Here in Georgia:
- The anti-abortion debate is alive and well with House Bill 954. A commenter on Political Insider summed up my thoughts on this. “I wish the legislators were this passionate about the things that really matter: education, traffic congestion, jobs, water…”
- Rep. Mike Jacobs (R-Atlanta) says a community shouldn’t need permission from its neighbors to become a city.
- Missing 1822 survey on the boundaries of Bibb and Monroe counties may be solved by a survey. Leave jokes in the comments, please.
- Roswell Mayor Jere Wood asks, “who speaks for the metro Atlanta region?”
- GDOT has an information section on their website dedicated to the Regional Transportation Referendum that will be on the July 31 ballot.
National stories of interest:
- Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told his colleagues this week that he does not want to vote again on repealing President Obama’s healthcare reform law until after the November elections.
- Can a Democratic president take on energy without seeming Carter-esque?
- The retirement of Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) gives the Democrats another seat.
Links I like:
- U.S. State Department wants you to hunt fugitives with Twitter. Hashtag ideas, anyone?
- The Weekly Standard’s obsession with hippies continues.
- Today’s the day Google implements its new privacy policy; you’ll want to read this.
- Infographic: how developing cities are taking the lead in the global recovery.
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The USDA needs to get their act together.
One division brags of a record level of food stamps distributed.
Another division of their assistance with rural housing.
Another of all the farm subsidies available.
And their Forestry department warning
“Please Do Not Feed the Animals” because the animals may grow dependent and not learn to take care of themselves.
Fugitive-hunting hashtag: #onearmedman
Also, I will match any PP-denizen St Baldrick’s donations (any amount) made between now and March 11 with $1.06 for every $10 (and will also buy you an order of hashbrowns the next time I see you….but you have to put them in your own pants.)
This has nothing to do with any story in the post, but I’m curious:
Is anyone else seeing any yard-sign push by any of the presidential primary candidates? I honestly couldn’t tell you what any of their signs look like as I haven’t seen ANY, at least on my journeys in Cobb County and into Buckhead every day.
Reflective of the lack of enthusiasm? The lack of candidate organization in the state? Or just reflective of the fact that until the last week or so the candidates (except for Newt) were ignoring Georgia, therefore no signage available?
In traveling through SC during the early primary I was surprised at the lack of signs. Shopping in Anderson SC the week end before the primary very few signs were up. The signs I did see were in the usual public type places such as intersections, along side the road etc. I don’t recall a single yard sign and no bill boards. They may have been there, I just didn’t see them.
Silly, Superpacs don’t spend money on tacky signs, they spend it on more offensive things.
Maybe because none of the GOP candidates is worth bothering to look for a hammer?
Or maybe candidates are realizing that yardsigns are a useless expense and the money is better spent elsewhere?
I saw two Sanitarium signs in front of a small office building in Gwinnett yesterday. That’s the extent of it.
Like my dad always said: “If yardsigns were votes, Harry Norman’d win every time.”
I just read that Andrew Breitbart died overnight at age 43.
I saw that, too. Only 43 and he left behind a wife and 4 children. So tragic.
Fugitive hashtag — #BlueWindbreaker+Guns
Survey title: “Where’s the rest of my Bibb?”
Answer to the mayor of Roswell: Metro Atlanta is a patchwork quilt of scalawags hiding their pursuit of personal agendas behind a screen of high falutin’ rhetoric.
From “The Hill”
Bernanke warns lawmakers country headed for ‘massive fiscal cliff’
By Peter Schroeder – 02/29/12 01:26 PM ET
Congress risks taking the economy over a “massive fiscal cliff,” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned lawmakers on Wednesday.
In remarks that hit Wall Street stock prices, the central bank boss suggested the economy could hit a serious roadblock if Congress allows the Bush tax rates and a payroll tax cut to expire and $1.2 trillion in spending cuts to be implemented simultaneously in January.
“Under current law, on Jan. 1, 2013, there’s going to be a massive fiscal cliff of large spending cuts and tax increases,” Bernanke told the House Financial Services Committee. “I hope that Congress will look at that and figure out ways to achieve the same long-run fiscal improvement without having it all happen at one date.
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/801-economy/213351-fed-boss-warns-of-massive-fiscal-cliff
{…Calypso hurriedly searching for his base-jumping parachute…}
Rep. Elena Parent writes that the trend to incorporate ought to “Cut politics out of cityhood” here:
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/cut-politics-out-of-1367648.html
Rep. Parent writes clearly and rationally to anyone unfamiliar with the utter intransigence of the DeKalb Delegation. Therein lies the issue; the Delegation has no interest in running DeKalb County in a responsible manner. Five years ago, one could say, well, hmmm, “Dunwoody is not in Fulton County, DeKalb is better.” CEO Ellis shows a rational economic person this is a false hope.
In fact, the incorporation process is flawed, it will lead to the demise of the large County system in DeKalb and Fulton within ten year, if left unabated.
And that, my friends, it why it is critical to incorporate Ashwoodyhaven, Tucker, and so forth.
Rep. Jacobs represents his Constituent interests which run counter to how Rep. Parent views the situation here:
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/permission-slip-defies-logic-1367557.html
Maybe the demise of the large county system could be as beneficial as a demise of the small city system…..depends on where the lines are drawn….
Surely you don’t mean City of DeKalb?
We currently see the problem with DeKalb in this tiny example.
Each year I wander down to the Calloway Building, in Decatur for some sort of property tax related reason, since 1994. Last month, I marveled at the fact that the building has once again escaped the trauma of a paint brush.
A building like Calloway would be untenanted in the commercial sector due to deferred maintenance; the exterior structural steel is deteriorating, the interior has large peeling sheets of paint in occupied, public offices. If I squint, it seems like I am in a small, third -world bureaucratic abyss.
Why is this happening? Facility management is a not rocket science, and a well kept property remains usable longer. One small example of poor management, but when the time comes, we will hear, “Beyond it’s useful life – We must have a new building.”
No. I’m saying Dekalb of 700k might be better off dissolving the county govt and breaking it into 4 or 5 cities. Even if some shared services such as law enforcement, fire or schools.
Consolidate the small populations around ga.
No. I’m saying Dekalb of 700k would make the Atlanta Region more competitive with other Southern cities by dissolving the county govt and breaking it into 4 or 5 cities. Even if some shared services such as law enforcement, fire or schools.
Fixed that for you. (;>)
Here is some fuel for incorporation. Go to a Dekalb County BOC meeting, just try to get your opinion to the Commissioners in the ten minutes allotted for everyone to speak on one side of an issue. Then go to a nearby small city BOC meeting. Chances are, even you live over the line, you will be given the chance to voice your concerns on an issue and treated with respect.
Excellent point. Better to be heard and ignored locally, than to have to drive to Decatur to do it. {sarcasm font}
Local control offers a citizen the ability to comment publicly, and that has impact and value. More effectively, an individual can approach their local reps, have a say, and actually hear why a change won’t work or how it might help.
The bottom line is that any tax increase is voted on locally, spent locally. Decisions are made by the same people that live in the area. Transparency can be, in the case of Dunwoody, greatly improved.
In DeKalb, if 6,000 people show up at a BOC meeting, it will get noticed. DeKalb thrives on the apathy of it’s voters. We own government at all levels.
Only a politician can make a trickle of similar voter sentiment seem like a waterfall of dissent.
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