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Friday, June 8, 2007
Atlanta City Council balks at ‘free speech zone’ ordinance
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Late word is that the Atlanta City Council has decided to put off consideration of an ordinance that would have allowed the creation of “free speech” pens to corral protesters at city-licensed events.
A vote had been anticipated for Tuesday.
Here’s the link to our original post on the topic, and the ordinance in question.
Can’t imagine who he was talking about. Really.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This morning, radio curmudgeon Neal Boortz was extolling the high-end mental capacity of co-workers who surrounded him in his studio at WSB headquarters. “You’d have to go to the third floor to find any dumb-asses,” he said. “And they’ve left to run for the U.S. Senate.”
Budget paralysis: It’s contagious
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s interesting to see that even with this year’s legislative session in Georgia as a negative example, the South Carolina legislature adjourned Thursday on just as ineffective a note.
Ask any South Carolinian, and they’ll tell you they’ve had a dysfunctional Republican governor-legislature relationship long before Georgia. So far, this year’s train-wreck appears to have happened without much direct involvement from Gov. Mark Sanford — it’s a House-Senate faceoff. They’re getting used to this sort of thing - the legislature is already planning to come back in two weeks to try to hammer out a budget. No Alabama-style fisticuffs (see below) in Columbia.
Smackdown in the Alabama Senate — and a blurred photo
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A fist fight broke out in the Alabama Senate on Thursday. You can see the Associated Press version on ajc.com by clicking here.
But let us also encourage you to visit the Birmingham News site. The home page has an astounding photo of the punched-out Democratic senator’s head whipping to the side as it meets a Republican fist.
In the attached story, bystander Alabama Sen. Parker Griffith (D-Huntsville), said that, had Sen. Lowell Barron (D-Fyffe) not partially ducked the punch, he might have been seriously injured.
“This was a violent, violent punch,” said Griffith, a retired physician. “Had he not ducked, it was a hospitalization punch. It was a neurosurgery punch; it was a deforming punch. It was that hard. It was a brutal attack.”
And you thought hardball was the game played in the Georgia Legislature.
