Fresh Loaf

U.S. Fire Administrator Kelvin Cochran

Still drunk with confirmation power, the U.S. Senate today gave the OK for Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran to be named the new U.S. Fire Administrator at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Cochran’s duties at the federal agency will include overseeing and executing national strategies to prevent fires and improve emergency response.

A 28-year fire service veteran, Cochran said in a statement that the opportunity to work with President Barack Obama’s administration is an “honor.”

Mayor Shirley Franklin commended Cochran’s service to the city. “While we will miss him, we are proud that President Obama selected him for US Fire Administrator and are certain he will continue his public service with distinction,” she said in a statement.

Franklin says she’ll review a committee’s recommendations for an interim fire chief.

(Photo by Jeff Riley)

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This week, we’re doing a countdown to last week’s most widely read post. So … let’s start with No. 5, shall we? Fun!

5. Zell Miller: Obama should be restrained with ‘Gorilla Glue’ (Hey Zell, I think there’s a booth with your name on it at a certain bar referenced in post No. 1.)

(more…)

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Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano today named Mayor Shirley Franklin to serve on an advisory task force that will review the federal agency’s effectiveness in informing the public about terrorist threats.

“I have assembled a task force, made up of Democrats and Republicans, elected officials at the state and local level, security experts, law enforcement officials and other professionals to assess our current threat level system and provide options for any improvements that are needed,” Napolitano said in a statement. “My goal is simple: to have the most effective system in place to inform the American people about threats to our country.”

The task force, which includes mayors, governors, private-sector bigwigs and former intelligence honchos, will review the current advisory system and its impacts on local, state, federal, tribal law enforcement agencies, the private sector and the general public. It will then issue recommendations to Napolitano, who will forward the task force’s report to President Barack Obama.

Says Franklin: “As the home of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which is the busiest airport in the world, it is very important to me in this post 9/11 environment that we review the Homeland Advisory System to measure its current effectiveness.”

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Interesting item on Wonkette today involving Congressman John Lewis, D-Atlanta:

Rep. Bennie Thompson (Mississippi) was next to me on my flight from National to New Orleans last night. Heard him say that John Lewis stopped him at National last night and said hes still on some TSA no-fly lists due to his arrest a few weeks ago so Thompson wants to file a bill to remove him from all the lists. Seemed like a nice guy though, and spent most of his time reading a huge stack of newspapers.

A Lewis spokeswoman tells CL that Lewis’ appearance on the list isn’t because of his recent arrest at the Sudanese embassy. The frustrating security snafu dates back years to when the controversial — some say ineffective — method of screening passengers was beefed up after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. (Google “John Lewis no-fly list” and you’ll see what we mean.)

(more…)

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Watch out, Athens residents — ya done gone made Gov. Sonny Perdue all angry-like with your opposition to the $450 million National Bio- and Agro Defense lab that was proposed near the state’s epicenter of music and binge drinking.

And now that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has ostensibly chosen Kansas to be the site where scientists will research common maladies such as hog chlorea and Nipah virus, Perdue’s unleashed the verbal venom and started pointing fingers. You cost him “jobs!”

From a Perdue press release on Friday:

“This morning, I spoke with Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary Jay Cohen about Georgia’s bid for the National Bio- and Agro- Defense Facility. He made it clear that we had a strong technical proposal that met the criteria DHS laid out for this facility. However, I was extremely disappointed to learn that despite strong support from UGA and our elected officials, a small activist minority of the local community has effectively taken away a great opportunity for the Athens area. As the Centers for Disease Control has shown, the addition of NBAF would have meant stable, high-paying jobs and significant investment for our state. When I specifically asked Under Secretary Cohen about the qualifications for the facility, he quickly pointed out that opposition by a tiny contingent was the definitive reason Athens was not selected.”

Patrick Fox of the AJC reports that members of For Athens Quality-of-Life, a group that opposed the facility, say they’re happy to take the blame, but don’t deserve all the credit. According to the Associated Press, Kansas may have won out because Perdue didn’t kick in enough financial incentives to woo the feds.

[Says Kathy Prescott of the group:] “I don’t think [the governor] wants people to believe that one of the reasons that Georgia lost was because he didn’t pony up enough money.”

Judging that these incentive packages rarely bring about any good, it may have been a good move by Perdue, who’s surely looking forward to a long legislative session where the $2.5-billion budget shortfall will be of great concern.

(Photo illustration courtesy of Republican Rebel)

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From the Savannah Morning News:

On Tuesday, port workers, longshoremen, truckers and others at the port of Wilmington, Del., became the first workers in the nation to enroll in the Department of Homeland Security’s national Transportation Worker Identification Credential program.

Those with business at Georgia’s ports won’t be far behind. The program is expected to begin locally by the end of next month.

The TWIC program ensures that any individual who has unescorted access to secure areas of port facilities and vessels has received a thorough background check and is not a security threat.

(Read more)

More than six years after 9/11, and after countless reports explaining how commercial seaports would be among the easiest way for terrorists to smuggle radioactive material into the United States, the Bush administration is just now getting around to checking the backgrounds of port workers.

If you support Bush, you support leaving the United States needlessly vulnerable to terrorists. How many more examples do you need?

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