OK, I’ve stalled enough before the jump. Here’s what Tom and I found so funny that we literally couldn’t type for several minutes from laughing so hard:

Now, let’s ignore the fact that there are laws stating that hospitals can’t refuse to treat people, and go right to Phoebe’s own charter.

You see, Phoebe was created thanks to the generosity of Judge Putney, who put in three stipulations for the hospital. One, was he wanted it named after his mother, Phoebe. Next, he wanted it built out of non-flammable materials. There had been a lot of hospital fires during that time, as most were built out of wood, and he didn’t want that to happen. Finally, as this was the Deep South, the hospital couldn’t refuse treatment to anyone for any reason. This prevented Phoebe from being a “White’s Only” or “Colored Only” during segregation. Both whites and blacks were treated there.

However, we see that Phoebe doesn’t mind violating it’s own charter.  Phoebe claims the issue is a “communications issue”.  I don’t know though.  The word “no” is usually pretty damn clear and not open for interpretation, wouldn’t you say?

The problem? The student’s name is Constance rather than Conrad.

Yes, Constance is a lesbian, and rather than just showing up at her prom wearing a tux with her girlfriend on her arm, she checked with the school to make sure she would be allowed to attend when she did. (There is a bit of debate over what she should have done here, and I’ve heard from both sides. Personally, I think she probably did the smart thing at this point in the story.)

The school refused, and when she threatened a lawsuit, the school cancelled prom altogether.

Up to this point, I’m with Constance all the way. She should have been allowed to attend that prom wearing the formal wear of her choice and accompanied by the person of her choice. The school had NO right to dictate otherwise. In a public education environment (ie, government school), ALL viewpoints MUST be held as equally valid. After all, viewpoints are opinions, and everyone has their own opinions about things. I don’t buy the whole “social chaos” argument, as that has been used for generations to do nothing more than tyrannically oppress those outside the majority. (And is currently being used in the ongoing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell debate, but that is a whole other discussion.)

But here’s where I side with the school:

Rather than organizing her own prom, as people have done for the past 50 years in similar situations, Constance is now suing the school to force them to hold the prom.

In so doing, she crossed the line from defending her personal rights (association, religion, etc) into attacking the rights of others (association).

Both Constance and her school are now in the wrong. At least the school made the right choice of either accepting everyone or canceling the event for everyone, rather than only excluding “certain groups”. (I disagree with the ACLU position here, as canceling for everyone ALSO meets the Constitutional requirement of equal protection.) Constance, once a person I would have championed without reservation, has now acted in such a way that I have to qualify my support with the note about her own actions restricting freedom.

But yet again, this brings up the true point: If we separated schools from government, none of this would happen. She could be at a private school more accepting of her sexual orientation, and the homophobes at her school could be at a private school where they can continue their cult. No government involvement in either decision, so no room for anyone on the outside (such as a blogger in SWGA) to decry any aspect of what happens.

So I guess we’re all screwed now.

Hodges is the front runner for the Democratic nomination for the Attorney General’s office.  There’s a good chance that he’ll win, as things stand right now.  And with the power of the AG’s office, he’ll be free to abuse power in even more ways. 

Frankly, I have a problem with any elected official having immunity from lawsuits based on them “doing their job”.  Why?  I think people need to think very carefully about their actions.  Immunity means that DA’s and such can go off half-cocked and not have to live with the ramifications of their actions.  Hodges is a prime example.

Let’s also note the curious circumstances regarding Hodges “involvement” in the Phoebe case.  First, the Factoids are sent out.  They make Phoebe look bad.  Then, Hodges gets involved.  A short time later, Hodges girlfriend (now wife) gets hired by Phoebe from WALB.  Then, Hodges decided to step down in his last weeks in office to enter “private practice”.  That practice?  The Baudino Law Group, which happens to represent Phoebe.

Of course, his “private practice” time didn’t last long.  He announced for Attorney General a relatively short time afterwards.  Really though, why should we expect honesty out of Hodges mouth?  I’d just as soon expect a zebra to become Hiedi Klum.  There’s a better chance of the zebra changing.

I love my home state.  I’m proud to be a Georgian.  I love my home town too.  But right now, I don’t hold out a lot of hope for Georgia.  If Hodges wins, I might have to think about relocating to Alabama.

Obviously, Consolidation is a tough issue that requires thoughtful debate and contemplation.  But that’s not what Rep. Rynder’s bill is about.  No, it’s about giving the people the right to vote.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Somehow, this got twisted and turned into a debate about consolidation itself when now’s not really the time for that.

Of course, Jack Stone would be delighted to see consolidation die at the state level, but it’s not about him.  He gets the same vote that I do, and it’s one that I want to make.  Will it be in favor of consolidation?  Who knows?

However, Sims said she believes we have the right to vote.  I want to remind her of that, and remind her that the bill is holding up in the Senate until she decides to do something.  If she does nothing, then it shows her comments about the voters of Albany and Dougherty County having the right to decide was nothing more than political posturing, a straight out lie.  If she does something, and puts a bill through, then she will have shown she’s good for her word.  That’s something rare for politicians today and could help her not only win reelection, but also move on to bigger and better things if that’s what she wants.

Self determination is a basic American ideal.  It’s long past time for us to decide, as the residents of this area, whether we want two governments, or just one.  Let the people decide.  Why is that so hard for some elected officials to do?

Now, before going too far into this post, I should note that this is in ADDITION to current HOPE scholarships, it is NOT replacing them.

With that said, HOPE is one of those entitlement programs that is costing the State quite a bit of money – money that, as I’ve been discussing for the past week on this site, the State really doesn’t have right now. The problem for legislators is that, like Social Security at the National level, HOPE really has become the third rail of Georgia politics.

But HOPE really does need reform. It has produced unprecedented grade inflation, and high school teachers feel constant pressure to award a “B” in the class, even for students that literally did not turn in a single piece of paper in the entire semester. I know this, because I was once a high school teacher and was pressured to do just that.

The allegations that a “B” in one system doesn’t mean the same thing as a “B” in another, while exaggerated to some degree, do hold a degree of truth as well. However, at the same time by the very laws of competition, a student who is the valedictorian in a graduating class of 60 may be only middle of the pack in a graduating class of 600.

What can be done to save HOPE? That honestly is one of the very difficult questions legislators and other policy makers face. I can almost guarantee you that the proposed tax on lottery tickets won’t help matters here.

But as to what exactly can be done, I honestly think a gradual transition to some combination of both merit AND needs based is probably among the top ideas. But we must still worry about not incentivizing detrimental behavior. For example, if we put an income cap on the family eligibility at say $250K annual income, families around the $200K annual income range have a reason NOT to try to further better themselves. If they try to better themselves and gain an additional $51K in income, all of a sudden they have to pay for their kids’ education.

But this actually brings me back full circle and gets me out of sounding like a Republican: If we remove public money from education completely and make ALL education efforts private, EVERYONE has a reason to continue to better themselves. At that point, EVERYONE will be competing for private scholarships or paying for their own education through some combination of work and loans. With everyone seeking to better themselves, as happens in a capitalistic society, the economy continues to grow. The recession ends, and more and more opportunities become available for everyone as more people are more willing and able to donate to private charity again.

HOPE is one entitlement that could be phased out relatively quickly – if our legislators had the cajones to do it. A law could be passed in the remaining 14 days of this Session that says basically that the incoming freshmen in the 2010-2011 school year would be the last class eligible for HOPE. That would give students, parents, and private charities four years to gear up to be on their own in paying for college, rather than driving down the highway at 120 mph and slamming into a brick wall, as ending the program right now would be.

Within the existing structure, I think this bill, SB 496, is a good one.

But I still say government involvement in education, including HOPE, needs to end. Completely.

Last year, one of the first bills I took on head on here on this site was HB 614, the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. I teamed up with Jason and others across the State – including Neal Boortz at one point! – to get this bill killed once it was brought to our attention, and it died in the Senate only to have a resuscitation attempt made in the House in the form of an amendment to another bill.

Now, it has been re-introduced in a new bill, SB 418, minus the “Prescription Drug Monitoring Program” title. 418 is largely the exact same thing as 614. Clearly, there are elements within the General Assembly that desperately want this measure to pass.

This thing has exactly 14 days to rear its ugly head if it is to become law this year. If it does not pass through the Senate by close of business exactly two weeks from tonight, on March 25, the 30th day of the Session known as “Crossover Day”, it is truly dead until next year.

Liberty lovers, we need to be contacting the Senators NOW. Let them know that we do NOT want this gross violation of privacy rights passed. If they are not inclined to listen to privacy rights issues, let them know that this will be an additional expense, possibly in the million dollar range, and that fiscal reality is that if they want this program they will have to find another million dollars to cut or raise taxes.

This bill was where I really came to admire State Senator Preston Smith. His defense of individual rights – including citing Orwell – was absolutely amazing – the best I’ve yet seen on the floor of the Georgia General Assembly.

I’ll let him have the last word here, in the video of his questioning of State Senator David Shafer and later speech from the well himself in this video. His questioning is at the beginning, his own statements begin roughly at the 14:10 mark:

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?

First, he says we should “identify and curtail the tax exemptions that are eroding the State’s revenues”. Then we need to “update our antiquated tax structure. (The level of state taxes has fallen as a percent of our total economy from about 6% in the decade of the 1990s to less than 5% today.)” After that, we should “improve the collection of the sales and income taxes that are now legally required”. Next, we should “consider some new taxes. (Thirty-three states have raised taxes to help in meeting their needs.)”. Finally, we should “recognize the value of a good education not only for our students but for everyone in Georgia”.

Now, if you’ve been following one particular group closely, like my friend Keith McCants over at Peanut Politics has, you might recognize a lot of those points. They’re pretty common talking points.

From Democratic Party of Georgia candidates and activists.

Yep, this is a classic scare tactic designed to minimize cuts to the single largest Department in the State budget – the State Department of Education. (Nearly $7 Billion of the Governor’s original $18 Billion FY 2011 budget went to this one Department.)

Let’s get one thing clear right now. No one in the Big Government Party WANTS to cut Education. None of them. Not off the record. Not whispers. Not even in their own heads will they ever consider wanting to cut education. Even us Libertarians who want to eliminate the State Department of Education completely don’t want to cut education – we just want to eliminate the State bureaucracy associated with it, and let parents and communities decide for themselves what kind of education they want their kids to have.

But when a single Department almost as big as the next two biggest Departments COMBINED? Yeah, it HAS to take a hit, whether or not anyone wants it to.

Will those cuts be as dire as the author of that memo seems to think? As I said this morning, anything is certainly possible at this point. Everything related to the budget is absolutely fluid right now. But political realities suggest that for ANYONE to make those cuts, knowing that teachers and their families make up the single largest voting bloc in the State, they must already be packing up their offices for a permanent move back to wherever they call home when the General Assembly is not in session. Because anyone who votes for such a drastic cut to teachers WILL be challenged, either in a Primary or a General, and it WILL be a fight that may or may not be winnable for the incumbent.

I’ll close with letting you in on the “secret” about the author of that memo. He works for a group called the Georgia School Funding Association – a group that by and large advocates increasing taxes to pay for education, despite “education” as a policy area being 57% of the State budget already.

But who is he? His name is Joe Martin.

His brother, Jim Martin, was the 2008 Democratic Party of Georgia nominee for US Senate.

Through these discussions, some hypothetical numbers have been thrown out there, and I think they merit a discussion here.

Let’s take the target as $1 Billion. This is the number everyone was working off of last week, and most still are.

Most special interest tax breaks expire after some number of years and have to be renewed to continue. It is thought that we can save $100 million in non-renewal of certain special interest tax breaks this year.

We could then try to convince people near retirement age to take an early retirement, and save another $100 million. ($200 million so far, $800 million to go)

We then make $400 million in out right cuts. This is just me thinking, not anything that was mentioned by any source, but I genuinely think we can probably find $100 million to cut in each of the Big 4 Departments, and barring that it should be extremely easy to find $50 million to cut in each of the Elite 8 departments that eat up something like $16 Billion of last year’s $18 Billion budget. Again remember though, the Board of Regents is one of the Big 4, and they are a “black box” – the General Assembly ONLY gets to dictate the level of funding, not what that level pays for. In other words, the General Assembly could tell the Board of Regents to cut $50 million, and the Board could decide to cut the $11 million 4H program in retaliation, as they have already threatened to do. ($600 million down, $400 million to go)

Here’s where we start to step out of the hypothetical and into the realm of bills already being introduced though:

Next, we look at $300 million in outright tax increases. There’s a whole lot of taxes charged by the State out there, and it would hypothetically be possible to raise $300 million without any single tax being raised dramatically – but it would still be a tax increase, and it would still be felt to some degree. Proposals already out there include a hospital bed tax and a $1 per pack increase in the cigarette tax, but that will be the subject of another post later today. ($900 million down, $100 million to go)

Finally, we look at $100 million in “user fee modernization”. Some sources have had the cajones to call them fee increases outright, and Rep Earl Erhart had a bill introduced last session to call them what they are – tax increases. Some of these proposals already out there include a $75 surcharge to run for office at any level (HB 1297). Which means that instead of paying $25 or so to run for Lee County School Board, now you would pay $100 – with $75 of it going directly to the State. There is also a proposal out there to increase court fees which in the most extreme case would be a nearly 700% increase (from $5 to $34), with increases anywhere from 33%-150% being more common. That bill is HB 1328. HB 1343 would increase the cost of probation by $7 per month, as well as double the one time fee for a felon.

Finally, there is also a pair of bills that would place the fee maintenance burden on the department heads (shifting the blame for any increases away from the General Assembly), but then require a published list of all fees every year (thus at least letting you know once a year what the fees are). These are HB 1283 and HB 1284, respectively.

What I have presented above is a hypothetical, completely fluid picture of what is possibly being considered by the General Assembly as we speak. It is a finely balanced 5 legged stool, and if any leg comes up short, the shortfall must be made up somewhere else.

As you can see though, everything – including tax increases – IS on the table at the moment.

[UPDATE] One potential “silver bullet” (the ONLY thing mentioned to me as such)?

A 2.5 cent tax on everything purchased, with no exceptions whatsoever.

I’m not sure how seriously this one is being considered, but it WAS something that was discussed out loud, at least to me.

Radio talk show host Jeff Scott will be returning to radio via the Internet starting on Monday, March 15, using YouTube and BlogTalkRadio to continue to reach the people of Middle Georgia and the world.

“Even though I believe the Internet will never fully replace terrestrial radio, it is still a budding market for radio and a wonderful way to reach listeners” said Scott, who plans to post a video to YouTube every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to go with a one-hour live radio show every Tuesday and Thursday evening beginning at 7:00 PM. “I am excited about getting back on the air to speak with the people of Middle Georgia.”

Scott says that, even though the show will be broadcast on the Internet and available to the world, he will still be focused on local Middle Georgia issues and statewide issues in his new show and on YouTube. “The content focus of the show will not change. There is nobody else who analyzes local and state issues with a focus on liberty, and I will continue to be that local and state voice for liberty,” Scott said.

In addition to his new YouTube channel and Internet radio show, Scott will continue to be actively blogging on his website, www.JeffScottShow.com and using both Twitter and Facebook to reach out to listeners new and old.

For More Information:

Website: www.jeffscottshow.com
BlogTalkRadio: www.blogtalkradio.com/jeffscottshow
YouTube: www.youtube.com/jeffscottshow
Facebook: www.facebook.com/jeffscottshow
Twitter: www.twitter.com/jeffscottshow