The AAA (formerly known as the American Automobile Association) is the second largest member organization in the country, behind only the Catholic church. With so many members, you can guess that the club wields a lot of political power, and you’d be right. But did you know that they use that power to lobby for more pollution, more sprawl, and less safe cars? I didn’t either. I’m a lapsed member, and you can bet I won’t re-up any time soon.

The Dictatortots are in concert at Athens’ legendary 40 Watt, and, as usual, the local press is in a tizzy.

The current The Onion is top notch.

An Intemperance witicism:

Maybe you read an earlier entry of mine regarding my inability to navigate [Atlanta]. And I will concede that I don’t have the keenest sense of direction. But even Magellan would get lost here. Of course, he probably would have been smart and just circumnavigated it.

The Atlanta Humane Society has an on-line Pet of the Week, ready for adoption. Today’s sounds adorable: 10 month old male puppy, Pitt Lab mix, lovable, playful, has lived with cats and other animals. The picture, though, shows a sharp fanged killing machine, ready to rip the heart from the cameraman.

Happy Birthday to Ghost in the Machine! Kevin Murphy was the first person to call me a progressive to my face. His simple comment in a short email made me realize for the first time that my political bent had wandered away from the Libertarians square into the progressive camp. And now that I’m looking around, I realize that I really like the view from here. Here’s to another superb year for one of the best weblogs out there!

South Carolina’s The State newspaper is reporting that al least two S.C. electoral college delegates say they have been asked to change vote to Gore. One delegate is a Bob Jones University graduate. “I’d cut my arm off first before voting for Al Gore. "

This is probably making the rounds like wildfire. But since I haven’t read up on the other weblogs in a few days, I can pretend like I’m the first… Amazon.com recognized a good thing when it saw it and redesigned its user interface based on the ease-of-use standard set by the Palm Beach county ballots.

There’s an odd case before the Georgia Supreme Court right now. A county near here has banned outdoor signs, except a sinle sign advertising a business’ name. The intent, of course, is to ban billboards. Interstate 95 runs through the county, and it’s near the state line. Prime billboard territory. There is a strip club up the road a bit called Risque Cafe. The owners of the club formed a new company, incorporated under the name “Risque Cafe / We Bare All Exit 10, Inc.” They then leased a warehouse along the interstate and erected a sign bearing the company name. The county cried foul, and now it’s in the supreme court.

While I’ve been busy putting in some serious time at work this week, Kevin at Ghost in the Machine has been writing what I would have. There’re many words there, but they’re all worth reading.