Thinking Right

By Churchill's MOM

November 20, 2008 9:10 AM | Link to this

Who cares about a bunch of bald men, Here’s our GAL..

November 14, 2008, 10:00 pm The Wild Wordsmith of Wasilla Electronic devices dislike me. There is never a day when something isn’t ailing. Three out of these five implements — answering machine, fax machine, printer, phone and electric can-opener — all dropped dead on me in the past few days.

Now something has gone wrong with all three television sets. They will get only Sarah Palin.

I can play a kind of Alaskan roulette. Any random channel clicked on by the remote brings up that eager face, with its continuing assaults on the English Lang.

There she is with Larry and Matt and just about everyone else but Dr. Phil (so far). If she is not yet on “Judge Judy,” I suspect it can’t be for lack of trying.

What have we done to deserve this, this media blitz that the astute Andrea Mitchell has labeled “The Victory Tour”?

I suppose it will be recorded as among political history’s ironies that Palin was brought in to help John McCain. I can’t blame feminists who might draw amusement from the fact that a woman managed to both cripple the male she was supposed to help while gleaning an almost Elvis-sized following for herself. Mac loses, Sarah wins big-time was the gist of headlines.

I feel a little sorry for John. He aimed low and missed.

What will ambitious politicos learn from this? That frayed syntax, bungled grammar and run-on sentences that ramble on long after thought has given out completely are a candidate’s valuable traits?

And how much more of all that lies in our future if God points her to those open-a-crack doors she refers to? The ones she resolves to splinter and bulldoze her way through upon glimpsing the opportunities, revealed from on high.

What on earth are our underpaid teachers, laboring in the vineyards of education, supposed to tell students about the following sentence, committed by the serial syntax-killer from Wasilla High and gleaned by my colleague Maureen Dowd for preservation for those who ask, “How was it she talked?”

My concern has been the atrocities there in Darfur and the relevance to me with that issue as we spoke about Africa and some of the countries there that were kind of the people succumbing to the dictators and the corruption of some collapsed governments on the continent, the relevance was Alaska’s investment in Darfur with some of our permanent fund dollars.

And, she concluded, “never, ever did I talk about, well, gee, is it a country or a continent, I just don’t know about this issue.”

It’s admittedly a rare gift to produce a paragraph in which whole clumps of words could be removed without noticeably affecting the sense, if any.

(A cynic might wonder if Wasilla High School’s English and geography departments are draped in black.)

(How many contradictory and lying answers about The Empress’s New Clothes have you collected? I’ve got, so far, only four. Your additional ones welcome.)

Matt Lauer asked her about her daughter’s pregnancy and what went into the decision about how to handle it. Her “answer” did not contain the words “daughter,” “pregnancy,” “what to do about it” or, in fact, any two consecutive words related to Lauer’s query.

I saw this as a brief clip, so I don’t know whether Lauer recovered sufficiently to follow up, or could only sit there, covered in disbelief. If it happens again, Matt, I bequeath you what I heard myself say once to an elusive guest who stiffed me that way: “Were you able to hear any part of my question?”

At the risk of offending, well, you, for example, I worry about just what it is her hollering fans see in her that makes her the ideal choice to deal with the world’s problems: collapsed economies, global warming, hostile enemies and our current and far-flung twin battlefronts, either of which may prove to be the world’s second “30 Years’ War.”

Has there been a poll to see if the Sarah-ites are numbered among that baffling 26 percent of our population who, despite everything, still maintain that President George has done a heckuva job?

A woman in one of Palin’s crowds praised her for being “a mom like me … who thinks the way I do” and added, for ill measure, “That’s what I want in the White House.” Fine, but in what capacity?

Do this lady’s like-minded folk wonder how, say, Jefferson, Lincoln, the Roosevelts, et al (add your own favorites) managed so well without being soccer moms? Without being whizzes in the kitchen, whipping up moose soufflés? Without executing and wounding wolves from the air and without promoting that sad, threadbare hoax — sexual abstinence — as the answer to the sizzling loins of the young?

(In passing, has anyone observed that hunting animals with high-powered guns could only be defined as sport if both sides were equally armed?)

I’d love to hear what you think has caused such an alarming number of our fellow Americans to fall into the Sarah Swoon.

Could the willingness to crown one who seems to have no first language have anything to do with the oft-lamented fact that we seem to be alone among nations in having made the word “intellectual” an insult? (And yet…and yet…we did elect Obama. Surely not despite his brains.)

Sorry about all of the foregoing, as if you didn’t get enough of the lady every day in every medium but smoke signals.

I do not wish her ill. But I also don’t wish us ill. I hope she continues to find happiness in Alaska.

May I confess that upon first seeing her, I liked her looks? With the sound off, she presents a not uncomely frontal appearance.

But now, as the Brits say, “I’ll be glad to see the back of her.”

By Dennis

November 20, 2008 9:26 AM | Link to this

If Jim Wooten would read his own paper, he would know that Gov. Perdue was after control of the Georgia Teacher Retirement System before the current big break in the economy.

No intelligent teacher/opinion writer can deny that the governor is/was after control of the teachers retirement money.

To believe that they only have the best interests of the teacher’s retirement funds is idiotic.

But even if Mr. Wooten knew it, would he admit it?

Mr. Wooten further writes, “The current system is an invitation to politicians to pander. It incentives employees and retires to game the system for higher benefits than those their financial contributions warrant.”

“The current system” has been running well for years without Gov. Perdue or past governors having control of it and the basic investment funds have continued to be fiscally sound.

If that changes the well managed Teacher Retirement System will notify the teachers and retirees.

There is no reason for Mr. Wooten to slant things by saying, “The current system is an invitation to politicians to pander.”

The teacher retirement funds are not the politician funds to pander with. Nor are the teachers “gaming the system.”

The funds belong to the teachers.

In his column today, it is Mr. Wooten who is pandering to the governor.

You don’t have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.

By getalife

November 20, 2008 9:26 AM | Link to this

“Senate takes up bill to extend jobless benefits; Bush vows to veto.”

The corporate party screws the people again.

Why so many Americans vote for the corporate party to screw themselves is beyond insanity.

By Mort Merkel

November 20, 2008 9:30 AM | Link to this

Maybe they could make it a diet COLA – a COLA with no calories, I mean, money.

By Redneck Convert

November 20, 2008 9:32 AM | Link to this

Well, I’m with Wooten. Lets just get rid of pensions and social security and all that stuff that lets people quit work and loaf. People need to work till they drop. And they need to save. I say if you don’t save you should starve when you can’t bring in any more money. This is a Conservative state.

And while we’re at it, we need to go back to the past. Make teachers live with somebody in the community and not stay out late or date or marry.

I’m sick of reading about these teachers that do You Know What with students and get arrested. We need to keep a close eye on them.

That’s my opinion and it’s very true. I’m ashamed of old Casey Cagle and that bunch that let theirselfs be cowed by a bunch of old nags.

Have a good day everybody.

By jm

November 20, 2008 9:47 AM | Link to this

I wonder if Mr. Wooten would support increasing teacher’s salaries as part of the package to get rid of their defined benefits plan (pension). I know several people who have remained teachers rather than accept higher salaries in the private sector only because of the pension plan.

Then again, I doubt Mr. Wooten will be happy until the public education system is completely destroyed.

By Gator Joe

November 20, 2008 9:49 AM | Link to this

Wooten: When social security and pensions are criticized, rarely are they criticized by those who depend on them for income. If you and your well-to-do Republican bretheren want do something about social security and pensions, then return all of your social security and pension income. Of course putting your money in your pocket is better than putting it where your mouth is. Those of us who earned, and depend on it will be happy to have your help in shoring up those systems.

By Dutchman

November 20, 2008 9:50 AM | Link to this

Gee, it must be nice to get a raise in your pension. I haven’t had one since I retired.

Yep, some big companies do not give cola’s on pensions. Only in the world of “government” jobs does that happen.

In fact, these “government” jobs are the best thing going. Easy to get hired, hard to get fired, no difference in pay between good workers and marginal workers with the same lengths of service, and cost of living adjustments on your pension.

Geez, why should I work my can off at a real job??

By Dutchman

November 20, 2008 10:11 AM | Link to this

Hmm, maybe Mr. O should do to social security what he plans to do to our 401k’s.

Oh, wait, we tried that during the current administration, it was called “privatizing” by the elite lefties.

So, when W. suggests moving a portion of your social security into government bonds, it is evil, but when Mr. O suggests moving your private 401k into government bonds, it is genius.

I can’t wait for the people just getting their first real job to find out the 401ks with pre-tax savings are on the way out.

By Road Scholar

November 20, 2008 10:24 AM | Link to this

Now the next step is to return the 3% annual raises to the State Employees Retirement Plan. These were taken in the same power play Perdue/Repubs have been in since they took over the State House. They can also return the amount of the state’s share into the system that they stopped in 2001 after one year of record returns. This money was apart of an agreement in lieu of raises in the 1980’s.Remember there are more tan 150,000 active or retired employees out there…and they have families that vote also.

Also interesting is the acknowledgement of the need for additional revenue for transportation. Perdue had promised an accelerated program to address transportation funding; it has only taken him 7.5 years to do the study to see what reasonable ways to do so. His insistence on Private Public Initiatives and tolls have been shown to not be viable, esp in today’ economic times. His alledged Fast Forward program was financed with bonds, which has left GDOT with little money for new projects due to the debt service. Duh!

By Curious Observer

November 20, 2008 10:29 AM | Link to this

In fact, these “government” jobs are the best thing going.

Government workers do get fired, and their job security is not nearly as great as you assume, particularly in the federal agencies. I know several people who have been fired or downsized from government jobs.

Poor performers are not eligible for any kind of bonuses, and they are gradually transitioned out of employment. There are few protections for poor performers. Their lives are made miserable until they are shown the door.

And perhaps you can explain why the federal government has to make annual upward adjustments to civil service pay scales just to keep federal workers within shouting distance of those performing comparable jobs in the private sector. Overpayment? I doubt it.

As for pensions, I have one from a private employer, and it’s without a COLA. It has been the same amount for the past 10 years, while the cost of living has skyrocketed. Perhaps you see pensions without COLAs as some kind of glory, but I don’t. Such pensions are a cold thank-you from an employer who happily forgets you once you are gone. They do not promote fond memories.

It’s time you became acquainted with the world around you. In the past ten years, increasing numbers of government jobs have been contracted out—in fact, employees of private contractors now hold 45% of federal jobs. In such instances of replacement, the civil service worker is simply shown the door—without so much as a dime in severance pay.

I don’t begrudge retired teachers their COLAs. Lord knows they have worked for little enough pay during their careers. When a recent high school graduate can start out making as much as a teacher, you know there’s something wrong with the benefits system.

By citizen

November 20, 2008 10:36 AM | Link to this

A word about Health Savings Accounts..I bought a health Savings Account in 2006. Now when I go to the Doctor and/or fill my prescription, I tell them I am paying with my health savings account check and they ALWAYS give me a cash discount. I LOVE THIS MONEY SAVING VEHICLE called a Health Savings Account. Try it!!

By AF

November 20, 2008 10:40 AM | Link to this

Good grief! There is something Wooten said I agree with.

The federal, state, county, and city governments can’t afford to keep giving COLAs to anyone. We don’t want to pay the taxes to support the cost. And, very few private industries (are there any?) do this. It is a pure political play.

Put all government workers on social security and give them a 401(k) equivalent. That is it. That is what non-government workers get.

By Disgusted

November 20, 2008 10:43 AM | Link to this

I tell them I am paying with my health savings account check and they ALWAYS give me a cash discount.

That’s because they receive much less in the negotiated payment from an insurance company. A normal fee of $240 by the doctor becomes $70 as complete payment by the insurance company. You’re still paying your doctor much more than the insurance company pays, even with your discount. But if you’re happy with the smoke and mirrors, more power to you.

By AF

November 20, 2008 10:45 AM | Link to this

Good grief! There is something Wooten said I agree with.

The federal, state, county, and city governments can’t afford to keep giving COLAs to anyone. We don’t want to pay the taxes to support the cost. And, very few private industries (are there any?) do this. It is a pure political play.

Put all government workers on social security and give them a 401(k) equivalent. That is it. That is what non-government workers get.

By Richard

November 20, 2008 10:48 AM | Link to this

Jim,

Everyone is a bit off here. The emphasis needs to be raising the salaries of the CURRENT teachers. I’m talking huge increase. Figure almost double.

An increase in teacher salaries turns the profession into a competative field. If an entry level teacher makes 30k, you’re going to get idiots educating America’s youth.

If you’re thinking that we don’t have the money to do it, you may be right, but over spending on education certainly beats bailing out banks and auto manufacturers. If I have the choice, I’ll go into debt by investing in America’s youth any time.

By Steven Daedalus

November 20, 2008 11:08 AM | Link to this

The teachers of today are well trained and 90% do a great job, their biggest problems are stupid parents, so you need to take into account that old saying, “You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken s_ _ _ _. Put the blame where it belongs, PARENTS.

By Shawny

November 20, 2008 11:08 AM | Link to this

The more things CHANGE, the more they stay the same. President-elect Barack Obama promised the voters change but has started his Cabinet selection process by naming several Washington insiders to top posts..

Emanual, Daschle, Clinton perhaps. Clinton 42’s #2 justice guy will be attorney general.

Hold him accountable for his actions.

By Dennis

November 20, 2008 11:16 AM | Link to this

“…over spending on education certainly beats bailing out banks and auto manufacturers.”

Hey, Mr. Wooten, do you hear that?

Additionally, if Perdue had his way, the COLAs of the teachers (and funded by the teachers) would be diverted by Perdue to pay the state’s debts.

You don’t have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.

By Glenn

November 20, 2008 11:24 AM | Link to this

CALLING SISTER DUSTY:

You were so funny and so drop-dead cool last week in giving me back, not as good as you took my ribbing, but giving back better still. I’ll never figure, Dusty (and neither, I venture, will Vince Gill himself do) how you can be so Square and at the same time so Hip.

Part of the fun, I should admit, was, as ever, your misconstruing me (for example, about my attendance at Cal, or about my own Naval Service). But that don’t matter none, Hon. None of that.

Please, let’s take up a running Dialogue (if you agree to it, I’ll label it as such, in these title boxes) about my funny confusion concerning something you know and I don’t: The Great State of Georgia. I’ll be the butt of the joke, and you play it straight if you’d like. OK?

Contrary to your understanding I never left our state, but rather burrowed into its rural counties. And far from chasing after work (not a bad guess on your part, considering how profoundly divorce-poor I am at present), work has been taxing me to the tune of 16-18-hour days, six days/7. (Yes, when I have time to write I’m usually giddy from exhaustion, so you may factor that in.)

Are you game, Sistah?

yours sincerely,

glenn

By Get Real

November 20, 2008 12:08 PM | Link to this

Again Jim Wooten leaves out the details of his argument. Sonny Perdue campaigned for Governor to increase teacher’s pay and then wants to reduce the COLA’s that retired teachers have been getting for decades. Another republican who campaigns on one platform, and does something else while in office. Kinda like compassionate conservatism. I wonder if wooten would wet his Depends if the AJC suddenly wanted to reduce his future benefits.

By How?

November 20, 2008 12:26 PM | Link to this

How is this guy still employed? He consistently leaves out huge chunks of the real story to fit his twisted logic. Hey Wooten, why don’t you ever give the whole story?

By westward ho

November 20, 2008 12:32 PM | Link to this

According to an article published Thursday in the New York Times, “Iran has now produced roughly enough nuclear material to make, with added purification, a single atom bomb, according to nuclear experts.”

Is this the same New York Times [and DNC liberals] that essentially has been telling the Bush administration to stay the hell of Iran’s nuclear business over the past few years? Oh yeah, we have a new administration coming in, so only now it’s time to raise the alarm and start talking about Iran’s nuclear weapons capability. Now I’d say that’s change we can believe in. Simply amazing.

By swolf

November 20, 2008 12:34 PM | Link to this

The Ga Teachers’ Retirement System was predicated on those promised COLAs. Those COLAs are a very large reason so many teachers opt for ‘Teachers retirement’ rather than social security. The board did right to leave it alone.

By Barney

November 20, 2008 12:38 PM | Link to this

Glenn, Dusty don’t know snipe about Georgia. Last year she wrote about how she guessed Warner Robins might be somewhere in the middle of the state. Pffft. She’s a transplant from Indiana or my name ain’t Barney.

By Mr. KnowItAll

November 20, 2008 12:40 PM | Link to this

G’day Jim, et al,

Look folks. The taxpayers simply cannot afford all of these long-term benefits the politicians are too-willing to give away for votes.

The taxpayers are SICK OF IT!

Just because something has been one way for 40 years, doesn’t mean leaching at the public trowel can continue at infinitum because you feel it should.

Somebody has to pick up the tab!

So here’s the deal—the same as everyone else in the private sector. Get and pay for YOUR OWN retirement system and QUIT SUCKING OFF OF ME and Other TAXPAYERS!

For God’s sake—Stand up on your OWN TWO FEET and become self sufficient—the basis of our economy and American way—and drop the dependency on the backs of others.

By MamaS

November 20, 2008 12:48 PM | Link to this

The retired teachers paid ito the system and were promised those COLAS. Over 90% of the retirees are females and have no Social security benefits (thanks to the tight-fisted BoEs who would not match funding). These are the lowest reimbursed of most organized retirees. However, thanks to the Teacher Retirement System protecting its money from the Government Employees Retirement System the TRS is financially much more stable. What Gov. Purdue (and several governors before him) wanted was to get his hands on the money! No thanks, Governor! Teachers are better money managers than government employees. Leave us alone! P.S. Mr. Wooten. Teachers are employees of the BoEs. We are certified by the state, and must meet state standards, but the state does not hire us, or fire us. We do not get state paid holiday vacation days either.

By Gator Joe

November 20, 2008 1:02 PM | Link to this

Dutchman: Are firefighters, police officers, teachers, serving in the military not real jobs? People like you complain about government pensions and benefits when you could have entered one of these professions. I guess you’d rather not get burned, assualted, or shot at. Fine, but stop whining about what a real job is until you walk in our shoes.

By williebkind

November 20, 2008 1:12 PM | Link to this

By Churchill’s MOM November 20, 2008 9: You sure said a lot of nothing! By the way—where did you get all your information about the candidates? Please give me some publications? You speak of her not speaking correct English but I guess all the newcomers speak it fluently huh?

By ron

November 20, 2008 1:31 PM | Link to this

Good afternoon Jim,You’ve opened a nasty can of worms today.As near as I can figure,teachers receive adequate pay for a 190 day work year.They can retire on 60% of their highest two year salary.That would be age 51 if they start a 21 years of age.They have several retirement options,a 401k type contributing option among them.Other than this particular type,their contributions cover about 18 months of retirement payments.After that it’s taxpayer money.Teachers get dental coverage,health coverage,long term disability,and local supplement pay.One thing I can’t find out is if their health benefits are paid during retirement.Did I make a mistake when I chose my career path?

By Do the Math

November 20, 2008 1:33 PM | Link to this

Westward Ho: The lefties have been screaming that the ones responsible for 9/11 are in Afganistan, not Iran…. and that Iran possed a future threat to the United States not Iraq. What rock have you been living under for seven years?

By Chad Harris

November 20, 2008 1:42 PM | Link to this

The Wooten Bush legacy is PANIC. Attacking the wrong country, getting 5000 GIs and growing year after year killed for nothing panic.

Getting 45000 GIs significantly orthopedically/neurologically crippled panic.

Stripping VAH facilities of the necessary medications/equipment and resources to care fo them —greed, chutzpah and panic.

Shunting 750 billion with no conditions not knowning what the fck or why the fck you’re p** away the money panic.

Torture after 911 panic.

50% of the Rethug party embracing Palin, denying evolution, hating science and cutting edge medical research—panic and stupidity.

But it’s also a recipe for certain defeat and no Republican in the Whie House the rest of Wooten’s life.

Waxman Defeated Dingell and Kicked Blue Dog Rethug Supplicant Butt.

In a huge court defeat for the Wootenistas,

Five of six Algerians must be released after nearly seven years of captivity at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled from the bench after holding the first hearings under a landmark Supreme Court ruling in June that gave Guantanamo prisoners the legal right to challenge their continued confinement.

one of the five Leon ordered released is Lakhdar Boumediene. Boumediene has kicked George Bush and the criminal cabal that has assisted him in committing war crimes and illegal, immoral detentions so many times that you would think the Bushies are rented mules.

Sadly, however, the Bushies are jackasses, not rented mules, and they are still in office. What that would appear to portend is that that means Boumediene, and the other four Leon has ordered released, will likely stay detained pending appeals. The precedent was set not long ago on the Uighurs case.

January 20, 2009 cannot come soon enough for us and for those we have wronged.

Don’t look for HRC to be recycled. She is totally unqualified for the job and Bill Clinton will never survive the vetting. The last thing this country needs is Bubbah and Drama Queens (both of them in this adminstration.)

Perdue is the moron who wasted $6 million on Tamiflu because he is medically stupid despite being a “vet”, and he has made a clusterf*ck out of the Georgia transportation system which is exactly what Rethug morons want.

In JawJaw Rethug politicians never change. They are mired in stupid. The only states that didn’t vote for Obama were hickbilly states like JawJaw.

There will never be another Rethug in the White House for all the election cycles in the rest of Wooten’s life—that’s for sure.

50% of the Rethugs think that the moron Palin should be President and yesterday the door was shut to her being in the Senate. My friends from Alaska report that she is getting cold receptions now everwhere she delivers her stupid line that she met famous people like Tina Fey. What she means is she met people like Tina Fey who have more brains in a fingernail than Moron Palin has.

By PinkoNeoConLibertarian

November 20, 2008 1:42 PM | Link to this

Shoot, I’d gladly give up my 401(k) for the pension and health plan that U.S. Senators get.

By ron

November 20, 2008 1:52 PM | Link to this

One question I need an answer to is what happened in the last 26 days to cause General Motors from being about to buy out Chrysler to now not having enough money to pay it’s bills?That’s some sudden loss af revenue.

By DB, Gwinnettian

November 20, 2008 1:53 PM | Link to this

Mr. Wooten, I’m pretty sure I had heard that most long-time Cox employees, including yourself, are participants in a defined pension benefits program.

I’m not quite sure what to suggest as a perfectly analogous hypothetical, but I do imagine there’d be conditions under which you’d not take kindly to an outsider ratcheting down the terms of that pension program after you’d been told otherwise by your employer.

You might want to keep that in mind next time a variant of this column appears.

By Glenn

November 20, 2008 1:57 PM | Link to this

How?

Wooten’s stone cold over-employed. And you know how. And you also know how truthful I am now being. So knock it off, you longfuffering old hack yourself…

g

By Chad Harris

November 20, 2008 1:59 PM | Link to this

Moron Karen Handel in a recent article in the Hickbilly JC that went uncorrected stated that she had won a victory in the NDG District Court in the recent general election.

It’s difficult to tell if Handel is clearly delusional or just too stupid to understand her a* was thoroughly kicked and in fact she was found to have violated Title 5 of the Voting Rights Act by the same NDG District Court she references.

What Handel is too legally stupid to understand is that by code section after Jack Camp ruled for her, he was required to refer the case to a 3 Judge Panel who forced Camp to sign a complete repudication of his preliminary ruling.

The order clearly ordered Handle to stop what she was doing and to get approval from DOJ. I know Handel was in the room but she had a dazed look which expressed “I clearly don’t understand anything that’s going on here.”

The 3 judge panel was part of the District Court in fact—despite Handel’s being ignorant of this, and her 3 lawyers from the AG’s office did not appeal the order.

Final Order in Morales v. Handel finding Moron Handel Violated Title 5 of the Voting Rights Act and Ordering Her to Correct her illegal behavior is here including the DOJ Voting Rights Section’s briefs against Handel’s stupidity. Handel is too stupid to understand them.

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/moralesv.handel.php

Tomorrow is Arraignment day for criminally indicted Dick Cheney and Fredo Gonzales in Raymondville, Texas. Come on down and join the festivities.

One indictment charges Cheney and Gonzales with engaging in organized criminal activity. It alleges that the men neglected federal prisoners and are responsible for assaults in the facilities.

The grand jury accused Cheney of a conflict of interest because of his influence over the county’s federal immigrant detention center and his substantial holdings in the Vanguard Group, which invests in private prison companies.

The indictment accuses Gonzales of stopping an investigation into abuses at the federal detention center.

By Thinking Right

November 20, 2008 2:01 PM | Link to this

. No more tax breaks for churches. Write that column, Mr. Wooten. Most of you ‘right thinkers’ can’t see how much benefit you get from the income tax system already. What many of you report as a taxable expenditure, most of us report as earned income. Write that column. The private jets that the Big 3 guys flew to DC, I involuntarily paid for a portion of that trip—-the company got a tax break, the actual travelers paid nothing, and the taxpayers (I am one of those) financed the trip. Just like I help to finance the travel you make on behalf of your job. Write that one.

By John

November 20, 2008 2:06 PM | Link to this

First, let me state that I am over 50 years old. Now I can state that retirement promises/packages are at the root of our financial problems at all government levels. Until politicians are ready to face that and seek out solutions, we are doomed to have problems. Everyone in Washington knows that without fixing medicare and social security we can’t fix the budget. Sonny et al are content with leaving the problem to the next administration. Neither candidate in the recent election even dared to mention it. The big three could have delayed their begging if those cost were not hanging over their heads.

By Chad Harris

November 20, 2008 2:12 PM | Link to this

@Thinking Right-

LOL the jets that the imbeciles took cost $20 grand for each jet.

Moron Nardelli owns two properties on Garmon Drive in Hickville Buckhead that total about $50 million dollars.

Not a penny to bail out the idiots from Detroit. Let the stuff their Hummers deep into their splenic flexures.

They were told for 15 years to stop making the Gas Guzzlers that are 6/7 of anyting on the roads in Hickville Slave territory JawJaw. Gas prices will be soon up to and over previous levels as the price point will hit $200 a barrel by the end of 2009 and there won’t be a think Barack or anyone else can do about it. It was set in motion years ago by stupid Rethuugs and any addict driving a gas guzzling piece of crap they consider a status symbol like the little horsie from Ralph Lauren on their t**.

Let the Detroit idiots go into Chapter 11. Dingell and Levin had years to adjust and they stonewalled. Now they are making the sh*tbead they lie in and it serves them right.

The modernized plants are from other countries and they now dominate the US market. So be it. Buh Buh big 3 Detroit.

By CJ

November 20, 2008 2:22 PM | Link to this

Change IS needed! Don’t re-elect Saxby Chambliss!!!! He had his chance and flopped!

Chamliss against auto bailout - why this is bad for Georgia!

By BS Aplenty

November 20, 2008 2:23 PM | Link to this

Yes, Jim, phase out all private and public defined contribution pension plans. Check.

By Atico

November 20, 2008 2:50 PM | Link to this

Everywhere I look I see luxury cars decorated with “educators” plates. Hey, these are the guys and gals that cry over honestly fixing a cost of living raise? I do no want to paint all teachers with a braod brush of richness, maybe if we all only worked only nine months a year we too could own luxury cars by pursuing other revenue opportunites during the summer.

By ron

November 20, 2008 2:56 PM | Link to this

GMAC has applied to become a bank holding company in order to qualify it for part of the 700 billion dollar bailout money.It plans to take taxpayer money and loan it to buyers to get rid of it’s currernt crop of unsalable cars and trucks.Seems that a big part of it’s problem is losses in the mortgage lending business.GM is going to get your money one way or another.

By DCDawg

November 20, 2008 3:09 PM | Link to this

NOVEMBER 18, 2008 Obama’s Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy Stunning Break with Last Eight Years

In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.

Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama’s appearance on CBS’ “Sixty Minutes” on Sunday witnessed the president-elect’s unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.

But Mr. Obama’s decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it “alienating” to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language.

“Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement,” says Mr. Logsdon. “If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist.”

The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, “Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate - we get it, stop showing off.”

The President-elect’s stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

“Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can’t really do there, I think needing to do that isn’t tapping into what Americans are needing also,” she said.

By Laughingly Similar 2U

November 20, 2008 3:21 PM | Link to this

Cheney is in deep voodoo.

By Redneck Convert

November 20, 2008 3:24 PM | Link to this

Well, I reckon I’ll be retired in a couple months, so enjoy me while you have me.

I read that GMAC and a couple other cos. decided to call theirselfs banks so they could get bailout money.

I ain’t stupid. You’re about to see the Redneck Convert Bank get formed. I figure after I buy a new double wide and a travel trailer I’ll still have plenty of money left to see the country. And I won’t forget to thank you taxpayers for footing the bill. Thanking you in advance,

R. Convert

By SSDD

November 20, 2008 3:36 PM | Link to this

I agree with you Jim. I also agree with others who believe the bail out program is a bad idea. I don’t think any of us expected to see bail out money being spent of executive bonuses or bank acquistions! I especially do not want to see us bail out the rust belt auto companies.

As one poster put it, they’ve had a long time to change what they’re doing and produce a better, more efficient car, but they did not. The unions have made matters worse by pushing up the cost to manufacture.

Nardelli and company fly their private jets to campaign for bail out money - I think they should have to file chapter 11 and restructure. If Nardelli is so concerned about Chrysler then let him invest some of the money he took from employees on his way out the door at Home Depot.

It has to stop. The unions are killing productivity and the ability to compete in a global economy.

The government has got to stop with the life-time benefits programs for ex-Presidents and others. The American taxpayer can’t afford to keep funding all of this. Why are we still paying for Jimmy Carter, Nancy Reagan, the Clintons, Daddy Bush, soon to be W., etc. This doesn’t count what we shell out for their entourages, benefits and that of the former VP’s too.

There are too many gravy trains and too few people to fund it. I sincerely hope & pray for the sake of this country that both parties in this country realize we cannot keep doing what we have been doing for the past 50+ years. We can’t afford it. It will be the death of this nation.

By Elephant Whip

November 20, 2008 3:50 PM | Link to this

To All Complaining about Teacher/Govt. Retirement:

Wake up! The reason that Teachers/Govt. employees are offered such a steady retirement is because they are paid far less than people working in other fields and they provide services necessary for a healthy functioning government. And guess what? Their retirement is funded by deductions from other goverment workers’ salaries.

Any talk of cutting teachers’/govt. workers’ COLA on their retirement is motivated by desire to raid more government money in order to fund other agencies which are underfunded due to irrational tax cuts and a fictitious balanced budget. Nevermind GO FISH!

Private employees complaining about goverment retirement plans should 1) compare their current salary to that of government employees; in the legal field, for example, private practitioners in practice areas similar to goverment lawyers’ practice areas make at least twice to three times as much; and 2) blame their private employers for switching from pensions to 401Ks in order to maximize profit and increase investment capital (invested in the same funds employees are almost forced to buy with their 401Ks).

In summary, goverment workers serve everyone else and are paid much less, so retirement benefits are an incentive to employ good workers. Perhaps some agencies (GO FISH) should be removed, but agencies offering clear public benefit should not be drained of the few benefits they can offer.

By Laughingly Similar 2U

November 20, 2008 3:52 PM | Link to this

Is there a computer expert in this blog? I think someone has hacked into my computer and is sending offensive messages from my IP Address or my Email address and getting me systematically banned from different blogs on the AJC.

I think it may be the troll named RW (the original). He’s the only one who has expressed an expertise in hacking like that, and he’s the only one who protested too much when I used to tease him and others about providing links with virus’s, which is an old joke and not something to protest.

But I’m not sure, of course, who it is. But many, many blogs who use buzzwords that comprise my signature have pretended to be me, yet I always thought that the IP Address would give them away, but not if they’ve hacked into mine.

Cheney is really in some deep voodoo. Did you hear the charges? What did he do? What kind of a monster is he?

I almost hope these are false allegations because I cant stand to think that our leaders are capable of this kind of misbehavior.

By fed up in gwinnnett

November 20, 2008 3:59 PM | Link to this

Shouldn’t there be a “word limit” on posts….Churchhill’s mom and Chad Harris. It’s ridiculous when your posts are 3 X longer than the article itself. Looks like Palin scares the heck out of those two.

By Change IS Coming

November 20, 2008 4:10 PM | Link to this

It is important for Obama to bring in people who know their way around the Beltway. If he brought in a bunch of rookies, they would be fumbling for months before they could actually get anything accomplished. Using people experienced in the political world doesn’t mean change is not coming. Actually it might mean change is coming faster. Obama can use these folks to develop and implement his changes. Their experience will keep them from tripping over their own shoestrings as they move in a new direction.

By Call it Like it is

November 20, 2008 4:19 PM | Link to this

Yea, the Obama change of Robin Hood and Socialism!

I cant’ wait!

NOT!

Enough Said!

By Laughingly Similar 2U

November 20, 2008 4:47 PM | Link to this

could cheney be our Himler? What did that horrid man do?

I had cheney picked from the start, back in 2003 when the information about Rummy’s refusal of W’s orders to attack Bin Laden in Afghanistan. I knew it was cheney. Rummy was cheney’s dummy.

Now it’s possible that cheney is a sadist, some sort of relic from the inquistition, where absolute power corrupted absolutely for generations.

What sort of man is the devil cheney?

By Chad Harris

November 20, 2008 4:51 PM | Link to this

Fed Up==

What scares the heck out of me is that so many stupid people took Palin seriously. It is a reflection of the slave states and moronic school systems that produces idiots like the ones in Gwinette who are borderline illiterate.

As far as election success though, you keep pushing the race hating moronic Palin and you’re dead in the water in any election. There is a civil war taking place this minute by the Rethugs and Palin won’t be standing soon.

It is a shameful reflection that your party was so dumb as to use Palin as a candidate.

Again any 15 year old in a Chick Fil-A in a mall is more articulate, and better versed and position to discuss domestic or foreign affairs. She was an embarassement to this country and is the subject of justly deserved riducle everywhere.

Equally stupid is Karen Handel who is so dumb she says she won in district court when she was defeated and ordered to cease what she was doing and revise her non-notification and clear each and every move with the Voting Rights section of DOJ.

We have Handel and Alaska has Palin.

Palin doesn’t scare us—she’s the idiot gift that keeps on giving. What is scary is that Hicksville JawJaw produces so many adults who think she should be anyone’s candidate. McCain Palin only won in the backwoods ignorant slave states like Georgia full of venumous racial hatred.

And if anyone wants to look for socialism—spell clusterf*cking Paulson.

By @@

November 20, 2008 5:36 PM | Link to this

I believe it was the state’s Attorney General that put the kibosh on Sonny’s proposal. Said it wouldn’t hold up in the courts.

These are hard times for everyone, but I’ve not known many teachers who are willing to sacrifice. Georgia can always do what New Mexico’s doin’. With their educators pension funds dropping with the market, all new hires will have to sign on to work longer before drawing from the pool — passing the burden on to the next generation of teachers.

My experience with the Teacher’s Retirement Fund was a nightmare. After contributing to the kiddie’s pool for one year, I moved on to my present place of employment. I filled out all the necessary paperwork to withdraw my money to invest in my new employer’s 403B.

Four months later after intensive haggling, they finally turned it loose.

Heck JIM! you woulda thought it was THEIR money with all the grief they gave me.

Anyhoo! when their well runs dry, it’s nice to know that I’ll be making up the shortfall for Clayton County’s teachers with my tax dollars.

I read that after defeating Sonny’s proposal, “the mob” was quoted as saying:

“Through collective action, we can move mountains, whether it’s in a gubernatorial race or whether it’s protecting the pensions we’ve paid for,” Hubbard said after the vote.

Can they move Clayton County students beyond a system that’s lost its accreditation twice in seven years?

Let’s all raise “a toast” to Clayton County’s outstanding educators. Secure their raises for their future retirement, ‘cause they sho ‘nuff ain’t earning ‘em now.

By Chad Harris

November 20, 2008 5:47 PM | Link to this

There is no Jawjaw county that has a public school system that’s not a clusterf*cking mess. Jawjaw is last in education in the US perrenially or always stuck in the last 3. The kids don’t read books, they just text and j******* on Facebook all day and all night and grow up stupid like most of their parents.

JawJaw is leading in fetal wastage and p** poor prenatal care.

Jaw Jaw has had hick idiot Suxbutt Chumpass voting with idiot Bush 100% of the time and lying because like most Thug candidates they think the public is stupid. That’s because Chumpass comes from JawJaw where most of them are stupid.

Al Franken will win because the US Senate will decide the contested election in the end. That will make 59.

Join all your Rethug ex-Congressmen and Senators. Get on the bus to federal prison or in Delay’s case to Texas prison. Reserve your seat now.

Trevor Blackann, a former aide to two Missouri Republicans, Rep. Roy Blunt and Sen. Kit Bond, pleaded guilty today to making false statements on his tax returns, concealing thousands of dollars in illegal gifts he received from Team Abramoff, reports The Hill.

What were those gifts? Only a free trip to Game 1 of the 2003 World Series in New York, a junket that included:

• airline travel to and from New York City.
• a ticket to the game.
• admission to, and entertainment at, a “gentleman’s club” for the married aide.
• one-night accommodations in an “upscale” hotel.
• transportation in a chauffeured SUV.
• a souvenir baseball jersey.
• free meals and drinks.

All in all, not a bad haul.

In return, court filings allege, Blackann got Bond to write a letter of support for someone who wanted a political appointment to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

According to the Associated Press, Blackann said in court documents Blackann that he knew “the lobbyists gave these things of value for or because of official actions they were seeking from him or had obtained from him.”

Abramoff has been cooperating with prosecutors as they build cases against others in his circle.

By h ryder

November 20, 2008 5:53 PM | Link to this

Beginning as soon as legislation can be in effect, I believe that all government employees, at all levels of government, should have an IRA. Each employee would contribute a specified percentage of base pay which would be matched by their employing level of government. Social Security would not be paid, nor any type of insurance, or any other fringe benefits. Each person would be responsible for all investments in his/her account and enjoy or suffer the consequences of such choices. If broke when desiring to retire, tough, you relie on the kindness of private alms to the poor. Also, any person obtaining money through theft, scam, deceit, or any other nafarious means involving such an IRA account would serve a minimum of 20 years to a maximum of life in federal prison with no time deductable for any reason. I also believe that all employers should be covered by such a system. The percentage paid by each party would be determined by a panel of economists and actuaries.

By Tall

November 21, 2008 8:18 AM | Link to this

Chad Harris: Run for office. It’s obvious you’ve got it all figured out. If Barack Obama can get elected, so can you! Your bitter, anarchic cynicism will be a refreshing change to the current Democratic “you can blame all of your problems on Bush and we’ll get the rich to pay for it” message. Good luck!

By Event-ology

November 21, 2008 1:34 PM | Link to this

Hotel and Transportation Included 2009 INAUGURAL ROAD TRIP -From Atlanta to Washington D.C. Hotel and Transportation Included

For detailed event information visit our web site or contact our office.

Register at www.event-ology.com.

Register at www.event-ology.com.