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Thursday, October 4, 2007
Thinking Right: Water Gestapo, Aaron, school choice
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:
• Libertarians and some conservatives worry about the potential for Big Brother snooping with national photo IDs and with allowing intelligence agencies to intercept calls into this country from suspected terrorists abroad. My Big Brother fear is the Neighborhood Water-Watch Gestapo mobilized during droughts to track down and punish offenders for some minor perceived rule-breaking offense. Get a life.
• Sandy Springs City Councilwoman Ashley Jenkins offers just the right touch on the drought hysteria sweeping metro Atlanta. “Many of you have called or e-mailed about the new water restrictions,” she wrote constituents. So they don’t try to rat out neighbors for something that’s not a violation, she presented the rules. And added: “If you still feel the need to tattletale on your neighbor, you may call the City of Atlanta Water Department [which provides Sandy Springs water] and wait on hold for 10 minutes to report a violation. You can expect the City of Atlanta Water to promptly do nothing about your complaint. If you do actually get someone on the line, could you please have them fix the water gusher that has been coming out of the ground at Wycombe and Drummen for 2 weeks.” Later she told me: “We would have water in Lake Lanier if they just fixed the gushers in Sandy Springs.”
• You know the service is bad when the real home-run king, Hank Aaron, calls the newspaper in desperation, hoping to shame the city of Atlanta into fixing a neighborhood bridge he considers dangerous and an eyesore. It’s on the list. …
• Twiggs County school officials failed to notify parents that their elementary school had failed academically — thus triggering school choice and tutoring options. An oversight, said school officials. Parents everywhere should be vigilant. School officials hate these provisions of the No Child Left Behind law. They’ll notify parents of the options just as soon as the lawyer who writes the fine print on credit card agreements becomes available — and send it out on election day, or some other where the attention of parents is directed elsewhere. Parents should always protest to the state — and to the feds.
• Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama grandly refused to vote on a Senate resolution condemning Moveon.org for its “General Betray Us” ad in the New York Times. Too frivolous, he claimed from the high road. But not too frivolous was a resolution condemning talk show host Rush Limbaugh for an opinion. In that case, he’s for taking up the Senate’s business with a resolution condemning Limbaugh.
• Professors lament that they age and their students don’t — with the consequence that a huge gap develops in their common knowledge. “You have to remind yourself” said one, “that they won’t know who George H.W. Bush was, or they’ll have vaguely heard of Reagan. Vietnam is a passing reference that people make.” All of which is offered here to explain why Wayne Willams continues to get hearings on his search for the real killer of Atlanta’s missing and murdered. Williams was convicted 25 years ago, after which the killings stopped.
• Headline: “Should smokers pick up tab for children’s health care?” No. The 39-cent per pack tax would go to $1 to partially finance a huge expansion of the federal program that largely funds PeachCare, which the president properly vetoed. The cigarette tax is an effort to drive a legitimate business out of existence — though, in the meantime, the tax burden will fall most heavily on the poor, since they’re the smokers. As with the Georgia Lottery, the poor will be asked to support something that will heavily benefit the middle class.
• Write it in stone — and into law. Georgia state Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth) and other prominent legislators have gone to court to ask that a secret legal settlement among Emory, Grady and a doctor who sued the hospital of allegedly defrauding the federal government be unsealed. “Lawsuits alleging wrongdoing by public officials or misuse of public funds should never be litigated or settled under seal.” Put that sentence into law and put me down as a co-sponsor.
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To unite GOP, bring on Hillary
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday night reveals that 48 percent of Republicans prefer a candidate who takes a “different approach” from that pursued by President Bush. That’s up from 41 percent in April. Back then, 50 percent wanted a candidate with a “similar approach” to the job. That’s now 38 percent.
New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani tops former Sen. Fred Thompson 30 percent to 23 percent in the primary poll, with Sen. John McCain third at 15 percent, followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 10 percent. Giuliani’s support is strong among all groups except core conservatives, the pollsters said. He’s especially strong among women.
Democrat Peter Hart who conducted the poll with Republican Neil Newhouse said the advantages Giuliani has are that he’s popular and appealing, has answered the question about how he would handle a crisis, and supporters believe he could beat Hillary.
Giuliani sought to shore up that view, comparing Hillary’s proposal to give a $5,000 savings bond to every U.S.-born baby to 1972 nominee George McGovern’s proposal to send $1,000 to every U.S. resident. “It’s interesting that Hillary is taking something from the George McGovern playbook,” Giuliani said Wednesday. He also criticized her for faking a Southern accent when speaking in Selma.
Two points here. One is that questions like whether Republican voters prefer a candidate similar or dissimilar to Bush, while entertaining, mean nothing to me. Most of the Republicans I know find fault with Bush — but it’s mostly because they think he’s failed to check spending or has failed in some meaningful way to confront Democrats. They grumble but, as with the Democrats’ Iraq withdrawal agenda, will stand with him if it matters.
The other point is that Republicans and Democrats alike will pick a candidate they think best able to defeat the other party’s nominee and take the White House. I’m not yet convinced that is Giuliani, though given the top concern of Republicans — security and the war on terrorism — it’s not surprising that a guy with his profile and visibility after 9/11 would poll well. On this particular issue, any of the top tier of Republicans appeal over any of the likely Democratic contenders. (By the way, any early favorites among those here likely to vote in the Republican primary?)
Republicans are disgruntled — but be assured that if Democrats nominate Hillary — you couldn’t keep one at home on Election Day.
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