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Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Saxby, SCHIP ‘n’ Dale. All brought together, courtesy of YouTube.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In terms of technology, this is incremental, but still worth noting. U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the Republican up for re-election next year, has posted on YouTube.com an eight-minute explanation of his vote against the SCHIP bill.
“Georgia taxpayers would be required to fund families in other states with significantly higher incomes,” he said.
Just by coincidence, one of his Democratic opponents, Dale Cardwell, posted his own YouTube comments on the Washington fight last week — shortly after President Bush vetoed the bill to expand the federal/state program for children’s health insurance.
“It was just plain wrong for Saxby Chambliss to vote this year against PeachCare, a program that over a quarter million Georgia kids rely on for their health care. He did it because President Bush and the big insurance companies wanted it that way,” said Cardwell, the former TV journalist.
Carter on CNN: You’ve got to admit, the man knows his audience
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On this afternoon’s “Situation Room” on CNN, the Wolfman asked Jimmy Carter what beefs he had with the Republican presidential candidates.
“Well, they all seem to be outdoing each other in who wanted to go to war first with Iran, who wants to keep Guantanamo open longer and expand its capacity, things of that kind,” Carter replied.
Blitzer asked Carter which of the GOP crew scared him the most. But the former president demurred. “If I condemn one of them, it might escalate him to the top position in the Republican ranks,” Carter said.
One other thing. The former president said he’s convinced America tortures people.
Obama goes to ground in Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Barack Obama’s people on Wednesday announced the beginning of their professional staff in Georgia - the first of the Democratic presidential campaigns to do so.
The Obama campaign will open a staff headquarters in Atlanta on Nov. 1 - just three months before the Feb. 5 presidential primary in Georgia.
Eureka Gilkey, who has served as deputy political director for the campaign, as Georgia state campaign director. Gilkey will be joined by Trista Allen, who served as Southern field director. Allen will serve as Georgia field director.
That’s all we know about this pair. Drop us a line if you have more info.
Gauging a campaign’s interest in a backfield state is always difficult - no one wants to wants to insult, but no one wants to overpromise, either. Obama’s campaign has always been fairly upfront about the fact that, to them, Georgia serves as an excellent source of manpower for its efforts in South Carolina.
Unless it’s changed in the last five minutes, South Carolina votes on Jan. 29. Georgia’s vote comes a week later, swamped by a bazillion other states.
Four personal candidate appearances in Georgia since February have given the Obama campaign a trove of 50,000 names for its database. Some are small-dollar contributors, some large ones. Just as important are the volunteers.
In a conference call, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said that — on one weekend in September, days after Obama’s last stop through Atlanta — about 400 supporters from Georgia were trucked into South Carolina for door-knocking.
There’s gunsmoke rising out of Oklahoma
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This week, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce formally notified the state Senate that it can expect another fight over the bill to permit employees to keep firearms in cars parked on company lots.
Except for the intramural budget battle among Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker Richardson, the guns-in-parking lot bill came closest to provoking a fistfight during the past session of the Legislature.
The National Rifle Association has promised to come back with another version of the measure - which the organization has developed into a state-by-state, national campaign. In an e-mail to Republican state senators, chamber spokesman Joe Fleming on Monday promised to again oppose it:
“The NRA has regrettably placed the members of the majority caucus in a trap, asking senators to choose between the principles for which the members stand and - as one senator has said - ‘a solution in search of a problem.
“As amended, the bill would for forbid property owners and employers from establishing policies that prevent the introduction of guns into the workplace.
“The officers of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce met this past week, and strongly re-affirmed their complete, total opposition to the parts of HB 89 that were added to that bill in the Senate Rules Committee.
“I feel it is my duty to inform you of this action before the Republican caucus meets later this week.”
Perhaps more important, a similar measure in Oklahoma was struck down in federal court last week, when a judge determined that employers couldn’t comply with both a law permitting guns in corporate lots, and the federal Occupational Health and Safety Act.. You know - OSHA.
Legal arguments aside, such decisions are often used as opportunities to set troublesome disputes aside, until higher courts cast their eyes over the terrain. You can expect that argument to quickly become part of Georgia’s gun debate.
The Oklahoma decision is nearly 100 pages long. But because of Georgia’s history with similar legislation, we offer the entire decision here for some bedtime reading. For those who don’t suffer from insomnia, we offer this bottom-line assessment from the judge:
“Although it is a close question, the Court cannot conclude the [gun law’s provisions] are wholly arbitrary or irrational methods of promoting safety and deterring crime. It is not this Court’s province to invalidate state law because the Court disagrees with the Legislature’s chosen method of achieving its objectives.
“It is, however, this Court’s province to determine if a state law impermissibly conflicts with federal law. The Court concludes that the [provisions] conflict with and are preempted by the OSH Act, which requires employers to abate hazards in their workplaces that could lead to death or serious bodily harm and which encourages employers to prevent gun-related workplace injuries.
“The [provisions] criminally prohibit an effective method of reducing gun-related workplace injuries and cannot coexist with federal obligations and objectives. The [provisions] are therefore enjoined to the extend they are preempted by the OSH Act.”
Dear Abby: My best friend has taken sides in a bitter feud…..
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So Dear Abby — daughter of the original, but still a mainstream connection to millions of women — has come out in favor of gay marriage.
Culture-warwise, this is worth pondering. You have to wonder if somewhere out there, some conservative strategist is muttering, LBJ-like, “That’s it. If I’ve lost Dear Abby, I’ve lost middle America.”
