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March 2007
Biblical ignorance
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In August, Georgia public school systems will start offering two courses about the Bible, as mandated by the Georgia General Assembly in 2006. Stuart Bennett, Chief Deputy Superintendent of Schools for the Georgia Department of Education, writes that that the elective courses will not be “‘Bible study’ that one might take at church”. Also, “teachers cannot promote their religious beliefs,” writes Bennett. Meanwhile, Stephen Prothero, who chairs the department of religion at Boston University, writes that the Bible is “revered more than it is read and read more than it is remembered.” Only one-third of Americans know that Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, Prothero writes, and 10 percent believe Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife.
Do we need to teach the Bible in public school? If so why? And how?
Should Georgia apologize for slavery?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Many Georgians don’t believe they should apologize for slavery since they had nothing to do with it. But the NAACP is not asking everyday Georgians to say they’re sorry.
The civil rights organization wants the state of Georgia to apologize for its official sanction of slavery. Editorial
Gov. Sonny Perdue has misgivings about such a slavery apology, saying, “I’m not sure about public apologies on behalf of other people.”
But proponents counter that Perdue would not be apologizing as an individual or on behalf of other people. He would be apologizing on behalf of his predecessors, the Georgia governors who signed Slave Codes and those who signed Jim Crow laws.
Opponents argue that slavery is in the distant past and that no current elected official need to feel compelled to make amends. The Virginia General Assembly disagrees. That body voted unanimously last month in favor of a resolution expressing “profound regret” for slavery.
Should the Georgia General Assembly follow suit?
Permalink | Comments (190) | Categories: Forum
Our kids are not spoiled rotten
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Decatur writer Margaret Tate argues that giving your teenagers trips to Europe and cars is not necessarily spoiling them rotten.
Tate was inspired by a recent AJC story on teenagers with their own multi-room suites that include amenities like a 36-inch plasma TV, two bathrooms and a den furnished with twin sofas.
But what matters most is what parents expect of teens and what the teens deliver. “Indeed, it’s difficult to see the inherent harm of material ease when so many of today’s pampered progeny are growing into smart, accomplished, responsible and personable young people,” she writes.
Are we raising a generation of brats or simply grooming new leaders who also happen to appreciate the finer things in life?
Seeing red: Red light cameras
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Are red light cameras a help or a hindrance to traffic safety in Georgia?
House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) doesn’t like them and wants the Legislature to revisit the 2001 law allowing local governments to employ cameras to nab drivers racing through lights.Editorial
While he wants to ban their use outright, Richardson would reconsider if the $70 fine imposed on red light runners was eliminated or reduced drastically.
“It is wrong to do it for revenue purposes,” Richardson says. “We have to always remember we are taking money from citizens.”
Richardson says that he has a better idea: “I bet for the money we spent on these cameras, we could put a little bit more asphalt down,” he said. “If we put down more lanes of traffic… people wouldn’t have to speed through that light because they were worried about being late for work.”
Do you think the cameras are effective or is the answer widening roads, as the speaker maintains?
Stores Behaving Badly
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Under new leadership, Home Depot is promising to return to the type of first-rate customer service that helped the company become an industry phenomenon in the first place. Spurred in part by customer complaints, company CEO Frank Blake is pledging new stores, more knowledgeable clerks and other improvements that will make shopping at the do-it-yourself chain more pleasurable.
That’s good news for Home Depot customers and its shareholders. But what about the rest of us still dealing with rude employees at establishments who willingly take our money but treat us like dirt? Other than just leaving in a huff, how do you handle situations at businesses where the company motto is “The Customer is Always Wrong?”
Yes to Sunday sales
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Social conservatives often claim that they support a small government that stays out of people’s lives - until it comes to behavior that they don’t like. Then it’s OK for government to meddle all it wants.
That’s what’s happening in the state Legislature with the bill that would permit Georgians to vote on whether to permit Sunday alcohol sales in their communities. Many conservatives don’t even want to give you the chance to vote. That’s not right.
Read my column today on Sunday sales, and then tell us what you think: Should the people of Georgia have the right to vote on whether they want Sunday alcohol sales?
Whom to contact
If you don’t want the bill on Sunday alcohol sales to get bottled up in the state Legislature, here’s a partial list of key members of the Senate Rules Committee you should contact and demand that the measure be brought up for a vote.
Senate Rules Committee
If you don’t want the bill on Sunday alcohol sales to get bottled up in the state Legislature, here’s a partial list of key members of the Senate Rules Committe you should contact and demand that the measure be brought up for a vote.
• Sen. Don Balfour, chairman: (404) 656-0095, don.balfour@senate.ga.gov
• Sen. William Hamrick, vice chairman: (404) 656-0036, bill.hamrick@senate.ga.gov
• Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, secretary: (404) 656-6446, mail@mitchseabaugh.com
• Sen. Eric Johnson, Senate Pres. Pro Tem: (404) 656-5109, eric.johnson@senate.ga.gov
• Sen. Tommie Williams, Senate Majority Leader: (404) 656-0089, tommie@tommiewilliams.com
ATLANTA AREA MEMBERS
• Sen. David Adelman, Decatur: (404) 463-1376, david.adelman@senate.ga.gov
• Sen. Gloria S. Butler, Stone Mountain: (404) 656-0075, gloria.butler@senate.ga.gov
• Sen. Dan Moody, Alpharetta: (404) 463-8055, dan.moody@senate.ga.gov
• Sen. David Shafer, Duluth: (404) 656-0048, david.shafer@senate.ga.gov
• Sen. Renee S. Unterman, Buford: 404) 463-1368, renee.unterman@senate.ga.gov
Pained at the Pump
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Blaming oil executives, politicians and OPEC for sudden spikes in gasoline prices is easy; it’s almost become an American pastime. But curing our collective addiction to oil is more difficult because consumers (that’s us) are reluctant to admit we’re the biggest part of the problem.
Congress is holding hearings Wednesday to grill automakers about their failure to make more fuel-efficient, less-polluting vehicles. Last year, you may recall, lawmakers quizzed oil company executives after the industry posted record profits. Threats were made at the time about imposing windfall taxes and other punitive measures but (surprise!) nothing happened.
Gas prices have jumped 20-cents in recent weeks and now average $2.55 a-gallon nationwide. Instead of just whining about it this time, what steps must we take to reduce our nation’s oil addiction and the environmental damage it causes? Should those steps be voluntary or mandatory? What if anything are you doing to keep oil “pushers” at bay?
Should we save Peachcare?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Congress is playing games with Georgia’s PeachCare for Kids program and children’s health insurance programs that are running out of money in about a dozen other states. Last week Democrats in Congress tied emergency funding for the programs to a military spending bill that calls for withdrawing combat troops from Iraq by the end of the year. And the Republicans in the state Legislature seem intent on slashing enrollment in the highly-successful program rather than spending more state money — even on a temporary basis — to keep it going under the current eligibility and benefit rules.
PeachCare covers 278,000 Georgia children in working-class families where parents make too much money to be on Medicaid but not enough to be able to afford private insurance coverage. The families pay low monthly premiums for coverage of children 18 and under.
Read today’s editorial on the subject and tell us where to go from here. Should the state increase the premiums for the highest-earning families? Switch more of the lowest-income families to Medicaid? Institute co-payments and deductibles for the first time? Or should we try a totally different approach?
Permalink | Comments (9) | Categories: Editorial
Sorry Sisters?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When membership at the Delta Zeta sorority at DePauw University in Indiana started slipping, the national office dispatched a team to assess the problem and bolster recruitment. The DZ leaders decided some of the sisters themselves were the problem, dismissing 23 of the 35 members from the sorority house, including the women who were overweight or minorities. The slimmer, prettier sorors weren’t affected. Six of the 12 sisters who made the final cut eventually quit in protest.
News accounts of the purge have set off a national debate about DZ’s actions, and about the nature of the Greek system on college campuses. Do Greek-letter organizations exist to exclude and, in the case of sororities, can the criteria be as superficial as dress size?
Fraternities and sororities contend that they don’t choose members based on their appearance or their family income. Read our complete editorial and tell us what you think: Is this an isolated incident or does it reveal an ugly selection process that mostly favors good looks over good character?
For more coverage, see DePauw University’s Web site
Highway Horror Stories
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After the March 2 fatal bus crash at I-75 and Northside Drive, readers were invited to write about highways that scare them- because of bad design, confusing signage or other factors.
Drivers depicted the Atlanta freeway system as an increasingly complex, high-speed maze, not for the faint of heart, where even a moment of confusion can be deadly. ” I saw one accident where a car flew off the westbound side and flipped over in the eastbound lanes,” wrote Kevin Kitchen of Austell.
Jim McKune of Woodstock’s description of a bottleneck was so complex he worried if anyone would understand it. Yet, it was telling about how confusing roads can be now.
“The problem occurs when two lanes of on-ramp traffic coming from the South Loop east side, try to merge into the five lanes of traffic of I-75 north,” he wrote.
Let’s talk about highway problems and how they can be fixed.
Do we need an official language?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Symbolism is important to the General Assembly. That’s the underpinning for the proposed amendment to the state constitution to declare English as the state’s official language.
But if the Legislature approves the largely symbolic amendment, the message will be clear — if you don’t speak our language you’re less of a citizen than the rest of us.
Read today’s editorial and tell us: What do you make of this proposal? If it’s symbolic, what does it symbolize?
HPV vaccine: Profit vs. protection
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The human papillomavirus vaccine is an important development in the nation’s effort to prevent a form of cancer that infects and kills a small number of women every year in the U.S. But its significant costs and uncertainty about its long-term effectiveness argue strongly against making it mandatory now in Georgia or any other state.
A wiser course would be to concentrate more resources raising awareness about HPV in young women and encourage those who are sexually active to be routinely screened.
Read Mike King’s full column on the subject and tell us what you think: Should Georgia and other states initiate mandatory vaccinations of young women against HPV virus?
Capital punishment: Too much capital?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s time for Georgia to talk about the death penalty. The Brian NIchols case threatens to wipe out the state’s entire budget for indigent defense in death penalty cases.
Forget, for a moment, where you stand on capital punishment, and let’s tackle a more practical issue: Can we afford the death penalty in this state? What if prosecutors always had the option of seeking a sentence of life without possibility of parole?
Read Sunday’s in-depth editorial on this issue and then tell us what you think: Is it time to give up on executions?
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