Balch's political experience is limited to membership with the Fulton County Democratic Party. Yet, he has managed to finish 2009 with more money in the bank than the man he hopes to replace in the Georgia State Senate -- Vincent Fort. Fort, a seven-term Democrat, reported that his re-election campaign raised $75,633.21, spent $66,025.06 and had $9,608.15 left in the bank. Graham Balch reported that, for the year 2009, his campaign raised $72,424.11 (including a contribution from former Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders), spent $12,466.19 and had $59,957.92 cash on hand. Balch's campaign touted their fundraising numbers proclaiming a six-to-one cash on hand advantage entering the election year."We are humbled by the depth and breadth of support we have received from the community and are energized by all the people who are excited about having strong new leadership in the 39th district." stated Balch. "Our campaign will continue to build momentum and earn the respect and support of voters across the district in the coming months." Balch will face Fort in the July 20th Democratic primary.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Vincent Fort Outraised By Political Newcomer
The trucks won't load themselves...
Here are your morning quotes... have a good day!
"Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it." Soren Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855)
"Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere." G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)
Three states seek to keep water rights talks secret
AJC:
Georgia, Alabama and Florida are asking a federal judge to order that their water rights negotiations be kept secret.
In a motion filed this week, the three states say keeping their talks and related documents confidential "may encourage the open exchange of information and proposals necessary to address the issues... and discourage the improper dissemination of the same."Some observers object.
"We actually keep asking ourselves ‘What is it that has got to be concealed here?'" said Sally Bethea, executive director of the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, a Georgia water protection group.
"After 20 years, don't we all basically know the facts? Is this confidentiality arrangement really something just to serve as cover for political leaders -- the governors? Bottom line, we think secrecy is not in the best interest of all the people in the three states who rely on these river systems."
The executive committee of the ACF Stakeholders objected to the states' request in a letter sent to Federal District Judge Paul Magnuson Wednesday. The committee spoke for itself in the letter and not for the ACF Stakeholders' 95 members, which include power companies, local governments, environmentalists and others in Georgia and Florida that may have different positions on the issue.
“Making decisions that affect the lives of millions of people in secrecy will not garner the support necessary to sustain the implementation of the decisions," Wilton Rooks, chairman of the ACF Stakeholders executive committee wrote in the letter.
Asked about the reasons for the request for secrecy, a spokesman for Gov. Sonny Perdue referred the AJC back to the motion before the judge.
Three states seek to keep water rights talks secret
AJC:
Georgia, Alabama and Florida are asking a federal judge to order that their water rights negotiations be kept secret.
In a motion filed this week, the three states say keeping their talks and related documents confidential "may encourage the open exchange of information and proposals necessary to address the issues... and discourage the improper dissemination of the same."Some observers object.
"We actually keep asking ourselves ‘What is it that has got to be concealed here?'" said Sally Bethea, executive director of the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, a Georgia water protection group.
"After 20 years, don't we all basically know the facts? Is this confidentiality arrangement really something just to serve as cover for political leaders -- the governors? Bottom line, we think secrecy is not in the best interest of all the people in the three states who rely on these river systems."
The executive committee of the ACF Stakeholders objected to the states' request in a letter sent to Federal District Judge Paul Magnuson Wednesday. The committee spoke for itself in the letter and not for the ACF Stakeholders' 95 members, which include power companies, local governments, environmentalists and others in Georgia and Florida that may have different positions on the issue.
“Making decisions that affect the lives of millions of people in secrecy will not garner the support necessary to sustain the implementation of the decisions," Wilton Rooks, chairman of the ACF Stakeholders executive committee wrote in the letter.
Asked about the reasons for the request for secrecy, a spokesman for Gov. Sonny Perdue referred the AJC back to the motion before the judge.
Angola welcomes return of old colonial power
After rising by 35 per cent in 2008, Portuguese exports to Angola have continued to grow, strengthening the country’s position in second place behind China.
These inflows have been accompanied by growing numbers of Portuguese emigrants. With Portugal’s economy hard hit by the international finance crisis recession and unemployment rising, thousands of Portuguese have flocked to the oil and diamond-rich country.
This is all a far cry from 1975 when, on the eve of Angolan independence, an estimated 500,000 Portuguese fled the country, as if – in the words of the Polish writer Ryszard Kapuscinski – “from an infectious disease”. Broadly, the newly independent Angolans, too, did not lament the departure of the Portuguese, who were notorious as among the more repressive and mean-spirited colonists.
But now, in the wake of the end of the civil war eight years ago, diplomats estimate at least 100,000 Portuguese are in Angola, twice as many as three years ago, although some immigrants did leave last year.
Antonio Prata, head of international relations at Angola National Investment Agency, claims that in the past year Portugal’s presence in Angola “has acquired a completely different dimension” although he concedes it is a “love-hate” relationship.
Portuguese investments account for about 20 per cent of all foreign inflows monitored by the agency, he says. “Many of these businesses have very little chance of surviving in Europe so they internationalise and Angola is the obvious place.”
“The Portuguese relationship has been consolidated,” adds one European diplomat, noting recent initiatives to bring Angolan and Portuguese commercial law into line.
In 1975, as the colonists’ dreams disintegrated and a bitter civil war between rival liberation movements gathered pace, a new wooden city of crates emerged as the Portuguese packed up their belongings, wrote Mr Kapuscinski.
Today, on the very same streets, the burgeoning Portuguese commercial presence is immediately visible, with construction companies such as Teixeira Duarte and Soares da Costa, competing with Chinese and Brazilian builders.
Billboard advertisements for Blue, a popular cola-style soft drink launched five years ago by Refrianga, a Portuguese company, are more prominent than those for established brands.
The Portuguese businesses face some formidable obstacles: Angola has one of the least friendly business environments in the world according to the International Finance Corporation’s annual Doing Business survey.
Ricardo Bordalo, the Luanda representative of Agencia Lusa, the Portuguese press agency, fears that some smaller businesses could simply run out of money. In addition, foreign investors are encouraged to take local equity partners and as Mr Pires de Lima puts it, the process of “conciliating a lot of interests” can be a “major headache”.
Finally, although culture and language may give Portuguese businesses an edge over some of its foreign competitors, they face a tough challenge from an equally well-equipped and commercially more powerful rival: Brazil, not to mention China, which regards Angola as one of its most important African partners.
Portuguese consumer goods brands may be popular in Angola but so too, increasingly, are Brazil’s, and nowhere more so than in the low-income urban areas where purchasing power has helped fuel recent growth.
Roque Santerro, the vast sprawling market that occupies several square kilometres above Luanda’s port, is named – like two other Luanda markets – after a character in one of the Brazilian soap operas that are very popular among the poor. At his clothes stall there, “One Love”, a 38-year-old market trader, says his favourite country – and best source of “quality merchandise” – is Brazil.
But Mr Pires de Lima stresses the importance of the Portuguese return cannot be over-stated. “We are really keen,” he says. “Angola can be an important part of our story.”
Nigeria constitutional crisis looms
Nigeria is at risk of a full-blown constitutional crisis as unease over the absence of more than six weeks of its ailing president reaches fever pitch.
Buffeted by coups and corruption in their 50 years of independence, Nigerians have grown accustomed to upheaval.
But the prospect of legal battles, threats of renewed attacks on the oil industry and continued fallout from a young Nigerian’s alleged attempt to blow up a transatlantic jet on Christmas day have generated pervasive tension.
Little has been revealed about the health of Umaru Yar’Adua, the 58-year-old president elected in 2007’s flawed polls, since late November when he was rushed to a Saudi Arabian hospital suffering from what his doctor said was an inflammation around the heart.
The ailing leader also has a chronic kidney complaint and has repeatedly sought treatment abroad.
“It will snowball out of our control if we don’t take measures now,” said Rotimi Akeredolu, president of the Nigerian Bar Association, whose lawsuit calling for the temporary transfer of presidential powers to Goodluck Jonathan, vice-president, could be heard as early as next Thursday.
“If it is not resolved by next week we may have to be more insistent on compliance with the constitution.”
Other similar legal challenges are pending but senior officials maintain nothing is constitutionally amiss.
The cabinet, which could ask the president to submit to medical examinations to ascertain whether he is well enough to serve, has declined to do so, prompting allegations that Mr Yar’Adua’s allies prefer the current unease to any threat to their control.
Difficult to govern at the best of times, Africa’s most populous nation and leading energy producer now appears rudderless in choppy waters.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Where are you located along the "diffusion of cool"
Joseph Health and Andrew Potter on the "diffusion of cool" from their book "Nation of Rebels: Why Counterculture Became Consumer Culture" p. 216:
The diffusion of cool occurs [spreads] in exactly the same way [as epidemics]. It begins with a small group of "innovators," who are the congenital nonconformists, always on the prowl for things that nobody else is doing, saying, wearing or using. The innovators are soon followed by a slightly larger group called the "early adopters." These are what we can call the cool brokers. They keep tabs on the innovators, evaluate what they are doing and decide whether or not to follow suit. If they do, the trend will begin to grow exponentially, as the early adopters are quickly emulated by the "early majority" and then the "late majority," the play-it-safe masses who would never dare attempt to be avant-garde. Finally, the epidemic of hip trails off as the"laggards," those most resistant to fashion and change, reluctantly get on board. These are the people still waiting to see if the Internet craze is going to last."
I think people can move around in their roles depending on what we are talking about... as some people choose to specialize in, say, music, or art, or fashion...or the "hot blog" of the week/month/year...
Filed my 2009 Dec. 31 Disclosure
Filed my campaign disclosure with the State Ethics Commission...
I raised $1410.11 from July 1 -- Dec. 31
- 22 contributors
- Two contributions over $101 -- > one for $300 and one for $150
- 20 small contributors --> totaling $960 --> the average was $48
I spent $534.67
- food for "meet up" events
- website
- online advertising
- tickets to Henry County Democratic Party Christmas Event
- copies
- mailing labels
- printer ink
- stamps
To date I have raised $2295.11 and have spent $980.69. I currently have $1314.42 cash on hand.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to my campaign!
If you'd like to contribute online to my campaign you can do so at my website right now!
Jim Nichols for State House 2009 Dec 31st Disclosure
Filed my campaign disclosure with the State Ethics Commission...
I raised $1410.11 from July 1 -- Dec. 31
- 22 contributors
- Two contributions over $101 -- > one for $300 and one for $150
- 20 small contributors --> totaling $960 --> the average was $48
I spent $534.67
- food for "meet up" events
- website
- online advertising
- tickets to Henry County Democratic Party Christmas Event
- copies
- mailing labels
- printer ink
- stamps
To date I have raised $2295.11 and have spent $980.69. I currently have $1314.42 cash on hand.
If you'd like to contribute online to my campaign you can do so at my website right now!
US pending home sales plunge
US pending home sales plunged in November, raising doubts about the strength of the housing market recovery once government support expires.
The National Association of Realtors said on Tuesday that pending home sales, which reflect deals that have been signed but not completed, dropped by 16 per cent from October to November, a much steeper decline than economists had projected. Although sales are up by 15.5 per cent from a year ago, the monthly fall shows how dependent home sales have been on the popular $8,000 (€5,560, £5,000) first-time homebuyer tax credit.
November, spurring a last-minute buying spree throughout October, but was later expanded and extended to the end of April 2010. Pending sales had climbed steadily for nine consecutive months, capped by a strong October which saw them rise to their highest level since 2006 as buyers rushed to meet the deadline.
Some economists have argued that the tax credit has skewed buying patterns and “stolen” from future demand. In spite of signs of stability, high foreclosure rates continue to put pressure on the overall market.
“Once it expires in April we should expect a partial pay back in the summer and early fall,” said Michelle Meyer, an economist at Barclays Capital. “But the underlying trend is still improving.”
Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the NAR, said sales activity would pick up again ahead of the next tax credit deadline. The substantial improvement during the past year signalled the market had gained “sufficient momentum” to stand on its own.
The NAR projects that interest rates will edge higher in 2010, while prices will stabilise and more buying activity will “bring a rough balance” between buyers and sellers.
The US housing sector has given mixed signals in recent months, as buyers responded to uncertainty over government support and the stability of fundamentals. Brian Bethune, chief US economist at IHS Global Insight, said the housing market’s recovery would hinge on unemployment, as the 10 per cent jobless rate has deterred big purchases in favour of renting or consolidating. “The fundamentals are improving, but very gradually.”
In November, sales fell across the US with the steepest declines in the north-east, the mid-west and the south.
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