SWGA Politics

There isn’t a gun show loophole[ August 27, 2010 – 7:00 am]by Tom Posted in » National

The following was originally posted over at TomKnighton.com. Yeah, I’m writing a lot more over there but it’s because I’m working more on national level stuff. While the politics of SWGA is still important to me, my focus has been to try and work more on national level issues. If you haven’t yet, please come check it out!

Having a conversation with someone recently, the phrase “gun show loophole” came up. In all fairness, it was a conversation about guns and gun control, so the phrase wasn’t completely random. Unfortunately, as I pointed out to the individual in question, it is mythical. Why’s that you ask? Because there isn’t one. Read More …

Lee County Board of Commissioners Meeting Tonight – with Library![ August 24, 2010 – 4:28 am]by Jeff Posted in » Lee County

The agenda for tonight’s meeting is up, and because it is the voting meeting, it is largely the same as the Agenda from two weeks ago.

Bob Alexander is requesting approval of the proposed design of Westover Rd Extension from Ledo to Fussell. On the Ledo side, the road will join west of the road IHOP is on, possibly right beside the skating rink. This end of the road is to line up with the proposed Westover Extension that is currently being proposed for Dougherty County. On the Fussell side, the road will pass close to the Grand Island property before meeting with Fussell just east of the 7th Day Adventist Church – causing two stop signs within a few hundred feet of each other. He also is proposing another sign ordinance moratorium (that still only affects permitted signs, even though it is another section that is in violation of State law) and hopes to have a new Ordinance to propose next month.

Mike Sistrunk, director of Public Works, has a proposal to buy a Bat Wing Mower using money that was allocated in the budget for another purchase which he does not need at this time.
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Of Brett Bittner And Erick Erickson[ August 22, 2010 – 5:45 am]by Jeff Posted in » State

Last night, elected Republican City Councilman Erick Erickson took issue with appointed LP-Georgia Operations Director Brett Bittner’s Facebook post saying that Republican Governor candidate Nathan Deal was “in good company” with Neo-Nazis.

This is the same Erick Erickson who once tied another group of Neo-Nazis, StormFront, around Ron Paul’s neck. (This is also the same Erick Erickson who, as GriftDrift likes to point out, once called a sitting Supreme Court Justice a “goat f*cking child molester“.)

Clearly, Brett needs to be more careful in what he puts up on Facebook. Of course, saying what Erick said about a sitting Supreme Court Justice also falls into the “be more careful about what you post” category as well.
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Fear Mongering and Voting in Georgia[ August 20, 2010 – 4:14 am]by Jeff Posted in » 2010 Campaigns

[UPDATE Aug 20 2010] After some requests, I’m bumping this post back to the top of the page this morning while I work on another post on this topic that I hope to get up over the weekend. -Jeff

Republicans for several years now have consistently played the “fear” card when it comes election time. They consistently set up some Democrat – be it Al Gore, Roy Barnes, John Kerry, Mark Taylor, or Barack Obama – as some kind of Big Evil that is out to destroy us all, and then try to make us so afraid that we HAVE to vote for the Republican to avoid the Boogie Man. They tell us that if we vote for some “third” party that is more in line with our personal values rather than Their Candidate, the Boogie Man will win and all hope will be lost.

The problem is, Georgia is a “Runoff State” in every election other than the actual Presidential Election. In every race in this State other than President of the United States, a single candidate MUST receive 50% of the votes plus one vote in order to win the election.

It is due to Georgia being a Runoff State that the case for third parties is actually made EASIER, upon any amount of thought.
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The Irrational Fear of The King[ August 18, 2010 – 7:11 pm]by Jeff Posted in » 2010 Campaigns

Jason has a GREAT post about Republican scare tactics related to one Roy Barnes over on his site (and yes, I liked his title so much I largely borrowed it, so I’m giving him credit here).

Here’s a sample, I encourage you to go there to read the rest. (emphasis mine)

The “pseudo-crisis[es]” Jace is talking about is the “King Roy” meme and worries about redistricting.

The “King Roy” meme is just ridiculous. Republicans held the minority during his term as Governor from 1999 to 2003, so I’m sure the Republicans that were in the legislature at the time remember unpleasant fights over legislative issue. That stuff happens, especially when your party isn’t in control.
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Property Rights: An American Anachronism[ August 18, 2010 – 6:00 am]by Tom Posted in » National

The following post originally appeared at TomKnighton.com.

In a recent poll, CNN found that 68% of Americans oppose the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque”. Never mind the fact that it’s not actually on Ground Zero. Never mind that the mosque isn’t exactly new to that community. Let’s ignore all that and make decisions based on emotion, regardless of property rights. Make no mistake folks, this is all this is about. Read More …

Lee County Sign Ordinance Meeting TONIGHT[ August 17, 2010 – 4:42 am]by Jeff Posted in » Lee County

Tonight, the Lee County Planning Commission will meet at 6pm at the T Page Tharpe Building – in the Opal Cannon Auditorium where the Board of Commissioners meets, I think.

From what I have been told, the only thing on the Agenda (which is not online at this time) is the “final draft” of the new proposed Lee County Sign Ordinance, which you can see for yourself in .docx form here based on a scan from a printed copy I was given.

One issue is that retailers are not allowed to cover more than 25% of their windows – which means some pretty drastic changes for convenience stores and other businesses. The Institute for Justice has already tackled a similar ban in Dallas, TX.
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Is John Monds Already Polling At 20%?[ August 16, 2010 – 4:25 am]by Jeff Posted in » 2010 Campaigns

For “third” Parties, the magic number in any Gubernatorial election is 20%. At 20%, Ga law says the “third” Party is finally legally equal to the “Big 2″.

At least one site seems to think that John Monds could be near the 20% mark:

From the Free Independent-Sun:

I noticed something quite disturbing when studying recent polling for elections around the country. Rasmussen Reports will include upwards of 6 or 7 candidates in the Democrat and Republican Primaries, sometimes with candidates that only receive 1% of the vote, yet when it comes to the General Election they will only include the two Democrat-Republican candidates despite there being sometime upwards of 3 or 4 other candidates from Third Party Nominations or Independent Nominations. This case is most present and most dangerous in a particular Governor’s election in Georgia, where the African-American Libertarian Candidate John Monds is left out of General Election polls despite having won 33.4% in a statewide election in 2008, and apparently the most likely winner of the 15- 20% of unaccounted votes in Rasmussen Polls.

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Called Meeting Gets Contentious[ August 14, 2010 – 3:16 am]by Jeff Posted in » Lee County

The Albany Herald’s Carlton Fletcher has a great summary of the meeting here.

I thought this meeting could get “interesting”, and I knew its subject matter was very important, so I went through considerable effort to make sure we got video of the meeting, even though I personally could not be there.

And here it is: (For those mostly interested in the fireworks, that appears to be mostly in Part 5)

Part 1:

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