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All good things must come to an end…

By
Jason
– September 5, 2012

After writing this blog for the last seven years, I’ve decided to shut it down. Since 2008, I’ve been working various side jobs, all of which deal with writing in some capacity. This blog gave me an outlet for several years, but, as I’ve frequently said on several occasions, I’m too busy to keep it updated on a regular basis.

I have a wife, a day job, and two part-time jobs to keep happy. I haven’t even had time to mention the write up I did on Gov. Gary Johnson’s campaign for Liberty or the piece I recently wrote for The Daily Caller on Tom Morello.

And while time is the biggest factor, I haven’t been able to find a voice for this blog for the last couple of years. United Liberty is where been I’ve writing about national politics and the libertarian movement for the last three-plus years. If something going on in Georgia politics catches my eye, I have Peach Pundit for an outlet.

This blog served as the starting point for several opportunities, but it’s time to move on. You can still catch my rants at United Liberty and Peach Pundit. I’ve also started a Tumblr, where I’ll occasionally post pictures or promote stories. You can also continue to follow me at @jaseliberty on Twitter or on Facebook.

I haven’t decided if I’ll eventually take this thing down, aggregate posts from other sites where I contribute or just not update it anymore. But whatever I eventually decide, thanks for those of you that stopped by this blog for the last seven years. It was fun, but more great things are ahead. Stay tuned.

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Looking back at TSPLOST polling data

By
Jason
– August 6, 2012

Perhaps the only real surprise on last week’s results on the TSPLOST vote was the margin by which the tax hike went down. It was nothing short of a complete reject of the measure. In fact, only three of the 12 regions in the state approved the 1-cent sales tax increase for transportation — all of which are located in Middle Georgia.

So which polling firm got it right? Well, we know it wasn’t the firm used by TSPLOST supporters to show that the vote was much closer than SurveyUSA and Rosetta Stone indicated. Below you’ll find a list of the numbers I was able to locate for the Metro Atlanta region, including the last polls leading up to the vote compared to the actual outcome.

Poll Yes No Not sure
SurveyUSA/WXIA (2/23-26) 36% 38% 26%
Hill Research Consultants (5/6-8) 51% 36% N/A
Rosetta Stone/WSB (5/22) 42% 45% 14%
Rosetta Stone/WSB (6/29) 38% 49% 14%
Hill Research Consultants (7/11-12) 38% 41% 18%
Rosetta Stone/WSB (7/13) 33% 56% 11%
SurveyUSA/WXIA (7/11-15) 36% 49% 15%
Mason-Dixon/AJC (7/24/-26) 42% 51% 7%
Rosetta Stone/WSB (7/25) 35% 55% N/A
Final Results (7/31) 33.3% 62.7% N/A

After last week’s vote, I read a comment on Twitter that older voters were to blame for TSPLOST’s defeat. Well, that’s not accurate. While there isn’t a lot of data available from polling firms, SurveyUSA’s last poll, conducted July 11-15, found that voters across age demographics opposed the tax hike. Sure, voters from age 18-34 were more likely to support TSPLOST. But at 39/43 (-4), support was still underwater. The next strongest support came from voters between the ages of 50-64, at 38/46 (-8). It was actually voters between the ages of 35 and 49 were TSPLOST found its weakest support 32/50 (-18). Voters 65+ also opposed TSPLOST, but the support for it was nearly as high at younger demographics, at 38/52 (-14).

The big winner among firms that polled the TSPLOST is Rosetta Stone, a local firm. The big loser is Hill Research Consultant, who did internal polling for TSPLOST supporters and once again teaches us that internal polling is almost always wrong.

[UPDATE] I sent in a request to John Garst of Rosetta Stone Communications for crosstabs on their last poll, released on July 25th. Interestingly, their numbers contradict the picture painted by SurveyUSA. According to Rosetta Stone, voters between 18-39 in Metro Atlanta supported the TSPLOST at a 51/40 (+11) clip. Voters from 40-64 opposed it, 36/62 (-26_, as did ages 64 and over, at 30/68 (-36).

That would seem to poke holes in my theory that younger voters were just as opposed to the TSPLOST as everyone else, right? Not exactly. Rosetta Stone also released a survey on early voters — meaning those who had already cast their ballots, which was conducted on July 28th. That poll shows that voters across all ages overwhelmingly opposed the TSPLOST. In fact, younger voters, those between 18-39, were the most opposed to the TSPLOST at 26/69 (-43). Voters from 40-64 were at 36/62 (-26). And voters over 64 were against at a 30/68 (-38) clip. This is conclusive, given that the overall results of the poll, 32/65, were very much in-line with the actual result, 33/63.

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Punk Rock Friday: Rest in Peace, Tony Sly

By
Jason
– August 3, 2012

Back in 1999, my bandmates and I went to a show at the old Cotton Club in Atlanta (before it moved to the basement of the Tabernacle) to catch No Use For A Name, who were opening for the Dance Hall Crashers. I didn’t go to a lot of shows at the time. While I grew up listening to punk rock, most of them were “Christian” bands; such as MxPx, Squad Five-O, Slick Shoes, Value Pac, etc.

Most of the shows I saw were in that atmosphere. Needless to say, this was my first “real” show. No Use For A Name released More Betterness!, their sixth studio album, that day. Chris Shifflet had just left the band to join the Foo Fighters. I was already familiar with them, and had previously picked one of their old records.

They were flawless. The music was tight and harmonies were dead on. And unlike many mainstream acts, they looked liked they enjoyed doing it. From that point on I was hooked. I had the chance to seem them two more times, including the Fat Wreck Chords tour in 2000.

Through the years, I’ve listened to No Use regularly, though I wasn’t able to get into their last couple of records. You can ask my wife, when I don’t have anything to do I often pull out my guitar and play along to No Use records. Along with MxPx and Strung Out, No Use provided the soundtrack to my youth.

Their music, to this day, is still helps me pass the day at work or gives me something to rock out to on the way home.

Sadly, Tony Sly, No Use’s singer and a great songwriter, passed away on Tuesday. He was 41. Fat Mike, owner of Fat Wreck Chords, made the announcement on Wednesday. No cause of death has been disclosed. Sly mentioned in a recent interview that he was suffering from herniated disk. He noted that he was “in pain all the time” and was receiving epidural shots, going to a chiropractor, and in physical therapy.

He attributed to his back problems to “playing guitar in a punk band.” He explained, “Jumping around like an idiot on stage is fine when you are in your 20s, but when you get into your 30s and 40s it really takes its toll.”

Sly leaves behind a wife and two kids.

To celebrate sly and No Use For A Name, here is “Soulmate,” which appeared originally on ¡Leche con Carne!:

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Let’s be honest

By
Green Death
– July 24, 2012

The problem with all of the Second Amendment discussion is that very few people are willing to address this issue directly and accurately. The purpose of the Second Amendment is to protect the right to and ability to conduct an armed revol…ution. The Second Amendment was to protect the ability of the people to violently overthrow the government.

Even if one agrees with the “Militia limitation” on the Second Amendment, the Militias to which the Amendment refers were State Militias which would have been used to fight the federal government.

When viewed in this light, it is apparent that a limitation on automatic weapons would be an infrigment on the purposes of the Second Amendment. If we want to have an honest discussion about the issue of gun control, then let’s frame the discussion correctly, “Should the people have the right to keep and bear arms that could be used to violently overthrown the central government”.

Let’s remember that this country was formed in a violent revolution. Let’s remember that at Lexington and Concord citizen fired on and killed government solidiers sent by the central government to confiscate their weapons and arms.

If we are going to have gun control then let’s not dicker around the fringes. Let those who would limit the law-abiding citizen’s access to arms first repeal the Second Amendment. That would be the intellectually honest way to address the issue.

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A look at TSPLOST polling

By
Jason
– July 21, 2012

Much ink has been spilled over the TSPLOST, and that’s not going to change over the next 10 days. And with that we’ve seen several polls released over the last few months gauging where Metro Atlanta voters are on the issue. The news hasn’t been good for the pro-TSPLOST side, with a plurality of voters rejecting the idea in most polls. Media outlets WXIA and WSB have respectively used SurveyUSA and Rosetta Stone in their polling. While Citizens for Transportation Mobility have used Hill Research Consultants.

Here’s a look at polls that have been released on the TSPLOST in Metro Atlanta since February. Please note that these are the only polls I was able to find, so I may have overlooked or otherwise missed some. Also, dates are either for the days the poll was conducted or the date of its release.

Poll Yes No Not sure
SurveyUSA/WXIA (2/23-26) 36% 38% 26%
Hill Research Consultants (5/6-8) 51% 36%           —
Rosetta Stone/WSB (5/22) 42% 45% 14%
Rosetta Stone/WSB (6/29) 38% 49% 14%
Rosetta Stone/WSB (7/13) 33% 56% 11%
Hill Research Consultants (7/11-12) 38% 41% 18%
SurveyUSA/WXIA (7/11-15) 36% 49% 15%

As you can see, undecideds are moving against the transportation tax hike. Here is another look at the polling above through a chart (click to enlarge):

I would expect things to tighten as we approach July 31st as pro-TSPLOST groups pull out all the stops to gain public support — through rallies and get out the voter efforts and moves by public officials, such as the stunt recently by Gov. Nathan Deal to end tolls on GA-400. But keep in mind that voters in Georgia like to take advantage of early voting, so some of the impact will be limited in its reach. At this point, however, I think it goes down, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see voters barely approve the tax hike.

For my view on the TSPLOST and why I’m encouraging Georgians to vote against it, visit here.

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Punk Rock Friday: Damion Suomi and the Minor Prophets – “Burn the Pain”

By
Jason
– July 20, 2012

We got to see these guys twice last week, once in Athens and then a few days later in Atlanta. I saw them for the first time last year and really dug their live show. Also, Suomi touches on religion a great deal in his lyrics, which interests me since I can relate to what he’s saying. Once again, it’s not “punk rock,” but it’s damn good.

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TSPLOST deserves a resounding “no” vote from Georgians

By
Jason
– July 11, 2012

On July 31st, Georgians will not only head to the polls to vote in party primaries, but also to determine the fate of the the TSPLOST, a 1-cent local sales tax dedicated to transportation projects.

This effort isn’t the first attempt at a sales tax to fund transportation improvements and expand mass transit. Back in 2009, then-State Rep. Vance Smith, who would later go on to lead the Georgia Department of Transportation, proposed a 10-year statewide sales tax; which, if passed, would have raised taxes by $22 billion.

Disagreements between House and Senate leaders led to the effort stalling out, killing what easily would have been the largest tax hike in Georgia history. Senate leaders, led by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, preferred a regional approach to the issue. But with new leadership in the House in 2010, the Legislature ironed out a new tax hike proposal, the TSPLOST, a regional penny tax to be presented to voters this year.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Punk Rock Friday: MxPx – “Punk Rawk Show”

By
Jason
– July 6, 2012

I think I bought this record when I was 15. Good times.

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Some thoughts on the ObamaCare decision

By
Jason
– July 2, 2012

Over at United Liberty, I take a look at parts of the Supreme Court’s disappointing decision on ObamaCare — and there is no avoiding it, it was a defeat — and where opponents of the law go from this point.

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Peace out, Isaiah Crowell

By
Jason
– July 2, 2012

In case you haven’t heard, Isaiah Crowell, arguably the most promising running back to suit up for the Georgia Bulldogs since Herschel Walker, was arrested on Friday for possession of a weapon on campus and other charges:

Crowell, a sophomore from Columbus, was booked at 3:37 a.m. on charges of possessing a concealed weapon, having a weapon in a school zone and having an altered ID mark on that weapon. His bond, originally set at $7,500, was raised to $9,500 late Friday morning. According to booking records, Crowell was released early Friday afternoon.
[...]
According to Athens-Clarke police spokesperson Hilda Sorrow, Crowell was arrested at a “vehicle check-point” — or road block — on East Campus Road at Green Street at 2:20 a.m. Friday. Officer Kathryn Thornton reported smelling the odor of marijuana in Crowell’s silver four-door 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis. Crowell gave consent to search the vehicle, himself and four other occupants. No marijuana was discovered but a black 9-mm Luger handgun with an altered serial number was found under the driver’s seat. Crowell was immediately arrested and taken to jail.

According to the police report, Crowell denied knowing the gun was in the car and said people drive the vehicle. He. The owner of the vehicle is listed as Crowell’s mother Debbie. The report also indicted that the five were coming from the nightclub Aftermath, where Crowell said the smell of marijuana originated.

Crowell has since been dismissed from the team, putting an end to a promising future; at least at Georgia. Unfortunately, he was never able to get his act together. Crowell was suspended twice last year, including the New Mexico State game for apparently failing a drug test. There were constant questions about his work ethic and motivation.

Admittedly, I was impressed with Crowell after watching him play. Unfortunately, he’s decided to piss his talent away by making stupid decisions. Richt obviously made the right call and I hope he continues clean house, ridding the Bulldogs of negativity.

Here is a look at who is likely to replace Crowell.