SWGA Politics

Democrats Trying To Scare Teachers

A few minutes ago, Jim Galloway reported on some numbers that sound scary. Someone sent out a memo today (I’ll get to who in a moment) that said that given the current budget crisis, either 14,000 teachers across the State would have to be fired or every single teacher in the State would have to take a 15% decrease in pay.

Fortunately, as he typically does when he can, Mr. Galloway also linked to the full memo so we could all read the entire thing.

After making such dire predictions, what does the author of the memo suggest the General Assembly do instead?
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You’re Being Played

Over the last week and a half or so, much ado has been made about potential cuts to colleges (including cutting several degree programs at Albany State and other institutions) and the 4H program. Indeed, this is what motivated my first discussion on the budget last Friday.

Now, I keep hearing from legislators and some pundits that this isn’t the legislators’ fault – it is the Board of Regents’ and the Presidents of the colleges themselves. They claim it is a Constitutional issue, that the Georgia General Assembly can’t dictate to any school, or the Board of Regents as a whole, exactly how to spend its money.

Most people may see this as a cop-out, as the legislators trying to dodge a bullet.

But the legislators are correct.

Per Article VIII, Section IV, Paragraph 1(c) of the Constitution of the State of Georgia:

All appropriations made for the use of any or all institutions in the university system shall be paid to the board of regents in a lump sum, with the power and authority in said board to allocate and distribute the same among the institutions under its control in such way and manner and in such amounts as will further an efficient and economical administration of the university system.

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Sure Nancy…I believe you

Yesterday afternoon, Reason.com’s blog Hit & Run had an interesting tidbit.  Apparently, Nancy Pelosi is saying that we can’t really know what’s in the healthcare bill until they actually pass it.  After that, we’re going to love it!  After all, she says, it’s about “diet, not diabetes.”

Sure, I believe you Nancy.  Just because that argument is right up there with “your shoe laces are untied” and “what’s that behind you?” is no reason to not believe you, right? Read More …

Want to make an impact? Threaten something popular

Lately, there’s been a lot of flak about cutting 4-H and the Extension offices by the University of Georgia as part of their budget cuts.  Politicians on both sides of the isle are swearing oaths to defend 4-H programs with to their final breath.  Editorials in papers all over the state are condemning the move and citing the benefits for such programs.  The voters are screaming that they don’t want such programs to disappear, reflecting fondly on their youth in such programs.

And that’s all according to plan. Read More …

Libertarian AND Christian

Yes, Bill, I saw your post. You didn’t bother to link here, so I’m not going to bother to link to your upstart either. I also maintain my commitment to not work with you so long as you harbor the known liar Mike Sabot. With that said, your post does deserve a response, and here it is:

Free Will.

It is God’s greatest gift to mankind – the very gift that necessitated the Mosaic Law (which was always meant to be temporary) and the Cross (the permanent Sacrifice).

The Big Government Party, with its proxies the Tea Party and the Coffee Party, wants to infringe upon that penultimate gift from God to humans. I hold that in doing so, you try to put yourselves above God Almighty.

As a Christian, I believe that NO ONE is higher than God and that each and every man, woman, and child who ever lived, lives, or will live, must choose each day whether they will serve God or sin. It is NOT my place to tell them how they should live, though I am certainly free to act as an individual and peaceably let my feelings be known.
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SCOTUS hearing incorporation case

The Supreme Court.  They’re hearing arguments and making a decision on the idea of incorporation, or in simpler terms whether the Bill of Rights extends it’s authority to states and local governments as well, in the case of McDonald vs. Chicago.  Now, most of the Bill of Rights has already been incorporated.  McDonald only deals with one amendment.  The second one.

My question is, why is this even up for discussion? Read More …

Do you blame them from pulling out?

Yesterday, we learn that five of six candidates for the school superintendent pulled their names from consideration.  The sixth candidate is Dr. Joshua Murfree, who has been…well, let’s say…less than well received.  Frankly, I can’t say I blame the other finalists. Read More …

Sometimes, a kid just needs a whooping

It was Saturday night. My family and I went to see a movie, Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief, as part of my wife’s birthday celebration. There were, obviously, a lot of teen aged kids in the theater.  Nothing was surprising about that at all.

Now this often sets my cringe factor going, since I enjoy not having to deal with unruly people, and teens in a theater have an annoying habit of being unruly.  But what happened Saturday night went beyond the normal “unruly” which annoys me but is otherwise harmless. Read More …

You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

Any economy, no matter how far it falls, will eventually improve. Yes, even with Keansian ideas being put into play. Even an economic collapse will eventually improve, with the possible exception of the one that formed in Ayn Rand’s mind as she was writing Atlas Shrugged. Government shortfalls will eventually end as well. But unless something is clear to taxpayers, they will return.

Basically, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Read More …

Freedom. What is it good for?

The Land of the Free.

It’s been beaten into our heads since childhood that our nation is free, that we can do what we want.  But let’s be honest, it’s all bull.  There’s a lot we can do, and there’s more we can do here than pretty much anywhere else on Earth.  But are we really free?  Not hardly. Read More …