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Monday, October 29, 2007
Can they stop Sonny?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Opposition to Gov. Sonny Perdue’s plans to get a greater share of Lake Lanier water for Georgia is bulking up in Alabama and Florida, the two downstream dependents on that water bent on stopping Sonny.
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) issued a statement attacking Georgia’s desire to send less of the water downstream. The Apalachicola River and the state’s huge oyster and fishing industry would be devastated, she said.
Joining her in her denunciation are Florida’s two senators - Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Mel Martinez - and Rep. Allen Boyd (D-Fla.).
Meanwhile, in Alabama - and how often do you get to say something like that? - 15 mayors and other local officials are meeting Tuesday with the Southeast Water Alliance at the state house to open a new front against Perdue.
The group is meeting in the Star Wars Room (we kid you not) to talk about conservation. They’re out to refute Perdue’s claim that while Atlanta was conserving water to prepare for the drought, Alabama was doing “little or nothing.”
So take that, you … you … you … Georgia guy, you!
Dems’ fightin’ words
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Blogger Kenny Be out in Colorado, where Democrats are holding their nominating convention next year, is doing profiles of all the state delegations attending the get together and was kind enough to share this with us.
In the section on how to recognize Georgia delegates at the convention, Kenny Be offers this: “Everyone hates Georgia, and they always have. That’s why ‘Gone with the Wind’ (about the Civil War burning of Atlanta) has been America’s all-time favorite movie.”
Wait, there’s more: “Georgians have all the personality of a high-school security guard. All strangers are suspects, and all rules are made to be enforced — or, better yet, created on the spot.”
And finally: “To find a Georgian at the 2008 Denver Democratic National Convention, just look for the delegates who are demanding arcane new procedures and laughing at those who ask why.”
Oh, Kenny Be, know this: If that convention ever comes back to Atlanta, Kenny Be in trouble.
Yep, that sounds like Charlie - almost
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rep. John Linder, a Republican from Duluth, did some reminiscing on the House floor last week while talking about a resolution that would rename the VA center in Augusta after the late Charlie Norwood, the longtime congressman from that town who died earlier this year.
Linder was talking about Norwood’s days in the Army, during which Norwood first proposed that dentists be sent to forward operating bases. Norwood was one of those dentist who went to the front and one day his commander called and asked him to file a report on anything “that’s out of the ordinary” at the front.
Linder: “Charlie said to him, ‘Well, I’ve got a chair here and you can come down here and sit your butt on it and write your own report, I just don’t have time.’ The colonel did come down, and they changed the entire way the Army did dental business because of Charlie’s ideas.”
That certainly sounds like Charlie. But, frankly, we’d rather hear the unrated version of that story. We just know there is one. After all, this was Charlie talking.
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How the mussels must see us
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Apparently, the view of Georgia’s elected officials is less flattering downriver.
Georgia officials are showing unusual unity to voters by publicly, and loudly, fighting for a solution to the state’s unprecedented drought. In Alabama and Florida - the two states at war with Georgia over the water in Lake Lanier - the Georgians look more like the snake oil salesmen of yore.
Consider these claims:
Georgia officials said the metro area has less than 90 days of water left. The other states say it’s closer to 260 days, and that’s if it never rains. The 90-day level is the “conservation level” for the reservoir, not the end of the supply.
Georgians said Lake Lanier’s water should go to the people of Atlanta, not to preserve endangered mussels downstream. One Alabaman put it this way: “Sturgeon and mussels are not the only thing downstream.” Turns out there’s a nuclear reactor and whole bunch of jobs.
Georgians claim that a two-decade effort to rewrite the rules for water use have never been completed because Alabama and Florida refuse to cooperate. The others noted that Georgians walked out of a mediation session in September - as they have from numerous other meetings over the past 20 years.
Georgians said they’re willing to work with the two other states. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) once sent invitations to three other senators and both governors from Georgia and Alabama to talk. He never heard back from Gov. Sonny Perdue.
Well, that last one we can explain. The guy was in Asia. For Pete’s sake, give him time to get through all that back mail.
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