Italy Obamas GelatoThis is a picture of Obama’s daughter.

This is an example of the comments from Free Republic, a right-wing website.

  • “we;’re being represented by a family of ghetto trash.”
  • “Looks like a bunch of ghetto thugs. A stain on America.”
  • “Looks like a typical street whore.”
  • “What we now are sending the ghetto over to represent us. and if so who the hell is that flea bag who looks to be dragged from the trash dumpster.”
  • “could you imagine what world leaders must be thinking seeing this kind of street trash and that we paid for this kind of street ghetto trash to go over there”
  • “Wonder when she will have her first abortion.”

This is why us dirty hippies, with our misguided ideals and pie-in-the-sky expectations, have to stick together. This is why sites like this exist.

This is unacceptable. And this is why you- and others like you- need to find similar-minded people who detest this kind of attack. And stick together.

The audience for this blog lives in Georgia. While you may go for days without seeing an “Obama” sticker or a peace sign, remember. There are others like you, good-hearted liberals with a clear conscience and a firm intellect, that live in your community.

You are not alone. And we are not like them.

(h/t Daily Kos)

Obama

george-bush_beach

Interesting article in the Gainesville Times today regarding ad valorem taxes. In 1975, the state legislature mandated that Hall County collect these taxes in two installments. For some reason, it never happened. The county continues to collect ad valorem taxes once a year.

In November, county residents overwhelmingly voted on a non-binding referendum to split these collections into two bills per year.

To wit: Both the law and will of the people have dictated that ad valorem taxes be collected in two installments. Seems like an easy political decision, doesn’t it? The law and electorate are on the same side.

Commissioner Steve Gailey agrees. “I’m going to look at what the people wanted…It’s not even issue of whether we want to do it, we’re supposed to be doing it,” he said.

Chairman Tom Oliver disagrees. “I support one tax bill and leaving it the way it is…If we send out a second tax bill and make it mandatory in this economic climate I don’t think it’s fair to the property owners in our community.”

The Commission will vote on the proposal this afternoon at 5 pm.

  1. This is the easiest political decision that the Hall County Commission will ever have to make. Why would Oliver feel like making a stand on this?
  2. It would be pretty cool if Gailey and Oliver could, perhaps, actually agree on something once in a while.
  3. Oliver’s opposition on the grounds that it’s unfair to the property owners in our community is disingenuous. The people spoke, and it doesn’t raise anyone’s taxes. One might make the argument that it actually helps property owners by reducing one large bill into two smaller distributions.

Everything doesn’t have to be a partisan issue. Just change tax collections and move on. It’s like we’re trapped in some bizarro-world where even the easiest of decisions becomes a grand noble exercise of independent patriotism.

…received the first bit of correspondence from Roy Barnes today, in reference to the Win Roy Win Facebook group. Feel free to join up if you’d like.

winroywin

Nathan Deal is the fundraising leader for the Ga Governorship.

Brian Kilmeade from Fox & Friends is the stupidest man alive.

The Huffington Post crashes a Johnny Isakson fundraiser.

Rove finally testifies.

Sarah-Palin

Palin’s first interview after her resignation was with Fox News this morning. During her screech-fest, she hammered the press, Obama, the Republican Party, bloggers, Washington DC, geez it’s hard to figure who she spared during her teevee  gnashing of teeth.

It’s telling that the same woman who became an attack dog for the McCain campaign is now too delicate to handle the treatment herself. She’s like a world-class puncher with a glass jaw.

Bonus: She’s resigning her governorship because she wants to “work, right now, for people who are going to work either in office or out of office for the right things.”

Or, you could call it community organizing, Sarah. Whatever works for you.

So, there’s a blog called Left in Alabama. Catchy name right?

And then, the header of the blog also has a left arrow on it, similar to the snappy little sign at the top of this blog.

Which came first? The Lanier version or the Alabama version? Not sure.

OH, and by the way— This marks the one year anniversary since this blog started. SO… happy birthday to LOL.

Two (!) reasonable letters to the Gainesville Times today- one is below:

Last summer, many warned about Georgia’s revenue crisis. Now, only a few days into fiscal year 2010, those same warnings are going off again. With the latest revenue figures reported, Georgia could be facing a deficit of almost a billion dollars.

The question is, will our leaders drag their feet like last summer? The governor seems to be hinting at a special session to solve this crisis, but these same people just spent 40 days on this same problem with nothing to show for it. If a special session is called, what will our leaders do?

A popular Republican candidate for governor recently commented that the only place left to cut is education. I said to him, “What about ‘Go Fish’ or the other pet projects that have gotten us into this mess.” In my opinion, it is not a special session that we need but a special election to throw out the bums.

Full Disclosure: This letter was written by Chris Strickland, former candidate for State House in Hall County. Yes, I know the dude.

FY 2008 600 million dollar deficit…

FY 2009 3 billion dollar deficit…

FY 2010 projected 1 billion dollar deficit…

How long will it take Georgia’s leaders to respond?…

an eternity.

Over the last three years, Georgia has faced a budget crisis.  Some have attributed this to a spending problem.  Others have called it a revenue problem.  It is a leadership problem.

Allan Essig over at the GPBI says we need a better tax system. Mr. Essig is a smart man and it is true that we’ve given many senseless tax breaks that have had no benefit to the State of Georgia; raising taxes won’t make things any better.  Besides no elected official will do it.

What our budget crisis shows is a failure of leadership. Look at the FY 10 budget, the only budget where the legislature has actually cut spending, and you will continue to see mismanagement of our state’s fiscal resources.

First, there was less cutting than was reported. Remember our legislature gnashing their teeth over the budget?  Comments like,” This is going to hurt” and “We will have to get close to the bone.”  Well that was more like when your 3 year old screams he is going to die from that whooping you just inflicted on him. The real numbers look like this.

$800 million dollars in actual cuts
$428 million dollars by eliminating the HTRG (property tax increase)
$500 million in reserve funds

and the kicker

$1.4 billion from Federal State Fiscal Stabilization Fund.

Not so close to the bone as one might think.  Remember GO FISH. It is still fully funded.  Several other pet projects still in there too.

The most shocking thing is the amount of debt service that we have inflicted during this recent crisis.  It currently stands at 6.5%.  (6.5% of 18 billion dollars)  Care to see what that looks like?  Try just a little over 1.2 billion dollars.  Now the GOParanoid are quick to point out that this is just 1% higher than the last democratic Governor’s budget and that when adjusted for inflation and population…yadda yadda yadda.  Truth is that 1% of 18 billion is a hell of a lot more than 1% of 14 billion dollars, and if you ever hear someone want to adjust some figures get ready to be lied to.

Can this problem be fixed?  Sure.  All we need is zero-based budgeting, priority spending, and a revenue system that works.  Good luck getting that with the present legislature and governor.  It was encouraging to see 48 other House Members that joined Alan Powell to vote against FY 10 budget.  These legislators warned of the very things that are happening now.  Hopefully, someone will start listening soon.

Amazing finish at the race yesterday. If you missed it, check out:

  • Kyle Busch blocking Tony Stewart on the last lap one too many times.
  • Stewart’s cojones of steel as he holds his ground and makes Busch pay for it.
  • Busch getting creamed by A) Stewart B) the wall C) Kahne from behind D) Logano from the side.

Glad that KB is okay, although it’s nice to see that smug A-hole lose a sure-fire second place finish for being a jerk.

Nathan Deal took a plurality of the straw poll votes for Governor in Cobb County. Courtesy of Political Insider:

  • Deal, 120 (28%)
  • John Oxendine, 111 (26%)
  • Karen Handel, 99 (23%)
  • Eric Johnson, 43 (10%)
  • Austin Scott, 35 (8%)

coronas

PeachPundit has the exclusive on this new project called the 1776 project.

I’m not overly opposed to anything the group is doing other than it seems to be a solution looking for a problem; however, someone should remind them that the U.S. Constitution was written in 1787 and not 1776. 

Oh well.  Can’t expect conservatives to get everything right.

This blog has been kind to former Forsyth County Commissioner David Richard. It’s a good thing to have a fiery leader sometimes, and Richard certainly fit the bill.

Richard lost a primary fight (as an incumbent) last year, and has been replaced by Patrick Bell on the County Commission. A news article regarding Bell’s pro-business stance can be found at Cumming Home, with a few choice comments from Richard himself.

Those choice comments (directed at a variety of people, not Bell himself) include:

  • I don’t give a rat’s patoot about your alleged business skills; you don’t know jack about what you’re posting.
  • Apparently the economy of the entire world has passed you by in the last 50 years of ignorance you have lived.
  • You, sir, are a class-A, Number 1 MORON when it comes to economic issues.
  • I see that they’ve had an escape from the Yerkes Primate Research Center over in Gwinnett again, haven’t they?
  • Keep your amateur psychobabble to yourself. I have yet to read a single statement from you that shows any latent intelligence.
  • It is my fervent hope, Tony, that some day one of these mental midgets might actually learn something more than being able to count to twenty without having to remove their shoes.

Anyone who thought that Mr. Richard will shuffle off into that good night is sadly mistaken.

Well done, good sir, well done. An keyboard in the hands of Dave Richard is like a violin in the hands of a virtuoso.

Not sure how to begin this post:

It could have been named:

Romeo seeks 9th District Congressional Seat
Evans encourage Iranians to Take up Arms against Government
Evans promises to bring back Goldwater Ideals to North Georgia
Evans Teabags the Fourth of July

Alright here we go.  Mike (I Make Romeo and
Juliet look like a comedy) Evans
was on the Martha (Rush Limbaugh without the Oxycontin) Zoller Show this morning.  Lately all the guest hosts from Ashley Bell to Tom (I don’t like my job) Smiley  have been on a 2nd Amendment kick.  Mike was no different.

He took a different approach in saying that the problem in Iran is that the government has all the guns.  Surely, he is not trying to incite a civil war in Iran.  Not sure we need that kind of radical in Congress. 

He continued down the road of our President is a socialist.  He threw the word Marxist in there a couple of times.  He went on to bash Cap and Trade and the energy bill without offering any other solutions to the problem. 

Strange that republicans like to call Cap and Trade a tax increase, but vote for unfunded mandates which increase property taxes and call that the price of doing business.  Face it Mike, you are a tax and shift and spend liberal just like your buddy James Mills.

I don’t really think Mike has much of a chance.  Whether it is his love affair with Gena; The quid pro quo relationship he had with our state representative; or the fact that he hasn’t really done anything to prove his leadership. 

Time will tell.

Today’s Assignment:

Read the headline for this Fox News article.

Read the first three paragraphs of the actual story.

Can you find the error that might lead one to believe that the news source is biased?

Massive downturn in traffic the past month. It’s probably because there is no longer an American Idol recap, which drove huge amounts of out-of-state vistors to the blog.

Never fear, we didn’t need those punks anyway.

  • Lake Lanier water levels 23%
  • left on lanier, inappropriate candy (both tied at 15%)
  • adam lambert  13%
  • nathan deal for governor  6%
  • great white attack, Mike Adcock, state budget deficits per capita (all tied at 4%)
  • roy barnes for governor  3%
  • carol mccain  1%

Funniest search term this past month? Impotent and randy men got three hits each.

…when the guy’s name is Jim Bob Cooter

Great alt-pop song, plus you can watch a drummer progress from casually bored to HOLY-CRAP-I-GOTTA-POUND-THE-SKINS!!!

After showering the governor with a semi-positive post below, we tear him down with this YouTube submission.

Mild criticism of Congressman (and Georgia Gubernatorial candidate) Nathan Deal’s stump speech from the Columbia County News-Times:

At the top of the speechifying ticket was U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, who had also spoken that morning at the Columbia County Republican Party breakfast.

Deal is among the dozen or so candidates running for governor, the two speeches Saturday were his formal introduction to Columbia County politics.

The almost universal response: Boooooring.

Deal has never been the most charismatic fella, and he still has plenty of time to polish that speech. The Congressman probably isn’t trotting out his A-game quite yet.

The governor explains his adulterous relationship at The Star:

  • “This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story,” Sanford said.
  • “There was some kind of connection from the very beginning,” he said.
  • Jenny Sanford found out about the affair in January and has said her husband asked her for permission several times to visit his mistress and she refused.
  • Sanford also admitted meeting his lover more times than he had previously claimed.

This is different from any other political sex scandal in recent memory. Clinton, Vitter, Craig, Edwards and Spitzer repented after their peepee was discovered in someone else’s vajayjay. Can anybody remember a politician declaring “a connection” with the other woman? Or calling them a “soulmate”?

This is turning into some kind of tragedy, a shakespearian tale of lost love and quiet desperation. He committed adultery. And it sounds a lot like love.

There’s really no pleasant way for this to end, is there?

So while many gleefully deride the governor for his moral failings, remember that Sanford doesn’t appear to be in love with his wife anymore. He has forged a bond with another. Poor choices, perhaps from a long-ago marriage proposal that should never have been uttered, have created more bad roads that the governor traveled.

It’s sad to see it all end like this. Sanford should resign. He should also get a divorce, repair his relationship with his kids, and follow his heart to Argentina if that’s where it lies.

No glee here. Just a realistic and compassionate path forward that might still leave his wife with some dignity, his sons with some moral fiber, and himself with a chance at future happiness.

…courtesy of Yahoo News.

Republican Candidate for Governor Austin Scott is walking the state.

Yes, the (nearly) entire state. An estimated 1,000 miles total.

It’s been done before in different campaigns but it’s still pretty cool. People like to see their candidates up close and personal, and if they’re a bit sweaty and a bit dirty, all the better.

So, props to Rep. Scott on having dogged feet that match his ambition.

Paul Krugman gives a brief explanation why free-market principles don’t work in the heathcare debate:

…the standard competitive market model just doesn’t work for health care: adverse selection and moral hazard are so central to the enterprise that nobody, nobody expects free-market principles to be enough.

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