Rick Badie / My Opinion

By Michael H. Smith

February 27, 2009 11:45 PM | Link to this

Take the issue out of the hands of politicians too concerned about their public careers and the next election?

My, my, Mr. Badie, suggesting ballot initiative and referendum, don’t tell me you’re a Teddy Roosevelt Progressive?

By BW

February 28, 2009 7:47 AM | Link to this

N0, we should let those under the Golden Dome decide, after all that is what we elected them to do. Do we really want to be like Calfionia where most of the major rules/laws are decided by, “The People”, who haven’t a clue what it will cost or how much it will bring in? BTW…Calfionia is $45 Bilion in debt.

Please note, the Ballpark has booze on Sundays, bet you’ll find Bible toting Brave’s fan’s right up front.

By LB

February 28, 2009 9:22 AM | Link to this

I could care less. I have never had a drink. I have more important things to do besides be drunk. We need to be focused on bigger issues such as creating more jobs and becoming more involved as a nation. We need our president to govern and not dictate. People need to wake up and take a stand before we lose all rights. If we don’t start taking pride in our nation we will soon have no nation left because we will have allowed a socialist mentality. Sunday sales for beer is really small potatos.

By Patrick

February 28, 2009 10:49 AM | Link to this

Sorry Rick but this is a republic not a democracy. We elect people to govern. If we don’t like their decisions, we can choose to elect someone else. Personally I get tired on people suggesting voting on everything. Let’s throw out all the politicians and elect citizens. Then we won’t have the need to vote on very issue that comes along.

By Michael H. Smith

February 28, 2009 10:56 AM | Link to this

Ballot initiatives and referendums can, when we people use them not abuse them, correct situations where our politicians fail to govern, instead do dictate. Ballot initiatives and referendums means the people are taking a stand at the ballot box where it actually counts to wake up their government and politicians of entrenched power that we people will surrender none of our rights.

Do remember how liberal courts in liberal left coast California wrote into law from the bench the creation of a gay marriage, and how the people of California spoke directly to that government in Proposition 8, thereby nullifying a law the people found unacceptable.

~

I believe in the initiative and the referendum, which should be used not to destroy representative government, but to correct it when ever it becomes misrepresentative. Here again I am concerned not with theories but with actual facts. If in any State the people are themselves satisfied with their present representative system, then it is of course their right to keep that system unchanged; and it is nobody’s business but theirs. But in actual practice it has been found in very many States that legislative bodies have not been responsive to the popular will. Therefore I believe that the State should provide for the possibility of direct popular action in order to make good such legislative failure. The power to invoke such direct action, both by initiative and by referendum, should be provided in such fashion as to prevent its being wantonly or too frequently used. I do not believe that it should be made the easy or ordinary way of taking action. In the great majority of cases it is far better than action on legislative matters should be taken by those specially delegated to perform the talk; in other words, that the work should be done by the experts chosen to perform it. But where the men thus delegated fail to perform their duty, then it should be in the power of the people themselves to perform the duty.

Theodore Roosevelt 1912

http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1126

Let the people have their say Mr. Badie, whether I agree or not, I remain confident in the right of the people and shall abide by their expressed will.

By Bubba

February 28, 2009 11:36 AM | Link to this

Michael’s spot on with this one.

The structure of government cannot and should not be used to stifle the voice of the people. Regardless of how one feels about the issue, it is an issue that has been hotly discussed in Georgia for years. It’s a discussion whose conclusion is interrupted year after year by those who, for whatever reason or interest, have much more to lose by the people’s decision - one way or the other - than they have to gain by letting the people have their say.

Elected officials of this government are the dysfunctional mechanism that breaks the system down. In essence, they are saying, “we have no wish to let the people be heard.” That’s not Democrat or Republican. That’s un-American.

I don’t care whether or not liquor is sold on Sunday. I do think that the issue needs to be resolved - one way or the other - by the will of the people of the state of Georgia.

By BW

February 28, 2009 2:13 PM | Link to this

The state constitution of Calfionia where ‘Article I’ explains very clearly the Rights of “The People”. Now most don’t need a court to explain the simple text, basically all men are created equal, a strange concept in this Republic. I find it hilarious that the very people who hate the liberal state, now embraced it as the only true form of government?

Maybe we should have the right, I haven’t watched Lou Dobbs lately, but I’m sure he would agree with MHS, to throw out the constitution and change it whenever we like. The states has no right to follow the orginal constitution, the same should apply to the federal level, by simple vote. Or do some people believe in one strong central government?

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/CaliforniaConstitution/ARTICLEI#SECTION_1

By Michael H. Smith

February 28, 2009 4:12 PM | Link to this

Sadly, liberals don’t seem to know what they believe. Perhaps they should tune-in to watch Mr. Independent Lou Dobbs (a once life long Republican), it would certainly improve their source of information over the likes of the alter net and media matters. Nevertheless, since liberals seem to go around touting the claim of being a Progressive, they should read from authoritative credible sources like Mr. Progressive Theodore Roosevelt, (a Republican by the way).

“We stand for applying the Constitution to the issues of today as Lincoln applied it to the issues of his day; Lincoln, mind you and not Buchanan, was the real upholder and preserver of the Constitution, for the true Progressive, the Progressive of the Lincoln stamp, is the only true constitutionalist, the only real conservative.”

Theodore Roosevelt, 1912

http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1126

Brucie like the “So-called Progressives in California” (rioting over Proposition 8 passage), pouts and stomps his liberal feet when he can’t get his way in the face of an obvious clear defeat. That old ballot initiative Proposition 8, those old conservatives of the Progressive Lincoln (R) stamp, of that old Teddy Roosevelt (R) ilk, left a liberal blue state seeing “RED!”

Enlightening the lousy liberal flock on a bit of Georgia ballot history per dating California statehood:

In 1776, Georgia delegates gathered in Savannah to draft a new constitution. One of the changes that was made was a requirement that the new constitution could only be amended when petitions signed by a majority of voters in each county called for a convention. Though the process was never used and ultimately deleted from the constitution it [Georgia] was “the first state” to establish a process that recognized “the true sovereignty of the people in controlling their constitution.”

http://www.ctconcon.com/history-initiative-referenda.html

…now embrace it as the only true form of government?

Poor Brucie, absent of the facts once again.

By LT5000

February 28, 2009 7:57 PM | Link to this

Blubbering Badie strikes again with another moronic non story blog.

He really seems to have it in for Snellville and uses this non-issue to take a jab at the Christian coalition.

Who cares if someone can’t get a drink on Sunday? Does it really mattter? Has someone died because they couldn’t get a glass of wine on Sunday at O’Charleys?

Mr. Smith, thanks for the obligatory Brucie smackdown. With his blatant disregard for the facts, correcting him can be a full time job.

LT5000

By BW

February 28, 2009 10:42 PM | Link to this

Now, now MHS, you’re not going puss-puss like lt or Little Tot are we? It is a very, very simple question. Should states be allowed to change their constitution everytime someone gets a bug uo their butt, and if so why shouldn’t apply to the Unites States Constitution?

State Rights or a Strong Central Government, pick one from cploumn A or cloumn B. Don’t be childish MHS, it shows that I’m winning.

By Michael H. Smith

March 1, 2009 12:06 AM | Link to this

Brucie, I see comprehension remains a very troubling matter for you. The subject material furnished, including the links to the sources used makes things very clear, even for the simplest of minds - of course that would include yours.

You are now continuously whining over your pathetic lost argument and not winning anything short of another dumbass award.

The subject at hand is not about Federalism and the dissemination of government powers, Brucie.

It is, however, about “the true sovereignty of the people in controlling their constitution” and the use of ballot initiative and the referendum, which should be used not to destroy “representative government”, but to correct it when ever it becomes misrepresentative of the will of the people. The power to invoke such direct action, both by initiative and by referendum, should be provided in such fashion “as to prevent its being wantonly or too frequently used”. A principle forever established in our Declaration of Independence, wherein “we the people” were advised not to change our laws or to change our form of government “for transient causes”, though “we the people” retain the ultimate power to do both in exercise of our human rights and duty as a sovereign people: That you can select under the column of the United States of America, something that seems very foreign to you, Señorito Brucie.

By Bubba

March 1, 2009 9:53 AM | Link to this

“It is a very, very simple question. Should states be allowed to change their constitution everytime someone gets a bug uo their butt, and if so why shouldn’t apply to the Unites States Constitution?”

The answer, Bruce, is a resounding yes. The beauty of the Constitution is that it can be changed, unlike most of the documents created for other countries. The one thing our founding fathers knew was that they didn’t know everything, that subsequent generations might encounter problems and situations that could not be foretold and predicted by the standards of earlier times.

Is it easy to do? No. But for an organized society to grow and change, the plant of government must, from time to time, be replanted into a bigger pot, with new soil, new nutrients added to help the plant thrive. More than anything, this is what makes America great, and different from every other country in the world.

By BW

March 1, 2009 1:59 PM | Link to this

Ah, but Bubba, before “The People” get a chance for any input on an amendment, our elected leaders in Washington have to approve the change by a large majority, then onto the states, where again the majority has to approve it. It has checks and balances as it should be.

There is a guy in Calfionia who, so far, has had 18 Resolutions on the ballot, he admitted it’s kind of a hobby. Is that the voice of “The People” or abuse of the system?

Calfionia’s system needs some checks and balances.

Thanks Bubba for answering the simple question that seemed to fly over a few heads.

By LT5000

March 1, 2009 4:10 PM | Link to this

Bruice,

This is Georgia, not California. Even though you treat the bathroom stalls at the local rest stop like it’s the Castro district of San Francisco.

Brucie, once again, melds ignorance and irrelevance into a basis for his arguements.

Brucie’s favorite state passed Prop 8, but undoubtedly some liberal judge will shut it down. Is that really serving the voters?

The bright side is that Brucie can marry one of the young Mexican boys he picked up at Quik Trip.

LT5000

By Michael H. Smith

March 1, 2009 6:27 PM | Link to this

Yes, thanks Bubba, for answering a third time a question that was answered “at least once” before it was ever asked.

The power to invoke such direct action, both by initiative and by referendum, should be provided in such fashion as to prevent its being wantonly or too frequently used. I do not believe that it should be made the easy or ordinary way of taking action.

Some people intellectually function on less than two burnt-out brain cells. A failure to comprehend straightforward explanations and answers like the emboldened simple statement above is proof-positive.

By Michael H. Smith

March 1, 2009 7:44 PM | Link to this

I would have to challenge the ability of the California Supreme Court to overturn a California State Constitutional Amendment. The only possible means for the liberal activist judges to shut it down LT, will be to rule that the ballot initiative did not properly qualify or that the balloting was conducted improperly: They would have to rule on the election, not the passed standing amendment and even that could set-off a real voter firestorm. Once an amendment is in the Constitution the courts cannot rule it Unconstitutional. Only we the people, U.S. Citizens, can ultimately repeal any amendment to our Constitution respectively State or U.S. .

By BW

March 1, 2009 8:55 PM | Link to this

Mommies Honey Sweetie or MHS, the Declaration of Independence, please, we were discussing the Constitution.

“It is, however, about “the true sovereignty of the people in controlling their constitution” and the use of ballot initiative and the referendum, which should be used not to destroy “representative government”, but to correct it when ever it becomes misrepresentative of the will of the people. The power to invoke such direct action, both by initiative and by referendum, should be provided in such fashion “as to prevent its being wantonly or too frequently used”.”

You see by your usual babble you attempt to confuse the simple question, plus you look rather foolish. Take these quotes from your own babble, “destroy “representative government”, “correct it when ever it becomes misrepresentative of the will of the people.”, finally “as to prevent its being wantonly or too frequently used”.”

Well resolutions, so far have been in every election, so the elected officals have never represented “The People” correctly, wouldn’t that be your take? This also applies to, “as to prevent its being wantonly or too frequently used”.”, so all the Moossedung you’re throwing doesn’t work. Plus it applies to thye guy that just loves writting resolutions, a hobby, a waste of time and the true intend of the resolution.

To top it off, the resolution about gay marriage, you realize where a great deal of money came from to defeat the resolution, Utah, is that the voice of “The People” of Calfionia or the religous zealots of Utah?

By LT5000

March 1, 2009 9:18 PM | Link to this

Bruice the resident dumbass strikes again.

Schlong chugging Brucie has major issues with religious people supporting Prop 8, but doesn’t see a thing wrong when the Prop 8 thugs beat up an elderly couple and threatened to burn down churches.

In Carlsbad, Calif., a man was charged with punching his elderly neighbors over their pro-Prop. 8 signs. In Palm Springs, Calif., a videographer filmed unhinged anti-Prop. 8 marchers who yanked a large cross from the hands of 69-year-old Phyllis Burgess and stomped on it.

Brucie, spend less time on your knees in public restrooms and more time reading. All you do is come off like a jizz encrusted dumbass twice a week.

LT5000

By Michael H. Smith

March 1, 2009 10:38 PM | Link to this

Go blow your gas elsewhere Brucie. Because you cannot comprehend straightforward language that makes things very clear, then your confusion belongs to everyone and everything else? WOW! You truly have earned your dumbass award on that one Brucie.

Oh by the way, most of the statement you reposted belongs to Teddy Roosevelt the other part was taken from a statement that clarified your lack of facts when you missopke once again like a rug on the floor about ballot initiatives and referendums in Georgia and combination of the two certainly rises above any of your infantile drivel.

And while we’re at it brainless child, a good portion of the Constitution is derived from the Declaration of Independence Et al the bill of rights. So your dumbass-ness, when you talk about the Constitution, to bring up its foundation the Declaration of Independence is quite in keeping and very pertinent to the sovereignty of we the people and our right that remains in full force to alter our laws and form of government. Which in regards goes directly to we the public deserving our say. Mr. Badie is correct.

Well resolutions, so far have been in every election…Plus it applies to thye guy that just loves writting resolutions, a hobby, a waste of time and the true intend of the resolution

Name one, even one resolution that one guy a non-elected citizen of this state has ever put on a Georgia ballot, Mr. Misspeaking Brucie The RUG Wilcox?

You not only look foolish in making that statement you have opened your misspeaking mouth widely enough to remove any and all doubts as to your authenticity as a certified fool. Georgia is not an open ballot state, our legislators must put resolutions and referendums on the ballot in order for any voter of this state to vote on it. The system only works top down and does not include bottom up as it should.

And in the case of other states, it is not as easy as you so stupidly make it out to be in order to place a referendum on the ballot for voter approval. Though it varies from state to state, usually a required number of registered state voter signatures must be collected and certified before a ballot initiative or referendum can be on the ballot. Does that sound easy to do: Yeah, about as easy as running for statewide office to get elected as a Governor or U.S. Senator?

So all that Dunkey Dung you sling is what doesn’t work.

I can all but guarantee that if this issue now in discussion of selling alcohol on Sunday was open to being placed on the ballot by the people in referendum (bottom up), instead of having to be brought up nearly every year by some legislator (top down), this matter would have been settled long ago and it would not be brought up again for a good long time into the future whatever the outcome.

To top it all off you cannot deny and the gays in California cannot deny (all they can do is roit) that the voters of the State of California made a choice to pass a State Constitutional Amendment Prop 8 that was contrary to and overturned court made law. All you can do is cry, sniffle, blow snot and whine baby, whine by making excuses for losing. And, what really scares hell out of you, is the thought that if ballot initiative and referendum ever became bottom up instead of top down as it remains for the most part, all of your liberal agenda and liberal court made laws and the gridlock road blocks put-up in Congress to protect that liberal agenda it could go down in solid defeat, it could happen in about one or two election cycles. Because you know like I know, apart from the economy, America remains a center right country.

No Roe v Wade, No Gay Marriage, No amnesty and citizenship for illegal aliens, No birthright citizenships for illegal alien sneaking in the country by having a baby, No welfare as you want it, No photo ID no vote, No forced unionization etc. etc.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

By BW

March 2, 2009 12:22 AM | Link to this

Mommies Honey Sweetie or MHS, you seem upset, why is that? Lets break them down…

“And while we’re at it brainless child, a good portion of the Constitution is derived from the Declaration of Independence Et al the bill of rights.”, are not the Bill of Rights the first ten amendments of the Constitution? Whoops, did someone forget to add them in the first draft, I mean after all, the Declaration of Independence was the base for the Bill of Rights?

“Name one, even one resolution that one guy a non-elected citizen of this state has ever put on a Georgia ballot, Mr. Misspeaking Brucie The RUG Wilcox?” So now what you’re saying is that Calfionia is the only state that the voice of “The People” is truely heard, where the common people can propose a resolution to change state law, here in Georgia, one of the states that declared war on the United States of America, it has to be proposed by an elected officals.

As far as Teddy, the republicans dropped him, supported someone else for president. Poor Teddy formed the Bull Moose party and was forgotten. As far as you, I feel bad, I busted you down to Little Tots level, which I felt was below you, you have proven me wrong.

The second opinion in this discussion… by BW N0, we should let those under the Golden Dome decide, after all that is what we elected them to do. Do we really want to be like Calfionia where most of the major rules/laws are decided by, “The People”, who haven’t a clue what it will cost or how much it will bring in? BTW…Calfionia is $45 Bilion in debt.

Please note, the Ballpark has booze on Sundays, bet you’ll find Bible toting Brave’s fan’s right up front.

By Michael H.Smith

March 2, 2009 1:41 AM | Link to this

Please note dumbass Brucie cannot answer questions, only makes dumbass comments then pats his deflated ego and continues with factual incorrectness, false assertions and attributing ballot initiatives to…

Calfionia is $45 Bilion in debt.

That deed, a $45 billion debt most likely belongs to a Democrat legislature. If they deported the illegal alien population in California instead of supporting them and all their other failed liberal ideas and policies the budget would not be in that pathetic shape.

Whoops, did someone forget to add them in the first draft, I mean after all, the Declaration of Independence was the base for the Bill of Rights?

No dumbass Brucie YOU forgot the basis for the bill of rights came directly from the Declaration of Independence, I had to remind your two brunt-out brain cells of that relevant Constitutional fact.

So now what you’re saying is that Calfionia is the only state that the voice of “The People” is truely heard, where the common people can propose a resolution to change state law, here in Georgia, one of the states that declared war on the United States of America, it has to be proposed by an elected officals.

Nope, I didn’t say any such “only” stupid thing. All of that drivel is your mindless blather Brucie the RUG.

See for yourself dumb-dumb, the number of states that have the initiative and referendum process where citizens can place issues on the ballot. Poor Brucie the RUG once again absent of the facts.

http://www.iandrinstitute.org/statewide_i&r.htm

As far as Teddy, the republicans dropped him, supported someone else for president. Poor Teddy formed the Bull Moose party and was forgotten.

Yeah and the Republicans lost that election too. Now who was forgotten, funny neither Taft or Wilson appear on Mt. Rushmore, guess they were the forgotten: Unlike George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.

Do come again folks bet you’ll find P’ poor dumbass Señorito Brucie right up front misspeaking like a RUG on the floor and looking dumber than a public foot-wipe.

By Michael H. Smith

March 2, 2009 7:17 AM | Link to this

One more for the resident DA and we’re not talking about the District Attorney here, okay.

The inference was made by the resident DA Señorito Brucie The RUG that having the initiative and referendum process in place would make us like California and we don’t want to be like California with a $45 billion debt.

Now take a look at another initiative and referendum state, say North Dakota: Which at this moment Georgia and many Georgians would gladly desire to be like.

North Dakota which has the largest budget surplus in the nation, one of only four states with a surplus this year; and has the third lowest jobless rate among the states. South Dakota posted the lowest jobless rate among the states, 3.0 percent, followed closely by Wyoming at 3.1 percent, and North Dakota at 3.2 percent.

Facts once again defeat our resident DA Señorito Brucie The RUG, now looking dumber than a public foot-wipe.

By Bubba

March 2, 2009 9:18 AM | Link to this

So, let’s bring this back a little bit.

State: Georgia. Issue: Sunday alcohol sales. The issue has been debated among friend, coworkers - Georgia voters - for years. Every year, the issue is discussed under the Gold Dome, some years more vociferously than others.

If I recall (I’m sure y’all will tell me if I recollect in error), the last time the legislature considered approving the referendum, the people were abuzz. One way or the other, finally the people of the state of Georgia were going to have their opinions heard.

Except one guy - I forget his name, but he was a legislator from Gwinnett county - tabled the bill, said that it was not in the best interest of the liquor distributors to have to operate an extra day a week. One man subverted the will of the people in favor of a “special interest” business group.

It may very well be that the people will say “No” to liquor sales on Sunday. But, why take a chance? The way Georgia’s constitution works, the legislature doesn’t have to let the people be heard. “Hell,” the liquor distributor says, “I play golf on Sunday. I’m not gonna work on my day off. The people be damned, I’ve got a tee time.” And so it goes, year after year.

This is the flaw. Whether we’re talking about Teddy or Franklin Roosevelt, the fact remains that this is how it is today. Forget California, New York, North Dakota. This is how it is in Georgia. And Georgia’s constitution says that the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many. This makes no sense to me.

I don’t care about liquor sales. I do care about whether or not I and my fellow citizens have the right to make decisions about how we govern ourselves, even if what we think differs from how comfortable the legislature is in keeping the status quo. When we elect agents of change that don’t at least say, “what do the people think?,” then the mechanism of government is flawed - not that this is an alien concept.

By Threadkiller

March 2, 2009 9:51 AM | Link to this

Michael Smith

Great Information! Just curious, What is the population of N. Dakota, S. Dakota, and Wyoming in reference to say Georgia?

By Mark

March 2, 2009 1:44 PM | Link to this

Keep your ignorant beliefs of a magical man in the sky out of my life. Practice your voodoo within your own 4 walls!!

By Michael H. Smith

March 2, 2009 4:33 PM | Link to this

Just curious why you would ask, Threadkiller? You obviously could look-up that information for yourself, so what is the motive - as if I didn’t already have an idea?

A million people can make wise decisions, whereas ten people can make foolish judgments or vice-versa. Fiscal responsibility and prudent governance is independent of population size. Those issues speak more to “the character of the people” not “the character of their numbers”, IMHO.

~

I don’t care about liquor sales. I do care about whether or not I and my fellow citizens have the right to make decisions about how we govern ourselves, even if what we think differs from how comfortable the legislature is in keeping the status quo.

~

The content of your statement Bubba makes the exact difference whether we’re talking about Teddy or Franklin Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt would whole-heartily agree with you in regards to the flawed system. I can think of no one who spoke more strongly or presented the argument more positively convincing for the right of the citizens to make decisions about how we govern ourselves and of our need for the ballot initiative and referendum in order to do it, than did Teddy Roosevelt.