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Supporting Local Control

By Jeff, on February 8th, 2011%

Last night, State Senator Judson Hill (R-Marietta) tweeted:

I stand with many in my district, the GA Baptist Convention, GA Conservatives in Action, & the GA Christian Coalition opposing Sunday sales

For the purposes of this post, I’m actually going to ignore the fact that this blatantly theocratic stance mirrors the Sharia laws of many Muslim theocracies, including Iran.

No, next I want to highlight Senator Hill’s immediately priot tweet, which said:

I applaud Judge Vinson?s ruling labeling Obama?s health care overhaul unconstitutional

You see, like most Republicans, Senator Hill has been anti-Obama from the beginning. He has correctly opposed Obamacare, even while introducing bills such as SB 6 that implement pieces of it.

But here’s my point:

Obamacare is correctly seen as overriding the State’s regulatory “duty” in healthcare. Its opponents, in essence, cry out in FAVOR of local control of these regulations – at least so far as “local” is defined as “State”,

What I am thus trying to understand is the mental gymnastics required to in the very next breath OPPOSE local control of something so minor as alcohol sales in stores.

To be fair, I find it equally hard to understand the mental gymnastics of those in favor of NON-”local” control of healthcare AND in favor of local control of sales of alcohol in stores.

Both sets of positions – and I have seen politicians and activists in this State on both of the above described sides – are absolutely logically inconsistent. Hypocritical, if you will. And both Republicans (the first set) and Democrats (the second set) share in this hypocrisy.

Indeed, the only Party in this State that has been consistent on these issues?

The Libertarian Party of Georgia. Won’t you join us?

One comment   Legislation   , , ,  

Teacher’s Bill of Rights

By Jeff, on January 21st, 2010%

Amidst the wide variety of bills dealing with education currently floating through the General Assembly is one in particular that stands out as a cut above the rest. Its goal is simple: to give teachers basic protections they have been wanting for a very long time. Many of the issues it attempts to correct were issues I personally experienced in my year in the classroom, and this would certainly have been a very welcome law then.

The bill in question is State Senator Judson Hill’s SB 307, the “Teacher’s Bill of Rights”. Yes, it is clearly an election year ploy designed to curry favor for Republicans among a very large voter bloc in Georgia – teachers – but it is something that has been genuinely needed for quite a while, and I would rather it be passed as an election year ploy than not at all.

So what are teachers’ rights, per this bill?
[Continue Reading]

2 comments   Commentary   ,  

[UPDATED] Gerry Purcell Lies About Health Care Bill?

By Jeff, on October 9th, 2009%

So says Stephen Northington, one of Purcell’s competitors in the race for the GOP nomination for State Insurance Commissioner.

Apparently, Purcell recently took credit for the health care proposal that State Senators Judson Hill and Chip Rogers introduced last month, claiming that they got the inspiration from something he claims to have done back in July. Given that they announced their bill on Sept 7, and Purcell claims to have originated the idea in July, it seems plausible… at first glance.

The problem is, Hill claims he was at a meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in April in Memphis when work on this bill first began – a claim that I have seen NO ONE dispute, and a claim I have no reason not to believe. Indeed, the resolution Hill’s bill is based on was adopted by ALEC’s Health and Human Services Task Force on May 1, and by the ALEC Board of Directors on June 6 – roughly a full month BEFORE Purcell claims to have originated the idea.

I’m still trying to talk to all of the players in this – I hope to talk to Northington and Purcell as well as Hill and Rogers on this issue – and I’ll update this post as I do.

After the jump, you will see both Northington’s press relase on the issue as well as the video Northington’s campaign uploaded with Purcell making the statement in question.
[Continue Reading]

5 comments   2010 Campaigns   , , , ,  

Georgia Health Care Constitutional Amendment

By Jeff, on September 9th, 2009%

Last week, State Senator Judson Hill (R-Marietta) announced that he had crafted a proposal for a Constitutional Amendment that would protect Georgians from any “public option” health care proposal at the Federal level and that he had the support of the Senate Republican Caucus in this effort.

As always, I try to read the bill before I comment on it. I figure that I can’t ask my Representatives to do something I’m not willing to do myself, and I also like to be informed so that I can then pass the knowledge on to y’all and whoever else asks me any questions.

This morning, Senator Hill sent me the text of the bill, which you can see for yourself here.

There are no calls for “states rights”, “10th Amendment”, “nullification”, or any other such thing in this bill – though the first two were mentioned at a press conference last week, by both Hill and Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock).
[Continue Reading]

One comment   Commentary, National   , ,