Underground Atlanta is trying to unearth a third comeback at age 35, this time by luring bars to relocate from the city's unofficial party spot in Buckhead.

Underground's owners and Atlanta City Councilman H. Lamar Willis have persuaded about eight nightspots, including Tongue & Groove and Mako's in Buckhead Village, to relocate or open new establishments in the downtown entertainment complex.

Free-flowing alcohol, Underground's lifeblood during its initial heyday in the 1970s and its rebirth in the early 1990s, sealed the deal, officials said.

A fine-print loophole in city law exempts Underground from Atlanta's new 2:30 a.m. last call and 3 a.m. closing time for bars. The downtown complex can pour until 4.

That edge, coupled with complaints in Buckhead Village about violence, noise and cruising, sold some bar owners on shifting downtown, said Michael Krohngold, co-owner of Tongue & Groove.

"I just want to say that I don't think the two biggest problems in America are that too many people want to commit their lives to one another till death do us part, and steroids and sports. I don't think those are our two biggest problems."

--Meryl Streep at the Golden Globes

Rich liberals' hypocrisy is showing

Wealthy teeth-gnashers on the left cry out that the rich's share of the Bush tax cuts are not needed, and are causing grievous harm to the country. Oh, really? Then why don't they just send theirs back, along with their Social Security and Medicare benefits?

If rich liberals are such compassionate country-lovers, why do they continue to harm both the nation and the poor by stuffing tax cuts and entitlements into their already deep pockets?

JOHN EIDSON
Marietta

So tonight, I propose a four-year, $300 million Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative to expand job training and placement services, to provide transitional housing, and to help newly released prisoners get mentoring, including from faith-based groups. America is the land of the second chance -- and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life.

Senator's stance must be a joke

I too am a lifelong Democrat who will vote Republican, and like Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.), I want my children to grow up in a country staggering under a mountain of debt, with a major loss of jobs, in a perpetual state of war in search of imaginary weapons of mass destruction, despised by the rest of the world, with an unlivable environment and an erosion of constitutional rights.

Seriously, if Miller has a problem with his children and grandchildren, can't he work out a more mature way to deal with it than spoiling the future for mine?

Snellville

Worse, he and his wife said, was hearing the charges against him. Both described the months of Senate debate and filibuster as "painful" and "difficult."

"It's never easy to hear people say ugly things about you and the ups and downs of the process made it difficult to keep an even keel," he said. "One day it would seem that I would be confirmed shortly and the other day it would seem that I would never be confirmed."

I hope you enjoyed your career.Say hi to the Dixie Chicks
for me.

"The president's recess appointment of this anti-civil rights judge the day after laying a wreath on the grave of Martin Luther King is an insult to Dr. King, an insult to every African-American and an insult to all Americans who share Dr. King's great goals," Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) said, referring to Bush's visit to King's tomb in Atlanta on Thursday.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) called Bush's decision "a cynical, divisive appointment that will further politicize the federal judiciary."

Three men who went streaking through a Denny's restaurant were chilled and chagrined when they spotted a thief drive off in their getaway car, their clothes inside.

Naked in the 20-degree weather, the three young men huddled behind cars in a parking lot until police arrived.

"I don't think they were hiding. I think they were just concealing themselves," police spokesman Dick Cottam said.

The three entered the restaurant before daybreak Wednesday, wearing only shoes and hats. They left their car running so they could make a quick escape.

But the streakers watched through the windows as a man who had been eating inside the restaurant drove off in their car.

Here's a dilemma for you....

With all your honor and dignity what would you do?

This test only has one question, but it's a very important one. Please don't answer it without giving it some serious thought. By giving an honest answer you will be able to test where you stand morally.

The test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation, where you will have to make a decision one way or the other. Remember that your answer needs to be honest, yet spontaneous. Please scroll down slowly and consider each line - this is important for the test to work accurately.


You're in Florida...In Miami, to be exact... There is great chaos going on around you, caused by a hurricane and severe floods. There are huge masses of water all over you.

You are a CNN photographer and you are in the middle of this great disaster. The situation is nearly hopeless.

You're trying to shoot very impressive photos. There are houses and people floating around you, disappearing into the water. Nature is showing all her destroying power and is ripping everything away.

Suddenly you see a man in the water, he is fighting for his life, trying not to be taken away by the masses of water and mud.

You move closer. Somehow the man looks familiar.

Suddenly you know who it is - it's George W. Bush!

At the same time you notice that the raging waters are about to take him away, forever. You have two options. You can save him or you can take the best photo of your life. So you can save the life of George W. Bush, or you can shoot a Pulitzer prize winning photo, a unique photo displaying the death of one of the world's most powerful men.

And here's the question (please give an honest answer):


Would you select color film, or rather go with the simplicity of classic black and white?

President Bush's visit on Thursday to observe what would have been the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 75th birthday isn't sitting well with area tribute organizers.

They say Bush invited himself to their party and will potentially force the cancellation of some events due to security concerns. What's more, they say, Bush will profit from a fund-raiser he will piggyback with his visit to Atlanta.

...

State Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta) said Bush's planners should have given the visit more thought.

"He has the right to come, but there should have been some consideration on what's going on locally," said Brooks. "That's quite insulting. This is not the appropriate way to honor Dr. King."

U.S. Sen. Zell Miller, Georgia's rebellious Democrat, said Tuesday he will campaign at President Bush's side throughout the year.

Miller's first task in trying to seal the Republican president's re-election grip on his crucial Southern base will be to introduce Bush at a $2,000-a-head fund-raiser Thursday in Atlanta.

Lee Kyser put down $40,000 and pays about $475 in monthly dues at Druid Hills Golf Club, just like most other senior members of the 91-year-old Clifton Road country club near Emory University.

Kyser, a clinical psychologist, golfs there with her significant other, and plans to enroll their 2-year-old twins in swimming lessons there next year.

"We're just like any other family," Kyser said, "except that we happen to be lesbians."

This fact sits at the center of a dispute pitting Kyser and another gay couple against the club. Kyser wants her partner, attorney and political activist Lawrie Demorest, to be afforded the same privileges as other members' spouses. Randy L. New, an attorney, wants the same for his partner, Dr. Russell Tippins, who is a radiologist.

But the club has refused, citing bylaws that permit such privileges only for members who are legally married. So in July, Kyser and New filed a sexual-orientation discrimination complaint -- marking only the second time such legal action has been taken against a country club in the United States.

Teen surfer Bethany Hamilton returned to competition Saturday, just 10 weeks after losing her left arm in a shark attack.

Hamilton, 13, placed fifth in her age group in the Open Women Division of a National Scholastic Surfing Association meet at Banyans.

"It was definitely a good start," Hamilton said.

...

Hamilton rejected any special treatment, said Bobbi Lee, NSSA Hawaii Conference director.

"I offered to give her more time (between heats) or put her in a more favorable heat," Lee said. "She refused. She said she wanted to be treated like anybody else."

A lone book titled "Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends" was untouched.

But nearly everything else in Chris Kirk's downtown Olympia apartment was encased in aluminum foil when he returned home Monday night from a trip to Los Angeles.

The walls, ceiling, cabinets and everything in between now shimmer with a metallic glow, thanks to a prank by Kirk's longtime friend, Olympia native Luke Trerice.

...

No detail was too small or too time-consuming.

Trerice and his friends unrolled the toilet paper in the bathroom, enveloped the bath tissue in aluminum foil and rolled it back up again. They covered Kirk's book and compact disc collections but made sure each CD case could open and shut normally.

They even used foil to encircle Kirk's spare change -- each individual quarter he had left atop a living room bookshelf.

"It went surprisingly fast," Trerice said. "The toilet was hard. The molding around the doorways took a very long time."

I couldn't live without this...,

October 29, 2001
Reviewer: A reader from San Diego, Ca. United States

As a college coed whose father happens to be the appointed President of the United States, life can be just one big pressure cooker. That's why I love this book. I try and use at least one recipe every night, and at least a dozen on Saturday night. The best part is, I can make these in my dorm without having to show any ID. I just give a list of ingredients to one of my Secret Service dudes, and they do the rest. Is that cool, or what? When I'm at my parent's summer house in Crawford I like to make up a pitcher of Red Zombie Paralyzing Potion and head off to my special Black Light Freakout Room that my dad had built just for me. Talk about a lost weekend!

My sister, Barbara (she's the one whose not as pretty as me), and I are having a race to see who can get to the very last drink first. She's a little ahead of me now, but that's only because I'm more prone to blackouts than her.

Party on, America...!

There is a historical parallel to Dean's candidacy. But it's not McGovern in 1972, as the DLC paranoiacs would like us to believe -- it's Bobby Kennedy in 1968.

Like Kennedy's, Dean's campaign was initially fueled by his antiwar outrage. Like Kennedy, Dean has found himself fighting not just to represent the Democratic Party but to remake it. Like Kennedy, Dean is offering an alternative moral vision for America, not just an alternative political platform.

And like Kennedy, Dean has come under withering attack from his critics for the very attributes that his supporters find most attractive.

"He could be intemperate and impulsive ... the image of wrath -- his forefinger pointing, his fist pounding his palm, his eyes ablaze." Sean Hannity on Howard Dean? No, Theodore White on Bobby Kennedy in "The Making of the President 1968."

As for Miller, he’s barely a member of the human race as far as I’m concerned. That should be a disqualifying factor, but alas, it is not.

On August 30, I wrote of my decision to dive into the public school system of Oklahoma - and it's been quite an experience. This coming Monday, many Oklahoma public school students will be returning to school on the first day of the second semester.

I won't. I won't be returning to the government schooling system. Why? Because I'm a failure. I've fallen short of the bar, and I'm nothing short of a disappointment to society.

I've fallen short by failing to adopt the art of vulgar language in common speech. I'm assuming this falls under the subject of socialization, tolerance and multiculturalism, but I've failed to make the grade in this subject.