The HAG Delivers Again

Ten years ago I wrote a satire, “The HAG Had A Baby.” HAG is an acronym for Homeless Action Group.  That piece announced the birth of yet another city blunder “to end homelessness” called HAP, the Homeless Action Plan.   The City of Atlanta’s feigned “helps” for homeless people are legion.  The sad attempts to create acronyms, to my knowledge, ended mercifully after three tries.  First came the HAG, then her short-lived son, the HAP and finally the ROC, the Resource Opportunity Center.  The third effort listed here was a multimillion dollar facility complete with bars on windows and “no loitering/police take note” signs all around.  The ROC was a brick, a million dollar flop.  The acronyms ended but their smoke and mirror efforts pretending to help the homeless continued ad nauseam.  No one has discovered a City of Atlanta sponsored plan or program that has ever touched Atlanta’s homeless population.  Why can’t city leaders who hosted a World Series, a Super Bowl and a Summer Olympics come up with a solution to help the homeless population?  Why not?  They don’t want to help the homeless population!  That has never been their plan; that will never be their plan.  The power brokers who control the governments, city, county and state want the homeless population to disappear. The presence of tattered African-American men on Peachtree Street is anathema to the movers and shakers who hold Mayor Franklin, Atlanta City Council and Fulton County Commission in the palms of their crafty hands.  Helping the homeless population keeps unwanted present, visible, in sight.  And just as sickening to the principalities and powers downtown is the stench of the Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless located at the corner of hallowed Peachtree and Pine.  That’s the rub. The truth is that the status quo gang who rules downtown is committed to disappearing homeless people and along with this refuse the disobedient Task Force for the Homeless, Inc. which supports these ruined outcasts 24-7.

The ROC languished for several years on life-support systems.  A street-wise homeless man once told me he would not go near the ROC as it was nothing more than a ticket to hanging Judge Bill Riley’s Community Court. “Besides,” my friend asked me, “don’t those city hall folks know that the ROC is another name for Alcatraz?”  The HAP, on the other hand, was either stillborn or died soon after birth, a misnamed weakling who never left the hospital.  Even consummate politician, State Representative Nan Orrock, said that the HAP was not a plan at all, just another list of projects.   

HAP’s wicked mother, the HAG, however, unlike her dead child, lives, just barely, but she lives, still.  The HAG breathes; she meets; she walks; she meets; she talks; she meets; she plans; she meets; she aims; she meets; then she attacks.  Debi Starnes, the self-named Czarina of homelessness, presides monthly over a dozen or so hangers-on.  (Ms. Starnes actually calls herself the Czar of homelessness.  Perhaps she prefers the masculine form of the noun; mayhap she doesn’t know the difference.)  The HAG meets within the protective confines of the affluent North Avenue Presbyterian Church.  Whenever the HAG targets a disobedient agency, such as the Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, Starnes and her cabal get busy. They dash off a diatribe that appears in the HAG’s Newsletter, the Atlanta Journal Constitution.  Sometimes when the Czarina gets desperate, she calls for heavy artillery from a weekly thing named, Creative Loafing.   The Task Force’s lawyers currently hold letters signed by Mayor Franklin that reek of Starnes’ rhetoric.

 

The Mayor’s strategist sometimes gets personal.  When ridicule heaped on the Task Force is not enough, the Czarina calls in mega forces to attack the organization’s directors and board members and financial supporters.  Recently heavy hitters were quoted as backup to Starnes’ inveterate, decade-long venom aimed at Anita Beaty, the executive director of the hated Task Force for the Homeless.  Bill Bolling, Bruce Gunter and other safe points of light joined Starnes with derogatory comments for local publications.  Those three worthies for years have had personal vendettas against disobedient Anita Beaty.  A not too prominent Atlanta banker some years ago referred to Anita Beaty as “That woman.”  Perhaps he didn’t want to dirty his mouth.  Able Mable Thomas told me that the city’s biggest problem with Anita Beaty is that she will not obey.  Bolling, Gunter and Starnes could vouch that Anita Beaty, the real deal, did not obey them, does not obey them, and will not obey them. 

Ten plus years ago I closed “The Hag Had A Baby” with a paragraph that has proved to be chillingly prophetic.  “Unfortunately, the birth of HAP, son of the HAG, does not indicate a lessening of our fiend’s fury.  Venom that perpetuates itself with the lie lives forever.  Just how far HAP, son of the HAG, will fall from the tree of the mother who bore him, no one can tell.  As an infant HAP is the spitting image of his ugly mother.  But talk around Central Atlanta Progress, City Hall, newsletter Atlanta Journal Constitution and other bastions of the truth have it that the HAG is pregnant again.  Technology says it’s a girl and her name is SAP, honoring all who follow her brother, HAP, son of the HAG.”

Of course, when I wrote “The HAG Had A Baby” I penned its conclusion tongue in cheek.  Only God knows the evil schemes that will bubble to the top of the city’s caldrons as Starnes has worked non-stop to disappear the homeless population and to destroy the leading agency in the state that serves the homeless population.  SAP is the City’s latest pretense that masquerades as a friend of homeless people.  This misnamed comedy of tricks is none other than The Mayor’s Commission to End Homelessness.  The HAG has delivered again.  The HAG was pregnant for so long carrying the SAP that some of us feared the monster would come forth a teenager.  Our deep throats in the bowels of the Outhouse tell us that this latest monster is not a teen at all, just another anemic issue, now seven years old but cannot find its way out of City Hall on fire-drill day. 

The Franklin/Starnes Commission has a fairy tale history that warrants telling.  When Advisor/Czarina Starnes completed the work on establishing this new commission, the Mayor decided to throw a City Hall bash to end all bashes.  The occasion was the announcement that the City of Atlanta once again was going to end homelessness.  How many times have our hearts been gladdened with the news that the city too busy to hate is once again going to end homelessness?  The gathering was so august that the Mayor ordered a fresh bucket of orange dye and a spare plastic flower or two.  She pulled all the stops.  Everybody was invited and everybody came: members of Atlanta City Council, some of the Mayor’s buddies from Fulton County Commission (Boxill not Darnell), Central Atlanta Progress, Atlanta Regional Commission, Chamber of Commerce, the Tri-Jurisdictional Continuum of Care, United Way and other helpers of the poor too numerous to name.  Note that The United Way is the cover for the City’s shenanigans.  The Chief of Police and Majors from all precincts were present and dressed out.  Meter maids and members of the Ambassadors along with a few choice police people who guard Peachtree-Pine were present and counted.  And last but not least the city chaplain was there to bless the feast and to sanctify the occasion.  This gala had been dedicated to the Mayor’s advisor, her mentor, her minion, her darling, her familiar, the honorable Debi Starnes.

Before relating the events of that glad evening in Atlanta, an aside is necessary.  A party hundreds of years ago is captured in the oldest of the four Gospels, Mark 6.14-27.  This devastating passage relates the death of that famous preacher known as John the Baptist.  The occasion is a birthday party for King Herod Antipas.  Herod had married Herodias, wife of his brother.  John the Baptist had had occasion to say to the King, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife” (Mark 6.18).  Herod was not too ruffled by John’s words because Herod was fascinated by this maverick, and the King liked to listen to him.  (Richard Nixon was good buddies with Billy Graham and liked to listen to him).  But wife Herodias was livid with the preacher.  Her fury exceeded reason, so the King imprisoned John for the good man’s protection.  Herod, like Shirley Franklin can throw a party, and guests came from far and wide; after all it was the King’s birthday.   Mark writes that some of those in attendance were his high officials, military commanders and leading citizens of Galilee.

Herodias’ daughter, Salome, danced and greatly pleased the King and his dinner guests.  In fact the King was so tickled that he said to Salome, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.”  Herod, probably a little tipsy by now, reinforces his promise with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”  Having consulted with her mother, Salome, said to King Herod, “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

Although Herod was made sad by this request, he would not refuse Salome because of his oath and because of his dinner guests.  Before the party ended the head of John the Baptist was presented to Herodias’ daughter.

Herod’s party centuries ago and Shirley Franklin’s party seven years ago have stunning similarities.  Franklin’s party was attended by all the politicos, and not unlike Herod, if Franklin invites, the invited show.  Food and drink aplenty satisfied every person.  First class entertainment gladdened the crowd.  As the party waned near the witching hour, up swayed the guest of honor.  She took the microphone unannounced, unaccompanied, unabashed; and belted Lee Greenwood’s country hit, “God Bless the USA.”  When she wailed, “I’m proud to be an American, At least I know I’m free” the crowd rose to its feet, and a few of the precinct Majors began swaying and chanting.  The ecstatic crowd. as one, joined the chant: “Debi does Atlanta; Debi Does Atlanta; Debi Does Atlanta; Debi Does Atlanta; Debi Does Atlanta.”  Seeing the frenzied crowd the Mayor, orange dye and plastic camellia, takes the microphone from her favorite and screeches, “Czarina Starnes, you are the greatest.  Ask me what you want, and I’ll give it to you.”  The “Czar” took the mike without hesitation and with a hellish, fiendish, maniacal smirk screamed, “Let me bring you the head of the head of the Task Force for the Homeless.”  The place went ballistic.  Whistles, catcalls, squeals led a ten minute demonstration. Of all the days and years and acts of city hall corruption, this had to be its finest hour. One drunk precinct Major was heard to drool, “Not even Bill Campbell could match this.”

 

As the cheering died, the Mayor reiterated, “’Debi Does Atlanta,’ and you got it girl.  You go get ‘That woman.’”  The precinct Major’s chant changed in content but not in fervor.  Voices of drunk police officers could be heard into the night, “That woman,” “That woman,” “That woman,” “That woman,” “That woman,” “That woman.”  The party ended; the cheers subsided; the inebriated sobered.  But the vigor and stamina and hatred of the homeless population only increased. Add to that image, “That woman” and the Czarina has the perfect target, the perfect storm.  Starnes went to work.  Moment by moment, day by day, year by year with uncanny, demonic devotion; she placed in her crosshairs the homeless population and the Task Force for the Homeless.  She has been able to stop contracts between the Task Force and the City of Atlanta, the State of Georgia as well as the Federal Government.  And she has done it all in the name of helping homeless people. 

It is imperative to take note, note bene, that Starnes and her ilk now define the homeless.  Therefore the officially designated by City Hall homeless comprise a tiny slice of the homeless population.  It is imperative for thinking people to scrutinize the ploy of parading charlatans like Debi Starnes.  She and her crowd identify a handful of homeless people and do something with them; often we do not know what they do.  At the same time the overall homeless population and any who serve it are designated for annihilation by definition.  It’s no wonder that they tell the world, “We are ending homelessness.” 

Recently, a prominent professor in a prominent local university asked me in all seriousness, “Why in the world does the spiritual community of Atlanta give Debi Starnes so much power?  She has murdered the Task Force.”  I replied, “Did you say ‘spiritual community’?  Who do you mean?”  He said, “I mean the churches, mega churches, mosques and synagogues.  There’s enough gold in those places of worship just on Peachtree to fund the Task Force five times over.”  Smiling, I said, “You are right; you are right.”  I tried to be kind as I reminded my literate friend of Canto III of Dante’s Inferno.  That canto houses the folks who were not bad enough to get into hell.  They did nothing.  They never entered the fray.  They remained safe.  They are for eternity the trimmers, always on the sideline, never in the game, never taking a stand, never doing anything. 

James Wilson Beaty, PhD
Jeremiah 22.16
April 13, 2009 

Failed Power Has Its End

Jeremiah 22.16 is a pivotal verse smack dab in the middle of a section that spells out specifically what kings (leaders) are commanded under God to be.

Recently I read a friend’s traffic summons from a court in Clayton County, Georgia: “You are hereby commanded to appear “ at court at a particular time on a particular day.  Clayton County doesn’t mess around.  Neither does the God of the Hebrew Bible.

No less vehement are the prophets and the psalmists on the responsibilities of kings (leaders) to their subjects who are poor.

In Jeremiah 22.16 the prophet speaks about Josiah and then quotes Yahweh: 

He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well.  Is that not what it means to know me? 

Truth speaks to power in this verse.  Truth is represented by the prophet himself, Jeremiah of Anathoth.  Power is represented by the king himself, Jehoiachim, King of Judah.  Truth tells the leader that he must emulate his father, good King Josiah.  I would love to have witnessed the preacher telling the king that the king must learn from his father, as the father “judged the plight of the poor and needy and all was well with him.”   What is required is clear: argue the case of the poor and needy; reach out to those whom God has given you to shepherd, and you will know the heart of God.

John Calvin’s commentary sees good king Josiah as having not only abstained from wrongdoing but also for having intervened to protect the innocent oppressed from the ravishes of injustice.  Because of those actions, the king lived well, enjoyed the love of his people and showed evidence that he knew God.  Can we not learn from this leader to love justice, do mercy and walk humbly with our God?

I don’t know whether or not Atlanta’s Mayor Shirley Franklin or her homelessness consultant, good Methodist Debi Starnes, ever heard of Jehoiachim or Josiah or John Calvin or even Jeremiah.  But one thing is sure:  it is never too late for them to repent of their attitude toward and treatment of the poor and homeless people in our city.  They can reverse their tortious interference with the Task Force’s private and contracted funding.

Jehoiachim could not find it in his heart to serve the poor.  His end was clear from the prophet’s words in Jeremiah 22.18.19:  

Therefore saith the Lord concerning Jehoiachim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, ‘They shall not lament for him, ah my brother or ah, sister.  They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah, lord! Or Ah his glory!

He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.’

Table of Contents of My Blogs from April 2009 to the Present

The following Table of Contents is provided for the convenience of my readers, especially those researching the fifteen-year conspiriracy by the City of Atlanta and Central Atlanta Progress to disappear homeless people and the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless. Many TEAM GOLIATH players in the Conspirata appear in the nearly 200 blogs. In this table I have furnished the title of each blog, the date it was posted, the month and year and number in that month and a second number indicating its place in the overall table from April 2009 to the present. Following that information, I quote the first two sentences of each particular blog. Sometimes those sentences furnish the gist of each blog.

One day I’ll furnish an index of names, organizations and places. But that may not happen until these essays are published in a book. This Table of Contents appears at the Sidebar under Related Links. Enjoy. Jim Beaty, December 19, 2010

APRIL 2009

1)
1. The HAG Had a Baby – or – “Don’t Look Them in the Eye” April 2, 2009

NOTE: The following satire was written ten years ago. It is as pertinent today as then because the draconian treatment of homeless people in Atlanta and the malicious villainies against the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless have only intensified over the last decade. – James Wilson Beaty, Jeremiah 2216, December 29, 2008.

“HAG is an acronym for the Homeless Action Group, the creation of Atlanta City Councilperson Debi Starnes. Recently the HAG had a baby.”

2)
2. “Sir Patrick Spens” Versus City Hall April 3, 2009

“’Sir Patrick Spens,’ an anonymous, eleven stanza poem, written perhaps in the 15th century, tells the same story as the sorry saga of the City of Atlanta versus the poor. The Scottish king in this poem represents management, the administration, city hall, the powerful, the business as usual status quo gang, the power players, the to be obeyed ones.”

3)
3. Failed Power Has Its End April 6, 2009
“Jeremiah 22.16 is a pivotal verse smack dab in the middle of a section that spells out specifically what kings (leaders) are commanded under God to be.
Recently I read a friend’s traffic summons from a court in Clayton County, Georgia: ‘You are hereby commanded to appear’ at court at a particular time on a particular day.”

4)
4. The HAG Delivers Again April 13, 2009
“Ten years ago I wrote a satire, ‘The HAG Had A Baby.’ HAG is an acronym for Homeless Action Group. That piece announced the birth of yet another city blunder ‘to end homelessness’ called HAP, the Homeless Action Plan.”

MAY 2009

5)
1. Over The Back Fence May 1, 2009
“My next-door neighbors, Drs. Sidney and Noelle Williams, are my neighbors and my doctors. A gravel driveway runs between our properties.”

6)
2. Murder By Strangulation May 19, 2009
“Mayor Shirley Franklin, primarily through the efforts of her familiar, Debi Starnes, has murdered the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, Inc. The autopsy shows that death came from strangling.”

JUNE 2009

7)
1. Blogging Replaces Corporate Media June 4, 2009
“One of my spiritual mentors wrote on June 3, 2009: ‘It’s fun to think of all the official crap that was either commissioned or rewarded in ancient Israel (e.g. Obadiah) — yet miraculously what survives is Jeremiah, Amos, Isaiah, Micah, II Kings. I’m praying your blog survives the AJC to mark Atlanta’s place in spiritual history.’”

8)
2. “Fight One More Round” June 11, 2009
“World heavyweight champion from 1892-1897, Gentleman Jim Corbett is the father of modern boxing. With his 72 inch reach he beat the great John L. Sullivan.”

9)
3. Jake’s Limerick June 17, 2009
“Submitted on 2009/06/16 at 1:23am
I think you may like this one…”

10)
4. Payne From Maine’s Limerick June 17, 2009
“Dear Payne from Maine: Your splendid poem has several literary allusions. First Cerberus is the dog from hell with three throats.”

11)
5. Water, Water Everywhere And Not A Drop To Flush June 23, 2009
“On June 22 the City of Atlanta’s Department of Water Mismanagement turned off the water at the Atlanta Task Force’s Peachtree Pine shelter for homeless men. On the night of June 21, 575 people spent the night in the facility.”

12)
6. Debi Starnes Bears False Witness June 23, 2009
“Czarina Debi Starnes, Mayor Shirley Franklin’s familiar and her Carl Rove to mastermind the disappearing of homeless people, says time and again that only 350 people are sheltered at the Task Force’s Peachtree-Pine facility. Lie number one: the facility averages 575 year round.”

13)
7. Flash! Flash! Mayor Franklin Sends Relief To Waterless, Homeless At Peachtree-Pine June 23, 2009
“Having cut off drinking and flushing water on Monday, June 22, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin sends relief to the 600 living there. In the wee hours of the morning, word came from Deep Throat at City Hall (The Outhouse) that relief is on the way.”

14)
8. The Franklin/Starnes Newsletter Silent on The Dynamite Explosion In Court June 25, 2009
“The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has served for years as the newsletter supporting the Shirley Franklin/Czar Debi Starnes team committed to disappearing homeless people from Atlanta. The team effort, of course, includes the elimination of the largest and most ‘disgusting’ shelter in the Southeast, the Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, Inc.”

15)
9. Exposing The Heart June 25, 2009
“The Franklin/Starnes team is committed to the disappearing of the homeless population from Atlanta. All the members of that team from Hosby to memo signer Bonnie Ware declare that they are the ‘molders of human fate and the givers of all good.’”

16)
10. Ratchet Rob Will Turn Off Shelter Water June 29, 2009
“Ratchet Rob ‘Happy to turn off your water’ Hunter, City Commissioner of Water and Head of the Department of Water Mismanagement will turn off the water (third time I think) at the Peachtree-Pine shelter at 5 pm on Tuesday, June 30. The Task Force has raised only $3000 of the $15,000 necessary to maintain water service.”

JULY 2009

17)
1. Ratchet Rob Will Have To Wait 15 Days July 1, 2009
“At 4 pm today, June 30, the Atlanta Task Force delivered a $14,809.82 check to the City of Atlanta’s Department of Water Mismanagement. Rachet Rob ‘I’ll turn your water off’ Hunter was poised by the phone waiting for the turnoff call from Debi ‘Debi Does Atlanta’ Starnes.”

18)
2. The Usual Biased Reporting From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution—Sameo, Sameo—The Monotony of Injustice July 6, 2009
“Steve Visser’s June 30 article, ‘Showdown over shelter’ invites scrutiny. An unsuspecting reader might believe the piece to be fair, perhaps truthful.”

19)
3. When Central Atlanta Progress Shines She Really Shines July 14, 2009
“I use the feminine pronoun for CAP because she is the ship of the city. As CAP goes so goes downtown Atlanta”

20)
4. Sorry, Debi; Sorry, CAP, Sorry, Rhonda “The whole truth” Cook; Sorry, Dave “Great News” Wardell, and Sorry, Ratchet Rob “I’ll Turn Your Water Off” Hunter July 17, 2009
“The names listed above are members of the Franklin/Starnes, CAP Goliath Team committed to the extermination of the Task Force for the Homeless. They will have to wait a little longer for homeless people to be without water at the Peachtree-Pine shelter.”

21)
5. “I was clearly misquoted in the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION article.- Part I” Steven R. Katkowshy, M.D. April 2007 July 19, 2009
“While watching coverage of the home going of Walter Cronkite, I heard words describing him as ‘the most trusted man in America,’ ‘always told the truth,’ ‘honest,’ ‘compassionate,’ ‘fair,’ ‘funny,’ ‘unbiased’ and ‘Uncle Walter.’ Cronkite possessed a passion to educate the public by reporting all the facts.”

22)
6. “I was clearly misquoted in the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION article.” Steven R. Katkowshy, M.D., April 2007—Part II July 20, 2009
“I hold in my hand the memo that I cited in Part I of this article. The memo is from Dr. Katkowsky, Director of Fulton County Health Department.”

23)
7. Jerry Farber, my favorite comedian July 21, 2009
“Very few comedians make me laugh, Two who do are Foster Brooks and Jerry Farber. Jerry has served for years as a member of the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, Inc.”

24)
8. Ethelyn Whitman Beaty July 25, 2009
“My favorite sister-in-law is Ethelyn Whitman Beaty. She lives and thrives in Columbia, S. C., and has been my brother’s widow since 1970.”

25)
9. Questions For Water Mismanagement July 27, 2009
“The brass at Central Atlanta Progress knows what questions reporters from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution should be asking Rachet Rob “I’ll turn your water off” Hunter and his minions at the City’s Department of Water Mismanagement. Starnes has been directed by CAP to know a minimum of four questions in her task to cut-off water…”

AUGUST 2009

26)
1. Comes Now… August 3, 2009
“Amos 5.10 How you hate honest judges! How you despise people who tell the truth!”

27)
2. “hell hole,” “human squalor,” “brain-washed” August 6, 2009
“In response to my ‘Comes now…’ posted on August 2, zzack777@hotmail.com wrote a 210 word diatribe blasting among other things the Task Force bonuses, six-figure salaries, retirement packages, etc. That enlightenment forces me to share even greater light that he sheds.”

28)
3. Are Their Pants Down Again?- Contempt of Court v. City August 7, 2009
“Does Czar Debi Starnes work for United Way of Metro Atlanta? Does the Czar of homelessness work for the City of Atlanta? Does Debi Does Atlanta work for those good folks who gave us ‘the sanitized zone,’ ‘the vagrant free zone,’ ‘the tourist triangle’?”

29)
4. “Sir, I wrote that speech in a garret in Exeter Street.” August 9, 2009
“Samuel “Dictionary” Johnson served from November 1740 to February 1742 as a reporter of the debates in Parliament. The reports were sold on the streets by publishers like Johnson’s friend Edward Cave.”

30)
5. Days Not So Good August 13, 2009
“Whenever a bad day comes and Rachet Rob “I’ll turn your water off” Hunter strikes again, remember the great have difficult days too. Ezra Pound wrote of his poetry…”

31)
6. Shakespeare On Social Injustices August 15, 2009
“Outside the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, I know of no statement exposing social injustices more powerful than Shakespeare’s Sonnet 66. He gave the world 154 sonnets, give or take a few, that some scholars believe might have been written by somebody else.”

32)
7. AS I LAY DYING August 20, 2009
“William Falkner’s novel, AS I LAY DYING, gets its title from Book 11 of the ODYSSEY when Agamemnon tells of his murder by Aegisthus along with his wife, Clytemnestra. Odysseus is visiting Agamemnon in hell.”

33)
8. Sub, Sub, Sub, Poena, Poena, Poena August 26, 2009

SEPTEMBER 2009

34)
1. The Atlanta Task Force, Inc. v. The City of Atlanta September 15, 2009
“A hearing on a filed motion by Task Force attorneys to compel Central Atlanta Progress to produce requested documents and to produce named individuals to be deposed will be held at the Superior Court of Fulton County at 8:30 a.m., Monday, September 21, 2009, in Judge Ural Glanville’s Courtroom, F-5.
Little David needs your presence and support.”

35)
2. Come Now… Again! David holds five smooth stones! September 16, 2009
“On Friday, September 11, 2009, attorneys for the Atlanta Task Force for The Homeless, Inc. filed a Second Amended Complaint against the city, the Mayor’s office. The entire document contains 51 numbered paragraphs covering 24 pages.”

36)
3. Come Now… Again (Part 2) Little David Holds 5 Smooth Stones September 17, 2009
“Nine Counts in The SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT filed recently by Task Force attorneys against The City of Atlanta (The Mayor’s Office) Listed below are the NINE COUNTS. The paragraph numbers are listed without the text.”

37)
4. John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) on Conservatives September 18, 2009
“John Stuart Mill, a promoter of happiness and a champion for women’s equal rights in marriage and in the law said of conservatives (I paraphrase): A person who is a conservative is not necessarily stupid: however, I have never met a stupid person who was not a conservative. I wonder which category the brilliant Mill would place the not so brilliant Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Congressman Joseph “You lie!” Wilson.”

38)
5. The Village Idiots September 18, 2009
“Frank Schaeffer, author of CRAZY FOR GOD said “You can’t rearrange the village because of the village idiot.” I agree with Mr. Schaeffer; however, when a band of village idiots (or worse) is in charge of the village, drastic rearrangements must take place.”

39)
6. “Not Stable Enough” September 18, 2009
“I learned recently to my dismay that a longtime donor will not give any money to the Task Force during the next fiscal year. Not only was this donor an old friend but also a substantial contributor.”

40)
7. TASK FORCE WINS TODAY’S HEARING TO COMPEL! September 21, 2009
“The weather was cloudy and bleak. Zeus had spoken earlier with flashing lightning and rolling thunder.”

41)
8. A Slow Death September 23, 2009
“A hearing today (September 23, 2009) at 9 am in the Superior Court of Fulton County (Georgia) produced no ruling on a restraining order to Grady Memorial Hospital to maintain the life-saving Dialysis Clinic that the new privatized, corporate board voted months ago to close on September 20. Attorney Lindsay Jones argued that Grady Hospital, having begun treatment for 96 kidney patients is obligated to find available treatment elsewhere.”

42)
9. NY Cousins Are Calling About Grady September 30, 2009
“I’m holding the NEW YORK TIMES (Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009, p. A18). The page features a picture of Grady Memorial Hospital and three pictures (large ones)…”

OCTOBER 2009

43)
1. The Tender Laws of this Favored Country October 2, 2009
“The authorities in Charles Dickens’ England placed Oliver Twist in the workhouse promising two blessings, an education and a useful trade. Charles Dickens wrote in the 1830′s…”

44)
2. “Please, Sir” October 17, 2009
“In Charles Dickens’ OLIVER TWIST, Mr. Bumble is a beadle for the Church of England who answers to a committee. Fat Bumble reports on the behavior of ungrateful, trifling orphans like Oliver Twist who complain of the starvation diet in the parochial workhouse.”

45)
3. The Race Is On October 29, 2009
“This morning, October 28, 2009, I sat in a McDonald’s on Cheshire Bridge Road in Atlanta. I was waiting for my friends at Kauffman Tire to repair my ragged car.”

46)
4. Lawsuit Moved To Federal Court October 30, 2009
“The lawsuit posing the Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless v. The City of Atlanta has been moved from The Superior Court of Fulton County to Federal Court. This move was requested by City of Atlanta attorneys.”

47)
5. Franklin’s Reward Or Punishment For Her Failure? October 30, 2009
“Upon leaving office as Atlanta’s mayor, Shirley Franklin will not become the Secretary of HUD, a job whose paycheck she has long craved. She will not be running for any state or federal office: governor, lieutenant governor, U. S. Congress or U. S. Senate.”

48)
6. Team Goliath Weeps Again—THE WATER IS ON; Sorry, Sib October 30, 2009
“A staff member from the Sibley’s shelter, ole SS I call it, the Gateway, called Task Force staff members today to alert them that the Gateway staff would be coming over (Friday, October 30, 2009) to begin moving men out of the Pine as the WATER WOULD BE TURNED OFF AT 5 pm. Team Goliath has not a clue about our means.”

NOVEMBER 2009

49)
1. Please Bring and Send Water! November 3, 2009
“Please call me, Jim Beaty (404 787-1086) to talk aboiut WATER. It is imperative that the Task Force for the Homeless have on site millions of gallons of WATER.”

50)
2. Another Prediction November 4, 2009
“I have stated repeatedly that Mary Norwood would be Atlanta’s next mayor, I was wrong again. She is in a runoff; therefore, she cannot be the next mayor because she cannot win in a runoff. At least I’m wrong consistently.”

51)
3. Does A Worm Turn? November 15, 2009
“The taxpaying public may want to ask questions about attacks on the Task Force for the Homeless:
1. Did the Gateway Shelter really get and spend $50,000,000…”

52)
4. Starnes + Central Atlanta Progress = “defunded” for 2008 “Whoopee”! November 19, 2009
“The rule that I follow in blogging anything to do with the lawsuit: Atlanta Task Force For the Homeless, Inc. v. City of Atlanta is to write only that which has been filed or made public by the Task Force attorneys. The following is a six line e-mail called EXHIBIT ‘10’.”

53)
5. Employed CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANT: Not Believed November 19, 2009
“Homeless Czar Debi Mae Starnes bears false witness. She remembers statements that didn’t occur, but under oath she can’t remember the hotel that pays $10,000 of her $90,000 salary. She has spewed all over Atlanta that the nightly number of residents at Peachtree-Pine furnished by the Task Force is incorrect.”

54)
6. The Evil Tentacles of Central Atlanta Progress – Court Exhibit 13 November 21, 2009
“After the City of Atlanta government, Central Atlanta Progress is the strongest conspirator plotting to destroy The Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, Inc. and the 700 person shelter known as Peachtree-Pine. These entities have worked in tandem for years to rid downtown Atlanta of the homeless population.”

55)
7. Psalm 54 (An adaptation from a faithful volunteer) November 21, 2009
“The following adaptation was written by a long-time volunteer whose wonderful suburban church has fed, clothed, and ministered to men at the Center at Peachtree-Pine since it opened in 1997. This church is not located on Peachtree Street nor is it in the grasp of Central Atlanta Progress or Horace “The Bully” Sibley.”

56)
8. Exhibit “8” Another stick of dynamite “Make them feel like they did the right thing” November 24, 2009
“The following is a stick of dynamite more explosive than Debi Mae’s broomstick. The brainstrust of TEAM GOLIATH cranked up their computers early September 11, 2008.”

DECEMBER 2009

57)
1. Starnes’ Score, 99 to 1 December 25, 2009
“The uniqueness of the following e-mail from Debi Mae Starnes, Senior Advisor to Franklin on Homeless Policies to Richard Orr, Senior Project Manager of Central Atlanta Progress is that Starnes tells the truth. Her e-mail to Orr is dated Monday, August 6, 2007, and the subject is RE: Sunday editorial? Her message to Orr: No – I think it was 99% bad for the Task Force and only a sentence or two for us in the last paragraph”

58)
2. Central Atlanta Progress Demands Justice – For Central Atlanta Progress December 26, 2009
“The following is a letter written to Lisa Borders from A. J. Robinson asking that “all sides have equal hearing and be free from verbal attack.” Before I read this letter today, I was not aware that Mr. Robinson, President of CAP, wanted the Peachtree-Pine Shelter and Anita Beaty to have “equal hearing and to be free from verbal attack.”

59)
3. Minutes By Minutes—to the last syllable of recorded time/2007 December 26, 2009
“The following is quoted directly from the minutes of the October 10, 2007, Executive Committee of Central Atlanta Progress, Inc. and Board of Directors of Capacity, Inc.:
Homeless Update: Robinson informed the committee that a good detail of attention was being paid to the impact of the Peachtree-Pine shelter on the surrounding community.”

60)
4. The Second Day of Christmas December 26, 2009
“On the second day of Christmas
A. J. gave to me
Two worn out shoes and a kick in the seat of my pants.”

61)
5. Richard “We’re in” Orr knows “crap” when he sees it, touches it, or smells it December 27, 2009
“From: Richard Orr
Sent: Friday, September 12, 2008
To: Woodling, Catherine
Subject: Our bosses were chatting today about the Steffan op-ed in the AJC. AJ told the Mayor we had roughed out a response but weren’t sure where it should come from…”

62)
6. “… in case the City wants to wade in.” December 27, 2009
“Richard “We’re in!” Orr in his September 12, 2008, e-mail to Catherine Woodling at City Hall wrote, “My writing style is geared toward AJ, so feel free to change, use or toss in case the City wants to wade in.” Mr. Orr concluded this e-mail using his word “crap” in reference to an op-ed piece published that morning in the AJC submitted by Professor Charles Steffen, PhD, Georgia State University.”

63)
7. The Third Day of Christmas December 30, 2009
“On the third day of Christmas, Greg Pridgeon sent to me three bogus letters, two worn out shoes and one kick in the seat of my pants.”

64)
8. The Fourth Day of Christmas December 30, 2009
“On the fourth day of Christmas Shirley Franklin sent to me four vats of kool aid, three bogus letters, two worn out shoes and one kick in the seat of my pants.”

JANUARY 2010

65)
1. Starnes To Horace ‘Sinon’ Sibley January 13, 2010
“Note that the Chairman of Mayor Franklin’s Commission to End Homelessness has a new middle name. There’s a new name written down in glory, and it’s fine, oh yes it’s fine.”

66)
2. Jeremiah, The Hebrew Diogenes January 23, 2010
“The Greek philosopher, Diogenes (c. 412-c. 323 bce) often carried a lantern as he went about the earth. He held it up to faces about him seeking an honest person.”

67)
3. Richard “We’re in” Orr evidently KNOWS who is in bed with whom; we know he knows “crap” January 23, 2010
“From; Richard Orr
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2007 2:58 PM
To: Debi Starnes
Subject: RE: Creative Loafing
I’m feeding her (Mara Shalhoup) other names, but haven’t talked directly to her. Did you get the sense that she was straight up about the article? John Sugg, one of their senior editors, is in bed with Anita.”

68)
4. King Lear’s Prayer January 25, 2010
“William Shakespeare’s KING LEAR (Act 3, Scene 4) finds the king, his fool and “unstable” Tom o’ Bedlam in the midst of a brutal winter storm. They come upon a hut in the middle of nowhere and in honor of the king the two men wait for his majesty to enter first, ahead of them.”

69)
5. Prophet Jeremiah, The Hebrew Diogenes January 25, 2010
“Diogenes, the Greek philosopher, a little sceptical at times, supposedly carried a lantern to scrutinize every face hoping to find an honest person. Legend has it that Alexander the Great once came upon the sceptic and asked the philosopher what he wanted the Great One to give him.”

70)
6. Alan Harris Gets THE PLATINUM AWARD January 28, 2010
“Dear Alan M. Harris on August 9, Thursday morning at 6:42 am sent the following e-mail to Debi Mae Starnes, Horace Sibley, Bonnie Ware at the city and Protip Biswas at United Way. Mr. Harris a long-time champion of women and children and inveterate basher of the Task Force wrote”

71)
7. “Great job, Shirley Franklin…” But the melody lingers on” January 28, 2010
“I quoted Shirley Franklin when she was mayor in response to a question asked by Bob Cramer, Chair of the Board of the Task Force. Cramer’s e-mail now in discovery asks the mayor if she intends at any time past, present or future to close the Task Force’s facility called Peachtree-Pine.”

FEBRUARY 2010

72)
1. Central Atlanta Progress Has a History of Assisting the Needy February 21, 2010
“Award winning public servant Horace “Sinon” Sibley was shocked when Attorney Steve Hall said in his deposition that the business community didn’t want black males panhandling downtown. I’m shocked too. Sinon shocks me every other time he speaks.”

73)
2. Horace Sibley Receives High Award on April 8; Surely They Meant April 1 February 22, 2010
“The Georgia State University College of Law gives its highest award for public service to the attorney who in its view has best served the public touching the most lives impacting the most people creating the most help starting the best long range programs and spreading the most good during the previous year in the Greater Atlanta Area. The award is called The Ben F. Johnson Public Service Award.”

74)
3. Are Subpoenas Circling The Hurt Building Like Frisbee? February 22, 2010
“Today is deposition day around the old prayer breakfast table. One of the heavy hitters will be deposed today at 10 am as sure as United Way is just. I cannot tell you the name of this heavy hitter, but I can say that he bats third.”

75)
4. Central Atlanta Progress Continues To Make History – Deposition Day 2 February 23, 2010
“People who know downtown Atlanta — its glories, its sorrows, its corruption — cannot recall a time ever that CAP was ever subpoenaed for a deposition. And that is since 1941 when the organization was founded.”

76)
5. CAP’s President A.J. Robinson Deposed for 7 hours February 24, 2010
“The second day of depositions of Central Atlanta Progress’s top two executives took place today in the Troutman Sanders law firm on the 53 floor of their building on Peachtree Street. The questioning by Baker Donelson Attorney Steve Hall began at 9:30 am and ended at 5;15 p.m.”

77)
6. Charles Dickens On A Well-Spent Life February 24, 2010
“Walter Pidgeon in the Broadway musical TAKE ME ALONG sang an encouraging song that proclaimed “I’m staying young, I’m staying young while everyone around me is growing old.”
Charles Dickens in chapter two of BARNABY RUDGE describes the delightful Gabriel Varney and how Father Time has treated him.”

78)
7. Peachtree-Pine March 3 Foreclosure Postponed February 25, 2010
“Atlanta Real Estate Developer Manny Fialkow, afraid of being sued personally by Baker Donelson, called off the foreclosure of the Peachtree-Pine shelter for at least 30 days. Central Atlanta Progress and its Siamese sibling, Atlanta Downtown Improvement Development (ADID), were hours away from being named as defendants in the lawsuit against the city when Fialkow agreed not to foreclose on Peachtree Pine on March 3.”

79)
8. What’s In A Name? February 25, 2010
“I grew up running with people who loved and sang what I call ‘gospel hymns.’ I used to sing ‘there’s a new name written down in glory, and it’s mine, Oh yes it’s mine.’”

80)
9. Hebrew Prophet Micah On Central Atlanta Progress February 25, 2010
“The Hebrew Bible speaks clearly on land grabbing. Hebrew Prophet Micah may scream clearest. Micah 2.1-2 (New Living Translation) reads…”

MARCH 2010

81)
1. “Race also factore into CAP’s thinking, Orr noted.” March 13, 2010
“The entire following quote is lifted from Matthew Cardinale’s article, ‘City, CAP Conspired to Sabotage Homeless Shelter — Part 1’. Mr. Cardinale is reachable at matthew@atlantprogressivenews.com. The entire article can be read at http://www.atlantaprogressivenews.com/extras/syndicate.html.”

82)
2. Starnes Silent or Silenced? March 26, 2010
“The first blog that I posted was in April of 2009. My frustration reading lies damaging my homeless friends at Peachtree Pine prompted that blog. I wrote it for my own sanity.”

83)
3. Read Matthew Cardinale On Czar Debi Starnes March 26, 2010
“Atlanta Progressive News (atlantaprogressivenews.com) has just published on line an article: EXCLUSIVE: Starnes Failed to Disclose CAP Payment– Shelter Sabotage Part 2. You want to read this article posted on line March 25, 2010.”

84)
4. Zeus Must Be Pissed!!! March 26, 2010
“Heavy clouds hover at the horizon. Lightning streaks across the sky announcing thunder never equaled.”

85)
5. INJUSTICE — “a deathblow to existence” March 27, 2010
“Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heshel in his volume, THE PROPHETS, writes,
‘Indeed, the sort of crimes and even the amount of delinquency that fills the prophets of Israel with dismay do not go beyond that which we regard as normal, as typical ingredients of social dynamics. To us a single act of injustice — cheating in business, exploitation of the poor — is slight; to the prophets, a disaster.’”

86)
6. Goliath versus David; A.J. Robinson versus Steve Hall March 29, 2010
“Chapter 17 of I Samuel in the Hebrew Bible tells the story of Goliath versus David. Verse 4 relates that Goliath was over nine feet tall.”

87)
7. Pastor Martin Niemoller (1892-1984) was in Nazi prison 1937-1942 March 30, 2010
“Pastor Martin Niemoller wrote the following that makes me remember this great man when I fail to speak up against the criminal leadership that surrounds most of us:
‘In Germany they first came for the communists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.’”

88)
8. April 1st Is Horace “Sinon” Sibley* Day – And It Should Be. March 30, 2010
“Horace Sibley* is Public Servant Man of the Year according to Georgia State University’s College of Law. This award goes to the lawyer that lawyers believe to be greater Atlanta’s most outstanding PUBLIC SERVANT.”

89)
9. Debi Starnes Accused of Ethics Violations – Seven Counts March 31, 2010
“History was made on Tuesday, March 29, 2010, when Atlanta citizens cited seven ethics codes accusing Debi Mae Starnes of ethical violations. Several of the alledged violations go back to when she was member of City Council under Mayor Bill Campbell.”

90)
10. Water Mismanagement At Its Finest March 31, 2010
“I live in a bungalow in the ghetto on the sad side of I 20 in Atlanta. This afternoon I was puttering about repairing parts that are falling off the house.”

APRIL 2010

91)
1. “Sadly, some things never change.” … novelist Robin Maxwell April 8, 2010
“In my April 6, 2010, blog entitled, ‘Starnes Received Letter from ”Ethics” Office,’ I predicted that the Ethics Board investigation of Debi Starnes will amount to nothing. I wrote, ‘Clubs don’t club their members.’”

92)
2. God’s Burning Rain Scorches Westchester County, NY April 9, 2010
“The following release marks a NEW HUD and a NEW DAY busting fair housing violators. The conspirators and discriminators of Austin, Texas, have more recently felt the ‘burning rain.’”

93)
3. Horace “Sinon” Sibley AWARDED; Debi “Debi Does Atlanta” Starnes REWARDED April 9, 2010
“At Atlanta’s prestigeous Commerce Club on Thursday night, April 8, 2010, Attorney Horace Sibley was given The Public Service Award for 2009, having served as chair of THE UNITED WAY’S REGIONAL COMMISSION ON HOMELESSNESS.* This high award is given by the Georgia State University College of Law.”

94)
4. Has Starnes Been Thrown Under The Bus? April 11, 2010
“Is Starnes still the new Mayor’s Advisor on Homelessness? Is she employed by the City?”

95)
5. A Sizzling Email Chain From A.J. to Orr to A.J. to Sam Williams April 12, 2010
“On a chilly December afternoon in 2008, A. J. Robinson’s computer sizzled. On Monday, December 8, 2008, at 1:08 pm, he emailed the following to Richard Orr, ‘Also, Debi was supposed to get me names of Anita’s lawyers….’”

96)
6. How Long Oh Lord How Long? (or) How Long Will Starnes Dangle?
“The daily number of readers of my blog astounds me these days. I learned at my deposition in February that the City attorneys read me regularly.”

97)
7. $22,000, 000 Uncollected Water Bills April 14, 2010
“CBS TV Chanel 46 in Atlanta reported on 6 o’clock news tonight (April 14, 2010) that the City of Atlanta has $22,000,000 of uncollected water bills. These include businesses and residences.”

98)
8. The Calm Before the Storm April 27, 2010
“The hiatus of the last fortnight in this blog is planned, calculated. Metaphors and similes and images and comparisons help the message cross over the river from sender to receiver.”

99)
9. Tom Bell Can’t Unring This Bell!!! April 29, 2010
“Is there a Cousins Properties connection to the TEAM GOLIATH Central Atlanta Progress/ADID conspiracy to seize the Peachtree Pine property? The minutes of the Executive Committee of Central Atlanta Progress, Inc.”

100)
10. Horace Sibley’s Safety Zone April 30, 2010
“On March 10, 2010, I blogged a piece called, ‘Task Force Chairman Bob Cramer and TEAM GOLIATH.’ In that blog I quoted an email written November 15, 2007 from Horace Sibley to Mayor Shirley Franklin.”

MAY 2010

101)
1. Mayday City of Atlanta! Mayday CAP! Mayday ADID! May 9, 2010
“On the afternoon of May 6, 2010, Washington, D.C. lawyers from the law firm of Relman and Dane filed a Fair Housing Complaint against the City of Atlanta, Central Atlanta Progress (‘CAP’), and Atlanta Downtown Improvement District (‘ADID’). The complaint filed with Washington HUD names the Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless as the aggrieved party.”

102)
2. The Conspirators – City, CAP, ADID – THE LAWS THEY BROKE – for starters May 14, 2010
“The Conspirators — City of Atlanta, CAP, ADID – the laws they broke, for starters.
The HOUSING DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINT filed by the Washington law firm, Relman, Dane and Colfax, on March 26, 2010, with HUD, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development contains countless telling details, some of which will never be published in the Siamese sisters, AJC or CREATIVE LOAFING.”

103)
3. Nobody Bullies A Corporation – Not Even Horace “The Bully” Sibley May 15, 2010
“Nobody ‘bullies’ a Corporation – Not Even Horace ‘The Bully’ Sibley.
In his CREATIVE LOAFING blog essay entitled, ‘Siege mentality,’ Scott Henry writes the following sentence, ‘Jim Beaty, meanwhile, accuses Horace Sibley, former chairman of United Way Regional Commission on Homelessness, for bullying the Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta’s largest Episcopal church, into pulling its support for the Task Force.’
I must correct the rarely if ever completely correct Henry.”

104)
4. King Solomon and Dietrich Bonhoeffer on “speaking out” May 19, 2010
“Elizabeth Raum’s DIETRICH BONHOEFFER, CALLED BY GOD was published in 2003 by The Contiuum International Publishing Group, Inc., New York. The following paragraph is quoted from her Chapter 8, ‘Speaking Out – 1933.’”

105)
5. The Nazis and the German Church May 20, 2010
“When Hitler’s Gestapo troops broke into buildings, shops, houses and synagogues to remove the Jews, the German Church was close at hand. One third of the national church called itself the ‘German Christians.’ They hailed Adolf Hitler as a gift from God.”

106)
6. Richard “We’re in” Orr is a prophet too! May 21, 2010
“Richard Orr is the Senior Projects Manager at Central Atlanta Project. He’s good at what he does.”

107)
7. MANNY FIALKOW files TRO against Anita Beaty May 21, 2010
“Developer Manny Fialkow has filed a (TRO) Temporary Restraining Order against Executive Director, Anita Beaty banning her from the 94,000 sq. ft. Peachtree-Pine shelter at 477 Peachtree Street. Anita Beaty directs the Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, inc.”

108)
8. “How does it feel?” May 22, 2010
“How does it feel to watch your life’s work go down the drain? How does it feel to have the bottommost land grabbers like Manny Fialkow and Central Atlanta Progress steal your building?”

109)
9. A Strange Thing Happened In Deuteronomy May 26, 2010
“Have you ever wondered how the CANON folks let some things in the Bible? I have wondered more what churches and synagogues and mosques do with Deuteronomy and other teachings in all scriptures that the peddlers of doctrine ‘swear’ by.”

110)
10. Mr. Fialkow, Mr. A.J. Robinson, Mr. Sibley from Jim Beaty May 27, 2010
“The paragraphs that follow are for the eyes only of Manny Fialkow, A. J. Robinson and Horace Sibley. If you are not one of these gentlemen or the representative of one of these men, I ask you to read no further.”

JUNE 2010

111)
1. Chris “no show” Allers Didn’t June 11, 2010
“The Task Force staff at Peachtree-Pine learned late Monday afternoon, June 7, 2010, that Chris Allers, former United Way somebody was scheduled to present at the June 8 meeting of the HAG. Allers’ topic was to be the ‘Situation at the Peachtree-Pine Shelter.
The HAG is far too effective a group for me to attempt a description here, but if you do not know the work of the HAG you can read my two blogs, ‘The HAG Had A Baby’ and a more recent piece, ‘The HAG Delivers Again.’”

112)
2. Irish Poet Thomas Moore 1779 – 1852 June 11, 2010
“Moore’s immortal poem, ‘Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms’ teaches:
No the heart that has truly loved never forgets
But as truly loves on to the close.
As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets
The same look which she turned when he rose.”

113)
3. CAP’S Richard Orr Prophesies Correctly, Again! June 13, 2010
“As the days dwindle down to a precious few, The rock from Rock Hill proves more and more prophetic. Richard ‘we’re in’ ‘crap sniffer’ Orr is the Senior Projects Manager for Central Atlanta Progress. And the thousands of members of CAP know he’s a good ‘project manager.’”

114)
4. T.S. Elliot: … “time to murder and create” June 14, 2010
“Line 28 of T. S. Eliot’s, ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ reads, ‘There will be time to murder and create.’ The setting of this line is not a killing field or a murder mystery or a massacre of Irishmen by English Captain Richard Bingham.”

115)
5. STOP THE PRESSES! Scott Henry turns reporter (momentarily) June 18, 2010
“CREATIVE LOAFING, June 23, 2010 VOL.39, NO.07, page 12 reads as follows, and it is signed Scott Henry. I quote his words following the headline and the subtitle.”

116)
6. Explosive Counterclaim Filled Today, June 21, 2010 June 22, 2010
“In response to Manny Fialkow’s filing a TRO, (Temporary Restraining Order) hoping to bar all persons remotely connected to the Task Force from the Peachtree-Pine Shelter, Task Force lawyers filed a 175-page Counterclaim. Fialkow’s lawyers filed this TRO in the Superior Court of Fulton County in the Court of Judge Craig Schwall.”

117)
7. RICO! RICO! RICO! June 22, 2010
“Not too many law abiding citizens know this acronym, RICO. Say it three times quickly and it sounds like a chant by cheerleaders at a high school football game.”

118)
8. What Is RICO? Which Conspirators Fall Under Its Scrutiny? June 23, 2010
“RICO is a federal law enacted in 1970 that has been made law in most states; Georgia is one of those states. The acronym RICO stands for RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS ACT.”

119)
9. A.J. Robinson-Debi Starnes—A Tortuous Tandem (“ongoing”) June 24, 2010
“Every page of discovery, e-mails, letters, depositions, some 3000 in my possession points to racketeering activity (RICO) on the part of Central Atlanta Progress, Debi Starnes and many other individuals and organizations known around Atlanta as TEAM GOLIATH. A paper trail miles long shows that since Starnes’ election to Atlanta City Council in the early nineties, she has labored tirelessly to defame the Atlanta Task Force, Inc. and to disappear homeless people from anywhere near downtown Atlanta.”

120)
10. Horace Sibley UNDER OATH 1 of May June 25, 2010
“I wrote the following blog about Sinon Sibley on February 15, 2010. I’m posting it now just now discovering that it has sat in the ‘Draft’ section of my computer since February.”

JULY 2010

121)
1. What Is Faith? July 2, 2010
“Hebrews 11.1
’Faith is being sure of what we hope for AND certain of what we do not see.’”

122)
2. From James Wilson Beaty to A.J. Robinson, CAP Master July 11, 2010
“Massa,
The bottom rail is on top now!
Yahweh save you, my man!”

123)
3. General Robert E. Lee on Stonewall Jackson July 12, 2010
When Robert E. Lee learned that Jackson had lost his left arm in battle, Lee said, ‘I have lost my right.’”

124)
4. Just A Little Break July 28, 2010
“Dear Conspirators and Team David,
So many of you have called asking if I am ill or deceased or kidnapped by CAP or frightened off by Eve Sibley. None of the above is the case.”

125)
5. Don’t forget lying little Debi July 28, 2010
“Dear TEAMS, GOLIATH and David,
Writing my last blog seconds ago reminds me of the preacher who while preaching remembered where he had left his bicycle. I just remembered a recent moment with Debi Starnes that I want to blog.”

126)
6. B Wardlaw’s Masterful Beginning July 30, 2010
“William C. Wardlaw III, known around Atlanta, the Southeast and San Francisco as B Wardlaw, published COCA-COLA ANARCHIST early this year. Anyone who loves Atlanta and longs for justice in that city wants to read COCA-COLA ANARCHIST.”

AUGUST 2010

127)
1. Seven Protected Classes—Starnes, Sibley and Jack Hardin August 9, 2010
“Until Washington HUD on May 6, 2010, filed a Civil Rights Fair Housing Complaint against the City of Atlanta, I was not aware of the term, ‘Seven Protected Classes.’ I am elated to learn that our federal government protects people in these seven categories.”

128)
2. Central Atlanta Progress: Status, bottommost; Corruption, bottomless August 10, 2010
“Baker Donelson attorneys representing the Task Force in the current racketeering lawsuit against Central Atlanta Progress and six other conspirators have given me thousands of documents, mostly e-mails, memos and letters. I read them devotionally along with early morning prayers.”

129)
3. FLASH! United Way Kickoff Campaign – Be Sure NOT To Give At The Office August 13, 2010
“One of my deep throats in the bowels of the Outhouse read to me from a United Way brochure given out today, August 12, 2010. It’s that time of year when the United Way grabs and snatches dollars for next year’s budget.”

130)
4. The City Deposes Its Own August 15, 2010
“Can you imagine living the life of an attorney? If you can imagine such, then think of being an attorney for the City of Atlanta.”

131)
5. Classes, lasses, asses: thanks Uncle Earnest Beaty August 18, 2010
“My father’s older brother, Ernest Beaty, taught German and Latin for 25 years at Davidson College. Uncle Ernest told me once how bright were his students back in the old days.”

132)
6. My Apologies To Mark O’Connell and Atlanta United Way August 19, 2010
“I make mistakes in my diary, my blog. I wrote in my August 13, 2010, diary entry entitled, ‘…Be Sure Not To Give At The Office,’ that Mark O’Connell’s parting bonus as President of Atlanta United Way was $1,000,000. AJC Reporter Heather Vogell published on December 18, 2007, that Mark O’Connell in addition to the billions he raised for UW raised ‘a seven-figure retirement perk for himself nearly $1.6 million in cash.’”

133)
7. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Meets Karl Barth August 21, 2010
“I relish learning what famous persons think of each other, especially contemporaries and those of the same vocation. I know a bit of Charles Dickens, and I thrilled when I first read what he said after reading only a chapter of George Eliot’s ADAM BEDE.”

134)
8. 30, 000 Atlantans Look To Housing Authorities For Help August 21, 2010
‘National Public Radio on August 13, 2010 reported the following paragraph,
‘An estimated 30,000 individuals stood outside in sweltering heat earlier this week at the East Point Housing Authority, just outside Atlanta, to be placed on a waiting list for housing assistance. Local authorities were unprepared for the large crowd, which eventually grew impatient and resulted in a number of individuals needing medical attention.’”

135)
9. Uncle Earnest Albert Beaty, Again! August 22, 2010
“I have seven children, all of whom I adore. One of my five sons has requested more of Uncle Ernest. Ernest’s older brother, James Davis Beaty, in October, 1970, published a 52 page mini-history of the Beaty clan that he called, A LITTLE GENEALOGY.”

136)
10. Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and Atlanta Public Schools August 24, 2010
“Local TV and the ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION spoke recently of an e-mail, possibly e-mails, from Sam Williams, the main person at The Atlanta Chamber Of Commerce, to the top person running Atlanta’s public schools. I thought that I’m so glad that The Chamber wants to support in the education of our children.”

SEPTEMBER 2010

137)
1. Beautiful, Beautiful Peachtree Pine; Come see! September 1, 2010
“On-going and proposed projects at the Peachtree-Pine Community are proving to be downright thrilling. The people inside are beautiful human beings, and they join me inviting you to come see our facility.”

138)
2. Team Goliath In the Offing September 1, 2010
“I have said many times that I read Charles Dickens for pleasure. Early, I learned as a boy that Dickens loved to give his characters names that revealed their personalities.”

139)
3. The First TEAM GOLIATH Champion to FALL – Ratchet Rob Hunter September 9, 2010
“What is all the racket over Ratchet Rob’s resigning? He may be arrogant and aloof and heartless; however, he did what Shirley Franklin and her minion, Debi Starnes, told him to do.”

140)
4. B Wardlaw’s Closing Words of His COCA-COLA ANARCHIST September 10, 2010
“On Atlanta’s battle of the powerful against the weak, truth speaks to power. In an earlier blog I commented on the opening sentences of COCA-COLA ANARCHIST.”

141)
5. SACRED GRAMMAR — Press Release September 23, 2010
“The following was emailed to me by my Philadelphia publisher, Xlibris. I wanted to share this rough draft of the press release with my readers…”

142)
6. When It Becomes RICO? September 27, 2010
“Before individuals and groups can be convicted of RICO charges, several ingredients must be present in the mix. One of several ingredients is criminal activity that stretches over a long period of time, over and over and over again.”

143)
7. The Blogging Phenomenon September 30, 2010
“I posted my first blog in the spring of 2009. One of our computer geniuses at the Task Force at that time was Tony Thomas.”

OCTOBER 2010

144)
1. Dietrich Bonhoeffer – “Who Am I?” October 3, 2010
“Adolf Hitler’s ‘principalities and powers’ executed Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer at dawn on April 9, 1945. While in the Tegel military prison in Berlin in 1943-44, where he spent one Christmas, Bonhoeffer wrote the poem, ‘Who Am I?’”

145)
2. Cobras Everywhere! October 13, 2010
“Chuck Steffen read me an Indian proverb. It goes like this…”

146)
3. The Days Are Surely Coming October 13, 2010
“Jeremiah 31:31-35
from the New Revised Standard Version
‘The days are surely coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancesters when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt – – a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband,’ says the Lord.”

147)
4. Larry Keating, PhD Writes Beautifully for the Beautiful Open Door October 15, 2010
“The Open Door Community in Atlanta, under the leadership of Presbyterian ministers, husband and wife, Ed Loring and Murphy Davis, have defended the cause of the poor and needy for decades. Loring and Davis and their community at The Open Door have stood unflaggingly against the municipal chambers and the states’ death chambers.”

148)
5. Bishop Watson and Thomas Paine October 17, 2010
“The following quote is lifted from page 87 of Harvey Kaye’s, THOMAS PAINE AND THE PROMISE OF AMERICA, published by Hill and Wang, NY, ISBN 0 – 8090 – 9344 – 8.
‘Paine had been led to write AGRARIAN JUSTICE by Bishop Richard Watson’s sermon “The Wisdom and Goodness of God, in having made both rich and poor,” which Watson had included in his reply to THE AGE OF REASON.’”

149)
6. When Governments Become Governments October 28, 2010
“Eric Metaxas published BONHOEFFER PASTOR, MARTYR, PROPHET, SPY in 2010. The publisher is Thomas Nelson and the ISBN is 978-1-5955-5138-2…”

NOVEMBER 2010

150)
1. Thank you, Georgia Power November 10, 2010
“Serious cutting of Task Force funding began over 5 years ago. The funds that have been cut or blocked during that period total in excess of $22,000,000: that’s 22 million dollars.”

151)
2. Residents Artists, Chuck Steffen and Mario Robinson November 11, 2010
“The Auburn Avenue Research Library was the scene tonight of an exhibit named ‘Sheltering Justice.’ Stunning portraits by some 5 resident artists who live at Peachtree Pine were featured.”

152)
3. CHAPLAIN: The Story Behind the Word November 13, 2010
“I found the following newspaper clipping today in an old book. I can give neither the name of the paper nor the source of the quotation.”

153)
4. PREVENT AND REVERSE HEART DISEASE, Caldwell Esselstyn, MD November 16, 2010
“PREVENT AND REVERSE HEART DISEASE, Caldwell B. Esselstyn, M. D., AVERY, (2007) ISBN 978 – 1 – 58333 – 300 – 6
I wish I had implemented Dr. ‘Essy’s’ nutritional plan thirty years ago.”

154)
5. RICO, RICO, RICO… How long, O Lord, How long? November 18, 2010
“R in this acronym, RICO, stands for Racketeering. This statute was designed to imprison the five Mafia families in New York City.”

155)
6. The Joy of Keeping Score November 18, 2010
“On my bookshelf five volumes on baseball sit side by side. In the off season, like now, when I cannot hear the crack of the bat or exult in Brian McCann’s perfect swing, I read my baseball books.”

156)
7. Can you hold? November 19, 2010
“I live in Atlanta, the city too busy to hate or to be rude? I am old and one eyed and bald.”

157)
8. TEAM GOLIATH Under Oath Again! November 23, 2010
“Four members of TEAM GOLIATH have been subpoenaed for depositions on November 29, December 14, 15 and 16. The four to be deposed are former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, her familiar, Debi Starnes, soon to be FORMER City Commissioner of the Department of Water Mismanagement, Ratchet Rob ‘I’ll turn your water off’ Hunter and recently retired after 22 years at City Hall, Bonnie Ware.”

158)
9. stopthehateatlanta@hotmail.com is correct: I need psychiatric care! November 24, 2010
“Corporate America enjoyed the greatest profits ever in the last quarter! Did I hear that correctly? Have I lost what little mind I had?”

159)
10. Franklin Deposition Postponed! What do I put you down for, TEAM GOLIATH? November 25, 2010
“The deposition of former Mayor Shirley Franklin set for Monday, November 29, has been postponed. The deposition impacts the lawsuit filed against the City of Atlanta and the RICO, racketeering, lawsuit against several parties which includes defendants Central Atlanta Progress, (CAP), Atlanta Downtown Improvement Development, (ADID). A.J. Robinson, Manny Fialkow’s Ichthus Community Trust, Inc., Emory Health Care, Inc. and others, already named and some not yet named.”

DECEMBER 2010

160)
1. Discovery Places Mercy Housing Inc. Deep In the Conspiracy with CAP Etc. December 3, 2010
“The following blog consists of excerpts from documents given the Atlanta Task Force Board of Directors by Baker Donelson Attorney Steve Hall. This Civil Action has been filed within the last fortnight with Judge Craig L. Schwall, Sr., Judge, Superior Court of Fulton County.”

161)
2. Of the Indomitable Gamecocks, “There’s Nothing Left to Say” December 5, 2010
“Of the Indomitable Gamecocks, ‘There’s nothing left to say.’
I don’t know another person who has suffered with South Carolina Gamecock football as long as I.”

162)
3. “I believe we will be in the debt of the city, the business community and the foundations.” Sister Jane Gerety December 8, 2010
“On November 12, 2008, Sister Jane Gerety of Mercy Housing Fund, Inc. wrote to Julie Gould, a colleague, ‘I wanted to talk to you about the possibility of the foreclosure on the Peachtree and Pine property in Atlanta. I’ve talked with Pete (Walker) and with others representing the city and believe that foreclosure is what we should do. . . .’”

163)
4. Tis The Season To Make Clear The Crimes Committed by Atlanta’s Principalities and Powers December 8, 2010
“By order of Superior Court of Fulton County Judge Craig L. Schwall, Sr., Plaintiff Ichthus Community Trust and the Benevolent Community Investment Company, Inc., its trustee, agents and attorneys shall appear for a hearing at 2:30pm, December 9 in Courtroom 5E. The public may attend this hearing.”

“Sir Patrick Spens” Versus City Hall

“Sir Patrick Spens,” an anonymous, eleven stanza poem, written perhaps in the 15th century, tells the same story as the sorry saga of the City of Atlanta versus the poor.  The Scottish king in this poem represents management, the administration, city hall, the powerful, the business as usual status quo gang, the power players, the to be obeyed ones.  The king in this poem could represent any power monger from Washington’s White House to Atlanta’s Outhouse, City Hall.  There is more to come on Franklin and her homeless Czarina Debi Does Atlanta Starnes.  Watch for it.

The HAG Had a Baby – or – "Don't Look Them in the Eye"

NOTE: The following satire was written ten years ago. It is as pertinent today as then because the draconian treatment of homeless people in Atlanta and the malicious villainies against the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless have only intensified over the last decade. – James Wilson Beaty, Jeremiah 2216, December 29, 2008.

 

HAG is an acronym for the Homeless Action Group, the creation of Atlanta City Councilperson Debi Starnes. Recently the HAG had a baby. Neither the birthday of the child nor the identity of the father has been determined. But Downtown Atlanta glimmers with pride and progress, as no one thought the HAG, only three years old, was equipped to perform such a tour de forceas the making of a baby. But she did it; a child is born; a son is given; and his name shall be called HAP, or the Homeless Action Plan. That’s right, HAP, son of the HAG. And his mother requests that his name never be spoken without her name trailing closely behind: HAP, son of the HAG. Understand that HAP, son of the HAG, was not conceived without purpose like so many babies these days. He was conceived to do something. He has a mission; yea, he has a mission statement. HAP’s latest mission statement reads: “To update and expand previous planning to create a 5-year regional action plan which will identify, encourage and develop resources for homeless people and people at risk of being homeless, establishing them in communities where they have extended support systems.”

The mission statement raises several questions, grammatical and pragmatical. School children know that every pronoun must have a clear antecedent. The reference of the word “them” at the close of the mission statemtent is ambiguous. Are the “resources” to be established in communities, or are the “homeless people” to be established in communities? Or both? Does the “5-year regional plan” refer to the time anticipated for the plan to be implemented or to the time to be spent “planning” or talking or meeting? If we have learned anything from the HAG, we have learned that she meets. She meets religiously, monthly at Georgia Power in Atlanta without the trace of a homeless person as far as the eye can see. Some veteran providers attend, but the bulk of the crowd consists of HAG camp followers, showing a newfound zeal to help the homeless.

Could the ambiguity of the mission statement be intentional, or is this merely poor writing? The HAG’s true raison d’etre has never been admitted and never will be admitted. But dividing in order to conquer is as old as Eden and as obvious as Napoleonic warfare. And dividing providers throughout the community has been the order of the day for the HAG from her inception three years ago. The HAG introduced a new day for funding. Hungry providers, always in need of money, sniff the cooking pot of greens now guarded by the watchful eye of local governments. And the local HUD lights hover in the background like vultures protecting their own. Whenever the air reeks of money, compassionate crowdsalways follow. If winter comes, can spring be far behind? But the wrenching truth is that committed service providers have had their funding threatened or cut if they were not seated and smiling at the HAG’s table.

Setting aside the grammar in the murky mission statement, what could possibly be meant by “establishing them in communities where they have extended support systems”? “Extended support systems” for homeless people? Where are the extended support systems? What are the support systems? How will they be developed? Who will develop them? Are these communities located in this hemisphere? Has one homeless person been consulted by a member of the HAP brass? Do any members of the HAP brass even know a homeless person? Has one “community” opened its magnanimous arms pleading, “Send us your homeless”? Has one hamlet in the region cried out, “We have ‘extended support systems;’ please send us your homeless”? And most important, has one homeless mother or father gone to the HAG and asked to be “established” where support systems abound?

At the April 13, 1998 kick-off meeting at Georgia Power in Atlanta, the HAP convener, an Episcopal priest, thanked everyone for the great start. He thanked power hitters like The United Way, and especially Central Atlanta Progress (CAP) for the “muscle” it brings to the table. Imagine, if you can, the powerful and resourceful Central Atlanta Progress setting a whole new agenda, just to help homeless people. CAP’s newsletter, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, carried the front page story “Help for the Homeless!” It’s a miracle! Can such an about-face be in the offing? CAP? Can it be? Are these the worthies who gave Atlanta the “sanitized zone,” the “quality of life” ordinances, the “community court” and the glee-inspiring “urban camping legislation”? Are these the movers who ordered 9,500 arrests of homeless men the year before Atlanta hosted the Olympics? Are these the shakers who applauded their own performance saying, “We have taken back our streets and parks from those people; now we have to make sure we keep them:? Are we now to dream that these quality-of-lifers have quality of life in mind for “those people”?

As darkness follows the day, CAP’s mindsprings gave downtown Atlanta the “Ambassadors,” to keep our sidewalks cleared of refuse. These thinkers are the Samaritans whose Chief of Ambassadors comforted a group of employees in one of Atlanta’s leading law firms. He cautioned the group not to look the homeless in the eye. Just call an Ambassador who will call the police, he instructed. And these quality-of-lifers plan support systems for homeless people? Atlanta’s local paper quoted a CAP lieutenant as saying he would rather have a toxic waste dump in downtown Atlanta than to have a facility that served homeless people with AIDS. That very person, with the same sensitivity, now watches over the Homeless Action Plan, HAP, son of the HAG. And HAP intends to establish homeless people in “communities where they have extended support systems”?

Acronyms, although ancient, suit best in times like these. We have ARC, BARK, MARK, PARK, BAD, MADD, PAD, SAD, CAP, MAP, RAP, HAG, HAP, HUD, MUDD, SPUD, ACOG, GOG, and MAGOG; the list goes on ad nauseam. Creators of acronyms are often more cute than clever. When I first heard of HAP, son of the HAG, I thought of Thomas Hardy’s powerful poem, “HAP.” In that terrifying piece Hardy calls God a “purblind doomster” who zaps man whimsically without pity or regard. Do the forgers of HAP, son of the HAG, know their name means “chance, luck, a happening that is usually an unfortunate one”? Surely they know. And perhaps they know that the Scots define “hap” as a covering, a covering like a blanket, something an urban camper might use against the cold.

The street-wise homeless people in Atlanta know that HAG is an acronym for Homeless Action Group. Talking every day with homeless people, I am asked often, “What does the HAG do?” I say, “She meets.” Questioners press for more substance; I respond redundantly, “She meets.” If the HAG has fed or clothed or sheltered or washed or transported or responded favorably to one homeless person, no evidence exists to prove it. Homeless people flee the HAG, knowing she has spawned seven ordinances that guarantee the criminalization of homelessness. Being homeless in Atlanta marks a person as a potential criminal about to be arrested for being.

And the HAG meets every month to listen for the jingle of money: money, real, imagined or stolen that might be on the way from HUD. However, if an agency, old or new, in the Atlanta area hopes to get funding to help homeless people, that agency had better be in good standing with the HAG, and it had better be seated and obedient “at the table.” The process for funding in the 1997 Super NOFA (Atlanta) was as corrupt as the word can define. Rigging guaranteed that $1.3 million HUD dollars were granted to one non-existent entity while experienced providers were drummed out by the HAG’s process. The three previous years had seen $14 million go to providers through the auspices of the Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless. But the HAG tells the tale that disruptive, cantankerous cranks like the Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless blocked the money channel. The catch phrase these days is “at the table,” i.e. we must have consensus. Everybody from HUD to BUD wants players to smile and get along as one big happy family. Consensus now means swallowing all the draconian abuses of palace politics and all the pallid panaceas of temple theology. A big grin must remain while funding is slashed and reputations are maligned. We are asked to “move to a higher level of collaboration” as the knife twists and while homeless males are ground under the boot of the quality-of-lifers who cry for consensus. And prospects of a fair 1998 Super NOFA are dim if not non-existent.

Literary allusions to the HAG are not as obvious as are those in Hardy’s brilliant poem “HAP.” But they do exist. Chaucer’s Knight encountered a witch who was conquered only when given her way. Whitman described a cold sea as an old crone. But the perfect likeness of our HAG comes from the pen of the Italian, Virgil. In Book IV of the Aeneid, he gives us a goddess named Rumor. If ever the HAG had a twin sister, it’s Rumor, a large, feathered monster who owns an eye under every feather, a mouth under every eye and two ears beside each mouth. Spreading half-truths and destroying the innocent fuel her every move. Virgil writes, “No other evil was ever swifter.”

Unfortunately, the birth of HAP, son of the HAG, does not indicate a lessening of our fiend’s fury. Venom that perpetuates itself with the lie lives forever. Just how far HAP, son of the HAG, will fall from the tree of the mother who bore him no one can tell. As an infant HAP is the spitting image of his ugly mother. But talk around Central Atlanta Progress, Atlanta City Hall, the Atlanta Journal Constitution and other bastions of truth has it that the HAG is pregnant again. Technology says it’s a girl, and her name is SAP, honoring all who follow her brother, HAP, son of the HAG.