About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2011)
j dM© ATHENS NEWS AND VIEWS Krazy Korner ifA THens.Ga HALF MARATHON AthensGaHalf.com 4 FLAGPOLE.COM • OCTOBER 19, 2011 Mic check! The Korner is now occupied. The Occupy Wall Street movement has taken parks and streets across the country to provide a voice for the 99 percent of Americans held in various degrees of economic thrall to the wealthi est 1 percent. This Korner is now occupied for the people. There is something very wrong in the United States. Over the past 30 years, an economic and political elite has commandeered the ship of state and engineered policy which benefits the very wealthy at the | expense of everyone else. Corporations and banks now own your govern ment. It is not only Congressman Paul Broun who has done the bidding of the elite; it has been both Republicans and Democrats, Bushes and Clintons, who have presided over this unprecedented flow of wealth and power to the top. The middle class is dete riorating by the day. Nearly everyone is drowning in debt. Nearly one in four American children lives in poverty. Meanwhile, the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans are doing better than ever. Wealth disparity is at levels not seen since the Gilded Age. So, while it’s fun to issue potshots at our particularly elite-serving Congressman, more is needed. Joking is fun, but this is no joke. This is bigger than Broun and his friends in Washington. This isn’t about him. It’s about you. [Matthew PulverJ SPONSORED BY: Redistricting Redux, Again; The committee recently appointed by Mayor Nancy Denson to address questions of how minority voting influence in Athens-Clarke County is affected by the county's two commission “superdis tricts’' hasn't yet begun meeting, but it will be something to keep an eye on when it does. Whatever findings the committee comes up with will be presented to the mayor and com mission, and if they include recommendations that any actions be taken, the M&C will have to vote on whether to pass them along to the local legislative delegation, since altera tions to the ACC charter must be approved at the state level. Sounds simple, right? But Denson says she will also pass the committee's recom mendations along to the delegation—for “informa tion" purposes—regardless of what the commission decides to do. Without ascribing any motives to Denson, who has repeatedly said she has no preference as to whether the superdistricts are kept or eliminated, this could put the commissioners in a tricky situation. They had no input on the appoint ment of the committee, despite the fact that they'll be asked to endorse its findings—or not. At least one of the committee members, Charlie Maddox, is on record as a strong advocate for eliminating superdistricts. If the committee goes Maddox's way, the commissioners will have to seriously consider whether the results of its deliberations were predetermined by its composition, and evaluate them accordingly. If the commissioners were then to decline to accept the committee's recommendations, they would likely have a problem on their hands with the delegation. Representative Doug McKillip's recent interest in remapping the county's electoral districts, including eliminating superdistricts, has been well documented, and the commission's overrid ing of a citizen committee's recommendations could give him just the cover he needs to take charge of the process after all. This is high-wire politics right here, folks— watch it closely. From the World of Responsible Journalism: In a development that's even more depress ing- and for the opposite reason—than it purports to be, the national news media last week picked up the “bizarre" story of the ACC Commission's consideration of whether to include public art in the construction budget of its enormous new jail. Or rather, a semi- accurate version of the story whose sole pur pose was to point out what a travesty it is for communities to allocate fiscal resources to art. Those hippies in the spaced-out commune of Athens, 6A are at it again, and this time they're totally out of control! Somehow, those whackjob peaceniks Nancy Denson and Kathy Hoard have gotten it into their heads that a civilized society should aspire for its cor rectional facilities to be something other than brutalist, medieval structures designed to punish fiercely all who gaze upon them. And Kelly Girtz and Alice Kinman have finally lost all their marbles: imagine suggesting that the jail is a public building where humans will go! Reality check, wingnuts: things like art and compassion and humanity are for societies that are soft—and we can't afford to be soft. Only by squeezing those decadent preoccupa tions from our collective consciousness like pus from a cyst can we hope to eradicate the evil of government interference with our God- given prerogative to eat one another alive. Welcome to our cultural moment, suckers- hope you enjoy your stay. Dave Marr news@flagpole com Is Occupy Wall Street working* Is Occupy Athens* As long as we re talking about it. the answer is “yes." See Miscellany on p. 9 for more information SATURDAY OCT 22,2011: WALK-UP REGISTRATION - $70 HEALTH AND FITNESS EXPO SUNDAY OCT 23,2011: ATHENS, GA HALF MARATHON 7:00 AM START PRESENTED BY: mm*. POVFR ioo.i jmMoirrwnrrurM* new balance DOWNTOWN aniens ^ e* 3.1 in fcu v. THE ADSMITH jdvettismq graphic drsign & wb cteativt Georgia Neurological Surgery Comprettem/ye firmn & Spine Care Athens Regional flagpole fAJ « r*\L? VlVN 1 m Holiday Inn
