Home > Thinking Right > Archives > 2008 > December > 18 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USOn the Nichols trial, pet adoptions, DNA samples
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:
If Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard had chosen to pursue Brian Nichols’ murders one at a time, he’d have three more shots at getting the right jury decision on the death penalty.
Northern states give us people who are kind enough to show and tell us how to drive on snow. We give them our unwanted dogs and cats for adoption.
The Cobb School Board was wise to avoid the temptation to bring construction management in-house, something it considered in response to guilty pleas in Mississippi by three executives of the Facility Group, a Smyrna-based project management firm. A now-sold division of that company managed Cobb school projects for a decade. The outsourcing concept is the right one; the challenge always for government is to make certain that business relationships are transparent and at arms’ length. Don’t put people on the public payroll unnecessarily — especially those needed for gyrating workloads.
How could anybody object to a new Justice Department rule that federal law enforcement agencies will now collect DNA samples from all detained noncitizens and from all people arrested for federal crimes for the FBI’s National DNA Index System? But, to nobody’s surprise, some do. Take a photo, take a saliva sample. Move on.
No, not on a dare should the General Assembly change the formula for spending the one percent local sales tax so that MARTA can spend more on operating costs. The original formula was 50 percent expansion, 50 operations. That’s temporarily raised to 45 percent expansion, 55 operations. According to State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), MARTA’s done expanding. It’s “built-out the system,” he said. In that case, make it 0-100, and await MARTA’s certain return to ask for a second penny of sales tax.
U.S. District Court Judge Marvin Shoob orders the state to find more foster homes for 500 difficult-to-place children in Fulton and DeKalb. That’s the ticket: Order government to be — or find — better parents. It’s far easier to order a government fix than it is to use that activism to change the culture that brings children into the world without a mother and father in the home.
Clayton County schools have lost 3,000 students who took flight because of its accreditation troubles. So it’s gone begging. President-elect Barack Obama is the latest target. Here’s a suggestion: Reduce staff by, say, the number needed to service 3,000 students.
Obama campaign supporters vow to stay organized in Georgia. That’s change. Once a campaign was a year, then two and now they may be up to four.
Two noteworthy examples of judicial restraint: U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton declined in Washington to order the Veterans Affairs Department to impose quicker deadlines on handling disability claims. While sympathetic, he noted that it’s up to Congress and the VA secretary to set rules for processing claims. Noteworthy, too, is the restraint of judges on the Illinois Supreme Court who refused to force Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office. That’s the legislature’s job.
Haven Trust Bank in Gwinnett County failed, but the story of the immigrant founders’ business triumphs through this land of opportunity — buying and selling hotels, real estate development and commercial insurance — makes you want to stand up and cheer for the free enterprise system. Brothers R.C. Patel and Mike Patel helped found Haven Trust in part to help other Indian entrepreneurs buy and run motels.
Holiday cheer, too, for Georgians like Richard Brimfield of Duluth who, though laid off since Sept. 30 and living off his home equity, shows his gratitude for the blessings he does have by sending his annual donation to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
Permalink | Comments (73) | Post your comment | Categories: Column
Services »
Comments
By Ragnar Danneskjöld
December 19, 2008 8:09 AM | Link to this
Good morning all. While I have never felt any constraint in challenging Paul Howard’s strategies, I do not fault him for trying all three murders simultaneously. Frankly I am shocked that a Fulton County jury had only 25% bad-faith opponents of the death penalty; the failure to assess the death penalty in the Nichols case reflects only on the competence of the jury holdouts. And by keeping it all in one trial, the theft-by-taking exercised by the defense - $1 million + in fees assessed to the taxpayers – is laid bare for all to see, for what it is. Had that expense been divided among three trials, the theft would not have appeared so egregious.
We’re getting the bad end of the trade with Northern states. We send them unconditional love, and they send us unrelenting complaints.
One’s view of government “outsourcing” hinges entirely, inversely, on the degree of one’s affection for government-by-bureaucracy.
Collecting DNA is not physically more intrusive than fingerprinting. Thus the proposed DNA collection is not an “unreasonable” search or seizure, although it is unquestionably a search and seizure.
Why is MARTA getting even a penny of sales tax monies?
Marvin Shoob is unacquainted with Canute. Or with common sense. Who appointed that moron? (Ha, we all already know – hint, 1979.) Note the contrast with Reggie Walton, appointed 2004 – same issue, but Walton got it right.
Clayton County schools are exempt from normal management theory – nature’s laws do not apply to governments.
Permanent “campaign supporters” are indistinguishable from brown shirts.
I feel sorry for the Patels. By going from the free enterprise system into the heavily regulated area of banking, they exposed their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to the whims of the bureaucrats. Usually a bad bet.
Customarily the blog traffic is down noticeably the last two weeks of the year. I expect to be around, but because many of you will not, Merry Christmas/ Happy Chanukah to all.
By fearless fosdik
December 19, 2008 8:36 AM | Link to this
I do my fair share of donating throughout the year…Mostly for wildlife preservation. Defenders of Wildlife, world wildlife conservation, and a myriad of others.
I also have two adopted dogs, and for Jim to say they are from the north is total BS.
These dogs bark with a good ol southern drawl!
One a Brittany is from Memphis, The other an English Setter is from Tupelo. Released into the forest by some a*******hat hunter!
Ahhhh lookee here…A 42 year old woman of WASILLA Alaska was arrested Thursday..Charged with 6 felony counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance…Does the apple fall far from the tree…The woman is Levis Johnston’s mother…Bristol’s soon to be husband.
By DogsRPeople2
December 19, 2008 8:46 AM | Link to this
If we cant find a kind yankee to sdopt our stray dogs, does that mean woofanasia? I’m against putting dogs to sleep, commonly known as woofanasia.
The death penalty for humans? I’m For. Yesterday, Bookman committed the sacrilege of comparing the pulling of the plug on Terry Shiavo’s life to woofanasia . He needs to apologize. (to the dogs).
I loved my dog. Me and my Arrow went everywhere together. I took him to alpha dog obedience training; he took me to etiquette class. He must have paid attention in etiquette class because he began to chew all his food 28 times. So I gave him some chewing gum. A professional mouth breather, he soon blew tiny bubbles with the gum. Soon, those bubbles were the size of oranges, then cantaloupe, then pumpkins!
I booked him on David Letterman. I talked directly to Letterman. You should have heard the threats he made if I turned out to be a hoaxster.
They flew us first class to new york. I was in the green room collecting my special-formula chewing gum. Arrow was alert, determined, and calm.
“Stupid Pet tricks, ladies and gentlemen….our first trick is dog-bubbles. Yes, we’ve found a dog that blows bubbles with chewing gum. Lets bring him out here…Arrow? Where’s Arrow?”
I walked onto the stage with my dog. David asked me some questions and then said, “do it.”
I threw Arrow the gum, he snapped it up in mid air, and began to chew 28 times, like he did a thousand times before. I looked over a Letterman, who was starting to mug, and I could tell he was searching for a line.
Then it happened. What I never expected. Worst case scenario and career ender.
stay tuned for part two of “Pop Goes the Beagle”.
By atlin83
December 19, 2008 8:49 AM | Link to this
Senator Fort must have slipped a little bit. MARTA hasn’t built out its original proposed system that was approved by referendum in the 1970s, and a quick visit to the MARTA website will show several active expansion studies. It’s too bad (to understate) that a public official of a district with so much to gain from MARTA’s services is making such misinformed statements of these.
The current funding crisis is the result of what happens when a transit agency’s funding is legally defined in a manner susceptible to fluctuations in the economy - MARTA operations are funded by sales tax, when the economy’s bad, people spend less money, therefore MARTA has less money for operations. Another facet: when people spend less money, they take transit more, and MARTA’s operating costs rise due to the additional new passengers. Double-whammy.
A 0-100 capital operations split is a terrible idea. 0% capital means no money to buy new buses, no money to repair current buses, no money to fix trains, no money to fix fare machines, no money for new police equipment. Shortsighted, Woot. Of the 50/50 (or currently, 45/55) capital/operations split, it should be abolished entirely. MARTA needs the opportunity to handle its own finances, an opportunity it’s never had. If MARTA were able to decide how much revenue to spend on operations, the past several funding crises (in 2004 and 2002) could have been avoided (by lowering capital spending and increasing operational funding) - however, due to a state law set up by lawmakers in the 1960s, MARTA’s never had the chance.
By atlin83
December 19, 2008 9:00 AM | Link to this
MARTA’s penny sales tax applies only to Fulton and DeKalb county, who voted for it. Like any other publicly-owned transportation resource (for example, your city or county’s local DOT for roads - think Cobb Parkway, the East-West Connector, Pleasant Hill Road, Tara Boulevard, etc, G-DOT and the state highway system - think 316, 166, GA-400, etc, and Federal Highway and the Interstate network across the country), it needs money for operations and maintenance. Substantially less money per dollar (1 cent per dollar spent in Fulton and DeKalb) goes to MARTA than does your local DOT, G-DOT, or Federal Highway, and only from a sales tax, as opposed to the sales tax, gas tax, property tax, income tax, and other sources that fund our local, state, and federal transportation (read: roads) agencies.
By southfulton
December 19, 2008 9:01 AM | Link to this
For the life of me, I can’t understand why the state has to tell Marta what to do with the money. This money is coming only from Fulton and Dekalb residents and their revenue sources. We pay the 1% and I think Marta should be able to set its own budgets. Seriously rediculous.
By atlin83
December 19, 2008 9:05 AM | Link to this
MARTA’s penny sales tax applies only to Fulton and DeKalb county, who voted for it. Like any other publicly-owned transportation resource (for example, your city or county’s local DOT for roads - think Cobb Parkway, the East-West Connector, Pleasant Hill Road, Tara Boulevard, etc, G-DOT and the state highway system - think 316, 166, GA-400, etc, and Federal Highway and the Interstate network across the country), it needs money for operations and maintenance. Substantially less money per dollar (1 cent per dollar spent in Fulton and DeKalb) goes to MARTA than does your local DOT, G-DOT, or Federal Highway, and only from a sales tax, as opposed to the sales tax, gas tax, property tax, income tax, and other sources that fund our local, state, and federal transportation (read: roads) agencies.
By Steve
December 19, 2008 9:09 AM | Link to this
I dont feel sorry for these patels one bit. I’m a general manager of a hotel and indians run a terrible operation. Its pathetic that some indian can come to the united states and get a multi million dollar loan to buy a hotel and an american citizen cant. I know because i tried and i have a credit score of close to 800. It doesnt surprise me this wooten idiot is in praise of indians being able to do this. Why doesnt he take up the torch for american citizens the opportunities to do the same things these indians and other immigrants can do?
By ron
December 19, 2008 9:10 AM | Link to this
Good morning.—-Thee more Nichols trials and the state would be broke and Nichols would probably be free.
The trick to driving on snow is to adjust your speed to the conditions.The trick to avoiding unwanted pets is to require marriage of same before they’re allowed to breed.
GET SMARTA—RIDE MARTA.—Will the present penny and the next be able to pay the present debt?
It is a shame that only 3000 students could exit Clayton County.Obama will be able to fix the problem.
A perpetual Presidential campaign in Georgia will keep Obama’s name in the forefront all the time.Americans actually get tired of hearing the President’s name.That’s why their popularity dips so low.If a President changed his name half way through the term I think people would be more inclined to support him.
Bush is going to loan the autos some low interest money.
Dear Ragnar——Bernard Madoff is living proof that there never was any regulation in the financial sector.Same with Lehman Brothers.
By scrappy
December 19, 2008 9:31 AM | Link to this
The trick to driving in the snow is to not slow down too much and accelerate and steer into the slides when you start weaving on the road. Slowing down too much only makes it worse. Problem with Atlanta is that we don’t usually have snow, so where do I go to teach everyone how to drive in normal conditions? Surely some instructional classes would improve the traffice situation.
I’m still waiting for some of the southern hospitality.
By Wes
December 19, 2008 9:34 AM | Link to this
Jim,
As a conservative who doesn’t want to waste the taxpayers money, shouldn’t there be a point where a DA should look at the jurors, the expense, and the appeals process and say a life sentence is what is going to happen?
By Churchill's MOM
December 19, 2008 9:37 AM | Link to this
What goes around, comes around:
Credit Suisse has decided to pay some of its employees this year with illiquid and troubled securities instead of the usual cash and stock, in a new twist on the annual bonus ritual.
By rarringt
December 19, 2008 9:41 AM | Link to this
Wes,
That does happen. In China and other totalitarian societies. Here, we presume (theoretically, anyway) that a person is innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around.
By jm
December 19, 2008 9:47 AM | Link to this
I see Mr. Wooten will never be satisfied until he gets his pound of flesh off of Brian Nichols.
I wonder if Mr. Wooten objects to foreign countries taking DNA samples from detained american citizens.
By slidell_man
December 19, 2008 9:48 AM | Link to this
Ragnar: It was four murders, not three.
I could care less what the complaints are regarding the collection of DNA from criminals. Those who are complaining don’t want offenders to be prosecuted for anything anyway. Which is why they should be ignored, for starters, and it should be made abundantly clear those who stand in the way of justice should not be welcome within our justice system.
By DogsRPeople2
December 19, 2008 9:52 AM | Link to this
Perhaps Richard Brimfield’s donation should have gone to research ways to educate and rear those 500 difficult-to-place (DTP). Wooten prayer to change the culture is repeated so long and so often that it becomes the growl of a dijereedoo. Cultures change quantumly, or in leaps and bounds, rather than evolutionarily. The beatles changed everything instantly. Hair. Clothes. Sex. Drugs. Music. Any tyrant can change the culture with a few widely publicized executions: A broken home is punishable by death. On Utube. Suddenly dead beat dads pay up. Suddenly couples compromise and stay together. Suddenly children have braces. (+ I’ve got a bridge to sell Wooten). Dont reach 4 that 1, jbm, it’s WAY over your head.
This country simmers in the stew that Wooten himself created by losing truth for partisanship. The pen is mightier than the sword. The damage that the right’s fifth columnists have inflicted on us all will rear it’s ugly head for generations. Intolerance, corruption, jingoism, nationalism, (and poor grammer) R simply unforgivable.
Obama’s administration should bring about a new confrontation among Americans: A new motivation to perpetuate or dissolve racial barriers. I look into the bowels of the entrenched black community: poor. disinfranchised. waiting. anticipating change.
I see eyes that will wait no more. I see faces that will speak up. I see Americans expecting justice.
The fact that The Right has stolen every last red cent Uncle Sam had to spend on change can mean only one thing, and this prediction is as easy as a penny: americans R gonna Go For It.
Justice.
By DB, Gwinnettian
December 19, 2008 9:56 AM | Link to this
“Northern states give us people who are kind enough to show and tell us how to drive on snow. We give them our unwanted dogs and cats for adoption.”
Maybe I’m thick, but is there any way to scan this as anything but an insult to Southerners?
I must be missing something; that can’t be right.
By Ragnar Danneskjöld
December 19, 2008 9:56 AM | Link to this
Dear ron @ 9:10, good morning, great line on the pets. “Dear Ragnar——Bernard Madoff is living proof that there never was any regulation in the financial sector. Same with Lehman Brothers.” While you have a great argument on “efficacy,” you err in denying “prolix existence.” Just yesterday our regulator friends published 500 pages of argument, imposing new rules on issuing credit cards – making it smarter for banks to simply not issue credit cards to poor people, a comic contrast to their public lament over banks’s refusal to grant credit.
By Ragnar Danneskjöld
December 19, 2008 10:10 AM | Link to this
Dear DB, “is there any way to scan this as anything but an insult to Southerners?” No, you are correct. Northerners reasonably flee their high-tax, low-productivity environs for our more gracious climes, but then attempt to impose their misguided ways on us. The only traffic going north are those helpless creatures with no hope and no masters, but who offer love to the unloved denizens of the snowy worlds.
By Reality
December 19, 2008 10:10 AM | Link to this
The problems with MARTA began when the folk under the gold dome drafted legislation to create it. In the words of Dr. Scott - MARTA’s current general manager, “MARTA is the most legislatively mandated transit agency in the country.” All of those state government mandates and no state government funding - you gotta love it. Can you say UNFUNDED MANDATES, conservatives?
By ron
December 19, 2008 10:13 AM | Link to this
Dear Ragnar,Somehow I get the feeling that the credit card regulations are in the interest of the credit card companies.My card at the moment is a pretty decent piece of plastic,but I fear that with these new regulations that is going to change ,and not in my favor.
By Glenn
December 19, 2008 10:15 AM | Link to this
Hats off to Duluth’s Richard Brimfield, a real mensch if ever there was one. (For those of you unfamiliar with the meshugenary, that’s a compliment.) It touches me that the man would have kindness to keep his preferred charity set-aside, and apart from, all the painful financial and other transitions he must be riding out. He’s not only kind, he’s hopeful and brave.
By Glenn
December 19, 2008 10:22 AM | Link to this
jm,
Interpol took not only a swab and a blood sample, but a pound of my flesh too. And they won’t give back the flesh. It’s an international outrage, really, and ought to gain the widest possible publicity. One pound American, sitting in freezing evidence locker in The Hague, and for no good reason. What did that particular pound ever do, to get impounded? We ought to tell those rude foreigners to go pound sand, like we’re doing for them in Iraq.
The ingrates.
By atlanta lawyer
December 19, 2008 10:29 AM | Link to this
Besides the expense, Ga. law (OCGA 16-1-7 (c))requires generally that the prosecutor bring all the crimes committed as a result of a singular course of conduct at the same time if they are in a singular county. Perhaps the federal agents murder could have been tried seperately, perhaps there was enough break in the action.
By ron
December 19, 2008 10:35 AM | Link to this
There is a type of DNA swapping that I’ve always been fond of.I give my sample in these cases very willingly.
By jm
December 19, 2008 10:36 AM | Link to this
Glenn,
regarding that pound of flesh, you did not perchance visit Bethselamin? (hint: Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy).
By Glenn
December 19, 2008 11:01 AM | Link to this
jm,
Your post reminds me of the intense performance, in “Lawrence of Arabia”, of Jose Ferrer, as the sadistic Turkish efendi who finally gave “El-Awrence” what he was after. I wonder whether Hollywood, or Pinewood, or Sundance, or Bollywood, might screen in the remaining days of this year a movie so challenging, and so meticulously deliberate, as that one was. A real goad of a movie.
By jakesdad
December 19, 2008 11:06 AM | Link to this
collecting DNA is fundamentally different than pictures and/or fingerprints in at least two critical ways:
it gives the government access to tons of information about the ACCUSED (someone not yet convicted) that is not relevant to the crime of which they are (once again) ACCUSED.
it gives them that same information about all the accused’s (there’s that inconvenient fact again) 1st order relatives and facilitates identification of several additional orders or relatives NONE (or in almost all cases >98%) have never even been ACCUSED of a crime.
in other words MY search & seizure rights are violated (along w/my parents, etc) if the FBI swabs my brother and that’s not a price I’m willing to pay (and I have a son & daughter so yes, I have “thought of the children”).
By Dusty
December 19, 2008 11:10 AM | Link to this
Glenn..
Goad?? Goad? I thought that was something you could make into a bird house. Chirp??
By Dusty
December 19, 2008 11:14 AM | Link to this
Ohhh jakesDad is soooo brave this morning.
I have but one life to give for my DNA! (and you can’t have it.)
By Glenn
December 19, 2008 11:17 AM | Link to this
Oh Dusty,
Why heavens aflame, how you do dust me sometimes…
By Marie
December 19, 2008 11:18 AM | Link to this
According to previous AJC stories, Paul Howard spoke with the victims of Brian Nichols about taking the death penalty off the table; all were okay with it except Candace Wilhelm. Well Jim I have a solution for this problem. The GA legislature recently passed a law which will allow residents to take guns in most public places and a jail is for all intent and purposes “a public place” since the public pays to house all guilty, human debris.
Well lets give the little lady (Candace) a gun and a visit with this scumbag in jail and let her blow him away like he did her husband.
By Jason
December 19, 2008 11:21 AM | Link to this
“Just yesterday our regulator friends published 500 pages of argument, imposing new rules on issuing credit cards – making it smarter for banks to simply not issue credit cards to poor people, a comic contrast to their public lament over banks’s refusal to grant credit.”
It’s my understanding that the new regulations target deceptive and/or unfair practices by credit card companies, like quadrupling interest rates with little to no forewarning for no apparent reason. They don’t excuse anyone’s debts, nor do they change anyone’s creditworthiness. If credit card companies stop issuing credit cards to poor people, it certainly won’t be a reaction to these regulations, but rather a desire to conserve cash and reduce their exposure to risk.
By Janice Lawrence
December 19, 2008 11:43 AM | Link to this
Due to effective spay/neuter and leash laws in the North, they have a shortage of adoptable dogs. This past July I was a volunteer driver for the Shelby (Shelby County, AL) Humane Society and with a partner driver, drove a van with 24 dogs in it to Nashua, NH. We drove straight through—23 hours, stopping only for gas, food, and restroom breaks. All 24 of our dogs were adopted out before July was over. The Shelby Humane Socity sponsors 2 of these dog trips a month, and rely on donations to pay for these trips. They have so far saved the lives of over 1400 dogs. The last time I checked the Nashua Humane Society website, they only had 4 dogs available for apotion, yet here in the South we kill thousands of dogs a year. Go the web site of the Shelby Humane Society and check out their program—they can use your help—volunteer to drive or contribute money to save dog lives! I plan to drive for them again.
By Ragnar Danneskjöld
December 19, 2008 11:45 AM | Link to this
Dear Jason @ 11:21, you read faster than I - I am only up to page 120 of the 350 pages of the new Reg AA. However, I respectfully suggest you are drinking the regulator’s kool-aid in accepting foolishness like “quadrupling interest rates…” Every credit card issuer makes more money on interbank exchange than on interest rates - interest rates merely exist to encourage timely payment. However, by restricting repricing, the regulators certainly make it a questionable business judgment for a creditor to take a chance on an unproven or previously marginal credit, and much less reasonable to take a chance on a previously poor credit. By ossifying the market, the regulators protect only the best of us, while deceiving our lesser brothers.
By Janice Lawrence
December 19, 2008 11:45 AM | Link to this
Due to effective spay/neuter and leash laws in the North, they have a shortage of adoptable dogs. This past July I was a volunteer driver for the Shelby (Shelby County, AL) Humane Society and with a partner driver, drove a van with 24 dogs in it to Nashua, NH. We drove straight through—23 hours, stopping only for gas, food, and restroom breaks. All 24 of our dogs were adopted out before July was over. The Shelby Humane Socity sponsors 2 of these dog trips a month, and rely on donations to pay for these trips. They have so far saved the lives of over 1400 dogs. The last time I checked the Nashua Humane Society website, they only had 4 dogs available for apotion, yet here in the South we kill thousands of dogs a year. Go the web site of the Shelby Humane Society and check out their program—they can use your help—volunteer to drive or contribute money to save dog lives! I plan to drive for them again.
By Janice Lawrence
December 19, 2008 11:47 AM | Link to this
Due to effective spay/neuter and leash laws in the North, they have a shortage of adoptable dogs. This past July I was a volunteer driver for the Shelby (Shelby County, AL) Humane Society and with a partner driver, drove a van with 24 dogs in it to Nashua, NH. We drove straight through—23 hours, stopping only for gas, food, and restroom breaks. All 24 of our dogs were adopted out before July was over. The Shelby Humane Socity sponsors 2 of these dog trips a month, and rely on donations to pay for these trips. They have so far saved the lives of over 1400 dogs. The last time I checked the Nashua Humane Society website, they only had 4 dogs available for apotion, yet here in the South we kill thousands of dogs a year. Go the web site of the Shelby Humane Society and check out their program—they can use your help—volunteer to drive or contribute money to save dog lives! I plan to drive for them again.
By Janice Lawrence
December 19, 2008 11:52 AM | Link to this
*adoption
By Janice Lawrence
December 19, 2008 11:54 AM | Link to this
*adoption
By Janice Lawrence
December 19, 2008 11:56 AM | Link to this
*adoption
By DB, Gwinnettian
December 19, 2008 11:59 AM | Link to this
Thanks, Janice.
And Ragnar, I do hope you get some professional help for that little problem of yours.
By Dusty
December 19, 2008 12:02 PM | Link to this
Dear Glenn 11:17
We travel through the glens of gaiety and gauche generalities, my friend. (I am still wrought with wordless wrath…my opening piece of eloquence disappeared into the ether of the unknown leaving me bereft of my jolly jingles and other goodies of the season.)
So it goes. It goads me!! But I am resolute!
By Ragnar Danneskjöld
December 19, 2008 12:03 PM | Link to this
Dear Jason @ 11:21, I will credit the regulators for one aspect of the new regulations, in the area of repricing – they wrote the regulations pretty intelligently regarding “teaser” rates, and to preserve special discounted rates for transfers. Better judgment than I expected. But the overriding rule in credit cards is that account acquisition costs are always higher than account retention costs – the market thus constrains indiscriminate rate increases.
By Ragnar Danneskjöld
December 19, 2008 12:05 PM | Link to this
Dear DB @ 11:59, you insult me – nothing about me is “little.” “Raging out of control” would have been more accurate.
By Headslap Spit Take
December 19, 2008 12:09 PM | Link to this
…interest rates merely exist to encourage timely payment.
Sweet jumping jesus, what a fool. Or is Ragtard a liar? Both?
By Producer
December 19, 2008 12:19 PM | Link to this
If one of the deputies who initially arrested Nichols had “tripped” and had an accidental discharge of his weapon into the murdering bas*d, we wouldn’t be spending untold truckloads on money on defending this scumbag.
By Democat hamburger or Republican filet mignon?
December 19, 2008 12:32 PM | Link to this
It’s about time. You see, a liberal mind will become vindictive real quick when you open your mouth and say something he or she doesn’t agree with or makes him or her mad or offends him or her. Case in point, that Ohio scum using state computers to lift personal information about Joe Plumber. All the poor guy did was ask Obama a TOUGH and DIRECT question about his tax policies - and it was Obama that came up to HIM.
CINCINNATI – An Ohio agency director resigned Wednesday in the wake of a finding that she improperly used state computers to access personal information on the man who became known as “Joe the Plumber” during the presidential campaign.
Two other officials who were suspended from their positions for their role in the computer search will not be returning to their jobs, an agency spokeswoman said.
Regarding Democrat illegalities, will Blago man up to his crime or will he say he did no wrong? Why won’t the DNC mainstream media like CNN or the Washington Compost go after him like they did Republicans? We know the answer to that, don’t we.
By Chad Harris
December 19, 2008 12:33 PM | Link to this
**Al Franken has now officially pulled ahead of Norm Coleman and he won’t be looking back. It’s President Obama and Senator Franken to all you Wooten mouseketters.this is without considering the wrongly-rejected absentee ballots, of which about 1600 exist — and which the Minnesota Supreme Court has said must be included in the recount. Franken could well wind up with a thousand-point lead once this is done.
It won’t be official until early next year, but Al Franken will be Minnesota’s next Senator.**
As Cox Newspapers continues to fund the salary of Jim Wooten who is writing a virtual diary of his delusional thinking they have announced they are closing their Washington Burueau. Sandy Schwartz made his decision based on tighter times for Cox Newspapers as well as the observation that most Georgians are white redneck hicks who lack basic education and wouldn’t understand the product from the Washington Bureau anyway. They are individuals like Wooten and Ragnar Dannyschmutz.
Ignorance prevails at Wootenville—The law prohibits Howard from pursuing Nichols’ crimes one at a time, and that kind of thinking is what got your newspaper in financial dire straits and forced it to lay off so many people and close the Washington Bureau. They should have fired Wooten.
Georgia has unwanted dogs and cats because the people are too stupid to understand their value.
The Cobb School Board is largely responsible for producing the quintissential Georgia student—pereneially 49th in the SAT scores.
What would a match for Wooten’s DNA and saliva samples yeild?
Marta’s non-support by the state is causing the state of Georgia to lose many companies, as well as it’s clusterf*cked highway system and it’s p** poor educational system.
The Bush administration’s sharp curtailment of birth control education has helped make babies with no mother and father in a nuclear family. Additionally the relative lack of education in Georgia assures that its inhabitants will screw without regard for the consequences.
The population will change and if Wooten is lucky enough to live to see it the growing Hispanic and Black population will ensure that Georgia supports all Democratic candidates. What Wooten will see is a Democratic Presidential winner for every election the rest of his life.
If Republicans continue to field racist moron candidates like Palin, there candidate will never see the light of day.
The 111th Congress takes office on Jan. 3 and they and Obama’s new Secretary of Vet Affairs will take action to speed up vet disability claims and get a modicum of decent medical care for vets in the VAH which sorely lacks many of the basic medications any physician with an IQ of 3 would order—that was true throughout the last century and it’s true this morning.
One medical student had a patient the first day of his surgical rotation. One of the idiot surgeons on the staff insisted on baptizing all of his patient’s open abodomens with Gentamycin in solution—which is a stupid ritual and totally unnecessary. Any antibiotic can be delivered parenterally and it was promiscuous inappropriate proscribing by atrue dunce who pranced like a peacock. When the student made rounds the next morning the patient was deaf because the nurse had stupidly mixed a 10% solution of Gentamycin instead of a .1% solution. That stupidity still rules in all VAHs. I know that student very well. He had the dubious task of informing the Associate Dean he had just caused the patient to be permantly deaf. The practice of baptizing patients with an intra-abdominal bath of gentamycin came to an abrupt frigging hault that day.
Blago wasn’t tossed from office on Lisa General Lisa Madigan’s stupid motion which was a commercial for her failed quest to be governor of Illinois. Blago may look guilty based on inuendo and Fitz’s press conference which violate the rules of the Northern District of Illinois with DC and 7th Circuit judges lacking the balls to enforce the rule. Blago has not had the opportunity to present his case yet and the press as usual, anxious to sell papers and get TV ratings has offered to do just that. The evidence in the case has yet to be presented and Fitz has about 10 days to indict or he is forced to spill his evidence prior to trial in a mandated probable cause hearing. I doubt he’ll be that stupid—because stupid Pat Fitz is not.
Holiday cheer to all Georgians who have been placed in financial jeapordy by 12 years of the idiot Phil Graham on Senate Finance and the plundering of their money by another idiot Paulson who is stealing your money for bailouts both TARP and non-TARP.
He is bailing out people like Bernie Madoff whose neice was schtupping an SEC lawyer for 3 years before they got married and it impacted oversight and turned it into Katrina oversight by Chris Cox and the SEC.
By Jason
December 19, 2008 12:36 PM | Link to this
“However, I respectfully suggest you are drinking the regulator’s kool-aid in accepting foolishness like ‘quadrupling interest rates…’”
Not really. They just ran a segment addressing this very issue on NBC Nightly News last night. Although I’m sure you’ll contend that NBC’s part of the vast left-wing media conspiracy and, therefore, was lying to advance its political agenda.
“Every credit card issuer makes more money on interbank exchange than on interest rates - interest rates merely exist to encourage timely payment.”
I call BS. Please provide your sources.
“However, by restricting repricing, the regulators certainly make it a questionable business judgment for a creditor to take a chance on an unproven or previously marginal credit, and much less reasonable to take a chance on a previously poor credit.”
The new regulations don’t prohibit credit card companies from charging poor people exorbitant interest rates to account for risk, so long as they as are forthcoming about the terms when a card is issued.
By Jackson
December 19, 2008 12:37 PM | Link to this
Oh, so there are some actual independent brains at CNN not drinking the Kool Aid. Well, that’s kool.
CNN Meteorologist: Manmade Global Warming Theory ‘Arrogant’
Network’s second meteorologist to challenge notion man can alter climate.
By Jeff Poor Business & Media Institute 12/18/2008 11:02:44 PM
Unprecedented snow in Las Vegas has some scratching their heads – how can there be global warming with this unusual cold and snowy weather?
CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers had never bought into the notion that man can alter the climate and the Vegas snowstorm didn’t impact his opinion. Myers, an American Meteorological Society certified meteorologist, explained on CNN’s Dec. 18 “Lou Dobbs Tonight” that the whole idea is arrogant and mankind was in danger of dying from other natural events more so than global warming.
You gorebots take take your capitalist hating junk science to all those around this nation snowed in right now. Oh wait! Let me guess! Man-made global warming causes global cooling now! Moonbats.
By Disgusted
December 19, 2008 12:46 PM | Link to this
*Al Franken has now officially pulled ahead of Norm Coleman and he won’t be looking back. *
Yeah Chad, that’s what you get when you have a dumocrap stealing an election with mysterious absentee balllots showing up before they were even searched for. People like you are pathetic. A freaking commediane from SNL to be a senator. Speaks volumes about the intelligence of MN…..and the “at whatever cost” to steal an election.
By Steven Daedalus
December 19, 2008 12:53 PM | Link to this
The Repuds are so good at stealing elections, how idid they let this one get away, man this like a high school beating the Patriots.
By Thad Charris
December 19, 2008 1:07 PM | Link to this
You continue to use the word “moonbats” because it worked so well during the last campaign, Spanky?
By Maria
December 19, 2008 1:11 PM | Link to this
In Regards to Lee Raudonis article “Nichols, Hilton cases provide a lesson’. While we may not agree with the outcome of the trial, the nation’s constitutional rights was perserved. We all have a right under the United States Constitution ‘s sixth amendment to a jury trial. ” ..the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense”. The constitution rights are the rights of ALL citizens regardless of innocence or guilt. As long as the crime is commited on US soil, the constitution grants them the same rights. The constitution is not just for law abiding citizens. The constitution was design to limit the power of the state over the people. The fourteenth amendment was designed to prevent the chance of an expedited and unfair trial. Once society forgoes the rights of one person, members of society are endanger of having their own rights disregarded. The constitution is there to protect society from the state’s power and it has worked. Plea bargins removes a alleged criminal rights to a jury trial, confront accusers, bring forth witnesses in their defense. It removes the sixth amendement. Plea bargins frees up the judge’s calendar, saves money and chalks up a win for the D.A., which may help the political aspirations of the D.A. later down the road. Plea bargins already has a person convicted of guilt without the benefit of a jury trial.
By Headslap Spit Take
December 19, 2008 1:12 PM | Link to this
Myers, an American Meteorological Society certified meteorologist…
Whatever the merits of this guy’s claim, his AMS certification proves only that he can write a check, address an envelope, and lick a stamp. AMS certification is on a par with one of those back-of-the-magazine ads that let you become an ordained minister for a fee.
“Capitalist hating junk science” That’s pretty good wingnut spew. And you trot out a weather reader as a scientific authority, a wigstand who reads someone else’s words that describe the weather. Jesus, you’re almost as stupid as Ragtard.
You paint a clear picture of yourself. Bitter much?
By Dusty
December 19, 2008 1:18 PM | Link to this
Chad Harris @12:33
Well, I hope you feel better after dumping that large load of garbage on us. If you don’t care for Jim Wooten’s opinions,WHY DON’T YOU SHOVE OFF? Nobody is making you read ANYTHING HERE.
Anybody who hates almost everybody and everything usually has a BIG PROBLEM themselves. Diagnose yourself before telling the world how rotten it is.
Christmas cheer to you, Mr. Harris. You need it.
By Devastator
December 19, 2008 1:27 PM | Link to this
Dusty,
You are exactly right @1:18. Although you might consider following your own advice.
By Redneck Convert
December 19, 2008 1:31 PM | Link to this
Well, we got our Christmas bonus down at the warehouse this a.m.—a case of PBR for each of us. Bunch of cheapskates. I take more than that off of the truck every weekend.
I’m with Wooten. It’s just a danged shame this Nichols ain’t getting the needle. Us rednecks are all for making sure every baby gets born because that’s the Value of Human Life. After that, we don’t want nothing to do with raising the kids or paying their doctoring and such and we will danged sure stick a needle in anyone that crosses us. People up North don’t understand but that’s why they are yankees.
I hope the Clayton County kids don’t move up here to Forsyth County. We got our high standards in the schools and don’t need no low-lifes from south Atlanta messing them up.
Have a good day everybody. I sure hope nobody asks Raghead’s wife whether there’s anything little about him.
By Chad Harris
December 19, 2008 1:48 PM | Link to this
@ Dusty—
My job is to educated white racist hicks like yourself. And until you pay me enough, I don’t take orders from Dusty. Shove off yourself and shove it.
By "Charles", The Original
December 19, 2008 1:50 PM | Link to this
“If Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard had chosen to pursue Brian Nichols’ murders one at a time, he’d have three more shots at getting the right jury decision on the death penalty” writes Jim Wooten.
Even the New World Order integrationist Cynthia Tucker knows that Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard should have accepted Brian Nichols’ plea of guilty to the crimes committed on March 11, 2005 and a sentence of life without parole. She writes, “…However, no single player was a bigger disappointment than Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, who years ago refused to consider accepting a guilty plea from Nichols in exchange for life without parole. Never one to shun an opportunity for national press, Howard insisted on asking for capital punishment despite the high cost, the inevitable delays and the long odds against getting that sentence”…
To rid government of corruption, journalist shouldn’t be complicit. They should report the facts to the American people, cold turkey. If the mentality of our journalist today were around during the life and times of Jesus, the Christ, they would write that he died young with many impoverished youths of his generation. That would be the substance of their report of Jesus… Wouldn’t you think something significant, the good picture, is missing? The writers during the times of Jesus were saints compared to the writers of today, if you know what I mean. In a nutshell, the following is the “good picture” for anyone to be considered when considering capital punishment for Brian Gene Nichols.
There were drug infested prosecutors trying cases on Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard’s staff. The influence of illegal drugs may have impaired the judgment of prosecutors in the Nichols rape trial. And there is compelling circumstances that similar transactions may have occurred in regard to other defendants…
There was lying under oath by the Fulton County District Attorney. No dumbed downed honest citizen with a sixth grade education is going to sentence a person to death when the chief prosecutor has demonstrated in depositions that he is not forthcoming with the truth…
It has come to the attention of the public that court reporters bake brownies for juries at the Fulton County Courthouse. This is tampering with the jury under color of law, a felony… It is intrinsically prejudicial to a defendant in our system of jurisprudence? It doesn’t matter whether the offending bakers know the jurors or not.
There was misconduct by prosecutors in Brian Nichols’ rape trial. It was alleged that Nichols raped and kidnapped his ex-girl friend. Jurors in that case voted 9-3 in favor of Brian Gene Nichols, not-guilty… Prosecutors on Howard’s staff immediately sought to retry Nichols without regards for his Constitutional rights as a defendant…copies of transcripts etc.-a lapse in judgment.
Criminal violations of the rights of a defendant by the office of the Fulton County District Attorney found its expression on March 11, 2005.
Allow me to borrow a line from Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Nah, nah, nah, Jim Wooten, nah, nah nah. Paul Howard shouldn’t have chosen to pursue Brian Nichols’ murders one at a time to have three more shots to get a jury to sentence him to death. Taking all things under consideration, the criminal justice system got what all criminal systems get in the end, and a probably innocent Brian Nichols, according to jurors in the first trial, will rightly lose his freedom forever because of the crimes he committed on March 11, 2005.
Congratulations to the Jury in the Brian Nichols case. Considering all things, it was the right decision. You voted against a state execution of Brian Nichols. And you left the Judge with only one decision, life without parole.
By Dusty
December 19, 2008 2:08 PM | Link to this
Dear Devastator,1:27
If I ever start ranting like a liberal (a fate worse than death!) you can be sure I will go and get checked out.
IN the meantime, I’m just enjoying the season and the foolishness foisted upon us by those jolly jokers, the luckless lollygagging libs. (Maybe Franken will bring your crowd some better lines. Let’s hope so.)
By Dusty
December 19, 2008 2:19 PM | Link to this
Chad Harris, sweet one,
You couldn’t teach a dog to bring a stick. He’s smarter.
You’ve already been to brain-wash school to acquire prejudice. Now go back and learn how to get along. The rest of the world is tired of manufactured hate. Too bad you haven’t noticed.
By Chad Harris
December 19, 2008 2:22 PM | Link to this
Dusty—
Your mommy never taught you that just because you don’t agree with people, that does not mean that their opinions are valid. If we had a country that were Jim Wooten groupies, the idiot Palin would be a heart beat away from the Presidency of this country and morons would be represented. We have a far different situation and as long as you profer right wingnut candidates, we will continue to have well qualified individuals like Obama although I don’t agree with his retention of Gates, the probable presence of 80,000 troups in Iraq and no improvement on the ground by 2011 and continued money hemorrhage, HRC as Sec State, or Caroline Kennedy’s absurd no interview bid to be Senator from Park Avenue with no articulated views.
How ‘bout that spectacular oversight by Chris Cox and the SEC of Bernie Madoff and Madoff’s neice doing one of Chris Cox’s SEC attorneys? Welcome to Katrina Bush and the Katrina SEC. That’s no negative Dusty—that’s fact.
By Churchill's MOM
December 19, 2008 2:27 PM | Link to this
The Libs are after my girl..
Sherry L. Johnston, the mother of Bristol Palin’s fiancé, was arrested Thursday night on drug charges.
Johnston was arrested at her Wasilla home and charged with six felony drug counts. Alaska state troopers then searched the Johnston home for further evidence of narcotics. She was charged with second-degree misconduct for allegedly manufacturing narcotics and a fourth-degree misconduct related to possession.
She has been released from the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility on a $2,000 bond.
Johnston is the mother of Levi Johnston, who was vaulted into the national spotlight in September when it was announced that he is the father of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s teenage daughter Bristol’s child. The baby is due on Saturday, and the two are set to wed this summer.
Via a spokesman, the Alaska governor issued this statement to the Anchorage Daily News: “This is not a state government matter. Therefore the governor’s communications staff will not be providing comment or scheduling interview opportunities.”
By Tom Price, I'm NOT SAXBY
December 19, 2008 2:34 PM | Link to this
“It is deeply disappointing that the administration has chosen to use taxpayer dollars to delay the inevitable need to fundamentally restructure these companies,” Price said. “By bailing out automakers without real reform or long-term solutions, we are only protracting uncertainty and putting billions of tax dollars at grave risk.”
“It is now clear that the creation of TARP was a rueful mistake which has failed to provide urgent market stability, yet has put our country perilously in debt for the foreseeable future. “
By HarryReid
December 19, 2008 2:48 PM | Link to this
First of all… Is there a Patel nation,and if so,do Georgia owe them something? OK, let me guess… The U.S. invaded their country,they were our snitches,Patel nation refugees? Secondly… I’m very proud of the Nichol’s jury decision.It’s their decision.Their rights.Their time under the Sun.
By Dusty
December 19, 2008 3:08 PM | Link to this
Chad Harris,2:22
You are so mixed up. You cannot tell the difference in disagreement and hate.
You are so filled with hate than you cannot see the irregularities that occur on both sides of the spectrum.
Bernie Madoff is a crook. The fact that his crimes were missed by a government agency does not make that agency crooked. It may make them inefficent or lax but not criminals. Cox has declared an investigation. Why don’t YOU wait for the facts?
But anything governmental that happens while Bush is president gets listed as crime.
You obviously hate anyone white. So far you have mentioned negatively Gates(white), Chris Cos(white),Caroline Kennedy(white), Madoff & niece (white) and then called Bush by Katrina as if he caused a hurricane. You don’t even notice that we can play t** for tat and list here any notable crooks that are black. There are just as many black as white, or more if you want to go by percentages.
The thing is, you are preaching hate, not reason or facts. You even try to insult my mother. But you are an insult to your race and its honorable people. You cannot equate yourself in any way with Condi Rice, Justice Thomas, Gen. Powell, Martin L. King or any other greats of your race. They never have and never did thrive on hate.
But you thrive on it. That I find objectionable. You give no honor to anyone including yourself.
By Tom Price, I'm an elitist jerk
December 19, 2008 3:59 PM | Link to this
I work hard in Congress to protect the interests of my rich friends, especially those in the financial industry. I vote for bills and bailouts that protect my friends from the consequences of their OWN bad business practices. I also demand “personal responsibility” on the part of individual taxpayers, which is why I made no provision in the bankruptcy bill I voted for that would ease restrictions on the 50% of individuals who file bankruptcy due to MEDICAL CATASTROPHE, the direct result of being scammed and shafted by insurance companies, the executives of which I also work hard to protect.
Get it straight, people of the 6th: Personal responsibility is for YOU, not for corporate executives and decision makers, nor their highly-paid lobbyists, many with whom I golf regularly. And as a physician, I truly do not care whether you can afford insurance OR treatment. Personal responsibility! Unless you’re my rich friend. Some people matter. Some people don’t. Thank you for your continued support at the polling place.
Sincerely, Tom Price, M.D.
By Thad Charris
December 19, 2008 4:07 PM | Link to this
I’ll tell you what’s funny: Dusty trying to pick a fight with every other blogger. She’s like a kid in the playground at school that wanders around going, “What did YOU say? Wanna fight about it? How about YOU? Wanna fight? YOU? YOU? YOU?”
what a dope. what a maroon. what a total fatah chick on an all you can eat jihad.
bwa
bwa ha
ha bwa
bwahabwahabwaha
By Wyld Byll
December 19, 2008 4:26 PM | Link to this
Mr. Wooten -
“Haven Trust Bank in Gwinnett County failed, but the story of the immigrant founders’ business triumphs through this land of opportunity — buying and selling hotels, real estate development and commercial insurance — makes you want to stand up and cheer for the free enterprise system.”
You have got to be kidding me. The Patel brothers made a mockery of our banking system and must be held to account. Applying your twisted logic to different circumstances would lead one to conclude that OJ Simpson was a great guy because he rushed for 2,003 yards in a 14 game season and he could catch a pass out of the backfield. Hey, why stop there, but for one bad morning, there were a lot of guys more antisocial than Brian Nichols.
The AJC never seeks to amaze me with respect to its abilities to reach new lows, but this time it may have hit rock bottom with, not one, but two puff stories on the “poor, poor, pitiful, victimized” Patel brothers. These unsavory individuals wasted more than $200 million in FDIC money (that indirectly comes out of the pocket of everyone who has a bank account) and participated TO THE HILT in a business culture that has brought fair Atlanta to her knees while creating an ungainly deposit cost structure that continues to eviscerate the earnings of Atlanta area banks and while reduce the net worth of those innocents who have bought capital shares in Atlanta’s well run banks.
Mr. Wooten, frankly I would have expected this article from Ms. Tucker or Mr. Bookman, but never you. Do the conservative bedrock concepts of self restraint and accountability for one’s actions apply to everyone except the Patels? Responsible journalists would have commented on management’s incompetence, how the regulators let this happen, and inquired about when, not if, a proper investigation would take place to hold the Patel’s accountable.
You ought to be very ashamed of your whitewash of a very serious matter. I need to know, did the Patels have a pr person spin the failure for the AJC?
By Dusty
December 19, 2008 4:27 PM | Link to this
Thad Embarris,4:07
I never fought on a playground or ran away like you, wimpy.
Come on over and help me hang Christmas decorations. I promise not to hurt you, po’ babee!!
By Chad Harris
December 19, 2008 5:07 PM | Link to this
Blago talks to press and has not been tried yet, but Park Avenue Caroline refuses to talk to press.
While Bush mumbles with Barney, his administration has wrecked this country financially and his SEC has done a clusterf*ck of a job and many Madoff investors have lumps of coals for Christmas.
By Rob
December 20, 2008 9:19 AM | Link to this
RE: Brian Nichols’ case Why aren’t the three jurors (who swore under oath that they had no problem with the death penalty and later admitted behind closed doors that they had no intention of sentencing Nichols to death) being charged wih purgory???? Let them pay the $25 million + in court fees and other tax monies that will be used to keep this sinister killer alive in prison.