Who do we honor?

By Mid-South Philosopher

March 1, 2007 8:46 AM | Link to this

Good morning to all,

Every living, breathing human being from �high church� Episcopalian to �foot washing� Baptist gambles every single day. However, the preponderance of us do not wager. As an American, I am in favor of responsible adults having the option, albeit the preponderance of adults are not responsible in the post-modern world, to do either.

Consequently, I would not have a problem with Zell Miller being cast in granite. After all, he is the ONLY Governor of Georgia in the last 35 years that did �diddlie-squat� for public school teachers, despite the rhetoric of the vast number of Democratic and Republican excuses.

As to another great Georgian who has done much for our state, I would nominate Tommy Irvin, Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture and the one Democrat the Republicans can�t touch. Tommy is a statesman�something we don�t see too often in government at any level. He may be �country� and not quite as �sophisticated� as some of the lace-wearers might desire, but he has kept our food supply safe and our agri-business interests in this state strong.

By Redneck Convert

March 1, 2007 8:49 AM | Link to this

I say we put up a statue of a great Georgia leader, J.B. Stoner. He was Thinking Right even before Wooten was borned. He was knowed for great thinking. He was the first to offer real money to any of Those People that would move out of Georgia. Sure, he kind of forgot to check for people before he put a bomb in that church in Birmingham, but we all make mistakes. He died just a couple years ago.

If it wasn’t for old J.B., we wouldn’t have conservatives like Wooten, jbmlaw, Markus, Dusty, TFTT and Van. J.B. was Thinking Right before they was ever born. They think just like he did, only he used plain words to say it. They beat about the bush a lot, but their heart is the same as J.B.’s. They hate Those People and poor people and kids on welfare, only they use fancy words to say it. So nobody won’t think they think like they do.

So put up a big statue to J.B. Us White people can be mighty proud seeing J.B. right there with old Zell. Two great Americans that Think Right.

By CJ

March 1, 2007 8:58 AM | Link to this

“I say, bomb the hell out of them. If there’s collateral damage, so be it.”

This quote is from Senator Miller days after 9/11. I was mad too, but never so mad that I didn’t care if we also killed innocent men, women and children. The line between targeting civilians and indifference to the lives of civilians in times of war, as demonstrated by our use of the phrase �collateral damage�, is much finer than Zell would have us believe. We lost about 3,000 innocents, mostly Americans on 9/11. We have also lost tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of innocent Iraqis since the war began.

I also whole heartedly agree with Jim’s comments to the effect that we, via our State government, should not be in the business of running a gambling operation for any reason. The means do not justify the ends.

Finally, as Senator, Miller voted for budgets that resulted in trillions more in debt, and will ultimately result in higher taxes for our children, and quite likely, their children as well.

No, I do not support erecting a statue to honor Zell Miller.

By Van

March 1, 2007 9:00 AM | Link to this

To be fair to all political parties and special interest groups, there should be 5 and only 5 places for statues or busts. When someone nominates a new tribute, one of the 5 has to be removed.

As a start, how about the last 5 Georgia Governors.

By Brian Curtis

March 1, 2007 9:04 AM | Link to this

I wouldn’t have a problem with Zell being cast in concrete… preferably before it hardens.

By Van

March 1, 2007 9:08 AM | Link to this

Brian Curtis,

Careful, your sadism is showing.

By Pope rednecks - Amerikkka's Al Qaeda I

March 1, 2007 9:12 AM | Link to this

I have to agree with redneck Convert. Stoner would be right at home with the other lynchmobbers honored on the capitol grounds - like Tom Watson and the Talmadges. And Zig Zag Zell’s snarling hillbilly visage would be right at home there too. Give him a corncob pipe and a Snuffy Smith hat. Let’s not leave out Lester Maddox either - Zell used to be his bag boy, old Lester taught Zell everything he knows.

By JohnD

March 1, 2007 9:19 AM | Link to this

Harry Truman, a Democrat, made the most difficult decision I can imagine when he authorized the use of atomic bombs on Japan. In the process thousands of “innocent’ Japanese civilians were killed or permanently injured. President Truman also saved the lives of thousands of American and Japanese soldiers.

War IS hell and Islam formally declared a war on the United States on 9/11 that Islam has been waging for at least the past 25 years.

The difference between the view of people like CJ and the realists is that CJ will mock the “term collateral” damage as though somehow indicating an indifference to the killing while Islam actually targets innocent civilians whether or not they are women and children.

Islam is a geo-political movement intent on the destruction of Western civilization and until the Left comes to this fact the real work will be for the conservatives to do. Perhaps if the next attack is on the neighborhood where CJ lives or CJ’s relatives, then the will to do what must be accomplished will actually surface in a blind leftist.

By Kelly

March 1, 2007 9:26 AM | Link to this

JohnD seems to be under the impression that Iraq had something to do with 9/11.

By Pope rednecks - Amerikkka's Al Qaeda I

March 1, 2007 9:33 AM | Link to this

Yes, Kelly, and the silly redneck fool also thinks that there is a formal declaration of war against the US from some country named Islam.

Red staters are so stupid.

By Kenny Rogers

March 1, 2007 9:47 AM | Link to this

By Jim Wooten | Thursday, March 1, 2007, 08:05 AM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Zell Miller. While I�m a great fan of Zell as U.S. Senator, I have a problem erecting a monument to a governor who invited Georgians to engage in behavior that could be harmful to them and their families, as gambling is.

So Jim, I take it that you would not erect a monument to the heavy drinking gambler and champion of virtue, Bill Bennett either?

By D.A. King

March 1, 2007 9:53 AM | Link to this

I second that Redneck Convert! Where is ole J.B. when we really need him? If I had some more guys like him on my team we’d a had them Mexicans outta here a long time ago! If it ain’t white, it ain’t right fer Amuricah.

By jbmlaw

March 1, 2007 9:54 AM | Link to this

Good morning all. Seems like this subject, or something similar, came up a couple of weeks ago. While I do not dislike any of the suggested names, I think nobody should be there whose only achievement is political - they would thus be given credit for using what their citizens gave. The only people who should be honored in the capital are our highest military heroes, people who performed alone, and many of whom sacrificed all, for the good of all.

By Brian Curtis

March 1, 2007 9:54 AM | Link to this

John D also seems to be under the impression that our enemies’ tactics should control how we practice our own principles.

By @@

March 1, 2007 10:01 AM | Link to this

Oh my goodness Jim, you’re asking for reflection on Georgia’s great ones dating back 100 years?

I ain’t THAT old, although the liberals over at ml’s place frequently refer to me as an “Old Hag”, wrinkled and saggy, with no life to speak of.

I AIN’T THAT OLD. Oops! I already mentioned that, didn’t I? Sometimes you just have to repeat these things over and over again, for the liberals to understand.

Anyway, haven’t resided in Georgia long enough to go back too far, but Martin Luther King, most definitely should be there.

The Talmadges? Puhhleeeeze. If the descendants are any indication, an aluminum “nut” in some Pecan orchard down here in Clayton County’s panhandle would suffice.

I found Brian Curtis’s desire to encapsulate Zell in cement while still living, rather extreme. He’s a liberal though, so I guess he sings Soprano.

By steve-o

March 1, 2007 10:05 AM | Link to this

Rednecks,

C’mon now. Watson was a patriot who justifiably whipped up the yocals in uncontrolled rage because that smug Jew boy’s death sentence was overturned. His statue should’ve been cast in gold. Now if we can only frame an Arab middle-manager for a crime here in Georgia so we can lynch us a Muslim also…

By TFTrealTruth

March 1, 2007 10:07 AM | Link to this

And who would qualify as a “military hero” jbmlaw? You could get overwhelming support for William T. Sherman based upon Georgia’s new demographics.

By Van

March 1, 2007 10:18 AM | Link to this

I think Stoner would be a great candidate for a statue, Eugene, not JB. He is a giant along with Garand and Browning.

By Curious Observer

March 1, 2007 10:19 AM | Link to this

I would honor no politician, regardless of party, with a statue on the grounds of the Capitol.

If I had to choose one Georgian to honor in such a way, it would be the late Marine Gen. Raymond G. Davis, a Fitzgerald native and a Georgia Tech graduate who won the Medal of Honor for leading his battalion to rescue a besieged company on an icy mountainside during the Chosin Reservoir withdrawal in January 1950. It is not every serviceman who can inspire respect so great that the commandant of the Marine Corps walked behind his coffin at the funeral a few years ago. General Davis had previously won the Navy Cross, the Navy’s second-highest award, during the fighting in the Palua Islands in World War II.

He is the kind of person Georgia ought to be commemorating, not the slick politicans who think only of garnering political power.

By time for the truth

March 1, 2007 10:22 AM | Link to this

Zell Miller after he magically and hilariously taunted the leftist appeasing filth in his inimitable bi-partisan way at the Bush GOP convention is clearly worthy of an immediate statue. Any leftist scumbag who disagrees should simply be drowned in a sea of liberal “spitballs”.

Newt of course is another must have statue. I humbly suggest John Rocker too - for his visionary courageous comments about New Yawwwk City. Perhaps Otis Redding - who unlike James Brown actually had musical talent. As MLK blatantly cheated on his doctoral thesis and frequently on his very snotty wife and he has his own memorial in DC now being thrust upon the nation its just not right to waste precious space ‘twice’.

We need to be reminded of the evil demoNcrat segregationist past so a few of the more infamous demoNcrat Georgia governors would be worthy of a small demoNcrat hall of bigots.

The odious leftist anti-semitic America hating gutless appeaser Karter should be suitably mocked with a current photo of this senile old narcissist in an outdoor, open all hours state “wankers” gallery of shame that kids and fun loving folks can throw eggs and squishy tomatoes at … and even the occasional patriotic spitball. Other must haves for this gallery of abject shame include the corrupt to the core felon Billy bigot Campbell, the disgraced racist anti-semitic McKinneys, the black bigot Tyrone ‘shoelaces’ Brooks, the race baiting M Jackson, the wanker R Barnes for destroying the much loved state flag. The treasonous Hanoi Jane, J Roberts and other Hollywood filth should also be included. As should the thuggish Poof Daddy and other knuckle dragging hippety hop types who have deeply shamed Georgia with their primitive gangsta/ganja lovin’ pornography.

Oh yeah … and a picture of the horribly snotty Coretta S King not talking to anyone on a plane.

By Steven Daedalus

March 1, 2007 10:26 AM | Link to this

Yes Zell should be cast in granite. There should be two figures, he and another, the other would have a knife stuck in his back. This would give a true representation of Zell and his politics.

By Pope rednecks - Amerikkka's Al Qaeda I

March 1, 2007 10:27 AM | Link to this

Let’s not forget a big big statue of Saxby Chambliss - put a big yellow stripe down his back - he’s done a fine job representing the many Georgia chickenhawks…

Heck, there’s an 18 foot statue to Richard Russell - all he did was filibuster civil rights legislation.

By time for the truth

March 1, 2007 10:27 AM | Link to this

Profuse apologies folks … the most obvious AND FIRST three statues should be:

Robert E. Lee (PBUH)

Stonewall Jackson

Jefferson Davis

By Don Walker

March 1, 2007 10:27 AM | Link to this

You fault Zell for helping more kids go to college and bringing Georgia a program that everyone now emulates. Are the asylums and homeless shelters packed with lottery addicts? No.

Moron.

Your head is made of granite, Jim. I’ll be glad when they put you out to pasture next month.

By Titus

March 1, 2007 10:30 AM | Link to this

A granite bust of Sherman would be appropriate for the Capitol. Who has had such a profound impact on Georgia? Why General Sherman of course.

By TFTrealTruth

March 1, 2007 10:30 AM | Link to this

Even amid the well deserved sarcasm here today, in the sarcasm there is a tragic element of truth. It seems that the rest of the south is shaking off the taint of slavery and racism, while Georgia is heading at warp speed in the opposite direction. There is no doubt that there is an element here in Georgia that longs for the days of Jim Crow. They love the politics of exclusion. It seems that every news item associated with Georgia on national news media is another story about a race based issue. When you are as low on the totem pole educationally as is the state of Georgia, there are a helluva lot better things for our politicians to do than to be pandering to racists, bigots, nativists, and xenophobes. I am a native Georgian and remember when this state was seen as progressive. Now we are starting to be an embarrassment.

By DebbieDoRight

March 1, 2007 10:31 AM | Link to this

War IS hell and Islam formally declared a war on the United States on 9/11 that Islam has been waging for at least the past 25 years.

Bin Laden declared war on the US on 9/11 — not Islam.

Do we have a statue of the Founder of Modern Georgia? Sherman? I say we put a statue up of Margaret Mitchell — no one had ever heard of Georgia until she wrote that book.

By Jack

March 1, 2007 10:34 AM | Link to this

If all the politicians acted without partisianship as Zell this country would be a much better place.

By Janice B.

March 1, 2007 10:36 AM | Link to this

Oh yeah � and a picture of the horribly snotty Coretta S King not talking to anyone on a plane

They should do a statue of you. You could be the jacka$$ pulling a wagon of ignorant hillbilly children to our fine georgia schools.

By Realist

March 1, 2007 10:44 AM | Link to this

A monument of Evander Holyfield’s penis and another one of any random mexican’s..since they’ve done more to Georgia’s population than anybody else.

By time for the truth

March 1, 2007 10:50 AM | Link to this

sad cow janice

Scott King was UNDENIABLY an extremely snotty, haughty mercenary woman. She literally lived of her dead husband’s name. She also refused to talk to nayone on a plane and arrogantly insisted on an APD escort right to the plane every time she went any where.

AS for fine GA schools … *HUGE LEFTIST LIE THERE LOVEYKINS * … you’re having a larrrff lovey!! Thanks to the liberal brainwashing, the evils of the multi culti anti-racist bollocks and the sickening cult of the narcissistic self esteem drivel etc tax payer funded schools in GA are a freaking joke!!

By Walt

March 1, 2007 10:56 AM | Link to this

Yes, Evander Holyfield would be appropriate for immortalization by statue. God saved Evander from his heart affliction on national TV through Bennie Hinn. Evander is a hero of the right. He carries on in the tradition of Newt Gingrich. Evoke the name of God in every other sentence and then populate the earth with 9 children from seven different women. Another shining example of right wing christian values. Another do as I sayer, not as I doer.

By getalife

March 1, 2007 11:18 AM | Link to this

President Carter, of course.

Geez, zig zag rolling papers for Zell.

By Jack

March 1, 2007 11:33 AM | Link to this

If they do one for Carter they should also do one for Cynthia McKinney.

By Jack

March 1, 2007 11:39 AM | Link to this

We need one for Coretta “Show me the money” Scott King also.

By Janice B.

March 1, 2007 12:08 PM | Link to this

Dr. King had patented his speeches; since that was the only thing he had left to give to his family. She didn’t “live off her dead husband” she lived off of his patented writings.

Sad little person, Mrs. King was looked upon as a living legend of the Civil Rights Movement; so that means she probably had a lot of people who, like you, couldn’t wait to shoot her in the back, or discredit any or everything that came out of her mouth for their own propaganda related schemes. I would not have talked to you people either nor would I have allowed you church bombers, baby killers, bed wetters anywhere near me either. Mrs. King wasn’t a stupid woman.

By Van

March 1, 2007 12:16 PM | Link to this

I have a compromise -

As you face the front of the Capitol building downtown, the left side would be statues for the liberal folks and on the right side would be statues for the conservative folks.

We can paint them red or blue. The pigeons will make them all white after a few years.

By Jim's a Cherry Picker

March 1, 2007 12:19 PM | Link to this

I think we need a statue for some lobbyists….after all, they’re the ones doing all the hard work.

The legislature is just rubberstamping their stuff:

Choosing exploitation on payday lending

Support for payday lending bill exposes lawmakers’ loyalty to special interests that fund their campaigns

Published on: 03/01/07

Consumer guru Clark Howard does not easily part with a dollar, so the fact that he sacrificed two workdays to plead with the General Assembly to oppose the payday lending bill ought to tell you something: It’s a dangerous bill for Georgia consumers.

The Legislature chose to disregard Howard’s warnings that the bill does nothing to help unpracticed borrowers create credit histories and improve their financial wherewithal. He calls the bill “garbage.”

Rather than listen to Howard, the lawmakers embraced the position of the payday lenders themselves � poor Georgians need quick access to cash even at exploitative interest rates. The payday loan bill passed out of the House Banks and Banking Committee and now moves to the full House for a vote.

The saga of the payday loan bill represents everything that’s wrong with the Georgia General Assembly. Payday loans � in which the borrower writes a post-dated check to a lender for the loan amount, plus a fee � have never been legal in Georgia. But because profits were high and penalties were low, the industry ignored the prohibition until 2004 when tougher criminal consequences were imposed. Those penalties finally chased the moneylenders out of the state.

The ban was celebrated by consumer advocates, who say that the triple-digit interest rates of payday loans only buried desperate borrowers deeper in debt.

So, why is the General Assembly trying to undo one of the few bona fide consumer protections it ever passed? Because, rather than represent everyday Georgians, legislators are pushing the agenda of their big-money contributors.

No one has even tried to disguise the politics at play in the payday debate. The sponsor of the bill doesn’t pretend that his constituents in Marietta clamored for this bill; Rep. Steve Tumlin (R-Marietta) admits that industry folks asked him to sponsor the legislation.

Despite the fierce opposition to the bill from all the leading consumer groups in the state, along with many churches and experts like Howard, Tumlin says, “Sometimes you take a job and you just have to finish it.”

“Why,” asks a frustrated Howard, “does he consider it to be his job to do something that harms Georgians?” As a student of Georgia politics, Howard knows the discouraging answer to that question. “Between the dynamics in the hearing room and all the backslapping outside, it was clear the legislators look at the payday lenders as their constituents,” he said.

The rawest political moments in the payday tale came when GOP Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine refused to follow the script and endorse the bill. Oxendine attacked the bill for the cancer that it is, angering Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs).

Oxendine discovered quickly that the GOP leadership would not tolerate anyone breaking ranks. House leaders moved swiftly to limit damage and Oxendine’s influence. First, the bill was changed so that oversight of the payday industry was yanked out of Oxendine’s control and given over to the Department of Banking and Finance. Then, Ehrhart introduced a bill that would strip Oxendine of his authority to license and oversee finance companies that lend $3,000 or less under the Georgia Industrial Loan Act.

If anyone wonders why less than half of the 4.4 million registered voters in Georgia bothered to vote in the last election, the payday loan bill provides the answer: Unless you are a big money contributor, Georgia legislators are not interested in you.

By Where have all the English teachers gone?

March 1, 2007 12:23 PM | Link to this

Am I the only one bothered by the egregious grammatical error in the headline?

By steve-o

March 1, 2007 12:24 PM | Link to this

janice,

tooltime is a certifiable schmuck who tries to get attention anyway he can. He slams Mrs. King only to get high fives and kudos from other miserable low-lifes who have f%ck all to do except to bleat and complain how hard it is to be middle to upper-class.

Despite the fact that MLK is considered one of the greatest orators in Amercian history, as well as being the strongest advocate for a supreme just and moral cause, insufferable morons like tooltime can do nothing except to dig-up any rumor regarding their personal lives.

Meanwhile, tooltime’s personal life is infinitely sad and pathetic. His mere obsession with black “hippety hop thugs” leads me to believe that he has a hard time “measuring up” when it really counts leading to a very sad and frustrated Mrs. Tooltime.

You should thank God, Allah, Satan, or whatever it is you worship, for the internet, because if it weren’t for this media, you’d be an idiot loon relegated to wearing his “bollocks” commentary on a sandwich board in front of Five Points station.

By steve-o

March 1, 2007 12:30 PM | Link to this

The “you” in that last paragraph of my last post should read tooltime hence:

tooltime should thank God, Allah, Satan, or whatever it is you worship, for the internet, because if it weren�t for this media, you�d be an idiot loon relegated to wearing his �bollocks� commentary on a sandwich board in front of Five Points station.

By AND THE CREDIT GOES TO

March 1, 2007 12:32 PM | Link to this

MAUREEN DOWNEY, FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE AJC.

THE LIBERAL CHERRY PICKER DOESN’T WANT TO READ FROM JIM’S CHERRY TREE AND DOESN’T WANT TO AWARD BY-LINES OBVIOUSLY.

PLAGIARISM WITHOUT THEM JACP.

By RWH

March 1, 2007 12:37 PM | Link to this

We as citizens and public office officials of this state cannot get our act together! We lack in so many areas support for our very own. Yet, we are always asking for more taxes, funding unneeded programs; kickbacks to office officials and we say…we are to busy to hate. cities trying to break-way so that they can have a good life without going through a lot of red tape and a lot of unnecessary procedures that continue to go on for years! We are so blind to many facts that we keep our eys close because we do not want stir up anything. We need to stir up our own problems and fix them with good laws that can give even the poor a will to want to work. It appear that we still living in the (haves and the have-nots.) It shows our visitors because we want to show a good image, but behind that images are families and many or our needed services hurt. I will say this again and again, people who live here in Georgia are robbed of it rights to live, work and play because there is always loopwholes in a system that works well for the rich,the middle class foot the bills tail along while the poor trys to keep pace, yet it main focus is on just living. Revamping our cities must never be something to think about; in fact, its time that it be done! Everyone of us are deeply affected by lack of good paying jobs; cost of living, and minimum wages; yet we charge our consumer so much just to buy into everyday life. Now we continue to asked ourselves why so much crime, muders and our prisons and jails remian filled. A lion will wait for days to attack until he is sure he will make a kill. Our ongoings short comings must emulate the lion. We can suceed if we wait and do what is necessary. That will often change the course of how a city operates.

By Tyra

March 1, 2007 12:38 PM | Link to this

JohnD at 9:19: “Islam is a geo-political movement intent on the destruction of Western civilization and until the Left comes to this fact the real work will be for the conservatives to do.”

I’d like to know what “real work” JohnD is doing to protect us from terrorists. Truth be told, the only real work he does is to cast his ballot for chicken-hawks who send other people’s sons and daughters into harms way on a whim.

By time for the truth

March 1, 2007 12:49 PM | Link to this

sad cow janice

cheers for the magical hissy fit loveykins

still sniggering at its gormlessness!!

CS KIng was a wholly venal mercenary snotty woman, as are the rest of her vile family. they leech off the King name, whilst the centre rots and the staff (in the past) wait for their wages … DExter draws a huge salary whilst he shamelessly hangs in Kalifornia cynically using his famous surname to try and become a fourth rate actor.

“living legend” HA HA HA … LMFAO … that was your best one yet lovey … church bombers, baby killers, bed wetters TOO FUNNY - TOO FUNNY - stop honeybunch - you’re making my ribs sore from all the leftist racial pandering laughter!!

wanker steve

MLK CHEATED blatantly on his BU thesis … he copied huge chunks of work by other folks … but because he was black etc he got a shameful pass!! Others would have been kicked out in disgrace!

he regularly cheated on the snotty cow he was married too … but then so would anyone I suppose.

love all the personal abuse bollock chops … you’re just another sad pathetic leftist plebian hypocrital termite who when faced with irrefutable facts becomes personally abusive. research MLK honestly - what I say is absolutely true. His oratory skills were severely overrated … retrospective racial pandering is to blame. His one famous speech was filled with trite cliches … albeit worthy cliches that clearly needed stating, given the demoNcrat segregationists hateful attitude to blacks. Allaaaaaaaaargh be praised that the GOP voted in the Civil Rights Act because racist demoNcrat scum like the alBOre’s pappy and KKK Byrd and Thurmond and all the rest of then demoNcrat racists were wholly against it!!

BTW I heard that the last personal cheque you gave your ‘wife’ for services rendered bounced like a National Guard plastic bullet on a 1970’s Kalifornia kampus!! I heartily despise worthless scum like you - but it sure is superb fun abusing you!!

By Van

March 1, 2007 12:50 PM | Link to this

Tyra,

Outside of the fact that JohnD is correct, he is trying to educate those on the left who do not believe we are in danger. He is doing more than you are.

By time for the truth

March 1, 2007 12:51 PM | Link to this

The �you� in that last paragraph of my last post should read …*

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWN!!!

go jump under a moving MARTA bus or summat dickweed!!

By Jim's a Cherry Picker

March 1, 2007 12:52 PM | Link to this

And the credit goes to…

Waaaahhhhhh!!!! Sue me.

Or, alternatively, help me celebrate the nice number that corporate America, its lobbyists and “our” elected officials are doing on us.

Georgia’s got the best government money can buy. Celebrate it!

Cell-a-brate good times…Come On!

By steve-o

March 1, 2007 12:55 PM | Link to this

Tyra

…Islam is a geopolitical movement intent on the destruction of Western civilization… ROTFLMAO!!!!

My stomach is hurting from laughing so much. My God man! Islam…a geopolitical MOVEMENT???!!! Not a religion, but a movement??!! Incredible. And let’s throw the big word “geopolitical” in there to make it sound like a clearly rational and intellectual argument! Oh my god! Still ROTFLMFAO!!

By TFTrealTruth

March 1, 2007 12:57 PM | Link to this

In other words TFTT, MLK and Newt Gingrich had many similar characteristics. Except that MLK had the courage to cross that bridge into Selma and face Bull Connor’s fire hoses and German Shepards in Birmingham, while Newt Gingrich resigned from congress ahead of his own bimbo eruption rather than courageously face his own hypocrisy when that scandal hit the media.

By Lord Doom

March 1, 2007 1:01 PM | Link to this

Tyra needs to join Doom in a coital meeting.

By steve-o

March 1, 2007 1:01 PM | Link to this

tooltime,

That’s right…MLK got a pass because he was black. Just like all blacks got a free-ride during Jim Crow. What a freaking moron!

Overated orator? Are you kidding me? And oh yeah…read your history book idiot and recognize that Strom Thurmond switched from being a Democrat to being a Republican in 1964 because of the Civil Rights Act. Afterwards, many southern Democrats followed suit. Also recognize that the bill was signed and enacted by a Democrat president. What do you call that…oh yeah…”intellectual dishonesty”.

And the “dickweed” comment again? What a freaking child.

By YOU'RE MORE LIKELY

March 1, 2007 1:02 PM | Link to this

TO SUE ME JACP BECAUSE YOU DON’T HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO DO THE JOB RIGHT.

YOU’RE BANKRUPT WHEN IT COMES TO RESPONSIBILITY.

By time for the truth

March 1, 2007 1:12 PM | Link to this

@ the wanky id copier

I have ALWAYS greatly honoured MLK’s bravery and dedication in his wholly reasonable and long over due demands for equal treatment for everyone. The glossing over of his blatant personal faults is quite repugnant … take the whole - man warts and all. Bull Connor was a typical demoNcrat of the day … like Gov Wallace, Maddox et al.

The glaring difference between Newt’s situation and the Arkansas rapist’s is that Newt was NOT a serial sexual predator, he married the lady after he divorced his wife as I understand it. Sick Willie just used his bimbos and lied and lied and smeared and threatened anyone who got in his white trash way!!

BTW its German Shepherd - or Alsatian if you’re from the UK.

By Jim's a Cherry Picker

March 1, 2007 1:15 PM | Link to this

Due to the amazing positive response I’ve received from the first post of this excellent editorial by Maureen Downey of the AJC’s editorial board, I’m going to post it again.

Ya’ll make sure you read it…because basically what it is saying is that Georgia legislators really don’t care what’s in the public’s best interest. They’re in this to serve their corporate masters, like the good little ho’s that they are.

And now, on to Maureen:

Choosing exploitation on payday lending

Support for payday lending bill exposes lawmakers’ loyalty to special interests that fund their campaigns

Published on: 03/01/07

Consumer guru Clark Howard does not easily part with a dollar, so the fact that he sacrificed two workdays to plead with the General Assembly to oppose the payday lending bill ought to tell you something: It’s a dangerous bill for Georgia consumers.

The Legislature chose to disregard Howard’s warnings that the bill does nothing to help unpracticed borrowers create credit histories and improve their financial wherewithal. He calls the bill “garbage.”

Rather than listen to Howard, the lawmakers embraced the position of the payday lenders themselves � poor Georgians need quick access to cash even at exploitative interest rates. The payday loan bill passed out of the House Banks and Banking Committee and now moves to the full House for a vote.

The saga of the payday loan bill represents everything that’s wrong with the Georgia General Assembly. Payday loans � in which the borrower writes a post-dated check to a lender for the loan amount, plus a fee � have never been legal in Georgia. But because profits were high and penalties were low, the industry ignored the prohibition until 2004 when tougher criminal consequences were imposed. Those penalties finally chased the moneylenders out of the state.

The ban was celebrated by consumer advocates, who say that the triple-digit interest rates of payday loans only buried desperate borrowers deeper in debt.

So, why is the General Assembly trying to undo one of the few bona fide consumer protections it ever passed? Because, rather than represent everyday Georgians, legislators are pushing the agenda of their big-money contributors.

No one has even tried to disguise the politics at play in the payday debate. The sponsor of the bill doesn’t pretend that his constituents in Marietta clamored for this bill; Rep. Steve Tumlin (R-Marietta) admits that industry folks asked him to sponsor the legislation.

Despite the fierce opposition to the bill from all the leading consumer groups in the state, along with many churches and experts like Howard, Tumlin says, “Sometimes you take a job and you just have to finish it.”

“Why,” asks a frustrated Howard, “does he consider it to be his job to do something that harms Georgians?” As a student of Georgia politics, Howard knows the discouraging answer to that question. “Between the dynamics in the hearing room and all the backslapping outside, it was clear the legislators look at the payday lenders as their constituents,” he said.

The rawest political moments in the payday tale came when GOP Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine refused to follow the script and endorse the bill. Oxendine attacked the bill for the cancer that it is, angering Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs).

Oxendine discovered quickly that the GOP leadership would not tolerate anyone breaking ranks. House leaders moved swiftly to limit damage and Oxendine’s influence. First, the bill was changed so that oversight of the payday industry was yanked out of Oxendine’s control and given over to the Department of Banking and Finance. Then, Ehrhart introduced a bill that would strip Oxendine of his authority to license and oversee finance companies that lend $3,000 or less under the Georgia Industrial Loan Act.

If anyone wonders why less than half of the 4.4 million registered voters in Georgia bothered to vote in the last election, the payday loan bill provides the answer: Unless you are a big money contributor, Georgia legislators are not interested in you.

� Maureen Downey, for the editorial board (mdowney@ajc.com)

Let’s all celebrate and have a good time! Wah-hoo!

By Jim's a Cherry Picker

March 1, 2007 1:17 PM | Link to this

Why Jim, isn’t it obvious…we should honor the Georgia General Assembly!

One of your co-workers wrote this nifty little piece. I think it goes a long way towards explaining why we should celebrate the Georgia General Assembly for their excellent work.