Okay, I kind of think it’s a travesty that only two of the five finalists in the AJC’s I Love My Neighborhood Contest are intown Atlanta neighborhoods, but I’m just thankful that my own East Atlanta Village is in there. The other neighborhoods are in Acworth, McDonough, Marietta, and the ITP Castleberry Hill.

Acworth? Huh.

Best of all, Jessica King snapped a great pic of East Atlanta local personality The Sheriff.

You can vote once a day until they shut the poll down. Go East Atlanta!

sara over at going through the motions did a great job of liveblogging today’s genarlow wilson hearing in front of the state supreme court – part one here, part two here, part three here.

that’s it. no commentary, it’s just good reporting and i wanted to point you to it.

this monday my gf took me somewhere to eat i never would have found on my own. deep in the heart of southwest atlanta, just about equidistant to i-20, i-285 and the langford freeway is a little unassuming restaurant that sits on the south side of cascade road called very simply – the beautiful restaurant.

the place serves ‘soul food’ if that’s what you want to call it; chopped steak, ribs, fried fish, chicken, cornbread, turnip greens, mac and cheese; and the like. and it is some of the best of that style of food i have ever had.

the food is served from a cafeteria-style line and there is no relationship to what is on the menu and what is in the warming pans; you just wait your turn and then tell the man behind the line what you want. for my dinner i got chopped steak, mac and cheese and turnip greens.
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Since james did such a great job digging into the details of the Vick indictment, I thought I’d open up a mostly comments-oriented post concerning the ramifications of the indictment and the potential outcomes IF Vick is convicted.

Seeing as how new NFL commish Roger Goodell has a ton of power to suspend and fine players (see Pacman Jones) many think he’ll weigh in PRIOR to the court date Vick has coming up soon. Some are actively calling on Goodell to ban Vick from play in the NFL to send a message.

Under new rules agreed upon by the Players Union and the NFL IF Vick is convicted he’ll get that kind of sentence from the league anyhow, but Goodell has proven he’s eager and willing to take preemptive actions against players who don’t follow the law.

Which begs the question: if Pacman and Vick had committed opposite offenses (if they switched alleged crimes) what would happen? Most think he’ll be unable to escape unscathed if he escapes at all.

Does Vick deserve “star” treatment because of his position (QB), his unique skill-set and his marketability (such as it is now) for the NFL and the Falcons?

I’m curious to know what you think about the issues that fall outside of the indictment letter and the accused crimes.

Should the league step in to mete out punishment? What should ownership do? What should fans do (other than cancel season tickets)?

Comment!

you would have to be living under a rock right now to not know that falcons qb michael vick has been indicted by a federal grand jury in conjunction with running an illegal dogfighting kennel on a property he owned in virginia.- full story in the ajc here.

i spent some time reading the indictment last night and a few things popped out at me -

- first, the level of cruelty these dogs were subjected to is enough to make anybody squirm. read the indictment and wait until you get to the part about the ‘rape table’ for the female pit bulls
-second, it’s clear that there is a pretty large dog-fighting subculture throughout the southeast. i hope people will be persuaded by this high-profile indictment to seek their entertainment elsewhere. this sort of thing has no place in our society anymore
- next, vick is also known as ‘ookie’ in the indictment. i guess this is yet another name for enterprising fans to put on a jersey.
-finally, vick and his alleged co-conspirtaors named their alleged operation the “bad newz kennel.” the folks over at ronmexico.com didn’t have any ‘bad newz kennel’ shirts up for sale as of first glance this morning, but i am betting it won’t be long.

as reported in the ajc this morning, the mother of the young girl with downs syndrome mauled by a rottweiler in carroll county was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct.

according to the report:

County Sheriff’s Capt. Shane Taylor said Florence Pauley admitted to doing methamphetamine the morning before and at 3 a.m. on the day of her daughter’s disappearance.

“We believe it obviously affected her in providing adequate supervision,” Taylor said.

there is so much tragic about this story and the conduct of the adults around this poor little girl.

all i really want to say is if you are reading this and you are using meth and think it only affects you, please take heed of this story.

if that’s the case here is a link you can check out. please.

Word at the fire hydrant is that every Tuesday night handsome furry men and well coiffed ladies can be found at Hotel Indigo for yappy hour – along with their humans.

Googling didn’t return any details on this (minus 10 pts), but pointed me instead to a similar event at Piedmont Bark.( plus 10 pts).

This is takes the cute single guy at the park with a cute pup thing to a whole new level. Oh to be single and inebriated.

Fark.com. You know Fark, that cool site where you can read and submit all sorts of amazing news items. That site that makes a S#&T load of money. Well, Drew Curtis, the man behind the site, is appearing at Manuel’s Tavern this Saturday (tomorrow) for a book signing/reading of his new one, “It’s Not News, It’s Fark: How Mass Media Tries to Pass Off Crap As News“.

It should be interesting.

from the ajc today:

“The ammonia levels inside the residence are at near toxic proportions,” said Corp. K. Darren Moloney, spokesman for Gwinnett County Police Department. “It is believed the house will be condemned.”

Gwinnett County Animal Control and four other agencies were called to the 1100 block of Oak Grove Circle on Wednesday morning to investigate reports of a foul smell. Inside, they found 40 cats and kittens and two dogs.

well given that comment about ammonia, i guess he wasn’t changing the litter.

i really wonder if anyone has ever done a study about this. every time i read one of these stories it’s always someone with a zillion cats. never dogs, always cats (or in this case a 20:1 ratio.)

oh and there seriously is a twisted part of me that wishes THIS was on youtube.

I know that rants about Atlanta traffic are completely predictable. I don’t care. I am doing it anyway.

Why is it that all of the drivers on 75 South added 30 minutes to my already four-hour plus trip from Huntsville by slowing down to rubberneck at a wreck on 75 North (that’s the other side of the highway, folks), yet sped up to a neck-breaking 65 MPH when the torrential downpour hit us only seconds later? I had almost zero visibility going 40 MPH and you fuckwads were flying by me.

I do not understand how all of us managed to get driver’s licenses; Does the state still give a test to drivers before issuing licenses?

I feel better.