Fresh Loaf

About 14 seconds in. Wait for it.

After the jump, some background about the video from the Clean Air Campaign.

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1. AC Milan v. Club America (Who knows when Atlanta will get to witness such quality soccer — or such HORRIFIC traffic jams — again. Actually, there’s probably a traffic jam planned for about 15 minutes from now.)

2. BMF member arrested, Jay-Z’s ‘Death of Autotune’ gives nod to the crew (Two milestones for the infamous Black Mafia Family.)

3. Fun CL bankruptcy news! (Wednesday will be a pivotal day for the future of Creative Loafing. Stay tuned.)

4. Filthy Rich: Best of Atlanta 2009 ballot (You only have until this Friday to cast your votes for CL’s 2009 Best of Atlanta issue. After that, the opportunity will be lost forever.)

5. Atlanta at $20 per gallon of gas (A vision of armageddon.)

(Photo by Alejandro Leal)

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In the new book $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better, Christopher Steiner predicts that the roller coaster ride of petrol prices will eventually become one long, cash-gobbling incline. (If this premise sounds eerily familiar, then you might have listened to Marketplace last night. Steiner was a guest.)

The change will be painful, he says. Big-box stores that rely on inexpensive goods shipped from afar will lose their grip on the marketplace. Residents will return to live in dense cities, turning the suburbs into what the cities were during white flight. Regional air travel? Too expensive and inefficient. Interstates will…well, who knows. I remember hearing something like “will become overgrown with weeds,” but I think that’s already happening.

But growing pains and another economic collapse aside, the shift won’t be all that bad. Fuel prices will become so unbearable, Steiner writes, that we’ll walk and bike more, plan more dense communities, and know our neighbors. We’ll be healthier and happier and live in a cleaner environment.

Forbes Magazine has adapted some chapters of the book. After the jump, some excerpts I noticed about Atlanta.

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>> Riots rage on in Athens and angry teenagers demanding justice have been joined by angry air traffic controllers demanding pay raises. Hey, we’re all in this together!

>> CARTASTROPHE: GM, Chrysler and Ford factories shut down as the Big 3 pray for last minute saving from the impending autopocalypse.

>> DAMNIT!: Gas prices have apparently bottomed out and are headed up again. Probably also bad news for the Big 3.

>> Since one of the most important parts of a recession/depression is the music detailing how depressed everyone is, the New Orleans Jazz Fest lineup has been announced.

>> LEGALIZE IT: Another necessity of a recession/depression is mind-altering substances. The citizens have spoken and they want their weed.

>> SURF’S UP SUPERHERO: Obama continues his plans to attempt to save the world. But only after Jan. 20. Before that, it’s Aloha Hawaii baby.

>>Talk of all the tech items we could barely afford in 2008 and probably will have to try to sell in 2009. But if you were lucky enough to buy an iPhone or Blackberry Storm, now you can text all your friends news of your layoff super fast!

(Photo courtesy Wikimedia)

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Not going to city hall, he's going down the street to CNN's Headline News (Image courtesy Clark Howard)

A heaping helping of news headlines from me exclusively to you; cuz that’s just how I aggregate…

• Clark Howard isn’t running for mayor, he’s got far more important things to do, like, hosting his own show on CNN’s Headline News.
• Another spoonful of schadenfreude courtesy Atlanta Magazine’s Steve Fennessey. I bet CL’s bad news is just making nice with their web traffic (no hard feelings, Steve, ours too).
• Speaking of which, are we to be in good company(?): Tribune Co. is considering filing for bankruptcy protection.
• Remember when gas was just a buck fifty a gallon? Yea actually, I just paid $1.39 last night…
• Should hospitals follow patients through Twitter? Sure, until they discover patients can block them … (and you should follow us instead).
• Well that was quick: Pakistan arrests suspected Mumbai terror plotter.
• Democrats want to give automakers a bailout, but with strings attached: they want a seven-person board to oversee the companies’ restructuring. They call it, the “auto board.”
  
• President-elect Barack Obama was on Meet the Press yesterday and reiterated the need to save the auto industry, but said it should be “conditioned on an auto industry emerging at the end of the process that actually works.” The cynic in me asks, “what about oversight to the financial industry?”
• Barry Cooper is your new BFF.
• And from one morning newsdome to another morning briefing, say hello to the Mother Nature Network.

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Gov. Sonny Perdue has rehashed some tips as to how Georgians can conserve fuel in these gas-strapped times. It’s just that something’s missing from the list:

· Drive sensibly: Speeding, rapid acceleration (jackrabbit starts), and rapid braking lowers gas mileage.

· Choose the right vehicle: If you own more than one vehicle, drive the one that gets better gas mileage whenever possible.

· Decrease speed: Gas mileage decreases rapidly when driving more than 60 miles-per-hour.

· Avoid idling: Idling gets zero miles per gallon. Cars with larger engines typically waste more gas while idling than cars with smaller engines.

· Commute alternatives are also a useful way to conserve fuel, including telework, carpool and transit options, and flexible work schedules. More information is available about commute alternatives at www.CleanAirCampaign.com.

After straying from the talking points and getting called out for it by bloggers and the AJC’s Jim Galloway, it seems like the governor got the memo this go-round. It’d sure be bad to repeat Barack Obama’s advice to the country hours before a much-anticipated presidential debate. Especially when that advice makes sense.

Politics aside, here’s the rundown on fuel: The gas shortage is expected to ease in the middle of next week, according to U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who when not soliciting endorsements from barbers and funeral directors, talks to the folks in the know. State officials are asking residents to conserve so stations can get a chance to replenish their supplies. (Topping off and filling up prior to running low keeps supply at a minimum.) If possible, hit up public transit, ride a bicycle or carpool. If you’re looking for stations that have gas, SpaceyG points you to the TwitterNetz.

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TROY DAVIS: Will be killed by Georgia tonight, barring a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court.

BAILOUT: What at first seemed like a tourniquet is starting to look more like a feather pillow for Wall Street, and congressional leaders are pointing out that we’ve been notoriously fooled before by this administration under guise of looming disaster.

BLAME: More Americans, by a 2-to-1 margin, blame Republicans over Democrats for the financial crisis.

STONEHENGE: British researchers determine it was a pilgrimage site for the sick.

BRIAN NICHOLS TRIAL: Is under way, with the defense portraying Nichols as lost in fantasy during his notorious 2005 killing spree, and the prosecution arguing he knew what he was doing.

GAS SHORTAGE: Ten percent of the country’s refining capacity is still down post-Ike, leading to major gasoline shortages, especially in the Southeast.

A BLEND IN NEED: The shortage here is compounded by environmental rules requiring the metro area to use a special type of gas known as “the Atlanta blend,” which includes oxygenates such as ethanol that help fuel burn more cleanly.

LARRY MUNSON: The inimitable voice of Georgia football, who has suffered from health problems in recent years, announced his immediate retirement Monday.

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INVESTMENT BANKS: A thing of the past.

RED, WHITE AND SACRÉ BLEU: TIME magazine bears the sobering message that all this federal financial fiddling is making us kind of French.

BRIAN NICHOLS TRIAL: Scheduled to begin today.

PUMP SLUMP: Gas is hard to find in parts of the Southeast as pipelines are slow to rebound from Ike, but the current Georgia shortages should wane soon.

1400 PEACHTREE: You know what we need to solve this real-estate crisis? A new 70-story skyscraper.

HOT AND BOTHERED: A man and woman flee police in a van after being caught by police midcoitus, then crash the van and run.

HELL TO THE CHIEFS: The Falcons dismantled Kansas City Sunday for their second win of the season, while handing the Chiefs their 12th straight loss.

BLACKOUT: UGA holds onto No. 3 in both polls; coach Mark Richt announces the team will wear black jerseys for the third time against No. 8 Alabama this Saturday, when ESPN GameDay will be in Athens.

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— Travis may be in Arizona shouting “Go Dawgs!” until his voice is gone, but that isn’t stopping him from exercising his fingers on Lucid Idiocy. Today he wonders if John McCain is elected president, which McCain will we get? The maverick of the past or the bullshit artist of the present?

— Whichever, and whomever, it is, the next president will have to deal with an economy that may be at its worst since the Great Depression. And with all that’s going on with our economy, Reporter Cub is feeling a wee bit unsettled. He also wonders what we all wonder: Why is gas still over $4 a gallon in Atlanta?

— But Jason Pye is even more unsettled. First, he notes that McCain has flip-flopped on the federal bail-out of AIG. And then he takes us into “deep breath” territory: the feds have spent over $800 billion in bail-outs so far. And that’s on top of a $400 billion federal deficit. Isn’t anyone keeping an eye on the house up there?

— The candidates are finally starting to get it that people are freaked out about the economy. And now that the dust has settled, more and more folks are looking at Sarah Palin and going WTF? She could be a heartbeat away from being our president? Well, not everyone, as Drift Grift notes in an especially sour edition of his “Morning Wooten.”

— Speaking of the paper that used to cover Dixie like the dew, the fine ladies at Pecanne Log poke a little fun at Atlanta at the expense of the AJC and how the paper of record always seems to want to put a happy face on things.

— And finally, Live Apartment Fire has the real skinny on the state of modern print journalism, courtesy of Doonesbury. Again, it’s all about the economy.

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THE VISIBLE HAND: Smugness is growing abroad over the global free-market champion — especially under such an anti-regulation Republican administration — essentially nationalizing private corporations to combat its sputtering economy.

PAIN IN THE BANK: Top central banks of the world unite to infuse $247 billion into money markets in an attempt to stave off a global financial meltdown.

GOUGING: The state has subpoenaed at least nine gas stations for price-gouging after Hurricane Ike shut down oil production on the Texas coast.

EUGLENA: A big swath of slimy plant/animal goo is floating down the Oostanaula River toward Rome.

ZONE DEFENSE: Metro Atlanta communities are more often having to deal with abandoned clear-cut lots and subdivisions that developers couldn’t afford to finish, often doing so by revisiting zoning conditions.

CLAYTON: Corrective Superintendent John Thompson meets with SACS president, says he’ll soon unveil the school system’s plan to regain accreditation in the next 12 months.

THE HOOKY CRUMBLES: Nine DeKalb parents have been arrested for educational neglect based on their children’s truancy; police have arrest warrants for 59 people in all, some of whose kids have missed 40-50 days of school.

DOT: Auditors discover the department’s financial situation is even worse than previously thought.

DENNIS QUAID: Visits Falcons practice to promote a movie.

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BACKS AGAINST THE WALL STREET: The Dow is suffering its worst loss since 2001 following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the buyout of Merrill Lynch, with AIG possibly next, despite recently borrowing $20 billion from its subsidiaries. The Fed today infused $50 billion into financial markets to stem the freefall.

MCCAIN: Reconfigures his recent statement that “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.”

PALIN: Won’t cooperate with the ongoing ethics probe because she says Obama’s campaign has infiltrated it. Actually, she didn’t say that. Despite the probe being into her conduct as governor, the announcement that Palin won’t be cooperating was made by the McCain campagin.

JUST THE TICKET: Atlanta scofflaws will have two months, starting Oct. 1, to pay old parking tickets and have all late fees waived, a measure approved by City Council in hopes of collecting at least some money they otherwise might never have seen.

GASOLINE: Prices in Georgia are the second-highest in the country, although analysts say they should settle somewhere around $4 soon.

NATURAL GAS: Prices in Georgia may rise 25 percent this winter.

BARR VS. BLOOMBERG: The Libertarian presidential candidate will appear in federal appeals court in Atlanta today to defend his defamation suit against the New York City mayor, which alleges Bloomberg libeled Barr’s client, Adventure Outdoors Sporting Goods, by calling the Smyrna store a rogue gun dealer in his famous 2006 lawsuit.

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Gov. Sonny Perdue wrapped his arms around each and every one of us today and activated a law that penalizes retailers who gouge consumers on the price of gas and other products.

“The threat of Hurricane Ike has disrupted the production of distribution of gasoline, which will have an effect on prices,” said Perdue. “However, we expect the prices that Georgians pay at the pump to be in line with the prices retailers are paying. We will not tolerate retailers taking advantage of Georgians during a time of emergency.”

If you suspect a retailer of price gouging, call the Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs at (404) 651-8600 or (800) 869-1123.

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OBAMA: Officially becomes the Democratic nominee for president, the first black person ever nominated by a major party. He’ll give his acceptance speech tonight.

MCCAIN: Has picked his running mate, whom he’ll inform of his decision today and introduce Friday in Ohio.

UNDERDRIVE: As gas prices and environmental worries have driven down driving, highways and other transportation projects, including commuter rail, have lost a major source of funding — gas taxes.

CLAYTON IS THE HARDEST PART: SACS will announce its accreditation decison at a 1 p.m. press conference today. [UPDATE: Accreditation lost.] Meanwhile, a state judge has recommended that Gov. Perdue remove four Clayton school board members from office for violating Georgia’s open-meetings laws and ethics code. 

FREE REFILL: Fay has now added two feet back to Lake Lanier, as rainwater continues to move downhill through the basin. It’s still 15 feet below full pool, but that one storm has made up for the month of August so far, which has been especially dry.

FUNNEL VISION: The National Weather Service says up to four tornadoes may have touched down in Hall County as Fay passed through.

OUR DEERLY DEPARTED: Rome’s world-famous six-legged deer died last week after surgery to remove his two unnecessary legs.

PAUL JOHNSON: The New York Times profiles Georgia Tech’s new skipper and his stubbornly distinctive coaching style, which he’ll debut in Atlanta tonight as Tech hosts Jacksonville State to open the season.

BRAVES: Call up minor-league outfielder Josh Anderson after trading CF Mark Kotsay to Boston Wednesday for minor-league outfielder Luis Sumoza. Atlanta also signed journeyman relief pitcher Elmer Dessens.

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VOTE: No one else is going to, so your vote will count that much more. Click here for CL’s voter guide.

DON’T DRINK THE WATER: A toxin found in Mars’ water dims scientists’ hopes of finding life there.

DOCK BLOCK: More than 2,300 private docks were built in coastal Georgia between 1996 and 2006, and each one can reduce biomass production by 30 percent below it due to blocked sunlight. Researchers are thus studying four types of docks that allow sunlight through.

NEW GRADY CEO: Says changing “the aura” will be the difference at Grady; plans to buy upgraded medical equipment, identify the top 10 financial issues and streamline processes in an effort to attract more insured patients to the beleaguered hospital.

WI-FI IN THE SKY: Delta plans to start offering Wi-Fi on all its domestic flights by next summer, but it’ll cost $10 for three hours or less and $13 for longer flights.

FIELD TRIPS: Georgia schools considering canceling them to save fuel.

TAILS WAGGING DAWGS: Mark Richt discusses the slew of arrested and penalized players this offseason; he and top players echo the line that they won’t be a distraction for long.

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VACANCY: Atlanta police have a new burglary unit dedicated to monitoring houses that have been foreclosed or abandoned, as copper thieves grow in numbers and audacity.

CITY COUNCIL: Wants to keep Fire Station No. 7 open.

SOUTH BY NORTHWEST: Northwest Airlines tells its employees that it may move up to 400 jobs to Atlanta.

JACKSON COUNTY: Gets state approval to sell discounted gas to the county’s nine municipalities, the first county in Georgia to do so.

BLUE JEAN BANDITS: Five suspects are arrested.

WITHOUT A PADDLE: Fifty thousand tons of sewage spill into the ground in Gainesville, entering a tributary of Balus Creek.

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JEKYLL: The first new development in three decades on the island, a Hampton Inn, breaks ground Monday.

AERO HEADS: Jacoby Development’s large-scale “aerotropolis” redevelopment of the Hapeville Ford plant could be the southside city’s big break, but commercial real-estate experts say it’s also a big risk.

REVIVAL: State gives $10,000 to proposed new Allman Brothers museum in Macon.

CEASAR MITCHELL: Running for mayor.

TRIALS OF JOB: Mayor Franklin announces she’ll cut another 165 jobs to deal with the budget shortfall.

THE LONG RUN: USA Today profiles the Braves’ baffling inability to win one-run games.

CLASSICAL GAS: Norcross gas station took part in a $1.99/gallon marketing gimmick that had a line of cars waiting 30 minutes or more to fill up.

NICHOLS TRIAL: Judge says it needs to be moved.

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Earliest date new U.S. offshore drilling might produce oil for market: 2030

Earliest date oil from the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge might produce oil for market: 2018

Estimated amount offshore and ANWR drilling will lower the price of gasoline per gallon in 2025: 3.5 cents

Barrels of oil Americans use daily: 21 million

Barrels of oil Tifton agricultural scientist J.C. Bell says he can produce annually using bio-mass (non-food plant materials): 5 billion

Percent of current U.S. oil consumption 5 billion barrels equals: 65

Annual budget of Bell’s research facility: $60 million

Exxon-Mobil’s average daily profit during the first-quarter of 2008: $119.3 million

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, Bell BioEnergy Labs, Tifton Gazette, CNNMoney.com

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We have come such a long way from praying for rain.

Friday Night Drag Racing with Governor Perdue

ATLANTA– Governor Perdue and Atlanta Motor Speedway President and General Manager Ed Clark will square off in a heads up street drag race down Atlanta Motor Speedway’s drag strip TONIGHT, Friday, June 27, 2008.

Friday, June 27, 2008
8 p.m.
WHAT: Governor Perdue and AMS President Clark Address Media

WHERE: Infield media center – deadline room
Atlanta Motor Speedway
1500 Highway 19-41
Hampton, GA 30228

9 p.m.

WHAT: Governor Perdue and AMS President Clark Square Off In a Heads Up Street Drag Race

WHERE: Atlanta Motor Speedway
1500 Highway 19-41
Hampton, GA 30228

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EVERGLADE PLUG-IN: United States Sugar agrees to sell 187,000 acres in the Everglades, and all of the company’s other assets, to the state of Florida for $1.75 billion, which will allow natural water flow from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay for the first time since the 1890s.

OBAMA: Leads McCain in two polls by more than 10 points, although June poll results rarely hold steady through November. Hillary Clinton begins campaigning for Obama today. Obama asks his supporters to help alleviate some of her campaign debt.

UNIONS’ UNION: Delta and Northwest pilot unions agree on a joint contract.

CYBER RATTLING: Atlanta is the 10th-largest cybercity and largest in the Southeast.

COLLARED: Police pull over and arrest an Atlanta man in Macon driving a U-Haul loaded with $150,000 worth of Polo shirts that had been stolen in Valdosta.

GAS PRICE WAR: Two gas stations in Buford are in an arms race of affordability, with a gallon dropping as low as $3.45 over the weekend.

DOG BEAT DOG: Fresno State downs UGA to tie the series at 1-1; Game 3 to decide the national champion is tonight at 7.

JOHN THOMPSON: The Clayton County corrective superintendent says he was misheard in the video he posted online Monday, that he said Clayton schools “had a very slim chance” of maintaining accreditation, before he became superintendent, not “have a very slim chance.” Two Board of Education members back up the misheard version, saying Clayton will not maintain its accreditation.

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The Discovery Channel brings news that the worst gift Asia ever gave us could be used to offset some of our demand for oil.

[Rowan Sage of the University of Toronto and colleagues at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's] team gathered samples of kudzu from different locations in the south at different times of year and measured the amount of carbohydrate — which can be converted into ethanol by yeast — present in leaves, vines and roots.

The roots were by far the largest source of carbohydrate in the plant: up to 68 percent carbohydrate by dry weight, compared to a few percent in leaves and vines.

The researchers estimate that kudzu could produce 2.2 to 5.3 tons of carbohydrate per acre in much of the South, or about 270 gallons per acre of ethanol, which is comparable to the yield for corn of 210 to 320 gallons per acre. They recently published their findings in Biomass and Bioenergy.

Sounds awesome, but researchers say it would only offset our hunger for bioethanol by 8 percent. That’s if it’s economically viable to harvest the vicious vine. Or is it a weed?

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From The Independent:

Saudi Arabia will raise oil production to record levels within weeks in an attempt to avert an escalation of social and political unrest around the world . . . the Saudis will be pumping an extra half-a-million barrels of oil a day compared to last month, bringing total Saudi production to 9.7 million barrels a day,”

Let’s see:

500,000 barrels per day
x $140 per barrel
x 365 days
= The Saudi royal family has just promised to boost its oil revenue at an annual rate of approximately $25.6 billion.

But they’re doing it to avert social and political unrest, not for the money.

Forgive me, Saudi royal family, if I neglect to mail you a thank you note.

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MALIGNANT RUMORS: Obama goes against political tradition of ignoring unsubstantiated attacks, creates website to combat rumor-mongering e-mails.

I WANNA TAKE YOU DRIER: The drought is still getting worse.

CLASSICAL GAS: Gas is cheaper in South Carolina; maybe we should look into annexing it.

BLAIS UNDER PRESSURE: Richard Blais is still the top chef to us even though he “choked” and then choked up last night.

GSU: Hires former Ga. Tech coach Bill Curry to head its nascent football team, which will begin play in 2010 at the Georgia Dome.

DRIVIN’ THAT TRAIN: Casey Jones pulled over, charged with marijuana meth and Xanax possession.

HOOP SCHEMES: Disgraced former NBA ref with plenty of incentive to make up such a story nonetheless weaves an intriguing tale of playoff-rigging NBA execs and bought-out refs.

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At a June 2 press conference, Gov. Sonny Perdue announced that he has halted a state gas tax increase because of high prices at the pump and tough economic times. And what did he say about commuter rail or using less gas? Nada.

“I’m persuaded we’ve got great reserves here that we can bring to the market very quickly rather than being held hostage from the international perspective.”

— The governor on why the U.S. should drill for oil.

“I’ve seen people do it. I see them ride a little car for a little while, and then they’re back in big vehicles after a while.”

— Perdue’s response when asked if he’d consider switching the state’s fleet of vehicles or his personal transport, a SUV, to hybrids.

“I travel pretty lightly as most of you know.”

— Perdue says his retinue is smaller than that of most governors. Perdue has visited at least 14 Georgia cities since April 24. After the press conference, he flew to Savannah.

(Photo illustration by John Yardley)

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LET’S ALL OWE TO THE LOBBY: Saxby Chambliss skips debate in which five Dems and a Lib argue over whether taking PAC money affects a candidate’s integrity.

OBAMA: Expected to make a trip to Georgia sometime this month, which could help some down-ticket Georgia Dems in July as well as November.

WRONG SIDE OF THE TAX: National average gas price reaches $4 a gallon for the first time in history. State gas taxes are often higher than the much-politicized federal tax, but many states depend heavily on them for infrastructure maintenance.

REST FOR THE WEARY: SCAD students design, build beds for the homeless in Savannah.

ROCK US LIKE A HURRICANE: State climatologist says low stream flows indicate a worsening drought; tropical storms may be our only relief.

WARMTH WAVE: Temperatures are nearing record highs. Still, AccessNorthGa.com avoids the temptation to sensationalize the story with this news graphic.

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CLINTON: To suspend campaign for the presidential nomination Saturday; begins campaign for the vice-presidential nomination. Jimmy Carter says Obama picking her would be “the worst mistake that could be made.”

PAIN IN THE GAS: Drivers are increasingly procrastinating buying gas as prices skyrocket go up, meaning they run out more. In Georgia, taxpayer-funded HERO trucks will give a gallon or two of gas to stranded motorists, but HERO truck drivers say they’re starting to be spread too thin.

REEF MADNESS: Since our governor prioritized a fishing initiative over sustainable development or transportation relief, it would be nice if we at least had good coastal fishing in Georgia. So the DNR is sinking old ships and building artificial reefs to build fisheries up from the bottom of the food chain.

SMOLTZ: Out for season with shoulder injury. Could be career-ending, but Smoltz is famously resilient.

HOLYFIELD: Losing $10 million home in Fayette County and falling behind on child support.

I HATE THE 90s: Temperatures will start reaching the 90s today and through the weekend, combining with a code orange smog alert to make breathing unpleasant.

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