Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Power in America is shifting from George W. Bush’s Sun Belt mafia -- with its roots in post-1950s aerospace, energy and development -- to a new political triad: a handover of control from one oligarchy to another.

This new triad draws its power from three key postindustrial power centers: technology, entertainment and finance. Its geographic orientation is different as well. Rather than having its primary bases in boomtowns like Houston, Dallas, Charlotte or Phoenix, the new elite clusters mostly in the… more

Oil on the Brain: Adventures From the Pump to the Pipeline.By Lisa Margonelli. Doubleday. $26. 325 pages.Verdict: A fascinating drive.Like many journalists, Lisa Margonelli knows a little bit about a lot of topics. Like many freelance writers, she moves from one unrelated topic to another, depending on what strikes her fancy and on what an editor will buy.On Oct. 28, 2002, Margonelli took a fancy to writing about oil. The result… more

WASHINGTON -- President Bush sits down to a White House dinner Wednesday with Presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, two crucial U.S. allies who have been launching increasingly bitter accusations at each other for sheltering al-Qaida and Taliban militants.

"It will be interesting for me to watch the body language of these two leaders to determine how tense things are," Bush said Tuesday after an Oval Office meeting with Karzai...

Joking aside, the tension between Karzai and Musharraf… more

Before he decided to open a high-end Japanese restaurant in a generic strip mall in southern Cobb County last year, chef Tomohiro Naito considered Midtown ("too expensive to rent") and then an industrial area of Decatur (too much competition from established Chinese eateries).

"I heard this location [on Cobb Parkway] was very favorable," Naito says amid a recent noon-hour rush at Tomo, now touted as one of the best restaurants in metro Atlanta. The proximity to several mega-malls… more

The Jack Abramoff scandal has focused badly needed attention on the quid pro quo between politicians and donors -- the granting of legislative favors in return for big donations. But evidence suggests that when it comes to money in politics, Abramoff is a distraction from the real issue: the "pyramid of money."

Party leaders such as House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R., Ill.) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), as well as most incumbents from both parties, don't need… more

Without question, there is a role for the federal government in the rebuilding of lives in the devastated Gulf Coast. That's where the emphasis belongs--on people, not on buildings, or even places.

This notion came to me recently as I was discussing the future of New Orleans with a group of evacuees in Houston. Sherby Guillory, a displaced student at Tulane, had this to say about what he saw as the current emphasis on rebuilding the physical charms of his… more