Sistah mayah delivers again

During 11 days of intense back-room negotiations, constant cellphone calls, arguing, cajoling and nearly giving up, Atlanta leaders pulled together $32 million to purchase the coveted writings of native son Martin Luther King Jr.

As several people familiar with how it came together told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, one moment the deal was coming together smoothly; the next it was unraveling.

Mayor Shirley Franklin, seeking to keep the papers from a Sotheby’s auction that had been planned for this Friday, put most of her city business on hold to persuade influential individuals and business leaders to back money to buy the papers from the Kings.

Atlanta, preserving history? Is there anything Franklin can’t do?

When you consider the mess she inherited from convicted felon Bill Campbell, Franklin’s record is all the more impressive. Simply put, the woman  gets things done, whether its rebuilding the city’s crumbling infrastructure or getting behind the visionary Beltline proposal.

So what’s next for Franklin? Can an African-American, left-leaning female win higher office in Georgia? I doubt it, but she’s proven the skeptics wrong before.

Perhaps she’ll represent a new dynamic in American politics, one that emphasizes competence over ideology. We’ve already seen that happen with Rudy Giuliani, a GOP darling despite being pro-choice and pro-gay rights.

Let’s hope she can make it a trend, for Franklin has accomplished something few politicians can claim: She’s earned your vote.

Internment camps for some, miniature American flags for others

A prominent Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arizona has endorsed the creation of forced labor camps for illegal immigrants.

Don Goldwater, nephew of the late Sen. Barry Goldwater, caused an international stir this week when EFE, a Mexican news service, quoted him as saying he wanted to hold undocumented immigrants in camps to use them “as labor in the construction of a wall and to clean the areas of the Arizona desert that they’re polluting.”

While Goldwater claims his comments were taken out of context, this wasn’t the first time he called for  enslaving illegals.

“Build us that wall now!” Goldwater said, referring to a proposal to add 700 miles of fences along the U.S.-Mexico border. He promised then that if elected, he would put illegal immigrants in a tent city on the border and use their labor to build the wall.

Character counts

My hometown used to have plenty of it, from the original incarnation of Underground Atlanta to the Pershing Point Hotel, home to "drag queens, hippies, painters, sculptors, you name it."

Atlanta’s Midtown (the area between Piedmont Avenue and Peachtree and 10th streets) served as ground zero for the city’s counterculture scenesters — drugstores, soda fountains and shoe stores were slowly being replaced by clothing shops stocked with clogs, headbands and Earth Shoes. Head shops, carrying a vast array of "smoking" accessories, along with bottles of eight-track tape player head cleaner, sprouted up in the neighborhood.

I wish the AJC would do more stories like this, revisting an Atlanta that bore no resemblance to Phoenix … or Houston … or Charlotte …

(One question: Does the local organ have actor Leslie Jordan on retainer? He’s quoted more often than the governor.)

Now I’m proud

Something positive has come out of the recent dust-up between Duane (I relent on the linkage, though I typically prefer not to give pub to those who take the ad hominem route) and yours truly.

The Malcontent received more comments on these posts than any previous, which tells me people are ready to engage in a conversation that’s long overdue. Some, such as Neon Poisoning, have addressed the discussion on their blogs. 

Rational, thoughtful debate is always welcome, and for the most part that’s what we’ve seen.

Now, fully aware that I can be a bit arch at times, let me sum up:

I have no significant problem with pride marches — in fact, minus the vertigo, I would’ve likely spent a decent chunk of this weekend at Piedmont Park — or the more flamboyant members of the LGBT souffle. However, I’m wary of group identification, particularly when it precludes individuality. All I want is a healthier movement, one that expands beyond stereotype to capture a more representative — and inclusive — portrait of the gay community. 

In other words, I yearn for the day when "gay" isn’t automatically associated with the likes of Carson from "Queer Eye."

We’re here, we’re queer and we’re not all caricatures.

Sistah mayah delivers again

During 11 days of intense back-room negotiations, constant cellphone calls, arguing, cajoling and nearly giving up, Atlanta leaders pulled together $32 million to purchase the coveted writings of native son Martin Luther King Jr.

As several people familiar with how it came together told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, one moment the deal was coming together smoothly; the next it was unraveling.

Mayor Shirley Franklin, seeking to keep the papers from a Sotheby’s auction that had been planned for this Friday, put most of her city business on hold to persuade influential individuals and business leaders to back money to buy the papers from the Kings.

Atlanta, preserving history? Is there anything Franklin can’t do?

When you consider the mess she inherited from convicted felon Bill Campbell, Franklin’s record is all the more impressive. Simply put, the woman  gets things done, whether its rebuilding the city’s crumbling infrastructure or getting behind the visionary Beltline proposal.

So what’s next for Franklin? Can an African-American, left-leaning female win higher office in Georgia? I doubt it, but she’s proven the skeptics wrong before.

Perhaps she’ll represent a new dynamic in American politics, one that emphasizes competence over ideology. We’ve already seen that happen with Rudy Giuliani, a GOP darling despite being pro-choice and pro-gay rights.

Let’s hope she can make it a trend, for Franklin has accomplished something few politicians can claim: She’s earned your vote.

Internment camps for some, miniature American flags for others

A prominent Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arizona has endorsed the creation of forced labor camps for illegal immigrants.

Don Goldwater, nephew of the late Sen. Barry Goldwater, caused an international stir this week when EFE, a Mexican news service, quoted him as saying he wanted to hold undocumented immigrants in camps to use them "as labor in the construction of a wall and to clean the areas of the Arizona desert that they’re polluting."

While Goldwater claims his comments were taken out of context, this wasn’t the first time he called for  enslaving illegals.

"Build us that wall now!" Goldwater said, referring to a proposal to add 700 miles of fences along the U.S.-Mexico border. He promised then that if elected, he would put illegal immigrants in a tent city on the border and use their labor to build the wall.

Noted and quoted

John McCain gives his party a well-deserved tongue-lashing –

“We came to office to reduce the size of government. Lately, we have increased the size of government in order to stay in office. Soon, if we don’t remember what we were elected to do, we will lose both our principles and our office and we will leave as part of our legacy a mountain of debt and bankrupt entitlement programs that our children’s grandchildren will be suffering from.”

Picture of the day

Drunk soccer fans clash in Stuttgart following Germany’s victory Saturday in the World Cup.