After a month of incredibly hard work, I've completed the program at Operation Boot Camp! Read my latest blog entry here, along with a full month of daily entries. (Full article and comments)

“She has not been partisan,” said Rep. Les Gara, a Democrat from Anchorage. “Anybody that comes to Juneau and says, ‘I’m not going to do my party’s bidding’ deserves credit. We had some very dark years under Frank Murkowski, and it has been nice to see something different.”

(Full article and comments)

Motorcycle safety awareness is vital. But why does the burden of the bumper sticker—"Look Twice, Save a Life"—seem to fall entirely on me, the automobile driver? Where is the public awareness program targeted at motorcycle riders, reminding them that lanes are not to be shared, that being small does not entitle them to make fancy highway maneuvers, and that feats of motorway derring-do endanger more even than their own lives—that by taking their lives so cavalierly into their hands, they're also gambling with the lives of the motorists who may swerve to avoid them?

All I'm saying is that I am very careful on the road, especially around motorcycles. But at least half the motorcyclists I encounter in Atlanta ride dangerously, zipping in and out of lanes and up the shoulder, and that makes me very, very nervous for all of us, especially them. Believe me, being nervous does not make me a better driver. So shouldn't we focus on teaching bikers to follow traffic rules and ride properly, instead of (or at least whilst we're) reminding me to allow them to make me so nervous? Looking twice is good advice, but there's more to it than that.

True, if a motorcycle rider makes an ill-advised move on the highway and causes me to collide with him at 60 mph, I'm probably not the one whose life is at risk. And a lifetime of nerve-wracking omg-what-is-that-guy-doing-two-lanes-over-is-he-coming-over-here skittish driving is, though unfortunate, a small price to pay in comparison. So by all means, let's focus on the cost to motorcyclists and not on the danger to me. Let's be aggressive about educating them. Where are my bumper stickers? I never see any that say, "Think twice, you're ON A DAMN MOTORCYCLE." Don't key my car, but I'd buy it. (Full article and comments)

Singer Amy Winehouse is 25 on Sept. 14. Funny—she doesn’t look a day over 50.

 

Singer Richard Marx is 45 on Sept. 16. He’ll spend the day playing shuffleboard with Phil Collins at the Famous ’80s Pop Singers Retirement Home.

 

Nick Jonas (pictured) is 16 on Sept. 16. He’s clearly the least attractive member of the Jonas Brothers, and yet he’s the group heartthrob. How does that work?

 

Cancer survivor Lance Armstrong is 37 on Sept. 18. He’s also famous for dating Sheryl Crow and riding a bike. Well, the cancer thing is kind of impressive.

 

Consistently unfunny “Saturday Night Live” vet Jimmy Fallon is 34 on Sept. 19. The next Conan O’Brien? Now, that’s funny.

 

Country singer and Georgia native Trisha Yearwood is 44 on Sept. 19. She’s also Garth Brooks’ main squeeze. Well, two out of three ain’t bad.

 

“Inside the Actors Studio” hottie James Lipton is 82 years young on Sept. 19. Shine on, you crazy diamond!

Photo: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images (Full article and comments)

According to the Guttmacher Institute, the only organization that keeps reliable stats on the issue, one in three American women, about 33 percent, has an abortion by the time she’s in her 40s. Far more American women have children by the time they are in their 40s. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2006, about 80 percent of women between the ages of 40 and 44 have at least one child.

Far more American women are concerned about how they can manage to have children and keep their jobs than they are with terminating a pregnancy, but the Democratic women who have set the feminist agenda in Washington for more than 50 years have made sure that every piece of legislation aimed at women gets boondoggled with abortion rights—a circumstance that makes better family leave policies and proposals for equal pay difficult to pass among moderates and conservatives.

Liberal women have failed American women shamefully and catastrophically.

(Full article and comments)

I've been a John McCain fan since the 1980s. But, I've never been a fan of his smile. Watching his speeches, I've gotten the impression that maybe Cindy, trying to be supportive, told him that he has a charming devilish grin and he believed her. With the political stakes so high and tension at a fever pitch, it's a relief for me to be able to say that the candidate I so deeply admire has a smile problem and I'm not alone in noting it. If you don't feel like smiling, my policy is, you shouldn't. (Full article and comments)

There is no failure to be found in anything that Palin has done in relation to the "bridge to nowhere." There is, however, failure to to be found in how Obama and Biden, given the chance to re-route that money in November 2005 to help rebuild areas destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, didn't do so. I'm sure the victims of Katrina could have used the money, but they didn't get it because Congress--including Sen. Obama and Sen. Biden--voted for the money to go to Alaska instead. (Full article and comments)

It is the height of irony that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama lays claim to the idea of embracing diversity, while many of his supporters lash out at GOP VP candidate Sarah Palin for embracing real diversity on a daily basis in a very intimate way. If you are truly tolerant of the differences of others, how is it possible that you can condemn a woman for welcoming into her family someone with Down syndrome, someone who is more discriminated against than women or blacks? (Full article and comments)

Want to lose weight? Want to get fit? Or just want to learn more about a great boot camp in Atlanta? Follow along with me on my month-long journey as I tackle Operation Boot Camp on my fitness blog every day. I just posted today's entry. Click here to read! (Full article and comments)

In our current cover feature, The 20 Most Shocking Moments in Georgia Music History, we incorrectly ran a headline for our Capricorn Records item that says the label underwent bankrupt twice. The error has been corrected in the feature on the Web site. We regret the error. (Full article and comments)