How PC Can You Be?

A white and apparently quite good poet, Michael Derrick Hudson, from Fort Wayne Indiana (home of WOWO Radio) was attempting, without success, to get a poem published.

Then he became Chinese.

It was accepted for print and acclaimed as one of the best American poems for 2015. Without qualification. After forty publication rejections.

Now anyone who has aced a calculus course yet struggled thru a semester of lit knows how subjective, how touchy-feely the dark arts of literature can be. And none more so than poetry. So it comes as no surprise that what one subjective grader deems literary garbage is found by another to be a rare delicacy. But this change in acclaim correlates so strongly with the choice of a nom de plume (and a hyphenated-american one at that) as to border on causality that it has raised more than a few eyebrows.

For many this is just another example of Political Correctness run amok and perhaps it is. For others it suggests what they've long suspected (rightly or wrongly) that the bar for the select, the hyphenated is hardly even a tripping hazard while the white guy's hurdle is so high Fosbury couldn't flop over it. It does seem to speak to a pervasive PC culture that dictates outcomes on almost any criteria but merit. But this is nothing new.

One need only compare To Kill A Mockingbird and Go Set A Watchman. The former, an American Classic, is indeed a masterpiece whilst the latter seems a bit of a patchwork with gaps, weaker plot and character development, tho there are shining moments of the quality of writing that appears throughout TKAM. Is that the real or only difference? Does it fully explain why GSAW was rejected whilst TKAM ran the gauntlet of the publishing process? Were GSAW given the same attention, the same editorial support, subjected to the same review and revision as TKAM where would the real differences appear?

Perhaps it is more about the stories being told, when they were being told and to whom they were told. Perhaps the publishers at the time did not approve of the theme in GSAW whilst that of TKAM resonated with their views and aligned with their agenda even while some reviewers today, including African-Americans, claim GSAW is a more accurate depiction of the times in which it is set.

Is the problem with those of us raised in a PC society, a group taught to adore an elevated Atticus, that we simply cannot entertain that he might have been nobly dedicated to the process of law but not the delivery of justice? Does that shatter the righteousness they wished to be promoted when publishers deferred on one and selected the other? Do we need to be bitch-slapped out of our pollyannish political correctness and poured three fingers of reality?

Sex Sells

Or does it? This is about all that catches the eye in an advert prominently displayed in Dunwoody village:

What exactly are they selling? It isn't buttons.

If Words Don't Matter...

...how can letters possibly matter? And if letters don't matter what can Capitalization mean?

Apparently not a thing.

Here in daVille AT&T has been pulling fiber* for the rollout of their U-Verse(R) with GigaPower(SM) High Speed Data service. Just how high speed? Well that's where words and letters and capitalization and all that stuff begins to matter. It is, as advertised, 1 Gbps.

But what is "1 Gbps?"

Well talking heads in the local media seem to think that is "one giga-byte per second" but AT&T make it quite clear that it is in fact "one giga-bit per second." Honest mistake right? Wrong. When the "b" in xbps is not capitalized it means "bits" and when you mean bytes you write xBps. To the average geek this is a big deal since we're talking a factor of eight difference in bandwidth, but to the average journalist this is about as significant as the distinction between semi-automatic and automatic when talking firearms.

How smart can we be when we get our information from the ignorant?



* In spite of the fact that AT&T/Bellsouth horizontal bored in empty conduit around the time of the Olympics AT&T is boring in MORE conduit for this deployment. 

Can't PARK There

But you can install an obstructing pedestal.

ACT Hypocrisy

Recent ACT results indicate that Georgia has clawed its way all the way up to mediocrity.

Pop the champagne.

The AJC moderates their inebriation by saying that "Georgia can finally take comfort," as apparently they feel mediocrity is a good place to be and from a relative perspective they may be right. State School's Superintendent Richard Woods all but wets himself with excitement saying "These results are a testament to the hard work of our teachers."

Hold yer horses there Dickie. What happened to the mantra of the dark days when all we, the public, heard was how teachers are not responsible for [poor] performance, that there are circumstances beyond their control like poverty and missing or inattentive parents? We were to understand that educators only have these students for a few hours a day and could in no way be expected to overcome these other, more influential elements. Will we only hear that when declining scores must be announced?

Here's the problem with government bureaucrats and politicians, no matter whether it is the VA or public education: the minute there is the slightest improvement, even one that is statistically insignificant, they are grabbing the credit, but upon the merest suggestion of decline they obfuscate and deflect any of the responsibility.

Is it any wonder the public neither trusts nor respects these government agencies and their agents?

Good Renters Are Hard To Find

You would think that an advert right on Chamblee Dunwoody Road would bring in a lot of renters so you'd not see this sign often or for long.

You might also think it would attract the attention of someone at City Hall, perhaps someone in code enforcement. You would be wrong. Since this is not the first time this basement rental has appeared on the market there must be some special part of our zoning or a special dispensation from Smart City Hall.

Franchise Fees: With Interest

Probably the most enduring post on TOD is Franchise Fees 101 and it is generally assumed this is due to folks trying to figure out how much the plunge into the deep end of the citihood pool is going to cost. It must be noted that other diatribes on these taxes (What Do Franchise Fees Buy? and Franchise Fees: What Are They Good For?) see little or no traffic.

Perhaps when the reader figures out that it is just another tax from just another taxing authority they give up. They may not even go so far as to learn that even the cable companies are now on a statewide franchise whilst the local yokels keep dragging in the money. So you pay and you pay and you cannot even go down to City Hall to raise a stink over that cable that has been lying across your yard for the last four months. Not their problem, take it up with the State. Oh, and good luck with that.

Or maybe they just total up the cost of Franchise Fees and shrug "this is chump change." It is. In comparison to the other costs (think of FARA writing Home Alarm Registration city ordinances) foisted on you by your newly minted and inexperienced (incompetent?) City Council that would indeed be the case. The fact of the matter is that Franchise Fees are the least of your worries if you're being driven like cattle into the slaughterhouse of Citihood.

Do not let Franchise Fees distract from more dangerous problems. A quick survey can be found in Shout Out To Frederick County, MD. It is incomplete but it is a good start.

You might also look to the track record of nearby upstart Cities, particularly Dunwoody and Brookhaven if you're forming your new circle of governmental hell in DeKalb County. Dunwoody has recently employed the sneaky back-door tax increase by keeping the same millage rate but refusing to craft a revenue neutral (lower millage) tax. This allows politicians to say "we did not raise the tax rate." Legal but deceptive and exactly what they've complained about for decades when the county does it. Then there's Brookhaven. Riding in on their moralistic white horse to joust with the strip clubs only to come out of the engagement muddy and bloody but with saddlebags overflowing with lucre. We'll not go into how quickly Lysol can stain a reputation.

We'll blast past it. 

The real canary in these mine shafts is the City Attorney. If not directly involved in founding these cities they are at least well connected to the powers behind them. And that both Dunwoody's and Brookhaven's CAs have gone down in flames leaving a dark trail of ethical smoke should give anyone even pondering a vote FOR another city like these (and they're all like these) considerable pause. Who are these people? Consigliere? And who the hell are they beholden to, our local version of a political Mafia?

Now you're catching on.

These cities are based on a particularly nasty foundation of greed and a lust for power because to a large degree this is a zero sum game. In their scratching and clawing to get "their share" they will set aside the truth in favour of convincing prevarications, what little integrity they  have will disappear and any transparency will be thru their distorting prism.

Though the citihood outcome is unavoidable there is a way out. Push for an amendment to allow these cities to form their own schools. Now these schools won't be any better (probably worse) but there are enough lemmings out there who will race to the cliff of "local control" that your home value will see a significant bump. Remember the end of busing (aka M to M)? Same thing, only more so. Once the bump kicks in and before the fools realize City Schools are same song second stanza, you cash out. Just get the hell out of Crazy Towne.

Guest Post: Shelling Out

Whilst ambling about sniffing and snorting through this:

I, along with my dope on a rope, came across this:

Hard to see isn't it? Here's a closer look:

This series of guest posts provided by:

Dog With A Phone

No Harm No Foul

How did District 80 end up electing a Democrat? Is this assumed-to-be arch conservative district lilting to the left? Will Brookhaven become the next Decatur instead of just another Sandy Springs wannabe? Will this progressive cancer spread northward into Dunwoody?

Oh, the Humanity!

Or was it really the Lysol Controversy? If so was it the act itself or the cover up? One might suspect the latter as it cost the City Attorney his job after what some claim were clear ethical and legal violations. However original City Attorneys have not faired well in North DeKalb's upstart Cities with Dunwoody's and Brookhaven's both embracing ill-advised actions leading to ethics charges and eventual resignation. Perhaps it really was the former.

Or maybe it takes only a few minutes for the good voters of District 80 to appreciate the symbolism after which they were really sure they preferred the alternative.

Back Where We Started

To be sure the drum beat the loudest in Dunwoody's march to citihood was "taxation without representation" countered with the promise that a city would ensure "local control." Perhaps so, but "rotten to the core" notwithstanding our Smart City That Should is beginning to look more and more like the County from which it fled.

The drafting of a comprehensive plan shows a widening gap between Staff and City denizens including some on Council. Not only that but whilst the draft is [allegedly] on the City website it is apparently like finding the pea under the walnut shell. Not so easy--sound familiar? Then when you do get the document what it contains has stirred a bit of a fuss.

Some feel they were sold Mayberry (they were) and they're getting Buckhead (they are). Some fear it caters to business growth with high density high rise development in areas outside of Perimeter Center and are not thrilled about five floors of office workers watching their kids swim in the backyard pool. Clearly the authors of the plan consider this a win-win. They get more tax revenue and you get free baby sitters.

Some are voicing their concerns in social media and town hall style meetings. Others are contacting their Council representatives. To the degree allowed by the genteel politeness of the South moving the City back towards the founding principle of creating a small southern town underpins the political campaigns of newcomers seeking open office or engaging in contested races.

These elections are the most important in this city's history and will likely decide whether Dunwoody is a complete sell-out to business and political greed or returns to its original mission.