But Is It Yours?

You just drove home in that brand new Ford or GM. Love it, right? But do you own it? Not in the sense that you have a bank loan and they hold the title, but in the sense of "is it really yours?" Is it yours to do with as you please, to fix it when it breaks, or to have whomever you choose repair and maintain your automobile? Well, the answer from the Ford and GM CEOs, Roger Penske and an automobile dealer lobbyist is pretty much "Hell No!" And they said this, out loud, to Donald Trump at a recent Whitehouse meeting. And Trump? What did he think? Well, he disagrees. As hard as it is to believe, the Trumpeter disagrees with auto execs when it comes to Right to Repair.

These power players were really there to lobby the administration against H.R. 1566, the REPAIR Act, and found themselves afterwards in the uncomfortable position of clarifying their statements and positions without further irritating Trump. Ballet meets tap. Their biggest problem is that in order to achieve that goal you must say some pretty idiotic things and run the risk of exposing more than you want. It isn't just government that hates transparency. Businesses do too, especially when dealing with government. 

So what's really going on?

Glad you asked, and as always you should follow the money. And there are lots of threads to pull there.

Back in the day, maybe up to this day, about the only thing more unpleasant than taking your car to a dealer for service was dealing with the cable company, partly because dealerships were in the business of selling cars, not repairing them. They would service them, but they preferred to let independent shops handle that and it wasn't nearly as profitable as sales. Times have changed. Service makes money, and dealerships have seen a decline in service visits from 33% in 2024 to 29%, a bit over 10% decline. Rest assured this is not because these vehicles are suddenly more durable or reliable. Another factor to consider is that dealers dominate EV service visits with over 2/3rds of total visits, with EV market share indicating that non-EV service visits have fled the dealerships. 

It gets more amusing. The Ford CEO has recently whined about having 6000 open bays, bays without auto technicians. He seems to think this is because there are not enough techs, and in part he is correct, but if you take a stroll down YouTube lane looking for auto techs who explain why Ford cannot hire, or keep, technicians, well, you can spend days down that rabbit hole. It all comes down to compensation, and it is multidimensional. Auto techs pay to get trained before they get their first job. Like ya do. Then, they have to buy mechanics' tools and the tool chest to keep them in. Drop in on Harbor Freight and check out the prices of their professional quality Icon line. Ain't cheap is it? Maybe ten grand to get started. Now, the shop does pay for the shop tools, like lifts, compressors, scanners and the like. As they should. 

Then there is the pay side of the equation. Techs get paid "rate" which is the number of hours it should take for a particular repair. This rate is set by the auto manufacturer. And, should the cohort of techs come under the limit, the manufacturer will lower the rate. It never goes up. But it does get worse. If the work is on warranty, the rate is slashed, at least by half. So if it is an engine replacement, happening with increasing frequency, normally spec-ed at 20 hours, then the warranty rate is maybe 10 hours. Maybe. Now you can look at this a couple of ways. The boss, the manufacturer, is making the techs pay for their, the manufacturers' mistakes. Or, you could say that the manufacturer and dealer are ripping you off, charging much more than the work is really worth. In any event, the tech gets paid the same hourly rate, probably 20% or less of what the dealer charges you. Why is this? Because of who is paying. Customer work is revenue and adds to the top line. Warranty work comes right off the bottom line, right out of profits. That's something CEO's care about. And they have no problem ripping you off, so to improve the optics, they abuse the techs, then wonder why techs are leaving. The fact that the CEO is responsible for the incredible increases in warranty work is just rubbing salt in the wound. 

The execs' bogey man is "security" claiming it would be a risk to public safety for non-dealer techs to gain access to encrypted information. This bogey is bogus. They already control the software needed to access modern vehicle computer systems and have a secure gateway module that restricts access to every other module in the car. And even with access to this software, it can only be accessed by an authorized technician. And this authorization is managed by third party organizations that act like identity notary publics. So a technician's identity and access will be authenticated for each software diagnostic tool they are allowed to use. And they do not have to work for the manufacturer or one of the dealers. And, if they have made a computer system that is riddled with security holes, and many are, that is on them, not on the consumer and not on the techs and not on the independent service companies. 

Given they were lobbying Trump, maybe they should have hidden behind negative consequences of burdensome regulations, which is real. It is widely known that CAFE standards have taken a horrible toll on vehicle, and particularly engine, reliability and longevity. Many are now blowing up under warranty, including engines from Toyota, Honda, Ford, GM as well as others. You need look no further than stop/start which greatly reduces engine life, or even more obvious: engine oil specs. Cars sold in the US and abroad will require 0-w20, maybe 0-w16 and now even 0-w8 engine oil to meet CAFE regs. The same car sold outside the US will require 0-w30. At least. This was exposed when Chrysler issued recalls due to engine failures. The fix? Replace the engine oil with 0-w30 and put a new sticker on the oil cap. Maybe presented with these facts, these regulations, controlled by the administration, might change.

Casting Call

The Professional Resisters (ProRes) leadership selected an interesting poster child in their fight against this administration's enforcement of U.S. laws: Seamus Colleton, an Irishman who entered under a visa waiver and overstayed...by somewhere close to two decades. This is a long time by any measure but when you consider the ProRes believe the statute of limitations on immigration offenses is somewhere between five, ten, maybe fifteen...minutes, well twenty years is virtual infinity. Hell, there are carpetbaggers here in daVille who think that after five years they're a native. 

The ProRes story on Colleton is simple: an immigrant seeking a better life, a chance at the American dream. He came here, settling in Boston, taking work as a plasterer. He got married and has two fur-babies. Then, down came ICE, and he is now detained thousands of miles from "home" (pick one) while his distraught pups sit at the door awaiting his return. 

Crocodile tears, right? Everything the ProRes say is correct. But then someone exhumed Paul Harvey. The rest of the story.

Did Colleton come to the U.S. for a better life? Absolutely, but the bar was set low. Why you ask? Glad you asked. That's because there was a bench warrant out for his arrest because he failed to show up in court to face drug charges. He had been apprehended with a sufficiently large quantity of drugs that he was all but certain to spend many years in an Irish prison. Does ICE have him detained far away from Boston? Yes. Yes they do, but only after they offered him the choice to be deported or detained. He chose to be detained. Here's where the dogs come into play. Tugs at the heart strings, doesn't it? You can almost hear Sarah McLachlan, can't you? You see, Colleton was fleeing more than just unpleasantries with the Irish authorities, he left behind a young woman, the mother of his 18 month old twin daughters. Nearly two decades of no contact whilst he pursued his dreams in America. No birthday cards. No Christmas Skype calls. And absolutely no child support. It wasn't until he was detained that he reached out and no one has a plausible explanation. His daughters, now nearly twenty years old, want him to return to Ireland. To face drug charges. They're pissed. 

If you step back, get a broader view of recent ProRes actions something interesting appears. They've made a pivot to white. It seems the casting call for street protesters was "middle-aged (or older) white women, angry preferred." What would Marshall McLuhan say? Since José Antonio Ibarra didn't work out as their poster child for the ICE is Bad campaign, maybe they shifted towards a whiter shade of pale. And where better than Ireland to find a pale-face? Bonus points for showing that ICE is actually going after an unlawful resident from Europe. Or is it?

And the moral to this story? When someone with a political agenda, or worse yet, a political business, tells you a story, be very cautious about what you believe. Think about that if you show up at Vintage Pizzeria tomorrow. 

Full Court Press

And it is by the press. The Blue Bag Rag, the official organ of Dunwoody, has run yet another front page article about how this city is not raising the property tax rate. And this one comes with a byline. 

Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Why are they yammering and hammering this point? We all know they maxed out the legally allowable tax rate years ago. Without going to the voters they cannot raise the millage rate. This is about the only time, and the only issue where they actually respect the electorate. So what's up? Is this prepping for some tax finagling like setting up some special tax allocation district so they can raise taxes without our approval? Are they trying to rebuild trust credibility after their disastrous attempt to sneak through Shining PATH taxes claiming these were for parks?

We only know this: if they could have raised the millage rate, they would have, and then we'd not get flooded with these repeat articles.

Mis&Dis Information. It''s Not Just For The Internet

A recent OpEd piece penned by Rodney Bryant came with the big, bold headline that included "we must restrict automatic weapons." To be fair to Mr. Bryant, he probably did not have any say about the headline and likely this is the AJC in full propaganda form since Bryant's piece is all about banning SEMI-automatic weapons. Of course that is pretty mainstream leftist fare trodding their well  worn path to a permission society, where they are the only ones entitled to grant permission. Nothing new to see here.

But early on Bryant goes full left wingnut advocating a total end to our form of democracy:

"It's important to recognize that the Constitution is a living document that must be interpreted in the light of changing societal circumstances."

He is saying nothing short of "your vote, or the votes of those you elect to represent you are worthless." In effect, he is calling for an expiration date on your vote, a date of the elitists choosing to be determined by them in their own good time. Ratify the ERA? Well, we'll stick with that for a while, but, ya know, society is just soooo circumstantial, so in a couple of decades we'll let black robes wash away your wishes. And why does he, and others on the left, take this approach? Because the legal, the constitutional approach requires that broad swaths of society adopt their world view, and few have. Following the constitutional process to an amendment is, by their estimation, likely to fail so they will impose their minority will on the majority by other means. The constitutionality of those means is of no concern because in their world they have already erased that document from history and for all time. They only thing that matters is what they think.

Whatcha Think?

A recent AJC reprint of an opinion piece from afar was ostensibly about "critical thinking" in the context of "critical race theory." It is, unfortunately, an agenda piece with no symptoms of critical thinking whilst committing semantic war crimes which have become all too common. 

The first sin against words and meaning is one of omission: failure to define "critical thinking" as used in this context made more poignant by the fact the author chastises his rhetorical opponents for not defining "critical race theory" in their context. Even novice critical thinkers have alarm bells ringing on that one. 

So, let us put a plaster on that bullet wound. One source defines critical thinking as

it’s “thinking about thinking”—identifying, analyzing, and then fixing flaws in the way we think

Another offers this

Critical thinking is, in short, self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking.

What these have in common is that critical thinking is inward, reflections on how the thinker is thinking in an effort to improve that thinking. What critical thinking is not is developing effective criticism of others' thinking. 

So, what about the false flag? Is critical thinking needed in our schools? Certainly. But this requires the kind of thinking skills one finds in mathematics and grammar. Logic and meaning. Thing long abandoned by our schools for being too hard. For the faculty. Therefore for the students. So yes, we need critical thinking in schools, in the workplace and in academia. Hell, we even need critical thinking in journalism, even the op-eds.

Save The Dinosaurs

Traditional media (they like to call themselves "journalists") is fossilized, but wants the government to jump to their aid even invoking the First Amendment:

"Congress shall make no law [...] abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;..."

No law abridging the freedom of the press is a far, far cry from "there oughta be a law that protects us from our vendors" in, what did Pelosi call it, a "free market economy." What the AJC  neglected to point out in there "save our asses" rant against online advertising is that there is competition in that market, with the top two being Google vs Adobe. They could choose either one but this would require that they come into the 21st century and embrace the business models of the information age. Unfortunately their thinking is mired in the past. 

Their model is to sell adverts in a "market" without regard to whether or not anyone actually pays attention to that ad. Sometimes they pump up the prices based on the overall size of the market claiming to dominate high value metro regions. Yet, hypocritically, they have the chutzpah to rail against what they incorrectly claim to be monopolistic characteristics of the online ad vendors. Really? What exactly is the competitive newspaper in the Atlanta metro region? And doesn't the AJC's monopoly empower them to spout whatever agenda-driven propaganda they wish? Isn't that what they do?

Let's Lead With That...

...and that would be? Agenda. 

Reports had hardly surfaced of a new variant first noticed in Southern Africa when media, including the AJC, wrapped the incredibly scant information around their agenda. In this case vaccinations, particularly for kids. At the time of publication no solid information, beyond the number of alterations to the virus, were available. Pretty much everything else was anecdotal. It was being touted as faster spreading, but R-naught values were strikingly absent. Not that R-naught has appeared much in any US mainstream media, regardless of variant. And it will be difficult to gather the necessary information because reports are also indicating that symptoms are notably weak closer to seasonal flu than you're-going-on-a-respirator and where testing is driven by symptoms, many of those "afflicted" won't bother. Many report fewer, weaker symptoms than the vaccine side effects reported on the CDC's VAERS. You won't read that in the paper because it it is not well aligned...with their agenda.

What Is "Value?"

The season is upon us and all the tax-hike supporters and apologists have taken to the PR circuit in support of yet-another-Dunwoody-tax-hike. A city PRopagandist dares anyone to find another city with this millage rate. One of the dwarfs touts the great value this city offers, suggesting that may accrue to residents. But maybe not. 

Both beg the question: what is value? In the real world, outside the distorting lens of self-serving politics, value is getting a good or service at a reasonable price to the buyer and one that supports the ongoing operation of the provider. Not cancerous metastatic growth, but sustainable operations. So given that tax hikes and uncontrolled bureaucratic growth has been a plague upon us since the very beginning, what do we, the mere residents of Dunwoody get in return?

We might start with the three P's, the bedrock from which the pro-city fundamentalists screamed their message of fire and brimstone, of hellfire and damnation should we not all line up in support of this faux neo-city. You may have noticed the pavement work on Mt Vernon in the Village. Again. All because city bureaucrats couldn't resist meddling in the engineering work done in the original effort. Is that value? Maybe parks? Well, if you consider paving an interstate lane of concrete through a natural setting aligned with leave-no-trace or a good use of money then you might see value. If you look real hard. Then there is the dumpster-fire called the Dunwoody Police Department. Is an endless string of lawsuits, inevitably settled at great cost, currently running into the millions of dollars a "great value?" Is a police chief stating, in discoverable emails, that enforcing traffic laws in our communities "isn't worth the cost" what residents would consider value? Is allowing that yahoo to cling to his job until the end of the year just so he can retire with full benefits any real value to residents?

Then we have the supply side. While the city bloats its headcount, absorbing functions (e.g., Chamber of Commerce) that rightly belong far outside city hall, they are handing out millions of dollars to powerful developers. This is done by way of tax exemptions. That's right. While we mere residents have seen nothing but year over year tax increases, crony capitalism ensures that developers won't pay a dime. 

Is that what these yahoos call "value?" Maybe they think the folks who live in this city are as clueless, as detached from reality as they are. Their only problem is that we actually see our tax bills because we have to pay them.

The Real, Stupid News

The AJC doth protest too much.

Credible? Compelling? Complete? Really?

Credible? More like incredible. Compelling? Well, incessant, embedded editorializing only goes so far. Complete? Really? More like completely contradictory:

Which is it? 41? Or 44?

By the numbers? Wow! In just a couple square inches of ink the AJC has undermined all the credibility they claim. If they cannot get these simple facts straight how can any thinking creature believe that the editorial screeds masquerading as "real news" in any way resemble informed opinions? Hold this up against their current rants about real news and journalism alongside their forced admission of engaging in a media frenzy that destroyed Richard Jewell's reputation. For the AJC, facts have always been elusive. 

Attacking Loeffler

Isakson is still in the midst of his Accolade Tour and she isn't even sworn in and yet the AJC is on the attack. You'd think she were Richard Jewell. Their complaint is that being a successful businesswoman she might now be in a position to further her interests as a sitting US Senator.

Nothing new there.

Senators have a long history of using their positions for personal gain. And we're not just talking about Biden leveraging his position to get his kid a job or Schumer's daughter have a sweet job at Facebook. We're talking about real money from real influence. They do it so well that they outperform corporate insiders.

It got so egregious that they were forced into legislation in 2012 that on the surface prohibits trading on their privilege but like all legislation they have ensured it is more for show than for go. As recently as this September reputable rags have reported that Senators are still monetizing their positions. And where has the AJC been all this time? Why now? Why this woman? Sounds like an agenda. Yet when speaking out the other side of their face they want us to believe they are legitimate sources of the Real News. Have they learned nothing since 1996?

Word Smatter

Let's start this piece on local government propaganda with the plain truth:

The City of Dunwoody is increasing your property taxes.

In it's official capacity as the City bidet, the Dunwoody fan rag headlined "Dunwoody to hold line on taxes" reporting that Mikey and Billy are proposing that property taxes should remain level. Really? And just what does THAT mean? Well, if you are a tax and spend politician it means that you are keeping the tax rate the same and reaping the windfall from rising property values. If you are a limited government conservative then you will propose a revenue-neutral budget and therefore lower the tax rate.

So which set of yahoos do we have running this city? You guessed it--the former. The local bidet does disclose, probably with great reluctance, that it is indeed the tax rate that is remaining the same. Of course this is indirectly justified by invoking the boogey man of  The Great Recession (that IS over isn't it? property values ARE rising aren't they?), comparing bad to worse (Dunwoody's tax increase compared to DeKalb's) and touting all the wonderful things they intend to buy on their spending spree.

This is the very essence of effective propaganda: a partial truth constructed to mislead and misdirect with the real truth buried in distractions and deflections. While amusingly reminiscent of Mister CEO touting HIS payment of OUR taxes (with our HOST taxes) we were sold on better. We were sold the myth of local government where our neighbors would run the City in an honest and open manner unlike anything we would ever see from Decatur. While we've certainly had quite a few disturbing revelations regarding DeKalb County, these kinds of antics at City Hall leave one wondering if the only difference is we haven't found out what is going on at Perimeter Center. Yet.

At the end of the day what they say and how they do it matters. Words matter. It is the difference between honest governance and just another bunch of unseemly, greedy politicians.

So let us now close with the plain and simple truth:

The City of Dunwoody is increasing your property taxes.

Aiming For The Editor's Job

First a thanks goes to the AJC for their reporting on the Jordan-Bowman-Jordan shootout where they indicate which participants had weapons carry licenses. It is start. Not a very good start but a start nonetheless.

The article published in Sunday's AJC falls far short of acceptable journalism and unfortunately does little to support the AJC agenda. It is clearly written as an opinion piece so the former may be forgiven but the latter does a disservice to far too many people.

The article has a very low information density--too many words for so few facts. We are told that the visiting Jordan had not only a weapon but a carry license. We are also told that he is visiting from Illinois. This immediately raises a number of questions our editorializing author fails to answer. First, the Georgia Department of Public Safety indicates that Georgia does not have reciprocity with Illinois. The article suggests the surviving Jordan might well have been violating Georgia Law. Or maybe not. Perhaps the gun was secured in his vehicle in a manner that does not require a GWCL. This raises questions about timing of events. Perhaps he has a license from another state with which Georgia does have a reciprocal agreement (some states issues carry licenses to non-residents). Not reporting this is simply poor journalism.

But it gets worse.

The article's author cannot resist tossing his own flash-bang into the officer's open grave. He reports an eyewitness account: "When she was at the door, she dropped the N-Bomb. After that Officer Jordan was out of niceness" and all further confrontations occurred outside the restaurant. The author insinuates that situation was under control with the belligerents leaving the WaHo and that it was the officer who escalated what had become a defused situation. Because of a racial epithet. He further characterizes the brother's firing on Bowman an act of vengeance. Was all this really necessary to advance the AJC's agenda?

The only thing it appears we can all agree on (and no thanks to this article) is that a gun, no matter who says you can have it, doesn't fix stupid. Neither does a pen.

Hungry For Facts

Tis the season for everyone to feel good by feeding others. And it has become quite the corporate cause du jour[1] and you've probably felt the pressure to save the world from starvation. You may even have heard some of the more aggressive non-profiteers declaring that "every 15 seconds a child dies of hunger." This is rather deliberate deception is promoted by the "If Campaign"[2]. While Jack Handy of the If Campaign refused to address the deception head on (in a relatively recent More or Less programme) he did justify the use of the tactic arguing that it resonates more than "three million a year", humanizes the problem and provides a depiction of scale and urgency that even the little people can grok.

The UN Food Programme's Jane Howard disapproves characterizing this as a misleading headline grabber and the UN avoids using these tactics as the situation changes from year to year and the use of old data could be perceived as deceptive. Since malnutrition (not exactly hunger) is only one factor in the deaths being used in this calculation it also leads to overcounting by multiple non-profiteers each advancing one of these multiple causes of death. The fact is there are other underlying causes and while nutrition is contributory it is not the only or primary problem. When the fundamental problem is not lack of food to eat but not knowing what to eat programmes that do not focus on education may cause more harm than good.

The reports being used by the If Campaign come from the Lancet and Robert Black of the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University with the shock headline based on the Lancet report of estimated data based on a survey. Mr. Black's research shines a harsher light on Hunger Profiteers. He points out that most nutrition related deaths are occurring in non-famine, non-conflict areas (India, Nigeria, Asia,...) where there are sufficient resources in-country. The factor creating nutrition deficiencies range from cultural avoidance (e.g., milk, meat), the fact that even pregnant women often are last at the table and that many people simply do not understand the importance of fruits and vegetables in their diet. A full quarter of these deaths are due to inadequate breast feeding. In many locations up to six months of exclusive breast feeding is recommend for proper nutrition and to avoid exposing infants to contaminated food.

Confronted with these facts the If Campaign acknowledges that one cannot get all the information from their bumper sticker campaign line but still claim it creates the right engagements to lead to further discussions. A reasonable conclusion is this discussion revolves around "how much money are you pledging" rather than a deep dive into real issues and concrete facts. When further challenged Handy slyly pointed out they do not use the word "starvation" and if there is any confusion it is because the audience "inferred" that.

Robert Black is more upbeat. He has seen a decrease in excess deaths that he attributes to increased awareness regarding nutrition. Apparently folks really are starving for knowledge but thankfully there are fewer of them.

[1] You may have wondered how we can justify legislation requiring the use of food (corn) for automobile fuel if people really are starving to death. 

[2] The "If Campaign" is based on the tagline of "there is enough food for everyone IF" where the "if" is primarily "give us your money."

Propaganda Payout

When I was just a lad of ten, my father said to me,
"Come here and take a lesson from the lovely lemon tree."
"Don't put your faith in love, my boy", my father said to me,
"I fear you'll find that love is like the lovely lemon tree."

Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet
But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.
Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet
But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.

A recent visit down the rabbit hole revealed much unrest in The Wold. Not The Other Dunwoody, but in THE Dunwoody. The original one---you know, the funny one. If what the nuns said is true and disappointment is the result of unmet expectations then there's a lot of lonely expectations out there because they've yet to meet with anything resembling satisfying results. Or so it would seem.

And it is no longer the usual suspects that need to be rounded up and shot for not being pretty and not being proud and perhaps complaining just a bit too loud. We are now seeing disillusionment take hold amongst not only ardent supporters of citihood but also amongst those who took lead roles in the early days of charting the City's course. Some had already been dismayed to find that not everyone in Dunwoody thought exactly like they nor did many others find the need to change so many things simply because we were now unshackled from the chains of Decatur. And they were facing increasing resistance from a City Hall that was establishing itself as the sole power 'round these parts. It turns out to be much easier to grow a bureaucracy than a garden. And a brown thumb and someone calling "switch" comes in handy.

And this disappointment is not the result of incompetence, at least not exclusively, but rather because quite a few unreasoning folks believed what they were told setting expectations beyond any realistically achievable level. Under ordinary circumstances these "tellings" would be mere prevarications but when put to the purpose of manipulating an audience and used in conjunction with other contrivances to achieve an end completely divorced from the merit of the means then what we have is "propaganda".

One powerfully persistent misleader goes like this:

"81% of the citizens of the metro-Atlanta area where I called home had just voted to form the newest city"

Not all citizens in Dunwoody could (or can to this day) vote and of those who could a majority did not as the vote was held at a time most opportune for passage rather than greatest vox populi. But the lie persists in a strength and rap-like repetition that would make Goebbels proud.

Equally prevalent and more destructive are the chants of "local control" and "our neighbors". Like the others these are 81% false.

So now we enjoy the fruits of the seeds that were sown when any means necessary was brought to bear on the goal of secession. People are increasingly pissed off. Just like they were before we made ourselves a City, but this time they're not pissed at DeKalb, they're pissed at City Hall--for the very same reasons. A critical thinker would expect no less but had we a sufficient supply of those we'd not have the main ingredient for this bullshit bouillabaisse. Some say this Smart City maintains this deficiency pointing a Vernon Jones-like finger at those who protest and while these protesters are ineffective they are improving every day. But under no circumstances should those who fomented discontent be surprised that the army of World-War-Z-like angry zombies they created has turned on them. After all these shakers and movers worked pretty hard to become a local version of Decatur's dysfunction. They may have missed the mark creating "better" government but they were spot on when they said that voters wouldn't have to drive as far to complain.

Some say the zombie whiners are wasting their and others' time on something of little consequence and have rolled out the "Starbucks Defense" used by those who want to minimize the impression of government malfeasance by ignoring the aggregate and focusing on the "small amount of money/discomfort/inconvenience" suffered by individuals. Karma should be given greater respect.

Others claim that the zombie army is misdirected and that there are bigger fish to fry citing DeKalb County Schools. This is reminiscent of Kings of old who sent idle armies on Crusades lest they turn their swords inward defiling and deposing Kings and Court. But the decay of DeKalb County Schools is not a recent truth and it begs a question. If fighting the good fight against DeKalb County Schools is both noble and winnable why didn't all the City-Hoodies fight that good fight, that Crusade, against DeKalb County government? Is it simply that in their mind victory is singularly defined as "we're no longer part of DeKalb?"

It looks like we're embarking on another war against "Big Bad Dekalb" and should expect no different results this time around.

Hoisted on His Own Petard

Reports from a recent council meeting indicate the basis for the vote to defer the vote to dismiss the City Attorney, was, according to the Mayor, "because we have not received the report yet, we as a group decided to defer until we could review it".

Were that we, the mere citizens of Dunwoody, afforded that courtesy prior to the cityhood referendum. As you may or may not remember there were several "Task Forces" chartered to draft reports and plans for key areas of city operation. To be very clear, none of these were released to the public prior to the vote. We did not get to read nor review these reports, but instead were sent to the polls with much conjecture, ballyhoo and hype.

The responsible party for maintaining this cloak of secrecy? That would be "Citizens For Dunwoody". And who is a corporate officer of that non-profit? Well that would be Captain Petard, who seems to play a star role in yet another yet to be released report. At least those determining his fate will have the luxury of reviewing this report prior to their vote.

Some folks get all the luck.

Pompous and Circumstances

The unveiling of pompous teachers, principals and administrators that have been lying to parents and taxpayers alike in order to bloat their undeserved paychecks.

And circumstances that undermine even the most pollyannish of parents' ability to maintain the self deception that is "MY child is getting a great education".

To what do we owe this revelation revolution? Well, it seems that someone decided to make an accurate count of high school graduates and it turns out our school systems not only cheat on standardized tests, they cheat on published statistics. But the systems' spinmeisters are already hard at work.

Suppose the previous, albeit bogus, stat claimed a 75% graduation rate, but it is now revealed to be an accurate 50%. The spinmeisters will  state that the rate dropped by one third. There are a couple of problems with that.

1. The first claim was bogus. It is an unadulterated bald-faced lie. There can be nothing more reprehensible than our employees, our elected officials, our educators, lying straight faced to taxpayers.
2. Since the first claim is bogus, the proper way to view the "change" is to recognize the lie and calculate its magnitude. Given the actual rate was 50% all along, they lied by 50% (as 75 is 50% larger than 50). Round these parts they call that a "whopper".

The other scam previously used to inflated graduation rates has been to blame "mobility". This has been taken away as well, and now a full accounting must be rendered. They can longer pretend that all students they've lost track of had an educational epiphany and graduated, probably with honors, in some neighboring school system.

So the spinmeisters can be expected to turn up the heat well beyond mere twists of arithmetic. Mobility will certainly rear its head, even uglier than before. Expect charges of "Dummy Dumping" between schools and districts. Or just round up the usual demographics--it's all their fault. But not the demographic most readily characterized as having "parental involvement"--that is the one keeping graduation rates from falling to zero.

And parents will fall all over themselves to believe that there is a rock their child hides under. That they are part of the select few, the elite that navigate the treacherous waters of this odious system. Anything less than shouting at the top of their lungs about how great an education their child is getting would beg the question "and what are you going to do about it?" when their only answer is "nothing". They are not going give up the nice car, the mani-pedi's, the ski trips or the cruises to pay private school tuition. It is too easy to drink the Koolaid. Too easy to swim in the deep waters of denial.

That leaves the taxpayer holding the bag. The kind of bag often found burning on a front porch right after the doorbell rings. Well the bell has rung, and apparently no one is at home.

Dunwoody Fan Rag Taking It Home

The good folk of "Brookford" have come to realize that the Dunwoody Fan Rag has a new target for their unabashed, some say shameless, adoration. All things "City of Brookhaven". This is fitting and proper as the owner/operator doesn't even live in Dunwoody, but rather in the much awaited and soon to be city to our south.

The promotional, fan rag aspects of the publication are now causing some concern in Brookford, much as it had earlier in its namesake region.  There has even been some public outcry that the Fan Rag only pretends to be an unbiased source of local information and that it is in fact unencumbered by any journalistic burden.

Gobstopping. Absolutely gobstopping. Who would ever suspect that an owner, an editor, a journalist, or even a mere reporter, would abuse such a position to advocate for a mere political cause. But seriously, this "Poor Dickie's Almanac" hardly carries more intellectual gravitas than weight loss fliers distributed in a Publix parking lot.

Perhaps the format, the paper, the ink, the "litter in the drive" delivery paradigm, might make the unsuspecting believe this rag really is a newspaper. After all it IS newsprint, right? But one only has to read a couple of issues before realizing this rag is many things. It is a "free" catalog of local products and services. It is a printed pep rally for local sports, perhaps supporting the ad revenue of the catalog portion of their presentation. It is a couple of rather innocuous columns that fill in the gaps between sports and ads. It is a bully pulpit for favored politicians. And it is cleverly curated letters to the editor.

What it is not, is a legitimate product of our valued Fourth Estate.

Don't worry, just enjoy it.

Brookhaven: Smarter Than We Think They Are

Google Analytics indicates that the fine folk of Brookhaven will not go blindly into a forced-upon-them city. They have shown particular interest in a couple of points that warrant comment.

The first is franchise fees:

1. A tax by any other name. All monies go into the general fund and not into an account set aside exclusively for the stated purpose of the levy.
2. Taking franchise fees as a whole, and comparing to combined property tax  with HOST property tax subsidy, franchise fees are the second largest income item. It is just another way to spell greed.
3. It is the "best kind of tax" as it is largely paid by folks without a vote, particularly businesses and to some degree folks in unincorporated areas. Screw them, eh?
4. By and large the county didn't receive these fees, yet the infrastructure these fees are allegedly required for are in place and doing quite nicely.  How can that be?
5. Franchise fee revenue makes any comparison stating the city will provide same or better services for "less taxes" morally and intellectually bankrupt.

Slimy politicians are pretty sure voters will tax themselves a dime to get a dollar from other folks, but to the extent that these citizen-voters are customers of local business, the voters are simply paying a pass-along tax. To mystify the reality city proponents are using the "Starbucks" tactic: this will cost you less per (month/week/day) than a latte at Starbucks. That they even have to address it at all is a credit to the soon-to-be good citizens of Brookhaven.

The second hot topic appears to be privatization of government services. This too is over-hyped by those hell-bent on yet another city in DeKalb.

1. It has it's place. If you have a janitor, auto mechanic or copier repair-woman on what will inevitably be a payroll characterized by gold-plated benefits then you are a fool.
2. Much like the city itself, the finances of wholesale outsourcing do not pass the smell test. The outsourcing company may offer economies of scale, but have no doubt, just as you will pay for new city bureaucrats, you will also pay for the profits and bonuses of these private outsourcing companies. How can this possibly be more cost effective?
3. You can re-bid often if you don't like the services or costs, but you will soon find you've exhausted all your options. Fact is there are not that many companies to turn to for turn key operation.
4. When you outsource services, you outsource quality, you outsource accountability and you outsource transparency. Any part of a city operation where you might, just maybe, want to make an open records request is not something you want these politicians hiding behind an impenetrable wall of "corporate trade secrets".

Privatization had been all the rage, but now, eh, not so much. Even in Sandy Springs, the poster child for Three Pee Uh Oh, the enthusiasm has waned, the costs have skyrocket and the loss of control has been deemed intolerable. If Dunwoody can show Brookhaven how to do anything it would probably be where to draw the line between in-house services and those contracted out.

You will be told a lot of stories that do not align with this view of reality. But you will listen because these pandering political prevaricators will become your new city leadership. At least you are starting early and you are asking some smart questions. Keep up the good work.

Dunwoody To Get Biking and Hiking Trails

Dunwoody is finally set to acquire biking, hiking and walking trails and other green space. After the great Power Line kerfuffle and the equally disastrous "Shopping Spree" referendum, our fair city is poised at the precipice of parkland paradise. And no, this is not about some silly park spin-off from the City's soon to be exploited role as local land bank and shopping center developer. This is bigger. This is better.

There are only a few things that might toss a wooden shoe in the machinery.

First is reliance on the much ballyhooed TSPLOST, up for vote this July. The money this tax will generate is absolutely necessary for the plan to have a referendum's chance in Dunwoody. Without this money, there will not be enough pay to subsidize the play. So, it is critical that everyone in Dunwoody vote to raise their taxes and encourage all other "smart" folk they can find to do the same. We are all in this together.

Another itty bitty problem is location. As everyone in Dunwoody knows everything is all about location, location, location. Simply put there is not enough space here in Dunwoody, so these trails and recreational areas must be located where land costs are not nearly so high and significant contiguous and connected space is available. That's right, Dunwoody is simply not a viable location for this project. Instead, it must be located in downtown Atlanta.

Hence the TSPLOST.

It turns out that the transportation SPLOST is targeted to expend much of its resources on the desperately needed subsidy of Atlanta's beltline project, which we all know is of great regional importance. And how do we know? Well being the smart folk that we in Dunwoody are, we know because our politicians have told us so. How else would we know, from some non-profit propaganda group?

And you might be asking what this beltline project has to do with TRANSPORTATION. Silly you. It's actually quite simple. This recreational nirvana is not just for Dunwoody. No. It is for the entire region, and based on detailed demographic analysis it has been determined that a vast majority of those paying for these facilities live quite a long distance from the beltline. In order to avail themselves of their beltline, they will have to pack up the kids, the bikes and the dog and travel to downtown Atlanta. And just how will they do that? You got it, TRANSPORTATION!!!

So we have the opportunity to kill a whole flock of birds with one stone. We raise our taxes, aiding in the battle against excessive, flamboyant consumerism. We create much needed green space moving us towards our goal of overtaking Minneapolis in the Green Wars. And finally we will add more demand for our underutilized transportation infrastructure. All this and create jobs too!

Orwellian Education

Georgia "educators" have won their battle against accountability and will do better than merely return to the opacity of the former status quo. The will begin by replacing the NCLB Pass/Fail designations with a system that institutionalizes their self-congratulatory inclinations.

Some have described the new labeling system as "warm and fuzzy" and the enthusiastic embrace by "educators" is sickeningly sweet:

"These new labels, I think,  are going to be great" 

Really?!? YOU think? But this is followed by:

"they're going to get us away from pass or fail"

Well, you certainly got that right, because what "educators" want to see is a system of "pass" and "pass", where "pass" means whatever the hell they want it to mean.

But since the new labels are not only malleable but intentionally obfuscating, let's ensure we have a clear set of "taxpayer" definitions that not only speak the truth, but expose the hypocrisy of a system that takes credit for others' hard work while hiding their own failures. These are the "educators'" new school labels:

• REWARD (Educators take all the credit) -- This signifies a school with a statistically unlikely aggregation of "Teacher-Proof" students often correlating with a large concentration of Asian families. Teachers and principals rejoice as they will burnish their reputations on the accomplishments of hardworking students and the parents that motivate them. Only the toadiest of sycophants are allowed to work in these increasingly rare schools.
• FOCUS (Educators take credit where it makes them look good, avoiding responsibility where it doesn't) -- These are often associated with what few middle class neighborhoods remain that can still offer "student outliers" for the "educators" to trot out at the appropriate times and places so as to take credit for their hard work. These schools are often the proving ground for aspiring toadies and the well connected "educators".
• PRIORITY (Educators blame parent(s)) -- These are schools formerly labeled as FAILING. These are your regular run of the mill, prison preparatory programs littering the landscape of Georgia education. This is where disenfranchised "educators", often with the wrong friends and from an undesirable family, are sent to retire on the job.
• ALERT (Educators blame society, parents and government) -- FAILED. Simple, abject, complete failure. No dead-cat bounce. No hope of recovery. This is what makes many a Georgian look forward to the day they can proudly proclaim to be from Georgia. "Educators" found in these schools are on the system's "de-hire" career path.

Keep this handy so you can translate from the finely crafted orwellian blather about to spew from the mouths of "educators" into what this really means for you, your child and your taxes.