Atlanta: New York with Southern manners and charm?

Brand Atlanta, the group formed two years ago to help the city define its image, is switching from the use of slogans to sell the city to the use of themes aimed at specific demographics, Executive Director Melinda Ennis-Roughton said Thursday.

For instance, when the campaign rolls out its newest ads aimed at professionals ages 25-44 this January, the organization will use "City Lights, Southern Nights" -- one of 16 tested themes -- to emphasize Atlanta's reputation as a youthful and energetic city, with great restaurants, shopping and nightlife, said Ennis-Roughton.—by Leon Stafford, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Honored Baptists rejected by own

Al Gore became the third Baptist to win the Nobel Peace Prize, joining Jimmy Carter in 2002 and Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964.

How is it that three sons of the Bible Belt have each won the world's most prestigious award for their advancement of human rights, peacemaking and now earth care?

The Bible is surely part of the answer, because of the role Scripture has played in shaping their moral vision and values.—By Robert Parham, an ordained Baptist minister, and executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics in Nashville from the Atlanta Journal Constitution

Who will succeed Al Gore?

Seeing Al Gore so deservedly share the Nobel Peace Prize, it is impossible not to note the contrast in his leadership and that of George W. Bush.

“Gore, even without the presidency, used all the modern tools of communication, the Internet, video and globalization to reach out and galvanize a global movement,” said David Rothkopf, author of the upcoming “Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making.”

“Bush took the greatest platform in the world and dug himself a policy grave," Mr. Rothkopf said.
—by Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times