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Thursday, October 16, 2008
New Ohio voters, Troy Davis ruling
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:
Exposing American troops to Iraqi justice when they are accused of crimes unrelated to war, as proposed in a draft agreement, is a tolerable compromise. Never should troops under U.S. military command be subjected to prosecution by international courts or by other countries. But if you rape the barmaid at a downtown hangout or murder a shopkeeper in a dispute over the tab, it’s a crime unrelated to military service. Fair enough.
John McCain did make a good point when he said to Barack Obama in Wednesday’s debate: “I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago.” Obama is a Monday morning quarterback, an expert on what the team should have done yesterday. His strong suit is that he was far wiser yesterday than those who actually had to make decisions.
The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute is a group dedicated to more spending on social programs. It’s concerned that, although Georgia has spent $90 million on anti-smoking programs since 2001, it’s less than the CDC-recommended amount of $116.5 million annually. Georgia, as is its option, chooses to spend the bulk of the $1.5 billion tobacco settlement riches on cancer-related research and treatment, as well as other health-care programs, and on OneGeorgia grants.
Smoking here has declined at about the same level it has nationally. Every dime of the tobacco money should go into the general fund to be spent on priorities specified by the governor and General Assembly.
Condolences to John F. Collins of DeKalb County, a former statewide political candidate, whose gracious and beloved wife of 63 years, Ina, died on Oct. 4. Sixty-three years.
No surprise that children’s health improves as income rises, as discovered by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Solutions identified by one expert: better access to prenatal care, stopping smoking during pregnancy, requiring physical education in schools and providing “appropriate” school lunch programs.
One other suggestion: Encourage marriage. It would achieve far more for children than a dozen more government programs. Wonder why all solutions to what’s ailing children point to more government and never to irresponsible adults changing a destructive behavior. Unless it’s smoking, of course.
Before you buy-in to the Troy Anthony Davis PR campaign, go to the source. Read for yourself the Georgia Supreme Court decision handed down March 17 that dealt with quality of the alleged recantations in the murder of Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail. Cut out the spin. Read Justice Harold Melton’s majority opinion.
A third of recent Atlanta Police Academy graduates have been arrested or cited for a crime. More than a third had been rejected by other law enforcement agencies. And half admitted using marijuana. Holy Toledo! What a commentary on the state of the city’s recruiting efforts. On the bright side, far less training should be required on crime scene investigation and how to recognize suspicious behavior.
The Atlanta Regional Commission is weighing whether to recommend to Congress that it end the federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, perhaps replacing it with a tax on miles driven. Next suggestion, please? The better recommendation is to give that taxing capacity back to the states so that gas-tax revenues can be used to add capacity and reduce traffic gridlock in places like Metro Atlanta.
Look, I can spot a tax increase disguised as something else a mile away. And I assure you Alpharetta’s policy requiring reimbursement from cops who use their patrol cars on off-duty jobs is not, as one officer alleges in a complaint, a tax on public safety employees. Nobody anywhere should have a license to use public property for private gain.
Ohio has 200,000 presumed residents its Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, planned to let vote despite discrepancies in the information they provided on registration forms. A federal appeals court has, quite properly, intervened and directed her to verify their eligibility by Friday. Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel was clearly right to insist on clearing up discrepancies before newly registered voters get a ballot.
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