Larry Stanley has a Facebook, and I am his only friend. Larry needs you! Won't you be Larry's friend? Send him a request! And how about a Saturday open thread?

[UPDATE] The Stanlinator.

Posted by Joshua Patterson at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Rudy Giuliani is coming back to Metro Atlanta:

Meet Presidential Candidate
Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Where:
Glover Park
50 Park Square
Marietta, GA

When:
Sunday, December 2nd 4:00 PM

This event is free and open to the public. Family and friends are welcome.

Posted by Jason at 08:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There is a piece in the Chicago Tribune today about Mike Huckabee's fiscal record:

Mike Huckabee was an early signer of the Republicans' no-tax-hikes pledge, and he's campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination by touting the 90 different taxes he cut as the governor of Arkansas.

He doesn't mention how, during his 10-and-a-half years as governor, he presided over $505 million worth of tax increases. Sales taxes were raised. So were gasoline taxes, and the per-capita tax burden on the state's residents grew by about 50 percent.

"He always talked against taxes, but he wanted all these spending programs," former Democratic state Rep. Boyd Hickinbotham said. "So he'd treat taxes like a rotten egg. He'd hold his nose, but he liked being able to spend the money."

The former Arkansas governor is fond of saying – in debates, on his Web site and in that Nov. 18 Fox News interview – that he cut taxes "almost 94 times in my state." (On his site, he rounds up to "nearly 100 times," adding that he saved "the people of Arkansas almost $380 million.")

That turns out to be far from the whole story. The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration found that 90 tax cuts were enacted in legislative sessions from 1997 through 2005, while Huckabee was governor, and those cuts reduced tax revenues by $378 million. But Huckabee fails to mention the 21 tax increases that occurred under his watch and that raised revenues by substantially more. The total net tax increase under Huckabee's tenure was an estimated $505.1 million, says the Department of Finance and Administration's Whitney McLaughlin, adding that the figure has been adjusted for inflation.

I just can't vote for any ticket with Tax Hike Mike.

Posted by Jason at 06:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There is a hostage situation at Hillary Clinton's New Hampshire campaign office:

A man claiming to have an explosive device strapped to his body released the two hostages he was holding Friday afternoon at the Rochester, N.H., campaign headquarters of Sen. Hillary Clinton, law enforcement officials told FOX News.

The hostages — believed to be staffers — included a woman with a child.

ABC News reported that police believe the man is a local resident with a history of mental illness, and that he told his son to "watch the news today."

[UPDATE] It's over and it appears that no one was injured.

Posted by Jason at 04:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Bumped by Jace for Today and Tomorrow]

Alright, it's that time of the week again. Before we get into this weekend's lineup, here are the scores from last week:

Doug Craig: 19 Points
Jace Walden: 14 Points
Daniel N. Adams: 12 Points
Publius V: 11 Points

Congrats to Doug Craig on winning two weeks in a row. This week is going to be a little different. Not only are you picking the winners and spread coverage, but for the bonus you're going to be predicting who gets into what bowl: Here are this week's games, lines and picks:

Tennessee (14) @ LSU (7)
Line: LSU -6
My Pick: Tennesee will win and will cover the spread the other way.

Oklahoma (9) @ Missouri (1)
Line: Oklahoma -3
My Pick: Oklahoma will win and will cover the spread.

Virginia Tech (6) @ Boston College (11)
Line: Virginia Tech -3
My Pick: Virginia Tech will win and will cover the spread.

Army @ Navy
Line: Navy -13
My Pick: Navy will win and will cover the spread.

UCLA @ USC (8)
Line: -16.5
My Pick: USC will win but will not cover the spread.

BONUS: Predict which teams will go into which bowl. For every team you correctly pick, you will be awarded TWO points.

Rose Bowl (Pac-10 Champion vs. Big 10 Champion)
My Pick: USC vs. Georgia

Sugar Bowl (SEC Champion vs. BCS At-Large)
My Pick: Tennessee vs. Hawaii

Fiesta Bowl (Big 12 Champion vs. BCS At-Large)
My Pick: Oklahoma vs. Arizona State

Orange Bowl (ACC Champion vs. BCS At-Large)
My Pick: Virginia Tech vs. Missouri

BCS National Championship Game (BCS 1 vs. BCS 2)
My Pick: Ohio State vs. West Virginia

By now...you should know the rules. Go Dawgs! Oh, wait, we're done for now. Go Tennessee!

Posted by Jace Walden at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

If someone would actually press him on it instead of letting him joke his way out of every question he was asked, I'd like to see Huckabee explain this one:

During the 2001 regular session of the Arkansas Legislature, Mike Huckabee supported giving driver's licenses to illegal aliens.

How did he do that? Here are a few excerpts from 2001 articles about the legislation and Huckabee's support of it, as expressed by a spokesman, his liaison to the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

"In other action Tuesday, the House rejected a bill that would allow the issuance of Arkansas driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. The vote on House Bill 2212 by Rep. Tracy Steele, D-North Little Rock, was 46-46, with 51 votes needed to pass the bill. HB2212, which remains available for House consideration, would amend Act 1099 of 1997, which enumerates various conditions under which a driver's license can't be issued by the state Office of Driver Services. HB2212 would delete the act's provision that bans the issuing of a license to someone 'who is making an initial application for an Arkansas driver's license and who is not lawfully within the United States" or to "any person who is not lawfully within the United States.' Steele and other proponents of HB2212 said Hispanics, both legally and illegally in the United States, have been discriminated against when attempting to obtain a driver's license on the basis of their skin color or accent. Because employees of the Office of Driver Services may lack the training or expertise to determine if an applicant is an illegal immigrant, Steele said that status shouldn't be a condition of obtaining a license." (Michael Wickline, "Senate OKs Plan To Raise Teacher Pay," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 3/14/01)

When asked about the bill, former Arkansas State Representative Jake Files added, "I remember Bob Trevino working all the legislators hard on the merits of this bill in committees and around the Capitol. As Trevino was a member of the Governor's staff, it was apparent that the Governor was supportive of the bill or his staff members would not have been. We(legislators who voted against it) were concerned about the ramifications of the bill and the message that it sent promoting Arkansas as a "safe haven" for illegals."

During the legislation session, Huckabee criticized an immigration bill by Republican senators Jim Holt of Springdale and Denny Altes of Fort Smith as un-Christian, un-American, irresponsible and anti-life.

Senate Bill 206, which died in the Senate, would have required proof of citizenship to register to vote and also force state agencies to report suspected cases of people living in the country illegally. Holt, R-Springdale, replied later to Huckabee's comments that Christian charity does not include turning a blind eye to lawbreaking.

Posted by Jason at 08:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last night during the debate, CNN showed this campaign ad from Fred Thompson that attacked Mitt Romney for his previous position on abortion and Mike Huckabee for his tax hiking ways.

Here is the expanded version of that video that also nails Giuliani on his endorsement for Mario Cuomo, a Democrat, over George Pataki, a Republican. It also shows Giuliani calling the NRA "extremists" and has some expanded footing of Mitt Romney defending abortion.

There's always a silver lining in everything. There's always an upside. Some of you might not think of this as an upside or a silver lining, but the genuine moderate as opposed to conservative aspects of three of the top-tier, four of the top-tier candidates were on full-fledged display last night. There was one candidate who did not display any moderateness or liberalism or have any of his past forays into those areas displayed, and that candidate was Fred Thompson.

Posted by Jason at 08:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Georgia Carry has hired William Woodall to lobby for them in the Georgia General Assembly:

“It is time that lawmakers in Georgia worked on meaningful 2nd Amendment protection for our gun owners and sportsmen,” the group’s president, Ed Stone, said in a statement.

The group has signed on veteran lobbyist John Thomas and his partner William Woodall to handle its legislative agenda. Thomas’s political roots go back to the days of Jimmy Carter and Herman Talmadge, and he was formerly the Georgia lobbyist for the NRA. He is highly regarded at the statehouse. Woodall was Henry County chairman for Sonny Perdue during the governor’s 2002 campaign and his 3rd District chairman in 2006.

On a side note...just with everything I've been reading lately, I think I've decided to join GCO.

Posted by Jason at 07:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

CNN got caught with their pants down. It turns out that Col. Keith Kerr is on the LGBT Americans For Hillary Steering Committee.

It takes away from the issue because Kerr's question was very good, but it hurts CNN's credibility even more with Republicans.

But Hunter and Huckabee's answers were still troubling and down right bigoted.

[UPDATE - 4:04pm] I'm willing to buy CNN's reply on this, simply because it was a very good question and it needed to be asked:

“There’s no way that was a plant. There were 5,000 questions. There were many gay questions. This was a very good one.

“If you’re going to go into the topic of gays in the military, where there’s some interesting nuance among these candidates, it’s a pretty good way to do it — through a brigadier general with 43 years of experience,” Bohrman said.

[UPDATE - 6:18pm] Red State is taking this thing way too far. They just sent out a e-mail blast calling for firings at CNN:

RedState is calling for CNN to fire Sam Feist, their political director; and David Bohrman, Senior Vice President and Executive Producer of the debate.

During last night's debate, which CNN billed as "a Republican debate, and the goal was to let Republican voters see their candidates," CNN either knowingly or incompetently allowed hardcore left wing activists to plant questions and Anderson Cooper willingly gave one of those activists a soapbox so he could harass the Republican candidates about military policy.

[UPDATE - 6:43pm] It apparently this goes further than I realized:

A 20-year-old student from Texas who asked the candidates about criminalizing abortion openly backs Edwards, a former North Carolina senator.

A Florida man who asked why a gay Republican group should support each candidate and whether the candidates would accept its support is a backer of Obama, an Illinois senator.

And a mother who asked the candidates about what they’d do to limit the importation of dangerous goods from China works for a union that has endorsed Edwards.

Additionally, a Californian who asked a question about crop subsidies in 2004 interned for Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), who is backing Clinton, a New York senator.

[CNN Political Director Sam Feist] asserted that conservative bloggers like Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin, who has led the way in probing the backgrounds of questioners at the GOP debate, “are trying to distract from the issues.

“It’s interesting to see our critics really focusing on the questioners, but not really focusing on the questions. You haven’t heard them say that these were not useful questions.”

Posted by Jason at 06:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

The City of Stockbridge lost their appeal over the judgment issued by Judge Arch McGarity:

The state Court of Appeals this week refused to hear the city's appeal of a lower court ruling that said Stockbridge must reimburse the Meeks more than $130,000 for legal fees in an eminent domain fight against the city.
[...]
Neither Stockbridge Mayor R.G. Kelley nor City Attorney Buddy Welch returned calls seeking comment.

McGarity, a Henry County Superior Court judge, had initially ruled in spring 2006 that the city had gone too far in its application of eminent domain laws because it hadn't proven the property would be used for public purposes.

The state Court of Appeals affirmed that ruling in January.

McGarity ruled on Oct. 9 that the Meeks were entitled to at least $130,000 of the $275,000 in legal fees they had incurred since the city first tried to acquire their property in 2005.

Posted by Jason at 04:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Last night's CNN/YouTube "debate" would be better described as the "Mike Huckabee Show." It was Tax Hike Mike's night to stand out and position himself above the bickering and double-talk of former front-runners Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani. I say "former" front runners due to the fact that both Mitt and Rudy allowed Huckabee to steal the night (and possibly the race) without the first sign of resistance.

Going into the debate, polls showed that Huckabee was not only capable of competing in Iowa, he was the leading candidate. However the "front runners" continued to treat Huckabee with a sense of mild neglect...thinking that if they didn't pay him much attention, he would simply go away. But Huck didn't go away. Instead, he one-linered and aw-shucksed his bickering, bratty opponents into the dust.

It is utterly amazing that a candidate whose message is based on clever puns, witty comebacks, and self-deprecating humor (rather than his record, positions, and ideas) could walk away with the win in this debate so easily. And it speaks volumes to how much the GOP truly cares about the fiscal conservatives in its base that Huckabee could tell an outright lie about his fiscal record and not even be challenged.

John McCain also had a decent night. Other than at times sounding like one of the old men who meet at McDonald's every morning to drink coffee and gripe about politics, McCain may have managed to pull his fledgling campaign out of the doldrums. He was able to talk down to Mitt Romney on an issue in which he had the ultimate credibility--torture. He even won some points with the audience when he compared Ron Paul's attitude to that of those who allowed Hitler to come to power. A poor understanding of history, economics and non-interventionism to say the least...but it was effective. He also positioned himself as the anti-porker, while bashing Giuliani for going to court against the line-item veto.

The night wasn't as good to one-time front runners Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. After getting into a pissing contest over who was more illegal-alien friendly (Sanctuary City vs. Sanctuary Mansion) the only thing that stood out was that neither of them were serious about immigration reform. Rudy was hammered by McCain on the line-item veto. He was hammered by Fred Thompson on gun control. He was hammered by Anderson Cooper on the issue of stealing taxpayer money to fund his extra-marital affair, and hammered by a questioner about using 9/11 to catapult himself into the White House. After this debate was over, I'm sure Rudy was wanting to really get hammered.

Mitt confirmed an earlier assessment of mine that he would be much better off selling used cars that running for President. His inconsistencies (flip-flops) were showcased by questioners, fellow candidates, and even Anderson Cooper. However, his constant defensive posture coupled with his complete inability to provide a direct answer did make him rather easy fodder. Poor performances by Mitt and Rudy allowed Mike Huckabee to ascend into the spotlight virtually untouched, save the one comment from Romney when he said, "That's not your money, Mike", in reference to tax-payer funded education. Why didn't he stay on the offensive? Possibly because he was worried about his own inconsistencies when it came to his full-throated support of welfare handouts for farmers.

As for the other candidates in the race, Ron Paul had a decent showing. Other one rant that was completely unrelated to the question asked, he was able to deliver a positive message. He even held his own against McCain in the exchange over isolationism and non-interventionism. Paul was the only candidate who reminded the voters that tax cuts were only half of the monetary solution and that spending cuts were the other. Fred Thompson exhibited living proof that the Mike Huckabee tactics of one-liners, puns, and self-deprecating humor aren't always the best way to go. While he did take some good shots at the three leading candidates, Fred did absolutely nothing to establish himself among them as a legitimate contender. The presence of Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo proved that the possibility of Lou Dobbs running for President would be superfluous. There are already two confirmed anti-trade isolationists already in the race.

As I said in the beginning of this piece, Mike Huckabee won this debate going away. He established himself as the legitimate front runner. The other candidates will have to play catch up to Huck from here on out. Fiscal conservatives hide under your beds. Because if last night's "debate" is any indication of things to come, it looks like another four years of big-spending, social bigotry, and hypocrisy compassionate conservatism is on its way.

Posted by Jace Walden at 01:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

The Ludwig von Mises Institute explains how protectionist rhetoric is hurting the dollar:

A trade deficit means that in sum, American dollars are going abroad in exchange for foreign goods. Consider what this means. If foreigners never cashed in those dollars, Americans would essentially be getting foreign goods free of charge. Protectionists like Buchanan condemn this as "borrowing," but this is actually a form of investment — both in US industry and in US dollars. Foreigners have been investing in the United States for decades for two primary reasons: the superior returns due to the growth potential of American capitalism, and the dominance and (relative) stability of the US dollar, which made them useful as a means of exchange apart from their purchasing power of US goods. Americans are not living "beyond our means," as Buchanan claims; we are simply a more profitable investment, with a more stable currency, than the foreign investors' own countries.
[...]
So are trade deficits preferable to trade surpluses? In a narrow sense, yes. A nation that has strong economic prospects will attract foreign investment and therefore experience trade deficits. Conversely, when the domestic economy is stifled by regulations and monetary manipulations, investors will send their savings abroad and their country will run a trade surplus.
[...]
A large part of the US trade deficit comes from the bonds (treasury securities) the US government has been selling to foreigners to finance the growing federal budget deficit. The value of these bonds depends on both the strength of the US economy and the loss of value caused by expansion of the money supply. When the US Treasury sells bonds to individuals, it diverts savings from private investments; this diversion is a form of taxation. When it sells bonds to the Federal Reserve, it exchanges bonds for newly created dollars, which is a form of monetary expansion (inflation). Additionally, when the government sells debt to foreigners, it creates a liability against the US economy. Foreigners buying deficit debt are in essence betting on the ability of the government to provide a return on the investment in the form of positive economic growth. What happens when the investment fails to turn a profit?

Posted by Jason at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Why can't Mitt just admit he is full of crap?

COOPER: Governor Romney, you said in 1994 that you looked forward to the day when gays and lesbians could serve, and I quote, “openly and honestly in our nation’s military.” Do you stand by that?

ROMNEY: This isn’t that time. This is not that time. We’re in the middle of a war. The people who have…

COOPER: Do you look forward to that time, though, one day?

ROMNEY: I’m going to listen to the people who run the military to see what the circumstances are like. And my view is that, at this stage, this is not the time for us to make that kind of…

COOPER: Is that a change in your position…

ROMNEY: Yes, I didn’t think it would work. I didn’t think “don’t ask/don’t tell” would work. That was my — I didn’t think that would work. I thought that was a policy, when I heard about it, I laughed. I said that doesn’t make any sense to me.

ROMNEY: And you know what? It’s been there now for, what, 15 years? It seems to have worked.

COOPER: So, just so I’m clear, at this point, do you still look forward to a day when gays can serve openly in the military or no longer?

ROMNEY: I look forward to hearing from the military exactly what they believe is the right way to have the right kind of cohesion and support in our troops and I listen to what they have to say.

Posted by Joshua Patterson at 09:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As the college football season draws to a close and the bowl season is upon is, I'd like to take a moment to thank all of the people who have contributed to the Top 25 poll every week. It's been a really good run. This will be our next to last poll of the season. Our final poll will be taken after the National Championship Game. Here are our final rankings going into the conference championship games and bowl games. Coincidently, this is the first time we've ever had a tie score between any two teams:

(1) Missouri--166 Points, 3 First Place Votes
(2) West Virginia--162 Points, 2 First Place Votes
(2) Georgia--162 Points, 2 First Place Votes
(4) Kansas--151 Points
(5) LSU--148 Points
(6) Ohio State--145 Points
(7) USC--131 Points
(8) Virginia Tech--129 Points
(9) Florida--124 Points
(10) Oklahoma--122 Points
(11) Tennessee--96 Points
(12) Boston College--93 Points
(13) Hawaii--92 Points
(14) Arizona State--87 Points
(15) Illinois--82 Points
(16) Clemson--67 Points
(17) Wisconsin--49 Points
(18) Auburn--43 Points
(19) Texas--41 Points
(20) Oregon--39 Points
(21) Brigham Young--35 Points
(22) South Florida--33 Points
(23) Virginia--32 Points
(24) Boise State--18 Points
(25) Cincinnati--17 Points

Also receiving votes: Arkansas (9), Troy (4), Texas Tech (1)

Posted by Jace Walden at 09:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On a tip from my sister:

Like Genarlow Wilson, Joshua Widner received a mandatory 10-year sentence for nonforcible sexual activity with a fellow teenager.

Like Wilson, Widner argued through his lawyer at the Supreme Court of Georgia that his sentence was unconstitutionally cruel and unusual.

Widner last year lost in a unanimous decision from the high court, while Wilson last month prevailed in a 4-3 ruling. One key difference between the cases, the court's majority said, was that Widner was about 4 1/2 years older than the 14-year-old girl involved in his case, while Wilson was about two years older than the 15-year-old girl in his case.

But on Monday, a Henry County, Ga., judge signed off on a plea deal that will allow Widner out of prison within days, less than five years into his sentence.

According to the 2006 Supreme Court decision upholding his convictions and sentence, Widner was 18 when he convinced a 14-year-old girl "to agree to have sex with him and another male friend at the same time" in December 2002. Widner engaged in acts of both oral sex and sexual intercourse with the girl, according to that opinion.

Key said last year that Widner and the girl had met at a bar or restaurant in Griffin. The girl snuck out of her house and met Widner at his home on the night of the incident, Key said then. Both Widner and the young woman refused to identify to authorities the other man involved, according to Key.

Floyd said last year that the girl's mother had previously spoken with Widner about leaving her daughter alone -- a conversation Key said his client denied ever occurred -- and was the one who called police to report Widner. The DA's office never made a plea offer before trial, Floyd said Monday.

Another of Widner's lawyers, Mercer University Law assistant professor Sarah L. Gerwig-Moore, said the young woman's parents were "driving the train" in the case. The young girl said all along that she had lied to Widner about her age and didn't want him in jail, said Gerwig-Moore.

But a jury convicted him, and he found no relief at the Georgia Supreme Court. In June 2006, the court issued a unanimous decision shooting down his appeal.

Justice Harold D. Melton's opinion characterized Widner's cruel and unusual punishment argument as asking for "special treatment." It acknowledged that within days a new statute would become the law -- making a person convicted of aggravated child molestation based upon an act of sodomy guilty of only a misdemeanor when the victim is at least 13 but less than 16 years of age and the convicted person is 18 years of age or younger and no more than four years older than the victim. But, wrote Melton, because this revision wouldn't go into effect until after Widner was sentenced, it couldn't help him.

Josh and I were friends when I was in middle school. We went to church together. He has had a rough past (I am not defending anyones actions here, or blaming his past on choices he makes in the present) and hopefully he will be able to turn his life around now.

Posted by Joshua Patterson at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I mentioned this during the live-blog and a couple of people said something in the comments, but last night...one of our own was featured in the debate.

That is Buzz Brockway, one of my fellow contributors on Peach Pundit. Buzz apparently didn't know and was "shocked" when he heard about it.

Congrats, Buzz!

Posted by Jason at 07:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Georgia Carry is calling on the state legislature to ease restrictions on gun regulation:

“After an extensive study of Georgia’s laws as they relate to the protection of law- abiding citizens’ 2nd amendment rights, it is clear that Georgia’s gun owners and sportsmen should be concerned about the restrictive nature of Georgia’s gun laws,” said Ed Stone. “Georgia has more places off limits to the carry of firearms than any state in the nation that permits the carry of a firearm. This includes California”

Most people in Georgia erroneously assume it is legal to openly carry a pistol in a belt holster without a license. Georgia, however, is one of only 12 states that require a license to openly carry a firearm. The unique thing about the history of this law, is that it is a throw-back to the days of Jim Crow. The Georgia law was adopted after the Atlanta Race Riots and the Atlanta Journal’s editorials calling for the disarming of Georgia’s African American Citizens.

The study also found that Georgia should follow its neighbors to the North and South, Tennessee and Florida, and unanimously pass Katrina Legislation. Government in Georgia has the ability to confiscate the firearms of law-abiding citizens during a time of emergency, which is the very time a citizen may need to protect his family during a crisis. Even California recently passed a law protecting its citizens from such confiscations.

“From Georgia’s uniquely restrictive public gathering laws to the time frame for the issuance of carry license, there is much work to be done in Georgia,” commented Stone. “It is time that law-makers in Georgia worked on meaningful 2nd Amendment Protection for our gun owners and Sportsmen.”

The release also cites the "Katrina Legislation," a bill that would prevent law enforcement from taking guns from law abiding citizens during an emergency. This bill was presented during this year's session (HB 6) but for some reason never made it to the floor for a vote, despite the fact that it cleared committee in the first month of the session. Individuals should have the means to protect their property in the time of a crisis. That bill needs to be passed.

Posted by Jason at 11:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I think we're gonna see some fire works tonight...

Live-blogging begins at 8pm.

WINNERS & LOSERS:
Winners - McCain and Huckabee
McCain scored major points with the based everything that had to do with foreign policy (torture and Iraq). On substance and consistency, he wins hands down.

Huckabee is getting by with cute one-liners and pun. There is no real substance and he can't win on his liberal fiscal record while Governor of Arkansas. He should win an Oscar for the act he has put up during this campaign. Like I said earlier, he'll be on the ticket next November.

Losers - Romney and Giuliani
Romney did bad tonight. He did ok against Giuliani on immigration, but McCain made him look bad on foreign policy.

Giuliani didn't do bad enough to hurt himself. He will have to prove conservative credentials on issues like immigration and the Second Amendment.

Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo continue to be irrelevant. Ron Paul isn't going to resonate with this crowd. Thompson continues to be a non-factor.

DEBATE LIVE-BLOGGING:
[8:01pm] We're off...sort of. Charlie Crist is doing the introductions for the candidates again, but the candidates haven't arrived yet.

[8:02pm] Charlie Crist: "The nation's most popular governor."

[8:05pm] From left to right: Tancredo, Huckabee, Romney, Giuliani, Thompson, McCain, Paul and Hunter. That should be fun with Romney and Giuliani right next to each other.

[8:10pm] I said this during the first YouTube debate, I really like this format.

[8:11pm] The first question goes to Rudy Giuliani. The questioner accuses Giuliani of allowing New York to become a "sanctuary city" and asked if he would continue that policy if elected President. Giuliani blames the problem on his predecessors, Ed Koch and David Dinkins as well as the federal government.

[8:13pm] Romney said New York under Giuliani was indeed a "sanctuary city."

[8:14pm] Giuliani accuses of Romney of employing illegal immigrants at his home and accused him of running a "sanctuary home."

[8:15pm] Wow, this exchange between Romney and Giuliani is great.

[8:17pm] Giuliani kept trying to beat up on Romney and wound up getting booed when Anderson Cooper tried to move on to another question. Romney wins round one in my humble opinion.

[8:19pm] Thompson wants to cut off federal funding for "sanctuary cities" and punish employers that employ illegals.

[8:20pm] Thompson: "I passed a bill in 1996 that outlawed sanctuary cities and the Mayor went to court [to fight it]."

[8:21pm] McCain said, "We never proposed amnesty." I completely agree with McCain there, despite the fact that the immigration bill was a very bad piece of legislation.

[8:22pm] McCain: "We must secure the borders first."

[8:24pm] Tancredo on the Romney, Giuliani and Thompson exchange: "People are trying to out Tancredo Tancredo."

[8:25pm] Hunter: "I built that border fence." Really? You went down to Southern California and physically built the damn fence?

[8:27pm] Oh... here is a tough one for Huckabee on illegal immigration. He has a very sketchy record on that issue...are you seeing a pattern here?

[8:28pm] That was classic Mike Huckabee bullshit. As the AP reported today:

Huckabee opposed a Republican lawmaker's efforts in 2005 to require proof of legal status when applying for state services that aren't federally mandated and proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Huckabee derided the bill as un-American and un-Christian and said the bill's sponsor drank a different "Jesus juice."

That same year, Huckabee failed in his effort to make children of illegal immigrants eligible for state-funded scholarships and in-state tuition to Arkansas colleges. At the time, Huckabee said he didn't understand the opposition to it.

[8:30pm] Romney is on his game tonight. I think he showed up Huckabee.

[8:32pm] A question to Ron Paul on conspiracy theories. I failed to realize just how anti-trade Ron Paul is. NAFTA is a good thing, Congressman.

[8:35pm] A question to John McCain on spending and the national debt. McCain said, "We came to power in 1994 to change government and government change us."

[8:36pm] Romney: "We have to see fundamental change in the way Washington works."

[8:36pm] Romney: "We're gonna have to go after entitlements."

[8:39pm] Thomspon: "We're gonna have to reform Social Security, we're gonna have to reform Medicare."

[8:39pm] Ron Paul said he would Department of Education, Department of Energy and the Department of Homeland Security. Then he went on a rant about our foreign policy.

[8:40pm] Huckabee said he'd eliminate the IRS and pushed the FairTax, furthering his pandering to one of two special interest groups.

[8:42pm] McCain took a shot at Ron Paul's stance on foreign policy. McCain said the message from the troops to Ron Paul was, "Let us win."

[8:43pm] Paul responds: "I'm not at isolationist. I want to trade with people. I want to talk to people."

[8:44pm] Ashley Petty writes, "WTF? Just 10 minutes ago John McCain referred to Iraq as a failure! Now he's upset Ron Paul said the same thing?"

[8:47pm] Mitt Romney supports farm subsides. He has to...he is trailing Tax Hike Mike in Iowa. What happened to defending the taxpayer's money, Mitt?

[8:49pm] Anderson Cooper brought up the story about Giuliani using taxpayer dollars for personal use while Mayor of New York. He says that it was "perfectly appropriate."

[8:50pm] **sigh** More populist and anti-trade rhetoric.

[8:51pm] Hunter: "China is cheating on trade." Hunter also urged people to "buy American."

[8:53pm] Ouch. That video from the Thompson campaign is great. It uses Romney and Huckabee words against them.

[8:55pm] Huckabee: "I have have great record on fiscal conservatism." That is a load of crap.

[8:56pm] By the way, the videos from this evening can be viewed here.

[9:00pm] Jace, I'm wondering the same thing.

[9:01pm] I was waiting for this...a question to Giuliani on the Second Amendment. Giuliani said he believes that the Second Amendment is an individual right and supports "reason regulation" (he got boos on that one) and gave a nod to Judge Silberman in the Parker decision, which is the Washington, DC gun case that is going before the Supreme Court.

[9:03pm] Thompson: "The Second Amendment is not a choice thing. It's in the Constitution."

[9:04pm] Giliani answers back, "I believe the Supreme Court will declare [that the Second Amendment is an individual right]."

[9:05pm] Surprise...Rudy Giuliani doesn't own a gun.

[9:07pm] Responding to a question on black on black crime, Romney said that they need a mom and a dad: "In the Africian American community, 68% of the kids born, are born out of wedlock."

[9:09pm] This is a good question on abortion. The questioner asked that if abortion becomes illegal, what should crime should a woman that has one be charged with.

[9:10pm] Ron Paul stuck with the 10th Amendment answer. Good for him.

[9:11pm] Fred Thompson said that overturning Roe should be the country's number one priority.

[9:13pm] Giuliani said that abortion should be a state issue and would not support a federal ban.

[9:15pm] Someone should bring up Huckabee's pardon of Wayne DuMond.

[9:16pm] Huckabee completely avoided the question and gets out of it with a snarky comment.

[9:17pm] This is so stupid. Some guy held up a copy of the Bible and said, "Do you believe this book?"

[9:18pm] I'm not even commenting on their answers, that question is irrelevant.

[9:22pm] Huckabee turned this debate into a church service. God help us if that man gets elected.

[9:24pm] Question: "What would you do as President to repair the image of America in the eyes of the Muslim world?"

[9:26pm] Rudy's answer appealed to the base, I'm sure. He accused the Democrats of not recognizing the threat.

[9:27pm] McCain: "We are winning in Iraq."

[9:28pm] Hunter brings up a good point that America has helped out around the world in times of emergency. He fails to acknowledge that without the help of a foreign nation, France...the United States of America would likely not exist.

[9:30pm] McCain and Romney are exchanging words on torture. McCain is talking down to him on the issue. McCain won't even look at him while he is responding.

[9:31pm] Kevin, you're right. McCain did hit the Iraq issue out of the park.

[9:32pm] BUZZ!!!!

[9:36pm] McCain has owned this entire topic.

[9:39pm] This just came across the wire: "Brother-in-law of Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) indicted on bribery charges days after senator's unexpected resignation."

[9:40pm] Giuliani is responding to criticism that he is using 9/11 to get into the White House. He complete avoided answering it and used the all to familiar line that "George Will said that I ran the most conservative government in the country."

[9:43pm] Real conservative for President, my ass. Duncan Hunter is Benito Mussolini reincarnated.

[9:45pm] You can't help but sit back and look at these eight guys and say, "This is it? This is the best the Republican Party has to offer the voters of the United States?"

[9:47pm] I am convinced that Mike Huckabee will be on the GOP ticket.

[9:48pm] A great question as to why aren't gays good enough to serve in the Armed Forces.

[9:49pm] Wow...just wow. I am floored by the bigotry of Duncan Hunter and Mike Huckabee.

[9:50pm] Surprise, surprise...Mitt Romney changed positions. Does he have a firm stance on any issue.

[9:54pm] Huckabee says that he'll be true to his convictions. How about he run on his record and answer the criticisms instead of scoff at them.

[9:56pm] Things have moved much faster in this debate than previous ones. I'm going the best I can. I apologize if I'm moving too slowly.

[9:58pm] Mike Huckabee's entire campaign is a circus. He is relying on cheap oneliners and cute puns to get by. The sad thing is that voters are stupid enough to buy it.

[9:59pm] Tancredo in response to about space and getting the US to Mars : "We can't afford some things."

[9:59pm] Good on Rudy for pushing school vouchers.

[10:02pm] Romney: "There are not two Americas. There is one America."

[10:03pm] I know this has already been pointed out in the comments, but this debate has defined Howard Dean's comments from the 2004 election....Guns, God and Gays.

[10:07pm] McCain: "I'd take out my veto pen and veto every pork project that comes across my desk." Wow, he got in a good shot at Giuliani over the line-item veto.

[10:07pm] Rudy, just because the Surpreme Court makes a ruling it does not mean they are right. Can you say, Kelo.

[10:08pm] Ron Paul firmly stated that he will not run as an independent and affirmed the fact that he is a Republican.

[10:08pm] Paul: "This country is in a revolution and I'm proud to be a part of it."

[10:11pm] I have never been so glad that a debate was over. That was painful.

Posted by Jason at 08:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (74)

Jonah Goldberg wraps on Mike Huckabee on NRO TV.

Here is part of the transcript:

I think people are focusing way too much on Ron Paul when the real threat is Mike Huckabee.
[...]
He believes that the government, the federal government, the government in Washington is there to be used to do any and all good things wherever, whenever he can. And it is essentially, in terms of it's methodology and means, it is very, very similar to what conservatives see in liberalism. This use of big government to create the ideal society. I think the best example of that would be his support for a nationwide, federal smoking ban...enforced by the federal government, which I think is an outrageous sort of sacreligious affront to traditional conservatism's understand about the role of the federal government.
[...]
When it comes to economic issues, he is hard to distinguish from all sort of different brands of liberals. He is hostile to free trade. He is very friendly to raising taxes. He believes in regulation wherever necessary. He thinks abortion must remain a federal national issue, can't send it back to the states. And that's what I mean by "right-wing progressive." He wants to use government towards conservative ends. He says it's a biblical duty to fight global warming. The problem with someone like Huckabee is that he much like, in my mind, a liberal sees no dogmatic constitutional limits on the "do-goodery" of the federal government. Whatever he thinks is the right thing for the federal government to do, if he thinks there's a good thing that can be done by the federal government, he wants the federal government to do it whether it's constitutional or in accordance with principles of limited government. And maybe what he wants to isn't what a cultural liberal would want to do but he still wants to use the government the same way. It's big government conservatism. And that, I think, is the real threat these days to conservatism.

The second is that Goldberg's point about what "right-wing progressivism" and Mike Huckabee is right on target. The idea that government should shape and mold the type of society that we should live in pretty much defines the progressive era.

Posted by Jason at 07:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Politico is reporting that taxpayers unknowingly funded Rudy Giuliani's extra-marital romps in the Hamptons.

Serious ethical problems....sounds like a GOP frontrunner to me!

Posted by Jace Walden at 03:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bob Barr shares his thoughts on the upcoming Second Amendment case in the SCOTUS:

Since its adoption as part of the Bill of Rights in 1791, the Second Amendment has generated controversy far beyond its short, 27-word length. Yet, surprisingly, in all those 216 years, the Supreme Court has never ruled definitely on the amendment's reach. Does it, as the District of Columbia and a number of federal courts have decided, simply codify a collective right of an organized "militia" to arm itself? Or, as other courts and judges have concluded — including Senior Circuit Judge Laurence Silberman of the federal Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, who wrote the decision in the case the Supreme Court will hear in its current term — does the Second Amendment guarantee the right of an individual to possess firearms for self-defense?

While many modern-era opinions issued by federal courts, including the Supreme Court, are distressingly complex and convoluted, Silberman's published decision is not. His 58-page majority decision is remarkably lucid; legally sound and historically based. It is written for the layperson as well as the law school honors graduate; and, most important, it is written to appeal to the moderate among the Supreme Court's nine.
[...]
Whether one owns firearms or not — or ever intends to — the Silberman opinion in the D.C. gun-ban case should be a must-read for anyone wishing to understand what the Bill of Rights was, is and was intended to be. All who support the fast-disappearing freedoms guaranteed within its four corners should hope fervently that the Supreme Court of the United States will, before it adjourns next summer, render a similarly sound and supportive opinion in the case Silberman has so masterfully served up.

“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state,” sure we need an organized military force to defend your country BUT “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

This is the people in contrast with the militia. It doesn’t say “the right of the militia to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” it says “the right of the people.”

Now why the word “people” ? Because the people who wrote this just fought a war for two years against a tyrannical state militia. They knew the time might come when they would have to do that again so they made the possession of weapons a right that the militia could never take away.

I just don't see how anyone can read the Bill of Rights and claim that they are not explicitly individual rights that are protected, not granted, by government.

Posted by Jason at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is a very detailed account of Mike Huckabee's record in Arkansas from the Associated Press that includes information about Wayne DuMond (a rapist that Huckabee set free, who killed a woman after his release), his repeated distortions of his record on taxes and his position changes on immigration.

The DuMond issue is really interesting:

Huckabee has consistently understated his role in the parole of rapist Wayne DuMond, who had been convicted in the 1984 rape of a distant cousin of former President Clinton.

Two months after taking office, Huckabee stunned the state by saying he questioned DuMond's guilt and that it was his intention to free the rapist, who had been castrated by masked men while awaiting trial. Huckabee said then he had "serious questions as to the legitimacy of his guilt" and acknowledged later that he had met with DuMond's wife about the case while he was lieutenant governor. Two months after ascending to the governor's office, Huckabee met with the woman again.
[...]
The ex-governor now blames his predecessor for making DuMond parole eligible - Jim Guy Tucker commuted a life-plus-20 years sentence to 39 1/2 years - but distances himself from his role in DuMond's release. Huckabee met privately with the state parole board, and two members have said he pressured them for a vote.
[...]
On his campaign Web site, Huckabee says the parole board was made up entirely of Democrats appointed by Clinton and Tucker. It doesn't mention that Huckabee reappointed board member Railey Steele days before he voted with three other members to set DuMond free. DuMond was later convicted of killing a woman in Missouri and died in 2005.

On his fiscal record:

Huckabee likes to say he was tough on taxes in Arkansas, noting a $100 million tax cut in 1997 that until this year was Arkansas' largest. When asked about a fuel tax increase he backed in 1999, Huckabee says incorrectly that he joined 80 percent of Arkansas voters in approving it.

Huckabee in 1999 supported a $1 billion highway bond program, including costs for interest and lawyers' fees, but the question on the ballot was only whether the state could take on the debt, not how Arkansas would pay for it. Huckabee had signed the fuel tax increase two months earlier.

Shortly after taking office, Huckabee took a four-day trip by bass boat along the Arkansas River to tout a 1/8th-cent sales tax increase for outdoor programs. (Two nature centers now carry the names of Huckabee and his wife.) Taxes went up $40 million in the months before the $100 million tax cut Huckabee touts.

This is definitely a must read, especially if you are considering Huckabee as your candidate. He likes to call himself an "authentic conservative," but that is simply not true and the evidence just keeps piling up against him.

Posted by Jason at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I read a lot about local control. Everything from hiring & firing to commuter rail to taxes. But I have not seen any rational proposals that could stand alone as self sufficient programs.

Grady Hospital has been poorly managed and racked up over $300 million in debt. The agencies, doctors and some politicians came up with a great rescue plan. One that will cost taxpayers through the nose.

One hundred fifty of the state’s 159 counties levy SPLOST taxes. School boards and county governments reap hundreds of millions of dollars and the variant levels of accountability and wise spending equals the number of programs in place.

Today’s AJC reports Atlanta area Mayors want more say in traffic issues and they are all quick to promote new or increased taxes.

Meeting with the Urban Land Institute to discuss regional problems such as the drought and land use, the conversation quickly turned to transportation and how the state can better help. Ideas included allowing local governments to tax gasoline and letting the entire (Metro) region take over MARTA – and fund it with sales tax revenues.

I find it strange that new or improved roads always mean increased development, land use rarely involves planning and management, and nobody is talking about curtailing growth beause of the drought! Yet the first "solution" is to generate higher tax revenues.

Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin acknowledged the lack of confidence in MARTA among state legislators and blamed state-level political agendas for cities’s inability to act. Decatur mayor Bill Floyd conceded that local gasoline taxes were a political minefield.

East Point Mayor Joseph Macon made the most truthful and revealing statement:

"We need a way to make (our ideas) public-proof."

I am not convinced that unchecked local control is such a good thing. With local governments, agencies and authorities and school boards there is a maze of policy-making and taxation schemes. If our state legislature could do anything positive it would be to provide statewide, equal protections for all Georgia’s citizens and taxpayers. Lord knows the cities and counties are not in that business.

Posted by Larry Stanley at 09:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to John Edwards, you won't get to decide if you want healthcare or not. Under his plan...that choice is made for you:

I'm mandating healthcare for every man woman and child in America and that's the only way to have real universal healthcare," he said at a town hall forum in New Hampshire on Monday.

"Every time you go into contact with the health care system or the government you will be signed up," he added.

In what several political observers have pointed out as hypocritical, Edwards explained Americans will not be able to choose their own health care plan.

When asked by a reporter if an individual decided they didn't want healthcare Edwards quickly responded, "You don't get that choice."

Posted by Jason at 08:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Atlas continues to shrug in Venezuela:

The Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, today threatened to strip the country's industrialists of their assets if they continued to oppose his indefinite presidency.

Chávez faces a vote at the weekend on his proposals to change 69 articles of the constitution, including scrapping the limit on the number of terms a president can serve.

Venezuela's largest business chamber, Fedecámaras, to which thousands of large and small businesses belong, has called the planned reforms an "illegal act", and called on voters to oppose their passage "by every possible legal means".

Posted by Jason at 09:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just in case you didn't already know, there is another GOP debate on Wednesday, November 28th at 8pm. This one is the YouTube/CNN debate that was originally scheduled for mid-September but due to some of the candidates unwillingness to participate it had to be rescheduled.

you can read more about the debate here.

Provided that I have nothing else going on, I'll try to live-blog it.

Posted by Jason at 09:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Kelly McCutchen with the Georgia Public Policy Foundation has finally weighed on the tax reform debate by calling for reform on spending at all levels of government:

Like love and marriage, tax and spending go together like the proverbial horse and carriage. Absent spending controls, any major “reform” proposal in Georgia’s tax code – particularly a shift in revenues among different levels of government – becomes a masquerade that would increase the size of government. The American tradition of limited government cries out that you can’t have one without the other: Fiscal reform requires spending controls and transparency.

McCutchen wants controls, not only over state spending, but local spending. If a local government wants to spend more, then it has to seek voter approval:

Residents should trust local elected officials to prioritize local spending, and should give them more flexibility. To that end, eliminate arbitrary state requirements that restrict sales taxes to capital projects and cap sales tax rates. In return, limit annual local spending increases to the growth in the local population and inflation. Local governments that wish to exceed this benchmark would seek permission from residents through majority vote in a local referendum. This referendum would be no different from a sales tax election, except the referendum must be held in conjunction with other regularly scheduled elections.

Posted by Jason at 08:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Insider Advantage led me to a particular bill that has been pre-filed for the upcoming legislative session. Its designation is Senate Bill 335 (SB 335). It is an amendment to the "English as the Official Language of Georgia" Act passed last year. The bill is sponsored by State Senator John Douglas (R-Social Circle), known by many to be one of the most staunchly conservative members of the State Senate.

Senate Bill 335, however, is anything but "conservative." According to the text of the legislation, this bill would prohibit a state agency or political subdivision of the state from requiring an employee to speak or learn any language other than English in order to maintain employment or attain promotion.

According to the bill's sponsor, SB 335 was created in reaction to a certain Northwest Georgia police department requiring 80 hours of Spanish training to be eligible for promotion. Senator Douglas said he recommended that the city do not make this a requirement, but his request was declined. This bill, according to the Senator, should "jog the memory" of the city manager that English is the official language of Georgia.

At first glance, SB 335 appears to be more of a "house-keeping" bill than anything potentially earth-shattering. Yet when you consider the legislative intent of the sponsor and the potential ramifications of this bill's passage, the bill stands out as anything but benign.

If we take the Senator at his word and take the text of the legislation at face value, two glaring issues immediately arise:

First is the issue of local control. Local control seems to be a hard issue for Republicans to grasp lately. Local governments and police officers on the ground generally know better than state-level politicians about what is needed to effectively enforce the laws in their areas. Whether the State Senate wants to acknowledge it or not, there are areas in this state with extremely large Spanish-speaking populations. Local governments across the country have already taken action to insure that their officers are equipped to enforce the laws effectively with these populations. Why would the State Senate want to tie the hands of the officers on the ground and the local governments that actually have to deal with the issue on a daily basis?

Police officers are required to take firearms training, in order to more effectively use their weapons. They are required to attend mandate school in order to learn about the law, a person's rights, and how to apply the law. These courses are required for promotion. Should the legislature be able to get rid of them? If not, then why is it a problem if a local jurisdiction with a large Spanish-speaking population requires its officers to attend an 80-hour introductory Spanish course?

Second is the issue of putting police officers at risk. By prohibiting the requirement of foreign-language training, SB 335 potentially puts police officers at greater risk. By having at least a working-knowledge of Spanish, officers are better-equipped to deescalate a potentially life-threatening situation that could arise with a non-English speaker. Not to mention, a working-knowledge of Spanish can also help the officer get through the day-to-day tasks like traffic stops, reading Miranda Rights, interviewing or collecting information from a Spanish-speaking victim, and conducting DUI tests with greater ease.

The Georgia Supreme Court did rule that officers are not required to carry out any of these tasks in any language but English, but having some background in basic oral communication can make the enforcement of the law more efficient.

I want to go back to one more thing the Senator said in regards to this legislation. "I guess the point here is, if you are going to break the law, know enough English to understand the legal procedures going on around you." I'm sure they will take that gem to heart, Senator.

In all fairness, Senator Douglas has been a "pro-law enforcement" type of Senator. He has sponsored numerous bills that would help strengthen our State's policing abilities. That is one of the reasons I am perplexed as to why he personally would sponsor a bill that could potentially get a policeman killed. I know the Senator is against illegal immigration and is all uber-American, but this bill will do nothing to curtail illegal immigration. It will do nothing to strengthen our English-speaking heritage. And it will do nothing in the way of strengthening our law enforcement capabilities.

In short, there is no issue that this bill will solve. It's merely a visceral reaction to some kind of wrong-headed idea that requiring police officers to learn Spanish in order to be more effective is somehow an endorsement of illegal immigration itself. It's a big-government solution looking for a problem.

Posted by Jace Walden at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (27)

A question that no one can seem to answer..."Will fiscal conservatives stay home in 2008?":

So far, the Republican presidential candidates have offered little to these small-government conservatives. Fred Thompson gives an occasional nod to entitlement reform. John McCain has been critical of pork barrel spending. Ron Paul opposes pretty much all government programs. But by and large, the candidates have not offered a platform for curtailing the size, cost, and power of government.

Can anyone think of a single major government program that any of them, with the exception of Rep. Paul, have called for significantly cutting or eliminating?

In the Cato Institute's biannual ranking of governors on fiscal issues, Romney received a grade of only "C." The report noted that his proposed 2006 budget included some $170 million in increased business taxes. This increase came on top of previous business tax increases of $140 million during his term, as well as some $500 million in increased fees and other forms or revenue.

His philosophy of governance is betrayed in his comment, "I'd be embarrassed if I didn't always ask for federal money whenever I got the chance."

Mike Huckabee? As governor, he never saw a tax increase he didn't love. He presided over a massive increase in state spending, including an expansion of Medicaid, and approved increases in the sales, income, and cigarette taxes. On its annual governor's report card, Cato gave him an "F" for fiscal policy. Most Democratic governors received higher grades.

As a presidential candidate, Huckabee has been no better. Not only has he failed to call for spending cuts, he actually wants to increase spending on a variety of programs, from education to infrastructure. He even wants the federal government to fund art and music programs in the nation's schools.

Posted by Jason at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

[Updated by Request]

This is an effort to allow Henry County citizens to decide which direction they want to go with traffic issues that will only get worse if left unchecked. Please attend if at all possible.

Thank You,
Reid Bowman

Posted by Larry Stanley at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Every time somebody writes something about SPLOST, they talk about how the taxes are mostly paid by people who don't live in the county. Will someone PLEASE provide me with a link to the study done in Henry County that backs this up? Please?

Posted by Joshua Patterson at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

In honor of his announced retirement, here are some of my favorite quotes from Senator Trent Lott.

- "I'll just say this about the so-called porkbusters. I'm getting damn tired of hearing from them. They have been nothing but trouble ever since Katrina.", this comment became the rallying point for the Porkbusters movement.

- "I want the President to look across the country and find the best man woman or minority that he can find."

- "You know, if we had elected this man 30 years ago, we wouldn't be in the mess we are today.", comments about Strom Thurmond made in 1980.

- "I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over the years, either." Washington Post 12/7/2002

- "I've already seen enough. Why would I want to go see a bunch of perverted pictures?", on Abu Ghraib photos.

Lott's exit is an early birthday present for me. I wonder if Santa will be kind this year and convince Robert Byrd, a former member of the KKK, and the crusty senior Senator from Alaska to retire as well.

Posted by Jason at 08:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The first openly gay Republican was elected to a city council seat in Doraville:

Brian Bates is a 36-year-old business owner in charge of Doraville's annual Police Appreciation Day.

He's active in his neighborhood association and staunchly supports popular police Chief John King, who became a major issue in elections earlier this month.
[...]
Bates is now the state's first openly gay Republican elected to office – a development that has gained the attention of politicos and pundits across the country.

State Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Atlanta), whose district includes Doraville, said she was thrilled to see Bates win. The state Republican party referred a reporter to Chambers for comment about Bates' election victory.

Chambers said Bates has skills and experience that will serve the community well, including being highly organized, computer savvy and a community activist who will promote fiscal conservatism.

Chambers, who said she contributed $150 to Bates' campaign, said Republicans welcomed a debate about the party's positions on gay issues. But she said sexual orientation won't be much of a political issue in Doraville.

"I don't think his sexuality is going to play a role on city council," said Chambers. "But his fiscal responsibility will be greatly appreciated on a day-to-day basis. His margin of victory shows that our community in north DeKalb cares more about the person and their performance as an elected official than someone's sexuality."

Posted by Jason at 08:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fred Thompson makes the charge that Fox News has been biased against his campaign:

Thompson said, "This has been a constant mantra of Fox, to tell you the truth." He noted that other conservatives have praised his bid for the GOP nomination and took issue with a Fox promo that focused on polling in New Hampshire, where Thompson is registering in the single digits.

He said he is running second in national polls and has been leading or tied for the lead in South Carolina for "a long, long time."

Thompson, in a firm, but measured tone, scolded Wallace: "...for you to highlight nothing but the negatives in terms of the polls and then put on your own guys who have been predicting for four months, really, that I couldn't do it, kind of skew things a little bit. There's a lot of other opinion out there."

Posted by Jason at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This is someting I'm doing at my blog now. I'll update it here every week as well. The criteria are extremely objective, save the "NewsWorthiness" criteria. If you want a full explanation of how candidates were scored, you can read it here. Here is the first installment of the weekly Presidential Power Rankings:

(1) Hillary Clinton (D)--66.5 Points, 4 First Place Rankings
(2) Barack Obama (D)--64 Points, 1 First Place Ranking
(3) Mitt Romney (R)--60 Points, 2 First Place Rankings
(4) Rudy Guliani (R)--57.5 Points
(5) John Edwards (D)--54.5 Points
(6) John McCain (R)--48.5 Points
(7) Fred Thompson (R)--48 Points
(8) Bill Richardson (D)--47 Points
(9) Ron Paul (R)--41 Points
(10) Mike Huckabee (R)--38.5 Points
(11) Joe Biden (D)--36.5 Points
(12) Chris Dodd (D)--36 Points
(13) Dennis Kucinich (D)--33 Points
(14) Duncan Hunter (R)--17.5 Points
(15) Mike Gravel (D)--6.5 Points

Posted by Jace Walden at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

There is more on Mike Huckabee in The Economist:

Mr Huckabee's weakness is the worry that he may be a lightweight figuratively as well as literally. It is fine for his 12-step weight-loss plan to be simple. “Eat less and exercise more” is good advice. But his 12-step plan to “restore America's greatness” is worryingly populist.

Take trade. Mr Huckabee calls himself a free-trader, but on the stump he does not sound like one. He rouses nativist crowds by fretting that America cannot be secure unless it is self-sufficient in food, energy and military hardware. “I don't want to see our food come from China, our oil come from Saudi Arabia and our manufacturing come from Europe and Asia,” he says. “There is so much foolishness in that one sentence it is hard to unpack,” comments Rich Lowry, a conservative columnist. America hardly imports any food from China. Mr Huckabee's promise of energy independence within 10 years is impossible. And cheap imports benefit precisely the cash-strapped folk Mr Huckabee purports to champion.
[...]
And as people start to take Mr Huckabee's presidential bid seriously, he will face the sort of hostile scrutiny he has so far mostly avoided. The Club for Growth, a lobby for economic conservatives, assails him for hiking sales and petrol taxes in Arkansas, and for his attacks on industries he accused of “price-gouging”. The Club says that nominating him would be “an abject rejection” of the free-market, limited-government principles for which the Republican Party stands. The Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank, gave him a “D” grade for fiscal policy. Salon.com, an online journal, recently published a long list of ethical complaints about Mr Huckabee compiled by a reporter from Arkansas.

Posted by Jason at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (30)

How do you know that the state legislature is about to reconvene? When journalists and bloggers begin writing about pre-filed legislation.

Posted by Jason at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I really hope this is true.

Posted by Jace Walden at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Check out Bob Novak's column on Mike Huckabee:

Huckabee is campaigning as a conservative, but serious Republicans know that he is a high-tax, protectionist advocate of big government and a strong hand in the Oval Office directing the lives of Americans. Until now, they did not bother to expose the former governor of Arkansas as a false conservative because he seemed an underfunded, unknown nuisance candidate. Now that he has pulled even with Mitt Romney for the Iowa caucuses and might make more progress, the beleaguered Republican Party has a frightening problem.

The rise of evangelical Christians as the force that blasted the GOP out of minority status during the past generation always contained an inherent danger: What if these new Republican acolytes supported not merely a conventional conservative but one of their own? That has happened with Huckabee, a former Baptist minister educated at Ouachita Baptist University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The danger is a serious contender for the nomination who passes the litmus test of social conservatives on abortion, gay marriage and gun control but is far removed from the conservative-libertarian model of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.
[..]
As a presidential candidate, Huckabee has sought to counteract his reputation as a taxer by pressing for replacement of the income tax with a sales tax. More recently he signed the no-tax-increase pledge of Americans for Tax Reform. But Huckabee simply does not fit within normal boundaries of economic conservatism, such as when he criticized President Bush's veto of a Democratic expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Calling global warming a "moral issue" mandating "a biblical duty" to prevent climate change, he has endorsed a cap-and-trade system that is anathema to the free market.

Posted by Jason at 08:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We got in about 45 minutes ago. Traffic wasn't that bad, with the exception of I-65 just east of Montgomery. We moved maybe three miles in about thirty minutes. The crappy part was after driving 510 miles from the Queen and Crescent in New Orleans to my home. I had to drive back down the road to pick up Reagan from my sister's house.

We had a really good time. The Ace bandage worked on Amanda's foot well enough for her to walk around the city without much of a problem. She has been sick all day though. We ate dinner last night at the Acme Oyster House. Her shrimp po' boy didn't sit well. That resulted in stops about every 15 or 20 miles from New Orleans to Gulfport.

The bad part of all that was I had to drive over Lake Ponchartrain...not fun. I hate large bodies of water, bridges that go over bodies of water or that are elevated in any way and spiders. Those are my fears. God forbid I find a spider in my car and go off a bridge into a large body of water.

Anyway, I drove over the Twin Span bridge, which is I-10. So...only five miles with two of my fears and my girlfriend in the passengers seat telling me to hurry because she needed to hurl.

From Biloxi to Mobile, the drive was kind of boring. Ron Paul supporters are doing a good job on I-10 and I-65 in Alabama. I saw several DIY signs while passing through.

I need to kick back and relax. I'm exhusted. My eyes hurt and I have a laundry to do because I have to go into work tomorrow.

I hope everyone had a good weekend.

Posted by Jason at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Posted by Joshua Patterson at 08:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Happy Capitalism Day. Ok, it's not a real name for today, but that is what Black Friday is, right? The mutual exchange of wealth for individual enjoyment. I love capitalism.

Anyway, I'm sitting in the lobby of our hotel. Amanda is upstairs taking a nap. She hurt her ankle last night walking out of a store. It's probably sprained. We got an Ace bandage on it and she seems to be doing fine.

We went down Bourbon Street last night and had a couple drinks...and believe it or not we were asleep before 10pm. A 500 mile drive takes a lot out of you.

Today we went down to Riverwalk and did some looking around. We stopped by Cafe du Monde and just walked around for a bit. We'll probably head there again tomorrow for lunch and some shopping.

We saw a flick at the IMAX theatre in the aquarium and avoided getting hustled as we walked toward the French Market. If some guy ever tells you "I bet I know where you got your shoes," just walk the other way. Amanda had read up on some of this stuff before we left and she emphattically told him "no, thanks" and started walking away.

I'll have some pictures up next week. Have a good weekend and...Go Dawgs!

Posted by Jason at 04:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Alright, it is that time of the week again. This week may just offer the best slate of games to pick from all year. A lot of rivalries and a lot of BCS implications on the line. Before we delve into this week's games, here are last weeks results:

Doug Craig--14 Points
Publius V.--14 Points
Marshall McCart--12 Points
Jace Walden--10 Points

Here are this weeks games, lines and predictions (rankings reflect JasonPye.com rankings)

Georgia (5) @ Georgia Tech
Line: Georgia -3.5
My Pick: Georgia will win and will cover the spread.

Tennessee (15) @ Kentucky
Line: Kentucky -3
My Pick: Kentucky will win and will cover the spread

Florida State @ Florida (10)
Line: Florida -14.5
My Pick: Florida will win but will not cover the spread.

Clemson (21) @ South Carolina
Line: Clemson -3
My Pick: Clemson will win and will cover the spread.

Alabama @ Auburn (25)
Line: Auburn -6
My Pick: Auburn will win and will cover the spread.

Missouri (4) @ Kansas (2)
Line: Kansas -2
My Pick: Missouri will win and will reverse the spread.

BONUS WORTH 3 POINTS: Predict the total number of rushing yards (from both teams) in the Georgia vs. Georgia Tech Game. This is combined total rushing yardage.
My Prediction: 240 Yards

Let's review the rules one more time:

(1) One point is awarded for correctly picking the winner
(2) Three additional points are awarded for correctly picking an upset winner
(3) Two additional points are awarded for correctly predicting spread coverage
(4) Three points are awarded to whomever comes closest to predicting the bonus
(5) This is for bragging rights only
(6) Make your selections in the comments section

Have a great weekend. Go Dawgs!

Posted by Jace Walden at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Here are the Top 25 college football teams, going into this weekend, as voted on by the readers and writers of JasonPye.com:

(1) LSU--174 Points, 6 First Place Votes
(2) Kansas--155 Points
(3) West Virginia--154 Points
(4) Missouri--153 Points
(5) Georgia--151 Points, 1 First Place Vote
(6) Virginia Tech--130 Points
(7) Arizona State--129 Points
(8) Ohio State--128 Points
(9) USC--114 Points
(10) Florida--112 Points
(11) Oklahoma--108 Points
(12) Oregon--102 Points
(13) Texas--90 Points
(14) Boston College--78 Points
(15) Tennessee--77 Points
(16) Hawaii--75 Points
(17) Illinois--57 Points
(18) Virginia--56 Points
(19) Boise State--54 Points
(20) Connecticut--45 Points
(21) Clemson--27 Points
(22) Wisconsin--26 Points
(23) Cincinnati--21 Points
(24) South Florida--14 Points
(25) Auburn--12 Points

Also receiving votes: Brigham Young (10), Texas Tech (2), Michigan (2), Arkansas (1)

Posted by Jace Walden at 04:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

No updates from me until at least Sunday.

I want to wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving.

Posted by Jason at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Political Insider writes that the field to replace State Rep. Dan Lakly has been set:

Three Republicans and a Democrat have qualified as candidates in the Dec. 18 special election to fill the vacancy created by the death of state Rep. Dan Lakly of Fayette County.

Lakly, 65, died of a heart attack in October.

Secretary of State Karen Handel said four candidates met the noon Wednesday deadline for submitting their names and a $400 fee for the House District 72 contest:

— Republican Heidi Becker of Fayetteville;

— Republican Steve Brown of Peachtree City;

— Democrat Kevin Madden of Peachtree City;

— and Republican Matt Ramsey of Peachtree City.

While the contest is formally non-partisan, the party affiliations of all candidates will be noted on the ballots. Voter registration for the contest closes today. Early balloting begins Dec. 10.

A run-off election would be held Jan. 15.

Posted by Jason at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here is a friendly public service announcement from Sen. John Douglas on water conservation:

Posted by Jason at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I got word that Georgia Carry is pushing new legislation dubbed the "Second Amendment Protection Act" that will be sponsored by State Rep. Tim Bearden concerning the taking of weapons during emergencies (a Katrina type event, see HB 6), new regulations about concealment in vehicles (which is what HB 89 was supposed to do before it was bastardized, gutted and turned in to SB 43) and so on.

I have a copy of the legislation, but I am holding off on posting it right now.

[UPDATE] Sen. John Douglas e-mails me to say, "I have seen Bearden's new bill and so far find it far superior to SB 43. If it stays intact, I may sponsor it in the Senate."

Posted by Jason at 08:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

The Liberty Papers is two years old this week.

Posted by Jason at 07:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jonah Goldberg warns conservatives to fear Mike Huckabee, not Ron Paul:

What's troubling about The Man From Hope 2.0 is what he represents. Huckabee represents compassionate conservatism on steroids. A devout social conservative on issues such as abortion, school prayer, homosexuality and evolution, Huckabee is a populist on economics, a fad-follower on the environment and an all-around do-gooder who believes that the biblical obligation to do "good works" extends to using government -- and your tax dollars -- to bring us closer to the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

For example, Huckabee has indicated he would support a nationwide federal ban on public smoking. Why? Because he's on a health kick, thinks smoking is bad and believes the government should do the right thing.

And therein lies the chief difference between Paul and Huckabee. One is a culturally conservative libertarian. The other is a right-wing progressive.
[...]
In this respect, Huckabee's philosophy is conventionally liberal, or progressive. What he wants to do with government certainly differs in important respects from what Hillary Clinton would do, but the limits he would place on governmental do-goodery are primarily tactical or practical, not philosophical or constitutional. This isn't to say he -- or Hillary -- is a would-be tyrant, but simply to note that the progressive notion of the state as a loving, caring parent is becoming a bipartisan affair.

Indeed, Huckabee represents the latest attempt to make conservatism more popular by jettisoning the unpopular bits. Contrary to the conventional belief that Republicans need to drop their opposition to abortion, gay marriage and the like in order to be popular, Huckabee understands that the unpopular stuff is the economic libertarianism: free trade and smaller government. That's why we're seeing a rise in economic populism on the right coupled with a culturally conservative populism. Huckabee is the bastard child of Lou Dobbs and Pat Robertson.
[...]
But there's something weird going on when Paul, the small-government constitutionalist, is considered the extremist in the Republican Party while Huckabee, the statist, is the lovable underdog.

Posted by Jason at 04:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Well...get ready for a showdown over the Second Amendment because the SCOTUS has decided to hear District of Columbia v. Heller (formerly Parker v. District of Columbia):

The Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it will decide a landmark lawsuit concerning the constitutionality of the District of Columbia's ban on guns. The case is expected to be heard in March. Cato scholar Robert A. Levy comments, "That's good news for all Americans who would like to be able to defend themselves where they live and sleep. And it's especially good news for residents of Washington, D.C., which has been the murder capital of the nation despite an outright ban on all functional firearms since 1976."

It's not about machine guns or so-called assault weapons or concealed carry. It's about the right to possess ordinary, garden variety handguns in the home for self-defense. Proponents of gun control have not been persuaded by the text of the Second Amendment; by the history, purpose, and structure of the Constitution; by the intent of the Framers; or even by empirical studies proving that gun control does not work. The enactment of anti-gun regulations has become an article of faith. In March of this year, after 31 years, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington told the District of Columbia government that it may not ignore Second Amendment rights. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will agree.

SCOTUS Blog and the Washington Post have more.

Posted by Jason at 04:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Earl Paulk scandal just got more complicated:

The 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta church is at the center of a sex scandal of biblical dimensions: He slept with his brother's wife and fathered a child by her.

Members of Archbishop Earl Paulk's family stood at the pulpit of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church a few Sundays ago and revealed the secret exposed by a recent court-ordered paternity test.

This is not the first sex scandal involving Paulk. But this time, he could be in trouble with the law for lying under oath about the affair.

For years, 34-year-old D.E. Paulk was known publicly as Earl Paulk's nephew. He became head pastor a year and a half ago. D.E. Paulk says he did not learn the secret of his parentage until the paternity test.

A judge ordered the test at the request of the Cobb County district attorney's office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. They are investigating Earl Paulk for possible perjury and false-swearing charges stemming from a lawsuit.

Posted by Jason at 04:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Radley Balko remembers the anniversary of the murder of Kathryn Johnston and other victims of paramilitary police raids:

It was one year ago this week that narcotics officers in Atlanta, Georgia broke into the home of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston.

They had earlier arrested a man with a long rap sheet on drug charges. That man told the police officers that they'd find a large stash of cocaine in Johnston's home. When police forced their way into Johnston's home, she met them holding a rusty old revolver, fearing she was about to be robbed. The police opened fire, and killed her.

Shortly after the shooting, the police alleged that they had paid an informant to buy drugs from Ms. Johnston's home. They said she fired at them first, and wounded two officers. And they alleged they found marijuana in her home.

We now know that these were all lies. In fact, everything about the Kathryn Johnston murder was corrupt. The initial arrest of the ex-con came via trumped-up charges. The police then invented an informant for the search warrant, and lied about overseeing a drug buy from Johnston's home.

Ms. Johnston didn't actually wound any of the officers. They were wounded by fragments of ricochet from their own storm of bullets. And there was no marijuana. Once they realized their mistake, the officers handcuffed Ms. Johnston and left her to bleed and die on the floor of her own home while they planted marijuana in her basement.

Posted by Jason at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Yes, I received the packet in the mail yesterday. I spent most of the evening going through the information you provided and I must say that it is very compelling.

I am verifying some of the information to be on the safe side, I don't know how long that will take, particularly the letter from the federal government concerning the subject. Please don't take offense to that, but I have to double check some of this on my end just to make sure the information is true. This is in large part because of your anonymity, but again...no offense is intended.

I do have some questions and I'd like to sit down with you and go over the information and get some answers. I'm out of town from Thursday until Sunday. Send me an e-mail and let me know when it's convenient for you to meet, if you even want to meet.

Posted by Jason at 11:38 AM | Permalink

I did an interview with Wilson Smith last Monday that aired today. You can listen to it here.

We stuck to three main topics...well, sort of. We started off talking about the GlennTax and then moved on to the water shortage. The last topic was supposed to be about Ron Paul, but we got on the subject of the FDA and the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. I'll let Wilson tell you about it:

We ended the interview with a few comments about Ron Paul and the libertarian philosophy. Ron Paul seems to be experiencing a spike in his campaign and support. He is one of those who says what he means and means what he says and to that extent he is refreshing. But then, you ask the next question and find out he thinks the Food and Drug Administration (or a dozen or so other federal agencies) should be eliminated, not reformed, eliminated. Jason seems to think that is a good idea and believes the drug companies and market forces will make sure dangerous drugs don’t stay on the market.

Me? I am not concerned about bad drugs staying on the market. I am concerned about them getting on the market in the first place. Apparently, Jason thinks a few deaths to test a drug out are well worth the costs savings in not having the FDA require proof a drug is safe.

My point is that the cost of getting a drug though the FDA artificially inflates the cost of the drug at the point of sale. A government study stated:

For drugs entering human clinical trials for the first time between 1989 and 2002, the paper estimated the cost per new drug to be 868 million dollars. However, our estimates vary from around 500 million dollars to more than 2,000 million dollars [$2 billion], depending on the therapy or the developing firm.

You can read more in-depth libertarian critique of the FDA and red tape from Reason magazine.

I always enjoy talking with Wilson. He keeps me thinking.

Posted by Jason at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Giuliani, Thompson and Romney all lead Hillary Clinton in Florida:

In a potential matchup with Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, Giuliani wins 50-43 percent. Republicans Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney also beat her, although their wins are within the margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

Clinton is the only candidate, Democrat or Republican, with higher unfavorable than favorable ratings; 45 percent of voters have an unfavorable opinion of her, while 38 percent have a favorable opinion.

The boycott of Florida by the Democratic candidates over the state's renegade early primary could come back to haunt the party, according to the poll. Statewide, 26% of independent voters and 33% of undecided voters said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who shunned Florida before the Jan. 29 primary.

Posted by Jason at 09:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here is Fall Out Boy covering "What's This?," a song from the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Posted by Jason at 09:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Club for Growth issues a challenge to Mike Huckabee:

“Rather than explain his record, Huckabee has resorted to name-calling, which strikes us as rather unbecoming of a man who aspires to become the President of the United States,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. “At the Club for Growth, we take our responsibility to educate the public very seriously, and all of our presidential white papers and press releases have been exhaustively researched and documented. If Governor Huckabee feels that the Club for Growth has unfairly represented his record, despite our thorough documentation, we would be happy to debate his economic record in a public forum. After all, the American people deserve to hear honest explanations, not ad hominem attacks.”
[...]
“While Huckabee deserves comedic points for his “Club for Greed” line, his attacks on the Club for Growth and economic conservatives in general raise important questions about his economic philosophy,” Mr. Toomey continued. “If Mike Huckabee disagrees with the fundamental principles of economic freedom and limited government as embodied by the Club for Growth and other economically conservative groups—i.e., lower taxes; lower spending; less government regulation; school choice; freer trade; tort reform; and market-based reform of our entitlement programs—why does he continue to call himself an ‘economic conservative,’ and what exactly does his version of ‘economic conservatism’ stand for?”

Posted by Jason at 06:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A while back I posted about Jon Banks, who at the time was a candidate for the Libertarian Party's nomination for US Senate.

Banks is now running as an independent. However, due to Georgia's draconian ballot access laws, Banks must get 50,000 valid signatures to appear on the ballot next November.

This leaves Allen Buckley as the sole Libertarian candidate for US Senate.

Posted by Jason at 05:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last week, Warren Buffet, the altruist billionaire (isn't that an oxymoron?), said that the rich should pay more taxes. Buffet says that he pays an 18% tax rate and that his staff pays 33%.

Someone has written a response to Mr. Buffet and counters his arguments:

Mr. Buffett, if you wish to pay more taxes, all you need to do is write a check. It is easy and I will even give you the address for the Internal Revenue Service where the check should be mailed. Donations to the federal government are accepted.

Additionally, you mention that you only pay an 18% tax rate. This argument, while accurate, is flawed. You see, you have something that many Americans do not have and that is a large asset base. Your low rate is the result of your using your assets to make donations to charitable foundations (thank you, by the way), thereby reducing your income for the one year and thus your tax rate.

This gives the appearance of a lower tax rate but, in reality, you are using assets previously taxed to reduce your tax rate in a given year. Since you have a large asset base, you can do this repeatedly and thereby deceive yourself annually. The tax code has successfully encouraged you to donate money or stock that may not have been donated without such incentives in the code. See the paragraph above if you would prefer in the future to not donate to charity.
[...]
[Y]ou say the estate tax should be paid. You mentioned that if you go to 200 funerals, in only one will the estate tax have been paid. As an accountant, I can assure you that the 199 families planned their estates (as you did) to make sure that this ludicrous tax could be avoided.

What you don't see is the destructive effect such planning has on growing businesses and thereby creating jobs. While businesses should plan to expand, they are forced to divert energies into shielding their companies and their employees so that after they die the estate tax does not destroy their employees' jobs. Just imagine what would happen to your subsidiaries if taxes of as much as 50% were paid at your death.

Posted by Jason at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You guys have to see this. Here is a comment left under a thread on the indictment of the two suspects in the St. Ives shooting. This is the future of our nation...be afraid, be very afraid:

well fa yo info u dont kno wat dey got...and devon is not a dirt bag...and i dont think he did the incident

Even better, check out their MySpace page. Priceless.

Posted by Jason at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The Political Insider kills the Bob Barr rumor:

Over the weekend, the blog Third Party Watch floated a breathless, “very reliable” rumor that former Georgia congressman Bob Barr is considering a run for the White House under the banner of the Libertarian party.

We are happy to kill this sucker dead, effective immediately. “Mr. Barr has no intention of running for president,” said Derek Barr, spokesman for Barr’s consulting outfit, Liberty Strategies. “No exploratory committee, nothing.”

Derek Barr has also served as Bob Barr’s son for a number of years, and so would be in a position to know.

Posted by Jason at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kentucky 13, Georgia 24. Another SEC Opponent down, another week of National Title Hopes still alive for the Georgia Bulldogs. Although the scenario hasn't panned out quite the way I envisioned, the Oklahoma loss to Texas Tech definitely keeps the possibility of making the trip to New Orleans alive.

Currently, the Dawgs are cemented in the 7th position of the BCS, the highest ranking of any two-loss team. Ohio State's shellacking of Michigan makes it nearly impossible for the Bulldogs to make it all the way to the poll position. But remember that in order to make it to the big dance, one needs only to be ranked 2nd or better. With that in mind, here is my revised scenario of Georgia's ascent to the title game:

Here are the BCS Standings:
(1) LSU (1 Loss)
(2) Kansas (0 Losses)
(3) West Virginia (1 Loss)
(4) Missouri (1 Loss)
(5) Ohio State (1 Loss)
(6) Arizona State (1 Loss)
(7) Georgia (2 Losses)

Obviously, Ohio State doesn't have another chance to lose. So we can forget jumping the Buckeyes this coming weekend. Arizona State however, is a different story. The Sun Devils have a big game this weekend against a healthy USC team. This is a game that Arizona State could very well lose. It is essential that they do lose, unless the University of Arizona can pull another miracle against the Sun Devils next weekend. Missouri and Kansas play each other this weekend. One of the two will fall out of contention...it doesn't really matter which one. That leaves the WVU Mountaineers who play the UConn Huskies. West Virginia has this game against UConn and next week against Pittsburg to lose. UConn will be the best opportunity for them to do so. Let's say the best case scenario this coming week happens. Here's what the BCS Standings will reflect this time next week:

(1) LSU
(2) Missouri/Kansas
(3) Ohio State
(4) Georgia

Getting to the four spot guarantees a BCS at-large bid. But this article isn't about at-large bids. This article is about national championships. Now comes the week of the conference championships. The Missouri/Kansas team has to play either Oklahoma or Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game. Meanwhile, LSU is going to have play either Georgia or Tennessee in the SEC Championship game. Ohio State is idle. Here the scenarios that would propel us to the title game:

Texas/OU beats Missouri/Kansas, Georgia/Tenn beats LSU:
(1) Ohio State
(2) Georgia

Contrary to my previous assumption, Georgia does not need to play LSU in order to have a shot at the national title (although a victory over the Tigers would help)--We can thank Texas Tech for that. However, we really need the winner of the Kansas/Missouri game to lose in the Big 12 Championship AND we need Tennessee or Georgia to beat LSU in the SEC Championship game.

Before all the doubters begin to question my sanity, ask yourselves a few questions:

(1) Is Oklahoma beating Kansas or Missouri really that unlikely? They've already beaten Missouri once this year.

(2) Is a completely-healthy Trojan team, with the talent they have recruited over the years, truly going to be hopeless against Arizona State?

(3) If the West Virginia team that turns the ball over six times a game shows up against UConn or Pitt, is it really that improbable that they could lose?

(4) Is the possibility of beating LSU, the same team that lost to Kentucky, skated by against Auburn, Florida, and Alabama, in Atlanta such a long-shot?

(5) Is Tennessee's offense (which is very similar to Kentucky) really that unlikely to beat LSU?

People, it isn't like Appalachian State has to beat Michigan again. It's not like Florida Atlantic has to upset Florida. The things that have to happen now really are not that unlikely. And considering that this has been the craziest year in college football in many years, these things very possibly could happen. Is it a big order to fill? Yes. Can it be filled? Maybe.

Let's just handle business this weekend against the Fightin' Gailey's and hope for a little more divine intervention. Go Dawgs!

Posted by Jace Walden at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I stole this from RedState. It's Tax Hike Mike's latest ad:

Chuck Norris sleeps with a nite-lite on. Not because he's afraid of the dark, but because the dark is afraid of him. By the way, I am not endorsing Mike Huckabee. I just thought this was a funny ad.

Posted by Jace Walden at 09:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Welcome back, Tom Glavine:

Years, months and days of anticipation were replaced with definite satisfaction late Sunday evening, when Glavine agreed to the terms of a one-year, $8 million deal offered by the Braves. Glavine's agent, Gregg Clifton, confirmed the terms of the deal and said he's scheduled to join his client in Atlanta on Monday afternoon, when this deal officially is announced.

"He's very excited, most importantly because he's going to be able to be close to his family again and be a full-time dad while continuing his playing career," Clifton said.

Posted by Jason at 06:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Curt Schilling endorses John McCain:

[S]omething I am sure will generate irrational and short sighted responses, is my support in the upcoming election of Senator McCain. I’ve had ample time to do the research I felt I needed to do and while I think I am in favor of many of the issues he stands for/against, it still all boils down to the fact that over the last 8 years of our lives Shonda and I have gotten to know he and his wife. At the end of the day, I trust this man. I know, regardless of my opinions, or outside pressures, that this man will stick to his guns, and be himself, regardless of pressure from outside influences.

Add to the fact that for the first time in awhile we have a true American hero running for our nations highest office. That matters to me, a lot. This man was a POW during the Vietnam war, and when his family background was uncovered he was given the ability to be set free by his captors. The only condition was that he had to sign documents that basically absolved the Vietnamese of any wrong doing and reflected poorly on the U.S. and its involvement.

He flat out said no. Has anyone else running in this election had a character test of this magnitude? Even close? Of all the candidates that might have been tested, how did they fare?

Posted by Jason at 06:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The release of National Treasure: Book of Secrets is about a month away. I'm a big fan of the first movie. The sequel looks like it'll be very good as well.

Posted by Jason at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amanda and I are going to New Orleans later next week. Any suggestions on places to visit?

My list of places to visit so far is...
- Jackson Square
- Café du Monde
- Riverwalk
- French Market
- St. Louis Cemetery

I went in 2002 with a group of friends. We didn't really do much because most the group didn't want to stay out after 7pm. I don't even think we visited Bourbon Street.

So...yeah, suggestions?

Posted by Jason at 07:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The rich aren't getting richer and poor aren't getting poorer:

The Treasury study examined a huge sample of 96,700 income tax returns from 1996 and 2005 for Americans over the age of 25. The study tracks what happened to these tax filers over this 10-year period. One of the notable, and reassuring, findings is that nearly 58% of filers who were in the poorest income group in 1996 had moved into a higher income category by 2005. Nearly 25% jumped into the middle or upper-middle income groups, and 5.3% made it all the way to the highest quintile.

Of those in the second lowest income quintile, nearly 50% moved into the middle quintile or higher, and only 17% moved down. This is a stunning show of upward mobility, meaning that more than half of all lower-income Americans in 1996 had moved up the income scale in only 10 years.

Also encouraging is the fact that the after-inflation median income of all tax filers increased by an impressive 24% over the same period. Two of every three workers had a real income gain--which contradicts the Huckabee-Edwards-Lou Dobbs spin about stagnant incomes. This is even more impressive when you consider that "median" income and wage numbers are often skewed downward because the U.S. has had a huge influx of young workers and immigrants in the last 20 years. They start their work years with low wages, dragging down the averages.

Those who start at the bottom but hold full-time jobs nonetheless enjoyed steady income gains. The Treasury study found that those tax filers who were in the poorest income quintile in 1996 saw a near doubling of their incomes (90.5%) over the subsequent decade. Those in the highest quintile, on the other hand, saw only modest income gains (10%). The nearby table tells the story, which is that the poorer an individual or household was in 1996 the greater the percentage income gain after 10 years.

And I just want to point back to two things Erick Erickson has written over at Red State about Tax Hike Mike. The first being that if Huckabee is on a presidential ticket that fiscal conservatives and pro-market voters are going to stay home or vote for someone else.

The second piece that Erick wrote compares statements by John Edwards and Mike Huckabee that are so similar and basically says that Huckabee is a Christian socialist, an observation that I wholeheartedly agree with.

H/T: Stephen @ The Liberty Papers

Posted by Jason at 08:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This month's issue of Reason has a very in-depth look at Rudy Giuliani. They ponder the question..."Is Rudy Giuliani a new Barry Goldwater or a new Bobby Kennedy?".

David Weigel examines his liberal roots, his service as a federal prosecutor, his record as Mayor of New York, 9/11 and the man as a candidate.

Now keep in mind that the article was written from a libertarian perspective, something that Giuliani doesn't have, but the last two paragraphs are the kicker:

Americans have a certain disdain for political crusading. Movements burn out and leaders overreach, and the hotter the moment the faster the cycle works. That’s not how Rudy Giuliani operates. In 1988, wrapping up his career as a U.S. attorney, he announced a lawsuit against the Teamsters and drew quotes from Kennedy’s report on the corruption hearings, The Enemy Within. Kennedy, Giuliani said, took heat for aggressively attacking the union and for basking in the media’s spotlight. But Kennedy’s strategy paid off.

“He was ridiculed,” Giuliani said. “He was vilified. He was hated irrationally. But he was right.” Anyone who wants to criticize Giuliani for his ego, his love of power, his view of an interventionist state, his view of America as a transformative military power, or his particular sense of freedom should study those words. He wants to be remembered the very same way.

Voting for Giuliani is a very much gamble for those of us that believe in privacy and essential liberty.

Posted by Jason at 08:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

That game was way too close for me. The Bulldogs weren't playing with the urgency that they've played with since the Florida game. There was almost know leadership on the offensive side throughout most of the game.

We won though...at the end of the day that's what counts.

But damn you, Vandy.

Posted by Jason at 07:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Dammit, we're doing this. I've already given you the results from last week (Steve Davis, 1st, Daniel Adams, 2nd, Jace Walden, 3rd, Jason Pye 4th), so we'll go straight into this week's picks:

Kentucky (22) @ Georgia (9)
Line: Georgia -7
My Pick: Georgia will win and will cover the spread.

Ohio State (7) @ Michigan (23)
Line: Ohio State -3
My Pick: Michigan will win but will not cover the other way.

Boston College (18) @ Clemson (15)
Line: Clemson -7
My Pick: Clemson will win and will cover the spread.

West Virginia (5) @ Cincinnati (21)
Line: West Virginia -6
My Pick: West Virginia will win but will not cover the spread.

Oklahoma (3) @ Texas Tech
Line: Oklahoma -10
My Pick: Texas Tech will win but will not cover the other way.

Duke (1-9) @ Notre Dame (1-9)
Line: Duke -1
My Pick: Duke will win and will cover the spread.

BONUS WORTH 3 POINTS: Predict the number of passing yards Matthew Stafford will compile against Kentucky
My Prediction: 215 Yards

One more time, let's go over the rules:

(1) One point is awarded for correctly picking the winner
(2) Three additional points are awarded for picking an upset winner
(3) Two additional points are awarded for correctly predicting spread coverage
(4) Three points are awarded to whomever comes closest to correctly picking the bonus
(5) This is for bragging rights only

Make your picks in the comments. Rep. Davis, you're going down this week.

Go Dawgs!

Posted by Jace Walden at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Speaking of endorsements, the Political Insider reports that one of Newt's guys here in Georgia has endorsed Rudy Giuliani:

We’ve picked up word that Randy Evans, the Atlanta attorney who stood by Newt Gingrich’s side while the former U.S. House speaker contemplated his run for the White House, has signed on with the Rudy Giuliani campaign.

Posted by Jason at 06:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Barry Goldwater, Jr. has endorsed Ron Paul:

“America is at a crossroads,” said Mr. Goldwater. “We have begun to stray from our traditions and must get back to what has made us the greatest nation on earth or we will lose much of the freedom we hold dear. Ron Paul stands above all of the other candidates in his commitment to liberty and to America.”

“Leading America is difficult, and I know Ron Paul is the man for the job,” he added.

Mr. Goldwater is the son of the late former Republican presidential candidate and Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. Barry Goldwater, Jr. served in the House of Representatives for six terms with Texas Congressman Paul, and is currently on the Board of Directors of the Goldwater Institute. After representing northern Los Angeles County in Washington, D.C. for 14 years, Mr. Goldwater retired from politics in 1983 to pursue a successful career in business and humanitarian ventures.

Posted by Jason at 06:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Wilson Smith has posted a very good interview with State Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams.

Wilson and Senator Williams had a very good back and forth on the water woes that Georgia is facing, but I personally hesitate to blame it on growth and I disagree with some of what Williams says about what should be done, but overall he is very informative and has an interesting opinion.

I did not know that Georgia has a border issue with Tennessee over the 35th parallel and after a Google search I found this article. A mile of Tennessee actually belongs to Georgia.

One fun exchange is at the very beginning of the interview...
Williams: "Folks that believe in the Judeo-Christian faith believe as recorded in biblical history on a number of occasions, sin is what kept the Lord from sending rain. I think he was right on target."

Wilson Smith: "Well, I guess...you know that's a dangerous statement with Republicans in power in both the state and nation government for so long, I mean we can blame everything on that."

The last five minutes or so is about the GlennTax and legislation that Williams sponsored (John Douglas was co-sponsor) would require that SPLOST votes only occur on the same day as a primary or general election.

Williams said that he didn't believe that the GlennTax would pass:

[Richardson's] effort was to simplify the plan and it's really gotten more complicated. I have some problems with it. We're gonna do something about property taxes whether it's freezing assessments or whether it's tying the increases to [Consumer Price Index]. Most people that I talk to, although they would like not to have to pay property tax, their issue is that its gone up so high so quickly.

Williams said that the legislation, which cleared the Senate by vote of 36 to 3, is currently in the State House in the House Committee on Governmental Affairs.

Posted by Jason at 05:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The pork addiction continues in Congress:

Citizens Against Government Waste, which closely monitors federal spending, is putting the finishing touches on its tally of pork projects in the pending spending bills — and the picture isn’t pretty. The group estimates that there will be at least 8,000 earmarks this year, costing U.S. taxpayers, $18 billion to $20 billion.

Democrats and Republicans alike had promised to curtail the practice of directing money to specific projects.

They have, but not nearly as dramatically as their campaign rhetoric had suggested. In the last fiscal year, when Republicans controlled Congress, there were $29 billion in total earmarks.

So Democrats can rightly claim they are reducing the practice, perhaps by as much as 33 percent, as Congress Daily’s Keith Koffler reported this afternoon.

Republicans will rightly claim they have put intense pressure on the Democratic Congress to eliminate many earmarks. Of course, the GOP argument is undercut by the explosion of earmarking when they ruled Congress.

Posted by Jason at 04:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The AJC is ripping me off. People thought that I was crazy when I predicted UGA's ascent to the National Title game back on November 12th. Now that Oregon is out of the way, I'm getting ripped off left and right.

That's okay, I remember certain individuals thinking I was crazy for predicting the UGA loss to Vandy last year. It'll all work out in the end.

Maybe I should take Jason's advice and sue for intellectual property violation.

Posted by Jace Walden at 02:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Third Party Watch is reporting a Bob Barr rumor:

Though I don’t have any concrete details as of yet, the rumor is that former Congressman Bob Barr is now openly considering a Presidential bid on the Libertarian ticket. That’s all the information that I have, but as I said… this is coming from a very reliable person.

I'm trying to find out if this is true or not. Personally, I don't think it is simply because of how clear Mr. Barr made his intention to us.

If it is true...I've found my candidate.

[UPDATE] Former Libertarian Party Communications Director Stephen Gordon doubts the rumor as well.

Posted by Jason at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)

Pike Family Nurseries is the nations largest family-owned and operated retail nursery. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Pike Nurseries employs 700 people at more than 20 retail locations across the southeast. It is one of the more recognizable businesses in the state and a shining example of what one man and his family can accomplish with vision and hard work.

Oh, and two days ago, it filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.

According to Pike’s CEO, the severe drought and its water restrictions have severely damaged Pike’s business:

“Our core Atlanta area market is currently suffering from the worst drought in over 100 years,” said Scott Schnell, chairman and CEO of Pike.” This extended drought and resulting water use restrictions have had a material detrimental effect on our business[…]” (emphasis mine)

While the Governor is busy holding public spectacles and accusing the State of Alabama and the Army Corps of Engineers of being in cahoots to “dry up” the State of Georgia, it’s easy to forget that some people are severely affected by the water shortage.

The drought, however, is not Sonny Perdue’s fault. It is not the Republican-controlled State Legislature’s fault. And even though most of this 100 year drought occurred during Democratic rule of the state, it’s not their fault either. And although we cannot control nature, be it through science or religion and even though we lack the ability to prevent severe water shortages (we can’t build an infinite number of reservoirs), we still have the ability to effectively manage those shortages without using price controls, punishment, or watering restrictions. We have the ability to prevent businesses like Pike (who employ 700 people) from filing for bankruptcy.

The answer is almost too simple. We need to market-price water. Treat water just like any other commodity. As Thomas Sowell writes, economics is simply the efficient allocation of scarce resources. I don’t think anyone would argue that water is a scarce resource at this point. Are we efficiently allocating it though? I still see sprinklers on in the mornings driving down Mansell Road. I personally take extremely long showers (sometimes more than one per day). And it doesn’t take a genius to point out who is and who isn’t watering their lawns in my neighborhood. I would say the answer is “no”. We’re not allocating the resource very efficiently.

The problem with water’s allocation is that its price is not established based on its scarcity. Its price is set by government bureaucracies, many of which are composed of people with no true ability to allocated much of anything. They keep the price low so “everyone can afford it”, and as a result, they’re getting us to the point where “no one can get it”. So, rather than allowing the market to price water based on scarcity, they just restrict use of it. And as a result, businesses who rely on it, like Pike Family Nurseries, file for chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the amount of water we have left continues to decrease.

Price controls do not work. Watering bans do not work. Building more reservoirs…eh, it’s a good idea, but it still doesn’t solve the problem of water restrictions. Market-pricing of water does solve that problem. By allowing the market to price water based on its scarcity, you can cut back on all of the wasteful uses of water. People could still choose to outdoor water, or take long showers, or run their sprinklers…but they do it at the peril of their own wallets. What will happen is that use of water will decrease and we won’t have to worry about holding prayer vigils or sending the Governor to Washington.

Moreover, businesses that rely on water, such as car washes and Pike Family Nurseries wouldn’t be restricted on their water usage. Pike could still water it plants. The price of the plants would necessarily reflect the rise in the price of water, but the plants could still be sold. Selling fewer quality plants at a higher price is definitely better than selling fewer dried-up plants at an anemic price.

Market pricing of water is a win-win scenario for everyone.

Posted by Jace Walden at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The House failed to override Bush's most recent veto:

House Republicans on Thursday night easily sustained President Bush's veto of a Democratic health and education spending bill.

The 277-141 vote looked deceptively close, falling just two votes short of the two-thirds tally required to overturn Bush's veto. But as they did on three previous occasions, GOP leaders confidently managed their ranks to make sure Bush would not be embarrassed.
[...]
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters that when Congress returns in December from a two-week Thanksgiving recess, Democrats would send Bush a catchall spending bill combining Congress' unfinished budget work — after cutting about $11 billion from them.

Democrats have written domestic spending bills adding more than $22 billion to Bush's budget, prompting a wave of veto threats from the White House. Reid promised to cut that amount in half, saying it was a fair compromise.

"We're going to bundle these bills up and send a bill splitting the difference," Reid told reporters. If Bush vetoes that bill, Democrats might just put the government on autopilot at current spending levels for weeks, months.

Posted by Jason at 06:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The only thing worse than the thought of Mike Huckabee being elected President? Lou Dobbs being elected President:

Lou Dobbs for President? Don't laugh. After months of telling reporters that he "absolutely" would not consider leaving his highly-rated CNN show in which he crusades against free trade and illegal immigration, Mr. Dobbs posted a commentary on his Web site last week predicting a surprise new presidential candidate in 2008. The mystery candidate is an "independent populist . . . who understands the genius of this country lies in the hearts and minds of its people and not in the prerogatives and power of its elites."

Friends of Mr. Dobbs say he is seriously contemplating a race for the first time, although it's still unlikely. They spin a scenario under which the acerbic commentator would parachute into the race if Michael Bloomberg, the New York billionaire and favorite of East Coast elites, enters the field as an independent. With Hillary Clinton continuing to score badly in polls in the categories of honesty and integrity, and with the public's many doubts about Rudy Giuliani and other GOP contenders, Mr. Bloomberg may well see an opportunity to roil the political waters by entering the race late. If so, Mr. Dobbs then sees a niche for a "fourth-party" candidate who could paint the three other contenders as completely out of touch.

The Media Research Center has taken apart Dobbs' populist rants against free trade and Daniel Griswald from the Cato Institute shows how trade benefits our economy and society:

Like so many assumptions about trade, the belief that more global competition has somehow lowered the living standards of the average American worker and family is just a myth.

The critics have it all wrong: The middle class isn't disappearing - it's moving up.

The Census reports that the share of U.S. households earning $35,000 to $75,000 a year (in '06 dollars) - roughly, the middle class - has indeed shrunk slightly over the last decade, from 34 percent to 33 percent. But so, too, has the share earning less than $35,000 - from 40 percent to 37 percent.

It's the share of households earning more than $75,000 that's jumped - from 26 percent to 30 percent.

Trade has helped America transform itself into a middle-class service economy. Yes, the country's lost a net 3.3 million manufacturing jobs in the past decade - but it's added a net 11.6 million jobs in service and other sectors where average wages are higher than in manufacturing. Most of these new jobs are in better-paying categories, like professional and business services, finance and education and health services.

Posted by Jason at 09:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fox News contributor Andrew Napolitano recently gave an interview to Reason magazine to promote his new book, A Nation of Sheep. I have to say that this is one of the best interviews I've read in a very long time. I'm sure most of you will disagree with every word that Napolitano says.

On the USA PATRIOT Act:

The Patriot Act’s two most principle constitutional errors are an assault on the Fourth Amendment, and on the First. It permits federal agents to write their own search warrants [under the name “national security letters”] with no judge having examined evidence and agreed that it’s likely that the person or thing the government wants to search will reveal evidence of a crime.

Remember that the British government permitted its soldiers to execute self-written search warrants. They called them “writs of assistance,” and they were one of the last straws that caused American colonist to rebel. It’s bitterly ironic that 230 years later a popularly elected government would authorize its own agents to do the same thing that when a monarchy did it, we fought a war of rebellion in reaction—which we won!

Congressman Paul has rejuvenated almost single-handedly the Goldwater wing of the GOP. Now Reagan tried, before [James] Baker and his boys advised him on how to behave. Now, I loved the man, but if you look at his record and rhetoric, they are two different things. But Ron Paul had made it legitimate again for small government, maximum individual liberty, Goldwater Republicans to come forth and complain about big government, and I am the recipient of lots of those complaints.

This is more than an academic debate. If our rights come from government, then the Patriot Act is lawful and constitutional because the government that gives freedom can take it away just by having the president sign a bill into a law. But if rights come from our humanity, as I argue almost every day on Fox, than government cannot take freedom away absent due process and a fair trial, where you are charged and convicted of violating someone else’s freedom.

The president had said he believes in natural rights. Unfortunately when he signs these bills that take away our rights, he reveals he either doesn’t know what he’s doing or he doesn’t really believe in natural rights. The Patriot Act is not only unconstitutional, it’s unnatural, since it purports to take away that which naturally belongs to us.

Posted by Jason at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The office of NORFED, a company that produces the Liberty Dollar, was raided by the feds today:

The future of an Evansville-based company that produces a "private voluntary barter currency" known as the Liberty Dollar is in question after federal agents raided the facility this week, according to an e-mail sent by its founder.

Federal officials reportedly raided the group's headquarters, located in a strip mall at 225 N. Stockwell Road, early Wednesday morning and seized documents and precious metals.
[...]
Bernard von NotHaus, the group's monetary architect and the author of the e-mail, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Von NotHaus developed the Liberty Dollar in 1998 as an "inflation-proof" alternative currency to the U.S. Dollar, which he has claimed has devalued since the Federal Reserve was established in 1913. The silver medallions are produced by a private mint in Idaho on behalf of Evansville-based Liberty Services, which also issues paper notes which the group says are backed by silver reserves.

Tarran at The Liberty Papers writes:

The problem is that a system of commodity currency allows someone to do business anonymously. These systems were consciously designed to preserve people’s wealth from the depredations of misguided governmental monetary policy. This protection inherently makes monitoring the flow of money more difficult for government officials. It attracts people who distrust the government, a significant number of which whose fear is based on the victimful crimes they commit. This institutional distrust, in turn, engenders a hostility in modern law-enforcement who are understandably suspicious of people who distrust them.

In the end, it is quite clear to me that it is the hostility of these law-enforcement officers which is the problem. Confusing suspicion of the state with criminal intent, they are convinced that these institutions that have criminals as customers are in fact conspiring with the criminals. So they shut them down, ruining the guilty and the innocent indiscriminately. There is nothing precluding the FBI from reviewing e-gold or Norfed’s records while the firms continue to do business. Shutting them down is as absurd as shutting down the Motel 6 down the road, because it was the preferred resting place of mobsters visiting town.

Posted by Jason at 08:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

So the state has a $7 billion shortfall in transportation funding. What shall we do??

For starters Lt. Gov. Cagle spoke to the Henry Council for Quality Growth and said

We could do 30% more road projects with the same funding if the state would improve efficiiency.

Yet there are two bills in the House Ways & Means Committee that will do nothing to improve state bureaucracy. Nobody on the Transportation Committee is involved in the studies, discussions or decisions. Talk about a Bureaucratic Cluster! In fact the state's taxpayers will end up big losers if either becomes law.

Speaker Richardson wants a statewide one-cent sales tax for transportation. State control. State priorities.

Georgia's Chambers of Commerce and the Atlanta Regional Commission propose a regional sales tax. Just imagine ten or more counties contributing to a Pot o' Money that, like everything the ARC does, will benefit only Cobb, Fulton and Gwinnett.

Here is the worst part of both bills: No county, no city, nor any group of fiscally minded citizens will be allowed to opt out of the boondoggle. As written these bills are conceived in Statism and socialist - nay, near facist ideology.

It is inconceivable that a Republican dominated legislature would ever allow such bills to become law. Yet there are so many forces in play. Powerful forces that represent "business interests." These are the same forces, like GMA and school boards, that tend to turn politician's heads.

Oh, what are we to do?

Posted by Larry Stanley at 07:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The SCHIP debate rages on:

For anyone who still believes that the debate over expanding the state Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) is really about health care for poor children, the New York Times reports that 8 Senate Democrats have signed a letter saying they will oppose any compromise that doesn’t allow the program to continue covering adults.

Currently, 12 states currently use S-CHIP funds to provide taxpayer-funded insurance for adults. According to data released by the Department of Health and Human Services in July, Wisconsin covers almost twice as many adults as children — and spends 75 percent of its S-CHIP funds on them. Minnesota spends 63 percent of its S-CHIP funds on adults. In New Jersey, it’s 43 percent.

Let’s keep that in mind the next time we see ads featuring adorable little kids pleading for those mean, nasty Republicans to give them health insurance.

Posted by Jason at 07:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here is a fun socialized medicine story from the UK:

Women are being given controversial "virginity repair" operations on the NHS, it emerged last night.

Taxpayers funded 24 hymen replacement operations between 2005 and 2006, official figures revealed.

And increasing numbers of women are paying up to £4,000 in private clinics for the procedure apparently under pressure from future spouses or in-laws who believe they should be virgins on their wedding night.

H/T: Cato @ Liberty

Posted by Jason at 07:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Barry Bonds has been indicted on federal charges of perjury and obstruction of justice:

The indictment charges Bonds with lying when he said that he didn't knowingly take steroids given to him by his personal trainer Greg Anderson. He also denied taking steroids at anytime in 2001 when he was pursuing the single season home-run record.

"During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances for Bonds and other athletes," the indictment reads.

[UPDATE by Josh] Looks like somebody talked... Greg Anderson, Bonds' trainer who was in prison for not talking, was mysteriously released today... ANd according to Stephen A Smith (the angry guy on ESPN), I am ignorant because I don't think race has anything to do with this.

Posted by Joshua Patterson at 06:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I got into a conversation with a guy from Mississippi today. He said he was glad we got some rain yesterday and went to say that he thought it was just dandy that our Governor had a day of prayer. He said it was an answer to prayer. I said that it did rain, but not enough to make an impact and that the forecast for the next ten days shows only a 10% to 20% chance of rain and that what rain we did get was forecast well before the Governor's prayer vigil.

His response? "Well, he prayed and that's what counts."

I guess that makes Kirk Mellish as powerful as the Almighty.

Posted by Jason at 04:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

Due to four of the six human pollsters being busy at work (myself included), we're not going to publish a Top 25 Poll this week. My apologies to Keith and Brett who did turn their ballots in. Additionally, unless someone else wants to do the Pick 'Em Game this week, it's probably not going to happen either (it still might, but I am very busy).

Just in case I stay busy, here are the results from last week's game:

Rep. Steve Davis: 10 Points
Daniel N. Adams: 9 Points
Jace Walden: 6 Points
Jason Pye: 3 Points

Consider this an open thread on college football in general.

Posted by Jace Walden at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I seriously doubt that you'll see this video talked about in the mainstream media. The headline, "Drew Carey defends private property rights" won't sell many papers.

Posted by Jason at 06:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don't know if you've seen it, but Jay Bookman's column in today's AJC is just grand. He poses a question..."Is the GOP fiscally conservative?" I think it's a valid question, and there is no question that the Republican Party, led by George W. Bush, has become a big government, free spending party...but I digress.

Here are Bookman's points:

An amazing chunk of that $9 trillion debt — well over $3 trillion — has been incurred just since Bush took office in 2001. All told, 73 percent of our total national debt has been racked up under our last three Republican presidents: President Bush, his father and President Reagan.

Such numbers can admittedly be misleading, because they don't take into account factors such as inflation and economic growth. According to economists, the better way to assess a nation's financial picture is to measure its national debt as a share of its gross domestic product.
[...]
So when you chart the rise and fall of national debt not in raw numbers, but as a percentage of GDP, what does it show?

It indicates that under every Democratic president since Jimmy Carter, the national debt as a percentage of our GDP has fallen significantly, meaning our longterm financial situation has improved.

And under every Republican president since Ronald Reagan, the national debt as a percentage of GDP has risen significantly, meaning our long-term financial situation has declined.

Bookman also makes the statement, "So the evidence of the historic record is indisputable. Under the classic definition of fiscal conservatism, Democrats are better stewards than Republicans."

Before I begin...if we are going to start going by the "classical definition" of words, does that mean that us lovers of liberty can have the word liberal back?

No doubt what he is saying is that Democrats will raise taxes in order to balance a budget. If you want to get all historical, a little more than 40 years ago the highest individual tax was 91%. Kennedy managed to cut that down 65%, much like the Bush tax cuts, Kennedy pushed for tax cut using Keynesian rhetoric ("economic stimulation"). Democrats have historically played thieves when it came to taxes. I seriously doubt that the taxpayers of our country want to revert back to draconian tax rates so Democrats can pay for their welfare state.

Bookman either forgets or overlooks a few things:
- Congress holds the purse strings: Bookman passively writes, "Of course, Congress also plays an important role in spending decisions. " Ultimately, the President can sign or veto any spending bill or piece of legislation. Ronald Reagan vetoed 22 spending bills in his first three years in office...and it wasn't because Congress spent too little money.

- Non-Defense Discretionary Spending: Reagan proposed and managed to get spending cuts in nine cabinet level departments in his first three years. Reagan is the only President in the last forty years to cut non-defense spending (not including entitlements).Consequently, the largest increase in spending during Reagan's term in office came in the first three years. As the Cato Institute notes, non-defense discretionary spending decreased by more than 13%. The spending increase that Reagan is responsible for is was for national defense, you know...something that is actually mentioned in the Constitution. Cato puts Reagan's yearly spending increase at 1.9%. By comparison, Carter oversaw a year increase in spending of 2.4%, Johnson 4.6%. What about Bush? 8%.

- No mention of entitlements: The part I find most intellectually dishonest about Bookman's column is his failure to mention entitlement spending, which currently is just over 8% of GDP. By 2020 entitlement spending, largely passed by Democratic Congresses and signed into by Democratic Presidents, will consume 12% of GDP, and nearly 18% by 2040. The Heritage Foundation puts the average yearly budget between 18% to 20%. Heritage predicts that by 2050, federal spending as a percentage of GDP will reach 38%, most of the increase comes from the three major entitlements Social Security (FDR) , Medicare and Medicaid (LBJ and George W. Bush). The total unfunded liability for those three entitlements stands at $49.6 trillion.

I suppose some Democrats are going to say, "Clinton managed to balance the budget and create a surplus." Clinton deserves some credit, but the Republican controlled Congress deserves just as much recognition for their part, like I said above...Congress holds the purse. As Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman noted, "because we had the divided government—we had gridlock—the money was not spent. That’s the only reason we [had] a surplus."

Like I said, Bookman could have used this column for a purpose other than partisan rant against a lame duck President (though it is well deserved) and call for a balanced budget amendment. He didn't take that road. Instead he chose to be incredibly intellectually dishonest about Reagan's record (while it isn't perfect, it is respectable) and the massive entitlements created in large part by Democrats.

Posted by Jason at 09:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Here is "Bayonetwork" by Norma Jean.

Posted by Jason at 05:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

State House Minority Leader DuBose Porter recently shared his thoughts on the GlennTax:

The new plan, he said, would create an additional $1 billion paid out of Georgia in federal taxes because people are unable to itemize sales tax deductions when filing taxes. In addition, the tax on services some businesses would have to pay would outweigh what they pay in property taxes, he said.

"Because of that kind of shift, I'm not going to be able to support that change," said Porter, state House minority leader.
[...]
Instead of getting rid of property taxes completely, Porter suggested raising the homestead exemption and giving a break on property taxes that way.

Posted by Jason at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The NRA plans to push the parking lot bill again next year:

There’s a lot of background noise right now in the continuing fight between the National Rifle Association and Georgia business leaders over the guns-in-the-parking-lot bill -- the measure that kicked up such a bitter fuss in the state Senate last session and was left to languish as the session ended.
[...]
The parking lot guns bill – introduced as SB 43 but later incorporated into HB 89 – is part of a nationwide push by the NRA to prevent employers from making rules to ban their workers from keeping guns locked in their vehicles on company parking lots. It stems from an incident in Oklahoma. The NRA contends it is a Second Amendment issue. The Georgia Chamber, joined by many other groups, fought it to a standstill last session, calling it a violation of private property rights.

You’ll remember that it was twice sent to the Senate floor, but both times in the immediate aftermath of headline-making events involving guns. Despite threats of political retaliation by the NRA, the Senate both times dropped the bill to the foot of the debate calendar, effectively taking it out of play.
[...]
The measure is still in the draft stages, we are told, but the approach could satisfy the Chamber of Commerce - many of whose leaders are sportsmen and NRA members - along with sportsmen’s groups who believe the NRA has lost sight of its broader goals through its fixation on parking lot guns.

But it probably won’t play well with the NRA. Last we heard, the guns-in-the-parking-lot bill was still their No. 1 priority, and still an issue on which they plan to rate legislators for the upcoming ’08 elections. To some lawmakers, the threat is a big deal.

The NRA did a lot of damage to itself by pushing this issue last year. They caused many Senators who wholeheartedly support the Second Amendment to take a stance on a bad bill.

This is an issue of choice for the property owner. If they don't want guns on their property, then that should be between them and their employee.

[UPDATED AND PROMOTED (by Josh)] I was doing some browsing of Georgia blogs, and I found the Georgia Law blog. In this post, the author notes an Oklahoma law similar to the one the NRA is pushing here. The result in Oklahoma:

U.S. District Judge Terence Kern issued a permanent injunction against an Oklahoma law that would have kept employers from banning firearms at the workplace under certain conditions.

Kern decided in a 93-page written order issued Thursday that the amendments to the Oklahoma Firearms Act and the Oklahoma Self-Defense Act, which were to go into effect in 2004, conflict with a federal law meant to protect employees at their jobs.

Kern said the amendments "criminally prohibit an effective method of reducing gun-related workplace injuries and cannot co-exist with federal obligations and objectives."

Posted by Jason at 09:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (32)

FactCheck.org takes on RomneyCare:

Romney: But Hillary says the federal government's going to tell you what kind of insurance, and it's all government insurance. And I say no, let the states create their own plans, and instead of government insurance, private, market-based insurance.…

Actually, the plan Romney brags about in Massachusetts shares a number of key characteristics with Clinton's:

• They both require that individuals obtain insurance and also require employers provide it.
• They both provide government subsidies for those with low incomes.
• Both expand the number of people covered under Medicaid.

However, Romney now says he wouldn’t propose a Massachusetts-style plan for the nation, so the track record of the Massachusetts plan is a poor indicator of what Romney’s current proposals might accomplish nationally. And while his claim that his state plan lowered premiums is correct according to the Commonwealth Connector, a state agency created to implement the plan, the group says that resulted from a legally required merging of small group and non-group markets, which is something states would be allowed to do – but not required – under Romney’s current proposal.

Furthermore, Romney’s claim that Clinton espouses “all government insurance” is false. Under her proposals, people could keep their current insurance and employer-offered health insurance could continue as it does now. It is true that Clinton’s plan would require much more government involvement than Romney’s nationwide proposal, which doesn’t call for any mandates and relies on tax incentives, such as allowing individuals to deduct insurance and medical expenses from their taxes.

Posted by Jason at 07:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This scared the hell out of me:

Someone with a great sense of humor emailed the tip line to let us know that Ralph Reed is going to run against David Shafer for the State Senate.

Posted by Jason at 07:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"I'm not familiar with the Constitution, I'm familiar with DeKalb County." - Vernon Jones, candidate for United States Senate

This is not a joke...a man who is running for United State Senate, by his own admission, does not know the Constitution. Sadly, that would make him more than qualified by the standards of today's voters

H/T: Blog for Democracy

Posted by Jason at 05:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Tom Tancredo has taken his xenophobic and alarmist message to an all new level with this ad. CONTENT WARNING: Graphic Images

This is the same moron that wants to incite more hatred in the Middle East by bombing Mecca and Medina.

The good news is he isn't running for re-election.

[UPDATE] Doug Mataconis, a fellow contributor at The Liberty Papers, compares Tancredo's ad to the famous "daisy" ad that Lyndon B. Johnson ran during his campaign against Barry Goldwater in 1964.

Posted by Jason at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

A Democrat in the White House?
If the Robbie-Republicans, those who support William Kristol's failed brand of "conservatism", have their way, we'll have a Democrat in the White House no matter which party wins. Mr. Kristol is promoting pimping the benefits of naming Smoking-Joe Lieberman as a running mate for potential Republican candidates. Yes, the same Joe Lieberman who votes with the Democratic Party 90% of the time.

Yes you, third row back, do you have a question?
Now we know why Hillary looked so awful in the last debate. The questions were posed by people other than the audience members planted by the Clinton campaign to ask questions which Hillary could answer favorably. Once again, let's all thank the GOP for being so incompetent and worthless that Hillary Clinton will most likely be our next President.

Rejected
The President continues to wield his veto pen more regularly, this time rejecting a pork-laden domestic spending bill. Meanwhile, he signed a bill to increase the Pentagon's non-war funding by 450 b-b-BILLION dollars. Like most Republicans, he's only conservative until it comes to stuff he cares about.

Groovy, Smashing, Yea Socialism
John "Two Americas" Edwards, hedge-fund manager and $450 dollar haircut enthusiast, says that when he is President (try not to laugh) that he'll give Congress six months to pass universal health care or he'll use his "Presidential Powers" to take away health care from members of Congress.

Groovy, Smashing, Yea Socialism II
In other news, Romney Care isn't exactly catching fire in Massachusetts. With only 2 months before the "mandatory" enrollment deadline, 20% of the states uninsured have not taken any steps toward enrollment.

Posted by Jace Walden at 04:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)

Bush has vetoed another spending bill:

President Bush, escalating his budget battle with Congress, on Tuesday vetoed a spending measure for health and education programs prized by congressional Democrats.
[...]
The White House said the $606 billion education and health was loaded with 2,000 earmarks — lawmaker-sponsored projects that critics call pork-barrel spending — which Bush wants stripped from the bill.

"Some of its wasteful projects include a prison museum, a sailing school taught aboard a catamaran and a Portugese-as-a-second-language program," the president said. "Congress owes the taxpayers much better than this effort."

It was sixth bill vetoed by Bush. Congress has overridden his veto only once, on a politically popular water projects measure.

This bill doesn't have the 2/3 majority that is required by the Constitution to override, though I'm sure the majority party will try that tactic anyway.

Posted by Jason at 04:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

How about a fresh approach to Henry County's traffic congestion? It is apparent that the state is running a $7 Billion transporation funding deficit and ARC has not provided Henry County with needed funding. The old saying is true, If it is to be it's up to me.

On December 3rd at 7pm commissioner Reid Bowman will host an open meeting at the county administration building. He has arranged for members of GRTA, ARC and our legislative delegation to be present. We can also expect strong support from the other county commissioners.

Citizens and elected officials of Henry County must put aside politics and personal agendas. We have serious traffic congestion that can be addressed.

Come hear Reid's presentation, new ideas and a real plan
Come prepared speak your mind
Let's DO SOMETHING POSITIVE

Posted by Larry Stanley at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The Club for Growth has updated its white paper on Mike Huckabee:

“Over the pas ten months, Governor Huckabee’s embrace of his liberal economic record as governor and his populist, protectionist rhetoric on the campaign trail has only confirmed the Club for Growth’s original assessment,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. “Huckabee himself admits that he is a ‘different kind of Republican,’ a code word for more government involvement, less personal freedom, and greater dependence on government bureaucrats.”

“Huckabee is proud of his tax hikes, his spending increases, and his regulatory expansions as governor, and he has not indicated that he would govern any differently as president. Nominating Mike Huckabee for president or vice-president would constitute an abject rejection of the free-market, limited-government, economic conservatism that has been the unifying theme of the Republican Party for decades.”

It also shoots down the argument of increased spending for education:

The Arkansas Supreme Court did not mandate a tax hike. It simply mandated that the state spend more money on education and distribute that money equitably. Reducing state spending in other areas in order to increase education funding would have been a perfectly acceptable remedy for the court ruling, but it is one that Governor Huckabee did not embrace. Instead of cutting spending, the Legislature opted to raise taxes by historical levels.

Posted by Jason at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Disney is now scanning fingers before you can enter the park. From some crappy local TV station:

"It is technology reminiscent of "Mission Impossible" or "James Bond," Local 6 News reporter Jessica Sanchez said. "It works by scanning the ridges and structure of your index finger and middle finger called your finger geometry."

Disney officials said the finger scans do not take an actual fingerprint. The scan recognizes certain points and outlines visitor's fingers, officials said.

Critics of the new scanning technology do not agree with Disney and said the scans border on a violation of privacy.

My opinion: If you don't want your finger scanned, don't go to a Disney park. The ACLU is going to "look into this." My right to keep my finger to myself ends at their right to their private property. Almost like my right to carry a gun ends at someone else's right to control their private property.....

Posted by Joshua Patterson at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Fox 5 and Rasmussen Reports have released a new poll that suggests that Georgia is in play for Hillary Clinton..

Giuliani - 48%
Clinton - 44%

Thompson - 47%
Clinton - 44%

Giuliani - 51%
Obama - 38%

Thompson - 48%
Obama - 39%

There is much more of a gap for Democrats to close against Senator Saxby Chambliss.

Chambliss - 52%
Cardwell - 36%

Chambliss - 55%
Jones - 32%

Chambliss - 54%
Knight - 30%

Josh Lanier was not polled.

Posted by Jason at 09:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There are several veterans that visit this blog on a daily basis. I want to thank each and every one of you for your service and commitment.

In case you haven't already done it...regardless of your opinions on current endeavors, thank a veteran.

Posted by Jason at 07:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The GlennTax may help lobbyists:

Capitol-watchers say every lobbyist within driving distance may be employed during the 2008 session to try to mitigate the potential damage Richardson's plan would have on the businesses they represent. Or they'll be paid to promote the plan if the businesses they represent will save money through the elimination of property taxes.

"They are going to have to go into neighboring states to get more lobbyists," predicted former state Rep. Tom Bordeaux, a Savannah lawyer.
[...]
So doctors, dentists and pharmacists would have to charge a sales tax —- usually in the range of 6 to 8 percent. So would lawyers, tax specialists, pest control companies and grocery stores. Sales taxes could be charged on machinery used by manufacturing and timber companies, on long-distance calls, on car trade-ins and on MARTA passes.

The list of affected industries is so long that Richardson's plan could become the Lobbyists Full Employment Act of 2008.

"People are just now getting the details, they are just now doing the analysis," said Rusty Paul, an Atlanta lobbyist and former state senator. "By the first week in December, phones may start ringing around the lobbying offices in Atlanta.

"I expect this will be the most lobbied issue at the Capitol this year, one way or the other."

Posted by Jason at 06:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

This is where the nickname "Tax Hike Mike" comes from:

Governor Mike Huckabee addressed the Arkansas General Assembly, pleading with them to pass a tax, any tax. He ticked off a list of various taxes that he would find acceptable, a tax on tobacco, a surcharge on the income tax, a sales tax... "I will very happily sign that," he proclaimed.

Jump forward to the present day, Mike Huckabee running for the Republican presidential nomination has signed a no-tax pledge and jumped on the Fair Tax bandwagon.

You'd never know that as governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee's solution to every government spending "need" was higher taxes. He never suggested using funds we had from the tobacco settlement. He never suggested cutting wasteful spending. To him, most of the time, there was no such thing as wasteful spending. In fact, there wasn't enough spending. He pushed hard to make sure that the state would keep giving taxpayer funded benefits to illegal aliens and even advocated giving illegal aliens college scholarships. The list is goes on and on.

Posted by Jason at 04:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It is becoming more and more clear that the Bulldogs are the class of the SEC East, if not the SEC as a whole. Sure, they still need help from a streaking Tennessee team in order to have a shot at facing the Bayou Bengals in Atlanta. But at this point however, I'm convinced that a UGA vs. LSU match up would be more entertaining, and possibly more upsetting (if you're a Tiger fan), than an LSU vs. UT match up.

Tennessee is a really good team. And they will most likely win out. I can even see them giving LSU a run for their money in the SEC Championship game. But what if the Volunteers to stumble against Vandy and UK? What if Georgia takes it to LSU and wins the SEC? Is a Sugar Bowl birth the most that the Dawgs can hope for? Or does UGA have a shot at ending up in BCS National Championship game? Let's examine this idea.

Here are the current BCS Rankings:

(1) LSU
(2) Oregon
(3) Kansas
(4) Oklahoma
(5) Missouri
(6) West Virginia
(7) Ohio State
(8) Arizona State
(9) Georgia
(10) Virginia Tech

In order to make it to the big dance, UGA has to move up 7 spaces--thus UGA must win out. Moreover, 7 current contenders will have to suffer at least one more loss. With only two weeks remaining in the season, here is how the unlikely scenario could play out:

Week 12
LSU wins. Second-ranked Oregon falls to the hapless (4-6) Arizona Wildcats. Kansas (3) thumps Iowa State. Oklahoma gets by the high-powered Texas Tech offense, and Missouri survives against Kansas State. Meanwhile, West Virginia loses in a nail-biter to Cincinnati, dropping the sixth-ranked Mountaineers out of contention. Ohio State loses to Michigan in the Big House. And Arizona State gets beaten by a resurgent USC. Georgia wins big against Kentucky. Virginia Tech holds serve. After Week 12, the BCS would look something like this:

(1) LSU
(2) Kansas
(3) Oklahoma
(4) Missouri
(5) Georgia
(6) Virginia Tech
(7) Oregon
(8) USC
(9) Arizona State
(10) Ohio State

The football gods would have to conjure up even more trickery in Week 13 in order for the Dawgs to have a shot. But here is what such a scenario might look like:

Week 13
LSU wins again. Kansas gets MONKEY STOMPED by Missouri. Oklahoma loses to the forty year-old man's Oklahoma State team. Georgia crushes the Jackets at Bobby Dodd stadium, Virginia Tech holds serve again, and the rest of the top 10 win. If such an unlikely scenario were to occur, here are your rankings going in to the Conference Championship games:

(1) LSU
(2) Missouri
(3) Georgia
(4) Virginia Tech
(5) Oregon
(6) USC
(7) Arizona State
(8) Ohio State
(9) Florida
(10) Kansas

Week 14
Alright, the two-loss Bulldogs are now poised for a takeover of the #2 spot. But in order to get it, we have to get past the Bayou Bengals. Should we beat LSU, it doesn't matter whether Missouri or Oklahoma wins the Big 12 Championship game. If Missouri wins, we will be ranked second heading into the National Title game. If Oklahoma wins, we'll be ranked #1, and will most likely play someone who is currently not on the radar (much like UGA) in the national title game. For argument's sake, let's say Missouri beats Oklahoma. Here are the final pre-bowl game rankings:

(1) Missouri
(2) Georgia
(3) Virginia Tech
(4) Oregon
(5) LSU
(6) USC
(7) Florida
(9) Oklahoma
(10) Ohio State

There you have it, Georgia's long-shot scenario of getting into the big game. Now all we need is a little divine intervention and we're there. Go Dawgs!!!

Posted by Jace Walden at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It is November 11th, just under two weeks until Thanksgiving and TBS is showing How the Grinch Stole Christmas. What the hell?

It just comes earlier and earlier every year.

Posted by Jason at 07:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well, no, Sam Olens was not elected governor of our state. But the Cobb county chairman also serves as chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC). A lot of people seem to think the ARC has acted a little too big for its own britches. And some of those are Henry Countians who have said that Henry chairman Jason Harper has spent too much time and influence backing Olens's plans for Cobb and Gwinnett over the needs of his home county.

The AJC report "Ga. agencies wrangle over road projects" says:

GRTA board members contend that ARC didn't adequately apply new formulas that are supposed to evaluate projects with numerical scores for congestion relief, and thus minimize politics and personal bias in deciding the most efficient and congestion-busting way to spend transportation dollars.

GRTA is critical of the ARC because it ignored the governor's Traffic Mitigation Task Force formulas. The federal EPA is questioning GRTA because light rail was cut from discussion in favor of rapid buses.

Asked about the EPA's evaluations in light of GRTA's criticism of ARC, J.T. Williams, chairman of the committee that will vote on the ARC plan, said that "I'm not sure they relate" and GRTA's I-75 analysis was done properly.

It is unclear whether the plan will pass when the GRTA board meets again Wednesday. At the board's last meeting, Williams said he did not have the 10 votes to pass the plan, and "it's not even running close."

It was rumored that a meeting at the governor's office featured ARC chairman Olens squaring off with Governor Perdue in a test of wills. It would appear that several important factors are in play: Should the ARC Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) be allowed to override both state agencies GDOT and GRTA? Should a handful of local politicians and their appointed citizen members be allowed to trivialize traffic mitigation studies and funding needs?

One project close to home that muddied the waters between ARC’s planning and the GDOT is a proposed bridge over I-75 at Jodeco Road. In a letter to GDOT dated March 2007 Henry Chairman Harper agreed to use SPLOST funds to widen Jodeco Road to four lanes. That was part of the arrangement for funding the bridge ahead of lanes on I-75. Now everyone in Henry and GDOT knows there is no such SPLOST project or available funding to 4-lane Jodeco. The bridge project is not even listed in the ARC’s TIP, but this type of backhanded dealing seems typical. Playing all sides and refusing to “minimize politics and personal bias” is a game Henry County cannot afford to play.

The ARC board's TIP provides very little, and far too late, to even begin to mitigate Henry traffic. We must depend on GDOT, GRTA and our state legislature to press for needed interstate lanes and other road improvements. Now we can be thankful to Governor Perdue for upholding GRTA's statutory duties.

[UPDATE Nov. 13] Visit Steve Davis's blog for today's installment on Sam Olens' test of wills against Gov.Perdue. Olens has enlisted AJC's Lyle Harris to plead ARC's case - proof that politics and personal bias guide ARC's agenda and TIP.

Posted by Larry Stanley at 05:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Zombie has released his Social Security plan:

Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson on Friday proposed reducing benefits promised to future retirees and establishing a system of voluntary personal retirement accounts under Social Security to help shore up the program's finances.

"If somebody's got a better idea let them put it on the table," said the former Tennessee senator in a challenge to fellow Republicans as well as Democrats vying for the White House in 2008.
[...]
Thompson's proposal steered clear of higher payroll taxes, which many Democrats favor. Nor did he suggest raising the retirement age, another possible way to prolong the life of Social Security.

He said that without a change the program is due to run out of money in 2041, and an automatic 23 percent cut in benefits would follow. "The status quo is not having a Social Security system as we know it" after that date, he said.

Under Thompson's plan, retirement benefits for workers who are currently 58 and older would not to affected.

What are your thoughts on the proposal?

[UPDATE] Obama's plan? Increase payroll taxes.

Posted by Jason at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Three editorials in three different papers blast the GlennTax today.

Bill Kinney in the Marietta Daily Journal:

Richardson calls his plan "GREAT," for "Georgia's Repeal of Every Ad-Valorem Tax." It would eliminate most sales tax exemptions, including those on food and drugs; would expand the state sales tax; and would tax all services. That means that things never before taxed would start being taxed, including attorney fees, doctor and dental fees, senior living and nursing home fees, surgery costs, funeral costs, landscaping, house cleaning, haircuts, water and sewer bills, day care and much more, Radford says.
[...]
Young parents with children in daycare, on the other hand, who now might be paying $145 a week for an infant would have to pay an extra $10.15 per week in taxes, which tallies to an extra $528 per year.

On the other end of the spectrum, basic care in an assisted-living facility is now about $2,400 per month. Under Richardson's plan, that would jump $168 per month, or an extra $2,016 in taxes.

The editorial board of the Augusta Chronicle:

The GREAT acronym stands for "Georgia's Repeal of Every Ad Valorem Tax."

It should be "Glenn Richardson's Extremely Awful Tax."

How can any citizen of Georgia think it would be a good idea for local governments to lose control of how they handle their money? It's the people on the local level who know best how money should be spent on local projects. Under GREAT, the fate of what gets done in Augusta will rest in the hands of non-Augustans under the Gold Dome.

Treutlen County Commissioner Gerald Hooks explained it this way to Georgia Trend magazine: "Under the present system it is a proven fact that counties have to wait two to three months now before getting our portion of sales tax collected by the state. Can you imagine having to tell a county employee that we do not have the money to pay his salary because the state has not sent us our money?

"I think Richardson has turned into a Democrat."

For example, under Richardson's plan, residents would pay sales taxes on water delivered through water lines. Ride a city bus, pay a tax. Buy a Georgia Lottery ticket, pay a tax. Make a long-distance phone call, pay a tax. Fill a prescription, pay a tax. Visit a doctor, pay a tax. Lawyer? Pay a tax. Enter the hospital, pay a tax. Get a hair cut, yep, it's taxable.
[...]
The first rock the speaker will have to traverse will be in the House where he wields the gavel. While he can cajole some support with a variety of arm twisting, it's doubtful he will be able to get the two-thirds vote necessary to pass the required constitutional amendment. Lawmakers in his chamber are hearing from city councils, county commissions and school boards that Richardson's plan would be a great disaster. Byron's Mayor Larry Collins, when asked about Richardson's plan, told an audience to read the "Communist Manifesto" by Karl Marx, if they wanted to know what the GREAT Plan is all about.

I can't wait until January.

Posted by Jason at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Chief Justice John Roberts shares his thoughts on United States v. Miller, which is cited as the precedent by anti-Second Amendments groups that the there is no individual right to gun ownership:

The last time the court examined the meaning of the Second Amendment was in a 1939 case in which two men claimed the amendment gave them the right to have sawed-off shotguns. A unanimous court ruled against them.

Gun control advocates say the 1939 decision in U.S. v. Miller settled the issue in favor of a collective right. Gun rights proponents say the decision has been misconstrued.

Chief Justice John Roberts has said the question has not been resolved by the Supreme Court. The 1939 decision "sidestepped" the issue of whether the Second Amendment right is individual or collective, Roberts said at his confirmation hearing in 2005.

"That's still very much an open issue," Roberts said.

Gun rights advocates are positive that the court will affirm the lower court decision that the Secondment Amendment is indeed an individual right protected and secured by the Constitution.

Posted by Jason at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

They're in black:

Georgia ran off the field following warm-ups in its traditional red home jerseys but ran back on for the kickoff of Saturday’s Auburn game in black jerseys. The crowd went wild.

Coach Mark Richt had given ambiguous answers all week to questions about whether the team would come out in black. The Bulldogs’ seniors had come out earlier in the week and asked for the fans to wear black to create a “blackout” of Sanford Stadium. It looks like they got nearly 100 percent participation on that front.

By the way UGA VI also has on a black jersey. It’s the first time the bulldog has worn black since Vince Dooley coached his last home game in 1988.

[UPDATE] Georgia wins!!! Final score...Georgia 45, Auburn 20.

Posted by Jason at 03:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Prudence Ponder is sending her Christmas list to Santa.

Posted by Jason at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What if 24 took place in 1994?

H/T: Below the Beltway

Posted by Jason at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From The Henry Vent:

In Hampton they didn't get the kill on Lowe like they wanted, but they certainly crippled him badly. He lost another "horseman" and won by only 3 votes over a kid who lives at home with his momma and has never had a job.

I am not sure when I became unemployed. I guess it was between the time I turned 16 and started working full time, or last month when the company I work for sent me out to Texas to work on a project. I guess I should have met this person personally on the campaign trail, but sometime between working about 35 hours and going to school full time in Athens, I ran out of time. And yes, I do "live with my momma." I am a full time student and I think it is a very poor financial decision to take out a student loan to pay rent. When I get a questionnaire that asks for my occupation, I put "Student." Being a student is my priority, so you know, in ten years, I am not sitting behind my boss' computer at my third job writing vents like this person.

I love the vent. Half the people know what they are talking about, the other half don't have a clue. That person is the other half.

[UPDATE] Oh, and how about a Saturday Open Thread starting... now.

Posted by Joshua Patterson at 01:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

There is a new book on eminent domain in stores:

Ever since the Supreme Court's infamous Kelo ruling in June of 2005, America has struggled with the case's grim implications: the seizure of private property, often from people who can't afford to fight back. For those who have followed the pre- and post-Kelo saga of eminent domain in the United States, two questions often surface. First: "How the heck did we get to this point?" And second, usually after reading about some little old lady getting kicked to the curb: "Who are these people? Who would do this sort of thing?"

As Carla Main's "Bulldozed" reveals, "these people" are often simply normal people: amped-up bureaucrats in communities gone mad. The book offers a clear-eyed assessment of eminent domain in America, focusing on the insanity that recently engulfed a Texas town over a strip of waterfront land. "Bulldozed" also addresses, through history and case law, how we got to this point - and, now that the bulldozer's out of the proverbial barn, where we go from here.
[...]
The driving forces behind today's eminent domain horror stories, of course, are often darker than low self-esteem. Common culprits are greed, power, and ruthless ambition. The trail to today's mess, however, began as many messes do: with idealism run awry. "Bulldozed" traces the long and winding road of landmark property rights cases from the days of Daniel Webster, when erosions of property rights were intended to protect "the little guy," to 1954's Berman v. Parker, which cleared the way for hundreds of thousands of "little guys" to be displaced "for the good of the community." Kelo, of course, took such logic to the frightening next level, where no one, as Sandra Day O'Connor pointed out, is safe.

Also check out Cornerstone of Liberty by Timothy Sandefur and Takings by Richard Epstein.

Posted by Jason at 04:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The 22nd edition of the Georgia Carnival is up over at Georgia On My Mind.

I can't believe we're on #22 already.

Posted by Jason at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here is some reaction across the blogosphere to the WSB piece on government waste and Georgia Porkbusters...

- PJNet
- Drifting Through the Grift
- The Spacey Gracey Review
- RedState
- What Is Goin' On
- Peach Pundit
- Club for Growth
- National Journal

I also received a very positive e-mail from US Senate candidate Josh Lanier.

All in all...it seems that the response was positive, let's just hope it turns into something when appropriators start working on the FY 2009 budget.

[UPDATE - 5:26pm] I just got this from Senator Tom Coburn's office:

Excellent work. You are an American hero! We need people in every state doing exactly what you’re doing in Georgia. Keep up the great work.

Posted by Jason at 04:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Alright, it's that time of the week again. Time for the weekly pick challenge for bragging rights. Speaking of bragging rights, let's check out last weeks results:

Jace Walden--13 Points (It took getting the bonus to win though)
Steve Davs--12 Points (that's without getting the bonus)
Publius V--5 Points
Daniel N. Adams--4 Points
Jason Pye--2 Points

Without further ado, here are this week's lines and predictions:

Auburn (18) @ Georgia (10)
Line: Georgia -1
My Pick: Georgia will win and will cover the spread.

Illinois @ Ohio State (1)
Line: Ohio State -15.5
My Pick: Ohio State will win but will not cover the spread.

Arkansas @ Tennessee (22)
Line: 0 (Pick 'em, worth 3 Points)
My Pick: Arkansas

Michigan (12) @ Wisconsin
Line: Michigan -2.5
My Pick: Michigan will win and will cover the spread.

Kansas (4) @ Oklahoma State
Line: Kansas -5.5
My Pick: The forty year-old man will will his OSU team to a monkey-stomping 10-point upset of Kansas.

BONUS WORTH 3 POINTS: How many rushing yards will Knowshon Moreno pick up against Auburn?
My Prediction: 103 Yards

Once again, let's go over the rules:

(1) One point is awarded for correctly picking a winner
(2) Three additional points are awarded for correctly picking an upset winner
(3) Two additional points are awarded for correctly predicting spread coverage
(4) Three points are awarded to whomever comes closest to predicting the bonus
(5) This is for bragging rights only.

Have a great weekend. Here's something to pump you up for the most important game of the year:

Go Dawgs!!!

Posted by Jace Walden at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

"Josh Patterson says he has a good reason for demanding a recount after his failed bid for a seat on the Hampton City Council earlier this week. Two-hundred-seventy-nine of 'em, in fact."

Today's AJC story focused on Patterson's campaign - and possible win - in Hampton's council election. The recount will be held on Monday at the Elections Office in McDonough.

The recount is expected to focus on two provisional ballots and how many of the 51 military ballots that were sent out are returned by the Friday deadline.

Posted by Larry Stanley at 06:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Back in September, WSB-TV shot an interview with me for a segment on government waste, corporate welfare and government spending...and Georgia Porkbusters. I got word last week that the segment will be featured on Thursday, November 8th at 6pm.

[UPDATE] The word on the street is that WSB is already running previews of the story for tonight.

[UPDATE #2] Here is the video...

Orginally posted on November 5, 2007.

Posted by Jason at 07:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

If I said I wasn't disappointed with Rep. Davis, then I'd be lying.

Take the test yourself and find out which candidate you match up with.

Posted by Jason at 06:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

ENDA (Employment Nondiscrimination Act), elevates "sexual orientation" to a protected civil right. Unfortunately, the bill passed this evening by a vote of 235 to 184. President Bush has said that he will veto the bill. A veto override would require 270 votes (2/3 of the House).

Today's floor arguments postitioned ENDA as a civil rights law. Comparisions to the racial battles fought and won, I believe, diminish the value of people like Dr. King. Selling sexual orientation (of any description) as the equivalent of racial bigotry and injustice is reprehensible. One might expect to next see validation of internet porn sites as a protected class of media presentation.

The Religious Right is certainly up in arms over this vote. The argument is that traditional religious norms are marginalized, and eventually even churches and privately owned establishments will come under federal regulation. They say, " It is formulated to remove the Christian objection to perversion from the mainstream of society."

For an older person it may be a reminder of quota systems and preferred status in hiring, education, mortgage financing and a host of other life situations. Those earlier laws and regulations were poised against racial disparities. To keep the situation in perspective, nobody in this country has ever been enslaved or disenfranchised because of sexual orientation.

Exactly what is ENDA purported to rectify? Exactly what legal framework is expected to be displaced?

ENDA is designed to mold social and cultural norms by federal law and subsequent regulation using government's influence. As the list of legally protected classes grows, equality of outcomes is the apparent goal of a step-by-step intrusion.

Posted by Larry Stanley at 05:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

My fellow Georgia blogger Grift Drift was on the radio with Wilson Smith earlier this week. Make sure you check it out here. I do respectfully disagree with Grift's assertion that Hillary Clinton is a moderate though, but I digress.

I'll be back on the air with Wilson sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Posted by Jason at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

H/T Club for Growth

Posted by Jace Walden at 04:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)

Bob Barr delivers some sobering news:

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich called Sean Hannity's radio show last week to announce glibly that in his view U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton's chances of winning the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nomination had plummeted from 80 percent to 50 percent based on her performance in the most recent "debate" between the party's candidates. Gingrich's views clearly were not based on scientific analysis.
[...]
GOP pundits who try simplistically to weaken Clinton by pointing to one night's performance in a debate few American voters actually watched, might be better advised instead to pay closer attention to a recent Newsweek poll indicating that Hillary Clinton enjoys more support among voters in so-called "Red States" (that went for President Bush in '04) than Giuliani enjoys among "Blue State" voters (those that went for John Kerry in '04).

Posted by Jason at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Not only have unions killed school vouchers in Utah, they may wind up knocking Jack Bauer off the air:

The writers strike has struck down the Fox thriller "24."

"24" is absent from the network's revised, strike-affected schedule for midseason. In its announcement, Fox explained the "Day 7" season for the series would be indefinitely postponed to ensure an uninterrupted run.

Like most series written by members of the Writers Guild of America, "24" is falling prey to a shortfall of scripts. But the heavily sequential, real-time "24" is dependent on a full-season run of 24 episodes.

Posted by Jason at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Apparently, Hillary Clinton is a bad tipper:

"I wished I would have been asked first," the waitress, Anita Esterday, said of Clinton's decision to insert her in a speech. "I wish she would have asked if she could talk about me later. I didn't like it when someone called me up and said Hillary Clinton is talking about you. It's like, what'd I do now? What's she saying?"

When I returned to the Maid-Rite a few weeks later, Esterday said the senator had caught her off guard. But once they got talking, she was honest with Clinton about her need to work two to three jobs.

"I've been doing it all my life. Why should it change now that I'm old," Esterday said.

Esterday does not think Clinton got it. "I don't think she understood at all what I was saying," Esterday said. "I mean, nobody got left a tip that day."

Clinton may have decided not to tip. She was also never given a bill — her meal was on the house. Still, Esterday said Clinton might have left her something: "Maybe they don't carry money. I don't know."

Posted by Jason at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I use FireFox for Mac. On the left side is an aggregater that pulls news feeds from the BBC. I clicked on it, and one of the headlines read, "Troops enforce Georgia Emergency."

I thought Sonny was seizing Lake Lanier and Buford Dam, but alas, disappointment when I realized it wasn't our Georgia.

Posted by Joshua Patterson at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here are this week's Top 25 College Football teams as voted on by the readers and writers of JasonPye.Com:

(1) LSU--173 Points, 5 First Place Votes
(2) Oregon--159 Points
(3) Kansas--151 Points, 1 First Place Vote
(4) Oklahoma--144 Points
(5) Ohio State--141 Points, 1 First Place Vote
(6) Georgia--136 Points
(7) West Virginia--132 Points
(8) Missouri--131 Points
(9) Boston College--119 Points
(10) Arizona State--118 Points
(11) Virginia Tech--98 Points
(12) Michigan--96 Points
(13) Florida--88 Points
(14) Texas--81 Points
(15) Hawaii--76 Points
(16) Auburn--72 Points
(17) Connecticut--71 Points
(18) USC--64 Points
(19) Alabama--55 Points
(20) Kentucky--38 Points
(21) Boise State--37 Points
(22) Arkansas--26 Points
(23) Clemson--25 Points
(24) Virginia--22 Points
(25) Tennessee--20 Points

Also Receiving Votes: Penn State (12), Illinois (1)

If our rankings were the law of the land and the BCS bowl invitations were sent out today:

Rose Bowl presented by Citi
BCS vs. BCS (Big Ten Champion vs. Pac 10 Champion, if available)
Projection: Ohio State vs. Arizona State

Allstate Sugar Bowl
BCS vs. BCS (SEC Champion, if available)
Projection: West Virginia vs. Georgia

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl
BCS vs. BCS (Big 12 Champion, if available)
Projection: Michigan vs. Kansas

FedEx Orange Bowl
BCS vs. BCS (ACC Champion, if available)
Projection: Oklahoma vs. Boston College

Allstate BCS National Championship
BCS#1 vs. BCS#2
Projections: LSU vs. Oregon

Posted by Jace Walden at 09:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The national debt has reached $9 trillion:

The Treasury Department, which issues a daily accounting, said Wednesday that the debt subject to a congressional limit was at $9 trillion on Tuesday. It was $8.996 trillion on Monday.

Last month, Congress passed and President Bush signed into law an increase in the government's borrowing ceiling to $9.815 trillion. It was the fifth debt limit increase since Bush took office in January 2001. Those increases have totaled $3.865 trillion.
[...]
It took the country from George Washington until Ronald Reagan to reach the first $1 trillion in debt.

Democrats are doing the same thing as their Republican counterparts did when they had control of Congress. They are passing massive expansions of government programs (SCHIP is an excellent example of this) and adding more pork to appropriations bill.

Bush blames the increase in debt on the recession in 2001 and the war on terrorism. Bush is Keynesian. He was increasing spending during a recession, not cutting it. And you cannot blame defense spending for the deficit. Bush has increased discretionary spending by nearly 49%. Discretionary spending is spending that Congress and the President have the power to control. This is what "compassionate conservatism" has brought us.

The answer is simple. The reason the national debt is so high is because Democrats and Republicans refuse to cut spending. I do find it odd that the media jumps on this, but fails to mention the deficits facing Medicare and Social Security...which are more than six times the national debt.

Posted by Jason at 06:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (30)

All day the election results have been on my mind. It is so true that we get what we deserve, especially when we cruise through life with blinders on our eyes and wax in our ears.

In Stockbridge the citizens are very fortunate to get a real civic minded person like Kathy Gilbert on the council. Congratulations, Kathy. Good luck.

That election result makes sense. But it stands against reason to re-elect Fred Evans. Just like last time around, the machine did its work to return to office a person whose disrespect for personal property rights is legendary - and reported in the news frequently. Adding Fred's friend and political ally, Shirley Dabney, to the council may surprise everyone - at least we can hope.

Turn your eyes to McDonough and shake your heads -- all together now. Did we see the Fox5 video and follow-up reports where Monte Brown publicly admitted conflicts of interest and casting votes favoring his business partners? Have we witnessed zoning decisions that fly in the face of reason? Who can forget the blatant violation of the state's Sunshine laws? Did we see the report of the council meeting just two nights ago when Brown proved he did not understand (the charter is confusing) the mayor's authority to supervise executive and administrative functions? Yet voters handed him another term in office.

That is not all! The $45 million park improvement - you know, featuring a Callaway style butterfly house in the councilwoman's back yard - is the #1 pet project for Gail Notti. Nobody including Notti can provide a hint of how the city can pay for this boondoggle. And it will serve as a great monument to frivolous waste in government. Yet voters returned her to office.

I am now more convinced than ever that there should be restrictions on who may cast votes. Perhaps a simple intelligence test. Maybe a quick review of current events. There is a term to define when people repeat the same mistakes, and expect different or better results: insanity!

Posted by Larry Stanley at 08:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Here another video from Brian Doherty...this one is on the legacy of Ayn Rand...

I'll go ahead and say that the writings of Ayn Rand have influenced me, but not so much her fiction (Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead) as her non-fiction (Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal and The Virtue of Selfishness).

Posted by Jason at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since Christmas is around the corner it feels only right to post this...

Posted by Jason at 05:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"He’s a good man but he’s a pro-life liberal. He’s right on the pro-life part, but he’s a liberal." - Fred Thompson on Mike Huckabee

H/T: Instapundit

Posted by Jason at 05:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rudy the Evangelical?
Rudy Giuliani has picked up the endorsement of the defacto face of the religious right. Does this mean that James Dobson may soon revert on what he said about going third-party if Rudy is nominated?

The Resurgent McCain
Bull Moose has been saying for months that the Presidential race is a marathon, not a sprint. With Fred uninspiring and Romney slipping, picking up the endorsement of a staunch social conservative can only help McCain in his bid to remain one of the top tier candidates. Many McCain naysayers are starting to reconsider McCain for President.

Ron Paul, Crown Prince of the Internets
After setting the GOP presidential record for single-day contributions, Paul is poised to rattle a few cages in New Hampshire. Meanwhile, the Cato Institute chimes in on why the neocons feel threatened by Paul's candidacy.

If History Repeats Itself
Newsweek contends, based on recent history, that the Democratic takeover of the Kentucky Governor's mansion could spell disaster for the GOP in 2008.

Never Seen This Before
File this in the "I forgot Congress actually had a will of its own" file. The U.S. Senate is about to override a Bush veto for the first time. Unfortunately, they're going to stick us with the bloated 23 Billion Dollar bill.

Who do you guys honestly think will get the Republican nomination? What percentage of votes can Ron Paul expect to get in New Hampshire? Will the GOP win the White House in 2008? Did you even know that Congress actually had to power to do stuff?

Posted by Jace Walden at 04:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Travis Fain has a list of items that would be taxed under the GlennTax. Some of the things listed are even more of a reason to oppose this plan.

Among them are...
personal property brought into Georgia

Posted by Jason at 04:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"Think about it: If Hillary becomes president and we have HillaryCare, the Canadians will have absolutely no place to go to get health care." - Rudy Giuliani

H/T: Health Care BS

Posted by Jason at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Democrats in Virginia have taken over the State Senate:

Virginia Democrats wrested control of the state senate from Republicans Tuesday, gaining four additional seats to secure a 21-19 majority in the chamber for the first time in a decade. The party also made historic gains in the House of Delegates and won key local races.
[...]
In the House of Delegates, where Democrats had predicted they would make more modest progress against a strong Republican majority, Democrats gained four seats, and may add another, bringing them closer to parity with the Republican majority.

Posted by Jason at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The latest round of elections is further proof that Americans are rejecting the Republican brand of big-government, "compassionate conservatism". In Kentucky, Republican incumbent Ernie Fletcher lost in a landslide to his Democratic opponent. Additionally, the GOP lost control of the Virginia State Senate for the first time in 12 years.

What is even more pitiful was Fletcher's last-ditch attempt to pander to the religious right. For the last eight days, he has been trying to have the Ten Commandments posted in the State Capitol Building, something he thought would create controversy and rally his base. It didn't work. Fletcher's loss nullifies Jindal's Louisiana win back in October. Currently, 28 Governors are Democrats and only 22 are Republicans.

Voters are rejecting the GOP's hypocritical religious pandering, as well as the party's single-mindedness on Iraq. They rejected it in 2006, and they have rejected it again in 2007. Yet members of the GOP still seem to live in a vacuum.

Jason and I were talking the other day. He said that the only hope the GOP has of beating the Democratic nominee is if Rudy "9/11" Giuliani is the Republican nominee. Heh. Get ready to swear in President Clinton.

Posted by Jace Walden at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

The bad news from last night...Utah rejected school vouchers:

Voters decisively rejected the will of the Utah Legislature and governor Tuesday, defeating what would have been the nation's most comprehensive education voucher program in a referendum blowout.
[...]
More than 60 percent of voters were rejecting vouchers, with about 95 percent of the precincts reporting, according to unofficial results. The referendum failed in every county, including the conservative bastion of Utah County.

Voucher supporter Overstock.com chief executive Patrick Byrne - who bankrolled the voucher effort - called the referendum a "statewide IQ test" that Utahns failed.

"They don't care enough about their kids. They care an awful lot about this system, this bureaucracy, but they don't care enough about their kids to think outside the box," Byrne said.

Posted by Jason at 06:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The polls close in about an hour. An AJC photographer is sitting here with me waiting on the results. You can view the results on channel 14 if you have Charter, or you can see them here.

[UPDATE: Vote Tallies] H/T Mike Lustri. Votes & Percentages in all cities.

[UPDATE by Jason] Word on the street is that Fred Evans, Shirley Dabney and Kathy Gilbert have won in Stockbridge. Over 1,200 Stockbridge voters turned out...last election only 400!

[UPDATE by Larry] Notti, Smith & Brown are returning to their council seats in McDonough.

[UPDATE by Josh] All of Hampton's precinct's have reported. The website makes it appear that North Hampton hasn't reported, but it has. The last precinct is provisional ballots of which there are only 2. I will get a recount, just because I should, but the results probably won't change. The three Hampton councilmen will be Henry Byrd, Steve Hutchison, and Arley Lowe (who I lost to 282-279). Thanks to everyone who supported me. For a 20 year old first time candidate, I don't think I did half bad. I will have a more official statement later. Thank you everyone!

[UPDATE by Larry] Locust Grove: Lorene Lyndsey 218, Keith Boone 195. Mayor Lyndsey returns to office.
City Council seats: (1 to fill) Price 262, Brown 103 - Boone's unexpired term
(3 to fill) Ward 276, Hammock 229, Carter 209, Roberts 208 (A recount is likely)

Posted by Joshua Patterson at 06:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (34)

At about noon, roughly 65 people had voted in South Hampton, and roughly 105 in North Hampton. This includes non-city (just SPLOST) ballots. I have heard that 180 voted early in Hampton (it may have been 280, I forget, so don't quote me).

PLEASE GO VOTE!

Posted by Joshua Patterson at 02:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

What little respect I had for Neal Boortz is completely gone:

Syndicated talk radio host Neal Boortz is backing Mike Huckabee and Bill Richardson in the 2008 presidential race, he told fans Monday at the University of Georgia.

Although Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, is more conservative than the self-described libertarian Boortz, he said Huckabee is the only candidate who supports replacing income and other taxes with a national sales tax.

Reason magazine summed up what a Huckabee Administration [**shutters**] would be:

The vision of “compassionate conservatism” promised by George W. Bush was actually practiced by Huckabee, with all the flaws that entailed. He’s the GOP candidate who’d probably get along best with a big-spending Democratic Congress.

Posted by Jason at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)

I have been critical of the so-called "GREAT Plan" from its inception. Despite the pleas from its supporters, I have not kept and do not plan to keep an open mind about this plan. Although I support tax reform/elimination, my greater concern is the size and scope of the federal and state governments.

The GREAT Plan is fundamentally wrong when it comes to decentralized government. County governments are funded primarily through property taxes, although they also receive revenue through SPLOSTs, and appropriations bills at the state level. But property taxes are a county's main source of revenue.

The GREAT Plan would eliminate all property taxes, and replace them with a "revenue neutral" sales tax. At first glance, this doesn't seem like a bad idea. You get rid of the tax on property, and replace it with a tax on consumption. In other words, you are taxed on your activity, not on your success. Unfortunately, this is where the love affair with the GREAT Plan ends.

Here are some fundamental points that the GREAT Plans proponents, like Earl Ehrhart, consistently fail to address:

(1) If you replace one tax with another tax, you're not really cutting taxes.
(2) If you eliminate property taxes, local governments only have SPLOSTs, and Appropriations to fall back on.
(3) Since the so-called "GREAT Plan" is supposedly revenue neutral, the money that would have gone to local governments via property taxes, will now go to the state coffers in the form of sales taxes.
(4) There is a limit on the amount of SPLOST taxes a governing body can institute

Given these facts, the only way to replace the lost revenue at the county level would be for the county to come crawling to the state and beg for more money in appropriations. This is a fact that Earl and Glenn conveniently ignore.

Here are some other facts that Glenn and Earl conveniently ignore:

(1) We're well into our second term of a Republican-controlled government and Georgia already has the 2nd highest tax rate in the south east
(2) Spending has increased every year Glenn Richardson has been Speaker of the House
(3) Glenn Richardson and Earl Ehrhart refused to bring a bill by Representative Steve Davis which calls for the elimination of the state income tax to the House floor for a vote
(4) Earl Ehrhart deliberately lied to the public when he claimed that the GREAT Plan had the support of 80% of the people, when polls indicate that it only has 59% support

Given the fundamental flaws of the GREAT Plan and the piss-poor tax and spend history of our Republican-controlled legislature, is there any reason why we should keep an open mind about the GREAT Plan?

There are many things the state could require counties to do in order to be better fiscal stewards. For one, they could require counties and cities (since its the State that has the power to charter counties and cities) to institute zero-based budgeting. That would be a start. Or, if Earl and Glenn are truly serious about tax reform, they could look into getting rid of the state income tax and couple it with spending cuts.

The truth is, Earl and Glenn aren't serious about reforming our tax system. They aren't serious about reforming their own spend thriftiness. The only thing they are serious about is centralizing the state's money supply and increasing their own political clout. They are, at best, cut from the same mold as the big-government Republican ilk that currently inhabits the White House and infects the U.S. Congress. I share Erick's hope that someday we may actually have a Republican in the Governor's mansion, but more importantly, I hope someday we may actually have a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

The GREAT Plan is nothing more than a blatant power grab on the part of Glenn Richardson. I refuse to keep an open mind about it, unless Glenn's minion, Earl Erhart decides to engage in open and honest dialogue about the true intentions of this plan and the effects it will have on local governments.

Posted by Jace Walden at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

The Zombie has doubts that he'll be President:

Even Fred Thompson doesn't think he will become president. Chatting off-air to a television reporter, a stunningly candid off-the-cuff quip from the Hollywood actor cemented the impression that his heart is not in the 2008 race.

Trying to encourage his studio to hurry up so an interview could start, Carl Cameron of Fox News said into his microphone: "The next president of the United States has a schedule to keep." Standing beside him, a deadpan Mr Thompson interjected: "And so do I."

The self-deprecating quip said much about the former Tennessee senator's candidacy.

Posted by Jason at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We can say what we want about Ron Paul's supporters, but this is impressive:

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, aided by an extraordinary outpouring of Internet support Monday, hauled in more than $3.5 million in 20 hours.

Paul, the Texas congressman with a Libertarian tilt and an out-of-Iraq pitch, entered heady fundraising territory with a surge of Web-based giving tied to the commemoration of Guy Fawkes Day.

Fawkes was a British mercenary who failed in his attempt to kill King James I on Nov. 5, 1605. He also was the model for the protagonist in the movie "V for Vendetta." Paul backers motivated donors on the Internet with mashed-up clips of the film on the online video site YouTube as well as the Guy Fawkes Day refrain: "Remember, remember the 5th of November."

Paul's total deposed Mitt Romney as the single-day fundraising record holder in the Republican presidential field. When it comes to sums amassed in one day, Paul now ranks only behind Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton, who raised nearly $6.2 million on June 30, and Barack Obama.

The campaign puts the final number at $3.8 million.

[UPDATE] $4.2 million

Posted by Jason at 06:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)

According to a Daily Herald report some city officials think the City Charter is confusing. Unfortunately, they turned to city attorney Scott Bennett for clarification. This is the same attorney who advised violating the state's Sunshine law.

In the city of McDonough's charter, section 2.19, some of the mayor's duties include exercising supervision over all executive and administrative work of the city and providing coordination of administrative activities.

Currently, some of the city administrator's duties include supervising department heads and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the city as a whole.

"I think there are some issues that need to be cleared up," said Mayor Pro Tempore M