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Friday, January 23, 2009
House Democrats declare themselves protectors of school nurses
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In politics, winning is all about identifying and wooing coalitions.
House Democrats on Friday declared school nurses to be potential members of their team.
In his proposed budget, Gov. Sonny Perdue trimmed $30 million for the authorized distributors of Advil in the classroom.
Democrats paint the scariest picture possible. It included lawyers.
Said state Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus), chairman of the Democratic caucus:
“The governor should be asking, who will administer this care… the teachers? The liability on untrained school employees administering health care could easily become an issue. Teachers in Georgia schools now are not allowed to administer medications. Nurses in our schools give out over 5 million doses per year.”
Said House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin):
“In Dublin, we have one nurse for four elementary schools. Numerous daily school-age related illnesses aside, our nurse manages diabetic children who must undergo daily blood sugar testing; she takes care of a child on a feeding tube, and has a student going through Stage Four cancer. The management of these health issues takes a trained professional.
“In one of the four schools alone there are 38 students on asthma inhalers, students who at times have had to be rushed to the hospital with acute asthma attacks. We should not balance the state’s budget by cutting health care to sick children or making our teachers become health care providers.”
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Barr: GOP wrong, closing Guantanamo doesn’t pose a danger to U.S.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The national Libertarian Party has posted a statement from former presidential candidate Bob Barr, praising President Barack Obama’s executive orders to close Guantanamo, halt waterboarding and other torture, and end military tribunals of detainees.
Barr also took issue with Republican claims that the closing of the detention facility at Guantanamo would endanger the United States:
“Any detainees against whom the government has evidence of terrorist acts, can try them or detain them in maximum security prisons, in military brigs, or in US military facilities overseas if necessary.” Moreover, Barr said, “the government has more than sufficient intelligence, military and law enforcement tools that are consistent with constitutional guarantees in the Bill of Rights, to provide robust and essential security for our country.”
Barr said he hopes Obama will do more:
“I hope President Obama will seek legislation curtailing the dramatic expansion of federal wiretapping power signed into law last July when former President Bush signed legislation expanding the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that now makes every international phone call or e-mail by or to any person in the United States subject to warrantless surveillance.”
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African-Americans cast 30 percent of Georgia’s Nov. 4 ballots
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s official.
African-Americans driven by their enthusiasm for Democrat Barack Obama cast 30 percent of all Georgia ballots in the Nov. 4 general election.
White voter turnout in the election was 64 percent.
The data, reliant on separate reports from 159 counties, was posted today on Secretary of State Karen Handel’s web site.
In previous contests, African-American turnout had been about 25 percent, sometimes less, meaning Obama’s candidacy increased black turnout by at least one-fifth.
At the outset of Georgia’s first experience with early voting, which began 45 days before Nov. 4, black voters were casting up to 35 percent of all ballots.
Another measure of enthusiasm among African-Americans: 76 percent of all black voters registered actually voted. Among white voters, 77 percent of those registered actually cast a ballot.
That the two figures are nearly equal is considered good news by Democrats. African-American participation generally runs several points behind.
Broken down by race and gender, African-American men had the poorest performance, with 70 percent of those registered casting a ballot. Eighty percent of registered black women participated in the election.
Among whites, 78 percent of registered women voted. Among white men, the figure was 76 percent.
Racial and gender breakdowns for the Dec. 2 runoff aren’t yet available. Clearly the trend didn’t hold.
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Isakson leaning against Geithner for Treasury
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just got off the phone with U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, who doesn’t sound like he’s ready to vote for Timothy Geithner, President Barack Obama’s nominee for secretary of the treasury.
A vote is scheduled for Monday evening.
This week, Geithner apologized to the Senate Finance Committee Geithner for what he called “careless mistakes” in failing to pay $34,000 in taxes earlier in the decade when he worked at the International Monetary Fund.
Said Isakson:
“I just have a very hard time with somebody who neglected something this important and who will be in charge of the Internal Revenue Service,” Isakson said.
“Tragedy” was the word the Georgia Republican used to describe the possibility that “somebody that bright” might have jeopardized his ability to serve in Obama’s cabinet.
Isakson said the fellow hasn’t contacted him yet, and may still do so. So he hasn’t committed to voting against him. Rather, Isakson mentioned an e-mail he’d received from former GOP senator Mack Mattingly, who later served as the U.S. ambassador to NATO.
Mattingly was kind enough to send a copy of his communication with Isakson to the Insider:
A former New York Federal Reserve Board leader, former IMF official, now being considered to be our country’s treasury secretary, who no doubt had a CPA, is now being excused for some “minor” errors on his tax returns.
He may be brilliant and might be a good secretary, but if we step back for a moment and ask — what would happen to me, you or other current and former entrepreneurs if they did the same?
Probably not be considered for a political appointment and if so, the FBI would turn thumbs down on the person. Twenty-two years ago at NATO, an international organization, I asked myself, what example would I set, as I was not required to pay federal or Georgia state taxes on my “international income.” But I did.
[Geithner] does not deserve a yes vote. Maybe an abstain vote.
If Isakson is sour on Geithner, chances are that U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss has similar qualms.
Geithner is still likely to be approved by Senate — but there have been demands from rank-and-file Republicans that the GOP oppose the appointment. Newt Gingrich suggested it earlier this week.
And the conservative web stie Redstate.com has been conduct a phone-your-senator campaign among its followers.
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Perdue to demand that DeKalb, Clayton school boards shrink by two
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue is about to unveil legislation that would force DeKalb and Clayton County to reduce the size of their boards of education.
The legislation would limit school boards to no more than seven seats. Boards in Clayton and DeKalb each have nine.
Eleven other school districts, including Bibb County, would be affected, according to the Macon Telegraph:
Formal legislation calling for the change likely will be ready next week, according to the governor’s office. The size restriction was recommended by a state education commission that made several recommendations to change the way school boards operate after a meltdown in the Clayton County school system led to its loss of accreditation.
Among the other recommendations included in Perdue’s proposal: a new code of ethics, new minimum standards to serve on a school board and a new state power to throw members off of school boards when things go awry, replacing them with other school district residents.
