Monthly Archives: January 2011

     Seeking an alternative to its rather worn practice of street-renaming, the Atlanta City Council is considering naming an intersection instead, voting today to send the matter to the utilities committee for further discussion.

The Special Council on Tax Reform and Fairness for Georgians, 11 people who likely have an average individual income of well over $100,000 a year, has advised the Georgia legislature that it can dig the state government out of its budget morass by making citizens pay more for their groceries.

   I have little to say about President Barack Obama’s superb speech at the memorial for the victims of the Jan. 8 shooting in Arizona. He did exactly what a good president should do: He reminded us of our common ground as Americans, called for greater unity, and even—and for this he deserves praise from across the political spectrum—simply shrugged off the accusations from the far left that the killings were the fault of rhetoric from the far right (an accusation for which we can largely thank the spotlight-basking Pima County Sheriff).

All over America, people are trying to “make sense” of last weekend’s killing of six people in Arizona, including a nine year-old girl, in a bloodbath likely intended to assassinate Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

    Last week, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution got the attention of residents of the City of Atlanta when it reported that a group of five friends had to conduct their own investigation into a robbery with almost zero help from the Atlanta Police Department.

The story, under the byline of the excellent Ty Tagami, claimed that the APD’s investigation into the robbery-at-gunpoint in the Candler Park neighborhood didn’t begin until four days after the incident.

 Such circumstances would make any citizen anxious, especially considering the “brazen” nature of the crime (the AJC finally used the word that I’ve been using to describe Atlanta’s new breed of criminal since mid-2008—but, of course, the AJC had to be persuaded that Atlantans weren’t just paranoid and whiney first).

    However, all is not quite as it seems.

Arizona officials have identified the suspect in a shooting spree earlier today that claimed at least six lives, among them that of a child, and wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

In what may be a preemptive move on behalf of gun rights advocates, state Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, R-Sharpsburg, has issued a statement on the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, however Giffords is reportedly at least a moderate supporter of gun rights.

Several outlets, among them the London Telegraph, are reporting that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) who was shot in the head this morning and remains in critical condition, is a supporter of gun rights.

Arizona Sen. John McCain says the person responsible for shooting Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killing a 9 year old girl at the congresswoman’s constituent meet-and-greet this morning is a “disgrace to Arizona and this country.”

According to televised press conferences from the University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona, Peter Rhee, chief surgeon, says he’s “about as optimistic as it gets” for the recovery of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who was shot in the head at a constituent meet-and-greet earlier today.