Anibal Show

Harrisburg Welcome Walmart, Really?

2012-03-20T16:43:00.000-07:00

Dr. Azziz is having hard time to accomplish some things and when it does, changing the name of MCG to GHSU at a cost of $3 millions, the Georgia Board of Regents decided to merge ASU with GHSU. That will probably will cost another $3 millions. We only hope the funds will come from somewhere else not taxpayers money, again.

On the topic of Walmart, many neighbors from Harrisburg told this blogger that is not what commissioner Bowles wants to see as a landlord, who is not even from District 1 where the megastore suppose to be built, but is what the Harrisburg community desire to have in exchange for Kroger. This blogger and many neighbors from Harrisburg were not consulted by the foundation, Matt Aitken (Commissioner District 1) or any party involved on those closed doors dealings and we surely don't appreciate being in the dark.

Last year the Georgia Conservancy and the Georgia Institute of Technology's Urban Design Studio conducted the Harrisburg Blueprints Community Workshops and presented their findings to redesign the area. At that time this blogger sat next to Mayor Deke Copenhaver and Commissioner Aitken. Both never indicated anything about the intentions of Walmart coming to town.

Or they know how to keep secrets from their constituents during a workshop talking precisely on possibilities about Kroger or they didn't know anything until the last minute before they approve the offer from Walmart. In both cases, the neighbors who put time, effort and money in those workshops were idealistic poor sorry things.

Attorney Sanders to The RCSO Rescue

2012-03-19T20:07:00.000-07:00

Augusta lawyer Freddie Sanders, a former sheriff’s deputy who also served as Richmond County police chief from 1983 to 1985, before consolidation will run as a Republican for Sheriff, becoming the fifth candidate running to lead the Augusta Richmond County Sheriff Office.

The fact that a Republican candidate surge in a predominately Democratic county to run for office is surprising and probably is the result of a divided Democratic party among black factions. Now, where is Sanders choice to announce his candidacy is going to be a very important symbolism.

Sheriff’s Capt. Scott Peebles announced his candidacy on the steps of the Augusta-Richmond County Judicial Center and John H. Ruffin Jr. Courthouse, Lt. Robbie Silas in front of the Georgia Democratic Party satellite headquarter, Lt. John Ivey in front of the Municipal building, and Richmond County School Safety Lt. Richard Roundtree made his announcement at a church.

Attorney Sanders, known as a "very rich" person, has a few days to think where to announce his bid for Sheriff since candidate qualifying does not begin until May 23. He has the option of the jail, the new parking deck and the soon to finish TEE Center or the infamous Golf Hall of Fame. Or maybe in front of the conservative daily The Augusta Chronicle.

Sanders, who completed college and law school while working for the sheriff’s office, said his platform is simple: law and order, according to a report by susan McCord in The Augusta Chronicle.

“I’m going to arrest and prosecute these burglars and thieves,” Sanders said.

Sanders is the first candidate to announce he’ll run as a Republican in heavily Democratic Richmond County.

Sanders, who expects others to join him on the Republican ticket for sheriff, said he’ll campaign on arresting criminals and holding them accountable.

It will be interesting to know if Sanders will go after those people and businesses that profit from taxpayers money, such as the Trade, Exhibition and Events (TEE Center) that has so many in the county questioning about, and if he could solve the case of the $25,000 stolen from the Tax Office, some years ago.

Commissioner Mason Case

Freddie Sanders will make the case in defense of Augusta Commissioner Alvin Mason.

“I do not believe in any stretch of the imagination I believe at the trial he will be found not guilty, said Sanders, the “legal team” for Mason, in an interview regarding Mason who was booked on a charge of simple battery.

Mason was charged after his wife made call to 911 from the couple’s home on the night of December 23rd.

Sanders says Mason was not being violent toward his wife, but intervening in a confrontation between her and Mason's daughter.

“There was absolutely no violence, no striking, no choking...anything of that matter. He just intervened between his wife and family member and got them separated,” said Sanders.

“You should be concerned because of him being a public official, but there was no striking, she didn't even say he struck her. She said, 'he put his hands on me'. He did, but it was totally to separate it,” says Sanders.

Sanders supports State Court Solicitor Chuck Evans' decision to request the Attorney General appoint a special prosecutor in the case.

Mason is supposed to have his first court appearance on March 29th.

Source: News Channel 6

Criminal Justice and Tax Reforms Not Ready

2012-03-17T19:23:00.001-07:00

With the 2012 session of the Georgia General Assembly now in its final seven days, two of the major issues remaining for consideration in the House of Representatives are criminal justice reform and tax reform. Monday, March 19, will be the 34th legislative day of the 2012 session of the Georgia General Assembly.

The recommendations of a Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform, appointed last year by Gov. Nathan Deal, have resulted in the introduction of HB 1176, a bipartisan proposal that seeks to find a balance between ensuring public safety and reducing Georgia's prison system costs, which have risen dramatically along with the inmate population, which has more than doubled in the past 20 years. The state spends more than $1 billion a year to incarcerate more than 56,000 inmates.

Included in the measure are provisions that would:

Give judges more sentencing discretion for nonviolent offenses.
Raise the threshold for suspects charged with certain felonies.
Revise sentencing guidelines for burglary, shoplifting, forgery, marijuana possession and other offenses.
Expand the use of drug and mental health courts, which offer alternative sentencing for certain offenders, and add more community-based treatment centers for low-level offenders.

Gov. Deal explained the reasoning behind handling nonviolent offenders differently from hardened criminals this way: "We have to decide who we're scare of and who we're just mad at. This is not a 'get out of jail free' card. If you commit a violent crime in Georgia, you're going to prison, and we have more cells to keep you there for as long as needed."

HB 1176 is being reviewed by the Special Joint Committee on Criminal Justice Reform.

Meanwhile, the legislative clock is also ticking on tax reform which has been a priority item for the legislative leadership over the past two years but has seen little if any action. House leaders have said the most likely tax reform effort to be approved this year will be legislation (HB 86) to repeal the state sales tax on energy costs for manufacturers, which the proposal's supporters say hurts Georgia's ability to compete with other states in recruiting manufacturing jobs.

Supplemental Budget: The House and Senate also gave final approval to HB 741, the amended budget for the remainder of fiscal year 2012, which ends June 30. Totaling $18.5 billion, the plan now goes to Gov. Nathan Deal for his signature.

Final Passage: The House also agreed with Senate changes on two measures, sending those bills to the governor's desk. They include HB 48, which would change certain provisions regarding the Freeport exemption process, and HB 477, which would change the license renewal period for insurance agents from every year to every two years.

Other Senate bills approved by the House and sent to the governor include:

SB 300, which would require proper labeling for bottles containing sugar cane or sorghum syrup.

SB 309, which would grant special hunting permits for big game or alligators to terminally ill children under the age of 21. The measure would waive some rules on weapons, antler restrictions and hunter education requirements, although the young person would have to be supervised by a licensed adult hunter.

SB 343, which would designate the state accounting officer as the official comptroller general of Georgia, a position previously held by the state insurance commissioner.

Report provided by Rep. Pedro Marin

Puerto Rico Must Become Rich Port

2012-03-16T21:59:00.000-07:00

Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, and make up about 1.3% of the total population of the United States. They enjoy all the benefits of citizenship, save one: Puerto Ricans who live in Puerto Rico cannot vote for the U.S. President in the general elections (those who live in the United States are allowed to vote). Republican presidential pre-candidate Rick Santorum urged them to speak English in order to be part of the Union. Probably the threat of Santorum will spark the independent movement.

The U.S. put travel guides to Puerto Rico in their "International Travel" section rather than "Domestic Travel," where it belongs. On the other hand, Puerto Rico is technically part of the United States.

Puerto Rico is not a state, but rather a Commonwealth of the United States. This status provides local autonomy to the island and allows Puerto Rico to publicly display its flag. However, the government of Puerto Rico, while ostensibly a local responsibility, falls ultimately on the U.S. Congress. The elected governor of Puerto Rico occupies the highest public office on the island.

The vast majority of Puerto Ricans want to keep the status quo and remain a Commonwealth.

A less popular but vocal camp is in favor of becoming a U.S. state. Their reasons center on the right to vote and increased funding from Washington, DC.

An increasingly smaller minority want independence for Puerto Rico, arguing that national pride and complete autonomy will be worth the growing pains of a new nation that is not supported by Federal aid.

Mitt Romney and his rival Rick Santorum have supported the conservative push to formalize English as the official language across the country. On Puerto Rico, an American territory that will vote on its political status, including statehood, on Nov. 6, most residents speak Spanish as their primary language.

Santorum made headlines earlier in the week after saying that Puerto Rico would have to adopt English as its main language to attain statehood, a dominant political issue here.

"I have no doubt that one of the requirements that will be put forth to Congress is a requirement that English would be universal here on the island," Santorum told a local newspaper. "That doesn't mean that people can't speak Spanish in their homes, or in their business, or on the street, but that everyone would have a proficiency in English."

In a January presidential debate, Romney suggested that English should be the official language for all states.

Puerto Rico is set to hold its GOP presidential primary on Sunday. While there are 20 delegates at stake, Republicans want to make inroads with Hispanic voters, a growing voting bloc across the country, but are complicating their efforts with such talk.

On the Other Side

Kansas State guard Angel Rodriguez says he has accepted Southern Mississippi's apology over remarks made by its band and has moved on.

The freshman says Friday he did hear the chants of "Where's your green card?" during the Wildcats' 70-64 second-round victory in the NCAA tournament Thursday and that the school's athletic director and "personnel from their school" came to the team hotel to apologize.

Rodriguez said he accepted the apology because "there's ignorant people and I know that's not how they want to represent their university."

Rodriguez added a civics lesson, saying he doesn't pay attention to that "nonsense, especially because Puerto Rico is a commonwealth, so we don't need no type of papers."

USM president Martha Saunders issued an apology Thursday in a statement.

Silas For Richmond County Sheriff

2012-03-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

AUGUSTA, GA - Sheriff’s Capt. Scott Peebles announced he is running for Richmond County top gun position and Sheriff’s Lt. Robbie Silas did the formal announcement, too, as Richmond County School Safety Lt. Richard Roundtree. Sheriff’s Lt. John Ivey will be running also.

Ivey is a longtime sheriff’s deputy who worked for the Augusta Police Department before the city and county governments consolidated.

“I am aware that it won’t be easy filling the shoes of Sheriff (Ronnie) Strength,” he said to the crowd, “but I do promise that if elected I will not disappoint you. “I know that if elected sheriff, I won’t go in being the best, but I will definitely work hard every day to be one of the best sheriffs this community has ever had.” One of Silas’ plans for the sheriff’s office if elected is to rework the budget to allow for more deputies on the street.

Richmond County will know the candidates for each party, Democratic and Republican, after the July primaries. The elections for Sheriff will take place November 6, 2012.

The bizarre aspect of this race is that the local media, mostly conservative elite, is desperate to know who is going to be endorsed by Strength. Peebles is his right hand and Silas his brother in law. There are more fundamental questions for the electorate. For example, if the Sheriff Department will operate as a crowd control most all the time or as a community oriented protection and law enforcement agency.

There is concern in the media about the morale of deputies in Richmond County Sheriff Office that could go South if one of the 4 is elected, but many in the community is asking: What about the trust of the community?

Denice Traina, president of the Harrisburg West End Neighborhood Association in 2009, leading the meeting with the law and order officers regarding safety in the community. Mrs. Traina currently is the president of the Historic Harrisburg Community Council.

Beyond the divisions among the factions in the black community and their leadership and the divisions between families or feuds, the election of the Sheriff in November could be the most important of all the races, and the elections of judges, that the electorate will have to decide upon. This is not only apply to Richmond County but in the state of Georgia and in many states where the Republicans control the legislature and governorships.

Ultimately sheriff's departments and judges are going to be in charge of enforcing and understanding the insane laws, unconstitutional in other cases, but while these laws are being imposed or not to someone will be in the hands and minds of those elected in November.

One must ask if Peebles, Silas, Roundtree or Ivey would have handled differently the case of Martha Burke in 2003, when Sheriff Ronnie Strength with the superpower of his office imposed a restriction on her desire to protest against the Augusta National. That action ultimately cost the taxpayers since the City of Augusta was sued and Burke won her case.

At the state level the Republican controlled General Assembly with the Republican governor are passing laws that in many cases have nothing to do with stimulating the stagnated economy and balancing the budget but going after the civil rights and private rights of their constituents. The state government even created (HB 87) a "private government" giving private citizens with the same extreme agendas, such as Phil Kent, powers over immigration laws enforcement.

Sharia Law vs. Marshal Law
"The American Laws for Georgia's Court Act" for instance will move forward for a full vote in the House of Representatives. The primary intent of the bill is to prevent Georgia judges from deferring to Sharia law when resolving divorce and child custody cases. Sharia law is based on Islamic principles determined by clerics and is used in many of the world's Muslim countries.

As expected, the bill has been strongly opposed by the Muslim-American community. It has also drawn sharp criticism from many Georgia business leaders, attorneys and others who feel that as written, the law could have a chilling effect on international trade relationships and have other negative, unintended legal consequences as well.

Many in Georgia are afraid that with the Marshal Law being imposed subtly or in the open there is no need to even mention the Sharia Law.

Voting for the wrong person could mean the sheriff that put you in jail, or the judge who will deny your freedom just because you don't look or think alike.

Black And Suspicious

2012-03-14T16:04:00.003-07:00

Heartbreaking tragedy: 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was visiting a relative's house in a Florida gated community when he walked to the store to get candies and iced tea for his little brother. He never made it home. Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a self-styled neighborhood watch leader, who told police he thought Trayvon was "suspicious" in the mostly-white community. Unbelievable twist: A man named George Zimmerman allegedly admitted to police that he shot Trayvon Martin in the chest. Zimmerman claims he acted in self defense, even though police allegedly told him not to do anything until they arrived -- and despite the fact that Trayvon was unarmed, carrying only a bag of candies when he died. In the two weeks since Zimmerman allegedly killed Trayvon, police have refused to arrest the confessed killer.

Hope for justice: Sybrina Fulton is Trayvon's mother, and she's leading a campaign on Change.org to get justice for her son. Tracy knows that if enough people raise an outcry, Sanford, Florida authorities will be forced to investigate Zimmerman the same way they would investigate any confessed killer.

Here's a lot more info about Sybrina's campaign, in her own words:

On February 26, my son Trayvon Martin was shot and killed as he walked back from a convenience store where he had just bought some candy. He was only 17 years old.

Trayvon's killer, George Zimmerman, admitted to police that he shot Trayvon in the chest. Zimmerman, the community's self appointed "neighborhood watch leader," called the police to report a suspicious person when he saw Trayvon, a young black man, walking from the store. But Zimmerman, who is white, still hasn't been charged for killing my son.

Trayvon was my hero. At the age of 9, Trayvon pulled his father from a burning kitchen, saving his life. He loved sports and horseback riding. At only 17 he had a bright future ahead of him with dreams of attending college and becoming an aviation mechanic. Now that's all gone.

When Zimmerman reported Trayvon to the police, they told him not to confront him. But he did anyway. All I know about what happened next is that my 17 year-old son, who was completely unarmed, was shot and killed.

I don't know if my family will ever receive justice for this terrible tragedy. It's been nearly two weeks and the Sanford Police have refused to arrest George Zimmerman. In their public statements, they even go so far as to stand up for the killer - saying he's "a college grad" who took a class in criminal justice.

Please join me in calling on the the Sanford Police Department and Florida State's Attorney Norman Wolfinger to investigate my son's death and prosecute George Zimmerman for the shooting and killing of Trayvon Martin.

Sybrina Fulton

911 Calls. First Zimmerman, then a neighbor. Note the dispatcher asking if the "suspicious" human being looks Hispanic or black. For starters; there are many black people who happen to be Latinos and Latinos that are black.

Suprema de EE.UU en supremo apuro

2012-03-14T09:36:00.000-07:00

La Corte Suprema de Justicia de los Estados Unidos de América se halla en una encrucijada política ante las elecciones generales del 6 de noviembre del 2012. Si falla a favor de los republicanos en su afán por declarar inconstitucional la ley sanitaria Affordable Care Act (ACA) le daría motivos al electorado liberal apático para ir en masas a reelegir al presidente Obama. Si falla en contra de los republicanos los partidarios de Obama tendrán más ganas aún en reelegirlo. La SB 1070 tiene el mismo doble filo.

Cuando los republicanos se lanzaron a capa y espada en la guerra contra la ley sanitaria del 2010, confiando que la Corte Suprema de Justicia saldría a favor de la inconstitucionalidad de la normativa, quizá no contaron con la posibilidad de que se volvería en un bumerán en contra de ellos. La soberbia y los intereses mezquinos ciegan y en política puede ser contraproducente para el país.

La ley ACA ha sido un desastre desde que ingresó en el Congreso norteamericano y pese a que se convirtió en ley ha estado por meses siendo implementada a tumbos, con rechazo de los mismos demócratas no my contentos por dejarse de lado la opción pública.

Los más liberales del Partido Demócrata querían que la ley autorizara cobertura médica a todos los hombres y mujeres que residen en Estados Unidos y que los servicios sean pagados por el estado. Con ese sistema de cobertura médica y hospitalaria se hubiera eliminado el tira y afloje existente hasta hoy entre las aseguradoras, pacientes y doctores y al haber un pagador la prestación de servicios médicos y hospitalarios hubieran caído enormemente.

Sin embargo la ley, con vendas, enyesada y con muletas, sigue avanzando en su implementación, habiendo requerido cirugías menores en los meses pasados. La Suprema estará analizando en las próximas semanas el desafío impuesto por gobernadores conservadores, una treintena de ellos, quienes quieren que los jueces conservadores, 5 de los 9 que componen la Corte Suprema de Justicia, fallen a favor de su pedido de nulidad de ACA.

Y ahí es donde los máximos magistrados de Estados Unidos, de la línea conservadora, se hallan entre la espada y la pared. Si votan en contra de ACA los partidarios de Obama tendrán motivos suficientes para ir en masas a votar por su reelección y así cuando haya una oportunidad para reemplazar a uno de estos jueces republicanos Obama tendrá todo el capital disponible para hacerlo.

En el caso que la Suprema falle a favor de ACA, los partidarios de Obama tendrán motivos suficientes para ir en masas a reelegirlo ya que la decisión del máximo tribunal del país le estaría dando la bendición legal a su administración.

SB 1070 de Arizona

El mismo dilema se plantea con el caso de la ley SB 1070 de Arizona, es la misma cáscara de banana que los altos magistrados y magistradas tendrán que evitar o pisarla; no hay otra alternativa.

Si la Suprema falla a favor de la gobernación de Arizona que pide la implementación completa de la ley, los partidarios de Obama irán a mansalva a reelegirlo porque al desafiar la SB 1070 la administración de Obama ha demostrado que no tolera la discriminación hacia los inmigrantes indocumentados y que apoya una reforma migratoria integral. Ese no es el fondo, pero vale como estrategia propagandística, ya que el Ejecutivo está defendiendo el federalismo y otros trasfondos.

Por el contrario, si el máximo tribunal del país sale a favor del presidente Obama en su juicio en contra de la SB 1070 por ser discriminatorio y promovedora de perfiles raciales, un centenar de propuestas y de leyes estaduales, como la ley HB 87 de Georgia, quedarían nulas o abortadas. Eso le daría incentivos energizantes a los partidarios de Obama para reelegirlo.

La salida elegante de la Corte Suprema de Justicia es sacar una resolución donde diga que ambos pleitos, ACA y SB 1070, merecen profundos estudios constitucionales por lo que dictámenes relacionados verán la luz del día en diciembre, luego de las elecciones generales de noviembre.

WAND No Vogtle

2012-03-11T23:10:00.000-07:00

WAYNESBORO, GA - People across the Southeast gathered in Shell Bluff on March 11, the Fukushima disaster anniversary, to stand in solidarity with the community. They came from Augusta, Atlanta and Asheville, N.C., and joined an event that featured speaker Shoji Kihara, a well-known author and anti-nuclear activist from Hiroshima, Japan, a panel of speakers from Shell Bluff, music, poetry and a remembrance vigil.

Georgia environmental groups have several lawsuits against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for safety violations. Activists have launched a pledge drive to encourage ratepayers not to pay the nuclear construction cost recovery fee on their Georgia Power bills, as well as a “Stop Vogtle” outreach and education campaign.

According to one of the speakers 75% of every bill collected by Georgia Power goes to the shareholders and the rest for the construction. The two new reactors to be built are being subsidized by small and medium customers of Georgia Power thanks to SB 31, a gift from the General Assembly since 2010.

+ One of the major safety lessons learned at Fukushima was what scientists call the cascade effect — if one nuclear reactor begins to melt down, it will have an adverse and similar effect on the reactor next to it. Currently, U.S. safety standards for existing and proposed reactors are only designed for single reactors at a site, even though most U.S. nuclear power plants house multiple reactors.

This is likely one reason NRC chair Gregory Jaczko voted against the construction and operating license at Vogtle. “I cannot support issuing this license as if Fukushima never happened,” Jaczko said. His was the one dissenting vote in the 4-1 decision. (reuters.com, Feb. 9)

Jobs, health and who pays?

Plant Vogtle is housed in the community of Shell Bluff, in Burke County, a poor, rural, majority African-American area about 20 miles southeast of Augusta, Ga. In the first decade of the 21st century, the county’s poverty and unemployment rates were double that of the national average.

The promise of new construction jobs at the plant draws some community support, but just like the first round of construction, these jobs will be temporary. Area newspapers also report that many of the workers will come from out of state and will be nonunion.

For some Shell Bluff residents, these jobs are not worth the trade-offs.

+ Courtney Hanson is Public Outreach Director at Georgia Women's Action for New Directions (WAND)

Ten Commandments in the War on Poverty

2012-03-11T18:40:00.000-07:00

ATLANTA, GA - Republican legislators are asking georgians to pray more, carry gun, and criminalizing abortion, among other things in order to combat poverty in the state. The latest weapon against hunger, foreclosures and jobless is a new law that will put the Ten Commandments in full view everywhere. If you are Jew or Muslim or Baha'i or Atheist might want to move to a place where is respected freedom of religion, like a country called the United States of America.

Georgia's poverty rate has risen rapidly since 2008, and by 2010 it reached the highest since 1983, making it the third poorest state.

So, what is the Georgia legislature doing about this? It's working on getting the Ten Commandments displayed on all public buildings, even schools.

The House has already passed this bill unanimously. If it passes the Senate, Georgia will waste more time and money on these displays while many of its citizens continue to face home and job losses.»

Don't you think this is more than a little hypocritical? The Christian values of helping the poor seem to be all but forgotten. In addition, this bill is ironically turning the Ten Commandments into icon worship, which the Commandments actually forbid.

Not to mention this bill is highly unconstitutional, ignoring religious freedoms.

Tell Georgia to stop wasting money on religious icons and take care of pressing issues, such as its poverty!

Rachel M.

-------

AS: According to some in the know, Democrats were ambushed by the Republicans and dems "have no choice" but to vote with the majority in a "bipartisan" spirit. Only the Holy Spirit knows why the Democrats, not one in the House of Representatives, did not vote against the bill.

Boycott USA Elections 2012

2012-03-10T22:10:00.000-08:00

Prominent religious figures and activists in the country are not letting out the possibility of calling for a boycott of the elections in November, frustrated by the anti immigrant policies and the lack of support from Republicans and Democrats for a comprehensive immigration reform. Without the Latino electorate neither party could have a winning number. Former President Bush received 33% of the Latino vote and President Obama 67%.

During the 2010 Census undocumented people were called to respond to the Census that gave an estimated $4000 per respond to the communities where they lived and then, in the case of Georgia, because the increase of that population gives one seat more in Congress. In response to the participation of the undocumented people in the 2010 Census, in 2011 more than a dozen of states, including HB 87 of Georgia, passed and become laws, scaring and dividing families. Many of this fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, aunts, grandparents have to leave the same counties that are benefiting for their participation in the Census.

GOP candidates cannot appease the TEA PARTY and Latinos at the same time, particularly when many within the Tea Party (such as Sen. Marco Rubio) have supported harsh anti-immigrant laws. The only way out of this toxic mess is for Republicans to address the broken immigration system with a free market solution in which they claim to stand for.

GOP Candidates must learn that Rubio created a wedge between Cuban and Mexican relations when he supported Arizona’s harsh law and voiced against the DREAM Act. Rubio has been disingenuous in claiming he is against “amnesty” while his own Floridian and Cuban immigrants have benefitted from Cuban amnesty as well as tax payer government funded benefits once their foot touches dry American soil.

Those of Mexican descent - and from other countries - are not asking for government benefits, they are simply asking for a reasonable solution to the broken immigration system.

Republican political party has made its debut with its anti Latino & anti Mexican leave the country type rhetoric and sentiment from the Bush Era forward in the past decade, leaving many Latinos and Mexican people, regardless of citizenship or not, feeling left out, non represented and left out of the democratic process.

The second class citizen thing, the whole idea of being left out is unacceptable and inexcusable to the minority people, who help contribute with paying taxes, holding more jobs to receive equal pay, to pay equal costs, with higher interest rates, and being consumer marketed targets.

Some of these racist, hate and disparity policies have not just been against migrants who are undocumented for labor migration, it has effected and bled over spilling onto every American Latino and Mexican American, being profiled by policy into one single category to be discriminated upon.

These policies have effected the Mexican and Latino communities, with their children's education, the soldiers being denied honor and respect for serving and their families whom they have fought for the freedoms of other families to enjoy, side by side, and for generations of wars.

Americans are allowed to drive in other countries, and are not criminalized to be detained or not allowed to re enter, due to criminalizing laws to lay the disqualifications to re enter, aka self-deportation laws or policies of conservatism.

Same goes for emergency services at hospitals for children, elderly and women where in most countries allow treatment for Americans, regardless of vacationing, dual residency, or just vacation seasonal homes too.

Not so neighborly, when it comes to the teachings of Jesus and being a good Christian, and the second commandment being so important, while the Republican Preaching they are the Moral Christian Party.

History books removed Latino and Mexican History, regardless of being American or teaching the children about the dealings with Mexico and other Latin countries who have always been a part of included American History, since America does not only include only itself as American History, and is comprised of a diverse we are one nation foundation.

The calling for the boycott of the elections in November 2012 is the way the Latino electorate can respond to Republicans and Democrats politicians whom policies toward immigration reform has being historically just a tool to be voted. President George Walker Bush was given "capital" to spend on immigration reform with a majority in power, then was given to president Barack Obama, also with a majority in Congress from 2006/10 and the Senate but they rather took that capital to spend it somewhere else.

Boycotting the elections will take that "capital" from either party and probably will force both parties to negotiate and compromise not only on immigration policies but on improving the Affordable Care Act, ending wasteful wars, and start helping millions of homeless and unemployed Americans.

It is seems that voting is not producing results. We are told that if we don't vote we cannot complain. Maybe boycotting the general elections could be our most powerful complain ever emphasizing in local elections instead, such as school boards, commissions, mayors, judges and sheriffs.

Augusta Wins Sunny Award

2012-03-08T09:55:00.002-08:00

AUGUSTA, GA (Karyn Nixon) – The City of Augusta is pleased to announce that our website, www.augustaga.gov, has won a 2012 Sunny Award. This award recognizes the best state and local government websites in America that exceed transparency standards.

For the 2012 awards, editors at Sunshine Review analyzed more than 6,000 government websites and graded each on a 10-point transparency checklist. Editors looked at content available on government websites against what should be provided. They sought information on items such as budgets, meetings, lobbying, financial audits, contracts, academic performance, public records and taxes. The winners of the Sunny Award all received an “A” grade during the extensive grading process.

Quotes Mayor Deke Copenhaver, “As we strive for a more transparent government to serve our citizens, I believe this award underscores our local government’s strong commitment to doing just that. I applaud our Information Technology Department for their tireless efforts to provide the most accurate and up to date information available to local citizens.”

Tameka Allen, Information Technology’s Department Head adds, “It has always been a goal of the Augusta Information Technology Department to remain a leader in providing the necessary means to support a transparent government.”

Immigration Reform Is Good for America

2012-03-07T20:34:00.003-08:00

For America’s Families:

The family is the basic unit of our society, and immigrants who have the support of strong families are more likely to contribute to society, pay taxes, and start businesses that create jobs. But our broken immigration system divides families and keeps loved ones apart for years and even decades, which discourages them from following the rules and working within the system.

It doesn’t make sense to spend billions of dollars rounding people up, breaking up families, shutting down businesses, and deporting people who are working, learning English, and putting down roots here. For immigrants who don’t have legal status, we should require them to come out of the shadows and register, pay taxes, and start working toward becoming Americans, while keeping their families together.

For America’s Workers:

Reforming immigration will help protect all workers from exploitation and unfair competition. Currently, millions of workers — one in twenty in the U.S. workforce — are vulnerable to employers who seek unfair advantage over their competitors by not paying workers minimum wage or by ignoring labor rights protected by law. Bringing undocumented workers into the system will allow them to stand up for their rights and to unionize. When they are on equal footing with other workers, unscrupulous employers will not easily be able to pit one group of workers against another, driving down wages for all Americans.

America should not settle for a downwardly spiraling competition for lower wage jobs. America needs more jobs, more rights for workers, and better wages, not more laws to keep workers out or keep workers down.

Reforming immigration is an important part of fixing the ailing economy. The federal government has an obligation to reform immigration for all American workers.

For America’s Economy:

Today, almost every American company needs smart planning, to navigate through hard times and be ready for growth when the economy recovers. Unfortunately, for too many American businesses, the unreliable and obsolete immigration system makes planning for the future more difficult.

Industries like agriculture that require a large workforce ready, willing, and able to work long and physically demanding days have been unable to plan their business strategies around a stable workforce. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, such sectors have relied on immigrant workers to do those jobs. The hospitality, restaurant, business services, and manufacturing sectors face similar problems.

One of the challenges American businesses face today is the aging American workforce, the rapid retirement of the large Baby Boomer generation. To maintain a balanced and a stable workforce, American businesses must find younger workers, especially in manual labor jobs. With more and more US citizen youth earning high school and college degrees, the trend is making the prospects of adequately filling jobs in certain sectors extremely difficult, even in this tough economy.

For America’s Security:

The immigration system we have today makes little sense in terms of America’s security. With few legal options to come in through the system, many seek ways to go around it. The broken system has spawned a thriving market for smugglers and has generated chaos on the border. A seemingly random enforcement regime targets ordinary immigrant workers and families, diverting resources away from protecting against genuine threats. Millions of immigrants are unknown to the government.

Unscrupulous employers have little fear of punishment for recruiting and exploiting undocumented workers and undermining their honest competitors.

Immigration reform will allow more immigrants to come with a visa, not with a smuggler. It will require undocumented immigrants to get right with the law, register with the government, and go through government background security checks. This screening process will separate ordinary immigrants who have come seeking opportunities to better their lives from those who may be exploiting opportunities a broken system provides to those who may be coming to do us harm.

Enforcement resources can then be trained on employers who flaunt labor laws and exploit undocumented immigrants, on smugglers who traffic in drugs and guns who are creating chaos on the border, and on violent individuals inside the country who may pose a threat to public safety.

By getting ordinary immigrants in line for citizenship and prioritizing enforcement actions to target genuine threats, immigration reform will be good for America’s security.

RIFA

SECURE COMMUNITIES

The Catholic Church's concern for the welfare of migrants stems from its belief that immigration is ultimately a humanitarian issue because it impacts the basic human rights and dignity of the human person. The Church believes this dignity is undermined by this program's alleged channeling of immigrants into the criminal justice system through racial profiling and pre-textual arrests for the purpose of vetting them for their immigration status. Because Secure Communities is operated at the point of arrest, rather than post-conviction, it casts a wide net over virtually any immigrant who has come into contact with the criminal justice system.

In other parts of the country where Secure Communities is being operated, some law enforcement officers have denounced the program because it creates a lack of trust between immigrant communities and local police, affecting their ability to investigate crime, assist crime victims and ensure the safety of those communities.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is supportive of the recommendations of the Task Force for Secure Communities, which cited a number of recommendations for improving the program, including improving transparency and strengthening accountability by preventing and providing remedies for civil rights violations. The Bishops also urge that an individual not be detained until he/she has been convicted of a crime that poses a threat to public safety of immigrant communities and families, rather than at the time of arrest.

The Church acknowledges the right of governments to control and protect its borders however the human dignity and human rights of undocumented migrants should be respected. Programs like Secure Communities as well as overly-aggressive laws such as those passed in states like Alabama and Arizona underscore the need for comprehensive and just immigration reform. Enforcement-only immigration policies will not humanely or effectively fix our nation's broken immigration system. It is time for comprehensive and just immigration reform that provides meaningful and adequate legal avenues for migration, compatible with both our future labor needs and our ongoing prioritization of family unity, and includes the targeted, proportional, and human enforcement of immigration laws.

Mitchell T. Rozanski, Baltimore

The writer is auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

No Women Candidates On The GOP Radar

2012-03-07T17:34:00.000-08:00

Washington- Three of the four Republican candidates for Congress from GA-12 have been granted "On the Radar" status by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). These three candidates are Rick Allen, Rep. Lee Anderson, and Wright McLeod. They were 3 out of only 21 congressional candidates nationwide and the only 3 from Georgia that were granted this status as part of the Young Guns program. According to a statement released by Pete Sessions (R-TX), NRCC Chairman, “These candidates have worked hard to meet the benchmarks that have been laid out before them and are determined to hold Washington Democrats accountable this November."

Maria Sheffield (pictured) who also is running for the 12th District seat might be the last women running for office in the GOP ticket since it is seems the Republican Party won't longer encourage women to run neither endorse.

"It is definitely exciting news for the 12th District Republican Party to have three of our congressional candidates recognized nationally by the NRCC for their efforts. We look forward to working with the NRCC and our eventual nominee to defeat Rep. John Barrow in November," officials said.

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) announced its newest round of ‘On the Radar' candidates. By reaching the second step of the four-step ‘Young Guns' program, these Republican candidates "have reached the fundamental benchmarks to place them on the road to victory. Now, these 21 candidates are ready to take on the Democrat establishment and return fiscal sanity to Washington."

"Middle-class taxpayers are tired of watching the Democrat majority spend this country deeper into recession while they have been forced to tighten their belts. With Americans desperate for change, these 21 candidates are determined to rein in reckless spending, cut taxes and return the economy back to a state of vitality," stated Sessions.

Originally founded in the 2007-2008 election cycle by Reps. Eric Cantor (R-VA), Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Paul Ryan (R-WI) as a member-driven organization, the Young Guns program has become an official NRCC effort dedicated to electing open-seat and challenger candidates nationwide. Reps. Cantor, McCarthy and Ryan remain actively involved in the Young Guns program, working together to "recruit and prime conservative leaders for victory."

After reaching the second step of the four-step program, these ‘On the Radar' candidates now face a new set of rigorous benchmarks that will continue to help them build competitive, effective and "winning campaigns."

The NRCC's ‘On The Radar' Candidates Are:

• Marcus Richmond (AR-04)

• Tony Strickland (CA-26)

• John Tavaglione (CA-41)

• Chris Meek (CT-04)

• Steve Obsitnik (CT-04)

• Andrew Roraback (CT-05)

• Adam Hasner (FL-22)

• Rick Allen (GA-12)

• Lee Anderson (GA-12)

• Wright McLeod (GA-12)

• John Archer (IA-02)

• Dan Dolan (IA-02)

• Jason Plummer (IL-12)

• Kevin Raye (ME-02)

• Daniel Barry (NC-08)

• Richard Hudson (NC-08)

• Scott Keadle (NC-08)

• John Whitley (NC-08)

• Mark Rosen (NY-18)

• Matt Doheny (NY-23)

• Stephen Sandstrom (UT-04)

The 12th congressional district of Georgia will hold an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012.

Candidates wishing to run must file by the signature filing deadline of May 25, 2012. The primary elections will be held on July 31, 2012.

The district's boundaries have been redrawn following the 2010 census, which granted an additional congressional seat to Georgia. The first election using the new district boundaries (listed below) will be the 2012 congressional elections. The district covers portions of the eastern and southeastern parts of the state. It includes the cities of Augusta, Dublin, Douglas, and Statesboro.

Heading into the election the incumbent is democratic John Barrow, who was first elected in 2004.

Georgia gained one seat from the reapportionment after the 2010 census. The state population grew to over 9.7 million residents, an increase of 18.3 percent, thanks to the "illegal" immigrants who responded to the census and now being targeted by Republicans with anti immigrants laws such as HB 87 among others. The 2011 redistricting cycle is the first in Georgia's history where the GOP controls the redistricting process

Incorporated place 2000 Population 2010 Population Percent Change

Atlanta city 416,474 420,003 0.8%

Augusta-Richmond County

consolidated government 199,775 200,549 0.4%

Columbus city 186,291 189,885 1.9%

Savannah city 131,510 136,286 3.6%

Athens-Clarke County

unified government 101,489 116,714 15.0%

GOP "Social Engineering" and Women

Republican presidential precandidate Newt Gingrich on Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget blueprint blasted as “right-wing social engineering.”

The Ryan plan is a central issue in the 2012 congressional and presidential races. The House Budget Committee chairman calls for revamping Medicare and transforming it into a voucher system, an approach Democrats are convinced will alienate older swing voters.

The budget proposal put forth by Paul Ryan is a vicious and cruel all-out attack on everyone under the age of 55, but the cuts to Medicare and Medicaid that the Ryan plan propose would be felt in a particularly acute way by women, who make up more than half of the beneficiaries of both programs, and women retire closer to the poverty line than men do. Women who are alone, who either never married or who are divorced or widowed and never remarried are particularly vulnerable.

Senator Barbara Boxer said "This is a sick proposal," about the GOP budget.

What is difficult to understand is why the GOP is endorsing a proposal that not only will eliminate liberal women from health coverage. Or they don't care about conservative poor women or they deliberately want poor women in general being punished for earning less than $100,000 and born as a women.

RELATED POST RELATED POST RELATED POST

No Tax Money for Augusta Golf Course

2012-03-06T21:58:00.000-08:00

The Augusta Richmond County Commission gave the tee to The Patch instead of a $300,000 sales tax allocation for the city-owned golf course, with one commissioner saying the course money was needed more at the leaky community center where he voted.

Brian Hendry, chairman for the private firm The Patch that took on management of the Augusta Municipal Golf Course in January, traveled from Scotland to request the tax money, which he said he only learned about after signing a contract with the city.

"I thought I put up a good fight," Hendry said. "But the fight continues. I said I would make changes at The Patch. I will continue to make changes. The extra money, I think, would have made things better."

We are talking about $300,000 in SPLOST money already earmarked for The Patch by voters. "That's what they voted for," declared Commissioner Jerry Brigham. "That is what we are obligated to do."

Brigham is convinced voters should be outraged that commission feelings have changed now that the city no longer runs the course. "Now that we have it leased," Brigham said, "we are going to take the money from one asset and transfer it to another asset, and we are going to have them question even further our ability to manage SPLOST."

Commissioner Bill Lockett said the deal is not up to par for taxpayers.

"We were so eager to give away the taxpayer's money. That is very frustrating," Lockett said. "Because the more the golf course is enhance ... the more profit he is going to make, but it doesn't impact us at all. We still only get $1,000 a month."

Unapologetic Rush: Pregnancy is a Desease

2012-03-05T10:20:00.001-08:00

Freedom of religion, freedom of speech vs. woman's health

1. Rush didn't really apologize

Limbaugh's rambling statement belongs in "the bulging archive of inadequate apologies issued by celebrities and media figures whose egos just won't allow for contrition," says Eric Wemple in The Washington Post. Rush could have just said, "I sincerely apologize to Sandra Fluke." But no, Limbaugh had to insert his "incriminating verbiage" about word choice. "Implication: Limbaugh doesn't regret the meaning of what he said; doesn't regret the associations he made; doesn't regret impugning Fluke's integrity across the country." No wonder critics haven't accepted his apology.

2. He still doesn't understand his mistake

Even worse than Limbaugh's "complete refusal to recognize that the uproar... isn't just about name-calling," says J. Bryan Lowder at Slate, is "his offensive misunderstanding of the importance and uses of birth control." Fluke didn't testify about her sex life, but about watching a friend have an ovary removed because she couldn't afford the treatment: Birth control pills, which have "many medical uses aside from contraception." Remember, "many women depend on birth control, not for 'social activities,' but for their basic health," and Limbaugh's galling ignorance of female biology is only amplified by his apology. It's sad we have to explain this, says Violet Socks at Reclusive Leftist, but even if you do use these pills for contraception, "you don't take a pill when you're going to have sex, and you don't take more or less of them depending on your sexual activity."

3. The attacks on Fluke and birth control haven't stopped

Limbaugh's "total fabrication and vicious smear" about Fluke getting taxpayer dollars to have lots of sex has spread to other right-wing talkers like Bill O'Reilly, Michelle Malkin, and Erick Erickson, says John Chandley at Firedoglake. "The memo's gone out: Tell the lie about government paying for sex." I guess that makes this a teachable moment, says Socks. "Taxpayers aren't paying for Sandra Fluke's health care," or any private employer's plan.

4. Liberals smell blood

"Make no mistake, the fight is not over Rush's words," says William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection. The Left's big stink about this "one joke gone bad" is part of a larger "attempt find something, anything, to force Rush off the air." Yes, we liberals do smell "blood in the water," says Barbara O'Brien at The Mahablog. It's about time for Rush "to learn to be afraid of pissing off women."

5. Limbaugh himself may not drop it

Everyone is up in arms about Limbaugh's latest on-air bile, but "this is his job," says Alexandra Petri at The Washington Post. We used to pillory people for the "gift of saying exactly the worst possible thing," but now we give them talk shows. Limbaugh may be losing friends and advertisers, "but ratings have never been higher." More to the point, says Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway: You can bet Limbaugh will keep talking about this, and "find a way to spin this to his advantage. He always does."

The Week's Editorial

WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?
ATLANTA -- SB 469, an anti-union and anti-protest bill, would turn nonviolent civil disobedience into a felony punishable by imprisonment for one year and a fine of ten thousand dollars for organizations and one thousand dollars for individuals. It also has provisions intended to weaken unions.

While conservatives talk shows personalities are fighting for their freedom of speech rights and defending Rush Limbaugh, they are silence about the bill that could criminalize the constitutional right of freedom of assembly.

BEASLEY BROADCAST GROUP

The bill was introduced by State Reps. Don Balfour (R-Snellville), Bill Hamrick (R-Carrollton), Bill Cowsert (R-Athens), and Ross Tolleson (R-Perry). All four Senators are members of an organization called the American Legislative Exchange Counsel (ALEC). ALEC bring corporations and lawmakers together to draft template legislation that is introduced in other states to change policy. ALEC claims to be nonpartisan but is funded by several right-wing thing tanks.

"In a state which lays credible claim to being the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement, State Senators Don Balfour, Ross Tolleson, Bill Hamrick, and Bill Cowsert have just demonstrated palpable disrespect for Georgia’s rich history of protest and activism.

They are the sponsors of Senate Bill 469 which, had it been law in 1960, would have made Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery, John Lewis, Joe Beasley, Minnie Ruffin, and many other luminaries of the Civil Rights Movement into felons," Sara Amis of Occupy Atlanta.

SB 469 COULD CRIMINALIZE ANOTHER MARTHA BURK ATTEMP
It's been 9 years since Martha Burk, then the chairwoman of the National Council of Women's Organizations, famously led a Masters week demonstration outside Augusta National to protest the club's male-only membership policy. Many in the golf establishment and in the media, deemed Burk's efforts a failure because the rally drew just a few dozen protesters.

But for Burk, the demonstration in a muddy field down the road from the club's main gate was not the end of her campaign. The fight, the Texas native says, was just heating up.

In a wide-ranging interview in the past Burk took a critical look back at the 2003 Augusta protest that drew a Ku Klux Klan member who brought along pictures of his poodles, an Elvis impersonator, unabashed male chauvinists and international attention. She also talked about why she no longer respects Tiger Woods, sexual harassment at Madison Square Garden and how the 2008 presidential campaign proved sexism remains more palatable to Americans than racism.

The controversy began with a seemingly innocuous private letter, and spiraled into the biggest media event in golf history. The Augusta National membership dispute dominated headlines and water-cooler conversation for nearly a year, propelled by twenty-first-century hot-button issues and a pair of perfectly drawn foils in Hootie Johnson and Martha Burk.

The Constitution allows Augusta's right to decide its membership, at the same time Augusta's policy is inappropriate since it is part of a golf world governed by a nondiscrimination policy. Is Augusta National receiving any special tax treatment or subsidies that furthers the cause of sexual discrimination?

Burk wanted to post 24 demonstrators outside the front gate of Augusta National and 200 more across the street. Sheriff Ronald Strength, who has broad authority over public protests, said there's too much traffic in front of the club during the tournament to ensure safe protests. Strength told Burk and other groups they must gather at a 5.1-acre site nearly a half-mile from the gate.

A group headed by the Rev. Jesse Jackson also has been approved for a second site even further away from the club's main entrance. ACLU lawyers challenged the ordinance, saying it gives the sheriff too much power to approve or deny protests and dictate their location.

At the end, Martha Burk had won her 1st Amendment court case against the city of Augusta.

Democrats Ready For A Comeback

2012-03-03T19:00:00.000-08:00

I know all of us are fed up with the Republican debates, the Republican ideas, and the waste of millions of dollars in negative advertising. How about [Rick] Santorum’s latest edict that President [Barack] Obama’s call for a college education is an attack on religion! The other side of the coin is the 180 degree turns by [Mitt] Romney, claiming he is against affordable health care for Americans having instituted this very same thing when he was governor of Massachusetts!

This is the thing; while the President passes bill after bill to help the country economically, the Republican dunces attack him but come up with no plans for the economy, for the unemployed, for extended unemployment insurance. Did you know that when the President bailed out the automotive industry, he saved 1.5 million jobs (latest figures)? Guess who was against the bailout, Romney of course.

The Republican majority in the Georgia General Assembly has found other ways to try and defeat 12th District Democrat John Barrow for reelection to Congress. They have taken away Savannah from the 12th District and poured in thousands of voters from Columbia County. Let’s all help John with money and telling our neighbors that he should be reelected.

One more item from the Republican attempts to limit minority voting. They have now moved the Commissioner’s election to the July 31 primary instead of the November general election knowing that primaries attract much fewer democrats than republicans. One more reason to return our Democratic delegates to the general assembly, Wayne Howard, Earnest Smith, Quincy Murphy, Gloria Frazier (House). Hardie Davis (Senate) to maintain decency and fairness in our state.

There it was! Right there in the Augusta Chronicle, page 6B on Saturday, Feb 4, 2012; the true explanation of the difference between Democrats and Republicans. And to think you probably missed it! Well, let me refresh you.

Titled "Review finds strings tied to donations," from Jack Gillum of the Associated Press and somehow printed by mistake (I'm sure) was the explanation of donations to the political parties and what the donors expected in return. The first donor cited, was Wm. Koch and all he wanted for his $1 million to Mitt was more public land for his Colorado ranch plus some more laxness in current mining and safety laws.

The second donor cited was Sheldon Adelson, billionaire and Gingrich supporter who is facing criminal investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Dept. I'm sure that Mr. Adelson is seeking a "get out of jail" card in exchange for his $11 million to good old Newt. And finally Paul Singer wants to profit from the debt of "distressed and Third World Nations" and what better way to accomplish this despicable practice? Why of course, by giving Pro-Romney groups $1 million so they will change the federal laws.

And then in the interest of fair play, we must note that the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center gave the pro-Obama groups $100,000. That's right....the huge sum of $100,000; not even enough to buy a small house. They gave the money to Obama and they lobby for: Medicare & Medicaid funding for teaching hospitals, electronic medical records, National Institutes of Health and Army research programs.

What scoundrels....lobbying for causes that affect millions of Americans! And that, my friends, is the difference between Democrats and Republicans. Register and Vote!

Bob Shanon

Are you interested in helping with voter registration drives? Then join us on Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 4:00pm at the Board of Elections office on Greene Street to be trained and deputized. Criteria are to be a registered voter and a resident of Richmond County. You must be re-deputized each year. Call me (706-738-5133) if you will be joining us or have questions.

Betty FrankVoter Registration Chair

DEMOCRATIC BALLOT FOR MAR 6 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY - GEORGIA

For President of the United States: Barack Obama.

Sunday Package Sales: Shall the governing authority of the of the consolidated government of Augusta, Georgia be authorized to permit and regulate package sales by retailers of malt beverages, wine and distilled spirits on Sundays between the hours of 12:30 P.M. and 11:30 P.M.?

BOARD OF EDUCATION: Special Purpose Sales and Use Tax. Shall the special 1 percent sales and use tax for educational purposes currently imposed in the Richmond County school System be reimposed commencing upon the expiration of the current 1 percent sales and use tax and continuing for a period of time not to exceed 20 consecutive calendar quarters for the raising of not more than $225,000,000 for the purpose of providing funds to pay or to be applied toward the cost of acquiring, constructing, installing and equipping new school buildings and facilities and other buildings and facilities useful or desirable in connection therewith, additions to existing schools, including without limitation new classroom space, and athletic facilities for physical and general educational purposes, adding to, removing, removing, repairing, improving and equipping existing school buildings and other buildings and facilities useful or desirable in connection therewith, acquiring textbooks and technology hardware and equipment in connection with the foregoing, acquiring, constructing, installing and equipping acquiring school buses and other vehicles for the safety, security and maintenance of the school facilities and equipment and buildings and facilities for the repair and maintenance thereof, acquiring, constructing and equipping safety structures and facilities useful or desirable in connection with any of the foregoing , acquiring the necessary property and rights in property therefore, both real and personal, demolishing existing buildings, and facilities located on school property that are no longer useful for public school purposes, to pay capitalized interest on the general obligation debt referred to below and to pay or reimburse the expenses of the Board of Education necessary to accomplish the foregoing, including the expenses of the Board of Education incurred in connection with calling the election and imposing the sales and use tax, and the to extent funds are available therefore, the construction of a new elementary school and the construction or renovation of performance auditoriums at existing schools?

If the reimposition of the special tax is approved by the voters, such vote shall also constitute approval of the Issuance of general obligation debt of the County Board of Education of Richmond County in the aggregate principal amount of $142, 055, 000 for the above purpose.

Forcing Climate Change or Slow Killing

2012-03-02T22:18:00.000-08:00

Most people discover the reality of chemtrails by initially reading about it on the Internet and then going outside and looking up into the sky. They are shocked to realize that what they had been reading about (and studying photographs of) is also taking place right over their heads.

What some people had dismissed as mere "jet plane exhaust" (because there are now scores of internet propaganda web sites trying to convince you that 'everything is well' and 'there's nothing to be alarmed about' and that unaccountable 'jet plane exhaust' plumes are magically being converted into horizon-to-horizon overcasts of "cirrus clouds" !) are dismayed to realize that chemtrails are indeed the toxin-laden aerosols that have been described in some web sites since 1998 and they are not being sprayed for any benign or national security reason as the disinformation peddlers would have you believe, according to Ken Adachi, from Educate-Yourself.

An investigator named William Thomas who lives in Victoria, Canada analyzed some chemtrail fallout. Although there is not a strong feeling about the truth of this report, it is what it is, because there isn't any other detailed analysis available. Thomas's analysis showed that the chemtrails contain:

1. Bacilli & Molds

2. Pseudomonas Aeruginosa (see below)

3. Pseudomonas Florescens

4. Bacilli Amyloliquefaciens

5. Streptomyces

6. Enterobacteriaceae

7. Serratia Marcscens (see below)

8. Human White Blood Cells

9. A restricter enzyme used in research labs to snip and combine DNA

10. Enterobacter Cloacae

11. Other bacilli and other toxic molds capable of producing heart disease and meningitis, as well as acute upper respiratory and gastrointestinal distress.

12. JP-8 Jet Fuel = Ethylene Dibromide

The Medical College of Georgia Cancer Research Center is a 5-story cancer research center with a separate single-story satellite energy plant. The Research Center includes bio-safety level three research laboratories, immunotherapy/chemokine biology, cancer biology and a vivarium. Taxpayers should know what is going on in those labs, who or whom, were and are benefiting and made available by an independent quarterly report.

Fort Gordon’s Impact on the CSRA

2012-03-02T12:13:00.004-08:00

The CSRA Alliance serves as a liaison between the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) community and Fort Gordon. Although the threat of Fort Gordon closing has passed for now, there is still much that can be done to enhance our reputation as a supportive military community. Creating a positive environment for service members and their families not only contributes to Fort Gordon’s attractiveness for new missions, but encourages these highly skilled military members to remain once they separate from the service.

Facts and figures about Fort Gordon’s impact on the CSRA. (1 March 2012)

Latest Facts and Figures from Thom Tuckey of the CSRA Alliance.

1. Fort Gordon remains the CSRA’s largest employer with about 24,000 military, civilian and contractor employees, a growth of over 6,000 since 2002. Using a conservative Dept of Commerce multiplier of 2:1 this equates to 48,000 community jobs as a result of Fort Gordon. The estimated total economic impact is over $2.6B annually.

2. About 800-1200 service members separate from the military at Fort Gordon each year. These are primarily highly skilled information technology or medical professionals. Surveys show about half plan to or would like to remain in Augusta area if there were jobs available.

3. There is over $530M worth of construction currently on-going or programmed/approved.

4. Ft Gordon has contracts with 26 area hotels to provide lodging for students and others on official travel, with an average daily usage of over 150 rooms.

5. The Fort Gordon Retirement Services area of responsibility includes 30 Georgia counties and 10 South Carolina counties, within which there are over 47,500 military retirees and family members.

6. Over $156M in health care was purchased from area medical facilities in FY2011. This includes TRICARE in/outpatient care at area civilian facilities, specialty care/referrals for treatment not available at Eisenhower Army Medical Center, and contracted care at civilian facilities such as all obstetric care for military being provided by Trinity Hospital and the Medical College of Georgia.

7. Area school districts receive over $1.2M annually in impact aid, which is funding provided by the Department of Education to compensate for federal employees who do not pay property or GA state taxes because they live in government housing or are out-of-state residents.

8. As part of the on-going family housing privatization initiative, 94 local vendors have been subcontracted for goods and services totaling $31M from FY06-FY11.

9. The GA Army National Guard’s #1 future construction priority is a $39M, 150,000 sqft Regional Readiness Center and supporting Field Maintenance Facility to be constructed on 30 acres of Ft Gordon. Readiness Center will enable consolidation of area units into a single facility. Design and environmental assessment projected over next 5 years with actual construction projected after 2016.

10. Fort Gordon is one of 2 military installations selected for the Municipal Services Pilot Program. Through this program, the fort receives water and wastewater service from the city of Augusta.

11. The US Army Signal Corps Band provides over 300 performances annually in parades, ceremonies, receptions, schools, nursing homes, museums, funerals, and other area activities.

12. Fort Gordon service members, civilians and family members volunteer over 5000 manhours annually in area schools, nursing homes, food banks, and for other community activities and events.

13. Fort Gordon facilities are used for community activities such as the Soap Box Derby, Special Olympics, Motorcycle Safety Course, and ROTC/JROTC training. The 27-hole Gordon Lakes Golf Course, Ft Gordon Bowling Center, Riding Stables, Dinner Theater, Gordon Club, and the Sportsman’s Complex with skeet, trap, archery, and firearms ranges are all open to the public.

14. Ft Gordon is home to the GA National Guard’s Youth Challenge Academy which is a program for high school dropouts, offering a chance to complete their GED and gain experience as responsible adults. Each session is 5 months long and graduates over 200 students.

The CSRA Alliance was created in March, 2003 by Congressman Charlie Norwood as a non-profit organization with the primary mission to create awareness in the community of the threat of base closure and the potential economic impact should Ft Gordon be downsized or closed.

In November 2005, the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission Report became law and Fort Gordon was officially spared any negative impact from this latest round of base realignment and closure. The primary reason Fort Gordon survived was its military value - the ability to efficiently and effectively perform its assigned missions and its potential to support new missions. Other major contributing factors, however, were the strong community support for our service members and their families and the outstanding quality of life enjoyed by CSRA residents.

Fort Gordon continues to be one of the largest economic engines in the CSRA. 2011 saw the completion of the new $300M+ National Security Agency strategic intelligence facility, the addition of a 120,000 acre training area at Savannah River Site, privatization of guest lodging and numerous renovation projects for barracks, classrooms, family housing and installation infrastructure. Major emphasis has been placed on care and treatment of wounded and injured service members as Eisenhower Army Medical Center remains a primary reception point. New missions and expansion of existing missions increased the Fort’s work force to over 24,000 in 2011, with continued growth projected for 2012.

The CSRA Alliance serves as a liaison between the CSRA community and Fort Gordon. Although the threat of Fort Gordon closing has passed for now, there is still much that can be done to enhance our reputation as a supportive military community. Creating a positive environment for service members and their families not only contributes to Fort Gordon’s attractiveness for new missions, but encourages these highly skilled military members to remain once they separate from the service. The Alliance has been instrumental in enhancing this relationship and promoting economic development through initiatives affecting education, employment, encroachment prevention, business partnerships and mission growth. The Alliance also serves as the community representative to the Governor’s Military Affairs Coordinating Committee and advocate for state level issues affecting Fort Gordon.

For more information about the CSRA Alliance, contact Thom Tuckey, Executive Director, at 706-821-1312, or ttuckey@augustagausa.com.

Did Gaddafi Loot Libya in Any Way?

2012-03-02T08:25:00.001-08:00

No man, no matter how loved or hated, can win over 100% of his people. There is no perfection in this world. Now that Muammar Gaddafi is dead, some Libyans are euphoric. But will it be long before they realize that they are still far from what they expected to gain from this revolution, and perhaps look back to the past with some regret? Only time will tell. Iraq and Afghanistan are 2 examples of outside interference but the people's lives have not improved over the years. There is still no peace and stability in these countries.

Report From The Desert

1. There is no electricity bill in Libya; electricity is free for all its citizens.

2. There is no interest on loans, banks in Libya are state-owned and loans given to all its citizens at 0% interest by law.

3. Home considered a human right in Libya – Gaddafi vowed that his parents would not get a house until everyone in Libya had a home. Gaddafi’s father has died while him, his wife and his mother are still living in a tent.

4. All newlyweds in Libya receive $60,000 Dinar (US$50,000) by the government to buy their first apartment so to help start up the family.

5. Education and medical treatments are free in Libya. Before Gaddafi only 25% of Libyans are literate. Today the figure is 83%.

6. Should Libyans want to take up farming career, they would receive farming land, a farming house, equipments, seeds and livestock to kick-start their farms – all for free.

7. If Libyans cannot find the education or medical facilities they need in Libya, the government funds them to go abroad for it – not only free but they get US$2,300/mth accommodation and car allowance.

8. In Libyan, if a Libyan buys a car, the government subsidized 50% of the price.

9. The price of petrol in Libya is $0.14 per liter.

10. Libya has no external debt and its reserves amount to $150 billion – now frozen globally.

11. If a Libyan is unable to get employment after graduation the state would pay the average salary of the profession as if he or she is employed until employment is found.

12. A portion of Libyan oil sale is, credited directly to the bank accounts of all Libyan citizens.

13. A mother who gave birth to a child receive US$5,000

14. 40 loaves of bread in Libya costs $ 0.15

15. 25% of Libyans have a university degree

16. Gaddafi carried out the world’s largest irrigation project, known as the Great Man-Made River project, to make water readily available throughout the desert country.

Which other dictator has done much good to his people besides?

"Although many persist in denying it, I continue to believe that what September 11, 2001 did was to plunge us headlong into nothing less than another world war. I call this new war World War IV, because I also believe that what is generally known as the cold war was actually World War III, and that this one bears a closer resemblance to that great conflict than it does to World War II. Like the cold war, as the military historian Eliot Cohen was the first to recognize, the one we are now in has ideological roots, pitting us against Islamofascism, yet another mutation of the totalitarian disease we defeated first in the shape of Nazism and fascism and then in the shape of Communism; it is global in scope; it is being fought with a variety of weapons, not all of them military; and it is likely to go on for decades." — Norman Podhoretz

Miscarriage of Transportation Bill

2012-03-01T13:50:00.000-08:00

The controversy over access to contraception first sparked by President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act law now in Congress, again. Republicans tried to add an amendment to a highway in the Senate that would allow employers to opt out of a new federal health-care mandate for their employees if they have religious objections. The bill suffered a miscarriage on the Blunt Amendment.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday afternoon expressed frustration on the Senate floor regarding the slow progress of the transportation bill, but also noted small signs of progress.

“Today with the failure to advance the Blunt amendment, the Senate completed an important step to try to advance this bill,” he said.

Reid also made a procedural move, attaching to the bill an amendment that includes 37 technical changes recommended by the relevant committees.

The issue goes to the heart of the culture wars, also roiling the GOP presidential primary.

“This issue gets right at the heart of who we are as a people,” said Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R) of Kentucky, in an opening floor speech on Thursday. “It is not in the power of the federal government to tell anybody what to believe or to punish them for practicing those beliefs,” he added.

But Democrats say the highway bill shouldn’t become a venue for the contraception issue.

“This legislation is too important to be bogged down by political amendments,” said Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D) of Nevada in a floor speech on Thursday.

By a largely party-line vote, the Senate on Thursday blocked a move to exempt virtually any employer with moral objections from the Obama administration’s controversial birth control health coverage rule.

The measure, an amendment proposed by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) to a highway funding bill, was tabled—and therefore effectively killed—by a vote of 51 to 48.

Since it was presented last month by Representative John L. Mica of Florida, the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the bill, a centerpiece of the House Republicans’ jobs agenda, has unraveled like a cheap sweater, with conservatives and liberals pulling equally hard on its threads. The assault illustrated again the difficulties of passing legislation in the divided Congress, even popular bills.

On the left, there has been deep criticism over the addition of oil drilling projects, including a proposal to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a proposal that has divided Congress for years.

Further, the bill would reduce spending on some safety programs, zeroing out, for instance, the Safe Routes to School, a program that encourages biking and walking.

On the right, some groups and members were aghast at the $260 billion price tag, and argued that transportation should no longer be a federal priority. “We look forward to evaluating the House Republicans’ new proposal,” said Chris Chocola, the president of the conservative economic advocacy group Club for Growth, “which should simply devolve responsibility for highway spending back to the states.”

Members of both parties have assailed the legislation. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a Republican former congressman, called the bill “the worst transportation bill I’ve ever seen during 35 years of public service” and “the most antisafety bill I have ever seen.”

Mr. Mica has appeared at times befuddled, annoyed and saddened by the criticisms of his bill, which would replace the current temporary extension, the eighth since a $286 billion, multi-year plan ended in 2009.

No left No Right Just the Highway to Their Way

Haley's Deepen Port No Deal

2012-02-29T18:37:00.000-08:00

Governor Nikki Haley who has endorsed Republican Mitt Romney said Obama was coming in the way of development in her State. "In South Carolina, we can't even pass our own bills without him getting in the way." "We pass illegal immigration reform, he stops it. We pass voter ID, he stops it. We get Boeing, he stops it. I mean, I'd just like to be a governor and be able to take care of my state. The president's trying to handle the entire country, and he's failing," Haley said.

The South Carolina Governor skipped a White House dinner hosted by the Obamas, citing personal meeting with friends. Though she skipped the dinner Haley, sought more funds from US President to deepen the two ports in her State and talked to him a day later.

South Carolina is recipient of taxpayers money three times more than it send to the federal government.

"I personally talked to him about the ports that we're all facing and the fact that why does it take the Corps of Engineers 10 years to do a deepening project," Haley, 40, told reporters after the meeting of Obama with national governors.

The Indian-American governor, Haley told White House reporters that she didn't thank Obama for having included USD 3.5 million to expand the Corps of Engineers study on deepening the Charleston port.

In place, Haley said she asked Obama to stop his administration, like previous ones, from diverting tens of millions of dollars in collected cargo duties from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund and using the money for other needs instead of the intended purpose of dredging ports. "We've got a lot of areas that if we don't get our ports actually deep enough to be able to accept those big cargo ships, we're going to have a wasted opportunity and watch the Caribbean [ports] be the ones that benefit," Haley said.

Internal GOP revolt

The South Carolina House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to override Gov. Nikki Haley's veto on a bill meant to help undo a permit allowing Georgia to expand its port in Savannah.

The 111-1 vote in the House came a day after the Republican governor issued her veto. Haley ally Rep. Ralph Norman, R-Rock Hill, cast the lone vote to uphold it.

The measure would retroactively suspend the Department of Health and Environment Control's ability to make dredging decisions in the river shared with Georgia. Legislators hope it strengthens their case in court.

The Senate also is expected to overwhelmingly vote to override. But a timing rule delayed a vote in that chamber until Wednesday.

House Speaker Bobby Harrell said DHEC's original decision was correct, and its later agreement hurts an industry that, according to studies, is tied to one in every five jobs in the state. He called the decision and Haley's veto "a wrong we must fix."

The veto wasn't on the calendar for the House to take up Tuesday, but House leaders wanted to vote anyway.

"The Legislature is taking quick action to protect our taxpayers," said Harrell, R-Charleston. He says the measure makes "it abundantly clear and airtight that this dredging permit was improperly issued."

It suspends DHEC's authority as of 2007. That's when legislators created the Savannah River Maritime Commission and gave it authority to represent South Carolina on navigability issues in the river. The commission was not consulted about the settlement.

Attorney General Alan Wilson is representing the Savannah River Maritime Commission in its appeal, arguing that the water quality certification was issued in violation of the 2007 law and is therefore invalid.

The Southern Environmental Law Center is also appealing. Environmentalists argue the project will deplete dissolved oxygen in the already impaired river. The Army Corps plans to install a dozen Speece Cone devices in the river to pump oxygen into it, but opponents contend the "bubblers" are untested on such a large scale.

The measure now goes to the Senate where, by a 2/3 override vote of that body, it can become state law.

Though the $2.8 million allocated by Obama to deepen and expand the Savannah port is nowhere near enough to actually do it, it does indicate that the project will eventually get done. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has led a group of state politicians and business leaders in advocating for expansion of the port to prepare for the increased traffic in mega-sized cargo ships that will be able to come with the widened Panama Canal.

Santorum Appealing to Women

2012-02-28T23:33:00.000-08:00

Republican presidential pre candidate Rick Santorum spent most of his speech repeating the themes he does on the stump, including his mention of the Declaration of Independence, but last evening there was a twist on that. “The men and women who signed that declaration wrote the final phrase, ‘We pledge to each other our lives, our fortune, and our sacred honor,” Santorum said. There were no women who signed the Declaration of Independence.

JULY 4, 1776
The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.

The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

"Operation Smoke Screen" in Augusta

2012-02-28T16:59:00.001-08:00

AUGUSTA, GA - 15 federal indictments, unsealed 2-28-2012 in federal court, have charged 24 defendants with federal firearms offenses. An additional 85 defendants were charged by the Augusta Division’s District Attorney’s Office on state burglary, theft, firearm and drug charges. The federal and state indictments follow a 7-month undercover investigation in the Augusta area dubbed “Operation Smoke Screen.”

The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office (RCSO), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) initiated Operation Smoke Screen in August of 2011. As a result of this undercover operation, RCSO seized an estimated $500,000 in property and identified suspects in 104 burglaries, 12 car break-ins and 16 thefts. While guns were not the focus of the investigation, 64 firearms were recovered; many from convicted felons or individuals dealing in firearms without a license. A number of the guns seized during the undercover operation were reported stolen.

An indictment is only an accusation and is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the Government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Good Education is Bad

2012-02-28T11:41:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Only in our nation’s capital does having a conversation cost a few billion dollars. Two weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan unveiled a $5 billion competitive grant proposal designed to “formally renew this national conversation around the future of teaching.” Project RESPECT – Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence and Collaborative Teaching – is part of the Obama administration’s efforts to revamp the way the nation’s public school teachers are trained, evaluated, and compensated.

Like President Obama’s Race to the Top initiative, Project RESPECT allows states to apply for federal dollars in exchange for promises of reform. The main difference is RESPECT is focused entirely on teachers.

Most of the program’s proposals are conventional – higher salaries, tenure reform, better teacher evaluations – but one of RESPECT’s proposals calls for improving teacher training colleges by making them more selective.

A 2010 McKinsey & Company report found, “The U.S. … recruits most teachers from the bottom two-thirds of college classes, and, for many schools in poor neighborhoods, from the bottom third. …”

Recruiting better teaching candidates is obviously a worthy goal for reformers.

However, the more important goal should be ridding the nation’s teacher colleges of left-wing professors who are more focused on equipping young teachers with a radical worldview than they are in equipping teachers with the skills that actually lead to student learning.

That's not surprising. As the young radicals of the 1960s and '70s moved into the professional world, many ended up teaching at the university level, often in schools of education. And many of them brought their left-wing philosophies with them, in an effort to train a new generation of public school teachers who are more concerned with "social justice" than they are with the fundamentals.

That, they theorized, would create new generations of leftists who will do their revolutionary bidding long after they're gone.

Their movement has been frighteningly successful. That's why so many public school teachers and union leaders are encouraging students around the nation to support radical causes like Occupy Wall Street. Dozens of teachers in the Oakland, California district recently pledged to spend class time teaching about Occupy in a positive light.

The idea, we suppose, is that it's okay if Johnny graduates with limited academic or intellectual skills, just so he strongly objects to free enterprise, property rights and U.S. foreign policy.

'Sites of resistance'

One former teacher, Larry Sand of the California Teachers Empowerment Network, recalled his college days in the recent article "No Wonder Johnny (Still) Can't Read."

"Teachers-to-be were forced to learn about this ethnic group, that impoverished group, this sexually anomalous group, that under-represented group - all under the rubric of 'Culturally Responsive Education,'" Sand writes.

Lisa Keegan, former head of Arizona's public school system, recently identified who she believes is the "poster child" of the radical approach to K-12 teaching: Former domestic terrorist-turned-educator Bill Ayers, who was actually elected Vice President for Curriculum Studies by the American Educational Research Association in 2008.

“Ayers’ call is for teachers to recognize that education must be a mutual discovery, a way of informing students that they are incomplete, and that they should seek to be more human," Keegan explained in an interview with EAG.

"Any direct instructional methods … as in suggesting to students that certain letters always make certain sounds, or that the Pythagorean Theorem always works … are seen as attempts to ‘colonize’ and dehumanize students. The theory is that if I, as a teacher, tell you what is true, then you are not free to discover that for yourself."

Ayers is a firm believer that young teachers, and the public schools they work in, should be focused on and dedicated to radical political causes. We assume that leaves little time for traditional subjects like math, history or English.

"Mr. Ayers is the founder of the 'small schools movement,' in which individual schools built around specific political themes push students to 'confront issues of inequity, war and violence,' wrote Stanley Kurtz in the Wall Street Journal. "He believes teacher education programs should serve as 'sites of resistance' to an oppressive system.

"The point, says Mr. Ayers in his 'Teaching Toward Freedom,' is to 'teach against oppression,' against America's history of evil and racism, thereby forcing social transformation."

According to a 2008 report by the Lexington Institute, Ayers' writings are widely taught in schools of education around the country.

"His book 'To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher,' is required reading in programs including Arizona State University's Mary Lou Fulton College of Education, UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, Georgia Southern University, the University of Northern Iowa, and many others."

And then there's Freire

Another good example is the popularity of the book "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" by the Brazilian Marxist Paulo Freire. A 2003 study of 16 schools of education in the U.S., including 14 of the top-ranked institutions, found that the book was one of the most frequently assigned texts in philosophy of education classes.

The footnotes of the book reveal the sources of Freire's inspiration, and the people he wanted the students of the Western World to learn about and respect - Marx, Lenin, Mao, Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, to name just a few.

"The odd thing is that Freire's magnum opus isn't, in the end, about education - certainly not about the education of children," wrote Sol Stern in the City Journal in 2009. "(It) mentions none of the issues that troubled education reformers throughout the 20th century: testing, standards, curriculum, the role of parents, how to organize schools, what subjects should be taught in the various grades, how to best train teachers, the most effective way of teaching disadvantaged students.

"This ed-school best seller is, instead, a utopian political tract calling for the overthrow of capitalist hegemony and the creation of classless societies."

Secretary Duncan is correct in calling for changes in the nation’s schools of education. But it’s a problem that can only be fixed with pink slips -- not with money.

Students, parents, and lawmakers must insist that teacher colleges be purged of far-left political agendas and focus solely on the fundamentals of teaching and learning.

Ben Velderman

Republicans in GA Ready for Secession II

2012-02-27T16:32:00.002-08:00

ATLANTA, GA - Senate President Pro Tem Tommie Williams and Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, the two top leaders in the General Assembly introduced SB 889 seeking to ignore any federal law coming from president Barack Obama that they don't like, such as ACA. "It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to adopt and enact any and all measures that may become necessary to prevent the wrongful enforcement of any federal laws or regulations duly nullified within the boundaries and limits of this state."

The state “nullification” efforts take various forms. On February 9, 2010 the Virginia legislature became the first to prohibit the federal government from requiring every Virginian to have insurance. Later that week, the Utah House passed legislation that would allow the state to opt out of all provisions in the national health care reform bills, including eliminating the pre-existing condition exclusion and expanding coverage to the uninsured and dependents.

If all 33 states currently considering strategies for opting out of a reformed health care system take similar action, these states will leave unclaimed considerable federal funding for their low-income residents.

Spending per enrollee and Medicaid participation vary state by state, and will continue to vary under Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Following the resolution already passed by Georgia's Senate in 2009 that now becomes SB 889 (2-16-2012) and sponsored by Rogers and Williams back then.

Georgia General Assembly Senate Resolution 632 - 4-1-2009

By: Senators Pearson of the 51st, Rogers of the 21st, Williams of the 19th, Wiles of the 37th, Mullis of the 53rd and others

ADOPTED SENATE A RESOLUTION

Affirming states' rights based on Jeffersonian principles; and for other purposes.

WHEREAS, the Ninth Amendment of the United States Constitution states "[t]he enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people" and the Tenth Amendment states "[t]he powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE that this body reaffirms the principles of government expressed by Thomas Jefferson in a resolution written for the Kentucky legislature in 1798 stating that the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General Government; but that, by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special purposes, -- delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force; that to this compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral party, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party: that the government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress; and

That the Constitution of the United States, having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations, slavery, and no other crimes whatsoever; and it being true as a general principle, and one of the amendments to the Constitution having also declared, that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people," therefore all acts of Congress which assume to create, define, or punish crimes, other than those so enumerated in the Constitution are altogether void, and of no force; and that the power to create, define, and punish such other crimes is reserved, and, of right, appertains solely and exclusively to the respective States, each within its own territory; and

That it is true as a general principle, and is also expressly declared by one of the amendments to the Constitution, that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people;" and that no power over the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or freedom of the press being delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, all lawful powers respecting the same did of right remain, and were reserved to the States or the people: that thus was manifested their determination to retain to themselves the right of judging how far the licentiousness of speech and of the press may be abridged without lessening their useful freedom, and how far those abuses which cannot be separated from their use should be tolerated, rather than the use be destroyed. And thus also they guarded against all abridgment by the United States of the freedom of religious opinions and exercises, and retained to themselves the right of protecting the same. And that in addition to this general principle and express declaration, another and more special provision has been made by one of the amendments to the Constitution, which expressly declares, that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press": thereby guarding in the same sentence, and under the same words, the freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press: insomuch, that whatever violated either, throws down the sanctuary which covers the others, and that libels, falsehood, and defamation, equally with heresy and false religion, are withheld from the cognizance of federal tribunals. That, therefore, all acts of Congress of the United States which do abridge the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, are not law, but are altogether void, and of no force; and

That the construction applied by the General Government (as is evidenced by sundry of their proceedings) to those parts of the Constitution of the United States which delegate to Congress a power "to lay and collect taxes, duties, imports, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States," and "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers vested by the Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof," goes to the destruction of all limits prescribed to their power by the Constitution: that words meant by the instrument to be subsidiary only to the execution of limited powers, ought not to be so construed as themselves to give unlimited powers, nor a part to be so taken as to destroy the whole residue of that instrument: that the proceedings of the General Government under color of these articles, will be a fit and necessary subject of revisal and correction; and

That a committee of conference and correspondence be appointed, which shall have as its charge to communicate the preceding resolutions to the Legislatures of the several States; to assure them that this State continues in the same esteem of their friendship and union which it has manifested from that moment at which a common danger first suggested a common union: that it considers union, for specified national purposes, and particularly to those specified in their federal compact, to be friendly to the peace, happiness and prosperity of all the States: that faithful to that compact, according to the plain intent and meaning in which it was understood and acceded to by the several parties, it is sincerely anxious for its preservation: that it does also believe, that to take from the States all the powers of self-government and transfer them to a general and consolidated government, without regard to the special delegations and reservations solemnly agreed to in that compact, is not for the peace, happiness or prosperity of these States; and that therefore this State is determined, as it doubts not its co-States are, to submit to undelegated, and consequently unlimited powers in no man, or body of men on earth: that in cases of an abuse of the delegated powers, the members of the General Government, being chosen by the people, a change by the people would be the constitutional remedy; but, where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy: that every State has a natural right in cases not within the compact, (casus non foederis), to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of power by others within their limits: that without this right, they would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whosoever might exercise this right of judgment for them: that nevertheless, this State, from motives of regard and respect for its co-States, has wished to communicate with them on the subject: that with them alone it is proper to communicate, they alone being parties to the compact, and solely authorized to judge in the last resort of the powers exercised under it, Congress being not a party, but merely the creature of the compact, and subject as to its assumptions of power to the final judgment of those by whom, and for whose use itself and its powers were all created and modified: that if the acts before specified should stand, these conclusions would flow from them: that it would be a dangerous delusion were a confidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our rights: that confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism -- free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power: that our Constitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no further, our confidence may go. In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution. That this State does therefore call on its co-States for an expression of their sentiments on acts not authorized by the federal compact. And it doubts not that their sense will be so announced as to prove their attachment unaltered to limited government, whether general or particular. And that the rights and liberties of their co-States will be exposed to no dangers by remaining embarked in a common bottom with their own. That they will concur with this State in considering acts as so palpably against the Constitution as to amount to an undisguised declaration that that compact is not meant to be the measure of the powers of the General Government, but that it will proceed in the exercise over these States, of all powers whatsoever: that they will view this as seizing the rights of the States, and consolidating them in the hands of the General Government, with a power assumed to bind the States, not merely as the cases made federal, (casus foederis,) but in all cases whatsoever, by laws made, not with their consent, but by others against their consent: that this would be to surrender the form of government we have chosen, and live under one deriving its powers from its own will, and not from our authority; and that the co-States, recurring to their natural right in cases not made federal, will concur in declaring these acts void, and of no force, and will each take measures of its own for providing that neither these acts, nor any others of the General Government not plainly and intentionally authorized by the Constitution, shall be exercised within their respective territories; and

That the said committee be authorized to communicate by writing or personal conferences, at any times or places whatever, with any person or person who may be appointed by any one or more co-States to correspond or confer with them; and that they lay their proceedings before the next session of the General Court.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that any Act by the Congress of the United States, Executive Order of the President of the United States of America or Judicial Order by the Judicatories of the United States of America which assumes a power not delegated to the government of the United States of America by the Constitution for the United States of America and which serves to diminish the liberty of the any of the several States or their citizens shall constitute a nullification of the Constitution for the United States of America by the government of the United States of America. Acts which would cause such a nullification include, but are not limited to:

I. Establishing martial law or a state of emergency within one of the States comprising the United States of America without the consent of the legislature of that State.

II. Requiring involuntary servitude, or governmental service other than a draft during a declared war, or pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.

III. Requiring involuntary servitude or governmental service of persons under the age of 18 other than pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.

IV. Surrendering any power delegated or not delegated to any corporation or foreign government.

V. Any act regarding religion; further limitations on freedom of political speech; or further limitations on freedom of the press.

VI. Further infringements on the right to keep and bear arms including prohibitions of type or quantity of arms or ammunition; and

That should any such act of Congress become law or Executive Order or Judicial Order be put into force, all powers previously delegated to the United States of America by the Constitution for the United States shall revert to the several States individually. Any future government of the United States of America shall require ratification of three quarters of the States seeking to form a government of the United States of America and shall not be binding upon any State not seeking to form such a government.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate is authorized and directed to transmit an appropriate copy of this resolution to the President of the United States, each member of the United States Congress.

MISCALCULATION

When president Obama decided to earn Georgia's republicans cooperation and respect authorizing the "nuclear power renaissance" with the construction of two reactors at Plant Vogtle he undermined the unsettle reality of a black man in the White House for southern politicians.

Even democratic legislators, like then senator Ed Tarver D-22, bought the idea that giving up to Georgia Power and the republican establishment they probably will get some power sharing in the near future after a devastating lose in 2010 statewide. In 2012 not only republicans don't want president Obama being considered as a candidate for president in Georgia, contesting in court his citizenship and trying to wipe out democrats from being elected nowhere with insane redistricting lines or elections date changed, but with the intention of separating from the Union.

THE 14th AMENDMENT
As a reminder: Automatic citizenship is enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which says: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside." That provision, ratified in 1868, was drafted with freed slaves in mind.

Georgia's Governor Nathan Deal and his supporters say the 14th Amendment wording was never meant to automatically give citizenship to babies born to illegal immigrants.

Deal, at that moment a Georgia's Representative submitted his bill H.R. 698 to the House Judiciary Committee. At that time he said: "I think the current makeup of the Congress is such that this will never get a hearing and will never be an issue that we get a chance to vote on," he said. "But I think it's important to keep the issues that are part of the immigration problem alive."

For starters, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Deal has "personally intervened with Georgia leaders to preserve an obscure state program that earns his company nearly $300,000 a year".