Fresh Loaf

Peach Pundit’s Pete Randall is very angry about the swastika spray-painted on the sign outside Rep. David Scott’s office overnight.

Only there’s a neat twist.

Guess who Randall’s angry at?

He’s angry at the victim, David Scott.

Randall:

Before we all buy into the assumptions of simpletons like Rep. Scott, who never met any sympathy he didn’t take advantage of, let’s consider for a moment that maybe, just maybe, a supporter of Scott committed this vandalism under cover of night in order to create a scenario where the scary and non-existent “racists” could be blamed.

He’s sick and tired of people being sick and tired of racism and, gosh darnit, he’s not gonna take it anymore!

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This is a tip and challenge to every local Republican and/or self-described conservative with a platform from which to pontificate.

For months many of you have said you oppose the Obama/Democrat expansion of government power in part because you think growing government diminishes personal freedom.

If you want me to believe your interest in personal freedom is sincere, you’ll loudly declare your alliance with Henry Louis Gates, as well as declaring your outrage at his arrest.

You’ll also shun the Drudge-y temptation to turn the cop who arrested Gates into another fake conservative folk hero a la  Joe The Plumber.

If you think it’s okay for a cop to arrest someone for being angry or irritable (justifiably, or otherwise), you are not a conservative, you have no interest in curbing government power, and you don’t give a damn about personal freedom.

If principle doesn’t compel you, do it for your own self-interest. If you want black, brown and beige voters to ever consider voting for you, shun the white, bullying government employee and embrace the innocent black victim. Just once.

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Corra White Harris

When Kennesaw State University announced at the end of last year that it had accepted a donation of the 56-acre homestead of Georgia’s first best-selling female novelist — a property containing the oldest building in Bartow County and valued at more than $3 million — it seemed like a coup.

The Georgia Writers Association, whose administrative offices are based at KSU, certainly thought so. The nonprofit group, which holds writing workshops and sponsors an annual book awards ceremony, thought the site would be an ideal place to hold its spring retreat. In fact, it was suggested, the event could even be named for the property’s once famous former owner, Corra White Harris.

No one in the group knew much of Harris save what was in the university press release: In the early years of the 20th century, she was considered one of the state’s most celebrated writers and its most popular female author. Her most famous work, the pseudo-autobiographical 1910 novel A Circuit-Rider’s Wife, had been made into a movie starring Susan Hayward. Harris wrote serialized fiction and essays for some of the top magazines of the day and is even credited with being America’s first female war correspondent, covering World War I for the Saturday Evening Post. She published 19 books in all and, in the years before her death in 1935, was a regular columnist for the Atlanta Journal.

Kevin Cantwell, an English professor at Macon State College who was then the association’s board president, says he decided to do some research into Harris’ writings so the group would know a little more about its prospective literary mascot.

It took only a few minutes on the Internet before he came across a bombshell — an inflammatory piece of writing that effectively launched Harris’ career.

Richard Vengroff, the dean of humanities and social sciences at KSU, was one of the first people an appalled Cantwell told about his discovery: a letter to the editor by Harris that ran in an 1899 issue of the Independent, a respected New York magazine.

Says Vengroff: “I’ve seen a lot of racist documents in my 35 years of teaching, but that letter is one of the worst things I’ve ever read.”

(more…)

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Newt hearts Twitter

Newt’s bringing his unique brand of sanctimony to the Twit-o-sphere.

Via AJCer Jim Galloway’s Political Insider blog:

Former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich just twittered the following to his closest 344,357 friends about five minutes ago, never mentioning U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor by name:

“White man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist should also withdraw.” …

The aide said the “tweets” are genuine, which makes Gingrich the most prominent Republican yet to take a hard line against Obama’s nominee for the high court.

Newt Gingrich, defender of “white man racists” and traditional marriages. We Georgians should be proud.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Back by popular demand!

• Pecanne Log’s Christa, who’s been on fire the last few weeks, documents the mysterious senior citizen daredevils who putter around the city on what seem to be Segways — with seats! What are these baffling people movers and where can I purchase one?

• The deadline for the Urban Land Institute’s Urban Design competition was last week. Ben at Terminal Station was part of a Georgia Tech team that submitted a redevelopment vision for Denver. I had the opportunity to review his group’s proposal — a multi-phase smart-growth model — and it’s awesome. He’s posted photos and info about his team’s submission.

• Grift continues his hilarious live-blogging series of Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Lawmakers, the daily rundown of state Legislature news. So far we’ve seen talk of taxes, Sunday booze, Minoo! and transportation. Pretty soon, they’ll get to the boll weevil. Fingers crossed, folks.

• ATLMalcontent points us to a video about Elwin Wilson, a South Carolina man who in 1961 attacked a young Civil Rights activist — and future U.S. Representative — named John Lewis. Wilson, beset with remorse over the incident, recently visited Lewis’ office in Washington, D.C. to apologize. According to the Associated Press, Lewis “offered forgiveness without hesitation.”

• Leon’s Full Service, a new Decatur pub from the same owners who brought you the Brick Store, pours its first brew today at 5 p.m. Decatur Metro has the details, including a blow-by-blow account of the eBay auction for that first beer that’s raised more than $2,500 for employees of Trackside and 5th Earl.

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Jeff Johnson has a thing or two to say to the person who penned and circulated a vitriolic, idiotic letter that threatened African-Americans who live in Kirkwood.

Johnson, a yearlong Kirkwood resident and long-time Georgian, says the key to “saving” his neighborhood is to band together against displays of hate — and against the criminals whose acts instill that hate. He describes himself to the letter-writer as “the tall guy walking down the street headed to the park with my mixed kids. Don’t Shoot.”

Dear Angry Kirkwood Vigilante:

I hope you’re not as racist as you sound and just really angry over something that has touched you personally.

You mentioned crackheads, so let’s speak on drug epidemics. If you were in the suburbs, you would quite possibly have the same issue, only with non-African-American meth-heads. On to our specific issue here in Kirkwood: To everyone that bought a pricey house, and even those that brought a broke-down fixer-upper, my condolences. I would be upset too if I discovered the indigenous crackhead population after the purchase. I personally have grown up with the crack problem and have lost much more than my HD and Surround Sound, so allow me to offer these tips:

(more…)

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In what is widely considered a colossal display of bad taste, Murfreesboro Post columnist Stephen Lewis has compared Barack Obama’s ascent to the presidency to the “movin’ on up” jingle from “The Jeffersons.”

Both Romenesko and Gawker have called out Lewis on his idiotic column. The Gawker post also alludes to a similar though unrelated display of alleged racism toward Obama, this one with Georgia roots.

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Pittsburgh police say the McCain volunteer who says she’s robbed by black man who then carved the letter “B” on her face after he saw a McCain sticker on her car has admitted her claim is a lie.

Right-wing race-baiters have been trying since yesterday afternoon to associate Obama’s campaign with the incident.

Don’t hold your breath for apologies.

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A bar-owner in Marietta is selling t-shirts depicting Sen. Barack Obama as a banana-chomping chimp.

From AJC.com:

Marietta tavern owner Mike Norman says the T-shirts he’s peddling, featuring cartoon chimp Curious George peeling a banana, with “Obama in ‘08″ scrolled underneath, are “cute.” But to a coalition of critics, the shirts are an insulting exploitation of racial stereotypes from generations past.

But don’t call Mike Norman a racist!

Norman said those offended are “hunting for a reason to be mad” and insisted he is “not a racist.”

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(photo by Joeff Davis)

Dent Myers is the proprietor of Wildman’s Civil War Surplus and Herb Shop, a store in Kennesaw selling Civil War, KKK and Nazi memorabilia. He is famous for his beard, his friendly demeanor, his love of guns and his racism.

How long have you lived in Kennesaw?
I was here when Kennesaw was still a real town. Used to be a town with a history. Then all these people came. You know, with more people there’s more crime. Kennesaw is like North Atlanta.

Has your store ever been robbed?
Oh, no. Do you see any blood anywhere?

Do you have regular customers?
Some. A lot of people come here from overseas. They know about the store more than people here.

How did you get the idea to open Wildman’s?
I was into metal detecting and I had a few guns. I opened the store with a few hundred dollars.

Are the guns you carry loaded?
I wouldn’t carry them if they weren’t loaded. If you have a saw, you keep the blade sharp, if you’re going to use it.

Have you ever had to use them?
No, it’s just security. People won’t try to mess with you if they think you can protect yourself. Unless they’re on drugs or something. [He goes into an impression of someone on drugs, tugging on his mustache and waving his hands.] Like, “Hey, man”

I saw the “No dogs, negroes or Mexicans” sign. Is that enforced?
That’s really old. A friend gave it to me. Anyone’s welcome in here, as long as they’re not causing trouble. I mean, you can see the pictures there. [He gestures toward a bulletin board full of photographs of smiling black customers.]

How do you respond when people call you racist?
I like it. It’s my name. My full name is Racist Bigot Honky Redneck.

Do people ever come in to complain or protest? Or just to insult you?
No, not in here. That wouldn’t be a smart thing to do. They just don’t like me.

Do you have children?
No, I know what you gotta do to get them. It’s just me since my dog died a few years back. I’m always either here or home.

I understand you’re friends with [Led Zeppelin guitarist] Jimmy Page.
Well, he spent a weekend with me once. [Indicating a picture taped by the register] That’s him there, with my girlfriend at the time.

I think that’s about all I have for ya.
I wanna just — [Myers pulls out a magazine article about the store titled, "Little Shop of Horrors."]

What’s this from?
That’s Morris Dees’ paper. You know who Morris Dees is? Southern Poverty Unit? He’s a Jew boy that hates the Klan and skinheads and white people. But see what he called it? That’s good. I couldn’t buy that much publicity. I can’t hide, that’s for sure.

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How many times does Neal Boortz have to say things like this and post things on his website like this before people quit disputing that he’s a racist?

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Looking at my stat counter for the day I see that at almost 3:00am I’ve reached my normal daily total of unique visitors.Why?Because there are that many people out there searching for the keywords “Genarlow Wilson Sex Tape”.

— GriftDrift at Drifting Through The Grift on the prurient interest generated by discussion of the Genarlow Wilson sex tape.

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Personally, I really don’t get offended when I hear it used in a hateful tone, and if one of the homies says it, whatever. Tupac Shakur redefined the word for my generation (N.I.G.G.A., Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished). I think we can give words power by reacting, or over reacting. Sure most people think of slavery, oppression, and nooses, when it’s used that way as a hate word, but say what you want. I know who I am. Even so, RIP.

— My Urban Report reflects on this week’s symbolic burial of the word ‘nigger.’

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Was Huey Lewis not available? Or Mister Mister?

— CB at Rowland’s Office on the choice of musicians to entertain the MLB All-Star Game crowd.

Please click on the link, if only to see the picture.

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