Need something to break the ice with and get a conversation going? Try one of these:
1. Who did Chris Krok go after this morning?
2. Is that a pistol you’re carrying under Georgia’s new concealed weapons permit law or are you just glad to see me?
3. Do you believe the only way we’re ever going to get a smaller City Council in Macon is by using Photoshop?
4. Do you know where I can get an Obama yard sign?
5. I really think that (choose one) (a) the City of Macon (b) Bibb County (c) the State of Georgia has the final decision over widening F orest Hill Road and that they will do the right thing, don’t you?
6. Did you hear the Russians invaded Georgia? I really hope they don’t mess up St. Simons.
7. How do you think Mayor Reichert’s annexation plans are going?
8. Well, how is your 401(k) doing these days?
9. I know we’ve only just met but I believe that I can see into your soul.
10. Excuse me, but I believe you have more than three inches of your underwear showing and the city council just passed an ordinance outlawing sagging pants. You can’t do that any longer in the city of (complete this sentence) (a) Macon (b) Warner Robins.
39 responses so far ↓
1 Citro // Aug 19, 2008 at 10:39 pm
I’d rather talk about grandbabies!
All of these conversation starters make me want to pretend we’re in the library. “Shhhhh. No talking.”
2 facts are fact // Aug 19, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Chris was pretty good this morning. He actually had the spine to set the record straight on a number of issues we would like to pretend don’t exist. He took Commissioner Allen to task on his travel abuse and his constant mantra that Atkinson should not be elected because he was removed from the Board of Assessors. Krock, directly said he was full of it.
Perhaps the public would like to see some of the reference documents http://www.CommissionerJoeAllen.info
3 Cotton Avenue Solon // Aug 19, 2008 at 11:55 pm
The Russian oligarchs will probably buy St. Simons fairly soon, especially if most of the cottages are displaying Obama yard signs. Our main worry at the present time should be the rate at which our 401(k)s are dropping in value.
Unfortunately, this rate is in a steeper decline than the “pants to boxers” ratio of the Macon Mall Food Court Fight Thugs. That’s pretty bad.
Also imagine this………..if Krok’s ratings head south dramatically when he goes head to head with Kenny B. and Charles, the chances are that the size of City Council will remain the same.
He’ll get fired by Cumulus, and will thus not be able to eliminate City Council members with the concealed pistol he’s packing.
4 gladiolus // Aug 20, 2008 at 9:03 am
My brother calls from the Pacific Rim every day to see if I can see any of the Russian tanks, and asks if they commandeered my car. Then he asks me if Putin is driving any of the Panzers. It was funny the first time.
5 gladiolus // Aug 20, 2008 at 9:05 am
Krok sounds a little uninformed for my tastes. Sorry, I think it ain’t gonna fly. Long live Kenny B and Sir Charles !!! You gotta read a heckofalotta stuff to sound as good as the B-man and Chuck. It is not for the lightweight.
6 yomama // Aug 20, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Get Your Sign From Robert ; This Red Neck ain”t got one ! Battlegrounds
Obama’s Boomer Strength
By Alec MacGillis
Barack Obama has a problem with the older voter. His deficit with voters over age 65 is the main reason why he is not further ahead in a year when many factors — including his strength as a campaigner — seem to point toward a bigger edge.
But there is of course another way of looking at this year’s striking generation gap: that John McCain has an age problem of his own, and arguably a much bigger one than Obama. Not only is McCain getting walloped in the polls among under-30 voters, he is also trailing or barely breaking even among voters in their 40s, 50s and early 60s — those who one might expect to be less open than the youngsters to Obama’s charms.
If there is a cleavage in the generational landscape, the polls suggest, it is less between the youngest and the middle-aged than it is between over-65 voters and everybody else, and especially the now approaching retirement Baby Boomers.
To help understand the gap, consider Robert Reichert, the mayor of Macon, Ga., a moderate white Democrat who surprised many when he decided to endorse Obama shortly after meeting him in late January, after the South Carolina primary and about a week before Georgia’s primary on Super Tuesday. While in Macon recently to report on Obama’s voter registration efforts there, The Trail interviewed Reichert over breakfast at H&H, Macon’s legendary soul food restaurant (the Allman Brothers got fed for free there when they were unknown and starving) and was struck by his theory of generational politics.
Reichert, who turned 60 this week, said he believed that Obama had a chance to carry Georgia not only because of high black turnout, but because he believed that enough white Georgians his age saw in Obama the “validation” of the changes that they had helped bring about in their own lives. It was his generation, he said, that was most closely linked with the civil rights revolution in the South, that had watched society transform itself over the course of its adolescent and adult life. At the heart of the revolution had been Georgia’s Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., until his assassination in 1968. Forty years later came Obama, and Reichert saw providence in the timing.
“Moses wandered for 40 years, and since King, we’ve been lost and kind of wandering without direction for 40 years,” said Reichert, a genial lawyer with a drawl that would qualify him to play Atticus Finch. “My generation went through turbulent times in the 1960s that completely inverted the system we had grown up with. I’m so proud of us I could pop. We have been the generation in which the gate has swung 180 degrees. My generation! And doggone it, I’m proud of what we’ve done.”
He continued: “This shift, this transition, is what [Obama's] appealing to. The older you are, the more difficult it is to get out of the older school when things are changing that fast. But [for the baby boom generation], all of a sudden you have someone who arrives on the scene who can be a validation of what you’re waiting for, and holy mackerel, I believe Obama is that person. It’s that desire to believe, to have that desire validated…” He trailed off, catching himself in his exuberance.
Reichert said that he had gotten plenty of flack for his endorsement, which he made on local radio the day after he met Obama at a Macon church. “Some people say I was just carried away by the moment, but I said, shoot, I’m going to endorse Obama.” Beyond the generational pull, he said he was drawn by Obama’s message of inspiration. “The reason I’m a Democrat is that I was fortunate enough to hear Kennedy speak at his inauguration when I was 13,” he said. “He challenged us to go to the moon. He didn’t say how we were going to do it, he said we need to go, and god damn we did. That’s the beauty of someone with the ability to inspire.”
Reichert realized there were plenty of white Georgians of his generation who are not going to vote for Obama. The conservative Democratic congressman representing Macon, Jim Marshall, refused to endorse Obama even after he secured the nomination in early June, and has kept great distance from Obama’s efforts to register black voters in Macon, even though that work will benefit Marshall as he tries to hold onto his racially mixed, highly competitive district.
Reichert shrugged when asked about Marshall’s reticence, saying that the 1994 Democratic wipeout had left many moderate and conservative Democrats in the state, including himself, highly anxious about their job security. Marshall “is very sensitive to not trying to alienate any of his Republican support,” Reichert said.
But Reichert did not think that closer association with Obama would hurt Marshall, or anyone else, as much as they fear. The great generational shift, he said, has left in its place a much different Georgia — one that, among other things, is much younger than most other states. “It’s grossly unfair to characterize Georgia as a backwards place locked in the past. We’ve had a huge migration from other parts of the country. We are international, we are progressive, we are cosmopolitan,” he said. Then he paused and smiled. “Which isn’t to say that we don’t have some rednecks. We do — and we love them.”
Editor’s note: The above is from a December 13, 2008 article published in the Washington Post. (Oops, that’s August 13, 2008)
“Obama’s Boomer Strength” washingtonpost.com 8/13/2008
7 The Photographer // Aug 20, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Macon is like a dysfunctional family. It’s ok for us to beat the tar out of each other, but let some outsider throw some mud and we’re all ready to run him out of town. Geeezzz, give the man a break. He may be able to do something the other talking heads never had the cahunas to take on.
8 Anonymous // Aug 20, 2008 at 6:48 pm
“He may be able to do something the other talking heads never had the cahunas to take on.”
They may not have had the cahunas but they had the canibis and prescription pills.
9 missoldmacon // Aug 20, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Before we sink into politics the below is my suggested question to start a conversation:
“Do you think hurricanes are to Jim Cantore as Christmas is to tree farmers?”
10 gladiolus // Aug 20, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Jim Marshall is a closet Republican. In the best of ways. I think there are traits in Mayor R. that are similar. Marshall has also had closer contact with Senator Obama.
11 kturnerga // Aug 20, 2008 at 9:01 pm
How about:
1) Seen the Joe Allen info website yet? or
2) Ready for Kenny Bee and Charles or
3) Give me a call and we’ll go down to Cumulus on Mulberry when they go out of business.
12 Ima Thinkin // Aug 20, 2008 at 10:09 pm
You are absolutely right, Photographer!
13 Cotton Avenue Solon // Aug 21, 2008 at 9:22 am
MissOldMacon……………..it’s unbelievable with Cantore…………….he actually wants hurricanes and disasters.
When the next storm hits and I see Cantore hanging on for dear life from a light pole, I’m gonna be thinking of Christmas.
14 Cotton Avenue Solon // Aug 21, 2008 at 9:27 am
Next month The Commish, Joe Aristotle Allenopoulos, will need two county cell phones…………so he can talk live to Kenny B. AND to Krok at the same time while he’s traveling to a meeting of the National Association of County Commishes.
15 Greg // Aug 21, 2008 at 9:42 am
“Editor’s note: The above is from a December 13, 2008 article published in the Washington Post.”
Won’t we know by December 13 who the new president is? Or will this be another 2000?
gdg
16 Bibb Commish // Aug 21, 2008 at 10:09 am
I have 2 cell phones thank you.
17 Bibb Commish // Aug 21, 2008 at 10:15 am
Oh Im sory, The County does not pay for either. and for the record. and trips I or other Commissioners or any one doing County Business, If they spend over the amount needed to do that Business , He or she must make sure the County will be paid back as son as he or she returns from said County trip.
Or the Chaiman will follow the law and contact the County attorney for action on the person that did not follow the rules
18 Bibb Commish // Aug 21, 2008 at 10:17 am
My fingers are missing some keys. oops .
19 Cotton Avenue Solon // Aug 21, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Just some local political humor and parody, Joe! Thanks for explaining the county policy and regs on this.
Now, here’s the question of the day…………what are you gonna about Maurice??? This guy just won’t go away!!! What’s the deal???
20 Bobby Gerhardt // Aug 21, 2008 at 2:50 pm
St. Simons Island aka Macon By The Sea & Buckhead Beach
As a former Maconite and now an islander in Glynn County, rest assured that Georgia’s coastal forces have successfully repulsed the invading Russians (I drank two White ones last week). If they pull out their rubles while retreating to our beautiful beaches and try to buy us out, they better get used to the extra zero attached to every SSI property (make that two extra for Sea Island!). Just another day in Paradise!
21 Bibb Commish // Aug 21, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Maurice is actually a nice guy. He has the Charlie sydrome. And I hope he will lose it only after the Election.
Ps
Along with Charlie.
22 gladiolus // Aug 21, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Miss Old Macon:
Jim Cantore is okay, but I do miss Hurricane John Hope. I would think you are young enough to remember the golden years of the Weather Channel. (I find that channel so entertaining!)
23 Cotton Avenue Solon // Aug 21, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Hey Bobby, while you’re barefootin’ down there on the beach, can you drink a couple White ones for me?
By the way, we’ve got most of Poplar St cleaned up, Cotton Avenue and Mulberry St are lookin’ pretty good………why don’t you just move back to Maconga, and we’ll find you and the Mrs. a nice condo or loft downtown?
24 Just Shut Up and Sit Down // Aug 21, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Forest Gump said “Stupid is as stupid does”. If you would just sit down and shut up, no one would know how dumb you are. I know you don’t have a clue as to what “syndrome ” means because you cannot spell syndrome. Actually you have trouble just not looking stupid. PLEASE folks, no more sympathy votes. Bibb County is big business. You need a businessman watching your tax dollars. Please , for the sake of Bibb County and your pocketbook , vote for Maurice Atkinson. Wouldn’t it be great for Bibb to have three fiscally responsible Republicans protecting your tax dollars.
25 Maurice Atkinson // Aug 21, 2008 at 11:30 pm
“”"”Now, here’s the question of the day…………what are you gonna about Maurice??? This guy just won’t go away!!! What’s the deal???”"”"
The deal is exposing the abject arrogance and waste that property owners are paying for. We elected individuals to lead, not party on the County dime and not allow our local government to run amuck.
The next four years have enormous issues that a competent Board of Commissioners needs to address. I certainly am looking forward to vigorously addressing those.
26 Cotton Avenue Solon // Aug 22, 2008 at 12:30 am
Some of these YouTube videos will put you to sleep, or make you slash your wrists, or make you wish you went shopping with the wife for 6 hours.
GGA!!!!! I just can’t take this anymore.
27 missoldmacon // Aug 22, 2008 at 6:58 am
“Glad” - - I well remember John Hope - he had family here in Macon town, too. He was forever calm, precise and I never saw him leaning sideways in a raincoat/umbrella being battered around by whatever hurricane. His was a true class act weather forecastor.
Cantore is a dare devil and as said here in another post probably prays for hurricanes, too. I think the weather channel has changed greatly since ABC (?) bought it - look for much more “global warming/AlGore” stuff. I remember when it was nice to just have it on for the good background music they played - why at Christmas time, for goodness sakes, they played Christmas carols, etc. !!- - see that being done now under the new owners? I think not.
28 missoldmacon // Aug 22, 2008 at 7:04 am
Note that “Your comment is awaiting moderation”? after one posts a comment?
My, my - - now that is really a class act comment in itself.
I feel as though I’m standing in the outchamber of the throne room at Buckingham Palace and the butler has just said to me
“Your Highness awaits your presence”……
Classy with good taste is our WMCC creator, don’t you think?
29 wmccnews // Aug 22, 2008 at 7:18 am
missold, I really don’t want to spend time in engaging in any “moderation,” as it’s known, but at the same time don’t want to leave comments totally unattended so as permit the type of junk that’s posted following macon.com articles, for example. Presently, the only filter that’s switched on requires my OK for anyone whose comments have not been approved before. However, the program does not always pass through previous commenters - like you, I guess. (Don’t call me “Your Highness” or I’ll put the Big Filter on you. ;>)
30 gladiolus // Aug 22, 2008 at 10:54 am
Durn, (and dang for those of us familiar with SoWeGa), I wanna get the filter. I hear the spa charges about 40 bux extra for that!!!
31 kturnerga // Aug 22, 2008 at 12:32 pm
I’ve set food and water for Maurice at my doorstep every morning. I don’t want him to go away. In fact I’m taking him for his vaccinations.
Oops; I’m in Lonzy’s district with the tall tall weeds in the empty lots.
32 missoldmacon // Aug 22, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Well, thank goodness for the “filter” thing….the comments on Macon.com sometimes should have been left untyped….
Good to know that some of us can be “unfiltered” isn’t it…..
I’ll forego anymore references to royalty from now on.
33 gladiolus // Aug 22, 2008 at 5:02 pm
What can I say, Cotton, Ima, MissOl, Citro, to get mahselff filtered? I am now obsessed with the prospect, since I have rarely uttered dumber things than I do here. I want my filter!!! Maybe if I start telling really bad lawyer jokes…
34 kturnerga // Aug 22, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Occasionally brevity and time constraints allow for inaccuracy eg. I get in a hurry and shoot my trap off. I took a journalism course from Mr. Ed Courson himself and don’t want to let him down in his waning years. Perfection is still liiusive I mean lusive I mean elusive.
35 LoneRanger 1 // Aug 23, 2008 at 11:53 am
where is tonto
36 LoneRanger 1 // Aug 23, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Has anyone checked on Mr Maurice Atkinson and his job performance and what class he attented.Why did he leave the Tax office
I am tired of him using this as a political platform.
(Ed.: Me, too.)
37 Maurice Atkinson // Aug 23, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Using this as a political forum is almost an oxymoron, as nearly element of this blog is political satire in some form.
The fact is, I was appointed the Board of Assessors in October 2005. I began work in November. I attended the first available class to obtain certification in March ’06. I’ve posted comments regarding the assessor issue at http://mauriceatkinson.com/assessordocumentation.aspx .
38 Just Shut Up and Sit Down // Aug 23, 2008 at 7:34 pm
LoneRanger, you took off your mask when you could not spell “attended”. Please just “Sit Down”. Tonto is capital “T.”
39 LoneRanger 1 // Aug 24, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Thank you for showing me my typing error. typo’s . You are PERFECT I am sure.
And you do not know me. Sorry Charlie.
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