Atlanta Progressive News

First, Georgia Politics Unfiltered, now Atlanta Public Affairs. Wow. Another Atlanta political commentator closes shop. Reprinted in full for informational purposes: #### My very first post on this blog was on January 7, 2005. It was a post about the lawsuit over the Druid Hills Golf Club and the Atlanta Human Relations Commission ordinance. It’s hard to believe that 4 […]

This breathtaking article appears in the Independent (UK): Johann Hari: You are being lied to about pirates Who imagined that in 2009, the world’s governments would be declaring a new War on Pirates? As you read this, the British Royal Navy – backed by the ships of more than two dozen nations, from the US to China – is sailing […]

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision today denying more appeals for Georgia death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis. In 1991, a Savannah jury convicted Davis of the 1989 murder of Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail. Since the original trial, seven of nine witnesses the prosecution used have either changed their testimony or recanted in sworn affidavits. […]

IPS Tax Day Report: Reversing the Great Tax Shift Institute for Policy Studieshttp://www.ips-dc.org/ Download the report: http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/#1207 REPORT DOCUMENTS SHIFT FROM THE RICH TO REST OF US: IDENTIFIES $450 BILLION IN HIKES TO FUND RECOVERY Washington, D.C. – America’s highest-income taxpayers, analysts at the Institute for Policy Studies detail in a new Tax Day report, pay a staggeringly smaller share […]

A source familiar with the matter tells Atlanta Progressive News that State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) is unlikely to run for Atlanta City Council President. There are many reasons, the source said, adding that Fort had not made a final decision as of yet while he is weighing other factors.  One factor includes Fort’s not wanting to give up his […]

(From Voters for Peace) President Obama has put forward a military budget that is $21 billion larger than the Bush military budget. His Defense Secretary, Bush holdover Robert Gates, has called for cutting some no-longer-needed and very expensive weapons systems, but he is also seeking more money for drones and a bigger DoD budget. Obama’s DoD budget is $534 billion, […]

1.  “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”  – Albert Einstein.   2.  “The best way to rob a bank is to own one.”  Bill Moyers interviews William K. Black, a regulator during the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s, on the massive, fraudulent, secretive transfer of hundreds of […]

Good ol’ US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has gone ahead and introduced S. 703 in the US Senate, which, like HR 676, calls for single-payer universal health care.  Sanders had previously been a co-sponsor in the Congressional bills for the last 2 Sessions at least. At this time, HR 676 has 74 cosponsors in addition to sponsor, US Rep. John […]

The ACLU of Georgia is apparently no longer operating out of downtown’s Citizen’s Trust Bank building. According to auto-reply messages received last week by APN, their new address is: 1900 The Exchange, Suite 425, Atlanta, GA 30339

The Atlanta Transit Riders Union just sent APN the following statement on the MARTA crisis.  Layoffs, budget cuts, and foreclosures are all signs of a deepening economic crisis that is affecting every sector of our society. While trillions of dollars are spent on wars and to bail out Wall Street and the banks, very little of that money is getting […]

This is simply unacceptable. How long before the Obama administration and Congress put this issue on their priority lists? From The New York Times: After decades of steady progress, the safety of the nation’s food supply is no longer improving. And in the case of salmonella — the dangerous bacteria recently found in peanuts and pistachios — infections may be creeping upward, […]

Vice President Joe Biden announced Thursday the release $2 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds for child care and disease prevention. This money will help health and human services programs targeted to children.  “Parents are worried about finding a job or keeping the job they have and they shouldn’t have to worry about affording quality child care,” […]

The General Services Administration (GSA) announced today that it will use American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to purchase 17,600 new vehicles for the federal government. The vehicles will be fuel efficient hybrids, each produced by one of the American auto makers: General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. “As a part of our commitment to the American auto industry, I […]

A committee of the Atlanta Regional Commission recommended today that the Commission send $25 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment (ARRA) money, currently earmarked for long-term transit projects in Atlanta, to MARTA to help the Authority make up a $24 million gap in its operating budget, according to a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Georgia General Assembly this year […]

The Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs announced today they are creating a joint electronic medical system in order for the two departments to share veterans’ medical information, according to a report from CNETNews.com. Read President Obama’s full remarks about the venture. From CNET: The Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record project will track soldiers’ lifelong medical histories […]