at the new strip mall being built right down the road.
Why not put a moratorium on all new commercial propertie? By restricting the supply, you would drive the demand for the exisiting vacant spots. Do we really need another new Walmart? Aren’t there existing empty spaces that they could occupy instead?
All of this vacant space is going to hurt us.
Soothsayer
June 2nd, 2009
10:07 am
Hmmm . . . Let me see if I have this straight. We’re going to lay pipe from Guntersville dam across the mountains with pumps all along the way. Then, when it gets here we are going to purify it and send it out to metro Atlanta. How much would you be willing to pay for this water? I hope it’s a LOT more than what you are paying now.
williebkind
June 2nd, 2009
10:07 am
Well, I think Atlanta and its scourge should stop growing. Then maybe all the transplants will leave Georgia and go back to Chicago, Ny, and New Jersey. That would definately increase our supply of water.
Also, the unskilled will stop grouping up in a small area expecting the taxpayer to build them a home, give them food supplies, and water.
I know I am a product of public schools, but how many people do you think the area can support without some enormous external influence by man. There goes Georgia! Just like Florida! A retirement home for the north and rich.
josef nix
June 2nd, 2009
10:07 am
TnGelding–”The development simply has to stop, as does the immigration and baby-making. Mother Earth can’t support any more inhabitants. ZPG!”
Not to worry, M-ther N-ture knows what to do!
Swami Dave
June 2nd, 2009
10:09 am
For my good friend AmVet…….
Yes, it is aother beautiful spring morning and a great day to be alive!
We can all be thankful that we were fortunate enough to be born an American.
Personally, I am thankful that I am also wise and of enough awareness to have never fallen victim to the collectivist worldview – specifically the abomination that it has always been.
Yes, the game is on; the outcome to be decided by the efforts and abilities of those whom are engaged in it.
More young people than ever are voting and taking on their civic responsibilities. As more and more of them begin productive work and careers, the lies of dependence and redistribution will become more and more apparent leading them to question and, many times, reject the wonkish tripe spewed forth from the ivory towers of academia.
More people of color than ever are voting and taking on their civic responsibilities. As they continue to realize that collectivism simply replaces masters while the ideals of freedom and opportunity allow them to become masters of their own destiny, more of them will likewise recognize that fallacy of liberalism and it proponents.
Many Republicans are leaving the party, but, in most cases, it is that leaders of the party failed to implement and lead where they wanted to go. As many Republican leaders simply attempted to mark a slower course along the fall of our nation to collectivism instead of acting in opposition to it, supporters of freedom and opportunity withdrew their support and are looing to new leadership – in whatever party that might ultimately be.
More Americans than ever are repulsed by those thieves and liars who vent their bitterness and hatred against those who produce and achieve while attempting to ferment jealousy and bitterness to justify their policy goals of confiscation and theft.
Elections come and go, but the ideals that built this nation, freedom and opportunity, are timelessly imbued into the character of its citizenry. Opposition to these ideals is an unhill battle that must be engaged with dishonesty, division, and moral relativism as their only weapons.
The writing grows larger and more recognizable each day. The ideals of confiscation and redistribution are historic failures in every society they were tried and have never led any group to acheivement and prosperity. That writing, being the actual results of what they proclaim their good intentions, that they wish beyond wish was not there. But can neither erase or run away from.
We will take NO quarter. We will never stop. Freedom and opportunity work every time that they are tried. They work when you do. Proponents of those ideas will continue supporting and touting them even if takes the rest of our lives.
This makes those of us who stand against these liars and thieves; who fight for the best of American ideals, freedom and opportunity, celebrate each day as a gift. We also celebrate every American who throws off the shackles of dependence and collectivism to take control of their own destiny free of the unwanted / unneeded self-righteous attitudes of the collectivists who think they, better than we, know how best to lead our lives and provide for our families.
Truth, history, and common sense refute liberalism. Freedom and opportunity works every times its tried.
-SD
josef nix
June 2nd, 2009
10:10 am
Williebkind–you got sumpin’ agisnst domestic colonialism?
Doggone/GA
June 2nd, 2009
10:12 am
“Hmmm . . . Let me see if I have this straight. We’re going to lay pipe from Guntersville dam across the mountains with pumps all along the way”
If the target area for the water is lower than the source area, it’s perfectly possible to syphon the water over the mountains. No pumps needed. The ancient Romans did that all over their empire. Once you get the flow going, it just continues all on its own.
Bubba
June 2nd, 2009
10:14 am
How do you Cheneyphobes like being on the same side of the gay marriage issue as the Evil One?
Kamchak
June 2nd, 2009
10:15 am
“Not to worry, M-ther N-ture knows what to do!”
Another quote from Robert A. Heinlein:
“Natural laws have no pity.”
Soothsayer
June 2nd, 2009
10:18 am
In fact, the manufacturing crisis will never be overcome until decision-makers recognize a big root cause: the NAFTA-style trade agreements of the past decade that are actually designed to send manufacturing capacity and jobs overseas.
Mrs. Godzilla
June 2nd, 2009
10:24 am
Bubba
No Cheneyphobe I, how could anybody be afraid of Mr. 5 Deferrments?
Anyway, I’m glad we are on the same side of the gay marriage issue.
Obama continues to bring togther people on some of the issues.
How do you like that?
josef nix
June 2nd, 2009
10:26 am
Bubba–Boy is our “unmarried” household gettin’ a hoot out of this one! Now me, I’m a left wingnut liberal, but I’ll try and post here what didn’t get posted earlier on this topic.
I feel like Chief John Ross when, begging audience with Lincoln to beg his help in keeping the Cherokee Nation in the Union was ignored. He came back to Oklahoma and informed his people that the better deal was coming from Richmond and he would not stand in the way of the alliance forged between Tahlequah and Richmond.
I didn’t vote for Brother Barack because of his stance on Prop 8 citing his “faith” as cause. Then in case we missed it, he invited the hate monger preacher Warren to “bless” his administration. In case we’re slow learners (which, I must admit, we appear to be) he’s holding on to don’t ask don’t tell.
Bob Barr spoke out to repeal don’t ask don’t tell nearly two years before running for president, Now here comes Cheney, and this certainly ain’t in his political best interest.
I’d love to see Mary Cheney running for POTUS. See your African American and your Hispanic and raise you a dyke!
getalife
June 2nd, 2009
10:28 am
That is great news. Spent alot of time on that lake but Toledo Bend is much bigger.
Soothsayer
June 2nd, 2009
10:29 am
US corporations that offshore their production for US markets account for a larger share of the US trade deficit than does the OPEC energy deficit. Half or more of the US trade deficit with China consists of the offshored production of US firms. In 2006, the US trade deficit with China was $233 billion, half of which is $116.5 billion or $10 billion more than the US deficit with OPEC.
The other reason for the dollar’s demise is the ignorance and nonchalance of “libertarian free market free trade economists” about offshoring and the trade deficit.
There is a great deal to be said in behalf of free markets and free trade. However, for many economists free trade has become an ideology, and they have ceased to think.
Such economists have become insouciant shills for the offshoring interests that fund their research and institutes. Their interests are tied together with those of the offshoring corporations.
jt
June 2nd, 2009
10:36 am
DB- you commented
Or a few desalination plants on the coast.
riiight. Because it’s not only cheap to run those plants, getting the water supply back inland, uphill a thousand feet in elevation, is a breeze!
Bottled water is more expensive than gasoline. There are numerous pipelines for gas from the coast upland.
The desal plants would be used to alleviate SOUTH Georgian agriculture.
BUT MUNCH, respectfully.
williebkind
June 2nd, 2009
10:39 am
So after Cheney’s adopted grandchildren starts having sex with animals, we should make that a marriage too!
We have the technique down to explode the information network with sympathy. You know! Those poor dears just love one another and they want their civil rights just like normal people.
I wonder when it is approved to marry animals, (well, you know most already worship them now–the golden calf thing)
will it be same sex too? Shuddering at these thoughts but we know that to love is to have the same title–like marriage.
Hey, I think we should get 24hr marriage certificates. That should resovle the lust for most other than normal people.
AmVet
June 2nd, 2009
10:41 am
willieb,
Xenophobe much?
S GA dem
June 2nd, 2009
10:42 am
Redneck, I’m pretty sure that I’m the sole dem in my neighborhood. Not many of here in southern GA, but our numbers are growing.
As for the crack about Canada. You’re dead wrong. Don’t know where you got your facts but talk to a Canadian. Any Canadian. I do business with a few companies in Toronto and they laugh at us every time they hear someone from the US talk about their socialist policies. The fact is they receive better care than 99% of Americans. Did you pull that MRI fact out of your crevice or did you get it from a right wing propaganda news service, such as faux news?????
getalife
June 2nd, 2009
10:47 am
Cheney: “There Was Never Any Evidence … Iraq Was Involved In 9/11″
The news here is he finally told the truth for the first time.
Soothsayer
June 2nd, 2009
10:48 am
Between 1989 and 2003, the growth in US exports to China created demand that supported 199,000 additional US jobs. In the same period, the growth of imports displaced production that could have supported an additional 1,659,000 jobs. As a result, growth in the US trade with China eliminated a net 1,460,000 domestic job opportunities in this period.
There are three wealth-creating activities a country can engage in. They are: mining, manufacturing, and agriculture. In the United States, we have essentially decided to divest ourselves of the vast majority of manufacturing in favor of low-wage countries.
I would argue that the United States will not return to healthy economy as long as this condition continues. We have created a large underclass of economically disadvantaged that were once employed in manufacturing but now have to take whatever low-paying service job they can find.
Who cares? Just remember that those manufacturing jobs paid enough for the workers to buy houses, cars, and other items that support OUR economy.
Bill
June 2nd, 2009
10:49 am
The simple solution is to build additional reservoirs for the city starting ASAP. The harder one, because it would require a wee bit of sacrifice, is to conserve what we have. Take short showers, use a rain barrel, turn the water off while brushing your teeth, and don’t flush every time you take a whizz.
I now await the slings and arrows by conservatives who have never conserved a natural resource in their lives.
Paul
June 2nd, 2009
10:49 am
[[Bubba - How do you Cheneyphobes like being on the same side of the gay marriage issue as the Evil One?]]
Mrs. Godzilla
[[I’m glad we are on the same side of the gay marriage issue.
Obama continues to bring togther people on some of the issues.
How do you like that?]]
Ummm, President Obama’s opposed to gay marriage. That’s bringing people together? Any idea how many gay marriage advocates he’s ‘brought together’ to his viewpoint, hmmmm?
AmVet
Thanks for the earlier response. When you put it that way, I suppose they were a bit more dangerous. I’m just glad the farfarleft is so comparatively inept!
josef nix
June 2nd, 2009
10:55 am
willibekind–well, if the sheep can sign the license and agrees…
get real…is all your activity “natural” i.e. strictly for procreation?
Mrs. Godzilla
June 2nd, 2009
10:59 am
I have always suspected that those who question when humans will be able to marry animals are those that desire to do so.
I won’t mention any names, but in the case of the one that popped up here, I would support your right to a barnyard union.
Best check your local codes before setting up housekeeping together.
Some localities won’t allow pigs in homes, or their barnyard “partners”
either.
MOOOOOvin’ on up….
AmVet
June 2nd, 2009
11:00 am
getalife, so the inveterate liar recants?
DickHead still bleats that torture saved the lives of “thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands.”
Are we to assume that the legal and proper operations to protect us saved “millions, perhaps hundreds of millions”?
A disgraceful little man…
josef nix
June 2nd, 2009
11:01 am
Bubba–not to mention my post telling you my other post was eaten for breakfast by some unseen force over which only Jay has control…
Ask HIM what Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Dick Cheney, Chief John Ross and I have in common…
jt
June 2nd, 2009
11:02 am
Do you hear a silent scream JAY-
There are endangered CLAMS that rely on a certain water flow by the Chattahoochie.
As they struggle for survival, Jay and his crowd of glimmeratti killed THOUSANDS of their cousins this past weekend. STEAMED them ALIVE, and ATE them.
josef nix
June 2nd, 2009
11:08 am
jt–that’s a good one! (11:02)
SOMALIDAWG
June 2nd, 2009
11:09 am
Mrs. G
حقوق با هم برابرند، همه دارای اندیشه و وجدان Desert wife is camel.
آزاد به دنیا میآیند و از دید حیثیت و حقوق با هم برابرند، همه دارای اندیشه و وجدان هستند و باید در برابر یکدیگر با روح برادری رفتار کنند.No need water. COKE is cheaper.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnyZ-3XEsbs
jt
June 2nd, 2009
11:14 am
josef nix(one who was beaten badly in juke joint)
o-sada su-na-le-i
@@
June 2nd, 2009
11:21 am
Since this is an environmental topic, I gotta ask…
Anybody watching “The Planet’s Most Amazing Events” on some channel (not sure which)?
Sardines….millions upon millions of them follow the cool ocean stream (below 70) up the coast of Africa. Hemmed in by the coast and warmer waters, they extend up to 15 miles long and 1 mile wide. Anyhoo
the ocean’s predators know this and either move ahead of (to ambush) or follow behind to catch up. Dolphins lead, some kinda bird follows the dolphins, then the sharks. All the critters go into a feeding frenzy generating what’s known as a “bait ball”. They’re all fighting for their equal share when…..
OUT OF NOWHERE comes this leviathan of the deep — IT’S A WHALE that snatches the entire ball of sardines in one GULP! Can’t recall the species but he was long and thin…
maybe OBAMA?
BDAtlanta
June 2nd, 2009
11:28 am
Democrats clear decks for healthcare
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/democrats-clear-decks-2009-06-01.html
Alrighty.
Mrs. Godzilla
June 2nd, 2009
11:29 am
somalidawg – my friend
I rode a camel in Badaling at the Great Wall….stinking, spitting, snapping….but fun.
Dating one, at least for me, is out of the question.
I’m a married woman!
DB, Gwinnettian
June 2nd, 2009
11:40 am
jt writes: Bottled water is more expensive than gasoline. There are numerous pipelines for gas from the coast upland.
Potable water out of the tap is a lot cheaper than gasoline, and potable water is what’s being discussed. Not bottled.
Anyway, if there’s a solid cost-benefit case to be made for desalinization plants in order to supply farmers nearer the GA coast feel free to make it. I didn’t say we couldn’t build such plants under any circumstances; it just seems extremely unlikely they’d be a solution to metroATL’s shortages.
TUESDAY VANDY GIRL
June 2nd, 2009
11:43 am
Since the AJC can’t be bothered to report the news instead of HIPHOP celeb sightings , here is a REAL TERRORISM STORY..hopefully J. B’s next blog topic
btw the perp is not white or christian…
(CNN) — An Arkansas man was arrested Monday in connection with a shooting at a Little Rock military recruiting center that killed one soldier and wounded another, authorities said.
Police identified the suspect as Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, formerly known as Carlos Bledsoe.
Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad — a 24-year-old Little Rock resident formerly known as Carlos Bledsoe — faces a first-degree murder charge and 15 counts of engaging in a terrorist act, Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas said. The terrorist counts stem from the shots fired at an occupied building.
While authorities continued to investigate a motive, Thomas said Muhammad is a Muslim convert and, based on preliminary interviews with him, investigators believe there were “political and religious motives” in the shooting.
Military officials initially believed the shooting was a random act, but Thomas said police believe the shooter acted alone “with the specific purpose of targeting military personnel.”
The soldier who was killed was identified as Pvt. William Long, 24, of Conway, and the wounded soldier is Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, of Jacksonville, Thomas said.
DB, Gwinnettian
June 2nd, 2009
11:44 am
I have always suspected that those who question when humans will be able to marry animals are those that desire to do so.
Might be something to that. More likely though, these are people who really don’t grasp the concept of “informed consent”. Why that is, I leave for less responsible folks to speculate openly.
TUESDAY VANDY GIRL
June 2nd, 2009
11:49 am
ah so now i am moderated…typical..liberal boy can’t handle the truth
TUESDAY VANDY GIRL
June 2nd, 2009
11:51 am
We can’t have this reported today, the religion of Islam si so peaceful, and obama is meeting them this week, this is bad timing, lets kill the story, bury it, noone will notice
@@
June 2nd, 2009
11:52 am
jay, are your tubes clogged?
64 comments?
Conservation measures mandate you not flush.
Out to strew straw.
DB, Gwinnettian
June 2nd, 2009
11:53 am
Oh, and if you read Andy’s frothing @ 8.07 and figured, as a reasonable person would, that he’s making stuff up about the Army Corps’ mistake somehow being responsible for the sum total of our water issues, well, of course he is!
DB, Gwinnettian
June 2nd, 2009
11:54 am
oh, and in case you missed it:
that doesn’t mean Lanier would have those 22 billion gallons today —- or would have when a watering ban was declared last fall —- state and federal water experts say. That’s because the water was stored in lakes downstream and was used in conjunction with even more water released from Lanier. In short, the water would have been released eventually and would all be gone by now.
S GA dem
June 2nd, 2009
11:59 am
Tuesday, why not go next door where you can post your racist remarks amongst your own kind. The trailer park crowd hangs out on the Wooten blog, fyi.
jt
June 2nd, 2009
12:02 pm
TUESDAY VANDY GIRL -
The “liberal boy” CAN handle the truth. It is just out of his hands,
as far as the filter.
Unlike THOUSANDS of clams.
I Rule You :-)/ You Whine :-(
June 2nd, 2009
12:09 pm
DimBulb, Gwinnettian- Oh yeah, throw Urinal propaganda at me, like they would be the first to blame government-
Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue said that the Corps had created a “manmade drought”, because most of the state is already experiencing dry conditions. This came at a time when outdoor water-use restrictions were already being put in place by local governments, because of enormous water use on the many lawns which have replaced the forests in newer suburban areas. Mainly because of this incident at the lake, the state then declared a drought and enacted a ban on outdoor water use.
DB, Gwinnettian
June 2nd, 2009
12:10 pm
Tuesday, the recruiting center murder has been reported and will continue to be reported as facts are made available. A quick check of The Google shows that there are at present 1, 128 news articles available online concerning the case.
Do you ever bother to check anything for even a semblance of accuracy before you hit “submit”?
DB, Gwinnettian
June 2nd, 2009
12:11 pm
So you answer by quoting “Pray fer Rain” Perdue?
You seriously suck at this, Andy.
josef nix
June 2nd, 2009
12:13 pm
jt–o-si-yo and top o’ the mornin’ to ye as well
wonder if it’ll let me post to YOU–sorry I can’t do it in tsa-la-gi
When John Ross went to Washington to beg help in keeping the Cherokee Nation in the Union, he was refused audience with Lincoln. Emmisaries to Richmond were offered a treaty recognizing the Cherokee Nation as an allied state by the government under Jefferson Davis. When Chief Ross came back to Tahlequah he told the nation that he would not stand in the way, the better deal was coming from Richmond.
Well as far as gay recognition is related: the Obama regime has made it abundantly clear we can shut up and go away (his support of Prop 8 to get elected, his invitation to hate monger preacher Warren to “bless” his administration, and for the slow learners, no repeal of don’t ask don’t tell)
Bob Barr about faced on DADT well before he was nominated to run on the Libertarian ticket, when he stood to gain nothing by doing so. Dick Cheney comes out with support of gay marriage when it’s certainly not in his political best interest to do so.
The better deal, manifestly, is coming from the right. Obama=Lincoln, Dick Cheney=Jefferson Davis, I=John Ross.
Okay, let’s see if it gets through addressed to you!
dw
June 2nd, 2009
12:20 pm
To AmVet at 8:32 today,
It is my opinion that you would sing the praises of open-mindedness and tolerance, but in reality you would try to stop/trample the rights of others who’s opinions/ideologies differ from yours. Your writing eloquently supports my opinion of your bull and hypocrasy.
josef nix
June 2nd, 2009
12:22 pm
BUBBA–Tsa-la-gi go bragh! There’s what this left wing liberal makes of Cheney…
jt–thanks for the help!
ANY OTHERS INTERESTED–now why would THAT have had so much of a problem appearing. Any thoughts?
josef nix
June 2nd, 2009
12:27 pm
DB–you know I’m devil’s advocate, right? Well it DID come one of the few showers we had last summer right after the faithful prayed for divine intervention.
jt–course my Better Half (we’re not married, you know, living in sin!) claims it was his rain dance, or at least that’s what he told the neighbor it was. Inside information has it he stepped in a fire ant bed…they’re immigrants, you know, one more of the white man’s curses!
williebkind
June 2nd, 2009
12:33 pm
dw: You should not tell the truth about people…it may hurt their feelings…
Mrs G. Come on! I know you have rode more than camels.
N.J,
June 2nd, 2009
12:33 pm
Georgia lies at the northern edge of the world’s desert belt. Get out a world map and look at what lies at the same latitude on the other side of both oceans and in the United States. Atlanta lies roughly at the same latitude as the northern Sahara desert, and look to the west of Atlanta and we are also at the Northern Edge of the Great Sonora Desert in the Southwest. go further west and you hit the Gobi desert. In the middle of the Atlantic, or what is called “The Doldrums” Sailing ships tried to avoid these because the air was still and their were few ocean currents. These days these areas are called “Intertropical convergence zones” These are low pressure zones around the equator 33 degrees to the north and 33 degrees to the south where prevailing winds are calm and the air is relatively dry.
The only thing that prevents this area from being a complete desert is that the air heats up at the equator and then comes down again at 33 degrees north and south of the equator and then through convention returns towards the equator again in the trade winds. Sailing ships crossing the oceans could remain trapped in these areas for weeks waiting for enough wind to pick up to power them again. In the summer sometimes extreme weather kicks up, like hurricanes, as the still, and every moist air is heated and starts to spin as it rises high up into the stratosphere. The only reason we are not a desert is that we are close enough to the ocean to pick up some moisture from the air over the ocean as it rises. Of course this will not matter to those who do not beleive in global warming, which can make some areas get colder than usual, but at the same time, they will get DRIER than usual. It gets colder because as air at the poles gets heated, it expands outward in fronts and moves south from the north poles and north from the south poles. This cools air at at latitudes further away from the poles, and heats air at the poles in the same way that if you drop an ice cube in a cup of hot coffee, the cold radiates away from the center of the cup, and moves out towards the edges until finally the total temperature of the cup stabilizes at a lower temperature. If you look at Florida, it is really even worse, because much of the vegetation that exists in Florida is pretty much what you see in a desert. Palm trees, various cactus or succulent type plants, etc. Thats it natural foliage. The other stuff was brought in by developers.
I noticed the climate changing in Florida over the 30 years I lived there, before anyone brought up the idea of “global warming” When I first moved there, there were no huge high rise building and housing was rather spread out, Every day in the summer it would rain, I mean POUR at exactly two pm for exactly one hour, and then stop. As development along both coasts built up to extremely dense concentrations and moved towards the center of the Everglades, the time of this summer rainfall got later and later in the day, and then finally stopped. What happenned was that the heat from man made construction pushed the warm moist air so high into the air that by the time the rain started falling, the clouds were no longer over land, but over the ocean or the gulf of mexico not the state itself because it didnt take much of a delay in a state that is only about 80 miles wide at its widest point.
Georgia is only prevented from being a desert by the fact that it has a lot of water only a few hundred miles to the East and South of the state. But heat the atmosphere enough to give those rain clouds enough of a push and lift higher into the atmosphere where the winds move at several hundred miles an hour and Georgia no longer gets much rain at all, and the state gets much drier.
Mrs. Godzilla
June 2nd, 2009
12:35 pm
DB, Gwinnetian
Excellent point. Can’t imagine Porky or Flossie or Rex consenting
to marry the poster in question. Even the porcine, bovine and canine amongst us have standards.
Mrs. Godzilla
June 2nd, 2009
12:36 pm
why yes, willie, Mr. G has his stallion like moments!
williebkind
June 2nd, 2009
12:37 pm
Aqueducts! That is the answer! The Romans proved it could be done. Now all we need is an Emperor. AmVet, you got any suggestions? We could have that dream world outside of reality you try to live in.
DB, Gwinnettian
June 2nd, 2009
12:43 pm
The “liberal boy” CAN handle the truth. It is just out of his hands,
as far as the filter.
Unlike THOUSANDS of clams.
I’m tipping my cap, here, in what I imagine to be jt’s direction.
Later, all.
josef nix
June 2nd, 2009
12:44 pm
jt–in appreciation for your tremendous help in getting past the filter, please allow me to speak up for the defenseless clams….
How many clams had to be sacrificed to satiate the unnatural desires 200 of those who defy the rules of kashruth! How much longer are we going to tolerate this flagrant violation of the laws of G-d and the laws of N-ture? Oh, ye, conservatives of little faith and ye liberals of no empathy!
Does no one but jt and I hear their cries?
N.J,
June 2nd, 2009
12:46 pm
Soothsayer,
Well the current economic crisis started in 1982, when Reagan signed the
Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act. This was the act, kiddies, that allowed banks basically to gamble with its investors deposits rather than requiring them to invest in extremely stable and relatively safer investments that were subject to low, or no risk. This is also the legislation that allowed pension to start investing in the stock market, rather than totally in safe, fixed income investments. It also made one more dangerous change. It allowed people to banks to set rules that almost eliminated the need to make a downpayment on a mortgage for a home.
Before this law, between WWII and 1979, Federal Debt as a ratio to GDP consistantly fell. That is to say, though the government may have borrowed regularly to pay for government, the economy grew at higher rates than government borrowing did. With the elimination of most of the regulations on banking, the rise of the thrift banks occured, and both federal borrowing, because of lower tax rates, and private borrowing, skyrocketed as banks started giving out credit cards to anyone who could come close to spelling their own name, and no deposit mortgages became more and more frequent.
Finally this law allowed China to become America’s banker, as the legislation weakened the ability of foreign nations to set up shop in America, to own parts of U.S. banks, and allowed China to start importing to the United States. The trade imbalance and national borrowing from China started in the same year, 1984, a few years after this act was signed into law.
josef nix
June 2nd, 2009
12:52 pm
Mrs. Godzilla
“why yes, willie, Mr. G has his stallion like moments!”
Mr. G, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll take Ms G to a good dinner at her favorite restaurant. You can order some hay, you ole war horse, you!
Billy Bob
June 2nd, 2009
12:53 pm
mm
It appears that Redneck has made a very valid point about Canadian wait times. It also is VERY APPARENT that, like the typical ignorant libtard, you have made emotional claims that are not supported in fact.
Click here for a more comprehensive comparison of the Canadian and U.S. healthcare systems as well as some illuminating comments about Democrat propagandist, Michael Moore, and his half-baked, mostly fictional movie, Sicko.
N.J,
June 2nd, 2009
12:57 pm
Well, TUESDAY VANDY GIRL, peaceful is a RELATIVE thing. Historically Islam has been a whole lot more peaceful, relatively, than the Christians, and then the European Enlightenment western world has been.
What Christians do is state that “we dont do that anymore” but in fact, we have been doing it, we just don’t get to see it in the media in the U.S. And we certainly don’t get to see the third world Christian violence and terrorism that has been committed by third world Christians at all.
Mrs. Godzilla
June 2nd, 2009
12:58 pm
Billy Bob’s wanna try again on that link?
Are you gonna give us some of Rick Scott’s talking points?
josef nix
June 2nd, 2009
1:00 pm
Back to the topic at hand, NJ, good points. For those who are visual learners, watch the weather radar during the thunderstorm, snow storms, etc. See how it just parts like the Red Sea over that little spot where GA 400, I-85 and I-75 converge? Hmm, wonder why? Probably not, but if you happen to live here and are trying to keep your own little spot of planet earth green, you have. BTW part of my “landscaping” is a small cactus garden. It was the only thing to flourish last year.
josef nix
June 2nd, 2009
1:04 pm
NJ–only because Christians have been around longer. As one of my (moderate!) Muslim friends says, “we’re just now getting to the Reformation.”
dw
June 2nd, 2009
1:06 pm
To NJ at 12:57, Please return to the padded room. They miss you there.