● Newsweek’s cover photo of Sarah Palin is sexist, as she asserts. The magazine used a photo of Palin in running gear that she’d allowed to be taken for a sports magazine. The hostility of many of those in the media to Palin is breathtaking. Liberals fear her more than any other potential Republican presidential nominee, hence their desire to ridicule and diminish.

● Check the headlines. Yes, the economy’s lousy. And … That’s the cue for the pari-mutuel gambling crowd to make their periodic pitch for horse racing. It matters not whether Democrats or Republicans are in power under the Gold Dome. Some special interests never go away. State Rep. Harry Geisinger (R-Roswell), chairman of the Special Equine Study Committee, says his panel will propose a public referendum to legalize betting on the ponies.

● Atlanta’s largest police union, the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, Local 623, endorses …

The hard Left in this country was, like the rest of us rallied, however briefly,  around a strong President taking action in response to 9/11 to protect our shores and to keep Americans safe abroad.  That support was not long-lasting.  From the start, they recognized that a real war would require sacrifice and would divert resources from their goal of expanding domestic programs — universal healthcare for example.

With the decision by President Obama to move the trials of 9/11 mastermind Khlid Sheikh Mohammed and four other terrorist suspects into civilian courts in New York, the President makes it clear that he thinks terrorism is a police matter.  Even New York Gov. David Paterson objects.  “This is not a decision I would have made,” he said. “I think terrorism isn’t just attack, it’s anxiety and I think you feel the anxiety and …

● Soldiers killed at Fort Hood died on the battlefield, killed by an enemy combatant who, astonishingly, managed to evade detection despite obvious clues. This massacre requires in-depth independent investigation.

● If legislators ever needed an object lesson in why they should never cite a particular cause or program as a reason for raising taxes, they got it Sunday. State auditors examined four departments and found that they collected $174 million from 347 “user fees.” But not every dime of “fees” collected went to the particular program — solid waste management, for example. Some went into the general fund to finance higher, more immediate needs. Georgia badly needs a constitutional amendment to outlaw the practice of linking taxes that are disguised as “user fees” to a specific program. Special interests consider the money “mine” and some programs are awash in designated cash, while others of …

Among the first accounts I heard or read focused on jihadist Nidal M. Hasan as victim, a poor troubled soul driven to commit mass murder because he’d been taunted by insensitive non-Muslims because of his Muslim name. And, too, there was the presumption that he had been driven over the edge because of “post-traumatic stress syndrome,” though it must have been the post-traumatic stress of others he’d counseled, since as a psychiatrist he was never in combat.  And, finally, it was that he opposed the war and the mean old military authorities were making him go to a war zone anyway. The implied story here was that an unpopular war makes rational men of good conscience flip out and do really bad things. It’s not their fault.

President …

● With the Obama Administration official who counts jobs saved or created through the $787 billion “stimulus” spending (24,681 of them in Georgia) tallying the votes … And, with ACORN registering country music fans … This news leaks across the Internet: President Barack Obama has defeated Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, George Strait and Brad Paisley to win Entertainer of the Year, the top award in country music. The Country Music Awards will be handed out next Wednesday.

● Last November, Americans voted for “change.” This November they vote again for change. Voters are concerned about jobs and the economy. Congress and the administration, determined to push their own agendas on health care, cap-and-tax, and control of business — as they did on stimulus spending — didn’t listen. And aren’t now, even after dramatic losses in gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey.

● Flood maps in …

At stake is one currently-Republican seat  in the U.S. House of Representatives.  One minority-party seat is unimportant — except that Republicans alienated conservatives by nominating a candidate, Dede Scozzafava,  from the party’s  Arlen Specter wing.   Republicans hold only 3 of 29 House seats in New York, a number that has been shrinking in the past couple of decades.   The Republican incumbent,  Rep. John McHugh, was sworn in last month as President Obama’s  Secretary of the Army.

In the 23rd district, conservatives prefer Conservative  candidate Doug Hoffman to such an extent that Scozzafava concluded that she couldn’t win.  So she dropped out, but as a …

● Bob Knoller of CBS News kept a tab on how much time Barack Obama and George W. Bush spent on the golf course. Obama’s played more than Bush did in more than two years. No criticism’s heard. But then Obama doesn’t fit the stereotype liberals assign to Republicans.

● One day it’s a national emergency. The next it’s “the swine flu monster seems to be retreating from Georgia.” This emergency appears to be one part flu, one part an effort to pass ObamaCare, and one part a desire to show what this government could have done had it managed the Katrina problem.

● Headline: “Health care bill includes public option.” Notice that whenever the Democratic Party leaders in Congress find their center, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada attempted in reducing several versions into a single bill, it’s always to the left. When you scare off Olympia Snowe, as Reid did with the public option, you’re …

The latter was the genius of marketing, but the phrase helped the city’s exceptional leadership catch the attention of entrepreneurs, pioneers and others who wanted to become a part of that dream. The myth became aspirational and, in many quarters, the myth became reality. As it did, Atlanta prospered.

Atlanta’s second vision was that it would become a city of strong, independent neighborhoods, like Virginia-Highlands or West End and that development would be managed to serve neighborhood interests. The successful efforts to block the proposed Stone Mountain Freeway, for example, served existing neighborhoods, but cut downtown Atlanta from easy access to the growth areas of DeKalb and Gwinnett.

Decades later, Atlantans pretty much have the city they …

● It’s obscene that President Barack Obama’s “special master on compensation” is ordering pay cuts averaging 50 percent for the 25 most highly paid executives at seven firms taking bailouts. Next they’ll order said executives to stay put. And then to order talented executives to work for them. Government goes where it’s destined to do no good. This is pandering to the cheap seats.

● The last Depression brought us the Hoover Hog. This one will bring us the Obama Dollar — currency made worthless by deficits and printing-press spending.

● Headline: “Georgia often sneers as Atlanta struggles.” I’ve never known other state officials to be less inclined to sneer. Except for the local politics of an isolated burg — and I can’t identify one — there’s no political gain in bashing Atlanta. Most Georgians are too consumed with their own troubles. Besides, metro Atlanta’s where most of their …

• Rodney King more deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. Who among us doesn’t remember where he was when we first heard King’s stirring plea for world peace: “Can’t we all just get along?” The Prize is trivialized.
• Headline: “Should Atlanta City Council be smaller?” than its present 15 members. Certainly. Seven’s plenty. While at it, halve the 56-member State Senate and the 180-member House of Representatives, too. Single-commissioner county governance got a bad rap, but there’s something to be said for having an honest and decisive visionary in a fast-growing county.
• Going forward, when my band of right-wingers takes over, use of the phrase “going forward” will be banned. Me fears, however, that politicians, bureaucrats and business executives attempting to appear visionary will be rendered speechless.
• Just curious: Has anybody seen Jane Fonda lately? This week, I mean. Have the King children quit …