Fresh Loaf

— Decatur Metro has found the city’s annual report online. One interesting nugget: Decatur’s population is declining despite a boom in downtown condos. Why? Household size is shrinking in the city.

— And InDecatur brings us up to speed on the latest city news, including Kid Rock’s plea of no contest for his role in a Waffle House brawl in 2007.

— The state’s budget is all in a mess, and flackattack chimes in at Tondee’s Tavern on how state lawmakers are totally out of touch with reality.

— Over at Cracker Squire, Sid discusses how Rand Knight’s union endorsements failed to give him a lift in the U.S. Senate primary. Now that those unions are backing Jim Martin, will it matter in the run-off?

— Drifting Through The Grift thankfully shares another Morning Wooten.

— Just as fun, Preston Craig — the DJ host of the Decatur Social Club — is back online at Kiss Atlanta, with a couple of hot underground bands to help us get our groove on.

— What happens when a good friend reveals that he’s HIV positive? ETK shares a sad, intimate moment on I’m Just Sayin’.

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— Al Gore gives a speech that says we need to wean ourselves off petroleum in the next 10 years, and ATLMalcontent is skeptical. He thinks Gore is being rather hysterical.

— Gore is definitely against new off-shore oil drilling. But our governor, Sonny Perdue, thinks it’s a swell idea. Reporter-Cub gives us a reality check: The last time the U.S. had an energy crisis, the oil companies explored off the coast of Georgia and discovered that there’s no black gold/Texas tea out there.

— Folks in Dunwoody are pleased as punch to be Georgia’s newest city. At Heneghan’s Dunwoody Blog, John reports that 29 people turned out for a candidates training forum with the intention of running for mayor or city council. Leaders have also come up with a proposed vision statement for the new city.

— Doug Richards at Live Apartment Fire veers away from his customary posts on television news to talk about why the AJC still matters.

— Only 21 percent of Clayton County’s registered voters bothered to go to the polls last week, and Andre at Georgia Politics Unfiltered wonders WTF? Look for Thomas Wheatley’s insightful cover story on Clayton County in this week’s Loaf.

— Speaking of young Mr. Wheatley, the sirens at Pecanne Log can’t get enough of him. Another new post at Pecanne Log means another opportunity for a gratuitous shout-out to Wheatley. This time, they’ve found a personals site that features ads from wealthy men, including a group of of sugar daddies from Tucker. They’re already fighting over the one with the boat.

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— Is the clock ticking on Glenn Richardson’s reign as House Speaker? Jason Pye says some key Republican legislators have come out publicly in support of a challenge by state Rep. David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge.

— What’s life without DriftGrift’s “Morning Wooten?”

— Reporter-Cub recounts a jarring election day conversation he had with a tech at his doctor’s office. Seems the tech, who is white, couldn’t believe that Cub actually voted for Obama.

— Over at Paw Paw Bill, William Cotter has a troubling essay on the irony of a Vietnam resort hosting the Miss Universe beauty pageant.

— The Wren’s Next posts some of its fan mail from the wee ones, and they sure are charming.

— And speaking of kids, what’s on Maigh’s mind today is the loss of manners and how so many parents use television and computer games, essentially, as babysitters. “No one likes a Goop, and with Grover as my witness, we’re raising a whole generation of ‘em,” she says.

— Which leads nicely into the final item. ATLMalcontent shares an email from a grammar-challenged delegate who attended the National Education Association convention. Let’s hope he/she isn’t an English teacher.

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— There’s still election fall-out on the blogosphere. Atlanta Public Affairs gives their take on Tuesday’s winners and losers. And GriftDrift recounts the scene as Democrats gathered at Manuel’s Tavern on election night.

— But Random Atlanta makes one of the best points. All those candidates got out and littered the city with yard signs; how ’bout going back out and taking them all down?

— Over at My Urban Report, A.man.I gives his take on Jesse Jackson’s use of the N-word, and how Jackson told him a few months ago that he wants to ban the word. Guess since it’s not banned yet, Jesse still felt free to use it.

— Even as transplanted New Yorkers were dissing Atlanta and whining about the lack of pizza and bagels here, the intrepid Duane Moody was on vacation in the Big Apple and … got engaged at the top of the Rockefeller Center.

— So Maryk was fast asleep when he she was awakened by what she he thought was an owl on his her front porch. But no, wait, it wasn’t an owl. It was “some old Allman-Brothers-looking bum” smoking a cigarette on his her front porch. The bum had even lit all the candles on the porch. The full account is on Moisten Manapkin.

— For everyone who’s ever lost a pet, Dusty pays a sweet tribute to a cat named Queasy on Pork Tornado.

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— Ah, a post-election hangover kind of day. As a break from the political winds, the folks over at Chicken Fat posted some recently-discovered photos of Willie B., the iconic gorilla that was the public face of Zoo Atlanta for most of his life. And, of course, he was named after former Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfield.

— Peach Pundit has a round-up on the straw poll offered to Gwinnett County voters. One of the questions, whether MARTA should be extended to our neighbors to the north, was overwhelmingly shot down; 62 percent said no a split decision: 62 percent of the Republicans said no, 72 percent of the Dems said yes. My favorite question: Has the Republican Party moved too far to the left? Just over 57 percent said it has, but surely some of those are goofs from Democratic voters messing with the Republicans.

— As Live Apartment Fire notes, it was not a good day for former television reporters. Dale Cardwell, who used to be at WSB-TV, finished 3rd in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. And Steen Miles, once a reporter at WXIA-TV, finished out of the running for DeKalb CEO. Miles, by the way, was listed on the ballot as Steen “Newslady” Miles.

— For the best “quote of the night” check out Georgia Politics Unfiltered. It’s a doozy.

— OK, enough about the election. The folks over at Moisten Manapkin were watching a movie and discovered that WGCL-TV hottie Dagmar Midcap is an actress in her spare time. Which gives me the excuse to use this link again.

— Can food be an aphrodisiac? That question is pondered over at Blog d’Elisson and inspired by a visit to the Waffle House in Temple, Ga. And who said inspiration can’t come in strange places?

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— Griftdrift returns from a snorkeling adventure in the Gulf of Mexico to weigh in with a spot-on analysis of Secretary of State Karen Handel’s decision to remove PSC Commission candidate Jim Powell from the ballot, and a judge’s subsequent decision to put him back on the ballot.

—Lori posts a pictorial tribute to Fire Station No. 7, which was closed yesterday due to the city’s budget crisis, on Mingaling. There’s nothing there about Shirley Franklin going “Philadelphia” on the protesters who don’t want to lose their fire station — and almost needing her own fire put out — but there’s some pretty pictures.

— Over at Jason Pye’s blog, he passes along info that Bob Barr, former CL columnist and now presidential candidate, has opened up an on-line store where you can pick up campaign t-shirts and hats. They’re spiffy.

— In a campaign of a different sort, there’s a long back and forth on ATLmalcontent regarding a fellow blogger’s tome on the requirements for a male to be a feminist ally. Which is something we should all aspire towards, no?

— A new trend in Atlanta television news is called “backpacking.” No camping involved. Just news reporters doubling as camerapersons. Doug Richards at Live Apartment Fire explains how WXIA is trying to get a bigger bang for the buck. And essentially telling viewers: Expect less.

— Over at the Wren’s Nest, someone has discovered that the family of Joel Chandler Harris sued Coca-Cola for copyright infringement in 1932. Br’er Rabbit didn’t win because Br’er Coca-Cola out-foxed him.

— I’m still trying to figure this one out, but the ladies at Pecanne Log seem to have this inexplicable crush on our own Thomas Wheatley, to the point they appear to gush over him with every post. Today, there’s no Thomas-gushing going on, but there is a nice sigh of relief that the Crum and Forster building has been saved from the clutches of demolition by those ramblin’ wrecks over at Georgia Tech.

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— Matt Towery at Insider Advantage reports that Gov. Sonny “Go Fish” Perdue is one of the top four on John McCain’s list of potential running mates. That means two Georgians are top vice-presidential candidates – Perdue for McCain and Sam Nunn for Barack Obama. Towery says Perdue’s rise is because of McCain’s shaky hold on the South, and the fact that Georgia appears up for grabs. The latest Insider Advantage poll shows McCain with 44 percent and Obama with 43 percent.

— Meanwhile Jim Galloway at the AJC’s Political Insider reports that another Insider Advantage poll shows that Jim Martin has leapt into the front in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Martin leads with 31 percent, Vernon Jones is second with 20 percent and Dale Cardwell is third with 11 percent. Still, 33 percent of those polled remain undecided.

— But that doesn’t stop Flackattack over at Tondee’s Tavern from making his own predictions in the race. He thinks Jones will come in first, with Cardwell squeezing into the runoff.

— Over at Peach Pundit, there’s another shining example of why Clayton County’s government is more entertaining than the Keystone Cops … if you don’t live there. In this episode, District Attorney Jewell Scott can’t indict a juvenile suspect in a murder case because she was unaware of a state law that mandates juvenile murder cases must be taken before a grand jury within 180 days of their arrest.

— There appears to be a spate of restaurants up for sale in Decatur, including the Chocolate Bar. However, according to inDecatur, most of them are being offered anonymously.

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— The Peach Pundit reports on a complaint filed against Clayton County District Attorney Jill Scott, who is running for re-election, and her husband, Lee, who is running for the chair of the county commission. Their campaigns sent emails offering to pay $85 for “volunteers” on primary day. The complaint says they are essentially paying for votes.

— A new blog called Georgia Premium has linked to the campaign disclosure forms of Jim Martin and Rand Knight, both of whom reported substantial debts.

— At Rachel’s Tavern, there’s a fascinating essay by Sewere, a black man from Nigeria, on interracial dating. He says that even in Nigeria, there are serious cultural limitations on dating within African ethnic groups.

— And over at Live Apartment Fire, Doug Richards has plenty of free advice for Steve Schwaid, the new news director at WGCL-46. Among them: Send Dagmar Midcap to meteorology school.

— David O’Brien over at the AJC has turned his Atlanta Braves blog into a must read. Today’s discussion includes whether the Braves should trade for Colorado outfielder Matt Holliday and how painful it was to watch Andruw Jones get booed in Los Angeles during the Braves series with the Dodgers.

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— Jay Bookman = Priceless. Ah, those wacky Gwinnett Republicans.

— Tondee’s Tavern notes that the Macon Telegraph has endorsed Dale Cardwell for the U.S. Senate in the Democratic primary. This comes on the heels of Obama’s smackdown of Vernon Jones yesterday for printing up photo-shopped fliers that imply Obama has endorsed Mr. CEO-who-voted-for-Bush-twice. Says Obama: I barely know that dude.

– Our pal, the Shelbinator, has produced a video for MTV2 that focuses on ex-Marine Chris Raissi of Macon. Raissi talks about the pressures he faced as a Marine recruiter to convince people to join the military. The three-part video is posted on his web site.

— Over at Live Apartment Fire, Doug Richards gives props to WAGA-TV’s Dale Russell for his secret video of disgraced preacher Earl Paulk. Russell has a long relationship with Paulk’s former secretary, Mona Brewer. And when Paulk reached out to Brewer for a “peace” meeting at a local restaurant, she called the I-Team. Russell wired her up with sound and videoed the meeting from outside.

— The AJC’s Sekou Smith says the Hawks were saved by Elton Brand, the free agent power forward signed by Philadelphia yesterday. Why? It means the 76ers won’t be going after our own Josh Smith. That leaves the Hawks sitting pretty to re-sign their two free agents: Smith and Josh Childress. And Hawks fans everywhere breathe a sigh of relief.

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— Jason Pye wonders why a member of Congress wants to spend $50 million over the next four years to study bed bugs. For that matter, so do we.

— Someone in the Atlanta TV news business is cynical, cynical, cynical. On the Live Apartment Fire blog (one of our faves, btw), a guest poster using the pseudonym of Race Bannon discourages young people from going into television news:

It will only take around five years before they become jaded and calcified experts on exploiting the survivors of ordinary fatalities, zooming in slowly to tear stricken faces and trembling hands. At the town murder de jour they learn to recognize family members who still don’t know their son or daughter was the one killed in the ever so recent lawlessness. They’ll roll their cameras early to get every frame of the coming implosion and emotional collapse. Yay!

— Former CNN anchor (and former Rush Limbaugh main squeeze) Daryn Kagan has a new favorite television series and we’re waiting with baited breath to find out what it is.

— The first television ad from the Clayton County sheriff’s race is ripe for the pickin’ on Peach Pundit.

— Can Obama take Georgia? A new Insider Advantage poll taken last week suggests he and McCain are almost in a dead heat. An interesting tidbit: 51 percent said they’d be more inclined to vote for Obama if he chooses Sam Nunn as his running mate.

— Georgia governor wannabe John Oxendine has so much money in campaign contributions, that he’s going to spread the wealth to every Republican House and Senate candidate who has Democratic opposition. Read Oxendine’s email on Tondee’s Tavern, and the speculation that maybe he’s trying to buy the goodwill of his fellow Republicans.

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“I have always accepted responsibility for my actions, and this issue is no different.”

Except that he still doesn’t. Instead of admitting he made a mistake, re: driving drunk, Benji believes the mistake is not speaking out sooner about it. It’s really quite sad.

— FlackAttack of Tondee’s Tavern writing about state Rep. Ben Harbin, R-Augusta, and his recent me-so-sorry letter to constituents regarding his year-old DUI arrest.

Will we see demand for smaller, more energy efficient spaces come back? Certainly green building trends will increase - they are already on the rise, and saving energy is the primary financial driver for this (as opposed to the warm and fuzzies you get for ‘living green’). I think gas prices are already driving demand to in-town neighborhoods, although the credit crunch has stalled a lot of that movement.

— Ben at Terminal Station, an excellent Atlanta blog covering real estate and land-use issues in metro Atlanta, writing about high gas and energy prices and how the crunch may affect the intown resurgence in a tight credit market.

the trip has been incredible so far. the picture above was taken outside the fairmont lake louise. it had to be one of the most stunning settings i have seen in some time.

— James at The Arc of Time is on vacation with his family in Canada, finding Internet access where he can, and crouching in front of a lake that’s full, clean and surrounded by majestic mountains. Click the link for a photo.

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For an organization with such a large recycle center on site, DFM should make reusable bags easy to use. This might require a change to the way things have always been done in the past, either with a Costco-style receipt checker or designated types of bags that can be taken into the store…just thinking out loud here.

— Nicholas at DecaturMetro makes a case for the DeKalb Farmer’s Market to ease its at-times stringent bag policy so shoppers can bring their own.

Of the fourteen paid staff positions listed on the state Democratic Party’s website, four are held by women and none of the female staffers hold any of the “director” positions (i.e., executive director, communications director, field director, finance director, canvass director, or call center director).

— Andre at PeachPundit says the state Democratic Party staff is underrepresented by women and African Americans.

Nobody listens to flackattack. Yes, suspending the tax is a no-brainer, but going through this routine every freaking year is getting a bit tiresome.

— FlackAttack at TondeesTavern bangs his head against the computer about Gov. Sonny Perdue’s suspension of the state gas tax increase. Click on the link above to read how he thinks it should be altered and annual suspensions like this avoided.

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