"This message of "change" is a cover for the same collectivist driven, big-government agenda that has been pushed by the Democratic Party for years."

Here is my weekly column. I wrote about Barack Obama, so I'm fully expecting some hate mail off this one.

Posted by Jason at 06:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

You have to love the crazies over a PETA:

An international animal rights group called on Sri Lanka's separatist Tamil Tigers to "leave animals out" of the armed conflict, two weeks after a grenade attack blamed on rebels at the island's main zoo.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, said in a letter dated Feb. 15 to Velupillai Prabhakaran, the reclusive rebel leader, that "the explosive device that was set off near the zoo's bird enclosures terrified many animals at the zoo."

PETA president Ingrid E. Newkirk pleaded with the rebel leader "to leave animals out of this conflict," the letter said.

The stupid, it burns.

However, you will never get PETA to own up to its dirty little secret.

H/T: Below the Beltway

Posted by Jason at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

While our state legislators are busy determining how much your taxes will go up, it is important to note that the unemployment rate here in our state has jumped:

Early this morning, the state Department of Labor reported that the state’s unemployment rate rose to 5.2 percent in January, up a full percentage point since November.

It’s been 16 years since we’ve had a two-month increase like that, according to state record-keepers.

“I continue to be concerned by weakness in Georgia’s labor market,” said state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond. “Clearly, the credit crisis and slumping housing sector are negatively impacting the job market.”

Posted by Jason at 08:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

John McCain hits Barack Obama on NAFTA:

McCain went after both Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, on the subject of trade, as both Democrats continued to rail against NAFTA as they compete for votes in Ohio, where union households represent 25 percent of Democratic primary voters.

"NAFTA has created jobs," McCain said, arguing that the trade deal has been good for the American, Canadian, and Mexican economies.

"Anyone who studies history understands that every time this country or other nations in the world have practiced protectionism, they've paid a very, very heavy price for it," McCain said, adding that "some would argue that one of the major contributors to World War II was the Smoot-Hawley tariffs acts."

McCain called himself an advocate of "free trade," which would be "one of the many differences between myself and whoever the nominee of the Democratic party is."

Obama's stance on trade was also the topic of today's Cato Daily Podcast.

[UPDATE] Reason has more on the Democrats backtrack on NAFTA. Steve Chapman calls him out on some of his rhetoric:

Obama makes a special theme of blaming this and other trade agreements for setting off a race to the bottom that destroys American jobs. "In Youngstown, Ohio," he said in a Texas debate, "I've talked to workers who have seen their plants shipped overseas as a consequence of bad trade deals like NAFTA, literally seeing equipment unbolted from the floors of factories and shipped to China."

Why NAFTA would induce a company to move production to China is a puzzle, but you get the idea.

His campaign claims a million jobs have vanished because of the deal. That sounds devastating, but over the last 14 years, the American economy has added a net total of 25 million jobs—some of them, incidentally, attributable to expanded trade with Mexico. When NAFTA took effect in 1994, the unemployment rate was 6.7 percent. Today it's 4.9 percent.

Posted by Jason at 06:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

If this poll is any indication, Ron Paul will be re-elected to Congress:

While Ron Paul's presidential campaign is sputtering to an unimpressive close, his congressional campaign is beginning to look more and more like a slam dunk.

A recent Public Policy Polling poll shows Ron Paul clobbering Chris Peden in the race for the Texas 14th District at 63 to 30. That may be surprising to some, but it really shouldn't be. Paul has faced a Republican challenger just about every election cycle. A challenger that has received at least implicit support from the national Republican Party. And Paul continues to clean up.

Posted by Jason at 06:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One ticket is already confirmed, Ralph Nader's running mate will be Matt Gonzalez:

Gonzalez ran for Mayor in 2003, coming very close to becoming the first Green Party mayor of a major U.S. city. On February 5th, Nader won the California primary for the 2008 Green Party nomination with 60% of the vote. This is Nader's fourth consecutive run for the Presidency. His running mate in 1996 and 2000 was Native American activist Winona LaDuke. His running mate in 2004 was Peter Camejo.

H/T: Stephen @ Third Party Watch

Posted by Jason at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Doug Mataconis tackles questions on McCain's citizenship:

In it’s current form — which is set forth in Title 8, Section 1401 of the United States Code, American citizenship is defined as follows:

The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth:
(a) a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof;
(…)

(c) a person born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents both of whom are citizens of the United States and one of whom has had a residence in the United States or one of its outlying possessions, prior to the birth of such person;
(d) a person born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is a citizen of the United States who has been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year prior to the birth of such person, and the other of whom is a national, but not a citizen of the United States;

Now, it’s clear that Senator McCain was born outside the continental United States — but he was born to two American citizens who had lived in the United States before he was born and he was born on an American military base in the Panama Canal Zone. Which brings 8 USC 1403 into play:

(a) Any person born in the Canal Zone on or after February 26, 1904, and whether before or after the effective date of this chapter, whose father or mother or both at the time of the birth of such person was or is a citizen of the United States, is declared to be a citizen of the United States.
(b) Any person born in the Republic of Panama on or after February 26, 1904, and whether before or after the effective date of this chapter, whose father or mother or both at the time of the birth of such person was or is a citizen of the United States employed by the Government of the United States or by the Panama Railroad Company, or its successor in title, is declared to be a citizen of the United States.

Posted by Jason at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Grover Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform have weighed in on the one-cent transportation sales taxes, effectively the largest tax increase in Georgia history, and warns Georgia Republicans of the lessons of the past from Virginia, something I warned about here last week. You can view the letter sent to legislators here.

ATR has also opposed the cigarette tax increase proposal.

[UPDATE] ATR is also urging legislators to vote against the Speaker's "tax reform" proposal ("Son of GREAT Plan" or "the Legislation formerly known as GREAT").

Posted by Jason at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Channel 2 Investigates Goes Prime Time On Friday Night

WSB-TV will air an investigative report on government waste. Watch Primetime on Friday night at 8pm

Henry County's missteps will again be featured.

WSB-TV is actively researching and reporting on our behalf. To prove their dedication and correct priorities, In order to bring you this special program, WSB-TV will pre-empt Grey’s Anatomy repeat which will be retelecast in full on Saturday, March 1 at 2:05 a.m..

Posted by Larry Stanley at 06:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Gun control is bad for gays? Shhhh, don't tell Republicans:

A law professor at the University of Minnesota, Dale helped Gays & Lesbians for Individual Liberty (GLIL–a gay libertarian group of which yours truly is a member) and Pink Pistols, “an international group . . . advocating gun ownership and training in the proper use of firearms by gay people.”

With nearly “one-third of anti-gay bias crimes [occurring] in the home,” the D.C. gun ban is particularly pernicioius as it “forbids the effective possession of firearms for self-protection.” Dale concludes:

. . . for many other gay people, especially the ones living on the margins of life in crime-prone or anti-gay areas, owning a gun is one important part of a comprehensive plan for protecting life and property.

Gun ownership might at the very least give [gay people] peace of mind. And widespread knowledge that many gays are packing might give their would-be attackers second thoughts Gun rights are gay rights.

Given the lower crime rates in states with concealed weapons laws and the persistence of hate crimes even in states with Hate Crime statutes on the books, I wonder if opposition to gun control may be a more effective means of stopping hate crimes that such statutes.

Posted by Jason at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Republicans should breathe a sigh of relief:

After teasing us for months and months, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York is letting us down easy in an Op-Ed in Thursday’s New York Times.

“I believe that an independent approach to these issues is essential to governing our nation — and that an independent can win the presidency,” he writes. “I listened carefully to those who encouraged me to run, but I am not — and will not be — a candidate for president.”

But, he continues, “I have changed my mind in one area.”

Posted by Jason at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reason's Jacob Sullum takes Obama to task on the Second Amendment:

Under the Second Amendment, Barack Obama says, "There is an individual right to bear arms, but it is subject to common-sense regulation, just like most of our rights are subject to common-sense regulation." The leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination thus seems to be on the same wavelength as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which in a decision last March said "the protections of the Second Amendment are subject to the same sort of reasonable restrictions that have been recognized as limiting, for instance, the First Amendment."
[...]
Obama evidently considers that de facto prohibition a "common-sense regulation," since he recently cited Washington's law as an example of constitutionally permissible gun control. "The notion that somehow local jurisdictions can't initiate gun safety laws to deal with gangbangers and random shootings on the street isn't borne out by our Constitution," he said.
[...]
It's not surprising that Obama sees nothing unconstitutional about this situation, since he does not acknowledge that the Second Amendment has anything to do with self-defense. "As a former constitutional law professor, Barack Obama understands and believes in the constitutional right of Americans to bear arms," his website claims. "He will protect the rights of hunters and other law-abiding Americans to purchase, own, transport, and use guns for the purposes of hunting and target shooting" (emphasis added).

This is the only substantive discussion of the Second Amendment on Obama's website. It's part of a document that lists "Protecting Gun Rights" as a subcategory of "Supporting the Rights and Traditions of Sportsmen," which is like listing "Protecting Freedom of Speech" as a subcategory of "Supporting the Rights and Traditions of Auctioneers."

Posted by Jason at 05:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

William F. Buckley Jr. has passed away:

William F. Buckley Jr., who marshaled polysyllabic exuberance, famously arched eyebrows and a refined, perspicacious mind to elevate conservatism to the center of American political discourse, died Wednesday at his home in Stamford, Conn.

Mr Buckley, 82, suffered from diabetes and emphysema, his son Christopher said, although the exact cause of death was not immediately known. He was found at his desk in the study of his home, his son said. “He might have been working on a column,” Mr. Buckley said.

Mr. Buckley’s winningly capricious personality, replete with ten-dollar words and a darting tongue writers loved to compare with an anteater’s, hosted one of television’s longest-running programs, “Firing Line,” and founded and shepherded the influential conservative magazine, “National Review.”

[UPDATE] Here is a touching post from Kathryn Jean Lopez at the Corner@NRO:

I’m devastated to report that our dear friend, mentor, leader, and founder William F. Buckley Jr., died this morning in his study in Stamford, Connecticut.

He died while at work; if he had been given a choice on how to depart this world, I suspect that would have been exactly it. At home, still devoted to the war of ideas.

As you might expect, we’ll have much more to say here and in NR in the coming days and weeks and months. For now: Thank you, Bill. God bless you, now with your dear Pat. Our deepest condolences to Christopher and the rest of the Buckley family. And our fervent prayer that we continue to do WFB’s life’s work justice.

[5:54pm] There is more reaction around the internets.
- Robert Poole of the Reason Foundation: "Farewell to the man who created intellectual space for the libertarian movement."

- Radley Balko, formerly of Cato: "I didn’t agree with Buckley on everything, of course. But he represents a time when conservatives and libertarians shared quite a bit of common ground–indeed when both philosophies largely sprang from the same well of ideas and influences."

- Rusty Tanton, founder of the Georgia Podcast Network: "He was always gracious and respectful to even his fiercest opposition. The world is a poorer place without his piercing wit and sense of humor."

Posted by Jason at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Secretary of State's office is launching an investigation into the election of Clayton County School Board members. Here is the press release:

Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel opened an investigation Tuesday into the election of members of the Clayton County School Board immediately upon receiving a request from Governor Sonny Perdue. Governor Perdue asked Secretary Handel to investigate whether the elections complied with the law and to specifically address whether the Board members reside in their districts as required by law. The request stems from a report by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) Committee which raised concerns about the Board members’ elections, among other issues. SACS has threatened to revoke Clayton County Schools’ accreditation if the concerns are not resolved.

“The public can be assured that my office’s Inspector General will conduct a thorough and expeditious investigation that addresses Governor Perdue’s and SACS’ concerns,” Secretary Handel said.

Posted by Jason at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The Georgia House rejected a constitutional amendment that would make English the official language of the state. I'm sure DA King's head exploded when he read the news:

House Resolution 413 needed 120 yes votes to clear the chamber and head to the Senate. Only 103 House members voted for the measure, while 61 representatives voted against it. The measure failed after nearly an hour of debate. Supporters, including the bill's sponsor, state Rep. Tim Bearden (R-Villa Rica) argued that the bill had been misinterpreted by critics.

Opponents warned the proposed constitutional amendment, if enacted, could create a host of unintended consequences. They also said the proposal was unnecessary because English has already been designated the state's official language. Some criticized it as an election-year stunt. "I would like to think the General Assembly is anxious to speak with constituents and share our victories in addressing the water crisis, helping families keep their homes, spurring economic growth, providing health care coverage for children of working families, improving our educational performance," said state Rep. Pedro Marin (D-Duluth), "... instead of wasting our time on cheap symbolism and dime store legislation."

Anyway, Bearden put the House on notice that he would move to reconsider the resolution tomorrow. I'm hoping for a similar result.

Since this obviously has to do with immigration, I saw this video earlier and it goes well with this post. This is former US House Majority Leader Dick Armey speaking about immigration:

Posted by Jason at 08:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

"[T]he leaders of Georgia have assembled like the Children of Israel in the desert, grumbled among themselves and have begun to cast longing eyes toward the north, coveting their neighbor’s assets..." - Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield

The Mayor of Chattanooga has a sense of humor:

The city of Chattanooga, facing a possible Georgia land grab as part of an effort to get access to the Tennessee River, is sending a truck load of bottled water to Atlanta.

Mayor Ron Littlefield said the water will be delivered on Wednesday by his aide Matt Lea wearing a coonskin cap.

The mayor has officially proclaimed Feb. 27, 2008, as “Give our Georgia Friends a Drink Day.” The proclamation comes as a result of the Georgia Legislature passing a joint resolution that seeks to pursue reestablishing the boundary between Georgia and Tennessee.

The truck load of bottled water along with the proclamation will be delivered to the Georgia Legislature Wednesday morning.

Posted by Jason at 06:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Henry Daily Herald published an article, County official and historian defend Nash Farm, on February 22, 2008. The article was a 'follow-up' to the investigative report aired on WSB-TV and posted at this site on February 18th. The following Letter to the Editor was published (print edition) February 26th.

This letter is in regard to the Nash property controversy. The evidence refutes stories published by Henry County at their battlefield website and calls into question certain aspects of the LAMAR Institute report. The county’s overlay maps, troop positions and engagement details are not supported by the seventeen historical references cited in my analysis. In each case details are dramatized or misstated, and locations moved east or north in order to place focus onto the Nash property.

The allegation my analysis was prompted by friendship with any political candidate is insulting. Last fall when I spoke with Mr. Mobley about his campaign, Mrs. Mathis had already endorsed his candidacy. I am not working for either campaign. It is regrettable that Mrs. Mathis chose to politicize rather than refute the facts and details of my analysis.

The county has not conferred upon me an official title. I do not reside on county property or hunt relics. I do not write dramatized stories about the perils of war, or receive compensation from the county. Nor am I seeking elected office. Perhaps my credentials are not sufficient to challenge the County’s version of history.

My analysis cites established historical texts, official records and maps, portions of the LAMAR report and Mr. Evans’ book “Sherman’s Horsemen” to prove location, distance and direction of troop placements near Lovejoy. The 60-page analysis has been published at a local website for two months, and is also available in printed form.

I am seeking reversal of the designation as a battlefield. The integrity of the board of commissioners is at stake. It is therefore incumbent upon the County to refute my analysis, not with compensated opinion, but with established historical documentation.

Regarding the post, LAMAR Institute Report to the BoC, a detailed query was sent to Mr. Dan Elliott at the LAMAR Institute, to which no response has been received.

Copies of the analysis have also been delivered to The Georgia Historical Society, The Georgia Battlefields Association and Henry County's real Historian, Mr. Gene Morris. It will be most interesting to receive any comments and opinions from these sources.

Posted by Larry Stanley at 04:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

Tennessee lawmakers are not amused with border issue:

Tennessee lawmakers introduced a resolution Monday that criticizes the Georgia General Assembly’s attempts to reopen a 190-year boundary dispute between the two states as an “ill-conceived” and “heinous assault on the sovereignty of Tennessee.”

The resolution, sponsored by House Majority Leader Gary Odom, D-Nashville, says the Tennessee General Assembly “refuses to participate in the Boundary Line Commission purportedly established by the Georgia General Assembly, or any similar commission established for such purpose.”
[...]
“What I thought was a joke has turned out to be rather disturbing,” Rep. Odom said. “I thought it was important that the Tennessee General Assembly declare that we would not engage in any talks with Georgia regarding giving them a piece of Tennessee. That would be absurd.”

The Georgia/Tennessee game should be fun this year. Personally, I'd like to see the Governors of the two states solve it by holding sack races, best two out of three.

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

The trade deadline is at 3pm. I expect the Thrashers will trade Marian Hossa today. However, Hossa isn't the only Thrasher rumored to be on the block.

As an aside, I've been meaning to post this video for a while. It's an Amp energy drink commercial featuring goalies Ryan Miller and Jean-Sebastien Aubin. It's hilarious.

[3:04pm] Hossa and Pascal Dupuis were traded to Pittsburgh for Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Angelo Esposito and draft pick. The Thrashers were in immediate need of defense players, but they got some younger players and a prospect.

Posted by Jason at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I was somewhat willing to forgive Ron Paul over the newsletter controversy, but I can't forgive this. It would seem he has embraced racism.

Posted by Jason at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Could there be a fight over Sunday sales in the State Senate tomorrow?:

There could be a showdown in the state Senate on Tuesday over Sunday liquor sales. The Senate will vote on a bill to legalize alcohol sales at the stadium for the Braves' new Gwinnett County farm team.

But, Sunday sales backers could try to attach an amendment legalizing Sunday alcohol sales in any Georgia city or county where voters say "yes."
[...]
The Georgia Christian Coalition has a new page on its website, where opponents can tell their lawmakers to vote no. Coalition president Jim Beck said the group will base election endorsements on the Sunday sales vote, if it happens.

Now, both sides are playing hardball.

At last check, supporters of Sunday sales were still counting to see if they have the votes to try to legalize Sunday sales statewide.

Posted by Jason at 09:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Posted by Jason at 07:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Here is South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford speaking on principle:

Posted by Jason at 06:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

The father of Christian rock, Larry Norman, has passed away:

Larry Norman, the father of Christian rock music, passed away early Sunday morning in his Corpus Christi, TX home. He was 60 years old.

Norman wrote a farewell letter, telling his close friends, family and fans that he loved them. According to his website, Norman died of heart failure around 2:45am Sunday morning, while in the arms of his wife Christine and his brother Charles.

Both Christine and Charles issued letters, detailing their grief and last hours with Norman.

Norman has long been associated with what has been referred to as the Jesus People movement of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.

Norman began recording in 1966 and recorded numerous albums. Norman’s first album, I Love You, recorded when he was the lead singer for the group People!, was released in 1968.

In 2001 Norman was inducted into the Gospel Music Association’s (GMA) Hall of Fame as a solo artist. In 2007 Norman was inducted into the San Jose Rock Hall of Fame in California, both as a member of People!, and as a solo artist.

Posted by Jason at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tax Hike Mike stalled disaster relief legislation for a week because it referred to natural disasters as "acts of God":

The bill barred Arkansas insurance companies from denying coverage to victims of "acts of God," the legal term for natural disasters. It was introduced after a series of tornadoes ravaged the state in early March 1997, killing 25 and injuring more than 400.

Huckabee refused to sign the bill, complaining that referring to catastrophic storms as "acts of God" was incompatible with his personal faith.

"While I realize that to some this is a minor issue, it is a matter of deep conscience with me to attribute in law a destructive and deadly force as being an 'act of God , '" he said at the time.

Rather than exercise his veto, the governor sent the bill back to the state legislature, suggesting that they change "acts of God" to "natural disasters." The Arkansas House of Representatives disagreed and voted 93-0 to pass the bill again with its original language.
[...]
Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, is often accused by critics of injecting an unhealthy dose of religion into his politics. He cites God frequently in his speeches and has said he would like to "amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards."

Posted by Jason at 08:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

My good friend, Ben Brandon, is in the news concerning the border war with Tennessee:

Ben Brandon, chief executive of Dade County, Ga., whose northern boundary would be moved to the middle of the Tennessee River if Georgia gets its way, said the scheme has been in the works for some time.

Brandon said he began pushing for access to the Tennessee about three years ago when he realized that tapping the river for its water could become a big public works project. The Atlanta engineering firm of Brown and Caldwell has been advising the county on water issues since 2005.
[...]
Brandon said that Tennessee's resistance to taking the issue more seriously is a bad strategy. "Rather than trying to stonewall, they need to sit down with us and work this out ... because it's not going to go away."

Nevertheless, you will not meet a more genuine and honest person than Ben Brandon.

Posted by Jason at 07:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

US Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) said what many of us have been thinking for the past five years:

"I will tell you personally that I think it was probably a mistake going to Iraq," said the freshman senator, who made it clear he did not believe the U.S. could withdraw but had to stay.

What was unclear was when exactly Coburn changed his position on the controversial war, what led to that change and why he chose to reveal it at a town hall meeting back in the state as opposed to in front of a wider audience.

Posted by Jason at 06:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

WSB-TV has another example of government waste. This story is about how taxpayers paid nearly $200,000 to finance a Georgia Tech study on walking habits for Sprint.

Posted by Jason at 02:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last week the Judiciary Committee in the State Senate backed a measure that would make it tougher to obtain a "no-knock warrant":

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Vincent Fort, (D) Atlanta, would require officers who want to use so-called "no-knock" search warrants to go to a judge and prove that there is probable cause to believe that the officers' lives would be in danger if they knocked first, or that there is probable cause to believe that evidence inside the home would be destroyed -- such as drugs being flushed down a toilet -- if they knocked first.

"For the government to go into your house, they ought to be held to a higher standard," Fort said. "To go into your house without knocking, they ought to be held to a real high standard."

You can view the legislation here.

Posted by Jason at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Ralph Nader is running for President:

Ralph Nader said Sunday he will run for president as a third-party candidate, criticizing the top White House contenders as too close to big business and pledging to repeat a bid that will "shift the power from the few to the many."
[...]
"You take that framework of people feeling locked out, shut out, marginalized and disrespected," he said. "You go from Iraq, to Palestine to Israel, from Enron to Wall Street, from Katrina to the bumbling of the Bush administration, to the complicity of the Democrats in not stopping him on the war, stopping him on the tax cuts."

"In that context, I have decided to run for president," Nader told NBC's "Meet the Press."

Posted by Jason at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A few people have brought up that John McCain may not be eligible for the presidency because he was born in the Panama Canal Zone. It is a ridiculous argument, but it deserves to be addressed.

Among the qualifications for the presidency is this paragraph:

No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States.

The United States Citizens and Immigration Services website should settle the issue:

Citizenship is one of the most coveted gifts that the U.S. government can bestow, and the most important immigration benefit that USCIS can grant. Most people become U.S. citizens in one of two ways:

• By birth, either within the territory of the United States or to U.S. citizen parents, or
• By Naturalization.

Posted by Jason at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I went to the bookstore the other day after buying a new power chord for my laptop. I picked up Imperial Hubris by Michael Scheuer. I had read some of it before, but never got around to finishing it. I also noticed that Scheuer has a new book out called Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq.

Scheuer was chief of the CIA's Bin Laden Unit. If you want an interesting perspective on foreign policy, both pre and post-9/11, I'd urge you pick up a copy of any one of his three books.

Posted by Jason at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here is a pointless fact. Cuba has no golf courses. Do you know why?:

In 1962, Mr. Castro lost a round of golf to Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who had been a caddy in his Argentine hometown before he became a guerrilla icon. Mr. Castro's defeat may have had disastrous consequences for the sport. He had one Havana golf course turned into a military school, another into an art school. A journalist who wrote about the defeat of Cuba's Maximum Leader, who was a notoriously bad loser, was fired the next day.

And as an aside, John McCain said something that I completely agree with:

"Fidel Castro announced that he would not remain as president -- whatever that means," McCain said in Indianapolis.

"And I hope that he has the opportunity to meet Karl Marx very soon.

Posted by Jason at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In keeping with the theme of my column this week, I wanted to point out what could possibly lie ahead for Georgia Republicans if they continue to pursue their tax-and-spend course. The article is called How to Turn a Red State Blue from February of 2006 and it appeared in the Wall Street Journal. It describes why Republicans lost control in Virginia:

Republicans in that ostensibly "red" Southern state got their clocks cleaned in November's elections after they refused to take a coherent stand on taxes, and Democrat Tim Kaine squeezed to their right on pocketbook issues. As GOP state senator Ken Cuccinelli explained, "We ran on a message of almost being for tax cuts, almost for smaller government, almost for protecting Second Amendment rights, and almost being pro-life. As a result, the voters almost came out and voted for us."

And they apparently have learned nothing from that rout. When the legislature reconvened last month, the first proposal from the majority Republicans in the state senate was to endorse a $1 billion tax hike for roads and transit projects -- the second huge tax increase in two years. The GOP plan would increase auto fees, the gas and diesel tax, and even taxes on batteries and tires. This is the same party that last won the governorship under Jim Gilmore in 1997 promising to abolish the very car taxes they now want to increase.
[...]
These tax-hike proposals keep coming despite a state revenue office report that Virginia now has a $2 billion biennial budget surplus. As a high-tech state, Virginia has been a huge beneficiary of the expansion spurred by the Bush investment tax cuts. But the entrenched senate Republicans -- many of whom have been fixtures in the capital of Richmond for decades -- want to spend the tax windfall and then some.

A Virginia Institute for Public Policy study notes that, over the past decade, the state budget has swollen at twice the rate of inflation plus population growth in the state. That's an $11 billion bonanza for state agencies, or about $500 more spending annually per Virginian. It's true that roads have been neglected during these high-spending years, causing some of the worst pockets of traffic gridlock in the country. But that's because state pols spent like crazy on social services and schools -- though student achievement tests show virtually no gains.

Posted by Jason at 04:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Hilarious...

H/T: Reason

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

State Sen. Eric Johnson sent out an op-ed this morning concerning SB 458, the school voucher bill for failing school systems:

Hold on children. Help is on the way!

53,000 children in a single County in Georgia are on the verge of having their future threatened by the inappropriate actions of their Board of Education. If the Clayton County Schools lose their accreditation, there will be no Pre-K funds or HOPE Scholarships available for the children. Transcripts will be invalid. College applications will be thrown in the trash. This is a disaster.

The State Constitution mandates that schools are under the jurisdiction of locally elected school boards. That prevents the Governor or the State Department of Education from moving in – even temporarily – with new management. So, unless the Board members resign and new elections take place and they dramatically change their ways, the children are penalized. It’s unfair.

The State Senate is considering a lifeline for the parents of these children. SB 458 would require that the state funding for each child be offered to the parents as a scholarship that can be used to transfer the child to any public or private school that will accept the student. We estimate that the scholarship will be worth about $4,150 in Clayton County. That will cover a significant portion of private school tuition.

Clayton’s children aren’t the only ones being placed at risk by poorly run school administrators. There are 19 schools in Georgia that have been on the Needs Improvement” list for 7 or 8 years in a row. It is time to admit that the children in the schools need help and the time for excuses has run out. SB 458 would also require scholarships be offered to these children as well.

Some say this violates the principle of local control. But, if the local elected officials have clearly failed in their duties, real local control should shift to the parents. This is their money. These are their children. And they should have the right to choose the best educational environment for your child – particularly when the system has clearly failed.

If the Titanic was sinking and there weren’t enough lifeboats, we would put the children in them first. Save the children first and then worry about who hit the iceberg!

Posted by Jason at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The U.S. Attorney's office in Arizona has indicted Rep. Rick Renzi on federal fraud charges relating to an alleged illegal land deal.

And for the where are they now file:

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, remains under criminal indictment in Texas.

In separate inquiries, the Feds also aren probing the top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif.; Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif.; Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska; and Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. Stevens is the most senior Republican in the Senate.

Posted by Chris at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last week I was offered the opportunity to write a weekly column for The Covington News. I jumped at the chance.

My column will appear every Friday in the opinion section.

You can view my first column here.

Posted by Jason at 05:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Hey, Larry...your post regarding the Barrow County Brain Train resolution is on this week's "Friday Facts" from the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.

Posted by Jason at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here is a great cartoon from the Politico:

Posted by Jason at 06:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There was a scary moment for three US Senators today in Afghanistan:

Helicopters carrying three senior U.S. senators made emergency landings Thursday in the mountains of Afghanistan because of a snowstorm.

Sens. John Kerry, Joseph Biden and Chuck Hagel were aboard the aircraft. No one was injured, according a statement from Kerry's office. The senators and their delegation returned to Bagram Air Base in a motor convoy, and have left for Turkey.

"After several hours, the senators were evacuated by American troops and returned overland to Bagram Air Base, and left for their next scheduled stop in Ankara, Turkey," the Kerry statement said. "Sen. Kerry thanks the American troops, who were terrific as always and who continue to do an incredible job in Afghanistan."

Posted by Jason at 06:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bad news for Hillary Clinton's campaign:

Hillary Rodham Clinton ended January with $7.6 million in debt — not including the $5 million personal loan she gave to her campaign in the run-up to the critical Super Tuesday elections, according to financial reports released Wednesday.
[...]
According to the reports, Clinton raised about $20 million in January, including her loan. She spent nearly $29 million during the month.

She reported a cash balance of $29 million. But more than $20 million of that is money dedicated to the general election. Her personal loan accounts for more than half of the remaining approximately $9 million, leaving just about $4 million in cash raised from donors.

But even that money is illusionary when measured against the reported $7.6 million in debts.

More than $2 million of the red ink is owed to chief consultant and adviser, Mark Penn. But the lengthy laundry list of IOUs also includes unpaid bills ranging from insurance coverage, phone banking, printing and catering at events in Iowa, New Hampshire and California.

Tonight's debate should have some fireworks.

Posted by Jason at 05:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Belgrade protesters break into US embassy. Apparently, they are protesting US recognition of Kosovo's independence. FOX News is reporting that the embassy has been evacuated and the fires have been put out.

Posted by Prudie at 02:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Navy scores direct hit on Satellite. Good for us.

Somewhere, Reagan is laughing at "Star Wars" skeptics.

[Cross posted at my blog.]

Posted by Prudie at 07:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Ron Paul's campaign manager says that rumors of his canddate's demise are greatly exaggerated:

Peden is NOT leading Dr. Paul in this race. In fact, most voters still don't even know who Peden is. How do I know this? Because I am Ron Paul's campaign manager and I have personally overseen 4 different political surveys in district 14 in recent weeks. All 4 surveys have shown the same results: Ron Paul has a high favorable rating and high marks on his job approval. And if the election were held today, 60+ percent of the GOP voters say they would vote to reelect Ron Paul, while only 18-20% chose Peden. The remaining 20% or so say they are undecided or refuse to give an answer to these scientific and statistically accurate surveys.

Posted by Jason at 06:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain mirrors The West Wing election between the characters Matt Santos and Arnold Vinick:

[T]here are several similarities between that show and the current campaign, but let’s all hope that the Democratic Party rallies behind Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) or Barack Obama (Ill.) before Martin Sheen has to be called back into service to pick the nominee.

The clearest similarity is between Barack Obama and Jimmy Smits’ character, Matt Santos, the principled three-term Mexican American congressman from Texas. Just like Santos, Obama is tall, young and brown with a smart attractive wife and a couple of small children. Nobody gave Santos much credit as a presidential candidate because of his short congressional career, but after some early stumbles the people fell in love with his vision and judgment.
[...]
Then there is Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who is perfectly filling the role Alan Alda played, Arnold Vinick, the older maverick Republican senator from the West (California in the show). Due to his willingness to buck Republican Party orthodoxy from time to time, Sen. McCain, like Alda’s Vinick has trouble with the right wingers who are accustomed to having much more influence with the GOP nominee.

Posted by Jason at 11:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

[UPDATE 2/22/2008]From the Daily Herald article:

"This is a society that likes to get caught up in government conspiracy theories," said Mathis. "This park provides good quality recreation, the historical value only adds to it."

[UPDATE 2/21/08] In response to a request sent to the board of commissioners, Chairman Harper made the following response:

It is not my intention (nor that of the board to my knowledge) for the county to issue any press release nor hold any press conference. If any of this is done, then it is being done independent of the county by this group or individuals.

Jason

Thanks,
Cassie

Press Release – for immediate release

In reference to the recent report on Channel 2, the Friends of Nash Farm Battlefield felt it necessary to publish a rebuttal. Channel 2 omitted a lot of very important facts that fill in the gaps. Like a puzzle, without these pieces you have an unfinished picture. It is unfortunate that individuals like to distort the truth for their own gain. Primary sources document that this was a battle site, along with secondary sources from today.

First of all, the report did not mention that “Kilpatrick’s Raid” was a running battle, not a “fixed” battle like they tried to make it appear. Kilpatrick’s Cavalry did begin their fight at Lovejoy, and then continued eastwards, across the fields of Nash Farm. Channel 2 did not bring to light that an independent firm, Lamar Institute, in March of 2007 excavated over 1,100 military artifacts on Nash Farm. This archaeological study revealed Kilpatrick’s saber charge did take place on the property. This is also supported by Dr. David Evans, author of Sherman’s Horsemen and the leading authority on cavalry operations during the Atlanta Campaign in 1864.

The Civil War Preservation Trust in 2007 placed the additional acreage in Clayton County as one of the top 25 most endangered Civil War battlefields in the nation. They mention that the cavalry battle of Lovejoy's Station, Georgia took place on August 20, 1864 and state, “Although Henry County, GA purchased 204 acres of land at this key battle of the Atlanta Campaign, crucial portions of the field remain unprotected in neighboring Clayton County. Like all of the burgeoning Atlanta suburbs, the area is highly vulnerable to development.” For more information about this organization or their stance on the battlefield, The Civil War Preservation Trust, 1331 H Street N.W. Suite 1001, Washington, D.C. 20005 or info@civilwar.org. In addition to this Civil War Sites Advisory Commission shows that nothing remains of the former battlefield except what has been preserved at Nash Farm.

Many local and state historians and historical organizations support the fact that a cavalry battle DID take place on Nash Farm. There is plenty of other supporting documentation that has not been mentioned but is listed on the website www.henrycountybattlefield.com. It is hard to believe that a person or persons can convince not only the Henry County Commission, but other historical entities that a battle occurred where it did not. If the individuals who assert that this is a bogus claim would be willing, Friends of Nash Farm Battlefield would host a debate forum open to the public with both sides presenting their documentation.

Battlefields of all American wars fought on her soil have and are disappearing across the country. Once these lands are developed, there is no way to get back their original setting. We can and should balance progress with battlefield preservation. The park will bring tourist into the county and that in turn will help our economy. Heritage Tourism is big business in Georgia and is one of the major contributors to the economy, especially with the sesquicentennial of the war fast approaching. Nash Farm Battlefield is not only a great site for the historically minded, but green space for the county to use in many different aspects. The Friends of Nash Farm Battlefield support the commissioners’ decision to purchase the 204 known as Nash Farm battlefield.

Written By Cassie A. Barrow

This public relations spin including the artifacts & Lamar Institute - in my humble opinion - is pure bunk! "... this key battle of the Atlanta Campaign (to include Nash property) was denounced by Mr. Paul Hawke of the NPS who headed the 1993 Civil War Site Survey, work in the 1980s by the Atlanta Historical Society and the fact neither the Georgia Historical Society nor the Georgia Battlefields Association were involved in placing Nash's historical marker. As for Mr. Evans's awesome work, Sherman's Horsement, I strongly suggest the Friends of Nash find someone to read it to them - slowly - so they will understand what was actually written.

Side note:
Anyone interested in my bound 60-page analysis detailing publications written by Mr. Pollard, the actual Battle of Lovejoy's Station & Kilpatrick's Charge, and the real actions on September 2-5, 1864, I am asking only for reimbursement of cost for paper & ink.

Posted by Larry Stanley at 09:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (53)

Here is an interesting analysis from Rasmussen Reports on how Barack Obama's campaign may turn independent voters away from his campaign if he wins the nomination:

Far from the pumped-up Obama rallies, centrists who voted for John Kerry last time now say they are considering John McCain -- especially if the Democrat is the vaporous Obama. At least that's what many are telling me -- and I'm telling myself.
[...]
The notion that many Clinton voters cannot be easily transferred to Obama contradicts much "expert" opinion. But a Super Tuesday exit poll suggested there is something to it. While 52 percent of Obama's supporters were amenable to a Clinton candidacy, only 49 percent of Clinton voters said they'd be happy with the Illinois senator, according to the survey by Harvard University's Institute of Politics.

And at that time, the news media were still lavishing love on Obama. That situation is about to end. "He's the fashion plate of the moment," an editorial page editor remarked, "but fashion week is over."

Sophisticated commentary now notes the growing creepiness of the Obama campaign: Its aversion to substantive policy discussions. The sermonizing -- "In the face of despair, we believe there can be hope." And the messianic bit -- "At this moment in the election there is something happening in America." (That would be he.)

Volunteer trainees at Camp Obama are told not to talk issues with voters, but to offer personal testimony about how they "came" to Obama. Makes the skin crawl.

Centrists generally do not find cults of personality entertaining. The mass hypnosis reminds them of the mortgage frenzy -- all these people buying into a dream and not caring about the fine print.

The Republican Party, meanwhile, has given them a choice. This is despite the best efforts of its right wing to pick a candidate against whom any Democrat would be better. And the more the radicals beat up on the Arizona senator, the more he looks like a contender to moderate Democrats.

Obama has been accused of not going very deep into policy issues. The criticisms are valid. He is relying on his empty rhetoric to lead him to a win in November. It won't happen unless he can be much more specific on his plans, but if he is more specific he will pegged as just another big government liberal.

Here is an example...in his victory speech yesterday, Obama said the following:

If you are ready for change, if you're really ready, then we can start restoring some balance to our economy. I believe in the free market. I know Texans believe in entrepreneurship. We are an independent and a self-reliant people. We don't believe in government doing what we can do for ourselves.

But when we've got CEOs making more in 10 minutes than ordinary workers are making in a year and it's the CEOs who are getting a tax break and workers are left with nothing, then something is wrong, and something has to change.

I want to take away those tax breaks to companies that are shipping jobs overseas. We're going to give them to companies that invest right here in America.

And we're going to rollback those Bush tax cuts that went to all the wealthy people, and we're going to give tax cuts to ordinary families, people who are making less than $75,000. We will offset your payroll tax.
[...]
And I will raise the minimum wage not every 10 years, but to keep pace with inflation, because if you work in America you should not be poor. And that's a goal that we should set for ourselves when I am president of the United States of America.

Some on the left are already suffering from buyer's remorse. I don't know what will happen in November, but Obama's nomination could prove to be a liability for Democrats.

Posted by Jason at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Reading the post below titled Empty Rhetoric I was reminded of the following information posted at the Henry County website for District 2 - Commissioner Elizabeth "BJ" Mathis:

Sons of Confederate Veterans Honors Commissioner Mathis

District 2 Commissioner Elizabeth ‘B.J.’ Mathis was recently awarded the Sons of Confederate Veterans’ (SCV) General Stephen D. Lee Award in appreciation of the work she did to preserve the Nash Farm Battlefield. The honor was presented during the Grand Banquet at the Sons of Confederate Veterans’ Annual Reunion in New Orleans, Louisiana on August 5, 2006.

Considered the SCV’s highest civilian award, the General Stephen D. Lee Award is presented to those who champion the cause of the organization’s mission to preserve the true history of the south for future generations.

The plaque which accompanied the Award reads, “Through her dedication and hard work, (Elizabeth Mathis) was able to preserve the last battlefield of the Atlanta Campaign on which

Lt. General Stephen D. Lee also fought. Elizabeth Mathis has been a guardian to the Confederate soldier’s history. She has emulated their virtues, and brought honor to herself and our Confederate Ancestors.”

“Being the recipient of such a prestigious award was truly an honor for me,” said Commissioner Mathis after receiving the award. “It is also a tribute to the Board of Commissioners and the many volunteers who have worked to preserve from the bulldozer this hallowed ground.”

The Battlefield is a 202 acre tract that was on the verge of becoming the site to 399 homes when the Henry County Board of Commissioners, upon learning the history of this parcel, purchased the land from the developer for $8 million. In so doing, Henry County became one of very few counties in the nation to run a historic preservation site. And the Board forever saved from the bulldozer not only one of last remaining intact battlefields in the United States, but one of the most significant. The Nash Farm battlefield was the site of a major cavalry engagement and battle in August of 1864 that was part of a series of engagements that occurred during the Civil War collectively called the Battle of Atlanta. This battle was the largest cavalry raid, charge and breakthrough in Georgia’s Civil War history and they marked the end of the Atlanta Campaign.

Posted by Larry Stanley at 08:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Sorry to post so many videos today, but this is a great parody of the empty rhetoric coming from Barack Obama.

H/T: Below the Beltway

Posted by Jason at 07:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have much respect for State Sen. David Shafer, and I don't disagree with what they are trying to do, but I think this is ridiculous because Tennessee is never going to agree with it.

For more background on this you can read this article from the AJC.

Posted by Jason at 06:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With the passage of the Charter Systems Act by the Georgia General Assembly, residents of Clayton County should take note:

Posted by Jason at 06:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is hilarious. Chris Matthews from Hardball asks Texas State Sen. Kirk Watson, an Obama supporter, to name his candidate's legislative accomplishments. It's like a deer and headlights.

H/T: Club for Growth

Posted by Jason at 04:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

There is more talk of school vouchers in the wake of the problems with the school board in Clayton County:

Princess Wooten knows some of her kindergarten students at Lee Street Elementary may not come back to school in Clayton County next year.

Wooten said a bill pertaining to school-choice, tax-credit scholarships, which is currently being reviewed in the state House of Representatives, could be popular with Clayton County parents. The teacher's belief is based on a Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) recommendation to revoke the accreditation of Clayton County schools.
[...]
The bill, which is under review by the state House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee, would establish a program where Georgia taxpayers could elect to have a credit against their taxes, which would go into a fund for private school scholarships for students who are enrolled in poor-performing public schools.

A single person would qualify for a $1,000 tax credit, while a married couple would qualify for a $2,500 tax credit. There would be a $50 million cap set on how much could be in the scholarship fund at any given time. The scholarships would be administered by non-profit scholarship organizations, which are recognized by the Georgia Department of Education.

The situation in Clayton County presents an ideal opportunity for the school choice movement to take hold and show the power of choice in the marketplace. There is no way that vouchers can make school in Clayton any worse. There is only room for improvement. Vouchers will bring accountability to the school system through competition.

The time is right, our legislators need to seize the moment.

Posted by Jason at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Sunday Sales issue won't go away:

One week ago, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle's office might have been justified in saying there hadn't been "any kind of broad expression of support for a vote on Sunday alcohol sales this year." As his spokeswoman told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for a Monday story, his office had been contacted just several dozen times on the issue in the past two weeks.

Today, however, if Cagle and any other legislators who'd rather not see Senate Bill 138 revived for the current state legislative session care to take a look at the Web site www.petitiononline.com/GASB138/petition.html, they'll find the names of more than 9,000 Georgians who want to be given the opportunity to vote on whether they should be allowed to buy alcohol when they're doing their grocery shopping on Sunday afternoon.

One thing that does bother me about the debate is that this is the only "political" issue most of the people who signed the petition will ever be involved in.

With that said, I signed it. I encourage you to do the same.

Posted by Jason at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

States that have primaries tonight are Hawaii, Washington and Wisconsin.

Tonight is a big night for Hillary Clinton. Polls in Wisconsin close in 45 minutes. I'll post results as they come in.

[9:07pm] McCain is projected to win Wisconsin. Exit polls indicate that Obama will beat Clinton there, but no one has called it yet.

[9:12pm] McCain is giving his speech right now. He is taking some shots at Obama. Basically saying that Obama is naive on foreign policy and not experienced enough to be President.

[9:25pm] News agencies are projecting Wisconsin for Obama.

[10:33pm] You can watch the part of McCain's speech about Obama here. I think I'm going to head to bed, so I won't be posting about the primaries of the Left West coast.

[7:04am] McCain took Washington and Obama won Hawaii last night. No word on who won Washington on the Democratic side last night.

Posted by Jason at 08:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In 2006 the Board of Commissioners made appointments to the various boards and authorities working under the auspices of county government. Perhaps the right person has not been asked. What do these people do?

HENRY COUNTY BOARDS AND AUTHORITIES

Battlefield Committee

Mary Ann Cofer, Chairman’s Appointee
Diane Chumbley, District I Appointee
Charlie Rice - Re-Enactor/Military Props, District II Appointee
James Pollard — Re-Enactor/Local Business Owner, District III Appointee
David Ellis — Professional Musician, District IV Appointee
Roy Swann — Genealogist Clayton/Henry, District V Appointee

* Elizabeth “BJ” Mathis - Commissioner Board Representative

Art Hammond - CEO First Georgia Community Bank, Henry & Spalding County
Business Community
Kelly Barrow - History Teacher Luella Middle School, Author of “Black Confederates”
Educator/GA Civil War Commission
Pat Padgett - Docent/Living History
Scott Gilbert - Lecturer/Living History Orator
Mark Pollard - Civil War Historian for Henry County
Jams Hamm - Henry County Clean & Beautiful

* Sarah Robbins - CVB Tourism Director
*Wanda Moore - Landscape DW Smith Design
*Julie Rodgers - Events Coordinator
*Tony St. Cyr - Media SBN 17 & 22
*John Gilbert - Media
*Fred Aldolphus - Museum Curator

Posted by Larry Stanley at 06:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Henry County has hired a Special Events Coordinator to work in the Parks and Recreation Department. The position was apparently advertised as legally required and 19 people applied. Of all the people who submitted an application, one stood out as most qualified and best suited for this taxpayer-funded job: Mr. Gerry Adams.

Yes, that Gerry Adams, the former Henry County Commissioner.

It is difficult to imagine the process involved at the county human resources department, or to know the qualifications of the other 18 people who were supposedly interviewed. But this hiring decision certainly does not rise above the appearance of cronyism and political influence.

Posted by Larry Stanley at 06:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Rep. Steve Davis posted at his blog:

I thought this would be of interest to all of you! Also please watch the video about transportation taxes on my website www.steve-davis.org/blog

Gentlemen:

We appreciate your service and representation of Barrow County. Please find attached a copy of a resolution passed last night at the Barrow GOP meeting concerning the proposed Brain Train from Atlanta-to-Athens.

We would appreciate your support for Rep. Steve Davis' proposal to require voter referendum approval for raising taxes on new mass transit. I'm not sure the number. If you have any questions, please contact me. We are thankful for the opportunity to voice our position.

While some are in favor of the Brain Train proposal, our survey showed 79.4 percent oppose higher taxes to subsidize the Barrow portion of the Atlanta-to-Athens train. At a minimum, the voters should decide if they want to raise their taxes for it. Thanks.

Ken Young
Chairman
Barrow County Republican Party

Posted by Larry Stanley at 06:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

On this day is American history, FDR signed the executive order to send more than a hundred thousand Japanese-Americans in internment camps. FDR's actions weren't limited to Americans of Japanese decent. German and Italian Americans were also interred during World War II.

Posted by Jason at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

These people are nuts.

H/T: Below the Beltway

Posted by Jason at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Fidel Castro has resigned:

An ailing, 81-year-old Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba's president Tuesday after nearly a half-century in power, saying he will not accept a new term when parliament meets Sunday.
[...]
"My wishes have always been to discharge my duties to my last breath," Castro wrote in a letter published Tuesday in the online edition of the Communist Party daily Granma. But, he wrote, "it would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer."
[...]
Castro remains a member of parliament and is likely to be elected to the 31-member Council of State on Sunday, though he will no longer be its president. Raul Castro's wife, Vilma Espin, maintained her council seat until her death last year even though she was too sick to attend meetings for many months.

The resignation opens the path for Raul Castro's succession to the presidency, and the full autonomy he has lacked in leading a caretaker government. The younger Castro has raised expectations among Cubans for modest economic and other reforms, stating last year that the country requires unspecified "structural changes" and acknowledging that government wages that average about $19 (euro13) a month do not satisfy basic needs.

Admittedly, this is not the news I wanted to hear. I was hoping that Castro had joined Che Guevara in hell where he is paying for the murders of those that died at his hands, as well as those that died indirectly.

Bush's comments about elections and "democracy" are nothing new, but he should ask Congress to open trade and normal relations with Cuba. That is the best way to export our way of life.

Posted by Jason at 07:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

[UPDATE 2/18/08] Watch the report here.

Mark Pollard says, "Anyone can get an historical marker; they're not hard to get." Paul Hawke quoted as saying there is no evidence the Nash property was involved.

[Original Post]
WSB-TV will air an investigative report on Henry County's Nash Farm on Monday, February 18th during the 6:00pm news hour.

Nobody has seen the presentation yet, but it is expected to provide a fair hearing of the issues. Both Mark Pollard, Henry's official Civil War historian, and myself were interviewed. WSB conducted research and interviews including Paul Hawke at the National Park Service, who was in charge of the 1993 Civil War Sites survey, and others.

Posted by Larry Stanley at 08:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)

Congressman Paul Broun has signed on as a co-sponsor of the FairTax:

Congressman Paul Broun recently announced his co-sponsorship of H.R. 25, the "FairTax Act of 2007." This bi-partisan legislation, which was introduced by Rep. John Linder (RGA) and Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK), repeals all corporate and individual income taxes, payroll taxes, self-employment taxes, capital gains taxes, and gift taxes in favor of the simpler, consumption-based FairTax. The FairTax would be collected at the point of sale, and its adoption would allow for the elimination of the excessively bureaucratic and needlessly intrusive Internal Revenue Service.

"Adopting the FairTax and eliminating the Internal Revenue Service are ideas whose times have come," said Broun. "For too long the American people have been asked to comply with an incomprehensible, loophole riddled, lobbyist friendly income tax code that makes it far too easy for innocent taxpayers to find themselves left to the mercy of a punitive Internal Revenue Service. By adopting the FairTax, we can turn the tables and empower taxpayers to control how much of their money they are willing to send to Washington while also eliminating the need for the IRS. Switching to the FairTax would stimulate our economy by promoting saving and by immediately lowering the embedded costs of all goods and services. The FairTax is good for the economy, and advances my goal of limiting the size and scope of government's reach into people's lives. I am proud to co-sponsor this legislation, and I commend Rep. Linder for leading the effort to pass it."

Congressman Broun is the 69th Member of Congress to agree to cosponsor this legislation.

Posted by Jason at 05:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

There is reaction coming out of Clayton County over the situation with the school board the likelihood of the school system losing accreditation:

If Clayton loses its accreditation, students will no longer be eligible for HOPE scholarships and will find it tougher to get into some colleges. HOPE, a state-administered financial aid program, requires applicants to have attended accredited schools. This year's graduating class would not be affected.

"I'm mad about it," said Riverdale resident Karen Ransey Washington as she led her two children, Brittney, 14, and Chrystopher, 11, to church at Divine Faith Ministries. Both youngsters attend Clayton schools.

"I want to know: Who dropped the ball?" Washington said. "Our poor children, they have enough to deal with; now this."
[...]
"Anywhere you go, that's what people talk about," he said, adding that his family is moving out of Clayton County, most likely to Atlanta or Decatur.

Booker's oldest son, James Booker Jr., 18, is a junior at Forest Park High School and a starting cornerback on the football team. The father fears his son won't get a football scholarship if he stays in Clayton and the school district loses its accreditation.

"(His teachers) are trying to talk me into not taking him out," the elder Booker said Sunday as the family left the 8 a.m. church service at Divine Faith, near the county courthouse on Tara Boulevard, Clayton's main drag. "I can't take that chance."
[...]
Hong Keo, 50, whose 15-year-old son attends a Clayton school, also is considering moving out the county. He's been worried about crime and, now, the school district. Henry County to the east, the current home of many former Clayton residents, is his preferred choice.

Keo's son, George, is a ninth-grader at Lovejoy High and is in the International Baccalaureate program.

What happened and why hasn't there been any change? Most of these parents need to take a good look in the mirror. I know that it's not easy raising a child. My mom did it as a single parent, while working two jobs at times to make ends meet. But most of the parents who are complaining are doing so far too late. You don't wait until the bomb drops to do something about a particular problem. Ultimate responsibility falls on the school board, that much is true...but these parents deserve some criticism as well.

If you want to see how some are reacting, visit here.

Posted by Jason at 04:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I apologize for the lack of updates this weekend. I relaxed and spent some time with Amanda, went to RuSan's and slept...a lot.

Here are some stories that I found interesting...
- Nancy Reagan Hospitalized After Falling
- For McCain, a Choice on a Role for Bush
- Clinton issues economic plan
- Belichick denies Patriots taped Rams' 2002 Super Bowl walk-through
- Che Guevara and the Obama Campaign
- Ron Paul, American Artifact
- 'Gun free zones' can be deadly
- Charlie Crist tipped as John McCain’s running mate

Posted by Jason at 07:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here is the latest George Romero masterpiece...Diary of the Dead.

And just for the hell of it, here is the movie that started the Dead series.

Posted by Jason at 09:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

“I’ll vote against every tax increase that comes along. It doesn’t matter whether its for transportation or trauma care. We need to work within the resources we have.” - State Rep. Mark Hatfield (R-Waycross)

Posted by Jason at 06:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

"Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have... a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean the characters and conduct of their rulers." - John Adams

This is the sad state of our society:

Americans apparently know more about “The Simpsons” than they do about the First Amendment.

Only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment.

But more than half can name at least two members of the cartoon family, according to a survey.

This kind of thing doesn’t bother me all that much. I’m much more disturbed by polls showing that people think the Bill of Rights goes too far in securing our freedoms. Or the common refrain, even among people who should know better, that we don’t have the freedom to do x because “it’s nowhere to be found in the Constitution.”

Can’t remember where I first read it, but I’ve seen it said in places that if the Bill of Rights were submitted to national vote today, it would lose in a landslide.

Posted by Jason at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The same series of questions was posed to Tommy Smith, candidate for Tax Commissioner, to which Mr. Curry already responded. Below is Mr. Smith's statement:

To the Citizens of Henry County,

My lifelong passion is public service. Andy Pipkin has served this county well and leaves a much respected Department. I would be honored to work with the staff he has assembled. Although most citizens don’t joyfully pay taxes, being elected Tax Commissioner would allow me to serve the citizens of Henry County in a courteous and efficient manner.

As Tax Commissioner, I plan to bring even better accessibility to the citizens of Henry County. We now have two satellite locations, one in Hampton and one in Locust Grove. I propose to offer additional satellite locations in Fairview, Ellenwood and Ola that would add to the convenience of the citizens in dealing with the office of the Tax Commissioner. Many of our citizens are not able to take care of their county business during regular business hours. I would work to offer extended and/or Saturday hours in alternating locations to better serve the public.

I would give citizens the opportunity to pay their taxes in person using a credit card. The transaction fee would have to be borne by the citizen electing this convenience but I believe that the option should be available.

As Tax Commissioner, my job would be to collect taxes imposed by governing authorities and to distribute these funds in a timely and efficient manner. There are several ways that a citizen can address taxes that they perceive as unfair. First, the Board of Tax Assessors is charged with the task of assessing property value. If a citizen believes the assessment is not accurate, there is an appeal process to be followed. If the citizen feels the assessment is fair but the tax assessed is excessive, they should contact the governing authority that sets the millage rate. The Tax Commissioner is an important liaison between the governing authority and the citizens. The Tax Commissioner accomplishes this task by sending timely notices of assessed taxes, diligently collecting the taxes due and providing that revenue collected for the services that are necessary for a community including fire and police, water, schools, hospitals and social services.

There are several bills being considered at the Capitol this session which will have an impact on taxes at the local level. Governor Purdue has proposed legislation to eliminate the State of Georgia’s portion of the ad valorem taxes. Although the savings would be small, this would be of benefit to the citizens of the county.

Another bill of particular interest this year is the proposal offered by House Speaker Richardson. The proposal is termed GREAT which stands for Georgia’s Repeal of Every Ad Valorem Tax. Although the idea of eliminating the ad valorem tax is appealing, there is no way to make up for the lost revenue other than additional sales tax. Of biggest concern to me and other citizens is that the state would collect the sales tax and then determine how the tax would be allocated among the counties. I believe that the decisions about how much money to collect and how it should be allocated is best left at the county level. Speaker Richardson has recently amended his plan to allow cities and counties to retain property taxes but would abolish school property taxes. I am not convinced there are enough safeguards to ensure that our public schools would receive their fair share of tax revenue. Although I applaud the effort of Speaker Richardson to adjust the tax structure, I am not convinced that his current proposal is the best solution.

Should you have any comments or questions, please e-mail or call me.

Thank you,

Tommy N. Smith
7 Fortson Drive
Hampton, Georgia 30228
tnssissy@yahoo.com
770-946-3278

Posted by Larry Stanley at 04:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has recommended that accreditation for Clayton County schools be revoked:

SACS said Friday it found significant concerns at all levels of the 52,800-student district.

The National Accreditation Commission will review SACS' findings and vote March 15 whether to strip Clayton of its accreditation.

"It is my belief that they will affirm the recommendations set forward and Clayton County will have their accreditation revoked as of Sept. 1," said Mark A. Elgart, presidents and chief executive officer of SACS.
[...]
A loss of accreditation would mean difficulty transferring to high schools in other districts, no HOPE scholarships and trouble getting into some universities for older students; no pre-kindergarten funding for younger ones, and reduced property values for residents.

This year's graduating class will not be affected, Elgart said.

Sen. Johnson sent out this statement on the news of SACS's findings:

"Today's announcement that Clayton County Schools are run so badly that they became the first system to ever lose their accreditation is a disaster. With the loss of accreditation, their students cannot receive HOPE scholarships, they may not be able to transfer their credits, and their college future is threatened. Those responsible for educating our children failed. The parents must take over. SB 458 offers them a lifeline - a voucher that can be used at any private school or a transfer to any public school that has room. We should pass this bill immediately before a single child sees their future dreams dashed."

Posted by Jason at 07:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Here is the latest specifics on the GlennTax:

In a nutshell, here is what would happen if the new plan passes the Legislature and wins voter approval:

* Effective Jan. 1, 2009, Georgians no longer would pay ad valorem taxes on their personal cars and trucks. The state would reimburse counties for the revenue they lose.

* Effective Jan. 1, 2010, Georgia homeowners no longer would pay school ad valorem taxes. School systems would continue to set millage rates and bills would be issued, but the state would reimburse them penny-for-penny for the amount they otherwise would have collected from homeowners.

So where does the state get the money?

* In 2009, Georgians will start paying state taxes again on groceries, and lottery tickets would be taxed.

* In 2010, consumers will start paying sales taxes on services they use, most of which are not now taxed. There will be no sales tax on services like medical, education, child care and business-to-business transactions.

The AJC has a list of the 174 services that would be taxed. I see all types of contractors, movie tickets, taxis, limos, recording studios, cable, cell phones, various banking activities, legal services, tax preparation services, rental services (video, electronic, etc.), trash service, various real estate and property services, sports event tickets, historical sites, museums, the zoo, golf course, car washes, barber shops, beauty salons, parking lots and garages...and "all other personal services."

I don't think he'll get the 120 votes, but with some arm twisting...who knows.

Any thoughts on the plan?

Posted by Jason at 03:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

US Rep. Phil Gingrey sent this out last night:

“I am proud to join my fellow conservatives as we stand behind Senator McCain in his bid to be the next President of the United States. Senator McCain has proven that he is one of the best friends small government has in this country, and has committed his career in public service to stopping wasteful government spending. As a war hero, no one has fought harder to protect America’s national security interests, or championed the cause of our nation’s veterans and men and women in uniform more than Senator McCain. Unlike Obama and Clinton, John McCain understands what our military needs to win and defeat the terrorists. Not only is he fully committed to this fight but he also has the experience, character and courage to be our next commander-in-chief. I believe John McCain is ready to lead America to victory.”

Posted by Jason at 03:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've been getting into hockey lately. I've been to a few Thrashers games this year. I've started following them whenever they play and have been trying to catch the games on tv.

I was so close to buying a Marian Hossa jersey, but it looks like he'll be traded in the next few days unless some magic happens:

Marian Hossa said Thursday the chances of getting a new contract with the Thrashers before the NHL trade deadline are "very slim." Hossa becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1,

Thrashers general manager Don Waddell maintains that his top priority is to sign the forward to a contract extension before the Feb. 26 trade deadline.
[...]
"There's always a possibility, but there's a very slim chance to do that," said Hossa of an extension before the deadline. "We've been waiting such a long time, right now, what kind of miracle is going to happen now?"

That means Waddell is essentially faced with this decision in the next 11 days: Trade Hossa or risk letting him walk for nothing.

Posted by Jason at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know several of my fellow Georgia bloggers don't like Jim Wooten. Say what you will about the man, but he nails it with this:

Yep, just what we need: Georgia Republicans acting like national Democrats. State Rep. Ron Stephens of Garden City near Savannah is sponsoring a bill to raise the cigarette tax by $1 per pack. On some days it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever whether it’s Democrats or Republicans running Georgia. This is one.

Chris Farris used to joke that he couldn't wait to elect a Republican Governor in 2010. I wonder when we'll elect a Republican state House of Representatives.

Posted by Jason at 10:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Mitt Romney has endorsed John McCain:

Romney will offer his support at his Boston campaign headquarters at 4 p.m. this afternoon, according to Kevin Madden, a spokesman to the former governor.

Sources familiar with Romney's decision say that he wants to see the party united. He'll urge the delegates he accrued to support McCain.

Even if all of Romney's delegates did so, however, McCain would still be short of the 1,191 necessary to seal the nomination. According to AP projections, McCain currently has 843 delegates and Romney left the race with 280.

With most of Romney's delegates, though, McCain could go over the top on March 4th when Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont vote. The four states offer a combined 265 delegates.

Posted by Jason at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm headed off to the Democratic Republic of Georgia (See Below) for eight days (Feb 23-March 1). To be honest, I really know nothing about this former Soviet-bloc country, other than the fact that it is a NATO member and a huge American ally.

I'll be in T'bilisi, the capital city of Georgia.

I ask this in all seriousness: What exactly is Georgia famous for? What should I buy as a souvenier? In Germany it was a simple choice between beer steins and cuckoo clocks. In Austria, it was "Sound of Music" or "Mozart" memorabilia. Other than stealing the name of my beloved homeland, I really don't know what to associate the country with.

A friend of mine recently returned from a short trip to T'bilisi. Here's what I gathered from his description and pictures:

Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to the trip. The taxpayers are picking up the tab for travel, lodging and food. And should I decide to make a purchase personal in nature, the dollar is worth about sixty-percent more than the Lari. If anyone out there has been to Georgia and has any suggestions/tips, I would glady accept the advice.

Posted by Jace Walden at 04:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The State Senate passed a repeal of the state's portion of the property tax:

Gov. Sonny Perdue's plan to erase the state portion of property taxes in Georgia sailed through the state Senate on Thursday.

The plan would amend the state constitution to eliminate the state ad valorem tax that residents pay on their property and automobiles. County taxes - which make up the bulk of property tax bills - would continue in effect. It passed 49-4.

The $94 million tax cut must still be approved by a two-thirds vote in the House and by voters at the ballot box.

The property tax portion of the plan is expected to mean an average savings of about $30 per household. The proposal was originally floated by former Democratic Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor in his unsuccessful 2006 bid to unseat Perdue.

Perdue could do this immediately if he wanted to, without an amendment to the Constitution. As Don McKee with the Marietta Daily Journal noted after Perdue announced the cut, the law allows the Governor to set the millage rate. He simply could zero it out instead of going through this long drawn out process.

Posted by Jason at 04:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

State Sen. Eric Johnson has filed another piece of legislation that deals with school vouchers. SB 458 provides scholarships to children that live in school systems that have lost accreditation or that have been on the "Needs Improvement" list for seven consecutive years.

Currently, the Clayton County School System is the only school district facing loss of its accreditation.

Posted by Jason at 08:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here is video of Judge Andrew Napolitano speaking at a Reason event in November of last year. If you are a fan of American history, the founding of the nation and if you are concerned with the erosion of our civil liberties, then I urge you to watch it.

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

Another day, another tax increase proposal from the Republican controlled state legislature:

For the first time in five years, state lawmakers are looking at raising the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1.

The additional revenue would go to fund health care programs in Georgia, said Rep. Ron Stephens, a Republican from Savannah sponsoring the legislation.

He announced the legislation at a news conference at the Capitol, flanked by representatives from the American Lung Association, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society.

Sin taxes are popular with politicians because they generate revenue. At the same time, officials can claim that revenue with a certain moral rectitude because it's generated by behavior many people find undesirable. It's certainly easier to sell a tax on bad habits than increase taxes on hard-earned income.

But sin taxes are also terribly regressive. Not only are the poor more likely to smoke, they spend a far greater percentage of their income on tobacco when they do. And a 2001 report by the Congressional Budget Office concluded that while tobacco taxes encourage people to quit smoking, those people are most likely to be from the middle- and upper-income brackets, probably because the affluent can afford to try more effective anti-smoking programs, more easily substitute another vice for tobacco, or generally are less likely to need solace in the butt of a cigarette.

That means an already regressive tax actually grows more regressive over time, as more middle- and upper-income people quit, while lower-income people continue to smoke. Meanwhile, government grows as dependent on the sin tax's revenue as taxpayers are dependent on the sin.

This Republican controlled legislature, specifically the House, has completely abandoned fiscal conservatism and less government. Their led by a tax hiking Governor and leadership that is backing the largest tax increase in Georgia history. When will the conservatives in the state legislature stand up and say, "enough is enough"?

Posted by Jason at 06:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (33)

I am working on a paper for my political communication course. The following is my topic. Let me know if you guys know of any good articles or have any thoughts.

Topic: Republican Politics After 9/11: Using Fear to Dominate the Electorate
This paper will address several issues related to Republican political dominance in the years following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. First, I will address the use of fear in political advertising during national political campaigns, with emphasis placed on the Saxby Chambliss v. Max Cleland ad of 2004, and various Bush v. Kerry 2004 ads. Second, I will address how the Republican Party was able to keep the issue of terrorism and safety in the forefront of national media attention for so many years and also portray Democrats as unable to effectively govern in the face of terror.

Posted by Joshua Patterson at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

John Stossel explores economics and "economic stimulus":

Supporters of the stimulus only consider it's "seen" affects. If government takes or borrows money from Jones and gives it to Smith, Smith's spending will be visible for all to see. Not so visible is the "unseen" affect: What Jones would have done with the money but didn't because it was transferred to Smith.

Economists call this the "broken window fallacy." In the 19th century, French economist Frederic Bastiat illustrated it with the story of a boy who breaks a shop window. At first the townspeople lament the loss, but then someone points out that the shopkeeper will have to spend money to replace the window. What the window maker earns, he will soon spend elsewhere. As that money circulates through town, new prosperity will bloom.

The fallacy, of course, is that if the window had not been broken, the shopkeeper would have "replaced his worn-out shoes ... or added another book to his library." The town gains nothing from the broken window.

This logic is lost on the stimulus promoters. I'm surprised they don't suggest that we prevent recessions by breaking lots of windows.

The other forgotten principle is that consumption can't cause prosperity. Yes, consumer spending is 70 percent of GDP, but consumption is the result -- not the cause -- of economic growth. You can't consume what hasn't been produced.

Milton Friedman was right. There really is no such thing as a free lunch.

Posted by Jason at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don't know if anyone else caught this, but the with the help of the Club for Growth, Congressman Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) was defeated in last night's primary by Maryland State Senator Andy Harris.

Gilchrest is generally regarded as one of the more liberal Republican members of Congress.

Posted by Jason at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A new study by the Friedman Foundation reviews and grades the various school choice programs around the nation. Among the programs that were reviewed is Georgia's new scholarship program from children with special needs, which is the only real low mark the program here in Georgia received. The scholarships are only available to a specific group, not all children.

Georgia's special needs scholarships were second to the overwhelmingly successful McKay Scholarships (Florida).

You can download the full report here.

And just because it's interesting, here is Stupid in America, John Stossel's report on education:

Posted by Jason at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today is the primary for the Potomac states (Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC). I'll get some results up as soon as they start coming in.

Doug Mataconis, a co-contributor at The Liberty Papers and resident of Virginia, voted for Barack Obama. That is just one Virginian's take on the election.

Check back later for results.

[8:36pm] Virginia was called at 7pm for Barack Obama. McCain is the project winner on the Republican side. You can view the results here.

[8:38pm] Polls in Maryland will be kept open until 9:30pm due to bad weather.

[9:37pm] McCain and Obama are the projected winners in Maryland. Results here.

[10:03pm] McCain and Obama are projected to take DC.

Posted by Jason at 09:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

This is possibly the most ridiculous piece of legislation I've ever seen. SB 59 would create penalties for operators of social networking sites, like MySpace or Facebook, that allow a minor to create a profile on their site without permission of the parents or guardian.

The penalties would include:

Any person violating this Code section, upon conviction, shall:
(1) On the first offense, be guilty of a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature; and
(2) On the second and subsequent offenses, be guilty of a felony and shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than one nor more than five years, to pay a fine of not more than $50,000.00, or both."

Any Senator that votes for this bill should be run out of office. The responsibility belongs to the parents to make sure their child is visiting sites that they approve of. The internet is not the parent. Facebook or MySpace are not the parents. The responsibility belongs at home.

I have an idea. Let's just ban the damn internet. That would solve the problem. Let's bring Georgia back to the stone age. We don't need technology, right? It's evil.

I think that is the way to go. Why doesn't a State Senator propose legislation that would create one big firewall around the state of Georgia? We'll block all television (except TBN), radio signals (except the Christian stations) and the internet.

Sorry to get on a rant here, but this is what bothers me about Republicans. You guys want people to be more moral. You want people to saved and go to church. You want to ban anything that the Bible doesn't approve of. But you use government to achieve those ends. As Jonah Goldberg says, this is using a progressive view of government to achieve socially conservative ends (ultra right-wing progressivism). HOW IS THAT CONSERVATIVE!?! This only expands the role the of government in our lives. Government is not supposed to be watching over my shoulder, assuring that I am being good. Government's role is to ensure that the rights of individuals are protected. This is alarmist reaction to a problem that has been overblown.

Republicans in the State Senate...there are so many other problems facing Georgia right now. The State House is working to pass the largest tax increase in Georgia history. Why don't you guys protect taxpayers by killing that.

H/T: Amber Rhea

Posted by Jason at 09:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Ron Paul may not make it out of the primary for his Congressional seat:

Troubled by internal polls showing insurgent challenger Chris Peden having pulled ahead shockingly in the Texas 14th congressional district, Congressman Ron Paul will be pulling out of the Republican presidential race in advance of his home state's March 4 primary.
[...]
Peden's lead is extremely surprising given the vast disparity in resources between the campaigns, a divide that will only grow as Paul is able to divert funds contributed by his large base of small contributors to his presidential race back into the House of Representatives campaign. Over the past year, Paul's libertarian-based platform struck the most fiscally conservative note of any of the Republican aspirants, but it also contained an isolationist streak that put him at odds with the party base -- and those foreign policy views are currently the biggest problem for Paul in an extraordinarily conservative district.

Sadly, I think Ron Paul's day in Congress are numbered.

[9:39pm] Rep. Walter Jones, another anti-war Republican, may be in trouble in his primary as well.

Posted by Jason at 08:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

The State Senate has approved two amendments to the Georgia Constitution that would freeze property tax assessments, forcing local governments to raise property taxes through millage rate increases:

The proposals, which would have to be approved by voters in November, would essentially force cities, counties and school districts to raise tax rates — rather than assessments — if they want anything more than a minimal increase in revenue.

Lawmakers say if they limit property assessment increases, they will be making it tougher politically for local officials to raise more revenue.

"Taxes ought to be visible and hard to raise," said Senate President Pro-tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), the sponsor of one of the bills. "Having a school board raise taxes just one mill can get a candidate beat.

"What this really does is stop the back-door tax increases. That is where the real frustration is."

The proposed constitutional amendments, which passed the Senate 53-3 and 48-7, now head to the House...

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

A couple of months ago I filed a Freedom of Information Act request to acquire the email addresses used to distribute the county's Henry Update. The list has not been used yet - not even once. The planned survey will be emailed and will focus on the way Henry County uses the Communications Department as Spin Doctors and public relations hacks.

Since November I have been working on an analysis of Nash Farm, with results that refute nearly every claim put forth about the significance of "battles" there.

Campaign season is upon us. As usual, I expect to take an active role in wrting about the people, policies and histories of candidates.

Here is the rub: for about three weeks my personal email account has been used to generate hundreds of bogus and spam emails coming into the account. This is the address publicly announced by Julie Ernst at the county's communications department, along with her apology for abiding by federal and state law. This is the address commonly used by people who actually know me. IT IS NOT the address I use when posting to blogs or other online sites.

Somebody is either mad, or having great amusement. Today's email included registration and "Thank you for joining Wednesday Night Drinking Club." The online subscriptions and magazine offers were easy to discount. The Men's Clubs and offers to improve my .. well, performance were also quickly dismissed. But enough is enough.

Since so many friends and foes read this site, it seems appropriate to post my intentions here. If it is war, then I shall not bring a knife to a gunfight.

It may be worth the cost to signup for an email server account to establish contact with county employees, school system employees, Chamber members, whatever -- and do so very frequently. Surely the prankster will be receiving the same spam informative notices as everyone else and will grow tired of it. Perhaps then my personal email inbox will return to normal.

Posted by Larry Stanley at 01:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

The current version of the GlennTax will get a hearing in Ways & Means on Thursday. The Speaker is presenting the plan himself to the committee. Word is that it'll come to the floor for a vote. I don't have a date on that as of now.

I'll post more on this once I get more information.

Posted by Jason at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Georgia will stay dry on Sundays for at least another year:

Two-thirds of Georgians who answered a recent poll said they want the right to vote on allowing stores to sell beer, wine and booze on Sunday.
[...]
But Senate leaders have signaled that they won't even hold a committee hearing on the issue, despite a fresh push by lobbyists and groups backing Sunday sales.

"I can't explain it other than to say it's caught up in election-year politics," said Sen. Seth Harp (R-Midland), who sponsored the Sunday sales bill last year. "I have told those supporting the bill to lobby the lieutenant governor and his staff."

Posted by Jason at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here is a list of potential VP picks for John McCain.

My choices from the list would be one of the following: Governor Mark Sanford, Senator Jim DeMint, Senator Tom Coburn and Congressman Mike Pence.

H/T: Club for Growth

Posted by Jason at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Clint Eastwood on John McCain and government spending:

Eastwood had this to say about the nomination of McCain, which was propelled today by the withdrawal of Mitt Romney: "If that’s the way it’s supposed to go then that’s the way it’s supposed to go. I like John McCain, personally, very much.”

“John McCain has talked about keeping down spending," Eastwood says, "and we’ve got to do that... IIt’s a surprise that Mitt Romney dropped out so soon, but it’s an expensive deal…and it’s an expensive deal emotionally on the family.”

Finally, sounding a bit like McCain on the campaign trail, the "Make my day" actor turned director has this to say about political spending: "Both parties and both houses seem to be spending like drunken sailors. No offense to the Navy, of course."

Posted by Jason at 07:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This gem was on The Vent:

Think about this.. Where is Obama's family from and living? If he is elected, our troops will be pulled out of Iraq and sent straight to Africa, where we will be for a very long time.

Posted by Joshua Patterson at 12:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Grift participated in a panel discussion at the Atlanta Press Club on how electronic media is effecting political campaigns with CNN's John Helton and Tom Baxter from the Southern Political Report.

You can listen to it here.

Grift has also bought a domain name, GriftDrift.com. Update your bookmarks.

Posted by Jason at 08:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For those of you "represented" by Congressman David Scott, you will have an opportunity to voice your concerns at an upcoming townhall meeting. Notice I said "voice your concerns," I doubt very much that they will be heard.

Here is the information for the meeting:
Saturday, March 8, 2008 – Stockbridge City Hall
4545 North Henry Blvd., Stockbridge, GA 30281
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

H/T: Andre

Posted by Jason at 07:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

"Yes, after 11 years of Republican majority we’ve pared [the budget] down pretty good.” - Former Texas Rep. Tom DeLay

As if you needed more evidence, here is proof that Tom DeLay cannot be taken seriously:

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay criticized likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain - and by extension some of the more conservative members of Congress - by calling McCain's 2003 vote against the Medicare prescription drug plan a non-conservative vote.

Bruce Bartlett, a Reagan Administration economist, estimates that the unfunded liability for Medicare over the next 75 years is $68.1 trillion, part D (the prescription drug benefit) accounts for $18.2 trillion of that number. However, ex-Congressman DeLay says that Medicare Part D is "good conservative economics." What a joke.

Posted by Jason at 07:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This reminds me of this:

Posted by Jason at 06:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Now that my particular candidate of choice, Congressman Ron Paul, is scaling down (Read: ending) his long shot bid to become President of the United States, the stark reality of choosing another candidate has reared its ugly head. I must now do what I have made fun of others for doing and "jump ship" to another candidate. Unfortunately, there isn't another Ron Paul out there. To be realistic, Ron Paul the Candidate didn't really measure up to Ron Paul the Legend. Despite his excellent record on fighting for limited government, humble foreign policy, fiscal responsibility, individual rights and free markets, even Ron Paul the Candidate had a good number of flaws. Despite preaching against pork-barrel spending, he continued to rake it in to his district. Despite his desire for free trade and free markets, he voted against many of the free trade agreements that have benefited this country by creating jobs and increasing wages.

Although Ron Paul wasn't quite "legendary", he did succeed in bringing many ideas wrongfully dismissed as "fringe", back into the mainstream of Republican debate. Should he decide to run as an independent or third-party candidate, I will continue to support his candidacy. But for now, I have to swallow the poison pill of compromise. I have to pick a new horse in this race. As an avid anti-partisan, I have the benefit of being able to look at every candidate with an objective point of view. Additionally, I am not restrained by the shackles of "being a good Republican/Democrat" and backing the party nominee no matter what. Despite the rhetoric, this Presidential race isn't really that important. It is no more important than the last race, and it won't be any more important than the next race. There has always been "a lot at stake" for our country. This year is no different. Rather than provide you with what would most certainly have been a truly eloquent and lengthy dissertation on each remaining major-party candidate, I'll sum my thought process up with the following:

Hillobamabee: Hillary will say anything and do anything for power. I respect the fact that she's a woman and has a real chance at being elected the first female President. But simply being a "woman" isn't reason enough to support someone, no more than being a "good Christian" is enough reason to support someone's quest for the Heisman Trophy. And let's face it; our current President had too many ideas for this country to afford. I don't want to go through that again. Obama is really not that different from Hillary. Think "Hillary", but with a deeper voice and black. Oh, and also a guy. You literally could not slide a piece of paper between Obama's voting record and Hillary's voting record. The only other differences are that Obama wasn't married to Slick Willy and he doesn't have a lot of questionable allies, well, except for Ted Kennedy. Okay, so Barrack and Hillary were at birth. Both hate Republicans (at least they do have one redeeming quality), abhor free markets, harbor disdain for limited government, and love to spend our money like they're the ones who worked 40 hours a week for it.

Huckabee has a lot in common with Obama and Hillary, but he says "God" and "Jesus" a lot, so they let him in the GOP. Basically, I'm left with one choice:

Get to the point, already!

Yes, I will be supporting John Sidney McCain III in the 2008 Presidential Election. Despite my many differences with the Senator from Arizona, the two of us share enough in common that it isn't too much of a stretch for me to support him. Despite his stance on the 1st Amendment and his willingness to levy another tax on the already overtaxed American people because of "Global Warming", I can still support him for the following reasons:

Opposition to Pork-Barrel Spending--McCain's record matches his rhetoric on this issue. He has been a staunch opponent of wasteful spending in the Senate and has promised to veto any bill that contains "pork". He is also supported by Senator Tom Coburn who is basically the opposite of Ted Stevens when it comes to having an affinity for waste. Additionally, unlike a certain Georgia porker I know, McCain doesn't do cute little YouTube videos claiming he is against pork while acting as the Porker-in-Chief for his state.

Particular Disdain for the "Religious Right"--Although he had to do some mandatory "kissing up" to the late Jerry Falwell, McCain's disdain for the Jesus Pimps in the Republican Party is admirable. Moreover, the fact that he has been able to all-but secure the nomination without the help of the religious right is even more admirable. Full disclosure, I am a confirmed Christian and proud of it. I am sickened by the way the Republican Party uses "Christianity" as a means of "stirring up the base". I am also sickened by the way some "Christians" do not respect the separation of church and state, and would work to see the Constitution changed to the Bible.

Served America Honorably--McCain's military service is a nuisance that the Limbaughs and Coulters of the world would love to be able to "swift boat". He is a genuine American hero. He's not a hero because he was POW. He is a hero because when he was given the opportunity to be released by his captors, he sent other soldiers free in his stead. It's hilarious to watch and to listen to the right-wingers smile through their teeth when talking about McCain's outstanding record of military service.

Gang of 14--Another thing the right-wingers hate to admit is that without McCain's "Gang of 14", there wouldn't be a Chief Justice John Roberts or an Associate Justice Samuel Alito. And if there was, it would have been paid for by giving the current Democratic-led Congress the ability to block Republican attempts to filibuster bad bills.

Illegal Immigration--This one took some coming around on, particularly because I am opposed to illegal immigration and virulently opposed to the REAL ID provisions in the McCain-Kennedy Bill. But McCain hit on a fundamental truth that many of my brethren in the anti-illegal immigration crowd (including myself at one point) are/were slow to admit: There truly is a segment of people in our society who are nothing more than lazy leeches who simply do not want to work. They just don't. I would much rather be associated with an illegal alien who wants to work and wants to improve his lot in life than one of society's many lazy leeches who wants to lay around and take injections off the government needle. Immigration needs to be reformed; we need to secure our borders. But we also need to rethink how we view illegal aliens in this country. I think that John McCain is the only candidate who is willing to have an honest discussion on the issue.

While there are many more issues on which I agree with Senator McCain, I promised not to write an overly lengthy dissertation on the matter. John McCain is my new candidate of choice in this horse race, and I hope he continues to hit on the above listed issues that are important to me going forward.

Posted by Jace Walden at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)

We haven't had an open thread around here in a while...so here you go.

Blogging will be light from me today and probably tomorrow. I am sick and I'm trying to get some rest. I heard the flu had been going around, but I hope it's nothing more than a bad cold. No joints are hurting or anything. That's a good sign.

Posted by Jason at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

"When do we draw the line on spending? Do we believe the principles that we ran on to take over this House?" - State Rep. Steve Davis

On Friday I briefly mentioned the six Representatives that voted against the amended budget. Rep. Davis posted video of his and Rep. Tom Graves expressing concern about the budget in the Georgia House.

Here is Rep. Davis:

Posted by Jason at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Here is a list of primaries through this weekend and into early next week. All dates listed are for both parties unless noted otherwise.

Feb. 9th:
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- Washington

Feb. 10th:
- Maine (Dems only)

Feb. 12th:
- District of Columbia
- Maryland
- Virginia

Feb. 19th:
- Hawaii (Dems only)
- Wisconsin

Feb. 24th:
- Puerto Rico (GOP only)

Posted by Jason at 09:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sen. John Douglas sent out his first list of endorsements for his re-election campaign:

Dear Friends,

As we prepare for the 2008 reelection campaign, I am honored and pleased to have the support of so many residents and key leaders in the five counties of the district as well as around the state. Having been in the legislature for six years and the Senate for four of those six, serving you is an honor and responsibility I take very seriously.

The list of endorsements below is the first published list of names for our 2008 campaign. It will continue to grow over the next months as more and more publicly give their support to our efforts to provide solid, conservative leadership at the capitol for Henry, Newton, Rockdale, Spalding and Walton Counties. Keeping in mind that integrity matters and living by my motto of leading by example, I will continue to speak and work on your behalf so long as you honor me with this position.

Warmest regards,

John

2008 Endorsements

State Level:
Lt Gov Casey Cagle
Congressman Lynn Westmoreland
All 34 Republican State Senators

Fraternal Order of Police, State of Georgia

Henry County:
Representative John Lunsford
Representative Steve Davis
Commissioner BJ Mathis, Candidate for Commission Chairman
Commissioner Randy Stamey
Commissioner Reid Bowman
Commissioner Johnny Basler
Mayor Lorene Lindsey* Locust Grove
Mayor RW Coley* Hampton
Mayor Billy Copeland* McDonough
Major Keith McBrayer, Candidate for Sheriff
Charles Mobley, Candidate for Commission Chairman
Chief Russ Abernathy, Henry County Police Dept
Henry County Lodge, Fraternal Order of Police
Alie Gellineau**
Shirley Carpenter**

Newton County:
Rep. Doug Holt
County Commissioner Monty Laster
Tax Commissioner Barbara Dingler
Mayor Bobby Hamby* Porterdale
Mayor JW Cummings* Newborn
Mayor Bill Cochii* Mansfield
Councilwoman Wanda Cummings, Newborn
Councilman Michael Whatley, Covington
Councilman John Howard, Covington
Councilwoman Arline Chapman, Porterdale

Rockdale:
Sheriff Jeff Wigington*
Commission Chairman Roy Middlebrooks*
Former State Rep. Barbara Bunn*

Spalding:
Rep. David Knight
Rep. John Yates
Jim Hill**

Walton:
Mayor Jim Burgess* Social Circle
Mayor Don Cannon* Walnut Grove
Sheriff Joe Chapman
Commission Chairman Kevin Little
Former State Rep Joe Johnson
Councilman David Terry, Social Circle
Councilwoman Ann Peppers, Social Circle
Bobby Boss, Commander, Loganville American Legion
Paul Posner** (Temp)

* Honorary County Chairs
** County Coordinators

Posted by Jason at 09:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

In communication with Mr. David Curry, candidate for Henry County Tax Commissioner, he offered the following responses:

Here are my thoughts, I certainly hope this helps. And by the way, you are correct. There are processes and rules that all Tax Commissioner’s must follow; yet I truly believe it is one of the most important and critical “public servant” elected offices in the county.

I’ve always wanted to make Henry County –the community where I grew up- a better place. My experience in real estate taught me that the Tax Commissioner’s office is probably the least powerful and most important elected office in the County. The tax commissioner can’t make laws or set tax rates –but every bit of County operations depends on taxes being collected honestly, fairly and with respect for the taxpayers. The tax commissioner must treat taxpayers as customers and needs to be focused on customer service. That’s the kind of person I am and that’s the kind of tax commissioner I’ll be.

Andy Pipkin has done a fine job as tax commissioner, and I intend to build on those accomplishments. But I’ll also use the office to educate Henry County homeowners about how they can appeal their property taxes. I want every homeowner to know their options if they want to appeal their tax bill, and I want to give them some say in the amount they’re assessed on their taxes. I haven’t heard any specific proposals from any other candidates, but the tax commissioner’s office isn’t the type of office that needs a lot of politics. It’s really too important for old-style politics or politicians, and I intend to keep it that way.

The appraisal process needs to be fair, uniform and transparent for every single taxpayer. That means every property must be appraised using the same method, it needs to be an honest appraisal, and everyone needs to understand it. The property tax process begins with determining “fair market value.” That number is what a knowledgeable buyer would pay a willing seller for a property. That’s really a pretty simple concept, but if a homeowner can’t understand how somebody arrived at that number –then the rest of the process (the 40% assessment, the millage rate levy, etc.) just makes the homeowner madder and madder. And in a situation where somebody’s property taxes have gone up just because some bureaucrat says it should is the most infuriating situation a homeowner can be in, because it’s just not fair. Anyone who uses real estate data (whether from the MLS or FMLS or any other service) should be using sales data (not listing prices) in determining appraisals and comparable values. We’ve all heard the line about anyone who wants to assess me at a certain price ought to have to be willing to pay me that price –but if assessors use the actual data from the actual sales, that’s about as close to true fair market value as anyone is going to get.

Posted by Larry Stanley at 09:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Here is some good news concerning District of Columbia v. Heller. US Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Jon Tester (D-MT) are filing a brief with signatures of 250 House members and 55 Senators, urging that the DC gun law be overturned by the Supreme Court:

"All of the congressional legislative history is assuming that the Second Amendment, which is in the Bill of Rights, is an individual right and for a city or state to thwart this by taking a person's right in their home to have a loaded gun, just seemed to be a perfect opportunity for the Supreme Court to affirm this individual right that Congress has acknowledged throughout its history," Hutchison said.

Tester said the writers of the Constitution did not intend for laws to be applied to some people and not others or to be applied some times and not others.

"We cannot restrict the right to bear arms just like we can't restrict the right to practice religion or the right of a free and independent press," Tester said.

Heller could settle the question as to whether the Second Amendment is an individual right (which is my belief) or a collective right. To learn more about the case, visit DC Gun Case or read this article by Robert Levy. You can also listen this event podcast from the Cato Institute that explains some of the details of the case and why the challenge to the ban was presented.

Oral arguments for Heller begin on March 18th.

H/T: Of Arms and the Law

[UPDATE] Here is the brief signed by Vice-President Dick Cheney, 55 members of the Senate and 250 members of the House.

Originally posted on February 7, 2008 at 10:41pm.

Posted by Jason at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

(Locust Grove)—Locust Grove resident Fred Auletta today announced that he will seek to bring a strong, locally focused business sense to Henry County government as a candidate for Commission Chairman.

“Now more than ever, Henry needs leadership that focuses on business principles serving the needs of our people,” Auletta said. “I am committed to working with our local business and community leaders to improve our economic development while attracting quality jobs and services to our community and enhancing the quality of life of each individual of the county.”

Chairman Jason Harper said, “I have gotten to know Fred in the past years both as a businessman and YMCA board member. I have worked over the past four years to move Henry forward. My experience with Fred has shown that he has the capacity to serve well as Henry’s Chairman.”

Download press release

Posted by Joshua Patterson at 03:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The amended FY 2008 budget passed this morning, six legislators voted against it.

One interesting note, there was a rule change in the House that prevented amendments from being offered:

Rule 108.3 No amendment to any appropriations bill shall be in order if the amendment has the effect of both reducing one appropriation and either increasing another appropriation or adding a new appropriation. No amendment to any appropriations bill increasing any appropriation or adding a new appropriation shall be in order unless there has previously been adopted an amendment reducing some other appropriation so as to make funds available for such new or increased appropriation; and no amendment to any appropriations bill shall be in order which would cause the bill to violate the balanced budget requirements of the Constitution.

There already isn’t much transparency in the budget process here in Georgia. I guess debate is pointless too.

[UPDATE] Who voted against it? Tom Graves, Bobby Franklin, Steve Davis, Barry Loudermilk, Martin Scott and Doug Holt. All Republicans, all members of the 216 Group. Here is a copy of the statement released by the six legislators provided by the Political Insider.

Posted by Jason at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here is one of the headline on the Drudge Report right now: CIVIL WAR? Georgia wants to annex parts of Tennessee; gain access to water supply...:

Georgia has been battling Florida and Alabama in federal court for about 18 years over water rights. Last summer, Lake Lanier, which supplies Atlanta's water, shriveled to historic lows.

The resolution, which has passed early hurdles but has not received final passage, claims that the boundary was erroneously surveyed in 1818 and that Georgia has never accepted it. The resolution calls for the creation of a "Georgia-Tennessee Boundary Line Commission" that would perform joint surveys and change the line to the "definite and true" boundary line: exactly following the 35th parallel.

Gil Rogers, a staff attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the proposal was the wrong approach to water woes. Lawmakers, he said, should concentrate on conservation and sustainable development.

"It's a matter of how we grow and planning ahead so we're not reduced to making these propositions about accessing rivers that are hundreds of miles away," he said.

State Sen. Andy Berke, a Chattanooga Democrat, took the Senate floor and jokingly proposed a winner-take-all wrestling match or football game.

Afterward, he was more circumspect, saying that there is a serious issue at hand about natural resources, planning and development, and calling the Georgia proposal an "irresponsible land-grab."

Posted by Jason at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday I wrote about a border dispute with Tennessee that goes back to the 19th century. Well...let's just say that lawmakers from the Volunteer State are not thrilled with the idea:

Tennessee lawmakers say they sympathize with Georgia's water shortages but they will oppose an effort by their lawmakers to redraw the states' border.

A proposal in the Georgia Legislature argues that a flawed survey in 1818 mistakenly marked Georgia's border one mile south of the Tennessee River.

The legislation would create a "boundary line commission" to possibly resolve the dispute and give the state access to a stretch of the 652-mile long river and ease Atlanta's water shortages.

Changes to state borders have to be approved by legislatures in each state, then Congress.

Tennessee Sen. Andy Berke's' district includes Chattanooga, which the river passes through. He believes every lawmaker in Tennessee would fight a boundary change.

Says Berke: "If they ever tried, the governor, and me, and everybody else would be waiting for them."

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

The economic abomination that will not do a damn thing for the economy passed both Houses of Congress this evening. There were some changes to the original version in the Senate:

The legislation would rush rebates -- $600 for individuals, $1,200 for couples -- to most taxpayers and cut business taxes in hopes of reviving the economy. Individuals making up to $75,000 a year and couples earning up to $150,000 would get the full rebate, with those making more than that getting smaller checks.

People who paid no income taxes but earned at least $3,000 -- including through Social Security or veterans' disability benefits -- would get a $300 rebate.

You can find the roll call vote for the House here and the Senate here.

Our two Senators apparently buy into disproven Keynesian economics. However, I'd like to thank our House members for voting against this bill.

Posted by Jason at 08:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

When lawmakers arrived today, the amended FY2008 budget was sitting on their desks. The budget has to sit for 24 hours after presentation and will be taken up during the tomorrow's session.

No copies have been distributed. As soon as one comes available, I'll get it posted.

[UPDATE] You can view the amended FY2008 budget here.

Posted by Jason at 07:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

John McCain spoke today a CPAC...but before that I want to share Sen. Tom Coburn's introduction of McCain where he makes a very good case for his candidate from fiscal conservative's stand point:

Also, fiscal hawk and former Romney backer Sen. Jim DeMint is getting behind McCain and urging conservatives to do the same.

I'm trying to find the full video of McCain's speech, but until then...here is the text, courtesy of Red State:

Thank you. Thank you for inviting me. It's been a little while since I've had the honor of addressing you, and I appreciate very much your courtesy to me today. We should do this more often. I hope you will pardon my absence last year, and understand that I intended no personal insult to any of you. I was merely pre-occupied with the business of trying to escape the distinction of pre-season frontrunner for the Republican nomination, which, I'm sure some of you observed, I managed to do in fairly short order. But, now, I again have the privilege of that distinction, and this time I would prefer to hold on to it for a while.

I know I have a responsibility, if I am, as I hope to be, the Republican nominee for President, to unite the party and prepare for the great contest in November. And I am acutely aware that I cannot succeed in that endeavor, nor can our party prevail over the challenge we will face from either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama, without the support of dedicated conservatives, whose convictions, creativity and energy have been indispensible to the success our party has had over the last quarter century. Many of you have disagreed strongly with some positions I have taken in recent years. I understand that. I might not agree with it, but I respect it for the principled position it is. And it is my sincere hope that even if you believe I have occasionally erred in my reasoning as a fellow conservative, you will still allow that I have, in many ways important to all of us, maintained the record of a conservative. Further, I hope you will grant that I have defended many positions we share just as ardently as I have made my case for positions that have provoked your opposition. If not, thank you for this opportunity to make my case today.

I am proud to be a conservative, and I make that claim because I share with you that most basic of conservative principles: that liberty is a right conferred by our Creator, not by governments, and that the proper object of justice and the rule of law in our country is not to aggregate power to the state but to protect the liberty and property of its citizens. And like you, I understand, as Edmund Burke observed, that "whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither . . . is safe."

While I have long worked to help grow a public majority of support for Republican candidates and principles, I have also always believed, like you, in the wisdom of Ronald Reagan, who warned in an address to this conference in 1975, that "a political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency or simply to swell its numbers."

I attended my first CPAC conference as the invited guest of Ronald Reagan, not long after I had returned from overseas, when I heard him deliver his "shining city upon a hill" speech. I was still a naval officer then, but his words inspired and helped form my own political views, just as Ronald Reagan's defense of America's cause in Vietnam and his evident concern for American prisoners of war in that conflict inspired and were a great comfort to those of us who, in my friend Jerry Denton's words, had the honor of serving "our country under difficult circumstances." I am proud, very proud, to have come to public office as a foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution. And if a few of my positions have raised your concern that I have forgotten my political heritage, I want to assure you that I have not, and I am as proud of that association today as I was then. My record in public office taken as a whole is the record of a mainstr eam conservative. I believe today, as I believed twenty-five years ago, in small government; fiscal discipline; low taxes; a strong defense, judges who enforce, and not make, our laws; the social values that are the true source of our strength; and, generally, the steadfast defense of our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which I have defended my entire career as God-given to the born and unborn.

Those are my beliefs, and you need not examine only my past votes and speeches to assure yourselves that they are my genuine convictions. You can take added confidence from the positions I have defended during this campaign. I campaigned in Iowa in opposition to agriculture subsidies. I campaigned in New Hampshire against big government mandated health care and for a free market solution to the problem of unavailable and unaffordable health care. I campaigned in Michigan for the tax incentives and trade policies that will create new and better jobs in that economically troubled state. I campaigned in Florida against the national catastrophic insurance fund bill that passed the House of Representatives and defended my opposition to the prescription drug benefit bill that saddled Americans with yet another hugely expensive entitlement program. I have argued to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, to reduce the corporate tax rate and abolish the AMT. I have defended my position on protecting our Second Amendment rights, including my votes against waiting periods, bans on the so-called "assault weapons," and illegitimate lawsuits targeting gun manufacturers. I have proudly defended my twenty-four year pro-life record. Throughout this campaign, I have defended the President's brave decision to increase troop levels in Iraq to execute a long overdue counterinsurgency that has spared us the terrible calamity of losing that war. I held these positions because I believed they were in the best interests of my party and country."

Surely, I have held other positions that have not met with widespread agreement from conservatives. I won't pretend otherwise nor would you permit me to forget it. On the issue of illegal immigration, a position which provoked the outspoken opposition of many conservatives, I stood my ground aware that my position would imperil my campaign. I respect your opposition for I know that the vast majority of critics to the bill based their opposition in a principled defense of the rule of law. And while I and other Republican supporters of the bill were genuine in our intention to restore control of our borders, we failed, for various and understandable reasons, to convince Americans that we were. I accept that, and have pledged that it would be among my highest priorities to secure our borders first, and only after we achieved widespread consensus that our borders are secure, would we address other aspects of the problem in a wa y that defends the rule of law and does not encourage another wave of illegal immigration.

All I ask of any American, conservative, moderate, independent, or enlightened Democrat, is to judge my record as a whole, and accept that I am not in the habit of making promises to my country that I do not intend to keep. I hope I have proven that in my life even to my critics. Then vote for or against me based on that record, my qualifications for the office, and the direction where I plainly state I intend to lead our country. If I am so fortunate as to be the Republican nominee for President, I will offer Americans, in what will be a very challenging and spirited contest, a clearly conservative approach to governing. I will make my case to voters, no matter what state they reside in, in the same way. I will not obscure my positions from voters who I fear might not share them. I will stand on my convictions, my conservative convictions, and trust in the good sense of the voters, and in my confidence that conservative pr inciples still appeal to a majority of Americans, Republicans, Independents and Reagan Democrats.

Often elections in this country are fought within the margins of small differences. This one will not be. We are arguing about hugely consequential things. Whomever the Democrats nominate, they would govern this country in a way that will, in my opinion, take this country backward to the days when government felt empowered to take from us our freedom to decide for ourselves the course and quality of our lives; to substitute the muddled judgment of large and expanding federal bureaucracies for the common sense and values of the American people; to the timidity and wishful thinking of a time when we averted our eyes from terrible threats to our security that were so plainly gathering strength abroad. It is shameful and dangerous that Senate Democrats are blocking an extension of surveillance powers that enable our intelligence and law enforcement to defend our country against radical Islamic extremists. This election is going to be about big things, not small things. And I intend to fight as hard as I can to ensure that our principles prevail over theirs.

Senator Clinton and Senator Obama want to increase the size of the federal government.

I intend to reduce it. I will not sign a bill with earmarks in it, any earmarks in it. I will fight for the line item veto, and I will not permit any expansion whatsoever of the entitlement programs that are bankrupting us. On the contrary, I intend to reform those programs so that government is no longer in that habit of making promises to Americans it does not have the means to keep.

Senator Clinton and Senator Obama will raise your taxes.

I intend to cut them. I will start by making the Bush tax cuts permanent. I will cut corporate tax rates from 35 to 25% to keep industries and jobs in this country. I will end the Alternate Minimum Tax. And I won't let a Democratic Congress raise your taxes and choke the growth of our economy.

They will offer a big government solution to health care insurance coverage.

I intend to address the problem with free market solutions and with respect for the freedom of individuals to make important choices for themselves.

They will appoint to the federal bench judges who are intent on achieving political changes that the American people cannot be convinced to accept through the election of their representatives.

I intend to nominate judges who have proven themselves worthy of our trust that they take as their sole responsibility the enforcement of laws made by the people's elected representatives, judges of the character and quality of Justices Roberts and Alito, judges who can be relied upon to respect the values of the people whose rights, laws and property they are sworn to defend.

Senator Clinton and Senator Obama will withdraw our forces from Iraq based on an arbitrary timetable designed for the sake of political expediency, and which recklessly ignores the profound human calamity and dire threats to our security that would ensue.

I intend to win the war, and trust in the proven judgment of our commanders there and the courage and selflessness of the Americans they have the honor to command. I share the grief over the terrible losses we have suffered in its prosecution. There is no other candidate for this office who appreciates more than I do just how awful war is. But I know that the costs in lives and treasure we would incur should we fail in Iraq will be far greater than the heartbreaking losses we have suffered to date. And I will not allow that to happen.

They won't recognize and seriously address the threat posed by an Iran with nuclear ambitions to our ally, Israel, and the region.

I intend to make unmistakably clear to Iran we will not permit a government that espouses the destruction of the State of Israel as its fondest wish and pledges undying enmity to the United States to possess the weapons to advance their malevolent ambitions.

Senator Clinton and Senator Obama will concede to our critics that our own actions to defend against its threats are responsible for fomenting the terrible evil of radical Islamic extremism, and their resolve to combat it will be as flawed as their judgment.

I intend to defeat that threat by staying on offense and by marshaling every relevant agency of our government, and our allies, in the urgent necessity of defending the values, virtues and security of free people against those who despise all that is good about us.

These are but a few of the differences that will define this election. They are very significant differences, and I promise you, I intend to contest these issues on conservative grounds and fight as hard as I can to defend the principles and positions we share, and to keep this country safe, proud, prosperous and free.

We have had a few disagreements, and none of us will pretend that we won't continue to have a few. But even in disagreement, especially in disagreement, I will seek the counsel of my fellow conservatives. If I am convinced my judgment is in error, I will correct it. And if I stand by my position, even after benefit of your counsel, I hope you will not lose sight of the far more numerous occasions when we are in complete accord.

I began by assuring you that we share a conception of liberty that is the bedrock of our beliefs as conservatives. As you know, I was deprived of liberty for a time in my life, and while my love of liberty is no greater than yours, you can be confident that mine is the equal of any American's. It is a deep and unwavering love. My life experiences in service to our country inform my political judgments. They are at the core of my convictions. I am pro-life and an advocate for the Rights of Man everywhere in the world because of them, because I know that to be denied liberty is an offense to nature and nature's Creator. I will never waver in that conviction, I promise you. I know in this country our liberty will not be seized in a political revolution or by a totalitarian government. But, rather, as Burke warned, it can be "nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts." I am alert to that risk and will defend against it, and ta ke comfort from the knowledge that I will be encouraged in that defense by my fellow conservatives.

You have heard me say before that for all my reputation as a maverick, I have only found true happiness in serving a cause greater than my self-interest. For me, that cause has always been our country, and the ideals that have made us great. I have been her imperfect servant for many years, and I have made many mistakes. You can attest to that, but need not. For I know them well myself. But I love her deeply and I will never, never tire of the honor of serving her. I cannot do that without your counsel and support. And I am grateful, very grateful, that you have given me this opportunity to ask for it.

Thank you and God bless you.

Posted by Jason at 06:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

House Republicans will force a vote on an earmark moratorium tomorrow. The moratorium is sponsored by Rep. Jack Kingston. This measure was adopted by the House Republican Conference as the "standard" for earmark reform during a retreat last month.

Kingston's moratorium would setup a committee to study earmarks and exclude certain earmarks from the appropriations process and would hold the Executive Branch accountable for its earmark requests.

Some members are swearing off earmarks on their own until Congress reviews the process. However, only two members from Georgia have joined that list (Lynn Westmoreland and Tom Price).

You can read the text of Kingston's moratorium here.

[UPDATE] The moratorium failed, 204 to 196. It's important to note that a "yea" vote was against the moratorium. Seven Democrats joined 189 Republicans to support the measure. Twenty-nine members did not vote, including nine Republicans.

All Georgia Republicans and Democratic Congressman John Barrow supported the measure. The rest of the Democrats from the state opposed it.

Originally posted on February 6, 2008 at 9:14pm.

Posted by Jason at 04:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There is speculation that Mitt Romney will drop out of the GOP race within the hour while addressing CPAC in Washington, DC.

[12:26pm] You can read more here, here and here.

[12:29pm] Five bucks says that the Hucktard is out by the weekend.

[4:03pm] It's official, Romney has "suspended" his campaign. Erick Erickson covered it extensively at Red State.

[4:09pm] Tax Hike Mike says he'll keep going.

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

State Sen. David Shafer wants to redraw the border between Georgia and Tennessee:

Desperate for water amid a historic drought, some Georgia lawmakers are trying to reopen an 1818 border dispute with Tennessee.

They have set their sights on a stretch of the 652-mile long Tennessee River that flows tantalizingly close to the Georgia line - and by some historic accounts, should be within Georgia's borders.

"It's never too late to right a wrong," said state Sen. David Shafer, R-Duluth.

Shafer's Senate resolution says a flawed survey in 1818 mistakenly marked Georgia's border one mile south of the 35th parallel - and thus excluded the Tennessee River from Georgia's reach.
[...]
The resolution would not change Georgia's borders, but it would create a "boundary line commission" that aims to resolve the dispute. It was co-sponsored by all of Georgia senators, and a similar proposal was introduced in the House.

The border debate centers on an 1818 survey that has entered the folklore of north Georgia. As the story goes, surveyors charting out the 35th parallel were either frightened by a nearby Indian party or simply used flawed math to draw the line.

Shafer's resolution on the matter can be found here.

Posted by Jason at 05:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is what George W. Bush will leave behind:

If President Bush's budget for fiscal 2009 is approved in its current form, U.S. government spending will have increased by more than $1.2 trillion since President Clinton left office; adjusted for inflation, that's a 35% increase. Bush has increased spending at three times the rate Clinton did when he was president, and also has given us the biggest defense budget since World War II -- and that's regularly budgeted defense spending, not counting funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The full article is worth a read.

H/T: Reason Foundation

Posted by Jason at 04:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Citizens Against Government Waste defends John McCain:

McCain is more than a war hero; he is also a taxpayer hero. He has never asked for an earmark. He has ruffled the feathers of more than a few of his Senate colleagues…well, OK, he has more than ruffled their feathers, he has practically blown them right off the Senate floor with his outrage over their profligate spending habits.

CCAGWPAC Chairman Tom Schatz said on Monday, “There is nothing the big-spending politicians in Washington, D.C. fear more than a McCain presidency.”

It is hard to imagine these days, especially when there is a growing band of feisty anti-earmark brothers (and sisters) like Sens. Tom Coburn, Jim DeMint, and Claire McCaskill, along with Reps. John Campbell, Jeff Flake, Jeb Hensarling, Mike Pence and John Shadegg (to name a few), but it was a much lonelier campaign back when John McCain was the taxpayers’ lonely voice of fiscal reason on the floor of the Senate. No question, we would not be where we are today without his hard work and commitment. His leadership on spending is demonstrated by his Council for Citizens Against Government Waste 2006 vote rating of 95 percent, which was tied for the highest in the Senate.

You’re going to be hearing a lot about John McCain’s “temper” over the next months. We say, get over it. Yeah, he has been miffed for awhile…have you seen the size of this government? Have you looked at the boneheaded projects listed in the recent omnibus spending bill? Your head would explode occasionally, too, if you’d been forced to deal with some of these unaccountable public officials who are using our money to aggrandize themselves and benefit their cronies and contributors. As President, CCAGWPAC knows that McCain will fight for the national interest first.

I could vote for John McCain in November, provided his running mate is not Mike Huckabee. My hope is that he'll pick someone like Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina or Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who are also strong fiscal conservatives.

[UPDATE] This is from the post-Tsunami Tuesday issues of the Evans-Novak Political Report: "McCain's asset is that there is no genuine conservative left against him. Huckabee is an evangelical, not a conservative (which is one reason he is unlikely to be picked as McCain's running mate)."

Posted by Jason at 04:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

His supporters:

Does anyone fear that the internet will be attempted to be taken away from us because of the "threat" RP and we have posed? Assuming Paul doesn't become President, the people "in charge" will have to know that we are all fired up and organizing on the internet for the long haul to make sure the Constitutional candidate in 4 years does win.. I fear they will try to take the internet away, somehow, and then it will be back to hitting the streets, which isn't bad, but you get my point...

H/T: Wonkette

UPDATE: Now you can get your very own copy of the Constitution autographed by RP himself. Shopping is more victorious when you win it.

Posted by Joshua Patterson at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Georgia Carry has filed an amicus brief in District of Columbia v. Heller (formerly Parker v. District of Columbia), the DC gun ban case. Oral arguments will be presented next month:

As many will recall, Heller sued the District of Columbia for the right to keep a functional firearm in his home in the district. His case was dismissed by the district court, but reinstated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which found a 2nd Amendment individual right to keep and bear arms. The District of Columbia has appealed the case to the the Supreme Court. Oral argument is set for March 18, with a decision expected this summer.

[UPDATE] Here is an article from the Washington Post about Heller. It's a good read.

Posted by Jason at 07:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I was on the radio with Wilson Smith yesterday morning, talking about recent events in the Georgia House of Representatives and Speaker Glenn Richardson as well as some other issues. You can check it out here.

Posted by Jason at 12:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Welcome Instapundit readers.

I'll be following returns as they come in this evening. Listed below are the states who have a primary today. The number in parenthesis is the delegates that are up grabs. Delegate numbers with an asterisk are winner take all states. A few of the states are closed primary states, meaning you have to be a registered voter for the party primary you are voting in, but I didn't include that in this list.

Alabama (48) - Huckabee
Alaska (29) - Romney
Arizona (53*) - McCain
Arkansas (34) - Huckabee
California (173) - McCain
Colorado (46) - Romney
Connecticut (30*) - McCain
Delaware (18*) - McCain
Georgia (72) - Huckabee
Illinois (70) - McCain
Massachusetts (43) - Romney
Minnesota (41) - Romney
Missouri (58*) - McCain
Montana (25*) - Romney
New Jersey (52*) - McCain
New York (101*) - McCain
North Dakota (26) - Romney
Oklahoma (41) - McCain
Tennessee (55) - Huckabee
Utah (36*) - Romney
West Virginia (18) - Huckabee

[3:14pm] Huckabee wins West Virginia in the first results turned in for today. He defeated Romney by 46 delegates.

[3:35pm] Rush Limbaugh endorsed Mitt Romney today. James Dobson says he'll stay home this November if McCain is the nominee.

[3:48pm] McCain fires back at Senate colleagues criticizing him: "[I]n all due respect to a couple of those people that are criticizing me, they’re not the most respected members of the United States Senate, to be honest with you."

[4:54pm] Doug Mataconis points to more evidence of a McCain/Huckabee deal in West Virginia via Marc Ambinder: "[S]ources say that representatives for John McCain called many of his reps in WV and asked them to vote for Huckabee...in order to thwart Romney on the second ballot."

[5:32pm] I'm sure this was expected, but Romney is up in Massachusetts, according to exit polls.

[7:00pm] Polls have closed in Georgia.

[7:07pm] You can view the exit polls for Georgia here.

[7:20pm] Here is a list of the states closing their polls at 8pm EST: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.

[7:26pm] Results are finally starting to trickle in for Georgia.

[7:32pm] Glenn Reynolds (aka. Instapundit) writes, "Jason Pye is liveblogging the GOP results, but he's apparently staying sober." My case of Newcastle is in the fridge and I reserve the right to get smashed if Huckabee wins Georgia.

[7:40pm] Results are coming in very slowly for Georgia. McCain is ahead at this point, but less than one percent of the precincts are reporting.

[7:57pm] The ever awesome looking Mary Katherine Ham is on Fox News this evening.

[7:59pm] More exit polls for several states.

[8:00pm] John McCain has been projected the winner for New Jersey, Connecticut and Illinois.

[8:00pm] Alabama goes for Huckabee. Romney takes Massachusetts.

[8:05pm] Polls closed in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Tennessee about five minutes ago.

[8:09pm] Five percent reporting in Georgia, Huckabee is ahead with 37%, followed by McCain who has 33%.

[8:10pm] I may have put down Alabama for Huckabee too early. Nothing has been confirmed yet, though I thought I heard them say that.

[8:16pm] Arkansas closes its polls at 8:30pm. I supposed that its little more than a formality that it will go for Huckabee.

[8:21pm] McCain has an early lead Tennessee.

[8:27pm] Ten percent reporting in Georgia, Huckabee still leads with 38%.

[8:30pm] Huckabee is projected to win Arkansas. No surprised there.

[8:35pm] McCain is the projected winner in Delaware.

[8:36pm] With 6% reporting in Alabama, McCain has a very slight lead over Huckabee.

[8:37pm] Twenty percent is now reporting in Georgia and 4% separates Huckabee (34%), McCain (32%) and Romney (30%).

[8:38pm] On Fox News, Karl Rove points out that a McCain/Huckabee ticket is "doubling your trouble" for McCain because of the criticism that Huckabee has faced over his tax record and immigration. He doubts that this will be the ticket. Chris Wallace mentioned South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford (one of my heroes). Rove said, "That certainly is possible."

[8:50pm] McCain holds early leads in Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

[8:52pm] It looks like Huckabee will win Georgia. Time to break out the booze.

[8:54pm] McCain leads in Alabama with 10% reporting.

[8:56pm] Another round of states will begin to report at 9pm: Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota and New York.

[9:00pm] Arizona, McCain's home state, can't be called yet. Apparently, Romney is doing well there.

[9:05pm] McCain has a solid lead in Montana with 12% reporting.

[9:16pm] This just came through the wire: "The Associated Press has withdrawn its projection that Mike Huckabee has won the GOP primary in Georgia. The GOP race is still too close to call."

[9:18pm] McCain holds a 9% lead over Huckabee in Alabama.

[9:18pm] McCain is the projected winner in New York.

[9:19pm] Immigration is the issue for voters in Arizona. That explains why McCain is having problems.

[9:20pm] McCain has won four "winner take all" states, adding up to 201 delegates.

[9:29pm] McCain has leads in Montana, Tennessee, Alabama and Oklahoma. Huckabee is leading in Missouri.

[9:44pm] I think it's clear that Huckabee's presence in this race is hurting John McCain, not Mitt Romney.

[9:54pm] McCain is projected to win in Oklahoma.

[9:58pm] Romney is leading in Minnesota with 8% reporting.

[10:00pm] North Dakota and Utah will close at 10pm.

[10:00pm] No surprised that Utah goes for Mitt Romney.

[10:02pm] Arizona still hasn't been called, but you can view the exit poll here.

[10:15pm] Take a look at the exit poll in Missouri. I wonder what's going on there. Huckabee has held the lead for most of the night, but the exit polls show that McCain should be winning. Either some suburban county hasn't reported or people were lying when the came out of the polling places.

[10:18pm] Romney holds leads in Minnesota and Montana.

[10:30pm] North Dakota is projected to go for Romney.

[10:34pm] Romney vows to continue his campaign.

[10:38pm] Romney is leading in Colorado. His leads in Minnesota and Montana are holding steady.

[10:41pm] Arizona has been called for McCain. Tennessee and Georgia have been called for Huckabee. I've been drinking heavily since about 8:30pm.

[10:55pm] Polls are about to close in California.

[10:56pm] I'm putting Montana down for Romney. He has a double digit lead with 88% reporting.

[11:00pm] McCain has pulled within one percent of Huckabee in Missouri.

[11:02pm] California is too close to call.

[11:04pm] McCain has taken the lead in Missouri.

[11:09pm] Romney has been projected as the winner in Montana.

[11:13pm] Romney is the projected winner in Minnesota.

[11:18pm] About 450 votes separate McCain and Huckabee, who holds the lead, in Missouri with 86% of the precincts reporting.

[11:22pm] McCain holds an early lead in California.

[11:30pm] McCain is back on top in Missouri.

[11:41pm] McCain is giving his speech. He is talking like he is the nominee and he is being very gracious to Romney.

[11:46pm] It seems as though McCain will win Missouri. Romney still has a significant lead in Colorado.

[11:48pm] McCain is out in front in California.

[11:50pm] Romney is the projected winner in Colorado.

[11:57pm] McCain takes Missouri. That one went back and forth for the last couple hours.

[12:03am] One question I have to ask is if Huckabee's win in West Virginia helped him during the day. That vote came in very early in the afternoon and was played up all over the media. You have to wonder if it made him look more viable than he really is.

[12:06am] Polls have closed in Alaska.

[12:13am] McCain is the projected winner in California.

[12:27am] Alright, I'm done. Thanks for reading and good night.

Posted by Jason at 03:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (44)

Continuing their recent stories on government waste, WSB-TV shows your federal tax dollars at work...researching eye movements while watching porn at Emory University.

WSB will also be doing stories on hidden taxes (this Thursday at 6pm) and how these tax cost us each $3,000 a year and a story on monkey research (next Monday at 5pm), a $1.2 million to study how monkeys interact.

Posted by Jason at 02:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Talk shows hosts and the media have suggested that Tax Hike Mike is pulling support from Multiple Choice Mitt. A recent poll says that what is considered to be common knowledge is wrong.

It would seem that a vote for Huckabee is a vote for Romney, not McCain.

H/T: Below the Beltway

Posted by Jason at 01:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Senator Douglas encourages you to vote for Mitt Romney today:

Dear Friends:

Today is likely the most important Presidential primary election of my lifetime in Georgia. The federal government hangs in the balance between true conservative leadership and possibly the most liberal Senator in Washington being the next commander in chief.

I am supporting Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts for President because he is the sole remaining conservative in the race who can win in November. When I examine the records of the three remaining GOP candidates with some degree of a chance, I find this:

Huckabee: A fine man who has established himself as a national voice for many in our party. Gov Huckabee brings his solid Christian credentials to the table and would no doubt govern in accordance with those ideals. However, his recent significant fade on the national scene now puts him in the position of splitting the conservative base in the GOP and handing the nomination to a certifiable liberal. We conservatives must come together to prevent that from happening and Gov Romney' recent surge in Georgia and nationally is proving he can win today and in November.

McCain: While I have unlimited respect for his military record and Vietnam war service and time as a POW, in the intervening forty years, he has established himself as an ally of Ted Kennedy and other hard core, left wing democrats. His foreign policy reflects conservative values but all politics starts at home and here he would throw open our borders to all who would come, he would restrict free speech in politics and he voted against the marriage amendment protecting male-female marriage. He has voted against the Bush tax cuts and sided with his Democrat pals on other issues as well. Paul: Ron Paul has no chance today or later in the race and is taking votes from conservative candidates. While I like some of his ideas, others are beyond consideration and have resulted in him being a distant fourth in the race. I hope his voters will work with other conservatives to bring a true Republican nominee to our party. So Mitt Romney is the obvious choice today. Let's not deliver the party to social liberals who would seek out Ted Kennedy for guidance and advice on important policy matters. Let's stick with Ronald Reagan conservatism and move Mitt Romney forward to victory together. John Douglas

Posted by Jason at 08:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

[UPDATE BY JOSH] If you guys feel so inclined, let's move this conversation up to the live blog thread so we only have to refresh one page.

Today is Tsunami Tuesday, formerly Super Tuesday. State that are going to the polls today are: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah. Indiana, Kansas and New Mexico have primaries for Democrats only.

You can view some of the latest polls for various Tsunami Tuesday states here. Georgia is up for grabs, I expect McCain to win. I think Romney has an outside shot, but it's not likely. Nevertheless, it should be close.

Josh and I will be live-blogging the results tonight. He'll take the Democrats, I'll be covering the Republicans.

If you're voting today, please share your experience.

Here is my take on the candidates.
Republicans
John McCain: In my opinion, McCain gets a bad rap on immigration, but he deserves criticism over voting against the Bush tax cuts because he used the same class warfare rhetoric used by Democrats. He also deserves criticism for McCain-Feingold, the most blatant violation of free speech since the Alien and Sedition Acts. His alarmism over global warming is troublesome. However, he has the most consistent record of any candidate running for President. But there are many questions as to whether he would appoint judges that would interpret the Constitution as it is written and if his love of bi-partisanship will cause him to compromise what conservatives believe are basic beliefs.

Mitt Romney: In many ways Mitt Romney is his own worst enemy. He has a record of changing positions from abortion to the Bush tax cuts. He also has a history of misleading statements. His healthcare plan in Massachusetts was an abomination to fans of the free market and personal choice and he raised taxes fees and closed corporate tax loopholes to the tune of almost $500 million. Romney does have an upside. He is a successful businessman that seems to understand the economy, though I disagree with his support of so-called "economic stimulus." He isn't necessarily a fiscal conservative, he just happens to be the most fiscally conservative candidate left that can win. He is also gaining support due to his stance on immigration, which is the issue for most of his supporters in what is essentially a two man race.

Mike Huckabee: I have nothing but contempt for Mike Huckabee. Despite his efforts to re-mold himself as a fiscal conservative, an examination of his record shows him to be a tax-and-spend liberal. He called his fiscally conservative opponents in his legislature, "Shiite Republicans." Like Romney, Huckabee has changed positions on some key issues, immigration is the most notable. His responses to raising taxes by $505 million (total net tax increase during his tenure) was that he "raised hope." He has carried the water for the Americans for Fair Taxation, and he has received support because of it. What he did was pull a tax plan that was already completed and introduced in Congress, though not going anywhere. He didn't have to spend any money for it. He didn't have to hire a consultant to come up with a white paper or position paper. He pulled this plan off the shelf and with it came an instant constituency and a notable voice on the radio that has compromised his beliefs and become a one issue voter. If Huckabee some how manages to get the nomination...I vote Democrat in the fall. If he appears on the ticket at all...I'll vote Libertarian.

Ron Paul: Dr. Paul is the only candidate running that understands the Constitution and individual liberty. With that said he is probably the least effective spokesperson for them. I suspect that Dr. Paul will get out of the race after today and start paying attention to his campaign for his House seat.

Democrats
Hillary Clinton: Hillary Clinton talks about her experience. What experience? She has been a Senator for seven years. She has no real experience to run on. Her time as First Lady is hardly experience. This would mean that Laura Bush is equally qualified to run for President. I don't buy it. Admittedly, I don't fear a Hillary Clinton presidency. I think a Democrat taking the White House is the best way for Republicans to win back Congress, which means divided government. History says the most prosperous years we've faced as a nation have come at the hands of divided government, generally a Democrat in the White House and Republican control of Congress. In her heart, she is a socialist. I am convinced of that. However, I believe that she is a political opportunist that would consider the political implications of her actions before making a final decision. However, electability in November is an issue.

Barack Obama: Change. That is his theme. But is it a change for better or worse? There is no denying that he is an exciting speaker, but there is little substance there. Like Mike Huckabee, he only goes an inch deep in his policy proposals. He was recently labeled as the most liberal member of the US Senate. He has very little experience and that could hurt him in November if facing someone like John McCain.

Posted by Jason at 04:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)

Dear Rep. Davis,
I am not in your district, but I know more about you than I do my own Rep, and you make yourself more accessible. I have one request for you sir:

When your fellow house members begin to work to dump the Speaker, do your part and help out. He is a disgrace to the state. He is an embarrassment to fans of effective governance.

In short, he is a dick.

Please do your part to help us all out.

Your non-constituent,
Joshua Patterson

Posted by Joshua Patterson at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

A friend, Ryan Larosa, is submitting this paper for Southeastern philosophy conference. It deals with foreign policy. I was impressed by it. He goes into much detail in his arguments. There are several things I disagree with, but overall it was very good.

I'm posting it here in case anyone would like to add their own critique of the paper.

You can download it here.

Here is my point of disagreement:

[George Washington] would have objected to signing such treaties because they would undermine our national sovereignty because America could be drawn into a war that would not serve its interests and would be detrimental to its free and open trade. Washington also warns against preferential treatment for other countries and calls for an “impartial hand” in trade. His call for non-intervention is not to be confused with a philosophy of isolation.

Hamilton supported higher tariffs and after the Revolution of 1800, his theories laid the groundwork for the Whig Party and the early Republican Party with regard to centralized economics, protectionism and "internal improvements" (an early phrase for pork barrel spending). Not to mention the fact that he was a nationalist, as were most Federalists, Washington included.

The author continues:

Washington was opposed to these obligations to other countries because they limit American sovereignty. It is here Locke’s influence can be seen on Washington. Washington knew that if there were treaties signed, an alien country would have influence on American policy which would violate the people’s social contract.

No doubt his reasoning is that we "don't need a trade agreement to have free trade," and philosophically...I completely agree. However, this not reality.Trade agreements do much, not only to improve and strengthen our economy, but also the economies of our neighbors. Since NAFTA was implemented, the United States economy has has a net gain of 18 million jobs and manufacturing output has increase by more than 40%.

Trade is also the best way to advance liberty, as opposed to war and an aggressive foreign policy. I have no doubt that Ryan and I agree on that point. As a nation like China becomes more liberalized, the human rights situation will improve. And that is one issue have with people who present, what are ostensibly anti-trade arguments, is that these agreements open the door to liberalized markets (capitalism), a reduction of tariffs and create better job opportunities at home. The may not be perfect, but they have had a positive effect on our economy.

Like I said, feel free to critique Ryan's paper in the comments. I'm sure he'd appreciate the discussion.

Posted by Jason at 10:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

[UPDATE 02/04/2008] I have been advised of two situations that pertain to this post. Readers may determine for themselves wherein the truth lay.

First, Mr. Pipkin appeared before the Fraternal Order of Police in October 2007 seeking an endorsement for his candidacy.

Secondly, the Perspective show that Jim Cox was refused an appearance was also filmed last Fall. The Pipkin show was filmed in December.

The sequence of events indicates that (1) Mr. Pipkin was campaigning long before January 2008, and (2) the 'no candidate' rule at SCB-TV is highly selective. Without further evidence to the contrary, my first impression that the Ladies of Channel 15 have no plausible deniability and cannot portray the show as anything but a vehicle for chosen political agendas.

[UPDATE 01/30/2008] Today it was learned that the Perspective show featuring Mr. Pipkin was filmed in December 2007, before he announced his candidacy. Further, at this time Ms. Neal has no funding raising involvement with Mr. Pipkin's campaign.

As stated in the original post, "this is Henry politics. Things are not always as they may appear." Still, one may wonder whether the other candidate for Sheriff may be on the show to talk about AMS or some other topic of public interest.

[ORIGINAL POST]
Everyone watches the SCB Channel 15 show Perspective. The hosts include Judy Neal, known from the Council for Quality Growth and Dana Lemon, appointee to the state DOT Board. The shows always give us great information about happenings, people and organizations in the county. Sometimes the invited guest will represent a government agency or the civic organization in the spotlight.

Not long ago there was show that required police participation. Just the kind of thing a uniformed officer would appear to speak about. Officer Jim Cox of the Henry County Police Department was on-hand and was preparing to take a seat on the panel.

Officer Cox was informed that he could not appear on the show, "because he is a candidate for office." Of course, Cox has announced his candidacy for Sheriff, but that was not the reason for his presence at SCB Television. So it appeared there was some policy about remaining neutral and not showing partiality toward any announced candidates for public office.

In the interest of full disclosure I will admit my involvement with Jim Cox and his campaign for election. However, my personal affiliations and opinions may not be shared by JasonPye.com, its owners, affiliates or sponsors. (a standard disclaimer)

Working on campaigns in Henry County has always been a great experience. It seems there is always one thing or other inhibiting access to the media. Of course editors, publishers and TV station (airtime in this case) owners have every right to sanction or condition the content of their presentations.

Watching Perspective this week I noticed Mr. Trea Pipkin was the invited guest. He spoke about his family, his lifetime growing up in Henry County, his father – the retiring Tax Commissioner, his job at the District Attorney’s Office. Mr. Pipkin was actually on the show to speak about Rotary, but the goo-goo, gah-gah, giggles and chit-chat surely seemed focused on Mr. Pipkin, his credentials and desire to serve Henry County.

It would seem that neither Michelle Deraney, the president and owner of SCB-TV Channel 15, nor hosts Judy Neal and Dana Lemon are aware that Mr. Trea Pipkin has announced his candidacy for the office of state representative! Alas, an upcoming fund raiser for Mr. Pipkin, said to be sponsored by Ms. Neal, would negate any such plausible deniability.

Hey, folks, this is Henry Politics! Just be very mindful of the content and agenda that may be presented on local cable television. Things are not always as they may appear. One may wonder when the other candidate for Sheriff may be on the show to talk about AMS or some other topic of public interest.

Posted by Larry Stanley at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (32)

I just received via email the following message from Tommy Smith:

Greetings and Salutations,

Andy Pipkin announced recently that he will retire as Henry County Tax Commissioner at the end of his term. His term ends at the end of this year. After much serious thoughts and discussions with my family, today at lunch I filed a Declaration of Intention to Accept Campaign Contributions. I have to tell you that I know Andy has done a good job for Henry County as Tax Commissioner. Had he not decided to retire, I surely would not be making this move. This filing is my intent to officially qualify for this position at the end of April. It would indeed be an honor for me to serve the citizens in this position. Even though I was born, raised, and have lived in Henry County all of my life, I can not be elected to this position without help.

I will make an formal announce later. As most of you know, I am presently employed by the Henry County Board of Commissioners. My bosses have allowed me to take a leave of absent when it becomes necessary to campaign.

Thank you,

Tommy N. Smith
7 Fortson Drive
Hampton, Georgia 30228
770-946-3278

Posted by Larry Stanley at 09:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Please make sure you visit our advertisers. They keep the bills paid.

And just in case you feel the need to, you can always make a donation via PayPal.

I am also selling an autographed copy (signed by Boortz and Linder) of the The FairTax Book if anyone is interested. If I can't sell it the next couple days, I'll just throw it on e-bay.

Posted by Jason at 07:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

That is number individuals who took advantage of advance voting in Georgia:

Secretary of State Karen Handel announced today voter turnout figures from the Georgia Presidential Preference Primary advance voting week. Voters were able to cast ballots at their county’s advance voting centers from Monday, January 28 through Friday, February 1, 2008.

“These numbers demonstrate Georgian’s interest in the Presidential Primary as well as their interest in the convenience of advance voting,” said Secretary Handel.

Monday - 22,456
Tuesday - 34,651
Wednesday - 38,073
Thursday - 42,679
Friday - 65,761
Total Advance Week Voters - 203,620

In addition to these early voters, 44,277 people have cast absentee ballots, either by mail or in office. To date, nearly 248,000 absentee and in-person advance votes have been cast in Georgia’s Presidential Preference Primary.

Secretary Handel also anticipates a large turn-out on Election Day, Tuesday, February 5, 2008. Handel projects turnout will be in excess of 30 percent.

“The nomination contests in each party appear highly competitive,” Handel said.

Voters will probably experience lines at polling places during peak times, which are historically from 7:00 a.m. until 9:30 a.m., 4:30 p.m. until 7:00 pm, and during the mid-day lunch hour.

Posted by Jason at 05:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In response to Larry's post the other day, a friend just sent along this...

My campaign platform is in the works.

Posted by Jason at 05:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl of the primaries with 22 states casting ballots. Early voting in Henry has kept the Elections staff in a whirl with high voter turnout.

In early voting at the county's precincts and absentees, the tally is 4,500+ Republican and 4,400+ Democrat ballots.

The number already exceeds the total number of votes from the November SPLOST ballot! Yee-Haw, it is good to see people going to the polls.

Posted by Larry Stanley at 05:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The revelations about the state DOT are not new to us since Rep. Steve Davis has been preaching the gospel for several years. But the recent hire of Gena L. Abraham has been a welcomed change at the dysfunctional agency.

Abraham's election was voted upon by DOT Board members, but some folks in the legislature - namely Glen Richardson - are not entirely happy with the shake-up going on at GDOT. Replacing members of the DOT Board is the politically empowering method to maintaining control of that mismanaged, pork & graft machine. So that is exactly what Richardson wanted to do.

The legislature must vote to approve appointments, and Richardson did not have the votes needed to place his own puppet, former state Rep. Stacey Reece, on the Board. The 9th District DOT seat was won by incumbent Mike Evans, and Richardson is not happy.

From InsiderAdvantage Georgia:

(2/4/08) Three more House members have been stripped of important committee assignments for voting contrary to Speaker Glenn Richardson’s wishes in the race last Friday for the 9th District DOT seat, won by incumbent Mike Evans. Richardson was supporting challenger and former state Rep. Stacey Reece.

Besides Tom Graves, who we learned Friday had been fired as a House “Hawk” and told to vacate his Capitol office in favor of the less-posh digs at the Coverdell Legislative Office Building across the street:

* John Meadows was removed as vice chairman of Natural Resources & Environment and as secretary of the Insurance Committee.

* Doug Collins was removed as chairman of the children’s health issues subcommittee of Health and Human Services.

* Martin Scott was given the heave-ho as co-chairman of the income tax subcommittee of Ways & Means and as secretary of Ways and Means.

We’ve also learned of some other positions that Graves has lost, besides his slot as a House “hawk.” He’s no longer chairman of the state highway subcommittee of Transportation. He’s no longer chairman of the education subcommittee of Children and Youth. He’s no longer chairman of the general health subcommittee of Health and Human Services. And he’s no longer chairman of the tax reform subcommittee under Ways and Means.

Clelia Davis, the Speaker’s spokeswoman, said Richardson made the decisions “and the House leadership fully supports them.”

Word of Collins’ removal was circulated earlier told by the Gainesville Times. He told the newspaper, “This is something I knew could possibly happen if I voted for Mike Evans. It’s very frustrating, but I felt the need to vote my conscience and my constituency. I made those decisions based on what I felt was best for this community.”

In the uncontested seat in the 13th District, I simply wanted the record to show that I did not support Dana Lemon but when motioned for unanimous consent I was not recognized for my objection. There was only 18 members of a 30 member delegation present because most did not even bother to come! I will let the voters in my district know that even though my one vote could not change the outcome that I do not support a person that does not serve the best interest of our community. There was only 2 Republicans, myself and Senator Douglas from what I could tell but this is how things go sometimes.

Posted by Larry Stanley at 04:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Herman Cain is voting for Mitt Romney:

The dynamics of political party connections, the political process itself and public perceptions have once again yielded the top two contenders of each major party in the 2008 presidential race. And once again, the public can only hope that the ultimate winner of the White House will be a candidate with the most leadership substance.

My vote is for Mitt Romney.
[...]
Great leaders are born, and good leaders keep working on it. We are not favored with an obvious great leader in the 2008 race, as is apparent from the primary process and the results thus far.

But Mitt Romney's leadership credentials offer the best hope of a leader with substance, and the best hope for a good president who could turn out to be great.

On John McCain, Mr. Cain writes:

John McCain has spent more of his career inside government than outside, and the reasons not to vote for him as the Republican nominee are very compelling.

He voted against letting people keep more of their money in 2001 and 2003 when President Bush pushed through his tax cuts. He has been part of the escalation of the federal debt during his 20-plus years in the U.S. Senate. He showed questionable leadership on a failed immigration bill. And he showed no leadership by failing to support the president's efforts to establish personal retirement accounts — a proposal that would have started to fix the coming financial train wreck in the Social Security system.

That's not leadership.

Posted by Jason at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Drew Carey takes on Lou Dobbs, Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee and other alarmists over the concerns about the middle class:

Posted by Jason at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the Herald:

Mike Crotts, a former state senator (R-Covington) is challenging John Douglas (R-Social Circle) for his position as state senator in district 17. Crotts formerly occupied the state senator position from 1992 to 2004. He served six terms and ran five times unopposed. According to Crotts in 2004, after redistricting took place in the 17th district, a Fulton County judge said he wasn't allowed to vote or run for elected office because he did not live in the district. District 17 includes sections of Henry, Rockdale, Spalding and all of Newton County.

"I got a raw deal. My constitutional rights were violated," said Crotts. "I had to sit on the sidelines," he said.

A quick search of Henry tax records for November 2007 shows the property at 1096 HIGHWAY 20 E has no building/dwelling and property (< 2 acres) value of $40,000. Tax bills back to 2005 show no building/dwelling value at the site. This is the only Henry County property owned by Mike Crotts that appears online.

Crotts' claim to concervative values is represented in his sponsoring a marriage amendment bill that gave Georgians the choice to vote for or against same sex marriage. Isn't that a resolved issue in Georgia?

Sorry to beat a dead horse, and of course anybody can run office that so chooses. But isn't Crotts entry in the race something like bringing Joyner or Maddox back to the county commission? It would seem that we have moved beyond all that.

Posted by Larry Stanley at 06:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (35)

Jace, myself and a few friends are over here watching the game.

My prediction:
Patriots - 37
Giants - 17

Jace's prediction:
Patriots - 35
Giants - 14

Leave your predictions in the comments.

[UPDATE - 10:09pm] Just...damn. That was a great football game.

[UPDATE - 11:24pm] Did anybody else think it was classless of Bill Belichick to walk off the field with one second on the clock and his team still on the field?

Posted by Jason at 05:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

You know, I hate it when a candidate's main strength is touted to be his ability to defeat the other guy. The MSM is so fond of using that line. So are bloggers. "OMG! McCain is the only candidate who can beat Hillary or Obama."

Democrats said that about John Kerry. He was the Democrat's one big hope of beating Bush. And look how well that turned out for Kerry and the Democrats.

I think the largest reason why Kerry didn't win was the fact that most Democrats had a general feeling of "meh" about him. He just didn't energize the Democratic base. And people won't make an effort to vote for a candidate about whom they don't feel strongly. Oh, they felt strongly enough about defeating Bush, but not enough, apparently, to get out of the house and vote for Kerry. And when the popular vote is going to be tight, you need a candidate who can squeeze every last person they can get into the polling booth.

So arguing that voting McCain is the only way to defeat Hillary or Obama isn't going to get my vote at all. McCain just has too much political baggage with which I disagree. And most of that political baggage is baggage that both Hillary and Obama share. Really, I see little measurable difference between the three.

Post Note: The Marietta Daily Journal has just endorsed McCain. (They are "Metro Atlanta's only conservative voice." Bah.) Their headline? "McCain nomination key to GOP win in the fall." In an election where the popular vote is going to be tight, you just can't count on voters to show up for the guy that will beat the other guy. You need someone who can get people out to vote for him because of his positions. The "voting for me is a vote against the other guy" tactic just isn't one that can be relied upon. See Bush v. Kerry for proof of that.

Posted by Prudie at 02:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

Please respond with your comments:

1. Will Nash Farm spell disaster for the Mathis campaign?
2. Did Mathis setup a willful fraud in order to acqure the property?
3. Was/Is Pollard an unwitting accomplice?
4. Did the Lamar Institute provide an unbiased report?
5. Should Mathis have sought federal funding for Nash?
6. Should the sign at the property be changed to remove the word "Battlefield?'

Posted by Larry Stanley at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

There is another poll out today in Georgia:

Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Barack Obama of Illinois hold identical 6 percentage point leads in Georgia over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, according to a new McClatchy-MSNBC poll.

The poll, by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, found that McCain has a 33 percent to 27 percent edge over Romney in the Republican contest, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee drawing 18 percent. In the Democratic race, the poll found Obama leading Clinton, 47 percent to 41 percent.

However, the poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus five percent, also found that 17 percent of likely Georgia GOP voters are undecided, while 10 percent of likely Democratic voters in the state haven't made up their minds.
[...]
In Georgia, Romney leads McCain 34 percent to 31 percent in the Atlanta metro area, but McCain is ahead 35 percent to 18 percent in the rest of the state. Huckabee draws 15 percent in greater Atlanta and 22 percent elsewhere.

Posted by Jason at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Kyle over at Dawg Sports asked me to name the Representatives that voted against a resolution urging the NCAA to adopt playoff system for college football.

Here is the list:
- Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta)
- Billy Horne (R-Newnan)
- Mike Jacobs (R-Atlanta)
- Sean Jerguson (R-Woodstock)
- Kevin Levitas (D-Atlanta)
- Barry Loudermilk (R-Cassville)
- Ed Rynders (R-Albany)
- Rob Teilhet (D-Smyrna)
- Roger Williams (R-Dalton)

To anyone who criticizes the legislature for taking up something like this, please consider the fact that this is normal. The Georgia General Assembly generally considers resolutions like this, they rarely take time for debate on these resolutions. It's not different from honoring a little league baseball team or inviting some famous individual to the capitol.

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

Mitt Romney won today's GOP caucus in Maine:

Mitt Romney won the presidential preference voting context by Maine Republicans on Saturday in the party's municipal caucuses, which were heavily attended across the state.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, had a little over half of the vote with about two-thirds of the towns holding caucuses reporting. John McCain worked to keep his vote above 20 percent, trailed by Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee.

Posted by Jason at 09:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This piece is circulating around right now, just so you don't have to read through it all...it is expected that Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss will endorse John McCain this evening:

Georgia Congressmen Lynn Westmoreland, Tom Price, Phil Gingrey, Jack Kingston and Georgia Speaker Pro Temp Mark Burkhalter along with Georgia’s Romney for President Co-Chairman Eric Tanenblatt held the following media briefing this morning, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008 about Mitt Romney and the Super Tuesday election in Georgia.

Highlights:

Westmoreland: “I think Mr. Huckabee is a stalking horse for McCain and is pulling a lot of these conservative voters away from Mr. Romney. If you look at Mr. McCain’s record he was one of only two Republicans who voted against tax relief President Bush offered which included lifting the marriage penalty and increasing the child tax credit. He is no friend of the family.”

Westmoreland spoke of the expected endorsement tonight by Georgia’s U.S. Senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss of McCain.

“The Senate is a universe of 100 people,” Westmoreland said. ”They almost seem to be removed from the constituency. I think those guys get over there and they sprinkle them with some kind of dust or whatever. We’re more the people’s House and get more of a sense of what is going on. If McCain is the nominee, it will hurt the down-ticket Republicans. And a lot our conservatives will stay home. Gov. Romney is the most constant conservative in this race.”

Kingston added: “We don’t mind if the senators look to us for leadership.”

Burkhalter noted that more than 50 members of the Georgia Legislature – who are quite close to their constituents -- endorsed Gov. Mitt Romney for President at a media event this week. “We tend to know what the people want, and very clearly from that press conference it was a strong statement,” Burkhalter said. “We need an economy President, and if you vote against tax cuts (as McCain did) you voted for a tax increase as far as I’m concerned.”

Kingston added: “With a downward economy and recession at the door, Mitt Romney has the only legitimate business record. You want a man who understands capital. A big issue with small businesses is health care. Mitt Romney is the only candidate who has gone after health reform without trying to create socialized medicine like the Democrats. McCain lets Kennedy write the bills and puts his name on it.”

Gingrey said the Senate endorsements were “part of a close knit club on the Senate side and with he being the only Senator in the race, it was expected. But we must remember what Teddy Roosevelt said. Speak softly but carry a big stick. I’m sure a President McCain could carry a big stick but not speak softly.”

Price added: “What Romney has been, is an agent of change. What starkly separates him is that he is not from Washington. The nation is tired of inbred politicians from Washington.”

Tanenblatt commented: “Senator Chambliss and Isakson are two of Georgia’s finest statewide elected leaders who supported the Bush tax cuts, fought to end illegal immigration and are committed to preservation of our right to free speech. I look at this as an endorsement of someone they serve with rather than someone who shares their values. I believe conservative Republicans in Georgia know better and will clearly see the disconnect between McCain’s record and that of our two Senators.”

Price added: “What Romney has been, is an agent of change. What starkly separates him is that he is not from Washington. The nation is tired of inbred politicians from Washington.”

Tanenblatt commented: “Senator Chambliss and Isakson are two of Georgia’s finest statewide elected leaders who supported the Bush tax cuts, fought to end illegal immigration and are committed to preservation of our right to free speech. I look at this as an endorsement of someone they serve with rather than someone who shares their values. I believe conservative Republicans in Georgia know better and will clearly see the disconnect between McCain’s record and that of our two Senators.”

Posted by Jason at 04:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

You will not see me defend Sean Hannity very often, but Mike Huckabee has completely lost his mind. He has created some crazy conspiracy theory about Hannity's decision to vote for Mitt Romney...just read on:

The background here is that Mitt’s firm, Bain Capital, owns Clear Channel Communications, which in turn owns all sorts of talent, Hannity included. Not until the last few weeks, though, when talk radio broke hard towards Romney to stop McCain (and, before him, Huck) was the Bain/CCC connection an issue. In fact, we’ve gotten several tips to the effect that Bain just recently bought CCC in a last-ditch effort to monopolize the media on Mitt’s behalf; for that lazy smear you can thank HuffPo, which duly repeated it on their site before googling for five seconds and discovering that Bain actually bought CCC back in November 2006. Which means that, per Huck’s theory, Hannity’s supposedly been in the tank for Romney for the past 14 months even while he was giving tons of airtime and admiring buzz to Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson.

And of course, true to Huckabee form, not only does this come in the context of a longer class-warfare harangue (per the emphasis on Mitt breaking up companies and laying people off) but he doesn’t have the balls to own the dirty trick he’s engaged in. He qualifies the accusation by stressing that “some suggest” Hannity might be in the tank, not necessarily our “Christian leader.”

First, the f