SWGA Politics

Roosters in Subdivisions? Say It Aint So![ March 10, 2010 – 11:19 am]by Jeff Posted in » Legislation

Lately, some “liberty” (I use the term loosely here) activists have gotten it into their heads that local governments are trying to persecute them.

How?

By saying “no” to roosters in subdivisions.

So they had their go-to boy, State Rep Bobby Franklin, introduce a bill that would preempt local control on this issue and mandate that no local government could prohibit gardening nor the keeping of chickens, goats, or rabbits – and nor could they require a permit for these activities.
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Project VoteSafe Approved by USDOJ[ December 30, 2009 – 5:37 am]by Jeff Posted in » Legislation

During this past session of the General Assembly, a new voting law was passed to allow people who have protective orders issued or are residents of a family violence shelter to shield their residence data on voter rolls. As I mentioned when I first wrote about this in May, this is a VERY good law, and genuinely needed to help protect people who have been abused. News has come out this morning that this law has been approved by the US DOJ under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act and can now be implemented.

Prior to this law being passed (by the General Assembly, not the Secretary of State), people who have been abused could be relatively easily tracked every time they registered to vote. After all, as long as you know a person’s first initial, last name, and date of birth, you can go to this site and get their address and all State and Federal districts they are in. You also need to know the county they live in, but so long as you know that they are in Georgia, you can do a brute-force attack and look through every single county if you are not sure about exactly where they are.
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Why I Want to Support Bobby Franklin But Can’t[ December 15, 2009 – 6:04 am]by Jeff Posted in » 2010 Campaigns, Legislation

State Rep Bobby Franklin is certainly an interesting case study in terms of political philosophy and political pragmatism/practicality.

Looking at just his pre-files for the 2010 session of the General Assembly that starts in about a month, he’s got several bills that are GREAT philosophically, though at least some of them are pure “mental masturbation” (ideas that are fun to debate, but stand little actual chance of happening) pragmatically. Then he’s got Ray McBerry’s “War Bills”. These are bills that, if enacted, would lead directly to a physical shooting war with the US Government – an idea he has said he supports.

Let’s take a brief look at the bills he has pre-filed this session:
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Moving Targets[ December 9, 2009 – 6:08 am]by Jeff Posted in » State

Quite a few new developments came out yesterday in the continuing saga of the fallout of Glenn Richardson’s political collapse, and I want to get y’all caught up, for the moment, on where things currently stand – at least as best as possible, given the currently available information.

In the Speaker chase, several new names cropped up. Erick Erickson, in an endgame I knew had to exist, went forward endorsing Tom Graves for the job late last night. Earlier in the day, a Facebook group to get Barry Loudermilk the job was created, and Bill Greene, a recent candidate for Mayor of Braselton, GA, wrote an article on the Campaign For Liberty site about this. The Facebook group was created by Jenny Hodges, Ray McBerry’s campaign manager, and quite a few of its current 22 members are people associated with Ray McBerry’s campaign, including the man who openly called for war against the US Government a month ago, State Rep Bobby Franklin. Quite frankly, while Loudermilk is well regarded, he simply doesn’t have the influence to pull this move off, and it is a VAST over-reach, which we’ll talk about in a moment.

Also placing his name in the Speaker chase was Tommy Smith, whom AJC’s Political Insider Jim Galloway credits as being the first entrant. Smith, an unknown who had many questions of “Who??” and “What????” erupting (even though he has been in the House for 30 years, much of that time as a Democrat) is running for the job on the promise of ending the hawk system I still need to get a chance to write about, but which DuBose Porter has made some great points against.

Others who have been named as possible contenders include Larry O’Neal of Warner Robbins (currently the chairman of the very influential Ways and Means Committee) and David Ralston.
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GA State Representative Calls For War Against US Government[ November 11, 2009 – 7:13 am]by Jeff Posted in » 2010 Campaigns, State

As I was checking Facebook before heading out to work, I came across the status in the screen grab after the jump from State Representative Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta).

In it, he states “As we remember our veterans today, let’s hope that someday soon maybe perhaps some will be willing to pay the ultimate price for freedom here at home.” (emphasis mine)

This is a CLEAR call for Civil War – soon – from a sitting member of the Georgia General Assembly!!!!

Of course, he is also a complete moonbat whackjob that no one in power listens to, and very few not in power listen to.

And he is EXTREMELY closely associated with “States’ Rights” Governor Candidate Ray McBerry – indeed, he is the sponsor for those 10 States’ Rights bills McBerry is so proud of!

I will update this story later tonight with more details and thoughts.
[See the Screen Grab]