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siliconefreak Donating Member (619 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-28-05 02:42 PM
Original message
liberal suburbs?
Besides Decatur and Druid Hills, which areas outside of Atlanta are considered to be on the liberal side?
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RubyDuby in GA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-28-05 02:43 PM
Response to Original message
1. Savannah
Columbus. My house. That's about it :)
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Dawgs Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-28-05 02:44 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. LOL.. That's hilarious...
I live in Suwanee.. Can't get more red than that..
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Orsino Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-28-05 04:04 PM
Response to Reply #1
7. Ah, Savannah. Olympic Parking Zone 7. n/t
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tenshi816 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-29-05 11:45 AM
Response to Reply #1
9. RubyDuby...
whereabouts in GA do you live? For some reason I thought you lived in (or near Clarke Co.). Am I wrong about that? If you don't, I must have you confused with another DUer.

Just asking because my family are originally all from the Oglethorpe/Madison/Clarke Co. area and most are still there. I was born and raised in Atlanta but have lived in England for many years, and now whenever I go back to visit I always feel like the only Dem for many miles. A stranger in a really strange land. By the time I go back over for my next visit (probably 2006), I hope that I've met some GA DUers in the Athens area who I can meet up with to escape the suffocating fundie atmosphere at my dad's house.

Preferably somewhere that sells alcohol...
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RubyDuby in GA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-29-05 12:40 PM
Response to Reply #9
12. Hi tenshi816
Edited on Fri Apr-29-05 12:41 PM by RubyDuby in GA
I live in Covington (Newton County) which borders the Madison area or as I like to refer to it - my own little Red Republican Hell. But I've lived here longer than these losers who control the kingdom now and I refuse to be driven from my home. Cue the music and pan camera to RubyScarlett with raised fist "As Gawd as my Witness......"

2006 will be an exciting time to visit - we'll be deep in the midst of trying to wrestle our state back from the evil influence of sheer stupidity that spread across the land in 2004.

CottonBear is our resident Athens DUer. She knows all and sees all in that area. And I'd be more than happy to raise a glass with you when you're a-visitin' next year.

:hi:
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CottonBear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-28-05 02:51 PM
Response to Original message
3. Athens-Clarke County, GA is a blue island
Edited on Thu Apr-28-05 02:55 PM by CottonBear
in a vast red sea.

Athens has both old in-town neighborhoods (including ones developed as streetcar suburbs), older and newer large lot rural areas, new urbanist developments, 1950s and 1960s suburbs, new subdivisions, factory lofts and downtown lofts.

We have quite the liberal and diverse population here which makes us hated by the red counties which surround us on all sides. Oh yeah, we have a major university here too (UGA).

Edit: There are some liberal neighborhoods in Augusta.
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formerrepuke Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-28-05 03:01 PM
Response to Reply #3
5. Funny how large Universities 'infect' their surrounding communities
with liberalism- and they seem to stand out more in 'red' areas/states..also Bloomington, Indiana; Athens, Ohio; Lawrence, Kansas.
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CottonBear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-28-05 03:56 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Athens-Clarke County is the smallest county in GA
and has a combined city-county government. We are under attack by repubs who are pissed that Dems always get elected to county positions. They figured out a way to get (stupid, uninformed) voters to vote for non-partisan elections for the Mayor and Commission. It was very deceptive ad campaign and the measure passed. Now repubs (who used to have to run as Dems to get elected) will be able to hide behind the non-partisan label. :puke.

Of course, the surrounding counties are about 90% run by Repubs who hold partisan elections. :puke:

The worst part is that Repubs who don't live here run candidates against our Dems. Assholes.

One of my commissioners was just elected to the US House: John Barrow of Athens, GA. Of course, Sonny and the gang just redistricted his newly redistricted district so he'll have to run in a 90% Repub area in 2006.

God help me. I hate Republicans and unreconstructed Dixiecrats.
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bunkerbuster1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-06-05 12:34 PM
Response to Reply #6
14. "I hate Republicans and unreconstructed Dixiecrats."
there's a difference?
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tenshi816 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-29-05 11:35 AM
Response to Reply #3
8. Around Athens
Oh, yeah, you got that right. My dad lives just over the Oglethorpe Co. line from Madison Co. - not far from Athens - and every time I go back home to visit, I find the people just get scarier and scarier. The people who live around there find Athens completely alien to their worldview (all them damn libruls around the University, y'know) and won't go there unless it's to Wal-Mart, Sam's Club or Georgia Square Mall.

My 8 year old son loves the wide open space on his grandfather's farm (he's not politically inclined yet), but my teenage son much prefers hanging out in the centre of Athens near the University (and I do too!). He's a liberal in the making and instinctively feels more comfortable in Athens than in the red sea surrounding it - especially since he has shoulder length hair, which still seems to be a flashpoint for some people in the red places ("get a haircut, boy").

I love Athens. Anyplace that is cool enough to produce both the B52s and REM is all right by me.
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CottonBear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-29-05 11:54 AM
Response to Reply #8
10. Hi tenshi816!
We need to have an Athens area DU meetup. The Globe (downtown, corner of Clayton and Lumpkin) would be the perfect spot.

I used to live in Oglethorpe COunty. I've got several friends who live out there. I lived in the Wolfskin area. It is so beautiful there. I may buy property in Oglethorpe so I can keep my horse on my own land. I'd buy in Clarke County but it's too damn expensive these days.

I see that you like to ride. Me too!

PM me when you're coming for a visit and I'll set up a DU meetup.

:hi:
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racaulk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-28-05 02:53 PM
Response to Original message
4. I live in Atlanta...
Avondale Estates is fairly liberal...they actually have an openly gay representative in the state house (Karla Drenner). I think most of DeKalb County (east of Atlanta, where Decatur and Avondale Estates are located) is very left of center--it was a strong blue county in the last presidential election.

On the flip side, most anything north or west of Atlanta is fairly conservative...especially the infamous Cobb County (home of Newt Gingrich). Here's what some other people have to say about Cobb...

http://www.cjnetworks.com/~cubsfan/places/cobb_county.html

If you're interested, http://www.turnleft.com has quite a bit of info on "liberal friendly" and "liberal unfriendly" places in the country.
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Citizen Jane Donating Member (513 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-09-05 01:05 AM
Response to Reply #4
16. Avondale Estates has an interesting mix
FYI, though Karla Drenner lives in Avondale Estates she is the representative for neighboring district 86 (85, which is Avondale Estates' district, is represented by Stephanie Stuckey Benfield).

When we moved to Avondale Estates 10 years ago there were far fewer progreessives than today. There are more of us today (and we tend to be more vocal than the conservatives), but there is a hard core Avondale "elite" which consists of families who have lived here 2 or 3 generations who are VERY conservative. All in all, however the influx of new progressives has been enjoyable and I would recommend it as a fairly progressive intown neighborhood (read incorporated ITP suburb).

Don't get me wrong, most of the community is strongly supportive of Karla Drenner and it is frustrating we can't vote for her, but Stephanie Stuckey Benfield is pretty good too!

And, yes, DeKalb county, so I've been told, is the most liberal county in the entire Southeast (though the source was merely a fellow university professor).
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tenshi816 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-24-05 11:56 AM
Response to Reply #16
39. I remember Avondale Estates from my childhood
as being where the local "rich kids" lived, and most of the ones I ran across certainly lived up (or down) to the stereotype. I knew a couple of girls who by 4th grade were insufferable in their treatment of those of us who didn't have the good fortune to live there. I used to hear them talk about going to the country club when I didn't have a clue what a country club was, let alone belong to one. They were from the kind of families you mentioned, the ultra-conservative ones who have been in the area for generations.

It's nice to hear that liberal thinking folks have been moving in!
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BooScout Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-20-05 02:00 PM
Response to Reply #4
17. I grew up in Decatur.......
Avondale may have made some "small" headway over the years.....but it is still pretty much conservative. It still likes to keep certain undesirables out, etc.

Clarkston is pretty Liberal and it's up and coming. Decatur is very Liberal but their property taxes are about the highest in the state. They are a trade off for probably the best public schools in the state though.
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tenshi816 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-20-05 04:52 PM
Response to Reply #17
18. Hi BooScout
I grew up in Decatur too - not the "City of" part but our address was still Decatur - the Peachcrest/Midway Road area not far from Avondale (don't know if the roads are still called by those same names though - I know road names change occasionally and I've been gone a long, long time!). Near Columbia Drive.

I still love visiting Decatur when I visit Atlanta, because there's still a sense of "place" and not just faceless strip malls.

Where did you go to elementary school?

Are you a To Kill a Mockingbird fan by any chance?
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BooScout Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-21-05 06:48 AM
Response to Reply #18
19. Hi back Tenishi
I actually grew up in the city limits of Decatur. I went to elementary school at Winnona Park.

Peachcrest and Midway Roads are still there and still have the same name. I am very familiar with the area.

And yes, as you can tell by my name I am a fan of To Kill a Mockingbird..........even named my dog Scout, lol.

I love Decatur.........in this sea of red, it's nice to have a calm oasis where people still can use their brains. I will miss it when we move to the UK later this year, but hope to get back to visit dear old mom a couple time a year.
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tenshi816 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-23-05 05:39 AM
Response to Reply #19
20. BooScout, I live in the UK!!!!!
OMG, my daughter went to Winnona Park Elementary! When I was a young, divorced mother, we lived on Inman Drive, just down the street and around the corner from the school (across the street from part of the Columbia Theological Seminary). When were you in school there? What a small world!

I went to Midway Elementary myself, but we moved when I was in 7th grade and I went to high school first in Atlanta, then Gwinnett County. Then I got out as fast as I could!

What part of the UK will you be moving to? I've lived over here for 19 years(!) - still miss GA but have also grown to love my adopted country and am pretty anglicized (whenever I visit the States I often get mistaken for a Brit, which I find very funny because the Brits are always saying to me "you haven't lost your accent at all").

My hubby is British. We met while he was working in Atlanta in the 1980s and I came with him when he returned to Britain in 1986. We've lived in Yorkshire since 1997, which I love because it's so beautiful and the people are very down to earth - not so very different from our own southerners (although mostly more left-leaning politically than you'd usually find in Georgia - the MP representing my constituency is anti-war Labour).

I love To Kill a Mockingbird as well. I always thought it odd that Harper Lee only wrote one book - but oh my what a book it is! My 13-year old son is reading it now, and my 8-year old son adores the film. My daughter's dog is also named Scout.

If you'd like to know anything about what life in the UK is like for an ex-pat, let me know. Likewise, if you're going to be located in the north of England, let me know. I'd like to start one of those "meet-up" groups up here, but haven't found any Dems in Yorkshire yet; in fact, I don't know that many Americans in the UK (although, oddly enough, we have neighbors on our street from Dallas - Republican ones - who are civil to me, but ceased any efforts at becoming friends as soon as they discovered I was a Democrat).

I joined Democrats Abroad UK, but virtually all of their activities are based in and around the London area and that trip is so hard (and expensive!) for me to make on a regular basis. I'd do it if Wes Clark or Howard Dean came to town though...

One thing you might find disconcerting in the UK is that if you comment to someone that you loathe the Shrub, it's pretty much like preaching to the choir. What's unusual over here is actually finding anyone who likes him (actually, I haven't yet - it's generally accepted that he's a dangerous fool).

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BooScout Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-23-05 07:21 AM
Response to Reply #20
21. What a VERY small world....
I grew up on Winnona Drive. I went to school at Winnona Park in the 60s. Do you remember the Bells that lived on Inman (across from the school field)? I know I remember more families from up near where you lived but my mind is drawing a blank this early in the morning, lol.

When we move over to the UK....we will first be living in Wales near Cardiff. We have a house there and are going to use that as our base for 6 months to a year while we search for a Pub to buy. We will be looking for a Pub anywhere from the Midlands southward. I am partial to either the SW of England or along the coast of Wales.

My husband is English, but raised in Wales. English Dad, Welsh mother thing.

As to Shrub...a couple of hubby's friends were keen on him before the war broke out. Now they finally admitted to us on our last trip over around New Year's that we were right about him being an idiot and a dangerous man.....it took him watching Michael Moore's movie before he would believe us.....go figure.

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tenshi816 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-23-05 09:00 AM
Response to Reply #21
22. We'll be in Cardiff next weekend
Edited on Mon May-23-05 09:03 AM by tenshi816
from Fri.-Mon. for the Bank Holiday weekend. Hubby and older son going to the football (soccer to you and me) championship game, me and other son visiting Cardiff Castle, as well as having a little wander around the bay. I'm really looking forward to it.

We didn't move to Inman Drive until 1980 and I'm having a hard time remembering the names of any of the neighbors! I was far younger than any of them in my immediate vicinity - academics and retired missionaries affiliated one way or another with the seminary, and very few children. My daughter's friends all lived down streets on the other side of the school, the Avery St./Winnona Dr./Poplar Cir. area. The only one I remember was from a family whose last name was Moore, a Catholic family (like us) who had several children.

Buying a pub - very exciting stuff! Are you planning to get one that's also a B&B, or are you sticking to the pub/restaurant format?

You'll have to let me know when you get a place so that we can make a trip down for a meal and a drink or three. Especially if you buy a pub in Cornwall! It would be lovely to meet another DU fan on this side of the water. Whenever we take holidays within the UK, the SW part of the country is at the top of our list of places to go. I also like the area around Bath, and hubby went to university in Bristol, so he has lots of happy memories of that area.

Re Shrub - I've been lucky, I guess. I've literally met not one single person over here who is a fan of his - comforting I know, except it's hard to rage against the machine when everybody around agrees with me! Everyone here knows they can't do anything about him and it doesn't affect their day-to-day lives anyway, whereas I see him and his minions destroying the country I love so much and it makes me feel helpless that I'm so far away. So I hang out at DU, mostly lurking, on a daily basis.
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BooScout Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-23-05 09:27 AM
Response to Reply #22
24. By the time.....
...that you moved there I was already away in college. I think the Breen's(lived on Shadowmoor) may have still had a daughter in school around then. One of their daughter's is my BF and her little sister Bridget is about 10 years younger than us.... Born 1970. That's it for anyone I can remember much younger than me.

We do hope to buy a Pub that's also a B&B....but that will depend on if we can find one.

We spent a day in Bath around New Year's. It was one of those flukey winter days that was bright and sunny and not too cool. It's was my first time visiting Bath and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There's a pub there for sale we have had our eye on, but I am sure it will be long gone by the time we manage to start looking.

You'll be in for a crowd in Cardiff next weekend, hopefully the weather will cooperate and you will have a nice day.
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tenshi816 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-23-05 10:47 AM
Response to Reply #24
28. We're leaving Cardiff after the match on Sunday
and heading up into the Brecon Beacons, staying north of Brecon at a country hotel in Builth Wells.

I dread trying to get out of Cardiff with all those football fans trying to do the same thing!

Good luck with the pub hunt. Hope you find what you're looking for, and drop me a line when you get over here.
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tenshi816 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-23-05 02:50 PM
Response to Reply #24
31. I forgot to say
or rather it was only when you mentioned Shadowmoor that I remembered that was the street my daughter Jennifer's friend lived on (the one with the last name of Moore).

Also, your BF's little sister would have been in the same class as my daughter, who was also born in 1970.

Amazing how people's lives can cross and cross each other and most of the time we never even know it!

Agewise, though, you and I are not that far apart in years - I became a mother first time around 4 months after turning 17, so when you were away in college, I was a GSU student with a kid in Winnona Park School. (Baby girl and I are a couple of the lucky ones from the "teenage mom" thing though, well-educated - one BA, two BScs and two Master's degrees between us - and we're both glad we're fighters. Educational grants made available to me by President Carter helped a great, great deal as well.)

Anyway, as I said, much good luck to you on your pub hunt. I meant what I said about contacting me once you get yourselves sorted out - I'd be more than happy to make the trip to meet a like-minded DU Georgia girl.

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BooScout Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-23-05 09:59 PM
Response to Reply #31
33. For some reason...
I thought you were about 10 or 15 years younger than me, lol. I graduated from Decatur High in 1978. Went to Georgia Southern College and then settled back in Decatur. Actually, now we are just outside the city limits off Ponce De Leon............don't have any kids so we don't want to pay hose high Decatur taxes.

We will definitely keep in touch. I have been reading at DU for a couple of years but just recently bothered to join up and post. I used to have my own political board with women liberals from all over the country, a few from Canada and one in the Islands and I had to let it go to get ready for our move over.......but I missed discussing politics with like minded people so I finally started posting here.


I am glad I found ya'll.
:)
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tenshi816 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-24-05 04:42 AM
Response to Reply #33
34. You thought I was younger because
I have an 8-year old son. There's a big gap between my first and second children and a 5 year gap between the 2nd and 3rd. My older son (middle child) was IVF - hubby and I had tried for years to have a baby - but No. 3 came along "the regular old way". Quite a surprise, to say the least, but one that we welcomed.

I've never done things in a logical or traditional manner. Had first baby 6 months after graduating high school at 16, then we did the hippie travelling thing for quite a while, then I went to college, worked, moved to Britain, worked and travelled some more, had two more children, then decided to go to university again in the UK, graduated (again) 2003, now trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.

I know what you mean about missing political discussions. I was fairly apolitical for years after moving to the UK. I never got involved with British politics for the simple reason that I can't vote here (not a citizen). When I thought about it, I knew it would have to be LibDem or Labour for me if I could vote, but I've always absolutely loathed Tony Blair (I find him smarmy and false) and despite liking some of what the LibDems have to say, it often seems to me that they come up with policies that are different solely for the sake of being different rather than having any conviction that whatever they're proposing at a particular time is actually worthwhile or feasible. And the Conservatives have lost the plot completely.

Also, at the time I moved here, Reagan was president. I was so disillusioned with American politics during his presidency, and for the life of me I couldn't fathom how he could be so beloved by the American people. I just didn't (and still don't) get it. "The Great Communicator" my shiny white ass. My mother used to talk about how sincere Reagan was, and my response was always "the man was an ACTOR, mother - he made his living pretending to be something he wasn't". And he continued to do that once he entered politics, playacting at being a leader. And people bought the BS. Shocking.

I didn't think it could get any worse and then we had Poppy Bush. I wasn't even successful in getting my absentee ballot sent to me on time for that one. I had no idea about the Bush family, no idea at all, and if someone had told me what was in store several years down the line from that misbegotten bunch, I'm not even sure I'd have believed it at the time. The horror to come would have been too huge to comprehend.

Then Bubba became President and I was happy for 8 years (well, other than the hounding of him by the Repugs the entire time - it beggars belief that a President, one who did many fine things, was impeached over a freakin' blowjob).

I was able to keep going through Shrub's first term because I was so convinced that he would be overwhelmingly defeated in his bid for re-election. Then when I was back in Georgia visiting my dad and stepmom last summer, I discovered that they were actually working locally for his re-election campaign. I was stunned. These are people who have barely bothered to vote over the years, and who actually were Dems once upon a time (albeit decades ago), and they were actively campaigning for the little turd. It was hard for me to take in, and it worried me.

I started looking into it more deeply and it was like when you pick up a rock and see all the creepy crawlies running around, and then wish you hadn't looked under the rock because you're repulsed by what's under there. I did a lot of reading and realized just how organized the right-wing fundamentalists had become in getting their flock out to vote. How they kept hammering away at their hot-button religious issues (gays, abortion) over all others. For example, healthcare, education, jobs? Forget it. Who cares if your children end up flipping burgers because they can't read and you lose your house because you can't pay your medical bills, as long as you can keep two people of the same sex from becoming legally wed, right?

My dad: retired, not a huge pension, major heart condition requiring loads of meds. Told me he felt "Mr. Bush is doing a good job". Um, how exactly is that, Dad? He couldn't name one thing. Not one. But gays can't get married, so that's OK then.

I know this has been long, and off topic, so I'll start winding it up. When I got back to the UK after my trip home last year, I started paying a lot more attention. I became "politicized" again for the first time in years and started looking for political forums on the net, where I found a whole new world. Eventually I discovered Smirking Chimp and from there made my way to Democratic Underground.

I can't imagine going back to ignorance. I can't, now that I've looked under the rock. There are too many creepy crawlies that need to be got rid of.

Now, to get back on topic for this thread, which as I recall was which are the liberal suburbs of Atlanta, I'm curious about where you live now. You said you've moved off of Ponce - you're lucky, because it's so pretty there. When I was a kid I used to love the drive along Ponce de Leon (my dad worked at the old main Sears store on Ponce so I knew the road well). Do you live anywhere near Little Five Points or is that further in from where you are?

I'm glad I found DU too. It's good to find people who feel as I do, and it's also been extremely helpful in getting me back up to speed with what's going on in my country.


I spend waaay too much time playing with Photoshop.


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BooScout Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-24-05 07:04 AM
Response to Reply #34
35. Your political.....
...philosophy sounds pretty much like mine......Although I knew what was coming with Jr.........and could not believe he stole the election in 2000 and this country let him get away with it........then when he did it again in 2004 (I firmly believe he stole Ohio)......I knew the writing was on the wall. We had made the decision to move to the UK before the election results and when he won, it sealed the deal. My DH absolutely loathes the political climate here and frankly politcs has permeated everything here in America these days and you cannot escape it short of sealing yourself in a cave.

There is no safety net anymore. Most people are one or two paychecks away from financial disaster. 44 million Americans cannot afford even basic health insurance.It seems as if many of our civil liberties have disappeared overnight and no one seems to give a damn. The Fundies have taken over and I do mean taken over. Roe v Wade is being shredded. Two people who love each other and who are committed to each other cannot have the same rights & privledges as the rest of us when it comes to marriage. Creationism is being taught in the schools ........it's just crazy over here........and it has played a huge part in our decision to leave the US.

I have had other Libs tell me I am giving up the fight by leaving but you know at this point I don't even care anymore. I want out. Even if a Dem wins in 2008, the damage has been done. No one is going to fix this country anytime soon. Pessimistic.....but realistic.....

Now back on track again, lol.......We live off Ponce just inside the Perimeter a couple of blocks. We have a Clarkston address but are not inside the city limits.....so we are in the opposite direction than you were thinking of. The old Sears store is now City Hall East.
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tenshi816 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-24-05 11:22 AM
Response to Reply #35
38. I believe it was stolen too
Edited on Tue May-24-05 11:45 AM by tenshi816
You're right when you say "politcs has permeated everything here in America these days", because once I realized even my dad was involved, I knew some major shift had occurred since I left the country in 1986.

When did it happen? When did all the rampant hate start? God, on the extremely rare occasion that I venture over to the Free Republic site, I'm always taken aback - and kind of frightened - by the level of hatred and intolerance there; it permeates the entire website to the point that it's almost a tangible thing (my wild flight of fancy here - I half expect something black and freeperish to jump out of my monitor and chase me around the room). It goes beyond normal party politics to what appears a real desire to see the likes of us - non-Freepers - literally wiped off the face of the earth. It's bigger than just wanting their guy to win, they want us gone. Is all of this simply because of the "uniter"? Or did it start in Clinton's first term?

You know, until last summer I had never heard of Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter. Where did they come from? Did they all pop up at the same time, spewing their venom, or was it over a long period of time? They're not household names over here, although I discovered a while back that both O'Reilly's and Hannity's programs are shown in the UK, but at "unsocial" times (i.e. either very, very early in the morning or very, very late at night) and on cable/satellite stations as well, so their audience would be much smaller than on the main terrestrial channels. I've still never watched either of them. Or heard any of the others.

I've seen Coulter's website. For some reason she disturbs me the most.

The teaching of creationism in schools is lunacy. One glimmer of hope, though - my stepmother is as big a fundie as it's possible to be, and even she doesn't agree with that. She's pretty extreme in her fundamentalism, but she can also occasionally grasp that much of the Bible is metaphor, the 6-days creation story included. Neither she nor my dad have great educations, but they're intelligent enough (their fundie-ism notwithstanding) to see creationism teaching for the nonsense it is. I have to believe there are others like them, because the alternative is unthinkable.

I believe you're also right about the fundies taking over. This is something that's especially noticeable to people who don't live in the United States, although here again I can't pinpoint exactly when it happened or when I became aware of it. It certainly wasn't overnight, which I suppose is how they planned it, to do it little by little - nobody took fundies seriously until it was too late and they were entrenched, or so it seems to me. They flew in under the radar.

Another thing that has shocked me is the state of the American media. I'd become so spoiled by having the BBC as my main news source that the castration of the American news media caught me by surprise because I'm not exposed to it every day. If Bill Clinton's penis was involved in any way, the media would be all over the story - or rather non-story, because "Powerful Man Gets BJ" just ain't important news. "President manipulates information and lies to get into war", on the other hand, is.

I sent an e-mail to Wolf Blitzer a few months back calling him a whore. (He didn't get back to me with a response though. Color me unsurprised.) Blitzer is by no means the only one either.



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RubyDuby in GA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-24-05 10:39 AM
Response to Reply #33
36. GA Southern Class of '96 right here
The world gets smaller and smaller.

Hi fellow Eagle alum! :hi:
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BooScout Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-24-05 11:14 AM
Response to Reply #36
37. This thread.....
....is starting to take on a life of it's own in how we all connect.

What I didn't mention is my DH and I almost bought a house last year right in the area off of Peachcrest where the two of ya'll lived. He buys and rehabs houses and we were interested in several in that area.
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RubyDuby in GA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-23-05 09:21 AM
Response to Reply #18
23. Holy crap?? The Peachcrest area??
Edited on Mon May-23-05 09:22 AM by RubyDuby in GA
I went to Peachcrest Elementary. Where did you go?

On edit: Nevermind. Just read your other post. What a small world. :)
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BooScout Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-23-05 09:29 AM
Response to Reply #23
25. Is this a Decatur area reunion?
LOL.....hi Ruby......good to see another Decatur type person.
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tenshi816 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-23-05 10:37 AM
Response to Reply #25
27. Must have been something in the water
to produce all us damn libruls from the same little area!
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tenshi816 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-23-05 10:34 AM
Response to Reply #23
26. Good Lord, this is making me homesick
but happy too! Lots of memories.

RubyDuby, you and I have already "met" elsewhere in this thread, and now it seems we have another link. IIRC, if I had lived just a street over from where I did, I would have gone to Peachcrest Elementary too (I'm not 100% on that, but I do know that the kids who lived on the street behind us, Orchard Circle, went to school in a different catchment area, and I'm pretty sure it was for Peachcrest Elementary). Wasn't Peachcrest Elementary near Pinehill Drive? I grew up on Glen Road, which is just off of Peachcrest Road so it was Midway School for me.

If I hadn't moved away in 7th grade, I would have attended Towers High School, which was built to accommodate the overflow of students from the Avondale High School catchment area (that's what I was told when I was a kid).

For some weird reason, I remember visiting the old Mathis Dairy on Midway Road on a school trip when I was really young. Funny what sticks in your head from childhood.
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RubyDuby in GA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-23-05 11:30 AM
Response to Reply #26
29. Wow!
All the same things. I visited Mayfield Dairy when I was in school there. And my family moved when I was in the 7th grade too. I would have also gone to Towers.

I lived on Meadowlark Lane, just a few blocks from the elementary school.

Do let us know when you come back for a visit so we can plan a big get together.

:hi:
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tenshi816 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-23-05 01:34 PM
Response to Reply #29
30. Ruby, wow is right
Edited on Mon May-23-05 02:07 PM by tenshi816
We grew up so close geographically, about 3 streets away from each other - I googled it to find a map:



The red star on the map is on Meadowlark Lane. If you look up about an inch and a half and slightly to the left, I lived where that pink dot is - but Glen Road is misspelled. I don't know how old you are, but from reading some of your posts, if we had known each other as kids I bet we would've got on like a house on fire.

What a marvellous bit of synchronicity this is! I love it when good coincidences happen and I've had two today, from you and BooScout.

OT a bit, but things like this have happened to me before. For example, my husband's (and now my) last name is exactly the same as the small Madison Co. town my parents were born and grew up in (and where my dad moved back to years ago) - but spouse is English. When I met him, I knew within a few days that I had met the man I would marry - not because of the name, of course, but I just felt "it", and I loved the coincidence of common surname and place name.

We will DEFINITELY arrange a get together when I come back home for a visit, be it in Decatur, Atlanta or Athens - I have ties to all three and always end up visiting each place when I'm home. It might be as early as this year - we're booked to take the kids to Disneyworld in July (yeah, I know, I'm a glutton for punishment) but we may have to cancel because of something big coming up in hubby's work at that time that involves him being in present in the UK. If we do cancel, we'll probably head to Atlanta instead once his business doings are done.

It's crazy, I had never heard of DU before last September. Now it feels like extended family (warts and all sometimes, but a necessary part of my life nonetheless).

Edited: because I'm not always too great at describing things on a map


I spend waaay too much time with Photoshop.
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RubyDuby in GA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-23-05 02:58 PM
Response to Reply #30
32. This is just amazing.
I will be 31 in June. My family lived on Meadowlark in the early 80s. We moved to Covington in November of 1986.

This is too cool.
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RebelOne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-29-05 12:02 PM
Response to Original message
11. I didn't think there were any liberal suburbs in the Atlanta area.
Edited on Fri Apr-29-05 12:03 PM by RebelOne
I live in Woodstock, in Cherokee County, which is just about %100 conservative.
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Citizen Jane Donating Member (513 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-09-05 12:41 AM
Response to Reply #11
15. Exurbs?
I think that in order to be in the suburbs, technically speaking, you have to be ITP. Anything OTP (like Woodstock) would be considered exurbs.

(For non-locals ITP = Inside the Perimeter (I-285) and OTP = Outside the Perimeter)

:hi:
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siliconefreak Donating Member (619 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-30-05 09:48 PM
Response to Original message
13. East Point / College Park
Interestingly, East Point and College Park are listed as 2 of the "gayest" cities in Georgia. Who knew?
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