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Friday, November 17, 2006
Nancy, Whitney and happy conservatives
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thinking Right´s Friday free-for-all. Pick a topic:
How could a conservative be unhappy? The two Republicans vying for leadership sound the same themes. “Republicans need to get back to our core principles and rededicate ourselves to the reform mindset that put us in the majority 12 years ago,” said Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). The GOP drifted from principles, noted conservative challenger Mike Pence of Indiana. “We are in the wilderness because we walked away from limited-goverment principles that minted the Republican Congress.” Music. Pure music.
Whoa, Nancy! Pelosi is saved from her own bad judgment in endorsing and vigorously campaigning for John Murtha of Pennsylvania to be the next Majority Leader. Murtha is significant only because he´s a decorated veteran who gave cover to liberal Democrats opposing the administration in Iraq. Otherwise, he´s a pork-barreler who was caught on FBI tape a quarter-century ago. When offered $50,000 from a supposed Arab shiek looking to gain residency and seeking investment opportunities, Murtha replied, “I´m not interested…at this point.” He wasn´t charged. The caucus wisely chose Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, an old Pelosi adversary.
Get used to it: The proposed commuter rail line to Lovejoy is $11 million over budget. It´s now projected to cost $120 million. And this grates, too: Taxpayers will spend $54 million to upgrade Norfolk-Southern´s rail. We´ll “own” the improvements; N-S will own the rail. Or, they own the pig, but the squeal belongs to taxpayers.
What´s the big deal about the Cobb County Commissioners agreeing to let MARTA provide roundtrip service from Atlanta to downtown Cobb — that being the Cobb Community Transit bus station near Cumberland Mall? Again, it´s not MARTA that´s the problem. It´s the MARTA-union contract and the MARTA board politics that I don´t want merged into Cobb. No problem here with the vehicles or drivers.
A country that´s serious about addressing the problem of illegals will employ any number of approaches that send the message that we don´t wink and look the other way. A proposed ordinance in Cherokee County that would fine landlords for renting to illegals is one of those. The U.S. sent a thousand messages that we welcomed illegals. Now send those that say we don´t. No mass roundups. Messages. Over time, they work.
Gutsy move by U.S. Air to acquire Delta. The hope here is that it´s unsuccessful. Coke, Delta and Rich´s were Atlanta.
I´ve been away from Atlanta for two weeks. I haven´t missed anything important in the lives of the Pandas at the Atlanta zoo, have I? Or Whitney and Bobby?
I´m going to be sick. Fox plans to give airtime to OJ to tell how he would have done it had he done it. I think the world knows the answer already.
San Francisco´s board of education votes 4-2 to get rid of Junior ROTC programs in the city´s high schools over the next two years to protest the military´s “don´t ask, don´t tell” policy. That policy violates the system´s equal rights policy for gays, school officials say. Cut ém off. Not a dime in federal money to the San Francisco school system. This is one of the problems Democrats have with Nancy Pelosi as the future Speaker of the U.S. House. San Francisco´s politics get nationalized.
Milton Friedman, the economic guru whose work shaped the thinking of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, and whose efforts to introduce competition will revolutionize public education, is dead. “His writings and ideas have transformed the minds of U.S. Presidents, world leaders, entrepreneurs and freshmen economic majors alike,” the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation said in a statement. “Even at 94, he kept fighting to bring educational equality to all of America’s children,” work the foundation will continue.
A new guy on the Chamblee City Council wants a quote by President Bush removed from the wall at City Hall. The quote is this: “We will not waver; we will not tire; we will not falter; and we will not fail. Peace and freedom will prevail.” Here´s an idea: Let´s go through Metro Atlanta removing the names of insignificant figures, most of them politicians, from buildings, rooms, roads and bridges. And when we get done, let´s all gather at Chamblee City Hall and remove insignificant ones there.
