Fresh Loaf

PRESIDENTIAL LOSERS: Sen. John McCain securing the Internet for only the rich

>> Senator and Presidential loser John McCain proposed a new bill, the Internet Freedom Act, that would allow broadband and wireless providers to discriminate and prefer certain traffic, giving those who can pay more better access. McCain hopes to ensure that his constituents alone can view “Nailin’ Palin” on high-speed porn while the less fortunate have to wait for it to load. (PC World)

>> Opening in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar is a new Louis Vuitton store, one of the first luxury fashion stores in the region. What Mongolian nomad ISN’T dying for the LV-Stephen Sprouse collab HELLO!? (New York Magazine)

>> After being transferred to house arrest from prison, a 30-year-old Sicilian man asked police to put him back in jail to avoid arguing with his wife. Maybe she was asking for too many Louis Vuitton bags. (Reuters)

>> Gawker reports that while massive lay-offs were going on at Vanity Fair yesterday, among the total scaling back of Conde Nast, VF’s editor Graydon Carter was on a private jet to Bermuda. Maybe it was for a story he was doing about overpaid, bad-mannered magazine editors. (Gawker)

>> And finally, Athens, Ga. sweethearts REM have joined a coalition of musical artists against the Guantanamo Bay prison after reports that guards played pop music at incredible volumes to torture the prisoners. And I thought listening to the latest REM album on normal volume was torture enough. (Entertainment Weekly)

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Word on the street is that Sen. John McCain will join Sen. Saxby Chambliss Thursday at 6:00 p.m. for a fundraiser at downtown’s 191 Club. The event is hosted by former Georgia-Pacific CEO Pete Correll and Cousins Properties CEO Tom Bell. Cousins HQ is in the same building as the 191 Club, 191 Peachtree.

Chambliss faces a run-off election next month against Democratic challenger Jim Martin. CL’s Scott Henry reported yesterday that McCain and Chambliss will also appear together Thursday at Cobb Energy Center.

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Fresh off getting shellacked in last week’s presidential election, Arizona Sen. John McCain is coming to Atlanta to stump for Georgia’s embattled Sen. Saxby Chambliss.

Zell and the Colonel

Well, of course, he’s not actually coming to Atlanta itself. That’s not the real America. Instead, he’ll appear just inside Cobb County at the Cobb Energy Center at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.

There’s talk that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin may appear on behalf of Saxby as well, but it won’t be on this trip. Nor will McCain be accompanied by Joe the Plumber.

Oddly, the Georgia GOP’s website contains no mention of Thursday’s rally, but it does list a Saturday event you’ll no doubt want to attend. At 12:30 p.m., Saxby will appear at Poole’s BBQ in Ellijay. For many years now, the restaurant’s owner, Col. Poole — who resembles a taller, older Sonny Perdue — has appeared at Republican gatherings in his trademark canary-yellow suit and outsized red-white-and-blue top hat.

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Even worse than losing an election, the national Republican Party has lost its way. The party that worked so hard at dividing America with one cultural wedge issue after another now finds itself divided, split into two camps: those who realize they need to reform the party and those who don’t.

At this point, I’m hoping only the most blinkered partisan would deny in his or her heart that the GOP somehow ended up being the party of ignorance, fear and intolerance. At least, those have tended to be the tools that party strategists have used to rally the troops.

By ignorance, I mean the systematic attacks on book-learnin’, evolution and competence reflected in the personality cults surrounding Pres. Bush and Gov. Palin, and in the ridiculous war on “elites,” whatever that means. Fear-mongering – over terrorist attacks, Iran, etc. – was, of course, the Bush administration’s default position. And the intolerance shown against gays and immigrants is hardly in keeping with real American values.

In the waning days of the presidential race, David Frum and other Republican leaders and strategists acknowledged that their party was floundering and that the Rovian tactics of smear and knee-jerk social conservatism won’t work anymore.

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The students of Atlanta’s Ron Clark Academy keep true democracy in mind with their remix of T.I.’s “Whatever You Like.” It gets a little hard to figure out the “arguments” toward the end, but I’d want to be in this class. CNN captured the video.

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— It’s the eve of the elections and I sense a vague restlessness. Elections come and go, but this one feels different. There’s anticipation and there’s unease, a collective holding of our breath tomorrow night until the results are in and we know for sure the direction our country will go. Life On The Q offers up their “Georgia Voting Guide For Queers,” complete with links to endorsements within the LGBT community. And they’re definitely looking for “that one” to take the election.

— That rings true for Catherine at Blog For Democracy, who notes the similarities between “T-O” and Matthew Santos, the president on West Wing played by Jimmy Smits. She says she used to watch the show and wish he was her real-life president. I never watched West Wing, but after Smits left office he became an assistant DA in Miami and decided to be Dexter’s running buddy. That show, I do watch. So I’m with Catherine, television character to television character.

— But what if some of us don’t get to vote? With the long lines and long waits for pre-voting, it seems possible that the volume of voters might overwhelm the polls. Which is why the lovely Sara at Going Through The Motions can’t understand why Secretary of State Katherine Harris (oops, wrong state) Karen Handel isn’t extending voting hours. And Handel’s excuse is lame — they’re doing exactly what she says can’t be done just a few miles up I-85 in North Carolina.

— Loved the moment is last night’s debate when the Big Sax Machine wagged his finger in J-Mart’s face. It was a great moment for Big Saxxy; he wouldn’t have had the cojones six years ago to do that to Max Cleland. At Down Right, the argument is made that it’s not the Sax Machine’s fault he’s lost a 20-something point lead. It’s just a sign of the times. Personally, I hope J-Mart has a metaphorical bucket of water and goes all Dorothy on him so we can collectively sing the “Ding-dong” song. Great tune for the times.

— According to Amy at Georgia Women Vote, the Bibb County Republican Party has asked Macon police for extra security at their headquarters tomorrow night. She notes that if things go as predicted, the DUI Task Force might make for a more appropriate option.

— And, finally, it was a gruesome Sunday for Left On Lanier. All he wanted to do was enjoy the Falcons pull out their can of whup-ass on the Oakland Raiders. Instead, he got bombarded by commercials. The Big Sax Machine dumps on J-Mart, followed by J-Mart dumping on Big Saxxy. Over and over and over. Where, oh, where does it all end? Hopefully, it all ends tomorrow. And if not, dude, get yourself a DVR.

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