Thinking Right

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

February 27, 2009 8:06 AM | Link to this

Good morning all. Terrell does seem a bit whiny for a police chief. John Wayne would have just put on his hat, saddled up, and left. But for “drama,” how can we beat the Peyton Place that is the Department of Transportation? Sorry, “Peyton Place” was the “Dallas” of 1957. Clash of inflated egos, missing financial records, sex in high places – and that’s just among the republicans; no telling what the democrats have been doing. Suppose we’ll see this on television next year.

Dear Jim, let’s go easy on Robert Brown. Maybe he has good reason to anticipate standing before the bar with his life in the balance. Guilty conscience. Like all democrat politicians.

I never heard Michael Guido, but anyone married for 66 years gets a salute from me. It takes two to make one last so long. That he served G*d is an additional point to admire.

I support Jim’s Maryland proposal. Perhaps there is a small area, incorporating the Mall proper, the White House, and the Supreme Court, that ought to remain a Federal district. Cede the remaining territory, including the entire residential population, to Maryland. That suggestion sparks another thought, I also believe good governance would mandate prohibition of headquarters of any Federal Agencies within 100 miles of the Capitol. There was a time when proximity was a practical need, but with the ever-burgeoning bureaucracy and the tendency of the bureaucrats to lobby contrary to the interests of non-bureaucrats, we need to move ’em out. A secondary benefit would be eliminating DC’s horrific traffic congestion, giving us a tourist-friendly city. Atlanta could do the same. John Kennedy’s funny line about DC: “A city with Northern charm and Southern efficiency.” No, I don’t think that’s a slam on the South – we do operate at a different pace, for the better.

I recently had cause to survey the codes of Idaho and Utah, and Georgia could learn a lot from both. Much less statutory law overall. The worst ones are New York, California, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana – they’re all over the place.

Re President Obama and leftism. The electorate told the leftists last November that they can do anything they wish. The leftists are doing everything they wish, and destroying the country in the process. The conservatives’s duty is to report on the rampant lunacy launched by the left, to ensure the electorate makes an informed decision in 2010. Our failures, both to offer a real alternative to leftism, and to ensure an informed decision in 2008, were error. Make sure Joe Public understands that unemployment went up 60% beginning one year after the leftists took Congress. Make sure Joe Public understands that government theft of private capital prevents private companies from growing and hiring. Joe can absorb that much economics. Jimmy Carter had a pleasant face and a soothing manner, but as the economy deteriorated due to his initiatives, those virtues wore thin – they will with the Empty Suit, too.

Education: Obama’s $3 trillion wasteful spending will not elevate the poor, but by destroying the wealthy the poor will think they are better off. For a year or two, until the poor realize that they no longer have a prospect for betterment. Poor people don’t want to stay poor. But if you want to focus the education issue, maybe a bit of gamesmanship: let’s propose to allow “vouchers” for white or Asian kids only. Think of the arguments that follow.

Unfortunately Gentle Ben is always a day late and a dollar short. But for the “stimulus” the economy would have shown some temporary improvement before year end. The looming “largest tax increase in the history of the world” is a long-term drag on job formation. Bizarre, though, because of the macro-economic effect of the “largest tax increase in the history of the world” it may not be an increase at all – revenues could actually fall. Because of the economic collapse it precipitated.

Of course, I would deep six the Public Service Commission. Nice people who serve no economic purpose. “Regulating” monopolies is the wrong way; opening them up to competition is the better way. Worked for telephones and natural gas. Do it for cable television and electricity and water.

If the note on T. Bedford Jackson is factually accurate, why has he not been impeached, for theft?

The Georgia State student proves the triumph of hope over knowledge or experience. Sounds like the Obama cultists.

By Peanut Man

February 27, 2009 8:17 AM | Link to this

How much money did Saxby Special Interest Chambliss take from Peanut Corporation of America? What did Saxby get in return?

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

February 27, 2009 8:24 AM | Link to this

I am possessed by the idea of moving the bureaucracies out of DC. This could be fun. Put the Department of Global Warming in Minot. ND or International Falls, MN. Put the Department of Energy at Prudhoe Bay, AK. Put the Department of Education on the south side of Volcanoes National Park, HI. Put the Department of the Treasury in the Cayman Islands. Put the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Gila Bend, AZ.

By Mid-South Philosopher

February 27, 2009 8:32 AM | Link to this

Good morning, Jim.

A couple of comments on today’s Thinking Right:

You and I disagree on the DC situation. Those folks deserve a voting Representative in the Congress. The fundamental birth cry of this nation was “No taxation without representation”. Either give those folks a Representative or exempt them from Federal Income Tax, FICA, etc, etc, etc.

They DO NOT, however, merit two Senators. They are NOT a state and the original purpose of Senators was to represent the interests of the States. We screwed that up with the 17th Amendment, which, along with that albatross, the 16th Amendment, should be repealed.

With respect to panhandlers, when I see one coming, I take the initiative, I rush forward, extend my palm outward, and, in a loud voice, I say, “Sir, Sir, could you spare a little change? I am here in Atlanta and trying to get home to ‘Flowertown’, where I live. Can you spare a little change? Just anything will do.

The looks on their faces are priceless.

By ron

February 27, 2009 8:37 AM | Link to this

Good morning,-There was a lot of controversy when Terrell Bolton was hired if memory serves me correctly.The question was;”How come Vernon”?

Only the justice you can afford,right Jim?

Michael Guido?Didn’t listen.I have my thoughts,which I’ll keep to myself.

Your solution to the D.C.vote is acceptable to me,but not to my friend in Maryland.I’ve watched my friend get his hair cut on the CCTV in his barbershop.Ain’t technology wonderful?

Bernanke thinks the recession might end or it might not or maybe something else.He feels just like I do.Doesn’t really have a handle on it.Just along for the ride.

Only $5000 per child to take with him/her if they decide to transfer?Why not all of it?Afraid the riff raff might want a better school too?

Judges have to make money however they can.

Should you like to make people uncomfortable,stand and watch a panhandler eat the food you just donated to him/her.Or give them ten dollars and folow them to the liquor store.That was then.I guess now you follow them to the drug dealer.Not a good idea.

A Public Utilities Commission is unnecessary.Except to anyone with a legitimate grievance with a utility company and has to see a commissioner to have it solved.Solution:Pay your bill as printed and shut up.

The cap and trade legislation that’s coming down the pike real soon will hit the poor especially hard.Just thought I’d throw in something extra,Jim.

By Steven Daedalus

February 27, 2009 8:38 AM | Link to this

Luckovich hits it right between the eyes again, good one Mike. Wake up Jim.

By Barry

February 27, 2009 8:40 AM | Link to this

Woo-Tan Clan’s column this morning is a great example of why political or idealogical labels(Lib-Con, Dem-Reb) can be so difficult to apply:

Dekalb - Agree 100%

“This is where liberalism has wandered: An expectation of entitlement to “the most extensive defense I can get” at the public’s expense” So the rich get off, the poor go to jail?

Small towns rock!

If D.C. had representation, maybe the 1,700 poor kids would still have a choice

The PSC needs to go

Just say no to panhandlers.

At the risk of becoming the target of the snarkiest here, where do I fit on the idealogical spectrum?

By Churchill's MOM

February 27, 2009 8:41 AM | Link to this

Jim these Liberals are after our girl, when she is President, she should put these people in jail.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Gov. Sarah Palin’s agreement to reimburse the state for trips her children took at government expense does not address potential tax problems she might face for charging Alaska thousands of dollars for their travel, lawyers handling the settlement said.

Palin already is drafting changes to her 2007 and 2008 tax returns, spokesman Bill McAllister said. This comes after learning that she is responsible for taxes on personal use of a state vehicle and nearly $18,000 she improperly collected as expenses from the state while staying at her Wasilla home about 40 minutes from Anchorage.

Palin now will show those benefits as income for tax purposes. Lawyers negotiating a settlement over state payments for her children’s travel said Thursday they did not consider whether Palin also should include that benefit as income in her taxes.

“That’s not anything I examined,” said Timothy Petumenos, a lawyer hired by the Alaska Personnel Board to investigate an ethics complaint filed against Palin after The Associated Press reported in October that she charged the state for her children’s travel.

Instead, Petumenos focused only on issues related to the state ethics law, and whether the payments to Palin amounted to an inappropriate personal benefit.

Palin said Thursday she hasn’t considered whether state payments for her children’s travel should be part of a broader review of her taxes.

“I haven’t even looked at it. All I know is there isn’t a need for an audit of that,” she said.

McAllister said the governor already has committed to paying all back taxes owed if there are problems with state payments she received. He said he was not aware of any tax issues she faces because of the travel payments for her children. But if payments are required, she will make them, McAllister said.

When Palin released her family’s tax records as part of her vice presidential campaign last fall, some tax experts questioned why she did not report the children’s state travel reimbursements as income.

The Palins at the time released a review by a Washington, D.C., attorney who said state law allows the children’s travel expenses to be reimbursed and not taxed when they conduct official state business.

But now those expense payments have come under question following Petumenos’ finding that some of the trips did not meet the definition of official state business.

Palin is expected to pay the state about $10,000 for 10 trips as part of the settlement reached in a state ethics complaint filed against her, Petumenos said.

Palin’s lawyer, Tom Van Flein, initially estimated her reimbursement to the state for the children’s travel at just under $7,000. On Thursday, though, Petumenos said he completed a more accurate tally, and added another trip Palin will pay for that was not included in the settlement announcement earlier this week.

There were other trips taken by her children at state expense that could have been challenged as inappropriate if the matter had not been resolved, Petumenos said. But he agreed not to pursue those. Palin also agreed not to challenge his claim that the travel payments were inappropriate because the children’s trips did not meet the definition of “an important state interest.”

Van Flein said he was not familiar with possible tax issues Palin faces for the expense payments made on behalf of her children. He said that issue was not reviewed in his work on the ethics complaint.

But Van Flein said he believed Palin’s reimbursement to the state of travel expenses would correct any federal tax problems she might face. He also noted that Palin followed the advice she received from the state that such expenses are not considered taxable. However, tax experts said in October that incorrect state government advice would not trump IRS regulations.

The ethics complaint related to her children’s expenses was filed after The AP reported that Palin charged the state for her daughters to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.

In all, Palin charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters’ 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights after taking office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls.

Alaska law does not specifically address expenses for a governor’s children. The law allows for payment of expenses for anyone conducting official state business, but Petumenos concluded in his review that state rules don’t clearly define what family trips should be paid by the state.

He has asked the attorney general to develop clearer rules outlining when the state should pay for the travel of a governor’s family.

By ron

February 27, 2009 8:47 AM | Link to this

Dear Ragnar,Nice body shot with the Cayman Islands jab.

By Churchill's MOM

February 27, 2009 8:51 AM | Link to this

I am as mother said “mad as a wet hen”. For years Georgia pols and developers have used GDOT to get rich. By accident they hire a honest woman to fix the mess made by a bunch of men. What do they do when she starts to tell the public about the problems in the department? Fire a woman who has an IQ higher that the whole Board with Sonny thrown in. Shame on Georgia

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

February 27, 2009 9:05 AM | Link to this

Dear Barry @ 8:40, “At the risk of becoming the target of the snarkiest here, where do I fit on the idealogical spectrum?” As the expert on such matters, you are a developing conservative. A couple of years of Obamanomics, and you’ll be there.

Dear ron @ 8:47, thanks. If you get bored, please kick in suggestions – you have a sharp wit.

Dear Mom @ 8:51, now you confuse me. I thought the knock on Ms. Evans was that she was Sonny’s toadie? Was Sonny cleaning up a cesspool in sending her in?

By Big Buck GOP, we're screwed

February 27, 2009 9:15 AM | Link to this

In its most daring bid yet to stabilize Citigroup, the Treasury Department announced on Friday that it would vastly increase its ownership of the struggling company.

The plan, which comes after two multibillion-dollar lifelines failed to shore up Citi, calls for the government increase its stake in the troubled bank to 36 percent from 8 percent, The New York Times’s Eric Dash reported.

Under the deal, Citibank said that it would offer to exchange common stock for up to $27.5 billion of its existing preferred securities and trust preferred securities at a conversion price of $3.25 a share, a 32 percent premium over Thursday’s closing price. The government will match this exchange up to a maximum of $25 billion of its preferred stock at the same price.

The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, Saudi Prince Walid bin Talal, Capital Research Global Investors and Capital World Investors have already agreed to participate in the exchange, Citibank said in a statement. Existing shareholders will own about 26 percent of the outstanding shares.

As part of the deal, Citi will shake up its board so that it has a majority of independent directors, Richard Parsons, the bank’s chairman, said in a statement. The change had been something federal regulators had already been pursuing,

By Big Buck GOP, we're screwed

February 27, 2009 9:17 AM | Link to this

The New York attorney general’s office has subpoenaed Bank of America seeking the names of Merrill Lynch executives who received $3.6 billion in year-end bonuses, after Chief Executive Ken Lewis failed to provide those details during a lengthy deposition Thursday evening.

By Big Buck GOP, we're screwed

February 27, 2009 9:18 AM | Link to this

The federal government’s bank insurance fund dropped by the end of last year to the lowest point in more than 25 years, and the number of banks at risk of failure nearly doubled, according to the head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,

By Big Buck GOP, we're screwed

February 27, 2009 9:19 AM | Link to this

Tucked into the Royal Bank of Scotland’s announcement of a $34.2 billion annual loss — the largest in British corporate history — was word that the partially nationalized firm was getting out of leveraged finance lending.

By Big Buck GOP, we're screwed

February 27, 2009 9:20 AM | Link to this

JPMorgan Chase warned Thursday that up to 41 percent of its more creditworthy home equity borrowers would owe more than their homes are worth by the end of 2010, up from 27 percent at the end of 2008.

By Chris Broe

February 27, 2009 9:22 AM | Link to this

The Georgia State student was obviously a soup-nazi youth. I’ve always wondered how the soup nazi would act at feed-the-hungry soup lines. “Next. What do you want?” (A bowl of soup, please). “SO you want a bowl of soup? Did you work today? did you fill out an application? did you pound the pavement?” ( Yes). “For how long?” I had an interview at 2 this afternoon, kind sir. “Only one interview? you call that looking for work? NO SOUP 4U!. Next!”

About our president: I haven’t seen relaxed back and forth good natured jousting with the press since JFK. This is Camelot2, and Michele O is at the center of it all. Like Jackie O was. The only thing missing is the comedy record, “The rubber swan is mine!”

By Big Buck GOP, we're screwed

February 27, 2009 9:23 AM | Link to this

The Sears Holdings Corporation said Thursday that its fourth-quarter profit dropped 55 percent because of store closings and one-time charges. Edward S. Lampert, the hedge fund manager who runs the retailer, remained positive about the company’s prospects.

By Davo

February 27, 2009 9:24 AM | Link to this

“Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggests that the recession might end this year. Why might it? Just ‘cause it might. My confidence is now buoyed.”

Kill the fed. Seriously.

Ironic, don’t you think, that in the year of the recession the redesigned penny comes out. And I guess if you think about it, all the currency upgrades occured in order of the notes value for about the last 6-7? years.

Maybe those Keynesians at the fed were onto something all along. Glad we’re keeping them in charge.

By Big Buck GOP, we're screwed

February 27, 2009 9:25 AM | Link to this

A former Stanford employee contacted federal regulators more than five years ago with allegations that the firm was engaged in an “illegal Ponzi scheme,” according to The Financial Times.

By Big Buck GOP, we're screwed

February 27, 2009 9:26 AM | Link to this

The government believes it could lose $250 billion, or a third, of the $750 billion it plans on using to buy troubled assets off bank balance sheets.

By Big Buck GOP, we're screwed

February 27, 2009 9:28 AM | Link to this

The mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae said late Thursday that it needed $15.2 billion in government aid to make up for losses from the slumping housing market.

By Steven Daedalus

February 27, 2009 9:44 AM | Link to this

So now we’re finding out that Sarah Palin is not only a liar, but also a thief. Duh

By Big Buck GOP, we're screwed

February 27, 2009 9:46 AM | Link to this

Raghead 9:05 AM

You have no idea how hard is to be a woman when all men want is 1 thing. As long as Ms. Evans was single all those board members hit on her but once she got married they wanted to get rid of her. It is all about sexism.

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0316/072terminatedwomen.html

By Davo

February 27, 2009 9:51 AM | Link to this

February 27, 2009 Ron Paul: the Federal Reserve Is the Culprit

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/025578.html

So ya…the truth.

By Frost

February 27, 2009 9:58 AM | Link to this

I thought u were going to talk about the Republican stripper cum sexx kitten at the Dept of Transportation, Jim!!! U know that Evans whre!! I bet she has sexxed everybody else except the one who is firing her,no wonder the gripe!

Oh well,lets find some democratic dirty stuff somewhere…..

By Ga Values

February 27, 2009 9:59 AM | Link to this

Too bad that Obama has appointed another Sec. of Commerce, Ms. Palin certainly has the qualifications to be the next one to withdraw. The morning POLITICO published the Judd Gregg withdrew because of some questionable earmarks.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0209/APGreggsteeredtaxpayerfundingtositehehadstakein.html

Big Bucks Gop left the big one consumer debt is more than our GDP for the first time since 1929. For those of you with law degrees this is a very bad sign.

By "Charles", The Original

February 27, 2009 10:04 AM | Link to this

“If I’m standing before the bar [of justice] with my life in the balance I want the most extensive defense I can get,” explains Georgia Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown (D-Macon). This is where liberalism has wandered: An expectation of entitlement to “the most extensive defense I can get” at the public’s expense. No need ever to work a day. From cradle to grave, the best of everything, at no cost writes Jim Wooten.

Breaking News! Breaking News! Breaking News! Breaking News! Breaking News! Breaking News!

The associated press is reporting that Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard is seeking a 54-count indictment against Jim Wooten, associate editorial page editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The indictment includes charges of accessory to murder, kidnapping, carjacking and robbery. Upon further investigation, it has been discovered that after Nichols assaulted an Atlanta Journal-Constitution employee that’s apparently estranged from Wooten, Wooten willfully volunteered the use of his personal vehicle to help Nichols escape from a nearby parking lot. And in so doing, he assisted Nichols in his escape from police and the Fulton County Courthouse on March 11, 2005. Wooten has vehemently denied all and any responsibility. But the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has suspended Wooten without pay.

Charles, The Original is far from a liberal. I happen to be a conservative black man. But if I’m standing before the bar of justice with my life in the balance, I want the most extensive defense I can get. Even if that legal defense is at the public’s expense.

Y’all feel me?

By Diogenes

February 27, 2009 10:19 AM | Link to this

Good morning, Jim,

After reading your prejudicial comments against a fair trial, I should like to introduce some reading which I think you might find interesting.

In all criminal prosecutions, 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.

This is the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, a document with which conservatives of late have shown little or no familiarity. There are advantages to living in a democracy and one of these is to have “extensive defense,” as Mr. Brown phrases it, at public expense whether one has the ability to pay for it or not. Mr. Brown is correct: defendents are entitled by citizenship, not by wealth, to “extensive defense.”

By Southern Democrat

February 27, 2009 10:31 AM | Link to this

Jbmlaw @ 8:06,

I think you’re wrong about Judge Bedford, who I think is an able jurist. Everyone who appears in his courtroom knows about the cell phone rule and the charity in question is one that his step-daughter founded after her 13 year old son died of cancer… it’s also one of many charities on the list that those held in contempt can donate to.

From what I’ve heard, too, the inflammatory letter was more along the lines of a cease and desist letter with a threat of a counterclaim sent by Bedford’s lawyer, not from Bedford himself… I am curious if this changes your outlook on the story at all… though it does warm my heart to see you stick up for George Anderson, a tireless crusader for the Dems.

By DR

February 27, 2009 10:40 AM | Link to this

Since I don’t qualify for any of the stimulus Obama and Polosi are “gifting” the country what is a taxpaying citizen supposed to do other than to keep paying taxes so those that don’t can be stimulated. This is the greatest Ponzi scheme going.

By Diogenes

February 27, 2009 10:41 AM | Link to this

Good morning, Jim,

Just noticed your comments about Mr. Obama:

Barack Obama is the pleasant face and soothing voice the hard left has long needed. Believe it when he declares an intent to implement government-managed universal health care. And local schools? Consider them federalized. Get in a little, as the feds did decades ago with impact grants to local systems with a heavy burden caused by military and federal civilian employment, and sooner or later the central government will dominate. Under Obama, that’ll be sooner.

Thank you for such good news.

By lwwmm7

February 27, 2009 10:44 AM | Link to this

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! George Bush is more evil than Hitler and the devil rolled into one. Repubs torture kittens and stick pins in dolls that look like poor people. It’s all true, I admit it. Now, having said that, can we please get down to the business of saving our country from the behind-the-curtain lever-pullers who control both parties? Rich pols don’t care one bit about you or me except as a vote and source of money to throw around. Wake up folks, dems and repubs use the same accountants and belong to the same clubs you and me would never be allowed in. Let’s all wake up and smell the coffee.

By Chris Broe

February 27, 2009 10:46 AM | Link to this

Where’s the supervision? How about those non-combat troops! About the Obama/JFK press relationship: A showdown is coming. If every American think himself a journalist, then every journalist thinks himself an economic expert and foreign policy adviser. If Helen Thomas was president, you’d better believe we’d have the cure for liver spots!

I was thinking about how much I hate the E-Trade Baby. You’ve heard of the E-trade Baby? Well, folks, then meet the E-trade Baby Boomer. (Commercial break.)

“E-trade Baby Boomer here. Wait, I have a text message, (naughty older sister). Look I started shorting in Oct. 2007 at the top. That’s why i’m the E-trade Baby Boomer. I hired Obama with all my extra cash. There, I just shorted Halliburton. Obama is telling us in a gentle terms as possible that we are stuck in Iraq forever. It is our 51st state, New Alabama. There, I just shorted in my shorts…….ew! I guess if we can stand Alaska (another non-contiguous state),….. hey! I just thought of the name for a new conservative party: The Non-contiguous, (and non-constitutional) Non-combatants. N(n)N!!!

Notice how the anagram N(n)N could easily be one of Curly’s lines as it appears on every stooge script in existence. “N(n)N” So THAT’S how you spell that. I always wondered.

Anyway,

Rush Limbaugh must think the anagram GOP means “go pee”. That’s the trickle-down, pee in the gene pool theory. (insert third Keyenesian gag from the left here).

The Non-contiguous States: Alaska and Hawaii and Iraq. AHI. OMG: that’s the Ayatollah’s Indian name! Nostradamus was right! Run for your lives……..

All I’ve ever asked was, “Where’s the supervision?”

By Recreational flatuence

February 27, 2009 10:46 AM | Link to this

“Urban scene: Panhandler, about 35 with no visible physical limitations, approaches passersby outside restaurant. One, obviously a young Georgia State student, hands the panhandler his take-out. When he’s out of sight, panhandler glances inside and drops the meal in the trash. Minutes later, I leave the restaurant. Panhandler approaches. “Could you buy me some soup, please.” Now all’s clear. The student offered no cash — or soup.”

All the more reason to retreat to rural South Georgia upon retirement.

By Elephant Whip

February 27, 2009 11:29 AM | Link to this

“’If I’m standing before the bar [of justice] with my life in the balance I want the most extensive defense I can get,’ explains Georgia Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown (D-Macon). This is where liberalism has wandered: An expectation of entitlement to ‘the most extensive defense I can get’ at the public’s expense. No need ever to work a day. From cradle to grave, the best of everything, at no cost.”

It’s not entitlement, its a right as a citizen of the United States to have the best possible defense against charges brought by the State. See Gideon v. Wainright. Otherwise, the State illegitimizes all convictions where the person was not wealthy enough to afford a lawyer. To fail to provide effective, zealous defense for those accused only calls into question the strength, effort, and justness of the State. Why should it be easy for the government, which conservatives seem to distrust on just about every issue (except attacking third-world countries in the hunt for oil), to deprive anyone of their freedom, regardless of their bank account?

By WhoCares

February 27, 2009 11:44 AM | Link to this

Have we taken any oil out of Iraq or any other third world country we’ve attacked? God, I hope so. But I,can’t seem to find one story about us stealing any oil. It must be a left wing media cover up. They would never report on us taking oil that didn’t belong to us.

By Marker Mosey (cleft palatte)

February 27, 2009 11:53 AM | Link to this

Redneck, majority rules in the inner city as it does elsewhere. As you might say, Government of Those People, for Those People, by Those People.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

February 27, 2009 12:10 PM | Link to this

Dear Bucks @ 9:46, my language was jocular, but I have successfully prosecuted (well, more accurately “negotiated” - no defendant ever allowed one to go to trial) several “hostile environment” suits. I empathize with Ms. Evans’s works.

Dear Southern @ 10:31, good morning. As you correctly infer, I am unfamiliar with Judge Bedford, and I neither know nor care anything about Mr. Anderson and his endeavors. Every court has a cell phone rule. The exchange of letters is irrelevant to my analysis. I believe Judge Bedford’s ability, character, and intentions are of the highest caliber, based wholly on your verification. I am wary of any court directive to make a sanctions-payment to any entity other than the state treasury. The action is an impeachable wrong itself. There should never be an opportunity for a jurist to compel a payment where the recipient can be one dear to the heart of the jurist.

Now having made such a brilliant and focused point, please allow me to totally undermine my credibility on the issue entirely by articulating one of my extremist beliefs. I have written here many times before that I have a general objection to the concept of “fines” – I believe bad behavior should always be punished by incarceration, or not at all. It should never be within the capacity of a court to impoverish a citizen for punishment. Leviathan should never have a financial interest in enforcing its laws. The theory of “fines” merely makes it possible for the wealthy to pay for their misbehaviors, like a sin tax.

By Thom Thomsen

February 27, 2009 12:15 PM | Link to this

If poor defendants are going to get inexpensive public defenders, then the state should have to pay a similar pittance to prosecute. No crime lab, with its ballistics tests, or DNA analysis, or fiber evidence analysis – just what cops and witnesses saw against what the defendant and witnesses saw.

How would that work out? Bad guys win.

The best defense possible may truly mean the best society can afford (which ain’t much) for poor defendants. If you can’t afford the slime, don’t do the crime. Get it?

By Steve

February 27, 2009 12:32 PM | Link to this

Why does anyone live in this pathetic county? The only good thing about thugville (aka DeKalb) is Dunwoody where it is nice, fun, ans safe. Gee I wonder why they wanted to become their own city? I do enjoy seeing the thugs in DeKalb on the news each night.

By The Way

February 27, 2009 12:59 PM | Link to this

Careful Steve, you may be labeled a racist by the mindless libtard Obamabots or something. Tread carefully.

Anyway, Clint Eastwood is getting sick of political correctness run amok in this nation:

London, February 27 (ANI): Acting legend Clint Eastwood , 79, apparently believes that political correctness has rendered modern society humourless, for he accuses younger generations of spending too much time trying to avoid being offensive.

The Dirty Harry star insists that he should be able to tell harmless jokes about nationality without fearing that people may brand him “a racist”.

“People have lost their sense of humour. In former times we constantly made jokes about different races. You can only tell them today with one hand over your mouth or you will be insulted as a racist,” the Daily Express quoted him as saying.

“I find that ridiculous. In those earlier days every friendly clique had a ‘Sam the Jew’ or ‘Jose the Mexican’ - but we didn’t think anything of it or have a racist thought. It was just normal that we made jokes based on our nationality or ethnicity. That was never a problem. I don’t want to be politically correct.

We’re all spending too much time and energy trying to be politically correct about everything,” he added.

Good for Clint!…………….

He should know however by living out in liberal Tard land that political correctness is liberalism. The Tards define what is and what is not offensive. Case in point, it is perfectly acceptable to lambaste Christians, straight white Conservative males, and Conservative blacks, women, and other ethnic groups (see the liberal Tard responses to Gov. Jindal’s Obama speech response for the GOP as an example “other ethnic group”).

Ultimately however, the Tard Party is getting what it wants for this nation: a systematic infrastructure of churning out mindless goose-stepping bots molded in their shape and views (college kids who voted for Obama); mindless adults who feel that profiteering is bad and government should control all aspects of business - unless you are a Democrat lawyer or Hollywood libtard like George CLooney, then it’s okay to make a lot of money; idiots who think that only 10% of this nation should pay all the taxes - voting for government income redistribution if you will by voting Tard.

By Jason

February 27, 2009 1:42 PM | Link to this

“He should know however by living out in liberal Tard land that political correctness is liberalism. The Tards define what is and what is not offensive.”

I’m pretty sure it wasn’t liberals demanding that CBS be fined for broadcasting Janet Jackson’s nipple for half a second during the Super Bowl. Or blaming Marilyn Manson for Columbine. Or protesting Brokeback Mountain.

I think we can agree there’s a grating, sanctimonious lunatic fringe on both sides of the aisle: tree huggers on the left and bible thumpers on the right.

By fitzgerald

February 27, 2009 2:11 PM | Link to this

DeKalb County deserves Terrell Bolton as their Police Chief. The county, namely Vernon Jones, should have seen all the baggage being dragged along with Bolton. Of course, it seems that Jones didn’t care…….just taking care of one of his own. After the debacle in Dallas, no one should have hired Bolton.

By Algonquin J. Calhoun

February 27, 2009 2:28 PM | Link to this

How come Those People can discrimanate all over the place

Redneck, you bring up a very valid point. Not too long ago, there was a competition for architects in Dekalb County. It was designated as being for a minority person. A man, an Indian Sikh, entered the competition. He was told, to his face, he was the wrong minority. The man sued and won a lot of money. There was also the case of the two police administrators, chief and vice-chief, who were heard on-tape discussing how to keep the white officers from advancing.

Affirmative-action, where people are considered strictly on their merits, is alright with me. People should be hired, judged, promoted and fired on the basis of job performance. However, supplanting one racial bias system with another is still discrimination and it still stinks, no matter the color of those doing it! Ellis says he’s going to clean up Dekalb County. Getting rid of Bolton is a good first step. The guy is a bum and the Dekalb County Police Department has become infested with lousy, lazy, cell-phone talkin’ cops under his lack of leadership.

By Dusty

February 27, 2009 2:31 PM | Link to this

“The time has come” the walrus said “to speak of many things”. Well, not “many things” but the things of idiocy. Let us be reminded.

8:17 Peanut Man. What did Saxby get? He got a repetitious nut case who likes to stutter on blogs.

8:41 Churchill’s MOM aka Democratic agent to undermine Sarah Palin with sugar and spice and suggestive vice.

9:22 Chris Broe aka PoFo..thinks Michele O. is like Jackie O. Broe is telling big jokes again.

9:58 Frost wants to call DOT Jena Evans “bad names” as he probably does most women. Jena Evans has a PhD from GA Tech, something totally unfamiliar to Frost. Mrs. Evans also MARRIED her boyfriend and did no “shacking up” as is the usual practice these days.

10:04 Charles, “the original”… should be removed from this blog and charged with defamation of character in his false report on Wooten. It is not clever to poat big lies as the truth.

10:31 Southern Democrat. Judges should not be sending punishment fines to any charity, good or bad. That money does not belong to the judge.

11:26 RedNeck Convert. Still the biggest bigot around. Undercover lib. Probably born in Vermont.

CLINT EASTWOOD…Make my day… and he did.

By Algonquin J. Calhoun

February 27, 2009 2:44 PM | Link to this

krusty the Clown, no one could undermine Palin more than her darlin’ daughter Trollop. As for Evans, getting married is fine but it’s all the sexually explicit emails she sent that people have questions about. Totally inappropriate from a work-place computer! She’s married now but I’m willing to bet she won’t stay that way. De woman a ho.

By Leon

February 27, 2009 2:53 PM | Link to this

Rag,

Once again we see your true colors with your Robert Brown comment. You like most right wingnuts (cultist) advocate the ala carte Constitution right? “Let me have the 10th amendment special with a side of 2nd ammendment” “But none of that namby pamby 6th amendment crap” mmmmmmmmm, justice.

By Dusty

February 27, 2009 2:59 PM | Link to this

Dear A. J. Calhoun

I gather you are an expert on “hos” etc. Did you read Mrs. Evans’ E-mails or just take the word of rumor mills? The woman was an educated expert on transportation. That was her job and she was ferreting out the truth on finances and unfinished projects at DOT. So she gets dumped before she can start with improvements. The governor correctly calls it “vindication”.

You libs are always up to date on sexual innuendoes. Learned a lot during the Clinton administration, didn’t you?

By Recreational flatuence

February 27, 2009 3:11 PM | Link to this

News alert, President Obama has nominated former Saturday Nigh Live comedian Jon Lovitz for FTC chairman. You know, the “That”e the ticket,” guy.

By ron

February 27, 2009 3:11 PM | Link to this

Dear Ragnar,—-In Denmark,fines are assesed comensurate to salary.One doctor person was fined in excess of $100,000 for speeding.This levels the playing field in a hurry.

By Get Real

February 27, 2009 3:15 PM | Link to this

Nice to come with at least an average opinion today Wooten. You’ve been mailing it in the last few weeks. Can’t even post on your board somedays. Anyway, your position on Obama ‘federalizing’ education is a blatant falsehood. Every statement Obama has made on education speaks towards reforms, and you know this Wooten.
Here are 8 Chicago High Schools only that offer alternative or enriched academic programs. Get it right Wooten.

I also like how you avoided speaking on how Georgia Power rammed legislation through your republican Gold Dome so that we can pay to build their nuclear plant, that we won’t benefit from until 2017. I wonder what Musty Dusty, Ragu, and AJC have to say about that? Somehow that’s probably a democrats fault too.

I can’t understand how Wooten so callously attributes HIS President’s failures as Obama’s fault. Wooten’s President ran up over a $1T deficit, an economy in ruins, and our troops spread around the world on his dumb arse wars. Get real Wooten. How you can lower taxes for someone who in unemployed? Would a banker, accountant, real estate agent, or attorney who has lost their job really get that much money back in 2010? “Small businesses” and Bush’s friends got sweet tax breaks for 8 years and how many jobs did they create? It now seems like Bush and friends were only creating ‘work’ like Michael Steele said.

By Dusty

February 27, 2009 3:19 PM | Link to this

Dear ron,

I guess the Danish doctor charged a cool million for appendectomies after that speed ride. OH, I forget. Socialism. The nurse’s aides probably do the appendectomies to cut costs.

Is our federal budget director of Danish descent?

By Bill Kovach

February 27, 2009 3:28 PM | Link to this

Did you know the Portugese ruled the East Indian spice trade until the Dutch came in and kicked them out? It’s true. Then Krakatoa sent them all to heII on a shingle.

By Dusty

February 27, 2009 3:42 PM | Link to this

Get Real, 3:15

Why didn’t you just post BUSH DID IT and save space?

When you explain why we need wind mills, solar panels, ethanol, electric mini-cars and big budget environmental studies including those on Mars, we will discuss Georgia Power and nuclear energy. Did you want Georgia Power to tax us or Obama to tax us? We pay either way.

DUMB ARSE WARS you said? What a patriot! Yeah, I know. You support the military. But the fight we make to maintain our freedom from terrorism for us and others is a “dumb arse war”.

As far as I am concerned you can take YOUR dumb arse and your white flag sentiments and dump them in a lake. Good riddance.

By Algonquin J. Calhoun

February 27, 2009 3:47 PM | Link to this

Krusty, Gena Evans acted inappropriately in a number of ways. Her sexually explicit emails, her mixing business and sex and her being Gov. Perdon’t’s puppet are all beyond the pale. To answer your question, yes, I do know a skank ho when I see one. The woman is a plain, ol’ skeeza. fortunately, I’ve never seen you. Just from your excretions on this board, I’d say you are, at best, a two-bagger.

By Tom

February 27, 2009 3:50 PM | Link to this

Dustrag needs to remember the words of that Great American (tm) Sean Hannity from the Bush days: “It’s impossible to say you support the troops if you question and criticize their commander-in-chief.”

By Ed Naha

February 27, 2009 3:59 PM | Link to this

Oh, to live in Republitopia - a magical land where millionaires are a protected species, union workers are the enemy of the economy, fluttering fiscal fairies fart free-market fixes and GOPee prosperity trickles down upon us all from the Rigged Rock Candy Mountain.

Where else but in Republitopia could John “Bronzer” Boehner drop the 1,200 page stimulus bill on the House floor in a manner so melodramatic that Joan Crawford’s heirs are demanding a royalty? Where else could Senator Lindsey Graham crank up the cornpone and give hisself the vapors while uttering, “If this is…bipartisanship, the country is screwed?” Where else could perpetual loser Alan Keyes declare, “Obama is a radical communist?”

Where else, after our President vows, “We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before,” could Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal respond with, “Today in Washington, some are promising that government will rescue us from the economic storms raging all around us. Those of us who lived through Hurricane Katrina, we have our doubts?”

Oh, to live in Republitopia - where reality is not an option.

Watching Congressional Republicans react to the passage of President Obama’s stimulus package has been like witnessing a Three Stooges marathon. It’s that sophisticated. With every poll showing Americans trusting Obama to handle the economy over Republicans by 30 to 40 percentage points, the GOP-ers are rallying their troops in a style floundering somewhere between martyrdom and masochism.

Before busting some moves, RNC tool Michael Steele declared on Fox that the three lone Republican Senators who voted for the stimulus would be punished by the RNC. When “Talking Points Memo” asked Steele to elaborate, Steele basically said, “never mind.”

Oh.

With the majority of citizens seeing the Republicans’ political posturing as Bozo ballet, the members of the Grand Old Party are genuinely puzzled. Do they placate or posture? How about both?

By Dusty

February 27, 2009 4:07 PM | Link to this

Dear A.J.,

You cannot talk without being vulgar but you want to decide on a woman’s morals from rumors. The governor appoints a lot of people because that is his job. I guess that is too much for you to understand but handy for propaganda.

I’ll just skip over your insults for a while. I’m fresh out of AirWick and you’re fresh out of brains.

By Dusty

February 27, 2009 4:15 PM | Link to this

Ed Naha, 3:59

Better leave the long speeches to Obama. He’s got the talent for smooth and soothe. You don’t.

Republicans are quietly waiting while Democrats try to “cure” the country by killing it.

Enjoy your happy days until your taxes are due or your handouts haven’t increased. Good luck!

See ya’ later. I have to get busy doing something useful.

By El Jefe

February 27, 2009 4:24 PM | Link to this

Tom,

Wrong, oh dirt breath.

Sean said, it is impossible to support the troops and not support their mission.

Simple minded liberals, you got to love them, like the little children they really are.

By El Jefe

February 27, 2009 4:30 PM | Link to this

Ed Naha,

I see you have the talking points down pat.

Tell me, what did JFK do to get the economy running again?

How did LBJ, bring it down again?

By drjay

March 2, 2009 8:34 AM | Link to this

a non districted psc would be so atlanta centric that the rest of the state need not bother voting for them—a bad bad plan

By drjay

March 2, 2009 8:36 AM | Link to this

a non districted psc would be so atlanta centric that the rest of the state need not bother voting for them—a bad bad plan