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DEL.ICIO.USJohn-o-meter, car tax, a cool kiss
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:
Hillary wins Ohio and Texas. The John-o-meter registers a 43. If she wins one more small state, Atlanta Congressman John Lewis is back to 50-50. Win Pennsylvania on April 22 and Lewis re-endorses Hillary.
When Republicans are in danger of jumping off the cliff, they can always count on Democrats to save them. In one of the dumber moves of this legislative session, Democrats voted as a party against giving every Georgian who owns a car, truck or motorcycle relief from what Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter (R-Alpharetta) calls the “birthday tax.” It comes due on your birthday. Six Democrats broke ranks and voted for lower taxes: Reps. Bob Bryant of Garden City, Alan Powell of Hartwell, Bobby Parham of Milledgeville, Kevin Levitas of Atlanta, Amy Carter of Valdosta and Jay Shaw of Lakeland. One Republican, Tom Dickson of Cohutta, doesn’t get it.
Prince Harry rocks. He wanted to be “one of the lads,” an ordinary soldier pulling his weight on the front — and was.
Ever realize how many stories containing numbers are launched by some advocacy group pushing an agenda? Telling us, for example, that, based on federal taxes collected here, the war in Iraq costs Georgians between $86.5 billion and $144.1 billion is meaningless except as anti-war propaganda. The calculation is done by a group called the National Priorities Project in Northampton, Mass.
And what should that number be? Likewise, a report by the Pew Center on the States in Washington, a “private group that promotes” alternatives to jailing, finds that Georgia locks up 1.02 people per thousand, second in the country. Give us more law-abiding citizens and we’ll give you fewer lock-ups. The group also tells us that Georgia spends 50 cents on incarceration for every dollar spent on higher education. So should Georgia spend more on higher education? Don’t try to figure it out. It’s just feel-good liberalism.
Sad commentary on “community” that former Clayton County school board member Norreese Haynes lived in Cobb County for two years and nobody in Clayton knew it — and wouldn’t have but for a domestic dispute in Cobb and the accreditation disaster in Clayton. When the truth was discovered, he was voted off the board.
Think health insurance premiums are high now? Wait until Congress enacts legislation to require employers offering coverage for both mental and physical illnesses to give them parity. The bill, which passed 268-148, would mandate coverage for conditions such as jet lag and sexual dysfunction, said U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Marietta). “Can you imagine an employer being willing to cover things like that?” Here’s the deal: On the Democrats’ watch, business is made an extension of government, mandated to provide services that liberals want but lack the public support to create in the public sector. On the Republicans’ watch, business tries to dump those costs back on government — which is how, if we’re not careful, we get to HillaryCare.
Tyson Chief Executive Richard Bond says that government mandates to produce more ethanol are the chief reason prices for his chicken, beef and pork products are expected to increase by almost $800 million this year. Grains are 40 percent of the cost of producing chicken and 80 percent of the cost of producing beef. Congress may be responsible for a dumber idea than putting corn in the gas tank, but it’s hard to know when.
Clever of the Chattanooga mayor to send a pickup load of bottled water to the Capitol in response to claims that the state line is marked incorrectly and the Tennessee River actually flows through Georgia. He described it as a “cool wet kiss of friendship.” State Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth) accepted it in the spirit offered: “as down payment on the billions of gallons of water” to come. Aspects may be humorous, but this is a legitimate claim for Georgia to pursue.
Has John Lewis changed his endorsement yet?
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Comments
By jbmlaw
March 7, 2008 8:18 AM | Link to this
Good morning all. I can understand John Lewis’s dithering – probably has to do with old age. Over the last two months I have switched from Fred to Rudy to Mitt to John. Well actually I think Fred, Rudy, and Mitt switched from basking in my support to a life free from stress. And rather than suffering from stress, John is a carrier.
Abolition of the birthday tax was seemingly a no-brainer once it came up. Supported by all but the no-brainers.
I am a Prince Harry fan. As the kid grew up, he was purportedly the party-boy (and you thought I did not glance at the Enquirer while waiting in line at Kroger.) Even if Prince Charles is a doofus, somebody in that household did something right. I hope someone in Hollywood has the brains to make him the next John Wayne.
I can make up numbers as well as the National Priorities Project. The crazed-leftist support for the armed opposition to our noble military effort to destroy the Islamists has cost us 2,000 brave soldiers. But even in treason they support the military.
I can cure the incarceration expense quickly. Legalize all drugs except cocaine, alcohol, and methamphetamine, and prosecute DUI only where there is an accident. You would eliminate 80% of the criminal dockets, with no measurable effect on the population.
One quick way to reduce medical health insurance expenses is to allow anyone to purchase a health insurance policy legal in any other state, and prohibit employer sponsorship of health insurance. It is legislative “mandates” that drive up the expense. Of course, every medical professional wants the government to “require” coverage of his niche – that is how you fund your vacation home. I think medical insurance should require coverage of legal fees for an array of problems (divorce, incorporation, probate) too. Why not – makes as much sense as any other legislated mandate.
The US Food for Ethanol program, as a con game, pales in comparison to social security.
Forget the water claim – statute of limitations ran 200 years ago. The Tennesseans living in the disputed lands do not want to be Georgians, and I think we really don’t want them to be Georgians. The whole kafuffle makes us look like a bunch of idiots. If there was an intelligent soul in the Georgia legislature, he would be negotiating a pipeline and extraction of some defined quantity of water from the Tennessee River.
This just in, Ron Paul supporters just made a large contribution to John Lewis’s foundation.
By Ron
March 7, 2008 8:23 AM | Link to this
Good Morning Jim,I heard that Lewis was going to endorse Ron Paul,causing Paul to finally throw in the towel.
.Prince Harry did it right.And would continue to do so if allowed.
.I thought I read addiction was covered in the health bill also.Could have been wrong.
. $316,000 for Ms. Gamble.Not bad for a beginner.
.Here's some more numbers for you ,Jim. 1% of the adult population is incarcerated.That only leaves about 3% more that needs to join them.By jbmlaw
March 7, 2008 8:26 AM | Link to this
Yes I know there is no statute of limitations for state border disputes, but there is a moral legitimacy issue when it is raised so late.
By Abomi Nation
March 7, 2008 8:29 AM | Link to this
The next John Wayne?????
John Wayne decided to sit out WWII. Prince Harry went to Afghanistan and fought for his country.
Please don’t insult Prince Harry by associating him with that coward John Wayne.
By jbmlaw
March 7, 2008 8:35 AM | Link to this
Dear Abomi @ 8:29, your argument has much legitimacy. Since John Wayne was merely portraying the real life Ted Williams, maybe my real wish is that someone in Hollywood would mold Harry into the next Ted Williams portrayer?
By Joe Bland
March 7, 2008 8:37 AM | Link to this
Hey, if we get the border moved, we’ll get some of the dumpier parts of greater Chattanooga. Sweet.
Sonny should ask the north Georgia sheriff’s to start patroling the disputed area, writing tickets and making arrests. Then have notices sent for 100 years of back taxes sent to property owners in the disputed zone. See if Tennessee takes it seriously then.
By Barry
March 7, 2008 8:39 AM | Link to this
No one in the Georgia House - Republicans or Democrats - should have voted to abolish the car tax as long as the bill included Glenn Richardson’s provision to allow lawmakers to later change tax laws without a supermajority and without approval from voters.
Richardson tried to get by stealth what he couldn’t get through the front door: A state takeover of local communities’ revenues. With big, central-government Republicans like these, thank God for those Democrats.
By Jim's a Cherry PIcker
March 7, 2008 8:50 AM | Link to this
Hi Jim,
Hate to go off topic so soon, but did you see this:
“Seven people were wounded Thursday night in an apparent drive-by shooting in Stone Mountain.
The incident happened around 9 p.m. in the 5100 block of Scarborough Lane, said DeKalb County Police Department spokesman J.T. Ware.”
If they had just had guns on them, they could have defended themselves!
Oh, and agreed about Harry…I like him. Too bad your buddy Drudge had to ruin it for him…but hey, that’s the free market!
Cheers!
By Tim
March 7, 2008 8:50 AM | Link to this
Mr. Wooton….. John Lewis changed his support in order to follow the madates of his district. All politicians should likewise lisen to their voters. Abolishing the “birthday tax” was a hustle, and end around that would have cost us all so much more in the long run. Glen Richardson is a con man in the middle of a wholesale scam against the entire state of Georgia, but because he carries a (R) next to his name, you don’t have the sack to call him on it!!!
By Joe Bland
March 7, 2008 8:55 AM | Link to this
No, make that almost 200 years worth of back taxes. Then the Legislature could pass the savings along to the lower 159 for a few years. That is sweet.
By Will
March 7, 2008 8:56 AM | Link to this
Mr. Wooten:
You are “dead on” with your mocking of a politician changing his Senator Clinton endorsement when the wind seems to be blowing a different direction.
By the way, how many of those republicans attending the fund raiser for Senator McCain last night endorsed someone other than Senator McCain but are now solidly in his corner since “hurricane McCain” blew through the republican party!!!
I guess that wind blows through republicans and democrats alike.
By ManPower
March 7, 2008 8:59 AM | Link to this
Well, Casanova John McClown was in town yesterday, does anyone have any sexual conquest stories to air? Not you Dusty, even if John did lower his standards for you, in the interests of humanity and good taste, we do not want to know. Speaking of lowering ones standards, blue collar white males who vote for Hillary have crawled into the gutter of desperation: she will betray them if she is elected President, she has a long history of betraying her supporters, I believe a list of her acts of betrayal was included in yesterday’s comments. Hillary hates men with a passion, and her fanatical female followers cannot wait to get into the executive suites of the various Federal agencies, where they can punish men for a lifetime of what they believe is woman hating. We men had better support first Barak Obama, and if he is defeated, then our only remaining hope is Casanova John McCain.
By RCH
March 7, 2008 9:11 AM | Link to this
Speaking of John Lewis the champion of civil rights, what happened to the rights of one of his staffers ( Black Female) whom he discriminated against, had fired, and now must pay restitution ( with our tax money) out of an unlimited fund the government set up just for such occurrences. Where is NOW,Jesse,Al? He should resign!!!!
By OneForTheRoad
March 7, 2008 9:12 AM | Link to this
Jim,
Good for Hillary. Did someone patent that John-o-meter.
You may be a TAD bit off on your assertion regarding the Democrat’s motive for voting against the tag tax bill.
Rock on Harry — a little classic Beatles or John Lennon perhaps. I can’t imagine it. I wonder if he wore designer sun glasses.
I have noticed a lot of stories touting numbers that we are expected to buy into. Also, I seriously doubt that the cost of the Iraq war to Georgia’s families was anywhere near that low.
I would love to see more law-abiding citizens. To promote that idea, let’s start with the concept of setting an example. Do the names Perdue and Richardson come to mind? Or, were you just referring to other types of “crimes”.
Those people in Clayton County need help. Too bad they cannot rely on those they elected — or those that they did not help elect. What’s a person to do — protest in the streets?
Why focus on health insurance at a Federal level when there is so much to CON people about at the state level. Where are all the hypocrites when you need them.
I don’t knowingly eat Tyson products. Yuck. If government wants to really help, it should remove current mandates requiring excess production of hot air or excess CEO compensation. I much prefer something like solar power in the “battery” tank over a combustible in the “fuel” tank. Don’t you?
Perdue prayed for rain. Tennessee delivered it bottled. So what is there to complain about? You give some people an inch and they take a kilometer.
I hear from a reliable source that the odds are 50-50 that John is thinking about what you said?
By jbmlaw
March 7, 2008 9:36 AM | Link to this
Here’s something that will shake up your Friday – George McGovern sounding almost as conservative and libertarian as jbmlaw: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120485275086518279.html?mod=opinionmaincommentaries
By Apocalypse
March 7, 2008 9:40 AM | Link to this
Obama won Texas!!!
3/6/08 estimates of delegate counts from Texas are:
100 Obama (62 primary/38 caucus),
93 Clinton (64 primary/29 caucus).
YES WE DID!
By Dennis
March 7, 2008 9:52 AM | Link to this
Mr. Wooten writes, “Ever realize how many stories containing numbers are launched by some advocacy group pushing an agenda?”
Yes. Yesterday I watched a presentation of the Linger Longer Corporation which included statstics showing a downward trend over the past years for people who visited Jekyll Island.
Cited were stastics showing a decling in island visits by 47% from 1990 to 2006. Also a 30% decline in hotel room use over the same period.
We can all agree that the quality of the motels and the resturants on Jekyll Island went down a steep slope and that contributed greatly to the lesser use of Jekyll Island and need upgrading.
But if the Jekyll Island Authority (dominated by Republicans) had been doing the job it was supposed to do, that wouldn’t have happened.
What we have now is a political payoff and give away of Jekyll Island by Republicans in our state capital to the Linger Longer Corporation and its Republican stock holders.
What we will end up with is a bunch of condominimums and other facilities that will look like visiting Atlanta rather than the ability to enjoy the beauty, naturalness and solitude of the beachs where Linger Longer and the Jekyll Island Authority want to build their facilities.
The only people who want these facilities are politicians who are paying off their political debts and those who will make money of of “Georgia’s jewel” - THE ONLY BEACH IN GEORGIA NOT ALREADY DEVELOPED.
Anyone who has the time today, please call Rep Terry Bernard, 404-656-5138 (Chairman of the State Institutions and Property Commitee) and request that House Bill 1289 be given a full committee hearing NOW; and give the bill a chance to be voted on in the House.
Others to call are Bob Bryant 404-656-0289; Mike Cheokas 404-656-0325; Gerald Green 404-656-0314.
At the moment Jekyll Island “may” still belong to the people of Georgia and to YOU. It’s your island, or is it?
If we lose it, we can thank the Republicans (and the Republican governor).
You don’t have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.
By Dusty
March 7, 2008 10:01 AM | Link to this
Well, Wooten’s wondrous wanderings have reduced me to poetic trivialities. Hold your breath!!
I hear John Lewis has changed his mind
And soon I hope he’ll seek and find
A candidate so superb
That happiness follows in his suburb!!
But, John, I want to ease your pain.
Just flip your finger and say “It’s John McCain!”
More to follow…maybe….
By Glenn
March 7, 2008 10:02 AM | Link to this
Poor John Lewis. Don’t poke fun at him now, Jim. The man has served his purposes, after all. How’d you like to be caught between a poll and a polecat?
It’s nice to see that while your gold-pated GOP friends are searching for new taxes while you shop for new social programs on the People’s Revenue Surplus plastic, still at least six Democrats have the sense to draw the line and stop the tax shakedowns somewhere.
Amidst the tireless efforts of the House of Windsor to maintain the finest traditions of British royalty, it looks like Prince Harry thought to remind his father that one tradition had been overlooked. And for that he’s deemed, by some, impulsive and willful. (Tsk, tsk.)
With all the money Georgians will spend next year on pork products inflated in price by the rising cost of grain, that spending could fund instead lavish paramilitary search-and-destroy missions against eco-terrorists and violent animal “rights” groups. Ha-HAH!
Ethanol, schmethanol. This country needs another G.W. Carver in the worst way! Someone who will wed scientific genius to selfless service to the common good. Do oil companies really brave arctic winters to create safe habitats for eagles and their offspring? No, they don’t. Not for that reason. But Dr. Carver might.
Well, first Georgia had a gold rush and then California followed suit. Then California had a Hundred Years’ Water War…
By MADMOMMY
March 7, 2008 10:04 AM | Link to this
While I wish the tag tax had be removed, it is a good thing the bill didn’t pass based on what was not in the news regarding the bill. Have to look at all the information, not just the parts you like.
Health care is always going to be a major issue and things are only going to get worse before they get better. Hillary-care is a nightmare that I hope to never wake up to.
Clayton county needs resolutions and fast. I am sure that all counties either are or should start taking at look at their own school systems to thwart a state wide meltdown. The only people this is hurting right now is the kids who’s education is on the line. Way to show kids what being a RESPONSIBLE ADULT LOOKS LIKE.
Ethanol is the biggest joke, always was and always will be. People kept pushing and pushing-well now we are getting pushed back by RISING PRICES ACROSS THE BOARD. WAY TO GO!!!!! Now I can hardly afford to fill up the tank or buy food. Anyone want to give us a real solution to the problem.
GA/TENN border fight is silly. Stop acting like children. Wait, children at least are learning to share and be nice towards on another.
I am going to start praying now and hoping that solutions start coming to the State and the National level. One thing, can they be quiet enough to hear what needs to be done?
By antiRCH
March 7, 2008 10:04 AM | Link to this
Pot calling kettle black again huh RCH? You and D.A. King have a lot in common. One is a convicted felon and illegal gambling tax evader calling others criminals and talking about folks not paying taxes. And here you go, a known abuser of women and sexual harrasser of the first magnitude. Your record on this matter is very well known. Slapped any Latino females around lately RCH?
By Copyleft
March 7, 2008 10:10 AM | Link to this
Shame on John Lewis for representing his constituency!
By Apocalypse
March 7, 2008 10:14 AM | Link to this
Candidates Schedules for 3/7 Friday, March 7
Hillary Clinton attends a “Solutions For America” town hall in Hattiesburg, Mississippi
11:25 am
Laura Bush delivers remarks at a USAID celebration of International Women’s Day in Washington, D.C.
12:00 pm
Bill Clinton speaks before Philadelphia’s Democratic ward leaders on behalf of his wife
1:15 pm
President Bush meets with a family of Cuban political prisoners in the Oval Office. It’s followed by a statement on Cuba
2:00 pm
** * 4:00 pm * Barack Obama holds a “Stand for Change” town hall meeting in Casper, Wyoming
Hillary Clinton attends a “Solutions for America” town hall in Cheyenne, Wyoming
7:30 pm
Bill Clinton hosts a Mississippi fish fry in Tupelo
8:30 pm
** * 9:15 pm * Barack Obama holds a “Stand for Change” rally meeting in Laramie, Wyoming
By TW
March 7, 2008 10:28 AM | Link to this
Has John Lewis changed his endorsement yet?
What?
Mr Wooten gleefully jumped into bed with Romney, King of the Flip-Flop, but now takes a shot at Lewis?
Say it ain’t so, Mr. Wooten. Has hypocricy wiggled its way into the GOP?
Nah…couldn’t be…
By Dusty
March 7, 2008 10:30 AM | Link to this
Harry, I say, is a prince of a lad!
A brave fellow who makes us glad.
It’s oh so great he didn’t get kilt
And furthmore, wasn’t wearing a kilt.
The House of Windsor is not built on sand.
They have insured equality with this audacious young man.
More to come…maybe..maybe not
By Occasional reader
March 7, 2008 10:37 AM | Link to this
Jbmlaw, you want to criminalize alcohol while making heroin legal? How, precisely, would that “cure the incarceration expense”? It would seem that criminalizing alcohol would create a far larger criminal class. Do you have any reason for preferring heroin to cocaine?
By Glenn
March 7, 2008 10:40 AM | Link to this
Bring more, Dusty. That would make a good lyric for a soldier’s ditty. (Kilt—-extra points for that.)
By jm
March 7, 2008 10:43 AM | Link to this
Well, Prince Charles might be a doofus but unlike a certain commander in chief, he did qualify as a fighter pilot and as a helicopter pilot.
If our state leaders truly wanted to eliminate the ad valorem tax on cars, rather then play political “gotcha”, they would present that and only that as a proposal to be voted on.
As far as for what the Iraq War costs, the money is borrowed so who cares, right? After almost five years it has yet to make it into the regular budget.
Trying to move the Georgia border to solve our water problems is like buying lottery tickets to fix your financial problems.
By ManPower
March 7, 2008 10:50 AM | Link to this
Hillary is a Cheat: She agreed that the Michigan and Florida votes would not count, so no one else campaigned there. Now she wants to count them. JUST SAY NO TO CHEATING, SAY NO TO HILLARY!
By RCH
March 7, 2008 10:50 AM | Link to this
antiRCH
Don’t you feel that it is kind of odd that I am defending a African American women while you are defending a man that treats women like second class citizens? Slapping? Are you available?
By RCH
March 7, 2008 10:56 AM | Link to this
antiRCH
Don’t you feel that it is kind of odd that I am defending a African American women while you are defending a man that treats women like second class citizens? Slapping? Are you available?
By Why?
March 7, 2008 10:56 AM | Link to this
If the Republicans are so good and have done such a bang-up job then why are the Democrats such a threat to win the general election?
By Dusty
March 7, 2008 11:01 AM | Link to this
I’m not holding my breath and waiting to see
What’s going to happen with us and Tennessee.
I’ve cut short my showers and killed my lawn,
Carried my garden tractor to the House of Pawn.
And just in case our Guv did overdo it,
When he called on heaven’s Greatest Rain Conduit,
I’m building the prettiest houseboat you ever saw.
That’ll handle the rain and Gore’s hot air thaw.
More to come…maybe…probably not
By Watta Load
March 7, 2008 11:03 AM | Link to this
Prince Harry Rocks!!!??? Well, maybe he does but isn’t that expression a little “hip” for this blog. What…? You’re trying for the younger crowd now? Us old farts aren’t good enough.
You cut me to the quick sir.
By Ron
March 7, 2008 11:03 AM | Link to this
Dusty,I’ll be needing to see your poetic license number posted before you do anymore rhyming.
jbmlaw,I waiver daily between wanting to legalize drugs and wanting to execute everyone involved with them.A lot of it has to do with how the cretin next door is performing.
By WOMANPOWER
March 7, 2008 11:09 AM | Link to this
ManPower says yes to disenfranchising voters. He’s a dem. I always knew it was true. dems supress votes.
By Redneck Convert
March 7, 2008 11:14 AM | Link to this
Well, lock them all up and throw away the key. If they get arrested they are gone for life. No parole and use the Death Penalty if you can. I don’t care how much it costs. We can still afford the war to keep the terrists from coming over here and doing You Know What to Sister Dusty and breaking into my trailer and taking my two machine guns and the antitank weapon. You know how bad they are when they are willing to do You Know What to Sister Dusty.
As for the rest, I’m with jbmlaw. Just get rid of guvmint. Except for the part that includes the army. Draft the Social Security bums into the Old Folks Army and get rid of Social Security and Medicare. We don’t need no guvmint highways or drug and food checking and such. And I guess its OK to let the pot-heads and people high as a kite drive the roads. Leastwise, we would get rid of a lot of robbing and killing if drugs was cheap.
Anyhow, don’t get me started this a.m. And I don’t need no 1st-grade poetry from Sister Dusty to tell me what’s what.
By TW
March 7, 2008 11:44 AM | Link to this
Hats off to Mr. Wooten for having the stones to take any post that comes his way.
Shame Bob Barr can’t handle it. Guess all of that teat cheese must have ate out his spine.
By Dusty
March 7, 2008 11:45 AM | Link to this
Clayton county has lost it’s groove.
Now everybody there wants to move.
The Board of Education is a failing fright.
One wonders: Can they read and write?
And why worry about accreditation?
Who needs that stuff for’edjumacation’?
Goodbye Hope and the “college degreed”.
In Clayton County, that is no need.
Bye now. I lost my poetic license. Gone to look for it.
By jbmlaw
March 7, 2008 11:52 AM | Link to this
Dear Occasional @ 10:37, you ask three good questions. You ask: “you want to criminalize alcohol while making heroin legal? How, precisely, would that “cure the incarceration expense”? It would seem that criminalizing alcohol would create a far larger criminal class. Do you have any reason for preferring heroin to cocaine?” (1) No, (2) defer here, (3) Yes.
I perhaps confuse with my language, which read, “Legalize all drugs except cocaine, alcohol, and methamphetamine, and prosecute DUI only where there is an accident. You would eliminate 80% of the criminal dockets, with no measurable effect on the population.” That I would legalize all but three particular drugs does not mandate that I would criminalize any others to any greater extent than exists today. Were I to advocate criminalizing alcohol further, it would certainly increase incarcerations, so you are not illogical; you simply made an incorrect assumption.
I do specifically carve out three dangerous drugs in my libertarian analysis, dangerous only because people do mean things to others under the influence, things that they would not do sober. That is not true of heroin, to cite your particular example. Indeed, heroin junkies are maybe the most harmless hard drug users out there – they are physically incapable of doing much of anything, and they are so constipated they have no inclination to do anything. I’ve never had a problem with any heroin doper. In contrast, alcohol “blackouts,” and cocaine and meth rage are not urban legends; my unresearched guess is that fully half of all violent crimes are committed under the influence of one of those three.
My second unresearched guess is that 75%+ of those under the supervision of the state for criminal convictions are insignificant users engaged in comparatively harmless drug use. My policy would free up the police to pursue violent crimes, would free up the courts to focus on violent crimes, and would free up the prisons to accommodate the truly dangerous among us.
By getalife
March 7, 2008 11:56 AM | Link to this
Call Clinton a “monster” and got fired.
What a fighter.
Hey, remember the Clinton economy?
Time to seal the deal.
Clinton/Obama.
By Analyst Interrupted
March 7, 2008 12:39 PM | Link to this
Hi! Today’s piece is called, “Osama or the Tiger”
Bork yells, “Tibet! Tibet!”
Hillary yells, “Ken Starr! Ken Starr!”
Monica yells, “Ricola! Ricola!”
Hillary’s Ken Starr allusion is a credibility-losing mistake.
Michigan and florida: Primary Mulligans? Is Obama actually Osama or Tiger?
Howard Dean, who looks frighteningly like a middle-aged Lee Harvey Oswald, is the calm cooler head explaining the campaign rules?
Texas primary and caucus: Hillary wins popular vote, Obama wins caucus delegates. What kind of creature is the democratic party?
Voters and Obama had their first lover’s spat last Tuesday night, but I think the relationship will survive.
While all this nonsense is going on, developments in Iraq are making the surge look like, well, just a surge. A shia superstate suddenly reared it’s ugly head again as the Shia Majority in Iraq and Iran’s President seem hell-bent on excluding the ousted Sunnis who persecuted the Shia Majority for 75 years after Churchill left the Sunnis in charge. Why did Churchill do that? The sunnis are the ones who wore the suits and ties and seemed less like fanatics.
The question was: Will sunni and shia embrace their common Islamic bond? They never have, but experts thought they would for a free Iraq.
the question now is: Are ethnic hatreds stronger than sectarian bonds? Iran is shia, but persian. Iraq is Shia, but arab.
pershiarab
shiperab
arashiper
By deegee
March 7, 2008 1:01 PM | Link to this
I thought the John-o-meter was going to be about the low flush toilets that we are all going to have to get to solve the drought problem. I thought that JW was going to tell us that they figured out a way to know how many times we flush. I was relieved, no pun intended, to know that it was just JW making fun of a democrat for changing his mind about a candidate.
By Shark Sammich
March 7, 2008 1:16 PM | Link to this
Does anyone besides Jim and that bowel-movement lawyer guy really believe that the war in Iraq hasn’t cost Georgians between $86.5 billion and $144.1 billion?
By ray
March 7, 2008 1:22 PM | Link to this
shark sammich- as a georgian i am proud to know my dollars have kept saddam heussein from flying more planes into our buildings.
By Glenn
March 7, 2008 1:29 PM | Link to this
Well, ray, it has kept Saddam from firing any more missiles at our peacekeeping planes.
By ManPower
March 7, 2008 1:53 PM | Link to this
LITTLE ROCK — Federal archivists at the Clinton Presidential Library are blocking the release of hundreds of pages of White House papers on pardons that the former president approved, including clemency for fugitive commodities trader Marc Rich. The archivists’ decision, based on guidance provided by Bill Clinton that restricts the disclosure of advice he received from aides, prevents public scrutiny of documents that would shed light on how he decided which pardons to approve from among hundreds of requests.
Clinton’s legal agent declined the option of reviewing and releasing the documents that were withheld, said the archivists, who work for the federal government, not the Clintons.
The decision to withhold the records could provide fodder for critics who say that the former president and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, now seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, have been unwilling to fully release documents to public scrutiny.
Officials with the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., criticized Hillary Clinton this week for not doing more to see that records from her husband’s administration are made public. “She’s been reluctant to disclose information,” Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, told reporters in a conference call in which he specifically cited the slow release records from the Clinton library. “If she’s not willing to be open with (voters) on these issues now, why would she be open as president?”
MORE CLINTON LIES….
By Shark Sammich
March 7, 2008 2:00 PM | Link to this
Well Glenn @1.29pm, then that’s obviously money real well spent!
I hear shredded $100 bills make fine cat litter.
By ManPower
March 7, 2008 2:04 PM | Link to this
I will agree to count the Fl and mi votes as is on one condition, and one condition only: Hillary must leap off the edge of the grand canyon, stark naked, and survive the fall..
By Brock
March 7, 2008 2:26 PM | Link to this
Mr Wooten, did you even read the bill that contained the removal of the car ad valorem tax? There were some major sweeping changes in there that would have resulted in vast inequities in how taxpayers share their respective burdens. Also, the cap on local communities’ tax revenue put artificial state limits on how we local citizens tax and govern ourselves. Local control used to be part of the GOP mantra; what happened?
The GOP legislators expected the ordinary, uninformed, citizen to only focus on the car aspect, while missing out on the horrible remainder. It looks like you bought into it too. At least one GOP legislator DID get it.
By deegee
March 7, 2008 2:31 PM | Link to this
Anyone want to speculate on how long it will take Iraq’s Sunni awakening councils to rid the country of Americans after they rid the country of al-Qaida? They need us now because we give them guns. I predict that when they have all the firepower they need they will get rid of us, then go to town on the Shia.
By getalife
March 7, 2008 2:52 PM | Link to this
President Bill Clinton is talking about w’s economic trickle down failed economy comparing it to his successful economy.
Perfect.
By Jackie
March 7, 2008 2:57 PM | Link to this
@deegee,
The Sunnis will continue to be a “partner” as long as the dollars continue to flow. They have weapons and money; they need to have jobs for the young folks to keep them under control. As soon as the US Congress forces Dubya to account for money spent in Iraq, the “insurgents” will return, in full force. Secondly, they will not allow the Shiites (Iran) to exercise greater influence in Iraq.
By Tim
March 7, 2008 3:06 PM | Link to this
Ray@1:22pm
Saddam WAS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR FLYING PLANES INTO OUR BUILDINGS!!! Make your arguments if you like but don’t continue to spout those same old lies. That’s the type of bullsh*t that gets in the way of legitamate discussion.
By Shark Sammich
March 7, 2008 3:30 PM | Link to this
Brock @ 2.26, when you write “There were some major sweeping changes in there that would have resulted in vast inequities in how taxpayers share their respective burdens.”
…don’t you realize that’s pretty much a prerequisite for any GOP tax measure? They’re all about the vast inequities.
And Tim @ 3.06, I assumed that Ray @ 1.22 was a parody. Nobody actually believes Saddam attacked us on 9/11… do they?
By Tim
March 7, 2008 3:44 PM | Link to this
Shark@ 3:30
You would be suprised at some for the things that people hold as the gospel truth!!
By David
March 7, 2008 3:47 PM | Link to this
Uh, ManPower. Transparency is not an issue that republicans can make hay with. They haven’t conducted business in the light of day for eight years. And by the way ManPower, how about Dubya having his father’s Iran-Contra era papers shrink wrapped and squirreled away from the public view?
By Shark Sammich
March 7, 2008 3:48 PM | Link to this
Here’s a Deep Thought:
If the GOP spent as much time working on actual solutions to problems as they did finding cute names (“Death Tax,” “Birthday Tax”) to demonize every citizens shared responsibility to contribute to the commons, they might not suck so bad.
Key word being “might.”
By BadOleBoys
March 7, 2008 3:58 PM | Link to this
Here’s an off-topic issue. I don’t recall the AJC or any of its employees/contributors/contractor/whatever they’re called talking much — if any — about Ron Paul and his bid for the White House. Yet, as soon as he mentions pulling out of the race, they are all over it like flies on LHR Farms. How do these guys pick their news stories?
By Shark Sammich
March 7, 2008 4:03 PM | Link to this
Tim @ 3.44, I know people believe truly stupid stuff.
Just the other day I had to listen to a very nice lady inform her co-workers that Barak Obama was going to “hand over sovereignty to the UN…” This particular wingnut riff was new to me—I had to use The Google to learn that Obama’s sponsorship of an foreign aid bill, which has the co-sponsorship of such commies as Republican Chuck Hagel, apparently mentions a UN resolution and specifies using that formula to determine what percentage of GDP we ought to devote to such spending.
That’s how you “hand over sovereignty to the UN…” in Wingnut World.
I get all that. What I don’t get is how a notion as silly and discredited by the FRIGGING PRESIDENT OF THE US HIMSELF, that Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks, continues to be repeated.
Like I said, it was so stupid I assumed it was a joke.
By Copyleft
March 7, 2008 4:06 PM | Link to this
Yessir, I for one am GLAD Saddam isn’t orchestrating another 9/11 like he did last… time…
Oh, wait—that was some other guy? Well, I’m sure we took care of HIM, right? RIGHT?
By Lily Toad
March 7, 2008 4:20 PM | Link to this
Uh, John Lewis changed his vote to reflect the votes of his district. We haven’t rescinded our votes, so why should our Rep.?
By Glenn
March 7, 2008 4:49 PM | Link to this
Sharky,
In Greenocracy, it is the U.N. that not only is sovereign, but is THE sacrosanct Sovereign. Gibberals never think to stiff the U.N. with the bill for the Iraq war or the occupation, even though the Iraq invastion was necessitated by the U.N.’s toothless sanctioning ad infinitum of Iraq’s escalating acts of war. Had the U.N. not been such a useless, cowardly, corrupt wet noodle, the U.S. and UK wouldn’t be stuck with the whole tab. But in Greenocratland, the U.N. is Sovereign. When that inveterate liar Mr. McCain becomes President, he can help redeem himself by appointing John Bolton as Secretary of State and cutting off the U.N. without a cent, just as President Reagan did.
By Curious Observer
March 7, 2008 4:52 PM | Link to this
shark sammich- as a georgian i am proud to know my dollars have kept saddam heussein from flying more planes into our buildings.
I’m convinced more than ever of the validity of my theory that morons have the cushiest lives in the world.
Got a war entered into under false pretenses? Blame it on Saddam Hussein’s dastardly initiative to fly planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Lost your job and can’t figure out why everyone around you is also recently unemployed? Blame it on Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.
Watching the value of your house plummet, while foreclosures are going on all around you? Blast the federal guvmint and all them there welfare programs.
Yes, it must be idyllic to be a moron in times such as these. The good news is that about half the people on this blog have already reached that status, led by their Esteemed Pied Piper Wooten, and thus such people feel no pain.
Hey, have you heard about how we’re about to run a big interstate right through the heart of the USA and get rid of the border patrol so that the Mexicans can just enter and leave at will, and take all our assets with them?
By ManPower
March 7, 2008 5:19 PM | Link to this
Hillary DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT STUFF TO BE PRESIDENT. When the going gets tough, she cries….FDR never cried, JFK never cried, Truman never cried, but Hillary the Hag cries on command….,
By Joe D
March 7, 2008 5:22 PM | Link to this
Georgie boy cries all the time. Said so himself.
By Analyst Interrupted
March 7, 2008 5:29 PM | Link to this
Now, I know there’s no crying in baseball, sir, but I think crying in the white house is a good thing. Hillary would make a good president, but the backlash against her just being a woman would ensure GOP success in 2012.
It’s Obama. And it’s great.
By Jack
March 7, 2008 5:33 PM | Link to this
Super duper secret agent Jack here: I have just intercepted an Al Cutie message, it reads: “is it possible george bush is a TERRORIST and was sent here by al-qaeda to destroy the united states?
i can’t think any other explanation how one person can do so much damage single-handedly…”
Yes, even the al-qaeda offshoot, Al Cutie is confused by Bush…Is it read stupidity, or is he working for the Head Office…Jack is on the Case. Jack Out (jim punishes me if i say “off”)